The Dominican Time-Warp

This beautiful land has a talent for taking your time and doing crazy things with it. Some days, each moment will drop languidly over you like a drop of honey from a spoon. These are usually the sweltering hot days where all you can manage is to lay half naked in the shade thanking each precious breeze for, at the very least, moving the air from its stale state. Or on rainy and cloudy days when your bed insists on your constant presence. Other days, time washes over you like a cold bucket bath, waking you sharply. These moments run by you and suddenly you find yourself, 20 days away from home, wondering how that first day is so far gone. Wasn’t it yesterday you found yourself stepping off a plane, exhausted from layovers? And in the same moment, you feel there was never a beginning to this summer, after all, this place is home now. You look forward to the end of the week, when you can come “home” to your squeaky green cot and mosquito net. You have morning rituals, cold bucket baths have become refreshing, washing clothes in a bucket of soapy water, normal. The people around you know your moods. They hug you when you’ve had a hard day, laugh with you when the world around you is full of joy and ridiculousness.

You realize how much you will miss those palm trees that wave above you, their long, slender, silvery trunks reaching to the sky whom they tickle with their smooth, green fingers. You know your belly will ache with dissatisfaction when a huge pot of white rice and pinto beans doesn’t appear in front of you at lunch. You aren’t sure whether it will be the food or the motherly dominican hand that made it which you will miss most. It is not just the food, the place, or the people that you will miss, it will be the entire life you have here, which is what it is because of these things. Maybe you will appreciate the constant convenience of electricity and water more. Maybe you will appreciate the clean smell of the United States and it’s cooly air-conditioned buildings. Most definitely, you will appreciate the moments you’ve had here and the moments that are to come.

With all this in mind, I prepare to have a wonderful week! I look forward to taking advantage of each moment. I can’t wait to see all the completed CBI’s and campamentos. I am so proud of all my volunteers and youth counterparts and have enjoyed watching them change and grow over the summer and I am so thankful for all they have taught me. I am excited to spend time with my staff, being crazy, dancing to the light gods to bring back the electricity, playing dominoes and generally having a good time.

PA’LANTE!

Hello friends!!!

So much has happened I don’t even know where to start!
First of all, I’m enjoying this place immensley! Although I am slowly forgetting how to speak and spell in English, my Spanish is improving daily. My domino game is getting better also ; ) Watch out!
I’ve been visiting my vols every week, preparing them to finish their community based initiatives and their campamentos with the kids. The campamentos are a crazy blast. The kids are so full of energy and truly unruly. The energy and desire to play and learn is fantastic, but the bulla (chaos) is a huge challenge. I have had to work a great deal with my volunteers, devising classroom management strategies for each group. Last week I taught yoga to a group of kids which was super fun! I was surprised to see them become quiet for the first time during the campamentos. Afterwards, we all went to a mango grove and picked a few. The kids here have an amazing way of eating mangos purely using their teeth. I have tried to immitate it only to discover I have a slight allergy to the mango peel… On the upside, because I have to use a knife to peel the mango, I’m more liable to make tasty mango salads ☺
I've also been dominicanizing myself slowly...The little girls tend to wear these cute twist braids in their hair. I learned just the other day how do this : ) When girls get older, they try to control that unruly hair by putting it in rolos to straigthen it. This is why you see lots of Dominican women walking around with big hair-rollers in their hair. I love the rolos so I had them done the other day. After their done with the rolos, they put their hair in a tubi (wrapped all around the head) to keep the hair straight. I got one of those too. It did make my hair super-straight : ) I've also been learning bachata and merengue. I hope to learn salsa soon! The salsa here is really fun, the style is a bit different than what i've seen before and more interesting. Today I bought 10 CDs of Bachata, merengue, and salsa for a whopping 400 pesos (11ish dollars)!!!
Alot of the other adventures I've been having are small, everyday adventures like bucket flushing, bucket bathing, cooking with a headlamp, taking guaguas with 40 (or more) other people, fighting off tarantulas, washing my clothes by hand, etc.
I still try to keep some parts of my life normal by watching movies, doing yoga, etc...
I’ve also started taking opportunities to practice teaching yoga. I really enjoy this! I gave a belly-dance class the other day too. I think teaching is such a wonderful challenge and I hope I keep up with it.

All and all my adventures have been fun! I’m enjoying this beautiful country and the people here. Hope you all are doing well!!!

Love,
Raquelita

Sooo...once upon a time there was a political coop in Honduras, and so i had to go to the beach...

Well, unfortunately, Honduras projects were closed. And fortunately, the DR got some new vols and a new supervisor! So, it became my job to go get her at the airport. It was one of those jobs that no one wanted, becuase, well, the capital is disgusting. I am actually allergic to it, I believe. Anyhow, little did i know it would be come a fun adventure. First of all, I was able to catch a free ride all the way there with some guy with a bizarre name from one of my communities. He was really nice, but impossible to understand, so I spent the majority of the car right asking "eh?" Then, he dropped me off in the middle of nowhere. I called my taxi friend Leni, who came and picked me up. I had an extra hour before needing to be at the airport, so Leni stopped and bought me a coco and we went to the beach:





Leni, as a Dominican Taxi driver is particularly talented at multitasking...On our way out, he was drinking coco milk, driving down the highway, and taking a picture of me at the same time. Oh, the DR, how I will miss your bulla...