What makes us vulnerable...

After a long introductory week of a busy schedule, packed daily itineraries and running around trying to put finishing touches on our workshops and finding out that a number of them had to be tweaked to suite different needs, the group found itself physically exhausted.

But it didn't end there.

I think that a number of people forget where the Dominican Republic is located and some of the struggles this island has overcome, and is still battling every day.

Our group isn't here on vacation; we are not partying on the beach until all hours of the night, or lounging poolside at a resort while enjoying all inclusive deals.

We were plucked from an Urban, what we would call "non-third-world" country, where the daily grind doesn't consist of anything we are accustomed to.

As Brandi said, we are witness to a dramatic contrast here in the Dominican Republic. From the million dollar beach homes we see being constructed blocking the ocean view for anyone to see from the roadside, to the kids on the side of the streets selling shells just to bring home a few pesos to help feed his family.
We have really seen it all.
But I can't regret a minute of it.

We have came into this community with blindfolds on, and I think it was something that not only made us vulnerable, but made us as unbiased as humanly possible.

I know, for myself...I came into this with very little knowledge of what I would be seeing. I tried to come in on as much of a blank slate as possible so that I could really sponge up everything I would be seeing and feel the raw emotion that every new experience brought about. I wanted to bring back the most real recollection of what happened on this island to my students and make sure that numerous others were given the same humanitarian opportunity as myself and the others that were chosen for this journey.

I have never experienced anything like this before. We are being pushed in one direction and pulled in another. But strangely enough it is the most healthy thing I have ever done for my mind and soul. So this trip has not only turned into a cultural exchange, but a serious case of soul searching and goal setting. I have already been burning rubber in my brain thinking about more ideas to get our school involved in more international projects, not only in the Dominican but reaching further, while still maintaining our birthing roots (hey, afterall, this was our first international opportunity and it's not even over and I know what an amazing experience this will be for other students as the years pass).

So trying to find serenity and rest after a week of mental and physical exhaustion, our group sought out the beach in Sosua, where our leader Rachel spent many of her years here in the Dominican working on socio-ecological development for non-profit organizations, and establishing one of her own. We were all so excited to share this with her and see what really made her fall in love with this euphoric, mysterious island.

But Rachel was not the only one who had special intentions when coming to this particular city. My mom just happened to be on vacation in Sosua for the week and I knew she would be a great mediator for me to help re-focus my mind and put my head and heart at ease because that's what mothers do. Unfortunately because telephone reception is anything but desirable in the Dominican, I had a really difficult time getting ahold of her all week and was not sure exactly which resort she was staying at. I had it narrowed down to 2 and we just happened to walk by one of them on the way to the beach. So on the way back I stepped into the lobby and my heart flew out of my chest.

There was my mom sitting in the lobby with her best friend who knew me since I was a wee tike , and the damn of tears was let loose that moment. I felt a wave of relief come over me and I knew in that moment, that everything I was taking in and everything I may had been trying to block out was going to have a huge impact on the person I would be 10 years from now. And although I felt like our time together was so brief and the ride back to Cabarete was a hard one, I knew we all had so much more to do here in Cabarete before the proper exchange had began to work its magic.

So the group got up today and headed into the rural outskirts of Cabarete where we were given a chance to visit 3 really amazing, and very different educational institutes for ages ranging from 8 months to 18.

I have never seen a more beautiful spectrum of faces and curious eyes then the children on this island. I just want to be fluent in spanish so I can talk to them and get their perspectives of life and this island.

Today I had my workshop along with Jamie and Brandi. They all went amazing! Jamie had people rapping in his goal setting workshop and Brandi's version of "Over-Under" really captured the youthful essence of everyone in the room, young or old. You could tell by the mile-high smiles on all of the receptive faces that the combination of the two workshops had formed a collaboration of a mountain of knowledge that The Dominicans and us Canadians had been dying to share with one another.
Then came me...and along with the rest of my predecessors, everything went amazing. I had active participation from my Young Stars group, and not only were they receptive but they really understood the concepts Rachel and I felt it was so important to impart on them. There were 2 parts of my workshop that really made this experience real; first...was that one of the students in my workshop shared a piece of knowledge with me today that I had never known about the natural nutrients of a banana peel! Silly, I know, but if you had have seen the look on her face when I said "you taught me something today" you would know what I meant...I'm just hoping you will attempt to understand it for yourself. The second being some of the feedback that Rachel shared with me about one of the participants who won the raffle draw for my "Eco-friendly starter pack" and how excited she was to have the responsibility to share everything she learned with everyone in her community.

To end off the day, we got to watch while a break-dancing group from Houston came in to teach the kids choreography. This was definately a huge highlight of the day. To watch all of these kids so naturally just move with the rhythms and smile and laugh and be goofy while doing it was so amazing. They all have such tremendous personalities. My DREAM Volunteer has been introducing me to some of the kids she teaches and has been telling me about all of the nicknames they have for the kids. Today I met Eufrasy (sorry that is most definately spelt wrong) and they call her "Eu-crazy" because she has such a saucy attitude and is always looking to be a leader and show off a little bit for the rest of the kids. It's really cute to watch because she is so tiny and quite a bit younger than the other kids in the Young Stars group, yet she still manages to demand respect from her peers and gets some legitimate laughs along the way.

While watching the choreography go on I was taking some pictures of a few Montessori boys who were waiting on siblings to finish up and head home. The caught sight of my camera and immediately flooded over to see what the pictures looked like. Accompanied by giggles and more poses, the boys spent the next 10 minutes climbing all over me like I was their best friend. It was absolutely amazing. This was something Katie (my volunteer) had told me about. How different it was working in this sort of school. It is okay to be affectionate and give hugs as requested from the students. Some of these kids are just starved for affection and are lapping up the reading time and math lessons and are so open and receptive to the ESL lessons they are apart of. They absolutely adore the teachers they have at DREAM and you can see it in the way they interact with them.

As for how I feel my lifestyle may change upon returning home (which I have been trying to avoid giving a lot of thought to yet) step by step, I think it will change immensely. Since I have been here I have been avoiding technology altogether. I would much rather lay in the hammock and write something in my journal, or just look up into the sky...even the sky looks different from here...