CAP DAY 2

Hey guys, it’s Dev Schaeffer, your solo leader of the day today. Today was also a very crucial day in many regards as it was the first day of our Community Action Project, which we will be working on as a group for three days. In terms of what the project itself is, we are currently working on extending the ecological trail along the river to bring a higher level of tourist attraction to Jarabacoa and the surrounding area. 

The work entailed framing a staircase out of dirt and rock up a hill with shovels so that we could start to place an actual staircase. At the top of the hill, other Glimpsers used pickaxes to begin working on a viewing point for the area. We once again woke up at the bright and early time of 7:00 AM (I had to wake up at 6:30 to fulfill my duties, but who’s counting, right?), and by 8:45 we were off to the CAP site. We worked hard (and hardly worked) until noon, when we went back to the villa to eat lunch, and once again returned to the site at 2:00.

My main goal today was to really keep morale high throughout the difficulties of the labor that we were working on. I know as a sports player that momentum can shift in a moment’s notice if we get lazy as workers (cite Falcons vs. Patriots 28-3 for reference). We’ve really been working on keeping a consistent pace throughout the day and today we really started to showcase a lot of growth in that. I truly believe that we have a special group and we’re really having an experience that I will simply never forget. 

At times, today got heated. I’m guilty of having an outburst that is unbecoming of myself. But the most important thing was that when it was time for dinner, we hugged it all out and reminded each other how important that we are to one another. I just really admire the level of strength that we display every day, and people here have become family to me as every day feels like it takes a week, and we get to know each other better and better.

I loved being Leader of the Day, it put me in a position that I wasn’t comfortable with, and I still worked really hard to make sure that I could live up to the potential that we have as a team. There were a lot of challenges, especially with me being the first (and hopefully only) leader to not have a partner to bounce off of. 

I love this group, I love the family that I’ve made here, and personally I can’t wait to pass the torch to the next leaders because it’s been a really long day.

-Dev

(P.S, the CBS crew left us today, but not before interviewing a couple more of us.)