Speechless, Really.

I have officially been here for a full week. Most of my time has been spent at school or at home with the family. I've been getting more and more familiar and involved, and I'm starting to feel at home. It's weird; when I was in Europe, even though I had 16 other Americans running around with me, it seemed to take me a little bit longer to really feel "at home." Looking back, it was probably around the 2nd or 3rd week when all the adjustments had been made and everything set in and my heart and mind were put to ease. Here, by day 4 I was already feeling a lot of that-- in school and at home.

Perhaps it's because I've done this before. I've lived with a family I've never met. I've been in a foreign school. I've been abroad. I've traveled. I was prepared for this. Or maybe it's because my whole experience here is in the school and at home. When I was in the Netherlands, life was so uncertain. I never knew what I'd be doing that weekend or where I'd be (unless it was one of my few very planned trips), who I'd be with, or anything. Life was incredible but so spur of the moment. 

I think the most spur of the moment thing I've done here is ordering lunch for next week without being able to read half of the menu. That's my life here-- it revolves around the students and growing as a teacher, and I was prepared for that. I wanted nothing more than to dive in and dedicate all of my time, passion, and energy into teaching here. I didn't want anything to stop me from giving this experience my all. Teaching is what I love and what I want to be. Why let anything get in my way?

This weekend we've spent a lot of time with the family-- the mom of the family I'm staying with's side (hopefully you can decode that horrible grammar) of the family. On Thursday night we went to her sister's place for dinner. Friday the crew came here, and today we all went to her mom's for lunch-- sancocho (spelling?) a typical Dominican "soup" with a root that tastes kind of like a potato, an orange vegetable, several meats, and served with rice and avocados. I know I'm  not doing it justice, but take my word for it-- it was really good. While we were there, I spent a bit of time reminiscing on my Europe days with the girls and the son in my family. I explained to them how much time I spent biking, traveling, running around in typical American style-- loud, ignorant, and eating everything in sight (I really hope I wasn't that bad...). I asked questions about traveling-- transportation, what's safe, when it's safe, etc. Of course, as a white girl who speaks minimal Spanish, my options are a bit more limited, for my own good of course. 

After lunch, the parents and one of the girls had a meeting at church, so their son and I headed back home. On the car ride back, we talked about the differences in driving here vs the States. He told me about how he didn't want to drive when he first came home (he studies in the States), but how he got used to driving here in the chaotic streets again and now enjoys being able to drive how he wants. Then he told me about how sometimes, especially at night, it is more safe to break the law. Before you think he is too crazy, let me explain. Because the president (?) of the DR just passed some new tax thing, chaos and the fear of poverty is even worse than before. People are willing to do just about anything for money. Theft is common, and approaching cars in the streets during the night isn't far from a lot of people's minds. 

What an eye-opener. When traveling around Europe, I felt practically invincible. I could bike around at any hour and not feel threatened. I hopped on trains by myself without a doubt in my mind. But life is different here, and this world is messed up. When you're in an environment like Santiago Christian, where parents are often the wealthiest population in the city, it's easy to overlook the scandal and chaos of the "real world" outside of that community. And it's sad. These people don't see any other option to make a few bucks, to make it by. It breaks my heart, really. While it makes me anxious and apprehensive to go outside of the SCS community without a member of my host family by my side (I would even settle for the Great Dane), it makes me even more sad to think about those people-- trying to make a few bucks by selling fruit that will probably give me some sort of bacteria, breaking into houses, hassling tourists-- and to feel like I can't do anything. I don't speak their language. All I have to offer is money, but is that really all these people need? 

For all you 399ers reading this, I think this may be what the Poverty group and professor were trying to get at. 

I didn't really expect to touch on that so much in this blog, but that's part of life here. It's not something that I'm merely exposed to; it's something that I am certain to see a lot of during the next 6 or so weeks that I'm here, and it's something I want to grow from. Maybe I'm not just here to teach. Maybe I'm meant to see more and do more... but what?