Out of Order Blog

Just a little update, a bit out of order, but oh well - you’re all smart, you’ll get it! Getting these posts up to speed and pictures soon.

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In the DR, Christmas lasts a long time, so everything, nearly everything in town is put on hold mid-December through mid-January. Including but not limited to: school, classes, work, buses, stores, supermarkets, internet cafes, banks - all closed/operating less often/working less than usual, etc. Maybe to paint a picture: it is sort of like you walk down the street your first week back in the DR from the States, but the bank’s closed, then after walking a few more blocks, you see that the supermercado is closed, and finally, defeated and walking home, you discover that even the trusty colmado across the street from your house has its wooden doors shut, too. Hmm, thought you might buy groceries today? Nice try. Peso-less, and with only oatmeal left in the kitchen - looks like you’ll be bola-ing to your dona’s house for lunch instead. (Which those who have visited me will tell you - is always the better option, anyway). So the entire town is more or less on the winter vacation schedule of a college student. Welcome back to the DR - right now there’s a month-long break for nearly everyone you know! ...Hmm, actually sounds pretty fun, right?

Well maybe that’s not every volunteer’s experience, but that was me the first couple days back in Mao. Before all that though, I aprovechar-ed the Dominican holiday season and went home for 10 days, came back, and then had my fourth and fifth visitors from the States for about a week. Going home and friends from the US? So. darn. lucky.

I’ll save save Angela and Lisa’s visit for the next post (lots of pictures coming soon!) and start with home. Home was really good. Busy. I felt guilty at first for leaving the DR. Then while at home, occasionally I still felt like a big Peace Corps cheater, mostly due to all the hot water/(water in general) available all the time. And internet. I could literally send emails faster than ever while lying in bed. Glorious.

Seriously, though, I was glad to be home and lucky to be able to visit with friends and family. To those I saw - thanks for making time for me! :o) To those I missed because of the blizzard (thanks so much, New England weather) - well, all the more reason to come down here and visit now, right? Yes.

All in all, (but snow completely aside), it was a good time at home. Oh yes - and I got to meet Sara’s/mom’s pet (aka new dog that replaced me post-leaving for Peace Corps). If you haven’t had the pleasure to meet Ellie take my word for it - she is such a cute, little, sad-eyed charmer.

Be well, all!

XO

Travel like a Boss

...Or maybe a better title would be, “How to Fly the Red-Eye, then Travel Cross-Country in Less Than 24 Hours without Sleep: A Mini-adventure on 3 Gua-guas, 2 Taxis, and an Airplane.” But that seemed like a rather long name. This log documents a trip back from the United States to the Dominican Republic. And I’d like to think that to an extent, it also exemplifies dedication to celebrating New Years.

Non-stop, all day travel. Enjoy reading. And maybe don’t do it the way I did. Suerte, amigos.

Dec. 29th:

8ish pm - Arrive at Logan Airport, check in, and find terminal.

10:00 pm - Flight from Boston to Santo Domingo. Nope, delayed. Instead: search terminal for chai tea latte. Last one for a while.

11:30 pm - Flight from Boston to Santo Domingo. Delayed again. Guess this flight leaves on Dominican time.

Dec. 30th:

12:00 am - Flight from Boston to Santo Domingo. Nope. Not yet.

12:30 am - Still waiting to board. A few donas start yelling at the staff at the airport because of the delays and long wait - ironic moment. (First time I’ve ever seen Dominicans upset about being late. Refreshing. Also, frightening). People continue yelling in spanish. Staff announce that they may cancel the flight because they feel threatened.

1:something am - Start to board by sections. No one on this flight seems to be waiting in line. (Pero, claro!)

2:something am - Flight from Boston to Santo Domingo.

7:00 am - Land in la Republica Dominicana.

8:00 am - Taxi from airport to bus station. All for the low price of only $1,200 RD. Ay Dios...

9:00 am - Bus to Mao.

12:00/1:something pm - Arrive in Mao. Unpack. Repack. Discover there’s no running water in the house again. Sad for a second. Hope it returns someday soon. Leave house.

2:30 pm - Bus to Santiago. Smushed and caliente. Holiday travel - gua-gua style. Fancy. So many suitcases strapped onto the outside of buses. Quite a sight! Too tired to dig for my camera, but it would have made a great picture.

3:30 pm - Bus from Santiago to Sosua.

5:something pm - Arrive in Sosua to some fuerte taxi drivers. Translation, mas or menos:

Taxi driver: “Rubia! Going to Cabarete? Come here! Taxi, taxi!”

Me: “OK. How much?”

TD: “500 pesos, mi amor. But for you, just 400.”

M: “No thanks, bye”

TD: “Wait, wait, Americana. For you just 350 pesos.”

M: “No, I can’t pay that. Bye.”

TD: “Wait! How much do you want to pay?”

M: “150.”

TD: “Okay fine. Let’s go!”

Well, maybe they weren’t so fuerte after all. But I am not paying 500 pesos to go a distance that could easily be bola-ed if I weren’t so tired/scared of fast Sosua drivers. Tu sabes.

6:00pm - Arrive at hostel to ring in 2011 on the beach!

Long day. Y es facil?

So, that took a while. Traveled from New England, to the the south of the DR, to the north of the island with a few detours in the middle. Ten months ago, I don’t know if I would have been so confident in my Dominican public transportation abilities to do all that at once. In the end though, it went really well, just as everything always does. A couple photos from New Years:

Family, Friends near and far, PCDR voluntarios...everyone, everywhere - Happy 2011! There’s a lot to be thankful for. (Ability to go without sleep, for one thing). God bless!

XO

December Wrap-up

Back in the DR! I went home for Christmas, but before that I did a few things in December that I never wrote about. Just ran out of time, but here it is now:

1. Youth Conference - In early December, our sector held a national conference for Dominican youth. All volunteers in the education sector brought 1-3 jovenes from their campos/pueblos to Licey (same site as the Medical Mission) for a 3-day conference to learn about leadership, computers, technology, etc. I brought a 14-year old from my neighborhood, and she loved the conference. It’s really easy to travel in the DR, but I find that most people in my town just don’t leave that much. So my joven really liked traveling somewhere new, and meeting kids from all over the Dominican Republic. Here’s a photo of the joven I brought and a few more who attended the conference.
2. Monte Cristi - (Located left corner of map, northwestern-most city of the DR). My school went here for a graduation, art show and dance performance. The graduation was for the environment courses that our padrino, Banelino taught. The course taught different ways to incorporate environment-knowledge and recycling into teaching in a classroom. The class was held monthly for the past 6 months or so (since last spring when I arrived to Mao). After the graduation some of the kids got prizes for their environment-themed art they had made. In the last post about the recycling exhibition you can see a photo of the winners holding their drawings from the art contest. Monte Cristi itself isn’t too far from Mao, maybe 1.5 hours? Possibly less. And the ride up there is really different from anything I’ve seen so far - lots of dry land, even cactuses (cacti?). Yup cacti in the Caribbean. Here are a few photos from the day: the shore in Monte Cristi, the kids’ dance at the graduation, and students thanking Banelino for working with our school.
3. Candy making with host family - Right before I left from the capital to the United States in mid-December, I stayed with the host family in Pantoja for a night. The family made a sesame and chocolate candy and gave me some to share with my family at home. Here are some photos of the candy-making process. Those big leaves in the pictures are banana or plantain leaves.

Bye!

XO

Recycling Exhibition

(from Friday December 3, 2010)

WARNING: There are a lot of pictures here. But with reason; PCV friends looking to make recycled crafts with kids - this post is for you. Supplies: plastic soda bottles. Available at a colmado near you, ya tu sabes, mis amores. <3

So IDENE (my school) had an art show to display the recycled crafts that the students and teachers had made. All of the classrooms had a table of their work on display. The teachers gave a demonstration of how to make each craft, and the importance of caring for our environment. Community members, students’ friends and family, neighbors, and my host family were invited to the event. A good-sized group showed up to learn about recycling. And the exhibition even made it on Mao’s afternoon news - what a fun Friday.

Photos below from the recycling exhibition, “Reciclamos para Cuidar Nuestra Tierra,” or “We Recycle to Care for Our Earth.”

Careful, it’s pretty darn cute.

Plastic Fork Fan:

Plastic Bottle Candle Holder:

Plastic Fork and Spoon Dolls:

Plastic Bottle Box with Zipper:

Plastic Bottle Christmas Tree:

Plastic Bottle Flowers:

Plastic Bottle Box with Zipper:

Plastic Bottle Apple:

Milk Carton Cars:

Kid Art:

"Together we can save the world from trash." :

Plastic Bottle Flowers:

Plastic Bottle Catch Game:

Cuidense mucho. Adios!

XO

Botanical Garden

After Thanksgiving, some of us stayed for ISLT (Spanish class) in Pantoja. This meant a week back at Entrena for training, (though it was a lot more relaxed than the first time around), a week compartir-ing with friends (yes!), and a week living with my host family in Pantoja.

I love visiting the family. Actually, I love all my host families. Anyway, now I live 4 hours away from them, so can’t visit too often, but even still they always make me feel like part of the family. So it was fun to be staying there for the first time since August. Way back in the spring, my host dad said that before 2011 we’d go to the Botanical Garden. And so here we are. Enjoy the pics!

XO

Gracias a Dios

...for Thanksgiving, Peace Corps-style.

Here are some photos of Pre-Thanksgiving at a friend’s site in La Caya and Thanksgiving Day with PCVs, staff, and friends in Santo Domingo. Both celebrations were great. I was feeling campo guilt at first (from the time away in early November) and debated whether or not to go, but am so glad I did, and can’t believe I considered missing it. At Pre-Thanksgiving in La Caya, we stayed at a fellow volunteer’s host family’s relative’s house - a home (though it seemed like a resort) on a hilltop that overlooked the pueblo/campo below. There we shared amazing American food, dancing and good times. Then on Thanksgiving Day, almost all the volunteers in the DR gathered at a club in the capital for a day of sports, games, a talent show, dance contests and of course a traditional dinner. So nice. And then finally, to top off the Thanksgiving festivities, one of my taxi drivers was from the Boston area. So, I got to talk about northshore Mass, in Spanish, to someone who knew what I was talking about, (and who had even celebrated Thanksgiving before) - yay!

Muchas gracias to all the talented and creative chefs! And another gracias to friends who shared these photos. Hope that everyone back home had a memorable Thanksgiving, too. See you in a few weeks.

Note: You might view the following and think, “Um, this is Peace Corps?” I know. I didn’t expect infinity pools, either. Such a lucha, sometimes. ;)

La Caya:

cogiendolo suave.

y La Capital for Thanksgiving:

Okay, thank you for reading! Love to everyone.

XO