Today we had our language classes at our house; the location will rotate between each of our houses as well as various sites throughout the community. It is exciting to learn more, but it is amazing how much it takes to truly grasp another language. Hopefully I’ll be able to fully express myself and my opinions before too long.

After classes today I went running with another volunteer, Adam. It was great to see more of the town and get some fresh air. My knee is still killing me, so we ended up only running for 15 or 20 minutes and then walking around for another 45 or so until we stumbled across a group of boys playing futbol and basketball in a local park. We stopped and said hi and ended up playing with them for awhile, and made friends with one of them who let us shoot the basketball around with him for awhile. If there is one thing I’ve learned about connecting with youth, it is that having more skills in sports would be really helpful. However, I’ve also learned I can form a bond by joining in at the laughter directed at my lack of basketball skills. When I was volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club in Charleston, I repeatedly lost to 14 year old girls when playing 1:1 games. Adam, who is still learning Spanish, informed our new friend that I was “embarazado”, which he intended to mean that I was “embarrassing” because of my lacking basketball skills, but translates to “pregnant” in Spanish. I quickly clarified that I was certainly not pregnant, but we all shared quite a laugh.