The last couple days have been jam packed with different activities centered around creating bonds with the “jovenes”, or youths, of the community. We started by teaching an English lesson for the kids. We put together lesson plans a few days prior and then our two groups taught colors and sports. It’s nice to be able to help, even just a little, with their English, since they’ve been helping us so much with our Spanish. They then promptly returned the favor by helping us to make bracelets.
In order to make a quick lunch before commencing work at the school, we enjoyed fish, chicken, bean, or pork tacos at a taco stand in the middle of town we had all been curious about. The mix of hot sauce and pineapples to go with our filling created the perfect energy for us to get to work.
We finally made it to our work site where a couple of locals had already started to dig away. We met with the jovenes and construction workers to plan out our afternoon. With the help of pick axes and shovels, we found ourselves knee deep in rocks and dirt by the end of the afternoon. As we were winding down, a game of catch broke out between the SStS students and the jovenes. We were all playing together like we had known each other for years.
Today started right where yesterday left off; at the worksite. We continued to dig the foundation and build our relationships with the jovenes. Blisters where patched and laughs were shared as we continued to work hard and have fun. After a delicious meal cooked by one of the home stay aunts, we went on to have even more fun with the jovenes, but this time on the baseball field. They proved to be far superior to us in athletic ability and skill, but we all had a good time. We then settled down and did some curriculum work over ice cold Cokes. Our hard work was then rewarded with a surprise; we got to attend the second birthday party of one of the home stay sons. We got to experience the differences in their culture through their birthday celebrations. We had to leave a bit early to reach our home stays by dark. We were all disappointed because we were all having a good time and they had not yet cut the cake! We returned to our home stays, exhausted, from a tiring but exciting day.