Christmas, Classes, Canal, Cholera?

(from Monday 10/25/10 and Tuesday 10/26/10)

No worries - just a long update...in that order.

I have been shivering on and off all day at school, wearing long jeans, and even made tea to warm up this morning. The temperature’s dropping, there’s a cool breeze this afternoon, and it’s one of the coldest days I’ve had here. So chilly, that I figured it must be about 60 degrees outside. Though just now weather.com tells me it is only but a brisk 86º F in Mao. And I am freezing. Really? Most New Englanders are supposed to be a little heartier than this. Entonces, catching colds in 80º weather - looks like that’s where I am now. I’m going home for Christmas though, so Winter, please have mercy.

Speaking of Christmas, it’s Christmastime in the DR. Actually, it has been Christmas since about the beginning of October. There are Christmas decorations everywhere - colored lights, fake Christmas trees, wire reindeer, plastic snowmen, those little village sets with the snow on the roofs...you name it, it’s here. Recently, in La Sirena (Target/Walmart-like store), “Feliz Navidad” was playing over and over and over... And I thought that we started Christmas early in the States. Normally, I feel bad when holidays are skipped over but, I am in complete favor of the early Christmas movement. It makes sense here - there’s no Thanksgiving, and Halloween without the trick-or-treating and costumes isn’t really Halloween, so why not start Christmas in October? I like it.

My neighbor is ready for Christmas

Art of one of my students in English

The school's tree all set up - October 28.

* * *

Something else that’s been going on in October (besides decorating for Navidad) - English classes. Still a lot of students at the culture center, and still people asking to inscribir and sign up, with only a few weeks left. This session will finish at the end of November, before Thanksgiving, since after that things are busier with Peace Corps stuff. It’s been fun, though and interesting - just yesterday I translated a Spanish love letter a student’s writing to someone in the States. It was sweet. Not so sure that my basic English class is the best place to learn to write fancy love poetry...but still, too cute, right?

Then at the school in the mornings, I’ve been working one-on-one with some students who need extra practice in computers. Right now its a group ranging in age from 8-16, and mostly, we’re working on identifying letters and spelling their names on the keyboard. Once they write their names on the screen, we do questions such as “How many J’s are in your name?” etc. to practicing counting and remembering which letter is which. In general, mostly everyone recognizes the letters of their names, but the letters they don’t use as often are more difficult to identify. Today I was working with one boy typing out all the letters of the alphabet, trying to get him to say the letters and recognize them on the keyboard. “What letter comes after Q?” We eventually decide it’s “R” and he starts looking for “R” on the keyboard. “R is not here,” he says. “Don’t worry, R is definitely there.” “What does “R” look like?” he asks. We draw “R.” He looks again. “R is here!” Exito.

So I’m at the school all morning, at the culture center most afternoons - but one place I haven’t been a lot lately is with my old neighbors. But the days I’m able to go back and visit in my old barrio are my favorite days. I cook something with a neighbor, bring the dish around for the other neighbors to sample and probar, and hang out with all the kids. It’s nice because there everyone knows me, I don’t have to listen to anyone hissing at me or calling me dumb names like rubia/Americana/America/linda/mi amor/preciosa/princesa etc, etc, etc, for infinity. One day while visiting, out of the blue, Jose Miguel, he’s one year old and Simon’s baby brother, said my name without anyone provoking or teaching it to him. I was about to walk home and then heard a little voice yell “Emma!” I turned around and there’s the youngest Jose (every male in their family is Jose) standing at the gate. I was shocked, because he’s just a baby, but kids are smart and he knows. I tried to get him to say it again with no success - he stood there silent and smiling.

* * *

Here are some photos from a French exhibition at the cultural center (where I teach English) one evening. My friend, a volunteer from France who’s here for 2 years in a program similar to Peace Corps, set it up. Its about the moon and Tin Tin, a character from French books. I’ve heard of Tin Tin, but always thought he was called Rin Tin Tin. (He’s not; it’s just Tin Tin without the Rin). Anyway, here’s the exhibit of Tin Tin, really cute, and even featured a meteorite that was found in Jarabacoa in the 1960’s/1970’s.

Meteorite!

* * *

The days are busy and are going by way too quickly, so I run when there’s time which is usually in the late afternoon or early morning. More often than not - in the morning so I see a lot of sunrises. :) Here are some photos of a canal trail where I run - on occasion, bringing a camera along, ya tu sabes.

* * *

One final note, because of the cholera outbreak in Haiti, all volunteers are consolidating for an info. session in the capital later this week. Any 90‘s kid like me who has played Oregon Trail is aware of cholera as a deadly disease, but hundreds of people are actually dying of this seemingly “old-fashioned” illness. And its awful, because with access to clean water, it wouldn’t be happening at all. Cholera is a waterborne illness, meaning you get it from contaminated water or food that hasn’t been washed/prepared properly...and yes, I recently learned that. I read one report that blames the current epidemic in Haiti on a contaminated river, which after thinking about it, I can imagine how it got that way.

I don’t know about Haiti, since I’ve never been there, but here on the eastern half of this island, people throw trash away literally wherever they want to. There is zero shame in throwing a single empty plastic cup on the ground, or a whole garbage bag of trash. And a river is a perfect place to do both - you toss in your garbage, the water carries it away, you don’t have to see it ever again. Problem solved, at least temporarily. The pretty canal pictures above? Yup, I’ve seen people throw their trash right into those waters - the same water where I’ve also witnessed people bathing/swimming in further downstream, and since its a canal - the same waters that I assume irrigate their fields. So a contaminated river isn’t hard to imagine. And then access to clean water isn’t exactly universal - you can’t turn on the tap and have drinkable water. For clean water, you have to buy a botellon (big blue bottle) of water from a store for 35-40 pesos (about a dollar), which isn’t a lot of money, but for someone it might be, and what if you don’t have the money that day? Or what if there aren’t any botellons available to buy when you need it? That happened to me yesterday, which doesn’t really matter for me, since I’m just one person and can get it later today, but what if it were a family that needed it? So with trash thrown out wherever, polluted natural rivers, and filtered water available - but at a price, clean water is an issue in the DR, and I can only imagine how it is in Haiti where conditions are already strenuous without life-threatening illnesses added to it.

Whew, this was a long entry... Thanks for reading. Have a safe Halloween! All’s well here - see you at Christmas. Take care.

Peace,

XO

Mira! My school is way too cute.

(from Tuesday, October 12)

Last week was Animal Week at the school. The kids learned about animals all week, and then on Friday brought their pets to school. Everyone brought pet birds, turning the school into a mini aviary of sorts: a dove in a shoebox, a pigeon with a string tied to its foot, and a chicken or two. One little boy brought two parakeets in a metal cage with a door. During recess, everyone sat in a circle and had a chance to hold one of the chickens. Some kids were scared, and others were excited to see the birds. Then sometime during the light commotion, the parakeets escaped and flew outside. The kids started chasing the birds around the room, and a few teachers climbed on the roof to look for the birds, but the little matching yellow birds were gone for good. Se fue los pajaros.

Somehow, the boy who owned the parakeets didn’t really notice that they had flown away. But by the end of the day, he saw the empty cage and asked “Y los pajaros?” (Where are the birds?). One teacher put the pigeon in the empty wire cage. The kid was so happy with the pigeon that the poor parakeets were forgotten in an instant. He brought the new bird around to everyone in the school saying “Mira, mira!” (Look, look!) In a matter of five minutes he had shown the bird to everyone around him at least twice. He carried the pigeon in the cage around for me to see for the third time, “Mira, Tia! Mira!”

Okay. Possibly this story is not that funny. Or maybe you just had to be there to see how happy he was, but it was adorable. And even nearly a week later, I still have to laugh imagining the chain of events of this day: The boy asks his mom to let him bring in the family’s yellow matching pet parakeets to school. She probably instructs him to hold onto the cage, not open the little door or let the birds escape. He brings the birds to school. The tiny parakeets escape, fly away, and are replaced with a large pigeon. He brings the pigeon home in the parakeets’ cage happier than ever - “Mira, Mami!” Some photos from the day:

Looking for the birds

Introducing the parakeets' replacement

* * *

Last week was Animal Week; this week was Columbus Day featuring a Christopher Columbus play, since you know, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, this island is where he wound up.

Christopher Columbus

Taino native

Waiting for the play to start

Preparing yucca

Ok, take care - enjoy the day!

XO

"Puedo inscribir para curso de ingles?"

(from Friday, October 8)

or rather, “Can I sign up for English class?”

And at this point, it’s mid-way through the fourth week of classes, but people are still asking this question.

Oh English class, where do I begin? No, I kid, I really enjoy it. I have four classes that each meet twice a week, two a day from Monday-Thursday. Two classes for adults and two classes for youth. There’s about twenty students per class, so a little less than 80 altogether. In all the classes we play a lot of games. I don’t have books or anything, but try to make the class interactive (pictionary, charades, presenting in front of the class, board work, etc.), mixed with basic grammar and vocab. It’s all beginner levels, but pretty fun. For the most part, the students all show up on time/on time-ish (then some even come a half-hour early - woah, overachievers). They ask questions, participate...and apparently advertise the classes to their friends to sign-up, too. And even though we’re nearly a month into class, I still haven’t mastered saying, “No, this class is full - you can’t sign up.” Mostly because I’d feel like a huge jerk if I ever did. I know its not exactly fair to current students to add more and more people, and the new students will be behind for a while, but I feel really bad saying no. So I don’t, haha. Maybe when I start running out of chairs I’ll turn people away. But right now there are a few more empty chairs, so I figure that if people want to sit there, who am I to say they can’t?

Wish them luck because today and tomorrow are the first exams... which the class actually requested to have. When they asked me to prepare a test, I thought, “Wow, really? Are you sure?” I’ve asked myself a lot of questions in the DR, most recently: “Exactly who requests exams, anyway?” At least now I’ve got that one answered.

* * *

And now, let me just share a little from the “first day” of classes last month:

I get a call from my contact, Yudelka at the cultural center asking me if I’d like to go to the center to meet the students who’ll be participating in the English classes. She tells me that this is the sign-up day, the classes won’t start until the following week, and we can plan the weekly schedule for the classes when we meet. That sounded alright by me, so I set out and walked the few blocks to meet her at the center. I get there, and she brings me into a classroom. The classroom is full of students sitting in desks, and the ones that don’t have a desk are lined up along the walls. Yudelka introduces me to this group of people, a range of ages 8-55 or so, and announces to the room that those who haven’t signed up for English class yet can do so today. I look around. There seems to be about 35 people in the room - a perfect amount for the two classes I had agreed to teach twice a week. Some of the students in the chairs and those leaning against the walls move to the front of the room to sign up. There’s a list of names in a notebook, and I glance over to see how many people have signed up for the English classes so far. There are 68 names.

A little more than I expected. I figured there’d be 20 people tops in each of the classes, and here’s a list of nearly 70, and a line of more people writing down their names. By now Yudelka has divided the group into adults and kids, and takes the youth to a different classroom. Before she leaves, she asks me, “Can you teach four English classes instead of two? There’re so many students!” Before I answer she leaves me with the group of jovenes and adults. I figure she’s coming back in a minute to finish organizing the schedule with the group, so I wait with the class for her to return. It’s an awkward minute or so as every student is looking at me expectantly over the composition book, pencil and eraser lined up neatly on each desk. After two more minutes, it’s clear that Yudelka’s not coming back. And its also pretty plain that the class is waiting for me to start teaching. So this little meet and greet afternoon suddenly transforms into the first day of class. Hmm wasn’t expecting that.

Well, a heads up would have been helpful, but there’s a lot of enthusiasm for English in the room, so I go with it. I start to think about all of the lesson plans I worked on that are tucked away in my computer awaiting the start of classes for the following week. There’s a stack of student handouts already photo-copied in my bag at home. This afternoon however, I have literally nothing with me and I’m feeling unprepared. But with a roomful of students staring at you, with their notebooks and pencils at the ready, you can’t really say, “Oh sorry! I was told we’d be starting next week. Mind if we meet later?” The computer teacher next door brings me a piece of chalk, and with that, class begins. So marks the “first day” - certainly not a lot of resources, but turns out having a room of people willing to learn, and a single piece of chalk isn’t the absolute worst way to start.

Students' sentences with "To have," the numbers and family vocab.

More soon!

XO

Look who came to visit...

...my family!

Familiar faces? :) My Mom, Aunt Julie, and Sara were here in the DR for a long weekend. It was a really great visit - hadn’t seen anyone from home in over 6 months (that’s half a year, weird huh?), so I loved it! We packed a lot of traveling (and a lot of espanol) into four and a half days. After reuniting at the Puerta Plata airport, we stayed in Cabarete at a fun hotel on the beach which had a lot to offer - personal favorites being - the AC and a shower with HOT water. It’s the little things in life - except I wouldn't consider either of those to be little things anymore. Anyway, it was a really good time. Photos from Cabarete:

Waiting for everyone in the Puerta Plata airport

A couple of the many animal friends Aunt Julie made in the DR :D

Caught the sunrise one morning!

After a weekend up north, we went back to my site to meet the host family, neighbors and the school. One of the days we had lunch at my host family’s - featuring the bandera: rice, beans, salad, and chicken. Having the families meet was probably one of my favorite parts of the visit. To add to that, my family got to experience a homemade Dominican meal - and lucky them, because Heaven knows my little kitchen will never fully succeed in recreating any of my host mom’s dishes. While they were in town, I brought my family around to meet the neighbors and everyone at the school, too. Photos from visiting Mao:

Ruby with students in computer class

Francisco showing his artwork

Aunt "Julia" and Don Jose

Dona Dominga and Mom

Simon and Sara

Mis Familias Americanas y Dominicanas juntos!

Mom, Lenny, me, Sara, Aunt Julie

Lenny gave one of his paintings to my mom

After a couple days in Mao, we ended our visit at the Santiago airport, at which point we went our separate ways again. My family went alla to Nueva Yol, and eventually everyone made it safely back to Boston. On the other hand, I stayed here and taxied back to Mao with Gustavo, a new friend who shared an abridged version of his life story during the ride and then gave me a pineapple. And so concludes our trip. I wish everyone could have stayed longer.

Gracias, Gustavo.

Another great part of having my family here was being able to hear about how people are doing back home. So, if you’ve seen my mom in the past month, chances are that I got a mini-update on your life. :o) Also thank you for sending warm wishes, gifts and thoughtful cards - it really felt like a surprise Christmas.

Grandma, Grampy, Folkins Family, Supino Family, Kathy, Dennis, Angie - Thank you! :D

Oh! By the way, those are New England-scented candles in the photo. Woohoo - Happy Fall from the Dominican Republic.

Cuidense!

XO