Fin

Less than 24 hours. That’s how long I have left until my plane takes off for Chicago. We’ve all been asking each other whether or not we are ready to leave. For me personally, I’m really excited to go back to the US, because as soon as I land, I’ll be welcomed back my older brother, who only get to see a few times a year. I’m spending a week visiting all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and grandparents. My mom and my sister will be in Illinois at that time too, so I’ll even get to see them. I can’t wait to be with all my family again. But as excited as I am for Illinois, it’s going to be so hard to say goodbye to this country and the people here. I’m not mentally prepared for it. I haven’t packed yet, or gone souvenir shopping. They’d both make this whole “leaving” thing feel too real.

            My last week in the clinics was a good one. Jane and I spent our last few days entertaining kids in the waiting room. On Monday I drew pictures with the nurse’s 6-year-old son. I drew him a lion and an elephant, because those are the two things that I know how to draw. When I had to leave to go observe the doctors, I let him keep the paper. Later on, he walked into the consultation room, and handed me a paper full of his own drawings. He drew me a cat, a snake, a giraffe, and then a lion that he had based off of my lion. It was so sweet. I still have that paper, and I plan on keeping it.

            Wednesday, I saw three siblings all huddled by their mother. I tried to go talk to them, but they were all very shy. I tried to teach them Rock, Paper, Scissors, but they were to shy to play with me. So I went and got a few sheets of paper and some pens, and convinced the two older kids to come draw with Jane and me. They mainly scribbled, and Jane and I drew a couple more lions and elephants for them. After ten minutes or so, they really started opening up to us. They took pictures with us, and sat on our laps, and tapped on our shoulders to show us their drawings. We even saw sibling rivalries come out when a pen went missing (don’t worry, we found eventually found the pen, and all was well).

            All of the adults in the room were watching us draw and interact with these kids, and laughing because they were absolutely hysterical.  One patient even asked for a picture of him with us, because he thought that it was so cool seeing us Americans working with the kids in the clinic. I’m really going to miss all of the people and patients I have interacted with. They’re all so loving and open. We could ask them one question, and they’d share their life story with us. Or if they had anything at all that they could possibly share with us, like food or mints, they’d offer it to us. No matter how sick, or how poor the people were, they were always so happy, and so grateful for everything they had. Saying goodbye to our doctor was the hardest part. We took a few pictures together, exchanged numbers, and gave her some bread and soda as a gift. Leaving the clinic was a sad moment for me. I’ve had my ups and downs there, but in the end it was an incredible experience, and I am so grateful to have been able to volunteer there. It’s given me a completely new perspective on the health care system, and I want to work in medicine now more than ever.

            Wednesday night was our Goodbye Dinner. The entire group got dressed up, and we went out to dinner with our teachers and the ISA staff. It was a nice dinner, and it was sad thinking that this would be the last time that everyone in the group would be together. It’s funny looking back to the first few times that our group hung out. The group dynamic has changed so much since then. It also feels like the beginning of the trip was forever ago. Like thinking about that first day or two when we visited this museum, and went to the monument for the first time, and had our welcoming barbecue. I feel like that all happened months ago. I remember my first time riding the conchos around, and hearing how noisy the city was, and just getting back to speaking Spanish again, and feeling a little overwhelmed. Now I’m used to all that, and my Spanish is the best it’s ever been. I feel like I’ve been in the DR forever, but I also feel like this trip has gone by so fast. This country feels like another home now, rather than some foreign country I’m visiting. I almost feel like I’m part Dominican.

            Last night, my friend’s house mom wanted to throw a party for us, so Catherine, Natasha and I went over to Mitch and Luke’s house. We ate hamburgers, talked, danced, sang Karaoke, played dominoes, and hung out one last time before we all head back to the states. It was a lot of fun, but again, bittersweet. I’m glad that we all go to the same college, because I have made some amazing friends here. I really hope that we all hang out again, and keep in touch once we go back to our normal lives in Gainesville.

            Tomorrow my host family is driving me to the airport. I don’t even want to write about saying goodbye to them, because I’m sad just thinking about it. My parents here have treated me like I was family this whole time, so saying goodbye is going to be hard. Saying goodbye to my real family is always hard, but I know that I’ll see them again in a few months. With my family here, I doubt that I’ll see them again. As much as I’d love to come back here to the DR, I know that it’s probably not going to happen anytime soon. This trip has been such an adventure. I feel so lucky to have gone through this experience, and I’m so sad to see it all coming to a close.

            I’m really going to miss the Dominican Republic…