Community Day! (No. 2)

Our morning started with being up at 6AM, 1 hour earlier than our usual wakeup call. We all gathered together for breakfast but breakfast came later than we expected. To pass the time, we did games such as Would You Rather and made a Global Glimpse chant with our tablemates. Our breakfast was a ham or turkey sandwich with cheese, lettuce, and tomato. They also served it with hot chocolate. 

After breakfast, we did our mental warmup on the bus, discussing how the community works together. After around 15 minutes on the bus, we made it to the community we would be volunteering in, Cañada de las Palmas. When we got there, we split into groups of three.

We then headed to each of our assigned houses to start helping the family by doing chores. These chores consisted of sweeping the floors, picking unwanted weeds outside their houses, and cooking. However, as much as we wanted to help the families most of them respectfully declined. Most of the families offered us coffee and fruit. While we wanted to help, they wanted a nice conversation with the group more. After spending time with each family, we headed over to the community hall for lunch! For lunch, we had arroz con pollo (rice and chicken) with ensalada (salad) and tostones (smashed plantains). We both served the entire community hall, including glimpsers and locals. 

After everyone was done eating, we all had a blast! Everyone was talking with each other and dancing. We all had a great time dancing with the locals, especially the children. While some people stayed to dance, others went to play basketball and try new fruits. 

When it was almost time for us to go, we ended by saying big love to the new community that felt like family. All of us were really sad to go because we instantly made a connection with everyone that we met. 

Upon returning to our hotel, Dilenia, we did a self-reflection based on our individual group experiences. After self-reflection, we started our Community Action Project (CAP) part 2 which is design. We planned the steps and tasks and wrote it in Spanish in preparation for our presentation that we would present to Bernando. 

At dinner time, we enjoyed a dinner of hot dogs with some Coca-Cola. We wrapped up our day with our nightly meeting and we passed the torch to the next leaders. 

Remember to be on the lookout for a phone call tomorrow in the morning.

Thanks everyone for reading our blog!

Also, Baldy, (you know who you are) I’m sorry for not being the first leader of the day. I did not feel like doing culture day and I thought community day was going to be easier for me.

P.S. Mom and Dad, I miss you and I loveeeeeeee it here! Everyone is super nice and we all became close instantly and the food is not bad either.