the balmy wonderland of the dominican republic welcomed a bunch of feverish kids (myself included) for a weeklong service trip in the late february of 2017. this was for, as my school would call it, dedicated service - 7 days teaching english lessons at local schools in monte cristi was our own little way of giving back to the community beyond the palatial confines of southborough, ma.
outside of the classroom, though, we did get a good amount of time exploring monte cristi and acquainting ourselves with its culture. i will admit that i was a bit of a tourist during my sojourn in that i positively annihilated my phone’s camera button - but then again, i think that there’s a mischievous charisma attached to playing the tourist in life … so yeah
seeya never, boston
using uno cards to tell fortunes
"views"
el morro in the background
the best juice in the world, hidden in one tiny shack
left school to go to school
when your speaker runs out of battery - never fear
dominican independence day, february 27th
always a lover of sunglass selfies
note: that is not me
note: that is also not me
yep, we were here
hiking el morro
juice runs after class
...and then ice cream runs after juice runs
and a trip to the beach to round it all off...
(limping on a pulled muscle and a cut foot when this was taken)
"views," part 2
and just like that, it was over.
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looking back, i can only remember monte cristi as a dream. everything about the trip feels so surreal - ice cream runs to bon, pineapple and guava juice after class, ben, the clean plate club, tacky fortune telling with uno cards, fried plantains, roadside goats and urine, my favorite children in the world - migel, jeremi, edwina, fione, and ana, the stampede for t-shirts whenever they came back washed, salt flats, dominican pasta, the pier, morning walks, evening walks, blisters from walks, anti-malarial pills, flip flops, friendship bracelets and duct tape, 4:30am rooster calls (and subsequent 4:25 alarms set simply to plug music in before the roosters could get me up), dominoes, "what’s the weather?!", our own invention: the modified body song (i don’t need to get into), painful sunburns, bucket hats, airplane seating anxiety, way overstuffed bags, dajabon market, deep thoughts on dorm balconies, whips (was terrifying at first), catharsis, raiding the almacen, the butterfly sisters, navy showers, and of course, who could forget - almost willingly clogged toilets.
as i had gotten to bond with the kids over “my name is’s” and “how are you’s,” and my extremely limited spanish (hola!), i came to the realization that our lives are unbelievably short, these little snippets in time, and that, whenever you can, you need to get yourself out there and hear other peoples' stories, and to see all that this world holds.
so, note to future self - get those legs moving and see the world lying out there, even if it means being drenched by gelid, chlorine-ish shower water every morning in the dark.
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and then here’s my one completely-irrelevant-photo allowance...
and then here’s my one completely-irrelevant-photo allowance...
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derek