¡Hola! Somos las Global Glimpse Leaders Martha y Holly reporting from San Juan de la Maguana!

What a fun day! We had a guest speaker Angel Jacob, who taught us about Santeria culture and its rich history in the DR. This was followed by traditional “Palo” drumming on three drums carved out of avocado wood! The students were definitely captivated and soon we were all dancing in a conga line!!

Lunch was delicious as usual at our local family restaurant “Rosaura.” After lunch, we did more dancing with the local expert, Shaylyn, who taught us four popular dances of the DR primarily bachata and merengue. We were so impressed by the group! Everyone participated and had a great time!

They apparently weren’t tired from dancing and in their down time, jumped into a lively hour of games! At 4 PM they had a seminar on strategies for teaching English! They were taking many notes getting ready to be leading their first English classes tomorrow! We have many helpful local teen “ambassadors” who are going to be teaming up with our Glimpsers as teachers! It was great to see them so actively engaged in planning their lessons!!

After dinner we did more small group get to know you activities by candlelight and had a really thoughtful circle on our question of the day: Why is culture important in the 21st century? Why is it important to preserve culture?

The students really enjoyed the day! Can’t wait to see what new experiences tomorrow will bring!!