On smiling lots :)

¡Buen día mi gente! 

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about happiness. Something a friend said to me a while back really stuck with me and has acted as a guiding principle these past few months. He was describing driving home to Seattle from Idaho, a routine and mundane task, but explained that periodically throughout the drive he’d get an overwhelming sensation of happiness (especially when blasting “Uptown Funk”) . There was nothing especially happy or even special about the moment, but perhaps it was memories that welled up, the beauty of the drive or just the simple moment that brought a smile to his face.

Sure there are times when I’m frustrated here, but more and more lately, I find myself smiling. Just finding these beautiful moments and grinning to myself like I’m the only one who’s been told a secret. I have my own inside jokes that light me up inside and I spread an outward grin. Sometimes my grin comes out when I’m eating rice and beans and thinking to myself "Damn these are tasty", or when my little adopted daughter calls me Beita, which means “Little Bea,” an affectionate derivative of my name. It appears on my face when a doña gives me coffee and already knows I take it without sugar, when I learn all the words to a bachata song and sing it out loud to amazed spectators, when I spend the entire month of February memorizing the words to the DR’s national anthem and get it right just in time for Independence Day! I smile when watching kids invent baseball games with plastic bottles and dirty socks, being told I'm a good dancer, not feeling awkward at 24-hour funerals, bucket bathing, not washing my hair for five days and people still saying, “God bless your hair, Bea,” realizing how fully I can express myself in Spanish, saying something people think is really funny for an American to say, being called a tiguera. For these and so many more precious small moments everyday, I smile. And at the risk of sounding like the song “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music, I’ll stop there.

My best friend and fellow PCV, Dante, reminded me today – “Bea, appreciate every single day here because once you leave, there will never be anything else like it.” Every day I’m going to find something to smile about even if the only person I get to share my happiness with is myself. Christopher McCandless from Back to the Wild got it all wrong. His dying quote, “Happiness is only real when shared,” is only partly true. Yes, friends and family and society give us so much, but I’ve felt so much recently that I am the source and true appreciation for my own happiness.

I hope you find those simple moments of happiness and just smile and appreciate your surroundings and your own self. Because, after all, you are the only thing you get to take with you everywhere! To end with a quote: “When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.” Also, it’s Monday so show your feelings, spread love and give someone special a big hug!

In other news this week: 

- My project implementing a rural 911 system is going swimmingly. Nine wonderful first responders have been trained and are now actively responding to emergencies in Manzanillo and the outskirts. It's a soft opening because we still need to do a lot of testing on our Beacon system, but the most important part is that the people are trained and responding. We had a beautiful graduation on the beach full of fried fish, tiny shrimp, conch, lots of fried plantains and plenty of dancing! (Photos below). 

- I am the town's new aerobics instructor thanks to a serendipitous phone call from the town mayor asking me to start on Monday. I've been trying to start a women's aerobics group for a while now, but the best part is he's been announcing it around town so hopefully there will be quite the group! 

- My grant to build 40 more improved cookstoves was approved. Now it's just a waiting game until Peace Corps HQ transfers the funds, but it will be a wonderful summer project. Thank you to all who already donated! The first 30 stoves are done and being well-used! 

- It's almost Semana Santa (Holy Week) so town is abuzz with visitors from afuera (abroad) coming or making plans to come. The beach is always full and the mood is jovial! It's a wonderful time to be a Manzaniellera! Special food for this time includes habichuela con dulce or sweet beans, a scrumptious pudding type thing only made during this time of year. 

- Four of my best friends from America are visiting this week! Queue vacation! We're off to the beach to relax but it will be a bittersweet visit before one of my friends (Alix) takes a job with the Clinton Health Access Initiative in SWAZILAND! Congratulations!!!! 

Sending all my hugs and kisses, 

Bea 

You can't even begin to imagine the amount of tostones I made with this bunch of plantains!

The boys in my life. Love these lil dudes!

A forgotten photo from carnaval celebrations the 27th of February

Three girls waiting for Mama Julia to give a Catholicism class teaching the cross and hail Mary's to five year olds. I sit in on the class too, because it's embarrassing to go to church and not know how to say all the stuff in Spanish. 

My chaotic family! 

First Aid graduation at the beach! Dancing! 

Another proud moment, one of our graduates, Victor, gave a presentation to a group of 8th graders about the importance of first aid, community service and helping thy neighbor.

The graduates showing off their certificates. Proud teacher moment!