“Nothing is more real than the masks we make to show each other who we are” –Christopher Barzak

Today was our last fun day! We woke up at 8:00 this morning and began our day. At 8:45, we went downstairs to have breakfast, which was yuka and salami. We then took the 15 minute ride over to El Club Zona Sur, where Angel Soto Martinez gave us a history lesson on the DR. He then explained the significance of the Carnaval, and showed us the masks we were going to make.

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Working on their masks using clay, yuca for glue, and newspaper!

We assembled next to one large table and each began to mold our individual masks. That took about 30 minutes. Then we used glue made from yuka in order to cover our mud masks with newspaper. This took a little longer because we had to do four coats. After the paper part was done, we put them in the sun to dry and ate lunch. We had rice, beef and pasta with a refreshing juice. In the midst of lunch, many people were up and dancing to the music that was playing. After we finished eating, we began to paint our masks. Painting was the funniest part mostly because it was the easiest, but also because it allowed us to express ourselves through colors and designs.

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Winston starting his mask….trying to win the mask competition!

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Time to paint our masks!

After all the paint had dried, there was a competition in order to decide who would take home one of the masks made by Angel Soto, which Jayvann won. Then because Angel Soto was feeling generous, we did a raffle for the second mask, which Chayim won. After these events, we loaded up the bus and made our way back to La Fundacion.

Back at La Fundacion, we had an hour of free time to just hangout before prepping for English class. At 5 we had our second to last English class and then headed straight to dinner. After dinner we had our nightly meeting in which I passed the torch of being “El lider del dia” to Jayvann and Aisling. Tomorrow we have our first day of our CAP project so I should probably get some sleep!Displaying DSC00609.JPGDisplaying DSC00603.JPG

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Successful classes!

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Sammy & Clara teaching English to our Beginner learners