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!