We just finished our third week of CBT and have two more weeks to go. This week we built a garden, cooked with green leaves, visited a nutrition center, and learned about training Health Promoters. Since I am the only advanced speaker in our health group, my Spanish classes are very flexible and all my assignments are applied work in the community. I have been working with a Doctor in the area on a small study on youth in the campo. For this I am conducting focus groups and interviews with teens in our little town. So far it has been really fun and interesting. I have also been working with the same doctor to get more books for the library here, which I believe we have accomplished.

While there have been many cultural adaptation lessons since I have arrived, one in particular stands out. Everday someone here tells me, Kati, estás gorda! Literally, Katie, wow, you are really fat! It is usually someone in my family, my Dona or one of her daughters or grandchildren, but last weekend the neighbor said it too! No one is saying this to be mean nor are they meaning that I am actually fat. What they mean is that since I have been with them I have become healthier or more filled out. They say that when I first arrived that I was just a skinny little thing with sunken in cheeks and now I am prettier and healthier. In fact the fat comment is usually followed by them saying that I am also far prettier than when I first arrived to their campo. Needless to say, despite their good intentions and my understanding that Latinos call people by their physical characteristics, coming from my American culture, this statement just does not sit well with me. Not only was it difficult to find that looking fat is a desirable thing but I also found it a little impossible considering my continued GI adjustment process. After being annoyed and frustrated for a few days I decided that it was time to just laugh about the situation and realize that this is a great example of cultural collision. I really thought that southern mamas liked to fatten people up, but I had no idea. The joy that Dominican Donas get from plumping someone up, or at least telling themselves that they are, is far greater than any southern mama has experienced.