Day 3: The Amazing Race

 The Amazing Race is on!

Today was the boys' first full day in Esteli.  We have been particularly impressed with their energy and effort the past couple of days, and our Amazing Race requires both.  It seems, however, that the boys fell short collecting at most four out of about twenty points from this scavenger hunt that we created that included buying an exotic fruit to taking pictures of the local fire fighters to asking people on the street the meaning of indigenous word "Esteli".  We met up on the third floor patio that overlooks the city and awarded Christian the prize for completing more of the Amazing race than anyone else.

 The prizes and Spanish journals

 Winner takes all...but shares with everyone else

 Working on our rooftop patio

 The boys have a panoramic view of the city for inspiration

After a brief pep-talk about the expected frustrations in the first week of an immersion program, a call home from one of the cyber cafes, and a group lunch that featured a Spanish paella Valenciana that the Spanish I students recognized from DESTINOS, we met on the ground floor patio for the boys to break into groups and start planning lessons for their community service tomorrow.  Here the boys made up for a slow start this morning by working diligently and tirelessly on ways to teach children ranging from age 4-12 the alphabet, colors, animals, numbers, and addition respectively.  After working in small groups, the boys came together to share their ideas and problem solve their lessons.  I could not be more proud of their creativity and enthusiasm.

The boys easily finished off 5 Paelleras

 Lesson planning

 Working together

Each one contributed to the plan

The boys earned the rest of the afternoon off to spend with their host families.  Tomorrow they begin their community service!