La Charla!

Today was an interesting day! This morning I worked on more sorting with Amy. We sorted through the non-medicine stuff today like first aid supplies, screening supplies (thermometers, glucometers, etc.) and got the registration suitcase and pharmacy suitcase ready. We should be ready to go, at least with what we have here for now!

This afternoon, Rich started doing his riddles again with his team. He loves to do these minds game and they are so hard for me to get! Luckily some of them I already knew from the last time I was here with him and I never got them! Typically someone has to tell me the answer because I get so frustrated and my brain quits working!

I headed on the bus with Dr. Sprague, her husband and Amy to Dr. Garcia's house, dropped them off and then headed back. We had several needles/syringes that I gave to him to use out in the bateyes since we have little use for them here!

I worked this afternoon organizing things for next week, preparing packing lists, orientation, etc.

At 5pm, Dr. Garcia came to the orphanage to give a charla (a talk). I was invited to attend so I went upstairs and listened in on the talk for the adolescents! He loves talking to this age group, and he is currently taking a course on adolescents online from Chile I believe. Anyway, he started talking about how there are 3 stages of adolescents, how we are all different even though we may be the same age, etc. Then he got into the specifics of boys and girls, how there are 7 things that determine our gender, chromosomes, hormones, etc.

He showed some pictures of the Tanner stages of development with breasts and pubic hair and the look on some of the younger boys face was priceless. I tried to keep a straight face but couldn't help but smile sometimes just remembering those awkward moments and they were sitting and listening to this with their brothers and sisters!

At one point he asked how many cells we have in our body. Domingo being brave answered 40! So innocent but a little off! Moncho guessed 100, and then he explained we have millions in just one red blood cell.

The final part of his talk was about the reproductive organs. The power went out so he had just his laptop up on a chair for everyone to see. He put up a picture of the male organs and asked what it was. Domingo in the front seat right in front of the computer answered, "una media". In English, "a sock!". I about fell over laughing but couldn't laugh too hard at him, at least he was paying attention and trying to talk. No one knew what it was, even the psychologist said it looked like socks!

I was proud of the kids for being mature, there were a few grins here and there but for the most part they did really well talking about what can be an embarrasing topic.

He called on Jessica at one point asking her if the hymen was opened or closed and when she answered closed he asked her if she had started her menstrual cycle! I would have died right there in my seat! She nodded her head yes and you could tell she wished she had never spoken. Oh my, how embarrasing but no one else made any remarks! He asked her where she menstruated from and she said she didn't know. He asked Nicol and Carolina who were embarrased and didn't answer and it was kind of surprising that they didn't know. I wonder if this is common across the board or just not talked about here, especially with them not having their Moms to talk to them about such an issue!

The overall experience was great though. He ended saying he wanted to come back because he had run out of time and he said the more educated people are about sexual education, the better they can protect their bodies and make good decisions. He is a very wise person and is good at engaging all types of audiences.

For dinner, we had tostones which are fried plantains. I like these a lot, but found a new love tonight. Moni had me try some that she had in the kitchen. She had soaked them in garlic before frying them, and they were awesome! I asked for mine to be like that from now on and she said she'd make them for me! The perks of being close with the kitchen staff!

After dinner, we did some more riddles and then I headed over to play with the kids. Coral, who is 13 and has an attitude at times, came up to me and asked if Dr. Garcia was who I worked with. She then said, I like that he came, and asked if I liked it too. I responded yes and said it was very interesting and she said it was! I was glad to hear that she enjoyed it, because often times at those ages you don't listen, especially on a topic so hush-hush.

Above is a picture of Coral and her sister Mineli, taken back before the Christmas party. I played with Mineli some, watched an obstacle course race that was set up and the kids were doing, and then it was time for culto. Luis Alberto sat with me after Mineli, and Ari abandoned me.

After culto, Bebo sang a Backstreet Boys song to me in English. I love how real Dominicans are. Bebo sings about like Jo ;), he can't keep a tune but he doesn't care. He sang his heart out, totally off tune, and with an accent but he didn't care. He was proud of his knowledge of the song!

I hung out with Nicol, Carolina and Rich for a little while before separation time. Leonel was there for a bit and was genuinely concerned about Rich's hurt knee. He asked if he needed to go home immediately to get it treated! Nicol and Carolina are funny and just kept teasing him as he continued to tease back. Some volunteers really leave a lasting impression on these kids in even a short time such as 1-2 weeks! It is great to see them enjoying the friendships that they've made overtime and they remember everything, even from 2-3 years ago, and thousands of volunteers later! Here is an old picture from his first trip in 2007 when I met him for the first time with his girls, Jasmin, Carolina and Nicol!