Perdida

My new favorite thing to do when I come home: flop on my bed and take a power nap – until my neighbor and landlord, Doña Victoria, calls me from outside my door, asking me if I want to eat. Those little moments of shut-eye, forgetting about the day and letting my mind wander, are priceless and quite comfortable. Even the people yelling outside or the motors don’t bother me because I’m in my little haven, under my protective mosquitero, shut inside my yellow walls, as the day slowly turns to night.

Yes, I’ve been a little perdida (literally means “lost,” but people say it when you haven’t been around) lately. At the end of last month, I did a scientific survey SCUBA dive course in which we learned to identify and count certain kinds of fish, invertebrates and environmental factors, data which we report to an agency that assesses the conditions of international coral reefs. The reefs are dying worldwide, so we as certified Reef Check divers are collecting data to learn the extent of the damage.

After finishing the course, I went to visit an environment volunteer to see how the “other group” lives. Being an IT Volunteer, I knew that our projects would be vastly different. Cliff lives in a very secluded part of the country, surrounded by mountains and very close to the Haitian border. His site is starkly different than mine in that the community is very small and has no regular means of electricity (aside from a few donated solar panels that some households are lucky enough to have – he’s not), no indoor plumbing, and very sketchy cell phone service. For the first time, I used a latrine, an outdoor toilet in which you build a very deep hole and then a large cement floor on top. It was quite nice and considering the nationwide water and plumbing problems, it’s a more desirable toilet option actually. While my site is lush and green and beach side, his is situated among the large, dusty hills of the west. We went hiking a few times through the nearby pine forests and we visited the farming plots of plantains, coffee and yucca owned by some of the local farmers. Cliff showed me his garden from which we picked a couple heads of cauliflower and green peppers! He is using his garden to teach the locals that they can grow a variety of vegetables to supplement their diets (Also note that there are no general stores in this community. All of the food they eat is either raised locally or they have to travel an hour by car or two hours by foot to the nearest market). We spent a lot of time visiting and we traveled an hour by foot to an elementary school to teach a class about the environment. Compared to my busy and congested pueblo, Cliff’s community was so relaxing. Though the pace in my community is not quick and productive by any means, life in his is definitely slower. The lifestyle there is the same everyday, the conversations and activities limited by the isolated location. In his community, no one really wants to work for change, so people are content with just “being.”

After my trip to Cliff’s site, we went to the southern part of the island to meet other Volunteers and celebrate our one year in country! We spent the weekend reminiscing about our one year here and we realized how we have grown and changed so much. One day, though it was quite cloudy (boo!), we went to a beach where the ocean meets a river coming from the mountains. After swimming in the aqua waters of the Caribbean and eating fried fish, we all bathed in the river. Yes, bathed! Shampoo and all… because the water had run out at the house where we were staying and we had to take advantage of the fresh water. Imagine 11 gringos shampooing their hair in the river, Dominican style (Because water can be scarce here, Dominicans always bathe when they visit the rivers for recreation. ¡Hay que aprovecharlo!). I wish I had a picture, but unfortunately we failed to capture this moment.

Work is picking up. I finally finished my first English class last week. I started with 30 students, and ended with 6. Only 5 passed. Asi es la vida. Through this experience, I’ve learned that I’m going to fail, and things will never turn out as I expect. I just have to be flexible and content with whatever happens. At least I found 6 dedicated students who were willing to show up every week and participate. These kids are really great and we had a good time, so the experience and weeding process was well worth it. I hope they come to my next class which will focus on English conversation. Also, I’m working on starting a girls’ empowerment group and an environmental protection group. We’ll see how it all turns out. I find that the most intimidating thing about these projects is starting them… so I really just have to jump in!

Tomorrow a Volunteer-in-training will visit me for the weekend to see how we live. I’m excited about showing her around. Apparently, we’re experienced Volunteers now, though I’m not sure I have much to show her as far as work goes… I spend most of my time just pondering and planning projects.

So here's to one year.  It went by fast, but I fear the next year may go by faster... and there is still so much to do.