Final Post from the DR! :(

So, I got lazy and busy the past two weeks and didn't blog. I apologize but it just wasn't a priority I suppose.

Two weeks ago, my friend Nina who I met as an intern when I was here, came back to visit for the week. It had been about 2 years since I had seen her last so it was great to see her again. I took on airport duty that weekend and went with Sara, an intern, to pick up Nina and several other people.

The week for me was a catch up week on medical stuff, organizing either and putting it away to store for next years health weeks. Wow, we have a lot of stuff! We got rid of probably 50 suitcases full of medications that went to Dr. Garcia, as well as supplies that went to the hospital full of medical supplies like guaze, catheters, etc. We also kept about 10 suitcases full of medications so as you can tell we had a lot of donations!!!

I spent the week working on sorting those out, inventoring what we had on site for next year, and dispensing out stuff to everyone else. We also got so much food during our spring weeks that we were able to give away multiple suitcases full of pancake mix, pasta, and other treats to the prison and drug rehab center. Coco and I went and delivered a lot of these suitcases towards the end of the week. We also took sharps containers to the hospital and asked them to dispose of them and found out that their incinerator doesn't work and one guy was trying to just toss them in the normal garbage! AHHH! We had to explain to them and they said they'd take it somewhere else in town where they could burn it.

I spent every night staying up with Nina and Sara just hanging out and catching up. It was a great time, although Nina is quite the night owl and I'd try to stay up until 11-11:30 just to hang out with her and find out the next morning she was always up at least 1-2 hours later than that! She however is not a morning person so when Bryson and I would be on the roof the next morning working out we made a point to say hello to her and she'd always cover her face with her towel as she walked into the bathroom! It became a fun game figuring out how to greet her each morning!

The Saturday Nina left was a great day, not because she left, but because it was BEACH DAY WITH THE KIDS! I got to do this 3 years ago when I was here and was really hoping they'd go before I left. When we started hearing rumors earlier in the week that they were going on April 10th I was super excited. We left at 8:30 in the morning and returned at 5:30pm. It was so much fun. As soon as we got there kids were sprinting down to the water. The beach is too cold for them until after Easter so they haven't been to the beach since August! We swam in the water for several hours. Kids running around like crazy, splashing, throwing sand, building castles, getting buried in the sand....it was awesome! I spent time with a lot of the little kids as well as time with some of the older kids. We stopped around 12 and ate an awesome spaghetti and chicken lunch. I know, a weird beach food, but common here. It was tasty delicious after playing hard in the water.

There is a belief here that you can drown if you swim right after eating so we had to take a siesta from the water and we laid down for a bit under some shade. Some of the older kids came and laid down with us and just relaxed. At 2pm we were allowed to reenter the water and the fun began again! The water was pretty shallow but there were some deeper parts and they younger kids kept asking to go out to the "hondo", the deep part! Odalis who is so creative, brought a little boat made out of PVC pipe and rubber tires and had it out in the water. Several of the little kids piled on, so many it began to sink! :)

We had an awesome day at the beach and were exhausted when we got back home. But we weren't done with excursions yet.

No group came down my last week so it was just the 6 leaders and 4 interns which was nice. We had some nice rest and relaxation time and time hanging out with the kiddos!

Wednesday and Thursday I spent finishing up some health corps stuff, still putting things away, etc. and headed out in the afternoons with Dr. Garcia to the bateyes. Thursday we went to La Recta which is predomintely Haitian and I went on a little walk with the nurse to see the area around where we were. Lots of poverty! We saw a house made out of mud and straw pasted together, an apartment style building probably 1/3 the size of my house with at least 6-7 families living in it, and lots of skinny babies. It is amazing how happy these people are with so little. Part of me wants to move into a batey and live their lifestyle to see how simple we really can live. Although I'm living simplier than I do in the US, I still have a lot of accomodations like running water, internet at times, electricity often, 3 meals a day, etc. These people literally have nothing, live on dirt floors, and drink water from a dirty canal! I'm not sure how long I'd survive to be honest but I'd love to try it out to really figure it out.

Friday we headed back to the market town of Dajabon to see how busy it was since the earthquake. It was busy but no different than normal. There were 2 little boys that followed us around throughout the entire market place. They were obviously begging which is so sad. They become "tour guides" or at least so they think, hoping we'll pay them when we are done but since more groups will come in the future we can't pay them because then they'd expect it everytime. I talked with them though and at one point I walked ahead of Bryson not realizing he had stopped and one of the little boys tapped my shoulder and had me wait. They were looking out for me! :)

The afternoon I spent time just packing up some stuff, reading with the kids, and hanging out with the kids. I got my last game of Knock-Out in, with one win and multiple loses, a good lengthy tickling sessions with several kids, and some time to hang out with the older kids and just chill. We headed out to dinner at the French restuarant which was tasty and brought a treat of ice cream back for the kids to enjoy. I said my goodbyes to the kids and headed upstairs to finish packing. We played a game called Quelf where you do a bunch of crazy things before heading to bed.

It has been an awesome 7 months. I'm so glad I decided to come down although I had some hesitations at different points along the way. I can't believe it is already over, wow how it flew by. I'm going to miss my Dominican family and friends that I've spent 1/2 a year with. It will be a very difficult first month back home with the reverse culture shock and getting back into the swing of things at work, etc. but I'll be excited to see my family and meet my new niece Olivia Jane! Thanks for reading over the past 7 months, hope you enjoyed some stories along the way!

Happy April Fool's Day!

So no jokes were played on me today which is good. I'm never good at coming up with jokes so I prefer for ones not to be played on me! :)

This week has been a good week. I have gotten a lot of time to relax, catch up on sleep, starting working out again (a little), and spend time with the kids!

The past 3 days we have been doing 1/2 day activities with the kids here and the other 1/2 day is spent out in one of the bateyes doing a impromptu camp with the kids there. The children in the bateyes love activities because often times they have nothing to do but play baseball with a stick and rock and so any American interaction they get, they love!

Tuesday we went out to Batey Madre, which I am not sure we have been to in a while for activities, if ever. The kids there were very calm and well behaved and we had four stations. English vocab, recreation, arts and crafts and reading. We broke the kids up into four groups, small boys, small girls, big boys, and big girls and had our camp.

There was a little Haitian boy there that was so cute and stealing the show. He had an extra digit on each hand which I got a picture of. Check it out!

That day we also did an arts and crafts day with the kids. They had a good time and lasted about an hour before getting crazy!

Wednesday we went to Batey Maguaca which we go to often. They have a lot of kids there, some a little crazy but pretty well behaved for the most part. It has been neat to go back to these bateyes without Dr. Garcia and recognize faces and have people recognize me! One lady asked me to take a picture of her son so that when I come back I can bring her a copy. I brought back laminated pictures with me from Christmas and gave them out to several people in the bateyes and many of them remembered and want me to do the same when I return next time! :)

Wednesday afternoon we had an easter egg hunt with the kids. I watched some but then had to help Dr. Garcia with some English so he could respond to an email. Last night was culto and I sat with Joanni. She ended up falling asleep laid out on me and Sara, one of the interns.

Both Pastor and Dr. Garcia told me yesterday that Holy Week used to be a time of great reflection and worship. People would go to church daily, be calm resting at home, didn't drink alcohol all week, and spent a lot of time praying. Now it has become basically a spring break party week. People go to different parts of the island and party, drinking a lot, going to the beach, and spending very little time worshipping or going to church. Interesting how poverty doesn't change anything, just like in the States, traditions has changed to revolving more around drinking and self-fulfillment!

Today I woke up at 5am or 6am to torrential rain outside my room! It was raining so hard, and to wake me up you know it must have been hard! So, our morning plans got shifted a little and we had everyone stay back and do activities with the kids. We had reading stations and games/puzzles. Ari and Arianni had this long train puzzle of the alphabet that they put together with help and they were so proud! I love that the kids know me so well because even if I'm across the room they'll call out for me to show me what they've done. It's awesome to be a stable person there for them, although that will change soon! :(

This afternoon we still headed out to Batey Isabel and had a successful camp with lots of kids. Once again lots of familiar faces.

We stopped for ice cream on the way back and that was enjoyable as always! After dinner I spent a lot of time outside with the kids. They had a game of volleyball going which I watched while talking to Jochi. Then I spent time sitting on the benches for the rest of the night. I was hanging out with Jochi, Jose Luis (15 and 13) and with Luis Alberto (5). Luis Alberto pointed out a kite in the sky and I told him to run up to the sky and fly with the kite and he wouldn't be cold anymore. So, he stands up on the ground and starts to figure out how to run up but just giggles and can't move he is laughing so hard! :) He jumps about 1mm off the ground towards the sky and then hopped back on my lap. He ended up falling asleep on my lap with Franchesca's pink jacket on. Nena and her crowd of little girls came over at one point and did a mock culto service singing some songs and doing some prayers! I love to see them imitate culto because it is always fun to see the little girls sing and get excited since they don't get to participate a lot in the other services.

I hung out until 9pm with several of the kids and then came back to our side and played Quiddler with some of the volunteers that were here last week and this week.

Tomorrow is the last day for Holy Week camps. The weeks continue to fly by which makes me sad because now I only have 2 weeks left! AHHH!

I'll post my pictures from this week later so you can see all the action that has been going on!