Today marks the beginning of my 8th week here in Cabrera. Last week, 8 new volunteers arrived and joined Carissa, Brittany and I on our adventures together this summer. Sadly, some of the volunteers leave in 3 weeks but most of us are staying for another 7-8 weeks. We are anticipating new volunteers later in the summer too but we have a good group of wonderful people.
As I sit here writing this blog, I feel content. Life has been so good here in the past 7 weeks but it is nice to also have a change of pace. Camp Esperanza started last week.
Every morning I wake up at around 7:30 to get ready for camp. We eat breakfast together, buy our snacks for break time and then head to the camp to set up. It´s amazing because although we have to be there a little early to set up, there are always kids already waiting at the campgrounds waiting to get in. In a way, its nice to know that people are looking forward to the work we are doing.
Camp started last Tuesday and we were told that there may be a low turnout in the first week until word got out that camp has started. Slowly but surely, we reached the highest numbers Camp Esperanza has ever had. In fact, there were more than 150 children at camp one day making some activities difficult to lead. To say the least, dodgeball, limbo, volleyball, relay races or bean bag tossing is all very difficult when there are 30 kids standing there waiting for their turn. A few adjustments had to be made and a 7th age group of kids were made to make smaller groups. Camp is going along smoothly... (except we didnt have camp today because it was thunderstorming in the morning).
A few interesting things have happened at camp. On the first day, one of the girls in the oldest group asked me if I was married. All the kids on the first day were so excited to be there we just kept playing and dancing in the rain. I have also become a LOT more comfortable speaking Spanish since camp has started. To say the least, my spanish commands, especially in the negative have become quite good, haha. Having to explain rules and understanding complaints etc., I have spoken a lot more Spanish recently. I am beginning to love the language once again like when I was first learning it. I think that will only help me :)
Kristin and I work really well together, planning activities, and dividing groups up so they are a more manageable number. To date, some of the favourite activities have been Drip, Drip, Drop (a variation of Duck Duck Goose involving water), Bean Bag Pong(like beer pong), Dodgeball, Limbo and the various relay races that we have had. Weve also learned a few games from the kids that we have incorporated into our arsenal of activities. This week, we´re looking at non-stop cricket, parachute games, volleyball, badminton and some more relay races. Hopefully we don´t run out of ideas... fortunately we only get each age group 3 times a week. If anyone has any ideas for individual sports/games (or even teamy things), please comment as we would love to incorporate any great ideas!
This past weekend, Camp Esperanza also had a stand at Cabrera´s fair. We set up shop by the square nad held games and activities for the kids that showed up. We shot off bottle rockets, made paper airplanes, played some bean bag tossing and washers and just hung out with the kids painting sidewalk chalky things and doing speedstack cups (I did 6 cups in 2.81 seconds!!) It is nice to walk around town and when the kids see us now they stop by and say hi all the time. It´s really nice to see the ocean of smiles.
Saturday was also Christie´s birthday (one of the girls at our house). She had a wicked Minnie Mouse themed party with all the decoratings, a pinata, musical chairs, delicious food and a gorgeous cake. It was a lot of fun being at a childs party and seeing all the kids play. Things got a little out of hand when it was pinata time when all the kids were crowding around almost to the point where they would be hit. When the candy came down, DOG PILE for the candy... it was quite the sight. We also danced a bit with the girls and our host family afterwards... an overall solid day.
As for the group of volunteers we have, we get along great. Everyone has come into this experience with the right attitude and looking to have a great time. It´s amazing when we are all together but some quieter nights of cards with a few of us are fun as well. It´s always interesting when we go to the beach as a group of 11 or so, trying to fit into a guagua and seeing how many people we can fit into one in addition to the passengers already there.
On a more personal note, not that it is very pertinent, I think I may have jammed my thumb yesterday trying to do a handstand under water... it still kind of hurts. I am slowly tanning away but also realizing I look super white if I show my thighs--the contrast is actually quite disturbing. Also, mosquitos seemed to have let up on me. Sure, I still get mosquito bites but it is now at the range of a normal person, haha. I get about 10 mosquito bites or so a week, I think and they do not turn massively red like they used to. Life is good :)
Monday, June 27, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
(Some) People Always Leave
Quick update: Camp starts on Tuesday so we have just been preparing like mad to get things ready. Lots of painting, moving things to the field and really getting down to the knitty-gritty of actually planning things to do! We have finally gotten some good weather again which has led to a rare sunburn for me, on my shoulders. I got my first haircut in the DR; I went by myself and managed to communicate with Spanish and actions what I wanted haha.. I'm pretty impressed by myself. Carissa and I went around town to get some more clothes cause weve been getting ours super dirty. Recently, we've been hanging out at the park like locals at night and I've found chinola juice... SOOO good (passion fruit juice) from Chori Pan!
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So I watched One Tree hill growing up and Peyton always mentioned that people always leave. In her life, there was never a constant figure. Her mom died at a young age, her dad works in a different town and when her birth mother came to find her, she shortly died of cancer. People always left her -- people always leave.
Here in Cabrera, I've noticed a similar phenomenon. Surely, no one can really stay in the same place all their lives but the Dominican Republic seems to be a temporary stopping zone, or if you've planned to settle down here.. there are still reasons to leave.
Currently, we are sort of in a transition zone between the year-long volunteers leaving because school is over and the new volunteers arriving for camp. In fact, new volunteers arrive tomorrow! My house is getting 3 volunteers tomorrow, and one on Saturday.. I am super excited for the weekend to say the least. It is going to be fun, fun, fun, fun. (Sorry, I just had to make that reference) But since Dan's departure last Sunday, it seems like everyone is on the move. We rented a villa the other week for the night to have a quick get-together with all our friends. Honestly, aside from the Dominicans... everyone at that party was getting ready to leave. We still have 2 more months but we will also leave.
The teachers at a local school, ARC, normally stay for one year. Some like Anthony and Fiona & Kim and Shara move on and start their own projects here from a perceived need after having spent some time in this community. They have started schools here respectively. But many of the teachers leave after one year, minus Justin who has been here for 3 years. What is most surprising for me and really the purpose of writing this blog is the harsh reality of life in Cabrera.
Kim and Shara have a pre-school here. Justin has been here fore 3 years and plans to return in the fall to teach once again. Yet Kim and Justin are heading to the states, Justin leaves tomorrow and Kim leaves soon. We may thing it is to go on vacation but that definitely is not the case. They're both going back to the states to make money. Sounds odd, doesn't it? Teachers here do not make enough money, even if they are foreigners. Their desire to engage in this community is what keeps them here, not the heap-loads of money they make as a foreigner teaching English.
I still do not really understand this concept but it seems to me that teachers should be ale to make a decent living. Yet teachers need to go home to make money so they can last another year here. How is it possible, then, to provide quality education to children if the town which they are serving barely provides enough for them to support themselves?
Dan probably would have liked to stay for a little longer but he had to go home to make money before another other similar experiences. I will leave in 2 months to finish my education, presumably to get a good job and make money. It seems that our world revolves around money and I guess that is why we must leave.
On the other hand, it is nearly impossible for Dominicans to leave the country, or so I've heard. Some say it is extremely hard to obtain a passport, others say it is the visa that is hard to get. Whatever the case, they are somewhat trapped in the world even if they have the means to go elsewhere. People always leave... or at least some of us do.
------
So I watched One Tree hill growing up and Peyton always mentioned that people always leave. In her life, there was never a constant figure. Her mom died at a young age, her dad works in a different town and when her birth mother came to find her, she shortly died of cancer. People always left her -- people always leave.
Here in Cabrera, I've noticed a similar phenomenon. Surely, no one can really stay in the same place all their lives but the Dominican Republic seems to be a temporary stopping zone, or if you've planned to settle down here.. there are still reasons to leave.
Currently, we are sort of in a transition zone between the year-long volunteers leaving because school is over and the new volunteers arriving for camp. In fact, new volunteers arrive tomorrow! My house is getting 3 volunteers tomorrow, and one on Saturday.. I am super excited for the weekend to say the least. It is going to be fun, fun, fun, fun. (Sorry, I just had to make that reference) But since Dan's departure last Sunday, it seems like everyone is on the move. We rented a villa the other week for the night to have a quick get-together with all our friends. Honestly, aside from the Dominicans... everyone at that party was getting ready to leave. We still have 2 more months but we will also leave.
The teachers at a local school, ARC, normally stay for one year. Some like Anthony and Fiona & Kim and Shara move on and start their own projects here from a perceived need after having spent some time in this community. They have started schools here respectively. But many of the teachers leave after one year, minus Justin who has been here for 3 years. What is most surprising for me and really the purpose of writing this blog is the harsh reality of life in Cabrera.
Kim and Shara have a pre-school here. Justin has been here fore 3 years and plans to return in the fall to teach once again. Yet Kim and Justin are heading to the states, Justin leaves tomorrow and Kim leaves soon. We may thing it is to go on vacation but that definitely is not the case. They're both going back to the states to make money. Sounds odd, doesn't it? Teachers here do not make enough money, even if they are foreigners. Their desire to engage in this community is what keeps them here, not the heap-loads of money they make as a foreigner teaching English.
I still do not really understand this concept but it seems to me that teachers should be ale to make a decent living. Yet teachers need to go home to make money so they can last another year here. How is it possible, then, to provide quality education to children if the town which they are serving barely provides enough for them to support themselves?
Dan probably would have liked to stay for a little longer but he had to go home to make money before another other similar experiences. I will leave in 2 months to finish my education, presumably to get a good job and make money. It seems that our world revolves around money and I guess that is why we must leave.
On the other hand, it is nearly impossible for Dominicans to leave the country, or so I've heard. Some say it is extremely hard to obtain a passport, others say it is the visa that is hard to get. Whatever the case, they are somewhat trapped in the world even if they have the means to go elsewhere. People always leave... or at least some of us do.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
The last two weeks.
So it´s been a while since I´ve blogged about my life. In fact, the last time was after the incident with the Black Pearl and Holly´s birthday. A few weeks have passed but not a whole lot has happened. Life has become somewhat of a routine and pleasant surprises with a little more free time.
Since school ended at the Esperanza Project about a week and a half ago, several things have happened.
My host family came back from the United States. Yohaira, the owner of the house, came home with Melissa (12) and Lissa (9). Their cousins, Crystal (12) and Christie (8) also came with them. Life at the house has changed a lot, especially with the noise, the chatter and just a lot more people in the house all the time. It´s a pleasant noise though. It´s kind of funny though--at first, the girls were not allowed to bother us when we were eating because Yohaira wanted to give us some quite time. However, when we would eat, all the girls would come and talk to us. Shortly after, we hear Yohaira come down the stairs and the girls all scatter into different corners of the room. ¨We weren´t molesting them!¨ (Molestar is the verb to bother in Spanish so I guess that´s why they said molest, haha). Things like that cheer my day up and they are a lot of fun. With their arrival, the two boxes of puppies I found upstairs one day became a regular part of the family as well. Each of the girls got a puppy of their own and I enjoy my quiet time reading with a puppy beside my lap. Things at my house are good but they are about to change again. Crystal left about a week ago and Dan leaves on Sunday. The new volunteers arrive on the 18th. I cant wait to see how the dynamics of the house change once again!
Since school ended, we have been helping out at the pre-school two times a week and helping repaint the school and getting preparations ready for camp. The school looks amazing now. We were asked to paint a mural of sorts and to be honest, I was NOT prepared to do that. I would be able to paint if someone asked me to (yay for the reading week trip to Mississippi), but to draw? Never in a million years. Fortunately, it hasn´t been that hard to copy out of a book. We drew in pencil and spent most of last week painting them in and finishing up the walls as well. I hope to get some pictures up eventually...
**note on pictures, Brittany and Carissa´s cameras have magically stopped working--some people say its because of the salt in the air (makes me kind of worried about mine). Mine still works but I don´t have the cords to connect it to a computer, haha. So hopefully when Brittany´s host mother returns with her computer, I can upload some!**
At the pre-school, we helped the kids get ready for Mother´s Day (which is different from in Canada) and had a little party at the school where the kids performed some songs. Other than that, things have been pretty standard and we help out where we can. We have been fortunate enough, however, to be asked to help with some of the evaluations. Whether the kids could count to 30 in English, give the correct letter sound of certain letters and what-not. Sadly, this week is the last week of the pre-school and I think I will miss it. The kids, although a little bit rowdy, are a treat. They are comfortable with us as we are with them and sometimes they come up to you and hug you too. It´s just a great feeling :)
Aside from the hustle and bustle, though, we have been enjoying ourselves too. This week Anthony and Fiona are going away somewhere just to spend the week. They are still in the Dominican but it has been a little bit of free time. So we have been hitting the beaches as much as we can, although it has been raining pretty much every day for the last two weeks.. We headed to Playa Breton, Playa Caleton and Lago Dudu this week so far. They have been amazing days full of fun and a chance to relax. I think it´s our only real time aside from weekends to get some time off. To get there, though, we have been taking GuaGuas which are little minivans, kind of, that stop anywhere along the main road as long as you flag them down. Hop on, and they will stop wherever you want -- a true Dominican experience. I am glad Dan took it with us the first time because I would have had no idea what to do. Since then, we have taken it a few times and aside from cramming close to 15 people into a GuaGua sometimes, they are a pretty good way to travel!
And a quick update about language, I can understand lots! Not because I´m stellar at Spanish though, haha. Ive been cheating a bit with French. One of our friends speaks Spanish and French and I speak French and English so I have become somewhat of a translator with him, haha. I do enjoy the practice of speaking French but I also want to improve in Spanish, hmmm.. it is going to be hard.
Something else that is interesting is that this friend and another Dominican friend of ours noted that I looked Chinese. I told him it was probably because I actually am Chinese. Somewhat stunned, they replied by saying that I was Canadian though. For some reason, it seems that being Chinese and Canadian were somewhat mutually exclusive in their minds. Perhaps they have just not encountered many people with different backgrounds but I just found this interesting.
Sometimes, I also think I look Dominican. Last night, some gringos at BillarZone asked me for another beer where I politely replied by saying that I didn´t work here. Perhaps I am becoming more local-like, who knows. I sure feel like one though...
Since school ended at the Esperanza Project about a week and a half ago, several things have happened.
My host family came back from the United States. Yohaira, the owner of the house, came home with Melissa (12) and Lissa (9). Their cousins, Crystal (12) and Christie (8) also came with them. Life at the house has changed a lot, especially with the noise, the chatter and just a lot more people in the house all the time. It´s a pleasant noise though. It´s kind of funny though--at first, the girls were not allowed to bother us when we were eating because Yohaira wanted to give us some quite time. However, when we would eat, all the girls would come and talk to us. Shortly after, we hear Yohaira come down the stairs and the girls all scatter into different corners of the room. ¨We weren´t molesting them!¨ (Molestar is the verb to bother in Spanish so I guess that´s why they said molest, haha). Things like that cheer my day up and they are a lot of fun. With their arrival, the two boxes of puppies I found upstairs one day became a regular part of the family as well. Each of the girls got a puppy of their own and I enjoy my quiet time reading with a puppy beside my lap. Things at my house are good but they are about to change again. Crystal left about a week ago and Dan leaves on Sunday. The new volunteers arrive on the 18th. I cant wait to see how the dynamics of the house change once again!
Since school ended, we have been helping out at the pre-school two times a week and helping repaint the school and getting preparations ready for camp. The school looks amazing now. We were asked to paint a mural of sorts and to be honest, I was NOT prepared to do that. I would be able to paint if someone asked me to (yay for the reading week trip to Mississippi), but to draw? Never in a million years. Fortunately, it hasn´t been that hard to copy out of a book. We drew in pencil and spent most of last week painting them in and finishing up the walls as well. I hope to get some pictures up eventually...
**note on pictures, Brittany and Carissa´s cameras have magically stopped working--some people say its because of the salt in the air (makes me kind of worried about mine). Mine still works but I don´t have the cords to connect it to a computer, haha. So hopefully when Brittany´s host mother returns with her computer, I can upload some!**
At the pre-school, we helped the kids get ready for Mother´s Day (which is different from in Canada) and had a little party at the school where the kids performed some songs. Other than that, things have been pretty standard and we help out where we can. We have been fortunate enough, however, to be asked to help with some of the evaluations. Whether the kids could count to 30 in English, give the correct letter sound of certain letters and what-not. Sadly, this week is the last week of the pre-school and I think I will miss it. The kids, although a little bit rowdy, are a treat. They are comfortable with us as we are with them and sometimes they come up to you and hug you too. It´s just a great feeling :)
Aside from the hustle and bustle, though, we have been enjoying ourselves too. This week Anthony and Fiona are going away somewhere just to spend the week. They are still in the Dominican but it has been a little bit of free time. So we have been hitting the beaches as much as we can, although it has been raining pretty much every day for the last two weeks.. We headed to Playa Breton, Playa Caleton and Lago Dudu this week so far. They have been amazing days full of fun and a chance to relax. I think it´s our only real time aside from weekends to get some time off. To get there, though, we have been taking GuaGuas which are little minivans, kind of, that stop anywhere along the main road as long as you flag them down. Hop on, and they will stop wherever you want -- a true Dominican experience. I am glad Dan took it with us the first time because I would have had no idea what to do. Since then, we have taken it a few times and aside from cramming close to 15 people into a GuaGua sometimes, they are a pretty good way to travel!
And a quick update about language, I can understand lots! Not because I´m stellar at Spanish though, haha. Ive been cheating a bit with French. One of our friends speaks Spanish and French and I speak French and English so I have become somewhat of a translator with him, haha. I do enjoy the practice of speaking French but I also want to improve in Spanish, hmmm.. it is going to be hard.
Something else that is interesting is that this friend and another Dominican friend of ours noted that I looked Chinese. I told him it was probably because I actually am Chinese. Somewhat stunned, they replied by saying that I was Canadian though. For some reason, it seems that being Chinese and Canadian were somewhat mutually exclusive in their minds. Perhaps they have just not encountered many people with different backgrounds but I just found this interesting.
Sometimes, I also think I look Dominican. Last night, some gringos at BillarZone asked me for another beer where I politely replied by saying that I didn´t work here. Perhaps I am becoming more local-like, who knows. I sure feel like one though...
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