February 27th, Day 1 Vamos a la Republica Dominicana!

Hola everyone,
We arrived in the Dominican Republic safely yesterday evening. We had a safe drive to our lovely hotel and spent the evening exploring the area. We discovered that we arrived during Independence Day and enjoyed a wonderful surprise fireworks show, concert and carne food. We also met some people who were on our plane from Melbourne, FL. Throughout the night we enjoyed walking around the local monument and taking in the Dominican culture as well as the wonderful sights. We met a lot of nice locals who spoke English as well as some ones that like to try to sell us everything under the sun. One person spoke to us of how much pride he has in his country, how much he loves the Dominican and how beautiful it is. Despite our slight language barrier, it was a very rewarding conversation.
Today, February 28th, was our first full day in the DR. We had an early start (6:30am) and woke to homemade breakfast, fresh squeezed orange juice and Dominican café. We then made the short walk to one of the first centers we are to work with during our ten day stay. After a brief introduction we all boarded busses bound for a camp in the mountains; a hands on group building workshop. Today our group and the students at the center were going on a field trip.
We began the day with some activities meant to break the ice between our group and the kids, and it didn’t take long before we were all mingling and communicating despite the language barrier. The activities included some strenuous physical relays that brought us all together and forced smiles and laughter among any that participated. Everyone had an incredible time running around and making friends, and towards the end of the day we sat down for a reflection where we discussed the impact of our interaction thus far. Some tears were shed and hearts were opened as we realized how significant of a trip this would be, we’re not in Kansas anymore. We were taught that even though you have a language barrier, language should never stop you from being able to communicate through a smile, through a laugh or through your body language to the people around you. One of the advisors from the center told us “you never walk alone.”
For the rest of the day we took part in a mini “Olympic game” session and slowly built our smaller groups of two and three people, to seven and ten and then eventually we all bonded together. Our memories thus far are unforgettable and are proven in the hundreds of pictures we have taken. We even received contact information for one of the counselors at the camp. She speaks English very well. She was taught at a Dominican institute and she even knows a slight bit of French.
For the evening we are on our own. Some of us are heading out to the town, some of us are sleeping, but we are all waking up early to eat breakfast by 6:30am to head on a road trip to another city and the beaches…Hasta manana!