This week marks my last week in the Dominican Republic. While planning this trip, I wasn't sure about the time length of one month. What if after 2 weeks I wanted to come back? Or worse, what if after a month, I wasn't ready to leave? This has been on my mind a lot lately. Honestly, I thought about extending my stay an extra week. I even reached out my mom who looked up the travel fees to change flights; it ended up being that the extra financial costs were too expensive to stay for an extra week. However, what really convinced me to rethink my reasons for staying was the advice I got from my mom. She told me that although I am having a wonderful experience, all good things do come to an end; I must enjoy the time that I have and not waste a single minute thinking about staying because all those efforts are taking away from the present. This was exactly what I needed to hear (thanks mom!). And that's why as I get closer to my departure date, my heart has become full with more happiness than sadness. I look forward to everything I am about to experience this week.
On Monday (7/11), Maria and I helped the community center organize a bunch of school supplies that were given to them. They had tons of backpacks (mochilas), pencils (lapices), and notebooks (cuadernos). School supplies are expensive in the Dominican Republic (DR), so a few of the Accion Callejera centers were selling what they had to those in the community at reasonable prices. The money goes back to the main juvenile center to allocate. This was not only my last Monday in the DR, but also the last day that all the teachers, workers, and volunteers would all be together. Since the school year and most of the camps are over, some of the teachers are going on vacation. When you are a volunteer at a place that sees a lot of volunteers come and go, it is hard to know whether you will be missed. However, at the end of the day, I knew the answer was yes. I am so grateful for all the staff at the community center. At the end of my month here, I can honestly say I feel a part of this crazy family. Some gave me advice, some made me laugh, some challenged me, and some were like mothers to me. Gracias por todos!
The next day (7/16), I completely lived in the moment (something I learned from my mom) and decided to spend the morning at one of my favorite places: the Accion Callejera Juvenile Center. It was just me as I took a concho from La Yaguita to the city. When I arrived at 8:30am, there were only a few boys sitting around. I didn't recognize any of them, so I broke the ice with my secret weapon: playing cards. As soon as I sat down next to one of the boys, 3 more came over to play. That's what I love about this place; it is so easy and natural to connect with the boys here. Meanwhile more boys started showing up to check in and get their breakfast ticket. This is when I started recognizing faces: Corlins, Eddy, Frank Jr, Alejandro, Peterson, and more! I had seen some of them 2 weeks ago at the community center's pool, but others I hadn't seen for over a year. The reactions to my arrival varied; some acted calm and composed, others laughed and gave me a big hug, but the best were the ones who were completely surprised. One of the boys--Jason--stepped back with his hand slightly over his mouth when he first saw me. They were a little confused why I was on my own; they were used to seeing me in a group with 14 other students from my university. I explained that the university group comes every March, but that I wanted to come back to volunteer over the summer as well.
This was such a great day to come to the Juvenile center because there were a lot of activities to do with the children. We got into groups of about five and had four challenges to complete together. My group's first challenge was with one of those circular rainbow parachutes. We had to all hold a portion of the parachute and work together to get a ball to make 10 rotations without falling through the hole in the middle. It took a couple minutes till we got the hang of it, but when we did, it was smooth sailing from there. However, there was a second part of the challenge. We now had to get 2 balls to make 5 rotations. We got this on the first try! We quickly ran to the next station which was located outside. For good reason because it had the potential to get messy real quick. Each person on the team had to go bobbing for candy. However, the candy wasn't in a big bowl of water, it was in a big bowl of flour! All the kids just went for it and stuck their whole heads into bowl. I on the other hand was trying to avoid getting flour all over myself. 
The following station began with a riddle that we had to solve. Once we figured it out, it led us to the second floor of the center where we had to search for a word written on construction paper. We did not leave any stone unturned. We looked under chairs, keyboards, books, plants, everything! We still couldn't find it! I began to question if it was even here. I went to go pick up this wooden basket, peeked underneath, and read COMPARTIR (to share). I showed the word to my teammates and we all began jumping up and down "sharing" in this moment of victory. Not much time passed until we were off to the next and final challenge. This one involved team work, participation, and a whole lot of balance. We had to balance wooden shapes on a board game that was balancing on ball which was balancing on a small wooden totem. Hence the need for patience, team work, and a whole lot of balance. After the challenges, everyone went to the cancha (court) for some pelota (literally 'ball' but in this context translates to 'baseball'). However, since they didn't have an actual field, there were some rule changed; there were only 3 bases, we pitched to ourselves, and used our hands as the bat. As for my performance, let's just say I did better than I would have if I had played actual baseball. Luckily, my team was good enough to win the first game! Although, we got crushed in the second game, it was still fun!
I found out that the children at the center will be participating in a talent show at the end of this week. It reminded me of my first year coming to the Dominican Republic with my university group; we helped the kids prepare for a talent show as well. I began to reflect on that time while helping paint a banner for the event. It read, "Yo Tengo Talento" (I Have Talent). However, while I was reflecting, I accidentally knocked over a tray of paint and got blue all over my shoes and the floor. I wiped some up with my hands and went to the bathroom to wash it off. However, the more I tried to wash it off, the more the blue paint spread all over my hands. I quickly realized this was no ordinary paint. My fellow painters failed to mention that it was oil-based and if I know anything about science, it's that oil and water don't mix. Although my hands might have been blue the rest of the day, I certainly wasn't. I had a great time with those kids and am excited to come back again tomorrow.
*Photos courtesy of Joseph Jerome
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