Dirty Dancing

Camp is all over, and was a huge success! Around 70 kids came each day. We had environmental education activities that were especially successful in small groups, and did other fun activities like sports, big races, a camp game of Capture the Flag, and a Casino Night. We ended the camp with a dance, and after a rousing round of limbo, we asked the kids if they wanted to have a dance competition. Everyone did, and started chanting, “Reggae, reggae, reggae!” which is the affectionate name here for reggaeton music. We gave in and the kids danced off to reggaeton for about three minutes, until the dancing got too provocative for their young eyes and bodies, and we switched to good healthy merengue.

The helpers were amazing counselors. Everyone here is used to entertaining kids from birth, so they were all naturals with their groups of muchachos. The only problems we had were: 1. Older kids tried to sneak into the camp halfway through each day. 2. After making skits about saving the environment and the negative effects of throwing trash anywhere, the kids threw their popsicle wrappers all over the ground. 3. On Thursday about five counselors just didn’t show up for various reasons; out of ten counselors, that’s a lot! Luckily we had a couple extra helpers come that day, so things worked out just fine. All the kids wanted the camp to be a month long, but I told them we couldn’t do that with volunteer counselors. However, maybe next summer we can start a camp where the counselors actually get paid, and have it be longer. The lesson we did learn from doing the camp is that there is a need for organized activities for kids here. The only organized activities here are for teenagers in the church youth groups. Other than that, there is nothing – no sports, no hang out spots, no scout troops, etc.

Good news is that the secretary of education actually looked for and found a used inversor for our computer lab that they installed yesterday. So I’ll actually have a job when my community diagnostic time ends, which is good for everyone. My stomach is also much better for some unknown reason, although I may still get a stool sample! We (Ambrosia and I) made it to the beach this weekend up north in Cabarete to get together with a group of environmental volunteers there. Cabarete was much farther than expected, and I’m not sure if it was worth the trip: four hours each way in different guaguas. It was supposed to have a great nightlife, but was just full of sunburned tourists who weren’t dancing except to some bad techno music. It’s the windsurfing beach of the island, and it was cool to see all the windsurfers during the day, but definitely wasn’t the most beautiful beach at all!

I had a moment of vergüenza (embarrassment) the other day when I was talking to my camp counselors. It was raining and the sun was out, and a counselor commented that “Se está casando una bruja,” or that a witch is getting married. I wanted to say that we say in English sometimes that the devil is beating his wife (thanks, Dad, for passing down that wonderful saying) but what came out of my mouth was not the word golpeando, or beating, but “Decimos allá que el Diablo está pegando a su esposa,” which can be interpreted as something entirely different than beating. Just use your imaginations if you don’t speak Spanish!