Profe in the DR 38

Profe in the DR 38

5-15-12

It is a campaign year and that means the local and national governments doing a lot of last minute construction projects to win votes.  (They do nothing for 3 ½ years, then try to do everything in the months before the election.)  Here in the batey they began to work on our streets. Talk was of sidewalks and asphalt.  They put in cement curbs, no digging, simply pouring the “L” shaped cement about a foot above the current level of the street.  When they finished with the curbs they just disappeared.  Since the election is Sunday, I am guessing they are not coming back.

            The first week of May we received a fair amount of rain, slightly inundating the batey.  The curbs had been put in with little or no thought to drainage routes and as a result blocked or redirected water flows, filling up the streets, or flooding people’s houses.  With all the standing water everywhere, mosquitoes have been abundant and aggressive.

            Lately Profeta, the baseball/softball coach, has been helping me out at night when I am busy.  He has been opening the refugio so kids can read in the library or play chess in the other classroom.  The other night he opened things up and I arrived a half hour later.  As I walked in the library, there were eight kids seated at desks, all reading intently, not a single peep to be heard.  No one does anything quietly here, so to see them so engulfed in their books was wonderful.

            Last week though, Profeta did have a small incident at night at the refugio.  He was inside playing chess when he saw someone outside near the latrines “smoking drugs”.  He went out and proceeded to kick this young man out of the fenced off area that makes up the refugio.  The young man must have been smoking drugs because he started to try to fight with Profeta (who is quite big and muscular.)  People came running to see the fight like sharks to blood.  The young man grabbed a large rock to throw at Profeta.  He in response pulled out his pistol.   Now the crowd was running in the other direction.   The young man’s parents got involved; lots of yelling and screaming, and after about ten minutes, Profeta came back into the refugio like nothing happened. 

            Last Tuesday I planned to head down to Los Patos about 2 ½ hours from here to pick up some books from fellow volunteer Sam.  He had received a very large shipment of books for his library and had four boxes of doubles to pass on to me.  Jairo and I rented a small pickup, and accompanied by the pickup owner’s son, headed towards Barahona.  Jairo was stopped at the police check point for not using his seatbelt, and we quickly realized we didn’t have the registration for the truck.  The police tried to fine us several hundred pesos, but Jairo talked him down to just one hundred.  From there we went to fill the truck up with gas.  The owner had done a homemade conversion job on the truck so it could use propane.  After filling the old tank sitting in a box in the back of the pickup, we couldn’t get the truck to start again.  We tried push starting it numerous times, but it was clear the engine just wasn’t getting gas.  The owner’s sun and Jairo then played with all the valves, hoses, and anything else that might help.  (I stayed off to the side a bit so in case they blew up, someone could call an ambulance.)  The owner’s sun was using a pair of pliers to open and close the valves, and apparently too much force, because he ended up breaking off one of the valves, and we couldn’t get it open after that.  We ended up having to get a mechanic, who ran a hose off of the valve for filling up the tank, problem solved.  Meanwhile, Sam brought the books an hour and a half up the road, meeting us in Barahona.  On the way back, as we passed over a speed bump in Batey 3, we heard the transmission hit the ground.  I called the only other small truck owner in my batey, and had him come pull the truck, us and the books back to Isabela.   The trip ended up taking a lot more time and money than planned, but everyone was very excited about the new additions to the library. 

5-16-12

Today in the afternoon, in the middle of a reading class, some 40-50 cars, vans, pickups and motorcycles carrying people dressed in purple, their political party’s color, drove into the batey and started doing laps around the park, yelling, honking, and revving engines.  It was quite a show that lasted some 15 minutes.  People here take there political party quite serious.   

Profe in the DR 37

Profe in the DR 37

4-29-12

The week after Semana Santa ended up being kind of slow for me as far as teaching.  The kids all took an extra week of vacation even though they were supposed to be in school.  This happens here all the time.  I used the free time to get a bunch of work done that had been piling up. 

My mother and her husband flew in to the DR on the 17^th.   I met them at a resort in Punta Cana.  It was the first time for me to travel to the east side of the island.  The east side is flatter with very few mountains, and far more trees.  They raise cattle and sugar cane.  I noticed that they did not irrigate the sugar cane fields.  I assume that is because they have sufficient rainfall.   In several places I saw them pulling the large sugar cane carts with oxen.  The closer I got to Punta Cana the more built up for tourism it seemed to be.  As the bus passed through towns, you could see people dressed in various uniforms of cook, maids, waiters, etc., waiting for transportation to the different resorts in the area.

It was also the first time for me to stay at an all inclusive resort.  We stayed in the Barceló which was absolutely humungous.  It was one of the earlier built resorts and so had an extremely large amount of land, 2 km of ocean frontage and its own golf course.  There were tons of large 3 story buildings for guests, 8 or more pools, a gym, large theatre, a dozen or so restaurants, a couple dozen stores, tennis courts, its own soccer field, a church, bars, and so much more.  It was quite impressive in its size. 

The guests were from all over.  You could hear all sorts of languages, French, German, Chinese, Russian, Italian, and many more.  Europeans seemed to be in the majority.  One Russian woman I spoke with said she had a twelve hour flight to get to the DR.  She and her husband just wanted to go somewhere warm because it had been such a cold winter in Europe and Russia.

            After more than a year and a half in a dirty, dusty batey, it was nice to be somewhere clean for a while.  I enjoyed hot showers, good food, and a decent bed.  I swam daily, trying to strengthen and stretch my left shoulder, which I injured about a month ago.  I also ran on the beach and in the pool, and racked up several hours on the exercise bike in the gym.  Despite all the good food I actually left the resort weighing less than when I arrived. (Not an easy feat at an all inclusive.)

            It was good to see my mother and her husband Larry.  Larry got three days of golf in and my mom joined him for one.  They also spent a lot of time just relaxing on the beach. I taught my mom how to play the card game Casino and we played each night.  It was a nice peaceful week, but I really wish that my wife Kaori could have been there with us. 

            It was hard coming back to the batey, especially since it had rained hard the night before and the whole batey was flooded and full of mud.  The kids didn’t go to school the rest of the week because of all the water everywhere.  I fixed the brakes on my bike yesterday and headed out for an hour.  I got to test the new brake pads out when a large swarm of bees crossed my path.  I noticed them just in time to come to a screeching halt right at the edge of the swarm; having only a few of them bump into me as I quickly backed up.

The bike trip

4-9-12

This last week was semana santa.  I joined 3 other volunteers for a multi-day mt.bike ride in the mountains in the center of the country.  Paul, Justin, Will and I set out early from Paul’s house and headed west.  We started out on asphalt following along a fast flowing river, winding up into the mountains, looking across the valley at terraced farms and forests running up the hills.  The further away from Jarabacoa we headed the more remote it became.  We had lunch in Manobao, and from there the road turned to dirt.  We finished the day by climbing hard to the top of a mountain overlooking the valley on the other side and the little town of Ciénaga.  We descended into the valley, rode through a small river and into Ciénaga.  Five minutes after arriving it began to rain.   We spent the night at a visitor’s center for those climbing Pico Duarte.  It was located next to a river and surrounded by forest.  The guard there was nice enough to loan us sleeping bags and mattresses, and we found a little comedor to cook us up some rice and beans and fried chicken.   We played some cards and slept well in the fresh air coming through the open-sided building. 

            The next day we set out early and instantly were confronted with the mountains.  The climbs were steep, wet, and full of loose rock.  After about 20-30 minutes of climbing we came across a tall gate across the road, locked of course.   I checked for the keys at a house about 100 yards up a steep slope along side the road, no luck.  We then lifted the bikes above our heads and handed them over the fence.  This fence would be the last piece of civilization that we would see for the next 4-5 hours.  The washed out, wet, steep road was horrendous, but the views were absolutely incredible.  Mountains upon mountains filled with pine forest and streams.  It was such a pleasant change from the flat, dusty, dirty batey where I live.  Will and Justin had to walk up the majority of the climbs.  Paul only had to walk a few.  I managed to make all the climbs except a 30 yard section that was so steep I couldn’t keep the front wheel down, and the back one was spinning out.  I don’t think I have ever spent so much time in granny gear on one ride.  Around 2pm we finally encountered a long hard descent coming out in a small valley.  There we got lost twice, rode through a few streams, cleaned off the bikes, and finally found the correct route out, naturally going back up.   After quite some time climbing we all started to run out of water, and Paul brought out the iodine tablets, filling up a bottle in a small stream.  The water had so much silt in it, it looked like weak coffee.  Luckily, we came across a house before we had to result to drinking the runoff water.  From there we started to descend again, coming out in a valley full of farms of all sorts.  We stopped momentarily in the small town, and then started climbing out of the valley.   After a half hour or so we reached a point overlooking the city of Constanza.  From there it was a hard descent down to the town.  The road had widened out and the curbs were full of loose sand.  Will missed a turn and went flying off his bike.  Luckily he was taught in the Marines how to roll and escaped with only a few small scratches.  (All good mt. biking trips should have a little blood.) We arrived around 4:45pm.  It began to rain shortly after that.  We spent the night in a hotel.  The next day the three of them wanted to rest so we spent another night in Constanza.  Since it was Good Friday the town was just about shut down.  We had problems finding places to eat.  On Saturday, we set out from Constanza around 9:30am and rode up out of the valley.  We gained 1000m of altitude in about 3 hours.  Around 1:30pm we came across an eco-lodge.  The owner’s daughter is married to a friend of Paul’s.  We stopped to say hello and just as we were about to leave it started pouring.  It rained so hard that it wasn’t just a matter of getting soaked, but also whether we could ride safely on such bad roads.  The owner offered us a cabin to stay in, so under the circumstances we accepted.  The cabin was huge and very nice.  It was quite chilly so we sat around the fireplace and played cards at night.  Will tried his best to make something to eat out of what little he could find in a colmado a few kilometers away.  He tried making a spaghetti sauce out of tomato paste and garlic.  I just threw a poached egg on my noodles instead; life sustaining, but not gourmet.  We set out Sunday morning early and continued climbing until we reached 2500 meters altitude.  From there we rolled up and down hills for a while and eventually started encountering longer downs.  The road was so washed out and full of rocks, bumps and loose gravel that it was not possible to go too fast.  My breaks had taken quite a beating heading down into Constanza that now there was very little grab (or break pads) left.  The descending with all its bumps etc, seemed harder on my body than the climbing.  We were threatened by rain when we passed the pyramids that Trujillo built to commemorate having made the road between San Jose Ocoa and Constanza.  Luckily we out road the storm and stayed dry once again.  We pulled into San Jose Ocoa at 3:15pm.  Here I said goodbye to my riding partners and took off on my own. They were planning to catch a bus from there to the capital.  I needed to get 28km up the road to Cruce de Ocoa to catch a bus heading back to my site.  I wasn’t sure how long that would take me considering there were still a few mountains in between the two places.   I was worried I might miss the last bus heading my way so I pushed myself and rode hard, and arrived at Cruce de Ocoa in one hour, covered in sweat, but once again, just beating the rain.  From there I threw the bike on a guagau and returned home.  It was a great ride, great weather, and great company. 

profe in the DR 36

3-25-12

Last week I spent Thursday and Friday in the capital doing some work in the PC office.  When I got back I didn’t have any power whatsoever for four days.  Someone had knocked down a wire.  Electrical wiring here is mind blowing.  They use an overly small gauge wire, not designed for outside.  Then they splice into it anywhere they please, and many times as they please, running a million connections off it.  They tie a piece of a plastic bag over the connections.  It’s an electrician’s nightmare.

Sunday I got out on my bike for 5 hours 12 minutes.  I went out 3 hours and turned around.  When I did I noticed a big storm coming over the mountains so I rode as hard as I could to keep ahead of it.  It started to catch me as I was climbing the steepest hill on the way back, and I was starting to get wet, but on the long descent down, I got back in front of it and stayed there the rest of the way back.

            The rest of the week I was only able to get out on the bike once for an hour and a half.  It’s been a busy week.  In addition to my normal hustle and bustle, Thursday the APCD (Associate Peace Corps Director) for the education program came out and had a meeting with the teachers, director of the school and me.  She is thinking about placing a volunteer from that program here in May.  If she does the new volunteer and I would overlap by about 3 months or so.  Today we had an event with the Department of Sports.  They gave the baseball, softball, and soccer teams uniforms.  They are new but have the names of other towns, but the baseball and softball teams didn’t have uniforms so it is a big help.  Bateys 5, 7, 9 and Cuchilla were supposed to come as well and get uniforms and afterward we were going to play an all-star soccer game, but the Sugar Consorcio reneged on their promise to provide transportation, so the other bateys couldn’t come.  Instead my soccer team divided in two and played a game using the new uniforms.  

                        3-31-12

Another busy week, thank God semana santa is coming.  My math and English classes are all going well.  I am especially please with the progress in my reading classes.  I wish I had more time and resources because more and more kids want to join the classes but I am already maxed out.  I continue my quest for books for our library.   I spoke with three different people this week promising me books.    Art, chess, and soccer are also going well.  Tried to meet with the Sugar Consorcio on Thursday to ask for transportation for the summer soccer league but the public relations guy keeps putting us off.  He canceled our meeting at the last moment again.  Always says he will call me and never does.  Starting to think we need to speak to someone higher up the ladder.  Transportation is vital to making the league work.  I still can’t find another coach for the boys’ team, so I am teaching the two captains how to coach once I leave. 

Today a religious group from Canada stopped by the batey. They do so every year.  Half of the group was in the park preaching, the other half was in a church handing out medical supplies.  There was also a doctor from the capital with them.  They had a lot of sports equipment in the two buses they came in, but it was intended for some other locations.  However, after speaking with them, they were nice enough to change their minds and give us about 9 baseball gloves for smaller children and a baseball.  We have been trying to get gloves for the younger boys’ team for a while, so this was very helpful.

We’re about 2/3 of the way through the zafra (sugar cutting season).  When they burn the cane, the black ash from the leaves floats high up in the air and comes down far away, falling like snow.   My house is covered with ash, inside and out.  It gets inside even when the windows and door are closed, it’s amazing. 

            4-1-12

            Today the boys played soccer against Batey 7.  It was hot and windy, and I had to ref the game.  It was still 0-0 at the end of regulation play, but the boys looked so tired that I just called the game a tie.  Batey 7 was happy to tie us, and our boys were just happy to get out of the sun. 

             

Profe in the DR 35

2-24-12

Friday night I spent in Los Patos with several other volunteers.   We had plans to swim the next morning, but rain “dampened” our plans.  Sunday marked a year and a half in country; I celebrated it by getting out on my bike for four hours.  That has been my longest ride since I started dealing with all my back problems.  

I got gripe again, my sinuses feel like they are going to explode, throat’s sore, and I have a cough.  Still teaching all my classes though.  I’m pleased with the progress I am seeing in all my classes, but especially in the reading classes.  One group that started with absolutely nothing is already reading simple sentences.  I really enjoy teaching reading, and have gotten very good at reading Spanish upside down.  (This is because it is hard to find more than one or two copies of a book so we all have to share, and I sit across from the students and have to read upside down.)

More and more kids have been actually reading books in the small library I formed.  One of the older boys read one of the Goosebumps  books and really liked it, and so now more and more boys are reading them.  It is difficult acquiring books in Spanish, they are quite expensive in this country.   Most of what I have are from Scholastic en Español and are translated from English.  The kids have very little experience with books and so they don’t know how to treat them.  They flip the page by pushing with the palm of their hand, putting a crease in the page; they toss the books back up on the shelves, etc.  I’ve been teaching how to treat a book, but I am usually teaching classes while the library is open. 

Somebody stole the miniature bible that was in the library.  The kids warned me that would happen.  I just hope that who ever stole it, takes the time to read it, to realize what they did was wrong.

Last night in the computer lab I had to break up yet another fight, this time between two young men arguing over a cell phone.  Afterwards, my arm was sore the rest of the night.  To quote Lethal Weapon: “I’m too old for this (stuff) !”

3-8-12

Haven’t had much time or electricity to write lately.  The 27^th of February is independence day.  They also celebrate carnival in the DR that day or the Sunday before.  (Unlike everywhere else which celebrates carnival the week or so before Ash Wednesday.)  Like any other holiday, there is very little celebration here in the batey, however a few teenagers and kids dressed up in masks and homemade carnival outfits and walked around the batey cracking their homemade whips.  (They make the whips out of the strands from rice sacks and weave them together to make the rope.) 

I spent the 27^th working and finished up a ten week program of Deportes Para la Vida (aka: Grassroots Soccer).  The program teaches about HIV/AIDS using sports based activities. 

I spent four days in the Capital in various meetings, and ended up volunteering myself to help re-write the literacy manual and workbook.  Teachers here have little training and even fewer resources, so we want the materials to be effective, easy to use, and inexpensive to reproduce.  I also decided to take on planning a two day youth soccer leadership conference for June.  I will have to write a grant for the funding, and at this point it looks like nine communities will be participating.  Also while in the Capital, I received a box of books in Spanish from the Franklin Center.  The kids are really enjoying the new titles.  I read aloud Clic, Clak, Muu, Vacas con Maquinas de Escribir (Click, Clack, Moo, Cows with typewriters) on Monday and ever since, kids have been going around saying “clic, clak, muu!, clic, clak, muu!”

We have also started planning for our bateys’ soccer league that will start up in June as well.  We are hoping to receive transportation from the Sugar Consorcio this time.  They didn’t help us with the winter league because it was during the zafra (sugar cane cutting season).  We have decided to separate the genders this time.  We are hoping that more girls will play if they have their own team. 

We have been having problems with children running around the computer center, chasing each other and throwing rocks; (They love to throw rocks here.)  including problems with them throwing rocks at the windows and doors while people are inside trying to work.  Two days ago, finally someone got hurt.  A ten year old boy was running and trying to reach down and grab rocks at the same time and ran straight into a metal post.  They had to take him to a hospital and get four stitches in his forehead.  So yesterday we had a long meeting trying to come up with a solution to the problem.  The representative from World Vision wanted to talk to the parents and threaten to take away the computers, (to which I am sure they would have said “take them”.  Very few adults here know how to use them.)  The three of us who live here managed to come up with some better ideas.  We are going to ask teenagers to work outside the center and keep the peace.  Since we don’t have money to pay them, we will pay them in free Facebook time.  We are also going to try to get more parents to come visit the computer center and see how valuable a learning tool the computers are.  To accomplish this we are thinking to offer free Facebook time to anyone who brings their parents to the center. (Facebook, the new currency!)  We are also going to have a meeting with the parents and the representative of World Vision, but not threatening them like he suggested, but rather asking their help like an equal.   Hopefully these three things will solve the problem.  Tonight we had the meeting with the teenagers, asking their help.  About a dozen showed up.  They will start working tomorrow. The meeting with the parents is scheduled for Wednesday.

3-14-12

Sunday I rode my mt. bike in the mountains for 5hours and 15 minutes, lots of steep climbs, but little traffic, and the views are incredible.  Afterward I had a 3 hour meeting with all the coaches and coordinators of the soccer league, along with 3 other volunteers.  We were planning out everything for the next league which won’t have its first games until June.  We decided to ask the sugar consorcio for transportation, and they won’t provide that during the zafra (sugar cane cutting season).  I was in charge of the meeting and because two of the coaches don’t speak Spanish, had to conduct the meeting in Spanish and Creole.  I was rather worn out from my ride, and it takes a lot of effort still to speak in Creole, so much so that when it was time to speak in Spanish again, I started speaking in English without knowing.  This of course cracked up everyone in the meeting (except me).

We had our meeting about the computer center with the parents.  Only 12 poeple showed up, only a few of them parents.  Its hard to get parents involved in anything here.  We decided to try again, asking those 12 to come to another meeting next week, and this time bring someone with them.  Try, try again.  The teenagers who are woking at keeping the peace around the computer center are doing a good job.  We have had very few problems since they started. 

Profe in the DR 34

Profe in the DR 34

1-30-12

People here buy what they need in very small quantities, usually just what they need for that day or a single meal.  Back home where we might buy an entire can, jar, or bottle of something, people here will buy just a spoonful.   For example, before lunch everyday, you will see people carrying a small bowl to the colmado so they can buy a spoonful of tomato paste to make spaghetti.  Just about everything here can be purchased in a small quantity, from a day’s worth of shampoo, to a single bullion cube. 

            We have been having several tremors lately, nothing above 5 on the Richter scale.  However this was enough to put several cracks in the columns and beams at the elementary school. 

            A rat was trying to take up residence in my spare room.  I believe he left after I told him he would have to share the rent.  (Either that or he didn’t like the shovel I was chasing him with.)

            Yesterday the co-ed soccer team played their last game of the winter league.   We played Batey Cuchilla here and won 3-0.  The wind was blowing the fine dirt from the field all around, and by the end of the game I felt like I had been sandblasted.  (Grass fields sure would be nice.)

2-7-12

            Kids here carry half of a razor blade to school with them to use to sharpen pencils.  There are no pencil sharpeners in the room.

The ants are back.  For a few months, they were not to be seen, but now they are back and everywhere.  This morning I washed my one and only pot, but forgot about the lid and left if on the stove.  At lunch I put some water on to boil and covered it with the lid.  When I went to add the noodles to the water I lifted the lid and discovered ant soup!  Apparently they were on the underside of the lid while it sat on the stove and I didn’t realize it. 

It has only rained once since sometime around September and everything is dry and dusty.   Today the wind is quite strong and is blowing around the dust in large clouds.  I can’t wait until we get some rain again.  (I actually look forward to hurricane season.)

I have been working a lot with children’s literacy lately.  I added several classes in January, three of which are starting at ground zero.  Starting in infancy, children in the US have tons of toys and games that help build reading skills, not to mention educational DVD’s, computer programs, websites, books, access to libraries, and hopefully parents who read to them.  None of this exists here in the batey.  In addition, the majority of their parents most likely speak to them in Creole instead of Spanish (especially when they are mad), and many parents themselves are illiterate.  So when I say ground zero, I mean zero.  (You can also add poor nutrition and one of the world’s worst education systems to their woes.)  I am however seeing some progress, even if it is coming about slower than I am used to.

I managed to come up with another 15 books for the library, three children’s books, some old textbooks, and a few bibles.  (It’s hard to find free books in Spanish.)  The kids warned me that someone might try to steal the bibles.  I figure if someone steals one, then they have the most need to read it.

            2-10-12

            I just got back from the capital.  Peace Corps is celebrating its 50^th birthday this year, and PC DR turned 50 this week.  They had events for previous volunteers.  Over 200 returned for the event, mostly people who were volunteers before 1975. 

            While I was gone (only one night), the ants decided to avenge their comrades who fell in the great soup massacre by getting into all my food, even though it was protective containers (these are very small ants).  And to top it all off, they were laying in ambush in my towel hung over the curtain rod.  When I came back, there wasn’t electricity so I showered to the dim light of the lantern in the main room, and couldn’t see the imminent attack.  They waited until I had almost completely dried off before they initiated their well coordinated assault on all fronts (and all backs as well).  I was being bit all over, and the shower was almost out of water, down to just drips.  Luckily I keep a few 2 liter bottles full of emergency water, and quickly grabbed them and some soap to defend myself.  After a lengthy fight (and a lot of scrubbing) the battle ended, righteousness prevailing (that being me since I am writing the history and they aren’t).  Unfortunately I fear my war against the ants has just begun. 

“You can kill 10 of us for every 1 of you we bite, but in the end we will win and you will lose.”- Ho Chi Mini-ant

Today the ants got into my peanut butter that I left unguarded so I finally decided to escalate to biological weapons and sprayed where they were coming in.  They keep finding new places however to enter my house.  “Hasta la muerte, siempre.” –Che Hormiga.

2-16-12

It finally rained here a little on Monday.  It was not much more than to hold the dust down, but it was sufficient for the teachers not to come to school.  Half my students didn’t show up to classes either.