So my feelings of guilt for not posting for over a month have caught up with me and I’m going to try to do a summary of the highlights from August and September so far. Suffice it to say, it’s been a busy but awesome month and a half.
Celebrando Del Este
This was a 3 day conference focused on World Cultures, Geography, Ethnic foods etc. Brian and I brought 4 teenage girls from our community and hopefully they’ll be helping us run a “Celebrando del Mundo” course before in the fall/winter. A few highlights:
The youth painted a giant map of the world and used it for geography games. This is a big deal as most could not even point out where the DR was beforehand.
Brian helping me teach Swing dancing as part of a four station dancing around the world activity we did. Other dances included Salsa, Zumba, and Irish Step Dancing
Watching Brian give his charla on Morocco during our Global Village activity. The kids "visited" 9 different countries and had to answer questions correctly while passing through "customs" in order to be able to get a stamp in their "passport" and move on.
Brian and I with the four girls we brought. They are all in either my English class, or my Escojo group.
USA TRIP
After Celebrando, Brian and I took a 3 week trip to the states to visit family and friends for the first time in a year. Super fun and so great to see everyone. We spent 9 days in the NW visiting the Seattle/Kent/Federal Way area and also a couple of days in Oregon in Salem/Portland. After, we flew down to Southern California to visit my family in Yucca Valley, and Brian also drove out to Phoenix for a few days to visit our good friends out their, Joel and Katie.
Spent a day in Seattle with Brian's mom hanging out on Alki Beach, taking the water taxi, and visiting the Seattle waterfront.
Went and saw an awesome Seattle Sounders game with friends Cameron and Bethany. Here we are in front of Century Link Stadium with our Sounders gear and our Starbucks cups. LOVE SEATTLE!
Spending the day with mom and taking the tram in Palm Springs. Really beautiful.
The biggest highlight for me was just getting to spend time with my family. And I love this new family portrait my sister took with all of us together. My little family of four has certainly grown in the past 5 years!
Deportes Para La Vida
Deportes para la vida is a training conference that teaches youth (and some adults) how to educate kids on HIV/AIDS by using games and sports. It started out in Africa (Grassroot Soccer), and has since grown worldwide. We call it Deportes (sports) here and not soccer because baseball is the big thing, but the program can be used with or without any kind of sports. I took two of my Escojo graduates, and we’re planning on multiplying the information to the rest of the group and planning a field day using the games for December 1st, World AIDs day.
Playing "Mis Suportes" showing how those affected by HIV/AIDS need community support and how damaging it can be when they're stigmatized.
The two kids I brought and I receiving our certificates at the graduation ceremony. Somos entrenadores!
Finally, here’s a link to a YouTube video of all the volunteers doing a dance at the Talent Show. Talent Shows are a really big deal at conferences and the Dominicans get really into them. So, we decided to go all out as well and choreograph the whole thing. Aside from being silly and a way to share a little American hip hop culture, it was a super fun bonding experience between the volunteers.
Well, that about wraps it up!
