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Wednesday June 27, 2018
Arrival Day!
We have about half the group here in the DR! We’re waiting on a couple other students coming from Santiago later today, and some delayed flights will be bringing others tomorrow! We’ll continue updating the blog as more students arrive!
Thursday June 28, 2018
We have 4 more members with us that arrived last night! Waiting on the final 3 to arrive this afternoon, and can’t wait to meet them! Excited to begin the day working on the Caño Dulce bottle house!
We enjoyed a wonderful 4am wake up call from the neighborhood roosters. Then we got up (at 8), feeling so energized and had a good breakfast.
Then we learned about community ethics before hearing off to a cement-filled day. The first real workout of the week. We split up into our mentor groups and carried buckets of cement to the houses. The cement and bottles work as insulation which allows the rooms to be colder. After a few hours of work we went to get lunch, a yummy meal with delicious fruit, rice, pork, and vegetables. We worked again in the afternoon before returning back to home base!
After taking a swim test, group B was so punctual for dinner that we got to eat first for dinner. We met 3 New people in our group who arrived late (Katie, Vita, and Serina). We welcomed them with open arms. We then learned about the 7 elements of human security. We have had such a wonderful trip so far!
-by Allison and Eva
Friday June 29, 2019
Hey guys,
It’s Kelsey and Alice. Today we began our day with a battle between the roosters, dogs, and cows (again) to see Who could wake us up faster. Then we ate an amazing breakfast (we thank the staff). With our spirits up in the Air we made our way to Polanco which was really hot! Also, we had to hike up the Hills while carrying tools!
We had a great time digging trenches and became great Friends with the local kids. A few of us picked up some more Spanish along the way! The progress we made was amazing and the locals were really willing to show us the correct technique to complete our task.
After a long day, we cooled off by going to the beach, which was beautiful! A few of us had mini photo shoots while others enjoyed the peace and breeze. Our dinner tasted splendid, with french fries making an apperance!
We are looking forward to a stop at an AC supermarket tomorrow!
Peace out New York City gals!
Xoxo Kelsey and Alice
Saturday June 30, 2018
Hey, whats up you guys! Its your leaders of the day Lucie and Kyla coming at you with another blog!
After a night spent calling asleep to the relaxing sounds of our favorite neighborhood cows we woke up to the angelic cries of our friend the rooster.
We woke up an hour early ready to rake the 2 hour Trek to La Grúa. After a scrumptious breakfast we set off on our journey, Sporting our longest shorts and power braids.
We made it to La Grúa and began mixing cement to fill in the floor of a school house. Because of our New friend, Lauren, a 9 year old local, our efficiency rates went through the roof and we finished the project with time to spare.
We took a tour of the Haitian batey. While we were there, we Saw a different side of the island. This experience opened many of our eyes to another facet of the community.
We then boarded the bus, awaiting our arrival to the food filled, Air chilled supermarket! There we broke our health break, stocking up on junk food and Candy and…PLAYING CARDS (Lucie got an amazing deal). We made it back with time to put the cards to use, then watch an enlightening vídeo about the Haitian Dominican relationship. After gaining New knowledge, we spoke with the hilarious and driven Haitian, Louben, about his experience between the two countries.
We’re excited to put our New knowledge into Play throughout the rest of the trip and head to our adventure day tomorrow in Dudu Lagoon!
Alright thats it for this blog!
Lots of love home,
Lucie and Kyla
P.S. Lucie and Katherine’s dads, please figure out how we’re related (we have the same last name)
Sunday July 1, 2018
Hey Parents!
It’s Alexis and Milin reporting from the DR on Day 5!
We were all looking forward to this day, which was going to be filled with fun activities like always. Everything started great with a delicious breakfast with pancakes, eggs, and countless more options. We soon headed off to our destination, the amazing DuDu Lagoon. Once we got there, everyone had something to do, whether it was sitting in the shade, swimming, or even going on a 35ft tall zipline. Only a couple members of the group were Brave enough to try it out. While some of us were cooling off in the water, others explored caves that were part of the lagoon. It was soon time for lunch, in which we got Internet access, and a chance to purchase sodas and snacks.
But the day wasnt over, and after a Game of volleyball, the group headed to a beautiful beach, playa preciosa. We got an amazing view of the ocean and enjoyed piña coladas while we relaxed by the waves. There were opportunities to but souvenirs, swim, or dip our feet into the water.
The day was over as soon as it began, and we headed back to home base at 4:30, where we all had free time until a dinner of rice chicken. We got to explore leadership afterwards with an activity completes as a group. As fun as the day was, we were all ready for sleep with a lot to look forward to next week.
–Alexis and Milin
Monday July 2, 2018
After waking up to cows mooing and dogs barking, we started the day off with cereal and watermelon juice. We spent the day at Caño Dulce, building a house for the family of two of our favorite little children, one of whom is very sassy but very cute. We completes two cement floors, one septic tank, and ended our day with a surprise dead chicken, teaching us about the cycle of Life. An interesting lecture on food insecurity opened our eyes to works hunger issues, we are excited for a day of painting tomorrow, and ready to have more fun!!
Xoxo Joy and Margaret
Tuesday July 3, 2018
Hey everyone. We had a wonderful day today. We went back to Caño Dulce and we took turns painting this wonderful big blue house. (It looks like the house from “the bear in the big blue house”.) We also put up chicken wires and bottles for another house. Plus, we took a really cool tour through the community to see what other GLA programs have accomplished. On the tour we saw community centers, basketball courts, and other houses.
As we walked further we got to see a bridge made of chicken wire and went to see honey bees. When we came back to the lodge everyone was covered in paint and having so much fun! We all got nice showered to cool down and get clean and had a great lasagna dinner. Then we went to the beach to watch the sunset for Devon’s birthday. We also got many pictures and it was beautiful. And that’s the end of the day!
Love,
Serina and Chloe
Wednesday July 4, 2018
Hello familias!
Leah and Megan here, to tell about our day! We started out with a late breakfast, starting ay 8:30, consisting of toast with Nutella, eggs, and pineapple.
Around 9:00 we started with the clínic presentation that went over the basic instrucciones for the medical brigade. After that we went about 10 minutes away to a local clínic. The head doctor showed us around and gave us a basic rundown of what service they provide.
Then we went to the super market and everyone went Wild. Hopefully all the snacks we got will last us the rest of the trip. After we went to the market we came back to home base to relax and swim. Leah got sunburnt (sorry mom). We ate a great lunch of rice, beans, pork, and pineapple. We hungout for a few hours and then had dinner (Mac and cheese and lasagna!!)
Tonight we celebrated 4th of July with a pool party and bonfire! Today was a super fun and relaxing day for GHI-B. Lucky for us, tomorrow is another fun and relaxing day. Happy 4th of July and we miss you all!
Signing off Leah and Megan
Thursday July 5, 2018
Hey everyone,
Today we had another relaxing day adventuring at Gri Gri lagoon. The day began with a New breakfast, french toast!!! After that, we headed to the boat for a calming ride to what the locals call “a natural pool” in the middle of the ocean, where we could jump off into the water. We then ended the boat ride at the local beach where we swam, tanned, and snorkeled. We then ended off our beach day with a nice cold ice cream in the shade. Eventually we came back to the base, ate dinner, and all hung out together. See you guys soon!!
-Izze and Devon
Saturday July 7, 2018
Hey ya’ll it’s your LOD’s, Vita and Izzy coming at you. We woke up this morning excited to be working in El Bronx at a clínic. We were all assigned two Jobs for the day. We all got to help with the process of running the clínic, some of us were in registration, others in vitals, pharmacy, and a few shadowing the doctors. We saw 78 patients throughout all of them going home with medicine to help their conditions. After a long and warm day of work, we got to Talk and blow bubbles with the local kids. After that we took a community tour to see the living conditions the people that we were treating were experiencing. We then headed back to the lodge where we chowed down on fish, rice, Peas, sweet potatoes, and fruit. Our charla tonight was led by Michaela, where we talked about influence vs. manipulation. After, we were surprised with birthday cake!! We celebrated, Devon, Chloe, and Lucie’s birthdays and then danced along to our favorite songs.
Day 11- Hey guys!! It’s Stephanie and Cleo here. Today we had a late start and got to sleep in until 9:00am before our day at Polanco. We finished the digging for the water Pipes that will bring clean and fresh water to the communities. Everyone worked really hard today and got the job done very efficiently, so much so that we were able to leave at 2:30 and enjoy a nice day at the pool. After that, we enjoyed a lovely pasta dinner followed by a very informative lecture by one of our counselors, Javier, about the leading causes of deaths in high income and low income countries Plus ways to prevent them. Tomorrow we are excited for vitamin distribution day!
Hey parents!
It’s Laura and Katie with your final blog post. Here are some highlights of the amazing past two weeks. After the past two weeks of hard work, adventures, and many meals of rice and chicken we all feel more like family (sisters) than Friends. From the begining of the trip when we had trouble taking cold showers, falling asleep with cows mooing and dogs barking, and remembering Each others names, we have had so many accomplishments. We learned the art of cement mixing, carrying heavy buckets, pick-axing, spanish, and how to run a successful medical clínic.
Most important we have learned about New cultures and communities, and have had many eye opening experiences. We wrapped up this increíble experience with a day at the beach and a dance party in the tropical storm, where we all got completely soaked. We are all so excited to go home and see you guys (and eat pizza), but we are all so sad to leave. Thanks for following along on this adventure with us, and later sleeping! We will tell you so much more about. See you all tomorrow!