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