Just another day with the kids

Turning 22...

            For the first time ever I have celebrated my birthday in another country and what better way than to celebrate my birthday with the kids in the Dominican Republic.  On August 16^th, my birthday, Father Wasson, the founder of the NPH program, passed away.  Therefore, there were many activities to celebrate his legacy.  The day started with Mass at 8 am where we recalled how our program was founded and the wonderful contributions that Father Wasson made to NPH.  After that one of the older girls, who has recently graduated and whom I took pictures with in my other blog entry, baked me a cake from scratch when she found out it was my birthday.  We went to her home in NPH and we baked a cake in the shape of a moon with white and blue frosting, as pictured above.  She also designed the cake so that it read “Feliz Cumpleaños Maya” or “Happy Birthday Maya.”  It was so fun making the cake with her and it was my first time baking a cake from scratch!  After that I asked another one of the older girls if she would braid the front of my hair for my birthday, which she did.  I was so happy that the older girls helped to make my birthday really special. 

            Shortly after this the kids put on a talent show in Father Wasson’s honor.  First, they did a praise dance and had a fashion show; there were also many arts and crafts projects on tables that the kids had made.  Once this was done my favorite part of the day was playing games with the kids.  We played an intense volleyball game for 2 hours!  We only stopped playing once it started raining but I was so dedicated that I even scraped my knee trying to retrieve the ball at one point.  I enjoyed playing with the kids and have become addicted to the game of volleyball as I have become a pro at serving the ball, if I must say so myself.  Later we ate pizza, played a trivia game about Father Wasson and the kids put on a play about his life.  Finally, the kids of my house informed me that a Dominican tradition is to throw water on a person when it is there birthday.  Since it was mine I was anticipating this ritual the entire day.  Right after we ate I was the main target as my girls threw water on me from every direction, as pictured above.  It was really fun and they seemed really excited to douse me in water and watch my reaction.  After I was soaked to their liking, they surprised me with a homemade card, which is now hanging in my room.  When the night was over and I returned to the volunteer house satisfied that I had a wonderful birthday but there were still more surprises to come that I didn’t even know it.  The volunteers had made a card for me as well as a cake!  I ate so much birthday cake that day and it all was made from scratch so it tasted very delicious.  Later that night the volunteers fulfilled my last request of going out dancing for my birthday.  We danced until it was the last hour of my birthday and I had a wonderful time!  It was definitely a birthday to remember.

            One thing that I have not talked about is the food that we eat here.  Rice and beans is very popular in the Dominican so we eat them everyday for lunch.  The food is on a rotating schedule so we have the same meals weekly but there are different meals served on each weekday. Normally, the rice and beans, which we are served for lunch, are coupled with meat such as pork, fish, chicken and beef.  Sometimes we have bread, macaroni and spaghetti with the rice and beans as well, one of the meals is pictured above. 

            I have also failed to mention the weather here.  Currently, we are in the rainy season so it rains a minimum of two times a week.  It also rains very sporadically due to the fact that at any given moment it could start raining.  The rain can last anywhere from two minutes to twenty.  Sometimes events have to be cancelled if it is raining too hard because we don’t want the kids to get sick.  On the other hand, it can be really hot and humid some days.  One day we had to stay in the shade for two hours because it was too hot to play games or have activities for fear that someone could have a heat stroke from being in the sun too long.  However, I have been told that the weather will change closer to September.

            The older kids in our program range from ages 17-20.  When I first came I felt that it was a little difficult to get them to warm up to me.  Recently, I have started to notice that they are becoming a lot more comfortable with me.  It may have taken them a little longer than the younger kids, to become accustomed to my presence, but I am glad that it is happening.  Just the fact that they made me a cake and they braided my hair shows me that they are more accepting of me and makes me feel more apart of the NPH program.  I love it!  I can tell that we are going to have a really great time here as we continue to get to know one another in NPH.

            Finally, talk about a shock, the kids has been so surprised to hear that I am staying for an entire year.  Everyday someone new asks me how long I am staying and when I reply a year they often have a look of shock.  I then ask them if it is okay with them if I stay that long and the eagerly jump or smile and say "yes yes of course."  I am happy that we will be with each other for such a long time and one of my girls has already told me that she will cry when I leave.  I told her not to even think about it because I will not be leaving for a while.  So for now we are just enjoying the time that we have together and looking forward to every moment!

            Above I have also posted some pictures from our trip to the beach.  The beaches here are breath taking and some of them have the most beautiful white sand that I have ever laid eyes on.  I hope to go back to the beach soon because I have not been there in a while.

My kids and staff!

Fulfilling my roles

            On the NPH-DR grounds we have a house called Casa Santa María that is known as the “Haiti House.”  In this house reside children from Haiti who have cancer and are receiving radiation therapy in the Dominican Republic’s capital, Santo Domingo.  Unfortunately, in the Haitian hospitals they do not have radiation therapy only chemotherapy.  Therefore, if radiation therapy is needed the children live in our home in the DR so that they can receive the necessary treatment.  The first picture on my blog is of me with one of the girls that lives in Casa Santa María and is receiving treatment.  She is such a wonderful person, who speaks Creole, which means that it is hard for her to communicate with us and vice versa because she does not speak Spanish.  Regardless, she always has a wonderful smile on her face and we are always super excited to see one another.  Just the other day I was dancing with her in the park and she taught me some dance moves as I taught her a few as well.  In that moment I felt that nothing else mattered, just the fact that we were dancing together and we both were happy.

            I must say that the 12 houses that we have here in the DR are like well oiled machines.  Each child has a duty/ responsibility that they must do each and every week.  Some of their chores involve mopping the floors, carrying large tubes from the communal kitchen to the house for lunch and dinner, (for the girls) taking down and re-doing each other’s hair, cleaning the house and washing and drying their clothes just to name a few.  It is amazing to me that such young kids can do so much.  I feel that they will be great contributors to their society because they are already learning such a valuable life skill at such a young age, which is taking care of one’s self.  At their age I was not even thinking about doing my hair let alone cleaning the house; I did not learn to do these things until I was much older but I feel the kids definitely have a leg up in that department.

            Additionally, one of my co-workers, who was apart of the group of summer volunteers (she is pictured in the photo above with me and the rest of my colleagues), described us volunteers as being four people in one.  I took what she said and thought on it for a while and realized that she was right.  Here, with the kids, we serve as many important people in their lives especially because we fulfill a variety of roles for them.  In a sense, we are their teachers; during the summer program we made sure that they learned the necessary materials and that we taught them something of substance.  We also serve as their mentors, ensuring that they don’t get into trouble or make bad decisions by helping to lead them down a good path.  Moreover, we serve as their parents by rewarding them when they behave well and showing them that there are consequences for their actions when they behave badly.  Finally, we are their coaches by playing games with them outside and teaching them what good sportsmanship is like and making sure that they play fairly and follow the rules.   It is incredible to know the effects that we have on the kids and it is a big responsibility to uphold because we are helping to mode their character, which can be a daunting task.  I always model the behaviors that I want them to follow because if I can’t even uphold the standards, why would I ever think that they should?

            One thing that is extremely interesting to me is the fact that I have not used a planner or alarm clock since I have arrived.  In the states I was such a big planner that it was ridiculous.  My friends always made jokes asking me if I could pencil them into my schedule since I always have a million things that I have to do.  I would laugh and brush it off, but it was a serious problem because I did always have to consult my planner before making plans with anyone.   However, for some reason, while being here, I have not had to depend on my planner or on my alarm clock.  For some strange reason I seem to be able to remember things without writing them down.  Everyday I think to myself, I know I have to do something today and throughout the day I am reminded of what those things are and don’t have to write them down.  As for my alarm clock, I don’t even have to set it anymore.  My body has some how become accustomed to waking up at certain things and giving me plenty of time to get to my next obligation.  This is very interesting to me because in the states I always set my alarm clock and some times I set more than one alarm just to ensure that I make it where I need to go.  Here I just feel more relaxed and don’t really stress about making it to certain places at certain times.  The less I think about the time and pressuring myself to get to certain places the calmer I feel and the more I feel in tuned to the Dominican way of life, which is just very relaxing and less stressful.

            The Summer School Program has finally come to an end, which means that I no longer teach Geography.  I am a little sad behind this because I felt that the kids were really learning a lot about the world around them.  At the end of the summer program each class was allotted 5-10 minutes to present something that they had learned in their classes.  Therefore, there were paintings and work around the room that was from the art class, the dance class had come up with an awesome choreography, the gymnastics class performed a lot of acrobatic moves that were really impressive, and the English class sung “Wavin’ Flag.”  As for my class I did some intense research and did a lot of searching for something cool that we could do.  I finally came up with an awesome idea.  I decided that I would teach my kids two geography songs that we would perform in front on the student body.  The first song that we performed was of the seven continents, it was extremely catchy and my kids loved it because it was easy to remember.  The second song that we sung was a little more difficult and it listed all the countries and capitals in Latin America, Central America and Europe where Spanish is spoken.  What made me the happiest was after the presentation when one of the nuns came up to me and told me that my idea was very original and she enjoyed the songs.  I also enjoyed when my roommate named eight countries and their capitals, which she had learned from the song.  The moment that put the icing on the cake was when three students, who were not even in my class, sang the entire continents song to me and said that they really liked it.  I was so happy that I was able to get kids interested and excited to learn geography!