I’ve posted some pretty serious blogs lately so I thought that I would liven things up a bit. I have a few stories that have happened with our team. The first two are hilarious because they involved communication issues, the third was not so hilarious at the time but now it’s funny.
Each team picked a day to do the dishes and clean up after the squad, so we were having a good time singing and trying to make it fun when it was our turn. I’m pretty sure that by the time we were finished washing the dishes we had no clue which water was supposed to be the clean water and which was the dirty water, but that’s neither here nor there.
When it came time to put up the dishes, we had no clue where anything was supposed to go. Robbie, being the stellar teammate that he is, decided to man up and try to communicate with the women that cooked for us. So, while trying to figure out where the silverware was supposed to go after it was clean, naturally Robbie’s first choice to use as an example of silverware was a knife. Looking back, that probably wasn’t the best choice.
Robbie tried to utilize his small vocabulary of Spanish and ask “where does the silverware go after it’s clean”? Instead, he said, while holding up a knife I might add, “where do I leave you after I take you”? The women looked at Robbie as if he were crazy, and then couldn’t stop laughing because they realized the mistake he had made. No, poor Robbie wasn’t trying to kidnap them, but rather just trying to find a home for the silverware. Classic.
The second story also involves good ol’ Robbie. The manners of men in the Dominican Republic are so romantic that it’s sometimes just too much to handle. Hmm just kidding. Their idea of romancing a woman is hissing at them like a cat and saying heeey Americana. Yes, it’s true love and warms your heart doesn’t it? Or not…it’s very annoying and hard to ignore sometimes.
So, all of the buses in the DR drive up to Americans on the side of the road and offer them a ride. Well, Robbie and I walked to the store to buy lunch for the team and someone shouted “Quieres mi novia”? Which means, do you want to be my girlfriend? Robbie, thinking that they are asking if we needed a ride, nonchalantly shouted back, “no thanks”. I was laughing so hard that I could barely explain to him what had just happened.
The last story happened a few days ago when we visited an orphanage in the mountains. When I say in the mountains, I mean in the mountains. The two hour ride in the church van was less than peaceful, hitting every pot hole possible and taking corners on two wheels, while also staring down the mountainside and hoping no one else was coming down the other side of the two inch wide road.
I also happened to be sick that morning, and the added whiplash on the ride gave me an added case of car sickness. When I was almost positive that I could no longer hold back the urge to throw up in the van, we finally arrived at the orphanage. I felt much better after I was able to get some fresh air and walk around for awhile.
We spent a few hours playing with the children at the orphanage and catching up with the team that was staying there. When it was time to go, Pastor decided that a little boy named Kevin would ride back with us so he could go to the doctor for an eye infection. The ride down the mountain was bumpy and it was raining, so we weren’t able to roll the windows down…which meant absolutely no air-flow. I was sitting in the back of the van and didn’t want to make anyone move, but finally decided that I should sit next to the door in case I got sick. I was trying with everything in me not to get sick…who wants to be the person that throws up on their teammates? Not this girl.
So, while my pb and j sandwich was bouncing around in my stomach, sweat was profusely pouring down my face, and I was trying not to breathe in the musky scent of the air, sweet little Kevin decided to get sick. Yep, you guessed it…I was sitting right beside him and it went all over my legs. My ability to control my gag reflexes and keep from puking all over my teammates was pretty impressive in that moment if I do say so myself. I was trying so hard not to laugh, because then I would start feeling sick again and catch a glimpse of his lunch all over my legs. Good times, good times. Welcome to the world race…
