Almost there!

One more full day left after all of this ->

Hola everybody! Our trip is almost over, it's hard to believe. This week has flown by, each day packed with various activities. Today greeted us with a morning of painting. We got the kitchen, bathrooms, and most of the high up walls done. The community center has come a long way from that first day when we saw it. It's really awesome how well we all work together and still have a great time with it. I can't wait to stand back and look at the finished product that we made possible. The community of Samara really deserve a beautiful, clean environment for their events. After a vigorous work session, we all headed over to the beach to refresh ourselves and maybe get the paint off. The water here is absolutely beautiful, blue and at a perfect temperature. We had some down time after the beach before heading off to our next activity. Personally, I spent it wandering around town attempting to pick out gifts for people back home. I also took a trip to the supermarket for some delicious coconut cookies. Seriously, they are amazing. For our next outing, we walked over to a restaurant and met up with a group of kids who were there. Our activity? Karaoke! It was so much fun. The kids really seemed to enjoy themselves while singing their favorite songs. The children of Samara are really something. They have a deep appreciation for what they have and any kind of new activity for them is really special. We also witnessed this phenomenon when we showed them lacrosse, each child relishing the opportunity to learn something new. To sum up the karaoke, it was extremely amusing. The kids were cracking up. All the girls, myself included, sang "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)" joined by Ethan. During that song, while everyone was singing the lyrics as best as they could manage, I was struck by how close we became over the course of this trip. Everyone in this group is awesome, we all get along very well. It's also cool to watch people develop their sense of Pura Vida, and let go of those every day trivialities that circle our minds for no apparent reason. We have realized that, yes, it is really hot and there is paint all over us, and yes, there is still much work to be done, but what we are doing is beyond our complaints. We are serving a greater cause that deserves our attention more than our own selfish complaints. I hope that everyone carries this important message over back to our lives back in good ol' NJ and tries to remember the relaxed life of Pura Vida. See you guys soon!

-Sophia Siciliano

Hello everyone. Everything here is great and hope it is back at home too. Today we had the tedious job of finishing the painting in the community center. It really is humbling to look at what they had as a community center compared to what we have at home in the United States. We really are helping out a lot with our renovations and new coats of paint, but it was tough and tiring work. We were rewarded for our hard work by being given free time for about an hour or two, going to the beach, or shopping in town. Then we went to a restaurant where we had ice cream and sang karaoke with Costa Rican school kids, it was a blast. Having no stress and relaxing with the kids eating ice cream freed my mind of everything. After that we had free time again; I went shopping for some coffee beans and sat on the beach as the sun set. It was beautiful and calm. The scene on the beach was the icing on the cake for my day. although we work hard we are rewarded greatly by the small things nature provides us with, like the sun setting and the calm ocean. Pura Vida.

-Chris Allen

Advisor - Advisee picture from Chris!