March has come and gone. Where do I start? There is so much to tell that I hope I can capture it all in a few lines.
February ended with independence day, which is when all the real costumes and masks came out. It sort of reminded of Halloween. The park was packed with people celebrating, and a parade of dancing and floats and drinking. I got wacked a few times with the animal bladders but luckily I didn’t bruise. Now with February gone, Sundays seem a bit quiet and mellow – which I really can’t complain, I missed them.
In March I facilitated a workshop on recycling paper in one of the neighboring campos. A few weeks before my taller I went out to put up a poster announcing the date and time, and to my suprise I found that the teacher of the community space had already made a poster for me. An announcement of my workshop. I was so excited to see it, simple as it was, because I knew that he had taken the time to work on it and had not forgotten about my desire to hold the workshop. I had to take a picture of it.On the day of the taller, there were about 12 kids (and a few adults) that showed up, even if they were coming in and out. I started out by introducing myself and the reason behind recycling and how we can make paper out of newspapers, notebook paper, etc. In my self-introduction they couldn’t understand why I would want to live in the DR and leave my family behind for so long. I forget how weird the concept is until someone asks me ¿why are you doing this? To which I still can’t explain, it is just is. We ripped the newspaper and soaked in water, then blended it with some cornstarch to make it a bit more sticky. Then we poured the watery mixture onto mesh to take out the water and let dry. Magic. You have paper. I had brought some samples for them to see, and they asked me for them. I asked them what they were going to do with the paper once it dried and they responded with: making a diary, for school, and to write letters for his girlfriend. That same boy drew on the paper I had made and was going to give it to his girlfriend. I thought that was cute. He had noticed the bracelets I was wearing and gave me one of his. Now my collection is slowly growing again (that same week I was given three other bracelets! Lucky me.) I had fun with that group of kids, and I want to facilitate more workshops using recycled items that otherwise would sit in the dumpsters or in the streets. If you have any ideas, let me know. As I walked back with two of the artisans to the neighboring town to catch the bus, the little boy walked back with us partway to the little colmado (store) where his girlfriend lived. I watched as he gave his gift of paper that he had drawn on, all smiles. I kept walking. I came upon this lonely horse in front of this house – check out the picture. Of course, it started to rain, and luckily I had my umbrella. It was a refreshing and sweaty walk back to my bus.
The painting school took a trip to the where the beach and river meet to paint. It was their first trip out to paint, and I was excited to help out and watch them paint.
Towards the end of March I was kept busy organizing a presentation with my youth group on trash and deforestation. We promoted with sending out invitations, announcing it over the town loud speaker, and by voice. I had brochures made, the room set up, and of course on that day it rained in the morning. Rain keeps people inside, and so when it was time for the presentation we started (as expected) an hour later and with about a 15 person audience, which when you compare it to a 10,000 person town, is really not much, but I was very proud of the work that the kids completed. They are natural presenters, and were very enthusiastic about the turnout, even if with few people. We plan to organize the presentation within the schools as well. Thankfully my friend came to visit me that weekend and so she kept me cool, otherwise I would’ve been a mess – stressed out with all of the details. Last weekend I took the president of the group to a three day conference on how to organize a day camp, which we plan on doing in July. It was fun, even if I did get sick (gripe, again). We were camping in the woods, but thankfully there were bathrooms and showers. The conference was held outside of the capitol, and we had to go up this mountain by motoconcho. I had forgotten how fun it is to ride motorcycles, and the view from the ride of the surrounding mountains was well worth wearing my bright blaring red helmet.
This week I went to take some pictures of one of our artisans that makes boats out of wood. To my suprise, he had created this larger boat with my name on it, with me in mind. How sweet. So to whoever buys it, will forever have my name and memory engraved. Yay.
I will attach some pictures, as I am sure they make for a more interesting story. I know there is so much more to tell, and I will try to write more often to keep up with my long days yet short months. Still no house to be found, as the ones I thought were sure to be mine have fallen through. I still have 20 months to go, but I would like to find a house sooner rather than later. Luna (my dog) and I need a home.
