And a great place to reflect on the camp experience and to share some random thoughts:
The taller de baile:
The dance group met on Thursday afternoon at the house for a final practice before the show on Friday. Based on what I saw, I was skeptical that they were going to be able to pull it off. The girls were doing fine but the boys just couldn't get there act together and yini was still trying to add new steps. But my new Dominican self needn't to have worried so much because it turned out great. They even added a piece at the last minute - never having rehearsed it at all - in which the boys imitated a baseball game. Just another examples of how things here - amidst a sea of chaos and uncertainty - tend to work out in the end.
Bargaining:
Tanya really wanted to give the teen leaders the full Dominican experience so when we took them to el Conde to buy souvenirs she taught them how to negotiate. The problem was that the store clerk was eavesdropping while tanya was explaining to the kids that they should offer half the original price and then pick a price that they would settle on. She was good natured about it though and played along ... to a point. And I think the lesson was a great success. Luc's reaction was the best. He excitedly shared with us that "I got the price of a pair of sunglasses down to 400 pesos from 650. But then I decided that I really didn't want the sunglasses so I walked away." A born negotiator if I've ever seen one.
Soccer:
An unanticipated development surfaced around soccer. Tanya somehow got in contact with a coach of a local girls team and convinced her to allow Camila and then Bailey to practice with the team (I think some back door negotiating took place allowing the coaches daughter to participate in the camp but I was never too clear on the details). Then it turned out that the team had qualified for the national championship and was going to play in the Olympic stadium in santo Domingo. So off the girls went one day(don't worry stefanie, we sent Yasi along to watch out for them.) The girls got to play the whole game - apparently against a much older team - and came back all scraped up and smiley.
And then super disappointed the next day when we told them that they couldn't play in the finals because they had to go on the camp field trip. Ah, the ups and downs of teenage girls.
Green shirts:
Have you seen the photos of al the campers with the green shirts? Well ... One afternoon a man from town came over to buy some clothes from Doña Yolanda - she has a small clothing store in the house.
He said to her, "give me one of those green shirts that all the kids are wearing. I'm going to the beach and it would go perfectly with my green sneakers." So, apparently, in addition to helping kids become agents of change we've created a new fashion trend.
I feel like I should end this entry with some profound thoughts on these last two weeks but I can't get my head wrapped around that right now. My ideas and emotions are just to complex right now to put into words - given my limited ability to do so. I'll just end with this picture and sort everything out later:
Now It's off to the beach...