Wednesday was an exciting day! A group of us woke up at 5:30 a.m. to walk to the pier and enjoy the beautiful sunrise. Breakfast included delicious cornmeal, buttered toast, hard-boiled eggs, fresh cantaloupe, and mangoes straight off the tree!

We returned to Colegio San José for our third day of teaching, and the experience became even more rewarding. During our morning recess, some of us played five-on-five basketball, while other spent quality time with the kids and played games like tag, frisbee, hopscotch, jump robe, chalk drawing, and blowing bubbles. A group of students were even practicing a dance that they planned to perform as a class on Friday, their last day of school.

The classes we taught were amazing since the students responded really well to the added energy we brought! The connections that we experienced in the last two days blossomed into genuine friendships. That’s what has made this trip so special.

On our way home from the school, we returned to our favorite juice shop and had a relaxing siesta. The activities commenced after lunch with lesson planning for both the public schools and the afternoon Learning Center. We then had a wonderful dinner of spaghetti, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, and watermelon. And for our evening activity…dancing! A dance instructor came to the Outreach360 site and taught us some Dominican dances, such as merengue and bachata. A few of us even got our hair braided from a local woman who also brought along some homemade bracelets. We then finished the night with a fun dance party and karaoke sesh! Goodnight, NA! –Sofia Wachtmeister ’20