DAY 13: Reflection Day (No. 2)

Today as the last leader of the day I woke everyone up at 7:15 am to get ready before breakfast which was at 8:00 am. We had delicious banana pancakes with scrambled eggs and ham along with mixed fruit (watermelon, pineapple, and mango) as well as sour sop juice. After that at around 8:45 am, we started our mental warm-up before heading into our final reflection activities at 9:00 am. We did four different activities which all required us to think back and reflect on our individual experiences and growth over the past 12 days as well as practices that we will continue, start and stop, and a shoulder tapping activity giving praise and love to one another. We finished up those activities around 11:00 am and finished packing until around 12:00 pm when we had lunch that consisted of fajitas, fried plantains rice, and salad as well as sour sop juice and blackberry mint juice. After lunch we spent our final moments at Casa Aquiares’s lodge gathering our things and cleaning up until 1:00 pm when our bus arrived, and we loaded the bus with our luggage and headed off to the hotel in San Jose. We arrived at about 4:00 pm and had down time enjoying the hotel until around 6:30 pm when we had a buffet-style dinner at the hotel that was comprised of chicken, white rice, salad, and other vegetables to your liking as well as an iced tea drink. After that we jumped right into reading the comments on the blogs from previous days, and then I began our nightly meeting by reflecting on our schedule of the day. I had a volunteer explain what the quote of the day meant to them and an additional two volunteers share what the question of the day meant to them. After that three of my peers shared their roses and thorns of the day and gave big loves to one another, we then finished off with our unity cap which we chose our word to be “Memo-ries” as a way to reminisce about our time together and give praise to our PC Memo. After our nightly meeting, we had downtime until lights out at 9:30 pm where we got rest before our early flight the next morning.

Something I learned as the final leader of the day was how much having the respect of your peers means to being a good leader. It makes all the difference when you say the call and response  “Pura” or “Global” to get the group’s attention. Because most of the time people can hear you when you project your voice but it matters if they care enough to listen. Well, today I was lucky enough to be the final leader of the day and my respectful peers listened when I spoke and listened to instructions the first time they were given. This says all I need to say about the bonds that were made together over this experience, showing how much growth each one of us went through, learning what it means to be a leader, and how to impact each other and a community in a meaningful way.

Can’t wait to see you soon mom I miss you!

LLD signing off for the the last time!