This post is part of Blogging Abroad's 2017 New Years Blog Challenge, week five: Hospitality.
Normally, I put the above disclaimer/announcement at the bottom of each entry but this time it's up top because I wanted to reflect a bit upon the challenge itself.
When I started this blog my goal was to write an entry a week. After a strong start I fell off pretty quickly. I attribute that to initially being too overwhelmed by the new experience to have anything to say and then shortly thereafter not having much to talk about. Life in the campo moves slow. Not a whole lot happens. I appreciate the challenge for providing me with exterior motivation to write more regularly.
I also appreciate it for helping me shake up my writing style. In case the above verbiage didn't clue you in, I tend to be rather discursive. Bullet points, headings, etc., don't come natural to me. I have only embraced them recently because I've been receiving a weekly email suggesting that I use them.
Take this week. The theme? Hospitality. The prompts?
• List: Share 3-5 things your host community does to make you feel welcome
• Story: Recount the welcome you received and how you felt when you first arrived to your host country
• Reflect: Talk about what one unexpected aspect of your community that makes you feel the most welcome
• List: Share the top greetings you hear in your host country (explain the translations if it's in another language) - this would also be a fun one to create with video
• Profile: Highlight a community member who best represents hospitality to you
Dude, I feel like I did these already. List? I already did a list in my most recent, non-video entry.
Story? I took this challenge to get away from long narratives. I also discussed my arrival (in part) in my initial entries.
List (again) of greetings? Well, I already wrote about a buen tiempo. Cat and I also discuss other "top greetings" at length in this episode of the podcast
Profile a community member? I did that for my first entry in the challenge.
I guess that leaves me no option but to reflect. I'll try to keep it brief. :-) Ahem.
I can't say that the hospitality here was unexpected. Dominican gregariousness is legendary. I have literally had strangers flag me down from the street and invite me into their homes. I am not surprised that missionary religions like the Jehovah's Witnesses or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are making steady inroads here. This has to be the easiest country in the world to be a missionary. Whereas in the US Mormons and Testigos often get the door slammed in their face here they are offered coffee.
So I am not surprised to feel welcome. But there is one thing that has played a surprising role in making me feel at home that I have been mulling over for a while now. I am pleased and surprised by the freedom which Dominicans in the campo grant their children.
Steadily over the course of my life American society has evolved into a paranoid police state regarding the safety of children. Even I, who grew up with "stranger danger" PSAs all over the television had a relatively independent childhood compared to today's helicopter parents. If I told my parents where I was going, who I was going to be with, and when I would be home, I was pretty much free to do as I pleased. Dominicans give their children even more liberty.
When I worked with high school interns in San Francisco I had to have my fingerprints taken for a background check. Here, I when Cat and I started a hiking group for muchachos we didn't even need permission slips. Instead of seen as a potential threat we were assumed to be trustworthy. That's how confianza works.
So what does that have to do with making me feel welcome?
Well, in addition to the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes with being valued as a sano (literally "healthy" but here meaning something like "wholesome") community member by my fellow adults, the muchachos are good at making you feel wanted.
Despite nearly a year in country, I still get overwhelmed sometimes. I leave my project (which I really need to write about one of these days) feeling tired and walk home with my head spinning. But when I get to our little barrio the local kids call my name and greet me with a hug or a high five. It's hard to be depressed when you are welcomed home by people who are literally jumping for joy to see you.
It's also been great for my Spanish. You can ask kids /anything/ and they'll give you a straight answer. They don't care if you make mistakes and they don't mind if you ask them to repeat themselves. With adults, I usually stop asking for clarification after the 3rd time.
