Humility

To be humble, to be humbled... these are things that I am learning in the Dominican. Mostly out of necessity. At home I am quick to retort an argument, correction, or teasing. But here, I don't have the words or the self confidence to do so. While this may seem like a bad thing, I have decided it is a great lesson. I am constantly corrected in my Spanish, told to repeat everything, and teased for my sub-par Spanish and near constant need of help. 

In a totally different way, I am humbled by the incredible will power and dedication of Caminante's staff, friends of Caminante in Boca Chica, and the many people I have met here. They work long hours for little reward or thanks to make other people's lives better, often putting themselves last. I am a child of Boca Chica after only less than a month of living here. Tonight I had the completely embarrassing moment to fall down the stairs in the rain in front of two of our new volunteers and one of my Dominican friends. While much teasing commenced from my friends, Julissa and her mother, Raya (one of my many adopted "Mami's") doctored me up with muscle rub and demanded I go to the doctor tomorrow (AGAIN, I might add). Knowing that I could cry to them after I brushed off my bum and my pride was enough to make my giant bruises feel a million times better.

I have been reminded here countless times that I do not need to be, nor should I be, totally independent. I have always been very independent  rarely asking for help and always wanting to take the lead. My friends are so astonished when I say that in the US I am an adult, did not live at home during college, and can do all sorts of things by myself. Here, the guys ask me why I didn't ask for them to take me to the grocery store when I ran for bread, or the girls at Caminante tell me, you need to go tomorrow to the post office so someone can take you. Again, this may seem debilitating or demoting... but after a while you realize it is not out of doubt for you, but for genuine desire to help you and watch out for you. I need to remember that I DO need this because being "blondie" means I do get a lot of unwanted attention and not speaking great Spanish means that I DON'T always know what is going on around me.

Humility, Dominican style.