This is what life looks like at 6AM...Peace Corps-style.
In the last picture: on the other side of the canal across the banana (..or plantain? I can't tell the difference. The trees look the same to me) and yucca fields and up the hill is my old neighborhood.
Lucky to be here, :D
XO
PS - Happy Birthday, Aunt Julie!
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
Found St. Anselm in Jarabacoa...
Apartment!
Take care - cuidense! :D
XOXOXO
I don’t leave my site too, too much, but when I do, for some reason, my host family tends to grow a little bit. There’s some kind of math correlation to be made between my out-of-site trips and the addition of host siblings this past month. In July, I left my site twice and gained two host sisters after each return: one after Paraiso, and another after spending a night in Cabarete this past weekend. Next week I’m leaving again for 3 month IST (in-service training) - I wonder how many siblings there’ll be after that? Vamos a ver. Living with kids under 10 years old definitely keeps life around the house entertaining. I met another host sister, Ana just today. She’s four, and hilarious. After asking me if we could be sisters, she introduced herself saying, “I’m your sister, An-na - like Han-nah Montana.”
Having so many kids around all the time can be helpful, too. For one thing, they usually understand my Spanish better than adults do. So when necessary, they translate my Spanglish into Spanish - which was especially useful during all those diagnostic interviews. And back when the community was new to me, it was nice to have kids who wanted to walk around the neighborhood while I introduced myself to the families, trying to establish confianza and make friends. The list goes on - and I feel bad because the kids are a lot more helpful to me right now than I am to them, so I try to compartir and share in whatever they ask of me - watching (and translating) Harry Potter movies, listening to MJ, Antony Santos, Aventura or Shakira, teaching them English on the porch (they really want to learn English, maybe if only to understand Harry Potter and MJ songs better?) And they like video-recording everything. They video record one another to, “show my mother what they look like.” And thanks to that, now I have video clips of my host siblings doing all sorts of random things: singing songs (slash screaming songs), introducing all the different kinds of fruit trees in the garden outside, and washing dishes amongst other household chores. I doubt I’ll figure out how to post a video on here, but here are some photos they took the other day:
* * *
So with the diagnostic finished, I have been focusing on looking for a place to live for a while now - “a while,” meaning the greater part of this last month. And you’d think that’d be easily done in a large town with 50,000 residents (a little diagnostic fact for ya!). But no, it hasn’t been easy - I went so far as asking tigueres to help me (sorry, Grandma).
It started in my neighborhood back in May: There was just one house available, sort of expensive, but otherwise more than ideal - 3 bedrooms, on the second story, brand-new, spiral staircase leading up to the roof with mountain and hillside views and lots of light and fresh air. I could stay right here, surrounded by all my lovely neighbors, down the street from my host family, and have plenty of room for my US guests - sounds perfect, right? ...Obviously, I was a little bit in love with it, but I was new then, and figured I was too green to actually know what kind of house to look for, anyway. Then, of course, as I do with all big potential decisions/purchases, I thought about it for a long time, waited, and then talked myself out of wanting it altogether. “I shouldn’t live in DR’s Barbie Dream House for Peace Corps service,” “I should suffer a little bit,” and “It’s probably bad karma to rent the cutest house in the barrio.” And then the day I got over feeling guilty and decided I wanted the house, I found out a family started renting it. Oh well.
So with (literally) no other homes available to rent in my barrio, I started looking afuera, outside the campo, broadening the scope, and searching downtown. Where I found: nothing. That’s when I began asking everyone I met to help me, having new tiguere friends and motoconchistas take me around town to places they knew through a hermano/primo of their tio, etc. If nothing else, I was learning to navigate the town, meeting people, mastering bolas, all the while not finding a place to live. And then after spending time with other volunteers in Cabarete (awesome place, very touristy, but gorgeous - kite surfing, restaurants/lounging right on the beach, and all lit up at night), fears were confirmed as I learned that I was one of the only ones who hadn’t found a place to live. Sad and disappointing - apparently, I’m a terrible house hunter.
Finally though, things turned around yesterday, and friends from the school found places I may be able to stay. They reassured me that it is difficult, as most here are expensive, and those that are available go pretty quickly. And after seeing what they found, I now know there just isn’t much for rent here in town - the two apartments they showed me are the same two that one of my tigueres introduced me to last week. One of the apartments is already out of the running because each time it rains (or so I’ve been told), the street floods with a foot of water, making it impossible to drive and difficult to walk when that happens. (Not to mention, I can only imagine how many mosquitoes take advantage of a water-logged habitat like that - I don’t need any more bites right now). But this other apartment is a 2-bedroom, big enough for guests, dog-friendly :), has a little spiral staircase too, with overall potential to be cute if I work it right. So it looks like I might have a place - and one of the only places - for rent here, with many thanks, as usual, to the help of everyone else. I’ll be honest though: it’s nowhere near as pretty as my former beloved campo dream palace (that another Dominican family is now newly enjoying), but when I’m through with it, maybe it will be. Anyway, I’m leaving all these adorable kids in a month or less to live completely on my own (for the first time ever - no family, no roommates, no pets...yet!) in my fourth (and hopefully final) home in the Dominican Republic.
I’m already really sad about leaving the campo though, and to be honest would rather just stay right here where I am for the 2 years. It’s so rural, and I’m really happy here: I like living so tranquillo. I’m lucky enough that everyone already knows me and I know them. My family is great. And its so scenic to run on the canal trails alongside the yucca and guineo fields. It would be a great place to stay and live...if I could find a place to stay and live. But I want my family and friends from home to visit, and I doubt anyone one of them would be comfortable sleeping squished on the cement floor of my bedroom, so I need a place of my own. I just really wish that place could’ve been here in the barrio and not way on the other side of town. Anyway, the new house is big enough for friends to visit, which is the whole point of living on my own - so make sure you do that! I won’t be living in the Caribbean forever, you know.
* * *
Next week I’ll present the diagnostic at IST in Jarabacoa (located in the middle of the country, sort of near Pico Duarte if you look at the map above) and then be officially done with these first 3 months in my site. I’m pretty excited to get the diagnostic finished and close that chapter. It was fun meeting everyone and getting to know the town, and I learned from the process, for sure. But I’m really ready to work and start classes and youth groups. I’m not used to so much unstructured time; its possible to work that way I guess, but I like having everything planned out, more or less. (Basically, running on American Time, vamos a ver si es posible aqui). I held off on starting classes these first months, because I still don’t really feel settled at all yet. I wanted to get to know the community better, find where I fit in, get a schedule, (aka have my own place to live - almost there!). But I do have upcoming plans to start an English program and classes in town (at a cultural center, with music classes and IT programs), but I told the directors I couldn’t begin until after the diagnostic was completed - aka end of August/beginning of September. The center is part of the city hall, doesn’t charge money from students, and doesn’t pay teachers (they volunteer), so they need an English teacher willing to work for free. It is far away from where I currently live, and I just really want to be settled in my own house before I start diving into things. So that said, I’m not nervous to present this diagnostic next week, but I am super nervous to start these classes - mostly because of the enthusiasm from the directors. Apparently, there’s a lot of interest in learning English from the current students, which is great. My friend from the school (who put me in contact with this place) says they keep asking him when I will start teaching. "Bueno - at the end of the month." Then this afternoon I went to the center to check it out (I’d been once before). Right when I got there the secretary walked up to me, and asked me if I was “there to teach English today.” Woah, I just came to relearn where this building is actually located, say “hi,” maybe check my email? "Bueno - at the end of the month." Oh well. So there's pressure to start. And soon. But, it’s better to have a lot of interest rather than none at all, right? They just really want to offer English classes, and because they want it so much, I want for it to be good. And that’s why I’m nervous - I just want people to like it.
* * *
I feel weird about posting a phone number on the internet, but I’m not in very good contact anyway, so what could it hurt? Plus, it’s wicked expensive for people to call me here (already racked up a phone bill of a few hundred dollars - not even pesos but dollars - on only one phone call! Ugh, awful!), so I seriously doubt anyone would want to prank call me. All that said, if you’re interested, and ever want to just say "Hi" you can text me for free online! The website is in Spanish, but its easy:
Click here.
Enter my Claro number: 8097234843, a message, and click Enviar / Send!
*Please just include your name so I know who you are. :) & Thanks!
Sorry that this is the length of a mini-novel. Someday I’ll write something short and sweet. Take care of yourself!
XO
PS - Wanted to throw it out there that I recently mastered the DR lavadora. (Yeah, who cares, right? Sounds so lame, “I washed my clothes in the DR!” but Dominican washing systems are unlike any other I’ve used in the US, so this actually is a bit of an accomplishment for me, gracias). The lavadora, coupled with a three bucket washing/rinsing assembly line, topped off with line-drying everything in the blinding sun y ya. No problem, so please feel free to bring on all laundry great and small - granted we have electricity and water, of course.
& Congrats, Sara for making the Dean’s List...yet again! :D
(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
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
