Day 12: Politics

We woke up with sunny skies still on alert with tropical storm Chantal still spinning out in the Atlantic.  We had our breakfast promptly at 8:00 AM and began our academic seminar on politics at 9:00 AM and then we had an amazing field trip where we were able to speak to the mayor of San Juan de la Maguana Hanoi Sanchez.  She totally gave us amazing insight into the Dominican Politics and she spoke about her personal goals and aspirations as to what drove her to run for public office.  She had this charisma and feisty yet kind attitude with a bit of spunk and pizzazz that made the 1.5 hour meeting with her just pass by.

After that we went to the Orlando Martinez museum here in San Juan.  Orlando Martinez was a reporter that was assassinated because of what he was publishing in the paper.  He was a strong advocate for the rights of the campesinos and rural people, but also questioned some of the actions of the politicians of his time.  It was a small but quaint museum with a lot of history displayed…the murals and pieces of art that pay homage to the report were interesting to look at as well.  From there we walked to the call center where the students were able to finally call home for the first time since we got here.  It was a mix bag, because some students were able to get a hold of someone, and some were not.  Some kids even started to breakdown in tears, because they were homesick.  As a leader, it was a tough to see some of these kids in that situation, but nothing a bit of candy and just giving them some space and letting them know you are here can’t fix.  By the end of lunch time they were back to their old selves.

After lunch we made it to the hotel only to get an update on the tropical storm that was in the Atlantic.  Some reports saying that it will turn into a hurricane as it passes through the DR and Haiti.  We have taken precaution and have a plan in place if it does make landfall.  We had our CAP # 2 meeting, for our culminating service project and broke into our two groups that will be helping the organization that we have partnered with.  After the seminar, we had English class prep class for our regular English class. 

While we were at English class the skies turned color to a darker grey and it started to down pour…but after 10 minutes it lit up.  By the time class had ended it was just overcast and a bit muggy.  Dinner was interesting…I was the last one to get in line and they ended up running out of food…just my luck that is the second time this happens to me on this trip.   Are they implying that I’m fat and I should be eating less…haha.  Anyways, since I didn’t have any food along with Lucy our program managers, we got the special treatment we got chicken and couscous, while everyone else got queso frito and two scoops of plantains with garlic and potatoes.

After dinner we made it back to the hotel checking up on tropical storm Chantal and constructing a plan B for tomorrow if we can’t do what we have planned.  We had our nightly meeting which went pretty well and had our self reflection.  Believe it or not the student leader of the day finished her blog and I will FINALLY head back to my room before midnight…for the first time this trip YAHOO!!!! Yeah, I’m exhausted, the bug bites are killing me but it’s still a life changing experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything.   We are now done with 13 days of the program which means that we only have 8 days left in the Caribbean!

Hasta luego y buenas noches!