Yo guys, what’s up? It’s today’s leaders of the day: Jo, Alex P, and Nick! 

Our morning began at the early hour of 6 a.m. Waking up everyone was difficult because of the rain and the earlier wake up call than usual. After a delicious breakfast, we headed to the meeting room where we went over the schedule for the day. The rain proved to be difficult and held up our departure, but the waiting time was far from wasted. To fill the time we each shared what makes our home communities unique and important to us. We truly feel that we learned a lot about our fellow glimpsers and found many similarities in our lives at home. The rain eventually subsided and we finally got on the road around 9. 

Once we arrived at Cañada de las Palmas, a local community here in Constanza, we split off into smaller groups of three, each group shared a responsibility with a family. When we took on individual tasks, such as folding clothes, sweeping and mopping floors, organizing potatoes, carrying water gallons, and much more, Nick, Larry, and I (Alex P) were all put into one group. The family we were with was made up of a mom, her two sons and daughter, and Nick and I started off by hand washing dishes and then moved on to helping the mom organize potatoes. Then, I mopped and dried the entire kitchen floor while Nick was outside playing catch with the little kids. After I finished the floor, I helped the daughter bring water from the well to the house to wash off the potatoes. Afterward, I joined Nick and Larry in playing catch with the community kids. While playing baseball, Larry went to the store and brought the little kids lollipops that seemed to make them really excited and joyful.

Later, we met up with the rest of our glimpsers and played different games such as rock, paper, scissors, and other hand games. After a couple of hours playing, we transitioned to lunch where we joined the community in eating potato and egg salad, rice, and plantains.

After lunch, we headed over to the community baseball field where a game was quickly started. The bonds we forged earlier in the day were reinforced through sport as nearly everyone stepped on the field and tried their hand at baseball. The organization of teams matched the impromptu nature of the game, but it allowed us to make unlimited connections with the entire community. Shout out to Ethan for not letting the language barrier get in the way of his connection with the other players: he was out there spreading his infectious laughter and smiles with all the community members. Another shout out to Aylin for helping us all communicate with the community with her amazing translation skills and consistent willingness to help. 

In an effort to be inclusive, Sarah insisted that all the little girls of the community step up to the plate to get a hit. Their excitement was obvious and we were all impressed by the initiative taken by Sarah. A shout out to Jo and Alyra to stepping up to the plate and hitting home runs!!

Overall, each one of us enjoyed the game and our faces were seldom without a smile. While the game was going on, many of us, including Joselyn and Elena, spent time with the younger members of the community. The kids braided our hair, painted our nails all while asking us endless questions about our lives in America. Needless to say, we were happy to oblige.

We left Cañada de las Palmas at 3:00 to take the “Scooby van” back to our hotel. Saying goodbye to the community was a difficult part of the day for many of us because we had spent so much time with them and had felt as though we made connections with the families we had met. Shout out to Sarah who took Polaroid photos with a few of the girls in the community and gave each one to them to keep. The children really treasured the photos, as they were looking at it and comparing pictures as we left. When we got back to the hotel, we all agreed that we needed to talk about the impact that our experiences during the day had on us, so we gathered in the community room for a debrief and small group reflections. Many thoughts and emotions about the day were shared, but most notably we spoke about how happy the people in the community were, even though they had more hardships and less material goods than we are used to in the United States. However, this experience made us more thankful for what we do have and more aware of our privileges. 

In the evening we had a lot of free time which we used for more card games and bonding between glimpsers. Afterward, our dinner was delayed, so we passed the time playing the game 7UP with the group. At the wrap up to our very eventful day, we had a nightly meeting where we shared our favorite moments from a very special day, went over tomorrow’s itinerary, and saw the talents of tomorrow’s new leaders of the day, Elena and Aylin. 

Check back tomorrow for another update!!!

Alex, Jo, and Nick

P.S.

Alex shout outs: Hi mom,I love and miss you will be home soon!!!!!!!!

Jordana shout outs: Hi peeps! Love you! Have fun during fourth of July 🙂

Nick shout outs: Hi Archie! Hope you’re doing alright without me to walk you at night!