This one is older but I didn't get any great pictures of the ladies today.

This one is older but I didn’t get any great pictures of the ladies today.

image4 image7IMG_8872 image5 image3imageToday we woke up really early and following that we had breakfast.  We ate jalapenos with eggs, rice & beans and a cheesy tortilla.  Afterwards, we had to go and gather the materials for our Community Action Project (CAP) in two groups.  We all decided on building two shelves, restoring eight benches and making a design on the wall and we all donated money to make it happen.  We split into two groups.  One for the painting supplies for the walls and benches and the other group went to get wood to create new shelves for Escuela de Amistad.  Amistad means friendship and the school is a school for kids with disabilities.  These kids are amazing. We interacted with them and they really understood them and they understood us even though some of them were deaf, had autism and down syndrome.  So, we feeling great about doing this project.  When we do this wall and they see it, I guess they’ll think of us as a positive group.  I think they’re going to appreciate it.

So today I was in a group of five painting walls with primer while the others were sanding the benches so we can restore them because they had cracks in them.  While we were wrapping everything up there was a rainstorm.  A heavy, windy, crazy downpour.  At the same time it was cool though, because I never saw rain like that.  It was kind of different.

After that we came back to the hotel and had a meeting about writing appreciation letters to people who donated money for this trip to happen.  Then we had dinner.  We ate white rice with chicken strips (not fried) and plaintain strips.  We were not finished yet.  We still had English tutoring teaching Spanish speakers.  In my class, we played Taboo.  They were learning new words because they knew the action of the words and they learned how to pronounce the words.  When we came to the hostel I led the nightly meeting and had some positive feedback.  Such as I took this role serious and I got some negative feedback like I need to be more serious and be an example for everyone.  I respect what was said because it was kind of true.  Next time when it’s my turn to be a leader I’m going to lead by example.  That’s it.  It was a great vibing day.  We painted together.  We taught together.  It was a great day.