Day 21: Departure Day!

Got up early this morning…luckily to check our flight and realized that we are leaving 30 minutes earlier than scheduled so therefore, we’re telling the group that it is super important that we are ready by our 9 AM departure time from the hostel since it takes 30 minutes to get to the airport from we’re we are staying.  Our leader of the day was up and knocking on everyone’s door to make sure that we were already awake for our scheduled breakfast time, which was scheduled for 8 AM. 

I woke up earlier than the scheduled call time and was wide awake in the game room typing this blog and noticed that many of the students were awake and taking last minute showers before breakfast time and some were rearranging their stuff to see what they could put in their carryon and checked in luggage.  As the 8 o’clock hour arrived we had to make our way to the third floor to see what we were going to have for our last meal here in the DR.  

For our last breakfast in the DR we had bread, eggs, orange juice and I got myself an iced coffee…YES! We finished breakfast early and packed our stuff ready for our guagua to arrive…believe it or not as a group we were early for a chance.  I suppose all of us are a bit anxious to get back home.  Just sitting here in the lobby, with the fan turned on full blast of the hostel finishing writing this entry while still here in the DR.  My last entry for the trip will most likely be posted tomorrow once we arrive back home while in the USA.

Honk…Honk, I guess the guagua is here…time to go to the airport!

Hasta luego una vez más desde la República Dominicana.

Day 20: Wrap Up

Well I woke up definitely feeling way better than the last day luckily with no fever as well which made me feel good.  We had an earlier breakfast than usual since we had a lot to get done so our wake up was a 6:15 AM in the morning and our breakfast was at 7:00 AM.  For breakfast we had hot chocolate, cantaloupe, bread, along with the choice of butter, brown sugar and or marmalade.  I was actually in heaven since I was watching what I was eating the day before and I’ll be honest woke up on the hungry side.  After breakfast we had our Appreciation Letter seminar we here the students were writing their final drafts to donors and or people that made their trip possible.  During this time I was updating the Global Glimpse blog and my own personal blog since I was running behind.

As this activity was wrapping there was a misunderstanding as to how the ranking of letters correlated to the names of the people, this in itself turned out to be a debacle but it appeared I was in the crossfire yet again, playing mediator between my fellow GG Leader and the in country coordinators…which lowered my morale just a tad…but I wasn’t going to let that bring my last full day in the DR down.  After that, we had part one of our closing seminar for the trip.  For being the first part it truly was interesting having the students revisit their CAP project and the part that I had to lead was the GG Journey Map which was interesting  to see all the students maps and how they have seen their change throughout the 3 week journey here in the DR.

We had to cut this activity short since we had to pack our luggage and clean our rooms since we had to have everything ready to go before we went to lunch and get our money exchanged to go buy souvenirs.  As we were able to get out of the hotel on time at 11:20 AM we made our way to the money exchange place, which only took us 5 minutes to get there and only 10 minutes to get everyone’s money exchanged…which was a record compared to previous times.  Since we were half way to the restaurant we decided to walk there and get there early.  We arrived to the restaurant and sat there for our last lunch in San Juan de la Maguana.  As we waited for our food, some of us played cards, talked and took pictures, which helped us pass the time.  

As we ate our lunch, it indeed was bittersweet since, this was the last time we were going to see Doña Sheila and our Chef, along with their cute dog Mandy.  After we had our lunch some of us had ice cream as we wrapped up our lunch to go back to the hotel to catch our guagua we ended up taking one last group shot of our delegation with our wonderful food providers.  As we walked back to the hotel and saw our guagua we helped Danny Boy pack the trailer with our luggage, once we finished packing the trailer we all loaded up the guagua and made our way back to Santo Domingo and prepare ourselves for our 3 hour ride there.  At our half way mark to Santo Domingo we stopped at a market for a stretch break—where some of the students ended up getting ice cream, snacks and their other “fuel” necessities .  As we hit the road again, spirits were high and Lucia ended up being our DJ with iPods from our students to help pass the time of our trip to our hostel for the night…Casa Grande.

After a 3 hour 40 minute guagua ride we finally made it to our hostel in Santo Domingo, we got situated in our old rooms from the first night we were here and took a 20 minute breather before we went to the colonial zone to go souvenir shopping…FINALLY!  Shopping was fun and again my group rocked, it totally was fun shopping with them in the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo.  I got everyone on my list and had a few extra pesos for me to get me a little something, something which was nice.  The two hours that we had to shop went by way too fast but we finally made it back to the hostel just in time for dinner.  Dinner was pretty good and had a great time talking to the kids and reflecting about our experiences that we have had in the DR.  

After dinner we continued the wrap up seminar that we started earlier in the day which transitioned into the nightly meeting and our last student leader of the day.  We ended the nightly meeting with a BIG LOVE Shout out writing our thoughts…but honestly 30 seconds was just way too little time, but we managed.  The last officially business of the night was to fill out the evaluation for the program.  As the students turned in all their evaluations the last thing I had to do that night was waiting for the student leader of the day to finish writing their blog for everyone to see. 

As I have said throughout the entire day, to the students as well as the adults—it is a bittersweet day, three weeks have gone by real quick and this officially is the last day of the program that we’ll be here as a group.  Yeah we have tomorrow and most of us will be on the same flight but it’s officially a traveling day and we’ll each have other things on our minds.  

Well got to go to bed since it’s an early morning yet again to make sure that I have everything since I’m coming home!

Good Night from Santo Domingo, it’s been an AMAZING 3 weeks here!

Day 19: FUN DAY

Last night was horrible…I couldn’t sleep and I fell ill.  I kept waking up every three hours and honestly got a total of maybe 4 hours of sleep.  It didn’t help as well that at 3 AM I was pucking for a good 3 minutes.  But let’s just say that I fell way better after that and took some pepto but afterward felt a bit warm.  I tried to get back into bed and at least get some rest, but I ended up playing games on my phone since I couldn’t sleep.  I was finally able to doze off and soon than later I realized that I had to get up for our fun day to begin.  We got up earlier than usual and literally boarded the guagua since we had a long list of activities to do.  We got on the road to Barahona for our first workshop…while on the guagua we had our breakfast, but of course I didn’t eat, nor drink anything since I was still not feeling great myself.  Lucy and Gloria were surprised and I just told them I felt fine, but as time went on I told them that I wasn’t feel too great…of course no details were divulged!  It took us longer than usual to get to Barahona, because of roadwork and we had to get gas near the Bateyes.  

Literally after a 2 hours we made it Barahona, and we stopped by to get some snacks and made our way to the Larimar workshop.  Once we arrived at our location we were given a history lesson about that stone, it’s one of kind and there is only one mine and it is located here in the Dominican Republic.  After our history lesson, we were able to choose our own rock and design our own jewelry.  It was pretty cool finding a stone that we liked and creating a design and watching it transform before our very own eyes.  That took a good 1.5 hours for all of us to pick, cut, and polish our stones, but we all had to wait with anticipation for our final product to arrive.

After our workshop we were on our way to Villa Miriam, the GG leaders had an idea that we were going to a waterfall, but what awaited us was truly a spectacular feat…it was paradise.  Seeing the beautiful scenery the pool, the lagoon, the mini waterfall in one area was breath taking.  But there was more in store for us.  Lucia took us walking up some stone stairs and at the top of that there was a larger waterfall that indeed was a spectacle within itself.  Of course we all took pictures and did the whole touristic thing, I even got into the mix and got my camera.  But then it was the real challenge getting into the water, which by the way was COLD, to say the least.  But I got enough courage and got in and made myself go underneath the waterfall, and it was so cold I literally felt like I was in shock felt that pain in the chest but once you continued through the waterfall there were caves that were truly a natural beauty.  I was able to take my camera and take some pictures for evidence.  After the initial shock of the water it literally was all fun and games…I too was feeling better and the kids were having a blast, even with Don Cristian’s son (Don Crisitian is our awesome and dutiful guagua driver).

We had lunch there and I honestly can tell you that some of these kids inhaled their food because they wanted to get back into the water.  After another 1.5 hours of fun we had to pack up and get back to the hotel.  On our way back we had to pass by the Larimar workshop to pick up our jewelry, which turned out to be a big ordeal since they weren’t done with the stuff and we had a 30 minute delay.  The kids opted not to go to the beach but rather stay in the guagua which was interesting in itself, but I feel that they were just too tired to go anywhere.  

After we got our jewelry we again hit the road back for our 2 hour drive back to San Juan.  Once we got back to the hotel, we had to change our schedule and decide to use the 1 hour left to pack and then get ready for dinner, as time flew by we were on our way to the restaurant and came to realize that we were walking to the restaurant to eat our last dinner here in San Juan…on the way there I was making remarks that I have a feeling that we’re going to have pizza and some kids were that would sound really good…as we sat at our table and waited for our food to be served…some of the kids told me, “you’re a psychic…how did you know we were having pizza, my response was just a simple grin.  The pizza was pretty good and the cool thing was that we even got dessert afterwards and it was ice cream…granted the flavor was interesting and it was difficult to pin point but as we were eating our ice cream our dance instructor Cristian and his dance group came to teach us Bachata.  This was I think another BIG highlight of the night, the students definitely seem to be enjoying themselves and having a ball it was evident it was a great way to fuse two cultures through dance…because some of our kids taught them some of the dance moves from home.

All the adults got involved too…the GG leaders and Coordinators also had a blast learning some dance moves.  Although I was sick and had a low grade fever I truly believe that I sweat out whatever was making me ill…I literally was drenched in sweat and some of the kids were teasing me and said I had a workout, little did most of the kids now that I honestly wasn’t feeling well but managed to put a smile on my face because I didn’t want anyone to know that I wasn’t 100% and really just wanted to get some sleep.  After our 1 hour dance class we made it back to the hotel where we had our nightly meeting and ended the night later than usual.  I again had to wait until the student leader of the day was done writing their blog….the internet was down and we couldn’t post it.  So I told the student leader of the day that I would post it in the morning along with some pictures.

As I got back to my room I opted to take a shower and hit the sack since I believe I overly exerted myself but hopefully got rid of what was making me sick, so I could enjoy the last full day in the DR.

Buenas Noches…hasta mañana.

Day 18: CAP FINAL DAY!

It was a pretty up and ready kind of morning as both groups got ready to begin their last day of their CAP projects.  Once we had our breakfast, we headed out to the communities to finish what we had started the day before.  As we waited outside of our hotel for volunteers we noticed that they’re weren’t as many as the day prior—maybe because it was a weekday, instead of a weekend.  Nevertheless, we made our 20 minute walk to the communities of Buena  Vista and Guachupita.  Once our group made it to the Ludoteca with our matching head bandanas we assessed what we had to do.  Definitely, retouch the yellow paint on the walls, dig the holes for the tires, write the quote on the stage and definitely clean up.

As our group broke ourselves in to groups, I ended up being with the group outside for some time and started clearing the rocks to start actually digging the trenches for the tires so they can become benches and seats.  As we did this we realized that it was going to be a lot harder than we had anticipated—especially since we didn’t have a pick, but only a shovel.  Luckily, one of the volunteers went to go and ask around the community and was able to find a pick so we could make the trenches with a bit more ease.  Honestly, it helped but it was definitely freaking hot and my bandana was already saturated with sweat, using the pick and shovel was indeed hard work, but with the head it seriously did not make it fun.  After we finished one trench I took a break to see what was going inside the Ludoteca, and noticed that it was indeed coming together.  I saw some of our students cleaning up and taking upon more projects…since they were open minded as to the suggestions that the workers had made.  They literally transformed the back wall of the place with a kitchen stove, fridge, counter and cup rack…it literally looked like a photo spread of a kitchen.

While that was going on I was on duty to write the quote above the stage and decided on, “El escenario es tuyo, no dejes de soñar.” Which translates, the stage is your future, don’t stop dreaming.” After that was done, we realized that some volunteers had tackled the bathroom wall, so we decided to create a mosaic using color blocking technique which was pretty cool.  Before we headed out though to lunch, we created a Global Glimpse Tree where we all put our handprint to commemorate the end of our project.  We then had a closing activity with the community and played some sort of game like follow the leader, which was the perfect way to end the CAP project at Ludoteca.

Once we were done and left Ludoteca we made our trek back to the hotel, ready to put down the equipment that we brought over and to quickly head on to Pollo Rey to celebrate.  It was a nice time taking with the group, once we were done we headed back to the hotel for our free time until English class.  We waited for CAP group # 2 to arrive back from their project and then made our way to our last English class, which honestly was just a time to say good bye and the delegation put a talent show for the students…it was bittersweet since it was going to be the last time for many seeing one another.  After the emotional good bye, we made our regular trip to the restaurant for our second to last dinner here in San Juan de la Maguana.  While at English class I wasn’t feel to well and I still wasn’t feel to well when we go to the restaurant so…I skipped dinner.  

After dinner we  made it back to the hotel for our regularly scheduled nightly meeting and it was long and I just wanted to go to bed.  But got through it and stayed up until the student leader of the day was done writing the blog.

Day 17: CAP Day # 1

Today was a wake up early day yet again for our last Sunday in the DR.  Today was the BIG day we have all been waiting for…it was time to execute our Community Action Project.  We got up and had breakfast that was hearty and fulfilling.  After our breakfast we loaded our truck and headed to the Ludoteca where my group was ready to implement their project.  As we arrived and devised the battle plan, it was great to see some of the English students arrive to help out with everything that had to get done.  

The students prepped the space by removing the toys and stuff from the walls and placed them in the middle of the room.  They then cleaned the walls in order to paint them…the help of the volunteers was extremely helpful.  As this was going on…another group of students was prepping the outside, by pulling some weeds and cleaning the tires so we could paint those as well.  Once all the prepping was done, it was time to commence the painting.  We literally had a lot of painting to do and it helped that we had volunteers.  At one point it turned out that we had too many volunteers and not enough painting equipment to help us out.  Therefore, we sent one of the program coordinators and one of the students to get more paintbrushes.  Meanwhile, the group got busy painting their hearts away, even though we had a lot of help, we still had a lot to do.  By lunch time we were about three quarters of the painting done…but that of course was only the first coat.  Since we were painting on brick, we definitely had to fill in the crevices and the grooves that the rollers were not able to get.  It was just amazing as to how the students and volunteers utilized their resources and started thinking outside the box to reach the 10 foot walls.  

Around 12:30 we called it lunchtime and walked to the church nearby to eat our to go lunches with our English students.  After our brief lunch, seriously it was only like 30 minutes if that, our group wanted to continue and wanted to finish at least all the base coat and trimmings done.  As time continued to fly we were all working hard and got paint everywhere…and I do mean everywhere, which means that we will have a lot of cleaning to do tomorrow.  We decided that we would quit at 4:30 PM since we did not want to overt exert ourselves since we would have half a day tomorrow to continue on the CAP project.  Since we left early we headed to get some ice cream at Bon and had some bonding time with our group and talked about what we had accomplished and what we will work on tomorrow for our half day at the Ludoteca.  Once we made it back to the hotel our group took showers and just relaxed, until dinner.

As for dinner, it was less than appetizing which was a damper since I didn’t finish my lunch but oh well…guess I can’t have scrumptious meals all the time.  After dinner we made our way back to the hotel and had the leadership meeting with the next student leader of the day.  We then had our nightly meeting which was completely very comedic because of our new student leader.  We’ll see how he does tomorrow. 

Now all that is left is the nightly blog with the current student leader of the day and then bedtime since it will be another exhausting day since we’re back at work tomorrow.  

Buenas noches and hasta luego.