So the director came to get me in the morning but found out last minute that he had a taller to go to. He left me at the school and headed out. The director then took me on a tour. The classrooms were huge. Beautiful murals were painted on the walls outside. There was a swing set. Basketball nets. A kitchen. Green grass and space to run. Every time we entered a classroom and said "Buenos Dias" the kids stood up and said it back. When she said "You can sit now," they said "Gracias" and sat down. I'm not exaggerating when I said I got goosebumps all over my body the first time it happened. Two of the teachers that work in my school in the afternoon, work there in El Puerto in the mornings. So I visited each one for a bit. Of course I was asked to do Alele with the kids (which they loved). I walked around and helped the second graders with their work. They were beyond precious. In fourth, she left me with them for about a half hour (not surprised...). Thankfully they were more mature and I did four different dinámicas/games and they loved it. And responded to all my positive classroom management strategies. Again, not perfect, but the difference made it feel perfect. During recess I didn't witness one fight. The kids sat, ate, swing, ran, and played. Later, after recess one fight broke out. But one fight with at least 3X the number of kids? Ha. Ha. Ha...
Afterwards, I headed to Yokasta's house to eat so we could head to 59 together. I met her mother and at a wonderful meal. We left and I parted ways at the colmado so I could grab a few things and go home. I was not going to the school for the afternoon and I was pumped about it. Of course every kid I walked by was like, "Julie! You weren't in school today!" Haha nope! When I got back to my house I made coffee cuz I was crashing hard and I had promised the pastor I'd stop by in the afternoon. I was struggling to find the motivation but I knew I had to go. Just as I showered and changed, however, pitter...patter...pitter...SHEW! Commence downpour and serious thunder and lightning for the next two hours. YES. I could barely think straight with how loud the rain was on my zinc roof but oh lord was it perfection. After almost falling on my ass in the kitchen, I discovered where my roof leaks and also all over my Sala de Tarea. Lame.
But I left a bucket under the spot in the kitchen and answered the call of my bed. Sadly (and surprisingly) I couldn't actually sleep but simply lying there was enough. Around 5:30, I headed out to see the pastor like I promised. As per usual, we talked about nearly everything under the sun (or clouds...). But the one part that got me was when we talked about the parenting issues here in the DR. It started out with the story from El Batey of the fractured skull (yea, found that out) from a stick because a pencil was stoken. I spoke of the way parenting here is and how the kids are treated at home and in the schools. And how the violence between the children (the way they ALWAYS fight one another as a first reaction to conflict-like having their pencil stolen) makes sense. They are raised by being beaten when they do something wrong. And in most cases are hit in the schools too. How could they possibly know a better way to resolve conflicts when this is their life from birth? I was nearly in tears because I would love more than anything to also work in this area here but as a whole culture, this has existed for generations and is country-wide. That's quite a task to want to tackle. But he saw it all; my perspective and my tears and has just as much passion as I do. There's a program in the Peace Corps that touches on this (and many other aspects of families-self-esteem, health, communication, discipline, etc) and I've got the manual. Our next visit will consist of going through the manual and developing a plan to see if this would be a possibility in my two communities-because there has to be interest if there's going to be change. I'm definitely sending a thousand prayers up with this one because wow, it's hit me harder than I could have imagined. These kids own my heart and this could be one step to bettering their lives outside and inside of their education.
The rains had returned while we spoke and by the time they stopped, it was dark. But I walked home convincing myself that I was not afraid despite the slight increase heartbeat trying to tell me otherwise. I made it, shut my door, made dinner, and now it's time to sleep. Tomorrow it's capital time. Buenas noches.
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