Blog Post 10/1/13
It’s been quite awhile since I’ve posted anything, so here
is a compilation of a bunch of random DR topics:
About 3 weeks in monte plata, woah. Feels like yesterday we
had only been here a couple days and I was still getting used to it. Im hoping
this is a preview of how service will be once I arrive to my site and get
going. So far I’m liking training here, but I’m excited to get into a more rural
site. The cities here are a bit too much for me. A lot of traffic, trash and
questionable people. I’ve been told I’ll be placed near the capital but it’ll
be a rural community, either a campo or batey. I find out somewhat soon!
The best part so far has been becoming close with the youth
volunteers here. Back in Pantoja, youth and health volunteers were mixed
together and we all hung out with the same people. Now that we’re separated we
were forced to hang out with new people and I’m really glad we did. It’s only
been 3 weeks and I’m close with a lot of the girls already. I can’t imagine
what these next 2 years are going to be like then!
My host mom in Monte Plata is amazing, I love her. It’s just
her and I most of the week, and her 19 year old daughter comes home from
college on the weekends. My mom’s name is Francisca and she’s the epitome of
what I need while I’m here: super loving and motherly and embraces me even
though we can only have basic conversation. She makes some awesome food and
always has it ready at the perfect time, and doesn’t care where I go/when I
come back. My real mom called me the other day and when I hung up, my host mom
said “She is your mom there, but I am your mom here”. Which, now that I’ve
written that out and read it, sounds kind of creepy…but it was meant in a
caring way. I think.
Spanish has been by far the hardest obstacle so far. In a
way it’s interesting because since Spanish is the hardest thing, nothing else
bothers me but that. When I get a sort of handle on the language it should make
everything else easier. Most days I’ll do ok and have basic conversation with
my host mom, write decent paragraphs and have good tutoring sessions but then I
go out into the real world and someone tries talking to me and I’ll have no idea
what they say, even when they slow down. It’s definitely discouraging but I
have to remember I’ve been here 5 weeks and there’s no way that I can go from
speaking/understanding no Spanish to understanding a conversation, especially a
Dominican conversation. Why do you people talk so fast and cut off words?! It’s
not even a common language anymore, it’s a dialect.
New rules to tell myself and other people struggling:
1-
Take it day by day. Don’t think about giving
presentations alone and such in Spanish in the future and freak out about it
now. Enjoy the fact that it’s acceptable to be struggling and not know much at
this point in service. That’s also another reason to stop being embarrassed and
shy about making mistakes and sounding stupid. Sound stupid, it’s encouraged.
2-
Don’t overwhelm yourself with too many rules at
once. Focus on the everyday rules you need to survive and nothing else yet.
Past, present and future tenses, reflexive verbs, que/por/para/los/las etc.
need to be your main focus. Imperfect, potential simple and so on will come
later when you hear it over and over again.
3-
Listen in on every conversation until your mind
gets too tired to break it down. And don’t translate the Spanish words into an
English sentence structure. Just accept that that’s how it’s said and remember
it.
4-
Study on your own time, but only when you’re
feeling like you’re ok with life at the moment. Nothing is worse than studying
when you’re not in the right mind frame, it actually does damage.
5-
DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHER PEOPLE’S
LANGUAGE SKILLS! There are fluent speakers and people who have studied abroad
before or lived in a Spanish speaking country for a significant amount of time
here. You are neither of those. Understand you’re making progress little by
little and eventually you’ll get there.
Since I’m making lists, here are some
interesting/weird/surprising things I’ve learned:
1-
People of all ages ride motorcycles, even
mothers holding practically newborn babies.
2-
Lines in the road are merely suggestions.
3-
4 people and an object of large capacity at the
drivers feet is the “max” for a motorcycle. It’s amazing.
4-
Wake up feeling fresh and neatly dressed…5
minute walk outside: hair up, clothes wet from sweat, dehydrated.
5-
I don’t shower to feel clean, I shower to just
smell less when I finally arrive somewhere.
6-
It’s ok for the bus driver to stop for a beer,
or three.
7-
Declarations of “I love you baby!” are a regular
occurrence. And greetings of “good morning” at 8PM. ‘A’ for effort.
8-
The stray dogs here are extremely patient.
Witnessed a small child with a large stick poking the dog in his penis quite
hard and he didn’t give a poo about it.
There’s more to this list, and I’ll remember later and tell
myself to write it down….and I won’t. Thanks fo' readin!
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