Global Potential Blog

I don’t really know what to say about the past week… We didn’t go on a Paseo last Sunday the way we had all expected to… I had fun, as usual, with my kids’ group on Monday… Tuesday was interesting, in that I went to a womens’ fair in Sebaco, where all of these women were selling food that they grew/made, which was cool… on Wednesday none of the youth showed up to my meeting again, even though I agreed to meet them at the soccer field, because they decided to play soccer in a neighboring town at the last minute… Thursday was frustrating, because I was told that people in the community have reported something along the lines of they didn’t know who I was, let alone ever had a conversation with me, even though I have been to all of their houses and had a conversation with people there at least once a week, so that upset me immensely, and made me question a few things… on Friday I spent the day going around to almost 20 different houses, I had roughly hour long conversations with at least one person in each house, and everyone seemed to know exactly who I was, even if they didn’t all understand why I was there - the vast majority of the people in El Hatillo insist that the GP presence there would be much more effective as a GP group, not a GP person…

I’ve been thinking - maybe my position might be more effective if I was assisted by a GP youth? I don’t know…

Hello, GPeople.

So I’ve definitely experienced a little culture shock. I’m not going to describe every little thing, but trust me when I say every little thing is crazy. For me. I think I’m getting over it and settling down into a daily routine. My host family is incredibly generous, and though my Spanish is pretty limited, I CAN say ‘muchas gracias.’ The students here are doing such a great job - integrating into the community, working on community and group projects, and participating in discussions and workshops. I’m so proud of them. I think we’re all learning a lot from each other, even when we’re just hanging out and relaxing. Having students from so many different backgrounds turns every interaction into an opportunity to learn and grow.

The language barrier has been really tough for me. I know some basic Spanish, but I have a really hard time keeping up with the speed and the  accents of my family. I can’t make jokes, which is a big bummer for me, since that is how I get close to people. Since my vocabulary is limited, I can never express exactly what I want to say. I end up saying the same words a lot: me gusta, yo quiero, yo puedo, gracias, and the ever-present ‘que?’ I can’t speak to the wonderful French students at all, which sucks because they seem pretty cool.

Every day is a challenge, but every day I’m learning. I owe a lot to the staff here, including Adam ‘The Man’ Lammers, for doing the tough job of setting things up and for helping me work my way in. Much love.

As for details, we’ve got an English class going on four days a week, an anti-littering campaign, a children’s book, and a documentary film being made. This afternoon we have a workshop with the community about ethnicity and culture. Tomorrow we go on a paseo with our friends in Batey Ocho (also known as “the batey that’s not quite as cool as batey uno”). I’m really looking forward to the adventure.

I feel like I could write a novel, but I’ll spare you all that. Stay tuned for more next week.

Love,

Jon

I can’t believe we are in week 4! Two more weeks until our departure, I honestly do not want to see that day come. I am starting to become an expert at making gardens and painting houses. Not in a million years would I see myself digging holes and messing with dirt. I have become so involved in this community and at this point I’ll do anything in order to help them out. I love how the community members also wake up early in the morning to help us help them. They have become so involved in what we do here. Team LION has created a new pack, Batey Uno! Everywhere we go our pack follows and we make positive changes. We have all been assigned internships and mentors, with our internships we are able to interact with the community and also learn from what they do. My internship takes place in the hair salon with Jenee´s mother, Mercedes. Since the electricity goes out most of the time I have the opportunity to teach the girls English and interact with them. The girls in Batey Uno are very hard working, but also more conservative. We try our hardest to get the girls to become more involved in the activities that we plan. No matter what we do with the community the guys are always there to joke around and make the best out of a workshop, an activity, and any other given moment. One thing that I am really going to miss is the sense of humor and the joy in this community. Every day I am shocked by the hard work that is placed in order to make it through just a day.

Hello Everyone, Its me mirka and this is week 4 In Batey 1 and im loving it here. As the days go by I get sadder and sadder because by a blink of an eye my summer will be over and ill be leaving back to New York. I got very close with my host family and just yesterday I found out that I had a nephew and all this time I thought he was my host brother! Haha…  Im actually sick right now and I hate being sick! I Thought I was gonna come here and lose some weight but it looks like im gaining weight which is bad cause I wanted to lose weight UGHH no bueno! But the food is actually really good. I defiantly want to learn how to make plaintians mangu and all the other types of spanish food before I leave so when I get home Ill be able to cook it for my sisters and mom. I also would like to learn how to braid hair because I want to be able to braid my sisters hair. Tomorrow we are going on a overnight paseo in the mountains with batey 8 and im very excited to hang out with the batey 8 kids! Well that’s it for this blog and check in next week to read my other blog!

Hola amigos! Well it´s so unbelievable that today is already Friday, July 27, 2012. It feels like I arrived in this Batey three days ago, but I guess time does not play around. I miss my people a lot and it really sucks that I only get to talk to them once a week, my mother must be heart broken right now. Knowing how she is I know she´s thinking the worst, so I know she is probably filling her head with bunch of imaginations and that´s what kills me. I want my family to know that I am ok like it used to be several weeks ago, and knowing it´s impossible gets me frustrated. But apart from that I like being here and it’s a terrific experience, I am planning on doing it again if the organization gives me a chance to. I like what GP is about, and I definitely love being hands on and making a chance.

I am extremely excited for this weekend paseo, it is going to be a two days trip and sleeping on the mountains will be a new experience for me so I can’t wait to see how it will go. Another chance to see my friends! Ok not much to say this week but everything is going fine and we are on mission. Hasta la vista Baby!!!

For this blog I am going to tell you about my group project, a children´s book for the kids in the Batey. A group project is a project we have to create that not only benefits community, but doing so with their support and interaction. The idea was actually inspired by a book I created earlier a few weeks ago called “Nacho 2.0.” The original book that it was based off of, “Nacho,” is a book that taught kids in the Dominican Republic how to read and write Spanish. I personally felt that “Nacho” was not the best teacher for non-natives so I made my own. Because “Nacho 2.0” was so awesome, I was encouraged to create a book like for the community. And wala! That´s how my group project was born. My story will not only teaches kids English but also promotes good morals and encourages reading.

Also, it is unbelievable that we have been in the Dominican Republic for four weeks! Time passes by so fast, and it is really shocking considering we do not have the technology that we would use back in America. Four weeks ago, I bet if you ask any teenager in America: “What are necessities to you?” Many of them would involve at least one kind of electronic. But living here for a month without any computer, cellphone, etc. really makes you reevaluate your choices of necessity considering we do not have any of those things, yet we are still happier and healthier than ever. It goes to show so much equipment is incorporated in American life that is completely unnecessary.

Mi Cuarta semana en Batey 1:

Esta semana paso un poco rápida y a la vez un poco lenta. Durante la semana termine de planificar las actividades de mi proyecto para la próxima semana. Tuve una conversación con unos de los chicos de Francia acerca de las creencias religiosas que ambos seguimos, y la conversación estuvo muy interesante. Aprendí mucho acerca del Islam, y espero que el haya aprendido algo acerca del Cristianismo. También soy el entrenador personar de ejercicios de unos de mis compañeros de Boston. Él dice que algún día moriré de tanto ejercicio que hago, pero el solo exagera. En esta semana uno de los miembros del STAFF se fue de regreso para New York, porque tenía que ir a trabajar. Con mi familia, todo está bien, mi relación con mi hermano va mejorando, al igual con mi mama. El sábado pasado en nuestro paseo junto al Batey 8, la pasamos bien, pude pasar un poco de tiempo con mi hermano gemelo, y con mis otros compañeros de New York. Gracias a Dios, me concentro en las cosas que tengo que hacer, y trato de no distraerme mucho con el asunto de que extraño a mi familia, y a mis amigos. Todo está de maravilla en Batey 1, y durante este fin de semana, estaremos en una montaña junto al Batey 8. Que tengan un buen día todos los leyentes, y que el Señor le bendiga!

Ramón Antonio Capellán

Week 4 baby !

Winding down but everything is kicking up. I can’t believe it week 4 already the days go by slow in the beginning but just when you are getting into the hang of things everything starts moving fast. This week we painted houses and the community garden in the morning I would prefer painting houses over gardening though only because its less hard labor and less dirty than doing garden work. Doing garden work there is dirt flying bugs crawling and just real dirty but the outcome is beautiful knowing that we have created something that will be useful to a family and creating something that can provide and how the community projects are coming along is great we have did I believe 6 out of 15 and have painted 4 houses. At this point everyone knows each other and is comfortable around each other we are really one with the community. I mean every now and then there is that 5 year old kid that yells out AMERICANA! But that’s ok I find it cute. It’s at this point in the trip were I know it’s not a long time before myself and others will have to leave the people who have let us into their community and home as well as built relationships with. But enough of the sad talk me Deborah and Mirka have just finished English class with the little kids and even though they are a handful they are becoming more of a joy than a stress teaching English isn’t easy but I’m sure teaching any type of language to a group of children isn’t easy you have to find ways that it will be easy for them to learn and really get creative which is what we’ve done from making worksheets to drawing pictures to now splitting everyone up into small groups its working and we are all teaching with ease. Another thing going on my birthday is in 2 days I’m excited but a little down because I’m not going to bring my birthday in with my family but it’s all good I’m going to keep on smiling and enjoy it for what it is and celebrate when I get back home.  Well that’s all for right now.. talk to you all next week J

¡Hola Gente! We officially have dos más semanas left. Being here has been a great experience, I love my family and it has been very fun interacting with the community members. I still cannot believe that half of my summer has gone by, pero at least I had spent it well. I have not been feeling good since anoche. Mi familia really loves me since they came to my rescue to make sure I was okay. Mi proyecto de grupo has been going well too since we got all our interviews done. We might get another interview, but let’s see how that works out. Espero que mi español improves en las dos semanas that are left. También, espero que I will find a way to stay connected to mi familia y mis amigos después salemos. Moreover, I am starting to get out of my shell un poco.  On Adam´s last night in Batey Uno, there was a party and I never danced like the way I danced on that night. I was also dancing with everybody. I am so proud of myself porque la República Dominicana is changing me slowly. Well, I have nothing else to say since I am having the time of mi vida.

So this is actually a little late. Sorry!

Let´s see, what happened last week… I was super excited to see more people come to my scheduled kids´, youth, and mothers´groups, which was definitely nice, and I was thinking hopefully I can add some more activities for the next week (this week) if the interest remains. I also made my first site visit with Peter, which was great - we hiked down from Las Minas to a community called San Cristobal, but the community leaders were busy, so another visit was planned for the next week (this week). Then we hiked down to El Hatillo. My calves were super sore for days, but they´re all better now, and I´m excited to go on another community visit!

Highlight of the week - going to the capital on July 19th to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of Nicaragua´s victory against it´s last dictator. I was especially amazed to see little little kids si9nging along so passionately to all the revolutionary songs. It made me really proud to say I am a Nicaraguan!!!

Lowlight of the week - getting my phone stolen just before getting back on the bus at the end of that day. I was sooo upset, and I still am.