Saturday | rachael

Here we are, after day two.

You should all know that I really want to post pictures, but since I’ve arrived in the DR my computer will not read my SD card so there are some unexpected difficulties.

Saturday was a good day. The students were able to sleep in until 8:30 again and then many rolled out of bed to a table full of fresh fruit and French toast (complete with syrup from the brand, “Sammy the Bear”).

After breakfast the chaps sent the students on their way with a Photo Scavenger Hunt. The five chaps (Joey, Brian, Shelby, Shelby and Kari) spent much time the day before preparing for this hunt. They created teams, rules, and a list of items to find. Some examples of items to find were: hielo (ice in Spanish), helado (ice cream), colmado (corner store), a Dominican York, triangle, three-legged dog, basketball court, 33 and many others. Each group had four/five students, a list of some clear and some open-ended items, and four rules: a) wear sunscreen b) make sure you have a full water bottle c) do not come back to the base until it is 12:00 d) the more people you have in each picture, the more points will be awarded. The students explored the town and many adventures were had. It was fun to listen to them excitedly tell their stories as they returned to the base.

After lunch there was hangout time, mandatory journal time and a group game. As the group game was ending it started to pour. Some may see this as depressing and frustrating but this group looked at it as an opportunity for a group shower as they took advantage of the pressure from the water pouring down from the second story roof. About 20 of us (I was a part of the fray) were out there in our shorts, t-shirts, communal shampoo, two spouting water sources and a boatload of laughs.

Dinner was a fantastic array of rice and vegetables, pork chops and spaghetti. It was the rose for many for the day (as was playing with the children). After dinner the chaps met with each group as they watched their videos and looked at their pictures to determine which group won the photo scavenger hunt. This ended up being a 2.5 hour ordeal! As the chaps were meeting with the small groups, I was in the main room of the dorm, with many of the other students, colouring, creating charts and calendars, contributing to a sing-a-long, telling stories and all of this was embedded with multiple moments of hilarity.

They retired on time and in good fashion as we are up at 7am for our first Sunday. Last year at this time we opted to go to the 11am church service so we could all watch the Gold Medal men’s hockey game before we left. Each year is so different! Today we’ll be on the road by 7:45 as we take a public bus and then walk to church, enjoy a lengthy service, walk to the mall for lunch/Internet, walk to the bus and take public transit home again. I will lead the crew today but next week each and every student needs to be ready to lead, talk to bus drivers and get us to where we need to go. They have one day to observe/learn where we are so they have all been encouraged to pay close attention to what’s going on today as next week students will be designated to lead!

Off to breakfast we go!
rachael