Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

HI GLA China Family!

You all left for home a few days ago, and we here in China already miss you! It is much quieter, and it is strange to eat a meal without a huge table with a Lazy Susan and a million different dishes. By the time you read this, you will have been home and back in school for a few months now.

I would imagine some of you are missing the fantastic food we ate: always a potato dish or two, chicken curry, cauliflower and endless amounts of rice. I know I will miss all of our support staff, Uncle Lu, Aliu, Xiao Gong, and everyone else who made our stay in Shaxi feel like home.  I hope someday you all get the opportunity to return to Shaxi to see the work you did, and the temple and community center built and in use.

Here are some of my favorite memories of our trip:

1. Our trip to the stone forest – our first real outing as a group. And then it decided to downpour.
2. Eating bugs. I knew we had a great group full who would be willing to try new things and were open to adventure, when everyone was down to eat some bugs.
3. Visiting the mountain temple and seeing all of the monkeys. That was a good day.
4. Our conversation about the difference between education systems in the U.S. and in China (and around the world).
5. Our first day visiting the kindergarten – watching you all do the morning exercise…for all 30 minutes.
6. Walking to the kindergarten – though far away, it was a beautiful walk.
7. Our goodbye party in Shaxi – watching you all throw adults in the air was both amazing and hilarious. Thanks for not dropping me ☺ .
8. Our last meal together, eating duck and different dishes, having you teach Jenica and me the latest phrases and slang.

I would love to hear what you are all up to, and what the future holds for everyone.

Best,

Sarah

Summer Blog Posts

July 11

Our group has made it safe and sound to China! Students arrived throughout the day, after long days of travel. We headed back to our hotel where everyone had a chance to relax and prepare for our first amazing meal of many.

We walked through a local university to kick off our new adventure with a feast of dumplings.

After a few travel delays, Adelaide and Lily made it safely to Kunming.

Tomorrow we are off to see the stone forest. We can’t wait to see all that China has to offer!

Stay tuned for more,

Sarah

July 12

Hello GLA friends and family! Although we have only been here for a few days, there’s already been many unique sights and experiences. On day one, we arrived tired and ready for decent food. Everyone began to chat about where we’re all from, what kind of snacks we brought and I got many compliments on my penguin pillow pet.

On day one my expectations of China were already being challenged. My whole life my parents have told me “You can’t get real Chinese food in the states.” When they said that I really didn’t know what to expect. As a vegetarian, eating in new places can be challenging. However I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of whole and plant-based ingredients, and the absence of corn syrup drenched “chicken”. So far, none of us have gone hungry at any meal.

On day two we went on our first sight seeing adventure. We took the bus to the Stone Forest, a natural marvel left over from 270 million years ago when Yunnan Province was under the sea. I was in love with the landscape, and in awe of how anything that beautiful can last for hundreds of millions of years. Once we reached one of the highest peaks, the sky opened and quickly we were all soaked. Carefully we made our way down, taking small steps to avoid starting a domino effect of kids falling down the hillside. As we walked along the path, I had the chance to absorb the nature around me. Rarely do I even think to focus on the rain, creating ripples in the pond, running down crevices in rock and dripping from the leaves. The experience was one of a kind, and I can’t see what the rest of China has to offer.

-Katherine

July 14, 2016

After waking up at 8h we had a delicious breakfast made of steam bread, fried dough, warm soymilk and coffee made by the local staff. We then had to drive to the kindergarten where we are going to do a part of our community service during the next two weeks. As soon as we arrived, we headed to the kindergarten. It is a small school with a traditional Chinese building, where children of the surrounding towns and villages go.

They were all shy. In fact, it was like we were aliens to them! As we tried to say hi or wave at them, they would run away screaming which was quite cute. So, we decided to play games with them and just see how it goes! We actually had a lot of fun and as time went by, the kids started laughing and got closer to us. At 10h30, we all gathered on the playground with them to do their daily exercises. They started reciting things in Chinese and then… they just did some dance moves on pop music that the teacher taught them! They went on for 30 minutes long! We were all surprised to see how many moves they could memorize. We all enjoyed this moment. After that, some of us continued playing games with them, and the rest stayed in the classrooms teaching them English and Mandarin words because they only speak the local Bai language. It was amazing to see how curious those kids were. But unfortunately, it was time for us to go back to our home base. We said goodbye to them and walked back to ShaXi.

We walked about 30 minutes by the river to finally reach our home base. We had lunch and after a short rest we took Chinese lessons with Yi for the beginners, and with Henry for the others. We learned new words and practiced our Chinese skills. After this, we had a tour though ShaXi. We walked through the lovely streets and went to the rice fields that surround the town. The landscape was wonderful!

After an hour and a half of walking, we headed back to the home base. We took our GLA notebooks and wrote down thoughts about our trip. We also had to introduce ourselves by talking about our lives for one minute. Then we had diner and we all went upstairs to make our “manifesto”: It is just rules to make our trip more enjoyable for everyone. We laughed a lot! After that we had chill time and at 9h30 we all went to sleep.

July 7, 2016

你好! (Hello)
To start off we would like to give you a short haiku about food on the trip so far.

Red White Yellow Green
Colors of the food we eat
Fills up our tummy

Locals have cooked all the food that we’ve eaten so far. Food can teach you a lot about the people and culture. We have discovered that the food here contains a lot of rice, pepper, oil, and garlic. Those items are a delicious combination! Breakfast consist of boiled eggs, soymilk, and bread. Lunch and Dinner includes rice, vegetables like bak-choi, and meat such as pork and chicken. Something very different from American meals is the abundance of tofu served. All the meals have been delicious and refreshing for the taste buds.
On this trip we enter into their world through food. One other thing that emerged us into Chinese culture was a Chinese movie shown to us called, “A Chinese Ghost Story” (倩女幽魂). This brought us into the culture by showing us standards of gender. The story wasn’t based on morals but upon beliefs that the Chinese people have. The female in the movie was a ghost who seduced “evil” men and lead them to their death. This portrays the Chinese stereotype of women using her looks to gain power upon men. By the end of the movie it shows that there is always a good and evil in the world. The female ghost was able to reincarnate into a better person due to the help of a passerby whom helped her see the better in the world.

Overall our trip to China has led us to be emerged in a new world of culture. We have learned a lot and are excited to learn more.

Emily and Adelaide

The weekend

Hello GLA families! This weekend was filled with fun as we ventured to the beautiful town of Shi Long Cun, roughly translating to Stone Dragon village.

As soon as we walked off the bus, the weather decided to change from sunny skies to an absolute downpour; something we have seemed to encounter a lot so far on this trip.  We took cover for a few minutes in a local BBQ restaurant that we would be eating lunch at the following day.  The rain cleared quickly, and we made our way along the roads that were being constructed as we walked across them.  As Shi Long Cun is a more traditional/conservative village, the boys and girls had to stay in separate guesthouses. We had a quick turn around at the houses, and soon began our hour trek to Bao Xiang Temple, which was on top Shi Bao Shan, Stone treasure Mountain. The views as we made our way up the mountain were stunning, but could not compare to the sights of the temple.
The temple greeted us with a giant gold Buddha and colorful Bodhisattva that stood many levels away from us. As we walked in the temple, we had 15 minutes of silence to take in the beauty and listen to our own thoughts. We observed the artwork and idols; taking the time to think about how lucky we are to experience the authentic Chinese culture on this trip. Along with encountering the gorgeous culture of Buddhism and Daoism, we also encountered some silly monkeys. They were not only silly, but truly brave as they often got closer to us, as we tried to keep our distance.
After a physically exhausting day we were overjoyed to sit down for a yummy dinner at Aliu’s house, a women who worked as a chef back at home base. However, the night was just beginning.  We made our way down to the village center where we met many locals. A bon fire was started and we began TRYING to follow the steps of many traditional dances. We soon had our turn as we helped “instruct” many locals on how to whip and nae nae, do the Macarena, and conga line. Quite a sight! We had lots of fun but were very, very tired and eventually made our ways back to our separate houses for a night of peaceful sleep.
The next day, we walked back to Aliu’s house and had a delicious breakfast of a noodle soup with egg, potatoes, and meat. Sadly our time in Shi Long Cun had come to an end and it was time go. On the way back to home base, we stopped at another amazing temple only to find more monkeys and women equipped with slingshots to scare them away.
The weekend excursion was enjoyed by all, and we are looking forward to the rest of the week in Kunming.

– Lily and Maddie

July 21, 2016
Today (7/21) was a special day because it was our last day at the first of two kindergartens. We’ve all had so much fun spending time with these little munchkins, that having to say goodbye to them was heart wrenching. The truly sad part was having to watch as the girls say goodbye to the little kids they favored so much. We left knowing that our minor contribution in their lives may cause a ripple encouraging them to want to learn more about the world in which their larger friends came from. Having spent as much time as we had with them, I think brought back a part of us that we had all forced to subside, I mean to say our inner child. The one that wants to run around and play, and be wild. Our time with these kids has been enjoyable, however it is time to meet a new group of kindergartners, in a new place, and try to influence them.

Bleddyn

July 23rd

This week was a mix of different activities and was a lot of fun. The week consisted of making mud bricks and working at the kindergartens. While making the mud bricks everyone was able to feel like they are one of the labor workers that helps the community and rebuild what has been demolished. It was a dirty job to do, but all of us had fun doing it and that is what makes it a great experience. Everyone was working along each other and when we were making the mud bricks we realize it was to test our organization as a team and also how we would work as a team. We all contributed into doing each process like mixing the mud together, filling the buckets with my mud, and making the mud bricks with the mold. All in all it was a fun and messy job and it seemed that everyone enjoyed it a lot.

We also worked at the kindergarten, which was a great and fun experience in working with the children there, but at the end we were all depressed because that was our last time going to that kindergarten. However, to cheer everyone up, we were asked to work at another different kindergartens and all the children there were all so excited to see foreigners visit them. When we walked into the new kindergarten, the children looked all happy and excited because it made them feel special that a bunch of foreigners came to their school and play with them.

After all the services we had time to do a bunch of fun arts and crafts. We were all able to learn about paper cutting and make some of our own. Some of us realized that we had a talent in paper cutting, but others just had to work a little harder. It wasn’t all about whether you are good at it or not, it was just for fun. At night we also played games that consisted of working our group, and Chinese fear factor. For one activity, called bucket of dreams, we all wrote our goals that we will try to accomplish as a group and as an individual. Our leader put the goals inside a bucket and we had to retrieve them with a person that couldn’t speak, a person who was blindfolded, and a person that can give the directions, but the only people who could touch any of the materials were the ones who were blindfolded. We were all able to retrieve the bucket in less than an hour. We all enjoyed it and learned our strengths when working as a team.

Chinese fear factor was nothing but a tasty after meal and don’t let the word fear get into your mind. Everyone was afraid of what they were about to eat, but it ended up being a delicious snack for everyone. There were also some movies that we saw which were the “Return of the Monkey King” and a documentary that talked about students from India, United States, and Shanghai. The “Return of the Monkey King” was just a cartoon movie that we enjoyed because it was somewhat depressing and happy as well. While the documentary was a little boring to some people, it was able to spark a conversation at the dinner table. To sum it all up this has been a fun and tiring week for everyone.

Marcus

July 27, 2016
Hi Everyone,

After several travel days full of long bus rides and an early flight, we have arrived at our last leg of our trip: Beijing! We are all happy to be exploring a new and different (and significantly warmer) part of China over the next few days. After our 6am departure to the airport, a 4 hour flight, and a stint in Beijing’s traffic, our group dropped our things at our hotel, and headed off to the Capitol Museum. We spent a few hours walking through floors of chinese history and art. After our trip to the museum, we walked to dinner about 20 minutes away. It was a time warp with the decor a throw backs to the Cultural Revolution and Chinese communism. Our cups all had images of Mao Zedong on them. We got to meet up with a former GLA alum who had both been a student with GLA and a mentor in the past. It was great to laugh and share our experiences of the past few weeks.
We are excited to see all that Beijing has to offer! A few more fun filled, full days 🙂
Best,
Sarah

Hi Everyone,

All students, with the exception of one (sorry Victoria!) are headed home today. We have had an fantastic 3 weeks together and it is sad to have to say goodbye!

Over the past few days in Beijing, we saw a few museums, visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, climbed the Great Wall of China, and ate our fill of Peking Duck. It was a busy few days, but worth the history lessons and views. I wanted to share a few photos of everyone on the great wall (and at the airport), before everyone makes it back home. Hopefully these photos tide you over until you get to see your children again!

Thank you for letting me spend the summer with this smart, funny, and AMAZING group of students.

All the Best,
Sarah

Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

Summer Blog Posts

July 30 2016

We made it!! After a long day of delayed flights, flat tires, and a bumpy bus ride through the jungle, the students have arrived at the home base in Nosara. With a hot dinner in our stomachs, we are all off to bed to get some shuteye before the exciting day of orientation tomorrow.

Best,

The GLA Team

July 31, 2016

Today had a groovy start. With all of the local staff, the students played a game where everyone invented their own dance move which was then associated with their name. In no time the whole group knew everyone’s name and had a new repertoire of dance moves. The rest of the morning included skits, group discussions, and a tour of the hotel grounds. Because of its close proximity and the beautiful weather, visiting the beach was slipped into the daily schedule. The group was able to swim in the warm water and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Two fabulous meals later we found ourselves at the end of day 2. Now that the group has settled and is familiar with the home base, we are off to explore the town of Nosara in the morning!

August 1, 2016

For day three we left home base and got a chance to see our work site and explore some of the community. We met our coworkers at the work site, an elementary school in the community of Santa Teresita. We had a service orientation which gave us all a chance to learn how to use all sorts of tools. Afterwards, we went to a recycling center for a tour which became the inspiration for the first workshop that we plan to hold with the children at the school. Following lunch we got a chance to walk around the community where we were able to get some snack shopping in at some local stores. The afternoon ended with a bang as we did a hike that took us to an estuary, an incredible vista, and the beach. The group got really dirty from the muddy and slippery hike, so we rinsed off in the ocean and then continued on to a Gelateria. With multiple flavors in our stomachs we returned home satisfied and ready for an end of the night leadership workshop.

August 2, 2016

Today was an exciting and incredible day for the group. First, we witnessed the great migration of sea turtles, 300 in all, coming to lay their eggs on the beach which happens after a specific moon cycle. However, in order to do so we had to wake up at 4AM! Without a minute to spare we went straight to breakfast and then straight to the wor ksite. The first day was hot but we were able to prep the community center for our project which will include a large mural among other things. Later in the afternoon we went to a cooking demonstration at the house of a lady named Lisbia. We cooked and danced but, most importantly, we played with a bunch of newborn puppies. We returned to home base for a surprise dessert and then had a game night at the pavilion. The whole group is excited for what’s to come!

-Emma G.

Maddie Swift
Age: 17
Hometown: Seattle, Washington
Fun fact: broken every toe on her left foot
Reason for coming: wanted to do service with children

Faces of Nosara

Name: Alvaro
Age: 33
Hobbies: Loves being in nature. Enjoys hiking and sports, especially soccer
Fun fact: Worked at a recycling center. Inspires many people to help the world and recycle
In this moment: Works for GLA as a local coordinator and also has a job making ginger beer.

We got the ball rolling at the service site this morning by making some serious headway on our mural, the inside of the community center, and the preparation of the workshops we will put on for the kids. We had some delicious burritos for lunch and were able to take advantage of some much deserved free time. The afternoon started off with some Spanish classes where we freshened up our language skills so we could talk with the Ticos. Later, students had a blast swimming at the beach, dancing in the pavilion, cooking at the tree house, or simply reading in the sun. After dinner we watched the inspiring movie 180 Degrees South to close out an incredible day.

– Emma N.

Name: Marley Morgan
Age: 15
Hometown: Onancock, Virginia
Fun fact: appendix burst when she was a baby
Reason for coming: enjoy helping others and seeing other parts of the world and other cultures.

August 5, 2016

Hola! Buenos dias a todos! Today the GLA team had an epic time. Like always, we woke up at 6am and again made a lot of progress including the creation of a cement floor in the community center’s kitchen. We came back, ate lunch, and headed to town for our wifi day! Just so you know, it is something we only get once a week so we don’t take it lightly. Least to say, we were all very excited. After our wifi treat, we returned to the home base and went straight to the pavilion for a snake presentation. The snake guy, Ryan, talked to us about all the different snakes in the area and brought a few with him that we got to hold. It was extraordinary and exhilarating! The day ended with our mentor groups where we talked about active listening and our values. It was a wonderful day!

Student of the day

Name: Emma G.
Age: 15
Hometown: Nevada city, California
Fun fact: does aerial
Reason for coming: strengthen her weaknesses
August 6

We finished our first week of service today with a bang. The group completely transformed an old dirt driveway, added a ton of detail to the mural, and put on a successful workshop about water conservation with the kids. Back at home base we spent the afternoon in our mentor groups telling stories and became much closer as a group. Some students went for a sunset swim and we all ended the day together playing games in the pavilion.

Student of the day

Name: Jenna Sterling
Age: 14
Hometown: Needham, Massachusetts
Fun fact: she rides horses
Reason for coming: to help the community

Community Member

Name: Kim Noguera
Job: works at a bakery with her mom. This is his first year with GLA and she has cooked for 3 groups.
Hometown: Nicoya, Guanacasta
Age: 25
Fact about self: loves being nice and loves to cook and bake. Also, she is taking classes to get a certificate to become a professional baker . Has a 3 year old boy named Santiago

August 5 and 6, 2016

These past two days have been our “adventure weekend,” and the name says it all! Our first day started out with a trip to a monkey sanctuary where we got to see a bunch of local wildlife up close and personal. We learned about all of the different types of monkeys in Costa Rica and the measures that are being taken to conserve their habitat. Our second day we hiked to the water fall that we are painting for the mural. It is called “mala noche” and the experience was so much fun. We did the hike with a lot of the local community members and spent hours jumping into water holes and swimming under the waterfall. Both afternoons the group split up to do different activities. We either went ziplining, horseback riding, surfing or stand up paddle boarding. All of them were awesome in their own way and the group had amazing stories to share when we all recombined at home base. Our days off from service have been full of fun but we are all ready to go again tomorrow!

August 8, 2016

Today we woke up around 6 in the morning to yet another orchestra of monkey howls which helped us be on time to our day at service. Of course, there were the few brave souls that woke up even earlier for an optional run and yoga. Pulling up to the work site today was awesome. The mural now looks like the waterfall we all jumped off and it is incredible to see the progress we are making. The group got their summer workout in with wheelbarrow races and karaoke games while building the ramp. After a mix of work and fun, we headed back to home base to eat some lunch and then later made our way over to Isa’s, Kim’s mother, house. She taught us how to make cinnamon rolls and both Tracy and Winnie stepped into the spotlight when they took over for Isa. In order to keep the other students entertained, Olivia and Maddie put on another episode of “banana talk show” which included a cheesy pick up line contest. While we waited for our cinnamon rolls to bake, we danced and played futbol with some young Ticos. We also enjoyed a brief marimba class taught by the local Guitilleros brothers who used a marimba made by their father. Before the night was over we enjoyed an amazing BBQ, which included our own cinnamon rolls and empanadas, and we danced salsa and bachata. Below, please find (and try to recreate) the recipe that gave us so many good memories:

Isa’s cinnamon rolls
2 kilos flour
1 kilo sugar
4 spoons yeast
5 eggs
1 cup milk
4 cups water
1 squirt vanilla extract
1 stick butter
5 squirt yellow food coloring

Quotes of the day:

Javier ( the youngest marimba band member): “my whole family can play marimba. love music and it’s a big part of me, my family, and my country.”

Isa: “I am never the one to go to about much, but ask me about cakes or pastries, and I could go on for hours. It’s what I love. It’s my life.”

Diala 

Olivia 
Age: 15
Hometown: Los angles, CA.
Fun fact: ate sushi when she was two years old.
Reason for coming: to gain leadership skills for when she does her own research project

By now, we all thought we all thought we were used to the monkey alarm, but today we learned otherwise. After a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit and tortillas, we raced to be on time for our first full day of cementing. Just watching the (very fun) back breaking labor made the rest of us sweat. The day, like always, sped by and before we knew it, we were back at home base for lunch. We spent the first part of the afternoon at the beach and then gathered for a Zumba dance class. The hour and half class seemed much shorter even though we sweat an amount equivalent to three hours of exercise. As tired as we were by the end, the class was immediately followed by a dance party where everyone learned even more moves from the infamous Tracy. The night ended with a mysterious activity. Dash and Jessa took a rope and gave us these instructions: two, twenty six, scratch. With those three words, we worked to solve the puzzle and proved ourselves to be a sound team.
-Olivia, Maddie, and Jenny

Anthony
Age: 16
Hometown: Fresno, CA
Fun fact: very flexible
Reason for coming: was interested in Costa Rica’s culture and wanted to work with kids.

Lucy
Age: 17
Hometown: Mentor, Ohio
Fun fact: born in D.C.
Reason for coming: wanted to make a difference in children’s lives.

August 10, 2016

Today was yet another successful day of service. The team finished the sign for the front of the salon (Salon Multifuncional), finished cementing the ramp, and continued on the inside wall’s border design and the mural outside. Following service, we went to a pizzeria close to our hotel. We had delicious pepperoni, margarita, and vegan pizza with side salads and fresca de sandia. Some of the group went to the beach, while another left to the resort. After playing in the low tide, the “beach girls” headed back to the hotel to get ready for Cafesito. We were all required to dress nicely, as fellow ticos and ticas were inviting us into their homes. Essentially, cafesito is a time where ticos and ticas come together in the afternoon to spend time together. They’d chat over a snack of tortillas or empanadas and drink delicious coffee.

Tico culture especially values family and family time as well. Cafesito is an exemplary example of just how much they value time with one another. We split into two groups: one group went to Josue’s house, a kid who we play with while working at the salon and another went to Jen’s boyfriend’s house. There, we chatted with Alonzo’s parents, daughter in law, and grandson. They served us delicious tortillas with cheese and sour cream and hot coffee with brown sugar and milk. We chatted with each parent individually, as we implored on topics such as the history of Nosara, life back in the 70’s, the impact of tourism in the community, and the general growth of Nosara and Santa Teresita as towns. It was extremely eye opening. Following cafesito, we went back to the resort to a dinner of quesadillas. The final activity was a student led activity and we all chose to watch 180 Degrees South, a documentary on a journey to Patagonia, southern most tip of South America.

Manuel Cardenas
Age: 55
From: Costa Rica
About: has dedicated his life to his work as an artist. Owns his own furniture shop and loves collaborating with the community.

August 11, 2016

¡Hola! ¡Buenos Dias a todos! Today we started our day off with service as always – with the help of everyone we were able to finish up cementing for the ramp and are pretty much finished with the mural! Throughout our time working, we had quite a bit of fun singing songs and making videos, one of which ended in a bloody mouth for Anthony. After service we rushed home for some lunch and got on our way for a fun wifi outing. At wifi we enjoyed some ice cream, bagels and some fun souvenir shopping. Around 3:30 pm we left straight from Guiones to visit Cuinco, the only person living in Nosara who still uses oxen daily. At his place we learned some interesting facts about both his oxen and his family, including that he has 30 grandchildren. After our fun outings for the day, we headed on home with an extra hour before dinner, where we all relaxed and packed for our exciting trip to Rio Celeste for the next three days! Before heading off to bed we spent a little bit in the pavilion in our mentor groups playing some fun games together.

-Maddie

Kira

Faviola
Age: 16
Hometown: Seattle, Washington
Fun fact: has a twin
Reason for coming: make a change in another community.

Winnie

Age: 15

City : Asbury Park, NJ

Fun Fact : She loves to bake

Reason for coming : She wanted an adventure

August 15

Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

When the waves of GLA blue started to come in through the arrival gate at the Liberia terminal, Session One of The Initiative for Children had officially begun. We all piled on to the bus that would be our primary transport for the next three weeks and met our driver, Nixon, who would become dear to us all. After a very long and bumpy ride home, we settled into our home base and were served our first dinner by Kim, our incredible chef. The first few days were filled with team building games and tours that allowed us to familiarize ourselves with our new home in Nosara, Costa Rica. Being a service-learning trip, we were all anxious to see our work site in the neighborhood of Santa Marta. When we first pulled up in front of it, we immediately realized we had our work cut out for us. What we stared at were the remains of a playground for which to get to we had to cross a makeshift bridge of tires and rocks over an enormous swamp like mote.  It was hard to picture what this deteriorated lot could become but, nonetheless, we showed up the next day bright and early with our work gloves on determined to create something great in the weeks to come. In addition to our daily work at the playground, we ran a camp for the children of the community at the nearby plaza. Each morning, a third of the group would lead a parade of children and dogs away from the work site and spend hours playing games. It was here that the GLA students revealed their previous experience and innate ability to entertain, teach, and care for youth. With unconditional compassion and the best intentions, the international staff witnessed the GLA students foster a safe environment for the neighborhood children and connect on an intimate level with kids of all ages, infants to teenagers.

Outside of service work, our afternoons and days off were filled with cultural and adventure activities. This group had a knack for creating a sense of mutuality wherever they went. Whether it was backyard soccer, clapping games, or somehow turning every bus ride, cooking class, and vacant moment into a dance party/sing-along, the GLA students demonstrated that they loved having fun and were inclusive of the local community in doing so. Adventure activities are nearly always a good time. It’s hard to beat the longest zip line in Costa Rica, horseback riding on the beach, or rafting over a 12ft waterfall. However, the peak of the trip, despite being during an excursion weekend, was not a result of an adrenaline filled moment. New places, walks through the rainforest, and long bus rides ignited a transformative experience for this group who through group reflection and introspection collectively made the final step towards forming a strong and fully bonded unit.

By the end of the final week, the playground had already been transformed into a colorful and desirable place to be. The GLA participants devoted 52 hours of their lives to mixing cement, building play structures, digging irrigation canals, and serving as mentors to the neighborhood kids. On our last day, as the final touchups were being made a flood of children showed up to look upon what the GLA students had created for them. Our local leaders, Alvaro and Susan, gave the final okay and the park officially opened. Instantly there were kids playing soccer, swinging, climbing, and laughing in every square foot of the playground. Students joined in, group pictures were taken, and when we finally boarded the bus to leave, all of the kids and parents at the site ran to the perimeter fence and waved us goodbye. As we drove off, the buss filled with emotions. The GLA students had bonded with each other and this community at an unanticipated level. Although it was difficult to recognize that the trip had come to an end, witnessing the playground become the vibrant and safe place to play that we hoped it would have confirmed that the past three weeks had been for a good cause and that the GLA students had accomplished their goals.

-Dash

Kodhei- you were our first student to arrive in the first session of the summer. However, when you came through the arrivals gate there was another GLA program picking up and we all waved to you hoping that you were in our program. When the words “the initiative for children” left your mouth it was one of the most exciting moments of our summer.

Kira- remember Santi? I doubt you’ll ever forget him. I’ve never seen someone form such a quick bound with a young kid as you did in the midst of an intense construction service project!

Jonah- Campanita Dos! The day you dropped the shovel on Nixon was what finally allowed us to become close with the local staff. I’ll always remember you sitting on Campanita’s shoulders in order to hammer the top of the seran.

Kennedy- Have you been able to find an empanada  as good as the ones we had everyday at the park? I’m sure Diana, the “empanada lady,” misses you as much as you miss her.

Lesly- I still owe you a Pipa for scoring a goal on me at the plaza!

Ester- remember how we watched Finding Dory? Your trip should have been called, “Finding Paublo.”

Beatrice- the evening of the cooking class was the first night our group busted out the tunes and dance moves. We all followed your lead when you sang, danced, and stirred the bowl of Arroz con Pollo.

Lizzy & Britton- you two were the first people to discover the secret star gazing spot. Looking up through the jungle, it was often hard to distinguish the fire flies from the shooting stars.

Oscar- you road a horse next to La Boca, through the jungle, and on the beach. Then you posed for the most incredible sunset photo of the summer.

Summer Blog Posts

Day 1

The Initiative for Children students arrived to Costa Rica today safe, sound and ready for 3 weeks of service, fun, and adventure! Our early arriving students had a typical casado lunch, consisting of rice, beans, plantains, salad, and a choice of either chicken, steak, or veggies. After lunch, the rest of the students arrived and we made the three-hour journey from Liberia to our Home Base in Nosara (with a rest stop halfway.) Today, our students also signed up for two adventures of their choice- surfing on one of Costa Rica’s best beaches, stand up paddle boarding through mangroves, zip lining through the jungle, or horseback riding on the beach.

Once we arrived to our Home Base, we unloaded suitcases and got everyone moved into their rooms. We had a delicious dinner and then headed to the pavilion for quick introductions and our first group activity. Everyone went to bed early so they are ready as tomorrow we start orientation bright and early!

Check out some pictures from today:

Jessa, Yensi, and Dash greeting students at the airport

Everyone on the bur heading to Nosara.

Lauren showing off her lunch

Day 2

The Initiative for Children team started the day bright and early. After a delicious breakfast comprised of local fruit and Gallo Pinto, a typical Costa Rican rice and bean dish, we gathered at the Home Base pavilion to play group bonding games that included the local staff. Additionally, the students created skits to teach each other about the program and hotel rules, discussed cultural norms, and, in the midst of all this, saw their first monkey!

Together, the group walked along a path, through the jungle and on the beach to a restaurant located right on Playa Pelada, the beach where the “locals” choose to spend their time. In the afternoon, everyone was able to cool off in the Pacific Ocean, play volleyball, and spend some enjoying the beautiful sight. The day came to a close with an enormous pasta feed followed by a closing activity, prompting students to answer the question: “What inspires you?”.

Day 3

Today we headed out to explore the service area after a healthy breakfast of eggs, cereal, fruit, yogurt, and toast. We connected with the locals and the children at the park, where we will be doing the majority of our service work, and discussed our plan for the next few weeks. We were given the opportunity to test out the tools that we will be using and talked about the activities that we will be doing with the children.

Next, we headed out to the recycling center! We were provided the opportunity to really learn and understand the recycling process, the sorting of the waste by both material and color. We even got to see the machine breaking down the glass into small pieces!

After lunch, we headed into our Spanish classes based on our proficiency level. The native speakers learned ‘tico words’, the intermediate class learned useful phrases for the worksite, while engaging in general conversation, and the beginner class was introduced to Spanish and the basic phrases that may be used to get around in Costa Rica.

In our mentoring groups after Spanish class, we discussed our emotional, intellectual, physical and spiritual state of mind, and our thoughts on leadership. This led to a conversation about those whom we find to be inspirational leaders. We also played games that required teamwork and coordination.

In the evening, we went down to the beach, climbed over rocks, played beach football, took pictures, and watched the beautiful sunset. We made it back in time for a delicious dinner of burritos. We ended the day with the documentary ‘180 degrees South,’ and our reflections about what we learned during the day.

– Alyssa and Kodhai

Day 4

Today we started our first day of service at the community park in Santa Marta. It was a day of cleaning up the service site, preparing to build, and improving upon the park’s existing structures.

While working on the service site, we connected with the community by playing with the kids and buying empanadas and orange juice from a woman in the neighborhood.

Lastly, to end our adventures for the day we took a community walk through Nosara. We learned a lot about previous GLA projects in the area and how the community works and runs.

– Jonah and Isabel

All pictures taken by Jonah Fawcett-White/Jessa Coulter

Day 5

The students woke up at 6am and we all had breakfast together at 6:30am. After breakfast, we departed for our second day of service. Our service was from 7:30am to 11:30am with breaks in between when some ladies from the community made empanadas and orange juice for us. We split the group, so that half of them did service at the playground, while the other half did activities with kids from the community. At the playground, we dug up holes to put up posts for a fence, painted wood for the fence and fixed the hopscotch area. The group who did activities with the kids played soccer, taught them some English, and played tag.

After service we came back to home base to shower and eat lunch. For lunch we ate chicken with onions and bell peppers, yucca (a root vegetable, very similar to a potato) and salad. After lunch, we got together at the Pavilion and decided to come up with ideas for our community norms such as respecting each other’s boundaries, communication, being mindful, wearing appropriate clothing, and volume control. Everyone discussed and signed the community norms aka the GLA Constitution. We then went to a community member’s (Lisbia) home and she taught us how to cook a traditional Costa Rican dish called Arroz con Pollo. After we cooked, we got to taste the meal, which was really good. Lisbia also had some side dishes for us like a vegetarian meal, vegetables, fruit, salad, potato chips and te frio (a type of iced tea). We then hung out for a while in her house, listened to music and had a really good opportunity to talk to others.

Then, we came back to home base and got a surprise from Kim, our chef. She baked us chocolate cupcakes and we had ice cream with it. After our dessert, we played mafia and had our squeeze of the day, which was centered around the following question: how did you respect your community. Then everyone went to bed and fell soundly asleep.

– Kathy & Allison

June 17, 2016

Today started with our normal 6:30am breakfast followed by the bus ride to service. At the service site, we continued to dig more holes, mixed concrete, painted, and did whatever work we could do to keep busy. The park is already looking so much better now compared to the day we started. The activity group organized and played fun games with the children. Additionally, we painted pictures and taught them some basic English skills.

After lunch we had the opportunity to go to a gelato place where we had delicious Italian gelato. Here, we finally had wifi and were able to connect to friends and family back home.

When we returned to home base, we had a snake presentation where we learned about the dangers and types of snakes in Costa Rica. Ryan, the Snake Dude, brought two different types of snakes and we had the opportunity to touch both of them. Finally, we wrapped up the day in our mentor groups where we discussed values and our experiences on this trip so far.

6/18/2016

Day 7 at the service site started off with a lot of digging and a lot of painting. There was mixing of cement and decorating of tire-caterpillars. Through the heat and the humidity, the crew persevered and successfully set up several poles for the new swing set and for the framing of the fence. The painters worked tirelessly to sand the frames and tires that needed painting and occasionally decorated themselves with a colorful stripe on their face when wiping sweat off their forehead. Our crew was strong until the end when we headed off to meet the activities crew at the community center to watch the local soccer tournament.

Over at the plaza (what Costa Ricans call the soccer field), the GLA volunteers organized activities for several kids. We drew, made origami and paper airplanes, and played soccer. Later in the morning, there was a soccer tournament, so the GLA students and community kids couldn’t go inside the salon (community center) during the game. We used the small space we had to play Duck, Duck, Goose, Ring Around the Rosy, Simon Says, and soccer. About twenty community kids joined in the fun. We saw several familiar faces and also met some new kids.

At the soccer tournament, there were many options for food. Some people had the vegetarian bowl (which consisted of a tortilla with yucca and salad), and others chose the carne pinchos. Personally speaking, the pinchos were the best thing I’ve eaten in Costa Rica (it reminded me of my mom’s cooking, thanks Mercy).

Later in the afternoon, Jessa and Dash held mentor group sessions on the beach. Each person had time to share her or his life story. It was very emotional!

In both mentor groups, we got in touch with our emotions. We talked about weaknesses and strengths within ourselves. It was a mixture of tears, hugs, and mosquito bites. Although the mentor groups lasted for around three hours, the conversations continued among the students afterwards, and it gave us all something to think about and process during the ensuing meal and free time.

– Britton and Kira

PS- Hey, Mom. It’s Kira. Do you see that picture of the little girl? Doesn’t she look like Mily?? So cute!!

6/19/2016

Today marked the eighth day of GLA’s The Initiative for Children program in Costa Rica and it was truly an adventure. Instead of having breakfast at 6:30am we had breakfast at 7:30am! That’s a whole extra hour of sleep! After a nice meal of fruit, gallo pinto, and eggs we all headed to the Pavilion for an activity. At the Pavilion we watched a creative short film about technology and the human connection. This video sparked an eye opening discussion determining both the positive and negative uses of technology.

At 8:00am we all got on the buses and drove to the SIBU Monkey Sanctuary. We participated in a hands-on tour of the sanctuary where we learned all about the life and struggles monkeys face due to new infrastructure developments. Check out the work they do: http://sibusanctuary.org

After lunch we all divided into our different adventure groups. Some of us got to surf Costa Rica’s famous waves, while others got to zip line over the green canopies, or go stand up paddle boarding in mangroves.

Those of us who went zip lining experienced A LOT of unexpected tropical rain, with the VERY unexpected appearance of a boa constrictor.

On our surfing extravaganza we first did some souvenir shopping than headed for the beach. At the beach we split into groups of three and got a quick surfing lesson where we were taught skills like how to paddle and stand up on the board.  Afterward, we all headed out into the ocean. While we surfed the sun began to set and it rained too. It was a beautiful experience.

Our stand-up paddle boarders had a great time paddling through the mangroves, avoiding baby crocodiles and seeing wildlife. Unfortunately, our trip was cut a bit short due to swarming mosquitoes. We enjoyed a snack of fresh pineapple and watermelon. Afterward, we headed to the beach to watch the surfers end their lesson and enjoy the beautiful sunset.

And here are some new photos from the adventure:

6/20/2016

Today was a very eventful day! After breakfast, we spent a wonderful morning lounging on the beach and swimming in the ocean. Afterwards, we had a delicious lunch at Soda Vanessa (a small restaurant is called a soda in Costa Rica).

From there, we broke up into our groups and headed to our activities. These activities consisted of zip-lining, surfing, and horseback riding. The surfers and horseback riders were even able to catch a glimpse of a beautiful sunset. Upon returning to home base we ate dinner and headed to the pavilion for a game night. We are ready to continue our service tomorrow!

June 21st – Day 10

After a long weekend of fun, the students went back to service. An exciting evening full of fun events followed the hard day of work. First, we all went to the house of our cook’s mom to learn how to make bread. When we finished and the bread was in the oven, we proceeded to attend an interactive marimba concert! The night ended with a Tico BBQ and more fun music.

The students enjoyed themselves!

June 22, 2016

Today was very sunny and nice. We had a lot of fun getting closer to finishing the park, interacting, and playing soccer and fun games with the local kids. We got a lot done and are closer to completing the park and may be moving on to refurbishing the plaza.

At the community center there were a few locals that came out to clean up the trash from the 3-day soccer tournament they had. All the students from the activity area volunteered to help them tidy up the soccer field.

Before dinner, we had a dance class. Check it out!

Overall, all the students are healthy and enjoying everything that Costa Rica has to offer.

– Carson and Mia

June 23, 2016

Day 12: Para que aprendan

Leaders of the Day: Lesly and Ester

We began the morning at 6:20 am by waking up everyone while making sure they got to breakfast on time. Our value for the day was Punctuality and we made sure they understood it. Most got to breakfast late, but we let it pass because we understand we were all tired. We then headed to Santa Marta to continue our amazing service work that will forever stay in our memory. Since we’re bilingual, we took the liberty of writing our daily schedule in Spanish.

At service site, we built a new structure and began painting the sign at the front of the park. The new structure was a climbing structure with colorful tires. Britton, Oscar, Kira, and Kathy helped finish building and repainting it. Allison spent the morning repainting and going over the letters, that Ester drew, with paint to make sure the sign was colorful and attractive for the guilas (the Tico word for kids). Five minutes away Ester, and a few other students went to the Plaza to entertain the kids with coloring, jump roping and a few good games of soccer. Also, a few of us got to meet some Ticos and get to know them and their lifestyles in Costa Rica.

As one of our afternoon activities, we had the opportunity to go to a cafecito. A Cafecito is a small event that involves queso fresco, tortillas de maiz, coffee, and a good group of friends. A cafecito usually occurs either a few times a week or even every day. As a group, we got to meet Marleny and her beautiful family who also hosted this amazing cafecito from 4 to 6pm.  As 6pm approached, Jen, took this moment to give us a tour of where the second Initiative for Children group will be working this summer.

It is currently 7:27pm, Lesly and I are sitting here writing the blog while our peers are preparing their own unique desserts. It is Dessert & Movie night and we feel very excited to share this moment with each other as the days are flying by.

-Lesly y Ester

P.S. I love you so much mom!! And I miss you and everyone very much!! No puedo esperar verla pronto con una caja de pizza y un gran abraso!! -Ester

P.P.S Te Amo Madre mia! Hope your having fun without me, I know you’re not because you text me everyday telling me you miss me! I miss you too! -Lesly

June 24

Today the Initiative for Children group woke up to a warm summer day. After enjoying breakfast, the group worked hard at the worksite to finish the park and spent time at the community salon playing and learning from the local kids. After putting in a couple of hours of hard work, the group came back to home base to eat steak for lunch. Even though it began to rain, the group was not held back from participating in the experience of seeing and riding an ox cart. After the Ox cart experience, the whole group was able to use wifi at local cafes. We ended the day by eating fried chicken fingers and French fries.

June 25, 2016

Today we woke up bright and early. We ate breakfast and headed out at 7am for our 5 hour journey. We stopped a few times along the way for snacks and bathroom breaks. After lunch we hiked and crossed a few hanging bridges! After our long drive, we arrived at our new lodging during our weekend adventure.

Written by Kennedy & Skylar

June 26, 2016

Sunday, a haiku:

Cow milking is fun

We all hiked to blue water

Sugar cane we loved

June 27, 2016

We had a very adventurous day today. White water rafting was new for some people, and everyone had an amazing time! We spent about two hours going through rapids and encountered a 12 foot waterfall at the end! Most of us only got drenched, but a couple people experienced the thrill of being ejected from the raft. Everyone made it out with no injuries while having a lot of fun.

After rafting, we took a 3 hour bus ride to homebase in Nosara.

When we got back to home base, we gathered together under the pavilion and did our squeeze. Squeeze is our daily evening ritual. We all hold hands in a circle, the Leaders of the Day come up with a question and we all go around and answer the one question asked. Today’s question was “What was your favorite part of the weekend?”. Some of the responses we had were: hiking to the waterfall, white water rafting, seeing the clear blue water, and swimming in the river.

June 28

One word to describe today would definitely be “chill.” After a well deserved extra hour of sleep, we were treated to a delicious pancake breakfast! Later for the first time, we were all on time to meet the bus for service when we learned that they would be half an hour late. This meant that we got even more time to play cards, listen to music, and even sleep!

The day at the work and activity sites was pretty easy going, and yes, chill as well. After service we had lunch and four hours of free time. Some of us spent a couple of hours at the beach swimming and having a sand fight, while others watched Inside Out. We all met up to watch the sunset before our amazing pesto pasta dinner.

While today was rather laid back, I think we all got a lot out of it. In the midst of the messy sand fight, tear jerking movie, and endless card game battles, we have all grown closer together. I’m sure we all can’t wait to see where these last three and a half days will take us.

– Kayla

June 29, 2016

As our trip is coming to an end we are almost done with our service project. Today we were able to do some final paint touchups and construct a green saran barrier for the playground. Many of the kids who have been attending our daily activities at the plaza are currently studying hard for their finals, so we have adopted the idea of picking up trash around the community. Our afternoon fishing trip was canceled due to rain. So, instead, we stayed at home base and did activities with our mentor groups. Tonight we had pizza for dinner and watched Finding Dory.

Written by Lesly & Kennedy

June 30, 2016

Dear Diary,

Today we all hopped on the bus and bumped to the service site at 7:15 sharp. Eight of us walked to the school where we met up with cute kiddos who had just taken their midterms (good times) before “winter break.” During recess, we played fútbol, piedra, árbol, puente, limbo, gave a multitude of piggy back rides, and face painted a bunch of really, really cute little kids, who were all super excited to be transformed into their favorite superheroes or animals. It was just sooooo lovely how all the kids were “aspauragusing” themselves. About an hour through the day, all the GLA kids were exhausted (can’t beat the heat), but were greeted by the lovely empanada lady, Diana, who brought them chicken and vegetable empanadas and fruit juice. These kids were so #adorable. As we walked through the neighborhood on the way back to the service site, the kids like waved at us and stuff, it was SO exciting.

At the same time, the rest of the GLA students were busy at work at the service site. It was the #struggle. After putting up the green mesh around the soccer field to stop the ball from hitting the cute houses around the field, we touched up everything in terms of paint; so that means we finished painting flowers on the monkey bars and decorated painting and drawings on the fence, but were totally not done with that yet (we only have one more day, yikes!) Um, yeah, so like that’s what we did at service, and it made us all really sweaty, and seriously, like I’m telling you, no joke, my arms are the color of tomatoes.

Back at homebase, we had a scrumdiddlyumptious lunch (aka, chicken wings…WITH BBQ SAUCE.) Después del almuerzo (I’ve been practicing my Spanish!), we had two hours of free time where some of us decided to catch up on our beauty sleep, and others chose to play a super rad game called Buddha. Next, we all hopped back on the bus and jammed our way to the Café Paris to eat some yummy snacks and connect to wifi (#instagram #snapchat – my streaks are still alive y’all!) After Café Paris, we all ran around in groups of three (responsibility thanks to the leader of the day AKA ME) to do some shopping!!! We shopped till we dropped, but we all made sure we had at least $30 to get back into the United States (*cough* Carson).

Flash forward to Homebase, where we had a really solid meal of meat and bean burri-toes (gotta have that protein!) with a side of salad. After filling our tummies, we all were told to go down to the pavilion. . . SURPRISE! It was an unbirthday partay!!! Since nobody’s birthday was actually during the program dates (happy early b-day Lesly and Mackenzie!), we celebrated with some colorful balloons and tres leches cake (also scrumdiddlyumptious.) Our party was super lit!! We all jammed to some classic throwbacks, like the Jonas Brothers (you’re still hot Nick), Miley Cyrus (I miss the old you), and the Cheetah Gurlllzzzz (it was funny as Hal!) #throwbackthursday!!!!! After our nightly squeezy squeezy (bonding!), we all headed up to our rooms to catch some zzzs before our last day of service tomorrow #:( #frown #liveloveCostaRica #PuraVida. Today was so gg.

XOXO, Gossip Girl ?

Last Day

Starting our last day together, we had breakfast at 6:30 and arrived at service around 7:30. The group split up, 8 people stayed at the service sites, 8 people went to the plaza to paint tires around the field and the rest of the group did activities with the children from around the community. We finished adding more structures to the playground, repainted some of the old structures, created a fence and put up a mesh fabric so when the kids play soccer the soccer ball won’t go into the neighboring houses.

After we came back to Home Base to eat lunch, we had ice cream floats for dessert. Once lunch was finished, people either went to pack up their luggage or took a survey for GLA. Many dressed up for dinner, since it was our last dinner together. We had burgers and fries, which many of the students enjoyed.

After dinner we had a nice surprise at the pavilion with a marimba band and many local staff came and enjoyed a little dance party. Our GLA staff (Dash, Jessa and Yensi) created a slideshow with pictures throughout the trip. Kira also created a beautiful short little video put together of many things from this trip. We then headed to the beach to look at the bioluminescence and to stargaze a little bit. After a wonderful last night together, everybody went to bed excited to go back home to their families.

Signing off for the last time,
Alyssa and Kathy

After three weeks together, our program has come to an end. Today was a bittersweet day full of sad goodbyes. It is incredible to think how our group has grown together. As the final students passed through security, Yensi, Dash, and I stood with tears in our eyes. We want to thank each and every one of you for being a part of our family. We will miss you dearly.

We decided to skip the rice and beans for lunch and got McDonald’s (burgers, fries, and McFlurry’s!) Then we spent the day in Nicoya, shopping and preparing for the next session. We got home at 7:45pm to dinner of quesadillas and guacamole (thanks, Kim!) and then moved into the Rancho.

Big difference from our first group picture on the bus!

Hanging and waiting for Carson to check in

McFlurries!

Home, sweet home

Wifi works great- Jonah you wouldn’t believe how simple the password was…

As a final gift to you, some excellent pictures of us:

Check out those piercings!

I have never done any interesting body alterations, so here are these photos:

Mhawk in South Africa

fohawkish in Brasil

Alright folks, lots of love- be in touch!
Jessa, Dash, and Yensi

Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

Hey folks,

I hope you are all doing well, I can’t believe how quickly the time has passed since our incredible experience together in Costa Rica. You are such a special group of individuals- Yensi, Dash, and I miss you all!

Anyone else missing the hours and hours of mixing cement in the hot sun? It was exhausting and so rewarding to sit on the bus each day and look up at the driveway at the progress we had made. I remember feeling so impressed with how strong you all got, people were lifting the 50kg bag of cement alone by the end of the session. We played hours of that movie game, sang songs, and chatted as we built the formaleta, mixed cement, and transported wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow down that hill. Just think about how still today, the entire school community is benefitting from our work!

It is awesome to think about the transformation we made at the Kindergarten playground, transforming it from the uneven, overgrown area to the beautiful, safe play space place for the lil’ kiddos- it was amazing! The crew rocked it at digging holes, mixing cement for the structures, and doing lots of painting- tires, mural, and walls! And the green saran provides shade for the students as they play at recess.

White water rafting. Surfing. Horseback riding. Hiking. Ziplining. Stand up paddleboarding. Swinging bridges. Waterfalls. We did it all. One of my favorite memories was our first hike, which was more of a hike than we initially thought (oops!) Everyone got super muddy and I carried a bunch of you across the river. The gelato was a well deserved treat after that adventure.

We got an authentic taste of the pura vida culture through cafecito, dance class with Willy, and learning to play the marimba. We also ate lots of delicious things- Kim’s tres leches cake, endless empanadas, rice and beans, Junior’s coconut ice cream, the sugar cane delicacies, cinnamon rolls, plantains, lots of pipa, and of course, so many snacks from Super Nosara.
It was an incredible three weeks and one I hope has stuck with you since you returned. Sending you all lots of love.

Summer Blog Posts

July 6, 2016

We had an awesome first day here in Costa Rica with the Initiative for Children program!

After picking up our afternoon arrivals, we headed to Melro’s for lunch. We had casados, a typical Costa Rican meal with rice, beans, plantains, salad, and a choice of chicken, pork chop, or ribs.

With full bellies, we hit the road to Nosara, our Home Base for the next three weeks. We made a pit stop at a grocery store to try some local snacks and exchange money.

We had a delicious dinner of chicken, vegetables, and salad, followed by a surprise birthday cake! Today was Dani’s 17th birthday! Our chef, Kim is also an expert baker, so we enjoyed vanilla cake with dulce de leche filling; we had an alternate ice cream option for those with some dietary restrictions. We have 3 more birthdays this summer which means more cake to come. Yum!

Thanks!

Best,
Dash

July 7 – Day 2

For their first full day in Costa Rica, the students spent their time at the home base which is an ecolodge built in the jungle next to the beach. The morning was filled with orientation activities that included icebreakers with the local staff, cultural normality talks, and safety skits, many of which were in both English and Spanish. Because of its close proximity, the entire group went to the beach after lunch and hit the water. The waves were exceptionally fun to splash around in and the water was as warm as a bathtub. The day closed with more team building activities, especially name games, and the students went to bed prepped and eager to start their service orientation the next day.

Best,

Dash

July 8

“Knowledge is power, community is strength and positive attitude is everything.” –Lance Armstrong.

Today was our first day experiencing the community we would be working in for the next three weeks. Early in the morning we all sleepily lumbered to the Pavilion to find a projector screen facing a big white cloth. Our mentors showed us a documentary about the horribly negative effect of tourism in the local community. The large hotels have torn up forests, fenced off public beaches, hoarded the community’s water to water golf courses and filled their many pools. Then, after a delicious breakfast by the cooking staff, we loaded into vans and drove to the school where we would be working. It was determined that we were going to pave the driveway to the school to enable parents to easily drop their kids off by car. The playground is in rough shape, with broken beams missing handles and snapped ropes.

Following the visit to the school we went to a play put on by the GLA Animal Rescue Project in Costa Rica. Its actors included kids from the local community, and the play was both informative and adorable.

Upon arrival to our home base we were divided into a service group, a media group, and a culture group. Our media group includes: Abraham, Emily, Angelica, Dani, Cassie P., Cameron, Melanie, and Celia. We will be blogging everyday for the next week until we rotate.

“Despues” another delicious meal (I ate two burritos), we had an hour of Spanish class. I think this helped all of us get our memory of the vocabulary back. After the class we went to the beach! Which was full of body surfing, picture taking, and overall excitement at the temperature of the water.

Before dinner we had mentor groups and our subject was great leaders and the characteristics of those leaders. Among of those nominated included: Emma Watson, Ellen Degenerous, MLK, and Beyonce.

Following dinner, we played a game of “Mafia”. At first I had no hope for the imaginary town struck by the horror of the Mafia, but in the end evil was vanquished and the Mafia was defeated! This was followed by shout outs and our daily game of squeeze, both reflecting on the day in a thankful manner.

-Abraham

P.S.- Azure says “Hi, Mom!”

July 9, 2016

Dear Friends and Family,

Today was our first day of service at the elementary school, “Santa Teresita”. We split up into our work groups and started the projects that Alvarro, our local director, had coordinated for us. We saw the massive hill that we will be paving as a driveway to the school and we are very excited to mix lots of cement. Today, one group started on weeding and evening out the ground inside of the playground while the others ran a summer camp for the students. A few hours in, a local family arrived to sell us some “empanadas y frescos” with their little 3 year old child and advertiser named Santiago. Many pictures were taken (See Below). After a quick stop at the “pipa” stand (coconut water stand), we got back to home base and showered for lunch. After refueling with spaghetti and salad, we toured the community of Nosara and learned about its history. To finish off the tour, we went to the super market to stock our refrigerators with our favorite snacks. After dropping off our groceries, we embarked on a “25 minute nature walk” which we later found out was a muddy, grueling hike. After a few slips and stings, we comforted our minor injuries with a trip to the local gelato shop. Like they say, “adventure starts when everything goes wrong.” Embracing our inner child, we cheated with having dessert before dinner. After our tummies were full, we had a group chat about our day, and finished it off with an adventure documentary.

-Emily & Melanie

Student of the Day: Liza Roe
Age: 16
Grade: Junior
From: Bozeman, Montana
Hobbies: volleyball, skiing
Fun Fact: She lives on farm!
Siblings: 2 sisters
Liza came on this trip because she likes to travel and work with kids (it’s what she wants to do in the future). She knew it would make her feel good and she would be able to help a community that needed it.

July 10, 2016

Did you know Costa Rica only takes up .03% of the planet’s surface but holds 5% of its biodiversity? Neither did we until we watched The Goose with the Golden Egg a few days ago! Today was Day 5 of our GLA experience- another work day. We woke up and ate breakfast as to be promptly on time for our buses at 7. However, the bus drivers weren’t so inclined to be punctual (Tico time am I right?). We made the best of our situation by playing games until we were able to get to the service site. Upon arrival, we began the preparation to pave the driveway as well as continuing weeding and playing with the cute little kids. About halfway through, the “Empanada Lady” and Santi returned to sell us yummy sandwiches and juice. It was a particularly hot day so we all made sure to drink lots of water. Upon arrival back at our home base, we filled up on delicious quesadillas and guac made with love by Kim. After creating a list of community norms (rules to guide us during our stay in Nosara) and spending some well- needed “Pura Vida” rest time, we hopped back on the bus to go to our cooking class/dinner with a local family. Lisba showed us how to make a traditional dish of Arroz con Pollo and some sides. We danced and enjoyed the wonderfully authentic atmosphere. Returning home stuffed, we were surprised by a wonderful treat of cheesecake with berry sauce which we happily gobbled up anyway. The night was finished off with a few rounds of charades in the pavilion before we hit the hay.

-Abraham & Celia

Student of the Day: Emily Sorrels
Age: 17
Grade: Senior
From: Annapolis, Maryland
Hobbies: Volleyball, babysitting
Fun Fact: Loves celebrities (Meghan Merkle)
Emily came on this trip because she wanted to see a new place and work with kids and of course this was the perfect opportunity.

July 11, 2016

Hola Amigos y Familias,

This blog post concludes a very full day of service and adventure. Service this morning, for many of us, consisted of cement mixing, which I must say could double as training for the Olympics (look for us in Rio 2016, team GLA!). Two groups of human cement trucks began mixing the extremely heavy pile of rocks, sand, cement, and water. The constant mixing of these piles is sure to send us home ripped and ready to rumble (alliteration am I right?). As horrible as the work sounds, seeing today’s portion of the driveway completed was rewarding enough to make up for it. In addition to the cement for the driveway, other groups were busy painting, fixing up the playground, and playing a rowdy game of soccer with the local kids. As always, our trusty local vendors arrived to sell us much needed empanadas and give us our daily dose of their lovely little Santi.

Exhausted and covered in cement, we are now just a quarter of the way done with our driveway project. After working vigorously up until the very last second of service time to ensure high quality work, our uphill strugglers piled into the bus for a bumpy ride back to home base for showers and almuerzo (that’s Spanish for lunch, Dad). Celia’s day was made when she saw Junior and Kim’s plantains waiting for us in the kitchen (“Mom, I fully expect plantains with every meal when I get home” –commentary from my left, Celia). After lunch came our favorite part of the trip… wifi time!!!! Waiting for the bus, someone spoke what we all thought to ourselves, “We only came here for the wifi day.” Probably the quickest hour of the trip yet. We caught up with friends and family alike, then got back on our bus with our heads held a little bit low. Don’t be fooled, we all love it here but as they say, you can take the wifi away from the kids but you can’t take the kids away from the wifi.

Arriving at home base, we were greeted by my greatest personal nightmare… SNAKES. Firefighter Ryan and his son Hunter had kindly agreed to teach us about the snakes in the area and now we know way too much… But we also know how to stay safe and respect the wilderness. Some of us chose to touch and/or hold some of Ryan’s snakes (none were poisonous, don’t worry). I, for one, opted out.

Now, we are sitting on the main house porch, enjoying a pleasantly cool evening and wondering what delicious dinner will be awaiting us tonight. As always, it smells good and we are hungry… The hunger never ends when we work this hard! After dinner we will be partaking in mentor group activities to unwind and reflect on our busy, scary, and happy day. We all send our love to whoever is reading this, we miss you dearly and can’t wait to tell you about all of the amazing experiences here soon… but not too soon!
Sincerely,

Emily (with LOTS of help from Celia)

July 12

Escuela Santa Teresita “Orgullosos de ser Guanacastecos”

School Santa (Saint) Teresita “Proud of being Guanacastecos”

On our fourth day of work at Santa Teresita, the playground undertook some serious change. While the other half of the group was surprised by another arduous day of cement mixing. After many more batches of cement than anticipated, the playground crew finally planted all the poles needed for monkey bars. As per usual the kids showed up with their eyes gleaming ready for their summer camp of soccer, attention and talking to baffled foreigners. As the days have gone by the kids have become more and more comfortable with our presence. They no longer find it weird that we are all in their school, they ask questions to those who can understand and one kid even began to take pictures and order us into poses. It was adorable, and he got some good ones! After the usual showing of the Empanada family complete with a strange cornbread concoction we thought was dessert, we started work again.

After lunch the other group continued mixing cement while we continued to paint a row of tires in the playground red and blue (it looks pretty cool). The red will need another coat, but we all worked together to finish it in 20 minutes. That’s the beauty of teamwork.

After chicken tacos with some crazy delicious seasoning none of us knew, we started the king of all mentor group sessions (all afternoon!). Although it was fun it was cut short by a trip to the beach for some well needed R&R or in my case frantically swimming to try and catch a big wave to body surf.

After a bit of free time we all trudged to dinner newly showered and tired from the day’s excursions.

After of course a delicious meal we all gathered for the summary of tomorrow, our daily squeeze and a student lead activity. However, upon here the many things needed to be completed in order to be ready for tomorrow we shortened the evening to go prepare and get a good night sleep.

-Abraham

Student of the day: Melanie Ramser

Age: 17

Grade: Senior

From: Pittsburg, Pensilvania

Hobbies: Friends, dancing, she likes cats and hates moths.

Fun fact: She has extra bone in her foot

Reason for coming: She was watching Awkward and the girl on it went on an international volunteer trip. She googled it and eventually found GLA. At the time she wanted to be a pediatric nurse so she found the initiative for children and here she is!

 Student of the Day: Stephany Pacheco

Age: 17

Grade: Senior

Hobbies: sports, working

From: Oakland, California

Fun fact: “They” (her family) call her banana

Reason for coming : She is in a program that gave her the opportunity to have this experience and learn the different ways people live.

Student of the Day: Hailey Emerson

Age: 17

Grade: Senior

From: North Carolina

Hobbies: Color guard, reading, writing

Fun fact: Love to wake board

Reason for coming: She wanted to meet new people, different kinds of people, and volunteer.

This is Emily and Celia here to recap the crazy Wednesday and Thursday that made up our first “weekend” adventure here in Costa Rica. When we first arrived at Liberia Airport, we each got to choose two of four activities: Zip lining (which also included a surprise trip to a waterfall), Horseback Riding, Surfing, and Stand-Up Paddle boarding. All were so promising that it was impossible to choose just two, but in the end sacrifices were made and two champions arose for each of us. In addition to our chosen adventures, the whole group hiked to the Mala Noche waterfall on Wednesday morning and paid a visit to the monkeys at SIBU Sanctuary on Thursday morning. Instead of trying to explain our amazing adventures through a rambling paragraph (lets be honest… essay) we will just show you to the best of our ability. So enjoy these beautiful pictures to sum up our amazing experience.

In addition to the adventure fun, we returned to home base on Wednesday to a delicious cake made by our chef Kim to celebrate Angelica’s 17th birthday! Happy birthday Angelica (what we mean is thanks for having a birthday on the trip so we all got cake) (jk! happy birthday, we love you!).

Our hearts weep to tell you that this media team made up of Celia, Emily, AJ, Cassie P, Dani, Cameron, Angelica, and Melanie will no longer be at your service. Our blogging days come to an end as we switch jobs to lead the activities portion of the trip. We are sure we leave you in good hands with the new media team and we are excited to see what new concepts they bring to this blog.

Sayonara,

Emily and Celia

7/15

Have you ever heard of the Marimba? The Marimba is an instrument, the piano of Central America, that was originally brought down from Guatemala and eventually became an important piece of Costa Rican culture. Years later, tradition began to fade as the Marimba became less popular until the President declared it the national instrument of Costa Rica. Today we all were given the opportunity to play the famed instrument at a traditional Tico BBQ.
Day 10: We started our morning early with a filling breakfast before a long day of service. At the elementary school we painted, built a swing set, continued framing ramps for the driveway, and started a climbing structure made of tires. After service, we rehydrated with some refreshing pipa and orange juice and were welcomed back to the home base with arroz con camarones. Following some well deserved free time and exercise, we were brought to Kim’s house next to her mother’s bakery where we were taught how to make traditional cinnamon rolls and piña empanadas. The moment the bread was out of the oven, it was devoured. As we baked, we all danced to the beat of the Marimba in the background. The band even taught us the common song “The Guitar and the Women” which is played throughout Costa Rica. Afterwards, Kim prepared us a barbeque beef and chicken dinner with chips and dip on the side as we all listened to music and got to know each other better. We ended the night with squeeze (a group question) and awaited future adventures.
McKenzie and Liza

<strong>July 17, 2016</strong>

How many of you sit down with your family everyday at 4:00 in the afternoon to drink coffee? In traditional Costa Rican culture families sit down for Cafecito and eat tortillas with cheese while drinking coffee.

Day 12: Today we once again had an early wake up eating full breakfast before a long day of service. At the service site we accomplished half of our cement ramps and painted a beautiful mural of a butterfly. To rehydrate, we made one more stop at Super Nosara for pipa and snacks. After lunch and some well deserved rest, we headed off to two local homes for Cafecito. The group divided up into two groups of 12 so we could have more of an opportunity to be invested in the conversations. Throughout our time with the families we learned how Nosara has changed over the past few decades and gained a greater understanding of traditions that are still prevalent in the local’s daily lives. Once cafecito had ended we came back for a lovely dinner and finished our night with a student led activity, choosing to watch Pitch Perfect.
Until tomorrow,
McKenzie and Liza
Student of the day: 
Kristina
Age:17
Hobbies: Volleyball, track, reading.
Where she’s from: Malden, Massachusetts.
Why she’s here: She wanted to help the children by giving them a better learning environment.
Fun Fact: She is an aunt to three kids.

Angelica:
Age: 17
Hobbies: Cross country and listing to music.
Where she’s from: Hayward, California
Why she’s here: She is part of a program called Summer Search that connected her to GLA.
Fun Fact: Her favorite show is The 100, and she can speak the fake language from the show.

July 18th

“UNO MAS!” Today we tried to learn different Latin dances with our lively instructor Willy. After many laughs, we learned parts of the Salsa, partner danced, and worked on our foot work. However, that was only an hour and a half of our day…
Day 11: We had another early start today with a filling breakfast at 6:30. At 7:00, with eyes still half shut, we made our way to the service site where we divided up into groups. The long four hours of hard work resulted in finishing half the driveway, beginning our butterfly mural, painting playground structures, and organizing the graduation of our summer camp students. After service, sweat dripping, we loaded the bus to refuel with chicken fajitas for lunch. An hour later, we ransacked the local supermarket, Super Nosara, filling bags upon bags with a mix of local Costa Rican and American junk food. Later we spent a half an hour eating ice cream and inhaling the fumes of recently bought siracha sauce. Luckily, we had an up-beat dance class to burn out all of our sugar rush. Kim prepared the wonderful meal pica dillo  (rice and beans with a beef and potato stew). To top it off, we celebrated Cameron’s 15th birthday with Tres Leches cake. We ended our night with a team building activity led by our mentors.
Hasta Luego!

McKenzie and Liza

July 19, 2016

GLA ROAD TRIP MIX TAPE: “Party in the USA”, “Hey Sole Sister”, “Beautiful Sole”, “Forget You”, and many more early 2000’s hits.

Day 14: Usually our mornings consist of physical labor, but today we were fortunate to sit for 5 hours on a bus ride to Río Celeste. Along the journey, we stopped for snacks, sang songs (which probably annoyed Nixon, our bus driver), and stopped for lunch followed by a hike to hanging bridges. Many of us faced our fear of heights on the bridges, and we were all lucky enough to see spider monkeys swinging in the jungle. During our last stretch of the road trip our bus stopped and we saw a sloth hanging from a near by tree. An hour later we arrived at our “resort” in Rio Celeste where we were given our new room assignments. Each room has a unique stile whether it is big, small, rustic, or egg shaped. After unpacking we hurried down to swim in the refreshing turquoise river that passes through the property. To fill up after a long and tiring day, we were served an option of fish or chicken. We all ended our night connecting with each other over a game of two truths and a lie. Collectively our group has been all over the world, done the extreme and the unusual, and survived way too many injuries.
– McKenzie, Liza, and Hailey

Students of the Day:
Azure
Age: 14
Hobbies: Netflix and volleyball
Where she’s from: Jacksonville, Florida
Why she’s here: She wanted to learn about and experience the world.
Fun Fact: She’s always cold.

Cassie
Age: 16
Hobbies: Trapeze, playing the flute, hanging out with friends, and baking.
Where she’s from: Needham, Massachusetts
Why she’s here: To work with kids and get a cool cultural experience.
Fun fact: She hates milk.

July 20, 2016

The translation of Rio celeste, the place where we are staying, is blue river. The blue portion of that translation is credited to a mix of aluminite and the high PH levels that create a Safire blue tint to the water.

Day 15:
Today we awoke at our regular time for a large breakfast to give us energy for the day ahead. In the morning many of us got to check an item off our bucket list when we were giving the opportunity to milk a cow. Some of us were adventurous enough to drink the milk seconds after it left the utter. The owner of the property gave us a small tour of the sugar cane cacao plants that he grows. Directly after the farm we headed straight towards our Rio Celeste hike where we divided into two groups. Each group was taught about the nature of the area from the eyelash viper to golden orb spider to sloths. The hike gave us opportunities to capture breath taking photos and to embrace in the unique beauty of the Costa Rican rain forest. Once the hike was finished we all gathered around a souvenir shop and were able to purchase local hand painted art. With stomachs growling we headed back to our hotel to scarf down our choice of lunch. Following our meal everyone fell into a deep food coma, only to awake for our sugar cane tour. We drove ten minutes to a farm where we admired dogs, cut down sugar canes, and ate as much sugar as we thought possible. We also learned how to extract the sugar water from the cane and had the opportunity of drinking the highly concentrated sugar. After a full meal of sugar, we walked up to the bus, some of us trembling on a sugar rush, to eat our actual meal. During dinner we had a power outage, witch made the night all the more fun. After dinner we gave shout outs and did squeeze, then played an optional game of impressions. Once satisfied we headed off to bed to get a good night’s rest for our day tomorrow.
Best,
Liza and McKenzie

Students of the Day:
McKenzie
Age: 17
Hobbies: Volleyball, spending time with friends and family, and baking.
Where she’s from: Mundelein, Illinois
Why she’s here: She wanted to leave her mark on the world, grow her leadership skills, and gain a better understanding of a different culture.
Fun Fact: She has never had a bloody nose.

Cassie P.
Age:16
Hobbies: Soccer, skiing, and cooks
Where she’s from: Fairfield, Connecticut
Why she’s here: She is here to build a great community for the less fortunate and to get to know the kids.
Fun Fact: She has a 36 pound cat.

July 21, 2016

This morning we got half an hour extra of sleep, meaning we woke up at 6:30 A.M instead of 6 A.M. Unfortunately this was our last morning at Rio Celeste and we headed back to our home base in Nosara Retreat. Now as sad as that sounds, we had the chance to go to the Tenori River and go white water rafting which consisted of going down the river, paddling through rapids, bumping into rocks, and having splash wars with each other. We all had just two emotions, total excitement and total fear, as we all knew there was a 12ft. drop waiting for us at the end of the river. Luckily only two out of our seven groups fell out of the raft, so about eight of us were hospitalized, just kidding! All of us are safe and had a blast white water rafting for about two hours. After such an awesome morning we had the typical lunch of rice, beans, salad, and choice of meat with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. We finally settled for the long bus ride of three hours, and came back to home base around 6:30 P.M.
Students of the day!

Name: Claire Stepchu

Age: 16

From: Marshall Islands

Purpose: She came to work with GLA: Initiative for children in hopes to gain new experiences and interest.

Fun Fact:  Claire has once hugged a penguin

Name: Caleb Braha

Age: 16

From: San Antonio, Texas

Purpose: Caleb has decided to come work with GLA: Initiative for children, because he wanted the chance to work with countries in need and thought best community service was the best choice.

Fun Fact: He can walk with his hands and feet taped together.

July 22nd
We got to start off today pretty late. We woke up at 8 A.M! We returned to our service site at 9:30 A.M, but with some mishaps we couldn’t actually work on the site. Instead we worked on the community and did a “clean-up,” meaning we picked up trash and recyclables around the area. To even get more involved, we played soccer with the local kids and what was really funny was they called the teams the “ticos” and the “gringos.” Now as we near the end of the trip, we’re all starting to get cravings and wondering what we will be eating when we finally get home. However, because we have the greatest instructors ever (Yensi, Dash, and Jessa ), today for lunch we had pizza! The real deal stuff, cheesy and greasy. Following that we went to the beach and also had gelato! Some us came to home base and even watched Netflix (aren’t we spoiled!).

Ailish Maheras
Age: 16

Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts

Reason for coming: She wanted to experience a new culture while making a difference in the lives children.

Fun fact: Went on a safari in South Africa

Celia Fox

Age: 16

Hometown: Rochester, New York

Reason for coming: Had a friend who went on a trip last year which led her to look up GLA. Once she found want she needed, she fell in love with this program

Fun fact: Boxes

July 23, 2016

We started off the day with service and we had to do double the work because we missed a day. The group did such an amazing job and we are now almost done with the playground and we have completed more than half of the ramp. Through sweat and perhaps a few tears  we made it through the morning and as an award we got to go to the supermarket and buy snacks. This time we were thoughtful enough to get our parents some local coffee and other Costa Rican trinkets. After lunch we caught the bus to go fishing! We sloshed through mud to make it down the river where we learned how to fish. As the hours went by, finally, we admitted defeat. No one caught a fish but it was still a beautiful afternoon on the river! Our night ended with mentor groups and we are all excited to see how much we can get done tomorrow!

-Shan and Kristina

Sarah Saltzberg

Age: 17
From: Middleton, Massachusetts
Reason for coming: She loves doing service, she loves kids, and really enjoys traveling. Believes GLA is a perfect combination of these things.
Fun fact: She hates window balconies. She truly believes they are useless.

Mary Mc Philly

Age: 17
From: Brooklyn, New York
Reason for coming: She wanted to do a service trip that would allow her to meet like minded people while abroad.
Fun fact: The has a phobia of opening doors that she has not already walked through.

July 24

Today was a big day at the service site. Through hard work and sweat we finally finished mixing cement and accomplished our goal. The driveway is now complete! Afterwards,  to celebrate, we bought pipa and had a great lunch at the home base. This afternoon we went into the town of Guiones for one last opportunity to buy souvenirs from local vendors. This group was fortunate enough to be here for the celebration of the annexation of Guanacaste, this region of Costa Rica’s equivalent holiday to the USA’s 4th of July. We had dinner a little bit earlier than usual so that we could go downtown and partake in the evenings festivities. The event was filled with dancing, music, and local food and we were able to learn more about the local culture while hanging out with the other GLA group in the area. Some of us were lucky enough to be reunited with old friends. As the event died down we headed back to home base and had another fun filled bus ride! It was a night to remember.
Students of the day

Claire Castrejon

Age: 16

From: Marin County, California

Reason for coming: Wanted to meet knew people and experience a new culture.

Hobbies: Water polo and spending time with friends.

Fun fact: She has a house in Mexico.

Dani Scheck

Age: 17

From: Miami, Florida

Reason for coming:

Hobbies: Likes to play sorts, cook, and spend time with her friends and family

Fun Fact: She has 17 cousins.

AJ

Age: 14

From: San Francisco, California

Reason for coming: Wanted to travel abroad during the summer.

Hobbies: Drama and interior design.

Fun Fact: Father was a mime with Robin Wiliams.

July 25 & 26

For our last full day, we all arrived at the service site determined to finish what we had started and we did just that. We made all of the finishing touches on the playground, we added the children’s and our handprints to the mural, and we mixed more cement because we could. Today was the actual holiday of La Anexión and we were able to watch a short assembly where the children read bombas (poems) and the principal explained the history of the holiday in detail. At the end of the morning, it began to rain as we cleaned up. It was a refreshing way to end the day and as the clouds cleared we gathered with our co-workers in the sun and gave our thanks and said our goodbyes. As we exited the worksite, we looked back at what we had accomplished and were all proud.

The remainder of the day was a whirlwind of events. We held a surprise birthday party for Yensi, we had our last mentor groups, and we gathered at our beach to watch the sunset and take group photos. After dinner, we spent all night at the pavilion. We first hosted a small party for all of the people we worked with us throughout the program including our worksite partners, dance teacher, and the marimba instructors who were nice enough to provide us with music again. Together we busted out a piñata, we watched a short video/slideshow of our program, and we had ice cream. We ended the night watching movies at a sleepover in the pavilion.

The next morning, we had our last breakfast together and boarded the bus to head to the airport. Our bus rides were a highlight of the trip and this last one together was filled with of course music and singing but also reflection as we shared pictures and fond memories. At the airport, the entrance to the security check became a sob fest as we said our goodbyes and one by one went our separate ways. The last three weeks were something special. This group bonded at a very deep level and even though it was hard to admit it was over, we all know that the connections and friendships we made will continue on.

Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

Hey Alex, Aly, Bryce, Colston, Ewan, Gabi, Haile, Jessica, Mary, Nick, Thomas, and Trevor!

By the time you are reading this, you will all probably be back at school, your memories of surfing, playing sports, and doing service in Bahia Ballena Costa Rica a fond yet distant memory. For those of us who facilitated your trip, we too have wonderful memories of our time spent together. Those of us who live in Bahia Ballena see the evidence of the Sports Service Adventure program every time we pass by the main plaza (soccer field) of Bahia Ballena and see the wonderfully painted and decorated bleachers! We also are reminded of the fun times we had working with the local kids of Bahia Ballena when we pass them on the street and they want to give us a high five and reminisce about the fun times they had this summer.

Our aim was to help teach you how to surf, and during your five surf lessons in the Marino Ballena National Park, you guys impressed us so much with your great listening, tenacity, and constant ability to smile and have fun. Your surf skills developed greatly during your ten days with us and we sincerely hope that you will be able to take that skill forward with you in your lives. More than anything, we were so stoked that you all began to understand why it’s so important for surfers and anyone who spends a lot of time in or near the ocean to work together to keep the marine environment clean, healthy, and beautiful. We learned that everything ends up in the sea, so we can all do our part regardless of where we live by cutting back on plastic use, reducing our consumption, and preserving energy and water. All of these actions will help to protect our wonderful Planet Earth — the place that we call home — as well as the world’s oceans.

Your aim this summer was to help create a space where the local kids could practice and perfect their sporting abilities, and you guys were oh-so-successful in this mission. Through these camps, our program made a very positive impact on the local kids in the community of Bahia Ballena this summer by showing kids from all walks of life that sports are fun and can bring people together. You guys worked a lot, learned a lot, and we hope also had a lot of fun.

We will never forget about hearing playing Zoo together, watching you play soccer with the locals in Esteban’s family’s indoor soccer field, helping the kids of the Flor de Bahia School play kickball, going on an epic rafting trip down the Coto Brus river, paddling out to ride the green waves on surf lessons four and five, learning all of your stories during the “Story of Self”, and having a rousing game of jeopardy on the last night! For us, it was a blast and even better because we got to share it with all you guys — our third Costa Rica Sports Service Adventure group!

Thank you so much for all your dedication this summer!

-Adrianne, Emi, and Gibran

Sports Service Adventure 2016, Costa Rica

Summer Blog Posts

July 21, 2016

Our epic Sports Service Adventurers are here in Costa Rica! We spent our first evening together checking out a local park and tasting local cuisine at a typical Costa Rican restaurant. In the evening, we got to know each other with rounds of icebreakers. Everyone is happy, safe, and ready to get started! We are so excited to have Gaby, Mary, Alex, Ally, Haile, Colston, Thomas, Trevor, Nick, Ewan, Jessica, and Bryce with us for the next 10 days! Local Directors Gibran and Adrianne are amazing souls and we are all so excited to begin our journey together as an empowered group of individual and collective positive change-makers. Y lo sabes!

Abrazos desde Costa Rica!

July 22nd

July 23rd