March 29, 2009

Today began with an early start when wakeups were pushed ahead of schedule in order to get ready to go to church this Sunday morning. The majority of our group decided to attend either a Catholic or Christian mass in the morning. The first group of students attended the eight o’ clock mass at the Catholic Church in town, and the second group of students went to the ten o’ clock mass at the Nations of Jesus Church. Although the two services were different, the services were a new experience to those who regularly attend church or do not go to church at all. The services were filled with all new hymns, a different way of praying, and even had experiences familiar with church back home. Although some people in our group were not religious, it seemed as if everyone has a good time experiencing a part of Dominican culture.
The second half of our day involved going back to the dock to pick up our laundry. We all picked up a bag and walked our clothes over to a local laundromat and spent most of our time learning how to work a washer and enjoying the fact that we can clean our clothes for the first time in two weeks. A few hours later, the majority of the class went to eat lunch and explore Dominica some more with Ann, while a few girls decided to stay at the laundromat with Nettie. During this time many comments about the piercing and punishment situation were discussed. This was because a student had disregarded the rules the day before and gotten a piercing, which had a consequence for all of us. Many felt that our discussion the previous night had not ended right and the incident was beginning to bring out the worst in some of us. Fortunately we continued the day on a mostly positive note and returned to the ship in a mostly positive mood.
After having some time to ourselves before dinner and eating some lovely leftovers, Gwen, Jasmine and Briana led a discussion that began with a review and recommitment to the student contract. Everyone was asked to comment on how they felt at the moment and how to address the piercing issue. Although the discussion brought up many things that were left unsaid earlier it was a difficult discussion. The group went through a roller coaster of emotions and issues. Ideas and thoughts were put out there, but they were pushed back and forth. Some felt the group was back to square one but we pushed on and created some recommendations to give Nettie and Ann as alternatives to our current consequence. After an hour so after the end of the discussion, the student gave an apology to the group about her piercing. Overall, today was filled with all sorts of emotions, but we now know that we have issues to work out and are on our way to solving them.

Julia Brooks