Teaching may not be my best feature after all…

1:40 PM | Posted by Bri

7-18-10 2:36pm

After my first week of teaching the basics of Windows, I have to say that I am not impressed nor am I happy. First off, I made the mistake of agreeing to teach 7 classes because the laboratory is so small (5 computers) and for every class there is at least 1 new person that tries to either sign up or take someone else's spot. I am really bad at being strict. 

Secondly, I don't have any patience. The classes have 3 types of people with no in-between: First theres the old folks who have never used a computer in their lives, okay I expected that and I feel like I work better with them because they have patience with me to learn and I can actually see them learning. They have a desire and listen to my instructions, even if they don't understand them entirely. Secondly, there are children. Really annoying, inpatient children who kind of know how to use a computer so they think they know everything and they just do what they want without listening to me kind of folks. These are really the source of my frustration. I am really bad about repeating myself and for some reason I find myself having to repeat myself in these classes more than needed. The young kids are just too wild, clicking everywhere, yelling my name for help and always having to show me when they have completed a task (YOU DONT HAVE TO KEEP YELLING MY NAME TO SHOW ME YOU TURNED ON THE COMPUTER!!!) Ay ay yay. The third group of students already know how to use a computer so they're as annoying as the kids just doing their own thing not listening to me either.

I just feel frustrated because I don't think I am really getting to them and I feel like I am working so hard. Plus it gets really old when you teach the same lesson 7 times. You would think I would get good at it by the 6th but I still feel like I am struggling. I think it is just hard because I took too much on at one time. Plus there are electricity problems and that always doesn't help the situation.

I think I just need to slow down a bit. After these classes, I am going to focus on 1 project and have at most 3 classes on the side. September can't come quick enough. Thats when its all supposed to end.


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Officially found my house…

1:40 PM | Posted by Bri

7-18- 4:29pm

So I officially found my new house. It is 1 km away from my work site, which was a bummer but I think I can deal with it for the price. It's a 2 bedroom, 1 bath concrete house with a tin roof. Its really pretty and it has everything I need. A cute kitchen with red wood cabinets, spacious living room, patio area, garage area in the back and the bathroom is not scary. I will be having to bucket shower in the beginning until they move the tinaco to the roof to allow gravity to flow water through my shower head. 

The rent is 2,200 pesos a month, which is around $61 US, damn in my town the cheapest you can get for a place is $500 a month and thats just a bedroom, not a whole house!





So I am happy and excited to have visitors now. The main purpose of me getting this house is to have visitors. I am fine living at my place with my dona now but the room isn't big enough to host people so thats why I needed to get the bigger place. I am actually anxious and cared to move in. What am I going to do about strange noises and big spiders and bugs. If I get any rats at my place, I swear I will run back to my donnas house in 2 seconds flat. I have never lived only own, what am I going to do. I've never done this before! I am sooooo nervous!

I am going to be making big purchases soon, like the fridge and pots and pans, etc.. so I hope I get some good deals. And I also hope I don't feel too much more lonely than I feel now. VISITORS WELCOME!

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Ladrones stole my phone…

11:05 AM | Posted by Bri

7-12-10 9:53am

I decided I needed to spend some more time with my dominican hermanitos so earlier in the week I went to fix the pedal on my bike (so much better and it cost 5 pesos) and I also bought a plastic bat and wiffle ball. I invited my hermanitos out to play and they got all excited when I suggested we go to the local "play" which means the local baseball field. It took us forever to put some sandals on and walk over there but we arrived looking optimistic even though there was a dooming rain cloud over us. We start to play and sure enough it started to rain so we ran under a large canopy until the rain stopped. I normally never carry my phone on me and I am also sad I made the mistake of bringing it because I tend to do dumb things like leave it on the ground and expect nobody will take it. Well, I guess you know what happened next. I set the phone down because I didn't have any pockets and I didn't want to carry the phone in my bra (not too classy) and because we were the only people there I didn't think it was going to get stolen. Long story short, we go out and continue playing after the rain and when I felt I had enough of them arguing and yelling "Tramposa!" at each other I said Time to go! And that's when the phone was gone. Crap. Then I tried to use my brain. I did see people walk by but I didn't think anything of it. I saw 2 guys walk by with bright basketball shorts and we also saw the owner of the park come by as well. These were my suspects. I walk behind the play and there is a house with 3 haitians working so I ask them to come over so I can ask about the phone. They were wearing bright basketball shorts like I recall the people wearing as they passed by. Because they were Haitian, communication was not going through. They struggled with their spanish and I couldn't understand them but I felt like they had my phone and I really wanted it back. So I went to the police. (Now that I recall this, I know it wasn't the best idea for a silly phone but I don't learn this until after the story is over). I told the police that my phone was stolen and the only people that passed by the park were the haitians, the owner and us kids. Policia #1 tells me to stay at the base and he went along with one of the kids that was with us to investigate. What resulted was that he came back with the haitian I was questioning earlier. Ok… so I just asked him again and still communication wasn't going through. I started to think maybe going to the police was a bad idea. 2 other haitians arrived and they also said they didn't have the phone. It was absolutely awkward the judicial system here. Here I am in front of them saying do you have my phone, the haitians are looking at me saying no i don't have your phone and the policia is saying alright these haitians are guilty. Ok, fuck it. They don't have the phone no big deal. I told the police it's fine just let them go and I will just have to get another phone. But the police tell me to come back in a hour. They arrest the haitians and search them and put them in their small cell. Crap. You can imagine how dumb I felt. What if it isn't them, I am just ruining their day, they are going to be set free after this and they're gonna see me walking on the street and kill me later, what are the policia going to do to them, is it worth it for this damn phone? I return in an hour (the funny part is that the policia tells me go home and shower and come back in an hour, was i really that stinky?) and the policia says that in their attempts to scare them by putting them in the cell they still said they didn't have the phone. One said he saw it but he didn't take it. Great. He also asks me if I want to accuse one of the haitians to go throughout further prosecution. No, no, no. 

Upon returning to my house I decided I will probably never go to the police again. It's not like they didn't serve me and do what I asked but I realized that it's way more effort to get other people involved than to just deal with it yourself. Plus I really felt bad for the haitians. If they stole my phone or not, I just thought about how dangerous it is for them to deal with these injustices everyday. I merely said that I saw them passing by where my phone was set and the policia automatically said it was them I don't know if it was them I was just hoping with the policies help maybe they can communicate better but that was definitely wrong. My don tells me that now the policia was going to keep the haitians in the cell until they sent someone to send them money to bail them out. Stab my heart. He also told me that if the policia wanted to, he could deport them back to haiti or other drastic things. 

So probably Friday I will be making my way back to the capital to get a phone. I learned a new lesson and I probably won't be heading back to the play anytime soon.

11:30am

The owner of the baseball field arrived at my house and dropped off my phone. Apparently the haitians I accused returned him the phone to give to me. I am definitely lucky. What a crazy story.

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The deal with the lack of luz and water…

11:59 AM | Posted by Bri

7-9-10 9am

It's now been over a week that we have received water. My doña has been borrowing water from the neighbors because we don't have enough cause 1. She cleans everything everyday and uses about 10 gallons to do so and 2. My don's brother flushes the toilet and leaves the toilet running so we run out real quick. So this is a bummer. Why does this happen? Here it is according to my doña in "dummies" terms. Well, apparently the people in the community pay for the water and the people at the water factory (or whatever) send the water through the tubes whenever they want. It can be weeks till they send it and if they do send it they can send it for an hour or so and cut if off for another week. So, people have to buy tinacos (which are big black storage tubs dominicans keep on top of their house which send water through the llave) and if theyre really wealthy they get sisternas which are other forms of storage which are underground that are connected to the tubes from the city. These sisternas have a bomba to suck up the water to the tinacos which give you giardia water through your faucets. Hope this all makes sense. For the people that can't afford these contraptions, they have to buy big blue tubs and store their water getting it from the nearest faucet then try to cover the tub (which is never successful and leads to all these hospital visits of malaria and dengue, and man theres been a lot lately.) So apparently, some people pay for the water and some people don't which means the people that do have to suffer. I also heard that everyone pays for the water but they pay the sindico or whomever and they use the money for other things like a new ceramic house for themselves or their next campaign so the city never receives their water.

Same with the luz.

Only the luz situation is worse. There is pretty much a cycle for the luz. If we get it in the morning, we won't get it in the evening and hopefully it will come by the time we have to go to bed so we can have the fans on to fight off mosquitos and stay cool. People that are wealthy have their contraptions for this too. They buy at least 4 car batteries then an inversor or have a planta (generator) to help with the loss of electricity. My family does not have this. Well, they do but they only have 2 batteries which pretty much only power one light bulb in the kitchen around dinner time or a fan during lunch to combat flies. You never really realize what you have until its gone. But this also makes you quite resourceful. I pretty much have a ritual with the loss of luz and water. Shower once and make it quick (usually like 2 minutes to 5 if I have to shave the batatas I walk with :) And charge the laptop, phone and ipod anytime theres luz so I have some resources when the lug se fue. Sometimes I find myself cheering "Yeah, llego la luz!" but then again I think "wait a minute, we should always have the luz this is not something we should be celebrating." We pay the sindicos and they use the money for other crap and promise their communities they will be the saviors that will bring the luz back. Liars. So then thats when there are riots of tire burning, and street blocking but the story still goes. Corruption will always reign the DR.

Kind of makes me sad. What the hell am I doing here. I am here trying to teach informatica in a lab where there is no electricity. How does one do that? I am here trying to teach people how to makes web pages and design products when people are more concerned if they will have enough water to bathe themselves and drink. I am happy to be here and once I start my classes hopefully I will feel empowered but some days its hard when you see the problems in the community and think, I am not attacking the real problem here. People in the DR don't need to learn how to use a computer, they need to learn how to read and they need to find a way to get their important resources like electricity and water. My purpose in being here is to teach computer classes, make the high school lab a working business after school and to train the youth and teachers in giving classes for when I am gone. I hope to do this by the end of the year. Hopefully by the beginning of next year I can be a much better resource for my community than a computer girl. I hope I can be remembered as someone that made a real difference. But how does one combat the island's situation with these necessary resources? This task and these 2 years seem impossible…

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Computer Classes Sign-Ups, Swimming Hideout and the Smell of Nueva Yol…

11:58 AM | Posted by Bri

7-8-10 9:56pm

I walked up to the Club and there was no one there at 2pm. I thought I had done enough advertising for the Manejo Básico classes I was starting but it seemed like I didn't do enough because the Club was empty and I was already running late. I just thought to myself "1. Okay, I guess nobody in my community likes me, 2. Maybe this is better for me so I don't have to teach these classes and I can focus on other things, 3. Que vergüenza and 4. Damn it I bought brindis and refresco and nobody is going to show up, what a waste of pesos." Just when I was feeling desesperada, one by one all the dominican folks started showing up. At about 3:30pm I packed it up and went home with 7 classes full thinking "1. What just happened? and 2. Cool, I have some refresco and brindis leftover to give to my family." But then again, holy crap, I have 7 classes and they don't start till next week which means I know people will continue asking me if they can sign up until then. Which they did. People came to my house and signed up and now the 7 classes are full. Actually there are a few classes overbooked (oops) and a waiting list. And of course I really attempted to be organized (I made a schedule with colored coded cells, use my calendar and a planner) and I still managed to start classes at 2pm on Monday even though I have a meeting for my youth group. Whoops. Guess I will have to start off those classes with a class cancelled. Yikes. I am going to be here for 2 years people, I really should have thought this through a bit more. So yep, I am starting my classes this Saturday and I am not feeling scared to teach but to be a good teacher. I just really hope they learn and they have fun. Teaching technology can be boring.

So all this week I have been prepping for my classes which pretty much means just hanging out looking at the PC resources hard drive looking for already made power points and such. I found some but they are really techy which even I can't understand so I may use them but tweak them a bit to have some Sabrina flair. You know how I do!

I did manage to bike to a Recreational Club just outside of Moca (takes 20 minutes) and signed up to be a member. I will let you know that you have to know someone to be a member but I met the owner of the club when I signed up and he signed me off. Sweet. So now I have a pool, ping pong tables, billiard tables, every sport court, wifi and a cheap restaurant to hideaway from everything. I am excited. It's not exactly a cheap membership but it will definitely be nice to swim some laps and get back into shape. I am through with running! So that's an exciting story of my week.

Things have been a little crazy here at the house with my dona as well. If I have not cleared up the story about my family, they basically are living at a house that belongs to my Don's sister who lives in Nueva Yol, (or Providence but everyone in the DR thinks the US is Nueva Yol, its kind of funny and sad at the same time). They have lived here for like 7 years and its really nice but my doña hates it because its not her house so my Dons family comes and goes whenever they want leaving my Doña to cook, clean and slave over them because she really is on their turf. Sucks. Anyways, the home owner just arrived today which was awkward, "Uh… hi I've been living in your house for about a month now and you don't know me but I am a good person." She didn't seem to care, must have been the jet lag. Ha. But she was very nice as is all of my Don's 12 siblings. Anywho, she brought along her 10 year old daughter which is very cute but very spoiled as I have noticed all Americana-exposed children are. Just last week there was another Dominican York little girl visiting who came to play with my hermanas, she pretty much cried all day. She cried when my hermanas beat her in Uno (I taught them well), and she cried when the night got so unbearably hot and there was no luz for the fans. Suck it up. Haha. So here's a story that made me think.

I was sitting i the living room drinking my tea and eating crackers (I have a cold and my doña makes this delicious tea that clears me up, I love her so much, she even cut me up some piña, for those who know me, know I love my piña!) The visitors brought over some American movie DVD's including the new Toy Story 3 so I was excited to watch it (even though it was in spanish, its just not the same without Tom Hanks and whoever plays Buzz Lightyears voices) As I was sitting there, the little girl came in the room biting the head of a baby doll. Hmm.. I thought … weird. She gave the doll to my hermana Luci who then put the doll to her face and smelled the dolls face and clothes. "Mmm… she smells so good." Luci said. "My spit?" the Dominican York girl said (I should know her name by now but I don't) and Luci said "No, her clothes, it smells of Nueva Yol…"

I don't know why but listening to her say that really made me think. I wonder what Nueva Yol smells like? Last time I visited it smelled like sewer and heat. No offense Dohy :) I almost wanted to grab the doll and smell it too. I think it's quite amazing how dominicans see the US. For once, they don't call it the US but Nueva Yol, like nothing else matters but New York. And is it really that much better than the DR? I see the little spoiled girls that come to visit and they are so spoiled that I can't stand it. My hermanas are used to not getting new clothes and toys. They were telling me the other night that they get in line every christmas to get some regalos from the Sindico and every year they never do. It's sad but I think they are so tough and so wonderful. They never cry, they never make a fuss about anything. I guess thats how you have to be in order to survive. If anything, my hermanas deserve toys and stuff because they are such good girls. I wish I could take them to the US and educate them like they have educated me. Just another dominican story to think about…

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Post Lowenbrau Marathon: Rubberband Knees and Aching Feet

8:24 AM | Posted by Bri

6-28-10 7:07pm

Finally home and all finished with the Lowenbrau Medio-Marathon. Thank God.
The race went well, I ended up finishing at 2 hours and 14 minutes. Which is basically averaged as 10 minute miles which is pretty much what I expected of my turtle speed. The winners weren't even Dominicans, but Kenyans (in the DR?) and they crossed the finish line at my half way mark, which you can imagine was disheartening (they're done and I still have halfway to go!). But Aidan and I pretty much ran the entire thing until I got this weird adrenaline rush at 16 kilometers and plowed through everyone leaving Aidan behind. Then at about 19 kilometers I died and trotted slowly across the finish line. The race was so long and without an ipod I was bored out of my mind. But I did see experience interesting things along the way: I saw a disabled woman in a wheelchair crash as she soared down a hill (sad but interesting). I saw a lot of people running in funny and interesting ways (crazy swaying arms, a sort of fast-walk hop). I saw the winners cross the finish line (jerks). I got a medal and a shirt (awesome). Plus I got to get the runners experience with aching knees, cramps and knots. This was my first running race and may be my last (haha) because I feel like I may retire at least for a bit and find a pool. I'm no good at this running gig. Put me back in some water.

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