Community Visit & Karaoke

Today was so much fun at the community visit! I finally got to meet all the Japanese students who are joining us UWGB students to assist with the builds here. I also got to meet a whole community of Filipinos whose houses have been rebuilt through Habitat for Humanity. It's amazing how these families have gone from having nothing to completely starting over and reestablishing their lives. I went with my new Japanese friend, Shun, to visit with some of the children in their homes. We watched Toy Story with one of the 14 year old boys and his younger sister. He didn't understand a lot of English, but it was fun to get to know a little bit about him from what English he did know! He played guitar for us and talked about his schooling and experience with Habitat rebuilding his home. Afterwards I met a native schoolteacher named Annabelle. She tutors and teachers students of all ages at the nearby school. She was really interested in learning more about myself and my family, so I shared some pictures with her and told her about my life. About an hour after exchanging stories, she thanked me for coming to help out in her community and we said our farewells. Then the GB students ate lunch with the Japan students, as well as some of the natives in the community. Before we left, they put on a singing/dancing performance for us. They pulled me up to join them too, which will probably end up posted on Facebook from some of my GB friends! It was sad to say goodbye but it was definitely an exciting and memorable time. Once we arrived back at the hotel, we ate dinner with the Japanese students and went out to sing karaoke afterwards. It was the greatest bonding experience I've ever had! I can truly say that I've made some great friends tonight. I'm so thankful to be working with such great people and can't wait for all that's to come in these next few days. It's currently 1:45am and we're all going to bed now because there's so much more to do tomorrow! I'll be sure to check in again sometime on Sunday - which is tomorrow.