Hello everyone!
Today was Living Like a Local where we lived with no electricity or running water. We had to take bucket showers and flush the toilets using the power of bucket water in tandem with gravity. Each meal we had was very traditional. From bread and hot chocolate to salami and fried, unripe bananas. We learned that simple meals, which are traditional Dominican farmer meals, can still be very flavorful and filling.
This morning we headed to Guanito in the guagua (bus), where we were greeted by the sweetest community members. We broke off into pairs, and some went by themselves, to go with families to help do chores and learn about their way of life. Some people cleaned couch cushions, washed dishes, and played baseball with the local kids. They were all so kind and receptive to all of us. Our time with our new families made the homesickness fade away briefly.
After spending time with the families, we headed towards the community center, where we ate lunch with each host family and others within the community. We then interviewed different groups from the community to better understand what each group desired out of our future community action project. Currently, our top idea is to build a public volleyball court.
We then headed back to the hostel and prepared for our first English tutoring session! We walked to the school early so we could prepare our lessons. We taught in pairs to people from the age of 7 to people in their 30’s. Overall, we had a blast and found that we really didn’t need to be nervous.
As we continue our adventures here in the DR, we hope to continue learning priceless lessons from the experiences we have. We are so grateful for this chance to come here and we are excited to see our families in 11 days! We love you all and hope that you guys are having fun without us, but not too much fun!
Katie!!! So glad to hear from you guys! We are all missing you here at home. We are so so proud of you and know this experience will change your perspective on the world around you. Keep being you!. Because your pretty great!! And please please post more pictures!!!
Love you lots ❤️
Sahil,
What an exciting day. Missing you a lot. See you in 11days.
Love,
Amma
Katie, I love seeing all the things you are doing. I’m so proud of you! Keep having amazing experiences and hurry and come home to us. Be safe. I love you, Grandma.
Dear Gisselle, I’m very happy you are living new experiences, learning about other culture and making new friends enjoy every moment, we miss you. Love you
Hi Shaylan,
It sounds like your delegation is doing amazing things! Our Living like a Local day there was so powerful, I hope you are learning a lot! I got so much out of that trip! Can’t wait to see more pictures & hear about your takeaways!
-Ms Hawkins
Hey Karina I’m so happy to hear your doing good and helping families with chores and learning what’s it’s like to live like a local. I hope you learn a lot from this trip your the brightest person I know. Keep doing great and doing big things out their love you amiga.
Wow! Sounds like you are all doing so much. It’s good to hear things are going smoothly.
Hi Carter,
Well written! And we are so proud of you!
Betty and Ying
Hi Isa!
Can’t wait to hear more about how it was living like a local. Love you so much!
Mom
Hola Emma – Sounds like every day is a new adventure for the glimpsers! We miss you lots but are loving all the cool stuff you are doing with your new family! love ya – Dad
What an interesting idea for your CAP! I am excited to see how it turns out if you choose to stick with the volleyball court 🙂