The Past 7 Months and LIBRARY

December: I spent 2 glorious weeks in the Michigan. And even got to make a little snowman at my grandpa´s house.
January: I experienced my first ever earthquakes.  Horrifying when you live in a house made of conceret blocks during the time of Trujillo.  In the middle of the month started up the literacy classes in the school again.
February: Started a Chicas Brillantes group (ages 12 to 20)!  Three of my girls and I attened a Regional South Chicas Brillantes 3 day camp.  More literacy work.  Traslated at Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (an orphanage where another volunteer works).
March: Celebrated International Women´s Day with surrounding Volunteers and their girls.  More literacy work.  Mom and Dad came to visit for about 10 days.  Miguel and his family took us around and my Mom threw an epic (and yet disastrous) party for my kids in my community.
April: Taught my Chicas Brillantes how to decorate Easter Eggs.
May: Started a 2nd Chicas Brillantes with the younger girls (ages 8 to 12).  The 20th was election day (finally it is over)!
June: The 1st ( the day after school was let out) I started a Superman group with my baseball boys (because they don´t play baseball anymore and they were jealous of the attention that i was giving to the girls).  Developing possible sites for in-coming volunteers.
July: Celebrated the 4th in Las Galeras with other volunteers.  Today, graduated my first group of Chicas Brillantes - certicifates, cake, dramas and all!

Since March I have been working on getting a grant on the Peace Corps website so that people could donate to help build a Library in my community.  Students come to Antonci from 5 different communities to go to school, and the school doesn´t have a functioning library for the students to do their homework.  Plus, the highschool and university students have no place to to research at all.  Not to mention the lack of linguistical and creative development that occurs when children read stories and participate in reading programs.  The closest library is in Yamasa, the pueblo, that is 140 pesos there and back on a motorcycle taxi or over an hour walking (it is a dangerous route for the children to walk, and the majority of the citizens of Antonci do not have the money to go there and back on motors).  I currently have 5 boxes of books in my house (thanks to Darian book aid, scholastic books, INTEC and the Ministerio de Cultura) and i have a few more waiting for me in the capital.  And finally, my grant has been posted on the Peace Corps website!
Check it out and donate!

https://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-511

My house is a nice 80 and not 93...it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

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 15^th 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 11^th,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 5^th 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 10^th  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 5^th graders there.  We were down 3-0 in the 3^rd inning.  But we made it up and won 3-4 at the end of the 5^th (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).

Construye tus Suenos and Literacy

August:  The last week I took a few days off for a personal vacation before school got started up.  I tried to relax but for doing so I got a lovely cold that left me hacking up phlegm for the next few days.

September:

Volunteer Visit:  From Sept 1^st to 4^th we got our trainee visits.  Remember this time last year when I went to go visit Laura a volunteer up in Baoba?  Yep, well this time I am the volunteer that a scared trainee gets to visit, only 1.5 weeks in country and there they are traveling alone to our sites.  And my trainee wasn’t scared, or at least I don’t think she was, but might have been after she left with all of my crazy stories. Haha.  The first night that Rosa was here, 2 tarantulas tried to get in my house, but luckily Fancis and Ruben killed them with my broom (I have no shame I jumped on my bed, because I didn’t know where they were, it was dark and there was no electricity.)  Then it was soooooooo hot that night that neither of us slept, my fan didn’t help at all.  The next day Angela and her visit, and Zach and his visit came over for lunch and I made a Locrio (chicken and rice), and I don’t even know how many pop bottles we went through.  I gave them all a tour of the Batey before sending them on their way.  Saturday, I finally had the English class graduation.  The girls helped me clean the school, and put up decorations.  Then when it came time to actually have the graduation, only half of them showed up and about an hour and a half late. (I also tried to make no-bake cookies again, but the chocolate that I used was bad and hardened too quickly).  After the graduation we headed over to Zach’s where 9 of us stayed and we taught the kids how to dance.

Fishing:  After months and months of being promised to go fishing. I was finally granted the experience of Dominican fishing – with a small harpoon. We left at 8am and were out until 3pm without any lunch.  It was an interesting experience, I don’t know what would make that fishing experience more successful, maybe if they used nets, or bate…?  They also caught fresh water crabs, and crayfish/crawfish/crawdads.  At 3 I had to teach kids to make bracelets and then after 5 I went down to the house and they taught me how to cook fish with coco and to cook the crabs.  It was delicious and I even got to take the leftovers for lunch the next day.

MOSCTHA Canadian:  Marie, a worker for MOSCTHA had been coming once every week this summer to work with the Women’s Group here.  But there was a month where the organization’s transportation would not allow for her to come, so she spent a week in the community.  It was wonderful having her here, our only language in common was Spanish (because she is from Quebec).  I helped her with some of her activities, and she helped lead the morning exercises.  Then one of the nights we made French fries (out of batatas – sweet potatoes) and put cheese and amazing Canadian gravy on them. 

There was also committee weekend, where all the volunteers got together. And the Monday after that I had my 1 year checkup.  All is good, no cavities!

October:

Sancocho:  I was invited to have lunch at one of my teacher’s houses Oct 1^st.  We made a Sancocho (stew with lots of stuff in it) and arepa (dense, moist cornbread).  It was a lot of fun and I ate way too much.  That night I shared the leftover Sancocho with my host family and the arepa with the old men who live in the barracks with me.  When I went to each of them with a plate of arepa they all asked me how much it costs.  Silly, I am your neighbor it is free.  They were very happy and so was I.  The next day one of my old men brought me a stick of sugarcane that was over 6 feet tall to say thank you for the arepa.  I split it with some of my boys, because I ate too much and got a stomach ache. 

Intercambio:  Oct 2, Alicia brought over her girl’s group to have an interchange with my girls here.  We played a ton of games, and gave them snacks and pop.  Her girls loved it and mine are asking me when they get to go to Don Juan.  But first they have to start meeting and form their own girl’s group…which hasn’t happened yet.

Volunteer visit:  Once the trainees found out where they would be going to live for the next 2 years, the 4 going to bateys came to stay with us again (because we are the closest ones to the training site).  It was only an overnight stay, but it is always great to have visitors and Nichole and I got a long very well.  I had to send her to Angela’s site the next morning because I was getting a free ride to the capital to pick up some books (to find out more wait for the Library section).

My neighbors are back!  Which means I won’t be so lonely anymore, but also that the puppies can no longer hangout in my house, because of the little children and puppy diseases.

Fights:  My two boys that I took to Camp Superman this summer just got in a huge fight at the school.  Rancel came out of it with a puffed up eye.  He then escaped from his house with a slingshot and a rock and it Ruben above the eyebrow from about 3 feet away.  Ruben started bleeding and passed out; they took him to the hospital to get stitches.  Both of Ruben’s parents weren’t home at the time because they are both working in the Capital, but other family members started yelling at the family of Rnacel blaming them.  Machetes came out but it was all just yelling from end of the barracks to the other.  Needless to say I went back to my house (I was sitting with grandma, but didn’t want to get involved).

General activities:

Art class:  August and September I started teaching my kids how to make friendship bracelets in an art class, and we have been stuck on them for months.  Hopefully soon we can move on to other things, but they don’t seem to want to.

Literacy:  This year my main focus is literacy in the school.  I have a list of 33 students who do not know how to read from grades 2 to 5 (ages 7 to 15).  I work with a book and workbooks (each kid has their own) that were made by Peace Corps Volunteers.  Also in my free time I make a lot of didactic materials (the kids love the games and the hands on activities, because all they get in school is “copy this down”).  I started by getting a list of the kids who didn’t know how to read or read very well from the teachers (there are still more, but I can’t handle more than what I have right now).  Then I did a diagnostic of each child individually, by seeing how far they could read in the book.  Then split them into groups based on gender and grade and reading level, so I have some groups of 3 and some working individually.  I meet twice a week with each child, work allowing, and they all seem to enjoy it.  I do to, but I get exhausted.

Teachers in the States are way underpaid. 

Library:  I am also trying to build a library at the school.  Well there is a library there, but there are not any books, and it is located in a division of a classroom, so it is noisy and small (see photos on fb).  I have sent out a few letters requesting book donations and have already received 3 small boxes of books from the Franklin Center (part of the US Embassy).  To pick them up, I got a free ride with one of my teachers and her husband, because they needed to go to the capital to pick up some medical results.  I got to hang out in the clinic with her, and even sit with her and the doctor as the discussed them (something completely different from the secrecy of our US culture).  Then we went to the office and picked up the books and came home.  I am also in the process of working on a grant to get donations for building a separate building for the library (see photos of the location on fb too).

Construye Tus Sueños:  Throughout the summer I taught a business course called Construye Tus Sueños (build your dreams).  I started out with 12 students and ended up with 1who completed the course and wrote the actual business plan.  My student’s name is Arismendi.  His idea for a business is an Internet Center because there are none in our area and it costs too much for students or anyone to go and come back to Yamasa.  His plan ended up being about 29 pages long (in Spanish, with correct budgets and everything).  We submitted the plan and waited to see if it got accepted to the Construye Tus Sueños conference.  And it did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We made corrections, resubmitted it and worked on a presentation.

Oct 14-16:  Construye Tus Sueños Competition:  On the way to the Capital we met some of Phil’s youth (a former volunteer in Yamasa) who were also going to the competition and who were friends of Arismendi.  It was good to have traveling companions.  The first day was filled with activities.  Then Saturday morning started the competition.  There were 24 plans accepted in total so they were split up into 4 rooms for round 1.   I was soo nervous for Arismendi before the presententation, but he did great! I am so proud of him.  Unfortunately, his plan didn’t make it into the second round in the afternoon.  Eight of the plans got to compete in a final round infront of everyone (about 100 people).  There were 4 winners who received all of the money that they asked for to start their businesses (from 60,000 to 13,000 pesos RD).  One of the winners was one of Phil’s kids from Yamasa, who has an appliance repair shop and wants to turn it into a school too, his name is Nicolas.  About 2 months ago Nicolas was a victim of delinquency in the community of Cercavillos (a part of Yamasa where he lives).  He had lent his car to a friend who is a policeman doing undercover work.  One day Nicolas was driving his car and some of the delinquents (drug dealers) thought that he was the police man, so they followed him and attacked him in his car with a machete.  Trying to protect himself, he got both of his arms cut and a leg.  It has been said that they had to take his arms to the hospital in ice…yep it was that bad.  He was in casts for a while and in the national news paper.  Now he is able to use his left arm/hand and his right arm he is still doing therapy, but will regain full motion soon.  There are some nasty scars.

Anyway, Arismendi is very motivated from his experience at the conference and is now going to look for other opportunities to start up his internet center.  Of course I will be helping him along the way of writing letters and getting in contact of other organizations. Yey motivation!

A is for August and scores on English Exams

The Saturday that I got back from the hospital my host grandma’s dog had puppies, there were 10 of them.  And then on that Monday one of my muchacho’s dogs had 5 puppies.  I am told that I get one of each…we will see what happens with that because I am now a proud care taker of a plant so that is filling the void of a puppy…

August 8:  Angela and Alicia come over for a thank you lunch, because they brought me things from my house while I was sick in the capital.  I made them Fajitas and Guacamole.  It was amazing.

August 10:  Phil, another volunteer, came over to visit my Construye Tus Sueños class to give them a motivational talk about getting it done and how fun the conference is.  BUT, it rained in the afternoon like normal so no one showed up.  We had a good time talking and I gifted him some chinolas (passion fruit) to take to his doña.

August 13:  Angela came over to use the computer so I made us lunch of sloppy joes, French fried, roasted corn and guacamole.  Fabulous!  After she left I went around visiting some friends, because one of my favorite 4 year old boys was back in town for the day (Liandro, would give me bolas around the batey on the back of his stick horse).  I then went around with some of the girls visiting and helps pump water for the Reso (of the guy who died 2 weeks ago).  I was then sent a moto to go to Yamasa to dance for the night.

August 14:  I got back to Antoncí for the reso the next day and about 20 minutes after I got back there were 2 fights infront of the disco.  The first a bottle got broken on someone’s head and the second the police were called.  I was safe and far away from it all, sitting with my host grandma and the rest of the family.  A little while later we were informed that a man from La Mina passed away.  He was a chauffeur for a family in Yamasa and had a heart attack while driving the car, it flipped over, but no one else was hurt. 

August 17 - 20:  I went into the Capital and we (a group of us volunteers and friends) watched Harry Potter 7.  The next morning I got to the office before 8am, so that I could leave with the group to get our green cards, because our visas have expired.  We didn’t actually leave the office until 9:40and then had to wait around for the longest time in the immigration office.  But finally we got our cards. And the funny thing is that they are literally green…the green card is green…

We got back to the office and it started to rain, I don’t mean just rain, but down pour.  After lunch and the passing of the rain I went with Sarayu to her site to visit for a few days.  She lives in Carlos Pinto, Najayo in San Cristobal.  Her house is a fairy tale cottage; something like Snow Whilte’s; complete with rocking chairs, indoor bathroom, shelves and a refrigerator.  We got to her house and went visiting a little bit and made some amazing spaghetti.

The next morning after making breakfast burritos, we went to the MLB San Diego Padres training center, where Sarayu is sponsored out of to work with a Sala de Tarea in her community.  When we got there I felt like I was not in the DR anymore – it was little USA.  We then went back and saw her Sala de Tarea and had lunch on the Beach.  We collected shells, rocks, coral and sea glass before heading to meet some other volunteers at the swimming part of the beach.  While us 4 girls were in the water, we were being circled by the young tigueres, who we now call tiburones (sharks).  They left us alone after telling them off.  That night we made rustic quesadillas and created the Najayo Dessertilla (a tortilla shell with half crunchy peanut butter, half cream cheese, and some Hersey’s kisses. 

On Saturday, we went to the MLB complex again to see the final baseball game of the season: Padres vs. Colorado Rockies.  The Padres won 14 to 4.  I then got on the bus and went home.

Out of my English class 12 of my students passed with the highest grade a 100.5% and half of them in the 90’s.  Only 3 of the students failed who took the exam (which I didn’t think that they would pass, because they came for half of the classes and insisted on taking the exam anyway).  We will be having a graduation on the 3^rd of September, where they will receive certificates.

I started an Art class where at least 26 kids showed up to make friendship bracelets.  They can’t get enough of it and so we are going to continue with bracelets for a few more weeks then move on to other projects.  I suspect that more will come in the coming weeks, now that the word has spread.

The women in my community came to me and asked if I can give exercise classes.  So we get up at 5am to walk/run, then afterwards do exercises in the Panaderia until 7:30ish.

I have 2 of my students finishing the Business Plan (Construye Tus Sueños).  We have one week left to turn it in.  It is about 14 pages and we still have a little more to add and to finish editing.

Hurricane Irene:  Thankfully nothing too bad happened in Antoncí.  We got a lot of rain and wind, so I didn’t leave my house for a couple days (because I didn’t want to walk in the mud).  We lost power for a few days, but that is nothing out of the normal, so it was just another day.

Heidi and the Mysterious Illness

Play the game and guess what I had, you will find out in the end!

Saturday July 23^rd:  I woke up with a dull ache in my right shoulder and rib cage, thinking I slept wrong I went on with my normal daily chores.  Before lunch, I headed over to Don Juan to Alicia’s site to help her with a Pancake lunch she was going to make for some of her muchachos.  When I got there we walked to pick up some of her guests who live in a different part of town to bring them to her house.  I was in charge of the art room: making bracelets and coloring. While Alicia, took half of the kids and they make 2 whole boxes of pancakes for everyone. I think that there were over 20 kids in her house.  It was ridiculous but a lot of fun.  Once all of the pancakes were finished (only 2 were saved for us) we walked the children back to their respective houses and picked up food on the way back.  The pain was still there, but I tried not to think about it, just assuming that it was sore muscles due to stress.  I got a bola home with the local water truck guys. I tried to sleep that night, though I could only sleep on my stomach and left side because it hurt otherwise.

Sunday, July 24^th: I woke up early the next morning to the pain increasing in my shoulder and right side.  I tried to ignore it and took some pain killers then did some house work: washed clothes and sheets, mopped the floors, got water, etc.  Then I started to make lunch of rice and lentils to feed to Alicia when she would come over to help me with making friendship bracelets and no-bake cookies with my youth.  Around 11 or 12, the pain had increased so much (wrapping itself around my right rib cage, the front and the back) that it hurt to breathe.  As the rice cooked and as I was waiting for Alicia to arrive I just sat on my bed trying not to move or breathe.  When Alicia arrived I told her the situation (plus I wanted her here just in case something happened, and I made all of thi s food that I couldn’t eat) and called the Peace Corps Doctors.  I was told to take some strong pain killers (get them from the closest pharmacy, which is in Yamasa) and to call back to check in…if the pain lessens come in the morning, if not come in tonight.  So I fed Alicia, packed and my ‘project partner’ found me a ride to Yamasa in a car with some friends (he also paid for a moto for Alicia to get back to Don Juan).  By the way, it was raining all day.  We left a sign on my door telling my kids that there would be no art class today neither would there be the English Exam tomorrow.  The ride in the car to Yamasa was the most painful ride I had ever taken, with all the bumps and jolts, every time I moved I hurt and every time I breathed I hurt.  On top of the one of the men in the car started to hit on me, and told me that it was just the gripe (a cold)…not likely buddy with this kind of pain.  I got to Yamasa to my friends’ house (I called in advance) and got the pain killers.  They did not work and I called the Doctors again, I also had a fever of 100.3 degrees F when I left Antonci.  Nothing helped the pain or the fever, so by 8pm I was in the car on the way to the Clinica Abreu (hospital that PC uses).  The pain so high that I couldn’t even breathe enough to talk and was taking very shallow breaths.  We got to the Hospital around 9pm and I was met by one of the Doctors.  The pain was the worst that I have ever experienced, about an 8-8.5 on the pain scale.  There were times where I could start shaking/twitching due to the pain and my body’s responses to it. 

In the emergency room:  They wouldn’t give me pain killers because I had an “unknown abdominal pain.” I don’t know how many different tests I had to take: urine, multiple blood tests, x-rays, EKG.  The doctors wanted to check my lungs, but I couldn’t breathe deep enough.  Lying on my back on the cots and the x-ray table were so painful that I couldn’t do it and it was hard to lay still for the x-ray and ekg.  I actually started crying due to the pain (also Emergency rooms are FREEZING and my fingers turned purple…that only happens when I play in the snow for too long without gloves…).  Taking chest x-rays are the most incomodo (uncomfortable) thing ever; you have to stand with your chest out pressing the board, neck extended further than you can reach and arms at the strangest angles that it feels like your shoulder blades are going to pop off.  At first the doctors through that it could be my gull bladder, and then my kidneys, then pneumonia (but I had not coughing).  I was also dehydrated, constipated and had another infection (but no parasites, yet).  The nurse who put in my iv did not do a very good job, and was digging the needle around in my hand for a little while (took my mind off of my other pain for a bit).  It was 12:30 by the time that I was in my room and left alone for the night.  At that time they changed my IV bag and it was so cold that it made my hand turn numb for about 5 minutes, and I was still freezing from the emergency room and not being able to wear anything else than those fun hospital gowns.  They didn’t even have an extra blanket to give me.  I was able to fall asleep on my left side.

Monday, July 25^th:  My kids should be taking their English Exams, but I was still in the Hospital.  The pain had lessened, but was still there.  Miguel Angel showed up because it was his day off and he (nor his family, the ones who drove me to the capital the night before) wanted me to be along in the hospital.  I wasn’t allowed to eat anything until I had an ultrasound of my abdomen to make sure it wasn’t any of the organs.  That was supposed to take place in the morning…but they finally came to get me at 1pm…I missed breakfast and lunch.  The ultrasound was a fun experience, because it took place in the Women’s Wing of the hospital, where all of the pregnant women were.  So here I was an Americana in a hospital gown, being pushed throughout the hospital by one of the workers with Miguel trailing behind.  Then waiting outside of the Ultra-sound room was Miguel and I, this being a funny sight because people were probably thinking that this young Dominican man knocked up this American girl (not the case, NO ONE is pregnant). It made me chuckle on the inside though, because it still hurt to laugh out loud.  The ultra sound came back clear and nothing is wrong with any of my organs. Yey! Then I got to go back to the room and a Cardiologist came to check out my lungs and heart to make sure that everything was ok.  I could breathe a little deeper but it still hurt, so I don’t know if they found out anything from that.  That night after I finally got dinner at about 7pm, I relaxed and watched the Dog Whisperer with Cesar Milan. Yey! 

Tuesday, July 26^th: The pain had dulled to a 3ish on the scale (mind you I still only hurt on my right side).  I was discharged from the hospital around  10 am, was taken for a quick trip to the Office and then was deposited at a hotel to stay the night until I got better.  Alicia came down to the office and brought me food.  We ate at the little table with come American missionaries, who were really nice and I was looking forward to hanging out with them that night and share about the Peace Corps.  I laid around all day and tried to sleep, at night I took some meds and was going to go out and eat with the missionaries, because they were saving me a plate of food.  But then I suddenly felt sick and vomited.  This brought on the pain on my left side.  It was an 8.5 like my right side was earlier.  I didn’t want to call the office because at the hospital they still wouldn’t give me pain killers and I would have to go through all of the same tests again and they would still not know what it was.  It was the most miserable night of my life, but luckily Miguel Angel was there to try to comfort me and make me comfortable; he was a life saver.  I couldn’t lay down on any of my sides, sitting up was uncomfortable, and standing was not an option.  I would try to find different positions to sleep in where I would maybe get 20-30 minutes of sleeping every hour and a half until the pain woke me up.  I called the Doctors in the morning and I was picked up to go office, where I was given a shot and my meds were changed, then taken to the emergency room again.  When we got there all of the staff remembered me and asked “Heidi what are you doing here again?” -  I felt special.  The shot worked and the pain lessened.  I was kept overnight again.

Wednesday, July 27^th:  I spent my day at the office.  Ate a Cheese burger from the US Embassy.  Then in the afternoon, I got to go to the Cardiologist, because now they were thinking that I had Pleuritis and Pericarditis that was caused by an unknown virus (which it was, finally diagnosed).  I got another ekg, and x-rays.  The pain was still there but lessening.

Thursday, July 28^th:  I went back to the Cardiologist to get more blood work and a chest echo.  Then I spent the rest of the day at the office again.

Friday, July 29^th:  Another day at the office.  I was cleared to go home that afternoon.  I went back to Yamasa so I could rest a little bit more before I got back to the chaotic life in the Batey (not that chaotic, but being bothered by all the noisy kids…I love them). 

Saturday, July 30^th:  I got home early in the morning because it was going to rain in the afternoon.  I got to see my neighbors that moved to the capital and was brought food by many neighbors.

Sunday, July 31^st: Happy Father’s day in the Dominican Republic.  That evening around 7:30-8:00 there was a fight in front of the Disco. It turned violent and a man got stabbed with a machete twice and passed away, my oldest host brother got cut and taken to the hospital and the other men were taken to the prison once they were caught. Happy Father’s day… Apparently it was over drugs of the guys who started the fight were on them, because the one who killed the other guy was the distributor in town.  I was safe in my house watching people flee from the scene, I didn’t see much because of another building blocking my view. (don’t worry I am safe).  I walked the 20 feet to my host grandmother’s house to check on my host niece, Mirianni (7 years old and oldest daughter of my host brother who got cut, my most helpful and loving girl here since day 1 that I arrived).  Everyone was consoling her 4 year old sister and left her to hold herself up against the door frame crying.  I took her to my house to calm her down and take her away from the words of the adults.  It worked, we put together puzzles and it took her mind off of everything for a little while.  I was still on the mend so I had to take her back to her house a couple hours later so that I could try to get some sleep.

Monday, August 1^st:  The friends of the deceased tried to burn down the house that murderer lived, but luckily they were stopped because it was a wooden barrancon, and other people’s houses would have gone with it.  I didn’t leave the house that day.

• The next day I visited the family and spent time there.
• Over the next few days, my kids started to come over to take their English exams, to make bracelets and the no-bake cookies that we didn’t get to do the week before.
• This past Saturday my boys and I went to Guazumita and played baseball for the first time in MONTHS!  We lost horribly, but I was just excited that we actually went.  I did get sunburned though.  

July...No Fireworks, but A LOT of Fun

 Thursday, June 30: Angela’s boyfriend, Hansel, came to visit.  He was in my youth group while we were in Constanza doing training so he and I are good friends.  He and Angela came on Thursday June 30^th to make lunch.  They came in the morning and we went on an adventure to find chicken to make a Locrio (chicken and rice together, possibly my favorite Dominican dish).  There was not chicken in Antonci so we walked to La Mina to get it.  Then finally we got all the ingredients and let Hansel do the cooking (I tried to pay attention to learn how).  We also made juice.  It was an amazing lunch and I even had a container full for dinner.  After lunch we decided to walk to Don Juan (well we were hoping to get a bola , a free ride, but that didn’t happen), it took about an hour and a half to get there during the hottest par t of the day. While we were reaching the bridge over the Ozama, we heard a sound/song that resembled an ice cream truck. And it was.  It was like an oasis, a vision of pure joy and something cold.  We each got ice cream, which promptly melted, but was delicious anyway.  We finally got to Don Juan and we tested out all of the fans in the store, and found one suitable for me to buy.  I even got to carry it home on a motor, very Dominican of me.

4^th of July weekend  (AKA: Realizing that I had become kind-of  lactose intolerant)

Saturday July 2^nd:  I went to the capital early in the morning to pick up Sarayu to bring her to my site for the holiday weekend.  I got there and did some work in the office, and it was rainy all morning (luckily I got in without any trouble), but she got stuck in her site for a little while longer due to the rain.  After an adventure of getting copies, we finally made our way to Antonci.  But it began raining again so we stayed the night in Yamasa at Miguel and Nuris’s house.  It was a good time.

Lunch: Cheese Pizza and Ice Cream

Dinner: Platanos, meat and cheese, more ice cream

Sunday July 3^rd:  We got back to my site around 10 or 11 so I gave Sarayu a walking tour of part of the community, and we got gifted a pineapple by some old people.  We made a late lunch after being pestered by all of my muchachos.  While we were making lunch one of my guy friends, Dani,  came to visit…well, I didn’t know we were as close as we apparently are.  (Background: he is relatives to Gris and Miledi and used to hit on me a lot, but got the hit finally and now has a girlfriend who he is head over heels for..aww…)  So he has been working in the capital and he came to ask questions about facebook and how he can find his girlfriend on there (because she is now in Argentina working at her mom’s Salon).  Needless to say that brought on a lot of teasing from my part and the mac ‘n cheese was finally finished.  Sarayu and I forced him to eat our “strange food” (direct quote) which he enjoyed.

Then it started to rain and rain and rain, with the whole sideways wind and lake out the front of my house.  We hung out and talked and watched the muchachos play in the rain. 

We started cooking dinner around 8pm.  You know how fettuccini comes in little pasta balls, well, we had too much fun putting them in the water, so we ended up making too much food.  We also tried to make our own Alfredo sauce, which turned out to be cheesier than normal alfredo.  We chopped up halves of red, orange, and yellow bell peppers to put in with the pasta, and broke out the bottle of wine I had my mom bring to me from the states. (it was a delicious dinner).    While we were sitting around finishing dinner and the glass of wine.  Another friend, William, decided to stop by and say hi.   He stayed for a few hours getting into a long discussion about how he is looking for a wife, but wants to wait 3 years before getting married, and other relationship topics with Sarayu…I just stayed out and tried to mediate at times. 

Breakfast: Cheese and Bread

Lunch: Chips and Salsa, Kraft Mac ‘n Cheese (the shell type pasta)

Dinner: Fettuccini Alfredo with bell peppers, Merlot (2 glasses each)

Monday July 4^th:  Happy 4^th!  We made pancakes, with peanut butter and real syrup and hot chocolate.  Then it began to rain.  We both started feeling bloated, and sick.  Finally realizing that maybe we had eaten too much dairy products.  The rain stopped long enough to teach an English class.  We had cultural day and taught them about our Independence day and traditions, and played some games.  Then it started to rain again.  Throughout the day we watched The Producers, Salt, and The Sound of Music (we were on a kind of German/KGB kick).  For dinner we ate some pineapple and chips and another glass of wine (because of the antioxidants and we didn’t finish it the night before).

Breakfast: Pancakes, Hot chocolate

Dinner: Pineapple, chips and wine

Tuesday July 5^th:  Sarayu got better but I just got sicker (I will spare you the details).  Angela came over and we made breakfast of  eggs, peppers, and oatmeal/peanut butter/chocolate stuff Angela made.  I sent the 2 girls off on Motos to their separate destinations and took a 4 hour nap.  Then I got my stuff ready to go to camp and checked with my kids and their families to see if they were ready or had any last minute questions.

Camp Superman…

Is AWESOME. 

Is a boy’s gender initiative for male youth between the ages of 11 and 13 where you get to camp out with over 40 kids, 16 Peace Corps Volunteers in the middle of nowhere, play games, eat a LOT of food, teach things, and just have fun. 

There was an application process and there was 40-60 applications and only 16 were chosen. I was soo afraid that I would not get picked, but luck, and a kick-ass application came through for me in the end. I took two of my baseball boys, Ruben and Rancel (Chey).  Ruben was always helpful while he was with me but at home and with the other kids he would be a brat.  And Rancel is just an all around good and helpful kid, motivated to play ball and learn things, plus he is one of the cutest kids here.

Wednesday July 6^th:  Woke up before 6am to make sure the boys and I were on the motos by 7 to go to Yamasa.  My stomach was still bad, so I took some meds to make sure I would make the travels without any incidences.  By 7:15 we were on the motos, my boys with their duffle bags and pillows.  We got to Yamasa and we had to find a store that was open so that I could by Rancel some sandals and socks because his mom wasn’t able to make it into Yamasa the day before.  We were able to make a successful purchase of the flip-flops, but they were out of socks.  We made the bus and got to sit near one of my friends from Yamasa on the bus, who eventually helped me and the kids off at the metro stop. Fun traveling with children and baggage.  Ruben fell asleep, but Rancel stayed awake and bright eyed.  I think he hasn’t been  out of the Yamasa area too much, and it was his first time riding the Metro.  When we got to the metro, we waited not even 2 minutes for Angela and her kids to arrive. We herded the 4 children on and off of the Metro and to the office. 

About 7 of the volunteers met in the capital and we all took a bus to Moca (with our children of course).  It is about a 2 hour ride and many of the kids fell asleep, but Rancel stayed awake and wide eyed the entire time.  As we got into Moca, the bus driver had no idea where the restaurant was so we had to ask random people about every 2 minutes.  We had lunch and met up with the other volunteers and their kids.  We then got divided up into our teams, Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue, and Green.  My team was the orange (9 kids and 4 volunteers) and the other volunteers and I started boosting moral early into the truck ride up the mountain by chanting and singing team songs.  There were five pickup trucks that we all piled into (by teams of course).  Most of the baggage was in the front seats and all of the kids and volunteers were riding in the back.  It was about a 2 hour trip up the mountain to the camp site. 

Once we got to the camp site, the first thing that we did was have the boys set up their tents, then give an introduction to the camp and rules.  There were then different teambuilding stations set up for each group to go through to get to know each member of their team and to enforce teamwork.   By this time I was not feeling well and followed by boys around but didn’t participate in the games.  That night we had a camp fire and I gave a demonstration about tooth brushing.  Then during the reflective time with our kids one of my boys said that that was his favorite part of the day (suck up, hehe ), the other one liked getting the soap that we provided because it smelled good.  I love how my boys take pleasure in the simple things.  Still sick that night, I apparently looked really pale and even my lips.  One of the other volunteers gave me some Pepto-Bismol chewable tablets, and when I woke up in the morning I felt like a new woman.  Those things are amazing.

Thursday July 7^th : Every morning we would wake up at 6am, cause lets face it the kids from the campo are used to being up super early and that way we can do more stuff with them.  So at 6:30 every morning we would have morning exercises by playing games and other activities.  Then breakfast would normally be at 7, if the team of doñas weren’t running late.  While we were waiting around to eat breakfast the boys had some free time, and Rancel ran up behind me and gave me a hug telling me “Gracias!” I am still so happy and grateful for that moment and for that little boy.  His life is changing. We separated the boys into 2 groups and went on a nature hike staggering the time of departure about 10 minutes.  After that there was snack time of mangos, bananas and water melon.  Then there were science activities, a gender presentation and mask making. After lunch we build boats out of recycled materials (cardboard, duct tape, string and sticks).  The other volunteers and I left our kids alone to figure out the plan and to build the boat themselves (we were around to supervise and make sure nothing went wrong, like fights).  Our Orange Team worked great together and made a rocking boat.  We actually won the contest! Meaning we put one of the boys in the boat and floated it down the river and it stayed afloat longer than the others.  That night around the camp fire we had story time of reading and acting out “Where the Wild Things Are.”  It was an amazing performance by the volunteers.  A discussion was lead afterwards to talk about the lessons of the story and what the kids learned and to have them ask questions to “Max” about his feelings when the monsters kicked him out and what he felt when he was mean to his mom and regretted it.  I mean these kids got into some really deep questions, it was mind blowing.

Friday July 8^th:  We started the morning out with teaching the boys the basics of Tae Kwon Do.  They loved it.  It was a little rough in the beginning with just the stretches and exercises, but then they got to practice some punches and kicks on x-ray paper.  Then there was a good sportsmanship charla, which seemed to be good and sink in to the boys.  During that charla I went with some of the other volunteers to scope out the area where we would be having the Field Day Competition.  We had to cross the twice to get to a beautiful field scattered with trees and the rivers making it like a little island oasis.  After lunch, we went to set up field day.  After all was set up we had some time to kill before the children came over, so we conveniently “fell” in the river for a little bit to cool off.  The Field Day went great.  All the teams worked well within themselves and with the others.  We did have a bout of pretty much everyone running through biting ant hills so all of our ankles are red and swollen.  There were relay races, Alka-Seltzer tag, slip ‘n slide and more.  Then at night we watched the movie “Everybody’s Hero.”   It was a great movie to show the kids, reinforcing everything that was taught in the good sportsmanship charla, although about half of the boys fell asleep during the movie. 

Saturday July 9^th: Around 8 am all of the volunteers and children piled into 2 pickup trucks to hike to a waterfall.  It was tight ride but we all made it there safely.  The hike was nice and it was some of the boys’ first time seeing a waterfall.  For the first time I was able to hang out with the boys without having to worry about planning, so we swam and tossed around a football (a Saints football to exact).  There were inner tubes and just all around good time to be had by all.  ON the way back, we left in shifts and most of the volunteers left after all of the kids and then it started raining on us.  We got back to the camp site and had an amazing lunch of fish and rice.  Then it started to rain again.  It rained and rained and rained and rained.  So while we were doing shifts of mask and plaque painting, the boys were having an epic game of soccer in the mud.  Running, sliding, playing, changing colors…  Once they kids were all muddy, and wet (well, we never really dried from the waterfall) we let them bathe in the rain because it was too dangerous to let them go to the river (due to warnings of flash floods). Once all the kids were bathed and somewhat dry after the rain stopped, we sent them up to dinner and I stayed back with a few other volunteers to clean the Enremada (Covered area) so that we could make a huge sleeping area for the boys because all of the boy’s tents were soaked.  That night there were 40 some boys and some of the male volunteers stayed in there with them. The boys were piled on top of each other like puppies.  They had a great time that night.

Sunday July 10^th:  It rained that night again and in the morning we had to walk up hills to the main road carrying all of our bags, because the trucks could not get up and down due to all the rain.  Some of equipment was taken up the hill on horseback, I wish we could have gotten a bola on the horses.  We had uneventful rides home and all of the kids fell asleep on the way to the Capital.  When we got there my boys passed up the opportunity to eat ice cream one last time to go straight home.  It was a great and eventful five days and I slept for more than 12 hours that night.  Oh yeah!

Monday July 11^th:  There was a national protest against the raising prices of gas and food.  Here in Antonci participating in the strike meant that the guys have an extra day to party, so the disco was open all day playing loud music, they cooked together and started drinking before noon.  Needless to say I stayed in my house and only left to go teach.

Thursday July 14^th:  Happy Birthday Zach!  We, the volunteers in the area (Stacey, Angela, Alicia, Erik, yo and Zach of course), went to Zach’s site, El Caño, in the afternoon to begin celebrating his birthday.  The night before I tried to make chocolate chip cookies (cookie bar), but without an oven I made and improvised double boiler to try to cook them.  They turned out pretty good, and gooey. Delicious.  Angela made tostones and salami which we put bbq sauce on. Delicious.  Alicia made chocolate cake. Delicious. And Zach’s friends and youth made dumplings with salami. Delicious (I ate 1.5 plates).  We hung out played dominoes, and danced in front of Zach’s house to his neighbor’s car’s speakers.   We all spent the night in various arrangements on the bed, blowup mattress, the floor and broken car seats.

Friday July 15^th:  We had smores for breakfast.  We all went on our own ways and Erik came back to see my site.  So I made up a real breakfast of eggs and then we took a walk around by batey and visited a lot of people.  I think that some of the people in my community like him better than me now. Haha.  We got free lunch and some platanos and limes to make juice.  He ended up leaving around 3:30 during my English class, and shortly after he left Alicia called me and said that she was coming over to spend the night. 

So she got here during the last part of my Construye class.  Some of my kids and I took her on a quick tour of my site before it started raining.  While we were in my house waiting around for it to be dinner time, I was gifted a big box of corn flakes, a tube of salami, white bread and a thing of shrimp.  So for dinner we made fried platanos and salami. Delicious.  We were exhausted from the night before so we tried watching a movie, but fell asleep before it ended. 

Saturday July 16^th:  We got up at 6 am and started running.  We got to Angela’s site and turned around.  Yey for beginning to exercise!  Then we made breakfast, finished watching the movie and about 10 it was decided that we should walk to Yamasa to get ice cream.  SO we started walking in hopes that we would get a bola, but being the weekend not many people were traveling.  We got to the Questa del Jobo when I heard someone calling my name.  I knew that voice. It was my host mom.  She was getting her hair done, so we took a little break and talked to her and the other ladies for a bit.  Then when we were almost arriving to our destination we got a bola with a motoconchista that I know.  Alicia was amazed that he knew where to take us without me even saying anything, but the guys here are beginning to know my routine.  So we got ice cream from a really nice lady who was working there.  Then we got lunch with Miguel and Nuris.  I bought some nails at the hardware store and then we started walking back to Antonci.  I saw a truck coming and flagged it down to get a ride back with them, and it turned out to be someone from my community, so of course we got a ride back home.  Alicia went home around 3pm.

Sunday July 17:  Alicia called me in the afternoon, telling me to come over and save her from a Dominican blind date.  So once it stopped raining I went over.  It ended up being that the guy didn’t’ show up but we made dinner with one of her friends.  We had plans to visit Stacey in her site that night because it was patronales there, but by the time dinner was done, it was too dark to walk and all of the motorists were drinking. So we just stayed at her house and got up in the morning to run again.

Mesh Tank tops Are the NEW FASHION!!!

Mesh tank tops are for everyone!  Old doñas wearing just bras, 5 month pregnant young women, old men with beer bellies, young children (boys and girls).  It’s the new fashion: Mesh tank tops!

What has happened since March:

• For a few months I was teaching English in the local grade school for the 5^th – 8^th graders. I would teach in each class once a week.  So that was about 224 students that I taught.  I tried to make the classes fun with activities, but that is hard when each course is 30 min long.  Also, teaching Dominican students (at my school) reinforces the reasons why I never wanted to be a teacher.

• In the middle of March I moved into my own place. It was a long and drawn out process with my host mom (because I am renting 2 rooms from her in a barrancon, but she didn’t want me to leave the house because of the good income that she got from the PC).    The barrancon (barracks)  that I live in is made of cement, so it is an oven, and was built in the time of Trujillo.  The barracks were built to house the sugar cane cutters/workers that were the prominent income for Dominicans.  Then, like in most circumstances, Trujillo and the sugar companies brought in Haitian and people from the West Indies to cut the cane, because they would work for less than a Dominican (sound familiar?).  These barracks are migrant worker housing made out of cement or wood.  Now , in my Batey,  they are used as apartments/houses and are as loud as  living in a college dorm.

I had to clean, paint, fix locks, put in Electricity.  I had help from my muchachos because they would see me painting or cleaning and they come in and be like let me do it…so my house was painted by mainly 13 year old boys…and cleaned by 8 year old girls.  Finally when everything was ready I moved in.  This occurred at night and my proudest moment came when I was carrying my large suit case on my head through the batey.  That first night I was too excited to sleep, plus there were all of these new noises to get used to.

• Living alone has been an adventure in itself:
• Cooking ( I invent a lot of different things. Most successful creations has been a curry-pumpkin soup, and fried chicken with pancakes.)
• Hand washing clothes (only takes a few hours, but rough on the hands)
• Looking for water ( makes you strong)
• Cleaning (there has to be a better way to mop and keep the floors clean)

• Adventures in cooking: Dominican white rice, American white rice, eggs (fried, scrambled, scrambled-omelet), pancakes, French toast, fried chicken, stir fry, curry-pumpkin soup, eggplant, hot chocolate, pastas, no-bake cookies, and whatever else I can invent. 

• The Canadians came again in March. I got to translate for a week in the Bateys.  It was a great time.  However, that Wednesday I got violently ill after they left and I was sick out of both ends with a fever and chills.  I made it through the night and felt better in the morning, but a little lethargic.  The good thing about when the Canadians come is that I get kidnapped to Yamasa and am fed real food (they came to visit a week or so after I moved into my own place so I wasn’t cooking that much then.

• The first week in April my Mom came to visit

• Picked Mom up from the airport with my friends Nuris and Miguel.  We watched her plane land and waited for ever for her to come out…Turned out that the luggage of about 15 people didn’t make it on to the plane in Miami..including the luggage of my mom.  We then picked up Miguel Angel and went back to Yamasa.
• The next few days were full of phone calls to the airport and we finally got the luggage a few days later.
• Angela, Zach and Hansel came over to welcome my mom and we made French toast and then taught my mom how to dance with our friends Felix, Gris, and Miledi.  Then we took her to the disco to show off her new moves. (every said that my mom learned faster and better than I did)
• We took my boys to La Mina to have a baseball game
• Nuris, Miguel and Miguel Angel took us to the beach at Boca Chica.  We all had a great time.
• We went to Los 3 Ojos with Alicia and her sister Michelle.  Los Tres Ojos are underground lagoons.  It was beautiful and a lot of fun. Although both of our taxis there and back almost broke down…
• Mom also played grandma and spoiled all of my kids by letting them into my house in undesignated playtime hours and when she left I had hell to pay with with… haha
• Angela and I took my mom to the Colonial zone for a little bit
• We spent the last night in Villa Mella with Maria and Pedro

• Semana Santa (Holy Week) – is a week of no school, no work, drinking and partying (except on Good Friday).  In Haitian communities during this time they celebrate Gaga.  They dress in crazy clothes, lots of colors, play instruments, sing/cant and dance.  So to see Gaga Zach, Alicia, Stacey and I went to Angela’s house to see it.  There were a lot of pancakes made, rum and dancing with everyone from Antonci (I still don’t know why they all were there).

Angela and I got up at about 6am (leaving the others to let themselves out) and were on the Guagua in Don Juan  by 7 heading to the office to meet up with Kristi so that we all could be on our way to Constanza.  We took a taxi to Kilometro 9 to get on a Guagua to Abanico.  From Abanico to Constanza we rode in a back of a pickup truck.  By the time that we got into Constanza, we were there for no less than 5 min before I was recognized by one of the muchachos on a moto.  We visited our host familes, friends and youth. It was a great time and we hadn’t danced that much sense the last time we were in Constanza.

• My muchachos did an impromptu limpieza of the community to obtain more baseball equipment.donated from MLB through BRA.  We cleaned from 8am to 12:30pm.  I was very proud of my boys about 14 showed up throughout the limpieza. 
• Then after the limpieza it started to rain and when it stopped I was able to go to Yamasa.  I was invited to a wedding by Nuris (she was the Madrina, master of ceremony – and it also her niece was getting married) so  I got to help getting the cakes ready and setting up for the reception.  Then the next day was the wedding and it was beautiful, with flowers from Constanza.
• The next morning I had my first Escojo Mi Vida group.  It went well and we have had about 3 charlas and then 4 weeks of no classes due to rain, holidays, conferences and deaths. 
• I started English classes for the community and have 3 different classes, 3 days a week. They are going well and the kids are learning.
• Kids love puzzles.
• Starting Grad School stuff, meaning thesis ideas and what not
• The Zona Francas that used to house American factories are now call centers for phone companies and medical stuff.  So the next time you call to get help for your phone, you will probably be transferred to the DR.
• Mango season just ended.  We would go on horses to find mangos and ate so many.  One day a muchacho brought me 17 mangos.
• I took 2 of my girls to a Mobilizing Marginalized Populations brought to you by the Dominican Haitian Relation Committee.  It was a fun 3 days and after that I went to In-Service Language Training for a week.  It was good to see the old host family.
• This past week, almost none of my students showed up for English classes on Monday and Wednesday, and none of them came on Friday…Needless to say I wasn’t very happy and a little bit discouraged to be back in the Batey. But there is hope because on Monday we had class in the afternoon and a great Construye Tus Sueños class (a business course, where students learn to write a real business plan and can submit it to win money to start up said business. Great opportunities and learning experience).
• On Saturday, I went to Don Juan with Angela to help her set up for her English Class Graduation.  As we were setting up, blowing up balloons and tying them in clusters of 3, the tape started to fall off the table. As a natural reaction I reached out to grab it with my right hand, but missed and jammed my pinky finger on the table. I started saying things out of pain and Angela thought that I had cut myself in the effort to save the tape (because I was holding the scissors in my left hand, dangerously close to where I jammed my finger on the table).  After waiting for about 45 min, 2 of the students arrived and then about 15 min later the others did (after the students would come on time for classes and begged Angela to have the graduation outside of Guazumita).  It went well and we ate a lot of food and pop.  After that Angela and I shared a beer sitting with our favorite motococho guys who promised to take us dancing the next night (which didn’t happen, to our disappointment).  We walked home and jumped in the river to cool off for a bit (spontaneously with our clothes on) and then got free rides home. 

Later that night I was taken with my neighbors to La Mina to witness their Patronales for a couple hours.  Ate spaghetti on a hill and watched some traditional dancing.

So the rainy season has officially started.  Classes have been canceled because it had been raining all day.  Sideways wind blows rain under my door. And leaves me to live on an island that is my Barrancon.  Think of it as a blizzard. every day (around 2pm) it starts blizzarding.  Snow days=Ra