Day 12 – Final Reflection (No. 2)

HELLOOOO parents, family, and friends, it’s your girls Vannesa and Manaia! We’re back for the last and final day of our Global Glimpse trip in Jarabacoa.

We’re going to take you through our wonderful day: first off we woke up bright and early at 7 AM, ate breakfast around 8 AM, and held a program seminar at 9 AM. During our seminar, we answered four reflection questions that returned us back to memory lane in order to analyze our personal and group’s growth throughout the trip. After answering the questions on our own, we gathered into small groups to discuss our responses, which motivated us to build off of each other to expand further into our thought process. Then, we had a short exercise where we thought about something we wanted to “STOP”, “CONTINUE”, and “START” based on our experiences on the trip: specifically, how we would apply the lessons we’ve learned to our community at home. Once this activity was completed, we transitioned into a light-hearted game where we anonymously tapped a fellow Glimpser based on the prompt given by our GG leader Wesley. For example, if the prompt was, “Tap someone who has strong values,” the inside group would tap someone on the outside group that they saw fit. Moving on, our last activity was a different form of “Big Love,” which we usually hold each night. This time, everyone wrote a shout-out for each member of the delegation – allowing us to be vulnerable with each other and share a bittersweet moment one last time.

After a long program seminar, we had a quick lunch at 12 PM, and prepared for our last trip to the city to get some last-minute souvenirs. Although it began to rain cats and dogs, all the groups persevered and had a great time exploring the beautiful city of Jarabacoa.

Finally, we held a special dinner at a local pizza restaurant where we enjoyed each other’s company in a different setting. Laughs and smiles were shared across the room, celebrating our final goodbye. Additionally, we got to celebrate a very special day: Zariyah’s 17th birthday with two cakes and multiple versions of the “Happy Birthday” song. This trip has been an amazing and wild journey among all the Glimpsers, and we’d like to thank everyone for overcoming all kinds of challenges and always being so flexible and open-minded together through shared new experiences.

To my family and friends from Nnes:

I’m so excited to return home. I miss some good Filipino food: especially sigang and adobo. I need to know what’s been going on with everyone’s lives while I catch you all up on my crazy experience here. I also got sick again (what’s new ?) but like Dad says, “I’m a Hernandez,” so I’m pushing through. Please pet Stella for me even though I’m gonna be home tomorrow. Ate Rainna, I miss your hugs and our daily drives wherever. Mom, I miss your homemade meals and kisses. Dad, I miss our cuddles while watching a movie (while I slowly fall asleep). Ate Yasmine, I miss our nightly talks in the kitchen and all your stories. Koya Dustin, you know I always miss you. I’m excited to see you soon and I hope we can spend longer than a weekend together. Finally, Koya Gabe and Amanda, I hope Tatum is doing well. I hope to visit you guys soon. I love you guys so much and I better get a bunch of snacks when I return. Okay last one for real, to my friends, Audrey, Jeanny, Francis, Elliot, and Katty, I better be caught up on ALLL that I’ve missed and we need to go out to dinner because ya’ll need to listen to what’s been happening these last two weeks.

To my family and friends from Manaia,

I miss you guys so much you don’t understand, you guys know I haven’t been home away this long so I have definitely been homesick for a bit. But I am also so grateful for the experiences I’ve had so waking up every day and learning new things have made me push through. I’ve also made them some new friends on this trip that I can’t wait to tell you guys about. And mom I can’t wait to tell you about everything that has happened. I’m definitely going to talk your ear off. Dad, I’m so so sorry I didn’t get to call you during Father’s day. to the gang I miss y’all so much you don’t understand and I can’t wait to catch up with y’all and after experiencing it I’m excited for y’all to go on your trip. can’t wait to see y’all tomorrow.