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Saturday July 21, 2018

Saludos!

Lots of students have been up since 5am. We had students flying from west to east coast to be all together at once…finally! It always feels right once the whole group is together. Some students flew in and made it to the lodge early. We did some swim tests, walked on the beach and played Spoons. Students that were around for lecture time were able to sit in on a discussion about their leadership style which is a great way to get the program started.

We were excited for Sydney, Sami and Acadia to arrive from the long drive from Santiago. Their high spirits and energy levels were unbelievable but I think it was the adrenaline and excitement kicking in from finally making it to home base. We had some dinner saved for them while the other students that arrived earlier sat around to get to know each other. Tomorrow I look forward to giving the students a morning orientation that will also lead them into a surf lesson and baseball game with the locals.

It was a successful day and I am so excited for what this experience will bring to these students in just two weeks. My favorite word in the Spanish language is vivencia which is an unique and self-defining experience whose import is wholly shaped by the time and place where it occurs. It is much more than an experience that no one else can live or understand; the specific vivencia builds on to the individual’s character and molds them anew.

I think the most profound vivencias are the ones that are abroad. And I am more than thrilled to share my passion for international education with students that are ready to see the world from another perspective. We will surf, we will play sports, we will eat chicken and rice, we will spend time on the beach, we will serve, and we will share our vivencias. Join us for daily updates written by the leaders of the day.

Sending peace and light from the Caribbean!

– JoLyn (GLA International Director)

Sunday July 22, 2018

Hola Padres,

Oscar, first leader of the day here. There is a dog named Oscar at the lodge, so we got a picture together! We started the day with freshly prepared pancakes, eggs. and fruit. We then after jumped into orientation and learned about our surrounding area. Soon after that we received our first surf lessons from our instructor Pedro, a local surf teacher from Venezuela. He teaches year-round a surf school along the coast. We surfed until it was time for lunch.

After our lunch we met up with some of the local people for a game of Baseball. That later led into a dance session and we all learned the Bachata and created new friendships. We look forward to what is in store the next couple of days.

Adios,
Oscar

Monday July 23, 2018

Hola,

Today was another wonderful day full of learning and fun! Last night we had our first lecture about the 7 elements of human security. We also learned about the history of bateys to prepare us for our first day at the service site. We woke up (on time woohoo!!) to a yummy breakfast of toast, eggs, bacon, coco-puffs, and fresh fruits. After we finished our meal, we got ready for the day and climbed in the van for a ride to La Grua, where we are building a basketball court from scratch. When we arrived we had to lay out string and measure the space. With the help of the locals, we completed the first step of digging a base for the court. When our work for the day was done, we went to a very nice (and air-conditioned!) supermarket to get snacks. Now we are getting ready to head to the beach before dinner and our nightly lecture!

-Acadia, Leader of the Day:)

Tuesday July 24, 2018

Hola Padres!

This is Havi, the leader of the day for day four. Today was such an awesome, yet tiring day for the group (now known as the Elite 8). We had our second work day today and I am able to say with full confidence that our group is putting our all into our project. We mixed cement, which to our surprise does not consist of stirring it cleanly in a bucket, rather of mixing it in a giant pile of dirt with pick axes and shovels. It was super draining and we are all in need of massages but are all super proud of our job and excited to continue it on Sunday! We made our workday fly by with our acapella singing of “Let’s Get Down to Business” from the Mulan movie, which apparently gave Beau a headache! OOPS!! Throughout the work day we were able to play basketball and soccer with the kids, give piggyback rides to them, and Martin even helped a local woman read a book in English!

We were all able to create great bonds with the local kids and were sad to leave them at the end of the day, despite our tiredness. On our way home from the work site we stopped to watch some kite-surfing which made us so excited to start our kite-surfing lessons tomorrow! We arrived home (the lodge is now referred to as that- sorry parents!) and ate a great dinner and had an inspiring activity about poverty led by JoLyn (Jo). We finished the night with our ritual of going over our rose/thorn activity where we each say what was our “rose” or highlight and our “thorn” downer for the day; the rose comes easily for all of us, while the thorn is much harder to come up with! Muy bien! Overall, today was amazing and we are all so excited to continue our daily adventures with the Elite 8. As Loubens, our local director, would say, “I LOVE MY TEAM!!”

Adios padres!
Havi

Wednesday July 25 and Thursday July 26, 2018

Sami: Bienvenidos a nuestro programa de entrevistas!
Sydney: Welcome to our talk show!
Sami: Today we will be reviewing our past 2 days here in the DR!
Sydney: We started off day 5 strong with surf lessons from the one and only, Pedro!
Sami: Our lessons began with Pedro’s one minute meditation – very relaxing:)
Sydney: Although we most definitely did not succeed the first, second, or third time, we all had so much fun and made so much surfing progress! Some would even refer to this experience as “educational and thrilling” quoted by the brilliant Beau
Sami: We then embarked on our journey back to the lodge (a hard .01 mile walk) and enjoyed a classic Dominican lunch including rice, chicken, salad, veggies, and fruit (duh).
Sydney: Jo then forced us all onto a large white van and told us she had a “surprise” in store for us.
Sami: But don’t worry! It was just an ice cream run, where we all (minus Sydney’s lactose free stomach) enjoyed some refreshing ice cream!
Sydney: After our ice cream adventure, we headed over to the beach for our first kite surfing lesson!
Sami: iT wAs So EaSy … psych! We definitely struggled, even flying our kite into locals on the beach… oops.
Sydney: “Ouch” said a local on beach; “only room for improvement” promised the instructor
Sami: After kitesurfing we chilled by the pool, reading, tanning, and swimming and then ate another healthy dinner.
Sydney: “Let’s go have a dance party on the beach” proposed Loubens … and so we did.
Sami: Picture this: 10 people on the beach, an almost full moon, jamming to music and listening to the waves.
Sydney: Next we got our necessary 10 hours of sleep (no joke, we’re ready for bed at 9:30).
Sami: Annnd now we’re at day 6! We began the day with the famous one minute ~eyes closed~ meditation and surfing.
Sydney: Lunch and then we were off to play basketball with locals at Cano Dulce.
Sami: We played hard… especially Oscar and Martin.
Sydney: “I am sweating a lot”, said Oscar as he wrung out the sweat from his shirt; “I prefer baseball” chimed in Martin
Sami: And that wraps up our day thus far.
Sydney: Signing off.
Sami: I’m Sami.
Sydney: I’m Sydney.
Sami and Sydney: See you next week!

Friday July 27, 2018

Hola Padres,

Today(Friday) we woke up at 6:45 for a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs, bread, cereal, and fruit at 7:00 AM. At 8:00 AM we got in the bus to head to Mount Brison. After the early morning bus ride we finally arrived. As we started our hike up the trail we stopped at a few places. First, we stopped at a house with chickens, and trees with fruit on them. We learned that the key to survival in some places is to be self sufficient. The next stop we made was to the first – fifth grade school along the trail. The school only has two rooms for five grades. We also learned that the Dominican is lowly rated on education in Latin America which led us to talk about the why. The next stop we took was at a woman’s house where she sold homemade bread, bracelets, and rugs. She also had some interesting fruit called limoncillos.

After a long hike up we got to our destination. Once we arrived, Maxima had food prepared for us to eat. Our delicious lunch consisted of chicken, rice, beans, fruit, and salad. The food tasted so much better knowing that we worked hard for it. As we were eating we learned about the cock fighting that is common in the Dominican Republic. This came up because of the man at the house where we ate lunch was training a chicken for fighting. We thought that the man was going to kill the chicken but luckily he did not.

After lunch we walked down the trail for around an hour. We finally got to the bottom of the trail and felt very tired as we had our bus ride back to the lodge. The day was filled with ups and downs but it felt very rewarding.

Adios,
Beau

Saturday July 28, 2018

Hola Familias,

It’s Alexa, leader of the day, here to give you guys a brief overview of day eight. We started our day with an early breakfast, and were then greeted by our surfing instructor, Pedro, who we all love. We headed down to the beach where we began our lesson with the traditional one minute meditation. Starting our morning like this is always super rejuvenating and relaxing! We surfed, swam and even went looking for shells. After surfing we headed back to the lodge where we ate lunch and had some down time before heading out for another planned activity.

We then made the trip to the well-anticipated Dudu Lagoon. I know many of our expectations were definitely exceeded. There were two lagoons, one with a zip line and 35 foot drop (don’t worry! We were all fine!), and one for swimming and hanging out. All members of the Elite Eight were brave, and took those daunting steps off the ledge and made the drop into the lagoon. It didn’t come as a surprise that it definitely was not the most comfortable experience, and many were not feeling a second round (Yikes)! We then moved on and enjoyed the second lagoon which was full of beautiful clear blue water. Everyone had so much fun jumping into the water and swimming in the lagoon. It was for sure an experience that we will all remember. The place even had a beach volleyball court which we took full advantage of (how could we not, we’re the sports group)! The game was full of lots of laughs, missed balls and serves, and both teams were even joined by other people visiting the lagoon. It got pretty intense, and it was surely one of the highlights of the trip so far. All and all, today was so much fun, and I know we are all looking forward to the adventures that are to come in the next few days! That’s it for now, adios.

-Alexa

Sunday July 29, 2018

Hola
Martin here as your last solo leader of the day. After today, we will double up with leader of the days to finish the program! After an intriguing lecture last night where our local directer, Loubens, taught us about Haitian and Dominican relationships. It was really interesting to learn about the history of the island and Louben’s experience as a Haitian in the Dominican Republic. This led us to a discussion where we learned that the last sports group started a go-fund me page to support Loubens in his education to be a nurse. This started a conversation about being the change. If you would like to donate to Loubens’ education, please contribute at the following link: https://www.gofundme.com/loubens-sine

We woke to find ourselves in the van once again for our third trip down to La Grua. While at La Grua we finally got to use a cement mixer which sped up the process of making the cement drastically. Since the locals had filled up much of the space already we could start by just flattening the ground out. Once the ground was mostly flat we could start the painful (just kidding) process of shoveling the cement into the wheelbarrow and emptying the wheelbarrow onto what will become the basketball court. This process left us all looking like we had stood underneath one of the humongous buckets of water at a water park that unexpectedly dumps on you…. only to find out it was filled with cement and splattered all over us. After that wonderful news, now seems like a good time to tell you that it is Beau’s 16th birthday which means wee all get cake later so, yay! Well it’s about time for dinner so I better wrap it up (no pun intended).

Adios!
Martin

Tuesday July 31, 2018

Hola Padres!

This is Sydney and Havi, the leaders of the day on day 11. Three more days until we see you all! Craziness! We are having a great time here, but are all excited to see our padres soon (but will be so sad to leave each other, as well as JoLyn and Loubens). Today was a pretty chill day, which was much needed after these busy two weeks. We had our last surf day with our instructor Pedro. Then, we had lunch with just our group, which is our preference for sure! Elite 8 > everyone else! Then, we had a baseball game with the locals which we all enjoyed.

We got to witness one of our Dominican friends, Alex, that we met last week at the baseball game climb up a tree and throw us down coconuts! Then, we came back to the lodge and had some free-time before dinner. After dinner, we had a fun debate about mega sporting events followed by a few games of Mafia on the beach! We stayed on the beach until the sun set and then took the short walk home in the moonlight. I bet you all are jealous now! Overall, today was a great day and we are sad to realize that there are only two more days of adventure left in the Domincan! Talk tomorrow padres!

Wednesday August 1, 2018

Hola Padres,

This morning we woke up to a tasty breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and fresh fruit. After we ate, we piled into the van to head to the beach to snorkel. Once we arrived we grabbed our snorkeling equipment and went to the beach where a boat was waiting to take us to a reef. We strapped on our gear and jumped into the crystal clear water. We saw lots of colorful fish. After snorkeling for a little while we took off our snorkels, and life jackets and free dove. The water was nice and refreshing. After being in the water for about an hour we hopped back into the boat and went back to the beach for pizza.

The pizza took a while to get to the beach, so we decided to look around, and shopped. Many of us had to bargain the prices down because they jack up the prices for tourists. For example, a store owner asked for me (Beau) to pay ten dollars for a small wooden turtle but I ended up getting it for five dollars. When it was finally time for lunch, we all enjoyed our pizza and the pretty view of the beach with a mountain in the distance.After lunch, a lot of us had our hair pulled and yanked by a couple sweet dominican women to get cornrows. We then ran through the burning hot sand and into the cool water. What an amazing way to end our trip! Tonight will be filled with activities, packing and lots of goodbyes but Elite 8 will stay strong 🙂

See you all soon,
Beau and Acadia

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Thursday July 5, 2018

Saludos!!!

Flying from the states and internationally, we finally made it! There were 8 students that flew in from Puerto Plata and the 3 more in Santiago. I went to the Puerto Plata airport with my Local Director, Loubens to greet the students. When we got to the lodge in the afternoon, the group of 8 took a two minute walk from the lodge to the beach. We tossed around the volleyball, dipped our feet in the waves, and took our first beach photo. Unfortunately, it’s not complete without Chloe and Emily who will get here tomorrow and Lewis, Shane, and Sam that arrived to the lodge later this evening. We look forward to reuniting as a whole team tomorrow with many more group beach photos to come. The students were sleepy from a long day of travel although we will be ready to surf and play some baseball tomorrow.

I am excited for what this experience will bring to these students in just two weeks. My favorite word in the Spanish language is vivencia which is an unique and self-defining experience whose import is wholly shaped by the time and place where it occurs. It is much more than an experience that no one else can live or understand; the specific vivencia builds on to the individual’s character and molds them anew. I think the most profound vivencias are the ones that are abroad. And I am more than thrilled to share my passion for international education with students that are ready to see the world from another perspective. We will surf, we will play sports, we will eat chicken and rice, we will spend time on the beach, we will serve, and we will share our vivencias. Join us for daily updates co-written by the leaders of the day.

Sending positive vibes from the caribbean!!

A la orden,

JoLyn

Friday July 6, 2018

Hey parents,

It’s Abi and Nick, the leaders of the day. Today we woke up and ate a delicious breakfast of bread, eggs, bacon, sausage and fresh fruit. We spent the morning with our surf instructor Sarah, who taught us how to balance and get up on a surf board. After 3 hours of attempting this, with few successes, we were very hungry and came back to the base for lunch. After fueling up we went to a local park to play baseball, soccer, volleyball. Everyone had a blast collaborating with each other and navigating through the language barrier while playing sports. In the afternoon, we welcomed Emily and Chloe! We will be taking a group photo with them tomorrow. Tonight we are going to learn about the 7 elements of human security and tomorrow we will start our service project.

Hasta mañana
Abi and Nick

Saturday July 7, 2018

Hola padres,

Today was our first day of service at La Grua. Our project is to build a baseball field for the community. Although it was extremely hot, we were able to make an outline of the field which will make our jobs much easier for later in the week. A highlight was definitely playing soccer with the local children during our breaks. On the way back we stopped at a grocery store with air conditioning and got some snacks for our rooms. We look forward to being able to finish this project and make a difference in the community.

From,
Olivia & Alex

Sunday July 8, 2018

Hi Parents,

Today we continued our service project in La Grua and had a similar day to yesterday. We woke up to a breakfast of toast, bacon, eggs, and fruit, and then left to continue our construction of the baseball field! After a few hours of work on the field, we took a short drive to eat a lunch of chicken, mashed potatoes, and fruit. After lunch, we returned to the site and took a tour of the small Haitian community of La Grua. We were able to interact with many locals, and some children even followed us back to the field to help us work. After working a bit longer, we decided to take a break and play soccer with some of the children.

After saying goodbye, we hopped back on the bus and went swimming in the pool at the lodge. We are looking forward to a lecture about poverty tonight, as well as a dinner of tacos. Last night, instead of our usual lecture, we had a debate about megasporting events and their impacts on the economy. We then further debated questions posed to us by our “Leaders of the day”. We are excited to go surfing tomorrow and continue learning more about the Dominican Republic.

Adios,
Amanda and Blake

Monday July 9, 2018

Today was our 5th day in the Dominican Republic. We went surfing for the second time, but the waves were much bigger than last time which made it more challenging. Also we learned how to kite surf. We didn’t do it in the water yet because we had to learn the basics of controlling the kite first. After we went to a field and played kickball and cards until it was time to go back to the lodge. Overall today was a fun but tiring day.

-By Emily and Louis

Tuesday July 10, 2018

Hi parents,

It’s Day 6 here and we got the chance to go surfing in the morning. Unfortunately it rained the night before which caused the waves to be a bit larger, so we stayed closer to shore. But surfing went great and was really fun for everyone. Then we had extra time so as a group, we all watched a surfing documentary that was very interesting. It was about how veterans that come back from the war learn how to surf and use it as natural medicine to cope with PTSD. We had a discussion about how sports can be used as an outlet to build a sense of community, connection and purpose. We had a great lunch and then went to a nearby community to play basketball and volleyball with the locals. All the kids we met had so much fun and it made us happy to see them! We are excited for the rest of the days to come!

-Chloe and Garrett

Wednesday July 11, 2018

Hello parents,

Today we woke up early to hike Mount Brison. The hike was four miles long and had difficult terrain but the view and food at the top made it worth it. On the way up we made several stops, including one where we bought homemade bread and jewelry. Another stop was the school, where many students made the same hike we did to attend it.

We also met a local woman named Maxima, who has lived there her whole life. She told us about her daily life on Mount Brison and we got a group picture with her. The rest of the day was relaxing and we made a much appreciated stop at a store. Tonight we will watch a short documentary about the history of Dominican and Haitian relations followed by discussion with Loubens, our local director that is from Haiti.

– Sam and Mia

Thursday July 12, 2018

Hola parents,

Last night we had our daily lecture, this one was very important because we discussed Haitian and Dominican relations. We learned a lot about the history of discrimination against Haitians and problems they face today in the D.R. Today we woke up early for laundry day and then went out on the water to surf. After a while of swimming and surfing, we came back to eat lunch and then boarded the bus preparing for an hour ride to Dudu Lagoon. At Dudu we played beach volleyball, zip lined over a clear-water lagoon. We swam for some time and then headed back to the lodge for free time before dinner and another nightly lecture.

-by Shane and Abi

Friday July 13, 2018

Dear parents,

It´s day 9 here in the Dominican and we had a service day today. We got so much work done because we all worked very hard and together as a group. We completed the lanes of the baseball field by filling them with the sand that will be used for the community to run on. Due to our hard work, we got ice cream from a local ice cream shop called Bon´s. The ice cream was very good and refreshing for all of us, since we had a long day of hard work. We are so excited to go to 27 charcos tomorrow for a fun day.

-by Chloe and Nicolas

Saturday July 14, 2018

Hola Padres!

Last night we had a lecture about Social Justice and it was really interesting. We learned about wage gaps and inequality between genders and races that exists in countries all around the world. The lecture left us thinking about how we have no idea what someone else is going through until we are willing to listen and learn about their perspective.

Today, we went to 27 charcos which is about a 2 hour drive away from the lodge. At 27 charcos we were able to jump or slide down 10 to 15 waterfalls. Although the water was cold we still had a blast! After completing the amount of waterfalls included with the tour we then went to a restaurant to eat lunch. The lunch was buffet style with choices of different kinds of rices and chicken. After the yummy lunch we headed back on the van and concluded the day with free time and dinner.

Hasta Mañana,

-Alex and Amanda

Sunday July 15, 2018

Hi parents,

Today we woke up to an amazing breakfast of pancakes, fruit, fried cheese, granola, and cereal. After finishing up breakfast, we went surfing with our instructor Sarah. It was our last day with her and we really enjoyed having her as our teacher! After surfing, we ate a lunch of fish, rice, and potato salad. With help from JoLyn, we were able to stream the world cup on a laptop, and Louis who is from France, was thrilled that France won the final. After watching the world cup, we had our second kitesurfing lesson on the beach.

Over the course of the past few days, Blake and Alex have been working on a GoFundMe campaign for our local director Loubens. Loubens has had an extremely positive impact on all members of GLA summer programs. During our lecture about Haitian and Dominican history, he explained some of his struggles as a Haitian in the Dominican Republic. He also explained his aspirations of becoming a nurse, finishing his college education, and working in the Dominican Republic in future years. Funds raised on this page will go towards paying for his Dominican visa and education in the coming years. Feel free to donate using the link below:

https://www.gofundme.com/loubens-sine

-Blake and Mia

 

Monday July 16, 2018

Dear padres,

Today was our last day of service in La Grua. We finally finished our baseball field and we were able to play on it with local kids. We were done early and cleaned the area to make the field look nicer. On our way back from service, we stopped at one of the most famous kite surfing beaches in the world and watched kite surfers in the ocean. It was interesting to watch as we were never able to get into the water during our lessons. It is difficult to learn how to control the kite on land and takes a lot of time and practice to get in the water to do it. We can’t believe that tomorrow is our last full day together! As our time comes to end, we look forward to sharing with you all our incredible experience in person.

Olivia & Louis

Tuesday July 17, 2018

Dear Parents,

Our last day, we went to Rio San Juan to swim and snorkel. We also explored a small cave and had lunch at the beach. It was raining on and off during our time there. We also drank some virgin piña coladas and some of us got our hair braided. It was a good last day to relax and spend time together. We are happy to go home tomorrow but we will miss each other and the adventures we have had! Thanks for following us through our time here in the last two weeks. We have enjoyed sharing our experiences together and we are excited to share more in person our unforgettable memories.

-by Emily and Sam

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Tuesday June 19, 2018

Saludos from the Dominican Republic!

The Sports Service Adventure (SSA) team is off to a great start! We had 8 students arrive together on the first flight in the early this afternoon. We greeted the 5 other students that arrived a little later in the afternoon. Unfortunately, our group is still incomplete while we wait for Spencer S. to arrive tomorrow. The students are eager to welcome him and fill him in on all of the program details and the island life here at the lodge. We took a group photo at the airport but cannot wait to make it complete with him.

This afternoon was short as we headed back to the lodge to settle into our rooms and get to know each other and the two dogs at the lodge, Ernie and Oscar. Afterwards, the group enjoyed a traditional Dominican dish of rice, beans, chicken and salad followed by some fresh local fruit. After dinner, we spent time learning each other’s names and competing in some arm wrestling with Loubens, our Local Director.

JoLyn, the International Director, led an orientation and delivered important information about cultural norms here in the Dominican Republic as well as covering the program essentials like policies and itinerary information. Throughout the 2 week program, each day 2 students will be our leaders of the day and will be responsible for writing the blog update and leading activities. We look forward to using this platform to give families and friends updates about this unforgettable service learning adventure. Here in the SSA program, we are ready to get the ball rolling, literally!

Wednesday June 20, 2018

Hi Parents!

This is Spencer G. and Joshua, the leaders of the day for Wednesday, June 20th. Last year, we met each other from another GLA service program, the Costa Rica Sports and Service Adventure. There, we learned the core values of the program (and surfing!).

Today, exhausted and sleepy after countless hours traveling, accomplished many things and got to know each other more. We started the day with a local breakfast with eggs, potatoes, bread and fruit. After, we learned about surfing with a presentation from Sarah, our mentor. We learned not only how to surf, but what means to be a surfer. We got our first lesson in the pool, and shortly headed down to the beach. The beach was very beautiful and after a short introduction to meditation, we finally got into the ocean.

After the morning of catching waves, we went back to the lodge to eat lunch. The chefs provided us with chicken, rice, and an assortment of fruits. After lunch we went to Caño Dulce and repainted the floor of their local basketball court. There we talked with some locals and then headed home to eat dinner. We were happy to welcome Spencer S. who arrived at the lodge after we got back from service. The group is now complete! After dinner we had a fun “ get to know you” activity which concluded the great day!

Thursday June 21, 2018

Hi Parents,

This is Elliot and Ben, the leaders of the day for Thursday, June 21st. I’m Elliot, and I come from Boulder, CO as a sophomore. I’m Ben, and I come from Katy, Texas as a senior. Today, we learned the 7 Human Securities of Dominican Republic which are economic security, environmental security, political security, food security, health security, community security and individual/personal security.

In the morning, we practiced surfing again, and today, the waves were a lot better. Yesterday, it was hard to stand up because the waves weren’t as strong but we were actually surfing today. We also learned about the history and details of surfing through a couple ted-talks. In the afternoon, we helped re-make a basketball court by mixing cement. We mixed cement for the local mason to pave the court. Meanwhile during our breaks, we played baseball with local kids, and they were way better than any of us. Finally, we figured out that we can eat the bananas that were hanging in the common area…they weren’t just for decoration!

Friday June 22, 2018

Hola Parents,

Lola and Kaden here. We had a pretty filled day on Friday so we decided to combine two updates in one post! On Friday, we woke up at an ungodly hour (6:30am) to hop on the bus for a two hour drive to 27 Charcos! This adventure entailed a 30 minute hike up a mountain where we spent the next few hours jumping and sliding into fresh clear water pools.We watched Scott do some awesome flips and impress the locals. We trudged back to the bus where we then drove a few minutes to a local restaurant where we ate supper yummy food and played some table games. Once our bellies were full, we took the two hour drive back to home base in which many people napped.

Our afternoon was spent swimming in the ocean and learning the basics of kiteboarding. For dinner we had the usual yummy chicken, rice, and beans. We had an awesome lecture from our surf instructor, Sarah, who taught us about the tubular experience of sharing the sick bird waves and corrupt sport businesses.The night ended with a fun game of light-up frisbee on the beach. We learned being courageous and taking risks. We had a fun, adventurous, and unforgettable day!!

Saturday June 23, 2018

Our names are Luke and Philip. Today (Saturday), we woke up at 8 and went surfing from 9-12. The waves were bigger than before and a bunch of people got up. Afterwards we had lunch back at the lodge, before getting on the bus and heading to our community service. Our community service was at Polancos village which is about 15 minutes away from the lodge. We continued making the basketball court and spent three hours mixing more cement. The local children were very excited to see us and worked hard to help us meet the deadline for mixing the cement. Baseball is a very important part of their culture and we played some baseball with some of the younger children during breaks. We returned to the home base at 4, and after two hours of free time finished up the night with dinner and a documentary about baseball in the DR.

Sunday June 24, 2018

Hey, this is Maia, and I am writing about our day yesterday. The first thing we did when we woke up was eat breakfast at 8:00. At 9:00, we went surfing. Although the waves were not too big, they
were nicer than the days before, which was good because we could learn how to get up.

​In the afternoon we mixed concrete at a basketball court. My favorite part about the day was seeing the local and kids. They were so nice and happy to help and that was there main priority (besides wanting to play!). Yesterday (June 24th) was also Lola’s birthday and unfortunately, Scott’s last day with us because of family reasons. We had a cake to celebrate Lola’s birthday after dinner and a nice, relaxing last night with Scott. We already miss him!

-Maia

Monday June 25, 2018

Toby and Spencer S. here! Today, the first thing we did was eat breakfast at 6:30. We got on the bus at about 7 to go hiking at Brison. The hike was 3 miles in the mountains. We learned and saw first hand how far the local kids have to walk everyday for school. We also saw many nice views and cows during this hike.

The best part was eating the food and ice cream at the top of the mountain. Toby and Spencer S. led the pack while hiking. It was a long, hot, day, but we saw lots of beautiful sights. After, we got back to the lodge and all went in for a nap. Then, we just had a normal night with dinner and the lecture given by Sarah about healthcare & economy in third world countries. Now we are having a chill night and hanging out with each other. Lola, Sarah, and Alex are playing ukelele as we speak (and type)! Tomorrow is laundry day for our group, which we are excited about because we need to wash our work clothes. Tomorrow morning Sarah is taking us for a sunrise surf session! We are all excited for our last day of surfing and for going to Laguna DuDu after lunch! Can’t wait to see the zipline and play volleyball.
Hablamos!

Over and out,
Maia, Toby, & Spencer S.

Tuesday June 26, 2018

Hi it’s Julian and Sean!

In the morning we went surfing for the last time and the waves were very big. We woke up at 5:30 for a sunrise surf. We went to the beach and surfed in cold water with huge waves and watched the sunrise. The sunrise was beautiful but difficult to see. But overall, it was an amazing experience spent with some terrific people. We felt like we were just starting to get the hang of surfing but then it was our last day. Playing soccer by the waves made a great morning. After lunch we hopped on the bus and went to Dudu lagoon. Dudu has a zipline where you hold your own weight and fall into a body of water 35 feet down (don’t worry, everyone was safe). Some of us did it up to 3 times and called it quits. At night JoLyn gave a lecture on the power of positivity and we talked about different things that contribute to our happiness.

Wednesday June 27, 2018

Hola padres,

This is Benjamin Michael Snow Rothwell and Legendary Lola. Today we had an entire day of service. This entailed many hours of the morning spent mixing cement and sweating our booties off . We stopped back at home base for a quick lunch/nap. We returned for a lovely afternoon of mixing even more cement and sweating even more. The afternoon was blissfully spent either napping, showering, or swimming in the pool. Our lunch was, to no surprise, some yummy chicken and rice followed by a lecture about the relationship between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. We are all incredibly exhausted and sore and so pumped for the next few days of full service.

Thanks for reading,

Lola (and rothie ig)

Thursday June 28, 2018

Hey parents!

Today was a fantastic day filled with work, food and relaxation. We woke up to a delicous breakfast. We headed out to the basketball court that we have been working on for the past 3 days and began to draw in the lines and paint the court. The children were excited to see us and were stoked that we finally finished cementing the court.

They helped us out tremendously with painting the court, however a few of the little kids hijacked our bus and started honking the horn crazily. After a few hours of hard work, we headed back to the lodge, ate lunch, and got ready to head to an ice cream shop. We didn’t know where we were going but it was a sweet surprise! We ended the night by chilling and celebrating Maia’s birthday with a chocolate cake!

-Kaden & Josh

Friday June 29, 2018

Hello Parents,

Today we went surfing, played baseball, cleaned trash off the beach and learned how to kite-surf. There were big waves for our last surf session. We headed down the road to play baseball with some local kids on a pasture that was only a few yards away from the ocean. Baseball is the biggest sport in the DR, and the kids were better than us even though some were only half our age. After lunch we walked to the beach to pick up the trash that congregates there every day. Sarah, JoLyn and Loubens created an obstacle course for us on the beach and we had fun trying to get the best time. After that we continued to learn kite-surfing, but it was very windy. We were not able to kite surf on the trip, but everyone learned the basic skills. We came back to the lodge and relaxed after a long day, and enjoyed taco night.

-Tobias & Luke

Saturday June 30, 2018

Hi, its Julian and Maia. Today (Saturday) was a full service day. We were finishing the basketball court we started on service day 2. It was really cool that we got to see a project start to finish. It is really rare that it happens. In the morning we painted the red and blue parts on the court. After the morning session, we came back and ate lunch. In the afternoon we went back and we finished painting the court and the backboard looked very good. It was our last day of service and we had a great time finishing what we started. It was really fun to talk and play with the locals. It was really sad to leave them but we were also happy because the basketball court that was a lot better than it was before.

-by Julian and Maia

Sunday July 1, 2018

Hi, its Sean and Spencer G. Today, we woke up at at 5:50 to watch the sunrise and walk along the beach. Then, after breakfast we went to a local dominican beach for the day. We swam, ate delicious food and interacted with the locals. Today, we also snorkeled while shimmying through rocks, coral, and sea urchins (which we carefully avoided!) We enjoyed empanadas, coconuts, pineapples and some savory cold ice cream. We will finish our last night on the island with a bonfire and our last dinner (most likely rice and chicken!). It has been a great time here and the farewells will not be anticipated, however students are excited to return to the comfort of air conditioning, comfy beds, WiFi and of course our families!

-by Spencer G. & Sean

Coming soon.

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Friday July 13, 2018

Hey guys!

Welcome to our blog, it’s Julia and Lillian here to update you on Day 1! Today we learned how to mix cement. It was used to make floors! Floors are awesome-sauce cause they prevent disease. Talked to Jeremy he was pretty cool, played some b-ball outside the old school!

Got back to the lodge to get out the suns Dodge. Went to the pool, water was cool. Ate some dinner, it was a winner. Now we will go to bed so we Can rest our heads. Goodnight we will tuck our bed nets tight so the mosquito bugs don’t bite.

Sunday July 15, 2018

Day 3 has rolled around the corner with a similar theme: cement! Me, Joseph, and my fellow LOD (Leader of the Day), Aiden, led the troops today. We split up into several groups helping paint and build structure in Caño Dulce. The corner got us pretty dirty.

Back at home base we learned a lot about human security in the DR. Many of these privileges we take for granted arent available to the people of the communities. It allows us to get another point of view and check our privelege.

I can slowly start to feel we are coming together as a group. I’ve made some amazing friends, from all over North America. We miss you!!

Monday July 16, 2018

I have to say, for a Monday, today was pretty amazing. We ate breakfast then started our adventure to NY Chiquito community. We helped finish a community center by installing insulation with recycled plástico bottles. What a great day! Later, we ventured to a lovely beach and drank fresh piña coladas (virgin don’t worry!). We then learned about poverty on a global scale. What a day!

Tuesday July 17, 2018

WoW! What a fun excursion day we had in GHI-B!

First of all, the wonderful LOD’s predicted that we would have pancakes for breakfast. Those predictions were true (and delicioso!).

Then, we swam in the crystal clear blue waters of the Dudu Lagun, or as Mick calls it, the poop lagoon. (There no poo don’t worry!). Despite a little rain, we had a wonderful time playing volleyball and napping in hammocks. Luckily, everyone landed safely jumping from the zipline going across the lagoon. Overall it was a relaxing and refreshing break from all the hard work. And to finish off the day we channeled our dinner tourist in the local shops of la playa.

*Nora and Lauren says Hi!*

Thursday July 19, 2018

Hi parents and family (and dogs!)! Today we got to sleep in! We started off the day going to the local clínic and learning about the different levels of hospitals/medical centers. We then came back to the lodge and had a pool day. In the afternoon we practiced taking Blood pressure and heartrate for our brigade tomorrow. We finished off the night by dancing before getting a good nights rest for our early morning tomorrow. Today marks halfway. We cant wait to see what else is in store!

From Natalie and Alexandra

Sunday July 22, 2018

Hello family!

The last three days have been such a blast! On Friday we went to a Haitian batey community for our medical brigade. We worked with 3 local doctors to see over 80 patients! It was a very long, but rewarding day. We got to help do vitals, work with interrpreters for medical history, shadowing doctors in consult, and help Javier in pharmacy! After the brigade we got to stop in a supermarket that had Air conditiong!!!

On Saturday we went to Laguna Gri Gri and Playa Caleton. We took a boat ride through mangroves and the ocean and then spent the day enjoying the beach. Several people got their haird braided.

Yesterday we had our final day finishing up the bathroom in caño dulce! We are excited for our last two service days and our final day at yassica River!

Wednesday July 25, 2018

Hello everyone!

It is our last night here and we are all so sad to leave!! We are already planning trips to see Each other soon.

Yesterday we had our vitamin distribution day in the community called Nueva Yol Chiquito about 45 minutes away from home base. We saw 55 patients that were mostly kids, but also 3 pregnant women. 67% were normal weight, 26% underweight, and 7% overweight. It was a great day and we loved seeing all the little kids and babies!

Today we went to río yassica. We started seeing some lizards and turtles at a tiny zoo, then took a boat ride to the mouth of the river that met the ocean. We spent the day swimming at the river before taking the boat ride back. And stopping for ice cream!

We are sad to leave our Friends tomorrow, but excited to see our families and take a hot showers!