Take Flight Day Two: Me and My Shadow!

By Nicky, Dejah, Lola & Kaden

Me and my roommate Kaden woke to the sound of a tap tap tapping at our door that was the wake up call. We quickly got dressed and rushed to breakfast where there were plates of eggs, fruit, toast, pancakes, yogurt, cereal, and the best thing on the menu: the traditional Nicaraguan food gallo pinto (or rice and beans). We had a half hour to converse and eat, and then we hopped on the bus and our loyal driver Don Pablo took us to ANS: the American Nicaraguan School.

When we arrived at the gate it appeared as a hotel and less of a school it was flooded with palms and had a massive courtyard: 26 total acres. Upon arrival we were paired up with the ANS ambassadors, aka our “buddies” and Lola, Kaden, me (Nicholas) and Hannah introduced ICS to ANS.  They were very polite people who took us to their classes. 

Some people were taken to English, Latin American history, art, enrichment, technology, math, science, and P.E. The classes were  interesting and were full of information. My favorite class was math where we learned about tessellations. The math teacher, Ms. Rhonda Swarcose, explained it very well (take a hint Tr. Rich). Lola learned about addiction and recovery in one class. Gabby learned some new Spanish phrases, and Dejah learned how to layer with watercolors in art class.

We noticed that ANS was very different from ICS. First of all, ANS had a soccer and track field, a large pool, a food court, and had the largest library in Nicaragua. ANS also had a lot of subjects/classes. Some of their classes are different from ours, like Latin American History, Enrichment, art and music. Some of us went to 8th grade classes, where they were studying US history.

Once it was time for lunch we received 5 US dollars and were sent to the food court. There were many places to choose from like Subway and my favorite, Moon River Burrito. Most of the students chose Moon River Burrito and about half of them chose a simple plate of chicken fingers and french fries. We paid in American money but received change in a hard to pronounce word, cordobás, and ate our lunch. During lunch we were greeted by not only the ANS students but the school pet Gummy the cat. We then went on to our buddies’ next class. For Lola it was English where we watched documentaries about addiction and Kaden’s buddy had a math quiz (BORING again, take a hint Tr. Rich) so Kaden got to use a laptop when his buddy was stuck with a quiz.

After 5th period Lola, Kaden, the twelve other travelers, and their buddies were supposed to go to reflect and debrief on the day but Lola and her buddy forgot so they went to science class for 10 minutes. A teacher then came in and took them to where they were supposed to go. Oops! At our debrief, we talked about the similarities and differences between ANS and ICS. We also played A Cold Wind Blows, and a bunch of people had to stand up and sing and dance.

After the last bell rang we said goodbye to our ANS partners and met the magnificent Don Pablo. He took us back to the hotel where we swam in the hotel’s pool. We swam for about an hour and a half then Tr. Kate and Tr. Steve told us that it was time to get ready to go out for dinner. Delicioso! (Spanish for delicious in case you didn’t know).

The magnificent Don pablo picked us up and over the course of about 5 minutos (that’s Spanish for minutes) we arrived at our destination, La Cocina de Dona Haydee (that means the kitchen of Dona Haydee) and ate something called a caballo bayo. The caballo bayo is when you taste a little bit of some of the many original Nicaraguan dishes. While we were waiting for our food a singer came in and sang a few traditional Nicaraguan songs. Our food finally arrived and we tried a few platters including delicious pork, chicken, salad, beans, and cheese.

In the middle of our meal we heard drums and peeked out the window to find what looked like a giant lady and Tr. Kate explained that it was La gigantona, a Nicaraguan folk tale. La gigantona is a bunch of little boys dressed up like a giant lady and a giant headed midget. A lot of us went outside to watch. We were surprised to find the boys come out of their costumes but only to ask for money. At about 8:15, 10:15 in American time, the magnificent Don Pablo came and took us back to our hotel. When we got back we changed and gathered around for our nightly debrief. After the nightly debrief we all walked away having learned not to take what we have for granted and to take into consideration that not everyone has what we consider normal. We’ll blog tomorrow.

With love,

           Lola, Kaden, Dejah, and Nicky

See the Day Two slideshow here!