Week 37

Mr. Evans sent hard copies of the Buffalo News article which I received on Saturday and passed along to Ma Clem and Glen John. Ma Clem's daughter is a secondary school teacher and read the story aloud at the secondary school assembly. I'm not sure if this will give me more or less street credit.

I've been stocking up on my Dominican specialties in preparation for my first non-Peace Corps visitors. I was trying to buy cacao sticks to make cacao tea (the hot chocolate like drink that is traditional here) but cacao is scarce now. (Things being scarce secretly makes me happy, because I can say things like "You doe find soursop now- its scarce," although I join in with everyone else making noise about it.) I asked Ma Clem about where to find some and today when I went in the shop for flour she gave me a little bag of her own homemade cacao, cinnamon sticks, some type of leaves and a whole nutmeg! Have you ever seen a whole nutmeg? I wish that I had a working computer so I could show you.

When I told Ma Clem I have guests coming next week she responded by saying, "Sir kills his pig this weekend. You'll have stew pork." Best I never rent an apartment again because all landlords will pale in comparison.

Dominican phrase book: "You'll" You'll is used here as a question word. It took me a long time to figure that out and I used to just assume everyone was very bossy. "You'll call me in the morning." But in fact the person is asking a regrets only question. An answer is only required if you won't be calling in the morning. My speech is now heavily seasoned (as opposed to lightly peppered) with "you'll" statements. You'll all think I'm quite bossy when you speak to me.

Proper usage:
Me: I want to go to the action at Macoucherie today.
Friend: After I prepare lunch I will go.
Me: You'll call me before you bathe to go.

My seamstress finished my National Wear this week. I wore it to church. Pictures to come.

Week 36

**Some adult language is included.**

1. I am almost 1/3 done with my Peace Corps service.

2. My computer black screened on Friday while I was trying to upload pictures of adorable barefoot children running around a track and noone on the island fixes Macs. (I find this particularly humorous because I had played with the idea of creating an entirely tongue-in-cheek blog where I would complain endlessly about all of the things the develloping world is lacking- mainly Mac stores and large cheese selections- and post sad videos about how I couldn't buy 90% cocoa dark chocolate anywhere. Now I have the perfect opportunity to do so legitimately.) So my posts for the next two weeks will be limited to using other people's computers and thus quite short. But the short posts will culminate with my first American visitors, the Sanquezes, and Independence celebrations which I'm sure will produce posts so long that noone will be able to bear to read to the end.

3. This morning I woke at 6:00 am (late for Dominican standards- people often call me before 7:00 am or just show up) to two men arguing next to my house. The one man was screaming at the other man, "I'll cut your Mom's pussy!" while weilding a cutlass (machete). Both of the men's mothers are 70+ years.

4. I bought several pounds of yellow fin tuna out of the back of a truck yesterday and then realized I didn't have any money with me so the fisherman drove me home to get money.

Week Love and Marriage

Today I went to the Northwest Division Athletics Competition with the Grade 4, 5 and 6 students at my school. It was a track meet for the schools in our division to decide who will go to the National Competition. I brought my inner camp counselor today. I walked with (brought with me) poster board, markers, face paint, snacks and plenty of cheers. The setting was gorgeous- a field right on the Caribbean Sea in a village about 10 miles north of Salisbury.* I'll try to put up pictures this weekend.

I had a wonderful time, especially as we were the only school cheering. My favorite moment was after we all prayed together (every meeting, school day, meal and class begins with a prayer here) the kids were sent to run a warm up lap. It took a minute to begin because they all bent down to take off their shoes. Most of the children performed all of the track and field events barefoot. I laughed at our culture when I thought about those glove running shoes and how people take classes to learn how to run barefoot.

I want to share with you some of my observations and thoughts on love, marriage and family life in Dominica. The easiest description of the differences in “love” was when I was talking to my host mom and the Pastor we teach with. The Pastor asked me if I “love” the young man I’ve been dating (about 3 weeks after we started dating), I had a look of panic and replied that I “really like him”. The Pastor stared at me in a confused manner for a moment before my host mother explained that, “Americans don’t love like Dominicans, they ‘really like’.”

The structure of romantic relationships here are very different as well. It is quite common for a couple to have children together, buy a home together, and be together for 10+ years before getting married. A couple I know, who have a 16-year-old son and an 11-year-old son, who are active members of the Catholic Church, are celebrating their 10^th Wedding Anniversary and 20^th Anniversary as a couple next week. One of the American stereotypes here is that we “love getting married”, that we get married quickly and often before we’ve actually started a life with someone.

This post was inspired because I read a description online that claimed Dominica has predominantly single-mother families with absentee fathers and no family structure. That is entirely untrue. Dominica has an incredibly unique situation. Some families are constructed exactly like a traditional nuclear family in the US with a mother, father and children. But often children are raised in a single parent household however they are not raised by a single parent. You’ll see children living with their mothers but because their fathers live in the same community they have strong relationships with their fathers. Even when a child was conceived in an extramarital affair his/her father is actively involved in the child’s life. It creates a fascinating web in such a small community of siblings through the mother who live in the same home, siblings through the father who don’t live together and siblings who are not biologically related but their parents are in a relationship. My favorite family web is the two brothers, Fred and Mike*, who have the same mother. Fred’s sister (through his father) is Marie. Mike’s brother is Greg (through his father). Greg and Marie are now married. Sometimes the family tree reminds me of the song, “I’m My Own Grandpa.”

*Please note that we are NOT discussing the Bills loss this week.

**Names have been changed- the real names are much more Dominican.

Dominican Phrase Book: How to describe your relationship:

“Loving”- In a relationship with, ex. “She’s loving that black partna in Layou.”

“My man”/”My woman”- Your boyfriend/girlfriend

“Going behind”- Chasing after a woman, ex. “He’s going behind that big girl with the butt.”

“Make a break on”- Having someone else set you up with a person, ex. “Make a break on your nice friend for me”, translation “Tell your white friend that I like her”

“Fanm de wa”- Woman on the outside, ex. “His wife must know his fanm de wa.”