Beaches Batays and Bienvenidos

Disclaimer: This looks REALLY long because of all the photos... it is in fact long, but not overwhelmingly! so don't be scared, read on!

A nice opening of Antony and Antonio playing around one evening

So my infrequent writing has created a problem for me in that whenever I do sit down to write something, I am such a loss for what I should write in that there are so so so many things to choose from and I know that if I included even half of them, you would all be bored to tears by the time you could read it all! So for the sake of your boredom, I think I ill keep it to just a few stories

But first a bit of an overview – As before, every day is still quite the rollercoaster. For the sake of openness, I admit the fact that almost every day the thought of going home has crossed my mind. It can really be a rough life here in the sense that I am always trying to figure out exactly what my place is within the home and almost nothing can be done without at least a bit of frustration. That said, although the frustration and difficulties at times seem to outweigh the other stuff, some moments of the day are one hundred percent joy and happiness. Excitement and fun. Our classes are continuing slowly but surely, having only one hour with each class each week means we teach just about the same lesson 6 times during the week – so by the end of the week we’re experts at it! Lucky kids ho get us last ☺ Yesterday we got the wonderful news that we will be getting our very own classroom to teach in!!!!! You couldn’t believe how excited we are to decorate our area, set up the room in the way that we want, have our very own rules of the room and so many other things!!! Hopefully we’ll be getting some keys to the room and can get to work setting things up to teach in there! I’ve also been spending a TON of my time preparing for a big fun event we have coming this Sunday! It is the day of san Francisco who is the patron saint of all things natural, so there will be a bunch of fun things during the day including all the kids dressing up a bit, bringing out our horse and cart, eating lunch in our new park, and a treasure hunt… all themed toward the natural world.

Antony, one of the boys in my house planting tomatoes in the back yard

And now for a few stories… notable events in the past two weeks!

-I can’t believe I haven’t written since this as it seems like it was ages ago, but we took close to 30 of the kids of all ages to a beach cleanup one Saturday – it was an international event in which people all over the world were cleaning the beach that day, and recording what sort of trash was picked up so that the organization can then work to address diminishing the trash coming from those sources. Despite some typical Dominican experiences in the morning, it was a great day! It felt so great to have planned our first excursion and for everything to have gone pretty smoothly. Plus to be taking the children out of the home to do something good for the community and to open their eyes to the amount of litter in their country – because it is truly amazing. We’re hoping to plan lots of other events that involve both some service to the community and exposure to the natural world!

-Three new volunteers arrived this weekend, which has been oh so exciting! They are a guy from Spain and two girls from Switzerland and Germany. It is so grand to have some new faces and more importantly a wonderfully excited and fun group! Last night we went out to Batay Montecristi – a small village of about 300 people that is a twenty minute walk from here. YOWZA! It was such a grand night of dancing and fun! We have a volunteer who grew up in the home in Haiti and is no lie one of the best dancers I have EVER seen! He spends much of his free time learning Michael Jackson dances and could really give MJ a run for his money. To say the least – he gave it his all last night! Although most of the night, as always, was dedicated to dancing bachata (the dance of the DR); at one point most of the 15-30 year olds in the batay along with all of us were around the dance floor with a few in the middle at a time dancing some seriousness to reggaeton – words can’t describe it but it as like something from a movie! I’m hoping the night was a sign of what is to come this year in our free time!!

-Today Ingrid and I tagged along for part of the new volunteers’ orientation for which they were going on an excursion to visit a few Batays. First for clarification – a Batay is what most of the small villages here are known as. I’ve heard the translation as a Haitian migrant camp but was also told that they are simply the areas built up to house the workers of the sugar cane industry. That said, the people there never actually own the land they live on and most live in homes that in the states would not even be considered houses. It as such an inspiring afternoon as we were able to see the countryside I have been imagining exists here but have yet to see much of. Miles of sugar cane fields seeming to end in the far off mountains, winding roads through beautifully vegetated areas thriving in the tropical sun and moisture, a river with beautiful sloping green banks!!!!!! Of course all of this was simply seen from the back of the pickup truck on the drives between the batays. These themselves were interesting in that we could see a bit more of the life of your typical rural Dominican. Living in either a small room as a part of a building having just one long row of doors to single rooms each holding an entire family or in homes built of whatever materials could be found at the time – tin, cardboard, bricks, fences of plants (which to me are beautiful). We even visited the area’s premier homemade booze ‘factory.’ A small room in a shack of tin in which a charismatic old man had set up 6 or so little contraptions to make this alcohol (Tricoline sp?). These were jerryrigged charcoal fires with old metal cans on top and a home invented system of collecting the boiled off alcohol in a small plastic container, transferring it bit by bit into reused plastic gallon jugs. (lots of boiling liquids in plastic..mmm) That gallon container will cost you the equivalent of 8 dollars and the man insisted it as at least 50% abv… or more. I tasted a bit and it as surprisingly good, made of sugar cane juice with a really distinct flavor.

sugar cane and dirt roads all the way to the mountains


Nothing like having a cold one on the hood of the truck in the middle of nowhere.
(Jose, the volunteer from Spain, and Ingrid)

-As for the kids (because after all, that is why I am here, right) though days bring so many challenges – mostly in the school but in the homes as well – I am getting more and more comfortable with a lot of them. I’m starting to feel much more accepted in my house (the tia even called me ‘mi hija’ or ‘my daughter’ today which really touched me). The kids pick on me like I am an older sister or something, and seem to be slowly feeling comfortable with my presence. They worry when I don’t show up for lunch or dinner and never fail to express their sadness when I am not around much for a day. One of my favorite kids, Jose, who is new to the home since I have been here, will come up to me if I haven’t been to a meal or more and tell me that my food is piling up in the house and I better come quick because I have a lot of food to get through. I love that he thinks every meal I don’t eat is waiting for me, even though in reality as long as I tell the tia I won’t be there no food I even put aside for me (although at times I forget or don’t realize I won’t be there). He always looks so worried for me, thinking there I no way I could possibly eat all that food in one sitting. And here are some of those kids :)

Jose - the new boy who is always warning me about my food piling up

Jhon Luis - probably the most beautiful boy in the home, but oh so shy

I suppose I should leave you with a few parting words of wisdom. This quote recently fell into my life while I as reading the Life of Pi and has forced me to think about my reasons for doing what I do… something that can be both very inspiring and troubling. I’d love to hear your thoughts as well.

“Why do people move? What makes them uproot and leave everything they’ve known for a great unknown beyond the horizon? ... Why enter this jungle of foreignness where everything is new, strange, and difficult?”

And I leave you with a kiss from Sebastian, a favorite in my house for his amazing personality!