National Anthems and Missions Teams
Hey guys! Welcome back to another edition of The Dominican Dialogue! Thanks for your continued support and for following along on this crazy journey. I have a long post for you guys this week, I hope you enjoy it!
Way back when (two weeks ago) I had my final week of language school and homestays for the semester. One of the super cool things about the end of language school was a field trip that we went on. We piled everyone (students, intern, Spanish teacher, and Courtney and Dustin) into the fifteen-passenger van and drove to the nearby mall. From there, we students split into groups to complete a scavenger hunt that would test the limits of our language-speaking capabilities. We spread out throughout the mall, asking employees what the price of certain items was, strangers what the time was, security guards where the exits were located, and so much more. We had fifteen items on our list, and together my group, consisting of Lizzie, Eli, and myself, checked them off one by one.
The scavenger hunt was challenging for a number of reasons. First off, it’s somewhat out of my comfort zone to do a scavenger hunt like that but to do it in a language that I'm learning and I'm not completely comfortable with? I felt wholly out of my element. There were times of confusion. Like when we asked someone for the location of the nearest exit, and, a second stranger, after hearing our question and recognizing that we were not, in fact, headed towards said exit, informed us of our mistake. Attempting to explain that we did not necessarily need the exit at the moment and that this was solely for school was a bit of a challenge. Or, when we needed to ask a stranger three questions (any three questions, a dealer’s choice kind of thing) and get a video to prove that we had done so. We were denied three or four times by different employees, who said they weren’t comfortable with being videoed while they were working. Which was okay, and we respected that, but I felt slightly frustrated that I couldn’t fully explain the situation to them. In the end, we did finish the scavenger hunt. We rewarded ourselves with food from the food court (I got ice cream!!) and then we headed back to the base.
One of my favorite things about homestays with Elenny and her daughters was the sheer chaos (in the best way possible) of it. Normally, right after Natalie and I got to her house, Elenny would ask me what I learned in Spanish class that day. It was an amazing way to review and practice conjugating in the past tense (which... is definitely something I need to work on more). One night, Nileyred (Elenny’s daughter) after bidding Natalie and me goodnight, returned and said, “Okay, I just have one more question.”
“Go ahead,” I told her.
“What’s the United States national anthem?”
This question was met with a sharp bout of laughter, followed by mine and Natalie’s rendition of the Star Spangled Banner (aided by Spotify, of course). Afterward, Nileyred shared the Dominican’s anthem, a four-minute ordeal complete with hand gestures interspersed with more laughter. That night, I learned that there’s a radio station that you can tune into at noon every single day and listen to the anthem. The anthem is also sung in schools every morning across the country.
That experience, along with a few others, was why I loved homestays with Elenny so much. I was constantly exposed to new Spanish and Dominican slang terms (of which, there are many). I learned that Dominicans call gas stations “bomba de gas” or “bomba” which, literally translated, means “bomb of gas” or just simply, “bomb.” Nileyred explained that the reasoning behind this was that if gas starts on fire, it blows up, effectively becoming a bomb. The reasoning? Simple. Hilarious and a bit concerning? Definitely.
Last Friday morning, the 20th, our precious van (aptly named Vern) broke down on our way to the grocery store. You may be wondering, why am I telling you this? Because I learned a few amazing things about Dominican culture as a whole in the two hours following the “tragedy.” We were pulling a U-turn, an impressive feat in a vehicle that has the turning radius of a hippopotamus. But Dustin was doing it. Until, of course, he wasn’t. The front part of the van dipped down on the passenger side. We didn’t think much of it, at first. It’s common to find deep gutters on the side of the road, so we assumed that the tire had just fallen into one of those. We quickly learned that was not the case, as a man on a moto (motorcycle) began to wave at us. Dustin, realizing there was something wrong, got out of the vehicle and surveyed the damage. The wheel had snapped off the axle and was positioned diagonally.
After some direction from some men outside of the vehicle and quite a few loud, grinding noises, Dustin was able to maneuver the van onto the side of the road, so that the back end of it wasn’t taking up an entire lane of traffic. We piled out of it and found ourselves on the side of the road, standing next to a colmado, which can only be described as a brightly painted food stand/corner store. The man who ran the colmado immediately began to set up chairs and offered us a place to sit. Safely in the shade, we began to wonder what the next move was. I was prepared to sit there for the next few hours, knowing my plans for the day had been totally ruined.
That wasn’t the case, however. A man on a moto showed up, and, after introducing himself, offered Dustin a ride to where the tow trucks were located. Twenty, or twenty-five minutes passed, and Dustin returned with both a guagua (a bus that tour groups usually rent for transportation through the city) and a tow truck. The bus driver got us to the grocery store and then to the base.
I was amazed. From the very moment that our beloved Vern broke, there was someone helping us. The men who helped guide Dustin to the side of the road, the colmado owner who set out chairs for us, the moto driver who helped Dustin get to the tow truck place, and the bus driver who waited for us while we went grocery shopping. Anyone who had something gave it, and they gave it with a smile and they gave it to complete strangers. There’s something to be said for Dominican culture, and how hospitable and inviting everyone is here. But there’s also something to be said about God’s sovereignty, and how He put those people in the right place, at the right time. And I was so incredibly grateful for that experience.
The other thing of note about these past two weeks was that we had a mission team here! There were about twenty of them, and they came from Maine. It was amazing to get to know them over the week, and to see how excited they were for God to move in them and in the surrounding community while they put their all into serving anyone and everyone they could. It was so encouraging to hear everything they were learning day by day and what small things they had noticed about what was going on around them.
I got to act as a translator in some settings, which was both crazy and a blessing. It really showed me how much I’ve grown in my Spanish over these past couple of months. I’ve gone from knowing four words to being able to comprehend some basic conversation when those who are participating aren't going 60 miles a minute. Which in and of itself is ridiculous.
This here is a special shout-out to Pete, whom the kids lovingly called Pedro throughout the week. He had a background as a music teacher, and so he fit right in while teaching music class to the kids. There were some days when I taught music class, and I couldn’t have kept everything (... mostly) under control if he wasn’t there helping me out. He was absolutely phenomenal at playing guitar and the kids were fascinated by it. It was amazing to hear the stories of how God has worked in his life, and in the lives of those around him as we sat at lunch and in the calm moments between different classes.
On the 27th, Friday night, we got to have a celebration night. Different members of the team were able to get up and talk about what God had been showing them over the week. It was inspiring to hear about God’s continued faithfulness in both the busy and slow parts of life. We ended the night with some biscocho (cake) and a pool party. It was an amazing end to a busy week. The following morning, we made the two-hour drive to the beach in Cabarete with the team, a final farewell of sorts. We played in the waves, walked the shoreline, and I took an amazing nap in the sand (and the shade, don’t worry, I didn’t get sunburned). We finished it off with some great pizza and headed home. Thus ended the two weeks.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read all of this! Feel free to comment and ask questions or share this with someone you know would find it interesting. As always, pictures are below. God bless you guys and thank you for the continued prayers. I’ll see you on the 13th of November!
Way back when (two weeks ago) I had my final week of language school and homestays for the semester. One of the super cool things about the end of language school was a field trip that we went on. We piled everyone (students, intern, Spanish teacher, and Courtney and Dustin) into the fifteen-passenger van and drove to the nearby mall. From there, we students split into groups to complete a scavenger hunt that would test the limits of our language-speaking capabilities. We spread out throughout the mall, asking employees what the price of certain items was, strangers what the time was, security guards where the exits were located, and so much more. We had fifteen items on our list, and together my group, consisting of Lizzie, Eli, and myself, checked them off one by one.
The scavenger hunt was challenging for a number of reasons. First off, it’s somewhat out of my comfort zone to do a scavenger hunt like that but to do it in a language that I'm learning and I'm not completely comfortable with? I felt wholly out of my element. There were times of confusion. Like when we asked someone for the location of the nearest exit, and, a second stranger, after hearing our question and recognizing that we were not, in fact, headed towards said exit, informed us of our mistake. Attempting to explain that we did not necessarily need the exit at the moment and that this was solely for school was a bit of a challenge. Or, when we needed to ask a stranger three questions (any three questions, a dealer’s choice kind of thing) and get a video to prove that we had done so. We were denied three or four times by different employees, who said they weren’t comfortable with being videoed while they were working. Which was okay, and we respected that, but I felt slightly frustrated that I couldn’t fully explain the situation to them. In the end, we did finish the scavenger hunt. We rewarded ourselves with food from the food court (I got ice cream!!) and then we headed back to the base.
One of my favorite things about homestays with Elenny and her daughters was the sheer chaos (in the best way possible) of it. Normally, right after Natalie and I got to her house, Elenny would ask me what I learned in Spanish class that day. It was an amazing way to review and practice conjugating in the past tense (which... is definitely something I need to work on more). One night, Nileyred (Elenny’s daughter) after bidding Natalie and me goodnight, returned and said, “Okay, I just have one more question.”
“Go ahead,” I told her.
“What’s the United States national anthem?”
This question was met with a sharp bout of laughter, followed by mine and Natalie’s rendition of the Star Spangled Banner (aided by Spotify, of course). Afterward, Nileyred shared the Dominican’s anthem, a four-minute ordeal complete with hand gestures interspersed with more laughter. That night, I learned that there’s a radio station that you can tune into at noon every single day and listen to the anthem. The anthem is also sung in schools every morning across the country.
That experience, along with a few others, was why I loved homestays with Elenny so much. I was constantly exposed to new Spanish and Dominican slang terms (of which, there are many). I learned that Dominicans call gas stations “bomba de gas” or “bomba” which, literally translated, means “bomb of gas” or just simply, “bomb.” Nileyred explained that the reasoning behind this was that if gas starts on fire, it blows up, effectively becoming a bomb. The reasoning? Simple. Hilarious and a bit concerning? Definitely.
Last Friday morning, the 20th, our precious van (aptly named Vern) broke down on our way to the grocery store. You may be wondering, why am I telling you this? Because I learned a few amazing things about Dominican culture as a whole in the two hours following the “tragedy.” We were pulling a U-turn, an impressive feat in a vehicle that has the turning radius of a hippopotamus. But Dustin was doing it. Until, of course, he wasn’t. The front part of the van dipped down on the passenger side. We didn’t think much of it, at first. It’s common to find deep gutters on the side of the road, so we assumed that the tire had just fallen into one of those. We quickly learned that was not the case, as a man on a moto (motorcycle) began to wave at us. Dustin, realizing there was something wrong, got out of the vehicle and surveyed the damage. The wheel had snapped off the axle and was positioned diagonally.
After some direction from some men outside of the vehicle and quite a few loud, grinding noises, Dustin was able to maneuver the van onto the side of the road, so that the back end of it wasn’t taking up an entire lane of traffic. We piled out of it and found ourselves on the side of the road, standing next to a colmado, which can only be described as a brightly painted food stand/corner store. The man who ran the colmado immediately began to set up chairs and offered us a place to sit. Safely in the shade, we began to wonder what the next move was. I was prepared to sit there for the next few hours, knowing my plans for the day had been totally ruined.
That wasn’t the case, however. A man on a moto showed up, and, after introducing himself, offered Dustin a ride to where the tow trucks were located. Twenty, or twenty-five minutes passed, and Dustin returned with both a guagua (a bus that tour groups usually rent for transportation through the city) and a tow truck. The bus driver got us to the grocery store and then to the base.
I was amazed. From the very moment that our beloved Vern broke, there was someone helping us. The men who helped guide Dustin to the side of the road, the colmado owner who set out chairs for us, the moto driver who helped Dustin get to the tow truck place, and the bus driver who waited for us while we went grocery shopping. Anyone who had something gave it, and they gave it with a smile and they gave it to complete strangers. There’s something to be said for Dominican culture, and how hospitable and inviting everyone is here. But there’s also something to be said about God’s sovereignty, and how He put those people in the right place, at the right time. And I was so incredibly grateful for that experience.
The other thing of note about these past two weeks was that we had a mission team here! There were about twenty of them, and they came from Maine. It was amazing to get to know them over the week, and to see how excited they were for God to move in them and in the surrounding community while they put their all into serving anyone and everyone they could. It was so encouraging to hear everything they were learning day by day and what small things they had noticed about what was going on around them.
I got to act as a translator in some settings, which was both crazy and a blessing. It really showed me how much I’ve grown in my Spanish over these past couple of months. I’ve gone from knowing four words to being able to comprehend some basic conversation when those who are participating aren't going 60 miles a minute. Which in and of itself is ridiculous.
This here is a special shout-out to Pete, whom the kids lovingly called Pedro throughout the week. He had a background as a music teacher, and so he fit right in while teaching music class to the kids. There were some days when I taught music class, and I couldn’t have kept everything (... mostly) under control if he wasn’t there helping me out. He was absolutely phenomenal at playing guitar and the kids were fascinated by it. It was amazing to hear the stories of how God has worked in his life, and in the lives of those around him as we sat at lunch and in the calm moments between different classes.
On the 27th, Friday night, we got to have a celebration night. Different members of the team were able to get up and talk about what God had been showing them over the week. It was inspiring to hear about God’s continued faithfulness in both the busy and slow parts of life. We ended the night with some biscocho (cake) and a pool party. It was an amazing end to a busy week. The following morning, we made the two-hour drive to the beach in Cabarete with the team, a final farewell of sorts. We played in the waves, walked the shoreline, and I took an amazing nap in the sand (and the shade, don’t worry, I didn’t get sunburned). We finished it off with some great pizza and headed home. Thus ended the two weeks.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read all of this! Feel free to comment and ask questions or share this with someone you know would find it interesting. As always, pictures are below. God bless you guys and thank you for the continued prayers. I’ll see you on the 13th of November!
¡Hasta luego, y'all!
Maddy <3
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| Culture night with the Team |
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| Music Class with Pete |
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| Hanging Out With the Team at the Preschool |
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| Beach at Cabarete |
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| Me and Joselito, after getting our faces painted |
Having the national anthem at noon every day reminds me of living on Navy Bases and hearing the same songs played at sunset of every day (when the flags were taken down).
ReplyDeleteLove reading about your experiences!
That's a really cool experience, and I'm glad that you enjoyed the post!
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