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!