This past week flew by as I hosted Vanderbilt ASB from March 5th-12th! They were an absolutely amazing, upbeat, flexible group that helped my community so much!

The breakdown of the week:
ASB (comprised of 9 spanish-speaking students) arrived on Saturday at the Santiago Airport where I picked them up and brought them back to my site (by taxi, bus and truck). We stopped at the chicken shack for some roasted chicken takeout. Then, unpacking and an early night.

Sunday we traveled to Jobo to visit the school, stop at the colmado for food and visit the school director. We had a tour of the school and a chat with the director about the week’s activities. Then, back to my community for lunch, construction of my stove chimneys (a really HUGE help) and dominoes with community members!

Monday we headed to the school early where we worked in classrooms (English class, art, math). We also spent an entire morning organizing and revamping the school’s library. ASB also generously donated basketballs and volleyballs to the school that they had brought from the states! In the afternoon, the Americans attended my youth sex-ed class and ran a wonderful game called “Wah!”. A huge hit (played by many Dominican youth later in the week).

Tuesday ASB bought $150 of paint to paint the basketball court of the school (that didn’t have any markings). It looked awesome with red, blue and white paint (coincidentally the Dominican and American flag colors).

Wednesday some of the volunteers headed with my masons, Rafelito and Gilberto, to build a stove. The others painted the local community center—its amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do to a building!

Thursday was the last day of the school; we gave a lecture about discrimination and stereotypes and then celebrated Ash Wednesday with the students. We ended the morning with a ASB/Student dance on the basketball court. Lots of bachata and merengue dancing! In the afternoon we built some more chimneys. Finally, to celebrate the ending of the week, we had a “gingebre” (ginger tea community celebration) at night along with typical Dominican dancing. We had teachers, students and community members attend). The dancing went until 11pm and the night ended with many tears and goodbyes of the young kids and volunteers.

Friday we left El Guayabo early for Santiago, checked into a hotel and left our stuff to head to 27 Waterfalls! We arrived at the waterfalls around 1pm, so too late to do all 27. However, 12 waterfalls were plenty for us. Lots of laughs and memories from the day. Back to Santiago for dinner at the mall food court (what could be better than Pizza Hut after a long day?).

Saturday- early goodbyes and a wonderful gift of ASB money so the school can buy a printer!
What a week! While I didn’t have a minute free, it was definitely worth it. The kids absolutely loved the volunteers and the volunteers have motivated me to try to work more in the school!