Day 8. CAP Day #2 (Captain america day 2)

Hola Familias!

This is Zaylen and Valeria your LDD’s (Leaders of the Day)

This morning we had a really early wake up call at 6:30a.m. which is VERY EARLY but it helped get us ready for the day. For the most important meal of the day BREAKFASTTT we had bananas, pancakes, salchichas, Panamanian empanadas, and iced tea.

After enjoying our meal, we headed right to the school with “Shakira” and “dembow” playing during the whole bus ride from DJ Zayzay and Malakai. Once we arrived there, we got straight to work because we knew how much work we had to continue doing in order to complete the community action project. At the door, we were greeted by Principal Mario. After greeting principal Mario and the kids, we split off to our assigned classrooms to finish up the murals.

For my group which included (Valeria which is me, Genesis, Kamilah, Daouda, and MIRIAM) what we needed to work on is the words for the numbers in Spanish 5-10 and finishing up the animals for one section of the mural. For the second section of mural we did the vowels in cursive as well as the animals that begin with each vowel in Spanish. Overall everyone in my group was really locked in. Each of us had our task and went on with that task — either drawing the animals, writing the numbers in Spanish or painting. We were able to finish the complete vowel section of our mural before we had to leave today.

Zaylen here, so for my group which consisted of Lucas, Jade, Steven, Jesus, Elizabeth and me. We left off CAP day #1 with starting some of the sketching after we painted our mural’s background. To start CAP day #2 we went straight to work and finished our sketching for the first side of the room which was the mural that was in cursive (also my specialty). After we completed the cursive side we headed straight to the print side to start the sketching. We finished all of our letters on both sides and even got to painting the pictures on the cursive side. Before heading out we got to add a couple details to most of our drawings on the cursive side, done mainly by Steven and Jade (they’re wonderful people and friends).

After all the hard work we finally got some snacks in which were plantain chips and juice boxes. While on our break we got to socialize with our peers, play basketball with the kids as well. We all loved it today and the amount of progress every group made.

After our snack break it was time TO GET BACK TO WORK!!!!!!!!! 🙂

At 3:30p.m. we left, after staying an extra hour because we were so committed to finishing our work and also because we got 2 lunches ( the school provided a traditional Panamanian lunch to show their appreciation to us, and our wonder chef Tamara also prepared us a to-go lunch box).

Then we headed back to the hotel with once again DJ Zayzay and Malakai back on the aux playing more incredible tunes on the way back during our bus ride. Once we returned to the hotel we got to head straight to free time and freely explore Las Tablas once again. Most of us headed in a group to El Punto Cafe and Carolina Cafe to get coffee, cakes and even 8 loaves of bread. The ones who stood back headed with Yosselyn to check out the dollar store, the tech store and the library to buy stuff for themselves, the kids at the school and our hotel big dog Beckyyyy.

After enjoying free time around Las Tablas it was time for our last dinner prepared by Tamara (I know, it’s bittersweet!) So we enjoyed a wonderful plate of fried chicken with some vegetable fried rice, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber and lemonade.

With a nice meal in our belly it was time for our nightly meeting, however, while our nightly meeting was happening there was an earthquake! (But don’t worry it was a small earthquake). Valeria and Zaylen had to pass the torch to the new leaders. Overall, being the leader of day was exciting for me because I’ve had a ton of leadership opportunities in my high school, so I was ready for the part. It also had an amazing co-leader in Zaylen who was full of energy. I couldn’t have asked for a more fun time. For me (Zaylen) I would say today was full of laughs, funny moments and love. This day was a great day overall and having Valeria as a co-leader was better than I imagined for sure. Now, we present to you tomorrow’s leaders (drum roll) Eddie and Jesus (AGAIN!!)

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Special SHOUT OUTS …

Hi Calzada family — it’s your daughter Valeria! I am having an amazing time in Panama — I miss you so much and I have heard your comments. I enjoy hearing what you have to say. Velvet, Reyes and Isaac AKA my Panda boy I can’t wait to tell you all about my journey. XOXO from Valeria Calzada

Hi Mom and family it’s Zayzay, I miss you guys more than you could imagine, I even got frosted flakes and apple juice because of how much I missed my baby Lena. I’ll be back home soon to tell you all about how the trip was and what I did everyday – I wasn’t just sleeping or playing games like always. I love you guys so much and I’ll come back soon<3.