September Update

Maria, my beautiful teaching assistant, with some of our students

Riding the bus to Los Alcarrizos

Love my precious little class!

Hello!

I think it’s been about a week since my last email, and I thought I’d write again with an update.  I tried to make a blog with no success so this works easier.  I will send a picture to go with this story, but anyone who knows me will understand and love this one.  I was shopping at Jumbo last Saturday (like our super Wal-mart), bought coffee but the top didn’t quite fit.  I kinda made a new friend, a Dominican girl that works there and was talking to her.  As she was inviting me out to lunch, the lid fell and I spilled coffee all down the front of my shirt.  So we exchanged numbers, and my other friend Christina, also from Michigan, and I were walking out to this restaurant when she called us.  Christina couldn’t understand so she passed the phone to me.  She was trying to ask me something but I couldn’t hear her.  I bent down and plugged one ear while talking, and sped up to catch up with Christina.  Then out of nowhere, something just hit me in the head, like I thought I got hit by a baseball bat but I actually just walked into this huge metal electrical box and hit my head hard on the corner.  There was a group of 10 middle aged Dominican men standing on the street outside their business, and as I pulled myself up, I waited for them to start bursting out laughing but instead they ran over full of concern, and dragged me over to someone’s rearview mirror where I saw this ping pong ball growing larger and larger from my head.  They pushed me down into a plastic chair on the side of the road and grabbed water bottles and kept pouring water all over my head and face over and over (which made my purse stain my shirt, to add to my nice coffee stain).   The bump kept growing and they were all worried, and so I said I think I need ice.  They were confused, and asked what for, so I explained that it helped the swelling go down, and with that, one of them jumped onto their moto and was off to the colmado and back with ice faster than I’ve ever seen a Dominican move.  The ice helped the swelling somewhat and then I walked down the street with the ice pack on my head trying to find the restaurant.  I felt terrible that I had totally lost my new friend in our conversation and when we finally got to the restaurant, it was closed.  Well then Dave met us for pizza instead, and I got word from Senata, my Fijian host parent I lived with here before, that we were invited to spend the night in Los Alcarrizos.  We took a little van (this is the public transportation) on a two hour ride out there, and I showed up with my huge bump on my head, smeared make-up, and stained clothes, great impression after not seeing them for 2 years.  But we had great pizza and they cooked us a wonderful  breakfast and lunch.  It was so crazy to be back there after two years of not seeing everyone, seeing Josiah my Fijian “host baby” all grown up and walking and talking, and hearing of all the marriages, babies, moves, job changes, and unfortunately deaths, of all the people I had worked with two years ago.  The nanny in the house I lived in died of cancer, the man I worked with at the hospital who gave me moto rides home everyday actually in a moto accident.  And a friend’s friend I met here before was shot by a police officer during the night carrying nothing but a Bible and bottle of water – nobody knows why but rumor is he was impolite to the officer.  And the gate I used to climb every night I came home past curfew (and was hung from by shorts one night and had to be lifted off) – while an American mormon climbing the same gate this summer and was shot in the butt while climbing over.  Death is more common here, and I can’t imagine having been here for a funeral.  Since there is no electricity for refrigerating the body and no money to pay others to do the dirty work, the immediate family are the ones taking care of the body, the arrangements, the digging, and the burial of their loved one, and only hours after the death, because with the heat the smell begins so much faster.  Things I never realize and I could never imagine doing, that people have the strength to do here.  Crazy.  Then we didn't know if we would get back because they were supposed to riot in the streets (mostly just burning tires) over the transportation cost rising from 60 cents to 80 cents but I guess the government tricked everyone into staying in their homes because of Hurricane Erika, even though it didn't come anywhere near here.  Well so anyways, that was really nice to have a relaxing weekend with them and catch up with old friends.  I forgot what an incredible experience I had when I was here before, and am hoping to accompany them on some medical projects around the country in upcoming weekends.

This week was another good week of teaching (things are getting better each week and it’s more fun now than just survival).  I think I am starting to get into more of a routine.  Although I have my challenges, all the kids here are absolutely ADORABLE and (almost) all of them are soooo excited about being in school and in my classroom .  We have so much fun, and when I come to class they jump up and down saying “it’s my turn, it’s my turn”… it’s so cute.  And my “Tia Maria” that helps in my room is adorable is well.  She is 28 and incredibly sweet and more talented than she would ever know.  She works so hard and is always bringing in all kinds of ideas that she comes up with in her very little free time she has.  We are getting to be good friends.  She also wants to be a teacher, and has a great gift for it, and I really hope she may be able to teach the program in the future when I’m not here to do it.  As I’m getting closer with the kids, I’m getting a lot more “love notes” from them.  Mostly slid through my window in little handmade envelopes, with notes that say I love you so much I love you so much I love you so much.  Today one little girl actually made me an entire book of letters mostly repeating over and over that I am her best friend and she is so proud to have a beautiful volunteer like me here, and there were two pages of I love you I love you I love you written hundreds of times over across the page from top to bottom.  They are so sweet and so desperate for love and affection.   Things are still tough sometimes, but I feel like I am getting closer with the kids, getting into a routine, learning more how to teach entirely in Spanish (including teaching kids how to read in Spanish which consists of ma-me-mi-mo-mu, pa-pe-pi-po-pu over and over – it’s sooo different).  I am getting the hang now of writing my raps and songs and puppet shows in Spanish, and now I think they’re actually starting to make sense too, but it takes a lot longer.  I practice all my read-alouds and puppet shows the nights before, and spend a lot of late nights in school making up lessons and materials since they don’t exist otherwise.  Teachers here spend hours and hours every night creating assignments and then literally recopying them 25 times for every student in their class since making copies is a luxury no one can afford, except for gringos like me who go into the city and pay out of pocket.  It’s crazy how many little conveniences I took for granted that I now would appreciate sooo much.

Well, this is getting long now, didn’t mean to write a novel, just an update, but I love and miss everyone lots and look forward to updates from home.  Please keep your eyes peeled for deals to come visit – the beaches here are soooo beautiful and there are great deals out there.  I would always LOVE visitors.  Tomorrow we are going to Bayahibe and staying in a cabana for 18 for the night.  It’s supposed to be really beautiful and have the best snorkeling in the country.  We are excited to get away, relax, and have some alone time (our house is always loud and full of volunteers from all different countries and cultures – the Haitian guys love to blast music from The Lion King, Micheal Jackson, and Backstreet Boys at 6:00a.m. every morning).  This is the first weekend I can remember that they didn’t make Dave work on Saturday so it will be nice to spend all day at the beach!  Well, again love and miss everyone sooooooooooooooo much!!!

Love always,

Kristin