English Classes

Things are starting to take off.  I had a busy day today, but everything seems to be going fairly well:

I started the day teaching English to kids.  I was really worried I was going to have to entertain 50+ misbehaved kids by myself for an hour, but there were more like 15, and they behaved pretty well the whole time.  We practiced colors, simple commands (stand up, sit down, look up, look down), and numbers 1-10, and I taught them "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes."  We still have a few days of practice before they know any of the material completely, but I'd say it was a very successful first day!  I'm still, however, worried that the class size will grown and become difficult to manage.

After class, I took a trip next door to our batey to a community center run by a group of Brazilian nuns.  They provide health and legal services to whoever needs them.  I partly just wanted to talk to someone about my frustrations in the batey (and the woman there was a wonderful and sympathetic listener), and I also needed to get some information on how to get legal documents for children without them.  The short version is that the Dominican legal system is a complicated mess that is extra troublesome for Haitians.  Gracias a Dios, the nuns have become very familiar with the system, and most of my work will simply be connecting the undocumented with the nuns who can help them.

After lunch, I visited some houses in the community to introduce myself and ask some questions.  I need to visit about 100 houses, and with today's four I'm at 23, right about on target.

After playing with the kids in my host family, I went to teach another English class, this time to teenagers.  The turnout was even smaller, which surprised me, because there have been lots of teens who expressed interest in the class.  I suspect this class size will grow also.  Even if it doesn't, there are already some very promising students in the class.  Today I reviewed some things I knew they've already studied in school (greetings, family members, numbers), and to be honest the class was more boring than the kids class.  But it's pretty hard to beat out "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes."  I hope and expect that some of these kids will be able to carry on some kind of conversation in English by the time I'm done with them...they already have a foundation and they're self-motivated.

After this class, I visited some neighbors because there was a 6th grader who wanted (!) extra practice with multiplication.  While I was there, two of her cousins joined in to practice addition and subtraction.  I wrote out math problems as fast as I could and gave them timed worksheets until I was worn out.  There is something fundamentally wrong with school...all these kids want to learn and enjoy learning, but hate school and don't learn anything there.  That's not just a Dominican problem; throughout the world, kids want to learn until there's a teacher forcing them.  Solve that problem, and humanity will take several leaps forward.

There's a Haitian girl living with us because something is wrong with her mother and her dad is somewhere in Haiti.  She's 7, but still can't read and has terrible (Spanish) grammar.  The nuns are looking for a family to adopt her, but it's difficult because she's already 7 and hasn't ever even been in school.  I almost started to teach her to read, but one of my host sisters yelled at her to pay closer attention to me and learn, and she lost interest.

I also fit in a lengthy conversation with my host mom about how unchristian and unhelpful it is that all the adults around here beat and swear at their kids.  She said something about how misbehaved all the kids are and how that's Dominican culture.  I'll consider it progress that we're actually having a conversation and agreeing that there's a problem.

I have the same two English classes tomorrow, and I have a class for adults that will start this weekend.  And I still have to visit 77 more houses!  At least I'm not bored.

Dominican Music

A large part of the purpose of this blog is to try to share my experience here in the DR with people back home.  I like adding pictures, because it lets people see what I'm seeing, but there are four other senses that can't be communicated well through words or pictures.  There is a lot of noise around here, and most of it isn't very pleasant: barking dogs, motorcycles without mufflers, people (of all ages) swearing, roosters crowing, and plenty more.

There's also a lot of music, and there are a few songs that get played a lot.  Merengue and Bachata are the national genres, and you can also hear a lot of Reggaeton.  I have to admit, none of these styles are my favorite, but they are better than whimpering puppies.

Here are some links to a few of the most commonly heard songs.  Warning: I don't have a lot of bandwidth (and I've heard all these songs enough already), so I haven't actually watched these videos.  Most of the lyrics are in Spanish, and none of the English lyrics are offensive, but some of the Spanish lyrics are not child-friendly, and the videos my not be appropriate for children either.

Prince Royce

This guy is pretty clearly the current favorite.  It's rare to go a day without hearing at least one of his songs.  The most popular are Corazon Sin Cara, Yo Te Ame (also called El Amor Que Perdimos), and Rechazame.  He also has a nice cover of Stand By Me which switches back and forth between English and Spanish.

Secreto El Famoso Biberon

These are the songs you'll want to avoid if you're around Spanish speaking children.  Ponte El Chaleco and Pa Ke Te De are both heard fairly often.

Tercer Cielo

This is a Christian group, and their song Creere (I will believe) is played loudly and proudly in a lot of homes.  It's a favorite of this girl, who sings it a lot.

Lily Goodman

Another Christian artist.  During training, the ringtone on my host mom's phone was the start of her song Yo Sin Ti, which I've now heard several other times.

There are a few others, but this will give you an idea of what this country sounds like.  Make sure you turn up the volume as much as possible (especially the base) so you can share it with you neighbors, whether they're interested or not.

PS: I haven't actually heard anyone playing this, but a few kids have spontaneously started singing Shakira's Waka Waka song (complete with dance).

A Friend's Birthday

First, I'd like to share one of the greatest pictures my camera has ever taken:

And I can't take credit for it...it's a self-shot by a 5-year-old who just learned how to use the camera!

She had her birthday recently, and for weeks building up to it, she and her family kept reminding me that she was about to turn five and asking what I was going to get for her.  It presented a dilemma, because I'm already fighting the 'rich white guy' stereotype.  People frequently ask me for money, because everyone seems to assume that white skin sweats money.  I've had kids who I didn't even know (not in this batey, but in another pueblo) say, "Hey, American, give me a dollar so I can buy a coke."  Not hungry kids asking for food, but well-fed kids playing in their yard who already think I owe them money, just because of the color of my skin.  But I digress...

Anyway, she and her family are wonderful to be around, and asking for a birthday present from a friend is not nearly as bad as demanding money from a stranger, but I still can't be the rich white guy.  Even if I could afford fancy gifts for all the kids in the batey, they point of the Peace Corps is teaching (creating independence) not giving material gifts (creating dependence).

That said, she's cute and friendly and smart and better behaved than most, and I had to get her something, so I bought her an apple.  All kinds of fruit grow on this island, but not apples, so they're something of a luxury; lots of people only have apples to celebrate Christmas.  It's kind of funny, because people are surrounded by the most delicious mangos, but those are boring, because they're so common, while the humble apple is an extravagant treat.  She thought having an entire apple to herself was pretty awesome! 

I also got her some colored pencils and a pack of gum, which were fun, but not to expensive or extravagant, so I can safely buy similar gifts for other kids.  Her mom told me the next day that she finished all the gum that night.  I hope she brushed her teeth.

Besides eating apples and gum, she likes playing those clappy-singing games that girls do, and her favorite topic of conversation seems to be 'pampers rotos:' broken diapers.  Five-year-olds are the same the world over!

Silly face!

Yes, this place has mosquitoes and heat and diseases and racism and mud, but it also has some wonderful kids that make it all worth the effort!

PS: If any of you readers ever have visitors from Latin America in the autumn time, you should definitely take them apple picking.  Bringing these kids to an apple orchard would be like bringing kids to Santa's Workshop in the north pole.

Broadband!

Saludos!  It's been a while, so I have a few quick updates.

First: I finally have a broadband card, so I can get to the Internet from my site!  There's still some complications with the account, but I should be able to post more frequently now.

Second: School has ended, but there are a few kids staying around for extra help, so my work hasn't really changed.  The smaller group of kids is a lot more manageable, so class is quieter and less chaotic.

Third: They're paving the road!  This is huge...dirt roads turn into mud roads in the rainy season.  We have lots of dirt and lots of rain, so we end up with lots and lots of mud.  But now, with the luxury of cement, walking to school won't mean wading through mud!

So far, there's only a curb, but it's a beautiful little curb!

Quick update

Hello everyone!  I'm back in the capital to get (another) vaccine, so I wanted to add a quick post while I have internet.

Things have been going pretty well, although I've been a little under the weather for a couple of days (nothing too serious, just a little Peace Corps gastrointestinal excitement).  There's word that the cholera outbreak has made it into the Batey, but I'm confident it's not that.  The rainy season has just started, which means there are frequent downpours, which means the dirt roads are actually mud rivers.  And a recently shared a very small latrine with a very large tarantula.  At night, in the dark, with only a small flashlight.  I tucked Netalie in extra tight that night.

On the positive side of things, I've started helping out in the local school with 3rd graders who need extra help with reading.  There are lots of kids who don't even recognize all of the letters yet, and it's common for kids to be held back a grade several times in a row.  I sit with them one-on-one and help them work through simple words and sentences, which is really rewarding work, because I can already see some improvement, and they love the individual attention.  There's less than a month left of school, though, and some of them need more than a month of work before they can go on to 4th.  Also, there are 35-40 kids in a class, with cement walls (so everything makes an echo), and lots of the kids have really terrible behavior...I've already wrestled apart kids who were on the floor beating each other, in 3rd grade, multiple times.  But the teachers are dedicated, if overworked, and lots of the kids want to learn, and one of my biggest problems is trying to share my time with all the kids who want to read or play with me.  Some volunteers have a hard time finding people to work with...I don't think I'll have that problem!

My Batey!

I'm back from visiting my Batey...we have our official swearing in ceremony tomorrow, and we'll return to our sites to officially move in this weekend.

I really like my site!  It's one of the poorest places I've been, but that's to be expected in the Peace Corps.  It has three (dirt) roads, three churches, a primary school, a community center, and about 1000 people.  There are lots of kids, who are all really friendly and already run over to hug me when they see me!  Lots of people have expressed interest in taking computer or English classes.  Supposedly, the first three months are just my 'diagnostic,' where I study the community but don't actually work on any projects.  However, I think my role in the community is already clearly laid out and they want me to start sooner.

I'll probably do a lot of work in the primary school (K-8th grade).  I was already introduced to all the classes, so there are 300 kids who know my name, and I know about 5.  They also have a computer lab (built by Save the Children), which they've barely begun to use, and they're going to give me free reign to do what I want with it.

The hardest part, I think, is going to be the fact that the kids have never had any consistent discipline, so a lot of them are cute little brats.  There's a lot of hitting that goes on (parents hitting kids, kids hitting each other), but I certainly don't want to participate in that, and it would be nice to get everyone else to stop also.  I've got a bag of cheap candies...whoever gets hit (without hitting back) will get a candy.  We'll see if I can outsmart the seven year olds.  One of the PC nurses also pointed out that hardly anyone invests emotionally in these kids, so I can hopefully make a difference just by caring.  Advice on handling dozens of misbehaved kids would be appreciated...

Anyway, here are a few photos.  I didn't take very many, but I'll have two years to document the 3 street town!

Some of my new friends.  After I'd been in town for only six hours, I told them I was staying for two years, and they all cheered!

At a neighbor's house

All the fences look something like this.

My new church, in the nearby town.  It's one of the prettiest churches I've seen in the country.

My shower (with a dirt floor)

And no ceiling

My room, with Netalie, my beloved mosquito net.

View from the top of the ladder in my shower.

Por Fin!

After more than a year of applications and waiting, they finally told me I was accepted into the Peace Corps and was invited to serve in the Dominican Republic.  Months later, I actually arrived in the country.  Now, after two months here in the DR, I finally know the specific community where I'll be living and working!

As expected, it's a Batey in the East.  I requested the East because part of our training was in that region, and I got along really well with my host family and want to visit them.  I was interested in a Batey because I'll get the chance to learn Haitian Creole.  And how many Americans can say they speak Haitian?

Bateyes are the poorest communities in the DR.  The Dominican economy used to be based primarily on sugar production, and Haitians came into the country to work in the sugar fields.  Now, the economy is focused on tourism, and all that's left of the sugar plantations are small groups of Haitians without any major sources of income.  Most of the inhabitants of Bateyes are of either Haitian or Haitian-Dominican descent, and many of them don't have any legal documents.  The older community members often don't speak Spanish, but only Creole.  This is going to be a crazy experience!

The Batey I'll be in has had a previous PCV from 2007-2008, and has also been visited by volunteers from Save the Children.  There are about 1,100 people in the community.  They have a computer lab with functioning computers, a printer, and (at least part of the time) electricity, so they've already got plenty to work with.  I'll be fairly close to a large city, so it won't be too difficult to get resources.  There are also some cool PCVs from my group who will be living very close.  Unfortunately, for security reasons, I can't post the name of the Batey on a public blog, but it those of you who are my facebook friends can find that info on my facebook page.

Most of the Bateyes in the country are closer to the Haitian border, where it never rains and is extra dusty, so I got a pretty good deal with a Batey in the East.  Tomorrow, I will meet my project partner (the person with whom I will probably do most of my work over the next two years) and we'll travel to the Batey, where I'll stay with my new host family (with whom I'll live for at least the next three months).  I'll come back to the capital on Sunday, because we have the official swearing in ceremony on May 11, then I'll take the rest of my things and be officially (finally!) in my permanent community!