Week 10- Last Field Trip

The Lizard Incident

Catedral de Santo Domingo

Serenaded in Santiago

My favorite

Casa de Campo

Before I begin I must share some funny happenings. Our current professor’s name is Greg Justice. He is one of those people I always accidentally call by first and last name because it’s so solid. His wife kept her last name. Get this: her name is Jane Midnight-Justice. It’s like a superhero power couple.  Another sidenote- we have had several interactions with wildlife recently. We had a birthday party for Cynthia the 12 year old turtle last week. She lives in the lagoons but likes to saunter into the Fundacian for a visit from time to time.  A baby hawk flew into the Fundacion last week as well. We cornered her easily but she freaked out when Cat went to pick her up. It was one of my moments where I die laughing at inappropriate times because it destroyed Cat’s hand but the bezerk flapping of wings in her face combined with Cat’s shouting profanity and even just the fact that there was a hawk in the common room was too much to handle. Shannon and I were traumatized by nighttime visits from both a praying mantis and another rat-sized cockroach. But the worst was last night when a huge lizard crawling in my bed. I cried like a ninny. Shan, equally terrified, turned on the lights but grabbed her camera to document me standing on my bed yelling at Christian to “GET IT!” Not one of my proudest moments.

We left last Sunday for Santo Domingo on our last, and very different field trip. I am glad they saved the Cultura class for last because Greg Justice spoiled us rotten- we were treated like royalty. I even wore dresses and finally broke into the unopened tube of new mascara and eyeliner I brought here! I was clean! I smelled good! I looked like a real girl! It was like getting a taste of what I imagine it would be like to study in Europe. I am so thankful that all our other field trips required us to get our hands dirty- backpacking instead of bussing, sleeping on mats in hostels and homes without showers rather than nice hotels, touring factories, Bateys, rural villages, medical clinics and NGOs instead of museums, eating with families or at Pica de Pollos (street food) instead of nice restaurants. Those trips shaped my experience here and revealed the real, raw Dominican Republic. But it was such a treat to have a week of being Fancy. And taking my first hot shower in ten weeks. It's the little things in life. We spent Sunday through Tuesday in the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo. We stayed at a bed & breakfast called El Beaterio, which is a remodeled convent from the 1500’s. It was the most romantic place I have ever been- Shannon and I cracked up when we walked in our room to find a huge four-poster bed complete with rose petals, chocolates and lit candles. The architecture, colors, gardening, street art, plazas, and shops in the Colonial Zone are charming. It was cheerful and clean- the complete opposite of the Santo Domingo slums we spent time in with Dale and Stacy. I took far too many photos of street alleys and buildings but I couldn’t help myself, they were all so picturesque. My favorite of the many historical sites we toured Sunday was the Catedral de Santo Domingo. The Spanish stone architecture was beautiful and it sits in the center of the district, surrounded by the main plaza with lots of people socializing at cafes, kids playing, craftsmen selling their art.  And our tour guide was really cute. On Monday we toured a Larimar shop and saw the process of crafting the bright blue stone into art and jewelrey. Larimar, the national gemstone, is only found Dominican Republic. The girls went crazy for it but I was too cheap to buy anything. The salesmen took desperate measures to talk me into it- “Look here, blondie! Your blue eyes sparkle like the Larimar! Buy some earrings to match!” Thanks, but my eyes aren’t even that blue and please, stop fastening that necklace I said I didn’t want ten times around my neck. I escaped to the back of the shop and chatted up some of the craftsmen, who slipped me two pieces of raw larimar before I left. Score. That night we went to a Dominican restaurant (complete with options of, you guessed it, rice, beans, chicken, mashed plantains, fried fish, and cassava) and saw traditional dancing during our meal. My favorite dance was the El Conado, where the woman dances with one foot on top of a rum bottle while the man twirls her around and around. On Tuesday we went to El Museo del Hombre Dominicano, which was basically a National History museum, and El Museo del Arte Moderno. We spent the rest of the day at the city market. There were so many incredible local painters there. I spent two hours looking at all of them and feeling terrible as I explained I didn’t have any money but wanted to know what kinds of materials they used because I love to paint, too. They were not enthused. Tuesday was a very special day because we got ICECREAM. I spent a solid twenty minutes debating what three flavors I should put in this treasure that I had dreamed of for so long and spent another twenty eating it, making every bite last me another three weeks without my vice. That night we celebrated Tricia and Sally at Falafel, as they both turned 21 that day! It was the coolest restaurant; we ate on the roof but the entire building was open air and decorated in Mediterranean tile. I ate entirely too much hummus and falafel and thought I was going to bust the seams of the skirt I wore to the club we went to after dinner. On Wednesday we packed up for Santiago, where we met our beloved tour guide Miguel. He was such a comedian and had me laughing the entire trek from the massive monument Trujillo built for himself during his dictatorship, El Forte de San Juan, an abandoned prison from the 1700’s, several main plazas and churches, and the city market. Santiago is a funny place. There are so many characters in that city. I was serenaded by a man playing the accordion in a pair of purple tinted glasses, a top hat, and many large plastic rings as well as hugged by a very drunken elderly woman with no teeth. Both were gladly received but the second one left me empty- why was she drunk before noon? I have never in my life seen as many homeless people as I did in Santiago, and a huge number of them were either children, crippled or blind. My heart grew heavier and heavier and I felt smaller and smaller as we walked through the city. On Thursday we went to Centro de Leon, an impressive Dominican History and Art museum. Last weekend we read Anna in the Tropics, a play about workers in a Cuban cigar factory. We toured the Aurora Cigar Factory and saw the play come to life, as it is still a traditional factory that does everything naturally and by hand. They still have a Lector, someone who reads classic literature to the workers to educate them and help pass the long days. It smelled heavenly and was such a fascinating process to watch. The workers were so kind to us, the men maybe a little too kind. I loved seeing them joke around with each other and looking at all the personal touches each made to their little work stations- photographs of their children, Bible verses, postcards. Our tour guide killed me- he had me in tears I was laughing so hard at one point. He gave me a free cigar at the end because he'd never heard a laugh like mine and no one had ever thought he was that funny, but I clearly needed to relax. Not sure what to think of that one. That night we went to the fanciest, most lovely restaurant I have ever been to. It was in this restored building from the 1600’s and overlooked the city skyline. We ate outside in the gardens out front. I ate a disturbing amount of paella and seafood and once again thought I was going to bust the seams of the dress I wore to the bars after dinner. On Friday we went to Casa de Campo, the most exclusive area in the Dominican Republic. Sammy Sosa, Micheal Jackson, and Julia Roberts have houses here. One of the billionaires who lived there built an entire medieval styled village complete with shops, restaurants, a church (that MJ himself was married in), an amphitheatre, plaza, a school, stables, and apartments for his daughter as a birthday present. She hated it and said she didn’t want it. Talk about spoiled. He donated the place and now it is this gorgeous, fake, medieval town that sits on a cliff overlooking a river that flows into the ocean. Easily one of the most beautiful, peaceful places I have ever been- the architecture and gardens in this place were unreal. We all went off on our own and explored for a few hours before meeting up for lunch, where I unashamedly stuffed myself with shrimp, zucchini, eggplant parmesan, and lasagna. Are you noticing a recurring theme here? Had to go big this week since it’s back to beans and rice from here on out. One of my favorite Dominican phrases is “Sin Fin”. People often say it as a salutation- it means “without finish” or “endless”. That phrase popped into my head and I rode home for the next four hours just staring out the window, passing the mountains, plains, deserts, and ocean views of this amazing country one last time, not wanting to believe this was our final field trip and overwhelmed by all I have seen and learned and loved. My memories here are endless and the journey is limitless. Sin fin.

On Saturday I went with Christian to the Polytecnico for an English-Spanish workshop with Sabine, Nate, and two other visiting Peace Corps volunteers. I caught the gua-gua and am happy to say that I held my ground and did not let the driver rip me off this time! I argued and sassed in Spanish like a real Dominican lady! Veron never fails to amaze, today I saw a man pulling three donkeys on the back of his motorcycle and a German Shepherd chillin and cheesin on the roof of a barber shop. How he got there, I will never know. It was one of the best days of the semester (I know I say that a lot). We split up into five groups based on skill level, one of us volunteers per group. I was placed with the Beginner group- we were spread out in age from 12 to 70 but became fast friends. They were incredibly welcoming and accepting of me- Haitians and Dominicans continue to amaze me with their friendliness. The point of the workshop was for them to practice speaking and so I was instructed to only talk to them in English. We did skits, played Pictionary, and sang Karaoke. During dinner (of deelish homemade empanadas), we could speak in Spanish and Creole, which I am doing my best to learn thanks to lessons from my Haitian friends Daniel, Wisley, and Luckner. Mom- they were hyped when I told them you were in Haiti these past weeks, asking me to send you their thanks. I loved knowing you were on my island. Can't wait to hear about it and go with you someday. Anyways, Elvis, (great guy with a great name) is the English director and was impressed with my Spanish! He offered me a job at the school after graduation next year! Pictionary was probably the highlight of the day. I am not sure who made the words to draw but they were phrased so funny. For instance, I picked “Nice Colors” and “Very Important”. How do you draw that?! My favorites were “Disco With Friends”, “Five Pictures” and “Brother likes Corn Flakes”. One of the guys in my group was this elderly Rastafarian man who wore a big floppy knit hat and had a beard down to his chest. He sang a mean and VERY passionate “No Woman No Cry” during Karaoke. Where is the camera when you need it? Language is a beautiful thing. I loved watching them, so eager to converse and ask me funny questions like “What is your favorite snack?” and seeing how hard they were working to decipher my answers, smiling when things clicked. Some of their phrasing made me laugh (I love when Haitians say “How ya be?” for “How are you?” because it’s a direct translation) and they got a kick out of my quirks with Spanish, too. I think the most amazing thing I saw was how people with many differences can connect with barely any language at all.

PS. My little sister Hannah deserves a shout out. I've been/will be out of the country during her recent growing up milestones this year and am sad that I missed another two this past week! She turned 18 AND rocked a lead in Footloose this past weekend- something I wouldn't have the guts or talent to do in a million years. Proud big sister over here.

Week 9- Project Esperanza

With one of the classes

Post Cornrows 

Roof Top View of Munoz 

We left early in the morning for our six-hour trip to Puerto Plata, which is in the northern part of the island. We got there after lunchtime and went directly to the Project Esperanza headquarters, which also houses current volunteers and a fair trade art shop. Kaitlyn, the co-founder of Project Esperanza (and a fellow Hokie!) gave us a briefing about the census surveys we would be giving the next three days. We met Allusena, an 18 month old who was abandoned by her mother with her nine year old sister, Sandra. Both she and Sandra were found extremely malnourished, Allusena near death with pneumonia. She was recently released from a two month hospital stay, but is still a very sick, fragile, and bony little girl- she looks like a new born. When you hold her you can feel how hard she is rasping, her little body has to work so hard to breath. She also has a cleft foot and they do not know if she will walk since her muscle development has been so stunted by illness and malnutrition. I am not a huge fan of babies, but I was totally enamored by her. After dinner, we headed to Batey Munoz for the first time. Before Punta Cana became developed, Puerto Plata was the hotspot tourist destination. There are still many resorts in the area, and Munoz is tucked away in their midst. It is a non-working batey, meaning that the sugar company that owned it left, also leaving 568 households worth of unemployed, undocumented Haitians. One of the most disturbing things I saw during our time there was the go kart and horse back riding excursions through Munoz. Tourists basically pay to go look at the batey and are given candy to throw at the children. At least one group comes through a day, and without fail, the children flood the streets, begging for money and fighting over the thrown candy. The tourists wave and take pictures and the guides take videos that you can buy at the end of the tour. It was like watching an animal safari. I asked Noni, one of my favorite Abuela’s what she thought of it. She said “I do not throw food on the ground for a dog. These children are treated lower than dogs.” When we arrived the first night, many of the children begged us for money and sweets because that is the only image of white people they have. Despite the begging, we received a warm welcome from the community members full of music, dancing, and socializing. I spent most of the night talking to Junior, Roger, and Enelbi, three of the older guys from the Boys Home. They, along with most of the other boys, crossed the border as children and have grown up on the streets. When they were accepted into the Boys Home, they signed a contract saying that he would go to night school. However, many of these guys have been living on the streets for too long that they cannot follow through or adapt to that level of commitment and end up skipping classes and dropping out. Junior has embraced the opportunity and wants to become fluent in Spanish and English so that he can return to Haiti one day and better his home country- Haitians have so much national pride. He also loves Basketball and was so hyped about the concept of March Madness.
Monday and Tuesday were survey days. We arrived in Munoz early each morning and got started right away, as each group of three needed to survey roughly forty houses per day. Project Esperanza needs to know what the critical issues are in the community before the make any development plans so we were there to highlight them by asking literally every question imaginable. How many people live in your house (which are mostly crumbling one room shacks)? How many of those people sleep on the floor? Do you have clean water? What is your weekly income (when there is work)? Do you have a stove, toilet, power, garden, refrigerator, documentation- the list went on and on. We only have two fluent Spanish speakers out of the nine of us and somehow I was deemed the third most fluent. So I got to lead my group’s surveys. At first I was really nervous, but I got the hang of it eventually. It was good for me to be forced into really communicating with these families, analyzing their living conditions and taking in their way of life. Jimmy, my Creole translator for the non-Spanish speaking families was very helpful and patient with me and cleared up any mistakes I made- and there were plenty of them! Munoz is basically a shantytown of huts stacked on top of each other- the surveys are supposed to be private but there is no privacy and we drew attention wherever we went, followed by an entourage of little kids waiting to play with us. I would be in a woman’s house asking “How many meals do you and your family eat a day” and a neighbor would poke her head in and holler “Look how fat she is! How many meals you think she’s eating?” By the end of my questions there would be a whole flock of ladies jokingly answering for each other. Luckily I had a faithful companion with me. I met Ebo, a two year old boy who was abandoned by his mother, a teenage sex worker. Apparently she only fed him powdered fruit juice instead of formula or milk so he was found extremely malnourished. His teeth are only just now coming in because of this, and like Allusena, he is very small for his age. He took a liking to me and I carried him around everywhere. He was the lowest maintenance toddler. He never cried- my arms would get so tired from carrying him so I would occasionally set him down. But then his eyes would start watering as he'd look up at me, holding back tears. How could you say no to that? So my arms got a work out and Ebo became my personal assistant (attached at the hip), holding my packet of Census questions for me during the interviews. Noni made us fried cookies, fresh bread, homemade peanut butter, and squeezed orange juice for us for lunches. The best. I also got my hair braided by Adena, one of the teenage girls. She did a wonderful job and I now can check getting cornrows off my bucket list. Jimmy said I looked like a white Alicia Keys, I thought I looked ridiculous. My group finished surveys early Tuesday afternoon so Tricia, Cat and I got to go teach in the schools! It was different because Kaitlyn had to translate everything we said in Creole, but we managed to discuss Dental Hygiene and the kids enjoyed their coloring activity and receiving Disney Princess and Cars toothbrushes and toothpaste. They could not have been more excited- passing out the little prizes was chaos. I know one word in Creole very well from that experience- “SHEETA!” (SIT DOWN!) Sadly, the schools are on the edge of being closed due to lack of funding.
I’m 3 for 3- it would not have been a proper field trip if I didn’t get sick! Wednesday morning everyone left for Los Haitises National Park for the 27 waterfall hike. I had been looking forward to this all semester long- you hike up a mountain and then climb back down by jumping off a series of 27 waterfalls! But food poisoning swindled me again! Oh well, I felt good enough to go back to Munoz with the group when they returned that afternoon and give a different class a lesson on dental hygiene. Before dinner, we toured CEPROSH, a non-profit HIV/AIDS clinic and discussed how to respond to the extremely high AIDS and sex tourism rates in the DR as well as the social stigmas associated with the disease. It was a very sad but eye opening tour and they are doing some great work. That night, the Boys Home hosted a rap concert for us. They have a group called Hip Hop family- rap in Creole sounds awesome and they were all incredible dancers!
Thursday we presented our findings to the community. We decided that clean water is the greatest need for the community, as clean water would solve many other issues. They have no sewage system so it drains through the streets, making people sick and contaminating food and water. It was very hard to say goodbye since each of us had grown attached to certain kids during our short five days there. We left for Santo Domingo, where we toured the Batey Relief Alliance headquarters. They are an NGO of beautiful people providing free medical care, nutrition campaign, HIV/AIDS awareness, and so much more to Bateys around the country. We then toured a public hospital, which was much nicer and emptier than anything I expected. However, it was recently renovated and they made it clear that this kind of facility was state of the art in the country. I am so surprised at how into this health care stuff I’ve gotten- I never thought I’d be interested in this field but this class has shown me I am, big time. Who knows where that will take me? This week was probably the best, most transformational one yet- I learned, saw, and loved so much and felt God's presence more than ever in the community. The inspiring, beautiful people I met in Munoz reignited my feeling that God put us on this earth to serve- we are blessed to be a blessing to one another. I will take this weekend to reflect and digest the happiness and sadness of this experience at the Fundacion before we leave on our weeklong Arts and Culture field trip on Sunday morning. It’s the last class of the semester. Where did time go?? 


Find out more or donate to Project Esperanza here: http://esperanzameanshope.org/         

Week 8

Kayaking

Waking up on the beach

This week we started our Medical Geography class. Our professor, Stacy, couldn’t be here this week so we had a surprise week off, besides the readings/assignments she’s been sending online. She is actually the wife of Dr. John Boyer, one of my favorite professors at Tech, and after meeting her last night, I think she is equally amazing. We are learning about how overall health, incidence and prevalence of disease varies geographically, especially which diseases impact developed versus undeveloped countries. We are focusing on the differences between the US, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. In the DR and Haiti, diseases such as Cholera, Hookworm/Whipworm, Typhoid, HIV/AIDS, Diarrhea, Leptosporosis, and Elephantiasis (just to name a few) are easily treated diseases that unfortunately have much wider reaching consequences than in first world countries due to the limited access to medical care, poorer sanitation systems, and lack of health education. We leave tomorrow for a week in Puerto Plata, the sex tourism capitol of the country, to work at Project Esperanza. Project Esperanza provides schooling, homes, medical care, and social support for Haitian batey workers and children, many of whom are orphans. We will be tutoring, conducting health census interviews, touring rural clinics and blood banks, and providing HIV/AIDS and nutrition classes.

I helped teach Family Planning this week with Nate. I am now a familiar face, and felt so happy when some of the kids exclaimed “Catarina!” and “Rubia!” when I came in the classrooms. It meant a lot that they remembered my name. I also have a few special friends- Maria, Diana, and Ava are my secret favorites and I received several secret admirer notes and flowers from some of the boys. My favorite one was signed from "El Tigre". Too funny.

Yesterday, Katie (the marine biologist) recruited Shan and I for a two tank coral restoration dive. Meaning we used up two tanks and were underwater for almost four hours. The current was extremely strong, making installing the new cage, transferring and cable tying mature coral onto it, laying down transects, and measuring coral for our two surveys challenging and tiring. Laughing underwater usually results in inhaling seawater but I couldn’t help it, we looked hilarious getting pulled all over the place. Plus there’s something about hammering, sawing, and writing underwater that’s really funny to me. I’ve never been so exhausted when we finished- I had that weird rocking feeling you get after you’ve been on a boat too long, only I felt like I was pushing through current wherever I went.

And when I’m not in class, scuba diving, bee keeping, or teaching, I am at the beach. It’s gotten to where I sleep more on my towel than in my own bed- I slept there for a whole night by accident once this week! I will spend entire days there doing readings for class, kayaking, paddle boarding, or just hanging out- packing a lunch so I don’t have to leave even for 30 minutes. I can’t get enough! Or I’m stalking March Madness online, which I can’t get enough of either, despite the painfully slow internet connection when trying to watch games/highlights. I always choose upsets for my bracket and this year it paid off big time. So far I’m 15 for 16!? The guys hate me, I’m too pleased with myself. 

Week 7

Carnival

The Queen

In the parade

Teaching with Nate

I am all birded out. We continued on our early morning bird hikes, the highlight of which was a field trip to Bavaro to an ecological resort. We bird watched from 7-11:00 that day. Four. Hours. Of. Bird. Watching. We also had night walks this week, where we would go out into the lagoon forests in search of the Ashy Faced Owl. Here’s to doing things you never thought you’d do. All we saw was a frog and a duck. It was hilarious, we went out with our flashlights and would stop every couple hundred yards, turn off all our lamps and stand there getting eaten alive by mosquitoes while Bill played the owl call, which sounds like a bird getting killed- it is terrifying. I am real scared of the dark and would clutch whoever was in front of me. One time, Jenna and I were in the back of the line and we kept swearing there was something behind us. We finally saw this huge rustle and both of us almost started crying it scared us so bad. It was Christian, the guard of the little park who I wrote about earlier (he can speak the 14 languages), coming to see who was walking around at 10:30. He told us to watch out for Dominican Boas. So comforting. Something very strange has happened to me. Since birds have been such a big part of my life the past 2 weeks, I can’t escape them. Until now, I never realized how many birds they are. They’re everywhere. Always singing. I cannot tune them out. As I am reading this, I see a black bird fly by and am thinking “Greater Antillean Grackle” (also known as a Cheenchaleen and not to be confused with the Shiny Cowbird). And there’s a Hispaniolan Lizard Cuckoo chirping outside. What has happened to me? Make it stop. While I love Jerry and Bill, I only like birds. And by like I mean kind of like.

I continued with Sex Ed with Nate on Wednesday and Thursday, this time talking about pregnancy and fetal development. I have absolutely loved doing this and cannot think of a better, more effective way to volunteer my time here. In the DR, 1 out of 4 girls becomes pregnant between the ages of 14-19. This is largely due to being uneducated about family planning and contraception. The statistics and myths these children are taught are mind blowing and Sex Ed is non-existent in school curriculums. And people wonder how teen pregnancy rates, the number one perpetuator of world poverty, are so high?  I feel like Sex Ed in the US is not taken seriously, but here, it is real and it is relevant. There were pregnant girls in the classes I was teaching. While it is overwhelming at times, this experience has reaffirmed my desire to pursue international service work- ignorance is not bliss. Teaching has also helped my Spanish tremendously. It’s funny how I am much more comfortable talking about fetal development in the first trimester in Spanish than I am talking about my day.

The Dominican Republic LOVES national holidays. I think this has more to do with their love of partying. Wednesday was Women's Day, and I received many congratulatory hugs for being a woman. We bought our three maids orchids as holiday present. They were so touched they cried! Friday and Saturday was Carnival! Carnival lasts an entire month. The Catholic celebration supposedly symbolizes an “upside-down world”. It reminded me a lot of Mardi Gras. Each town is represented in a parade in the different cities Carnival is celebrated. Basically, the entire town shuts down and a parade of groups in colorful, elaborate costumes march through the streets, many of them carry Vejigas to hit or whip pretty girls with. There were concerts all day and thousands of people crowding the streets, drinking, dancing and watching all day and night. It was one of the craziest experiences of my life. I had the best time.

Week 6

Great Egret during our Natura Park day trip 

Rubio and I

Finally certified!

This week has flown by. It is good to be back home without a trip to prepare for- things are more relaxed, but we have much more free time to fill our days with good things. Some highlights from this week:

1.     Bird watching. Monday was our first day in Tropical Orinthology with Professor Jerry Via, the head of the CCER program here and the Dean of the College of Science. I adore him and his partner Bill, but I am not as big of a fan of bird watching. The entire group warned him the first day that I am not a morning person and they have all become trained in not talking to me for the first 20 minutes I am awake. Because our class starts at 6:30 am. Not my prime time. We then walk around for about 2 hours looking at birds. Some of them are cool, like the bee hummingbird, which is a hummingbird the size of a bumble bee. And some are pretty colors. Most, however, are various shades of brown. We then have six hours worth of lecture throughout the day. That is a lot of talking about birds.

2.    There were two holidays last week! Last Saturday was Independence Day. Dominicans are very patriotic people. Friday was the Festival of Saint Brugal. Basically everyone wears red clown noses and drinks Brugal rum in celebration. Also a good time. We went clubbing at Imagine, which is in a cave! 

3.     We had our last ocean dive and finally got scuba certified this week! 

4.     Now that we are home for three weeks, I’ve started a teaching assistantship with Nate the Peace Corps Rep. Nate the Peace Corps Rep is really nice, went to UC Berkley, is going to medical school at Stanford after his term, and looks like a Ralph Lauren model. All the girls hearts sank when Ben asked him how his girl friend was doing. Needless to say, I’ve enjoyed helping him teach Sex Education classes in Veron at Las Manantiales. It’s funny, for some reason Dominicans think that all Americans are related in some way. I’ve been asked if I am Nate’s wife, girlfriend, sister, and yes, daughter. I’ve really enjoyed teaching the kids and playing AIDS dodge ball during break. They are wonderful and so funny.

5.    My money was stolen during the first field trip so I am now broke. I’m over it, but mentioned to Ben that I was sad that I could no longer buy gifts to bring home to my family and friends. He said he had an idea. Bee keeping. I could earn jars of organic, naturally made honey if I logged a certain amount of hours working in the bee colonies. Bees and I have a rough history, but I agreed. Worst-case scenario it would make a funny story. Shannon, my ever-faithful roommate wanted to join in, so we set out in our first week with the bees. Rubio, the bee man, is a crazy person and I love how much he loves his job. Except if you talk to him while he’s driving he stops looking at the road because he is looking directly at you and Shannon and I hold hands because we think we’re going to die. He goes into the hives wearing just a tshirt and jeans and can open the top of the bee case and take fistfuls of bees in his hands. Rubio explained the whole process in really fast Spanish so my knowledge of bee keeping is limited to what I could pick out, but from what I could see bees are pretty amazing. Rubio lets us eat some of the honeycomb, which is incredible. The first time I didn’t realize you were only supposed to chew on the wax and I swallowed it. They still haven’t stopped teasing me. He has two workers, Popapilla and Daniel. Daniel, like my other Daniel, is also from Haiti and I absolutely love him. 

Also, if anyone is interested in Dominican/Haitian relations, check out this website and short documentary: http://cronkite.asu.edu/buffett/dr/index.html