Tuesday, June 24, 2014

S'mores, surfing, Santiago (Tuesday Week 3)

Last week there was an international fair at PUCCM, and our CIEE program had a booth. We taught people how to make s'mores, and we even had some little catering burners to roast the marshmallows! (Big shout out here to Dorvelie, the CIEE intern who organized it all!) The host moms' organization also had a table and they made a ton of delicious food, and we got to visit tables for Haiti, Spain, Peru, Korea and Germany, among others. Finally, some of the kids in my program performed a dance with flags from all different countries (I missed the rehearsal so I was the photographer). It was a blast!

The s'mores were a hit!
I also had a blast this weekend, since we took a trip to Cabarete, a beach town about two hours from Santiago. We got there by taking a Caribe Tours bus, which is a nicer and cheaper version of Megabus. We bought our tickets the morning of the trip for 160 pesos (about 4 dollars) and they have their own bus stations, so you don't have to stand on the sidewalk. Our hotel was only a 10 minute walk from the beach, and it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever stayed. I shared a room with two other girls. We had a balcony, a shared kitchen and a tree whose trunk went up through the floor of our hallway and out through the roof!



Tree growing through the floor in the hallway!
Cabarete is significantly more touristy and developed than La Ensenada, the first beach we visited. After two weeks in Santiago, it was very weird to see signs in English (and German and Russian) and prices listed in US dollars. There were plenty of restaurants and bars along the beach, and there was a beach volleyball court! I was really excited when I saw it, so a friend and I worked up the nerves to ask if we could join in. We were the only Americans playing with a large group of Dominicans who were taking turns playing 6 v. 6. The players were athletic so it was a good game, but it was pretty casual. Then a few hours later a few Dominican guys came to play doubles, and they clearly knew their way around a volleyball court. They were much, much better than me and I was pretty tired, but they were very nice and let me play in their warm-up game. The whole afternoon was awesome and playing volleyball on the beach was one of my favorite moments in the DR so far.

(Side note: It felt weird typing out "Americans" in that last paragraph, because Dominicans, and Latin Americans in general, feel that the word "americano/a" describes the entire continent and should not be used to describe things only pertaining to the US--to say that, you should use the word "estadounidense." Unfortunately, there's no easy way to make that distinction in English. I should also point out that multiple Dominicans have described me as "americana" but they get to do that since they live here, but it would be seen as arrogant for me to do it because I'm from the US.)

The view from our balcony! Paradise!
Besides hanging out on the beach, the other awesome part of the weekend was taking a surfing lesson! Cabarete is known for watersports, especially kite surfing, windsurfing and surfing. The waves were really rough but our instructors were great and I was able to stand up on the board a handful of times! After the surfing I was pretty exhausted, so some of the others and I decided to skip going to the 27 waterfalls on Saturday. I hope I make it back there at some point, but it felt really good to get back to Santiago. Being in a tourist town, people assume that you're a tourist who knows no Spanish, and they see you mainly as a potential customer. Of course, we are foreigners and we were there to relax and have a good time (and spend money) so I really can't blame them.

In short, I'm glad that I went to Cabarete because it made me appreciate the fragile, but growing sense of belonging I have in Santiago. I know my way around the neighborhood and I feel comfortable walking back and forth to school on my own and greeting people in the streets. Between my looks and my accent I'm still obviously a foreigner, but I feel like people tend to perceive me more as an exchange student and less like a tourist. This makes it a lot easier to let down my guard and ask more questions and go new places and try new things, and then those experiences help me feel even more comfortable and ready to try something else. One of my goals for the rest of this week is to keep pushing my boundaries by talking to more Dominicans on campus and going out to explore more of the city.

CIEE dancers at the International Fair



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