Oct 22: There was a birthday party for one of my est friends in site’s kids. So I was asked to take photos for them. The little boy Jose Miguel was not having it and was angry the entire time, but her daughter looked like a bright pink cupcake. It was fun.
Oct 27: I gave a literacy presentation to some of the Region 6 volunteers at the office. It went well and they liked playing the games I had brought.
I had been having stomach pains and issues the whole week (may have been caused by the school breakfasts I had been eating, or school hot chocolate, or something else). So the doctors had me take some samples, and blood samples to the Labs. I had to stay overnight. Then the next morning, I met up with my boss, Adele and Zach at the office. And we drove up to the Bateys to have a meeting about what is happening and how everything is going, and to see me work with my kids. Due to this I was not able to go to the One Year Party with all the other volunteers from our group.
That Friday, FUSABI took some of the youth from my community to graduate them from the Escojo mi Vida program (which teaches youth about HIV/AIDS, STIs, self esteem, teenage pregnancy, good decision making, etc. ) but my youth hadn’t even finished the course…Needless to say that is causing a lot of problems right now with the Escojo program throughout the country, with organizations counting youth to get more money for themselves and not actually teaching the course.
Oct 30: The next Sunday one of my girls had her 15th birthday party in which I took photos for that too. It was a pretty party but not a typical Quincinera due to the lack of money available to people in the Batey. Lots of cake and food though! And fun!
Nov. I killed a Cacata (tarantula) that came into my house. He was huge and harry. But I didn’t take the easy way out of calling my neighbor Juan to kill it. I tried to hit it twice with the broom, but might have missed, the cacata ran into a plastic bag that was on the floor and I stomped on it 3 times just to make sure it was dead. I could feel it under my foot. Gross…
The first week of November, the Canadians came again to fit hearing aids and to do medical checkups. So I got to play translator and go around to different communities close to Yamasa. I always enjoy my time with them. I got to help a boy in my community get hearing aids, see a baby on an ultrasound, make dinner for 30 people and hangout with the drivers! Haha
Friday Nov 11th,my boys and I, and Zach and his boys were invited to go to BRA to pick up our baseball equipment that we did a community cleanup for in April. We had given them a write up about the community, the cleanup and the equipment that we needed. And we were promised that we would receive everything we needed. However when we arrived at BRA there was nothing. There were 2 pairs of cleats that are too small to fit my boys, one pair of baseball pants, no gloves, we were allowed to take 3 baseballs, we were given 3 bats (that 2 of them are too small for my youth), and one jersey. Needless to say I was very disappointed and upset, and my boy also (though they are used to being let down and they were so excited to get the equipment that they worked so hard for). So needless to say I have personally cut myself of from BRA and FUSABI (also BRA had promised 10 of my youth computer classes, which never happened). My youth know too much suffering, sorry and broken promises, so I will not support someone or an organization that keeps breaking the hearts of my kids.
The week of Thanksgiving, we had One Year In-Service Training (IST) where all of us (22) youth volunteers got together, shared our projects, challenges, tools, etc. It was a wonderful time to be with each other and share our experiences, because we don’t get to see each other often. We leg wrestled in the grass, talked to nuns, played mafia, broke boards with our hands, feet and head, and had a bonfire where smores were made and dinamicas were played.
Wednesday night the DHRC (Dominican Haitian Relation Committee) showed a shot movie and had wine and cheese. I would recommend watching it. It is a pbs documentary. http://video.pbs.org/video/1877436791
The next day was Thanksgiving, where games were played in a park in the morning, hungout by a hotel pool, had lunch and lots of pie, then got to see a talent show, where finally the our group succeeded with a human pyramid, videos are on fb and youtube. I brought pie back for Miguel (apple and pecan) and we all went to the after party.
Then friday the girls and I (Meredith and Sarayu) left for La Romana. I was the lucky one who got to sit by herself on the bus and a nice young man sat down next to me and talked my ear off the entire time. I did receive the best compliment I have received yet “Tue res como la biblia, complete” “you are like the bible, complete” and I got a free pair of earrings out of it. Hahaha. Then we got on a little bus to Bayahibe. Checked into our hotel, hung out at the beach, snuck into the DREAMS Resort to use the ATM, almost stayed for dinner, but had to get backto the town because Tina was on her way. We had an amazing dinner at an Italian Resaurant that allowed us to bring our own bottle of wine, and the waitress helped us get on a trip to Isla Sanoa the next day.
Saturday, we got on a Catamaran with a bunch of other people, we met some Japanese volunteers from JICA (the Japanese Peace Corps), and a man from Puerto Rico whose wife passed away from cancer three months ago. So we adopted him as our father for the day. Sadly we were not able to exchange phone number with him, because he had to get to his bus after we got back. On the Catamaran, the staff started handing out drinks at 10 in the morning, we were able to dance and make fun of the ‘sexy’ photos that couples would pay to take. Haha. We got to the island and the water was so blue, and the sand powdery white. Beautiful. We swam, ate lunch and sat in the shade (you have no idea how hot the sun is. Still did get some color. On the way back we were on a speed boat and stopped by a natural pool to hunt for sea stars (there were a few, but we are not sure if they were planted or not, because usually they are squishy and move, but these were hard as rocks…anyone have answers?) and once you got off the speed boat they handed out more glasses with rum and coke. So all of these tourists were walking around with their heads in the water and their hands in the air holding a drink, it was pretty funny. That night back on the main land, we ate at an amazing little Cuban restaurant with our own bottle of wine again.
December 1: Happy International AIDS Awareness Day! I had a meeting with my community about getting a library. Some of the Doñas showed up early and it was a success, so after Christmas we will dive into everything.
Dec 2: Miguel Angel’s Birthday.
Dec. 9 was my last day of teaching for the year 2011. That week I did evaluations with all of my students to see what their current levels are and to see how much they have learned. And most of them are doing wonderfully (well a lot better than what they were reading at before). I can’t take all of the credit though because they are still going to school. haha But I am so proud of them. And my group of 5th graders are writing more clearly, and thinking a little more critically, which is all that I can ask for.
Help!! If anybody (specifically teacher friends) have tricks or know of ways to work with students who have learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders, can you let me know? Please it would be a great help and impact on about 6 of my students. (we can talk more about that later)
Saturday the 10th my boys and I walked to El Caño to play baseball. It was a mess getting ready because I told them that they had to get ready by themselves because I was cleaning my house and they should tell me when they were ready to go. So at 10:30 we left walking and arrived at 11:30. When we arrived there was another game going on, but it was finishing. Very interesting to see the gambling habits of boys. I was greeted by smiles, handshakes and “hola profe/heidi” by my 5th graders there. We were down 3-0 in the 3rd inning. But we made it up and won 3-4 at the end of the 5th (which is all that we played). Later I visited friends and prepared myself and my house to leave for home for the holiday. This will be my first time home in over a year (about 1 year and 4 months without seeing my family).
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