Today we started off by waking up at 6:00 am then proceeding to wake up our fellow glimpsers at 6:30am. We played Where the Wind Blows for our energizer and had breakfast at 7:15 am. After breakfast, we took out the cookie dough that was prepared yesterday. We rolled out the cookie dough on trays, cut out shapes, and baked them. We then made icing for the cookies with merengue powder, tartar powder, water, and sugar. After the icing was finished, we frosted the freshly baked, warm sugar cookies.
We had lunch at 12:00 pm and ate a Dominican “bandera” which consisted of beans, salad, rice, and chicken (it was delicious by the way). As we were digesting our delicious food we began to prepare for our special guests of the day who were to individuals who were from a Haitian community from the outskirts of Constanza. Around 2:00 pm we started the activity of the day by watching a documentary on the Haitian-Dominican immigration/citizenship crisis of recent years. We finished the documentary and we began to converse with our Haitian guests, Ramon and Enel. They both immigrated to the DR in search for better lives, leaving families behind in Haiti. We learned so much regarding the hardships of being a person born in the Dominican from non-Dominican parents and/or being a Haitian immigrant in the Dominican Republic. After the Q & A with our guests, we enjoyed the sugar cookies we made in the morning with our guests, sending 2 boxes home with them to share with their community.
Something we found surprising from our immigration day today was hearing how hard our guests work, just to live day to day. They went through long, bureaucratic processes to jet legal papers that took about four years, all while they were learning Spanish (they speak 4 languages, by the way: Creole, French, English and Spanish.) Some connections we made with our guests were that we realized that almost all of us are the children or grandchildren of immigrants and we realized that their situation could easily happen to us, especially with this political climate.
Around 4:50 pm, our delegation had our first explore time outside the two free days. There was a flea market in town which was fun for some Glimpsers. However, most of the stores were closed because it was Sunday and Dominicans are very Catholic and take their days of rest very seriously. After exploring the surroundings of Dilenia’s Hotel we returned to the hotel to write letters and do our self-reflections. We had dinner at 7:15 pm, and after a nightly meeting, we prepare for lights out.
Thanks for sharing about your day I look forward to these blogs every evening. It’s amazing how much there is to learn. You guys all seem to be doing a great job taking all the important information in. It’s definitely a life changing experience.
Keep up the great work.
Anjaliyah I couldn’t be prouder of you I love and miss u so much ~mommy
I love reading this daily to see what you are all up to and what you learn. Looks like you had a bit of free time and some fun with the cookies. Hope you all have a great day tomorrow! Love and miss you Charles!
-Mom
Ps The leftovers!!! So many leftovers!!! Ha ha 😛 Hurry back soon.
Isa- We are currently in LA and everyone is hoping your Doing well in the DR. Just wanted to say Hi 👋🏽 and let you know we are thinking about you & can’t wait to hear all about it. Love 💕 You 😎
Isa – we are finally home from LA. CaliGold did really well, but we lost it in the 3rd game Sunday. Now back to work and summer school for Liza.
Just wanted to say hi, and tell you we’re all thinking of you.
Love you baby girl !! ❤️😘
Madison- only a few days and you will be home!!! What a life changing experience you are having and we can’t wait to hear all about it!! Love you MiMi and PaPa❤️