Best Day Yet!!

I'll let our student bloggers tell the story!

The day was kicked off with a casual stroll along the beach for some of us, while others worked out or slept during the sunrise. But the real story begins when we reached the community center. Yesterday, a few of us saw the community center through the rough bars and I, for one, honestly did not see the real disaster that awaited us inside. Today, we met our foes which were inches of dust, grime, thousands of ants, run-down furniture, and grotesque graffitied walls. With all of these enemies we found it a little hard to believe that we worked together as well as we did. Each person contributed to sanding the doors, scrubbing the walls, ideas for our painting, but most importantly motivation and support. The majority of us have never worked 7 hour manual work days, but nobody ever complained or turned down an offer to help someone else, or exchange jobs. I do not think I heard one person complaining but everybody was laughing and communicating as if we were just hanging out. No doubt that we were all tired and by the last hour some of us wanted to throw in the towel but there was always another member of the team there saying, "it's okay we're almost done for the day, keep going." But now after relaxing a little bit a lot of us cannot wait to go back and finish what we started, giving these kids a clean community center in which they will be more than happy to go to on a regular basis.

During our reflections out on the beach, underneath the stars, we were reminded that people do things like this on a regular basis and receive no thanks for it but merely a paycheck which they need to use to support their families. And although we are not saving lives, we are still doing something that will impact people for a long time to come. After putting that into perspective we looked back on all the work that we completed during those 7 not so long hours of manual labor a lot of us still felt a sense of accomplishment and pride. I believe this is well deserved considering that everybody is truly embracing the Pura Vida lifestyle and doing things that they never thought they would. On that note it has been a rather long day for all of us. See you all soon! Pura Vida!

- Jenn Creel

Today was a great and productive day in Costa Rica. With an early morning walk on the beach preparing us for our long day, we were both prepared and excited to take on the long list of tasks that were planned for the Samara community center. The condition of the community center and the rooms within it were horrible to say the least. Rooms were covered with dirt, dust, and countless other types of garbage that needed to be cleaned. With the help of the entire group, many pieces of dusty furniture were carried out of the community center to let the full cleanup begin. Rooms were cleared, walls were washed, support beams were dusted, and wood was sanded during several hours of group effort. The result for one day of work was nothing short of phenomenal. The amount of effort was immense as we all worked together as a team to tackle each task. While yesterday offered its fun in a thrilling and spectacular way, today delivered a feeling of joy to the entire group as we realized the great impact we are making for the community in Samara. It felt incredible to know how many people we would be helping knowing that the community center will be used much more frequently than before we had started. After the long and hard day of work, we are all still prepared to finish what we have started in the community center. See you tomorrow. Pura Vida.

- Tommy Brophy