Back to reality…with signs!

Hellooooooo families, after having a great time at the beach, we completed the sixth day of our trip, we got to experience different subjects that benefit the world more than you could ever know! But first the beginning of our day, we woke up our fellow Glimpsers bright and early at 7:00am to get ourselves rejuvenated and hyped up for the 3-4 hour drive that would be waiting for us following breakfast. There were a variety of choices that were eaten among us from a traditional Dominican breakfast, fruit bowl, and finally for those who wanted a taste of home, pancakes with bacon and eggs on the side. MMMNMMMMM SOOOO YUMMMYYY…right? Don ‘t worry, we were very entertained with the vast amount of music genres that were played throughout it. Daniel helped the sleepy campers by playing his electric and also hype inducing Dominican music which definitely caused some movement turning our bus into a real fiesta lol. After we arrived back at the villa, we appreciated the windy and honestly colder climate compared to the beach believe it or not. We got to eat a delicious lunch that consisted of rice, steak, ensalada rusa, y ensalada verde. Making our way to la escuela de sordos y mudos (deaf and mute school) after eating, we learned how to sign various phrases in sign language as well as our names which was pretty tricky, but we got the hang of it pretty quickly with the help of Nariely Leonardo, the secretary for location based in Jarabacoa as well as the nation based secretary. Nariely, spoke about the history of the school that has transpired over the last 39 years, which seeks to teach students of all ages. It was an eye opening experience as we listened to her personal experiences, having been involved through the up’s and down’s of the program. This is to say that finding the proper education, teachers, and resources for these kids in need has proved a big challenge due to the lack of government funding or support. Despite this, this school situated in Jarabacoa and three other locations that extend over four provinces here in the Dominican Republican, have successfully fought back and found access to specialized educators and materials, so the students receive their rightfully deserved opportunity to be prepared to serve in the community in the future. All the Glimpsers in the end, felt so moved by this experience, and signed “Thank you,” in sign language and said it in Spanish! A quick ride back to the villa surprised us with a two hour block of free time, which we used to relax and socialize with other Glimpsers, while a handful chose to get some ice cream!!!! MMMM…icy. Towards the end of our break everyone met up to have our Community Action Project seminar where we embarked on creating our designs for the mural and hopscotch we’ll be painting for the school we’ll be working at. We also discussed the proper safety precautions before we began the manual labor aspect of our work as well. To begin the conclusion of the day, we had a great dinner which was beef, chicken, ensalada, y pico de gallo to create a scrumptious burrito. Finally, we ended our day with our daily nightly meeting with everyone where we shared our many positives that followed us throughout the day. Thank you to all the families who’ve been leaving their detailed and loving messages on every blog, we can’t express how much they mean to each and everyone of your kids, so please continue to leave them!

Sincerely, Julian and Cassia

Photo Drive: Link Here

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/187HFurJtGJ_zn1FQHVWuN7D6FdvJKCrj