School's Out

Hello to the homeland!

It has been a strange week here and while I feel I have not much to share I figure it is best to share now as my dad is coming tomorrow (excited beyond what words can describe) and I don’t foresee a blog post while he is here (but a long one once he is gone).  As I was saying it has been a strange week…

Monday we had classes although because the kids had taken their exams and had their end of year dance ( which was so fun, see prom king queen and princesses and prince pictures)  so we simply reviewed the marked exams. 

 

On Tuesday we had an Olympics day (more pictures) and I was miraculously good at this game considering my zero hand eye coordination, but I won two games on my first throw (and the crowd goes wild!!). I think I impressed the kids as much as I impressed myself.

Then on Wednesday we went to the beach, see pictures of the students piled into the back of the mystery machine (aka huge orange truck).

 Then Thursday was a holiday here, they day of Corpris Cristi (I think).

Friday we had report card day where parents could come and talk to teachers about their kids progress and get their report cards (really nothing like a report card, more of a hand written note than anything). So the teachers all hung out at the school all day and waited for parents to come but by 2:30 we moved to the pool and got out some cocktails, made some food. We had teachers from another school come before you know it I was playing the ball toss game from the Olympics day very competitively with my boss, it was so fun. It was probably the equivalent of playing beer pong with my boss at home (not something I would typically do) however I felt if I declined in this case he would be seriously disappointed in me. Later we moved into the house and made tacos (yum!) and again got competitive playing wii bowling. It was such a fun night though and my boss was pretty drunk and told me how I was doing such a good job (which you know is the truth because he was drunk) but it was so good to hear.

My friend Emily has gone home for two weeks and now I am living alone now. I have people who are very worried about me and come visit me or call me every day. I don’t mind being alone but while having no work this week I am really glad my dad is coming, I have so many plans for us for the week and I am taking a break from having my meals made for me which will be nice but I have a friend who is going to cook one traditional meal for us when my dad is here.

In other news my Spanish has improved and my Oreo consumption has dwindled.

Much love, 
Elle

Birthdays, byes, busyness and ... OREO’s!

Hola amigos!

Can’t believe I am going on a month already, time is flying by so quickly (mind you I still have three months to go). This weekend I said goodbye to one of the volunteers, Bella she had been here since September. She is the first of the many volunteers here to be leaving and the others will all be leaving by June 1^st. It is so sad to have to say goodbye to people I have only known for such a short time.

Now with Bella gone we are down to Lauren, Emily (who is only there 3 days a week) and I to teach at the school. Needless to say I am so busy this week! Not only are we down teachers we are have only two weeks left of school and the final push is on for exam prep and final projects. This week I am teaching everything; math, grammar, reading, P.E., science, drama, art and music!

I also have been working with the older kids in the afternoon painting a mural. Two weeks ago I was shown the camp ground for the first time, and well frankly, it looked nothing like a camp. It looks like a tiny field (probably less than an acre) with trees and rocks and garbage all over the place. I suggested that we paint a mural on the back wall to add a little (much needed) colour. So every Wednesday in the afternoons me and a group on kids head down to the field and work on this wall. I forgot to take before pictures and the other pictures failed to load, but you can imagine something very simple. The idea is that during the camp we will get the kids to put hand prints on the wall to fill in the trees. I think it will look really good when it’s done!

In the next week at school we have exams, a talent show, a beach day and a prom (it’s going to be so cute). It is going to be so fun and busy!

We had another birthday yesterday, I am starting to think that people celebrate their half birthday’s and whole birthdays around here we have had so many, but they are always fun. We went to my now favorite bar called Manny’s. It’s this funky little bar that is open at the front and looks out over the Malecon which is a beautiful cliff that meets the ocean.

Also I have done a lot more exploring this week and have found some cool stuff all around. Nearly died of exhaustion climbing a mountain the other day, but it was beautiful walking down!

Also you are probably a little curious about the title. Well do to my lack luster food situation I have resorted to Oreo’s. You can buy little packs with 4 Oreo’s or you can buy a big bag of little packs. I have no particular love of Oreo’s back at home, but they seem to satisfy my cravings here, and I have eaten so many of them!

Anyways I am hopefully looking forward to a visitor from the homeland soon, woohoo!

La Drama

I feel a case of writers block lurking around so hopefully this post turns out well. I have added lots of pictures to compensate.

The last few months the kids at the school have been practicing and rehearsing a drama (Anthony is British, so naturally everything seems a bit more dramatic in proper English) but really it’s just a play. Anthony wrote and directed this play/musical about the history of Cabrera with a Romeo & Juliet storyline. It is believed that Cabrera is where Christopher Columbus originally landed when trying to sail around the world (along with every other town along the coast). The kids have worked so hard and we got rained out on the originally planned date but the postponed show was spectacular. I have included many pictures because my role in the play other than as a guard who assumes Christopher Columbus to be visiting the King and Queen to fix the broken toilet (ba-dum-ching) was to take pictures! A few hundred pictures later...

I have grown quite accustomed to the quiet little lives the locals live here. I go to school in the day and sit in my rocking chair on the porch after my 4:30 dinner and I go to bed early. On the weekends I like to sleep in (not very Dominican of me) but I love to stay out of the sun and I tend to linger in the shade and not go out in the sun until after 2:00 PM (which is very Dominican).

One thing that the locals do that I will never be accustomed to is staring. I know I am a Gringo (foreigner) but seriously if looks could kill... I hate the staring and they also hiss and whistle and honk at me. It’s like they have never seen a white person before. I am whiter than white here but dark by comparison to myself at home. Two weeks and a bottle of sun screen later I have a pretty good tan and hopefully in another two weeks I won’t be so noticeably white.

This Saturday Bella is leaving which is really sad because a lot of people I have met will be leaving between now and June. However at the end of June a whole new houseful will be coming to stay with me for the summer camp. I still don’t have many ideas for my Superstar Status at camp, I need your ideas!!

Also I feel like I could be doing more work and I think I am going to try pairing up with another organization down here on the weekends or weeknights. The people that I am working with are really flexible and supportive and there are a lot of great organizations down here I just need to decide where I want to channel my energies. I will hopefully find something soon and then I will let you all know what I find.  

Peace!

First Days of School

Well a few days of school and I am exhausted!

The school was not at all what I expected. It is basically a classroom the size of a smaller than average bedroom that is attached to Anthony and Fiona’s house with the second class room being located in covered area where one would pack a car. Despite this the school does their best with the limited resources they have. 

The kids call me Miss Elle which I think is so cool (I know kind of lame, but I like it). Lauren is the head teacher with Anthony and she is such a young and spunky person who is so great with the kids but also just really good about hanging out with Bella, Emily and I. Also the kids at the school are all so equally cute I can’t possibly pick a favorite. In the morning there are young kids that come from 9:00 – 12:00 and then in the afternoon from 2:00 – 4:00 older kids come, it’s all based on what level the kids are at so the ages range in each group. 

There are only a few weeks left of school, but the expectations are high for my involvement in the school. This week I will be teaching Zumba and Math I am so excited for it and spend most of my nights choreographing the dances for Zumba in my room. 

Even though it is sad that the regular school is ending I am so excited for the camp! Anthony and Fiona talked about how some of the camp counselors become Rock Stars to the kids. Needless to say I have been thinking hard about how I can pave the way to riches and fame (mostly just fame (in the small town hero kind of way)) for the summer! I think I have an advantage being here before all the summer volunteers and the planning has commenced!

My routine has become more normal the meals have become better, but still hit and miss. I am now sleeping through the night despite knowing there is a lizard in my room (ugh). I may have been over dramatic about the condition of my house, now that I getting to know the town I see that it could have been way worse. I attached (if it worked) a picture of my house, but keep in mind my room is separate from the rest of the house and used to be rented out as a separate apartment. 

This weekend we are celebrated Bella’s Birthday on the 5th, she is turned 19 that spring chicken. We went to the beach and Lauren's husband cooked for us on the beach.

Maria, Nellie, Emily and Raul on a adventure hike.

There was so much sun, rum, food and people. It was a really beautiful beach (like all beaches are here).  We are also celebrating Nellie’s Birthday on Friday because his is on the 7^th (so it will be just like home where I would usually have my two best friend’s birthdays this week). There is talk of sleeping on the beach Friday night for Nellie's birthday.

It has been and will be a fun and busy week and a half here. This week I am hoping to really connect with each of the kids and obtain rock star status at school. I hope to learn more about the town and familiarize myself with the people and the places around me. Also I would like to Skype someone this week, any volunteers?

Peace and love!

The arrival

I made it here!

I found Anthony and Fiona (the Esperanza Project founders) and their one year old daughter Alidia at the Airport and they drove me from Puerto Plata to Cabrera and told me a lot about the DR along the way, but there was just so much to learn they couldn’t tell me everything. They dropped me off at my new house where Mercedes, a really sweet old lady (but I understand absolutely nothing she says) showed me around. I mostly smiled and said thank you. 

 Now a bit about where I am staying. I live in this big beautiful house all by myself for the time being (probably until mid June) and as nice as the house is I am in the back of the house in this big awkward room with nothing in it but a bed and a salon hair cutting chair. My room used to be rented out as separate from the house and missed the renovations the rest of the house had. There is a door that goes outside from my bedroom which when the lights are off you can clearly see the gap around the door allowing spiders, crickets, centipedes, mosquitoes and lizard in (I have seen all of the above already multiple times). Also there is no windows or screens just bars and shutters. Bugs are not my thing, Yuck! Also I have an ensuite, which would typically bring a nice image to mind but the lack of a toilet seat and the not working sink are just some of the features of this bathroom, not to mention the alarmingly low supply of toilet paper (less than half a roll!!). As a whole day has now passed I have learned that Mercedes owns this house where I live and she comes here three times a day to make my meals, so far have had eggs and cornbread at all my meals, very lack –luster cultural food.

Just when I thought I was going to hate living here, I met Emily and Bella. To these two I am going to be in dept to because not only do I not have pesos and they have been buying me everything until I can go to the bank but because of the knowledge, help and friendship they have given me. They have both been here since September and their 7 months of local knowledge and perfect Spanish have been very helpful to me and they have led me around and introduced me to everyone. 

Also Cabrera has a festival going on and I arrived on a long weekend and don’t have to go to the school Monday. Needless to say with the festival on my first two nights here there was no breaking me in slowly. There are things that I will have to get used to like no toilet seats, the water being shut off during the day, and the hydro only being on sometimes but for the most part I just go with the flow, easier said than done, but I think I am doing well. I have already been on a moto which are tiny motorcycles that are used to get around and the Gua Guas which are big vans that drive crazily all down the main roads and stop to pick up and drop off where ever. One simply needs to stand on the side of the road in the direction you wish to travel and wait for the Gua Guas to come. My warning was that they are stuffed, hot and you will probably hold someone’s chicken or baby. There 18 people in the 12 seat Gua Gua I was on today and there was a chicken when I was on the Gua Gua but I was not asked to hold it, phew! Having done both already I feel safer on the moto I think the Gua Gua driver was drunk.

Yesterday we went to Playa Grande, It was beautiful. I went in the ocean, even though my mother told me not to, how could I not! I had never stepped in the ocean before but the salt water was enough to get me out quickly, I have never really loved swimming on beaches, but I did it, so now that’s out of the way. Me Nellie, Lauren, Emily, Bella and Maria had a great time but I feel very full of sun and despite my efforts to not get burnt I did and I am now furiously applying aloe.

I find it surprisingly comfortable here other than the language barrier, that is frustrating me to no end but, hopefully I will learn quickly.

Everything is happening so fast and I don’t think it feels real yet but I am putting on my brave face and getting though the daily challenges even though I miss home. Still so much to learn but once I get the hang of things I will feel much more comfortable. There are so many things here that are alarmingly uncomfortable like today at the beach their was this man who was so drunk I thought he was going to die. It was so scary and we helped him as best we could but ultimately we couldn't take him to the hospital because none of the locals would drive him, they said when you get to the hospital they will say that they hit them with their cars. These things I will never get used to. However, I realized that as my friend was saying goodbye to me she said ‘enjoy your discomfort’ at the time she said it I didn’t really think about it but now I think about these words and I remember that I am here to help people, not because it’s easy but because it’s important.

Much love to you all.

P.S. Email me!!