Profe in the DR 31

Profe in the DR 31

12-22-11

Went to the capital on the 14^th to see the back doctor.  He said I was improving and didn’t need to wear the brace all the time, only when I had to sit for long periods of time. 

Third day on bike after taking off the brace I broke the ball bearing case in the bottom bracket again.  Now I have to wait until I go to the capital again to get parts to fix it. 

The co-ed soccer team beat Batey 9 yesterday 2-1.  Batey 9 has a strong team and this was the first time we beat them.  The kids were very excited.  It hasn’t rained here in a long time so there were several inches of dust in the play.  We threw water on the field before the game, but it was still a very dusty affair.  

The temperatures here in the morning are a bit on the cool side (everyone here says its cold).  The little boys who usually run around naked all the time actually put on some clothes.  One little boy had on a large t-shirt that completely covered his hands and feet, so only his head was sticking out.  It looked like a shirt was walking down the street.

Some of the evangelical churches go out every morning at 4am and walk up and down the streets, singing and playing drums for the entire month of December.   I haven’t had a good nights sleep since November.

12-27-11

The population of the batey has about doubled with all the people returning home for the holidays.  It’s amazing how many people from here live in the capital.  They always return dressed in some of their nicest clothes, and seemingly trying to impress everyone here with the fact they live in the capital.

What little celebrations of Christmas there are here take place on the 24^th.   The colmados started filling up around noon.  At night, people ate a special Christmas dinner, that seems to always include fried chicken, and possibly some other type of meat, pork or goat.  Unlike the states, they don’t all sit down and eat together, but rather serve people as they drop by.  It is a much more subdued affair than in the states.   I was invited to two houses to eat. 

There are however Voodoo celebrations on the 24^th.  Because Haitian slaves had to hide their African religions from their French masters, they held Voodoo celebrations on Catholic religious days.  There was a lot of dancing, playing of homemade musical instruments, eating, and drinking, which went on all day long.  There were two processions in the streets, one in the early morning and the other at noon.   They were led by a bull with a colorful decoration draped over its back.  Then came a tall man with a long whip he would swing around over head and then crack on the road.   Then came a man in a straw cowboy hat, a red bandana, an empty machete scabbard, and with a whistle in his mouth.  He seemed to be in charge of the ceremony and guided the procession.  He carried a decorated rattle, and a wood bowl with a bottle and other things in it.  He would also draw the Voodoo designs on the road at the intersections.  Crossroads have importance in the Voodoo religion.  He would also occasionally take a sip of rum and then blow it out of his mouth in a real fine mist, covering anyone nearby.  He was then followed by the group of dancing women, all dressed in the same solid green homemade dresses.  They would stop at every intersection and the women would dance in a circle.  They were then followed by the young men playing the homemade instruments.  These included long pieces of bamboo about 3-4 inches in diameter.  They were painted brown with white spots.  The young man would blow into the bamboo while they hit the outside with a stick.  Other instruments include the end of a brass horn (possibly from a semi truck) attached to a long tube; pieces of perforated metal that resembled cheese shredders that they would play by rubbing something up and down it; and other homemade trumpets.  The spectators made up the final group in the procession, often dancing along as they followed. 

On the 25^th I headed up to Los Rios about an hour west of here and celebrated Christmas with about a dozen other volunteers.  Sarah and Masa put together a big Christmas feast with turkey, mashed potatoes and all the fixings.  It was incredible.  Unfortunately my stomach isn’t used to such rich food in such quantities and I filled up immediately.   The next day we headed out to see Lake Enriquillo, iguanas, and cave drawings left by the Taino Indians.  The drawings look like smiley faces that have been deeply carved into the rock.  The lake was quite impressive, it is very long and lined by mountains on both sides.  It is a saline lake and boasts the highest concentration of crocodiles in the Carribean.  The iguanas that live near the lake were about 2-3 feet long mini dinosaurs, which scared two of the women in our group.  We finished off our little tour by stopping by a park and had something to drink in the shade of large trees as we sat in the middle of one of several crystal clean streams running by.  A very enjoyable day.

Profe in the DR 30

Profe in the DR 30

11-28-11

            I got a hold of several young children’s books in Spanish in the capital, like Curious George and such.  Since I got back to my site Friday night, tons of kids have been coming over to read them (or just look at the pictures), including lots of teenagers and a few young men.  I haven’t had much success however trying to get anyone to read chapter books yet.

            The doctor wants me to keep wearing the back brace for two more weeks.  I still have a little numbness in my left foot, but it is better than before. 

            While in the capital I picked up 30 soccer balls from World Vision that their country director promised me.  They are for our soccer league, five for each community.

I also spoke to a young Haitian man on Sunday about him coaching the team.  He showed up at practice today, and said he wants to coach starting Wednesday.  Hopefully things will work out.  For this program to keep going after I am gone, it’s important we find a good coach.

12-11-11

The soccer team won their game last Saturday against Batey 7, 1-0.  I had to ref the game since they couldn’t find anyone there to do it. 

            The soccer team continues to work for an hour on the soccer field every Sunday.  Mostly cutting back the thorn bush, and then burning it once it’s dry.  Its dirty, painful work, the thorns go through everything.  We often encounter wasps.  One twelve year old last week had a branch bounce back and smack him in the eye really hard.  It left a blue spot on his eye.  Hopefully it will go away soon.  However, all the hard work has been good for them.  They now have the biggest and I believe best soccer field among the bateys. 

            The Sala de tareas has been going very well.  We have been focusing on addition and using lots of games involving dice, flashcards, playing cards, and bingo cards with addition problems written on them, and a few games on the computer.  The children who have been coming regularly have really improved in a short period of time.  The challenge is getting them to come regularly.  The computers really help motivate them, but for some it is not enough. 

            The chess club has been growing with more and more young children and girls coming to play.  A 58 year old man who just moved to the batey has been joining us as well.  He used to play a lot 16 years ago.  Once he dusted off the cobwebs, he has been showing the teenagers a thing or two.  Adoni however has managed to hang with him, winning as many games as he loses.

            Art club has grown to the point I don’t have enough places for everyone who wants to participate, and have to turn them away.  I think I need to add another session to accommodate the demand.

            All my other classes and projects are going well.  Once the winter vacation starts here, many of my classes will come to a halt until January.  The kids asked for a break during the vacation.

            I spent two days at the beach in Los Patos.  I hardly ever take RR days, as I am always working; however, I think I need to work them into my schedule more.  It was nice to just relax and sit in the sun by the ocean.

Profe in the DR 29

Profe in the DR 29

11-17-11

Saturday the soccer team had their first game of the new league against Batey Cuchilla.  They lost 1-0 even though they were a much stronger team with more experience.  For some reason or other they just didn’t have their heads in the game.  I suppose it was just as well.  After the game we had to wait an hour and a half for our ride home.  The people in Batey Cuchilla might have been less agreeable to us waiting around had they lost the game.

Saturday night it rained hard, filling the batey up with mud and puddles.   Sunday the soccer field was too muddy to play or work on, so they decided to work on the field on Tuesday. 

I spent some time Sunday and Tuesday loading a few children’s educational games into the computers.  Its difficult finding good programs in Spanish.  Wednesday, Aiden an IT volunteer came over and checked up on all the computers, fixing a few things and making sure they are all running well.

We have been having problems with young children while we are trying to play chess at night.  They are running around the outside of the refugio, yelling, throwing rocks, turning the lights off on us, and trying to bother us as much as possible.  No one ever watches over their children here and they all just run wild, doing whatever they please.  Like I said before, they remind me of a bad scene from Lord of the Flies.

Monday a general strike was called.  I don’t know if it ever actually took place.  They very seldom do.  However, most people stayed home anyway, some out of fear of a strike, others because it was a good excuse for not going to work.  (Strikes can be very violent affairs, usually ending in several deaths.)

My two Sala de tareas (tutoring class) are going well.  All or the kids are already showing progress in math.  All other projects are going well too. 

11-24-11

            Happy Thanksgiving.  Not quite the same when you’re away from family. 

Last Saturday the soccer team had their second game.  The kids played very well, staying in their positions, and passing the ball.  They won 7-0.  Three of the younger players all scored goals.   

            Sunday I headed to the capital for meetings Monday through Wednesday.  Today I am planning to head back to my site.  I have a lot of things to get done.

Profe in the DR 28

Profe in the DR 28

11-3-11

Sunday the soccer team worked for an hour again cutting back thorn bush.   They are saying they want to do an hour of work on the play every Sunday then play soccer.  I met with the computer lab volunteers in the evening and went over how to run the lab.  Monday they opened the lab officially.  However, by midday it was clear that the volunteers weren’t charging everyone to use the internet.  Several of the volunteers were letting their friends use the internet without paying.

There was a large spider living in my shower for almost two weeks.   I was just about to give it a name, but another slightly larger spider came along and ate it and took up its place.  I didn’t trust this new one, but luckily it left after two days.

Tuesday I headed to the capital to see the nerve doctor.  I ended up having to stay until Thursday.  The doctor explained to me how the two herniated discs in my lower back were pushing against the nerves that go to my left foot, and that is why it is numb.  He said they shouldn’t need surgery, and prescribed two medicines and a wrap around brace.  No lifting, no riding on the back of motorcycles, boards under the mattress, and a few other suggestions.  Hopefully in 3-4 weeks things will be back to normal.

While in the capital I went to the movies for the first time in this country.  In true Dominican style, everyone was yelling at the big screen.

11-11-11

I have been super busy this week and there has been very little electricity so I have not had an opportunity to write at all.  I started up two new sala de tareas (tutoring groups).  I am focusing on addition, and am using older students to help the younger ones.  The first games of our new soccer league are this Sunday and I have been busy getting things ready for this.  Our league now has six co-ed teams of 12-17 year-olds, two more than last time.  Transportation continues to be our biggest problem.  My APCD (Associate Peace Corps Director) dropped by on Wednesday to see how I am doing.  My art club has decided to display some of their drawings in the community center.  There has been a sudden surge in interest in chess, unfortunately surpassing the number of boards we have and leading to a little unrest.  The soccer team continues to work on cutting back the thorn bush and getting ready for this Saturday’s game.  I added another English class on Fridays. 

The computer lab continues to have problems.  There are a handful of young men who are dominating the lab, not allowing the kids to use the computers.  They spend all their time on facebook, and refuse to pay.  They bully the younger volunteer workers.  After speaking with the computer committee president Monday evening it was decided that we would block facebook.  Jason an IT volunteer came over on Tuesday to block facebook, but when the young men heard what he was going to do, they came over yelling and shouting and practically starting a small riot.  Amauris intervened and asked that we wait until they could meet with the computer committee that evening and discuss matters.  The meeting lasted about 2 hours.  The young men insisted that everything was fine and that we didn’t need to change anything.  (The children would all disagree.)  They also argued that the internet should be free.  (World Vision who donated the computers said we should charge for the internet and not for things that were educational so that the center could someday be sustainable.)  In the end, nothing was decided, three of the committee members left, possible quitting.  A meeting called for Thursday never happened and no new date has been set.   The computer center is still open.  The younger volunteer workers have been replaced by slightly older volunteers, and someone (not from the committee) decided that they weren’t going to charge anymore, but only allow people to use the computers for a half hour (some volunteers are already allowing some people to use the computers for an hour or more while other people wait outside).   Things are currently somewhat peaceful, but the state of the committee, agreement on rules, a final decision on to charge or not, a calendar of who is going to work in the center, etc. has all been left in the air.  I am speaking with the committee and other key people involved encouraging them to have another meeting involving the community to resolve these issues. 

Profe in the DR 27

Profe in the DR 27

I spent six days in the capital last week.  I headed in on Monday afternoon, arriving around 5:30 pm.  Tuesday I had my mid-term dentist check-up, all good.  Wednesday was my mid-term medical exam; all good, except he thought I should get an x-ray of my spine.  The PC doctor felt an x-ray wouldn’t show what we needed to see, and sent me for an MRI instead.  So Thursday I had an MRI.  It took about 20 minutes.  The machine was very noisy and very confining, and the technician told me not to move.  So I lay there, inside the machine, with my hands up on my chest, slightly crossed, feeling a little claustrophobic, and thinking to myself “I wouldn’t make a very good vampire.”  

            Friday, Saturday and Sunday was the Construye tus sueños business plan competition.  The 24 semi-finalists were divided up in four rooms, six groups each room.  While the other competitors spoke of their plans for future businesses, Jairo had emphasized how much he had already done/invested to already start up his business.  He was hoping to show how determined he was, and to show that his plan was more than just an idea.  That it would be successful.  Unfortunately for him, the two judges in that room were weighing heavily a businesses need for the prize money.  The judge told me Jairo by far had the best plan, but that it was clear he was going to be successful even without winning the prize money (a strange kind of competition where the winners weren’t necessarily those with the best plans).   Jairo took it in stride, and we later discussed other ways to raise the money he was hoping to win to buy a small truck.

            I returned Sunday night, exhausted and back sore after six days of sleeping on beds that sagged so bad they resembled hammocks.  By 10pm I was out cold despite the blaring music from the colmado next door.

            Monday was pretty normal, three English classes, Creole class, working with a student on math, soccer, and chess at night.  In addition to that there was a meeting of the education committee, which is in charge of the computer center.  When the committee formed in January, it was thought that World Vision was going to hire someone to run the computer center, so people joined the committee because they wanted a job, not because they wanted to help the community, or even knew anything about computers.  Once they found out that World Vision was not going to pay anyone, they all quit, leaving only the president of the committee.  When there was talk of charging adults to use the center, they came back to the committee, hoping to get money again. 

            On Tuesday I woke up to the sound of women fighting.  It seems the fight was just a continuation of a fight that broke out the evening before over a man.  It’s not so much a case of love and jealousy as it is of protecting one’s economic interests.

            The results of my MRI came in, and the doctor said while I don’t have any single great problem, I have several smaller problems, and asked me to come back to the capital Wednesday morning.

I went to the capital Wednesday and saw the back specialist.  If I can remember well, I believe he said I have a herniated disc, arthritis, a nerve being pinched, muscle spasms, and something else.  He showed me the x-rays and said “ as you can clearly see here …”, however, it wasn’t so clear to me.  He prescribed me two medicines, and told me to bend my knees when I lift anything, even a pencil.  The Peace Corps doctor said she is going to consult Washington about what else I should do.   I got back to my site in the evening on Thursday.

            Friday I rode my mt. bike for an hour, then had art club.  About ten boys were drawing today.  After that several boys came in to play chess for a while.  I taught English and had Creole class, then headed out to the play for soccer.  As I walked out on the soccer field, there was a man with a shovel and wheelbarrow digging up the little bit of grass we have on the field.  When I asked him why he was stealing the grass and making holes in our soccer field, he said “It’s OK, it’s for the park.”   While I applaud his efforts working on fixing the park, I couldn’t understand why he would take the grass from the middle of the soccer field instead of walking just a few more yards to where plenty of grass grew behind the soccer goal.  What was even harder to believe was that half the soccer team was already out on the field while he was digging up the sod, and said nothing to the man, especially when you consider how hard they worked filling in all the holes on the field earlier in the year.  In the evening, while the kids played chess, I was reading Matilda in Spanish.  Some girls were asking about the book, so I read the first chapter to them.  It’s not as easy doing read-alouds in Spanish, but I’m working on it.  I have been reading to a few kids here and there, and plan to do more and more in the future.  It’s hard to find good books however.  Most books I come across talk about things that kids raised in a batey would not understand.  The kids here can hardly read, and need all the help they can get.

            Saturday I rode for an hour, studied Creole, cleaned house, supervised the kids playing chess, studied Spanish, had soccer practice, and ended the day with more chess.

            Sunday after riding for an hour, we calculated the bi-weekly chess rankings.  I also made a checker board using bottle caps for checkers.  We then worked on the soccer field, cutting back thorn bush,  adding more dirt to the field to fill in low spots, and removed glass from the field (no matter how much we pick up, there always seems to be more.)  The kids then played soccer.

            Normal busy Monday.

            Tuesday I had two meetings with representatives from World Vision.  One was to iron out some of the problems with the committee in charge of the computer lab.  The second was to discuss starting a sala de tareas.  They are asking me to start up a tutoring center.  I am going to use older students to help teach the younger students, using games, activities and the computers to do so.  We will start with math and then move into reading.  We will start November 7^th with one group in the morning and one in the afternoon.

            My Wednesdays are pretty much like my Mondays.

            Thursday I had my first English class with Jairo.  We decided that he is around so many Americans in all the different conferences he goes to that he should study English.  After that I went with him to Neyba to buy some long-needed groceries and get to an ATM.  I was down to my last few pesos.  Jairo and his wife were trying to get a birth certificate for their baby born in August.  They have already made several trips to the government office, and were once again told to come back some other day.  Since both of them are very dark-skinned, there seems to be no hurry for the officials to register the baby.  In fact, they are being made to jump through a lot of hoops that someone lighter skinned wouldn’t have to.  They are also constantly being told to come back another day.  The officials are hoping that Jairo won’t have the money to keep traveling to Neyba, and will give up.  Discrimination against Haitians and anyone who looks Haitian is very strong here.  In the afternoon, I went to Batey 5 to further discuss the winter soccer league with Elia.

            Friday involved art club, English, soccer, chess, and in the evening a meeting of the computer committee.  I was supposed to meet with Yasily from World Vision but she never showed nor called.

            Saturday Yanlico arrived at noon, and after lunch we went to Batey 4 to conduct a coaches clinic.  Yanlico is from a batey in the north side of the country where they have a very well developed soccer league.  He played for many years and now coaches.  After the clinic we returned to Isabela and Yanlico conducted a practice with the team of teenagers.

             

Profe in the DR 26

Profe in the DR 26

            Right now Yosi is sitting across the table from me practicing subtraction flash cards.  (The mother of fellow volunteer Heidi sent me a package of math flash cards, foam clocks, granola bars, and propel drink mix.  Other than having my tax forms sent to me, this is the only package I have received here.)  Getting back to Yosi, he is an overweight 17 year old who would be in the fifth grade should he finally start school this year.  He has been waiting for his father who lives in the capital with another wife, to send him money to buy his uniform.  He comes by my house everyday all excited telling me how his dad will send him money for his uniform and a cell phone on the 15^th, then it’s the 30^th, then the 15^th of the next month.  This has been going on since mid August.  Sometimes his dad promises to buy him a bicycle, or new clothes, and he always has a good reason why he can’t send the money.  Maybe next time.  So since he is not going to school, I have been working with him a little.  He couldn’t subtract simple numbers when I started; today he only missed one card in the pack.  We are now working on multiplication.   Yosi also started playing soccer with the team in July.  At first everyone just laughed at him.  At his first game, the crowd was laughing at him, as well as the other team; especially when he crashed into a teammate and fell on top of him.  However, Yosi has a lot of power in his legs, and when he gets a hold of the ball, he can launch it ¾ the length of the field.  This has helped him earn a little respect, and people aren’t laughing at him (much) anymore.  Soccer has been very good for him.

            It’s almost 11am now, and several boys just entered the house and are waiting to go to the refugio for our art club.  I managed to get some old women’s magazines from the PC office, and we use them for art club.  One of the boys, 12 year old Mistelin, has become quite good at drawing women’s faces.  His mother hung one of his pictures up in her little store.  She wishes there were somewhere he could study art.

            It’s the end of the day now.  I had about a dozen kids including three girls join us today for art club.  After lunch, I spent a few hours working with a dozen kids on math, and taught one kid how to play chess.  The young Haitian man I teach English to at 4pm never showed up.  Several kids were absent from soccer, and others just late.  We worked on defense today.  I had several people drop by the house after that to talk about this or that, including two members from the computer center committee, and Jairo who is working on his presentation for the business competition.  At 8pm I headed back to the refugio so the kids could play chess till 9:30pm.  I finished the day off with a little me time.  I watched an episode of the HBO series “Game of Thrones” on my laptop.  Jason, a fellow volunteer downloaded it for me.  It’s after 11pm, and I am heading to bed, serenaded to sleep by the yelling and singing of an evangelical group behind the house, and bachata music played in a colmado down the street. 

            It’s Sunday afternoon now.  The colmado next door is playing bachata at full blast like always, and several people are sitting around enjoying cold Presidente.  Yesterday I met up with PCV Justin, in Barahona and we then rode mt. bikes south down the coast.  The views are incredibly beautiful with the mountains running right down to the sea.  A large part of the mountains are still virgin forest, never been cut.  The road is full of long steep climbs, and fast descents, in some places passing under a canopy of branches and vines.  We set out in a light rain, which soon turned to a heavy downpour  that soaked us to the bone.  It also turned the road into a fast flowing river in places, and giant puddles in others.  After an hour or so, the rain let off.  We stopped after 2 ½ hours in Los Patos, meeting up with Jason who was spending some time at the beach.  We had lunch down by a river right on the coast, some excellent fish with rice and beans, tostados, and sliced tomatoes.  We then continued up the coast another hour to Enriquillo and stopped by PCV Melody’s house where I said good-bye to Justin and headed back alone to Los Patos.  I shared a room with Jason.  In the morning I put on my still damp riding clothes and headed back to Barahona, making much better time riding alone (only two hours).  I had something to eat, and then decided I had earned a frozen yogurt (cherries, strawberries, and peach).  The frozen yogurt sure must have empowered me, because I made the 44 kilometers from Barahona back to my site in only an hour and fifteen minutes.  I was flying.  I’m sure the tailwind didn’t hurt either.  I arrived about five minutes before it started to rain again.

Profe in the DR 25

Profe in the DR 25

 October 5, 2011

The cry can be heard through out the batey, yeaaaaaaaaah!  The electricity has come back on.  I had better take advantage of this and write a bit before it goes back off again. 

The 19^th of September marked 13 months in country.  On the 20^th, they finally hooked up the internet to our computer center.  Unfortunately the electricity was still not hooked up.  Our computer center entered the 21^st century before it entered the 20^th. 

On the 21^st I headed to the capital for meetings on Thursday and Friday.  I stayed with a friend, a former volunteer now working for an NGO.  He has a nice apartment in the colonial zone.  Friday night we tried to barbeque but the charcoal was super cheap and hardly burned so we gave up and ordered a pizza.  The next day we tried again with different charcoal and it turned out great.  It was nice to have a little taste from home. 

            I got back to my site on Sunday.  Some of the guys here were already using the internet; they had run an extension cord from a nearby house, powering 3 computers.  On Thursday and Friday, they finally came out and replaced the transformer that led to the computer center.  (I was told it burned out 5 years ago.)  So now all 10 computers have power.  The commotion that followed was crazy.  Everyone and their brother wanted to use the internet, the place was packed, lots of noise, and people arguing and yelling. (Why would this be any different from anything else here in the batey.)   And of course almost no one knows how to use the computers so I was being bombarded with questions. Everyone wanted to get to facebook (or Fasbuk as some where spelling it) but didn’t have accounts or email accounts to form an account.  The kids were all coming to me begging me to let them go use the computers since they know I have keys to the center.  Today, a fellow volunteer came over and set up the computers, with a master computer to control the others.  Starting tomorrow we will begin to charge to use the internet.  We are going to use the money to maintain the center.  (Classes using the computers will be free.)  Hopefully this will end all the problems we have been having, since one’s wallet will regulate how much one can use the computer.  We are also going to (try to) regulate the number of people who can enter at one time.  This is far more difficult than in the US, since everyone here just walks freely into everyone else’s homes, and thinks nothing of it.

The speed of the internet here is slower than dial up but it’s better than nothing. 

            This morning I woke to the sound of a small airplane circling around the batey.  It appears that the sugar consorcio has started working on the next sugar harvest.  The plane sprays a chemical on the sugar cane fields that makes the sugar cane plants dry up so they can burn the leaves, making it easier to cut.  This plane flies right over people and animals, and the fields are all around the bateys, so I have to ask myself what affect the chemical has on humans.  I am told it kills fish, and plants that people are trying to grow in their conucos.  I just can’t imagine it’s too good for us.

            Oops, did it again.  I always forget when I am boiling water to cook noodles, and end up boiling away all the water and have to start over.  Late dinner tonight.

            Elections are coming up in 2012, and campaigns are in full swing.  Current mayors and governors are starting to work on public works projects such as fixing roads, etc. to get votes.  Most of these projects have laid half finished since the last election.  Here in the batey, the mayor is fixing the park.  The park had been built some years past by some other mayor trying to get votes.  He didn’t involve the community at all, and when he was done building it, people here ripped it apart to rob the electric wire to the lights.   Children and goats took care of the rest.  I’ve been asking people here what is going to be different this time.  No one seems to know.  Some hope that remorse over what happened the last time will keep people from destroying the park again.  Hopefully it will be finished before the election.  Hopefully the community will take care of it.

            About a dozen men were loading up a truck in front of my house.  Once they finished they all began to argue.  I can’t hear what they are arguing, or for that matter in which language they are arguing.   My best guess would be over money, since one of the men came in to ask me what was 28 x 2.  If someone were to ask me what the national past time in the DR is, I would have to say “arguing” (that and sitting all day watching cars go by.)

            Now I just had a dozen or so boys come in my house bombarding me with questions about soccer, chess, English, and computers.  I think they just don’t have anything else to do right now. After more than an hour, I finally booted them out.  (It’s after 9pm.)   I am trying to get this, and several other bits of work that require the laptop, done before the electricity goes out again.

            I am having problems with rats this week.  On Sunday a rat came scurrying out into the main room, saw me and ran under the little refrigerator.   I grabbed a broom and went after it.  Two rats came running out.  It was actually quite amazing watching them flee.  They jumped from one thing to the other, jumped up, grabbed some wires and escaped where the tin roof meets the house.  They are very talented.  Tuesday night I put some rat poison in several piles around the house.  The rats ate all of the poison, and half of a bar of soap that smelled like fruit.  I figured that would be the end of my rat problems, but the next night they came back again.  It was raining that night, so the rats left mud everywhere they went.  They finished off the other half of the bar of soap, and got into the garbage.  I’m thinking about asking to borrow a cat or something.

            We just had to fill out our VRF (Volunteer Reporting Forms) again.  The computerized form just asks for numbers of participants in primary projects, and is used in Washington D.C.  It always depresses me when we have to fill these out because it does not reflect all that we do here.  (It doesn’t even come close.)  So much of what I do on a daily basis can not be measured, and my work and influence goes way beyond my primary projects. 

            Jairo is participating in a business plan competition.  After taking a course on how to write a plan, he wrote up a 12 page plan on a business he would like to start.  The winner of the competition gets 60,000 pesos to start their business.  The competition is funded by Plan International and Peace Corps Volunteers run it.  I spent countless hours, over several months helping Jairo with the course and with the plan.  When I was in the capital, I found out he was selected as one of the 24 finalists.  They returned his plan with some suggested changes to improve it, and he had until the following Tuesday to re-submit it.  Since I couldn’t read my email for two weeks, I didn’t know he had been selected until a week and a half later, and by the time I got back to my site, it was Sunday and he had only two days to make all the corrections and re-submit the plan.  The two of us worked on it until late in the night Sunday and Monday, and all day Tuesday, and sent it in a half hour before the deadline.  Now Jairo is preparing his presentation.  He has to speak for ten minutes in front of a panel of judges made up of prominent business people.  He then has to field five minutes of questions.  Jairo is a good public speaker so I am hopeful.

            Jairo hasn’t been waiting to win this competition to start his business.  He is starting a cleaning products company.  He first took classes on how to make cleaning products.  He then took a class on how to run a business, and then the course on how to write a business plan.  He started little by little buying the things he needs.  And a few months ago he started selling his products right here in the batey.  He then started little by little selling them in nearby towns.  He is doing all of this outside of the hours of his current job.  Each month his sales are growing.  He needs a small truck, and is hoping to win the business plan competition so he can buy one.  He just showed me last night the new labels he had printed up for his products, very professional.  He hopes to increase sales enough by the end of December that he can quit his current job and devote all his time to his new company.

           

Profe in the DR 24

Profe in the DR 24

It gets dark around 7pm these days, and when there is no electricity in the evening there isn’t much to do.  It’s hard to see by the lamp light, so I can’t read or study, and it’s hard to play cards or chess.  The lamp also makes my house too hot.  I often find myself sitting on my porch and watching people walk by in front of the house, just like so many other people here in the batey.

Sharing is a big part of the culture here.  People share almost everything.  It is very common to see a child with a sucker in his/her mouth take it out and give it to another child (who may then share it with a few others).  If you stop by while someone is eating they will say “a buen tiempo” and offer you their food on their plate.  People will often accept and use the same fork or spoon the person who offered was using.  (You can politely refuse the offer by saying “buen provecho”.)

Sunday I rode my mt. bike for four hours.  I headed up into the mountains and back. Deep in the mountains, I saw an old man tilling his field with two cows harnessed to the till.  In the afternoon we determined the chess rankings.  The kids write down who beat who for two weeks, then we go through that and determine who is number 1, etc.  There are currently 31 kids participating in the rankings, and even more playing chess.  Since we started doing rankings back in May, Juan Carlos has been number 1, but he finally lost his position to Adoni.  Jaro who is ranked fourth, played 49 games in the two week period.  In the evening I played volleyball, and after dark I had my usual houseful of kids playing chess.  When you think of people playing chess, you usually think of people sitting quietly and moving the pieces.  It’s not quite like that here.  The way they play here, it’s more like a playground basketball game with all its trash talking, hoot and howling, and frequent arguments.  (Nothing in this country seems to be done quietly.)

Monday morning while out for my morning ride, I came around a corner and met up with the largest bull I have seen so far in this country standing right in my path.  He didn’t seem inclined to give right away, so I convinced him to leave with a couple of rocks thrown in his direction.    Now that school has begun, I had to change the time of my English classes.  The kids here either go to school in the morning from 8:30am to 12:00 or in the afternoon from 2pm to 5pm.  I now teach the kids who go to school in the afternoon at 11:30am, and the kids who go to school in the morning at 2pm.   I also have some kids who don’t go to school, and they like to come to both of my classes.  Many of the kids who are in the higher grades are learning English at school, and come by all the time asking questions on how to pronounce something they learned that day. 

Monday evening, after my English/Creole class with Emanuel, I had the first soccer practice for the winter league.  We included two more bateys into the league this time.  Since Blanco quit as coach, I am coaching the team myself this time.  Blanco had so many problems with lack of discipline and respect that I have decided to work hard on teaching these concepts to the team.  My plan is to make them a more coach-able team so that I can once again find someone from the community to coach them and that person will not have the same problems as Blanco.   I am always working towards sustainability in my projects, and the only way to do so with soccer is to have someone from the community coaching the team.

Tuesday I had to go to Neyba in the morning.  I had to download a form for a grant from my email.  I also had forgotten my memory stick in the computer I was using there Thursday.  I didn’t think there was much of a chance of recovering my memory stick, but when I arrived at the internet center, the owner was sitting outside and upon seeing me, quickly got up and went inside, and pulled my memory stick out of a drawer and handed it to me.  I was very thankful he is an honest man.  In the afternoon, I worked on the grant which is asking for money for transportation for the winter soccer league.  It’s not like back home where everybody’s parents can just drive them over to the field, or there’s a school bus to take us there.  We have to hire someone with a truck to get the kids to the other communities to play, and gas is expensive here.  While I was trying to write, a million kids of all ages were playing cards, chess, or studying math flash cards in my house.  During the day, lots of really young kids like to come in and play their own version of chess.  They sit and play for long periods or time, seemingly following some sort of rules, although I can’t seem to figure them out.  It seems their favorite part is capturing pieces, so that is how their games go, one piece capturing another until all the pieces are gone.  I keep trying to teach them the real rules of chess, but they seem to prefer their own versions better. 

Around 4pm, the national president of World Vision and a few other directors stopped by to discuss the lack of electricity for the computer lab they installed way back in January.  The ten new HP computers they installed have been just sitting there collecting dust because they never connected the electricity up to the center.  The WV president promised to have it connected within two weeks.  He also promised to connect them to the internet, but didn’t say when.  I used the opportunity to bring up the problems I was having in receiving any support from their local office.  I have been asking for simple things like art supplies, and sports equipment for more than six months with no results.  The person in charge of this kept promising me to get me them soon, but never came through, even though I have been helping him with his projects here.  The WV president promised to get me these things and told me to go through the regional director from now on.   I am really hoping that he makes good on his promises.

Tuesday evening we had a great soccer practice, we got a lot done and the kids enjoyed it.  After Monday’s Practice I had to have a firm talk with one of my best players, Adoni, since he continuously didn’t want to do what the team was doing, and kept doing his own thing.  I let him know that if he wanted to play, he had to be part of the team.  Adoni is one of those guys who when you say up, he says down, so he said he wasn’t going to play anymore.  I was pleased to see him show up on Tuesday, and I was even more pleased to see him participate just like everyone else.

Wednesday, I got out for an hour on the mt.bike, and then had my usual English classes.  I continued working on the grant, and on making more materials for the English classes.  Emanuel never showed up, so I didn’t have my English/Creole class with him.  The majority of the kids showed up late for soccer, but the practice went well.  Blanco came out to watch.  I am hoping that he will decide to get involved with the team again.  He seems to really like both the sport and the kids.  He’s short tempered but probably about as good of a coach as I will find here. 

            Thursday morning my neighbor turned on his stereo full blast at 5:51am.  When I mentioned something about the early hour of his music, he said it was OK because it was Christian music.  Several of the Evangelical churches here like to play loud music, or sing and play drums while walking up and down the streets in the middle of the night or the very early morning (like 4am).  They too seem to think it is OK to wake people up if its Christian music.   

I spent the morning working on multiplication facts with teenagers and one twenty year old.  After lunch I took Papito out for an hour and a half mt.bike ride.  Soccer practice then chess.

Friday I was planning to go to Barahona but my plans got changed at the last moment.  I had art club at 11:00.  We have been drawing faces out of old magazines.  Mistelin, a 12 year old boy who lives next door is getting quite good at drawing faces.  His mother had one of his drawings hung up in her store yesterday.  English class with Emanuel at 3pm, soccer at 5:30pm, chess at night. 

Saturday I again rode my mt.bike up into the mountains, this time for 5 hours 15min.  I enjoy the peace and quiet and solitude the mountains offer, a big switch from life in a batey.  I then attended a meeting with the Sugar Consorcio about the soccer tournament they are putting on for the men’s teams.  The captain of the men’s team from here was supposed to go, not me, but he never showed up, so they called me and asked if I could go instead.  We started planning this tournament back in January, forever pushing back the date of the tournament.  It was going to be Sunday but Sunday morning about 9am, I got a message saying we would have to push it back again. 

I spent Sunday studying, got out on the bike for an hour, and just basically recovering from the week.  Having kids in my house all the time, them forever arguing, fighting, all the noise, the negativity, the mess, etc. really wears you down.   I decided that from now on we are no longer going to do activities in my house anymore.  From now on we will do everything in the refugio.   If World Vision connects the electricity like they are promising, then we can play chess there at night.

    

Profe in the DR 23

Profe in the DR 23                                                      Wednesday, September 7, 2011

On Tuesday August 23^rd, we finally did get some rain out from Irene in the evening.   It rained for a few hours.  Most of it dried up the next day.   Wednesday and Thursday were like normal, working on all my normal projects and helping Jairo write his business plan.   Friday morning I started back up the Art club after summer vacation.  I still haven’t received any art supplies from World Vision, even though they told me they would give me some six months ago.  In the afternoon, I found out that my soccer coach Blanco has quit (for the fourth time).  The other coach Samuel says he will take over.  Sunday morning however, the day we have the championship for the summer soccer league, Samuel gets up and leaves town, with out telling anyone but his neighbor.  He said he was heading back to where he used to live.  In two days I went from having two coaches to none.  So I coached the final game myself.  My team played great, but lost to the first place team, we finished up the league in second place.  I had a normal busy Monday, and in the late afternoon I headed in to the capital to see the doctors again.  I managed to catch a ride with my APCD (Assistant Peace Corps Director) who happened to be in the area.  I had to see the doctors because I had a middle ear infection, and the left side of my left foot was numb.  The doctor said my foot was numb because nerves running through my lower back, were most likely being pinched.  My back has been giving me a lot of problems still.  She gave me muscle relaxers to try to solve the problem.   I came back to my site Wednesday.  Thursday I had a Peace Corps Trainee (Dustin Wood) come visit me.  As part of their training, in the third week, trainees visit a current volunteer to see first hand the life and work of a volunteer.  He stayed with me here through Saturday, observing/helping with projects.  Everyone in the batey came by to see the new American.  People asked if Dustin was my brother, some asked if he was my son, (he is 24 years old), one person even said that Dustin looked older.  At the bus stop, someone said I looked Dominican, but Dustin looked American.

 Saturday afternoon, after working in the play for a while, cutting back thornbush, the trainee and I headed off to Barahona where we met up with eight other volunteers and two trainees.  We then headed off together to San Rafael on the beach and spent the night in a house on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean.  Sunday we swam a bit and relaxed in rocking chairs on the porch with an incredible view of the sea.  I don’t take a lot of time off, even though we are allowed to, but it was nice to play tourist for the weekend. At noon, we headed further down the road to Los Patos and had lunch then swam some more.  At Los Patos they tell me is the shortest river in the world, as its source is only a 100 or so yards from the sea.  We caught a Bola (free ride) in the back of a large truck back to Barahona and arrived a little before four, but since it was Sunday there were no longer busses (old vans) heading towards Neyba.  A guy who drove a van to a different location offered to drive us at higher price than normal per person, since there were six of us heading that way.  He then proceeded to pick up other passengers, so we objected to paying taxi prices if he was going to pick up people like a normal bus route.  When he disagreed, Cameron told him to drop us off here, and that we would then walk up ahead of the van and then get back on as bus passengers, not taxi passengers.  Everyone laughed at that and in the end, we only paid bus prices.   

Monday was fairly normal.

Tuesday most of the kids finally started going back to school, even though school officially began August 17^th.  A few kids have not gone back yet, and when I asked, one 14 year old girl said she is waiting for her mother to buy her school supplies before she goes back.  She said maybe next Monday she will start.  Two boys said they are waiting for their parents to buy uniforms.

I have been using my laptop to teach typing, and also math.  I have also been working with younger children on math using flash cards.  Compared to US students, they are so far behind their age level in math that it’s unbelievable. 

I started off today with an hour ride on the mt.bike.  My back is still very sore so I took it easy. I then taught three English classes and had Creole class.  Any free time I had up until 5:30 was taken up teaching math.  I got out the flash cards and was working with whatever kids came in the house.  I had five years old to seventeen year olds all practicing math.  I headed out for soccer, and volleyball, then spent the evening like always, with a house for of teenagers playing chess.  After they left at 9:30pm, a friend stopped by to use my laptop for an hour while I read Charlotte’s Web in Spanish.  (I never read it in English.)