Montessori Community School 2022 Puerto Rico
May 8, 2022
Today we had a tour through old San Juan. Our guide, Alvin, led us through the cobblestone streets telling us about the history of the country and people. We ended our day cooling off in the ocean having splash fights and making sandcastles. Thank you Global Works for an enjoyable first day, filled with fun!
By Teagan, Owen and Nora
May 9, 2022
Today we started our service project that we will continue for the next 3 days. We arrived in Villa Del Río at 9:30am. William and Angel taught us the guidelines we needed to follow. Since Angel and William speak Spanish, we had Caroline translate for us, and she crushed it! First, we had to clean the sight, then we moved cinder blocks down into the work space. We continued by tying the rebar together. We worked until 12:30, and then had lunch at Maria’s house. After lunch, we went back to work for a bit, and then headed back to the Big Yellow House. When we got back, some people decided to stay and play games, while others headed to the beach. Afterwards, we had dinner altogether back at the Big Yellow House. We finished the night by watching a documentary about Puerto Rico by Zac Efron, and had a discussion about the differences and similarities between Puerto Rico and home. We went to bed tired, but ready for another day!
By Patrick
May 10, 2022
Today was day two of our service work at Villa del Río. We continued to work with Angel and William. We cut and bent rebar then tied them together to create support for the concrete. We later had more delicious food from Maria at her house. We then had another hour of work, before going home for the day. We cooled off at the beach and had a salsa dance instructor, Yara. Tomorrow we are heading to Tropic Ventures!
By Rod
May 11, 2022
Today, May 11th, the AC went to a forest reserve in the mountains of Puerto Rico. We were greeted by 3T, owner and caretaker of Tropic Ventures. In 2018, the reserve was hit extremely hard by Hurricane Maria. Many trees were knocked over by the storm and fell onto the buildings. When the class came, we repaired a road and hiked through a trail with many endangered and rare plants. We had a great lunch and played with the four dogs before we left. Once we got home, we relaxed and watched the movie “Up” until we ate dinner and got a special surprise! The surprise was a batucada band from the family of our classmate, Carlos Calle! After the exciting dinner, we got to hang out and play games until we went to bed.
By Caroline
May 12, 2022
Today, May 12th, we finished up our last day of service at William’s house. He showed us how to bend rebar into paper clip like shapes. We ate delicious lunch prepared by community member, Maria. To finish off our work day, we ate coconuts directly from the tree. We went back to Big Yellow House and swam in the ocean. Finally, we ended the night by inviting community members to have a celebration and say their goodbyes. Some of the AC bonded with the younger children of the families, and gave the parents a break. Overall, today was a great day, and I couldn’t have asked for anything better!
By Caroline