A Step into Dominican Culture

After a week of hard work with the Mariposa Foundation, Ms. MacMeekin sent another update about the Dominican Service Project Winterim's trip and their plans for the following week:

Buenos Dias!

It has been a pretty fantastic couple of days here in the DR!  Friday we got more work done on the building we are working on and the kids worked really hard.  We took the weekend to immerse ourselves in the culture and get to know the local community a little more.

Saturday we went to La Boca, which is where the river dumps into the Atlantic Ocean.  It was a great spot because on one side of the beach we had fresh water, and about 60 meters across was the Atlantic.  We spent the morning learning about the river, fishing and swimming. After lunch, we walked along the beach and learned how to catch spider crabs.

Sunday we spent in the countryside on a farm.  We learned about growing cacao, and the process for turning it into chocolate.  We had a traditional Dominican lunch on the farm which was delicious! We had to change our plans a little because the rain had made it too slippery to walk around the farm, but that's what you get during rainy season.

After the farm, we spent a little time in a local lagoon, learning about the mangroves.  Again, weather and rough water changed our plans but we still learned a lot and had fun!

Today (Monday) we are back to work.  We are going to try and get as much building done as possible so that tomorrow we just have to do the small touch up jobs.  Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.  We have an early morning so we can have a breakfast farewell with la maripositas, the younger girls in the program, because we won't see them on Wednesday. Also, the other winterim group in the Dominican is coming to join us for lunch. We have a lot left to get done but everyone is working together and we will get it done.

Hope all is well in the US!

DR Community Trabajo y Juego

It seems like the From the Ground Up Winterim group has been working all day long, but they still have time to balance their work (trabajo) and play (juego).

Ms. Schneider and Mr. Moore have been sending daily updates to the parents of the students in the From the Ground Up Winterim. Here are all the updates so far:


March 4th:

Hello parents!

Well this has been quite the morning to start our Dominican adventure! Luckily, everything has worked out, and we will still be arriving in the DR today -- just a little later than possible, as I'm sure many of you have already heard from your students. Below are our new flight times. We have already been in contact with Lawrence Academy and the organization we are staying with in the DR, so everyone is aware of the new situation, and everyone has adapted their plans to accommodate the new flights.

Best,

Kacey and Rob

March 5th:

Hello again everyone!

Well, we finally made it! We are here, safe and sound, in the DR! Woohoo! Rob and I have all of the students passports and cell phones. We are staying in Santiago for the night since we arrived so late, and they put us up in quite a nice hotel, which is great. We will leave tomorrow morning for El Centro Fusimana, where we will be staying for the remainder of our trip. We will be sure to email again when we arrive there.

Once we arrive at Fusimana, we will have a better sense of our WiFi capabilities. However, we are hoping to send in blog posts and updates on a daily basis. We will be sure to let you know about that tomorrow as well!

Have a good night! Adios!

Kacey and Rob

March 6th:

Hola everyone!

Our trip continues to be a success! The students had their first full day of service work today, and it went great (but they are certainly tired!) For the morning, half of the students worked with students in a local school, and half of the students worked on building a community center. We joined together for lunch, and then we switched groups. The students loved working at the school and have discovered a newfound respect for manual labor by working on the community center! Overall, it was a productive and enjoyable day.

Tomorrow will be similar, and we will also be playing volleyball with locals. Wish us luck! Unfortunately, we will not be able to send the full updates we were hoping to each day because of the fact that there is no WiFi here. However, we will be sending short updates each day via an iPhone. If you need to be in contact with us, you can still email us (we will be briefly checking each day), or you can call.

Continuing to send sunshine and warmth your way!

Rob and Kacey

March 7th:

Buenas noches,

We had another great day in the DR. The group continues to impress us, spirits are good, and everyone is learning a lot and doing their best. Today we worked in a new school, continued our job at the community center, then topped off the day with basketball and volleyball with local kids, followed by another excellent dinner and a very thoughtful and deep reflection time. We look forward continuing our work through the weekend and will send another update mañana.

Everyone is healthy, the food is great, and we're on our way to accomplishing our goals.

Saludos,
Kacey & Rob

March 8th:

Hola,

The group had another productive day.  We got up early and went to the construction site, and we worked hard until around 1. During the morning work session we took a break to walk down the road with some neighborhood kids to buy some refreshments and also took a break to enjoy some sugarcane that our local host farmer cut for us. That was a first for most. After our productive morning, we got back to our lodging at Centro Fusimaña for a late lunch. After lunch was free time and 7 of the students went to a Peace Corp workshop on health and gender roles that was very interesting. Around 5 we took on a Dominican team in basketball and not even the heroics of Emily Pratt could get us the victory, but we had fun and made more friends. Tomorrow we head to the city of Santiago to visit a famous museum, and we will also visit a monument for the Mirabal sisters here in the mountains (not far from our lodging). The group continues to enjoy each other's company and learn a lot. Our evening reflection times have been powerful. It has been around 85 and sunny each day.

All the best,

Kacey & Rob



March 9th:

Greetings,  Today we took the bus to Santiago and had a super visit at the museum. On the way back we visited Trujillo's summer home and the memorial for the Mirabal Sisters. What a different kind of day it was from service learning!  Tourism is not as much fun, so it's back to work tomorrow at the school and construction site in El Mango. Spirits are great, and the group is still enjoying each other and staying positive. Tonight after dinner, our guide Luis taught us how to dance Salsa, Bachata, and Merengue. Very cool. We all loved it.

All the best,
Kacey & Rob

TRIPLE RAINBOW ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE SKY!

After the long first five days of Winterim, Ms. Cronin sent the following update about how the Project Peru Winterim's trip has gone so far:

We have had an awesome first part of our Winterim! After arriving in Ollantaytambo, we visited an orphanage and split into groups to do games and crafts with the kids there. We definitely gave our Spanish a workout and the kids at the orphanage gave us a workout! Running at 11,000ft was not easy! After lunch we took some of the kids to a local pottery studio. We learned about the process they use and got to make our own tiles. While we were glazing our masterpieces, a triple rainbow appeared over the town of Urubamba!

Yesterday (Thursday) we explored the town of Ollantaytambo and the ruins located in the town. They we explored the local shops and markets before our train to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu. The train ride was gorgeous! Snow-capped peaks and beautiful scenery everywhere you looked.

Today (Friday) we visited Machu Picchu and climed up Huayanu Picchu (the tallest mountain overlooking the ruins). Although it was rainy and foggy, the kids never lost their enthusiasm and we played hide and seek with the vistas a bit.

We are spending tonight in Cusco before heading out to the rural community where we will be volunteering. We will have no access to technology while we are there, and we will be able to experience how rural Peruvians live. Everyone is looking forward to this.

Every night our group shares their "high" and "low" for the day, and also a word that describes their day or an experience. Here is tonight's list:

Cailey - awe
Takuto - climbing
Tim - open height
Cornelius - ancient
Jason - discovery
Nick - trains
Chase - mystical
Ms. Cronin - past
Mr. Igoe - panoramic
Charlotte - conquering fears
Marcus - glaciers
Peter - engulfed
Julia - new heights
Kalyn - spectacular
Meghan - selfie
Jaly - satisfied
Keiya - appreciation

From Saturday through Wednesday, the Peru Winterim group will be staying in Patabamba, a rural Peruvian community, to help with tasks such as cleaning stoves and teaching children English.

Under the Sea...Down Where it's Wetter

The group in Belize has been able to communicate with us regularly.  If you are following the Lawrence Academy Facebook page, then you've probably read some of their posts about coconut grinding, practice diving, and discovering giant hermit crabs!

Grinding coconut

Day 7 at South Water Caye, Belize

Today (Saturday) was our second time scuba diving and we did confined water dive at about 14 feet. We did some skills under the water, starting from the oral inflation of the BCD to cramp removals, but most of the people found it the most difficult to swim 30 feet without the masks. Luckily, everybody passed the swimming test!

We caught a hermit crab just off the shore of the island. Also, we found a mollusk and the cooks made us ceviche on the spot. Tomorrow, we will go on our first open water dive at 25 feet!! And on Wednesday we will do our final dive at around 60 feet and observe the second largest coral reef in the world.

-Islambek & Jin

Dive instruction

Island Hopping in the Caribbean

The group in Caribbean Sea is updating their blog regularly - check it out to get the most updated information and see their amazing photos of their trip.

These are the titles and links of their posts from most recent to less recent:

• Brimstone Fortress
• On to St Kitts
• Into the Wind
• Yacht Orientation
• The journey begins
• Arrival in Paradise

Digging Up History

The Can You Dig It? Winterim group has been excavating a dig site for the past week, making history come alive by physically digging it up and studying it, as opposed to looking at pictures of it in a textbook at home. This is a unique experience that these students get to have and it is one that they can gain a wealth of knowledge from.

Mr. Greene, on behalf of the Can You Dig It? Winterim group, sent us their daily blog entries over the weekend along with some group pictures from Italy:

Ciao, Lawrence Community!!

Here are entries for Days 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. I've also attached a couple of photos of us at the dig site and Tolfaccia. 

Day 2

We started by going to our dig site. This area is a mountain in which there used to be a medieval town that was destroyed by the Pope. We hiked to the top of the mountain where there was a spectacular view. We hiked down the mountain and were introduced to our site. We split into to two groups and we were given our areas in different rooms of the house. Next we had to clean our areas to get a clean surface. Then we began to dig for a little bit and saw basic pieces of pots and such that would be lying towards the surface of the house. Finally we went back to the dorm and played a riveting game of spoons (card game). Then we had a marvelous dinner down the street. We had antipasti, caprice salad, and an assortment of meats for our entrée. Lastly, we went back to the dorm and enjoyed a game of foosball and went to bed.

Day 3

On the third day in Italy, we got right to digging.  Most of the time was spent digging out the remaining walls of the house.  A small group was able to actually start digging in a pit in the middle of the house. In this pit they found all kinds of things such as parts of pottery and old screws. After we were done for the day at the dig site we went straight to a museum in the town of Allumiere. At this museum we saw artifacts that were found at dig sites like ours.  Some of these artifacts dated back to prehistoric times. We then went to dinner at the same restaurant. We had antipasti and then as an entrée we had manicotti. We then finally went back to the dorm and to bed after an exhausting day.

Day 4

Day three for digging, began with an early home cooked breakfast. We proceeded to head to the dig site were the laboring began. The main goal of day three was to begin finding the different layers of earth in the site. The process involved working from the walls into the middle. The walls were essential because they were able to tell us a lot of the function of the rooms we were working in. Near the wall we were able to find many artifacts that consisted of 15^th century pottery and other things like screws and hinges. We also dug up a lot of earth adjacent to the wall we worked on and found artifacts that included a glazed white plate with detailed blue flowers and the handle to an ancient cup. After our hard day of digging we traveled from the dig site to the grocery store in Allumiere. At the store we bought different snacks chocolates and foods to enjoy. We then went back to our dorms at the top of the hill in Allumiere and got ready for dinner. We finished the day with a replenishing and delicious meal after our digging.

Day 5

We began our fourth day at the dig site by continuing to excavate the structure of the building. After a few hours, we helped our hosts prepare a barbecue for lunch. We enjoyed our lunch on a sunny hillside with a beautiful view of the mountains overlooking the Mediterranean. After a much-needed break, we returned to the dig site and made some more progress. Using larger tools such as shovels or pick-axes and smaller ones like trowels and brushes, the group is making a lot of progress unearthing the structure. After finishing our work at the site, we were treated to gelato in Allumiere.

Day 6

Day five at the dig site, we continued to work in our designated zones. One group finally uncovered another layer of soil, called "strato" in Italian, and removed several of the larger rocks that were plaguing the area. The second group finally solved the missing wall conundrum. With that, they found the place where the walls met, and started to remove the rocks of the fallen wall in the room. People have found numerous amounts of artifacts, and today we found bones. We also had another day of sunny weather, which meant warm showers back at the solar powered dormitory. We have plans to go to dinner at the restaurant where we have become regulars, eating dinner there each night of our trip thus far. Tomorrow is our last day at the dig site; we will focus on removing the rock and finding some more artifacts. Maybe we will find some treasure!? 

Written By: Connor McManus, Meghan Zaloudek, Christian Hernandez, Kyle Gillen-Hughes, Paul Schnebly, Callie Parsons, Arnold Wang, and Clare Noone

HI from Hawaii

On Friday, the Hawaii Winterim group continued to help at the Kua O Ka La public charter school, located in Pu'ala'a, Puna, before they left to visit Waipio Valley and then later Kohala on Saturday.

On Friday morning, students studied the myths and culture of Hawaii. Afterwards, they helped out at the charter school and worked with students in the lower school, which ranges from kindergarten to sixth grade. That afternoon the students helped with a community service project at the charter school and then participated in making ti leaf leis.

Over the weekend, the group first traveled to  Waipio Valley, which is referred to as the "Valley of the Kings" a valley that was once the home to many Hawaiian rulers.

They then drive to Kohala and visited an ancient petroglyph area, Pu'ukohala He'iau, and later Lapakai, one of the original settlements in Hawaii. Sunday evening the group participated in a luau with a Hawaiian family.

Today, and through the first part of this week, the group will be staying at the Hale Lokahi Lodge while they travel around the area and visit the , the Halema'uma'u crater, and then the Volcanoes National Park, to learn about the geology and ecology of the area.

The group will also be volunteering at the Niaulani Trail, helping to remove invasive species. They will finish the week with a hike up Akaka Falls and a visit to the Lyman Museum before they leave for home on Friday.