This is the front of the building Project Manana calls the "Guest House," which is where I have been staying during my internship here.
Sunday (or yesterday) morning, I went with Brian, my supervisor, to a church called New Life where the church service was similar to church in the states. The only differences from an American, Christian church is that the praise and worship was in Spanish (Spanish lyrics were posted on a projector for all to follow along,) the service was in Spanish too, but this church is considerate of those who are Spanish-illiterate or who are somewhat not the best at Spanish or understanding it by providing a headset that is tuned into a local channel where a translator translates what is being said into English without interrupting the others by not having a translator on stage repeating a sentence or two right after the preacher says something.
After church, Brian and I went to the store to buy groceries and funny enough, one of the grocery store clerks asked me where our kids were in English. I guess he assumed we were married? Brian explained to me that him and his son had been in that particular grocery store before, but him and his wife (who is a local) had not been in there together so when the clerk saw his son was a lighter skin tone, he assumed that his son was not part American and part Dominican Republic.
The best part of yesterday was after dinner. Brian, his family and I enjoyed the night with a bonfire and s'mores. There is nothing like a lightly toasted marshmallow on a honey-flavored graham cracker with a sweet, smooth piece of Hershey's chocolate in the middle. After eating three s'mores (hey, don't judge!) we sat, relaxed and talked about nothing important, enjoying each other's presence as the fire blazed for a couple of hours.
Today, I had to go to the hospital/dr office with Brian's wife, Carolina, for his sons hand. We were there for 2 hours. No one had an appointment since it was a public hospital, so whenever you get there, you give them a piece of paper telling your name and then it is the waiting game. The nurse comes up, calls a couple of names, tells the patients which direction to go and leave. This happened for the entire time I was there! So finally, his wife's name was called and since the rooms were small, I had to sit in the waiting room being a people watcher, trying to not look like a stalker as I was the only American, white woman in the entire waiting room. Military officers help with security in these hospitals so he asked me if I had an appointment or if I needed anything. Thankfully, I was able to express that I was waiting for a friend who was being seen and he just shook his head and talked to some other waiting patients.
Finally, lunch time at a mall food court eating pizza before leaving to go to work. We drove to Villa Gonzales to the San Pablo community where I taped pencils and pens onto crayon boxes for what I assume is for the upcoming team for about an hour and then I babysat Brian's two kids while his wife was in a meeting.
I am back at the guest house now, hoping to enjoy my Dasani Lemonade, music and the breeze on the patio for a couple of hours. We have teams back to back after Wednesday until long after I leave so I am going to try to enjoy this while I can.
Very nice! Thanks for pics/video.
ReplyDeleteI ❤ u & miss you bunches!