Celebrations

In the past two weeks I have celebrated five big events: Thanksgiving, a school concert, the graduation of my Me Toca a Mi class, Día de Santa Barbara, and the inauguration of my community's library. Miraculously all the events were big successes and I only fell asleep during one ceremony. Here is the run down:

Practicing yoga with my neighbors

Every year volunteers organize a big dinner in the capital so we can celebrate Thanksgiving together. The holidays are a tough time to be away from home, but a pool party followed by a delicious American dinner certainly helps numb the pain. I woke up early on Thanksgiving day to participate in a  5k run with other volunteers. I finished the race in 25:36 - blowing by my goal of 30 minutes. I think I could have gotten below 25 minutes but I wanted to save my energy for the rest of the day's festivities. Side note: I started to prepare for the 5k in September, I had never consistently exercised in my community before then, and the experience has been a positive one. Word has spread that I do yoga, and many women have requested that I start a class, and their wishes will come true in January. I occasionally even have kids come by the house and exercise with me.


The rest of Thanksgiving was a blast, there are only a few opportunities a year for us volunteers to get together in big groups. Most of the time it is too difficult for everyone to get together due to our work and the distances between our communities. One of my friends, Conner, who I talk to on the phone weekly, I had not seen in eight months. Unsurprisingly I stayed up late talking with friends until 5am. But by 12pm I was back on a bus to my community so that I could make it on time to the next celebration.

My host sister (left) and another student singing

When I arrived back home I had just enough time to eat before I headed off with my host family to a school concert. The purpose of the concert was twofold: to promote student creativity and to fundraise money for the 8th grade's graduation. The event was held in a church and the place was packed, with many people staring in through the windows. The concert consisted of a variety of singing and dancing performances. I was bursting with pride throughout the concert as my students took the stage but I couldn't compete with my host mom who was screaming and yelling every time my host sister performed. Afterwards my host mom said, "The doctor says that I am not supposed to jump around and get excited because of my high blood pressure but oh my God - Emely!" And then she proceeded to jump around some more in the middle of the street.

The following day 19 students between the ages of 5 and 17 graduated from the Peace Corps Me Toca a Mi course. As I have previously mentioned, the course uses a novela (soap opera) with Dominican actors to talk about a variety of issues that affect the youth in the D.R. including: HIV/AIDs, drinking, education, family relationships, homosexuality, discrimination etc.  After each episode of the novela we played games and held discussions that addressed the episodes themes. Sometimes conversations were heated, but some minds were changed and perspectives widened.

The 19 Me Toca a Mi Graduates

Prior to the graduation the class hand wrote invitations and gave them to their parents. Unfortunately, only two parents attended the event. This wasn't surprising because sadly, parents do not tend to participate in school and extracurricular events when invited (the school concert was out of the norm). It was shame the parents didn't show because the class held a fantastic talent show which mixed dancing, singing, jokes, and skits. Kids here, just like all over the world, love showing off what they can do, I know they were disappointed their parents were not there to see them shine. Next time I am going to harass the parents house by house. Although parents didn't show, their were at least 30 siblings and friends present to cheer on the graduates.

Patronales celebrations, a week long event celebrating the patron saint of a community, began the same day as the Me Toca a Mi graduation. In the D.R. most patronales have turned into a week of night concerts. I was too tired to go into town for the headliner event, El Alpha, previously highlighted in my music post. But I did make it to the church service honoring Samaná's patron saint, Saint Barbara. My host mom and I arrived at church at 7:30am in order to ensure we got good seats. We thought the service would start at 8am but in typical Dominican fashion it started at 9:30am. While we waited in the pews I fell asleep. I have no regrets. I needed that nap to get through the rest of the service which included: first communion, confirmation, a speech from the bishop about abortion (a topic heating up in the D.R.), a speech from the priest about how the patronales partying has gotten out of hand (it kinda has), communion, and a processional around town with a statue of Saint Barbara.

Finally, on Saturday, the day my entire community has been waiting 3 years to arrive, we inaugurated the Ernestina Hidalgo Community Library. The event was so big that it has its own post.

All the celebrations over the past few weeks have left me in high spirits. I feel so lucky and blessed to be living the life I have now, which is a big change from this time last year. Last december I was counting down the days until my family's arrival and couldn't wait to get out of my community. Now I feel like I don't have enough time before I leave for a vacation in the States. So to all my volunteer friends sick with the holiday blues and/or the one-year slump, remember you will get through it! And to everyone back home, I am super looking forward to seeing you all, but I know this time there will be people in the D.R. I will miss while I am gone.