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