¡Happy belated Thanksgiving!
I am exhausted. These past two weeks have been nuts, even though I’m supposed to be “taking it easy” here in my community. Not me, no way.
Last weekend started just like any normal weekend, washing my laundry and cleaning my room. I found a grand total of 1 cockroach, 4 spiders, 12 moths, and 1 giant hairball in my closet. Not bad. I hand washed a towel and my sheets (the worst) when we ran out of water and luckily did the rest before the power went out. Old news there, though, when isn’t the power running out?
The real fun started in the afternoon when my town’s annual month-long men’s softball tournament commenced with my team, Pueblo Nuevo battling in it’s first game against rival team Cervivi. The tournament kicked off with a parade down Main Street showing off newly gifted jerseys and tshirts of the four Manzanillera teams sent as recuerdos from relatives in the US. I sported a really cool shirt to wear and stood in the dugout with 75 of my cousins, aunts, friends and host sisters screaming for 3 hours in one of the more shrill pitches I’ve ever heard. It was awesome. Then I darted off to a doñas meeting to teach a lil something about combating violence against women to mark the anniversary of the death of the three Hermanas Mirabal, heroines in this country’s history who fought against the oppressive dictator Trujillo.
Sunday, I woke up bright and early to get my ducks in a row for the wedding of my cousins Jhanna and Macho. I am a picky wedding goer since I organized weddings at Tufts during my undergraduate career (seems oh so long ago) and this one was one of the prettiest things I’ve seen in this country, but I can hardly compare it to an American wedding. Roughly ninety percent of it included the bride and groom taking thousands of pictures in front of a three tier pineapple flavored wedding cake and ten percent of the time mimicking traditions from American weddings. There was the service, with bridesmaids and all, but in the middle of it, a fire broke out in the field behind the church. In true Dominican fashion, the service went on with people mingling in and out, standing up to look at the chaos out back, all the while interrupting the pastor and the vows without a care in the world. Then Jhanna put the ring on Macho’s right hand, oops. From the service, we went to eat an awesome lunch on Styrofoam plates with plastic cutlery and more than enough 2-liter soda in grape, orange and raspberry flavors. A single rose of the bouquet was thrown into a crowd of eager ladies, with kids and babies joining in. Christian Evangelical music was blaring at top notch, yet no dancing and certainly no drinking. All in all, it was beautiful, romantic and the talk of the town.
No one gets “married” as we’ve come to know it in America. There are no fancy weddings, no white dresses, and certainly no banquet style comidas. Why? 1) They’re expensive, ridiculously so by Dominican standards. The whole thing cost around $2,000 which is nothing by our standards, but an absolute luxury for most families here. 2) People think they’re stupid. “He’ll just pega cuernos, he’s going to cheat on her, why are they wasting they’re money?” And sadly, most people haven’t seen many faithful, respectful and honest examples of love or marriage to show them otherwise. Even sadder, it’s almost certain he will pega cuernos. 3) They already love each other and live together, why the need to make it official? This is an argument I can get into, and I certainly had a lot of interesting conversations around the idea and concept of marriage last weekend, and interesting to hear the perspectives of people who like me, do not really believe in marriage.
The beginning of the week passed rapido, from meetings, my community health diagnostic, English classes, a community mapping project, and preparing for World AIDS Day activities.
And then it was Thanksgiving! Talk about a turkey hangover! I haven’t spent a Thanksgiving at home since I was thirteen (sorry mom and pop) and I’ve always spent it merrily with friends. This time was no different. All the volunteers met up in the capital for our very own celebration complete with pecan and pumpkin pie. The American food was a great change of pace from my daily rice and beans, and it felt like the right time to day a few days for rest and relaxation away from Manzanillo (even though the journey was long and I came back more exhausted than when I left!). I love my community with all my heart and the trip away confirmed that. I was so excited to come home and rejuvenated after talking to other Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) about their experiences to date. It was useful to share ideas, lament our challenges, and kick it eating turkey. Oh, and I ran a 5k. Won’t even tell you my time because back home, my 14-year old brother beat me in his very own Turkey Trot by over 10 minutes. Embarrassing.
On Saturday, I made the 6-hour trek back home to Manzanillo to arrive by 3pm just in time to devour my rice and beans and head to my doñas meeting for my very first official chat on HIV/AIDS. There was a bigger than normal showing that I was proud of, and I felt really good about the message and suspect it came across. Go me! Next – I made the rounds around town to let it be known I had arrived back to my site so I didn’t have to waste cell phone minutes calling the doñas who insisted I let them know when I’d returned. I made an evening out of it and stopped at for juice, coffee, tostones, and fried potatoes at the houses of Wendy, Mama Julia, Tita, Luisa and Chila, Phew!
And this morning, I woke up early yet again to head to the pueblo of Monti Cristi – a beach town about an hour away for a collaborative workshop in commemoration of World AIDS Day. Along with four other volunteers who have already been here for a year and completed groups of Escojo Mi Vida (the youth health initiative I’ll be working on). Together, we set out to educate sixty youth about condom usage, stigma, HIV prevention, and history of the disease. With my homeboy Domingo, I taught about discrimination and stereotyping of people living with HIV or AIDS. It went super bien if I don’t say so myself. It was really great to have this workshop so close to my site because I was able to see what volunteers a year into their service are capable of. The message definitely resonated with the kids and I am impressed by how professionally the workshop ran. Congrats to Julie, Krista, Yvette and Elana for a productive and inspiring day!
Now, I’m finally home and here to stay for a month at least. I'll be conducting a community health assessment as well as giving charlas about HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, family planning, and nutrition in the high schools and to the doñas. Manzanillo has already started to get rowdy (music blasting until 5am last night) with people coming to visit from the states and people checking out for the rest of 2013. Here we come 2014!
I’m thankful for all of the wonderful friends and family I have all over the world. I constantly think about how lucky I am to be here, but that doesn’t mean a little nostalgia doesn’t creep in once in a while, especially on Thanksgiving! I am appreciative of you all for allowing me to indulge those memories of home and of our great times together. Miss you and thank you all for being you!
Sending empanadas, warm weather, and many thanks!
Missing all the pesos I spent in the capital, Thanksgiving leftovers, and my family.
Gobble gobble,
Bea
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