Thursdays and Sundays in Banica are Market days. As you may know, the Dominicans and Haitians have a pretty hateful relationship towards each other, but market days are the two days a week that they are able to cross over and sell their goods together. The basketball court fills up with vendors selling everything from meat to a few veggies and fruits (yuka, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, etc.) and home goods. The quality of the things sold is no where near what we are used to in the states so it is a little shocking to see it all at first. Oddly enough, there are not as many fresh fruits and veggies as I thought there would be. The first thing I am going to do when I am back in the states is each a giant salad…I’ll probably even pay the ridiculous airport prices to get one while I wait for my connecting flight haha!
One of the girls I work with, Louisa, took me to the “colmado” or corner store to show me what they had. I bought myself a bottle of water and some chips before heading back to the Youth House to get some more lesson planning done. It’s a simple store (there are two in the entire town and they serve as our grocery stores aside from the market) and they sell soda, water, chips, candy, rice, oil, a few refrigerated items, and some personal items like tooth paste. They remind me of the sari-sari stores in the Philippines that pop up on every corner. At least I have a way of getting more snacks now! I had to get a bottle of water because I had been using the same plastic bottle I got in the airport for 6 days now. I forgot my water bottle at my house in the US (yes Kyle and Mike, the one I specifically bought when we were at the sporting good store in PA haha) but Maxwell and Mrs. Bennett bought me a Brita bottle and sent it to me in the mail a few days ago so I should have it by next month.
Today, I began my day by getting up at 6am (ouch!) to go to mass in the neighboring town to Sabaña Cruz where I will be teaching religious ed classes (like CCD classes in the US). I wanted to people to get used to me being there so that the kids are more comfortable when I am teaching them. After, we came back in time to see the market in full swing, but I went to the parish school to meet the classes I will be teaching. The kids were singing the national anthem (Dominican) and raising their flag – they are so cute in their little uniforms! I start teaching my pre-k, k, and first graders next week! As for the rest of the day…more lesson plans and meeting with the principals and the neighboring town to figure out teaching days!
I hope everyone back home is doing well : )
Ps – Today marks one week in the DR – wowzers – this is real.
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