Today was our reflection day and a day of many lasts. We began this Global Glimpse journey 15 days ago and since then each and every one of us has grown as leaders and global citizens. This day began with a wake-up call at eight in the morning and breakfast being served at nine. We had some of Dilenia’s delicious oatmeal and a fruit mix of watermelon, cantaloupe, and melon to accompany it. After breakfast we began our final reflection activities which included creating a journey map of our trip, naming who was the most influential person we had met and what were some of the ways we grew as people and leaders. We also took part in an activity where we wrote down the things we wanted to stop doing, continue doing, and start doing. Many of us pointed out how this trip allowed us to realize how fortunate we are and how grateful we should be for having the basic necessities to live and so much more. Everything that we experienced on the trip, the highs, lows and the in betweens taught us a lesson, whether evident or not we are all coming home having learned something new. The friends we have made here have all become a part of us and we will forever carry them in our minds and our hearts.

After our reflection activities we had our last lunch at Dilenia’s. Today’s menu was tostones, arroz blanco (white rice), pinto beans, platanos, and an egg salad topped with avocados. After we stuffed ourselves we had some free time to do some last minute shopping, a run to the bakery, a snack run, or take a much needed nap. We headed to Multioso, a large basketball court, around 4pm to help decorate for our English student’s graduation. Graduation began at five and I felt like a proud mother in the crowd. Our students had a chance to put on a talent show after they received their certificates of graduation. My favorite performance was when the kids sang head, shoulders, knees and toes. We ended the graduation with a group dance to the cha cha slide and had some cake and soda for everyone afterwards.

We walked to Dilenia’s for dinner where we had hamburgers and fries and a dance party after. We ended the day with our nightly meeting where we received our Global Glimpse shirts and we closed our meeting with some big love for everyone and a unity clap of “C1C-forever”. Sadly, because it is a late night and we have to wake up bright and early there will be no pictures with this blog post. Uploading pictures takes too long and right now we need our sleep. Thank you for coming on this journey with us and we hope to see you all in Chicago at 7:55 pm sharp, we will forever be the C1C group. With love, your global glimpsers.

-Stephanie aka “Mom”