When you call a meeting.....

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5/15/12

So the significance of this day was that I had personally called a meeting with the Directiva, these are only the elected people. Last Sunday, the Water Committee had agreed to an item that I could not understand since when 40 people speak in a group rapidly, it’s impossible to follow when I am trying to learn the language at the same time. After the meeting ended, I went up to Rudy, the educated guy that I can understand the best in the community, and I asked him what did the committee just agree to? He said that they want to start working on the statutes after meeting Miguel Leon this Friday. I was completely floored because I was not ready for this comment and also, I didn’t have the heart/strength to say that I wasn’t ready for this event. After talking to Ellen, I talked to Mateo, President of the Water Committee and my host Dad, and said that I want to have a meeting with only the elected members (Directiva). Hence after I woke up today, I devoted 3 hours in writing my speech to the Directiva. As 6 o’clock rolled around, I started the meeting around 6:15, even though we were missing 2 people. In my speech, I detailed how I thought we should delay the statutes writing another week so that I can meet up with Ellen to get her copy and have enough time to process and understand them. Also, I made the suggestion that only the Directiva should discuss and write the statutes, and that after completing them, we then present them to the community, where they can vote on each statute. And of course, the committee agreed to these changes! However, I really enjoyed what I did at the end of the meeting; I brought of my halva, and shared it with the committee and my host family. I said that although I am of course here to acclimate and adjust to the culture here, however my committee should also get to try new cultures and customs as well! I’m not just American; I’m also a proud Israeli! For the most part, people really liked the dessert; however, part of Dominican culture is to always save face. Hence, I’m sure that there were people who did not like the dessert, but I gave a piece to every person so they had to try it! They do the same thing to me. Haha!

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