laila in real life

Literacy Intervention Before the Christmas break, I started my literacy pull-out program with 18 third graders in the elementary school. I call it “Leer y Crecer,” which means “read and grow.” I asked the teachers to give me their low-performing readers, evaluated them and put them into three groups of 6, based on reading ability. … Continue reading »

I spent most of the month of October in….(drumroll)……………America! And I was very happy to be there (in Hakeem voice, from Coming to America). I am so blessed with awesome family and friends and church family at home that I was able to see. Miss you guys! At home I also went to my 10-year … Continue reading »

At the beginning of August, I took two girls from my community to a Peace Corps conference called Celebrando el Cibao (El Cibao is the region of the country I live in). We discussed topics like diversity, discrimination and basic treatment of others, in a safe environment. We did dinámicas, arts and crafts and had … Continue reading »

Other than the parasitic nightmare described in the previous post, it’s been a while since I’ve updated, and quite a bit has happened since late July. For starters, my birthday! Sabrill and Damien came up, my host family made me some very yummy food, my church sang Happy Birthday to me in English (LOL!), I … Continue reading »

First, I hate that THIS is the post that I start you off with after a long period of not having updated you in a while; sorry about that. I started working on another one, and then, well, this happened. Second, because of how freely Dominicans tend to discuss their bodily functions, I may or … Continue reading »

Summer means the beach. The beach means shells. And shells means…? Earrings! I’ve collected some shells from the beach and started turning them into jewelry. All I did was use the hole at the top to poke a hole all the way through with a safety pin. Then I put string through there and put … Continue reading »

Two to three days a week I go to the homes of two 3rd graders to help them with reading. We go over letters (their names and the sounds that they represent), how they form syllables when paired with other letters or by themselves, and how those syllables come to form words. I’ve really enjoyed … Continue reading »

The 4th was great this year. I had an incident in which a few items were, uh…misplaced (talk to me personally for more on that), so I’ve had to borrow pictures from other people’s cameras. This year I sang America the Beautiful and the national anthem at the volunteer party, and I collected and announced … Continue reading »

At the end of June, I visited another volunteer’s site to give a charla (a talk) about Black American Culture. The other volunteers that presented were a Mexican American and a Jewish American. It was so great! A lot of Dominicans think that all Americans are white, with blond hair and blue eyes. I’ve had … Continue reading »

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been passing time playing with my hair. Well, not playing playing, really just trying out different protective styles. Recently I’ve been seeing a lot of natural hair information sources talk about the importance of protecting the ends of your hair—since it’s the oldest and therefore, most vulnerable … Continue reading »

On Tuesday, I started working with kids who have trouble reading. PCDR’s education sector has officially transitioned from mostly ICT (Information & Communication Technologies) to literacy and basic education. I did some basic education training with my high school and elementary school teachers a few months back, and, despite initially thinking I would avoid it, … Continue reading »

Highlights from celebrating one year of Peace Corps service. One down, one to go. Sometimes, I can’t believe I live here on this beautiful island. I really am living my dream. God is good!

I was at the elementary school about to leave when I heard that the father of one of my teacher training group participants had passed away that same day. I had to make a quick decision: go home as planned or go to the home of the father of one of the teachers I knew … Continue reading »

2012 is an election year. You know how it goes: everyone up in arms about the right or the left or the other. Fun, arbitrary campaign slogans and strategies overshadowing talk of real solutions to issues that affect the nation. And voters are left struggling, trying to decide between the lesser of two evils, or … Continue reading »

Written Tuesday, April 24, 2012 So, it’s been a year already! I’m over the hill with my Peace Corps experience, and I hardly know where the days have gone. Twenty-seven months is approximately 810 days; I’ve completed about 418 of those. Pretty soon, I’ll be writing this about finishing up my service (wowzers!). In the … Continue reading »

Written Tuesday, April 23 I live for Thursdays. On Thursdays, I go for an hour to guitar lessons. I don’t know why I didn’t pick up learning guitar before, but I now have a new love in my life! I’ve wanted to learn guitar for a long time, and now I have time to do … Continue reading »

Angry face! I spent a total of about 3.5 hours cleaning out a major ant infestation in my house. And these are the ones that bite! I’d never seen anything like this. I have to be even more vigilant than before now.  

On Sunday, I graduated my teacher training course. *Heavy sigh of relief* I spent the two weeks before the graduation working with teachers to get certification requirements finished, inviting people with titles, and of course, planning the event. I made invitations and printed them in color, created and printed the certificates, bought balloons, had Sabrill … Continue reading »

In February, Peace Corps Dominican Republic celebrated 50 years with el pueblo Dominicano. We had a pretty big shindig in the capital, which included the presence of the worldwide director of Peace Corps, Aaron Williams (also a former volunteer in the DR). I was on the Communications team working before and during conference. Check out … Continue reading »

When I first got the the DR, I was so pleasantly surprised at how fresh the eggs tasted. There was this whole lack-of-steroids taste present, accompanied by a free-roam-chicken taste. I didn’t even know how those things tasted before. I commented to someone about the freshness of the eggs, and they replied, “Yeah, they’re so … Continue reading »

Written January 8 I read in Acts 26 about Paul recounting his conversion to King Agrippa. After he had finished, King Agrippa said to him, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” This just had me wondering, “What was it that held King Agrippa back from ‘altogether’ (as Paul worded it) coming to fully … Continue reading »

Say what? I remember reading in one of the Peace Corps publications something about “learning a new way to communicate.” That sounds so pretty, doesn’t it? But it can be really hard and very frustrating when you’re accustomed to being able to communicate in one way, and now have to in a completely different one. … Continue reading »

Written Thursday, January 19, 2012 I don’t know if I could do justice with words to describe how wonderful it was being home for Christmas and New Years. It was awesome. My first family stop in the US was to my sister’s house in Philadelphia, and I rode the train to get there. I sat … Continue reading »

Since the last entry about teacher training, my group of high school teachers has tapered off to a consistent five participants every Saturday. I’ve also started another training group with the teachers at the elementary school. While I was preparing for one of the Saturday workshops at the high school, a teacher from the elementary … Continue reading »

Written Wednesday, October 26 It is truly God who enables us to believe. We have songs like Byron Cage’s “Faithful to believe” and even the traditional hymn, “I have decided to follow Jesus” that speak of our choosing to follow the way of Christ or be faithful to him. But it is truly only God … Continue reading »

“While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” – John 12:36 We have gotten so accustomed to humanity’s distance from God and from godliness that we’ve become comfortable with it; it has become the standard. But Jesus changed that all. He called us to believe, so we … Continue reading »

Written Saturday, October 8, 2011 Last Saturday, I started my main project: training teachers on teaching methodology and incorporating technology into the education process. After spending time with another volunteer, who has the same main project, I got really excited about beginning. Fourteen teachers from the daytime staff signed up. I didn’t think all 14 … Continue reading »

Written Saturday, October 8, 2011 Remember Mamita? The hood rat, uh, I mean street dog that I wanted to take to come live with me? Well I guess you can take the dog out the streets, but you can’t take the streets out the dog. After two confusing conversations with the previous owners, Mamita followed … Continue reading »

Written Saturday, October 8, 2011 It’s been forever since I’ve posted an update to the blog. I’ll try to make updates more often. Sorry for the wait! I moved on my own at the beginning of September. I love my house. It’s small, but just right for me. It’s kind of like a studio apartment. … Continue reading »

Written Wednesday August 31, 2011 I published this before, but for some reason it didn’t go though. Anyway, here it is again! I majored in Spanish Language and Literature in college, so I’ve been pretty invested in the Spanish-speaking world long before I came to the Dominican Republic to live and work. I remember learning … Continue reading »

Written Wednesday, August 17, 2011 Think about the first day of school in one of your grades in high school…let’s say 10th grade. What did you do? Get locker assignments? Get books? Maybe you went over material in the first chapter of the text book, or perhaps just talked about how summer went in your … Continue reading »

Written Wednesday, August 17, 2011 Last week the Education sector had its 3-month In-Service Training Conference (IST). This is where we present our community diagnostics after having been present in and having interviewed our community for three months. It was really good to see all the other volunteers’ presentations and the diversity of communities in … Continue reading »

Written Wednesday, August 17, 2011 Usually for my birthday, my girls come up and we go out to eat, or to the movies or on a road trip and have a sleepover. This year, two weeks before my birthday, I almost forgot that it was approaching. For my birthday, the neighborhood kids all made me … Continue reading »

Written Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Gary, Dave and Beth (my sister’s in-laws) came down Sunday for their annual medical mission. I went down on Monday to meet them and helped Mr. Gary with the interpretations. I had an awesome time!!!! I really enjoyed interpreting and making the patients feel comfortable with the process, but most … Continue reading »

Written Saturday, July 23, 2011 The local Catholic priest asked me to speak on Escojo Mi Vida from a Christian perspective (Escojo is Peace Corps DR’s program that encourages teens to make wise decisions regarding sex) at a campamento juvenil (youth camp) that the Catholic diocese was having. It was so great! There were about … Continue reading »

this is a poem that i enjoy reading over and over. you may have read it or heard some of it before. a friend just reminded me of it. for me it provides a helpful reminder from time to time. i hope it encourages you. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our … Continue reading »

Written Wednesday, July 13, 2011 I started an ESL (English as a Second Language) class a few weeks back. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed teaching English. It’s been different in that, when I teach ESL in the States, I know that my students have real motivation to want to learn, and speak English during … Continue reading »

Written Wednesday, July 13, 2011 For the last several weeks, I’ve been taking care of a dog that’s stolen my heart. I’ve named her “Mamita,” which means “little mama.” She had an owner, but they decided they didn’t want her anymore because she “got too big,” or at least that’s the word on the streets. … Continue reading »

Written Wednesday, July 13, 2011 The volunteers got together to celebrate the Fourth of July. I took a guagua (small bus) to get there, and on the way there was a Haitian man on the side of the road waiting for the bus. The cobrador (the guy that charges money and tells the driver when … Continue reading »

Reading Luke 9, specifically one of the accounts where Jesus fed the multitudes (10-17). Jesus took his twelve to a private place that he intended to be just for them, but some people found out, and they sought him out where he was with the twelve. He taught the crowd about the kingdom of God … Continue reading »

Written Wednesday, June 29, 2011 Yesterday, I was experiencing leg pain for much of the day, but nothing really debilitating. Last night I was woken by a painful sensation in my leg that I’ve never experienced. It was so intense! I tried going back to sleep, and finally I did. A few hours later, I … Continue reading »

Written June 4, 2011 Note: If you get squeamish about gross stuff, maybe you should skip this entry. I wrote this in my journal, and wasn’t sure if it I should post it. Mneh, why not? Sometimes you hear these noises, and you’d just rather not know what they are. Other times you hear things … Continue reading »

Written Saturday, June 11, 2011 Last Friday I took my Senegalese twists out, and spent what felt like the whole day Saturday washing my hair, etc. I have really thick hair, so I actually started taking my twists out bit-by-bit a few days before actually taking them all out, so it wouldn’t be as taxing … Continue reading »

as of may 27th, i´ve been blogging for a year. it´s been fun sharing my natural hair photos and rants, my heart for God, my thoughts–organized or random–and of course most recently my peace corps experience with my family, friends and with whoever else decides to read. here are some interesting stats: the three most … Continue reading »

Written Sunday, May 15, 2011 On Wednesday, I officially swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer! I was incredibly elated. I started the application process in early February 2010 (almost ready to get on a plane and get to work) so to actually be official is pretty exciting. The ceremony was really nice. Not gonna … Continue reading »

Written Monday, March 7, 2011 Today the water ran out. I knew it was coming, but had no clue what we’d do when it did. I bathed this morning, and left as much as I could for the others in the family, but it still wasn’t much to work with, even for one other person, … Continue reading »

it’s human nature to be focused on self, look out for #1, preserve the importance of one’s own interests; however you want to call it. i’m a firm believer in jesus’s call to serve others (“washing their feet”) and paul’s admonishment for the body of christ to esteem the needs of others above your own … Continue reading »