The following post features student writing.

Hi, it’s David.

For the past couple of days I have been coordinating with Augustin (our foreman) a time to play Spikeball for my independent project. I took the initiative unto myself to ask Augustin if he could find several of his friends who would be eager to learn how to play a game I brought with me. Forming plans in a foreign language and having to refer to multiple people was a challenging yet rewarding experience on its own. This experience made playing the game with Augustin and his friends that much more rewarding.

Yesterday, Dylan and I went to the preschool to teach the locals how to play Spikeball. For those of you who are not familiar with this game, it is very similar to Volleyball. There are two teams of two players. Each team can pass up to three times before having to bounce the ball off the net. When I went to teach Augustin and his friends, Tupac and Justin (two local kids who are very close with our group) were there to help, as I taught them how to play the day before. I started off teaching everyone the basic rules in Spanish. This process was fun because there was an obvious learning curve. At first, the locals struggled to hit the ball onto the net which made everyone laugh. Once they started getting good at the game, there was a lot of trash talking and joking around. After playing one game the two locals in their twenties, the younger kids were eager to play. It was really satisfying watching all locals play the game as I successfully explained the rules in a way that was simple and entertaining. Even when not playing on the net itself, the locals asked me to pass the ball around with each other in a circle. I felt the most accomplished when I asked Augustin if he liked Spikeball as much as Equi Volleyball (a popular Ecuadorian sport which is essentially volleyball with a soccer ball) and he said yes. Today, Augustin has asked me multiple times to play again because of how much he enjoyed playing. Overall this experience was amazing in terms of practicing my Spanish as well as my plan-making and Spikeball skills.

More soon!

– David