I first want to apologize for all the spelling and grammatical mistakes in the previous posts as well as the ones to come. It is difficult not to write in Spanglish and the more I am down here the more I start to forget things in English.
I was on the metro making my way back to Antonci from the capital when 2 tourists (gringos) got on. I stood there listening to them talk and figured out that they were definitely from the US. So after a couple of stops I said ‘Hi’ and asked them where they were from and if they were vacationing down here in the DR. They said they were from Indiana, and I told them I was from Michigan. They then asked me if I was a troll – yes, yes I am. And they are Uppers (Shout out to the Uppers riding the metro!).
The gas prices have gone up about10 to 20 pesos so moto rides in and out of Antonci have gotten more expensive. But to counter act the inflation of prices, on the same day of the metro ride, the cobrador of the guagua (the man who takes our money) didn’t charge me for the ride.
January 20, 2011 Kidnapping/Pilgrimage to Higuey
January 21 is the day of the Virgin of Altagracias, so people from all over the country and the world head to Higuey (a town in the East just north of La Romana and San Pedro de Marcoris for those of you looking on a map) to pay their respects to theVirgin.
Every year people in Antonci rent Guaguas to take them to Higuey for an overnight trip. My host mom always goes and she told me that I couldn’t stay home alone so…I had to go to. I was not looking forward to this trip, because the kids were telling me horror stories about it and big religious events like that are not my sort of thing. But it would be a great confianza (trust) builder with the community so I put in my 450 pesos and waited to this adventure to begin.
The night of the 19th we packed and are in bed by about 11 or 12 at night.
3 am (Jan 20th): The alarm goes off and host mom starts to cook food to take with us (like every normal North American family road trip, mom makes sandwiches and snacks to bring along – but here moms fry chicken, mash potatoes and make rice.)
4 am: After being awake for an hour, I get out of bed with a sense of dread in my stomach (or is it something else?).
4:45am : We are standing outside of the Colmado (corner store) waiting for the Guaguas to get here at 5am.
6:45 am: the GuaGuas arrive (1.75 hours late).
7:30 am: We depart from La Mina (the next batey over, which is 1 kilometer away)
8:30 am: Children start to get carsick and vomit. We arrive in Villa Mella (the north part of the capital) to buy Dramamine for the children and whiskey for the men (yes they started drinking at 8:30am).
9:15 am: host brother gets sick and vomits out the window. I knew it wasn’t a good idea to bring kids along, especially ones who have never really left the Batey before)
We stop for Pica Pollo (fried Chicken) along the way. So host mom unpacks our food for us, and somehow her chicken tastes like pork (and not very good, I can’t eat any of it).
1pm: We get into Higuey. There are rumors that the Rio (river) might be closed, but they want to bathe in the river so we go anyways – and get lost on the way there.
1:30 pm: Finally made it to the rio and there were guards on the bridge and the banks to keep people from entering due to contamination. Or as we like to say “El rio tiene cholera” “the river has cholera.”
2:00 pm: We get to the church and hound a place to stay under an awning made of concrete (away from the rest of the group – is my host mom really trying to make this trip miserable for me?) Everyone is camped out like it is a giant Relay for Life event, but with more children and old people. We put down our blanket to save our spot and at least one person had to be there at all times to make sure no one stole things or our spot.
Luisa (host mom) took me to the old church to pay our respects to the Virgin of Altagracias. I was forced to buy a candle to offer the Virgin because you can’t go empty handed to the Virgin. We waited in line for a long time, made some friends with little girls behind us and finally were able to enter the church. Our candles were lit while we were waiting in line so to keep myself entertained I started humming This Little Light of Mine (it was windy so I had to let the light shine), He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands, Silent Night, and Mozart’s Requiem. When we got in people would file through the front of the church and cross themselves, touch the Virgin (well her painting) and start to cry. Me, not being Catholic and not knowing what to do, just followed like a lost little puppy. Oh and as we walked through the front of the church, there was a mass going on. Awesome.
On the walk back to the new church (where our ‘camp site’ was) people kept bumping into me, and at this time I was having some major stomach cramps/pains which all equals Heidi is not feeling well. So there was this one lady who rammed me in the shoulder as we were walking, I started cursing under my breath in English, when I looked up from the sidewalk I was a nice big video camera pointed down the street at all of us walking. Just my luck. I tried to duck out of the way and hide behind other people as we were walking, but the camera crew already spotted the Americana and panned her as she walked by. Who knows if I was on the news that night or not.
Then I walked around with some of the kids. There were live bands, and we followed a truck around while people recited the rosary. Back at the campsite (me being the only Americana/gringa there) I got hit on more and more by random guys. And so I sat on the blanket that night mentally calling out the guys from Antonci to save me and take me out with them, but my telepathy skills are lacking and they never came.
I tried to sleep, but of course that didn’t happen due to the constant interruptions by the random men standing over me talking about how the Americana is sleeping (and I would tell them I had a headache and that they should go away…it worked for a little bit but then more would come), the loud neighbors who had a handle of rum (and possibly other drugs)…in a church. Then it started to rain.
One thing that I don’t understand is how people can be so religious but then not care or have respect for their church/cathedral/scared space. People were getting belligerently drunk at night, throwing their trash where they were sleeping and peeing where ever they felt like it. I was and still am appalled by it. It is one in the same for not having respect for your country, church and self.
4:00 am: Anyway, so that night we were packed in so tightly literally like sardines. It looked like a refugee camp. People were sleeping on top of each other, cuddling with strangers, crammed so tightly together that you couldn’t distinguish what body parts belonged to whom, sleeping on cardboard, shivering without sheets, damp and cold. There a young boy (about age 20) next to us who slept on a piece of cardboard that only protected half of his body from the ground and he was using one of his shoes for a pillow. I am sorry that I did not get a picture of it.
5 or 5:30 am: The DR actually have Port-o-potties, something I didn’t know they had. The girls gathered and were like “we need to bathe.” I was thinking why can’t we wait until we get home because there is no place to bathe. So they found some empty water bottles and pop bottles on the ground and filled them up with water from a truck. We walked around looking for a spot to bathe (the real bathrooms were disgusting, I couldn’t even stand the smell) so we headed over to the line (more shaped like a U) of port-o-potties. The girls handed me 2 bottles and were like “Heidi you go first”…what?!?!...Heidi go in and bathe, we will hand you your towel and clothes…The hardest part was trying to put clothes on in a small space without touching anything.
6:00 am: the sun starts to rise. We all go to take our bags to the guagua so we don’t have to carry them around with us for the next couple hours. When we got to the bus, one of the coffers had a lady in the back seat. (Understandable, comfy, warm, no rain, private). So we passed our bags through the window and went back to find everyone else.
Luisa was able to get me into the cathedral to take a few pictures of the Virgin. It is just a large building (with a cool shape) made of grey concrete. Not very pretty to me. We then walked around to find her two sons who are in the equivalent of the Navy or Marines. (because Leonel, the president comes every year at 10am and so the military branches get to come too). But we didn’t have any luck finding them. A bunch of guys were hollering after me so Luisa told them that she would sell me for 1 million pesos, we all laughed and I told her that she should try for more the next time.
8:30 am: We got to the bus to leave (they changed the leave time to 9am and not 10am which was the original plan).
9:40 am: Still waiting on 3 people who did not get the message about leaving sooner. And we saw Leonel’s helicopter come in.
10 am: finally get on our way. We were making good time. No extra stops, no vomiting kids. Something happened with one of the other Guaguas so we stopped and took on a few more passangers.
Then in the capital we had to stop for more Pica Pollo. There they kept the bus running and turned on the air conditioning. Then wouldn’t allow people inside the guagua to eat their food. I guess I am used to these rules of not letting people eat on the bus, but then I am also used to the bus being turned off rather than idling for a half hour while people ate. So everyone is yelling, babies are crying. And to think we just came from Higuey to honor the Virgin.
January 23 and 24
Angela came over to spend the night on Saturday and Sunday. It was my turn to host dancing in Antonci. On Sunday was the 9 day celebration after a person’s death (like a wake). So we (Angela and I) hung out with my host family and then a bunch of random people who wanted to meet the Americanas. It was good having her over to talk with and share part of the telenovela which is my life.
Demon Child: Moises the youngest host brother - Then Tuesday or Wednesday of that week I was helping my 7 year old host niece, Mirianni, with her homework of writing out the numbers 100 to200. Moises comes in (we were in Grandma’s house/barrancon) and tries to grab the pencil from Mirianni’s hand telling her that he will do half because she doesn’t know what to do. I tell him that if he does her homework she won’t learn anything and I pointed out the fact that he didn’t go to school that morning so he really doesn’t get the right to do her homework. He started throwing a fit and bugging us. So we (Mirianni and myself) escorted him outside and locked him out. The other kids in the area tried to explain to Moises that it’s not cool to act like that and to let us do our homework in peace, but of course he doesn’t listen. He then throws tantrums and pounds on the doors trying to break them down. He tries to stick a palo (long wooden pole) through the window to hit me in the face, but luckily one of the girls warned me in time and I ripped it out of his grasp. Finally, things died down a bit and then grandma came back. So we all told her and then Luisa and they took care of him after that. Then I got to go ride some nice horses with my favorite little kids and it made the day better – galloping through a field. This experience makes me understand the spiral of negative behavior and beatings as discipline. When explaining why certain behaviors are not acceptable doesn’t work, some parents think that the only solution to change said behavior is through physical punishment (some more extensive than others). This causes the child to become fearful and strike out (kind of like the fight or flight theory I talked about with the animal), also there is aggression repression which causes the children to strike out later in greater force (we all know that repression of feelings is bad and could eventually damage a person). Thus the bad behavior continues and the beatings continue, spiraling downward and downward.
On the 27th I was finally able to have my meeting with the community to figure out what we can do/what we want to accomplish in the next year and next two years. The days before I would walk around town telling just about everyone I saw about the meeting – inviting them to come. While spreading the news of the meeting one day I was given a funda (plastic bag) full of chinas (oranges that you eat) cause I am a pretty girl, and then I was given a coconut to drink the water and eat by an old lady just for visiting. Love getting free food. Just one of the perks of being an Americana in Antonci.
So about 12 to 15 people showed up to my meeting, most of them my friends who are really interested in this work and then there were a couple people who surprised me by showing up. I did a SWAT analysis of the community with them (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats), then we talked about what projects they want (technology center, English classes, dance group, religious groups, sports, and of course a road and water), then we voted with stickers by the projects that they thought were most important and wanted to do and that we could do in one year. One of the people who surprised me by coming is my old neighbor, Fabio. At the end of the meeting I went up to him and personally thanked him for coming and he replied something like “You invited me to your meeting, of course I would come.” It still gives my heart warm fuzzies to think about. The rest of the weekend I worked diligently on finishing my written diagnostic and making my presentation.
It was a good thing that I had the meeting on the Thursday (because we were thinking about having it on Friday the 28th). Right after lunch I was sitting on the porch with Dominga (host grandma) and she was like “grab a chair and lets go.” So like a good little volunteer I followed her to a meeting, when I was able to talk to the woman’s group a little bit about working with them on a few things. Then the president of MOSCTHA came with a lady named Helen to talk about the microfinance project they have going with the women (they give out loans to start business and the women pay it back with .03% interest, and I am proud to say that the women in my community are doing great!). MOSCTHA is el Movimiento Socio Cultural para los Trabajadores Haitianos (Socio-Cultural Movement for the Haitian Workers). This organization works with Haitians and other minority groups/poor people in Haiti and the DR They built (with help from other international organizations) a panadaria (bakery) in the center of town but there is no equipment to make anything. So the women use the building as a meeting place. (I secretly want to make this building that consists of three rooms into an all in one library-tech center-Sala de tarea – but I need to talk to the president of MOSCTHA and the women about it…)
Then directly after that I was taken to the school where people from FUSABI were presenting about HIV and AIDS. When I walked in the room the man in charge handed me a sheet of paper with questions on it and told me that I would be presenting/asking those questions to the 60+ students in the room. Awesome…So I presented and it was touch because the students were tired of sitting there and it was almost time for their break. In the end I hope that they learned something ( I am sure that they did).
Sunday the 30th of January brought another trip to the rio with my friends Gris, Felix and Milady. We were originally going to cook at the river again, but we ended up eating in our houses and then going to Guazumita to pick up Angela to go to the Puente (bridge where we swim). And of course we went on horseback, and this time the horse that they gave me was a baby (literally less than a year old). I tried to talk them out of it but they reassured me that it was fine to ride and strong enough to carry me. So begrudgingly I mounted – meaning I lifted up my leg and was on (my feet were almost dragging on the ground). Then they put a little boy on the back with me. Poor little horse. We had a good time swimming in the ‘cholera’ infected cow poop water. Hahaha And we literally bathed in the river too with soap though I am not sure how clean we got. By the time we left more boys came on horseback and we rode home in style with 13 horses. A mini parade showcasing the Americana on a little horse (don’t worry it survived the trip).
Monday the 31st, was the day of final preparations for our 3 month IST presentations (IST = In-Service Training), i.e. community diagnostic. Angela came over to type up her paper and I worked on my cartelinas. Each volunteer brings his or her project partner to present the diagnostic and to work on the year plan. I was going to take my friend Domingo (aka Mingo). Mingo is very invested in working with me to better Antonci and the youth. He works in the school, heads the Dominican equivalent of the PTA, leads the Escojo Mi Vida group, worked as a policeman, a fireman, in a factory, currently has a barbershop/colmado, rand for some sort of political position, knows just about everyone in the area, is married with a 1.5 year old daughter and is one of the few men who are not interested in me in anything more than friendship. So I was looking for him throughout the day so we could get final details down and talk about what time we would be leaving the next morning…and I find out from his wife that he went to the Capital for the day. Luckily he came back soon, though his wife and I were having a good time chatting. We got everything worked out and I headed off to pack.
Tuesday, February 01, I went to Mingo’s house at 7am (well a little after) like we planned to leave and I believe that I woke him up. By 7:30 we were waiting for a moto to take us to Yamasa to catch the Guagua to the capital. Once we got to the metro stop we ran into Eric and his project partner and then Zach and his project partner. So we all rode the metro together and walked to the office. It was crazy to see a group of Dominicans in our little American haven, but in a good way. I changed into proper presentation attire (meaning out of jeans and into a dress because it is rough riding a moto in a dress and I can’t really wear anything but long pants in my site without getting eaten by bugs). We all waited around for everyone to get to the office and then took a bus to the retreat center where we would be staying for the next few days.
After getting settled in, camp style bunk beds with one room for the ladies and another for the fellows, we all went to the main salon for an introduction and orientation. Each table was divided up into regions, mine being Monte Plata. We found our table in the very front of the room, and we were told that it was done on purpose because if not our table would either be asleep or talking…sadly it is true. There are four of us new youth volunteers in the Monte Plata region, Angela, Zach, Stacey and I. The four of us would have been fine with any table assignment, but we each brought a male project partner and they know each other or bonded very quickly – creating…well how can I describe them…think of the group of boys in any class you ever had who loved to help, give answers, attention, joke and to have fun. Our table ended up being the life of the party… so to say (however I like to think that the ring leader was a young kid from the San Cristobal area. Our boys just needed a little push to get started).
That first day we all gave our community diagnostic presentations. There were 24 of us so we were split into 2 groups. Everything was going well until my presentation when Mingo got excited about being in front of people and being able to talk and started to ramble on about the community instead of helping with the presentation (a charismatic personality). Adele, our boss, had to pull him aside to tell him to stop talking and made me continue without him. Which was fine, I just felt bad for him, but the rest of the presentation went well and he was able to answer questions afterward.
We had more activities during the day and then people went swimming in the pool before dinner. That night we all hung out and got to know some of the other project partners. The boys are good at making friends quickly. It is interesting to see our friends we made in the campo out of the campo and with others in this contrived situation. Summer camp meets work.
The next day we had team work activities. Monte Plata won the scavenger hunt. Oh yeah baby! And then we worked on ideas for our year plan. That night to celebrate all of this we had a talent show. The Monte Plata boys did a skit, others did poetry, then us volunteers tried to do a human pyramid while singing the national anthem (not my idea), then some guys sang/rapped and it all ended with a dynamica and dancing (which was more like a junior high dance with no one dancing and people just sitting on the sides).
Thursday morning we said goodbye to our project partners and we were left with just the 24 of us. It was sad to see them go, but great to be just us again like in training. The next days were filled with charlas (talks) about grants, different projects we can do, and health and safety concerns. It was a lot of information packed into a few days. Saturday we went home.
Some of the kids look like they had grown while I was away for 5 days. Weird.
Sunday the 6th, Angela and I had planned a baseball game with our youth (our medium size teams of 12-15 year olds). I had talked to my boys the night before and they told me that we had to leave at 8 am. So I was up at their houses at 8 am waking them up. Then it took over 2 hours to get them all rounded up to leave. We walked to Guazumita and were winning 9 to 5 at the end of the 3rd inning. Then we ended up losing 10 to 9. Luckily we had a second game and we won that one. The whole time I was keeping score, because none of the older guys ended up coming (which made my life easier because there was less fighting). But the guys of Guazumita had never seen a girl keeping score before so they kept trying to take my paper from me and tell me the wrong things (to cheat or to test me or both). I was getting tired of it so Heidi the Feminist came out and they just laughed (I think I got some more street cred with them now too).
After the game my boys and I went down to the rio to swim a little. Angela and her boys soon followed. I think that we will have to start giving swimming classes cause these kids don’t know how to swim properly…they kind of just flail about until they start moving…it gets them there, but slowly and a funny looking. They were all about having Angela and I race to see who swims faster/knows how to swim more, but we declined not being in very competitive moods.
Then that night I was taken to sit with a bunch of random people (because I’m not allowed to be alone ever) at a rosary reading that occurs 15 days after the 9 days after a person dies. So I sat there for a couple hours until they started. It was a reading of the rosary then singing of it and more reading for about 2 hours. Sitting next to me was an awesome old lady who smokes a pipe, protects me from Tigueres, and randomly gives me food (like popcorn). Part way through the service she lets out a blood curdling scream and falls to the floor. At that time I had a 7 year old on my lap and had no idea what to do; I just looked down in horror. She caught the spirit. Other people (who didn’t have children on their laps) came over and tried to pick her up. She then started convulsing. They bounced her up and down on her feet and tried to open her hands (because that’s what you do when a person catches the spirit). Eventually they took her outside to wake her up or whatever. And throughout all of this they were praying like it was normal. Which it kind of is – it’s a cultural thing. When a person dies there is a lot of screaming, crying, fainting, seizing and more screaming and of course crying. I would really like to know the actually reasoning behind the fainting and convulsing. There must be some physiological and psychological triggers to cause it. I want to know the science behind it because I don’t understand.
Monday morning, my boys came to the house at 8:45am asking for the bat and the 3 gloves so they could practice. I had been out of bed for about 45 min, and went with them to the pley. We practiced until about 11:45 (yes I played the entire time with them and only struck out twice). Then later in the afternoon they practiced more.
I will be moving into my own place soon (not soon enough). It is two rooms of a barrancon or barracks. So one room will have my bed and the other will have my stove, mini fridge and be a work space with the kids. The layout for the Barrancon is kind of like apartments but ranch style. I get to be neighbors with my oldest host brother and use host grandma’s latrine. There was also some drama with finding a place to live because when I first talked to my host mom about moving out she told me to ask Marcial , project partner, about his barrancones and she didn’t mention me living in hers. And then Marcial told me to talk to Luisa about her rooms. So after a few weeks of not hearing anything Marcial told me that his cousin would let me live in the room that he was lending to Marcial. My host mom got jealous because I was going to move into those of Marcial and not hers, But she never told me I could live in hers. No worries though, it is all worked out and I can live in the rooms of Luisa.
There is an old man here named Juan who just celebrated his 82nd birthday. One day I ran into him walking down the street with a Mexican sombrero (colorful and full of sequins) and wearing his oversized coke bottle glasses.
The other night there was a little yellow butterfly in my room. She would sit on my bed then flutter around and she spent the night on my door.
Wednesday February 9th, I was whisked away to the BRA head quarters in Las Cinco Casas, with a bunch of people from Antonci to find out about their new program about nutrition. We rode there and back in the back of the mini truck that BRA owns and we were packed in like cattle. Every time we went around a corner or stopped we almost fell down or out of the truck (or so it felt like). The new nutrition program gave away bags of dried soup mix to those who attended the presentation/meeting. For a photo opportunity at the end of the presentation the people from BRA and USAID brought up a young pregnant girl who used the clinic services at the BRA and who received food. I think that the headlines will read something like “USAID feeds pregnant teenagers in the DR.”
Thursday February 10th, I went to the school to talk to the director and the teachers about how I can be of service there (meaning teaching the teachers how to pronounce things in English, and not teach their classes). I was sitting there chatting with the director when I was told that I would be filling in for one of the teachers who was sick that day. I ended up teaching 2.25 classes of English. My throat was sore from yelling (because it is noisy there and no one can hear anything), I had a head ache from it all, but I have good ideas for when I start classes with the community.
Zach’s dad and step mom flew in to visit for a few days, so Felix, Milady and I went over to meet them and teach them how to dance bachata. They are great folks.
Friday, February 11: I called the BRA office to find out if I could come in and get uniforms and equipment for my baseball players like was planned, and it turns out that the man that I need to talk to is in the capital and I have to go in next Tuesday. My boys are going to be mad at me…
Saturday, February 12: Played baseball with the boys for about4 hours.
Sunday, February 13: Angela’s team from Guazumita came over to play at 9am Dominican time (anywhere from 30 min to 2 hours late). There was drama when they got there because we are missing our catcher’s chest guard and they didn’t bring theirs so the boys couldn’t play with duro (hard/fast pitch/normal baseball). And the man who helps Angela with her practices got all huffy and said that they were going to leave and that not playing with duro is just practice. SO we finally got started and we were down a couple runs so the tigueres (the men of Antonci) started to put in other players and switch out my boys. These players that they were putting in never came to practice and thus we kept on loosing. I got fed up with all of it and them changing my team then them getting mad, so I told the men that if they wanted a say in who gets to play they need to come to the practices and help me with the boys, if not they can just stay quiet. So they calmed down a bit for the last inning…until they got to play. Needless to say I was not a happy camper.
Then after lunch, there were plans to go to the river (I believe that this is becoming a Sunday tradition). As we went to go catch another horse, I got to ride a nice one that belongs to my host brother (with 2 little kids as my chaperons). So I got to sit here on this nice horse with the 2 children while 10 dominicans (men, children and women) tried to catch one horse by chasing it. It took a loooong time. I was wondering if we were even going to make it to the river. Finally after catching it and everything we were on our way. We picked up Angela and got to the rio. Then all of her baseball boys came to the river on horses too. They made a swing from rope and the bridge, and we played on a huge log that could hold about 15 people. It was a good time. When we left everyone wanted to go find fruit so there was about 20 or more horses running around Don Juan looking for fruit, then we rode through the town on the way back to Guazumita and Antonci. By the time we got home none of us could walk and our calves were rubbed raw from the sacks/pads we were riding on (I didn’t get to ride the nice horse there or back).
Tuesday, February 15: Angela and I went to Las Cinco Casas (the BRA office) so that we could talk about Escojo with a man, and get jerseys for our baseball players. WE had to wait around a bit for the man in charge to get there to sign my paper allowing for me to equipment and then wait around more to get the key and more authorization from another lady. Finally, we went to the room to choose what jerseys would be best for my 3 teams (small 7-11; med 11-15; large 16+). At BRA there are so many donated jerseys (and batting helmets about 53) though they are all in different conditions and ranging from 6 shirts to 30. So it took a long time to find the amount and sizes that I needed. I ended up with purple Rays tshirts for my little team, navy blue Red Sox jerseys for my muchachos of the medium team (that’s for you Dave), and orange Oriels jerseys for my men. We also got 2 batting helmets, a catcher’s helmet with a cage, 2 balls, a little bat and the tiniest glove that I have ever seen.
When I was coming back on the moto into Antonci I saw a bunch of white people. I thought to myself “Is this Antonci? And who are these people?” Because I didn’t know of any more mission groups coming in to town. They were a group of Canadian teens from Ontario who were painting houses that another group had put the floors in. So I got to hang out with them, talk in English, explain the Peace Corps, translate and hang out with my friends Ingrid and Miguel (who live in Yamasa and help out with the Canadian groups that come through). I even offered my translating services to my tigueres and muchachos if they wanted to hit on the cute girls (sorry, I couldn’t help it) none of them took me up on it.
Thursday, February 17: I went to Yamasa with my friend Felix so he could help me buy paint and other things that I might need to fix up my ‘house. I am going to be renting 2 rooms of a barrancon (barracks) from my host mom. The barracks is by the water pump and close to Grandma’s Barracks so I can use her latrine. People are telling me that I should wait until host mom fixes things so that it will be ready when I move in, but if I wait any longer I will be spending my full 2 years living with the host family. And that would not be good for my sanity.
Bought some paint and locks, and scraped the walls and painted the ceiling.
Friday, February 18: I went to my ‘house’ to paint the walls in the morning and all my baseball muchachos came to help and wouldn’t let me paint at all. I was happy for the help and the company, but sad because I love to paint. Oh well, I still have to paint the other room and the outside.
I had gotten some paint in my hair (or so everybody was telling me) so I washed my hair for the first time in over a week. Man, it was gross going that long without washing it, but it is a hassle and I am always with the kids, then there is the water issue and privacy issue living with the host family. Once it was washed all the little girls were like “your hair is like a doll’s hair.”
Saturday, February 19: La Mina (the next batey over, less than 1 kilometer away) came in the morning to play baseball with my muchachos. The guy in charge of the other team (a kid in his 20’s wearing a tshirt that said “Estoy con Estupido” with a hand pointing to the side – translation: I’m with stupid) told me that we were playing for 2 two liters of pop (soda). I was a little taken aback by it, ‘cause we normally don’t play for things or bet…well the boys and men do sometimes, but they don’t usually include me. But I agreed with the go-ahead from my muchachos. Then it started to rain, not hard and not a lot, but just enough to get some rainbows. It cleared up in about5 minutes and we started the game. We won 9-1. The guy then came over and handed me 100 pesos. We played another game and it was 0-0 so we had to go into overtime and we lost 2-3. So I handed him back his 100 pesos bill. There were other kids who didn’t get to play who wanted to on both teams, so we had a 3rd game. And we won. (I wasn’t there for most of it because it was 1pm and I had to get my men ready to go to Guazumita to play that afternoon).
I rounded up my tigueres and men, and we headed out to Guazumita. The first 3 innings of the game we didn’t get any runs (which I expected them to play bad because they don’t like to practice, and I had told 2 of the boys that if they went and played and won that I would by them chinas (oranges) so if we didn’t win, I wouldn’t have to by oranges. Then in the 4th inning we got 8 runs and kept getting more from then on. Needless to say we won. It was a good day for baseball.
I got back to my room that night and my bed was covered with sugar…I have no idea why or how sugar could have gotten on my bed. It was either the cat or rats.
Sunday, February 20: Angela and I needed to go to the capital to take out more money, so we can finish moving , and to go to the store. So I was going to find a bola (a ride) over at around 9ish so we could go down together. At 9 on the dot, 5 of my muchachos were standing out in front of my house begging to go to Guazumita to play baseball with them. I called Angela and she checked with her boys and they said it was fine. So we both explained to our boys that they could play, but that we, ladies, will be leaving them to go to the capital. It was 11am by the time the game got started and Angela and I left. We left Guazumita walking to Don Juan (maybe a 10-15 min walk) and my hair got us a bola into town. Then on the Guagua to the capital Angela was getting hit on by a guy who sat between us (I was laughing the whole time, because it usually happens to me). We bought things for our house (meaning, I got a lock, cloro, a pot, a pan, a spatula, a ladle, 2 sets of plates, bowls, spoons, forks, knives, a sharp knife and a couple glasses).
While we were waiting for the bus to come some older guys were like “blondy/Americana come have a seat in the shade while you wait” I told them that I would need a chair for my friend too. So they brought us 2 chairs while we waited for the bus to pass by. And we had to make up storied about how we are married to Dominicans/Haitians to keep them from hitting on us. We also met a Capitan in the army who was good friends with a Peace Corps Volunteer about 10 years ago. Finally the bus came and we were on our way home.
When we got back we found out that my boys lost by 1 run and that the umpire was making bad calls. Leaving them to play was like leaving your child for his/her first sleepover. I wanted to know what was going on, who was winning, and if they were being fair to my little boys while we were in the capital.
That night I find out that my friend Miledi (my first Dominican friend in my site) got in a motorcycle accident on the way home from the University the night before. She is ok, just a lot of internal bruising – no broken bones. She was riding home with one of her sisters and another man (I think her sister’s husband) when they got hit by a jeepeta (suv). The other two were in the hospital overnight but everyone is getting better and no life threatening injuries. Gracias a Dios.
Monday, February 21: In the morning I was visiting with one of my old ladies and it was almost time for lunch so she started to prepare beans, rice and fish. So I asked her to teach me how to cook Dominican food (because I need to learn for when I live by myself). She just laughed and laughed more when I told her that I will be running from my house to hers with questions as I cook on my own. All she let me actually do was clean the rice. Then she fed me. Then I had to go to host grandma’s house to eat (2 lunches). Later that night I was visiting with Miledi and was fed there before my dinner, so I had 2 dinners that night.
In the afternoon I went to the school to help teach English (I go to each course once a week, or when I have free time to help with pronunciation and to make class fun). I was waiting around reading the newspaper when I started reading the classified ads. I looked at the houses, then the cars and the appliances then came across the animals section. And between the ads for a place called ‘Dog world’ and pure breed Labrador puppies was an ad selling spider monkeys, capuchin monkeys and a pair of emu. What should it be a spider or a capuchin? haha
The rest of the week: Painting the house (inside: a light blue/green and out: yellow almost the color of a ripe banana …I was hoping for a more vibrant, happy yellow), still need to get a bed and a stove and electricity up in there. I taught English at the school.
Friday, February 25: I went to the school in the morning because they were having a big celebration for the Independence (Feb 27th). So we all marched to La Mina (less than 1 Km away) with all of the children…it was worse than herding cats. Kids were running all over, not wanting to stay in a line, not wanting to walk, etc. When we got back to the school some kids read poems and there were suppose to be ones who put on little dramas, then they got to play fro the rest of the time.
I was trying to find a bola to Yamasa with some of the teachers so I wouldn’t have to pay a motoconchoist because I had to go to the capital. But the teachers told me that the guaguas to the capital were on strike. So I went to eat lunch and then found someone to take me to Don Juan. When we pulled up in Don Juan, I ran into my project partner, Mingo, and was given a little cup of beer as I waited for the Guagua to come. Got to the capital without a hitch, and its been great to see everyone. (stay tuned for updates from the Samana peninsula to whale watch)
Petey Update: He still takes to running around at night. And the night before I left for IST I found out that he goes into people’s houses and eats their food if they leave any out and breaks glasses. I am surprised that no one ‘accidentally’ killed him while I was gone. And like all cats, Petey gets moody, so when I was gone for 5 days he didn’t come home or come when I called him for the next day and a half. He is better now though because I gave him my salami that I got for breakfast.
Petey also has a girlfriend. She lives 2 houses down from us and would come over at night and during the day meowing for Petey to come outside to be with her. But Petey didn’t want anything to do with her. He was content with sniffing the floor for food, catching bug and ignoring her. Oh Petey.
Project Ideas for Antonci:
English Classes, more sports, Dance Group, Religious Youth Group, Escojo Mi Vida, Sala de Tarea, Library, Technology Center, a street, water, Helping teachers with English, working with the women’s group, Boys’ club, girls’ club, business plan
Now let’s see what actually happens! So far we have baseball for boys and girls, teaching English in schools, escojo mi vida, and soon to be English classes for the community.
