Photo Mania!!!

After a morning of running around San Pedro trying to find an internet cafe that could handle the largeness of my photos... I have finally posted some on facebook!! Please check out the following link to see my favorite photos from the past few months!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2174951&id=7406685&l=767c33ad5a

Anecdotes

Two of our dear troublemakers, Obama to the right

Well well well, here I am writing, really unsure of where this post may take my thoughts... so I think I shall leave you with a few anecdotes about things that have happened the past few weeks. But first of all, to introduce you to someone! Today we have our beloved Obama/Persidente/Jefe as he is lovingly referred... though his real name is Jose Luis. I know I mentioned him once quite a while back and a few people have since asked me to post a photo, so I though what better way than to also tell you a bit about him. Jose Luis, to put it clearly, is one of our troublemakers. The word 'troublemaker' could be used to describe the majority of our kids, so to be one here means you really take things seriously. But despite his habits of skipping class and getting in fights, he can be a really sweet kid. He almost always has this serious look on his face like in this picture, but if you know how to work him he breaks into the most amazing smile. I've found that if I give him a serious look back for more than 30 seconds, he bursts out laughing. We've developed a bit of a friendship, but in quite the strange way. It mostly involves joking around with eachother and making faces... but hey, I'm not complaining.

And now, a few stories about the life here:
-I mentioned briefly in my last post that the boys who live in my house have been asking me for seeds lately and started planting a bit in our backyard. Well, over the past few weeks, it has turned into what one might call a full out family sized garden. Almost all of the land along the fence surrounding our backyard has turned into child sized gardens, each belonging to one of the boys in my house. I am pleasantly greeted at times with children exclaiming "la mata nacio! la mata nacio!" (the plant was born!). It seems much of the excitement has come from the kids learning that gardening is something I believe is important, as it is part of my work here... and wanting to appeal to that. It is really the first time I've felt like the kids maybe understand a bit about who I am. As for now, we have some seedlings and I'm hoping they can continue to care for them well enough to actually get some vegetables!

-My budding relationship with one of the dear old hatian men who I work with on the farm has led me to some wonderful times. If I haven't yet explained, there are 6 workers on the farm with whom I share my time there. Although I would love to say I am doing hordes of hard manual labor, I am spending a lot of time chatting (good in its own way, right?). But the good that has come from it is that I now have 2 great buddies and a few other burgeoning friendships. The two great buddies of mine are a pair of Hatian brothers, Caito and Moreno, who are in their 60s. So keen to share their knowledge of the land and of life. Caito has really taken me under his wing a bit teaching me about how the tropical plants grow and what you can do with different fruits and vegetables. He recently brought be a bag full of acidic oranges from the tree at his house, with special instructions to drink the juice of half an orange every day. No more, as they are so acidic and it can be hard on the system if you have too much. Both Caito and Moreno insist that if I continue with this, my heart will be strong and my body healthy. Funny enough, I've been drinking this juice for a week or so and during that time caught the nasty 'gripe' or cold that is going around the home. It's really knocked me out a bit the past few days, but also taught me a little something new! The first day I went to the farm to work with my cold, I told my pals upon asking how I was "well, I have gripe, so I'm a bit sick. But other than that good" Caito and Moreno replied, "well, it all depends on how you look at it. In reality, someone who doesn't have a cold is a whole lot sicker than someone who does" hmmm. And before long, I was in my housse hearing exactly the same from one of the Tias. Quite a different way of looking at things eh, but heres how they figure. When you've got a cold you're constantly coughing, sneezing, and blowing your nose. All of this is pulling all the bad things out of your body, leaving you a lot healthier. And all those without a cold still have all those things building up in their body. Maybe those of us who aren't sick just dont have that bad stuff in their, but needless to say, an interesting way of looking at things.

-A bit of the situation here is about to change as my dear partner in crime, Ingrid, has decided to move on to a new adventure. I'm sad to see her go, not only for the work we've been doing together, but also as we are very like minded and have therefore been able to share some wonderful times. But also am happy for her, as I know her heart has been calling her to somewhere else (although where has yet to be completely determined) and I know how important it can be to follow your heart. In her preparations to leave over the past few days, she has left to me what we hope to become a bit of a legacy within the volunteers. A perfect climbing tree hidden in a back corner of the property with a little perch from which you can see both the ocean and the mountains on a clear day. What has been her place of refuge to get away from the commotion of life here, a place to sit and think, will hopefully provide me with the same.

-Of course, what could be a post about life here at NPH without mention of frustration. I had a bit of a rough week trying to rest the sickness out of me, and came out of it ready to get a little bit of work done yesterday, only to feel shot down by the house director, a nun from Colombia. She made it very clear to me that she really doesn't give a darn about the program I am working on to have the kids clean up the beach for a short period of time when they go to the beach each Sunday. A simple way for them to give back to the community and learn about the problems of litter in the country (which are HUGE). It is just a rather disheartening feeling to know that almost no one in the administration cares whatsoever about environmental issues, and won't do anything to help me aside from telling me i have permission to complete projects if I do all of the work.

-Last, but definitely not least, this week has brought 5 new kids to the home, one of which is a little boy living in my house now. Sebastian, the new little guy, is incredibly sweet. Yet to be tainted by others in the house, I have nothing but great things to say about him. He seems to have taken quite greatly to me as he is always asking me when I'll be coming to the house if I see him out and about, asking me to stay just a little bit longer, and sitting with me whenever given the chance. It is a funny thing to feel like someone who has known me for all of a few days seems to care and respect me more than those who have known me for 3 months.

so there you have it, a bit of a peak into the life I've been living here at the home over the past few weeks. I know its just a few stories, but life seems to have settled into something more constant, so stories of what has happened seems to be the best way to share with you my excitements and troubles. I hope that life is bringing excitement to all of you, and wish you all a happy thanksgiving if I dont get to writing before then!

paz y amor

Fresh Mountain Air

A pretty acurate representation of my boys along with my favorite of the Tías, Marta!

I know I´ve been starting off my posts by introducing you to an individual kid, but today I think I´ll switch it up just a bit and instead introduce you to the boys of the house I spend most of my time in. The house I eat lunch and dinner with, wish the kids sweet dreams at night, take part in a bit of the discipline, and well just hang out with. We have 20 boys between the ages of 5 and 12 who are most of the newest boys in the home... though that could mean they´ve been here anywhere from a month or so to over a year. With such a broad range of ages, the atmosphere in the house is a lot different from that in many of the others. The older kids take on a lot more responsibility, cleaning after the youngsters have gone to bed, and when they are on their best behavior they can really look out after the little ones. Sometimes I´ll look up from my meal to see one of the oldest and toughest kids feeding our littlest one who sometimes needs a bit of help. Many of the boys are really interested in gardening and are always asking me to bring them seeds and help them build a garden in the backyard. As we´ve recently moved into a new house, the process is starting all over again with fresh land. I have hopes for vegetables of all kinds to be growing there! Also as they are the newbies, they aren´t all used to living in a home of people who care about them or having any sorts of rules whatsoever... so they can be really hard at times. Slowly they are getting more used to my presense and taking me a bit more seriously, but it can still really be a challenge. That said, I´ve grown to love every single one of those boys and hope my presence will help guide them in the right direction!

As for other things, this post is mostly just to share with you a bit about my last weekend off! I know I know, maybe you all want to hear about my work and the life at the home... but this is what I currently have the motivation and desire to share. About a 5 hour journey from here lies a few town scattered in the mountains loving referred to as the Dominican Alps... though without snow and anywhere near the height of the real Alps, I´m not sure I would go so far. Names aside, the mountains are a wonderfully fresh and beautiful change of climate, landscape, and pace of life from my home here close to the Carribean beaches. So off I went this past weekend with one of my fellow volunteers and another NPH employee in search of fresh mountain air, beautiful views, and best of all, trails to hike.

Although our journey ended a bit different than we had envisioned, it was a refreshing change of lifestyle from that I have here, a bit of a peak back into the life I tend to crave. Some of the trails we had heard of required paying a motoconcho (motorcycle taxi) quite a large sum of money to drive you up to the head of the trail and sit and wait for you to return. Being rather poor volunteers, we instead spent our days mostly wandering. We would set off in the direction of the mountains or a friendly looking hill to explore and just keep walking wherever the roads seemed to take us and whatever paths the roads turned into, no worries of how we would find our way back because without a doubt it always worked out. We saw the sun rise. held doves with a kind old man at his little shop. Climbed outdoor staircases to the roofs of buildings to find sprawling views of the town slowly becoming mountain. rode through mountain roads between towns in the back of pickup trucks, stopping for a potty break at someone´s home while the driver picked guavas and passing them out to all the passengers. made our way along mountain streams by wading upstream. stopped to chat with whatever people we found along the way... which led us to exciting things! From chatting came spending a little time helping some men till thier land behind a friendly old horse and sipping on homemade sugarcane wine.

The whole weekend left me feeling so refreshed and excited about what other possibilities may lay ahead of me by finding my way out of this little section of the country. Although a meager 3 days off every other weekend doesn´t allow for exploring too extensively, I´m ready to get out there and see more of what the country has to offer inland and away from the tourist filled beach towns!

I wanted to add some photos of the mountains as well, but I dont have the patience to wait for the internet right now... hopefully this week I will be putting an album on facebook and can post a link here for all to see! And before long will be coming more about the actual work I´m doing and how life is at the home of course.

Last but not least, I´ve been feeling a tad bit homesick the past week or so, which in turn has me thinking of all of you, my beloved family and friends. I would love to hear a bit about what you´re up to, so when you get a chance shoot me an email and update me on your life! It would be ever so appreciated J