Home for a Visit - But Returning!

beckyred11

New member
Jul 9, 2002
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Hello All!

It's been awhile since I have contributed to any forum so I thought that it was time that I shared my story of my first year in the Dominican Republic...

Sitting here in Canada and looking back on the past year I really can't believe how fast it went! I have realized since returning to my family and friends that one year in the Dominican Republic has made me a totally different person! The other day I was driving in some really slow traffic and I wasn't even bothered by it! I guess the constant "mananas" and promises of fixed lights, air conditioners and pay checks that were fulfilled more than a little late on a number of different occasions served a purpose after all! However, when my best friend was riding with me and asked "are you going to scare me the WHOLE way there?" I realized that the whole transportation issue has left me a little dull around the edges when it's me doing the driving!

Living in the Dominican Republic was not as easy as I had thought that it might be, but I think that I adjusted quickly and without many life-shattering issues. Power failures just as you are about to dry your hair, no water when you have a mouthful of toothpaste, no motoconchos waiting to take you to school because it's pouring rain, ignoring the constant "tsts" as you innocently go for a walk, waiting months to have your fan light fixed in the "bedroom" of your studio apartment, risking your life everytime you get into any vehicle to go anywhere in the country, sharing one small van with 18 other people to go for groceries, evacuating 12 small children from the classroom so that you can get rid of the big hairy spider....all of which has transformed me into the person that I am now. New experiences will continue to make me the person that I will become after spending another educating year in a beautiful country.

I will be returning in August to the same school as the pre-kindergarten teacher. The entire teaching experience was wonderful as a whole, but some days I really didn't think that I would make it! Getting used to the "Dominican ways" in the classroom and in the school as a whole was difficult, to say the least. In the end, though, when the children are speaking in proper English sentences and understanding everything that I say to them and parents are telling me how happy that they are that their child had the chance to meet me and really learn my native language, I realized exactly WHY I became a teacher!

Now my goal is to become fluent in their native language!

Good luck to all!
Becky;)
 

johnsr

Bronze
Apr 13, 2002
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Becky, Sounds like you earned this summers vacation! Thanks for the report. I hope next year is as rewarding as the past one!
John