Fun doesn’t even begin to describe the type of day we had today! Our day began with an old school throwback ‘wake up’ call to Candy Man by the Mary Jane Girls. We ate breakfast and then hopped on the bus for our cultural fun day. We went to the Santos day Palo Gallery run by an amazing artist named Rosa Maria. There we learned how to carve wood using a file and mallet. After 1 hour of hard work, sweat and plenty of assistance from the 5 gallery artists, we all made a simple wood carved design. We then went to the MARKET! All of us were thrilled to buy snacks. Our next destination was to the Plaza de La Cultura. There we had another AMAZING meal. As we wrapped up lunch we had an impromptu dance party, warming up for our dance lessons. The ambassadors arrived and the students had the chance to get to know these amazing Bonao locals. By 2:00 we were ready to dance. Christopher taught us the Dominican favorites: merengue and bachata. But it didn’t stop there! The Dominican Republic has a Carnaval (similar in nature to our Mardi Gras). One of the carnival performing groups, Los Leones, paraded into the Plaza in their spectacular costumes. They danced a few songs but then they invited us to dance with them, which ended in a big 40 person congo line.

We headed back to our accommodations for a seminar in Teaching English. This was lead by the ambassadors who then helped the Glimpsers lesson plan for tomorrow’s FIRST lesson. After that it was dinner (many whom tried the root vegetable yucca for the first time), thunderstorms in 90 degree heat and then off bed.

Our most inspiring people today were our student ambassadors. Their confidence and smiles were contagious! Their energy for dancing and insight for teaching English was super helpful in assuring the Glimpsers confidence. By the end of the day, the Glimpsers were all very proud of themselves for stepping out of their comfort zones, both in dancing and teaching.