Hey everyone!
Today’s blog was written by the leaders of the day Ulysses and Abby.
Hello, my name is Ulysses and the day of us being leaders started off last night as we got our reward of turning the lights and water back on from living like a local and facing their everyday challenges. In the morning, I learned my lesson of being on time and apologizing to the rest of the glimpsers due to the late start in the morning of sleep being too good. The day started off 15 minutes late at 8:45, but luckily the glimpsers were okay with it as they had 15 more minutes till their wake up call. After the wake up call, we freshened up and got ready to go explore the town more and possibly get some ideas for the CAP project, which involves us coming up with a project that will benefit the people of the rural community of Rio Grande. Before that, we ate some breakfast, which consisted of bread, fruit, cereal and delicious yogurt. As we got into our groups, we finally decided to go souvenir shopping for our family back home, then we went to A Punto De Nieve, one of our favorite pastry spots here in Constanza. Unfortunately, they were closed so instead we took advantage of how beautiful Constanza is and took some group pictures and pictures of the scenery. As Glimpsers, we were very curious about the small things which led us to a wall that was surrounded by small lizards and iguanas running up and down the wall. We all were surprised by the many species and variety of lizards and unique creatures there were. Once we got over the lizards, we walked back to Hotel Mi Casa where we are currently staying. As we were walking back to the Hotel, we met up with the other delegations which included friends from our school. It was nice seeing familiar faces. When we arrived to the hotel, we were presented with a delicious lunch that consisted of white rice with chicken and vegetable soup, which was phenomenal. Overall the small amount of free time we have will always be our favorite because we make it fun and interesting and learn new things about each other.
Hi, my name is Abby and I was the second Líder del Día today. I woke everybody up this morning and took some time to check in with most of our glimpsers, and many of us are starting to be affected by homesickness and loneliness. There were some emotional calls home during afternoon free time before the phone stopped working, but we still found the time and energy to venture out later with one of our ambajadores, Nayezca. We visited several stores in search of souvenirs, but Constanza is not a very touristy town so keychains, postcards, and t-shirts were hard to come by. We explored the city until we were chased back to the hotel by an afternoon thunderstorm, which managed to make the ceiling leak in a few places.
Later in the afternoon, we dressed our best and headed to the school to provide English tutoring to local students. However because of the storm, attendance was less than ideal and most groups only had 1 student, and some had none at all. We did get the chance to plan the next lesson in collaboration with another group of glimpsers, the C3A delegation, and it was nice for some of us to get to see some familiar faces.
By 6:30 the rain had ceased, so we walked back to the hotel just in time for dinner consisting of eggs, mashed potatoes, and apples. The ceiling leaks have mostly been repaired, and I think most of us are looking forward to retiring to our dry bedrooms. At our meeting tonight we discussed what we have appreciated most about this trip and Dominican culture, and Ulysses and I passed the torch to tomorrow’s leaders, Maria and Emily.
We as leaders were surprised about the amount of students that attended the English tutoring. The amount was 3 students in total and 26 of us glimpsers. As a group we are most proud of everyone who took the role of being a teacher which took us all out of our comfort zone. The most inspiring person we met was a student who despite the rain, being sick, and alone, showed up to our class eager to learn and very determined to get to class to get their education. The overall experience was not that bad and we liked the feeling of having a purpose and a role.
Thank you very much and I hope you enjoyed this as much as we enjoyed our day.
Love,
Ulysses (thanks to my family and everyone who reads and enjoys the blogs)
Abby (hi mama and dad and Bennett I love you and I miss you)
One of the Lizards we encountered at free time
Buying souvineer bracelets on free time
A group of us at A Punto de Nieve
Beginner A English Tutoring group
English Tutoring classroom
Egyptian War, one of our favorite pastimes during free time!
We love u Criseyda mama papa and viejo massage cuando regrese
Hi manita!!! Great to see your sweet face in the pictures!!! Sir Bootsy is still looking for you!!?Te la pasas súper bien y te queremos mucho!!! MUAH!!!?
Hello Squid,
We’re sorry things didn’t quite work as planned. Mother Nature is unpredictable. We hope you get the opportunity to tutor again, soon. Education unlocks so many doors…
The photo of the lizard doesn’t look real. We can’t wait to see all the pictures from your trip. You are taking photos, correct? 🙂
On the home front…
Jack misses you. He wanted me to let you know.
Your sister has been telling everyone she doesn’t think you’re missing us because…”Sydney is living her best life” Enjoy the sights, sounds, smells, and ALL the people you have the privilege to meet.
Have a dry, restful night.
~Mom, Dad, Sam, and Luna
Hi Ming!
Yay! Free time! Were you able to buy magnets for the fridge? Omg! Did you get scared of small lizards and iguanas? I can imagine you screaming! ? I saw a photo of the back of your head, I recognize the sun glasses ? hehe.. How was the English tutoring?
By the way when can you call us here? It’s almost a week now that I haven’t talk to you..
goodnight muuah! I purple you! Finger heart ?
Love ?Mommy
Congratulations for your astounding blog. It is very interesting.I hope you guys enjoy your trip and learn a lot about the culture.keep doing an amazing job :-).
Well done to the liders del dia! It’s so nice to hear about your experiences. Love you, Abby. We’re very proud of you!
Sorry to hear you had such a small class. Maybe next class. Just remember it takes small steps and everyone counts. So proud of all of you. Keep up the good work.
Sounds like another interesting day, rain, rain, go away! Admiring you Glimpsers, sounds like each and every hour is a new adventure. Keep the spirits up and keep the smiles on your faces. Smiles to the locals are lifetime memories. Jake, looking forward to seeing which bracelet you picked out for me! xxoo
Hi Florence,
Mommy heard you are not feeling well, please drink water and i will be praying for you, we miss you so much.
Love,
Mom and Isaiah