House Hunting with Tigueres, etc.

(from Domingo 7/18/10...Jueves 7/22/10...Domingo 7/25/10)

This is an inconsistent post about a lot of different topics, united by the running theme of trying to understand and fit in. Otherwise known as my life here. Enjoy!

A House Hunting Update:

House hunting has turned from a peaceful browsing into a “How much is this? When is it available?” desperate search. I like my host family, they’re very nice to me, and luckily I have no real reason to move, gracias a Dios. But at the same time, I want my own schedule and space. I’m happy where I am for now, but I definitely can’t do this for the next two years (It’s been 5 months of host families - all really great, but that’s also a really long time). And to sum up all my progress so far: house hunting is wicked difficult. I’m waiting on a friend from the school to show me around places he’s found, but it’s been a week and a half. I’m trying to be patient and wait, but I figure this is something I’d do on my own in the US, so may as well figure it out for myself in the DR.

So, I set off on my own to find a dream house (complete with zinc roof and cement floor) the only way I knew how: walking around town, strolling up to any place with a sign saying “Se Vende/Alquilar” (For Sale/Rent) and asking, “How much?” Not too professional. Don’t worry, it gets even classier. After a lot of fruitless mornings and afternoons walking around town finding little, I was ready to give up. Then, upon hearing a group of tigueres hissing and yelling at me, an idea struck, and I didn’t think twice.

In a short, sweet conversation, I put my local tigueres to work, and now some of them are looking for houses for me. Yes, the same guys who line up their plastic chairs on the street, hiss and catcall at me everyday with their priopos: “Rubia! Mi corazon! Preciosa! Mami! Ven aca, princesa! and the classic: Americana - pa’manga mi visa!” are now the ones helping me find home sweet home for the next 2 years. Instead of ignoring them and pretending not to hear their borderline harassment, I just chat and tell them how I’m looking for a place to live in town. A lot offer to help me out, and some even come through (with decently priced apartments - added bonus!). So there you go - this machismo culture may finally be on my side just this once.

Thoughts on being from “New York”:

New York is not its own country. It is a state and also a city, and there are many other states and many more cities and all of these combined are the United States. At least that’s how I remember it, anyway. For many, especially kids, “Los Estados Unidos” (the US) is “Nueva Yol” (New York), and only NY. So when you explain that indeed yes, you’re from alla, someone may ask you if you enjoy living in New York. You can try to explain otherwise, “No, NY is one place, I’m from a different city,” which may or may not be effective in changing their mind. It matters little whether or not you’ve lived in NY or have even been there before - if you are from the US, you are pinned as someone from Nueva Yol and that is that, ya tu sabes.

...and living on “DR Time”:

Even though I’m technically in the same time zone as family back home, I’m on Dominican Time which might as well be a whole separate time zone in itself. Dominican Time essentially means a lot of waiting. I hadn’t really had too many issues with this until recently. Since I am working in a school, everyone arrives and works the whole day through. But now that its summer and there’s less of a schedule, DR Time is becoming more and more of a reality. For instance, some days I know I definitely have a meeting with someone, so I wait at specified X location only to find that no, we are in fact not meeting today because of Y reason. Other days, I have nothing planned, so I go off on my own. On these occasions, without fail, I will inevitably have 5 missed calls from a Dominican, only to call back and hear “Where were you? I’ve been calling and calling. We are going to go do X thing right now, I’ll pick you up in 5 minutes.” So there’s a lot of waiting, or a lot of rushing on Dominican Time. ...Another perfect example occurred today (7/22/10). So yesterday, my project partner gives me a day’s notice, and tells me to have the diagnostic ready for today’s presentation with all the teachers and staff at the school. My report’s been written for a while, but of course I hadn’t made the actual presentation part yet. I did my best to figure out PowerPoint all day yesterday condensing my 21 page report into a few slides. Then today rolls around, and its time for the meeting at 2pm. Then its 3pm. Then 4pm. And then I leave, because no one’s there, and I successfully spent 2 hours clicking through the presentation over and over. Bueno. But, I can’t even be frustrated, because at least now, everything’s done with that project. :o) Later, I’ll receive some explanation, but essentially, you see what Dominican Time means.

It’s the funniest thing (sometimes - not always), and Dominican Time definitely keeps life interesting. Everything is scheduled but will only actually occur si Dios quiere (if God wants it to) - a phrase that can literally be tossed into any future/possibility conversation and fit nicely. For example:

“We will graduate next year, si Dios quiere.”

“See you in an hour, si Dios quiere.”

“I’m going to brush my teeth now, sit here, read this book, and drink a glass of water, si Dios quiere.”

...Anything can be si Dios quiere. It’s a fun way to say “maybe I’ll do what I’m telling you, and maybe I won’t. Instead, I’ll give you this vague answer and you can wait and find out what happens later.” At the same time si Dios quiere really is a nice, humbling way to say that everything is in God’s hands. But in those moments that I’m left waiting around for someone else, I can’t help but think it’d be even nicer if Dios would quiere for the DR to run on American time once in a while.

After rereading this, I realized these are mildly unsuccessful stories... my bad, but things are still good! And it will all be even better once people can visit at my house, wherever that ends up being. I am so excited for visitors and cannot wait to play host. With that said, good luck to my new tiguere friends in their search, and please, si Dios quiere, help me find a place with running water and electricity (I dream big). In the mean time, my host siblings told me they want me to stay here with them for the 2 years, so that’s cute. Lucky for them, I’m still very much homeless, so for now they can continue aprovechar-ing my iPod. :o)

Happy Birthday, JT!!

& Happy Birthday, Mom!

Congrats to GBSS at Nationals this year, & Alyssa - Miss College Majorette of America! :D

Thinking of you all at home, missing you, wishing you were here and all the best, always.

XO

Things Around the Town

(from Sunday 7/11/10)

These are just a few pictures of sites around Mao. A week ago, the newly restored park opened. It had been under construction for at least a year, but it’s really nice now.

There’s a river that runs along the outside of town (named Mao River), as well as canals that cross through the center. If you look on the map at the top of the page, you can see the Yaque del Norte river, which is where the Mao River connects. Here is part of one of the canals near my host family’s house.

And a little note on luz: In my neighborhood, people pay for luz (electricity), which I didn’t know at first, and which also explains why we usually have it. Recently though, the luz “se fue” (electricity went out) for three full days, which caused quite a stir in my neighborhood. Well maybe “stir” isn’t the best way to put it. No one I talked to particularly questioned why the the lights were out, or knew what exactly happened to cause it. Still, “Luz se fue! Se fue la luz!” were the phrases coming out of nearly everyone’s mouths. By the second day, I really wanted an answer for “luz se fue.” I asked around, but no one seemed too concerned with finding out what happened. Here’s an example of a conversation:

Me: “Why did the electricity go out? What happened to it?”

Any Given Neighbor: “Oh its because the lights are out! There’s a problem with the lights.”

Me: “Yes, they’re not working, but do you know why? And doesn’t everyone pay for electricity here? Why isn’t there electricity today?”

AGN: “Yes we pay, it is so expensive! But the lights are out right now.”

Bueno, now I understand...

The conversation later with my host brother yielded more results:

Me: “Simon, we haven’t had electricity for three days. What did you do to it?”

Simon: “Nothing! It’s your fault.”

So aside from that explanation, no one knew why “luz se fue,” and no one really cared to find out either. It’s one of those instances where I feel even more foreign than usual. At home if there were an unexpected power outage for three days, people would want to know why, and would most likely be pretty upset by it. Few would adhere to this nonchalant DR mentality. Here when the lights and running water “se fue,” the general attitude is “Oh, it will be back eventually” whereas if this ever happened back home its, “What’s happening and how can it be fixed asap?” I should mention that in general, water and electricity go out pretty regularly, especially in areas where no one pays. If the community pays, its likely that electricity and water won’t “se fue” as often. Typically, there is some kind of schedule you can depend on for lights and water - you have it in the early morning and night but never during the day, for instance. Where I am now, there are random power and water outtages, but they’re very rare and never last for too long - definitely never three days, anyway. By the last day with no lights, I saw a group of electricians working in the neighborhood and when they left, the lights finally worked again. Even though no one else in the neighborhood knew what happened, I can only assume that at least these guys might have had the answers of why the “luz se fue.”

What else is going on...Finished the diagnostic mas o menos...Looking for a house... House hunting is a lot more challenging than the diagnostic was, but its turning out to be a good way to get to know the community, too. And people are open about sharing their opinions about where I should/should not live. I want to stay where people already know me. 1. Because its easier, and 2. Because I like the people around me. So I started looking in the neighborhood right next to mine, because its a lot bigger with more houses, but still close to where I am now. Then in a disturbing conversation, a muchacho tells me that I shouldn’t live there because “Haitians live there. They might kill you.” ...Which led to an attempt to dismantle stereotypes in an awkward talk with a 10 year old. I think my neighborhood is great, and its always people who don't live here who try to tell me otherwise. I told a friend of a friend about how I’m looking for houses, and he tells me that he would “never go in that neighborhood at night because its very dangerous.” I guess all the old men playing dominoes might intimidate some people - but come on, cheer up, senor! There's nothing to worry about - except of course the mosquitoes. :-)

After house hunting one day, I walked back to my neighborhood and right into a wedding party in the middle of the street. Here are a few pictures before and after the neighbor’s wedding that I went to with my host sister.

Lots of love and miss everyone at home. Take care!

XO

Fourth Fiestas

(from Miercoles, 7/7/10)

This past weekend - I celebrated in Paradise. ...Literally though, as the town is named “Paraiso” (near Barahona) and I was there with about 35 more volunteers for the Fourth of July. It was a really great time, and marked one of the first reunions for our training groups (thank you, Clayton for organizing for everyone!). We visited the beach front sites of two fellow volunteers (they are such lucky ducks), to swim and hang out together. It was great too, because our large group was able to support businesses (a volunteer’s tourism PC project, and a colmado/restaurant of a volunteer’s host family) in both towns while we were there. It was definitely a memorable trip, and I loved visiting other Peace Corps sites and catching up with friends. A very American weekend, (well, an American weekend on a Caribbean beach, that is) that featured - camping, bonfires, swimming, singing and dancing to musica de alla. And, I’ll admit: I was a little homesick for the first time here on the Fourth, (usually at home, my family is on the beach or lake after attending a number of baton twirling parades/events on this holiday), so I was definitely glad to be with other volunteers - this group always has a good time. At one point I took a break from the festivities to nap and read in the tent (I know, what a nerd), and when I rejoined later, I was welcomed back by a group of friends shouting and clapping. Then one friend yelled “Happy Birthday, Emma!” as a joke, and suddenly people were singing and wishing me a happy birthday. It was a pretty humorous, and confusing moment, but it felt great to be back in such fun company.

To travel to the southwest for the Fourth, was another adventure in itself. I live in the northwest, so getting to the capital took 3-4 hours, and then from there, another 3-4 hours or so to Paraiso. Some of the group made the trip back and forth from the capital to Paraiso packed altogether in a gua-gua which was fun, and reminiscent of all of our group bus rides during training. This trip, I passed through the capital twice, stocked up on books from the Peace Corps Office library, and got my mail for the first time in over a month, (KC, thank you for the package!). Now that I’m back in Mao, I’m working again on the diagnostic and preparing for upcoming classes. Hearing about friends’ plans for their service, and what others have been up to has been a helpful motivation, and I’m feeling recharged after this mini-break.

During the last couple days, I’ve been finishing up a few final family interviews in my neighborhood. I don’t really know when is a good point to stop interviewing, so I just keep doing more and more. There can never be too many, I guess. A little challenge this week is that it has been raining SO much here, more than usual. It rained for about 6 hours straight today, alone. When it rains, generally people don’t do anything. Rain is an excuse to not show up to a meeting, work, class, family visit, church and so on. Of course, there are exceptions to this, but usually rain is reason enough to cancel whatever you’re doing/about to do and just stay indoors. Sometimes, people will run outside and bathe in the rain. Still, most stay inside, escalating the volume of their afternoon conversations to shouts in an attempt to compete with the rain pounding overhead on their zinc roofs. The sound of the rain on the metal above drowns out just about all other noise to my ears, but somehow people still converse and understand eachother over the noise. My dona shouts, “No te mojas!” - Don’t get wet! - to our neighbors as they scurry quickly back to their homes, as being mojado or “wet” from rain means you chance the possibility of catching gripe (getting sick), and nobody wants that.

And so it rains a lot, so what? Use an umbrella, move on, and get where you need to be. That’s my attitude anyway, but with no one else sharing these sentiments, I end up spending a lot of the rainy afternoons indoors, too. Which means I do as many house interviews as I can in the mornings before the rain. In the afternoons, I go out again for more, but that means risking the likelihood of getting caught in the heavy rain and being stuck, unable to leave an interviewee’s house for two hours. ...Which is what happened yesterday. On the plus side, people don’t seem to mind, and, as it turns out, spontaneous, unannounced, two-hour visits are a fairly successful way to get to know your neighbors. :-)

Oh, and all the rain means I’ve been reading a lot more than before. I added a list of recent read books to this page. Most of the books are all DR-related fiction, a couple are non-fiction, and I’d recommend any of them, but especially Why the Cocks Fight. It’s a book about the underlying reasons of fighting (and cockfighting, too), including history of DR-Haiti politics, and culture, and essentially reasoning why the two countries clash so much. And the author references a lot of interesting, related reading throughout and at the end of the book. Really good, just read it. That’s all.

I hope that everyone had a memorable and safe holiday. Thanks for reading and checking out my pictures. As usual, I didn’t take enough photos, but here are pictures from the Fourth and my first real camping experience in a real tent on the real (and really hard) ground. (Sleeping outside in college for “Hunger & Homelessness Week” years ago is the only other time I could remember doing something similar...but I don’t think the St. A’s quad counts as camping). Enjoy, take care of yourselves, and God Bless America! ...and Hispaniola. :-P

xo,

Emma