The Bridge Puerto Rico group took off from the airport in San Juan right on time and are headed to New York! Their flight is about an hour away from JFK and cruising smoothly at 38,000 feet. For a few end of the trip pictures, check out the slideshow to the right (remember, you can click on the picture for a larger view of them all). We know the group had an amazing month and the WMST team would like to thank you for sending such incredible kids on this trip! Each student contributed so much to the group dynamic and made the experience one that won't be soon forgotten.
Thanks Everyone and Welcome Home BPR!
Neesa and Angus
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Postcards Home!
Greetings from Aguadilla! The group is having a great time and has been loving surfing with Tupi! Tony reported that all the students made it up on the surf board and rode a wave! Cat was able to take some new pictures and they've been posted with the rest (right hand column of this blog - don't forget you can click on the picture for a larger version).
Each student wrote a "digital postcard" home and they've been posted below - enjoy!
Dear whoever reads this,
Our PR group had a lot of fun over the past few weeks. The weather has been amazing and we just got to Tupi’s place. We can’t wait until we go surfing! Also ,we had a great time during our homestay. We met amazing people who were very nice to us and accepted us as their family.
From,
V
Dear Mom and Dad,
I’m having so much fun in Puerto Rico! The weather is really hot, but we are having lots of fun. We just left our homestays which was really sad, but now we are in Aguadilla and we are going to go surfing. Miss you and see you soon!
Love,
Imani
Dear Mom and Dad,
I’m having the best time of my life! This trip has been amazing although I’m missing home. We just finished our homestays and I miss everyone already. I can’t wait to see you!
Love,
Aly
Dear Mom and Dad,
Puerto Rico is still as amazing as ever! About an hour ago, we arrived in the backyard of Tupi’s house where we are going to spend the next three nights. Tupi is the dude who is going to teach us how to surf! I was super sad to leave homestays today, but I’m looking forward to riding the waves! Miss you guys and hope you’re having a good summer!
Love,
Gabi
Dear Mommy,
Right now I’m looking at one of the most amazing views! I miss you so much but it’s ok because I have a lot of stories to tell you when I come home.
Love,
Elon
Dear Mom and Dad,
I’m having so much fun in Puerto Rico! We have done so many things so far, including waterfall climbing, zip lining, snorkeling, and community service. We just left our homestays and my host family was really nice! See you soon!
Love,
Daria
Dear Mom and Dad,
The homestays went great! The family that my group stayed with was very nice and caring. The daily life is Boqueron is similar yet very different than our daily life. The Boqueron students were so friendly and they made us feel right at home!
Love you, miss you,
Anna Rose Brennan
Dear Mama and Poppa,
I’m sitting in the backyard of a really cool surfer right on the water, his name is Tupi. I thought about that name for my son later on. Dad, he’s got like 5 paddleboards (sea sweepers) and a couple of fun boards. Apparently he’s really good – I saw all his trophies. Hopefully he will teach me some new moves. Can’t wait to see you guys!
Love,
Thomas
Dear Mom and Dad,
I miss you. Puerto Rico is coolio! See you in Switz-town.
Love,
Jack
Dear Mom and Dad,
I just said a sad goodbye to my homestay family. I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that my homestay family was more than I could have wished for. They were the most generous family! I’ve mentioned this before and I’ll mention it again, the juices we drank every morning were to die for! I’m bringing home a pink hammock to remind me of all the days I spent on the beach in Puerto Rico. And I can’t wait to explain all my stories to you in person.
Lots of Love,
Simone
Hey Mom,
Just left the homestay now going to surf. Tell Ash I said she's missed. Tell Rich to shower and Puerto Rico is the best!
-Carlos
Each student wrote a "digital postcard" home and they've been posted below - enjoy!
Dear whoever reads this,
Our PR group had a lot of fun over the past few weeks. The weather has been amazing and we just got to Tupi’s place. We can’t wait until we go surfing! Also ,we had a great time during our homestay. We met amazing people who were very nice to us and accepted us as their family.
From,
V
Dear Mom and Dad,
I’m having so much fun in Puerto Rico! The weather is really hot, but we are having lots of fun. We just left our homestays which was really sad, but now we are in Aguadilla and we are going to go surfing. Miss you and see you soon!
Love,
Imani
Dear Mom and Dad,
I’m having the best time of my life! This trip has been amazing although I’m missing home. We just finished our homestays and I miss everyone already. I can’t wait to see you!
Love,
Aly
Dear Mom and Dad,
Puerto Rico is still as amazing as ever! About an hour ago, we arrived in the backyard of Tupi’s house where we are going to spend the next three nights. Tupi is the dude who is going to teach us how to surf! I was super sad to leave homestays today, but I’m looking forward to riding the waves! Miss you guys and hope you’re having a good summer!
Love,
Gabi
Dear Mommy,
Right now I’m looking at one of the most amazing views! I miss you so much but it’s ok because I have a lot of stories to tell you when I come home.
Love,
Elon
Dear Mom and Dad,
I’m having so much fun in Puerto Rico! We have done so many things so far, including waterfall climbing, zip lining, snorkeling, and community service. We just left our homestays and my host family was really nice! See you soon!
Love,
Daria
Dear Mom and Dad,
The homestays went great! The family that my group stayed with was very nice and caring. The daily life is Boqueron is similar yet very different than our daily life. The Boqueron students were so friendly and they made us feel right at home!
Love you, miss you,
Anna Rose Brennan
Dear Mama and Poppa,
I’m sitting in the backyard of a really cool surfer right on the water, his name is Tupi. I thought about that name for my son later on. Dad, he’s got like 5 paddleboards (sea sweepers) and a couple of fun boards. Apparently he’s really good – I saw all his trophies. Hopefully he will teach me some new moves. Can’t wait to see you guys!
Love,
Thomas
Dear Mom and Dad,
I miss you. Puerto Rico is coolio! See you in Switz-town.
Love,
Jack
Dear Mom and Dad,
I just said a sad goodbye to my homestay family. I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that my homestay family was more than I could have wished for. They were the most generous family! I’ve mentioned this before and I’ll mention it again, the juices we drank every morning were to die for! I’m bringing home a pink hammock to remind me of all the days I spent on the beach in Puerto Rico. And I can’t wait to explain all my stories to you in person.
Lots of Love,
Simone
Hey Mom,
Just left the homestay now going to surf. Tell Ash I said she's missed. Tell Rich to shower and Puerto Rico is the best!
-Carlos
Friday, July 17, 2009
Quick Update Before Leaving Boqueron:
Thursday was the closing ceremony for our homestay experience; it was a bittersweet celebration of our week. The students, with the assistance of their homestay families, prepared traditional Puerto Rican dishes to share with the group...delicious chicken stews, plantain packages and wonderful deserts. After our meal the students shared their appreciation for their host families through poems, pictures and an incredible rap put together by DJs Carlos, V and Slippery Jack. We finished off the evening with a p-cord ceremony (p-cord is a type of skinny rope that we use for bracelets/anklets), giving everyone a tangible piece of the experience to take with them.
As leaders, we've been thrilled to see how easily and well this big group has bonded. The willingness of the Windsor Mountain students to open their group up to the Boqueron students says alot about them individually and as a group, as does the ease with which the Boqueron students joined us. It will be sad to say goodbye to these teenagers, many of them are talking about joining a WMST program next year, an we saw many email addresses and facebook names traded.
From here we are moving on to Aguadilla, where we will begin our surfing lessons with the famous Tupi. We are excited to see more of this wonderful place we're in and work on catching some huuuuuuuge waves!!
Also check out the new pictures we sent in....
-Cat, Tony, and the BPR group
As leaders, we've been thrilled to see how easily and well this big group has bonded. The willingness of the Windsor Mountain students to open their group up to the Boqueron students says alot about them individually and as a group, as does the ease with which the Boqueron students joined us. It will be sad to say goodbye to these teenagers, many of them are talking about joining a WMST program next year, an we saw many email addresses and facebook names traded.
From here we are moving on to Aguadilla, where we will begin our surfing lessons with the famous Tupi. We are excited to see more of this wonderful place we're in and work on catching some huuuuuuuge waves!!
Also check out the new pictures we sent in....
-Cat, Tony, and the BPR group
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Boqueron Update
Greetings from Boqueron, Puerto Rico!
We arrived in Boqueron this afternoon after stopping in Lares for icecream from a very well-known shop (everyone has mentioned it to us) which has weird and wacky flavours like fish, chicken and beans and rice, as well as normal choices like chocolate and delicious fresh strawberry. The group took the opportunity to sample some of the local comidas criollas (traditional fried food - delicious!) before our long windy drive down through the mountains to the coast. We met the 6 students from Boqueron who will be spending the week with us and played a bunch of weird and wacky camp games to loosen people up...zip boing pow, giants wizards elves...then had a feast of pizza before taking all the students to their homes for the week. All the families were very excited to meet our students; and the teenagers from Boqueron are all lovely and already fitting in really well with our group. We're very excited for the coming week, we'll be up early to go tree planting on the salt flats and then spend the rest of the day hanging out at playa sucia which is apparently a beautiful beach (despite the name, which means dirty). The rest of the week will see us salsa dancing, going on a boat tour of another bio bay and cooking traditional Puerto Rican food!
WMST note: More pictures have been added to the slide show in the righthand column, make sure to check them out! Just click on the slideshow for a larger view of all the photos. Enjoy!
We arrived in Boqueron this afternoon after stopping in Lares for icecream from a very well-known shop (everyone has mentioned it to us) which has weird and wacky flavours like fish, chicken and beans and rice, as well as normal choices like chocolate and delicious fresh strawberry. The group took the opportunity to sample some of the local comidas criollas (traditional fried food - delicious!) before our long windy drive down through the mountains to the coast. We met the 6 students from Boqueron who will be spending the week with us and played a bunch of weird and wacky camp games to loosen people up...zip boing pow, giants wizards elves...then had a feast of pizza before taking all the students to their homes for the week. All the families were very excited to meet our students; and the teenagers from Boqueron are all lovely and already fitting in really well with our group. We're very excited for the coming week, we'll be up early to go tree planting on the salt flats and then spend the rest of the day hanging out at playa sucia which is apparently a beautiful beach (despite the name, which means dirty). The rest of the week will see us salsa dancing, going on a boat tour of another bio bay and cooking traditional Puerto Rican food!
WMST note: More pictures have been added to the slide show in the righthand column, make sure to check them out! Just click on the slideshow for a larger view of all the photos. Enjoy!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Another Great Week!
As I’m sure most of you heard in person during student phone calls on Saturday—the trip is going great! The group took the ferry back to the main island from Vieques almost a week ago, and after a short pit stop at the best burger stand in San Juan, headed to the Toro Negro Rainforest for two amazing days of service and adventure. Not resting a minute, the group spent their two transition days at a luxurious campground at Camuy Caverns—luxurious in that it actually had bathrooms and showers. No one even cared that the showers were ice cold!
I just got off the phone with Cat, and she gave me a full run-down on the week. Here's the news:
Adventure Report
The group loved our rainforest guide, Raymond. He was personable, knowledgeable, and according to Cat and Tony, who keep a sharp eye out for such things—his outdoor adventure and safety skills were impeccable. Everything Raymond did was done correctly and by the book, and that’s a good thing, because get a load of what they did:
• Jumped into the coldest river in PR
• Scrambled up steep mountain streams (in full climbing gear)
• Rock-Climbed up crazy waterfalls (ditto)
• Ziplined across deep jungle canyons dotted with stands of banana, pineapple, and coffee (double safety ditto)
An unexpected bonus on adventure day was an amazing lunch, home cooked by one of the local village women. This lunch was a highlight of the day for many of our students, and rivaled the exciting adrenaline rush of rock-climbing and ziplining. Yum!
Service Report
The day after the Toro Negro Adventure, Raymond took the group down the road a few miles to a favorite local swimming hole which was in bad need of a total clean-up. Tony and Cat are especially proud of the work the group did on this day—when they arrived, there was garbage everywhere, and the place was a mess. The swimming hole was beautiful, of course, right under a waterfall, right by the road—a perfect place to hang out and enjoy nature—except for all the trash! The group rallied, threw themselves at the task with enthusiasm, and did not stop until it was done. When they left the spot in the afternoon, it looked 100% better. Nothing can improve on nature, of course, but our group did a great job minimizing the human footprint on that particular piece of Puerto Rico, and learned a great lesson: it is possible to make a difference!
Student Notes
This week the student notes are not student generated, since all of you just had a first-person report over the weekend. The following notes reflect what Tony and Cat want all the parents to know about their great kids.
Svyat continues to impress us with his enthusiasm towards every facet of group living and activities. Svyat is always the first person ready—for anything.
Jack is connecting well with everyone in the group, including those he probably would not have connected well with back in school (this is a good thing). Jack is like everyone’s little brother!
Carlos is really psyched about using his Spanish, both when he needs it to communicate with locals, and when he is speaking it just for fun.
Elon is courageous and willing to try brand new activities such as camping, outdoor cooking, waterfall climbing, and others—things she has never ever done—and she is doing them with growing success.
Daria is becoming more and more social and outspoken—a student who at first seemed very shy is now cracking jokes and speaking her mind! Daria is getting very comfortable with the group.
Anna-Rose is becoming more comfortable with camping and being outdoors—she’s making friends easily, and having a whole lot of fun exploring Puerto Rico with the group.
Thomas aka T-Brizzle is the most fun and easygoing guy in the world. He is always the first to laugh, always thinking ahead, always prepared for what’s to come with a great attitude, and communicates creatively and effectively in Spanish.
Imani has shown a wonderful independence, and has demonstrated a great ability to look after herself—she is totally reliable, and is really enjoying everyone in the group. Imani has loved using her Spanish on the trip so far, and can’t wait to start her family homestay, so she can take advantage of the great language learning opportunity it offers.
Gabrielle has been having an absolutely fantastic time expanding her comfort zone. She is excited about all the new things she is trying, and is really looking forward to starting family homestay week. She is fitting in really well with everyone in the group.
Simone is amazingly friendly, generous, and accepting. She is very aware and in tune with what is happening around her. She approaches each new challenge with an open mind, eager to experience as much as she can every single day.
Aly has consistently been her fabulous, bubbly, enthusiastic self. She has made friends easily and thrown herself wholeheartedly into every single activity, and is really excited about starting family homestay week. The maturity she has developed over the past year shows clearly, as does her consideration for others.
That’s about it for this update, folks, except to say that homestays start tonight, and the group has a really fun week of service, peer interaction, and outdoor activities ahead of them. Look for a brief blog update from Cat and Tony around midweek, and a full update just over a week from now.
I just got off the phone with Cat, and she gave me a full run-down on the week. Here's the news:
Adventure Report
The group loved our rainforest guide, Raymond. He was personable, knowledgeable, and according to Cat and Tony, who keep a sharp eye out for such things—his outdoor adventure and safety skills were impeccable. Everything Raymond did was done correctly and by the book, and that’s a good thing, because get a load of what they did:
• Jumped into the coldest river in PR
• Scrambled up steep mountain streams (in full climbing gear)
• Rock-Climbed up crazy waterfalls (ditto)
• Ziplined across deep jungle canyons dotted with stands of banana, pineapple, and coffee (double safety ditto)
An unexpected bonus on adventure day was an amazing lunch, home cooked by one of the local village women. This lunch was a highlight of the day for many of our students, and rivaled the exciting adrenaline rush of rock-climbing and ziplining. Yum!
Service Report
The day after the Toro Negro Adventure, Raymond took the group down the road a few miles to a favorite local swimming hole which was in bad need of a total clean-up. Tony and Cat are especially proud of the work the group did on this day—when they arrived, there was garbage everywhere, and the place was a mess. The swimming hole was beautiful, of course, right under a waterfall, right by the road—a perfect place to hang out and enjoy nature—except for all the trash! The group rallied, threw themselves at the task with enthusiasm, and did not stop until it was done. When they left the spot in the afternoon, it looked 100% better. Nothing can improve on nature, of course, but our group did a great job minimizing the human footprint on that particular piece of Puerto Rico, and learned a great lesson: it is possible to make a difference!
Student Notes
This week the student notes are not student generated, since all of you just had a first-person report over the weekend. The following notes reflect what Tony and Cat want all the parents to know about their great kids.
Svyat continues to impress us with his enthusiasm towards every facet of group living and activities. Svyat is always the first person ready—for anything.
Jack is connecting well with everyone in the group, including those he probably would not have connected well with back in school (this is a good thing). Jack is like everyone’s little brother!
Carlos is really psyched about using his Spanish, both when he needs it to communicate with locals, and when he is speaking it just for fun.
Elon is courageous and willing to try brand new activities such as camping, outdoor cooking, waterfall climbing, and others—things she has never ever done—and she is doing them with growing success.
Daria is becoming more and more social and outspoken—a student who at first seemed very shy is now cracking jokes and speaking her mind! Daria is getting very comfortable with the group.
Anna-Rose is becoming more comfortable with camping and being outdoors—she’s making friends easily, and having a whole lot of fun exploring Puerto Rico with the group.
Thomas aka T-Brizzle is the most fun and easygoing guy in the world. He is always the first to laugh, always thinking ahead, always prepared for what’s to come with a great attitude, and communicates creatively and effectively in Spanish.
Imani has shown a wonderful independence, and has demonstrated a great ability to look after herself—she is totally reliable, and is really enjoying everyone in the group. Imani has loved using her Spanish on the trip so far, and can’t wait to start her family homestay, so she can take advantage of the great language learning opportunity it offers.
Gabrielle has been having an absolutely fantastic time expanding her comfort zone. She is excited about all the new things she is trying, and is really looking forward to starting family homestay week. She is fitting in really well with everyone in the group.
Simone is amazingly friendly, generous, and accepting. She is very aware and in tune with what is happening around her. She approaches each new challenge with an open mind, eager to experience as much as she can every single day.
Aly has consistently been her fabulous, bubbly, enthusiastic self. She has made friends easily and thrown herself wholeheartedly into every single activity, and is really excited about starting family homestay week. The maturity she has developed over the past year shows clearly, as does her consideration for others.
That’s about it for this update, folks, except to say that homestays start tonight, and the group has a really fun week of service, peer interaction, and outdoor activities ahead of them. Look for a brief blog update from Cat and Tony around midweek, and a full update just over a week from now.
Monday, July 6, 2009
They're Having A Great Time!
Bridge Puerto Rico Families and Friends,
We just had our first substantial telephone check-in with Cat and Tony, and the report is stellar! The group spent two fun nights in San Juan before catching the ferry to Vieques for four days of beautiful beaches, quaint island towns, breathtaking outdoor activities, and mind-expanding service projects. At the moment, the Puerto Rico group is "chillaxin' at Sunbay Beach"(Sunbay Beach is part of Camping Sunbay, where the group has been camping since their arrival in the island). Tomorrow the group will take the 11am ferry back to Fajardo on the main island, pack up their vans, and drive to their next campground, where they will shower and spend a night of relative luxury, as compared to the two nights to come--with their two days of adventure and service in the Toro Negro Rainforest comes a camping spot with no showers and no bathrooms! The perfect opportunity for these students to learn leave-no-trace camping ethics in a very practical manner. Catholes, anyone?
Now for what you've all been waiting for: Student Notes! This year, we decided to do these a little differently--we wanted all of our student notes and blurbs to be student-generated. So, we asked our leaders to come up with creative ways of getting little snapshots of the trip, right from the kids themselves. Tony and Cat came up with a great activity for this first set--they gave the kids paper and pen, and asked them to write down three things:
1) Something they've learned about themselves
2) Something they are really enjoying about the group
3) The best thing that has happened on the trip so far
Without further ado, here's what they said (partially mediated by the telephone and fast note-taking):
Thomas Brill:
1) Thomas learned that he really tries hard to do what is necessary to make everything in the group run as smoothly as possible.
2) Thomas really likes that everyone in the group is his own age.
3) Thomas loved the BioBay!
Elon Faison:
1) Elon has learned that she really loves, and is fascinated by, all the amazing tropical plants and flowers that she is seeing up close for the first time.
2) Elon appeared to defer on this one, and instead noted how much she loved the lecture given by Robert Rabin at The Fort Conde Museum, which mainly had to do with the history of the US Military presence on Puerto Rico and Vieques.
3) Elon loved the BioBay!
Anna-Rose Brennan:
1) Anna-Rose learned that she can have fun camping outside, despite the bugs and the heat!
2) Anna-Rose has loved meeting all the cool people in her group.
3) Anna-Rose really loved walking around Old San Juan on Day 2 of the trip. She was especially impressed by the Spanish Colonial architecture, and the awesome pink marble used in many buildings in VSJ.
Simone Jaramillo:
1) Simone learned that she doesn't have to be afraid or nervous about meeting new people!
2) Simone really enjoys doing all these new things and having all of these new experiences with a great group of kids her age.
3) Simone most loves chillaxin' time at the beach.
Jack Graylin:
1) Jack learned that he can converse well in Spanish with the people in Puerto Rico.
2) Jack loves playing frisbee with the group.
3) Jack loved the BioBay!
Daria Bennett
1) Daria learned that she can live with limited creature comforts a whole lot better than she expected she could.
2) Daria thinks cooking her own dinner on the beach is really cool.
3) Daria loved the BioBay!
Imani Paul:
1) Imani was a little bit surprised to learn that she can sometimes be a little intimidated by meeting a new group of people and making new friends (don't worry, mom and dad--Tony says she is totally fine and just being really honest!)
2) Imani loves using her Spanish!
3) Imani loved the BioBay!
Svyatoslav Safonov:
1) Svyat learned that he loves to ask questions.
2) Svyatoslav really digs camping out with the group.
3) Svyat loved the MMT in Esperanza and swimming at Sunbay Beach.
Alyson Centrella:
1) Ally learned that she is capable of communicating in Spanish.
2) Ally loves the weather, and is completely enjoying the group.
3) Ally loved the BioBay!
Gabrielle Ebron:
1) Gabrielle learned that she is actually pretty good at meeting new people.
2) Gabrielle loves doing all these cool new things with a cool new group of people, and is happy to be away from the stress of Hastings!
3) Gabrielle loved the BioBay!
Carlos Gonzalez:
1) Carlos is sad to report that he has learned absolutely nothing about himself. JOKE! Carlos really really really loves learning about his home culture.
2) Carlos loves everything about Puerto Rico, and is happy that his new group of friends is fun to be around.
3) Carlos loved the BioBay!
Ok, everybody--that's it for this update, except for a quick note: if you haven't heard of the BioBay (mentioned by almost all of our students, above), please check this link: BioBay. Briefly, the BioBay is a bay on Vieques that has a higher concentration of bioluminescent plankton than any other body of water on earth. Check out those pictures on the link, they aren't fake--the water really does glow blue like that when disturbed. Amazing, and our group was there Saturday night!
The group at Fort San Cristival when they did a walking tour of San Juan:
Tony with the luggage on the ferry to Vieques:
On Vieques:
We just had our first substantial telephone check-in with Cat and Tony, and the report is stellar! The group spent two fun nights in San Juan before catching the ferry to Vieques for four days of beautiful beaches, quaint island towns, breathtaking outdoor activities, and mind-expanding service projects. At the moment, the Puerto Rico group is "chillaxin' at Sunbay Beach"(Sunbay Beach is part of Camping Sunbay, where the group has been camping since their arrival in the island). Tomorrow the group will take the 11am ferry back to Fajardo on the main island, pack up their vans, and drive to their next campground, where they will shower and spend a night of relative luxury, as compared to the two nights to come--with their two days of adventure and service in the Toro Negro Rainforest comes a camping spot with no showers and no bathrooms! The perfect opportunity for these students to learn leave-no-trace camping ethics in a very practical manner. Catholes, anyone?
Now for what you've all been waiting for: Student Notes! This year, we decided to do these a little differently--we wanted all of our student notes and blurbs to be student-generated. So, we asked our leaders to come up with creative ways of getting little snapshots of the trip, right from the kids themselves. Tony and Cat came up with a great activity for this first set--they gave the kids paper and pen, and asked them to write down three things:
1) Something they've learned about themselves
2) Something they are really enjoying about the group
3) The best thing that has happened on the trip so far
Without further ado, here's what they said (partially mediated by the telephone and fast note-taking):
Thomas Brill:
1) Thomas learned that he really tries hard to do what is necessary to make everything in the group run as smoothly as possible.
2) Thomas really likes that everyone in the group is his own age.
3) Thomas loved the BioBay!
Elon Faison:
1) Elon has learned that she really loves, and is fascinated by, all the amazing tropical plants and flowers that she is seeing up close for the first time.
2) Elon appeared to defer on this one, and instead noted how much she loved the lecture given by Robert Rabin at The Fort Conde Museum, which mainly had to do with the history of the US Military presence on Puerto Rico and Vieques.
3) Elon loved the BioBay!
Anna-Rose Brennan:
1) Anna-Rose learned that she can have fun camping outside, despite the bugs and the heat!
2) Anna-Rose has loved meeting all the cool people in her group.
3) Anna-Rose really loved walking around Old San Juan on Day 2 of the trip. She was especially impressed by the Spanish Colonial architecture, and the awesome pink marble used in many buildings in VSJ.
Simone Jaramillo:
1) Simone learned that she doesn't have to be afraid or nervous about meeting new people!
2) Simone really enjoys doing all these new things and having all of these new experiences with a great group of kids her age.
3) Simone most loves chillaxin' time at the beach.
Jack Graylin:
1) Jack learned that he can converse well in Spanish with the people in Puerto Rico.
2) Jack loves playing frisbee with the group.
3) Jack loved the BioBay!
Daria Bennett
1) Daria learned that she can live with limited creature comforts a whole lot better than she expected she could.
2) Daria thinks cooking her own dinner on the beach is really cool.
3) Daria loved the BioBay!
Imani Paul:
1) Imani was a little bit surprised to learn that she can sometimes be a little intimidated by meeting a new group of people and making new friends (don't worry, mom and dad--Tony says she is totally fine and just being really honest!)
2) Imani loves using her Spanish!
3) Imani loved the BioBay!
Svyatoslav Safonov:
1) Svyat learned that he loves to ask questions.
2) Svyatoslav really digs camping out with the group.
3) Svyat loved the MMT in Esperanza and swimming at Sunbay Beach.
Alyson Centrella:
1) Ally learned that she is capable of communicating in Spanish.
2) Ally loves the weather, and is completely enjoying the group.
3) Ally loved the BioBay!
Gabrielle Ebron:
1) Gabrielle learned that she is actually pretty good at meeting new people.
2) Gabrielle loves doing all these cool new things with a cool new group of people, and is happy to be away from the stress of Hastings!
3) Gabrielle loved the BioBay!
Carlos Gonzalez:
1) Carlos is sad to report that he has learned absolutely nothing about himself. JOKE! Carlos really really really loves learning about his home culture.
2) Carlos loves everything about Puerto Rico, and is happy that his new group of friends is fun to be around.
3) Carlos loved the BioBay!
Ok, everybody--that's it for this update, except for a quick note: if you haven't heard of the BioBay (mentioned by almost all of our students, above), please check this link: BioBay. Briefly, the BioBay is a bay on Vieques that has a higher concentration of bioluminescent plankton than any other body of water on earth. Check out those pictures on the link, they aren't fake--the water really does glow blue like that when disturbed. Amazing, and our group was there Saturday night!
The group at Fort San Cristival when they did a walking tour of San Juan:
Tony with the luggage on the ferry to Vieques:
On Vieques:
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
And They're Off...!
After a fairly uneventful morning and a bit of a delay at Kennedy airport, the Bridge Puerto Rico group (and fellow members of Bridge Caribbean traveling to St. Vincent via San Juan) boarded the plane and took off for Puerto Rico! As I write this update, the group is 37,000 feet up and traveling 503 mph. They have about two hours left in their flight and then will be in sunny San Juan (currently 87 degrees there).
After arriving, the group will meet up with co-leader Tony who arrived in Puerto Rico this past Friday. Then the group is headed to the Oceana Beach Inn where they will spend tonight and tomorrow night. The next few days has the group keeping busy with group bonding activities, exploring San Juan, taking a ferry to Vieques (an island 6 miles off the coast of Puerto Rico proper), and kayaking in the bioluminescent bay. What a great way to kick off the trip!
The group at JFK airport (click to enlarge):
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