Day 3: Culture Day in San Juan de la Maguana

Well what an exciting day…it was my turn to do Student leader of the day.  I woke up early enough to get the whole delegation up by 7AM so they had enough time to get ready for breakfast which was at the hotel.  We had a light breakfast of papaya, banana, cheese and bread and us teachers had the option of coffee, which is always greatly appreciated.  

Thereafter, we conducted our second seminar on culture, and we tried something new as GG leaders.  We made small groups and had the students work on the specified questions for an allotted time and then brought them back in where each smaller group was to formally present on one of the four aspects of culture and then comment a positive, something I agree with, and something I would add to the group’s presentation.

After our seminar  we had our first field trip was to City Hall where we were treated to a dance recital and learned about traditional Dominican Republic dances.  After the nice dance recital, we were given the opportunity to learn and participate in the dancing ourselves.  It was a great opportunity for each one of us to participate and for some of us to step out of our comfort zone.  That being said, it amazed me as to with what ease the students just jumped right into the event and learned the steps the dancers were teaching them.  I also felt that it was great for the adults—James, Marcela, Gloria and myself—to participate to let the students know that we’re on the same playing field!  

                                            

After the dance recital, we headed to lunch at our usual hangout (Restaurante Onanei) and we were yet again not disappointed as we were plated with the succulent eggplant and rice, along a potato salad and beef with onion and glazed with a yellow sauce…bon appétit.

After lunch we had our program seminar about our tutoring English classes where the students were students answered questions and witnessed scenarios as to what they may encounter in their classrooms as they teach English to the students.  Thereafter the Global Glimpse leaders introduced some strategies as well as reminders that we found helpful in our own classes that may make their experience a bit less stressful.  They were given about 90 minutes to start lesson planning their first English lesson and it was just amazing as to how “gung ho” the students were into devising their lesson plans and were asking the GG Leaders for help and clarification.

We then left for the Palace of the Fine Arts where we were able to play authentic Dominican Republic instruments and it was just awesome as to how musically inclined our students are as they were able to play el palo (type of drum/bongo), la tambora (tribal drum) and the guira (washboard type instrument) and were able to play some music with some Domincian Beats and flare.  What was also a nice treat was that  Ezekial and his counter parts were able to play a few pieces of merengue, bachata, and bolero music so we were able to hear the difference in the rhythm and the beats. 

After the great performance and experience at the Palace of Fine Arts we went to dinner where we ate Pizza!  We were a bit rushed as we heard thunder and saw lightning really close to where we were eating and decided that we wanted to bet back to the hostel before we got drenched…as we walked through the streets of San Juan de la Maguana and heard the thunder and saw the lightning it was as we were characters of a movie as we had one goal in mind---getting to the hostel without getting wet!

 

That lead us to the nightly meeting and “the passing of the torch” or should I say “passing of the crown”

Overall it was truly a memorable day that I am sure that none of our Glimpsers will ever forget!