Put the lime in the coconut, and shake it all up!

¡Day 2 in la República Domincana fue muy increíble! We started out the morning by attending a church service with our Nazarene host family. We got to meet all of the kids during their class time, and they were all SUPER adorable. Most of the(3 hour long) service was in Spanish; we got to see a baby dedicated to the church, we got to partake in Holy Communion, and our group made our debut with the hit song "Lean On Me"(watch out for our upcoming tour dates). After the service, the people greeted us with such loving arms, offering abrazos y besos. 

After leaving the church service, we headed to eat lunch with the people from the church who were around our ages. Notice from the picture above, we ate lunch underground in a CAVE. How cool is that?! The buffet and deserts were quite tasty. After lunch, we all went to the park to learn some Dominican games. 

They taught us a game called batilla. It's basically baseball, but they use a broomstick as a bat and a bottle cap as the ball. It was great fun, and it was amazing to get to know these wonderful people. Some of them even came to our house to eat dinner with us!

At the end of the afternoon, as we were leaving, we had the chance to experience coconuts. We first got to drink the water, and then they cut it open so we could eat the coconut, too!

Next up: searching for the lime...

Blancos Blancos! That's as blancos as they come...

Official day one has come to an end here in la República Dominicana! We're having great fun, and only half of us are sunburnt. We went out to spend some time walking around this evening to explore the community. We caught some gorgeous views and priceless moments. As we were walking, some boys were going by us, and seeing as there aren't a lot of white people around on a daily basis, we hear "Blancos, Blancos! That's as blancos as they come." We, of course, found some humor in the way they reacted to us, however, there was also a little weirdness in that moment because it isn't everyday that we're the ones sticking out like sore thumbs. 

We also had the amazing oppourtunity to help our hosts cook dinner tonight. Our meal consisted of delicious rice, chicken, fried plantains, salad, avocados, and some other delectable veggies. Even though they didn't want us to help them, they eventually caved in and we were able to learn about some authentic Dominican cooking. We're beginning to wonder how we're going to go back to eating the food back home. Maybe we'll be able to cook a full meal by the end of the week. If not, maybe we can convince the family to come back with us!

And one last highlight from today: it is now called "catchup".

Check back in to catch up on what this GCP group does next. Ha. See what I did there?

From Shendoah, to ShenDOHA, and beyond: traveling with a double agent

The Bhutan Group is currently 27+ hours in to our travel and we are still not at our final destination. Don't let that fool you though, we've already had a couple of adventures along the way. 

Hour 1 in to travel: we had just arrived to Dulles airport and were getting ready to check in for our boarding passes when one of group members, Ryan, realized his wallet had found its way out of his bag and was heading home with the shuttle. Ryan seemed unfazed and was whistling a tune to himself while he triple checked his bags and retraced his steps. We called the shuttle driver, got the wallet back, and were back on track. 

Hour 2 in to travel: the group is set on Five Guys burgers. We're all talking about how we can't wait to eat it. We walk all the way to the opposite end of the terminal to get it. Guess what? Five Guys is closed. That did not deter some members and they made their way all the way to a different terminal to get the burgers they craved. They made it back just in time to board, fueled up to watch some movies and catch some Z's on the plane. 

Hour 3-23 in to travel: relatively painless. After a thirteen hour flight from Washington D.C. to Doha, Qatar and a four hour flight to Kolkata, India we arrive in the airport eager to make it to our hotel for some showers after a particularly "aromatic" flight. 

Hour 24 in to travel: we wait in line to have our visas approved. There were only 16 people in line, including all 13 of us, and it still took an entire hour to do so . 

Hour 25 in to travel: "Ryan" gets stopped by the person checking him in. He's being questioned about his passport. Soon, 11 more agents come over to question him. "Ryan" tells them that it is indeed who he says he is and no, he's never owned another passport. Eventually, they let him through and we could continue on our journey. Despite the confusion and stress, "Ryan" kept a smile on his face the entire time. 

We've got our eyes on you, Ryan- if that even is your real name. 

Hour 26 in to travel: riding in shuttle to our hotel we passed over 40 stray dogs that are 100% fearless. They would lay in the middle of the road and would not move, even with a shuttle barreling towards them. One stray dog was a little different looking, it had horns, spots, and I'm pretty sure it mooed (there was literally a cow in the middle of the road at 3 in the morning)

Hour 27 in to travel: Everyone is tucked away in their beds where they can sleep without the aid of a travel neck pillow. In an hour we will be back in the airport getting ready to finally fly to Bhutan! 

More unexpected adventures definitely await the Bhutan GCP group and I know we'll take each one of them in stride! 

Travel status update

GCP groups going to the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Norway, and Botswana have all arrived. The Bhutan group is in transit at Doha and are still en route as they have the furthest distance to travel.

Did someone say cheese and bananas... Or was that empanadas?

This GCP group has officially arrived in the Dominican Republic!! After a snow-filled 4:30AM call time and a LONG day of travel, we are safe in our house for the week playing some fun games. 

On our flight from Panama to Santo Domingo today, our snack was a choice between a cheese empanada and a beef croissant. Coincidentally enough, we all thought that our flight attendant was offering us "cheese and bananas" instead of an empanada, so we were all surprised when there was, in fact, no banana in our cheese-filled snack. Once arriving in Santo Domingo, we had some "fun times" trying to get our tourist cards(in order to be let into the DR). After getting that cleared up, we got to leave with our van driver to head towards our home for the week(we only got lost like four times). Our hosts for the week had an amazing dinner prepared for us when we got here, and it's looking to be an amazing week!
#cheeseYbananas #SUgcp

GCP 2016 groups have departed campus

From 4:30 am to 4:00 pm today, the five GCP groups have departed campus and are at various stages in their journeys.  Stay tuned for updates as we receive them...

A Priceless Gift in Cambodia

On our second day in Cambodia, my fellow 11 GCP travelers and I set out with our guide, Sopheara (which translates to “handsome”) to the countryside. Our plans included visiting an ancient temple and a Buddhist monastery and having a traditional lunch with a local family, who we were told, did not speak or understand English. Our guide would translate our questions and their responses.

Photo by Faith Ihongbe

We arrived at the lunch spot prior to the family and sat down on the mats at calf-high tables.  I could tell that we all were a little nervous, wondering what the family would be like and what they would think of us. It wasn’t too long before they arrived – a grandmother with her daughter, grandson and granddaughter. The grandson (we found out later that he was 6 years old), chewing on a can pop tab, almost immediately broke into tears and clung to his mother for security. His mother, translated through our guide, said he had little exposure to people outside of their home. How very strange we must have looked to him with our Western clothing, technology, and different skin and hair colors. The granddaughter (we found out that she was 8 years old) crouched down next to me at the table and starred up at me with her big brown eyes. I waved and smiled, trying to look as unintimidating as possible. I imagine she was just as scared as her brother but was trying to put on a brave face.  

Through our guide, Sopheara, our group learned that the grandmother was 78 years old and a mother of several daughters. We asked how many grandchildren she had. When Sopheara translated our question, she laughed and said in Khmer that she couldn’t remember because she had so many.  We also asked about her experiences during the time of the Khmer Rouge. She had been fortunate and did not lose any family members, most likely because her family was part of the peasant class and not a concern/threat to Pol Pot’s regime.

Photo by Michael Hollin

When lunch was over, we passed out Shenandoah University-themed trinkets to the family. For the grandmother, we presented her with an umbrella with an automatic opening button to shade her from the intense sun (after all Cambodia is close to the equator). She blessed us repeatedly in Khmer, and I couldn’t believe that such a gift (what I considered insignificant and boring) could result in so much praise and thanks. I’m not even sure, at that point, if she knew what we had given her, but she nevertheless expressed abundant gratitude.

We gave lanyards to the two children. I struggled with the selection of these gifts the most because I couldn’t imagine what they would use them for or why they even would want them. It’s not like they had keys or ID cards to attach to the lanyards. Still, I was compelled to find something useful about these lanyards for the children. I placed the lanyard over the little girl’s head, and remembering that the little boy had been chewing on a can pop tab, I broke off the nearest can pop tab and clipped it to the lanyard. I also removed the price tag card from the clip and set it on the table, thinking how rude of me it was to leave the price tag attached. She looked down at her lanyard and gave me a half smile.  I thought to myself, “Success! She now sees that she can use this as a necklace. I have given it a use and now she will like it!” The little girl bowed her head and put her hands in a lotus pose at her lips to say, “Thank you.” She stood up from the table to follow her grandmother but reached back to snatch the price tag I had removed from her lanyard earlier. I will forever recall this as my most memorable moment in Cambodia. Whereas I felt it rude (and completely unnecessary) to leave the price tag attached, the little girl perceived the price tag as part of the gift and equally important to cherish.