One step at a time!

“If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run, then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Yesterday we celebrated the Quinceañera of 8 of the girls who turned 15 this year and of a few of the boys that turned 18 this year.  First we attended mass and the girls and guys sat in the front in specially decorated chairs that matched their outfits.  Afterwards we celebrated in a large room where all of the kids, volunteers and helpers from NPH attended, including the director and his family.  Following this celebration we continued with the tradition of the director putting brand new shoes on each other the girls and watches on each of the boys.  Finally, there was the first dance where each girl danced with the director before dancing with the guys.  It was a very enjoyable time and I am so proud of each of them that participated.  (Some of girls are pictured above.)

I can honestly say that since I have moved from the orphanage into the city I have been a lot happier and my friend base has grow tremendously.  My neighbors have invited me over and I really enjoy spending time with them each night.  It is so nice to be in the company of such great people who want nothing more than to see you happy.  They are an older couple that has also invited me over to celebrate with them during the holiday where they plan to cook and spend time with their family.  I also finally have friends in the city that are around my age that I can hang out with and that can show me a good time.  I feel so happy and fortunate that I have been able to create these friendships.  They have all been so open and loving to me and I am just overjoyed to see where our friendships take us.

As for the tutoring program it has been going really well and I can say that I am finally starting to see progress in many of my kids.  I remember that some of my kids use to say the alphabet incorrectly so many times that I started to think it was correct!  However, after 5 months many of them have finally gotten it right.  It has surprised me so much that they remember what I have taught them and it is such a satisfaction to see their progress!

As for myself, it is almost break time for me!  I just recently celebrated my 5^th month anniversary of living in the DR, which is almost half a year!  I was not able to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family this year but it was awesome seeing the whole family surround by a delicious looking turkey on skype.  One of my really good Orientation friends, from U of M, will be coming to visit me in mid-December and this will be my first time taking vacation off.  I shall be on vacation for an entire week.  The kids also have exams starting a little bit before my vacation time and during this time my services will not be needed until January. 

In my house, Santa Clara, there have been some big changes.  We have just gotten 4 new kids to the NPH-DR program causing for changes to be made in the houses.   The director has to move different kids around in order to make space for the new kids.  Therefore, one of the oldest girls, who has lived in Santa Clara, for 6 years has been moved to the older girl house.  One of the 8 year-old girls has been moved from the younger kids house to my house so we welcome the new addition to our house and we sadly say goodbye but we are happy that one of our girls has moved up!

One thing that has been really cool is that some of the kids have really become drawn to me all of a sudden.  It amazes me because I have seen them everyday for 5 months now but suddenly they look at me as if I am a different person.  As if they have just realized that they have a profound love for me, and that I have one for them as well.  What I have realized is that we cannot expect for friendships to come over night, they take time.  It takes time to build trust, to let down one’s guard and to let others in.  This is when we become most vulnerable, and it is especially difficult for the kids, when they are so use to protecting themselves from getting hurt that it is hard for some of them to easily open up to others.  Just remember the old adage that “anything worth having is worth waiting for,” which is something that I try to remember as I immerse myself in my new community and make new friends.  Patience seems to me to be the greatest life lesson of all!

Another thing that I have learned is not to think that reaching a certain goal will make you happy but rather to be happy with what you already have.  I told myself that going to the Dominican Republic was my dream and that if I could just go there I would be the happiest girl alive; which I am.  However, even after achieving this goal I still have so much more that I want to do with my life.  I am not done yet.  Therefore, I have realized that even when we reach that something that we think we want so badly…we just end up wanting sometime else.  We are human beings and are needs are insatiable.  For that, sometimes we just need to stop and really appreciate what we have instead of always wanting more.  I am not worried about my future because I know that it will all work itself out in the end and I am just happy that I am living in another country and enjoying the experience by learning and growing each day.

I also think that we should not underestimate the profound effect that people can have in our lives.  We may immediately judge a person based on appearance or their way of being but you may never know the impact that they will have on your life.  As for me, I have done this with a few people by distancing myself from them because they were different from me; or being skeptical of them not knowing that they would serve as such an important person in my life.  Later on down the road these have been the people that have helped me the most that have supported me through the toughs of times and have had my back when no one else was there.  I know that it can be difficult not to judge others but I feel that we should just take each interaction, each acquaintance and look at it as sometime positive because we never know where that person will take us or what they will do for us later on down the road.