“The past actually happened. History is what someone took the time to write down.”

– Brown A. Whitney

This is Marcos, your leader of the day for today, history day in Bonao (and Site Manager). I started off my day as ELDD last night by showing the delegation how Dominicans dance, by busting out a few bachata moves with Leslie! After a relaxing morning and a history seminar in which we learned about the history of the DR by putting some historical events in order, we had another delicious lunch by Licelot. We ate the “bandera” or the Dominican flag: pollo guisado, beans, rice and salad while discussing how Dominicans prefer certain parts of the chicken but Americans don’t seem to care which part they eat! I was glad to trade my alas (wings), haha.

After lunch, we were greeted warmly by our awesome Bonao Local Youth Ambassadors! These are bilingual Dominican teens who volunteer their time to show our Glimpsers around their city, help with English classes and the CAP project. Our Ambassadors were so sweet to make us TWO friendship bracelets each: one with the colors of the Dominican flag and one with the colors of the Global Glimpse logo! I hear one Glimpser, I mean G Squared member (as they call themselves) say “Why aren’t Americans this nice?” I am glad they made a great first impression!

We all walked together to leave the Fundacion for the first time to go on a Bonao city tour. We learned about how Bonao was home to the country’s first radio station and that Trujillo’s brother had a strong influence here. We also met some locals, like Felix and Andrés, who have been shining shoes in the park for 38 and 42 years respectively! They are very proud of their jobs and life accomplishments and were able to tell is how the park has changed in those years and now we have some new friends who we can say hi to as we walk around! As the tour came to a close, I tested the delegation’s memory of some important facts from the tour. Luckily, they got most of the questions correct, so we were all rewarded with popsicles! A refreshing treat as it was so hot!!

Felix and Andres’ shoe shining station

With some time to spare, I took some of the students to the nearby basketball court to play some pickup with the locals while the rest sat in the park and watched people pass by, admiring the skill of carrying babies on motorcycles and watching people relax in the park on a typical Sunday.

Our AWESOME bus driver, Ronald, came to pick ups up in his amazing air conditioned bus and saved us the walk back to the Fundacion. We went straight to a first impressions reflection, then to dinner (EMPANADAS- Licelot is the BEST!!) then to our Culture seminar to get ready for tomorrow’s packed day, then finally closed with a nightly meeting (in which Ms. Franks totally put my bachata moves to shame with her step moves).  I feel so honored to have been able to lead this day and share some things about my culture and my country’s history with this fantastic delegation. Stay tuned for tomorrow, as Ms Franks is our ELDD for Culture day!

Chayim on our city tour!