Sa Pase?

Napule.



"What's up? ....Aight." "Que lo que?..........ahi." Yes, Alicia has learned yet another way to informally greet people...this time in Kreyol, one of the many languages spoken by Dominicans of Haitian descent and Haitians. Does this mean I'm tri-lingual now? haha. I'm barely scraping by with mi Espanol. This does mean that I attended a conference on Haitian-Dominican relations with two men from my campo, and that we have come out with energy and a purpose. Well, another purpose.



"But, Alicia. There were Haitians there?" Yes, (student who just learned how to read), there were. They're my friends. "They're your friends?" Now, come on, this student/friend is 10. How on earth did he learn to be like this? He has Haitian classmates and neighbors. There are about 1 million Haitian immigrants in this country of 10 million (so, a lot). More with the earthquake. And the attitude of this student is, unfortunately, shared by many. Luckily there seems to be an interest in my campo about helping in the nearby bateys, (extremely impoverished and marganized, largely Haitian communities originally founded to house sugar cane cutters and later pineapple harvesters...but now there's none of that in my neck of the woods, so they have no work) so we're going to start doing questionnaires and interviews shortly, to see what is needed and what we can do. Most importantly, I do not plan to be the leader of this committee, so that, hopefully, it's something that lasts awhile. But I get ahead of myself. The important things to take out of this are that 1) I went to a neat conference 2) Haitians and Haitian-Dominicans got a chance to share their experiences and difficulties with us, and 3) My community, so far, wants to do something to make their world a little more just. And that is good.



At long last...summer is here! Right now, many of my students (most of who have been promoted to the next grade...for better or for worse, I guess) are in the two weeks of "recuperation." This means 90 minutes of catch-up every day (except holidays). Kind of like summer school. Since some of my students have been a little lax with their attendance, I chase them down at their homes and make them study with me there. Hahaha.



But, wait, we have exciting news. And what is it? I shall have 2, possibly 3 visitors flying in on the 10th. I'm hoping to get us some cultural visiting time in the capital, some beach time, and then some play-with-my-kids, paint-a-mural-at-the-school time. And then 2 of them are leaving and the 3rd is staying on with me for another week, during which we will continue chasing down my students and force-teaching them. But, you know, with patience, smiles, and fun. Some of you may say I'm dedicated, but, really, I have no social life here. Just so that you get the story straight.



Speaking of a social life, nothing boosts popularity with the local adults like getting a wonderful spell of irregularity. When my neighbors found out that I had been sick for a few days, they 1) demanded that I let them in my house, 2) force-fed me guava juice (which is gross but really does the trick) 3) dragged me to the local clinic, and 4) made me let them clean my house, including my bathroom. I balked at the bathroom (well, actually, I balked at all of it. I mean, just leave me alone, right?) but then my neighbor was like "Alicia, do you mean to tell me that when I'm sick you're not going to clean my bathroom?" and I was like "Um, if you are spouting liquid out of the wrong orifices, there is no way in perdition that I would volunteer to clean your bathroom." Well, that's what I was like. That's not what I said, per se. So she cleaned my bathroom. Gross.



Anywho, now all of these women have something to talk to me about (I guess me working with their kids and living in their neighborhood did not provide sufficient talking material). Alicia, you're better? Any more parasites? Thus I have some budding friendships with people who are not children, and that is wonderful.



I've been here for awhile now. The bucket baths are no problem. I don't mind a lack of variety in wardrobe or food. I enjoy that I can only afford to walk everywhere in my town. I don't need a tv, a fridge, a blowdrier, a clotheswasher, a spatula. But, for the love of all that is good and holy, why is there always something living crawling on me?! This is getting old. No matter how many times I bucket bathe- as much as 1 times a day- I still always find something crawling on me. Always. Sheesh. Gosh. So, yes, while I have largely adjusted to the physical demands of this gig, I am so looking forward to my little American vacay in one month and 6 days (but who'se counting?). I plan on spending 2 weeks completely clean and bug free. Just say no. To bugs.



Thanks for reading. Google just sent me an email to let people advertise on my blog. I did a little research, and discovered that, based off of the number of hits I've received, I would have earned approximately 1 percent of .25 cents thus far (or something like that). Think of all I'm missing out on.

And have a wonderful week!