Christmas has arrived here in El Guayabo! Since Thanksgiving is obviously not celebrated here, there is no black Friday to hold the community back from hanging up the wreaths and Christmas lights! As of last week, many neighbors have put out little artificial trees in their homes, wreaths on the door, and one woman even has a talking “Santi Clos” (Santa Claus).We are constructing a small Christmas tree to put in front of the community center (I was going to joke about putting up a menorah for equal representation, but I don’t think my Dominican family would have understood American town-politics).

The one piece of advice we have received from about every current Peace Corps volunteer is to not spend the first Christmas at your site; it’s too depressing. Instead, they recommend going on vacation with other volunteers to celebrate. However, I have only heard amazing things about Christmas and “la noche Buena” (Christmas eve) when all the celebrations occur (dancing until the wee hours). Instead of presents being put in stockings and under the tree, they appear at the foot of the bed! My community is happy that I am staying —we will see how it goes!

In other news, this week also started my English classes! My first class was on Tuesday, and I had 44 students show up at the nearby school for class. This exceeded my cap of 30 students, but I’ve decided not to cap the class—if people want to learn (and aren’t unruly) who I am to turn them away? We learned the alphabet (I sang in front of the class), numbers 1-20 and the calendar in two hours. Thursday I had another 40 students!

One thing that I find very cool about being in a community for 2 years is watching people change. Many of the village kids are in high school, and many will graduate in the next year-2 years. It will be interesting to see where they go, what they do, who they will marry. I feel like a parent (and future empty-nester), but I’ll be staying in the community as many of them leave the community. It’s a weird feeling.

Also, the more time I spend at the local school, the more I realize how much I like teaching youth. I see my El Guayabo youth attend school for 3.5 hours a day and see so much potential that is not being taken advantage of, simply because of the poor Dominican educational system. I asked one of my favorite youth what he wants to do in a year when he graduates. He says he might move to the capital and work at a colmado. I want to shake him and tell him how necessary college is, but if college is expensive and he’s not motivated, nothing will change his mind. It’s a bit disheartening, because he’s very intelligent. Higher-education is not an expectation, as it is for many in the U.S. I realize how lucky I am to have been educated in Wellesley and at Vanderbilt. Looking into the future, I could see myself as a teacher post-Peace Corps, or getting my PH.D and becoming a professor.

Other Updates:
• It’s guandule (pigeon pea) season here! I spend at least an hour a day shucking peas, which end up on my plate every lunch. It’s therapeutic and they are delicious!
• Today I asked one of the community grandmothers (who was born, raised and had 5 children in El Guayabo) how the town has changed in the last 20 years. It appears that basically, all the young people have left and escaped to cities where they are more opportunities (young people don’t want to be poor and farm yucca). There used to be many young families with children, but now just old people and older youth are left. In 40 years will Guayabo be a ghost town?