day 4 – community day

Today we (Sam, Angelo, and Annette) were the leaders of the day. We had a jam-packed day today. We helped people in their houses, played with students in the community “Rio Grande” and took a dance class, learning meringue and bachata.

Hello parents, guardians, family, friends and loved ones my name is Angelo Santino Duarte and I’m going to be talking about our mornings we have been through. Luckily I was able to be the first leader of the day with my fellow new friends being able to lead everyone and follow the instructions for the day. Starting with the morning, the time difference hits hard, I had to wake up at 7:00 am and wake everyone up at 7:15. Sadly it was my own room mate that had to wake me up. Everyone is up and getting ready for breakfast at 8:15 also making a second check 15 minutes before that to make sure people didn’t sleep in or were lacking behind.

Today breakfast was fried eggs, scrambled eggs, and lovely toast. We are always able to have seconds after everyone has sat down and got there first bite and for the people who know me I for sure got second to stay energized. After breakfast everyone washes their dishes and we do a mental warm up where we learn about the community that we’re going to and the issues they might be facing or faced. When finished, everyone changed into jeans and closed toe shoes because due to he community beliefs they like to be modest and do not show any legs so everyone there was in sweats or jeans. We also had to being 2 huge jugs of water because it is 100 degrees and very humid. Something you guys reading this might not want to be in; I was drenched in sweat.

Everyone is finished packing their bags with hats, glasses, sunscreen, bug spray (huge thing out here with the flies) and, especially water, a huge thing. We all get in the bus, the bus is the size as a traditional short yellow bus at home with air conditioning huge windows that open and speakers where sometimes we play music. But, that’s all of our mornings it always going to be something like or similar now moving on to the afternoon. Peace y’all Angelo signing out.

Hi parents! my name is Annette and I am going to talk about our trip to one of the local communities we visited today and joined for lunch. Once we arrived to the local school in Rio Grande, we split into smaller groups to go with different families into their own homes. A lot of us were very nervous about the language barrier between us and the families. But we made sure as leaders that each group had a Spanish speaker to help with translations. Along with the translation help the families all welcomed us so warmly into there homes. The lady who had my group into her home even called us family now that we had visited. During our time in the houses we made sure to offer our help with different things such as cooking and cleaning. My group helped with laundry and cutting up different vegetables and making a very yummy lemonade.

Once we had spent time in the houses we all gathered back as a group to meet with the children in the community and played different games like basketball volleyball and tag. Every single member of our global glimpse team had an amazing time playing different games or learning dances with kids off all ages. Then we all sat down for a meal all together called Bandera. Bandera contains rice, any type of meat, and a salad. After lunch we played more with the kids and then had a very tough goodbye as everyone was not ready to leave after all the fun we had with the kids. For me this trip has definitely been my biggest highlight of the trip so far and such an amazing experience. Goodnight from the DR, Annette! 🙂

Sam tagging in to talk about nighttime here!! Once we got back from the community, we changed into dance clothes, filled up our water bottles and got ready to dance! We met this really cool dance teacher/choreographer, Raul Garcia, who was self taught, but despite humble beginnings, eventually won first prize in a really prestigious dance competition. We were really excited because we knew we had a pro on our side taking care of us.

We all gathered on the rooftop to learn two specific dance styles: Bachata, and Meringue. We had lots of fun learning these dance styles, we really got to let loose, and get into the groove with the teacher. At the end, he also took song suggestions and we danced to some Justin Bieber, and Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars. Next we went back down to the common area to do a reflection on the day, and to plan out some logistics pertaining to our CAP projects. Then we had some downtime, and dinnertime arrived. We ate some chicken with fries, and fried plantains. Super yummy in our tummies. Lastly we had our nightly meeting where us, the LDD’s passed the torch to Mia, Shaniece, and Anahi. They showed us an epic performance of Beauty and a Beat by Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj, and we all sang along. We learned more about whats going on tomorrow (no spoilers here- you’ll have to wait for the next blog) and then us leaders came here to do the blog! Sam out :D.

Hi Family! Its Annette! I’m having an amazing time here in the DR! I was nervous about not knowing anyone but Iv’e already made great friends and our group is wonderful! I’m missing you guys a lot but I want you to know how excited I am to share the stories from my time here with you! Love you so so so much! <3 Annette

Hello my beautiful family, It Angelo Santino Duarte, I’m having a pretty good time here in the DR very NEW experience I am facing I love all of you guys I really do miss all of you guys so much it kinda hurts. I love you mom, dad, julie, hai-hai, Luna, zenya, grandma and grandpa cant wait to call you guys tomorrow and see you guys when I get back. Love you guys. But to the PARENTS of all of the other Kids. Your kids miss you guys so much they all love you guys a lot everyone talks about you guys a lot. Lots of people have been really home sick and for them its been really hard but they are getting thew it but they all love you and really miss you guys. I LOVE YOU MY FAMLY GOODNIGHT I LOVE YOU! BIG DOG ANGELO DUARTE OUT!

To my supporters out there: Sam Busch is back. I’m gonna write a lil blurb about my experience as a leader and a lil bit about the things that happened today. One big thing I remember is any time I tried to speak in Spanish, my French came out and I’d start saying things in French that no one here understands (not glimpses or locals – although to be fair there was one Haitian girl we met but she was too shy to speak French with me)! It was a little daunting being one of the first “leaders of the day” but I was lucky to have a great team of other leaders that worked together to get the group moving. Waking up earlier than everyone was a downside, but banging on peoples doors to wake them up gave me just the adrenaline rush I needed. My energy was well spent today. Of course I had a great time at dance lessons, I was in the front line of glimpsers, just ready to rip. And playing with the kids included many things, like chasing them while playing tag, doing cartwheels to show off, or playing volleyball. I also made a handshake with the kids that was super awesome and special. All in all it was a great day, and I’m writing about all of it in my journal so when I get back I’ll have even more stories to tell!! To my fam: dad- I miss you, I hope you got to see Odyssey on the big big screen and tell Nelly I love her, Mom- I miss you LOTS, say hi to Anissa for me (pray she has an extra mbappe sticker for us) I hope the rest of your France trip goes well, Annabelle- say hi to Julius for me + text me when my starring appearance shows up on your insta, Chloe- say hi to Cam for me + take a swim at the beach for me. OKAY THATS ALL FOR MEEEEE – PEACE OUTTTTTTT :DDDDDDDDDDD

Angelo, Sam, and Annette – Day 4 LDD’s