Volley Ball Net!

I realized I had 500 pesos left and a trip to the ATM was badly needed. The ATM is located in Nagua – a good 1.5 hr trip and it takes about 250 pesos roundtrip so I don’t want to cut it any closer. I also thought it would take advantage of the free wireless they have at the university and sit uninterrupted and remember how amazing it is to have internet access. Do you realize how valuable of tool the internet is? It is AMAZING. Like I can look up guava jam recipes, how to make a bar stool, the names of common Dominican flowers, get world news, and find out what is going on with my family and friends. Plus I hope I get to skype with Bailey or my parents and maybe they can show me Chester on the videocam. That is just flipping amazing. Hahah.

I finished the volleyball net! Check out pics below! Above is Milagro sewing

It was a great project. I hung out with a Dona named Milagro who taught me how to use her old fashioned Singer Sewing Machine (Yup with a pedal) and I had a great time with that. It was like learning stickshift all over again – but I got it eventually. Milagro sewed the large stretches and I sewed the sides because she is faster than lightning and also very nice. Ok let me tell you the design – I went to visit Meeka at the Colmado in El Firme and asked her for rice sacks and a tarp which she donated for free – although the tarp was sorta torn and dirty. I cut the tarp into 21 ft strips since that was its length – shorter than official net standards but it’ll serve. We cleaned the tarp in the rain with laundry suds and brooms – Milagro was super nice about this, she has what seems like varicose veins but it’s really painful to walk around and yet she was still helping me out a lot. Then I had my muchachos help me collect 100 beer bottle caps. I took them home and nailed a hole thru them all and hammered them flat so they had no sharp edges. Then I went and bought canamo (rice string sac) for 70 pesos which besides labor was the only cost. I took all the stuff to Milagro’s house where we sewed the tarp (A line above for the tension and the caps 6 inches apart – also basically hemmed the bottom part) for all four sides which took 3 days. I sewed all the sides together in a rectangle and then strung the canamo thru all the caps after I took a hot nail to poke thru the plastic. I then proceeded to weave the 6x6 inch squares and got the net as tight as I could and although it’s not perfect – it’s pretty cool! I was also glad to see the community was taking an interest and helping me and I look forward to getting the poles up and playing with the kids. I need to remember the rules. It has been a long time since 8^th grade De Anza Volleyball. (That’s where I met Bailey! The first time I hung out with Bailey was after a vball practice at her beach apt. Her mom had the little dog Sammy and we drove in the brown BMW thru Burger king’s drive thru and got cheeseburgers and these frosted coke drinks. Do u remember that Bay?)

Speaking of everyone helping me, it’s actually sort of hard to not get help. Sometimes you just want to do stuff for yourself. I’ve been trying to figure out what I need to do to show my community I am actually a very capable, mildly educated woman, albeit I am still figuring out Spanish. Most of the time though I think even if I spoke Spanish like a Dominican they still would be amazed that I know how to use a hammer. It’s fairly demeaning when the men do this. Yesterday I found a few pieces of wood that I cut into smaller blocks and started to make Mauricio a little table/feeding dish. I knew exactly how I wanted to make it and then my homestay Dad, Chiche, found out what I was doing and basically took over right when it was the fun part and he just nailed all the pieces together! Then he told me, ‘You can tell them back in your country that I taught you how to do this’ and I was in a really great mood yesterday but otherwise that would have pissed me off pretty good. The worst thing is that you can’t really do anything but be submissive for right now. I think that is a huge part of the problem for women here. Today for example, I went up to a different community to visit a sick lady with Mata and a few neighbors and during the short trip I was hissed at by every group we passed. They usually say ‘Rubia!’ and some other stupid novia comment that there is no way they can think makes me feel flattered in reality. There was a gua-gua driver who I find to be a creep who stopped his car in front of our house and hissed at me to come over to him for like a minute straight. They don’t accept no for an answer and that is just like a pet peeve to me now. So I sat there on my porch and said – My name is Sarah, not Rubia, and I’m gonna sit right here and you can tell me what you need. He still insisted on telling me to come over and thinking he had something to give to Mata I finally got up hoping he could tell how much I disliked him – and all he had to say to me was that he heard I played guitar well and he wanted lessons. That was just ridiculous and I envision bailey dropkicking him. I am sick of the way the men here have this completely distorted mindset they have the god given right to treat women, a foreign woman especially, like this. I am also pretty disappointed when I see why they think this – it’s the women who perpetuate it by the way the dress and call for the attention and never do anything when someone is being harassed. To me educating women is the first step. Educating women to respect themselves and have higher aspirations than solely marrying the first guy that hisses at you and then reproduce like rabbits – well it’s a cultural difference but I have a hard time seeing it as anything else but a problem for the women. Anyways – sorry I was just hissed at little too much today. I also have more bug bites than I can count although I wear pants in the blazing sun so you might find this note to be a little less sugar laced (as many of you have been asking me for haha).

Speaking of today – I was actually ordered to go down a steep hill and carry two gallons of river water up to the sick woman I was visiting. I was really surprised by this but excited that they would let me help – like the naïve little goat I can sometimes be. Then I realized how unnatural it was that they (actually only Carmen) asked me to do this and wondered if I had done something wrong. So yeah, I’m still a little confused as to what it really was. I also can’t help but feel a little annoyed in the aftermath at Carmen because not only did I have to go visit a sick person (which I do unfortunately quite often and it is horrible because you sit there and don’t have anything to do or say except look at the person) that was really far away, but then she just orders me to go down a crazy steep hill and lug up water. It was one of the only times I’ve thought that someone in the community might be taking advantage of me being a ‘volunteer’. Needless to say, I’m glad I have other options of landlords instead of just Carmen. I felt like a strong donkey after my trip though. Carry water sucks by the way – have I told you how amazing aqueducts and water systems are? AMAZING! Hahah

Almost done with my pump. Just got the tephlon today (which will hopefully help with air /h20 leaks) and then a wood screw which I wasn’t been able to find in my site. Crossing fingers it works!

Also wanted to say that I heard that my ‘super volunteer’ friend Jared had to be med evac-ed to the States and I’m really hoping you are doing ok and that we’ll see you at IST. He is one of the healthiest creatures I’ve ever met and that news was really baffling. Sending you good thoughts Jared.

Take care

Sooner,

Sarah

Pumping it up









Mauricio with his new food dish!


















Ramon, Manuel y Leo ayudando. Aranas tejiendo.













La Maya! Turned out pretty good!









This little guy fell on top of me while I was doing Yoga.
Take Care!!