All Over the Place.

Holas.

This post is a bit unorganized, and comes to you in the form of a recap of January and early February happenings. It is all over the place, and features a medley of two months of travel and fun things in my town crammed into one post...so, sorry. :) The posts that follow will be better than this one! Quizas. Here’re early 2012 highlights:

• Saint Anselm hosted another NH Primary debate. And on a related note - I hosted my first (and probably only) NH Primary watch party...meaning Dominican friends and I watched the debates online live on the St. A’s website. Naturally this was in English, so I also played translator so everyone could know what was going on. One of my friends even paid attention until the very end - such a good sport. Anyway, this was a noteworthy evening as 1. now I know who the Republican candidates are, and 2. my Dominican friends know what my college’s gym and lecture hall looked like. A good time had by all.
• In January the DR had a bunch of earthquakes measuring between 4-6 something on the Richter Scale. One of the earthquakes even had an epicenter in my site! With so many earthquakes (think I counted more than 7 that month?), odds are I had to feel one, right? And I did - January 2012 marked my first (and as of now, only) earthquake experience! 
• About a month and a half ago I finally moved to my new house. This switch has turned out to be an upgrade and downsize all at once as I’m paying less than half the rent of my old place, and the new house is 3x’s the size as the old one. I don’t really need the space, but its nice to save the pesos, claro.
• The Augilas (eagles), who are the Cibao’s baseball team, were in the prelim rounds in the Dominican series. It was exciting as the majority of my town supports the Augilas. Here’s a video of the reaction in my town immediately after one of the winning games:

• Also, I went to the disco in my site with Dominican friends and taught one of them how to dance bachata. Bachata is a DR dance that everyone (or so I thought) knows. This lesson doesn’t really speak to my dancing skills as much as it does beg the question... um, what do you mean you can’t bachata? Pero ven aca, muchacho!

And now, photos from January and February: 

Minnie's older sister, Blanca! ...same smile:)

the cutest!

Min's valentine from Stateside sis, Ellie

Thanks, Ellie! :)

Valentine's Day snacks in Maternal class

Elisa visited and prepared a feast! also: my first time ever cooking meat. (yes, believe it).

Natasha and I arranging chairs at Jess's literacy graduation

los graduados! 

America's next top (Dominican canine) model.

school-wide movie viewing of "Tangled"

Teacher of the Month for January - feliciades! 

a line dance bachata-style for Claire's birthday in her site!

La Caya

touring the new UASD (university) in Mao

happy birthday!

More soon, thanks for reading! and Happy Leap Year Day!

XO

Pretty Charming.

Hello! Writing via hotel wifi of our COS (Close of Service) Conference. Vaguely reminiscent of Staging, but coupled with nearly 2 years, anything and everything you can imagine happening in the middle, and a cherry on top. Crazy to be this close to the end of Peace Corps! ...But, I won't get into all that now.

Mostly just wanted to take advantage of the internet and post something on it. Ya tu sabes.

A lot has been going on - literally every day this month is covered in writing on my calendar. I have blog and photo updates in the works, including my mom's visit, PCDR's 50th Anniversary Conference, KC's visit, some travels, and pictures from Jan/Feb. So fun! ...Will have to wait for that though, too.

For now, here are pictures from a recent morning run. Just wanted to share the pretty trees and my charming dog. That's it. You all take care now. :)

XO

Buildings and Mountains.

Oh, hey there. Still in the DR. Almost two years later.

At this point there remains less than 4 months or so until COS (or Close of Service). Which of course, is a good deal of time to live somewhere and do something. But to me 4 months feels like nothing at all. It has been (a month shy) of two years since first arriving here and beginning Peace Corps. And two years, fyi friends, is a long time. 

Plenty of time to recognize needs, brainstorm, develop ideas, create a project, fundraise, carry it out, measure results, and do it all over again. Enough time to form friendships, develop relationships, and be unofficially adopted into many loving families. The months went quickly, but along the way I built a life (en Español!) out of a place where I initially did not know anybody. ...And, for the record - wound up loving it. 

Having already teared up a few times at the thought of leaving my life here and the people in it - two years is still long certainly, but almost doesn’t seem long enough. It’s hard to believe I will be leaving soon. I know I will miss this - a fact which speaks to the Mao, Peace Corps, and Dominican community, and the experience they’ve all allowed me in living and working with them.  

Thought I would share some pictures of a building site I’ve worked next two for the greater part of the last 23 months in the DR. The building, nonexistent when I first arrived, is now complete and will be used in the 2012-2013 school year as a work site for former IDENE students or those with special needs who are not in school or currently working. The new addition is a place for individuals with special needs to partake in workshops, develop skills and learn to run a business. It will provide job and teaching opportunities - there will be a beauty salon, a bakery, a woodshop/craft shop, and other workshop style classes. An exciting step for the school and those in the community with special needs to involve themselves in a constructive and educational environment. I’m pretty excited to return to visit  and see what it becomes.

This building had nothing to do with me, but it has been fun watching it grow (literally!) over the last two years:

June 2010 - During my second month living in Mao.

May 2011 - Construction progress at the end of the 2010-2011 school year with IDENE.

December 2011 - Christmas Party for former IDENE students  

January 2012 - New Year '12/Back from Holiday Break Party with current IDENE students

having fun!

touring the newly finished building with friends.

view of the Cibao mountains from the top of the new building:)

I’m usually not one to say something so sentimental as “oh, hey guys, this song expresses exactly what I’m thinking,” ...but this song expresses what I’m thinking, happens to coordinate well with the images/reflective theme of this post and for that reason shares the post’s title. Thought I would link to it: 

Buildings & Mountains - The Republic Tigers

(An aside: I really hope it is still okay to post a link this way on the internet...? Haven’t had a chance or (more truthfully) an interest in familiarizing myself with any of the internet sharing changes I keep hearing about. So, SOPA-enthusiasts - hope I’m not in trouble. Thanks.)

and finally, 
Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Lots of love,
XO

¡Felices Fiestas!

Hello! Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

Hope that everyone enjoyed the season. There are a lot of reasons to like this time of year; for me it’s family, friends, the hanging out, the visiting, the lights, the champagne, and that strangers are so darn cheerful and friendly. I definitely missed out on being at home with loved ones, the traditions, and the Christmas cookies. But, on the bright side, this Christmas I was not in a constant state of frozen (for the first time in my life) nor was there a single crazy holiday shopper, (or any holiday shopper for that matter). 

This Christmas I was in the DR, more specifically my site, and it proved to be a good time. I’m glad I stayed for a Dominican Christmas and feel blessed to have spent it sharing with my second family and Dominican friends. There were even some Christmas lights (pictured), shared champagne (not pictured), and a solid attempt at Christmas snacks (yup, I cooked something). May your days be merry and bright, and may your Christmas be campo. :) 

Some of the holiday highlights this season:

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Christmas lights and decor downtown that I thought were well done.

the park all lit up

friends posing in front of one of Mao's decorated houses

and Christmas tree in my neighborhood! Tree made out of lots of little plastic colmado bags.

* * *

Visited the host family in the capital before the holidays. They have a new addition! Isn’t she cute?

toasting marshmallows

Christmas tree in the Peace Corps office

look at this unexpected mail from friends here and in the States. Gracias:)

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Holiday party with staff and teachers from the school.

Angelitos/Secret Santa exchange

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Making Christmas snacks with Minnie to share with family, friends, and neighbors. 

pretzel, hershey kiss, m&m

embarrassed/proud to admit that this is the fullest my fridge has ever been.

* * *

Here Christmas Eve is the big holiday. My host family had extended family visiting and threw a party at their usually very tranquillo house in what will remain one of my favorite DR memories. I spent the day visiting the family and later hopping around to other friends' Christmas Eve parties.

Min was my +1 at holiday events, claro. 

barking her little face off, as usual.

DJ booth

my host mom cooking up all the food!

* * *

Surprise birthday party for my neighbor.

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Ringing in the New Year with good friends and fellow volunteers in Santiago.
PS - Stole most of these from Heather:)

first day of the new year!

Happy 2012!

XO