Hitting the ground running

Ok people I´ve been getting alot of flack for what appears to be all fun n games here in the DR (and a good chunk has been) BUT I have also been working, BUT the real work is just beginning. Once I got back from IST and hung around Fantino a bit, but then peaced out to the Capital again for PC Comite Weekend. During this other respite from site, two of my friends got married and I served as a witness...can i get a witness, sing it with me now....OK. so there were some meetings discussing all things IT, where at one point I felt like one of those gophers in the arcades that you have to hit over the head and win a prize because everytime there was a suggestion by a so called ¨newbie¨aka me, one older PCV in particular held the stick and kept hitting me on he head ¨Wrong newbie, stupid newbie¨ But maye this was just the scene in my head..but I digress...Also during my time in the Capital I ran into our contact with the Sec of Educacion and she told me that I will be waiting much longer for computers which is totally frustrating, so in efforts to get something going and give the gente what they want I will be starting cursos de Ingles next week. This may sound like a simple thing to put together, but in fact I searched high and low for the Director of the Cultural Center in my town to put a schedule together for almost a week! But as luck should have it, on my last (not really) attempt last night I found him and vamos a ver...I am becoming an english teacher. One friendly chap here asked me if I was qualified to teach Ingles. This is ironic seeing as how the majority of english teachers here who are Dominican in fact DO NOT speak English...so to his question I responded ¨Bueno, yo hablo ingles.¨Our convo ended shortly after that. What else? Last week I went to the highschool and had a great meeting with the Director and told her about the Youth Group Escojo Mi Vida (all about AIDS/HIV education, raising self esteem and self awareness, making healthy decisions...) that I want to start and asked her to send me 10 muchachos who are strong, smart students to start with and after we´ll ¨mulitply¨ the info on a broader sense. So she was stoked and this Wednesday I´m going back to meet these said muchachos and pump them up for the first meeting this Friday! Last week, while preparing for said meeting, I had a visitor: my good buddy Ramiro (you may recall this muchacho from the pictures of a hike to some caves near my site..) Anyway, I had mentioned awhile ago my desire to start a newspaper here in Fantino and he asked ¨K lo k con el periodico?¨ (whats up w the newspaper?) I sadly explained nada, mainly because the people who said they wanted to work on it were always busy and I obvioulsy can´t do it sola! So he said, well lets just do it..me and you! So we sat for two hours formulating a plan of action, a list of people in the community who could be part of the team as well as businesses and the like who we are going to beg for pesos from to get started. The following day we put an invitation together for this meeting with the selected people and this thursday Ramiro and I will present our vision for a proper newspaper here! So I think that lays a pretty clear idea about what I am actaully doing when Im not falling out of rafts and such...However, never an email without a humorous anecdote! So last week I was rummaging around in the closet and found ants...a friend lovingly refers to them as diablos...I agree with this sentiment. So I huffed and puffed and walked across the street to buy something to kill these diablos, but no luck, However I did meet Gladys. Gladys is my neighbor and asked if I liked cafe? Do I like cafe? Thats like asking if the sky is blue...so, of course I obliged to her kind invitation and went to her house to tomar some cafe and give my story. While sitting there chatting, another vecina, Lydia came over. Pleasantries exchanged and another invitation to go across the street to tomar cafe and see her house. She asked me if I like pancakes? Do I like pancakes? Thats like asking if Russians like vodka...I happily told her that I looove pancakes. To this, she was very happy and excited and said ok, vamos a cocinar... We went into the kitchen and Lydia started laying various ingredients used to make pancakes. Once all were out she told me to start cooking! Um what, something must have been lost in translation as they say! So there I was in my neighbor´s cocina, sweating my ass not only because its crazy hot, but because there I was about to cook pancakes...yes, they are not hard, its not rocket science, but when put on the spot things get a bit hairy. So I took a deep breath, grabbed Aunt Jemima´s friendly face and sighed a deep sigh of relief when I saw that good ole Aunt Jemima was in fact, en Ingles! Therefore, I enjoyed some yummy whole wheat pancakes with syrup and explained to Lydia´s husband that syrup is not honey, but in fact a type of honey (i felt this was an appropriate connection) that is sweet and comes from trees en un estado cerca Nueva York! Ah, as for the crazy hurricanes that have commenced, all is well here (so far) just lots of rain and apparently more to come... paz afuera (peace out)A

Something about a new apt and a river...

Mis panes! Como estan??? Well like always it has been awhile since my last update of life in the DR and like always there is much to report. First, panes as in breads, are also slang for friends, so there is your spanish lesson for the day. Also, as of now there is lots of rain but nothing major...yet. re: Tropical Storms. Hmm, where to begin? I believe as when we last left off I was working on my diagnostic and drinking lots of cafe. Well, my diagnostic has come and went and I presented the finished product with a member of my committee. Originally I thought was going to go sola mission as my project partner is forever "ocupada" with something and while she talks a good talk there is very little time for her to actually work with me...also something about a language barrier...anyhoo, I was sitting on my new galleria (we'll get to this part soon) playing in with my flashlight when Felipe and Leo suprised me with a visit and told me that Felipe would join me manana for the day...they also apparently needed to investigate my new place and be sure to inquire if a)can i cook and b)when will i be having them over for dinner? Well they are going to be quite suprised because I still dont have a stove and I am not cooking rice and beans and carne! Ok, so Monday morning rolled around and after a long weekend of waiting the rain, bargaining with my new landlord and moving! I met Felipe and off we went to IST in GuaGui, La Vega. This is a town close to my site mas o menos, however after the carro publico ride we had to take a taxi up the mountain which was a little bumpy to say the least, but very very beautiful as we looked down on the valley and city below. After pleasantries and many tazitos of cafe later, we commenced with IST and Domingo, my APCD (Director of my sector) introduced IST and asked everyone to BRIEFLY go around and describe their site and project status. Well, being at the beginning of the table I started, stating that Fantino was great blahblah and that we are STILL waiting on computers from the Sec of Education so for the moment we are at a standstill as far as computer class goes...well then Felipe felt the need to pipe in. Chatty Cathy over here went on for 15 minutes about his 21 years in education, blahblah...with all my friends' eyes on me thinking "What is this joker talking about and is he finished yet?" Well after Felipe talked about how bonita PC was he finally signed off. Then onto the diagnostic presentations which were very boring and said the same thing basically each time around...well that is until I went (last) and made the mistake of asking Felipe to give a BRIEF history of Fantino. I even gave him a written out paragraph of exactly what to say. Well chatty cathy over here once again was quite verbose for no reason and took up at least half of my 15 minutes to present! So I was rushed through my presentation which was fine...I bid Felipe adios and went to a friends room to have a long awaited Cuba Libre! As I have referenced I have moved! Por fin! While me and Milagros (my dona) have become pretty good friends and I genuinely feel like she's my family here I was more than excited to get to my own place and have some peace and quite and alone time in a room other than my bedroom! Well, my new casa is in reality an apartment over a colmado. It has water and light (sometimes). But since I am on the second floor there is mas brisa so sleeping sin fan isn't too too bad. When I was looking at the place, my friend who helped me find it and my new landlord assured me that the calle is muy tranquilo. Well, while I am no longer living right next to that blasted moto repair shop the street is not quiet and there are many many gallos that wake me up at all hours of the morning, BUT there are NO screaming kids and no dona looking at me to finish every grain of rice so all is superbien! In an effort to keep this corto, I will depart with this final tale...yet another of my spazzyness that I'm sure will provide comincal relief in yor day (at least thats the goal). So, after my IST I went to Jarabacoa, which is the Swiss Alps mountain town version here in the DR to meet up with the Enviroment kids to go white water rafting. So, Sunday morning we go up and out and off to the place to gear up TK is the enviro trainer and I asked if it was really neccesary to wear the wet suit as it is hot and how cold can the water really be in the middle of August in the Carribean? While I did not don the wet suit, the helmet and life vest were a must. So off we went down the river with Juan as our fearless river guia. All started out well and my friend Anne fell out a few times which was HIGHLARIOUS but apparently a sign of things to come. On one of the big rapids I was on the low side of the boat going down the big rapid. Well I fell out and at first I was thinkng "hey i'm cool, I can swin and Juan will save me" Well, how wrong I was. All of sudden everything went into highgear and the next thing I knew I was pinned in between a rock and the raft watching my friends jump of out of the boat, shouting "Where is she"? Then I was under the boat, in between the boat and rock. Next thing I knew my friend Joel, gracias adios, pulled me up by life jacket and into the boat after I popped back up on the other side. However, as you may recall we were still in the middle of the rapids and once back in, we were still fighting our way to calmer waters. I gave Juan and all my friends a good little rattle and a little while later we stopped for a snack and a rest and TK came up to me to inquire if I was ok. TK: Well, how ya doing?AB: Um, ok I have a big bruise here on the back of shoulder and few others but I'm goodTK: yea, thats why I wear the wetsuit, It protects from that.AB: Uh huh, thanks I'll keep that in mind next time. I didnt know that wetsuits also kept you from falling out of the raft?! But hey what do I know...so along the river we went sin incident. After we disembarked I had a much needed cerveza! Anyway that is the lasted cuenta...tommorow back to site to begin work!

Hope all is well much
love A

Jugo, mormones y volibol

10 de Julio de 2008

Greetings and salutations from the DR! As usual I fear it has been quite sometime since I have last written of my daily trials, tribulations, spastic moments and the like. For starters: Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone spent it with a cold cerveza and a beach…or something close. Last we left off, I was being stalked by creepy Pablo and on the brink of beginning my community diagnostic. Well, I can happily relate that as we speak I am working on the finishing touches of my power point presentation of said diagnostic and feel seemingly content with it. What does this diagnostic consist of, well as I explained earlier, I was waiting to andar (walk/visit) with Antonia from the school in various barrios in my town to meet the gente and ask questions about informatica and their opinions…Antonia and I started out late in the afternoon when it was ¨mas fresca¨. Antonia would introduce me: Hola, ella es Arianna, gente de Cuerpo de Paz. Ella va a trabajar con nosotros en la escuela y ella esta haciendo un trabajo. Me: Si, hola. Como esta usted? Mi nombre es Arianna y yo soy una Voluntaria con Cuerpo de Paz, un organización del Gobierno en los EEUU SIN afiliación religiosa y politica. Voy a trabajar en Proyecto Ave con computadoras y informatica. Pero, ademas de informatica yo tengo mucho mas interes en la comunidad enterro and me gustaria hacer otros proyectos sociales. Tiene tiempo por algunos preguntas porque estoy haciendo una encuesta para conocer y entender la gente y Fantino mejor? (Basically, hey I´m with Peace Corps anda m trying to get to the people here and the town better, going to work with comps but wanna work within the community also. Do you have time for a few questions) However, even after this little speech, the EXACT same thing was repeated by my Dominican counterpart as was about every single one of my questions. Pero, after my intial frustrations, I just had to laugh at it and realize that while I feel ridiculous and a little annoyed because I know what I´m saying is in fact in Spanish and is in fact correct, this is the way its gonna go and at least I´m getting to spend time with the people in my community and on occasion get some sweet, free coffee. But on the other side, there were occasions when I was talking with people and was actually, gasp, complimented on my Español and circumvented the parroting. Yet, in the end, I bid almost every household adios with a big hug and an open invitation to return whenever as Dominicans are always ¨A sus ordenes¨ This frase doesn´t really translate perfectly, but the gist is ¨whatever you need¨ This point has in fact been proven to be so true, that I have been asked by at least 3 ladies when I was coming back to tomar café and ellas estaban un poco guapa conmigo (they were a lil mad with me…also guapo/a here means mad) because I hadn´t been back to visit them again! So next week, I need to make my rounds with the ladies who lunch (not really) but to drink café, maybe talk a lil chisme and most likely after the intial pleasantries and bitching about the heat we´ll sit in awkward silence for enough time for my bladder to fill with the said café. On the note of the heat, it is incredible and mas mas fuerte than the heat in good ole SoFla, also in SoFla we have this magical device called A/C or at the very least 24hr electricity and fans. Therefore, it just gets my goat that almost every day I have a conversation similar to this one: Dominican amigo: Ah Arianna, tu estas sudando. (Oh, Arianna, you´re sweating)Me: Si, yo tengo mucho calor y yo llegue a pie. (Yes, I´m hot, I walked here)Dominican amigo: Ah, ya, que calor eh? El sol me pica mucho. (Oh yea, its hot. The sun is really bothering me too.)Me. Si. Siempre. (Yes, always) Yet, they know its effing hot and feel the need to comment on my sweat, yet they appear cool as cucumbers…go figure. What else? I have made a new friend: Julio. Julio has a juice tienda and I have been spending lots of time there as every time I´m there he gives me free, delicious, fresh juice. But even better, I sit there and shoot the shit with him while every other customer that walks in is invariably introduced to me with a nod of the head, lip point and an obligatory ´un amigo´ o ´un primo, tio, etc¨. So therefore, I have been meeting a lot of people and not having to walk in the crazy sun, showing up to their homes like a Mormon with my survey and explaining that, no I am not a Mormon. So, one day while enjoying my jugo de melon and chatting with Julio, un amigo showed up…I was introduced to him and Julio explained that he is some pastor of sorts with the Mormon church. Said pastor and I exchanged pleasantries along with my customary story about PC. Then onto the subject of what iglesia I´m with…I explained that, no I wasn´t with an iglesia, but was in fact a Judea and that no, I didn´t believe in Jesus Christo (pero, claro que is yo tengo mucho respecto por el). I also, then explained that there are many other religions and people in this mundo who do not believe in JC as well…pretty sure I blew his mind. In fact I know I did, because he exclaimed ÁH! Yo no sabia esto, incredible!) Oh, I didn´t know that…incredible! I felt that I had done my part of sharing culture and knowledge about others…I ran into him yesterday and he was intent on making sure we were amigos. I assured him we were and with a firm hand shake, I bid him adios until next time at the juice stand… One last quickie cuenta before I leave, as I´m sure you will all enjoy it. Yesterday, I went over to the cultural center, hoping to find people attending the Brigada Verde meeting and more importantly I was hoping to find the muchacho who had some of my surveys. Well I encountered neither. But I did encounter an ongoing volleyball tournament and un amigo who told me I should play with the muchachas as they were missing players. ME? Seriously? I know I think people here are slightly delusional when they tell me I look Dominican, but surely he can see that I stand a mere 5ft tall (Yes, I said it and let me live in my delusion of 5ft ok!) Well, after much nay saying and fear of embarrassment, I agreed and went home to change. Returned and told myself the whole way there that I need to embrace the awkward and put myself out there, step out of my box. Essentially make an ass out of myself for the greater good?! Well, I warmed up with some of the AWESOME muchachos and actually played ok. Even was asked if I play?! Can you believe it! We lost, I have a pretty sweet bruise on my wrist, but just this moment was told that I´m losing weight, so maybe there is something to this volleyball thing afterall… Ok, I fear at this point, if you´re still reading you´re wondering when it will be over…its over!

No, Pablo, I won`t be your novia

Aye aye...let that title sink in a bit. Last entry referred to SKIM ICE which I cleverly forgot to explain. Skim Ice are those frozen icicle treats that are in plastic tube / wrapping, you snip the top and enjoy a frozen treat. Well, it can get a bit tricky at the end when you have a long slender plastic tube and a little liquid that you just wanna finish so badly bc it is so insanely hot, so you push it up only to have it explode all over your white shirt...le sigh.

Entonces, Friday afternoon I was supposed to begin my community diagnostic with Antonia, a teacher at my school. She told ^muy muy temprano^ because its so hot...so I get to the school promptly at 8am and who`s not here? Yep, true to form. So I waited until she arrived and then she told me she had to go home for something...um, didn`t you just leave your house? Obvioulsy I did not ask this obvious question, but rather Bien, I`ll continue to wait. In the meantime, I helped the secretary make an end of the year document, that since I am in fact a trained computer expert should have taken me 20 minutes instead of the 1.5hrs it really did. But, before taking forever on said doc, Antonia returned in a completely different outfit only to tell me 15 minutes later that after discussion with another teacher, they felt it was better for me to attend the PTA meeting and go in the afternoons as it is so hot and many people are at work in the morning and we don`t want to disturb them. OK, I get, I really do, its ungodly hot, BUT there is ALWAYS someone home here, usually the woman, or at least one of the many possible women who live in said casa. Also, I have never been to a house here where people are not welcoming to a pop-in visit, especially by someone they know ie Antonia. So, I sighed and said ^Bueno^. Monday it is then. After of course my presentation to the PTA. Well, the PTA mtg was that afternoon and the entire gym was filled to the brim as I made my way to the front to give the classic:
Buenos Dias, Mi nombre es Arianna, soy de Florida, soy una Voluntaria con Cuerpo de Paz, blahblah...I also cracked a joke, something to the effect of `don`t be scared if you see with papers and surveys..`not so sure how it went over, but I did get a fuerte aplauso. After the meeting conclued a few people approached me, said hello and the like, but nothing prepared for me Nelli. Nelli was a whirlwind of a lady and scooped me up bc she had heard that I was looking for a casa and or room and she had just the thing! Well, within a 10 minute walk we arrived at her two story casa and I met her husband and they kids and their tienda in the casa and almost all of her paintings as well. Then upstairs to the roof deck while we waited for the room in question to be unlocked. During this time, she asked me 20 preguntas about my current living situation, essentially bad-mouthing the Dona I currently live with, only to say that she (my current Dona) is a `muy buena persona.` Well, the room in fact turned out to be a room and a bathroom and that is just not going to happen...thats what I got now...mama needs a little more space and a casa sin ninos!!!! After the real estate adventure, the heavy questioning began: do you have a boyfriend, do you have a husband, do you have kids, what do you like in men...oh well then I have the perfect chico for you; PABLO, my brother in law! This was my inner monologue: NOOOOOOO! But, my friendly PCV face said, ok to dinner the following night where a meeting with the infamous Pablo was more than assured. The following night Nelli and her esposo picked me up and took me back to their casa where I immediatley met Pablo. Nelli took me into the kitchen and held up various food items, asking me
N: Tu sabe? te gusta? (she was holding eggs.)
Me: Si., Si yo se. Huevos.
N: Y esto, que es? Te gusta? (she handed me a can of pumpkin puree from 1975.)
Me: Ay, esto es puree de pumpkin, es bueno en biscocho. ( Its good in pie)

And on it went, until her husband thought it would be better to go upstairs to the deck, of course with Pablo. Not 3 minutes after we sat did the hubby ditch me to converse with his bro. So Pablo and I began with the status quo preguntas about Peace Corps and the like. Then, 15 minutes in

Pablo: Nelli me hablo sobre ti. (Nelli talked to me about you)
Me: Ah, uh huh.
Pablo: Si, tiene un novio?
Me: No (I don`t wanna get caught in a lie if another Juan, Pablo, Carlos,etc catches my fancy)
Pablo: En serio, como una linda mujer como tu no tiene un novio? (Seriously,how can a pretty girl like you not have a boyfriend?)
Me: Ha. Uh, ahora yo estoy enfocando en mi trabajo. (Tehe, right now I am focusing on my work)
Pablo: Bueno, cuando nosotros vamos a estar novios? ( Ok, when are we gonna be boyfriend/girlfriend?)
Me: Um, nosotros solemente conocimos este momento. Esperate. (Um we just met. Chill out)
Pablo: Tu crees en amor en el primer vista? (Do you believe in love at first sight?)
Me: NOPE.
Pablo: Pero, tu crees in quimica? Tu piensas nosotros tenemos quimica? (But you believe in chemistry, do you think we have it?)
Me: Uh, yo tengo hambre.

Yes, this is casi (almost) word for word. It did not stop until I went home and not without Pablo wanting to meet Aaron, because he was to be his future cuñado (brother in law). So, finally after I couldn`t take it anymore, I said I was tired and needed to go home. Pablo, being the gentlemen that he is, took me home and I swear I sat so close to the door that I was ready to do a duck and roll at a moments notice. Gracias a dios, my casa is not far and I flew out of the car and bid Pablo adios!
A rational human being might get the picture. No, yesterday afternoon while sitting, sweating on my porch, who rolls by? Pablo. Pablo inquired if I was going over to Nelli`s house...nope, Yo voy a quedar aqui. (No, I`m staying here.)

In other news: last week I played dominos and made good with the family of my project partner and essentially have an open invitation to their casa anytime I want (without fear of Pablo types).

Today I am once again going to attempt my community diagnostic with Antonia. As well as trying to press the Se of Ed to change out my broken computers and maybe get a committee going for the newspaper project I wanna start. Also, going into the Capital this weekend for some R&R, English and a dip in the Embassy pool for a friend`s bday!

That`s the latest cuenta!

hasta luego
A

Skim Ice

Que lo que? I feel the need to open each email with some kind of greeting in Espanol...we can all learn Espanol together! So where did we leave off? Hmm, not sure either, but right now I am spending the day in La Vega with another PCV so we can eat something other than rice, boiled bananas and beans. I am also in desperate need of a toilet bowl cleaner as apparently I am the only one in my town who feels they are neccesary...Ah, now I recall, as of last email I was getting ready to attend my first Catholic service with my vecina (neighbor) Milday. However, previous to that I was SUPPOSED to go on an excursion with my project partner and the pres of the Eco Society. Well, at about 9:45am Saturday morning (knowing full well that I was going to be waiting around for awhile) I got a call. PP; Hola AriannaMe; Hola, que pasa?PP; Ah si, un problemita, Vinicio se fue por La Vega con el sacerdote para una vaina. (V went with the Priest to La Vega for a thing)Me; Ah, ok, entonces a que hora nosotros vamos a ir? (Ok, well, when are we going to go?)PP; Ah, no se, pero voy a buscarte a horita. (I dont know, but I`ll come find you in a lil while.)Me; Bueno, ok.By now you can see where this was going and so I went back to my bed and continued to read my trashy Marian Keyes chick lit novel. That afternoon, I was over Marian and decided to go exploring by myself. So i went walking and ended up near the Catholic Churhc where I found Vinicio. Who knows what la vaina was that he needed to take care of, but he pulled me into the courtyard and introduced me to who I intially thought were the jovenes from the Eco Society, only to find out AFTER I gave a lil speech about how much I just love the envrionment blahblahblah, that they were in fact Girl Scouts! But no harm no foul and this Saturday they are taking (we`ll see) on a tour of the other barrios in Fantino. Also, my friend who I am with today, is a huge Girl Scout proponant and when I told the Guia Scouts leader that I had una amiga that wanted to start her own group in Cutupu she almost swallowed her whistle with excitement! Entonces, we are gonna go help my friend start at Guia Scouts. After, that meeting I went over to the other side of the courtyard and in face met the jovenes of the Eco Society which was also pretty cool. However I had to leave pretty quickly and go home and get ready for Church.
Off to Church with Milady and I was looking pretty cute (if I don´t say so myself, also meaning not profusley sweating). Way more people in the Catholic Church than the Evangelico one and also an interesting discovery. My discovery was that the prick (pardon my espanol) who is a member of my comittee inexplicably, answered for me when the Subdirector of my school asked me if I knew what ^gringo^ meant. Prick; No, ella no sabe, ella no entiende. (She doesn`t know, she doesn`t understand)Me; Bueno, Yo entiendo and tambien, yo se la significa y la cuenta sobre gringo. (I do understand and I do know the meaning AND storty behind gringo)After my explanation, he put his eyes back in his head and picked his jaw up off the floor. But I was still ticked bc he hasn`t been the warmest to me, so I left without saying goodbye. However, this special gent is not the Priest, but another (clearly) important member of the Church, as he was on stage the whole time and took part in the Host / Wine process. Woops. Nah, I my exit was not that dramatic but I did feel a bit idiotic after I saw him in Church. FYI, I still think he is a prick because he has given more evidence to support this as during another meeting with my boss from Peace Corps, he felt it was appropriate to play on his lab top and not participate at all! Ah, cosas de la vida, verdad?Moving along, Sunday am, back to Evangelico Church where I met more peeps and shook some more hands and swayed with the songs of Jesus. After, went home and napped until my other Project partner and her family picked me up for an unknown destination. It was a long afternoon and this email is already long enough, so I will say this; ALL her family was soo nice and my Espanol was flowing like the salmon of Capistrano (sorry I couldn`t resist the reference). We visited 3 campos and at the second to last one, we went to a birthday party where I met on of her many many many tios (uncles) who also had a PCV and they are still bueno amigos and he LOVES PC! SO, we had nice convo and I also had a nice glass of Presidente. While chatting with PPs bro, he said, Oh I know you like Bohemia (another brew). We`ll get some on the way back. So we bid the party adios and off we went, back through the gorgeous rolling lomas and rio vista. But not without stopping for some Bohemia. He bought a whole large one for myself...well I thought when in Rome, and down the hatch in the car ride on our way to another campo and another primo....
So beyond that my week has both been very busy and very boring, which I am learning is probably going to be commonplace here. Last night I watched Inconvient Truth with the Brigada Verde...very very interesting. Go see it if you haven`t yet. And today I have another meeting with my comite to discuss the community diagnostic. That`s my cuenta!

paz afuera A

Mi primero vez en una iglesia

Hola mi gente! When we last left off I had more or less just arrived to Fantino, site of my home for the next two years...We were also coming up on elections here and I can say that all things went relatively smoothly in Fantino, no guns going off or the like (as in some other PCV sites). However, because almost everyone was consumed by elections, children included (I kid you not) the end of last week was very very slow and I found myself reading and sleeping alot...neither bad things, but when I feel like I should be working and andaring and meeting my community it can be a hard pill to swallow. However, not every day was spent reading and napping. The minute I got back to my host family, the Dona through me on the computer bc of course I am a computer genius and can fix her printer, the CD drive and make Internet appear! Lo siento, (again) but in fact I am not a computer expert...even with this said, I tried to fix the printer to no avail as it ony needs new ink and in my boldest attept to fix hardware, I opened up her computer, took out the CD drive and heard things rattling around and promptly explained that she needed to take it to an expert! Also, I have become part of a daily walking group courtesy of the PE teacher at my school. He nd his buddies, Papo, Kiko, and Eduardo walk every day (well every day that elections arent sweeping the nation) on a long road that runs behind the town. This road is an oasis for me....surrounded by grand farms, lined with mango and other fruit trees and lots and lots of mountains in the distance! We had a respite (elections ) but today we start up again. Last week I also attended a theater group meeting at the cultural center which was great and made some friends with some really motivated jovenes and will attend their meeting again tonight. In my attempts at andaring (walking around and meeting people) I hung out with a few older kindly gents at a colmado near my school as well as went into the other Computer School and observed a class and met a few of the other teachers. Here is where I met Mike. However, I didnt run into him until I was killing time at the Internet cafe. We chatted and he asked me if I wanted to go to his church on Sunday...while I have been having reservations about going to Church (for obvious and not so obvious reasons) I accepted. Why? Well, because its a new experience and a great way to meet other people in the community without just straight up pulling a pop in on them. He showed me where his church is (on old discoteca) and then back to his computer school where I met his two other brothers. They all speak pretty decent English and o course want to practice with me where as I need to practice with them...but that afternoon I helped them with English and they invited to me to hang out that night! Well Saturday night was great...met their sister and other friends, who are all univeristy students and really chill. The next morning I woke up early, went to observe an English class and then over to Evangelico church. Well, it was quite interesting. The first hour was spent singing (the family is kinda like the Partridge family in church with a band) and the second was a sermon, of course lots of JC talk, but all in all interesting and I got to meet alot of very nice people. However, this now means I will also be attending Catholic service as not to offend or favor anyone and of course meet more people. Also, there is a very active youth group affiflated with the Catholic Church that I wanna meet! Que mas? Well, each day proves to be another day to practice Spanish and meet more people and forget about how awkward I feel...embrace the awkward has become my motto as well as day by day! This weekend I am going to Santiago to meet up with some other PCVs and go to an Escojo Mi Vida conference given by one of my friends groups! Very excited. Beyond that, every day I am asked when I will be giving class and if I am going t teach English...vamos a ver. Well, that is all for now...hope this long winding email finds everyone happy and healthy!

much love
A

Por Fin...a PCV!

Well mis amigos the time has finally come when I can say that I am infact a Peace Corps Volunteer...no more of this aspirante business! Butbefore we commence with the present comings and goings, it is onlyapropriate to explain what has lead up tp today...
Almost two weeks ago I learned that I was going to be living in a apueblo called Fantino, Sanchez Ramirez. It is essentially in themiddle of the country, surround by rice fields and a few mountains inthe distance. I got to Fantino two Tuesdays ago for a quick visit tolearn my new family, the community and my school. The Directora is my project partner andso far she seems very motivated. The site visit had its ups anddowns...my Espanol while better always seesm to be a problem when Ifirst meet people...its hard when they just throw Spanish at me andthen think I can`t speak it because I don^t speak super fast. BUT ohwell, one day it will come...I also got VERY sick from a plate ofcabbage...serves me right for mocking the PC nurse about salad. Idefinitly paid for it and wasnt able to meet with my tech commitee onFriday because I was in bed. Urg...but as was better and my neighborwas very sweet and brought me fruit. The next day I got up feelingbetter and went on a tour with my project partner and visited thefirefighters, the Defensa Civil, the Church and a few other locations. Later that night I went to a birthday party of one of the teachers atmy school and hungout with them for awhile which was really nicebecause I got to spend time with these people outside of a worksetting. The birthday girl was pretty stoked I was there and felt badthat I was a vegetarian and couldnt partake in the Mondongo= cowintestines! Yes, it is not a joke. I assured her that it was trulyalright and that I had already eaten, but alas, she told me that Icould just eat the veggies and rice (even though it had beenmarinating with the cow parts) After refusing this 2 times I realizedthat I better suck it up and gain confianza all the while knowing Iwould be back in the bathroom that night...well I was right, but itdid get me in good with the ladies!
That Sunday I traveled back to the capital for my last week oftraining and graduation. Training seemed pointless once again, but itwas great to reconnect with my friends and hear about everyone else^svisits. They ranged from great to one kid has tarantualas in his roomand they hiss at him! Gracias adios that I am only worried aboutroaches in my bathroom! Anyway, Thursday we had our graduation and theUS Ambassador spoke (not in Spanish!) as well as a few others and oneof my friends gave a great commencement speech (In Spanish) on behalfof our class...she was phenomenal! We all recieved fancy pins withthe DR and US flag and our picture to post on the DR map where oursite is...pretty cool.. Then the festivites began! I^ll spare thedetails, but it was a great weekend spent in the Capital with myfriends as well as older Volunteers. But Saturday came quickly andwith it my time to venture out on my own to Fantino!
The trip was quick and all the while I was thinking about what I`mgoing to do for the next tow years here...what I was going to do whenI woke up on Sunday! But I took a deep breath, unpacked my stuff, atesome boiled bananas and cheese, watched Bee Movie in Espanol with myhost sister and went to bed! The next morning I ate and rather thansitting around I visited the cultural center and talked with twoUniversity students for about 1.5 hours about the Brigada Verde Groupas well as their functioning Theater Group! So this week I will beattending a few meetings and meeting and hanging out with jovenes.But still, I don´t really know why I am needed here because manythings appear to be functioning quite well. However I do have someideas...a newspaper for the school seemed to go over quite well withthe Directora and the teachers keep asking when I`m giving computerclass and yesterday I was solicited to give English class. BUT we`llsee, right now I just need to get to know people and see what I canget my hands into!
That seems like a good review...hope all is well back in the good oleUSA...I visited it lst Friday when I was swimming in the pool at theUS EMBASSY...I`ll leave you with that thought...hahaha.
Also, elections are this Friday here so it should be nteresting.
much loveA

Adios CBT

Que lo que?! Well, the time has finally, well almost, arrived when I must say goodbye to El Seibo and CBT training. This Thursday we conclude with training and travel back to the Capital, when on Friday, the ICT group will visit the Despacho de La Primera Dama (office of the first lady) and the Secretary of Education. Out of the 15 ICT Volunteers, each are assigned one of the two types of computer labs. The labs associated / funded by La Primera Dama are called CTCs. These CTCs are freestanding centers usually consisting of two salas (rooms) for computers, one for classes and one for internet café. Also, there is usually a library and sometimes a pre-school, which is an awesome resource as well. When working with the Sec. of Ed., one is based in a liceo (high school) and from there when school is not in session (as there are tandas here so the school can be free either in the a.m. or p.m.) the computer lab can function for community internet / classes. I hope to work in a CTC lab, because I think the initial resources available are better and allow for more flexibility and freedom in projects. So, we find out what kind of lab Friday, BUT I must wait until next Monday to find out where I will be living and working for the next two years! Ah, I am so anxious / excited to find out! I am hoping that my wishes for a beach site and placement near other Volunteers will come true, however, I will make the most out of whatever site I get...there are always unexpected surprises in the unknown, as I have come to learn in my short time here. Beyond, the excitement, nervous sentiment about my site reveal, I am also quite nervous / excited about being on my own. Up until this point I have had a great support system of peers and, while at times boring, a schedule. Yet, once I arrive, its all about me. In a way, its like being thrown off the deep end. Please don’t take this metaphor as a negative or dramatic statement. Let me clarify: I can make my service essentially what I want it to be which is FANTASTIC, but at the same time, it can be hard and scary when I have to figure out where to start and how to start projects I’m interested in. Its one thing to sit in training and have other Volunteers share anecdotal advice, but it will be quite another to put all this into practice!

Le sigh, also, very very excited to rejoin the other half of our group who have been building latrines and clay stoves. (Yea, ICT! I’ve had luz (light) almost the entire time in CBT!) Also, very much looking forward to rejoining my Dona and her amazing cooking and friendly disposition…I’ve missed her. I’ll leave it at that J.

So, after learning my site Monday, Tuesday I meet my project partner and then travel to my site for 4 days and meet my third and final host family and future community! After returning, we have 3 more days of training, and then May 8th we have a swearing in ceremony and I will officially and finally be a Peace Corps Volunteer!! Funny side note: I (along with the group of course) will be singing the Himno Nacional de la Republica Dominicana (yes, the national anthem) and yes, in Espanol! Should prove to be amusing.

Ok. Never a good email without a good adventure. As I have told you, El Seibo has some gorgeous vistas consisting of rolling lomas. Well, me and two of my cohorts, Asahi and Keane, decided we could not leave here without taking advantage of the hiking that has literally been in front of our faces for past 5 weeks. Therefore, this past Saturday we woke up very early, 6:30am, and began our journey on foot. Made a quick stop at the fruit stand and a colmado to get a little pan for the day and off we headed towards the mountains. Did we ask anyone if there were trails? Nope. Simply decided and went. Let me also say this, while I was consulted on path and route, I mostly followed Keane as he is an awesome guide with much more excursion knowledge then myself! We starting off walking through some farms which lead us up to the river which was absolutely gorgeous and refreshing. But we decided against crossing it in our initial encounter with it and proceeded across another large field. We then had no other choice but to cross it, but it was much smaller and much more treacherous with all these thorny trees and barbed wire. So, I jumped across the river and to steady myself grabbed onto, yes, you guessed the thorny tree! Fun. Made it across and over the fence with minor scrapes. We then found ourselves in a sugar cane field. We followed this for quite awhile and of course, sampled some of the plentiful cane. Good thing I had my knife J The cane ranged from new, smaller plants to huge, tall ones that went way over our heads. After many varieties of vegetation, river crossing, and fence jumping, we arrived at the smaller hill that led to our destination. Climbed the smaller hill first and finally got to see what we had traversed and what still lay ahead…very Lord of the Rings…hahaha. Well, the view from there was quite amazing and it was crazy to see how far away the town was. We picked the tallest and Keane kept telling Asahi and I, “Oh it will be easy, don’t worry.” While it wasn’t Everest, it was challenging, especially since by this time it was about 2pm and very very hot. But, we followed the tree line up the ridge and were able to stay in the shade for most of the hike. Like, most hard things, it paid off in the end, because the view from the top, or almost the top, was breathtaking. We saw the whole valley below, seemingly endless mountains, El Seibo in the distance and the horizon. Pretty incredible to say the least. From our summit we were also able to see a road that appeared to lead out to a main highway, where we figured and hoped we would be able to catch a bola (a free ride) back into town. Well, we made it down obviously much quicker than we made it up. Our road led us back to another part of the river and it was calling my name. Jumped it and got a great massage from the mini-rapids, as well as a refreshing swim! After we were finished with the rio, we walked back to a house we passed and asked about the main road, well we learned we had to go back and cross the river and we should find it. Back across the river. Finally, we heard some cars, but still no road, but we did meet a horse farm and a friendly gent who let us pass through to the road! He told us there was a colmado 5 minutes up the road where I planned to chug water. We thanked our amigo and went looking for the colmado. No it was not in fact 5 minutes away and while we walking away from town, we were also hoping for a bola as it was getting late in the day. Still no colmado, but there was a pick-up truck. By now, it was about 5:30pm. We hailed it down and lo and behold it was a bunch of our other friends who had gone out with their host family! Como suerte no?! Our friends were just a surprised as we were to see them, but I am certain we were happier / relieved to see them and I was certainly more than happy to drink their water! No one, especially the Dominicans could believe we hiked the mountain and had been walking all day. Definitely an adventure for the books…thus far at leastJ

Que mas? Well, who could leave El Seibo without being interviewed on the local radio station? That’s right…me! One important component I neglected to mention that are part of the CTCs, are the Emisoras or radio station. So, yesterday, along with half of our group we commenced with a few firsts: first radio interview, first radio interview in Espanol and first time for all this en vivo (live)! The questions started out simple enough, name, age, where you’re from etc. I was feeling confident. I knew how to answer all these with my eyes closed. Then the DJ starting rambling on and I basically heard deportes (sports) and proceeded to talk about the only Dominican athlete that I know anything about: Al Horford (Go Gators!) Talked about how we attended the same University and even when he plays 5 minutes his picture is plastered all over the sports page in the periodicos, and no, I do not know him. After everyone had given there little spiel, the DJ opened the it up to other experiences that we’ve had in El Seibo, well as you may imagine, people weren’t jumping at the chance to speak live in Espanol on the radio. Therefore, I took a deep breath and grabbed the mic! Since my latest excursion was fresh in my head, I talked about hiking the mountain and our bola. Needless to say, it was humorous…embrace the awkward right?!

After our radio interview, we had the opportunity to visit another Volunteer who lives very close to El Seibo and observe / participate in his Escojo Mi Vida group (I Choose My Life – a PC group about healthy sexual decisions and HIV/AIDS for teens). Finally a chance to see all this talk in action!! It was very interesting because the way the group works is that one group of jovenes (teens) are trained in various themes about sexual education, making healthy sexual decisions and HIV/AIDS etc. Once they are “trained” they then in turn give charlas (mini conferences) to other jovenes and the multiplicadora (multiplying the info) idea continues. Needless to say, I want to form an Escojo Mi Vida group.


Vaya bien,
~A

mas greetings...

Buenas, buenas!!!

Sorry, its been awhile since my last email...things here have been pretty busy, both in good and not so good ways...

Ok, lets move on...as of last email I promised stories of a bunch of Americans riding in the back of a pick-up to a supposedly beautiful beach named Playa Esmerelda. Well, while at times I can be quite verbose, I do not know if I indeed have the words to describe the beauty of what in fact Playa Esmerelda turned out to be! First, let me describe our journey there...thankfully we had the use of another of car and didn´t all have to squeeze into one little pick-up truck. However, that does not mean that the drive was uneventful...we drove up and over a gorgeous mountain range and once we were at the top the views of the valley below we amazing, also amazing was that we actually got over these moutains as they were all dirt roads...windy, dirt roads. This continued for about 1.5 hours, when we arrived in Miches, the town just outside of our destination. Well, from there we had another crazy dirt road path, not a road a path that took about 35 minutes to get to the beach...the beach unfolded out of a post card! Literally white sand, blue ocean, calm waves, moutains in the vista and NO ONE ELSE WAS THERE!!! No hotels, no colmados, no nothing! Simply, the ocean, the sand and me - essentially my happy place!!! I immediately dropped my stuff and RAN into the water and basically didn´t get out of the water all day! Wait, you may be thinking to yourself - she is a damn liar, she didn´t join the Peace Corps, she went on vacay in the DR! No, my friends, in fact I am in the Peace Corps and was reminded of this this past Wednesday when I gave my first Computer class in ESPAÑOL!!!

Because the classes are pretty basic, we taught a very basic Windows class and it went well, yet it was also kinda hard because while my Spanish is getting mas mejor, computer explanation is a whole other juego. But, alas, it did go well and we felt very confident because our students were on the computer the whole hour and gasp, using it for something other than CHAT! My group will be giving our last class this Thursday - we´re shooting for the moon and trying to teach Power Point - details to follow.


Ok, a few of the not so good things...training seems to drag on and some of these sessions are completely pointless. What could that possibly mean? Well, por ejemplo...this past friday morning we had a session on the Levels of Intimacy in the DR and when it is appropriate or not to cross these levels, with number 15 being to Tener Sexeo! Hmm, first of all, I´m pretty sure that I have in fact been living here for alomst 7 weeks and made a few observations about what is and what is not culturally acceptable...like when I walk past a group of teenage boys it is totally ok for them to cat call, hiss and make sometimes lewd suggestions about a certain Rubia, however it is in fact an INSULT if I were to leave a fresco muchacho alone on the dance floor..hmmm, curious no? Yes, so in fact I was ready to beat my head against that desk when we were told to list the levels of intimacy starting with dress, when it is ok to tocar en publico and when you should tener sexeo...I´m thinking after you compartir cervezas? Le sigh...

Beyond that, though time does seem to be flying by rather quickly and before I know I will be a full fledged Volunteer and no longer as Aspirante and will have to bid my fellow PCTs adios and commence the journey that I set out to do.

We had a session with a current Volunteer and he showed us his Community Monthly Newsletter and it was AWESOME! Color, glossy paper and next month they will have local advertisers...I can only hope that I can send you all something like this one day as it it one of many goals. Also, as part of my ploy to get a beach site (not really) I told the Director that I want to teach kids how to swim in the ocean, as many people here do not know how to swim!!! Which is CRAZY talk to me...also, still have high hopes for some kind of camp and incorporating soccer into it as well as I will be arriving in my site just in time for summer to commence!

cheers
A

hace frio..no,es perfecto!

April 3, 2008
Hola mi gente!
First, let me say, once again, how great it is to hear from everyone. As I said, it proves difficult to find internet time when I can respond to everyone individually so disculpame (forgive me J )
Also, as far as snail mail from my end, it may be a little while longer as the post office here only has 1 peso stamps and will not get bigger amount stamps until all the 1 peso stamps are gone…
Que mas? Well, we are progressing with our technical training and this past Friday proved to be VERY frustrating because our first technical session, which I have been waiting for as I know how to use a computer for email and such, was totally in Espanol and while I am getting much better this was insane. No one can understand our Dominican tech trainer and he showed us to open Word and make a Power Point doc…also, in case you all are curious, teclado is keyboard in Espanol. Yet, we did have a session given by a current Volunteer on how to actually teach a class which was great because all the coffee fetching and celebrity video logging did not in any way prepare me to teach Power Point to Dominicans who have never used a mouse…
Moving on, last night while speaking Spanish with my next door neighbor, he told me that I am almost Dominican with my Spanish?! Crazy yes, but I can only hope one day that statement proves to be verdad! Also, speaking of my next door neighbor, the Dona, thinks I am HIGHLARIOUS and has gotten in the habit of calling me "gorda" as every time I bid her adieu its because I must go eat dinner. Plus, she is itching to marry me off to her son and if not her son, she is certain I will get married here. I tried to explain to her that if in fact that were the case and I were to get married here without my mother, she (my mother) may in fact have a heart attack and / or mata me (kill me). Hence, I think this is where my career as a stand-up comic in her eyes commenced! Jumping off the topic of marriage, I had my first encounter with a young Dominican gent. We met last weekend at the street party and by met, I mean that we danced for all of 10 minutes and I tried to talk to him over the insanely loud music. When the night was over I didn't really think twice about it, until Wednesday night I went to the local basketball tournament and realized I was being starred at. Who might have been starring at me? Yes, my dance partner, whose name I forgot / never really understood. Well, that opened Pandora's box and all my friends went into a furry of chisme (gossip, as it is the national sport here which we have picked up quite quickly.) I waved back and after the presentation of teams and many looks from his boys / teammates, he came to the stands and we chatted. Very high school scene, as I am sure you can imagine. It wasn't until after this brief encounter and another run-in later that night that I actually got his name and he got mine. With all that said, he now wants to be my boyfriend and for me to meet his mama! I need to see his ID first and make sure he is in fact 23 - hahahaha! Oh life in the DR!

Finally a reference to the title…the past few nights have been quite amazing with cool breezes which make all the locals "hace frio" to which all the Americans respond "no, esta perfecto!" Yet, along with the cool breeze the rains have come and are frequent all day on and off. Once the rain begins, every thing more or less halts. Kids don't go to school and most schedules shift according to the rain…pretty nice in some respects but also an adjustment when we are supposed to be somewhere observing class or having a meeting and no one is there because it is in fact raining…le sigh.
This weekend we are going to a town called Miches, to a beach named Esmerelda, which is supposed to be muy tranquilo and I cannot wait! However, it is going to be an adventure all in itself getting there…how are we getting there? All 15 of us, plus two maestras are squeezing into a pick - up truck!!! 8 in the cab (it's a double cab) and then the rest in the back!!! Very Dominican style - stories to follow! I can only imagine the sight of all us blanco americanos riding in the back of this pick-up and then on the way back most likely blanco / muy rojo americanos!!!
Ok, I am off to take part in the gracious invitation of another Dona for dinner!
OH! My presentation in Espanol went very well and next week I will be giving a computer lesson of some sorts in Espanol as well…wish me suerte!

New Donas and new lugares

I guess in theory it has been awhile…at least for me it feels that way as time feels warped here. First things first, about two weeks ago my host family was changed. I think that the abuelos were sick and things weren’t really working out, so I got moved, ironically to a barrio called Los Angeles. There I moved in with a single Dona, who reminds me of my Grammy. Her house is pretty sweet I must say and her cooking is awesome! While she is all about natural foods and healthy eating (gracias a dios) she still tries to get to me to eat meat. Here was one encounter: Spaghetti on the table, I’m starting to eat and notice pieces of meat…
Me "Que es eso?"
Dona "Carne de cerdo (pig)"
Me "Oh, lo siento, pero no como carne…" (O, I’m sorry, but I don’t eat meat"
Dona " Aye, solamente por sabor, es bueno. Prueba lo" (It’s only for flavor, its good, Try it.)
Me " Um, gracias, pero carne me hace enferma. (thanks, but it makes me sick"
Dona "Aye no, por sabor y el carne yo compro es muy bueno" (Its for flavor and the kind I buy is good"
Me "Yo se, pero no gracias"
Dona "Okay"
We then had a laugh that she would eat the rest manana and I ate the rice and beans, because of course that is the appropriate side dish with pasta…haha.
Also, I have my OWN bathroom and a clean room which is so golden, plus a few of my good friends here live in this barrio and we have dubbed ourselves (cleverly) LA Barrio aka LAB. Also, LA is huge, with many tiendas, colmados and one particular bilar (billard hall) that we like to frequent J ALSO, muy interesante, I encountered two Mormon missionary girls in my barrio. Apparently, part of entering the church (I think) in a more mature manner is that one must go on mission for two years and there is a mission here as well. Very nice girls, but also awkward when again, had to explain that I’m all good and won’t be attending church. But, they had actually heard for Jews before and were very nice…moving on. So last week was Semana Santa aka Holy Week which culminates in Easter. Basically, from Thursday to Sunday people are technically off work and school, but that feeling lasts much longer than those few days. Also, that Thursday and Friday are celebrated with lots of alcohol until midnight and all shuts down til Sunday, mas o menos. Well, LAB, of course, celebrated Semana Santa with lots of cuba libres con Brugal (the local rum) and dancing! But, one of the best parts of my weekend was Sunday morning when I helped cook Easter lunch with my Dona. Woke up late and by late I mean 10am, ate a lil and then the cooking commenced. We made some rice con Puerco (green onions), a taboule like dish, a teriyaki style sauce that was then cooked with meat, and my favorite was the eggplant lasagna she made for me! Aye dios mio…muy rica! It was sooo yummy and so easy to make too. We joked that when I move to the campo I’m gonna call her when I make it for the first time! Also, a Dominican tradition for Semana Santo is to cook Habichuelas con dulce (sweet beans), literally a sweet soup like dish made with beans, potatoes and then a few small sugar cookies. It sounds weird, but its good, clearly VERY sweet. Ok, so Monday I bid Sora adios and headed for El Seibo for technical training por un mes! I also had to bid adieu to the half of the group that are working in the environment sector - sad. So here’s another funny story…me and two other PCTs traveled together and the guagua to El Seibo from Santo Domingo takes about two hours. Well about 1 hour in I had to pee like the Diablo! I know, I know, you’re all shocked. Anyway, I finally got up the balls to ask the cobrador if he would stop & wait while I went to pee. I thought we understood each other…me and the other girl get off where he showed us a bathroom, only to watch the guagua and our bags with the other lone PCT drive away! Well, we get out of the GROSS bathroom and find Ben on the corner with ALL the bags! Quite a site, but all was bueno because we were close to our new casas. My new casa is really nice as is the family. The head of the household is from Puerto Rico and grew up in the States and speaks perfect English, therefore ironically he speaks to me in Ingles. But, I continue to respond in Espanol, which is also funny and we talked about only speaking in Spanish because that’s the only way I will learn mas. Its also helpful because one of the Spanish teachers lives in the same house while we are here. On that note, I feel WAY better about my Spanish. By no means is it good, but I can communicate and understand for the most part all of what is said to me. Yet, invariably, the minute I feel ok about that, we start the tech training in Spanish and computer lingo in English is a whole other language, therefore it feels like yet another language! Beyond that El Seibo in itself, is a great little town. It has lomas (hills) and a large river running through it. The people are very nice and its just a nice change from the madness that is the Capital. Well, I believe that pretty much catches us up…a few personal shout outs:

P.S. I just finished reading "Still Life with Woodpecker" by Tom Robbins! I HIGHLY recommend it! Very funny, smart, ironic, relevant and of course, I am partial because it is, in my opinion, a love letter to redheads! The Red Beards will return one day…

Hasta Luego
A

taken for 300 pesos....

currently sitting in a computer lab run by a current Volunteer in a town called Jima Abajo, near La Vega...this morning´s journey was interesting one. First, I woke up super early, of course, to the delightful sound of the gallos cantando. Took a carro publico by myself for the first time succesfully and then proceeded to wait for a few others who were heading to the same bus station as me. While waiting I also succesfully spoke to a woman who was also waiting for her friends about Cuerpa de Paz and hpw she goes and volunteers when she can as well. Anyway, got on the bus and while re-reading directions from the Volunteer realized we had already passed our ¨stop¨ literally right off the highway and had to take a taxi back to our stop and then proceeded to take another carro for which we paid 300 pesos or 9 dollars. When we got to our town the driver of course didnt know what street we needed, but being resourceful PCTs we asked a young boy where the school was. Upon arriving we were told that the carro should have cost only 40 pesos!!!! Aye dios mio! BUT, the spanish got us here and it is coming along!!! So, my brain is a bit fried from butchering spanish and we had some help from two very nice ladies on the bus as well! Well that has been the adventure of the morning....buenas dias

motoconchos and carwashes

Today I recieved my sweet PURPLE motoconcho helmet that on the front above the visor says ¨TOUGH¨! As if I weren´t standing out enough, I got to walk around with this awesome new helmet, which in the DR, NO ONE wears helmets when using motoconchos. What are motoconchos you may ask yourself? Well think of an old crappy motorcycle with basically no muffler. Then picture that as a personal taxi weaving in and out of traffic! Yea pretty sweet ...mama y papa - don´t fret , we are forbidden to ride these in Santo Domingo and absolutely forbidden to ride without a helmet. We got a quickie lesson on how to get on without scalding our legs on the muffler and where is apporpriate to place our hands as well as special instructions for ladies when wearing skirts. Note to self = never ride a motoconcho unless wearing jeans! Also, I was one of the select few who got a quick ride - it was fun but slow. There are also pictures of me in my sweet helmet along with mirrored aviator sunglasses to give the full effect of a female american motorcycle cop! As soon as I can upload the pics they will be sent... Part of our training has been where current PCVs come and talk with us about various topics that we will encounter while serving and we do ¨dinamcas¨or ice breakers and then have to present to the group etcetc. SO two funny stories that of course involve yours truly. Numero uno - two days ago we had to draw our family tree and with symbols represent our family members, since i amnot an artist i was confounded as what to do. One of my peers suggested drawing a Menorah (since I am the only Jew and it is quite an amusing fact in a CATHOLIC country). So I took the suggestion and promptly presented my family Menorah to many smiling faces...also going off the Jew topic, I was trying to explain to my host sister in broken espanol that I was not Catolica, that I was in fact Judea. But since they had seen me doing a bit of yoga, she thought I was a Buddhist! Then I tried to explain, no I was not a Buddist and left it that I was interested in other religions. When I asked the director about this, she told to explain that Jesus was Jewish - I found it best to let this alone. As for the carwash...saturday night myself and some other PCTs wanted to go dancing and experience the merengue and bachata scence as we had ¨learned¨how to the past Friday. First, let me jsut say that watching white American guys try to dance merengue was one of the funniest things yet...so we arranged plans with some host family members and were taken to the carwash. This is not a name or an alias, it was a straight up carwash that at night transforms into a club / bar and I suspect that when you go during the day to wash your car you can enjoy a Presidente as well. The beer here is good, but nada, and I mean nada compares to Prague!

mi espanol es mejor

ah what a sigh - well kind of. Espanol is getting much better, its all about talking and continuing to look and sound like a 5yr old BUT it is gettin better and now that we have officially started clases de espanol things are making more sense. A few housekeeping general respuestos: I am currently living en un barrio Pantoja which is literally 5 minutes walking from mi casa. En mi casa, I live with mi Senora y Senor, their hija ( daughter), a young girl, who is 7. HOWEVER, those are the people that sleep their, but there are always other cousins and family members and neighbors in and out. I do have my own room, which is nice. Su casa consists of my room, and two other bedrooms, a small kitchen and one bathroom. There are a number of large water tanks on the side of he house where we get our water to bathe and use the toilet. But there is bottled water to drink and cook with. I live here for another 2.5 weeks and then I am going to another city called El Cibao (really an area, in the eastern part of the country) where I will live with another family for approx. 4 weeks while we do our technical training aka learn how to use a computer, run a comp lab and trouble shoot (drum roll please) all en ESPANOL! Aye dios mio! Then we return and have a little more time at our house we live at now and then are sworn in as voluntarios! What else - oh the food. Well needless to say I have been eating a TON of rice. Too much rice and my senora looks at me like I´m crazy when I say ¨¨lleno¨(or full) due to the rice, platanos and bread.

Por ejemplo, when i got home from school yesterday, she had little loaves of bread and mayonaise waiting for me with a deicious cup of cafe con mas azucar!

This was our convo
Senora (pointing to the mayo) Te gusta?
Me: (thinking a definitive NO , but not wanting to upset her) Aye. no, pero yo prueba (I´ll try)
Mi hermana (shows me it is made with eggs and milk) Mira!
Me: No me gusta!
So then i proceeded to eat my bread with magarine and yellow cheese. Other than that, the food has been very good, just alot of it. Another almost daily ritual con cuerpa de paz are getting vacinations! AYE! I don´t even know how many times Nurse Jo has poked my arm....tommorow we are going on a field trip to the colonial zone for some siteseeing and historia for which I am very very excited about!!! As always, there is more to say but for now...hasta luego mi amores!

No hablo espanol pero aprendro!

HOLA! well here it is: mi espanol no es bueno y todos las personas en mi barrio sabenlo! Transalation - I don´t speak spanish well and all the people in my neighborhood know it! HA! So here I am in Pantoja, which is a city about 30 mintues outside Santo Domingo. Our training center is also here as well as my host family (other PCTs are living in otros barrios). My family consists of un abuelo y un abuela y su hija y tres ninos. The kids think I´m funny and keep telling me mire en su libro (look in your book!) I have to believe anf know that my spanish will come, but right now in all truth I am frustrated. I wish i could just flip a switch and speak spanish, but this is part of the process and I need to embrace it.

Other then the language, things are great. My training class continues to impress and suprise me. And this country is so full of life, so many noises and people and more noises and more mosquitoes! Por ejemplo, last night I went to bed pretty early because I was exhausted! I woke up to a rooster cock a doodle dooing thinking it was early in the morning and I was well rested. Nope! It was 1:30 am and the cock a doole dooing did not stop all night. Other noises are from merengue, bachata musica y motocicletos. There are so many emotions...not sure what else for the moment. Adios.

Staging!

HOLA! I've never "blogged" but I thought this new journey was a good excuse to start one - more specifically an easier way to communicate to everyone I want to share with thoughts, pictures, etc with!

Currently, I'm sitting in Caribou Coffee in Washington DC after my 2 days of staging, getting ready to get up at 3:30AM to depart for the Dominican Republic to commence with my Peace Corps training. Technically, I am still a trainee and will not be a true PCV (peace corps volunteer) until I am sworn in on May 8th 2008 after 10 weeks of technical, community, and LANGUAGE training! The past two days have been long BUT very, very exciting and invigorating! The other PCTs (peace corps trainees) totally surpassed my expectations. To quote my friend Claire "Yea i was really scared everyone was gonna be really hardcore." As was I, beyond other weird, unfounded expectations. Everyone here is smart, idealistic, thoughtful, energetic, and much more. It is so invigorating to be around people of this ilk. ALSO - I am not the only one, not even close, to not being a full on Spanish speaker, which makes me feel really relieved. ALSO - I am not the only one whose baggage was overweight - shocking I know.

So funny story #1: Overweight baggage. So, as I said, one of my bags was overweight (by a whole 7 lbs). Rather than going inside, I did curbside and the skycap promptly told me how much overweight it was and that if I went inside they would charge me $50. "But you know, if you take care of me -I'll take care of you and let you slide?" Me: "Both bags?" Skycap Johnny: "Yep, so what are we talking here?" Me: "How's 30 bucks?" SJ: "Cool."

While, it may not be the funniest story, I was "proud" that I "greased" the Skycap successfully and went on my merry way to wait in the seemingly endless line that is security!

There is so much more to say and relate and its only day 2 and haven't even left the States yet...I will say that I genuinely feel very proud my myself and almost all of my reservations / anxieties have (for the moment) been dispelled.

OK - a a bit of housekeeping. For the first few days I will not have access to a phone or internet BUT Peace Corps will know where I am. PLEASE send me snail mail letters as it is always fun to get snail mail and I don't know how much access I will have to email on a regular basis. Thanks for everyone's well wishes and support!!! Lot's more to come...

cheers,
~A