Homestays Part 2: Feeling Comfortable and Bittersweet Goodbyes

Posted by Maddy October 08, 2024

Homestays Part 2: Feeling Comfortable and Bittersweet Goodbyes

Hello everyone!

Homestays ended on Monday, and it was a bittersweet goodbye for sure. The last two weeks of homestay with Yecenica and Gilberto were wonderful to stay with and Yecenia was a fabulous cook. I started to get comfortable while living there, and to mesh their routine with my own. It was something that I didn’t get to experience last year with homestays because I was only there for two weeks, which didn’t allow for much time to adjust to the new schedule and people I was living with.

One of my favorite things that I did a few times over the past two weeks was walk through the neighborhood with some of the neighbor girls and grandkids. We were quite the pack, scootering up and down one road, stopping at someone’s tio’s house to say hi, taking another break to catch up with one of the women from church, stopping at the colmado for some refre’co (pop). It was a sweet time with the girls, getting to see them interact with each other and with myself as we chatted about dogs and sometimes even the most recent classroom drama from school.

Another one of my favorite things was the pure amount of Spanish/Dominican phrases that I learned. At the beginning of the year, Hector (our boss) asked us what we want to learn this year, and I responded that I wanted to learn more Domincan phrases. Last year I learned fue con los yankees (He went with the Yankees, yes, the New York Baseball team), which is another way to say that someone died. I found it hysterical and am continuing to collect phrases and slang to use on the daily with those around me.

Half of the time during homestays I’d be following a conversation at the dinner table pretty well, and then Yecenia would say something that literally translates to: “The rats ate his tongue.” (think of “The cat got your tongue” as the English equvalient) and it would throw me for a HUGE loop. I had so many questions for my Spanish teachers every class, and it was always fun to go back to homestay and use them in the correct context. It’s an exciting way to expand my language skills!

During these last two weeks we (meaning myself and the other GB girls + Interns) also went to Monte Cristi, which is a beach/national park in the northwestern part of the country. I’m not overexagerating when I say that I think it was one of the most beautiful places that I’ve been. We stopped at an island for lunch and it was here where the hunt for seashells began. I spent a good hour scouring the beach with Kalysa and the other girls. I found a (nearly) whole conch shell, and a couple other shells that I ended up bringing back to base with me. (Fingers crossed I can get them back to the States without them shattering!) We got to see some salt fields, and while I’m not exactly sure what the process is for the making of salt, I do know that it looks like a frozen lake. It felt so off and eerie… my Minnesotan brain couldn’t comprehend the idea of a frozen lake while I was actively getting sunburned! Pictures below.

When it came to saying goodbye, it was bittersweet, but not entirely too sad. Yecenia and Gilberto live pretty close to my site, and they told us that we needed to come over for dinner or lunch or whenever we were free to hang out.

The Friday (Oct. 4th) before we left, I went into town with the other girls and decided that I was going to get them a gift to show my appreciation for opening their home to us. This resulted in a little adventure to a flower stand with Kalysa, where I bought a decorated pot and a plant. That in and of itself was an experience. Kalysa had been there before, and apparently some of the other Americans who work for SI, so she was familiar with us. She assured me that I was getting a good deal, and offered to clean the pot and the plant for me because they were dirty from the road. When I took out my wallet to pay was when this got interesting. This well meaning woman took my bills from my hand and began to explain that I needed to keep the 2000 pesos separate from the 500 pesos because they were similar colors, same with the 1000 and 200. She genuinely wanted to make sure that I wasn’t giving out the wrong bills when I was paying for things, but I was slightly shocked.

I walked away from the stand with all of my money (minus the money I’d spent) and Kalysa and I just laughed at each other. It was truly a cultural experience! That kind of thing would have never happened in the States, unless I was getting robbed. But here, nope! This woman just wanted to make sure that her nice American customers wouldn’t absentmindedly do the wrong thing. (I’m not saying that you should go around handing your money to strangers… but this was an interesting experience for sure!) These are the things about living here that I love, because they just make me laugh. With the plant secured (and my money properly sorted), Kalysa and I headed back to base so that I could collect my things and deliver my gift.

A little update about sites, we’ve been able to start working in the public school just down the road from us. On Thursday (Oct. 3rd), we went for the first time. We brought our evaluations with us and took kids out of the classroom in groups of six so that we could begin to understand their reading levels. I was kind of shocked, because within the groupf of 24 or so 3rd graders, half of them could read and write (a little) and the other half were unable to do so, some of them couldn’t even write their names. I'm really glad that God has opened this door to us, so that we can bless the public school and the teachers with a little extra help. Our current plan is to catch the kids who can’t read up with those who can, and then work with all of them to advance their reading level together.

I haven’t quite found the words to describe the differences between the public school here, and the ones that I’ve experienced in the States, so that will just have to be something for a future post. That being said, I’m excited to reach more kids and help them discover a passion for reading and writing!

Thanks for checking in, and sorry about the late post, moving out of homestays was a little wild. See you in two weeks, on the 21st!

Dios te bendiga!

Maddy <3