Monte Cristi-Day 6 (Good-bye SJPS)

Today was the hottest day we have had so far. We woke up today around 7:30 and headed downstairs for breakfast. This morning I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some watermelon. We headed out for our last day of teaching at 8:40. First grade was awesome. As soon as I walked into the classroom, Cristopher called me over and this time, I couldn’t resist from working with him. Today, they had a test and it was super difficult trying to explain the instructions to the kids without giving them the answers; however, the kids did great! After class, we had recess and the kids were so happy! It was heartbreaking to know that we would be saying goodbye soon. During recess, Bryan and Yeudi ran over to me and gave me a hug. Youlanni came up to me and was so excited to show me her bracelet. She loved my baseball bracelet to much yesterday that she made her own and she was so excited to show it to me. It was so exciting to see that the kids remembered who I was but it made it that much harder to say goodbye to them. After recess, we walked into second grade and the class was very ready to learn. Today, I worked with Angel, Youlanni and Yeudi and they all did so great.

After class, we headed back to the O360 facility for lunch. Today for lunch, we had rice, chicken, fruit, and fried plantains. After lunch, we headed back to school. Today was student appreciation day here in Monte Cristi so the afternoon classes (3, 4, and 5) were cancelled and instead of class, the students had an all-afternoon recess. It was great to be able to spend that much time interacting with the kids! Some kids were dancing (teachers even joined in), some girls were teaching us volunteers to dance, some of the boys were playing basketball, and most of the kids were running around yelling “Topa!” as this is the game “Tag” in Canada. Even though we did not have classes in the afternoon, we were all still able to get class pictures with our students and fellow teachers. We were outside all afternoon playing with the children from SJPS and when it was time to go, no one wanted to leave. Just as we were walking away from the school, Yeudi came running from across the road. He gave me a huge hug and said goodbye and my heart broke into a million pieces. If I could go back there tomorrow, I would go in a heartbeat. The connections I have made with the children in this school are unbelievable and I wish more than anything that I didn’t have to leave. On a positive note, I could clearly see how much of an impact we volunteers had on these children and it was inspiring to know that we are helping better their future.

We walked back to the O360 facility to fill up our water bottles and then we headed down to check out the salt flats. Here, is where they bring in Ocean water and once it gets to the right salinity, they are able to tale the salt from the water and sell it. After the salt flats, we headed to the famous clock tower of Monte Cristi to get a picture with the Algonquin group. Once we got to the top of the clock tower, I was walking around and I saw that someone had wrote “Te amo con toda mi alma” on top of the balcony which means “I love you with all my soul” in Spanish. After the clock tower, we headed back to the O360 facility and on our way back, we stopped at the tattoo parlor to price out our tattoos. The price of my tattoo will be 600 pesos which is approximately 13 dollars US. Crazy eh? We got back to the O360 facility for dinner and tonight, we had mac and cheese, stewed tomatoes, rice pudding, and fruit. After dinner, we had a reflection with the Algonquin team and it went really well. We have definitely formed a relationship between our team (Windsor) and the Algonquin team. After this, we learned a little bit about the history of the Dominican and watched a documentary as tomorrow is our culture day and there is a lot to learn.

Highlight of my day today: Yeudi. When Yeudi ran up to me to hug me goodbye, my heart broke. However, I was so moved by fact that I must have had quite the impact on this boy’s life in the past 4 days. To be able to see the difference you are making, takes your breath away. I have no idea how I am going to get on a plane and leave this beautiful country, these wonderful people, or these precious children.