what day is it?

Thursday we got put in a random taxi and were sent to a little school in Hato del Yaque, where we were put into a class and taught an impromtu geography lesson. After we went outside and played "I love my neighbor" along with some other games that the children taught us.
Thursday night we went with a friend and staff member to play dominos with some of his friends and then met his family and cute little dog.

Friday we had a most productive day. There is a basketball court in a little neighborhood called Fracatan (spelling?) that a potential politician promised to "fix up" before he was elected, but he ended up losing and left the court in disarray, covered in rocks, a telephone pole, glass, you name it. Accion has an outreach program in Fracatan and uses the court for activities with the community, however no one has been able to use the court since the construction was abandoned. Long story short, us Americans (and a Scot) decided to clean the court with some shovels and brooms. It was the most laborous thing we´ve done so far, and felt amazing to have accomplished something tangible. The children of the neighborhood even came to help us out, taking shovels from our hands and giving us a break. There must have been 20 of the little ones running around helping in various ways, trowing rocks off the court, picking up glass, etc.
Even before the court was completely finished the kids started coming out of nowhere with bikes and toys, ecstatic to finally have a place to play.

At night we had a fiesta on our roof with a few volunteers and staff, which was a lot of fun. We introduced some American games, and learned some cool new games.

Saturday we took a bus with Marta and Joche to see the Mirabal sister´s house/museum where we met Dede, the only surviving sister of the revolution against Trujillo. The entire town was decorated with murals and statues of the sisters who lived in there. Beautiful gardens surrounded the house with faces of the sisters, and mosquitoes.

Sunday we went to the park next to Accion and hung out with some of the kids while we read and such. Later that night we celebrated Wandi´s birthday by going out to a bar with some other volunteers and friends. After the bar we walked to the monument and admired the scenery.

TODAY... We spent our morning hanging out with the kids, doing capoeira and computer courses. In the afternoon, after lunch, we had some kids come and make their own shoe boxes with some beautifully cut wood and awesomely donated hammers and nails. It was amazing to see the kids make their own boxes and be proud of their work, we took plenty of pictures with the kids posing with their new boxes. A lot of the children either have a box that´s falling apart or don´t have one at all. It was a good day.