A Peace Corps friend of mine here is getting married next week, so to celebrate, sixteen of us went to the southern part of the country to hang out on the beaches and relax. We rested on a beautiful beach, used the pool at a nice hotel (of course, we couldn’t afford to stay there!) and did fun bachelorette party activities. Sounds pretty similar to a bachelorette weekend in the states, right? Well, some of it was very similar, but there were a couple things that reminded us that we were Peace Corps volunteers in the Dominican Republic, instead of people with jobs in the Unites States. Here are some examples:
--On the bus ride up to the hotel, we argued with a bus driver who was trying to charge us 75 cents more than normal for a bus ride. This included calling him a thief, him calling us thieves, and us paying him what we believed he deserved and then hurrying away. We consulted several locals later, who told us that the driver was indeed trying to scam us.
--One of the girls that was supposed to come to the party couldn’t because a snake had entered her house and eaten her kittens. She had to sleep in another house and missed the bus that she needed to take to get to us.
--Our plans to go out on the town the first night were foiled because the mayor’s daughter was having a “Quincenera” and all the local bars and discos had closed down for the event.
--when we went out dancing, we were dancing almost exclusively to bachata, merengue and reggaeton, not the typical disco music in the States!
Overall I had a great time, Dominicanness included! I was able to see a part of the country I had never seen before, and enjoy the company of my friends, many of whom I see very little!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
August 28th, 2009--Sports Camp!!
August 28th-30th: Sports Camp!
So to inaugurate the new school year I took two of the kids to my community to a sports camp that a group of volunteers and I organized. There were about twenty-two kids and eleven volunteers, which was a nice, manageable amount of people. I brought one boy and one girl from my community, neither of which had ever traveled as far as we did the first day to get to camp (it was about a four hour trip, probably about eighty miles, but it took so much longer because of public transportation).
The first day there we did some activities to promote good sportsmanship, then a group of volunteers taught the kids how to play kickball and we organized several games. After that the kids went to the pool for swim lessons and games, and then had time to shower and rest before dinner. After dinner we did team building activities and had “reflection” time where we broke into groups and talked about our day.
The second day we woke up in the morning at about 6 am—none of the kids could stay quite till the designated 7am wake up call-- and did yoga with all the kids (they definitely thought it was funny at first, but calmed down and seemed to enjoy it by the end). They then jumped in the pool and afterwards we coaxed them out for breakfast. After breakfast a group of volunteers went over the rules to play soccer, and then the kids played till they got tired out. After a snack, another volunteer and I did a presentation on good nutrition and had them play games to learn about the different food groups. After that, we ate lunch and came back to play volleyball. I did a short session on the rules and techniques for volleyball and we went and played. We ended that session with two games of volunteers vs. kids, and I am sad to say that my team lost :(.
After more shower time, we had divided the boys and girls and had a “taking care of your body session” which lead to many interesting questions (on the girls’ side at least). Then it was dinner time, and we had planned a bonfire, but it began to rain and we had to make a makeshift bonfire out of construction paper inside the gazebo and eat our smores uncooked. It didn’t matter though, the kids were happy anyways, and just played dominoes and sand and danced around the rest of the night.
The next day, after another yoga session and breakfast, we reviewed what we had learned and handed out certificates and medals. The kids were definitely sad to leave! On the way back, we passed through Santo Domingo and I gave my kids a tour of the Peace Corps office. They loved it and wanted to stay there for longer than we could. They came back tired but happy!
So to inaugurate the new school year I took two of the kids to my community to a sports camp that a group of volunteers and I organized. There were about twenty-two kids and eleven volunteers, which was a nice, manageable amount of people. I brought one boy and one girl from my community, neither of which had ever traveled as far as we did the first day to get to camp (it was about a four hour trip, probably about eighty miles, but it took so much longer because of public transportation).
The first day there we did some activities to promote good sportsmanship, then a group of volunteers taught the kids how to play kickball and we organized several games. After that the kids went to the pool for swim lessons and games, and then had time to shower and rest before dinner. After dinner we did team building activities and had “reflection” time where we broke into groups and talked about our day.
The second day we woke up in the morning at about 6 am—none of the kids could stay quite till the designated 7am wake up call-- and did yoga with all the kids (they definitely thought it was funny at first, but calmed down and seemed to enjoy it by the end). They then jumped in the pool and afterwards we coaxed them out for breakfast. After breakfast a group of volunteers went over the rules to play soccer, and then the kids played till they got tired out. After a snack, another volunteer and I did a presentation on good nutrition and had them play games to learn about the different food groups. After that, we ate lunch and came back to play volleyball. I did a short session on the rules and techniques for volleyball and we went and played. We ended that session with two games of volunteers vs. kids, and I am sad to say that my team lost :(.
After more shower time, we had divided the boys and girls and had a “taking care of your body session” which lead to many interesting questions (on the girls’ side at least). Then it was dinner time, and we had planned a bonfire, but it began to rain and we had to make a makeshift bonfire out of construction paper inside the gazebo and eat our smores uncooked. It didn’t matter though, the kids were happy anyways, and just played dominoes and sand and danced around the rest of the night.
The next day, after another yoga session and breakfast, we reviewed what we had learned and handed out certificates and medals. The kids were definitely sad to leave! On the way back, we passed through Santo Domingo and I gave my kids a tour of the Peace Corps office. They loved it and wanted to stay there for longer than we could. They came back tired but happy!
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