Immigration Day (No. 2)

Hey friends and family, I hope you are having just as amazing a day as we did! Our names are Courtney and Isabela and we are happy to finally be able to talk to you guys. We are very excited to tell you how our day went. We first started off by waking up at the crack of dawn…aka 5:00 am. We had to wake everyone up for breakfast today and that was no easy feat considering how much teenagers love to sleep in. We made sure everyone had their laundry bags packed and their to-go bag ready because we were going to be on the road for 4 hours. Fernanda said that her small bag was about to explode with the amount of clothes she packed. I (Courtney) even had to help Keziah repack her bag because she packed too much. I swear that girl is such a diva, but we all love her for it. Our breakfast was a little delayed today so we all hung out in the common room, where we made sure everyone put on sunscreen had their extra pair of shoes, and had their water bottles filled. When breakfast finally came out we ate and some kids even took food to go on the road with them.

We got on the bus at 8:00 am where it was nice and air-conditioned. We listened to music for a while and even tried to make a playlist, although that didn’t really work out too well. While on the bus Keziah did her face mask, Shailyn did her bangs, Graycie, Johanna, and Ava were knocked out, Malaik was reading a kid’s book named Dogsman to the back of the bus, Chaya had a lot of fun listening to Malaik’s story and even said that was the highlight of her day, and David and Xavier were dying of laughter. Although my (Courtney’s) camera died, Princianna covered for me and took a bunch of photos using Fernanda’s and Graycie’s cameras.

We made a pit stop at a little bus stop where we stopped to use the bathroom and we took 15 minutes to stretch and walk around. Kat our Program Coordinator, said that the bus stop was called a Parador Jacaranda, which is a new Spanish word for. David even paid for Cooper to ride the mechanical bull and he had a great time.

When we got on the bus, we took another nap and played some more music. When we finally got to the accommodation we got to see our new house and roomies which we all loved. We later ate a good lunch and then we were off to our new adventure. We took a bus ride to ASCALA, we got to hear from our Haitian speaker and he told us a little bit about his life, which was very interesting. It was a very heartfelt conversation about discrimination towards Haitians here.

After ASCALA, we went to the sugar cane field where we got to see how a retired Haitian sugar cane harvester works. He showed us how to harvest and plant sugar cane and even gave us some to try. And even though a lot of us like Ana, Katherine, and Emely struggled at first learning how to chew on sugar cane, we ALL enjoyed the cane, and we even asked for seconds.

We went back to Juan Dolio, which is our new accommodation for the day and we all jumped right into the pool where we played chicken. Rachel and I (Isabela) Immediately lost. Malik has been constantly winning every chicken match we ever had.

We had an amazing dinner, which was tacos and we ate everything up…there were not even any crumbs left. Fernanda and Mariia loved the tacos so much…that might have been the highlight of the day! After we ate, we went right back into the pool so we could have our last moments of fun before we had to go to bed. Chaya took a lot of underwater photos of us using my (Isabela) camera.

Today was definitely a day where we learned a lot, took in a lot, and experienced a lot. Some of the topics we were learning about were quite heavy and hit close to home for many of us. Immigration is a big topic not only in the DR, but in the United States as well…considering many of our parents and even grandparents are immigrants or descendants of immigrants.

P.S.
Isabela – Hearing your comments always pulls at my heartstrings. As Courtney and I were reading comments she read the one you left me for yesterday’s blog and I had to excuse myself because I got emotional. I’m just like you Papi, and I wouldn’t change a thing <3 (that’s a heart by the way) I miss you guys incredibly. To ma and pa– I love you infinidiously and beyond!!! <3 <3 <3

Courtney – As I mentioned before we had tacos today, and it very much reminded me of home. I realized how much I missed your tacos mom. I miss you guys and Gabriel and Skyla very much, and I can’t to tell you all out my experiences and show you all the picture I took. I have about 700 pictures so far so beware…it may take a while. Give Stormi a big hug for me. I love you and I’ll see you eventually, zozozozo!!!!!! <3

These comments mean a lot to everyone here, so the more comments the better!! Thank you for all the love and support and we can’t wait to hear the comments to come!