Hey blog readers!
It’s your very tired but nonetheless excited Marcella here to catch you up on what we all did on our first free day of the trip! As LDD today, I took it upon myself to wake up my fellow Glimpsers at 8 am with a very loud, “WAKE UP! BREAKFAST IN 30!” accompanied by the loud, extensive door banging (that Alondra was not happy with). Of course, when I made it to the boys’ rooms, Quang threw open the door and greeted me with a taste of my own medicine and screamed, “WAKE UP!!!” at me while Cristian filmed my suuuper scared and surprised scream on his GoPro.
After breakfast, we had two hours of free time that we spent on our beloved observation deck playing games, making friendship bracelets, eating lollipops, and sharing our most embarrassing stories.
Explore time was right after free time and we went out in small groups to go see more of the city on our own. My group decided to make a much-needed pit stop at the grocery store to get snacks. While the other groups kept exploring the city and doing their own things, my group set out to check out the mini plaza that we saw during our city tour a few days ago. We had so much fun looking around and further familiarizing ourselves with the streets.
The hardest part of the day by far was English tutoring. As Glimpsers, we are split up into pairs or trios to tutor locals who speak various levels of English. As people who have never taught a class in our entire lives, my fellow glimpses and I greeted our classes with fun games and exercises despite feeling stressed about our teaching abilities. Nathaniel, Jenie, Evelyn, Cristian, and I tutored little kids and had fun playing Slap It with them (a game where you slap note cards that have certain practice words written on them for review). We wrapped up our day at the school by reflecting on what went well during class and what we wanted to improve on for next time.
Dinner spiked our day with a big burst of positive vibes as we unwinded with some delicious fried cheese, mangu, and salad. We were all overjoyed to discover that our dinner would be wrapped up with a celebration for Melvin’s (our GG tutoring coordinator) birthday. This meant we got to eat…CAAAAKE!! WHOOOP WHOOOOP!! During our nightly meeting Evelin and Evelyn earned their LDD torch for tomorrow by teaching everyone a few dances that we happily practiced with partners on the balcony.
I just want to say thank you to everyone who’s reading this post. Being part of this beautiful group of people has been one of the most amazing privileges of my life, and every day brings an abundance of unique experiences, laughter, fun, challenges, and learning opportunities. I love these people like they’re my family and I can’t wait to see how tomorrow leads us into the halfway point of this amazing journey. Special shout out to Fiona, Audrey, Oliver, Esme, and my parents for following the blog to see how we’re all growing while spending time here in the Dominican Republic.
Sincerely,
Marcella
Thank you JA2B glimpsers who have shared your experiences in the DR so far. You have all described your experiences so vividly that it is not difficult to picture all of you in the setting you are describing: warm, friendly, supportive, loving, caring, unassuming. It is wonderful to read how you all appreciate the people you are meeting during this trip and how you already feel like family! I am glad tutoring ended up as a positive experience in spite of all your nervousness and lack of experience. Playing games with your students was a great idea. Thanks for sending photos. They are great! Hey Marce, how about suggesting to somebody else to set the alarm for 3, 2, 1 minutes after waking the group up? Isn’t it nice to have those 6 snoozing minutes before the final getting up?
Thank you Marcella for your post. I wrote a longer comment a few minutes before this comment, but I forgot to put my name. I am loving hearing from all of you. The stories you are all describing so lovingly, are very touching. They made one almost cry because they are so full of love, sweetness, and sincerity. Thank you.
Patty Casetta (your mama)
Every morning I get up, drink a cup of tea, and read the latest blog. I am so impressed with the detail, humor, kindness, and thoroughness of everyone’s story. It warms my heart to hear that you are all bonding so beautifully with each other and learning so much from the warm and friendly people of Dominican Republic. The photos are an added bonus! This is such a great experience for all of you! I look forward to hearing more….!
(Sending amor y un abrazo para Alondra, from Ayla & abuelita)
Thank you Marcella (a.k.a. my Sweet Pea) for your wonderful blog. Your vivid prose almost made me feel like I was there. I’m so happy that you’re having a great time, that you’re meeting new people, that you’re having new experiences, and that you’re helping others. It is indeed a privilege to serve. I can’t wait to hear about the rest of your trip.
Jack Casetta (your loving dad)
Hey Marcie! I’m super late, I’m hopeless at this website, apparently but I’m gonna hope you can read this. It’s awesome hearing about your trip and I’m honestly super jealous, but I’m proud of you, hope you’re having fun and making new friends, lysm, miss you xx
-Esme