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.