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!