Thursday (Day 4) Today the group split to do service with two different programs in San Juan Del Sur and the surrounding communities. One group visited a local preschool to do an English/Spanish lesson and then play outside for recess. The 3-6 year olds in little white and navy uniforms immediately captured the hearts of the group. They were a riot and loved to play soccer, tag, frisbee, and blow bubbles. Before we left we gave each child a backpack and some supplies. The teacher LOVED her new teacher bag and had us take a picture of her with her new bag :) The other group worked with the Mobile Library non-profit program that delivers books to children in remote areas surrounding San Juan Del Sur. The ride to the schools in the back of the truck was a bit bumpy and dusty (and by a bit we mean A LOT), but well worth a little dust in the hair to deliver books, teach English, play outside, and hand out school backpacks to the underprivileged children in Nicaragua! In the afternoon the groups came back together at the hotel for lunch and some free time at the beach and/or shopping at the local boutiques and street artisans. The plan for the afternoon was to do a volleyball clinic for a small number of girls at a local school....Boy were we surprised when we arrived at the school and there were 50+ girls (and another 40+ spectators) ready to learn some volleyball from the Americans! The coach and children presented us with an opening ceremony including the Nicaraguan national song, a dance, and small gifts for all of us. Unexpectedly, we even got to sing our own national anthem! Thanks Schuetzy for carrying all of us through that one :) The clinic was awesome and although I have had some very proud moments of the team this trip, I couldnt have been more proud to watch our players jump right in (despite the language barrier) and teach volleyball to the young Nicaraguan girls. Im comparison to the USA, sports are far less available to Nicaraguan girls and women compared to boys/men. To come in and do a clinic for just girls and to have that many participants was INCREDIBLE! After the clinic our team played a friendly set against their best girls. Quite an experience for our team to play in a cement courtyard court in 90 degree heat :) To cap off another awesome day the team attended a dinner at a local beach restaurant where we were wined and dined with a delicious meal of plantain chips, tostones, vegetables, and pork/chicken kabob. After dinner we were graced with traditional folklore dances (some of the female dancers attended the volleyball clinic earlier in the day!) and even got to do some salsa dancing of our own on the dance floor! Last stop before bed? GELATO of course! Nicaragua has gelato? Could this place get any better?!! -Coach Ro
Posted on: Fri, 13 Jun 2014 14:17:40 +0000
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