Day 5 – Sustainable Development

HELLLLLOOOOOO GG pals!!!

We are Catherine with a side of Julianna. We’re both early birds, so we woke up really early. Catherine woke up at 4 AM because she was really excited to be the Líder del Día (Leader of the Day) but fell asleep only to wake up at 6:10 AM later. I woke up around 5:30 AM and waited for her. At 7:00 AM we were on TOP of everyone making sure they were all up for our delicious breakfast of pancakes and bacon with really good strawberry juice. Honestly, the different juices we get every day is the only thing Catherine and I look forward to (just kidding, we look forward to every activity we do). Today we needed to visit our Community Action Project (CAP) site, escuela de Santa Ana, which is a primary school. We were welcomed SUPER cutely: the 4th graders lined up on two sides, giving us high fives as we walked in. We got a look around the buildings and land, learning about different subjects taught at the school, and the favorite subjects of the students. The majority enjoyed mathematics, which could never be me or Catherine’s! We also learned about the different needs of both the students, teachers, and the community around the school. From the students, we learned that they really wanted a garden to learn agriculture, as they have an agricultural class. From the teachers, we learned that they would like directional and emergency signs for the classrooms. 

After chatting with the students despite many language barriers, we left the main buildings to play an energizer that Catherine introduced, called Bippity-Bop-Bop. We all had a lot of fun playing. Following the energizer, Efrain, our amazing bus driver, drove us back to the hotel to have lunch. We ate pork chops, potatoes, and salad. Our two vegetarians, Catherine and Diigant, had a tortilla with eggs, lentils, and onions inside, replacing the pork chops, alongside the potatoes and salad. After lunch, we had free time and chose to spend it on eating cake and shopping at Panamanian Walmart. Catherine, Itxia, Julian, Masiela, Sam, Alisa, and I (Julianna) visited a fruit stand where the owners asked us to pose with their fruits. Sam had a hot sauce bottle, though. We felt like celebrities. They were extremely nice and welcoming although more than half of us couldn’t speak an ounce of Spanish. 

Around 3:00 PM, we did our duty as LDDs and made sure everyone was back from Free Time and ready to start today’s Seminar. We focused on Group Norms and our official CAP ideas. We used the 3rd floor balcony (it’s HUGE), and split up into groups of 4 to come up with Group Norm ideas. Here are our agreed upon Norms:

 Next, we discussed (and debated) what project we wanted to do. We ended up choosing to build garden beds and renovating the basketball court. We have a budget of $600, and split into groups of 10 and 8, with 10 being on the court and 8 being in the garden. It was quite difficult to figure out ideas and find all the materials for the budget. Eventually we decided to leave it for the next day and go by the flow. 

Today I(Catherine) learned that I could communicate really well with my other partner Julianna and the Leaders. It was really tiring being leader of the day but all the hard work allowed the whole group to stay on track throughout this busy day. 

Hi, this is Julianna! Being a Leader of the Day was a huge learning experience from me. Catherine and I had to manage 17 peers, and we tried very hard to stay on top of everything, and honestly I think that we did a great job. I learned a lot about observing how my peers were feeling and if they needed breaks or any other type of support. I would totally do it another day!

SPECIAL SHOUTOUT TO SCOTT FOR ALWAYS PAYING ATTENTION!!

Big love from Catherine with a side of Julianna!!!! 🙂

Here are the next amazing Leaders of the Day:

Left to right: Anjali, Jonathan, Kylie