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:
