An end of sorts

After two weeks of hard work and equally hard good-byes, all 59 volunteers are officially back in Santo Domingo! We returned to the capital yesterday, providing one last weekend to hang out with our original host families and re-pack our things before a visit to our permanent sites on Tuesday.

As I said, the last two weeks in Constanza were packed with activities. One of the Dominican sayings we have been taught is that “Si vale la pena aprender, vale la pena celebrar,” or if something is worth learning, it’s also worth celebrating. We certainly followed this Dominican golden rule with friends, family, and training partners our last days in Constanza,

Each youth group that we worked with for the last month organized an activity to “celebrate youth,” and this included everything from mural paintings to talent shows. Two groups were scheduled to have a talent show so the Peace Corps Volunteers decided to prepare a special piece for the audience. We danced to Michael Jackson’s Thriller, expecting a big uproar, and instead the audience stared at us with the most stoic expressions I have seen in this country. They had no idea what we were doing. Our dance ended and we had that classic-bad-show-ending in movies where the audience is dead silent and every looks at each other awkwardly. Needless to say we learned a lot about cultural differences that day.

My youth group decided to do a clothing drive, and we donated our clothing to an extremely needy area in the surrounding mountains of Constanza. We were all a little unsure of how the drive would go… another expression that Peace Corps loves goes as follows: “Give one man a fish to feed his family, but teach him how to fish and he will feed his village.” As Peace Corps volunteers we have signed on to help people help themselves, and not to just drop off some material possessions and leave - which is exactly what the clothing drive was all about. However, despite prior concerns, the experience was incredible. Obviously I am in complete support of the Peace Corps mission, but I have also learned about the role that short term volunteers can play in providing material possessions. The community we served was so impoverished that most of the children did not own shoes. Case in point: a young girl from the community came over to me at the end of the drive while the leader of the community led us in the prayer. She held my hand and smiled at me as we were wrapping up the activity, and I decided to ask her what she thought about all of this; she responded by asking me if I had five pesos. Lesson learned, money pays for the necessities in life. Providing communities with material possessions may not help in the long term but people need clothes, food, shelter.

Once the youth group activities had ended, we wrapped everything up with our families; I chose to do this by cooking. Everyone knows I am not the biggest cook, but compared to most Dominicans I am a pastry chef. My friend Kristy and I learned early on that baked goods are not part of the national diet, so we decided to show our family how to cook some of our favorite desserts. In the end we ended up baking a pumpkin pie, chocolate chip cookes, brownies, and an apple crisp -- and it was the perfect way to thank our families for everything they had done for us. It was pretty hilarious, the whole experience. Dominican women know how to cook amazingly, but when it came to these treats, the Americans were the experts. They soaked up everything we said to them - any advice we had for how to scoop cookie dough onto the baking pan or prepare a pie crust - and later shared this information with their friends. What a great way to end our time in the mountains!

Last but not least, our very last day was celebrated with a despedida, or good-bye party. The volunteers presented small presents to their families and teachers to thank them for everything they have done for us. It was touching and painful to see how attached this community had become to our presence, especially knowing that this happens once a year for Constanza. Of course the feelings of attachment were mutual; it was difficult to say good-bye.

It was most difficult to say good bye to Wendy, my host mom, but it’s time to move forward to the next part of this adventure. Now I am back in Santo Domingo, sharing a few other memories with my first Dominican family. Yesterday, after church, I was even given an amazing surprise: I got to see the ocean for the first time since arriving on the island! As usual, my family started to mysteriously drive somewhere after their church service, and instead of asking where we were going I thought I would enjoy the unknown. I sat in the back seat, having absolutely no idea what was happening, and all of a sudden I saw a blue horizon. We spent a couple of hours at the Malecon, an outdoor market right along the water, about 5 miles outside of downtown Santo Domingo. It certainly made me excited to live so close to the Caribbean blue for my next two years.

In training we learned that culture shock often translates in the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Up to this point, that claim seems to be pretty true. For a few days last week I was really missing the States. All I wanted was to see the Fall leaves, go for a run along the Charles River, and spend time with family and friends. Then at some point I stepped out of my nostalgia and realized that human connections, just spending time with people you care about, are the solution to homesickness. I still miss my friends and family back home, but I am constantly blessed by the comfort and support of my Dominican counterparts. Tomorrow I will be introduced to an entire new set of people - the ones I will be spending the next two years with… I look forward to the ups and downs to come!