New Year's Eve in El Tamarindo, Six Days at Baha'i University in San Juan de la Malguana, Christmas Eve, and Fiesta at the Colegio

New Year's Eve turned out to be a very special and animated time. I spent the evening with neighbors Andres (already sleeping by the time this photo was taken), Yolie, and their daughter, son and family. Here we are out in front of the house at midnight. We are getting ready to walk up to Calle Milagrosa, where a fogota (campfire) was blazing amidst dancing and drinking. I hugged lots of neighbors, wishing everyone a "Próspero Año Nuevo." In general everyone seemed in uncommonly good spirits. Below is a photo of the children in the neighborhood, who were all dressed in their finest.

Next is Yolie's beautiful New Year's Eve dinner setting. You can see how lovely the living room upholstery and curtains are--fabrics are very important to Dominican life, as well as exquisitely made furniture. A family treasures their furniture forever.

While not a fan of Dominican food in particular, I appreciate the great amount of effort invested in traditional dishes. I observed many vendors in the street selling sliced smoked pig--we were served pork for dinner, as well as rice, beans, potato salad, and eggplant baked with a cheesy cream sauce.

Now, onto a completely different experience, the Baha'i University in San Juan de la Malaguana, which I attended six days.  I experienced great camradrie among the many Baha'i adults and youth in attendance. I learned a great deal from the various workshops given about the life of Baha'u'llah and his followers. I loved hearing the stories and singing the songs of the teachings. Being in community gave me great joy, and I didn't mind sleeping in a shared bunk room. Washing dishes and cleaning the tables became a pleasure. Many of the people in attendance spoke English fluently, as well as Spanish. They were able to help me with some translation I needed. As a result, my Spanish got a big boost from the week long workshop.  Below, a group of us are walking from Caribe Tours to the school where the Baha'i institute was held. 

San Juan de la Malaguana (about 3 hours northwest of Santo Domingo)  is one of the oldest cities in the Dominican Republic, and the architecture is really quite beautiful. 

The week long Baha'i Institute was held at a large Catholic school named Urania Montas. Our daily payment was 250 pesos, or a little over $5. The cost for all six nights was just 1500 pesos, or about $30. The Catholic school did not charge for the premises, so we only paid for the food. Two cooks from the school prepared all of our meals, which were heavy on plantains and rice, light on proteins and salads. Hard to find any problem with that, given the low cost of the workshop.

The dorms we stayed in on are on the left in the above photograph. Below are murals depicting Dominican church leaders I've included because I appreciated their beauty.

 Our welcome can be seen on the doorway below.

Above are participants at a morning class.

Next is Daisy, on the left, and Jennifer on the right. Daisy, a former Educator in the Dominican Republic, established the connection with the director of the Catholic school that welcomes the Baha'i Institute annually. Jennifer is Peruvian and speaks English as well as Spanish fluently. She grew up in the Baha'i faith and spent many years living in New York working with the United Nations. She gave a workshop I especially loved on the stories of Baha'u'llah.

Below Laura, Monica, Badi and Rebecca are participating in a mandala coloring workshop. Every afternoon we had workshops in the arts. 

Next, a young man, who gave a workshop on sacred days in the Baha'i religion, is serving hot chocolate on the first day of the Institute.

Several students are shown below gathered outside the dining hall and across from the dorms.

 Below Arlene is leading an arts workshop. She had a big daily following.

Below is Nona, a Baha'i Tutor, with a 15 year old Baha'i Youth.

Next are Rebecca and Josh Rousculp, who live in San Francisco de Macorís, with Josh's parents (visiting from Yakima Valley in Washington State.) Their son is Max and daughter is Zora. Josh and Rebecca both gave outstanding presentations, and Max gave a martial arts demonstration. I enjoyed Josh's parents and learning about their focus on alternative education. Josh's workshop reflected his dad's approach to education in which the participant is truly engaged, not just a passive bystander.  Rebecca and Josh are both bilingual and speak Spanish fluently, as do their children.

 Below the Rousculps are hamming it up, which they often do.

Ehsan Hemmat is a Baha'i scholar who was born in Iran and spent many years in Venezuela. He and his family have lived in the Dominican Republic ten years. He is shown with a slide of Sufi mystics. His topic was the relationship of Baha'i beliefs to the Muslim faith.

Below are three sisters, who spent most of their time during the week together. I enjoyed all three, and Nydia, on the right, was especially helpful in making me feel welcome on arrival.

Yogananda, who lives in Santiago, is seen here with Ann and her husband Dario, who live in Florida. Ehsan Hemmat is also in this photo. Below is Alí, a youth leader from Moca, and Dario. Alí's father as well as his grandfather were Baha'i. 

 More youth are shown below, with youth leader Freilyn.
Arlene, who was in charge of registration for 150 participants, is seen below taking a rare break.

Below is Janet, on the left, with her son Thomas and daughter Lara. Their family lives in Puerta Plata. Janet gave a class on the history of the Baha'i faith, and she led afternoon singing classes. The singing classes were my favorite part of the whole workshop. Janet has collected many verses put to music by Venezuelan George Child. Janet grew up in Venezuela, where her parents served as Baha'i pioneers. She is very fluent in both Spanish and English, as are the children.

 I especially enjoyed Annery, the young woman below.

 Pictured here is Badi, married to Janet and father to Thomas and Lara, with Baha'i youth.

 Laura and Freilyn are shown below. They are Bahai' leaders in the Dominican Republic.

The boy below calmed down for a minute while I took this photo. He was very busy (sometimes in a  difficult way!) all week and I enjoyed watching Badi interact with him, giving his single mother a break. There are so many things to be said about the value of community.

 

Badí is from Guatemala and speaks Spanish as well as English fluently. His mother, Juanita, went to Guatemala  as a Baha'i pioneer when she was young.  She gave a workshop on relationships and is on the faculty at the Nur University in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. My biggest regret about my week at the Baha'i Institute is that I did not get a photo of her with her family. She is a terrific woman and I enjoyed spending time with her. She speaks Spanish fluently and was a big help to me. Badi and Janet look great in the photos below, I think. Couldn't decide which I liked best so here they both are.

Katy Jimenez Mejia and her husband Miguel Angel are shown below. I adore this pair!

 Below I'm seen with Katy.

Arlene at the registration table, where she spent much of the entire week! Below are Baha'i youth.

Clarihil is seen here with her mother, the lovely Clara, who worked tirelessly throughout the conference serving and cleaning. She insured that everyone always had clean plates and food was available.

Moving on again to something completely different...

December I went with my neighbor to her show of curtains and other handicrafts. Elpidia has been taking classes and making money selling drapery, cushions and other products. Caught between caring for an elderly mother who is nearly blind and a husband partially paralyzed by a stroke, Elpidia's classes have provided a respite for her. I admire her great determination to have a life despite the pull of others on her energy. One of the reasons I enjoyed the show so much is that I could see that the creative time spent sewing was a lifesaver to so many of the women participants. It's hard for Dominican women to carve out time that is just theirs, and I applaud them for succeeding. Below are some photos taken from the show. The first photo is of the Maria Trinidad Sanchez School.

 Elpidia is seen below, in front of the drapery she designed and created.

 Next is an entire group of Elpidia's colleagues.

Below is Elpidia with her instructor. 

Oh, I had a problem with my generator this past month because it wasn't getting sufficiently charged. I was told I needed to have my electricity running into my own ground line, not that of the neighbors. So the next thing was "Busca un hombre," look for a guy and pay him some money, which is generally the solution to these kinds of issues. Thankfully, I was lucky to get help from a real electrician. I paid him 600 pesos (about $15) and I am glad to say my problems are solved.

Next are a few photos from Christmas Eve, or Noche Buena. I spent the evening with neighbors Muñeca and her husband, Santos, as well as their daughter and son-in-law, their sons and their grandchildren. I only took a few photos, and I am sorry that Santos is not seen here, nor are the couple's sons. Santos has traveled all over the world. He even showed me his passport with visas stamped by Singapore, European countries, as well as Puerto Rico. A man in his 60's, he has an amazing spirit, as does everyone in his family. His sons work in Curacao, a nearby French speaking Island which offers better employment opportunities to young men than the Dominican Republic.

Yesenia, their daughter, is seen below with her husband and their two children.

I didn't take many photos of the Christmas party and gift exchange I attended with teachers at the  local colegio where I volunteer, and yet this was one of the best nights of the month. I woke up the next day feeling so happy! We each spent 500 pesos or about $12 on gifts and for some of the young teachers at the school, this is their entire Christmas budget. I was deeply touched by the heartfelt manner in which each Angel presented their gift to their recipient (we had chosen names randomly out of a paper bag). Below is a photo of Cecelia, the director of the colegio (and Muñeca's sister) dancing a Bachata with one of the young teachers.

 I'll end with photos from the colegio's Christmas Party, at which all of the children were dressed in their finest. They all really enjoyed playing games and singing songs under Jennifer's direction.

No one goes back to school until the middle of January, at which time all of the abuelas of these children will be more than ready for school to start. The next holiday is January 6, Noche de Reyes, or the date in which children receive gifts from the 3 kings. The holiday season does tend to go on... I have to say, that despite really dreading December this year, the holidays have been truly rewarding. I deepened ties with neighbors by being with them over the holidays, and I really enjoyed getting away for a week as well. It has been a spiritual time in the most authentic way, and for this I am very grateful. Hope your year ended on a positive note, and I wish you all the best for 2014. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and view my photos. I'll be posting an update early February.