Homestays in Cien Fuegos

Posted by Maddy February 12, 2024

Homestays in Cien Fuegos

Hey everyone! It’s been two weeks, and they were a wild ride. I had my first set of language school and homestays. I stayed with Brendaliz and Migue, and their young son Braden, along with one of the girls, Quinn. Brendaliz is a doctor at the Cien Fuegos Clinic for Students International. Going into this homestay, I expected it to be crazy-- every other student who’s gone there comes back with stories of birthday parties, water park trips, and playing card games into the wee hours of the morning. It did not disappoint.

There are a few elections being held in the upcoming weeks, and so there’s many politicians going from city to city and campaigning. Having never been to a rally of any kind in the States, I’m not really sure what to compare it to. But the first night Quinn and I were with Brendaliz, we went to a rally. There were some speeches about improving Cien Fuegos, the city that Brendaliz and Migue live in. (This included putting in a better sanitation system to clean up the streets and starting public exercise programs). We stood for both the national anthem, and the anthem of Cien Fuegos, which made me wonder… do cities in the States have anthems?

One thing that I loved about being with Brendaliz and Migue was how often we were out in the community. Unfortunately, for the first half of the homestay, their car was broken. But this forced us to walk around el barrio (the neighborhood) and really get to experience the culture a bit more. Colmados (or, corner stores) are super common in the DR, and they have fresh fruits, snacks, bread, rice, eggs, alcohol, etc. If you’re lucky, they also have food, like sandwiches, coffee, fresh juice, and tostadas (toasted sandwiches). We ate multiple meals at colmados, getting to sit on barstools and listen to whoever from the community was hanging around chatting. There’s so much community here in the DR. On Saturday afternoons, people will sit in and around colmados or houses and just hang out with their neighbors, sometimes playing dominoes. I love it so much.

Being at Brendaliz and Migue’s meant that we played a lot of card games and board games. This entire homestay was a huge learning experience for me, because while Brendaliz and Migue understand some amount of English, they don’t speak much of it, which forced me to use the Spanish that I’d learned, even if I wasn’t fully confident in my ability to conjugate or say things in a grammatically correct way. Either way, it was a confidence builder.

Another super cool thing that happened during this homestay was that I got to talk to Migue a bit. He drives an ambulance and is currently learning English. He would ask me questions about pronunciation randomly throughout the day, and it was always fun to chat about the differences in vowel sounds or something else of the sort. It was really encouraging to be able to do this, because I was able to use the skills that I’ve learned at the tutoring site, while teaching English and apply them to everyday life.

With Valentine’s Day coming up, we had a few different Galentine’s/Valentine’s parties with our small groups and in Spanish Class. Christie (a doctor at the Quinigua Clinic) hosted and made a phenomenal charcuterie board for Galentines. The night was super fun, and we played a bunch of games and chatted. Spanish Class Valentine’s party was also a blast, and we exchanged small gifts within the group and with our teacher, Mariel.

Spanish class these last two weeks was really good. I felt like I was comprehending a bit more, even though it was still difficult. Mariel is always so patient with us and willing to answer any questions (and even change lesson plans) so we can learn about the words and phrases that we’re hearing used in our homestays.

We ended the week on Saturday (the 10th) with driving up to Jarabocoa, where there is a second Students International base. We will be spending this next week touring sites and getting to know the staff, for the purpose of looking at if we want to participate in Global Bridge 2 next year. If you could pray that God would guide me in my decision this week, I would be immensely grateful. I want to continue to walk in the path that God has called me too, and if Global Bridge 2 is what He has for me, I want to pursue it.

Yesterday, the 11th, we went to Church with the Global Bridge 2 girls, as well as the Jarabocoa interns, and afterwards went on a hike. The mountain is called Flat Top, and the views were absolutely gorgeous.

Thanks for reading this post, and I’ll see you in 2 weeks with more stories about Jarabocoa and the team that we have coming down the week of the 18th! The next post will be up on the 26th (hopefully on time).

¡Hasta luego, y'all!

Maddy <3