Home is Where the Heart Is

Once again, I have so much to say that I don't know where to begin... I cannot begin to explain to you how blessed I feel to be here, experiencing such amazing things. I guess where I will start is where I left off at during my last blog "se fue la luz." Shortly after I got home that night, Sonja got home from work... our generator stopped working and we decided isntead of sitting in the house looking at each other with candle light we would take our flashlights and go for a walk... We were just walking anywhere and this woman and child said "a donde van?" Where are you going...we said..eh we don't know, just walking...and She said I am Nester's mom (one of Sonja's students) come to my house...so she told us where she lived and we walked there... We ended up staying until almost midnight. Keep in mind, we went empty handed (plus our flashlights), by the time we left we had our flashlights, a squash, yuca (a yummy vegetable here), oatmeal, yummy peanut butter stuff, and some medicine for my mosquito bites.

The next morning we still did not have power so we were walking to try to find a store that did so that we could sit in there, charge our computers and do our lesson planning. We ended up running into one of my students, Olga. She said, come to my house, I have a generator you can sit there...So she took us to her house, showed us where everything was and said ok, I have to go to work- this is your house. She just trusted us, it was amazing! Her maid showed up a bit later and hand squeezed us some juice (oh my gosh-freakin amazing!!!). Then.... as we were getting ready to leave (because we had a lunch date which I will tell you about shortly) her maid said "umm where are you going? I am making you lunch!) They were cooking for us! So freakin nice, so thoughtful! But we couldn't stay! It was after this moment that I realized that every day while I am here, something good happens to me. Someone does something nice for me. Someone makes me want to cry. Every day.

Now, this lunch date..... So about 2 weeks ago I was in class and we were talking about "time" and we started discussing "when do you eat?" things like that..... when somehow my students got me off topic and they asked "Cassie, do you cook? What do you eat here? blah blah blah" I said, umm no we don't cook..We eat eggs, plantanes, beans, and rice pretty much every day." About the very second I got that out of my mouth the entire class was screaming at me to come to their house, they will cook for me! So..this was on a Monday...Tuesday at 12:15, one of my students brought me Spaghetti, Wednesday I went to my other student's house for Fish. Yesterday I went to another students house for Sancocho (the traditional soup of the DR), while I was there I saw another student who said, next week I want you to come to my house for lunch...It was so wonderful! I get yummy food now, at least once a week! My mom tells me I am spoiled..I just think I am lucky!

Now, on to my glorious weekend! Sonja had a friend in town who was staying in Bavaro at a resort and she invited us both to stay with her! So, why would we pass that up, right?! She came to town on Friday morning ( we didn't have class) our students took us to Boca de Yuma, to eat, dance and drink. We had plans to go to the beach but it was raining so we improvised...They bought us fish, and pretty much anything you can think of! WE hung out with the students all day on Friday then took off on a bus for Bavaro (punta cana). We got to the resort and went straight for the buffet! You better believe I STUFFED myself! I got meat, and dessert, and potatoes...oh it was just what I needed! From there I did something that I did not realize I had been missing..I took a shower! No no...I took a HOT shower!!! A HOT shower! I have not had a hot shower since August 1st (when I left the U.S). I didn't realize how great they felt! Had I known when I left that that would be my last hot shower I would have stayed in it forever! Sometimes when I am here I can get a not freezing shower but it depends on the weather outside... The water tanks are on top of the roofs here and if it is sunny and you take a shower at 2:00, the water tank has gotten warm from the sun so your shower is decent...If you take a shower after it has been raining all day and no sun (like today) your shower is freezing and it feels like pins and needles on your head. So anyway..I took a hot shower! We ended up going out that night, and we had plans to leave the next day after spending the day at the beach....

We all decided that it would be crazy to leave, so we stayed another night! We went to the beach all day, the pool, the food, the drinks, the people, the sun! We got it all! We stayed out until about 5:00 in the morning partying on the beach..There must have been 100 people out there, soaking up the last bit of the beach as possible for the weekend! It was glorious! I also have to tell you, I discovered something today that some of you women back home might not know....Chivalry is NOT dead! Not in Latin America! After the bars we went to the beach and naturally we all took our shoes off, I bent down to pick them up and one of the guys that was with us had already picked them up; he carried them....the next night, we were on the beach before the bar and it started raining, one of them took his top shirt off and put it over my hair so that it didn't get wet. Chivalry is alive and well baby! I don't expect anything less! If my mom thought I was picky before--watch out, I have stepped up my game!

A funny story- The other day I decided to stop being so lazy and I went for a run...all of a sudden I could hear these loud foot steps behind me, so I turned around and there were 2 little girls and here is our conversastion:

Girls: hola (hi)

Me: hola, que hacen? (hi, what are you guys doing?)

Girls: Corriendo (running)

Me: conmigo? (with me?)

Girls: si (yes)

Me: Porque? (why?)

Girls: Porque(because)

A little bit later I got home and I heard a little voice yelling "AMERICANA" so I went outside and it was this same little girl and she said "Vas a correr manana?" (Are you going to run tomorrow), I said "Si, todas las noches a las 6:30" (Yes, every night at 6:30).... So now... I have to run, every night at 6:30 becuase I have a group of 5 children who run with me...in flip flops, in loafers, in jeans, in whatever they have on... it is the cutest thing I have ever seen!

Onto this week.... I had class on Monday and the students were not really themselves, no one was really getting the concepts, it was a very boring, not very fun day...so Tuesday when I got to work, before we started I gave them a good old pep talk... I said...you ARE inteligent, you are amazing, you are smart, you CAN do this, we CAN do this together. Do not speak Spanish, do not translate, be quiet when I am talking, listen to me, help each other...and WE CAN DO THIS! It was amazing... they got right to work and we accomplished stuff... oh it was glorious!!

Today, only about half of the class came (porque la lluvia) it was raining, and apparently when it rains no one does anything...but the 11 people who were there...THEY DID AMAZING! People are starting to shine, even the students who were lacking, they are getting it! I acutally got teary eyed during class- I feel like these students are my children and they are learning to walk and talk and be people! I LOVE it! I firmly believe that when a person can tell a joke or make someone laugh in a language that is not their first- they are getting it...

For example: The students were doing an exercise the other day and one student said "Teacher I'm finished" The other student said "Teacher, I am finished too." The first student looked at the girl and said "congratulations!" It was SO funny! I almost died laughing...they are getting sarcasm in another langauge! How freakin cool!! When we were in Bavaro the other day I made someoen die laughing in Spanish...we were talking about the darn mosquitos and I said (creo que los mosquitos son racistas) ( I believe the mosquitos are racist)... I felt really cool! I can make people laugh in a language that is not my own! Anyway, my students are getting it! It was wonderful! I am becomming more patient with those who are behind, I am hearing the advanced students speak to each other in English when I am not standing beside them. I can ask them questions about things in this city or country that I don't know the answers to. I don't know what it is that excites me so much but the fact that I am acutally imparting wisdom on these students and they are absorbing it, blows my mind!

Home is where the heart is- Yes my "home" is back in Griswold..back in Iowa with all of you people that I love...but right now, my home is here...this is where my heart is...My whole heart. It is completely full of love for every person here, with love for the job that I am doing, with love for my students, for my friends, my coworkers, the culture, for everything. I finally have that burning passion for something and if you don't know what that feels like, go for it! Figure it out! My aunt Dixie told me the other day "where this is a will, there is a way." It is true! I have been trying for the past 2 years (since I got back from my study abroad trip in Mexico) to go abroad again, find my passion, fill the void in my life, and I finally did it! I am HERE! I was telling Sonja the other day that, while yes I love being home, yes I love my friends, yes I love my family, BUT, when I am not abroad, I feel like part of me is missing...and now, I am whole again! I am "becoming who I want to be." I hope I am helping the world out, one word at a time, or one student at time.

Anyway.... Love you alll...I will be home in about 2 weeks to help celebrate my great friend Katie's wedding... I won't be able to see many of you (only katie, jill, maybe maggie, kelli, todd, and the luitjens gang). But... If you want to come visit, seriously, do not pass it up! Send me an email, leave me a comment, facebook me... I am here!

Love you all!