August At Random

(from Viernes, 8/20/10)

Ay, cuanto tiempo! Haven’t written anything in a while, so here’s a little update from this past month starting with events from about an hour ago:

I just bola-ed to my new apartment...with a full-size bed and box spring in tow. Only in the Dominican Republic, could one ever get a free ride home with a newly purchased bed and have a stranger help to carry and set up said bed (note: with an inconvenient-to-climb, spiral staircase being the only way to enter the second floor of the apartment). That is how friendly (and helpful!) complete strangers can be.

Other than setting up and slowly moving into the new apartment (little by little!), things have been busy this month. Last week, the 22 of us and our project partners met in Jarabacoa for 3-month in-service training. Jarabacoa is in a mountainous area, and is really cold compared to the rest of the country; I actually got chills there - felt a little like being back in New England weather. There, we presented our diagnostics to the group and did some planning with the project partners to map out Peace Corps service at our sites. I’m lucky because my project partner is great, and has a good idea of how things should go. We mapped out plans in terms of Peace Corps’ specific goals for our education sector, and then brainstormed community projects. Overall, I got a lot out of this planning portion, and left feeling at least a bit more organized with how things should start this year.

School is starting next Monday (schools nationwide opened this past Tuesday, but we’re starting next week), which means classes begin, which means I’m about to get a whole lot busier. Which is awesome. I’ve been here for nearly 6 months, and it still feels like I don’t have much to show for it. The first 3 months were training, and the past few months were spent on the community diagnostic of the town. It’s all been fine, a great learning experience, but I’m used to being busier, with a set schedule so, I’m just ready for things to get a little more intense to say the least. But, as a friend told me: we’re volunteers here for 2 years not 2 weeks; its worthwhile to get to know the community as much as possible. So, I’m finalizing what the teaching schedule will look like, but it seems it’ll include English classes at the cultural center downtown, teacher training in basic computer classes at the school, an informatica class for more advanced students at the school (Teaching advanced computer classes? Who am I? Thinking/hoping it’ll become a chance for a school newspaper/written publication interest group, but we’ll see what the kids think of that), and then organizing the kids in my neighborhood into a more formal youth group. Also, my project partner thought it would be a good idea to use the teachers at the school to help expand our service plans to more neighborhoods. The town is large, and the teachers live in different barrios all over the place, so we asked them to brainstorm answers to “what does your neighborhood need?” not necessarily classes, but anything at all, then we’ll prioritize these ideas. For instance, “This activity can be completed faster and more easily than that activity since we already have the resources.” I’m looking forward to compiling all their ideas; they have lived in town for years, and know (better than I ever could in my 3 months here) what could benefit their neighborhoods best.

* * *

Last weekend I went back to visit my host family in Pantoja (the first family I stayed with in the capital). It was Mayelin’s graduation, and it was nice to be back to visit them (hadn’t seen them since May). And experiencing a graduation here was pretty neat, as well. More or less its the same as home: family and friends gather in a big hall, speeches from guests and teachers, students seated in caps and gowns, everyone walking up to receive their diploma, and take a photo as they move the tassel from one side of the cap to the other. And then typically after the ceremony, the graduates hug eachother, take a few more photos (or maybe a lot more photos), and greet friends’ families. But then inevitably, there’s eventually nothing left to do but leave, so the crowd disperses to celebrate at different venues and everyone drives away, awkwardly leaving 4 years behind them. ..Except not here. This is the Dominican Republic and graduation night (much like any night for that matter) isn’t over until you’ve danced for a few hours. After the ceremony the graduates all cleared their chairs from the floor and the night transitioned from a graduation into a merengue/bachata dance. And I’ll just be honest, having now experienced the latter, I prefer the post-graduation Caribbean dance party, hands down.

My host family (the one I’m with now) is wonderful. I’ll be moving out pretty soon, but will be back to visit a lot I hope. I’ll miss the family, and am sort of scared to be by myself further away from them in a different part of town (I know - what a whimp), but it’ll be excellent and I’m excited for family and friends to visit my place. After a PCVL came to check the safety of my new apartment, my host dad wanted to make sure it was safe enough, too. He gave the thumbs up. So the place has approval of PC, the school, and my host dad; hopefully visitors like it, too. :)

Enjoy these photos from the beginning of the month up through a few days ago.

Cabarete for August Birthdays (Carly's photo!)

Cabarete (Clayton's photo!)

Simon pretending to leave for IST with my bags

Jarabacoa

IST in Jarabacoa

Found St. Anselm in Jarabacoa...

Mayelin's Graduation

Obama meets Bill Clinton for the first time in Los Cocos

Bee Farm!

...And found Boston at Caribe Tours in the Capital

At Church in Mao

Apartment!

Take care - cuidense! :D

XOXOXO