Christmas is Mother's Day

This past Sunday (May 31) was Mother's Day in the DR. Don't ask me why it's a different day than the states, but it is, and it's a HUGE deal here. As it should be. The days leading up to Mother's Day last week, all the women of my town were getting their hair done, washing their best dresses, making sure the house was clean for any visitors that may or may not show up. The women could be seen walking around town with curlers and hair nets (literally, this is one of my favorite things about the DR. Women have no shame about doing whatever they need to be doing with a full set of curlers in their hair), and even the kids and men were preparing for the festivities of Mother's Day with fresh haircuts and clean shaven faces.

I discovered that every year for Mother's Day, my town holds a huge party at the town "club." It's basically this large covered patio right next to my technology center, where most big events of the town occur. This yearly party is hosted by a man named Eddie Nolasco, who happens to be the women I am living with, half brother. Or it could be her full brother. I'm not sure because her father had 21 children between two women (which too, is not uncommon here in the DR).

Eddie, my Doña's brother of some relation, is the Don Juan of La Caya. He is probably about 40-years-old and I have only seen him in designer clothes. Designer shirts, jeans, belts, sunglasses, shoes and wallets. He is building a huge house on one of the hills that overlooks La Caya and he cruises around town on an ATV, going back and forth from the local stores to his house. Now, I've asked around to try to figure out what exactly Eddie Nolasco does for a living, to lead such a life of luxury here in the DR, but nobody has given me a straight answer- so I'll let you make your own conclusions.

Every year, as I learned, Eddie hosts a party for the entire village of La Caya and one of the main events is a raffle. I arrived at the party and found all the women (mom's) writing their names on pieces of paper and putting them in a box. About 20 minutes later, a small semi truck, which I thought had stereo equipment in it for the dancing later on in the night, opened up and Eddie Nolasco began to work his magic.

Inside this truck were five or six stereo systems (big ones, with a 5 disc CD changer and detachable speakers), four DR style washing machines, two full fridges, five big propane tanks (this entire country is run off of propane), probably about 20 irons and 20 blenders, five 20 inch TV's, and even more stuff that I'm forgetting. Eddie got up to the mic, reached into the box and started giving away all this stuff in the truck.

It was incredible. Everytime a Mom won something, whether it was a stereo or an iron, everyone cheered as loud as they could. And each Mom who won walked up to the mic and said a small thank you to God, Eddie Nolasco, their family, their community. It was one of the most random and completely awesome things I have ever been apart of.

My village, La Caya, is pretty isolated from the outside world. Although many people here have small luxuries here like a TV or maybe even great luxuries like a car, most of the people don't have the resources, time or money to really purchase or maintain common household items that in America we don't think twice about... like a blender for example.

Eddie Nolasco and whatever he does for a living, gets to change that once a year. Before he began the raffle, he made a speech about how he looks forward to this every year, because these are his people and the Mom's of La Caya are the backbone of the community. As he said these words, I looked around at all the women and most were beaming proud, humble smiles. And everytime he read a name and another mom, no matter how young or old, walked up to the mic to say her gratitude for her winnings, you could feel the love from the entire community.

After the truck was empty and the Mom's called their husbands, brothers, cousins, kid down the street to help them bring their prizes back their houses, the music started. My family that has adopted me, who I eat lunch with everyday, was determined to make sure I went out and danced. At first I was a little hesitant, because 1)I love to dance, but my experience with partner dancing is non-existent 2)The moment I arrived in the DR, I realized that the minute a child is born, they are born dancing merengue. So it's a little intimitating to attempt to dance with people who have been dancing this one style their whole lives. 3)My entire town was at this fiesta, and so I knew the minute I stepped on the floor, the looks would happen, the rumors would fly and "the gringa" would be watched and judged on her dancing ability.

Long story short, the Mom of my adopted family told her nephew and his friend to ask me to dance, and being nice teenage boys they obliged. The first time was a little shaky, trying to get the rhythm down without moving my shoulders and keeping my arms strong without griping their hands too tight. But by the third or fourth time, I finally got into a groove. At one point, I was even spun around twice in a row and found the steps immediately after. I honestly was proud of myself for being so coordinated (which really is a rare occurance in my daily life). At this point, I looked out into the crowd and made eye contact with three different older women and each of them gave me a head nod in approval. One of them even gave me a fist pump! I mean, to be honest, my heart was beaming just from the head nods, but when I got the fist pump, I really felt like I could have died happy at that moment, knowing this Dominican woman approved of my merengue dancing.

All in all, May 31, 2009, Mother's Day in the DR was the best Christmas I have ever seen. Santa Claus came to La Caya as Eddie Nolasco, dressed to the nines in Gucci. He gave away presents to people who truly appreciated them, and then the festivities continued with the entire community dancing, talking and enjoying one another. The only thing that was missing was cold weather, but I've given up on that here in the DR, and besides I'll take another fist pump from the woman of La Caya over a snow storm anyday.