I spent a day in Santo Domingo before my birthday with some of my favorite people I’ve met through this experience so far. I spent some time at the Peace Corps office rummaging through the free box (one person’s old Coach bag is now my treasure) and library (I’ll be reading Toni Morrison for the next couple of weeks), chatting with Lisette, getting a package from Jessica (it made my day and made me cry at the same time), and running into a lot of people. I love how tons of people from my group end up showing up at the office at the time =) I had lunch with my girls at our favorite Chinese Dominican restaurant and then we spent the rest of the afternoon discussing our sites and talking about how much w emiss fam and friends at home. I left my friends and stayed at Krystle’s place, we went to Maryland together and now she is working in the DR…small world! I had a great time catching up, sharing my PC volunteer experiences thus far, and watching American tv. Its crazy how much we cling to almost any American thing while here, it is def a wonderful comfort every now and again. I had a wonderful trip to SD and although its expensive (by my PCV living allowance standards) its is def a worthwhile trip.
The purpose of my trip to Santo Domingo was to pick up a suitcase of goodies from the states since my church does missions trips to the D.R. twice a year and my friend was coming down to serve. Although I didn’t get to see you guys, I hope you had a great experience being the hands and feet of Jesus here in the D.R!! Thanks so much to my Mom, Ashley, Nate, and Rachelle for bringing me a bag of things from the states. My mom packed the bag, my AP Ash re-packed the bag, then Nate re-packed the bag again at the airport (you deserve an award for your efforts Nate!), and thanks Rachelle for getting the bag to me in Santo Domingo. My three mis-matched sandals are a reminder to never take anything too seriously and just live & laugh.
I “survived” my first birthday in the Dominican Republic!! Birthdays are such a blessing and I never ever take them for granted, I was a little scared of how I might feel celebrating my birthday so far away from so many people that I love dearly. But, as usual, everything worked out just as it was supposed to in the end. THANK YOU to all of my family and friends who called, sent a text, sent an email, facebook or twitter message wishing me a happy birthday. It meant more than I could describe here. Seriously the words wouldn’t mean enough to express the gratitude I still feel. There is something about being so far away from family and friends…You know that life goes on but you just don’t want to be forgotten. It may be narcissistic but I know God made us to share life with each other and I’ll never forget those who I’ve been blessed to share time with, and I’m so thankful you guys didn’t forget me either!!!!!!
Now on to how I spent the day. I started the day with tons of birthday calls. Thanks to my all of my Peace Corps friends, boss Adele, and Med Doc Lisette for remembering me on my day and sharing kind words with me. It was humbling…The humbled feelings continued…My family sang me Happy Birthday…I know that was it from the tune even though some of the words were lost on me and they even did it Steve Wonder style! My friend Rachelle then came to my site with a birthday cake ad everyone sang happy birthday again… We compartired cake and then Rachelle walked around my site with me and I was able to express some of my thoughts, feelings, triumphs, and struggles in trying to figure out how to integrate into my community and be a resource to my organization.
Then we headed into the city to meet up with Carrie and we had dinner at TGIFridays. And they still had blackened chicken alfredo on the menu so that’s exactly what I had. Carrie and I got to pick Rachelle’s brain about the life of a Peace Corps volunteer. Quick sidenote, I realize that I love hearing about other volunteer’s experiences and seeking tons of advice about how to live this experience. But everyone’s experience is so different and what works in one site for one person will not work for another. I am working on being more kind to myself in an attempt to open up more and live this experience without fear of doing something wrong… (but I’ll save these thoughts for my next blog). ..
Anyways it was really nice to share my birthday with one of my forever friends who has seen me grow through a number of years (much love to TDP) and get to know one of my Pantoja to Santiago neighbors better. Dare I say that chicken alfredo was the best meal I’ve had in country. The plan after that was to go dancing in the city before Rachelle headed to the states the next day.
Well the dancing never happened. We went to check out the newly reopened Hub and we never made it back out. So thanks to what was at the time the best birthday dinner I could ask for, I spent the following 3 days not very far from the toilet with about 5 hours of sleep. Seriously diarrhea here is NOT fun, I’m so glad its over and I’ll be very weary of eating any dairy here again. Somebody (Diona, Malika, Hilary, Carrie, anyone) remind me the next time I try to eat anything other than McDonalds, that stuff is too processed to be considered real dairy…
Entonces I had a pretty good birthday. Thanks be to God for keeping me, allowing me to see another year, and giving me the opportunity to live out one of my dreams. In reflection (what would a blog post of mine be without one), this time last year I had an all black attire birthday get together in my apartment (Rachelle was there too). A lot of my faves were there and then we headed to Nate’s skate party afterwards. I had just finished my Peace Corps app and had not even had my first interview yet. I was in the middle of planning the college application drive for seniors with Mrs. Agnew and my peer leaders at the high school I taught at. I was content with where my life was (Phil 4:12), yet yearning for a greater way to serve, some kind of adventure and a year later here I am wrapped up in the biggest, selfish, selfless, humbling, eye opening, journey I’ve had the courage to start. I wonder what I’ll say when December 10, 2012 comes around…..
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