So Sunday night I gave the group a talk about Dajabon, the border town between the DR and Haiti, just reminding them of a few safety tips, etc. Part of this talk is telling people to keep hold of their belongings/valuables because there are pickpocketers in Dajabon. Well, I had never heard of anyone getting stuff stolen, not that I didn't believe them but I just had the "it will never happen to me type of attitude". I learned my lesson!
As we were stopped inside the market which are narrow streets with tons of people, I felt my cell phone being taken out of my pocket. As I realized what had just happened it was too late to identify who had taken it. I turned around ready to run after the person but that was a rule I told the group, don't run after the pickpocketer so I stopped and just went on. Obviously I was quite upset at myself for not having my hand in my front pocket all the time so it wouldn't happen. I felt horrible because the phone belongs to OO, not me and it had my room key on it! As we came out of the market, I went over and told Coco the news and at first she didn't believe me because I'm always joking. Unfortunately, this time I wasn't! Merry Christmas to whoever stole my phone! ;)
When we got back I headed to the phone store with Coco to get a new cheap phone so that I still could communicate with everyone. She had cancelled my SIM card when we left Dajabon so that was taken care of, now we just had to wait about 30 minutes to get a new phone (which of course I bought). Not quite as good as the one I had (which we had just gotten upgrades like 3 weeks ago), but it still serves its purpose.
After lunch, I hung out with the kids a little bit before heading out the batey. Nena had a Gatorade bottle full of ice that she was drinking from and crushing with a spoon. She would shove the spoon handle down into the bottle breaking up small pieces and then turn it upside down and try to shake out some pieces into her hand. Half of them would land on the dirty patio and she'd eat it anyway. Several other kids wanted some chunks of ice too. Their water here is often room temperature so they love ice and cold water!
Luis invited me to play marbles with him and Jose Luis. Let me tell you how awesome I am at this game. I apparently have no hand-eye coordination. So, needless to say I lost big time. It became almost a joke because I couldn't hit a marble only a few inches away!
I headed out with Dr. Garcia in the afternoon to Jaramillo, my favorite batey for sure. Vivian got to come with me because she hasn't seen a batey yet and leaves Saturday. I gave several shots to both kids and adults. Somehow in this small batey where maybe 50-75 people live, there are always more patients than in the bateys where 1000-2000 people live. There are 2-3 other really small bateys that come to Jaramillo on clinic days so that adds some extra people but it is still odd to me. There are a ton of babies/kids here which is probably why it is my favorite. I also feel like since it is so small it is a lot of the same people so they remember me from month to month.
I got to see some of the babies from 2 months ago this time who have grown up and starting cooing, smiling, and laughing. Vivian and I chased the kids in the house that I chased last time. They would peep their heads out and then run back into their house until we went away and then they'd sneak back out again. I got to see the newborn that is now 6 weeks old. And there was a 9 year old girl that walked from one of the other smaller bateyes with her 2 year old brother, and with two other boys 3 and 5 years old. Her parents sent her there with the 2 year old because he had a fever. Could you imagine sending your 9 year old with your 2 year old to see the doctor without an adult!?
There were a few neat medical things. One little baby of about 5 months had blisters on her hands from playing in a fire. Another man had fallen off his moto I believe and had a nasty open infected wound on his hand. And, a little girl who I think I have a picture of from before with scabs all over her face was back with now what looks like scars, or maybe she just has really bad fungus and that is why her face was so hypopigmented. Anyway, always lots of interesting things to see that are easily and normally quickly treated in the States.
I came back and said goodbye to them as I won't see them until I return next year. I hung out with Lisy for a while tickling her, which she loves. Joanni sat on me and colored/drew on my hands and arms with a pen that she found. I had flowers, people, houses, bananas, and just random markings all over me! While I was being decorated, I was also getting my hair brushed by Ari, one of the little twins. I also spoke to Arianni, now known as bluh, bluh, bluh, and she started laughing when I called her that!
We had movie night with the kids after dinner, and we also showed them the birthday video that we made for Coco of them all saying Happy Birthday. They love seeing pictures and videos of themselves because they always have so many taken but never get to see them. Arianni came in sat in my lap for the last half of the movie. And, when she got up I noticed a nice little wet present left on my pants. She didn't fall asleep so I'm not sure why she peed on me but oh well, she is so cute I'll excuse it!
Tuesday was a work day for me. I did a beach workout early in the morning which mainly consisted of swimming because there wasn't much beach. It is strange how the beach here changes because last week there was a lot of sand and beach area and this week the tide was all the way up to the rocks/hillside but we went at the same exact time!
During siesta I had a lot of fun with Lisy and Merry. We all three got inside of a hula hoop and walked around like a train. Lisy was making choo-choo sounds the whole time and Merry was just holding on and walking. We went all the way towards the front gate of the orphanage and sat down by the wall. We had arrived at "la Playa Popa" (the beach the kids go to in the spring/summer). We played in the "sand" (dirt) for a little while, cooking food, making handprints and footprints in the dirt. Merry is about 10 years old but is about the size of the 5-6 year olds and she struggles with speaking so no one really knows what developmental level she is on. She seems to understand a lot but has a hard time communicating. She still is in diaper but she walks, runs (kind of), and can follow commands if she isn't too stubborn.
She always wants to do the same as the other kids and so as we walked with the hoola hoop she wanted to join. I let her join in and Lisy was receptive which is sometimes hard because the other kids don't want to play with her. We sat down at the beach and she kept saying, Elizabeth me, meaning she wanted to do what Lisy was doing too. It is amazing to see how far she has come because in 2006 when I was here she said "agua" and didn't walk and was about the size of a 2-3 year old.
I picked the group up in the afternoon and got some ice cream with them. When I returned we had to try to gather the kids for a group picture of them with signs saying Feliz Navidad. We were supposed to do the last week but I forgot so we attempted yesterday but it was pretty disasterous. Trying to get 10 kids to stand still was hard, not to mention the other 32 that didn't want to participate so we didn't have many in the picture. Oh well, we tried!
After dinner I played with the little girls chasing them around. They like to run away from me and wait just inside the hallway from their eating area to their room, where I'm not allowed to enter. So I sat down on the little step leading into the hallway and would grab at them and tickle them one at a time. They always love this and more and more keep joining in. I started with 1 and ended with about 6 kids.
It's hard to believe I'll be home in a few days. Not sure I want to leave these kids! Wish I could bring them home with me!
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