Mi Cumpleaños

On July 28th, I turned 23 years old. Here is how I celebrated my birthday in la Republica Dominicana:

Fiesta Numero Uno
On Monday, July 27th, I went to Regina's site in Matancitas and met up with a couple of volunteers there. We cooked tacos (it sounds simple, but ground beef is a huge luxury here), made guacamole, and had a great dinner. After dinner, we all went down to the beach to a big discoteca and danced merengue with the locals. When the merengue music stopped, we hopped in a car with a group of (rich- they had a car!) Dominicans and went to the park in Nagua and hung out for awhile, watching Michael Jackson videos on a huge outdoor screen. And around 11, we went to the sports bar in Regina's site for ice cream and asopao (a Dominican mixture of rice, tomato sauce and chicken), and then we called in a night.

Fiesta Numero Dos
I arrived in Baoba around noon, and immediately all of the girls came over to my house to wish me a happy birthday and to tell me what to wear to the night's party. We were going to have a party to celebrate my birthday, Jose's birthday (he was turning 23 also) and Brandy's birthday (he was turning 8). I wanted to wear jeans and a tank top, but the girls told me I had to wear a dress and high heels, so that's what I did.

I then went to the colmado to buy everything I needed for the party. Even though it was to celebrate the three birthdays together, I was the one paying for the majority of the food. Brandy's mom, Nila, was going to make the asopao for the estimated 50 guests. To make the asopao, I bought six pounds of rice, 8 pounds of chicken, and various seasonings.

Throughout the day, the various little kids gave me presents and cards they had written. Leo, an 8-year-old boy, gave me a 2-liter bottle of soda; Jerry, my 11-year-old neighbor, gave me bracelets, earrings and a hair clip; Yamel, my 13-year-old neighbor, gave me a silver chain purse and hair clips; and Danielito, a 9-year-old boy, wrote me a note that simply said "Te amo." And a couple of my older boys cleaned my front yard, cut the grass (by hand, with a machete), and chopped of old, dry banana tree leaves as their gift to me.

I started getting ready for the party around 6 p.m., but was interrupted by Marlene and Yuliana. "Who told you that we got you a birthday cake?" they yelled at me. They day before, Brandy had told me that all of the kids in my Escojo group had been saving money for the past three weeks to buy me a birthday cake as their present to me, but it was supposed to be a surprise. "You got me a cake?? That's great! I had no idea, thanks so much!" I said, feigning surprise. But they knew that someone had told me. "You're a horrible liar," they told me. So I confessed that Brandy had let the surprise slip out, not knowing the repercussions of this statement. Once Nila found out that it was her son that had "ruined" the kids' surprise for me, she spanked him and then forbid him to go to the birthday party - his own bitrhday party. I went and talked to them and explained that just because I knew about the cake, doesn't take away from the generosity of the gift, but everyone was still upset.

So the party started around 7. We all danced - bachata, merengue and reggaeton. The cake the kids bought for me was beautiful, and everyone that I cared about here in Baoba came out to celebrate. About an hour into the party, Javier (for those of you who have read the blog entry entitled "Javier se va," he postponed his moving to Bavaro so that he could be here or my birthday. Aawww.) called me up in front of everyone and told me that the group had another surprise for me hidden beneath the cake. They had written me a card and made me read it aloud, which was difficult because I almost started to cry, the gesture was so sweet.

The card said: Happy birthday Lauren. On this special day, we want to tell you - although your family isn't here to be with you and support you - this day is an important day for you. Wwe hope that the day goes well and that you feel good celebrating it with your youth and your neighbors. Today we want you to know that we are your family. And in the little time that we have known each other other, we are so proud that you are our volunteer. We hope that you aren't lonely or sad today; only that you are happy. Happy birthday, from your jovenes.

Around 9:30, a special guest arrived: one of Baoba's mayoral candidates. Lala (strange name, huh?) and three of his campaign buddies came by with a huge bag of rum, beer and wine. I have no idea how he heard about the party, but I guess he thought the Americana's fiest would be a great campaign stop. He passed out the alcohol, shook hands with everyone, and even sponsored a reggaeton dance contest between the girls, giving the winner $200 pesos. I was a little annoyed that he came because some of the older women who should've been attending to the party were more concerned with what Lala needed. "Let me know if you need a glass of water, " they told him. Meanwhile I'm sick with a slight fever and a cough (I had gripe) and culd've used a glass of water. But the next day, Lala came over to my house with three bottles of antibiotics, so that was pretty nice of him.

Around 11 p..m., we passed out the asopao and a lot of people left. Then the kids lit the candles on the cakes. Yes, there was more than one cake. When the kids were being sneaky and planning the surprise, they asked me what kind of cake I liked better - chocoalte or vanilla. I knew they wanted to get me one, so I said that I liked both so that it would be easier for them. Therefore, they bought a vanilla cake for the party. But they also gave me two pieces of chocolate cake since I had said that I "wanted" both. Just as I was about to blow out the candles, Javier put some icing from the cake onto the tip of my nose. This started a chain reaction, and all of the kids in the youth group ended up covering my face with icing.

After I blew out the candles, everyone left the party except for me and the youth group. We stayed until midnight, dancing reggaeton, and then we all left. Everyone was too full from eating the asopao to eat cake, so we saved the cake until the next day to pass it out to everyone who came to the party.