Tuesday, June 2, 2015

I had an exceptional day yesterday

This picture isn't from yesterday, but I didn't take any and I feel it sums up the day as well as any picture could


Yesterday I went into El Canal for the first time since returning to visit lots of friends, including my students who I hadn't seen since the last day of school, and as the title of this post suggests, it was a fantastic day. Before leaving, I made sure to stock up on lollipops and various candy so my students would immediately remember that they did in fact like me. First I stopped at Suni's to visit her, her granddaughter Yosmairi, and her husband Samuel who are all wonderful people. Suni's mom, sister, and her one year old grandson also happened to be there as well. I spend about a half hour with them just sitting, catching up, and squeezing her tiny grandson. The next house I stopped at after that was Ney and Denise's, which I think was the best stop of the day. Ney is nine, Denise five, their brother Delby is three, and younger sister Rudesi is a shade over one year old (yet another baby to squeeze!). When I got there Ney and Denise were helping their mom breakdown crabs that their dad had caught, so I scooped up Rudesi, pulled up a chair and chatted with them as well! I told them about what I did while I was home, everyone asked about when Colin and Megan are coming back (naturally), and I kept trying to get Denise to talk to me (she wouldn't say one word even after I gave her a lollipop!). Ney even asked me how Tori is doing by name, which is very impressive considering he's nine and me her one time months ago. Their mom, Rue, offered me a little taste of the crab they were breaking down, and it was quite delicious! After talking for a little while longer and being entertained by Ney chasing around Belby to pull the garbage out of his mouth that he kept trying to eat, we decided to play some kickball! It was Denise and I versus Ney, with Delby and Rudesi cheering us on. We played right in their "front yard," with bases about five feet apart from each other, but it was still very fun! Ney ended up winning 16 to 11 after 5 innings, when I decided it was time for me to continue on and visit more people. As I was leaving Ney told me he'd remember the score so we can keep playing the next time I'm over. 

After Ney's, I continued a little ways up the road to Sandra's to see her and her family, and by the time I got there Sarah had already been there for a while, and she was playing dominos with most of the kids from my class! Negro, Wileni, Emanuel, and Wilson were there, along with Elissa. Sandra was still getting back from visiting her mom in Moca, so we all just hung out until she got back. It was taking a while so I decided I would go visit Olga Louisa while we were waiting, but as soon as I stood up to go, Sandra came around the corner. Sarah and I say with her and we talked for a long while all together. Around five o'clock I decided to head down the road and go visit Olga Louisa. On the way a very old man stopped me and I gave him a ride, which was fun! Olga Louisa, her two year old son Joel (more squeezing!) and her husband Jose ended up being at her mom's house, which is like 100 yards down the road so it made no difference. Same as with everyone else we hung out and caught up. While I was there the ice cream man came by, and Joel got himself a popsicle, and it was super hilarious to watch him eat it. He offered me some, and I passed this time, but he shared it with his whole family! Before I left Olga Louisa told me she wants to have us all over for lunch one more time before I go back to America, which is very exciting because she is a fantastic cook, and her family fantastic company. 

It was well past five o'clock now, and I still wanted to head into Luperon to but hamburger buns and tortilla chips, so I decided to head home. I stopped back at Sandra's to hug everyone, and went on my way. I got the aforementioned groceries without incident and was so excited to get back home and make a burger and guacamole for dinner, that I didn't even think to check if I was good on gas, which I definitely should have done because there is a pump right in Luperon. As you might guess, I ran out of gas a mile and a half from the nearest gas station in El Estrecho. Some quick background on Dominican culture before I continue, when someone runs out of has on their motorcycle, a lot of the time someone else on a motorcycle will stop and help them out by putting their foot on the peg of the motorcycle that ran out of gas, and pushing the person to the nearest gas station. I always thought it kind of crazy, but also super awesome. So I hopped off my bike and started to push it down the road. I wasn't even walking for a minute before someone on a motorcycle stopped and offered to push me. Having never done it before, I was a little nervous, especially knowing how far I was from El Estrecho, but everything went well, and it was very fun! The man was very nice, and had me rolling in to the gas station in no time. After I finally had gas, the kickstarted decided it wouldn't work anymore so I had to walk the bike up to the top of a hill so I could pop the clutch, and I was finally on my way! I made it home around 7 o'clock, right before it started to rain, so it was perfect.

It was an awesome day visiting awesome friends, and I got to have a quintessentially Dominican experience for the first time. 

Monday, May 4, 2015

Jennipher Para Vasquez


This is inexplicably the best picture I have of Jenni. I say it's inexplicable because she steals my phone every single class and either takes a million selfies of herself (yes, even 8 year old Dominican girls love to take selfies), or her and Wileyni have a photoshoot. So, sorry to Jenni that it's a hilarious picture of her. It was funny, when I asked her if she'd write her full name for me, she said she didn't know how to spell Vasquez, not because she doesn't know how to read or write (she does both quite well), but because she uses her last name so infrequently she's never had the need to learn it. Jenni and Wileyni are partners in crime. If one of them is listening well and having a fun time laughing uncontrollably, then so is the other. The only problem with that is when one is in a bad mood and doesn't listen to a damn word I say, the other does so as well. But the latter is rarity for Jenni. Her and her younger brother Yefri live right next door to the school, and a lot of the time she'll still be eating lunch or getting dressed for the day when we arrive, but by the time we have everyone settled and sitting she's still able to stroll in right on time. Despite being eight years old and a tiny human, she can still play kickball with the boys, which I've always really liked about her. She's not quite as smart as Wileyni, but I certainly wouldn't bet against her chances of going to University. She's certainly acts older than her age, which actually seems like a reoccurring theme in young Dominican girls the more I think about it. Jenni is a great kid and I can't wait to come back to the DR in 20 years to see what she has accomplished. She is one of the people I will miss most when my time here is all done.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Adriel Fransico Salas Peralta



Adriel is one of the biggest 11 year olds I've ever met, but his size is very fitting of his personality. In school he's always looking after the kids, and I'm sure it's no different outside of it either. In fact, he's two of the other students uncle (Wileyni and Emanuel), and he sometimes even runs his parents colmado (convenience store). He reads and writes well and behaves better than any of the other kids in the class, which I attribute to his maturity despite being only 11 years old. I think that same maturity sometimes gets in the way when we sing songs during circle time. While all the other kids love to dance around and be silly, Adriel almost always sits in his seat and watches. I always try to get him to join in, and it's always great when he does. He's a very sweet kid and makes my time in school much more relaxed.

Friday, April 24, 2015

Rachel Salas Burgos y Wileyni


For a while I've wanted to write about all of my students, and now I'm finally getting around to it. Here is the first installment.

Being a teacher has been one of most rewarding and challenging surprises of my time here in the Dominican Republic. I had no idea I would be teaching until about a week before I was to start, but I’m very glad that I have had the chance to do so. The reason the experience has been so rewarding is because of the children I get to teach and spend time with. They say that teachers aren’t supposed to have favorite students, but I’m not a real teacher so I think it’s ok that Wileyni is my favorite. She just turned seven last month (I'm pretty sure), which makes her the youngest of my students, but she is by far the smartest. She can read and write very well, which is an accomplishment in itself in this part of the country, especially for a seven year old. I’ll teach the kids a few English words that we’ll go over a few times in class on Tuesday, and no one else, not even Olga Louisa (a 23 year old Dominican woman who helps me in class) remembers the words on Thursday, but Wileyni will. She’s so smart that often times I’ll forget she’s only seven years old because I feel like I’m hanging out with an adult, then she’ll act like a seven year old and it’ll catch me off guard. It’s crazy. She’s also hilarious and makes me laugh all the time. Her and another girl, Jenni, will attack me from either side and poke me in the side and tickle me and on days when I’m exceptionally tired it’ll zap all the strength right out of me and I’ll be helpless to do anything except laugh and plead for them to stop. I asked her the other day if she wants to go to University, and she told me yes and that she’s going to be a doctor, and I believe it. I wish you could all meet her and get a hug from her because she is really a special kid, and my life is better having had the privilege of spending time with her.

Monday, April 20, 2015

The Hike


If you've been to the property, or seen the many pictures I post of it, you've seen the mountain with the antennas on top that you see looking out from the property. In Colin's second week here all the way back in the beginning of September, he decided that he wanted to hike said mountain, and this weekend we finally crossed that goal off the DR bucket list... and it was CRAZY. We both came back fine overall, but much more injured than before we left.

After a week of serious speculation and planning what to bring with us in our backpacks, Friday night was upon us and we made sure we packed food (beef jerky and trail mix), what we thought was enough water (it wasn't), our hammocks, basic medical supplies, and of course a machete each for all of the bushwhacking we were sure we'd have to do (turned out to be lots). Originally the plan was to set out from the property, hike all the way to the top, spend the night at the top, then hike back the next day, but after talking with some Dominican friends and looking at a map, we realized that would take us like four days; time we did not have. So we altered the plans and Franci dropped us off in a village called Guananico at 7 o'clock Saturday morning, about a mile from the base of the mountain. The first mile was through the village on a paved road, with the base of the mountain at the end of the road when it hit a river. We crossed the river and took the first path we found, and when we the first person we came across told us that we were on the correct path to the top of the mountain, we were feeling pretty good. After fifteen minutes on walking, it became evident that we were definitely going the wrong way, so we back tracked for about five minutes when Colin stopped and said that if we climbed up this 30 foot cliff, he thinks we would be on the correct path. Not only did that sound quite fun, but I have an absolutely terrible sense of direction and I was following Colin, so up the cliff we went. When we made it to the top we were in a pasture, and it was clear that Colin was correct and that we were exactly where we wanted to be. From this moment on, the rest of the five hour hike was steeply uphill, therefore I was sweating and out of breath for the next five hours.

The next part of the hike was relatively straight forward, with the path clearly defined. The fact that the path was so clearly defined surprised me, and I was wondering why this was so, but my question was answered shortly when we came to a fenced in area with forty or fifty cows, and three men tending to them. I don't know why, but I didn't expect that people would keep their cows up in the hills, but I was happy about it because they are the ones making the path clear. We stopped and talked to the men, Pepe, Pepe's brother whose name we never learned, and Cucho. When we told them that we were walking from Guananico to the antennas at the top of the mountain, they laughed at us like we were crazy (this became a theme throughout the day). They were very kind to us letting us pass through their land, and Pepe even took Colin's number because he wanted to call us later to ensure we made it to the top safely. After following the path past Pepe's land for another half hour, we came to a much more defined road, which was good and bad. Good because it was very clear which way to go, bad because while it was definitely uphill to this point, the incline got severely more steep. From here on out, the going was very slow. The only good part about the very steep incline was that every five minutes of walking, the view behind us got like 100 times more epic. Finally the very steep part gave way, and it was back to just normal uphill, and we were able to get back to appreciating what was around us instead of gasping for air and wiping the sweat out of our eyes. 

One of my favorite parts of the hike was all of the nature we could eat along the way. Never before in my life had I seen a cocoa tree, but they lined the path, and when we came to a forest full of them, we decided it would be ok to take just one of the pods and eat some. The inside was full of white, slimy beans, and they were DELICIOUS! They didn't taste anything remotely like chocolate (you have to do lots to turn the beans into chocolate), but I liked them much more than I though I would. Along the way we also got to eat guandules (a type of bean) off the tree, wild raspberry type berries (we asked some Dominicans if they were edible before partaking), and we found an orange tree and ate like 10 of them between the two of us they were so delicious and juicy. We also saw lots of coffee trees, which I think is pretty cool and worth mentioning even though we didn't eat any of the coffee beans. 

Eventually we came to another Y in the road, and to the right was a couple of houses with people sitting out in front of them, so we decided to ask them the way. They turned out to be Haitian people, and they spoke spanish, which was good for us cause neither of us speak one word of creole, but their Spanish was still very difficult to understand, so all we really got was to go left at the Y in the road, which was better than nothing. So we took the left, and then staying on the correct path was difficult for a little while. Luckily the trees weren't too dense here, so Colin was able to look up and either see the antenna where we were headed or the next peak over, then decide which way to go from there. We came to one fork where the left was downhill into a valley, and the right was uphill along the ridge. We couldn't decide which way to go, so we took a little break before finally deciding to go up to the right. It was super steep and difficult to hike up, and when we finally came to a clearing 15 minutes later, we took a break to decide if we should continue this way. After some deliberation, we came to the conclusion that both ways would get us there eventually, so we just flipped a coin; heads continuing along our current path, and tails doubling back. It came up tails, which in hind-sight was very lucky because that ended up being the faster way to get there. 

We got lost one more time for a few minutes, but nothing worth describing in detail. As we felt like we were getting closer to our final goal, the path started the change and turned into more of a horse path, which we took as a good sign. Pretty much as soon as we acknowledged this, we basically fell off of this path onto a road! It was a crazy surprise! We gave each other a little baffled look because we were just not expecting this. It wasn't a paved road, but certainly a road wide enough for a car to drive down. In fact, where we came out of the woods there was a pick up truck parked almost directly in front of us, and a man a little ways down the road tending to his farm. We went and talked with him for a little while and learned lots from him in just a few minutes. His name was Nelson Vargas, and he told us about a little village two kilometers down the road (another surprise), and more about the surrounding area and how they are working to turn in into a tourist area (thumb down emoji). He also told us that continuing along this road to the right, we will reach our goal of the antennas. So we set up yet another crazy steep road (I can't overstate the steepness) and another half hour later, we finally reached the antennas, and one more surprise. I did not think we would see nearly as many people along the way as we did, and I definitely did not expect to meet a family living at the top of the mountain, the husband of which tends to the antenna. 

What I have failed to far to mention is the physical toll the hike had taken thus far. None of our injuries had occurred yet, but by the time we reached the top, my legs were freakin jelly, and were cramping up every couple minutes, all of which I expected. What I did not think about was the toll carrying a heavy pack for many hours would take on my shoulders. When we got there I was so happy to take of my backpack I nearly flung it off the mountain. But none of that mattered because we had made it, and we were ready to start reaping the rewards of our hours of hiking (4 hours and 44 minutes to be exact). We sat on a roof and just stared out in the direction we had come from trying to name all the cities we could see. We could see (from east to west) Punta Rusia, Villa Isabela, Luperon, Guananico, Imbert, and at night we could see the lights from Puerto Plata. We obviously took pictures, but we talked about how in situations like this we almost feel like it's pointless to take pictures to show people because a picture could never possibly capture the vastness. After appreciating for a good long while, we wanted to hike some more to get to a vantage point where we could see the view of what's on the other side of the mountain. So we talked to the man who lives up there (who has lived up there his entire life and told us that they don't have water up there and have to go three miles to the closest village for it) and he pointed us in the correct direction. It was very clear that people don't usually go this way, because we were utilizing our machetes more than ever. But after only about 10 minutes, we reached our destination and were able to appreciate some more. It was a very interesting and unexpected view. Facing out toward the direction we came from was mountainous, but out in the other direction was completely flat almost as far as we could see (which was quite far) and all farm land, but still very beautiful nonetheless. 

Now we had only one more goal before calling it a day with the hiking and going to explore the village that Nelson told us about, which was the tallest peak of the mountain, so of course we had to get up there. And this is where it got treacherous, and the injuries started. Much like the path to the peak we were just at, it was very overgrown and we had to frequently utilize our machetes to get through. It was farther away as well, but we reached where we were trying to go in another half hour, but there were a lot of trees and we were unsatisfied with the view. So Colin climbed an old cell tower and say that "20 yards away" there were some tall rocks we could sit on top of and get the view we so desired. I put 20 yards away in quotes because it was much, much more that 20 yards, with the distance accentuated by the treacherous terrain. I know I already used treacherous before, but it's the only words to describe the way to these rocks. We were no longer hiking, but rock climbing. There were times where it was quite terrifying, but always more fun and exhilarating than anything else. After a long 20 yards, we finally made it to the rocks we were headed for. It was very cool sitting on top of the rocks because they were their own peaks, and it was a straight drop 50 feet down from them, so I made sure to hold on tight the entire time. So after even more appreciating, we decided it was time to get down off these rocks and head for the town. In heading toward these rocks, we were walking away from the antenna and the start of the road, so we were a solid hour through all the treachery from the antenna. Colin observed that the road to the town was right below us, and after much deliberation (my vote was just to take the long, safe way back around to the antennas) we decided to go Colin's way and climb down the face of the mountain down to the road to "save some time" (we did not save any time). Plus, this is where the injuries began.

So in this treacherous terrain, Colin moved much faster than I did. He has much longer limbs than I do, and he is also a bit less cautious than I am in such a situation. So as we're climbing down this mountain, I can't see him so I would call out his name every once in a while to both make sure he was ok, and to ensure I was headed in the right direction. I'm headed down nice and slow, but still accidentally grabbing the occasional thorn or getting scraped up when slipping on an unstable rock. Then, one of the times I called for Colin, there was a little hesitation, and very calmly for the situation, he says Mikey, I just took "a little fall" (it wasn't a little fall). So I got really nervous and got over to where he fell from, and he free fell 15 FEET down the mountain!! I rushed over to where he fell, owning both of my knees on the sharp edges of rocks in my haste, asking what he broke along the way. Somehow, someway the answer was nothing. Although he avoided breaking anything, he certainly didn't get away unscathed. He got some gnarly cut-bruises on his arms an legs, but was overall ok and able to walk away from the fall. He was climbing backward down the ledge, and when he took off his foot to start moving down and only had one foot and one hand on the wall, the rock he was holding on to broke and he fell backward. I asked him later once we finally reached the bottom if he though he was going to die when he started falling, he said yes and the image that flashed through his head was how the newspaper title back home would read announcing his death. The rest of the climb down the face of the mountain was full of little slips resulting in little cuts and bruises, and by the time we finally reached the road we were headed for, my hands and legs were covered in those tiny cuts and bruises, but despite all the injures, I'm really glad we chose to go the way we did, because it was incredibly fun, and I'm sure I'll never do anything exactly like it again. 

We reached the road, and walked into the village, which ended up being a typical Dominican village. A few colmados, no where to eat, and lots of people hanging out on their front porches. We talked with a woman and her children while they played Play Station 2 (another one of those surprises). Then we walked through the village more, ran into Nelson playing some dominos, bought some more water and food, and decided to head out of the village and find a place to set up camp. We ended up finding a perfect spot, up off the road with a few well spaced trees, strung up our hammocks, and started collecting supplies to build a fire. After some very hard earned relaxation, we got the fire going and roasted the hot dogs that Colin brought along, which were delicious. It was dark now, and Colin decided to walk back into the village to buy more water, just in case. While he was gone I went and checked out the view, and it was super cool to see all the same cities we did by day, which were now clusters of lights by night. I was in my hammock by 9 o'clock, and passed right out, but the sleep was very short lived, because it was very windy, and freezing up on the top of the mountain. Neither Colin nor I slept more than an hour or two, and when 5am finally rolled around, I found Colin curled up in a ball on the ground next to the fire, which was equal parts pathetic and hilarious. No matter how completely miserable and sleepless the night was, it was all worth it to see the sunrise in the morning from the top of the mountain. Pictured above, was without a doubt the most incredible sunrise I've ever seen. From the property there are too many mountains to see the sunrise until it's already up in the sky, but from such a high vantage point you could see every minute of the sunrise.

After we were satisfied with the amount of sunrise we were able to witness, we set off down the mountain. The way down was immensely easier than the way up. While walking down the steep hills was a little bit tough on our already over tired legs, we got down in less than half the time it took to ascend the mountain. On the way down we ran into Pepe again, and talked with a few more people on the way. We made it back to Guananico around 9 o'clock, and Franci came and picked us up. By the time we got home, I was freakin exhausted and passed out in the hammock for a good while. 

It was the craziest adventure I've had so far while in the DR, and I will never look back at the top of the mountain or those antenna again. 


Friday, November 21, 2014

Farewell to the beard

Scroll for the progression (the second one is my favorite)

Today I shaved my beard! Well actually my friend, and friend of the mission, Alberto did it for me! it feels super good to be rid of it. This was the longest I've grown a beard by almost a full month, and honestly, it was terrible. All sorts of gnarly stuff fell out of it as he was shaving it too, which I thought was awesome. Everyone's reaction as I saw them was super funny, with, "who's that guy, can't be Mikey," topping the list. Riding the motorcycle home and actually feeling the wind on my face was pretty nice too. I think for the rest of my time here, I'll probably just try to maintain a constant scruff, as opposed to growing another ridiculous mountain man beard. 



Thursday, November 13, 2014

La escualita

Sorry the picture is too big for the blog, but it's awesome so I wanted to make it as big as possible

      I love this picture because almost everyone in it is in motion. So much so that if you look at it for too long, too closely it seems like it could be posed. This is school. For all of August and a good part of September, I primarily stayed on the property and tended to it, but then in September after Colin arrived, schools opened and I really wanted to be a part of it because it's super fun to hang out with little kids, and also it was a way to get off of the property. So every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon I would go with Colin and Megan into El Canal and we would have class with 3-5 year olds from 2-5:30. At first I assumed more of a support role because Colin and Megan are here working with VMM for the sole purpose of teaching. It was fun to get to know the kids while not having to do any of the lesson planning, which was nice. When school started, I was told that I would eventually be tutoring older kids who need help in their schools, which I was very excited about! Then when the former coordinator of our school program, Loryn, was down here for a visit in October, she informed me that I would have my own class of 6-10 year olds! She rattled off a bunch of things that I need to teach them, and told me I'd be starting the next week! Teaching the 3-5 year olds was easy, it was colors, numbers, days of the week, but teaching the 6-10 year olds meant I needed to teach them things like the alphabet, how to read, and reading comprehension. I feel like people go to college to learn how to properly teach that kind of stuff, so in the beginning I was completely lost. I didn't know what to do for lesson plans, or how to properly teach them to read. Three weeks in, I still don't really know what I'm doing, but the kids at least seem to be having a good time! I think this coming weekend I'm going to sit down, call Loryn, and really start learning how to teach these kids what they need to learn! My class started at 4 kids, and as of next Tuesday I will be up to 7! After this post I'm gonna get pictures of each of my kids individually and blog about them, so you can get to know them too!