I'm sure many of you remember that I wanted to blog at least once every month and I've not managed to do that. But not because I don't want to, especially in the past month. Here is the reality of the situation: I went home for a wonderful 2 week vacation to the states at the beginning of August. It was right after Camp GLOW (which was an amazing experience for me and my girls) and a visit to my friend Jose's site so I was feeling pretty good; I was in a good place for a visit home because of the break in my activities and most AC employees were on vacay. My time at home was an action-packed, at times stressful experience: but long story short: I was able to catch up with a lot family and friends from all over. Thank you to all of you who made time to visit, see me, call me, send me a gift, or get to a gathering that I was at: it was all very much so appreciated.
However, I'm not sure I ever read about (or prepared myself for) the fall off that I had when I got back to the D.R. Now of course, I could not really write about this while I was going through it so gracias a Dios its over. I am also (for the time being) NOT planning to go back home for the rest of my service because the trip knocked me so far off my game. The first night back was nice, my host family picked me up from the airport, and they have a welcome back sign for me in my house. We traded gifts and I was basking in the high of a visit home and feeling the love from fam and neighbors in the D.R.
Then over the next week, my emotions took what can be best described as a nose dive plummet into muddy asphalt. (which if you've ever been to my community you know how dangerous that is) Of course there were some other contributing factors: my AC (work) mom left for the states and so we now have a new directora. And in her first week in the organization, she asked everyone for reports of what we do, our plan for the next 6 months, cosas asi. At the same time, I was also trying to turn in a world grant that would allow me to do a major program in the community. Now all of this combined has the ingredients necessary to be a very stressful situation, because all of my programs, plans, and proposed schedule were on hold waiting for her approval/understanding. Even on my most laid-back days, I still like to have a bit of control over making my plans happen so needless to say I was a bit anxious because the 2nd year of service is supposed to be the time when all that spagetti throwing at the wall during my first year turns into concrete projects that have a sustainability focus. Anyways back to story at hand, couple uncertain, murky project plans with not being able to leave my site (thanks to the tropical storm) and re-adjusting to speaking Spanish again...all of which led to that emotional nose dive that I know refer to as hurricane Jackee (that was for your Kristen!).
Apparently I am not the only one who experienced this emotional rollercoaster when returning from the states so that helped me to feel much better (misery or rather empathy loves company). Add that in with a lunch with Jose and breakfast/soul talk with James and I was on my way back. Eventually the new directora heard about all of the awesome collaboration work I do at the org which allowed her to give me the green light on projects (with a couple of compromises along the way).
So that was the emotional part, once I got busy, my emotions picked up as well. One thing I've noticed while being here is that time for reflection is very necessary, but there is such a thing as too much time for reflection, so I was very happy when I was done filling out paperwork and reports and moved towards presentations, walking around the community, and having my groups.
So now for an overview for what I've been up to for the past 2 months:
-started working with a women's group
-presented to the new group of volunteers about my urban site
-attended Celebrando el Mundo Cibao (diversity awareness/appreciation conference) with 2 jovenes from the new youth group in my community
-hosted an awesome new youth volunteer and we went to El Moro in Monte Cristi (gorgeous)
-volunteered to coordinate the national girls (Chicas Brillantes/GLOW) camp next summer
-coordinating the subregional conferences for both Chicas Brillantes and Chicos Superman
-played lots of board games with my nieces and nephews
-started a volleyball team
-organized times for my Chicos groups to come and play basketball
-started hanging out with my co-workers after work
-started going to the HUB for church (huge win!)
-successfully kicked off 3 chicos and 3 chicas groups with my awesome multiplicadores
-working with youth leaders to plan a diversity/HIV awareness conference
-working with my awesome Deportes para la Vida trainers to run programs in 4 different communities
-started eating peanut butter again, which I will stop by October 1
-potentially found someone who can twist my locs in the D.R., interview pending
-went to a resort in Jarabacoa for a taller on communication and then fun in the sun with my organization
-spent a lot of time with 517-11-02 youth at Corps Forum and realized how much I love all of them
-I've been going to the gym 3-4 times a week to keep my stress level down
-I've been planning visits to see other volunteers and other parts of the country
-I've been studying Spanish at least once a week (working on making this 3 times a week)
-I've had more soul talks with my host mom lately too
-everyday I'm still aware and thankful for this experience and yes Ashlee I do believe that I am living in these moments =)
That is a pretty good synopsis of my life right now; the next 3 months are jam packed with activities and I'm looking forward to it.
