Learning Little by Little

Posted by Maddy October 02, 2023

Learning Little by Little

Well, here we are again, folks! And boy, do I have some crazy things to tell you today. But before I get into that I just want to say a quick thank you to everyone who has been praying for me and supporting me financially. I couldn't do this without you guys! Remember, if you're looking for ways to pray for me, you can find that on this blog, underneath "Prayer Requests."

Okay, starting with the least recent and working forward, homestays ended on Sept. 21st. Before Makayla and I said goodbye to Jhanna, Ariel, and Isabella, we got to experience a little bit more of Santiago. After work on 19th, Ariel asked Makayla and I if we wanted to go up one of the mountains. Of course, we said yes. I've been wanting to go up into the mountains since the first time I saw them. We drove up the side of the mountain to this restaurant called Camp David, named after the presidential retreat center in the US. There is also a hotel there, and from the outside, they looked really fancy. The coolest thing about being there though, was that we got to look out over the city at night. Ariel pointed out the airport and the hospital, and was looking for the monument, although he couldn't find it. The monument he was looking for was built for soldiers who fought in a civil war in the 1860's, and we're going to visit at some point for one of our expeditions.

Later that week, I asked Ariel about the history of the Dominican Republic, and we talked for almost two hours about the different wars, dictators, and elections. I also learned that at one point during the 1800's, the Dominican Republic was going to become the 37th state in the US, which is crazy to think about! The rest of the homestay with Ariel and Jhanna was super fun, and I'm really glad that I got to stay with them for the first homestay this semester.

At the same time, we were having language school. In the first week, I was confused a bit, but still following. As time went on, I started to feel incredibly overwhelmed. We went through all of past and future conjugations in a day, and I'm not even really sure what happened. I was learning so much that it felt like I wasn't learning anything at all. So, when language school ended, I was slightly relieved. Don't get me wrong, I loved our teacher, and she did a great job, but I was in desperate need of a break.

I had begun to feel isolated, because it truly is hard trying to exist in a culture where you can really only understand bits and pieces of what's going on around you. I didn't realize that lack of communication was going to be so hard for me. For example, at home, I really like grocery shopping. It's nice to walk around the store and decide what you need to eat and what kind of snacks you're going to buy. But I have to use Google Translate at the supermarket in the city; and even then some things don't have a direct translation into English. So then I have to spend five minutes on Google figuring out what kind of beans I'm actually looking at. Yes, I've started to get used to it, but at first, it was really overwhelming.

I was starting to get kind of discouraged, but on Sept. 23rd after homestays had ended, we went as a group with Courtney and Dustin to the Botanical Gardens in Santiago. It was just what I needed. We walked around for about two and a half hours, wandering through the labyrinth, the butterfly garden, the cactus garden, and finally ending at the massive statue of Christ on the cross, reaching out to whoever ascended the stairs to sit at His feet. I saw plenty of flowers that I had no idea what they were, and I couldn't help but think of a few people at home who would have appreciated the beauty of it all. (Don't worry, there's pictures at the end!) A couple of the girls and I climbed up to the statue of Jesus in the middle of the Gardens. We sat in the shadow of the cross, enjoying the break and the beauty surrounding us. There was something really peaceful about all of it.

Sites started up again in full swing on Monday, Sept. 25th. While I was gone, Emily and Elizabeth, (along with two other site leaders, Kendra and John) had begun adult language classes in the mornings. On Mondays and Wednesdays, Elizabeth and Kendra teach Spanish to a few Haitian women and their daughters. While I'm not particularly qualified to hold any position of authority in this class, Elizabeth and Kendra still encourage us to practice Spanish with the women because, not only does it help them, it helps us significantly. On Tuesday and Thursdays, Emily and John teach English. I'm able to jump in a bit here and there, helping with pronunciation and spelling and the like.

We still have kids in the afternoon for tutoring, and something struck me as I was helping one of the boys with writing the alphabet. There is only one girl out of the eight-ish students (the number varies depending on who shows up) who speaks Spanish as her first language; the rest speak Creole. That means the majority of these kids are bilingual, or very rapidly becoming so. Though they may not know how to write or read in Spanish, they have no problem speaking it to me, Emily, or Elizabeth. And this is really amazing to me. I love going to sites, because I'm getting to know the kids more and more. Already, some of them have called me "Profe" and it warms my heart. (It's a title I definitely don't deserve, considering they know more Spanish than I do. Sometimes I think about the irony that I'm teaching Spanish to kids who speak Creole as a first language and I laugh a little bit. I'm convinced God has a sense of humor.)

One of the things that was really encouraging about sites this past week was that I realized that I did actually retain some of the information from Spanish class. I know more words now, and there's no way I would have learned them anywhere else. Elizabeth was explaining something to me about class on Thursday (28th) and I actually understood all of the words in the sentence, and after a few seconds, I comprehended the meaning. I was super excited about it! That's one of the other things that I'm realizing about learning another language, if I pay attention, I can hear words that I know and process their meanings separately, but unless I stop to think, I'm not comprehending the full message quite yet. But still, I'm seeing some progress, and it's really awesome! Actually talking in Spanish is still pretty hard, but that's mostly because I don't have that big of a vocabulary (yet) and I conjugate verbs with reckless abandon (and often completely wrong). But I won't learn unless I do it, and learning little by little is better than nothing.

That's all for now! Like always, feel free to contact me and ask questions, or to leave them in the comments below. And truly, thank you once again for following my journey here in the Dominican Republic. I miss you guys at home (as well as the fall weather) and I appreciate the encouragement and prayers. Have a great two weeks, and I'll see you on 16th of October!

¡Hasta luego, y'all!

Maddy <3