Lost In Translation

Granted, I am living life in a language other than my native tongue. However, I have been in this country for 11 months now. Still, there is a lot that gets lost in translation in my daily life. Some of it has to do with the Spanish language and my lack of vocabulary, grammar and so forth. There is also the cultural current that whisks away many a sentido. Culture, language and personality all got in the way of the following situation.
I am sure I have mentioned a few hundred times the environmental group I have been trying to form? well, it is a work in progress Brigada Verde and yesterday's incident did nothing to strengthen our group. As I was on my way to Escuela El Limon I picked up a saco (rice sac) to clean up some trash around the school yard, while waiting for my Brigada Verde kids to make there way over. School is starting this week and the Director of the school, Carmen, was outside getting some things ready. Who has read or seen the movie Matilda? Do you remember Ms. Trunchbull? You can't forget her. Well, Carmen is the Dominican Ms. Trunchbull. The rice sac I was lugging around triggered her memory - the five labeled rice sacs we used to do a limpieza (clean up) at the school one Wednesday afternoon. The rice sacs were put to the side and left there over night this past summer. She saw that as disrespectful and yelled at me for leaving tons of trash at the school. The trash was arranged to be properly disposed of the following day. Instead of asking me about the situation or picking up on the fact that we separated trash into organic / biodegradable, inorganic, vidrio (glass), papel, plastico, etc. Senora Trunchbull was not havin' it. She left no time for explanation, questioning or what have you but immediately believed that I was out to ensuciar (dirty) the school and that I was up to no good. I have yet to find or hear about a Peace Corps volunteer that went out of their way to give a lecture about saving the whales and then tossed oil in the ocean (you get the point). Yes, Senora Trunchbull brought me to tears. It is just one of those things that got lost in translation. I thought I was cleaning up the school while educating students about the importance of not throwing their trash on the ground and she just didn't see it that way at all. I doubt we see eye to eye on all that much, but this incident was far from building a relationship between Peace Corps volunteer and School Director. I have been working pretty hard at forming this environmental group and educating people in the community about the effects of burning plastic and other trash and how we should use the three R's (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle), etc. To say the least, it hurts when someone not only doesn't acknowledge any hint of your effort but accuses you of working against the benefit of the school. I guess this is just one of those things that I will look back on as a hurdle to overcome. Regardless of how fluent one is in Spanish or any language, I think there is always room for things to get lost no matter what country or culture you are in.