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. 

Profe in the DR 33

Profe in the DR 33

1-21-12

Snap, crackle, pop goes the burning sugar cane as its red glow lights up the night sky.

Anytime I have had a chance to write lately there hasn’t been any electricity so I am getting a little behind on my blog.

School officially began a week ago Tuesday, but almost no one started going to classes until this week, and many are waiting until next week to go.  The longer the vacation, the longer it takes students to go back to classes.

Our co-ed youth soccer team won their fifth straight game on Sunday.  This puts them in first place in the league.  The game was in Batey 5, and went fine between the two teams, but the fans in Batey 5 were getting more and more aggressive as the game progressed.  (These were the same fans that two months earlier got in a huge fight with the men’s team from Batey 6, throwing rocks at each other, sending a good dozen or more people to the hospital.)   After we scored our second goal, the fans began to start yelling things.  That’s when I had my players move away from the fans, and told them not to speak to anyone from five, no matter what they said.  When the game ended, I just wanted to shake hands and get out of there as quickly as possible.  The fans quieted down a bit with the end of the game, we shook hands, and I started calling the team to come with me.  Just then I look over and there was a fight between the coach from Batey 5, and a teenager who had come along with us as a spectator.   No one could separate them so I ended up having to do it.  I kicked their legs out from underneath them, and dropped them both to the ground.  From there it was much easier to separate them and I grabbed the teenager and escorted him far away from the fans.  I then had to make sure my team was OK, because a fight around here is like blood in the water for sharks.  Sure enough, people from Batey 5 were trying to fight with some of the larger boys on my team.  One of the boys got hit in the face.  I managed to stop all that before it got out of hand, and got my team away from the fans from Batey 5.  Just then, the coach from Batey 5 broke free from the people holding him back and came running after the teenager.  The coach had two large rocks in his hands, one raised and ready to throw.  I grabbed the teenager with my left hand to make sure he wouldn’t do anything, and yanked him behind me, so I could then protect him from the coach.  I then pointed at the coach with my right hand and yelled “No” as firmly as I could.  It caused him to pause.  (Thank God)  He then tried to move to the right then left so he could get around me to throw the rocks at the teenager.  I too rotated, keeping myself in the middle, right hand still pointing at him (and ready to defend myself from flying rocks.)  Finally people from Batey 5 grabbed the coach again, and I got the teenager and my team out of there.  We then walked up to my friend Elia’s house, but he wasn’t there.  The coach once again was trying to break free and they were having trouble restraining him.  The crowd around him was growing larger, and I wasn’t sure what they were going to do, but they were slowly coming our way. (Mobs get out of control fast here.)  Just then, two men came from the other direction, and started trying to pull the teenager away.  I was trying to protect the teenager from them until finally one of the boys on my team told me the men were relatives of the teenager.   Once that was cleared up, the relatives and several other people then escorted us up to the main road, and we then waited in front of the police station until the truck we were brought in came and picked us up. 

            In addition to coaching the team here, I am also in charge of the managing the six community league we formed.  My biggest difficulties are communication and transportation.  Although a lot of people here have cell phones, almost no one ever has any minutes (you can receive calls free, but to call someone you need to buy minutes).  This means that if I want to talk to someone, I have to call them.  If they don’t answer when I call, I have to keep trying until I get a hold of them.  They will never call me back.  I have on several occasions had to go to the communities to talk with someone because I couldn’t reach them by phone.  Transportation here is predominantly small 50cc-125cc motorcycles, not ideal for transporting an entire team.  Between the six communities in the league, only three have a vehicle large enough for a team.  Batey 5 has a large flatbed truck, Batey 7 has a medium size bus, and we have a pick-up.  Last Saturday, the driver of the bus in 7 was drunk, so instead we had to send the pick-up all the way over there to take the team from 7 to Batey 5.  Luckily I went along to make sure things went smoothly, because after the game the pick-up wouldn’t start, and we had to hire and wait for the flatbed to get back from Barahona so it could take the kids back home.  It was quite late by the time they reached their houses.   Transportation is quite expensive and the costs prevent a lot of interchanges between communities.  (I wrote a grant to cover the transportation expenses of the league.)

            Now that Christmas vacation is over, I have started back up all my classes.  World Vision finally gave me photos copies of a book I have for teaching reading so I have added four reading classes to my load.  There is a 13 year old girl in one of my classes who can copy down everything her teacher writes on the board in the most beautiful of handwriting, but can’t read or understand a word of it.  (Education here is predominantly copying what is written on the board.)  

            I have been slowly forming a little library in the community center.  We now have about 30 picture books (like Curious George), about 30 chapter books, a dozen text books, and several picture books in English.  Most people just look at the pictures.  Those that do read, predominantly read the picture books (including adults).  Once in a while I see someone reading a chapter book.  Its hard to come across children’s books in Spanish, most of the titles are books translated from English, like Charlotte’s Web.  Books here are expensive.

            It is an election year here so there are tons of construction projects being carried out by public officials wanting to get re-elected (They do nothing until the final year of their term, then undertake a ton of projects all at once.)  Here in the batey, they already fixed our park, and our now putting in cement curbs.  There is talk of asphalt streets to follow.  I don’t know about sidewalks.  Of course, all of this depends if they can get it done before the election, because everything usually stops after the election, especially if the incumbent loses. 

            After two months of being inactive because of my back, I am able to exercise again.  I have been getting out on the bike in the morning and playing soccer in the evening.  My muscles are sore every day and I am feeling my age, but little by little I am getting back in shape.

 (As I am writing this, six chickens just walked through my house, in the back door, and out the front door.)