As I gathered my body and mind, I arose to the morning sun starting off my day as La Lider Del Dia.

Hey everybody, this is Jalua reporting from the Bonao delegation on our last free day of the trip. Although not a completely structured day because we have the ability to do our own thing, meals are consistently three times within the day that we all come together no matter what. It is always lively with bustling conversation. In the morning we were served eggs, melon, and a creamy oatmeal that was flavored with a fresh cinnamon stick and nutmeg. For lunch it was the wonderful famous Dominican dish Bandera cooked by our one and only Licelot. This dish contains rice, salad, beans, and meat; ours was chicken. Then for dinner we had potatoes with a vegetable beef sauce, a salad, and fresh papaya. I decided to share this with you because this is something every Glimpser experienced today.

I am going to give you a brief summary of what I did today in order for you to get a glimpse of things available on the free day. At first I visited a large super market to get snacks, vegetables, and laundry detergent in order to be ready for the upcoming days. Also a group of Glimpsers met with Esteban, the main person from the Federacion where we are completing our CAP project. They went to purchase the materials necessary for our advanced composting system that we will be starting to work on tomorrow. Later in the afternoon with a small group of Glimpsers, including one of the Ambassadors named Alex, I got to experience a real Dominican barber; my sides are finally freshly cut. Afterwards we ate empanadas and ice cream. These are just a couple of places some of my fellow Glimpsers may have also experienced today.

Today I believe my peers and I learned that without unity and communication we become a very dysfunctional group. I also noticed how much lacking these things affect my own ability to explify good leadership skills. As the leader it was surprising and it honestly hurt me how little reciprocation in energy I felt from the group. We all felt very caught up in the individual, which is understandable as this is one of the only days to focus on ourselves; but in times in which we were gathered I was expecting a unity of energy for those moments. This was extremely hard for me as a leader because I felt that many were not respecting the program, our hostel, or myself through their actions. Many arrived late for meals with a lack of empathy for how that made me feel as a leader. As a leader I found out for myself and through feedback that I need to work on sarcasm. I become extremely sarcastic when mad or irritated and that does not help people listen to me but turns them away. I am proud that although we felt disconnected we ended with a unified nightly meeting in which we could express our feelings and mainly focus on the love we have for each other and this place.