June 12th - First full day in the DR!

Hola Domincan Republic! Yesterday we arrived in Santa Domingo around 1:45 after a safe flight with minor turbulence that caused us to pop out of our seats for a split second. Our drive to San Juan was much longer than we had expected. Every time we tried to see how much longer there was, Jose seemed to never really know and just said a random time. We decided to stop at the beach half way during the drive.  It was so different from the beaches at home; the water was much warmer and the sand was black and didn't have any shells. When we saw what lunch was, you could tell that most of us were caught off guard since the fish was whole and the legs of the chicken were still on it. Then we got back onto the bus and traveled for two more hours until we reached San Juan. The hotel has three floors, comfortable beds, and a lovely view. After we unpacked, we went to the nearby restaurant and met the family of five that we are building the house for. The team was exhausted but thankfully, we managed to power few for a little bit longer and enjoy the burritos while talking. The long day finally concluded with a much needed sleep!

6:45 came much earlier than we were all expecting. Breakfast was at 7:00 -- we had toast, eggs, sausage, and two kinds of fruit. The fruit tasted so fresh and was very juicy as well. We headed towards the community around 7:45 and stopped for chicken on the way. The bus driver got out of the bus and came back a few minutes with two trash bags with chickens that were freshly killed -- definitely not something that you see in America. When we arrived to the worksite, we put all of our belongings in the neighbor's house and got ready to work. Today we had to lay down the foundation and set up the walls. Each time we looked away there were more cinder blocks ready to be moved. It took a while for the children to warm up to us but once they did, it was an instant connection. We started to play with the frisbee and it kept them entertained forever! At first, the language barrier was a struggle but we were able to find other ways to communicate with the children. The girls started to pick flowers and put them in all of the girls' hair while the boys continued to play with the frisbee. It was hot and a lot of hard work but it definitely paid off as we watched the walls continue to grow higher and higher. We headed home around 4:00, took off all of our gross sweaty clothes and showered. The shower felt so nice and we all hung out until we went to dinner and ate mashed potatoes, vegetables, and some sort of meat. The meal was delicious and satisfied us all after our hard work today. We can't wait to sleep tonight and prepare for another hard day of work tomorrow! 

- Caroline Cooney and the rest of the 2016 CV Team