So today, the student leaders of the day were Dania Gomez and Kyna Xu 🙂
Our theme of the day was working like a local: we had an opportunity to help locals make and sell common market food items such as Jugos (Juices), Queso (Cheese), and traditional Nicaraguan breakfast cereal drinks.
We started our day by waking up at 5 am and split off into our four groups. One group left at 5:30 to help make the breakfast cereal for the market while the other groups helped make breakfast for everyone before taking off for the market. I (Kyna) was part of the 5:30 group that left to help make the cereal drink mixes. We took a taxi to the home of the family that we were helping, and that in itself was, well, something else. I don’t know if you know anything about the driving laws here in Nicaragua, but the only law that seems to exist is GO. And there aren’t any street signs and everyone seems to disregard the stop signs. Instead, they honk their way through intersections, so that’s pretty different. As for the market experience, I was really glad we got first hand experience in helping make products that many make for a living.

At the market, we helped set up the booth/stands and helped sell the items by reciting chants we made up on the spot, yelling out the items we were selling, etc. To be honest, it was pretty funny, as well as an incredible learning experience. I (Dania) was part of the juices groups, which helped make the juices that we were going to sell. The lady who I got was an incredible because she was very passionate about her job and her daughter was also. They helped us create a chant that helped bring in more customers. They made jokes and were so welcoming to each of us and they definitely made my day and I think they also made my group day.
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After the market, we had lunch at Quiero Mas and came back to the hostel for free time.

For a bit, we wanted to go watch a movie but in the end decided against it. Instead, we visited the supermarket (AIR CONDITIONING!!!!) and had a chance to pick up any fruits, candy, or other snacks that we wanted. After the supermarket, we had some ice cream and went down to the plaza to check out the various souvenir stands there, which was really exciting! A lot of us will definitely be going back when we get a chance.

When we got back to the hostel, we had our nightly meeting, which went very well. There was a significant increase in participation and it was clear to us that everyone had a lot to say, and was a lot more comfortable sharing their opinion with everyone. At the beginning of this trip, we were all pretty hesitant when it came to raising our hands and speaking up, and it really shows how much we’ve bonded and gotten to know each other over these few days.
Then we had more free time and we were able to visit the internet café and make phone calls or use the internet if we wanted to.
We mean it when we say we’re having an amazing, life changing time here, and we are really really (REALLY) excited to see how we grow and change and bond and become better global citizens in the days to come. We miss you all and love you very very much! 🙂