Hello family and friends!!
I feel like so many things have happened since I last wrote, but every day is so unique and so many things happen that I cant really sum it all up ... so I will just talk about the most recent happenings :)
Friday was awesome! There were about 30 volunteers (mostly sports medicine students and a few peace corp volunteers) who used the Mother's Wish clinic to set up shop and have appointments with a bunch of different people from the community. A lot of the med students did not know Spanish so they asked me to translate. It was really interesting and rewarding to translate the med. students advice and the patient's aliments, and it went a lot smoother than I thought. It was also an interesting realization for me... I remember my professors reiterating to me that only 3% of the world has a college education but I never really understood it firsthand until being here. It was really awesome to see that my undergrad degree and my nowhere-near-fluent knowledge of Spanish was able to make an impact that day.. but it also got me thinking about the complete lack of access to education there is here. Kids only go to school for 3 hours a day here, and a lot of them are too hungry to concentrate. In the girls clubs I've been leading and in the preschool there are definite children that stand out as incredibly intelligent, and a lot of them are just nice, good people and the fact that a lot of them wont be able to use their natural talents to lead a decent life or to be able to further their education is really devastating...
Afterwards I went on a little run and was feeling unmotivated but then I ran into a few girls from the girls club i lead and a few little boys and ended up running with them to a commmunity nearby. One of the girls is so funny, she is one of those people who is always smiling and just a little crazy, confident, and basically willing to do anything. We chatted about the marathons she runs (running is really big here) and how she runs twice a day everyday to train for it. Shes only 13 but she was taking on the role of my running coach, laughing and shouting at me to run faster with her, we raced a few times and of course she beat me haha . It was really fun.
This weekend my roommate and I went to a place with n atural waterslides and waterfalls, it was beautiful but considering my track record with hating cliff jumping Im not really sure why I agreed to it and did not think twice. We also still went along with our plan despite the MASSIVE storm that made it a bit had to climb up all the rocks. Ha ha, but the sliding down the waterfalls was the funnest part and im really happy i went.
I realized that one my favorite aspects of latin american culture is peoples lighthearted humor. People poke fun at everything and everyone, and are always laughing. I feel like coming here I was reminded of how amazing of a mechanism of it is to just laugh off the small, but frightening/irritating/problematic things that happen in your life.
My roommate and I have def. taken this on, we've developed a trend of just instanteously cracking up whenever something goes a bti awry. For example..getting dropped off on the side of a freeway by a bus (we just had to walk a little ways off teh road to get right the waterfalls we were going to, so it ended up fine), or spending an hour trying to kill a 5 inch spider above our bed, we just laughed and laughed and laughed. Today the taxi we were in was having issues and we thought it broke down for a bit, and we just immediately started laughing instead of fretting about it. I honestly feel like as long as the situation is not life threatening or hurtful to someone, theres really no reason not to laugh. Its so much more of a healty way of coping... and I feel like that is exactly why its a trait of dominican culture. a lot of people deal with really harsh realities but the fact that humor never fades is really meaningful.
Anyways, thats all for today, miss and love you all!!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
This community is nothing like ive ever seen before. people are so social and willing to help me out, but there are also a lot of very sad things that ive been learning.
one thing that i was talking about with my roommate on the way here was the racism towards the haitains. haiti is right next store and i had heard it was a big issue here ... since it is so much poorer haitans arrive here and take the lowest jobs and are maltreated and discriminated against. its noticable here thus far because there is a home near the clinic tht is noticably so much poorer than any other, and no ones talks to the family within it. the walls are crumbliong and theres tons of trash, def. the poorest house ive ever see nin my life. supposedly no one says hi to them and the guys dont whistle at girls like the ones of spanish descent bc they arent seeing as having the right too .
its also sad to see how many people are without jobs... within the tiny community i live in ive come across so many ppl without anything. the economy is incrteddibly down here. a man as explaining the situation to me today in spanbish, it was hard to understand but he was sayng it has a lot to do with the US which i completely understand due to studying the country in the past. a lot of ppl turn to alcohol and drugs... definitly not the majority but a few. one guy who speaks like lil wayne in english to me whenever i walk by is obviously one of the ones who has turned to drugs and my roommate told me today he has 3 kids...
anyways, im really happy im learning so much even though it is sad and volunteering at the preschool today with the 3 and 4 year olds was awesome. they were so cute, i was in charge of a station where we ran around a small track and oplayed red light green light. it was done in the beginning o the day to wear them out and it was a good idea!!! they were a lot easier to handle the rest of the day.
tomorrow ill be helping with them again, latre this week with older kids and with youth groups in the afternoons!! im really excited.
Paz, Kelly
one thing that i was talking about with my roommate on the way here was the racism towards the haitains. haiti is right next store and i had heard it was a big issue here ... since it is so much poorer haitans arrive here and take the lowest jobs and are maltreated and discriminated against. its noticable here thus far because there is a home near the clinic tht is noticably so much poorer than any other, and no ones talks to the family within it. the walls are crumbliong and theres tons of trash, def. the poorest house ive ever see nin my life. supposedly no one says hi to them and the guys dont whistle at girls like the ones of spanish descent bc they arent seeing as having the right too .
its also sad to see how many people are without jobs... within the tiny community i live in ive come across so many ppl without anything. the economy is incrteddibly down here. a man as explaining the situation to me today in spanbish, it was hard to understand but he was sayng it has a lot to do with the US which i completely understand due to studying the country in the past. a lot of ppl turn to alcohol and drugs... definitly not the majority but a few. one guy who speaks like lil wayne in english to me whenever i walk by is obviously one of the ones who has turned to drugs and my roommate told me today he has 3 kids...
anyways, im really happy im learning so much even though it is sad and volunteering at the preschool today with the 3 and 4 year olds was awesome. they were so cute, i was in charge of a station where we ran around a small track and oplayed red light green light. it was done in the beginning o the day to wear them out and it was a good idea!!! they were a lot easier to handle the rest of the day.
tomorrow ill be helping with them again, latre this week with older kids and with youth groups in the afternoons!! im really excited.
Paz, Kelly
Sunday, July 10, 2011
my first day
Well today was quite the day!
After a 2.5 hour drive to SFO, 3.5 hours waiting in the airport for my flight, 5.5 hour flight, 6 hour layover blurry eyed at 2 am in Miami, airplane delay and another 2 hour flight…..I made it to the DR safely! Y estoy muy contenta (and I am very content).
Everything went really well all day (except for a hilarious mishap just now, which I will get to at the end)…I got through customs without any problems, found Diego and his son immediately, got a nice tour of the clinic and meeting my housemom and her pals went well. My house mom is named Maria Dulce (dulce=sweet in Spanish, and was a nickname given to her because she is a really nice person.) I was happy she liked the necklace and chocolates I got her, and conversing with her neighbors/friends was fun.
Its so amazing to be able to communicate with my housemom and some others right off the bat. Its still not to a level of being able to understand all (just much better than my past experience in CR), because those that told me that Dominicans speak faster than most other Spanish speakers were VERY right. I was talking to un vecino (a neighbor) and even though I was giving him my full attention and trying really hard, it was so hard to follow his numerous stories and when he started directing them toward me there were definitetly times where I just pretended to understand and giggled or smiled, paying attention to his facial expressions and subtle cues hoping that I was not giggling at the death of his mother or some other mala cosa (bad thing…)
It was interesting talking to Diego about all of the problems and corruption of this country on the drive in.. he told me one politicna built a metro in Santo Domingo deeming it fully “necessary” when the money is much more needed for things like feeding its population / investing in electricity.
I knew about the electricity situation before getting here, and was wondering when the first blackout would happen…and it did when I was in the shower! Ha ha. Luckily my host mom came to help me with a flashlight so it was fine!
The surroundings of the house I am living in is GORGEOUS, Maria has a huge garden, and everything is so lush and green. There are tons of succulents and various other plants. And chickens! I was expecting extreme heat too…but the location in the mountains means a wonderful cool down at night. It’s the perfect temperature right now, and I’m excited because I might be able to start up a running club that Debbie (my cousin who came here before) told me about, or just find a few pals to run with!
So anyways, now on to the funny story. I was getting ready for bed and I noticed a HUGE spider on the wall. I’m not much of an aracanaphobe and have no problem killing spiders I’ve come across before, but this one was SCARY. It looked venomous with little pinchers. I got some toilet paper and my heart was beginning to race. I decided a shoe would be a better bet since it seemed to large to attack with toilet paper. I grabbed my shoe, garnered all the courage I could, and SLAM. Hit the spider, (killed it.. I think)…. And…. broke the wall. Yep, definitly should have made sure the wall was not as thin as it was beforehand…at this point I was standing back in shock peering at this giant gaping 1 foot crack I had lodged in this beautiful green wall. Dammit!
I asked Maria Dulce to come in and profusely apologized, explaining that I had a big accident and should have thought a bit more before lodging the shoe into the wall.
Fortunately, she didn’t really care. She started laughing and said it was no big deal.. My roommate is coming home from a beach trip tomorrow…I’m sure she will get a kick out of the story when she notices the huge break in the wall….
Oh boy oh boy. I still feel pretty bad, but I’m just happy Maria was not upset about it and I suppose it creates some reading entertainment for you all!
I’m excited to explore tomorrow and start the outdoor recreation club // helping out at the preschool // whatever else I will be doing to help out with the nonprofit on Monday!
I’ll keep you all updated. Hope everyones doing well.
Kelly
After a 2.5 hour drive to SFO, 3.5 hours waiting in the airport for my flight, 5.5 hour flight, 6 hour layover blurry eyed at 2 am in Miami, airplane delay and another 2 hour flight…..I made it to the DR safely! Y estoy muy contenta (and I am very content).
Everything went really well all day (except for a hilarious mishap just now, which I will get to at the end)…I got through customs without any problems, found Diego and his son immediately, got a nice tour of the clinic and meeting my housemom and her pals went well. My house mom is named Maria Dulce (dulce=sweet in Spanish, and was a nickname given to her because she is a really nice person.) I was happy she liked the necklace and chocolates I got her, and conversing with her neighbors/friends was fun.
Its so amazing to be able to communicate with my housemom and some others right off the bat. Its still not to a level of being able to understand all (just much better than my past experience in CR), because those that told me that Dominicans speak faster than most other Spanish speakers were VERY right. I was talking to un vecino (a neighbor) and even though I was giving him my full attention and trying really hard, it was so hard to follow his numerous stories and when he started directing them toward me there were definitetly times where I just pretended to understand and giggled or smiled, paying attention to his facial expressions and subtle cues hoping that I was not giggling at the death of his mother or some other mala cosa (bad thing…)
It was interesting talking to Diego about all of the problems and corruption of this country on the drive in.. he told me one politicna built a metro in Santo Domingo deeming it fully “necessary” when the money is much more needed for things like feeding its population / investing in electricity.
I knew about the electricity situation before getting here, and was wondering when the first blackout would happen…and it did when I was in the shower! Ha ha. Luckily my host mom came to help me with a flashlight so it was fine!
The surroundings of the house I am living in is GORGEOUS, Maria has a huge garden, and everything is so lush and green. There are tons of succulents and various other plants. And chickens! I was expecting extreme heat too…but the location in the mountains means a wonderful cool down at night. It’s the perfect temperature right now, and I’m excited because I might be able to start up a running club that Debbie (my cousin who came here before) told me about, or just find a few pals to run with!
So anyways, now on to the funny story. I was getting ready for bed and I noticed a HUGE spider on the wall. I’m not much of an aracanaphobe and have no problem killing spiders I’ve come across before, but this one was SCARY. It looked venomous with little pinchers. I got some toilet paper and my heart was beginning to race. I decided a shoe would be a better bet since it seemed to large to attack with toilet paper. I grabbed my shoe, garnered all the courage I could, and SLAM. Hit the spider, (killed it.. I think)…. And…. broke the wall. Yep, definitly should have made sure the wall was not as thin as it was beforehand…at this point I was standing back in shock peering at this giant gaping 1 foot crack I had lodged in this beautiful green wall. Dammit!
I asked Maria Dulce to come in and profusely apologized, explaining that I had a big accident and should have thought a bit more before lodging the shoe into the wall.
Fortunately, she didn’t really care. She started laughing and said it was no big deal.. My roommate is coming home from a beach trip tomorrow…I’m sure she will get a kick out of the story when she notices the huge break in the wall….
Oh boy oh boy. I still feel pretty bad, but I’m just happy Maria was not upset about it and I suppose it creates some reading entertainment for you all!
I’m excited to explore tomorrow and start the outdoor recreation club // helping out at the preschool // whatever else I will be doing to help out with the nonprofit on Monday!
I’ll keep you all updated. Hope everyones doing well.
Kelly
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