When I moved to Bayahibe in April, I started walking Rosalinda every morning with a lady named Yanela who has six dogs. I learned more and more about a local foundation called “Collares Rojos” or Red Collars, of which Yanela is the director. It is a non-profit organization working to help abused and abandoned dogs and street dogs. Their main mission is to fix all the street dogs so that the dogs are less aggressive and, of course, cannot reproduce. However, they also look after street dogs that have been in an accident (get hit by a car, etc.), and try to get dogs adopted. Here there are not very many laws against dog abuse, and Dominicans, in general, have a bad attitude against dogs. For example: when I adopted Rosalinda, she would bark at children because the kids in the neighborhood where she was born would throw rocks at her.

When I lived in Mano Juan, the community always complained about how the dogs were a huge problem because they always bothered the tourists. In an effort to help, in May I worked with Collares Rojos to get three veterinarians to go out to Mano Juan and fix the street dogs there. There were four dogs already pregnant, so they planned to go out a couple of months later to finish the job.

A couple of weeks ago the new volunteer in Mano Juan, who had just gotten back from a trip, called me and said that she could not her dog, Mandy, and was worried about her. Later that day, I was walking down the street and ran into my friend that works with a tourist company that goes to Mano Juan. He said that that day when they went, a community member had met him on the beach and told him that they had taken care of the dog problem for the tourist companies. They had killed eight dogs the day before. My friend and all of the other workers were furious; they had not wanted this to happen.

I called the volunteer in Mano Juan back to confirm her worries; Mandy was dead.

The order to kill the dogs had come through a community member who had just become the local governmental official. However, there is a law against killing dogs in such a way so Collares Rojos and the tourist companies that go to Mano Juan were very upset and the whole town of Bayahibe was talking about the incident for several days.

Now the community members of Mano Juan understand what they did was wrong but the incident still has a lasting effect. One of the dogs they killed had eight puppies. Four of the puppies have died, one the volunteer at Mano Juan adopted, and three are awaiting adoption at Collares Rojos.

Since this incident, I started volunteering at the Collares Rojos’ new pound where they have abused and abandoned puppies and dogs awaiting adoption. There are always going to be bad stories like this but they don’t have to end there because there will also always be individuals that strive to make a difference. If anyone would still like to donate to one of my projects, please donate to this one! The foundation is always looking for money for dog-food and medicine. You can donate at collaresrojos.org; be sure to say that you know me!

Collares Rojos' pound:

Puppies at pound:

***When I was on vacation in June, Rosalinda got out of the yard and was hit by a car. A friend of Yanela’s saw Rosa and called Yanela. When Yanela recognized that it was my dog, she took her straight to the vet in La Romana. Rosalinda had a broken rib, bruised jaw, and a dislocated shoulder. Now she will always have a limp, but she is alive. A special thank you to Yanela and Santiago for taking such good care of her!

At the beginning of July, I went on vacation to Boston and New York City, and then I spent a week home in Texas. I left Santo Domingo 3am on May 31st and arrived in Boston at 9am. Katie Apone, a friend from my Peace Corps group who wasn’t crazy enough to extend had returned home there and so I went for a couple of days to visit her.

It was quite strange being with another Peace Corps volunteer in the states. Especially when we went to WalMart and she drove. What? You mean that we don’t have to wait for the public guagua (bus) and drive through crazy, noisy traffic for a half an hour longer than it should be to get to the supermercado and then take all our bags back on the crowded, hot guagua back to site? Weird!

We had a great time…we walked all over Boston, I learned the train system (which helped out a lot in NYC), we had a picnic in the park, took a tour around Harvard University, and went to a Boston Improv show.

Next, I took a bus through Connecticut to NYC to meet with my sister, Liz, for five days. We got to see all of the touristy sites including…

Central Park which was beautiful and so weird because it’s a HUGE park stuck in one of biggest cities.

Times Square

The Statue of Liberty

The Empire State Building (We did not go up to the top because neither of us wanted to pay $25 to ride an elevator but it was pretty from the outside.)

Phantom of the Opera on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre.

On Monday Charles Beeker, the professor I'm working with, told me that a TV show wanted to interview him, me, and a couple of other people about the work that we have been doing. I honestly thought he was joking until the next day!

It didn't really hit me until Wednesday morning when we left at 4am from Bayahibe to the capital. I was in the back seat typing a letter to the Ministry of Environment, whom we had a meeting with later that day. We pulled up to the station, got our make up done, and walked on to the set.

Of course, I was really nervous. Then I found out that the show would be live, so I got a little more nervous. Then I found out that it would not only be playing here in the DR, but also in parts of the US and in Europe, so then I was super nervous!!!! Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that it was all in Spanish.

In the end, I think I did really well. I answered about six questions. They are going to send us copies of the tape.

On another note, go to iu.edu to see an article about what we are doing. It is currently the "Spotlight" article. (Yes that is me as the "scientific diver".) When that gets taken down, you can go to...

http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/18401.html.

When I joined the Peace Corps, I never expected to be doing things like this. I feel really blessed to be a part of this project.

I will be extending to Bayahibe to work on the Living Museums project, which was created by Indiana University and USAID. It will extend for three to six months but not sure exactly the time length.

They need someone to run checks on three Living Museums project sites: Guadalupe, Morales, and Captain Kidd. At each site they want to check the following things every two to three months.

1. The three sites are ship wrecks with items such as cannons, anchors, etc. some of the items they found there and some of the items they placed. They need to check if the items are still there and if there is any damage to the items.

2. Some of the items have biology or soft coral growing on them. For example, one cannon at the William Kidd wreck has two sea fans at the end of it. They need to check this biology, if it is still there or if there is new biology and the health of the biology.

3. At the William Kidd wreck there are two types of endangered coral, Staghorn and Elkhorn. They need to make sure that the coral is still there and is healthy. Also, if there are any pieces of live coral that we can save, we received training in this procedure. With two zip ties, we put broken off pieces of Elkhorn coral to an Elkhorn coral base. If done correctly the two will grow together and become one coral and continue to live.

4. Also, we would check on any other damage at the site. For example, any anchor damage or damage to the buoys, and any signs of overfishing.

The thing that I am most excited about is saving the endangered coral. Also, they would like me to work on community outreach to get the locals involved. However, we are still making plans and arrangements about what I will specifically be doing.

Last month we did training for checking and maintaining the sites. Also, how to zip tie the coral together…

When I came home in September, I got one question a lot: What exactly do you do? My answer was always the same: That’s a good question!

That is because it depends on what I have going on at the time. However, I have some specific projects that I am almost always working on. So, I decided to update y’all on my projects so that y’all can understand a little better what it is that I do do…

1. Brigada Azul – I started the environmental youth group, Brigada Azul, in October. The original Peace Corps club is Brigada Verde, but because most everything we are going to be working on involves the ocean, I decided to call it Brigada Azul. So far we have done a few things. We painted a world map in the school and fixed-up some other murals and I took some youth to two different conferences. A health volunteer brought her youth to Isla Saona to have an “intercambio”. We gave them a speech on trash, they gave us a speech on sex ed, and we had the local doctor talk about Cholera. By the end of the year, we will do a beach clean up, some recycling activities, and take a trip to Bayahibe to see the other side of the park, the caves with Taino drawings.

2. Vendor classes – There are two jobs in Mano Juan, fishing and vending. The vendors are the people that sell small crafts and jewelry to the tourists on the beach. I am the coordinator for the vendors to get classes from an organization called Infotep. It sounds pretty easy, but what makes it difficult is where we live and having no public transportation. We always went through a specific tourist group that has about 10 workers living in Mano Juan. In July when we started, it was very difficult to get the transportation situated, but it’s gotten easier because the tourist company decided that they want to join the class. So, they provide the transportation regularly now. So far we have done classes like: basic accounting, marketing, job security, sanitation in cooking, etc. In December we’ll have a big graduation, and make a list of the classes they want to do the next year.

3. Lionfish – The lionfish is an invasive species of fish that migrated to the DR (and the Caribbean in general) from Florida. They escaped from an aquarium in Florida during a hurricane in the early 1990s, and have been migrating south ever since. They are striped, usually white with black, red, or maroon, and usually can grow to about a foot long. The problem with the lionfish is that it is one of the most venomous fish on the ocean floor and very aggressive. They have 18 venomous spines and use them against predators. For hunting, they work in groups cornering their prey, and then shallow them whole. In the Caribbean, because they’re not native here, they have no natural predators. And, because they reproduce very quickly, lionfish are becoming a plague and are rapidly killing the native fish that the fishermen live on fishing. Though they can’t kill a human, if one of their spines sticks you you’d feel it for a while.

Mid-August, I gave the fishermen a speech all about the lion fish, and was surprised how receptive they were. In October, I tried the fish (it is edible after you cut off the spines and head) with a fisherman and his family, and we all liked it.

Now one of the tourist company that eats lunch in Mano Juan has decided the fishermen $70 pesos for each pound of lionfish to feed their clients. So hopefully this will create a small market and then the fishermen will have more motivation (making money) to hunt the lionfish. Also, in January, we are going to have a huge fishing (for lionfish) competition in Bayahibe with the organization, Reef Check, and then afterwards prepare the fish for the restaurant owners. The hope is that they like it and put it on the menu. If this happens it will create a bigger market and a huge motivation for the fishermen to kill the lionfish.

4. English classes – I’ve been doing English classes ever since I got here and they are still going strong. I still teach two classes Monday through Friday in the school, and one adult class in the evening Monday through Thursday.

5. Marine Interest Group – I am the president of a Peace Corps club called the Marine Interest Group. Right now we are working on various projects. One is creating an educational manual for kids (through Brigada Verde) about issues that effect the coastal parts of the DR. Another is working with Reef Check to check and manage some coral reefs in the DR. Also, we just made a new contact that I’m very excited to work with. It’s called Living Museums in the Sea and is a project by Indiana University and USAID. Basically they set up paths of artifacts (some found and some placed) in the sea about a specific event or area. For example, in Isla Catalina they have one on the William Kidd wreak with canons, ship parts, etc. Then, tourists can scuba dive down and follow the path of artifacts learning more about the event. Indiana University would like to check on the reefs AKA museums every two or three months to make sure that the items are fitting in well with their environment and also make sure that they are not affecting the surrounding corals. However, IU can only come about twice a year. So they need man power to do the dives. IT and USAID will provide training to do the job, and then after that we will dive every two to three months to manage the sites.

I hope that this explains a little better about what I’m working on. If you have any questions, comments, or would like more information, please email me.

The past week and a half has been one crazy trip…

On Wednesday, October 27th, I got a call from the safety and security officer. She told me that we would be having a Cholera training, because of the outbreak in Haiti, on Friday so I needed to head in to the capitol ASAP. I packed my bag and headed in Thursday morning. The session on Friday lasted two hours…

Cholera is a bacteria that enters through the mouth. It makes you throw up and have extreme watery diarrhea. Without treatment, young and old people usually die within two to four hours, and a normal, healthy adult usually die between 24 to 48 hours.

They predict that cholera will enter the Dominican Republic soon, maybe even sooner due to the hurricane. Also, they have no idea when the outbreak will stop; it depends on how quickly they can get it under control.

During the training, they announced that there is a strong hurricane out in the Caribbean Sea, and that we needed to call in on Monday to find out more information. On Saturday morning, I headed out to Saona. I was going to have a day camp with my friend, Laura, a health volunteer that lives in La Romana and her jovenes. I sent Laura and one of her kids off in and boat and finally, an hour later, boarded a boat with the remaining three jovenes to head to Mano Juan. Just then, the safety and security officer called me and told me that I should not return to Saona till Monday, when we knew more about the hurricane. “Bueno!” I told her the situation, and she said go ahead but be on the first boat back in the morning.

We had a great time in Saona. Our jovenes got to mingle but also learn together. We gave her group a trash charla and she gave out group a charla about sex ed. Then, we gathered the community together to have a cholera charla.

Then Sunday morning, we chipped in with a couple of community members to get a boat to take us to Bayahibe at 7am! I stayed in La Romana on Sunday night and Monday headed into the capitol. Then we learned about the potential Hurricane Tomas that was currently stalking Haiti in the Caribbean Sea. We were being consolidated in the capitol until further notice.

Then began five days of being consolidated in the Barcelo Lina, a really nice hotel, in the capitol. For two days straight the sky was dark gray, and we had high winds and rain. We were safe, though, up in the hotel. The Peace Corps picks the hotel depending on back-up generators, water, building structure, and location.

The first day, it was really fun because we were all together; however, as time passed and we ran out of things to do…we got more and more bored.Thankfully though, today, Sunday, the consolidation was lifted and we can go back to out sites. I’m really excited to get back because I really haven’t been there in 11 days!

At the beginning of October, I started the youth group, Brigada Verde. Brigada Verde is a Peace Corps youth group that was developed to teach kids about the environment. We did our first charla on trash on the October 3rd. We learned the Three R's of trash: reduction, recycling, and re-utilization; and we are doing trash activities. This next week we will do a beach and town clean-up. I hope that we can get the community involved, too.

We also did a map mural in the school. To teach the kids geography and to have some fun painting. They got really into it and we finished in three days.

This past weekend (October 22-24th), I traveled with two of my youth, to Sabana de la Mar for the East Conference. It was held in "Los Haitises" which is a National Park. It was a great learning experience for them, and they also meet a lot of new friends from all over the east.

The last weekend of October, we are going to have a health volunteer and a few of her youth come out and do an "intercambio". They are going to give some sex ed charlas and we are going to give them a charla on basura (trash). We are also going to play soccer and have a Halloween party! After that we will have November for geography class (use the map) and the National Brigada Verde Conference the second weekend of November.

We were going to see the condors fly and had to stop in a small town called Chivay. It didn’t look like much, but it was in the guide book. It said that just outside of town was a natural hot springs. We arrived in Chivay about 10am the morning and our bus did not leave until 3pm so we decided to check out the not springs. When we got there, there was a sign that said zip-lining which we both had never done so we decided to ask how much it was. It was really cheap so made the instant decision of going zip-lining before the hot springs. The zip-lining was actually over a shallow part of the Canon de Calca, the second largest canyon in the world. The zip-lining was a little scary at first but extremely fun!

Afterwards we headed to the natural hot springs to relax. Hot was an understatement! Then we headed back to the bus stop to wait for the bus.

It was about 2:30pm when the security told was to see the condors we would have to pay a fee. When asked how much, he said $35 dollars!! It was super expensive to have a maybe chance at see them, so we decided to stay in Chivay for the night. Thank goodness, we did the day trip of zip-lining and hot springs or the day would have been a waste.

Next we headed out to the beach town of Paracas. Of course it was to cold to swim, but it was not why we went there. Paracas is the home of the Islas Ballestas, also called the poor man’s Galapagos. There you can find flamingos, sea lions, penguins, dolphins, and 250 species of birds.

This was our guide. He was very knowledgeable and funny.

Also, there is the mysterious Candelabra (Google Paracas Candelabra). This three pronged symbol in the sand is huge and sits on the Northern face of the Paracas Peninsula. The origins are still unknown.

There are now some pics of Peru on flickr! (See link on the right hand side). And there's even more to come!

Lake Titicaca is a big lake between the Peruvian-Bolivian border. Half of the lake is considered Peru and the other is Bolivia. It is the largest lake in South America but that’s not what makes it special; it is because a floating reed plant, called totora, grows in the lake and no where else in the world. The root floats and a reed like plant grows straight up out of the water.

The people cut the reed and put layers upon layers of the reeds on the floating root. That way it becomes a floating island…

The people use the reed to make their houses, tools, to cook, and boats…

It was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the life and people on Lake Titicaca to my community. Tourists essentially do the same things at the two locations. They come in on a boat, walk around the community, look at the people’s houses and their way of life, the tourists are then hassled to buy little trinkets, they take million pictures, and then they leave. It was interesting to be on the tourist side of it and see it from their perspective.

Well we woke up super early and headed to the bus stop. We were told to get there an hour before the bus leaves so that we could get to go to Wandu Picchu. From this overlooking mountain, you can get great pictures of Machu Picchu, but only 300-400 people are allowed up each day. Well, we turned the corner to the bus stop and were shocked at an enormous line! We were not sure if we were in the cut or not, but waited an hour and hoped. Then the line finally started moving and we made our way up the steep mountain on tour buses. After, we waited for an addition 30 minutes to actually get into Machu Picchu and were told when we got to the entrance that Wandu Picchu was full!

A little disappointed but still excited to be at Machu Picchu, we went in to explore. About after an hour of exploring, we found a trail that was called Mount Machu Picchu and decided to go up it a little ways. We found a little hut with a worker and asked him about the trail. It was actually twice as high as Wandu Picchu and you could not only see Machu Picchu but also the tops of the Andes. We decided to climb it. Due to being out of shape and at a really high altitude, it was really hard but really worth it…

View from Mount Machu Picchu

This was part of the trail up Mount Machu Picchu. Narrow stairs beside a straight drop!

I flew into Lima, the capitol of Peru, on Wednesday, July 14th for my long-awaited vacation. I meet my friend, Jolly, there who has been traveling in South America for almost a year. Over the next two weeks, we traveled non-stop all over the southern part of Peru and did some really crazy things. We had so many adventures that I just can't squeeze them all into one blog... I was really tired the first day so we just hung around the hostel...which was actually pretty interesting because it was a mansion turned hostel. There was huge painting and strange sculptures all over the place. The next day, we headed out to the flea market because I had to buy some warmer clothes. My DR beach wear was not going to cut it on the top of Machu Picchu. I ended up buying gloves, a hat, a jacket, and warm fuzzy pants...all for under US $20! Then on the way back to the hostel, we ran into a protest. There were a long line of people marching down the main street flanked with cops with riot equipment on. It was a peaceful protest, but we decided to get off the main street just in case, but not before getting some getting a couple of pics...

Then we grabbed our bags and headed on the bus for the main bus station. I was sitting in one seat with my huge bag when a man and woman came on. The woman sat next to me so I scooted over toward the window and the man stood next to her. He was looking at her pretty intently but I didn't think anything of it because I thought they were together. I turned my head, heard a popping sound, and turned back to the couple just in time to see him run off the bus. The guy, obviously now that they did not get on together, had pulled her necklace off her neck and taken off the bus before the door closed. It was so fast; I can't believe that I had my head turned for just a second and missed seeing him doing it! She wasn't hurt just a little embarrassed while explaining that the necklace wasn't anything "oro ni plata" gold nor silver, just an old plastic cross necklace. The guy had obviously saw her necklace and thinking it was worth something, followed her on the bus to steal it. It was a crazy thing to witness.

Sandboarding in Ica: We headed down to Ica about a five hour bus ride south of Lima. We got there that night and I tried “Salchipapa” for the first time. It is French fries, with chicken, and a green salad on top. Then they put sauces; ketchup, ranch, mayo, and a spicy sauce; all on top and mix it all together. It sounded a little gross, it looked pretty gross, but it was actually pretty damn good! I noticed during the next two weeks that Peruvians liked to mix things you wouldn’t expect to eat together a lot and it was usually surprisingly good. The next morning we headed for the desert to go on dune buggies and go sand-boarding. That’s right sand-boarding! It was really, really fun and so cool to just be in the desert.

For the past two months, I have been busy learning so much about Isla Saona: the history, the people, their way of life, potiential projects, how tourism works out there, the special laws (because it is a national park), and exploring the beaches. The best project that is on the island is the sea turtle conservation project…

All seven types of sea turtles are endangered species. There are three types (Hawksbill, Green, and Leatherback) of sea turtles that come to the south side of Isla Saona to lay their eggs. Each female turtle climbs up on shore during the night, digs a hole using it’s flippers, waits, gives birth to about 100-150 eggs, and then swims back out to sea. During a season, a female turtle can do this ritual three to eight times. The gestation period depends on the type of turtle, but after about two months, the baby turtles hatch during the night, break through to the surface, and follow the light (the moon reflected off of the water) to the ocean.

There are two times when the baby turtles are very vulnerable to predators (lizards, birds, crabs, etc.). Once when they are still in the eggs after the mother leaves (sometimes sand is washed away by high waves and the eggs are exposed) and, or course, when the baby turtles are crawling to sea.

A man named Negro runs a one man operation in Mano Juan to help the survival rate of the sea turtles. He has two main goals (1) population growth and (2) a census (monitoring how many baby turtles make it out to sea). Negro goes out during the night, collects the eggs from the shore, and brings them back to the center. He buries them in sand in a cooler, and marks the cooler with the type of turtle, how many eggs there are, the date he collected them, and the beach where he found them. Then he waits until they hatch and when they are ready to go to sea, he takes them back to the beach where he found them and lets them go out to sea.

However, Negro isn’t just fighting against crabs and lizards, he’s also fighting against one of the worst predators in the world…man. Negro tells me that the people of Mano Juan understand and don’t bother the eggs. However, people come in during the night from Bayahibe and La Romana to steal the eggs and also capture the female turtles. Turtle eggs are a delicacy to eat and sometimes are also sold to tourists. The turtles are captured to sell or to kill for their shells (to make jewelry and crafts) and for their meat. He says that because it is only him running the operation it is hard to catch the people, and that it’s very sad when he gets to a beach and the only thing he finds are dug up nests.

Even though it is inspiring to see Negro get so passionate about the project and very cool to know that there is such a project, it is very sad to know that men are continuing to not care about the species and only care about making a buck.

I really want to learn about the project more and how I can help. I will keep you updated.

I have now been at my site for three weeks and have been having an interesting experience so far.

The helicopter ride was amazing. A little scary at first because it was really shaky, but the view was amazing.

I started working on my diagnostic (going house to house with community members to meet people. Also, I started teaching English in the school and one class to the adults. Everything has been going well so far. I have had one meeting with the group I’m going to be working with, Junta de Vecinos, and they sound very excited about working. I have yet to see a turtle but there are plenty on congrejos or crabs and one day a couple of dolphins came close to the shore.

In two weeks, I will present my diagnostic at the one year conference, and decide which project to undertake.

As for communication, there is internet at the restaurant next door to my house, but the owner for some reason doesn’t want us to use it. The “centro de llamada” or call center is a really tall tree that you have to climb to the very top. I haven’t gotten to the top yet, but 4 kilometers away I get a little bit of service.

Centro de llamada

So after a couple of months of long debate, I have decided to get a site change.

I will be moving from the northwest to the southeast. You can go to Googlemaps.com to see exactly where. The name of my site is Mano Juan, Isla Saona. It is an actual isla or island that I will have to take an hour boat ride to get to.

The island currently has generators that provides three hours of electricity every day from seven to 10 pm, but the Taiwan government is currently working on a solar panel project. There are currently about 350 people that live on the island, in which each person’s income in some way affected by tourism. There is one school that has grades 1-7th that has 53 students. When the students get ready to enter eighth grade they have two options: quit school or move to La Romana to continue (an hour and a half away).

This is the beach at my site. The green building on the far right is where I will be living.

This is a pioneer project meaning that I will be the first volunteer on the island. The Minister of Environment has been trying for some time to get a volunteer there. He really wants to start an eco-tourism project on the island. His idea is to have tourists ride bikes in between the two villages on the island, Mano Juan and Catalina (11 kilometers or about 7 miles). He is so behind the project that he already bought 40 bicycles. Another main assignment of mine is to identify potential projects for any of the six sectors: Environment (mine), Information Technology, Youth, Health, Water (aqueducts), and Business. Possible secondary projects include English classes in the school, Brigada Verde (youth environmental group), stoves, and working with the sea turtle house. They have a center there that collects sea turtle eggs from the beach before they are eaten, hatch and raise them in incubators, and then when they are ready release them to the wild. This is the project that I am most excitd about learning more about and working with.

I went to the isla yesterday and it was amazing! It’s very beautiful and the people were quite impressive. I am going to be living in the guard house for free and get fed for free (but can make my own meals or eat out when I want). This Thursday and Friday I will travel to my old site with a Peace Corps jeep and driver, get my stuff and Rosalinda, and then return to the capitol. Then next Tuesday or Wednesday Jaime David (the minister of environment), Alberto (my boss), me, and Rosalinda (hopefully) are going to load up my stuff on a HELICOPTER and take it down to the island!!! I’ll be sure to put up pictures soon after.

Last Sunday, I was in the capitol for the Super bowl. That morning, I didn’t have too much to do so I went to the intake of a med mission to see if I could help out.

Various doctor groups come to the DR from all over the US for 1-2 weeks to provide free health care. Most of the doctors only speak English so Peace Corps set up a system to allow volunteers to accompany the doctors as translators during the “med mission.”

Sunday was intake day of the cosmetic surgery mission in the capitol. People came in to give general information and schedule surgeries. Now let me make this clear, when I say cosmetic I don’t mean breast implants and gastric bi-pass surgery. We saw people with clef lips, deformed or extra fingers, fire or acid burns, extreme scarring, extra skin on ears.

I went to the med mission thinking that I would be taking people’s names and phone numbers, and/or crowd control duty. A friend and I traveled there and the closer we got the more it hit us that this was going to be a crazy day. There was a line of patients for two blocks to the hospital, and there was a loud crowd just outside the doors. We gripped hands squeezed are way to the front, and asked where they needed us.

We ended up taking people’s general information, but also working with a specific doctor to figure out what exactly happened to the patient. Then describing to the patient about the required surgery. Both the patients and the surgeries were widely ranged. A four month old with an extra finger and extra toe to a 35 year old with major burns on the side of his face down to his chest and elbow.

The person I’ll remember most was a 23 year old girl who came in with a horrible burn on the inside of her ankle. “Two years prior,” she told me. She took off her shoe, “a electrical cord from a fridge exploded and deformed my ankle.” Deformed was an understatement. It looked like her skin had become clay and someone had moved and kneaded the skin. More chunks in some places and so little in others so that you could see the white canvas (bone) peeking out from the background. Then the same person had flicked different colored paint…brown, red, black…on the mountainous clay.

The doctor gave me the worse news of the day…I had to tell the girl with abstract art for an ankle that there was nothing he could de for her. Over 600 people came to the hospital that day, and the doctors over the next two weeks have several hundred surgeries scheduled.

Even though I was there for about four hours, it was an experience I’ll never forget. Count you blessing today for health, for life.

If you know me, you know that I am a huge movie buff. I love getting lost in a different world for two hours, and in every movie I can find at least one good thing about the film.

One director that I enjoy is M. Night Shyamalan. The way he twists reality and fantasy, the way he always uses a little touch of comedy, and how you're always guessing when the director himself will appear (he played the doctor in "The Sixth Sense" and the older park ranger in ""The Village"). However, one movie that I did not enjoy was "The Happening". Even for a big Shyamalan fan, I thought that nature chemically making humans kill themselfes using the wind was a bit of a stretch even for him. The one good point I got was the two main themes of the film: nature attacks and human technology is so advanced that it can spread information and keep us connected even in a disaster.

Now two years after the movie, occurs a real happening. Nature attacked with the skill and power of a preditor and January 12th, 2010 will be a day for the history books. Nature ould not have picked a more deadly location, Port'O Prince was concentrated with about three million people and theinfrastructure was poor. So, of course, chaos has begunafter a 7.0 earthquake hit the heart of 3rd world. The earthquake was so strong, we felt it here in the Dominican Republic, all the way to Samana (the peninsula on the opposite side of the DR). A friend ofmine that lives close to the Haitian border said that the earth shook there for an entire minute.

The second theme to the movie rang true as well. Human technology connected Haiti with the rest of the world shortly after the first quake. The first report was a Haitian skyping! If people could not call to their family, they checked their Facebook page. I'm reading a book right now about the 1800s, in the book a husband and wife are seperated by the Pacific Ocean for three years. It takes 24 days one way to send a letter, so they only get a letter from their significant other every two months. Now a days, though, you could just Yahoo! chat or Tweet "I'm doing okay." It is amazing the power of technology andthe speed that it changes. For example, I couldn't imagine being a PC volunteer 10 years ago when at my site they didn't have cell service or internet. Now, I can text with other volunteers almost everyday even though some days I don't have water or electricity.

I can use the internet about once a week when there is electricity, when there are not any "problemitas" or little problems, and when I have some extra pesos. Hoever, 10 years ago you could only use it once a month when you went into the capitol. I don't believe a tree can beat me up, but I do think that Shyamalan had a good, truthful message... Nature can be deadly at any point in time, and maybe it deserves the title of the deadliest preditor. Technology hascome so far, it can keep us connected through any happening.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families of the Haitian earthquake.

In the middle of December, I took an open water scuba diving class in the capitol, Santo Domingo. The number one thing to remember when diving is to always keep breathing. Sink or swim becomes drown or breath.

The first couple of classes were lectures and diving in a pool (that was 10 feet deep). Then it was off to the ocean, the Carribean Sea, to do the first dive to 35 feet. The books and papers go out of the window, and you have to rely on everything that you obtained in the last two days. When you first jump off the boat, you're in nothing short of chaos. You're adjusting your gear, refitting your goggles, and trying to breath. Even though you can breath through your snorkel, you can't help but hold your breath when a wave dunks your head underwater. You think that you are already losing control, and you are having second thoughts about if you can do this. But then you get the signal, change your snorkel for your regulator, and you let the air out of your jacket, as it's time to desend. You start to breath through your regulator, your heavy air tank is now weightless, and tiny fish start to swarm around you. You are in a different world now; one that is entirely different from the surface. You defy gravity like you are in outer space, you crush human limitations by breathing air underwater, time slows down, and though colors are lost the further you go down, nothing has ever looked more beautiful.

The names here come in three categories:

1. Traditional English names (with a Latin twist on the pronounciation)

Nelson, Jeffrey, Christian, Angel, Junior, Alexandra

2. Traditional Latin names

Maria, Rosa, Manuel, Juan, Miguel, Ana

3. The hard to pronounce and even harder to spell

Zuelaki (Sue-lake-e), Neftali, Digamara, Crismeyti (Chris-my-tea), Orbelisa, Arislati (R-is-lady)

*It seems like when a couple like a name, they like it so much they name all of their children variations of the same name.

Irlenny and Ilenny are sisters.

Crismayti and Crismeyti are sisters.

Yissel, Yolli, and Yoti, are siblings.

*My name: I go by Rebekah to the Dominicans for 2 reasons. (1) I like how they pronounce it. I can't pronounce it the way they do and half the time when I'm telling someone my name they don't understand me, but when they say it, it sounds really pretty.

And (2) "beca" means scholarship in Spanish and I didn't want to go by scholarship for the next two years.

*The Dominican Republic in Spanish is la Republica Dominicana.

The other day I was doing some grocery shopping in Santiago at El Cantante (like a WalMart). I was at the spaghetti sauce trying to figure out which one I wanted. Growing up my Mom always made spaghetti from scratch, and I took that habit with me to college. Therefore, this was this was the first time I was buying canned sauce. It took me a while to even read all the labels there were so many different kinds… meat flavoured, Tomato and Garlic, Basil Garlic, Original Recipe, etc.

Then I noticed two female workers that were a couple feet from me were starring at me. ¨Oh come on!¨ I thought, ¨Where am I going to hide canned sauce so I can steal it?¨ So I picked up one and took off down the aisle. As I turned the corner, I looked over my shoulder and saw one of the girls had moved to where I was and picked up one of the cans. I then realized the girls didn´t think that I was going to steal, they were just amazed that I could read the labels!

Imagine going to HEB one day, you have your list in hand and you´re ready to do some quick grocery shopping. You get to the cereal aisle and your mouth drops. All of the boxes are labeled in a foreign language and there must be at least 50 different kinds. Which one do you choose? The one with the friendliest looking character? The one with just corn flakes, it looks the safest, but then again it could be flavored? Dominicans have to do this every time they go shopping. At least until they pick one that is good and stick with it.

Before the spaghetti incident, I was down the breakfast aisle and saw there was a two for one sale on Nature Valley granola bars, which was actually still a little expensive but it was an okay deal. So I debated on it and saw what kinds they had. I left to get all my other stuff, then came back to cave in and splurge a little on the granola bars. A woman was there contemplating on which one to get. While I saw original, oats and honey, or cinnamon, she saw yellow box, blue box, or red box.

¨I feel like a backpacking Paris Hilton!¨ I told fellow PCV (Peace Corps volunteer) Amanda as I tightened my backpack straps and tucked my new perrita chiquita under my arm.

Before I came to the DR, I knew that I wanted a dog. Then, when I found out that they kill female dogs because they don´t want puppies. I knew I wanted to get una hembra (female). Then shortly after arriving, I read the book ¨The Farming of Bones¨ about a young Haitian working in the DR (it´s a great book, but I didn´t care for the ending). There was a character named Rosalinda. Maybe I like the character, maybe I´m just obsessed with roses (my only other dog is named Rosebud), or maybe I just liked the name, but I knew right after I read the name that I would have a female dog named Rosalinda.

So when Amanda told me that a stray dog had had six puppies in an abandoned house at her site, I said absolutely I´ll have one just make sure it´s una hembra!

Therefore at the end of August, I went over to Amanda´s in Imbert to pick her up. She is a cute orange and white (Go Longhorns!), skinny pup, but growing fast. She likes running around aimlessly (when she does this we call her LOCAlinda), digging, chasing chickens, she loves bones and rice, and she likes taking my socks outside to chew on (at least it´s not my underwear!).

Now she is my constant companion and goes almost everywhere I do. When we walk by kids in the street they say, ¨Hola, Rosalinda!¨ And I say where is my hola?

All in all, no matter what the day brings she is always there with a smile on her face ready to play.

Now I have been living in the Dominican Republic for 7 months (in my site for almost 5 months). While sometimes it feels like it's gone by so fast; other times it feels like it's been forever since I've been on American soil. This is by far the longest time I've been away from friends and family. While I miss everyone SO much and am counting down the days to visit for Christmas, I've been enjoying my two new families.

One is the Peace Corps family. I have many sisters and brothers (the fellow Peace Corps volunteers), even older siblings (the Peace Corps volunteer Leaders). We have the sweet, supporting aunts (doctors), and our hard working uncles (the APCDS, technical bosses). We all work hard, play hard, live hard under Big Papa Romio (the Country Director).

Then, of course, I have my Dominican family. Which is the prime example of organized chaos. Even though there's about 4000 people who live in my town, Estero Hondo, I don't think there's more than 20 main families. Your either someone's primo/a, tio/a, or copadre/comadre, or your married to their hermano/a.

Last Friday I turned in my first grant! It is for the community center roof. The roof is badly damaged and could fall very soon. I'm hoping that it gets approved quickly and I can get the money by the end of October or the first week of November. If I do, I can start construction the second week of November. However, if I don't get the money in time, I'll have to wait till the new year to start construction. I'm afraid that by that time the roof may fall and the damage will be greater so please pray for a speedy approval!!!

Other things I'm doing: a girls' volleyball club and a youth group called Brigada Verde. We gave a "charla" or speech to the schools last Friday about trash and the importance of putting it in the trash can. The kids had fun and the charlas were really sussessful. On October 24th, we are having a "Show de Talento" or Talent Show for the community. The last act will be my kids giving a charla about trash, so I really excited about it. Plus it will be a great fundraiser.

Yesterday I bought my plane ticket to come home for Christmas. I'm so happy it's official. I'm coming home Wednesday December 16th at 2:55pm and leaving the morning of the 30th. See yall soon!!!

This is a video of Rosalinda one morning. During the night she found a few more toys!!!

Sorry it’s been so long, I was sick for a while and then had to go to the capitol for a big committee weekend. But now I’m back in Estero Hondo. I’ve moved into my own place… sort of…it’s kind of like a 2 room apartment and it’s attached to a house. I use the bathroom and the kitchen in the big house, but I have two rooms to myself and it’s really cheap. And it’s at the end of a street so it’s very quiet, which I love. Plus, I have a new dog. Her name is Rosalinda (Pretty Rose) and she is adorable.

I started a youth group called Brigada Verde. I have about 15 students and this month we are talking about trash and why it is a problem. I´m hoping to do a city clean-up at either the end of the month or early in October.

Also, I got 1000 pesos from our mayor to get new volleyballs, so on Saturday we are going to start having volleyball practices again. Overall, it´s been a very busy month!

So this past week I had 3 month IST, basically a conference where we got to present out community and talk about what we want to do the next year. It was located in the moutains about an hour outside of Santiago. It went really well, but as always even getting there was an adventure...

So my Dona/ project partner and I woke up Monday the 3rd at 4:30am to catch the early guagua at 5am (The project partners came for the first couple of days). So we got ready and waited in the galeria (front porch)...and waited. 5 o'clock came and went. Then 5:30. So my Dona started to get a little worried so she started asking a couple of people to go ask around about the driver. The people never found outwhere the guagua was and the guagua never came. So thankfully about 6am a crappy double-cabbed truck came by that was headed for Santiago. So we jumped in and got to Santiago about 8:30. We had to go to a bus stop that neither of us had been to before, but thankfully the driver knew where it was. The place didn't take to long to find, and I'll always know how to identify it now. It was loco!

First, we turned on to a street that had more bags of onions than people at a UT football game. There were so many onions, it smelled like onions. Then we got to the next intersection and there were tons of fruit and vegetable shops littering the sidewalks. With guaguas in the middle of the intersections begging for people to get on their guagua. Everyone was shouting and honking their horns. Complete chaos.

So we jumped out of the truck and found one to take us to the center. It was the same type of truck and just as bad as the one we'd rode to Santiago in which wasn't too exciting but not surprising either. We got in and ate some breakfast (apple juice and crackers) and waited for the guagua to fill up with people so we could go. Finally, half an hour later we finally got enough people to go. So I threw I bag in the back, climbed in the back, and off we went...

But we didn't leave town straight away; no, of course not. First we had to go around town to find more people to come with us. Usually when a driver (or choffeur) does this, they go around and honk their horns to see if anyone is interested in coming. This hombre did that, but his horn sounded more like a dog's squeaky toy than the usual mad dog barking. I couldn't help but laugh.

So we collected a few more people, smushed together in the back seat, and traveled up the mountain in our squeky toy horned, double cab, falling apart truck. It took about an hour and even after all of that we still showed up first at 10am, when the conference started at noon.

We got out of the guagua and headed the 50 meters on foot to the offices. When we got inside, I looked for my phone which I had put in the side pocket of my backpack, but it was not there. Either someone had taken out my cell phone or it had fallen out in the back of the guagua! I told my Dona and a girl who worked there. The girl said that she knew the driver so she would ask him about it and see if he found it.

So the next day came (Tuesday), and I hadn't heard anything from her so I went and asked her. She said that she forgot and would ask that day. Later, she came up to me and said that my phone had "Gone with God" basically I would never see it again. So I was a little upset that I would have to go to the capitol and get a new phone. Plus we are only allowed to get one free phone and I would have to use it so early in my service.

However, the next day (Wednesday) she brought me my phone!!!! I was so excited; she said that he had found it after all. So I turned it on and there was a voicemail from my friend Alanna, from the other group saying that she was returning my phone call from the day before and sorry she missed my call.

I was like "What?" I didn't have my phone yesterday. So I checked my dialed calls and whoever had my phone had made 11 phone calls including Alanna and Whereabouts (a system we have to call when we leave our sites) and then 9 other Dominican numbers. Well whoever had used up all of my minutes on the phone. But at least I got the phone back in the end.

For the fourth of July we headed to Samana, the peninsula on the east side of the country. It was a long drive back and forth but worth it. It was beautiful! Here are some pics:

We wanted to go to a different bay a little ways down. The easiest and fastest way to get there was by boat.

This is a fresh-water, freezing-cold river that comes down from the mountains and flows into the ocean. It makes this bay so much colder than the other one.

15 Most Important Words to Know in the Dominican Republic AKA words I´ve said and heard so much in Spanish that they sound foreign to me in English

1. colmado – small shop on every corner, like a gas station without gas. Also, things like rice, oil, etc. you pay by how much you want. It’s not pre-packaged so the attendant measures it out.

2. guagua – bus or truck

3. apagon – black out (electricity)

4. bola – free ride, hitchhiking

5. baracho – a drunk

6. Sientense – “sit down,” the first thing you’ll hear when entering a house

7. mosquitero – “mosquito net,” is a must

8. Si Dios quiere – “If God wants!” Everything happens if God wants it to. See you tomorrow --- Si Dios quiere. We’ll go to Santiago tomorrow --- Si Dios quiere. Have a good day --- Si Dios quiere!

9. tigere – “tiger” or a bothersome man, the ones hat say mean piropos (cat calls)

10. platano – “plantain,” the most common growing plant here, can be fried and eaten verde (green) or ripe fro breakfast, lunch, and dinner

11. morro – habitualas y arroz, “beans and rice¨

12. gripe – flu, cold, sneezing, coughing, sore throat, any illness known to man except diarrhea (which is diarrhea in Spanish)

13. rubio/a – “blond,” white person

14. barrio – neighborhood AKA family

15. guapo/a – “angry” or “pissed off,” unlike in Mexico where guapo means pretty. So if you say, “She is guapa” here, your not saying that you think she’s cute.

I’ve been meaning to write this up for a long time but kept forgetting. This took place during my CBT training in Arenoso:

One night I was sitting in my room reading when I heard the family shuffle into the living room and start a movie. Movie time equals family time in this family so I finished reading the page I was on and went out to join the movie.

“Cual pelicula es esto?” (What movie is this?) As I sat down. Just then the title came on the screen “Rapido y Furioso” (Fast and the Furious) with some more Spanish written under it that I didn’t have time to read.

Okay great, I thought, one of the F&F movies. Probably number two or three since it had a sub-title. Hopefully not three because that one was really bad.

So the movie started, and within five minutes I was really confused. First off the picture on the movie was bad, it was like a close up of the film. Second of all, I recognized all of the characters but not the storyline. Then it hit me, this is Fast and the Furious 4! Even those in the US it’s only been out in theatres for two weeks, I’m watching it from a DVD in the Dominican Republic? That’s right the DR is full of pirates…with pirated movies.

These movies are not illegal here; they are the norm. On the street corners of at least the two major cities, Santo Domingo and Santiago, you can find pirated movies by the truck-load. The price range is 50 to 100 pesos (which is US $1.50 to $3). All of the movies are already either dubbed in Spanish or have Spanish subtitles. The quality ranges from okay to really bad.

With my family in Arenoso I watched: Fast and the Furious 4, Twilight, Push, and Prom Night. All very new movies.

Hey everyone!

So I had two really cool blogs and pictures to put up today. I havent had internet in my site for like a week and a half so I came to use the internet and do some things in Santiago. But I didnt expect the computers to be so old. They dont have a plug for my memory stick! And I dont have time to type them out because my bolas coming soon.

So hopefully I get internet soon but for now...

Thank you to everyone who has sent care packages! They mean a lot to me!

Thank you to my Mom who calls on time, never failing once a week. Its so good to hear that everythings going fine and all the chisme from the States.

And thanks to my sister who called me today! No matter what happens this week, it will be the greatest thing that happened for the rest of the week! It was great to hear your voice and hear my little sobrino...well cry but hear none the less. Liz tell him his Tante Bekah loves and misses him!

Thanks to everyone who reads my blogs! Please send me updates on you too!!

Now I'm starting to get busy with things. Here is my weekday schedule from now until prbably mid-July/ August.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

6am walk walk walk walk walk

7:15 shower shower shower

7:30 nap breakfast nap breakfast nap

8:00 walk to school breakfast walk to school

8:30 breakfast volleyball walk to school volleyball breakfast

9:00 English class

10:00 walk home English class walk home

11:30 walk home

noon lunch lunch lunch lunch lunch

2:00 interviews interviews English class interviews interviews

3:00 English class

4:00 English class

5:30 walk home

6:30 walk home walk home walk home walk home walk home

7:00 dinner dinner dinner dinner dinner

8:00 Guitar lesson Guitar lesson Guitar lesson Guitar lesson Guitar lesson

9:30 read read read read read

In my spare time, I work on my database for my interviews, plan English classes, read, talk to family and friends, etc.

Every 15th and 30th of every month we have meetings for the organizations "La Esperanza" and "Club de Madre."

Hey everyone!

I now have pictures of my swearing-in ceremony including group pictures.

Go to -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/texana/

and click on Swearing-In on the righthand side.

Also, I know people are interested in sending money but please wait! In a few months I will have a "Volunteer Project Grant" set up on the Peace Corps website. I, of course, will give everyone the link. This is a grant that is soley based on people's donations and will go directly to a specific project.

Enjoy,

-bekah

Today I tried “pan de fruta,” AKA breadfruit, for the first time. I think they got the name really wrong. It looks and tastes like a mix between a peanut and a potato. I think they should have called it a “potato nut”.

I am surprised, and a little impressed, how much Dominicans seem to know about the United States history and politics. Before I found out I was coming to the DR and started researching their history, I didn’t know anything about the small country that shares Hispanola with Haiti.

But when I told one person I was from Texas, he asked: “Oh, in Dallas where Kennedy was killed?”

I had a running joke with one of our Spanish teachers who asked me if I was related to Colin Powell.

He would greet me, “Bekah Powell!” (one of the few Dominicans that knows my nickname)

I would say, “Como Colin!” (Like Colin)

The director of the school was introducing me to his daughter and said, “This is my daughter Eleanor. She’s named after Eleanor Roosevelt.”

I NOW HAVE LOTS OF PICTURES UP AND MORE TO COME ON FLICKR! MY ADDRESS IS TO THE RIGHT, UNDER THINGS I NEED. I called it Texana because when I tell people I´m from Texas they always call me ¨a texana¨.

On Saturday, I went to the river with my family and some of my host dad’s friends. We were suppose to leave at 6 am, so of course we left about 6:30. When it was time to go, I hopped on the back of my host dad’s motorcycle and we were on our way. That’s right! My first motorcycle gang… Mom aren’t you proud!

The river was TWO HOURS away, but it was worth it. We had two mountain ranges in our way and it was so beautiful. Getting up the first mountain range was tough, but going down was my favorite part. They turned off their engines and let gravity do the work. Then it’s just you in the air, with the sun, seeing postcard worthy landscapes, and beautiful people wiz by.

After that mountain range we went through a huge valley, eventually turned onto a dirt road, and I thought we’d be there in no time. But, no, no, silly me there was still another mountain range to cross.

We finally got there and had a blast. The river was in the mountains so it was freezing cold but after a while I finally got used to it. Here’s some pics:

They loved their pictures!

The other day, I went one of my project partner’s “finca.” He has a herd of about 30 cows, and uses them for milk. They don’t have any fancy machines that milk the cow for you like we do in the US just a pair of hands and a bag of food to keep the cow occupied.

I did get to try it out and I successfully milked my first cow.

I asked Cordero to take a picture of me milking “Rosa” and this is what he took. Oh well!

Yesterday I traveled with my Dona to Santiago. We were going to go to Santo Domingo Monday thru Thursday to visit her granddaughter. Monday morning about 10 am I packed my bag, called “Whereabouts” (if we leave our sites for the night, we have to call Peace Corps Whereabouts and tell them where and why), and then told my Dona I was going to go up to the school for a bit before we go. She said, oh, actually we’re not going to go. Instead my granddaughter is coming here. But you and me are going to go to Santiago on Wednesday but just for the day. SOOOO I unpacked my bag and called Whereabouts back and told them nevermind.

Anyway, Wednesday morning I got ready and planned to keep track of how long it took to get to Santiago and back, for future reference.

On the way down: We caught a bola in the truck of a friend of my Dona’s from Estero Hondo to La Isabela.

Total time: 30 minutes

At La Isabela we took a guagua to Santiago. The driver stopped in every town, it seemed like, so it probably took a little longer than normal.

Total time: 1 hour 40 minutes

On the way back: From Santiago to La Isabela we caught a bola who drove fast but smooth and hardly made any stops.

Total time: 1:15

Then we got off in the center of La Isabela to catch a guagua to Estero Hondo. There’s only three ways to get to Estero Hondo: bola it, take a motoconcho, or wait for the only guagua that goes to and from Estero Hondo. I don’t think my Dona likes the idea of “bolaing” with strangers and there’s no way she’s getting on a motorcycle so it was choice numero tres. Plus she knows the driver of the guagua! So we walked over to where he waits and he was actually there. He told us to wait next to a colmado while he went on some short errands and tried to get more people to go. So while we waited, it started to drizzle, got a little harder, and then the wind picked up and it was pouring. Then, of course, the guagua pulls up, and, also of course, doesn’t have any more passengers. So the helper of the driver, my Dona, and I run to the car and climb in. They told me to sit in the front passenger seat; which I still don’t know why, but I got in and we were on our way.

So the guagua… not so top notch…to say the least. The headlights didn’t work so he had the hazards on, no radio, he had the A/C on high but I could barely feel it, the windshield wipers didn’t work, and the driver’s side window was cracked open and he couldn’t roll it up because it was broken.

We got a little ways and then the rain started to go sideways. Right into the driver’s side window and it was getting all over the place. They told me to open my window so it would go straight out. Finally it got so bad that he pulled over so we could find shelter. But before I got out of the guagua, I was already soaked. We ran under a covered carport, thank God they left the gate open, we were all soaked now. Nobody was at the house, so we had to stay outside in the wind, but at least we were out of the rain. The rain kept getting harder and it starting hailing for a while. I wanted to take a picture of my first really bad rainstorm in the DR, so I got out my camera (which I actually had!!!) but then I realized I had taken the batteries out to use my flashlight. After a while, it lightened up a little and we ran back to the guagua. So we headed off again, after the driver pulled his window up as far as he could. Every time I shifted my weight to the left (which was often because now the driver was dodging potholes, huge water puddles, and tree branches) a squirt of muddy water would shoot up about a foot in the air from the right corner of my seat. It was so gross and so funny at the same time. Then a 4x4 truck with headlights and super fast windshield wipers zoomed past! But later we past two guys pushing their motorcycle down the street so I had to count my blessings. We finally got home safe and sound about 6:30.

Total time: 1:07 or N/A

Yo tengo una nueva amiga. Ella se llama Escaiesrafieles (Escales). Ella tiene 7 anos. Ella le gusta el color rosado y pintar. Ella le gusta escuela pero no hoy porque esta lluviendo! La vaca es su animal favorito. Ella es mi vecina y vive en una casa rosada, rojo, y verde. Ella tiene dos hermanos, ambos son mayor. Ella es muy intelligente.

I have a new friend. Her name is Escailes. She is 7 years old. She likes the color pink and to paint. She likes school but not today because it is raining. The cow is her favorite animal. She is my neighbor and lives in a house that is pink, red and green. She has two siblings, both are older. She is very intelligent.

This was my first English class. There will be a lot more to come.

A lot of people are asking what my job is now that I´m at my site. Well in actuality I am a teacher, a construction worker, a modivator, a park ranger, a coach, the gringa, a learner, a counselor, a farmer, and more to come. I am a development worker. I am a Peace Corps volunteer.

The long wait is finally OVER! Tuesday May 5 I finally found out I will be going to:

Estero Hondo in Puerto Plata

to serve in the Peace Corps from May 13th 2009 to May 13th 2011.

I just got back from my site visit. Basically I got to know my project partner, see where the town is and how to get there, drop half of my stuff there (that way I don’t have to carry everything in one trip), and start building confianza.

Confianza – Confianza directly means confidence in Spanish, but here it means a whole lot more. It is like respectable, serious, good person, etc. rolled into one. If you don’t have confianza in your site you don’t have anything.

I have final tests on Monday, workshops on Tuesday, then Wednesday, May 13th is the big day of Swearing-In as a Peace Corps Volunteer!!!

We are now back in Santo Domingo. I am really going to miss the mountains. I’d never lived in the mountains before; it was so beautiful and my host family was awesome. I almost started crying when I had to leave.

A couple of things to mention from last week or so in La Cumbre:

4/22 Earth Day! We put on a charla (speech) for 5th and 6th graders at the local school about trash and proper handling; then we did a trash pick-up along the road. Some kids got really into it and of course others did not. But I think everyone had fun.

The guy in the yellow shirt is "Papi" the local crazy.

4/25 Santiago! A group of us headed to Santiago to get a couple of things and then eat pizza for lunch from, of course, Pizza Hut. It was a lot of fun. One the way down we got what is called a bola (free ride, like hitchhiking). The “bola” system is really popular here and pretty safe which making traveling a lot cheaper and easier.

This is us crammed into the back of a carro publico.

4/27 Maribol Sisters Memorial! We took a bola to La Cumbre and then walked about a mile to the Maribol Sisters Memorial. I don’t want to go into long detail but in the 1950s there was a dictator in control of the DR called Trujillo. He actually did a lot of good for the school system and infrastructure, but he killed a lot of people and was known for “liking” a lot of young women. The Maribol family was a very respectable one and Trujillo wanted to “have relations” with one of the daughters. The daughter refused so Trujillo had 3 of the sister’s husbands imprisoned. One day on the way back from visiting their husbands in jail, the 3 sisters were stopped and killed by Trujillo’s men. Then their bodies were dumped (where the memorial is today) to make it look like an accident. The family was outraged and it lead to a revolution against Trujillo. Trujillo was eventually assassinated on his way home from visiting a girlfriend in 1961.

I recommend the book “In the Time of the Butterflies” even though I haven’t read it yet. Also, I recommend another book that I read about the DR called “The Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.” It’s not your typical book but if you don’t mind a lot of “street-talk”, it’s really good and also talks about the time of Trujillo.

Anyway, knowing the history of these brave women and seeing where they died was really sad and touching.

Then later that day we learned how to make empanadas which was really fun. Plus they turned out really good!

Wednesday through Friday we studied eco-tourism and did a case study of La Caleta (about an hour away from the capital). La Caleta has a national park right on the ocean. It has problems with trash (like all towns here), protecting the national park, local caves and the wildlife just off-shore.

Wednesday we learned about the park and took a tour of it. Then we did surveys of community members on local resources. Thursday we learned about native fish and other sea creatures and most importantly the reef. To go along with the national park work, the volunteer in La Caleta is trying to preserve the reef there, which is being affected by over-fishing and global climate changes. Then in the afternoon, we got to go snorkeling (my first time) and see everything in action. It was really cool (No Mom I didn’t see any Nemos but I did see a Dori)! Friday, we presented our results from Wednesday to a representative of the mayor. Then we went cave exploring!!! The caves were very cool but, of course, I didn’t have my camera!

Finally here are some pics

This is where I make my phone calls

My cute little cousin, Crismayte

Training for the cock fight

My little host brother, Efrailin, won first place in a running competition and we went to an awards ceremony for it.

I’ve now been living in the Dominican Republic for a little over a month (even though it feels like a lot longer) and have had different variations of food and tried some new stuff too.

Things I’ve had here:

Papaya everyday – Yum

Fried plantains – okay

Fried bananas – GROSS (way too sweet)

Coffee – Okay but they like to load it up with sugar

Grapefruit juice with sugar and honey – my new favorite juice

Yuca – not too good; kind of like a block of starch

Coca-Cola – all sodas here are made with real sugar and not frutose AWESOME

Italian-styled pizza (pretty good)

Mangu (breakfast dish of smashed plantains+) – okay

Soursop – really good, tastes like a sweet tart, but it’s a fruit

Orange juice with oatmeal – surprisingly really good and good for you too

Cow Liver – While at least I think it was liver. It definitely was not meat though. I asked my Dona when she gave me the plate, “This is cow meat?” She said, “Yes its cow meat.” And then she cut a chunk in half for me. The “meat” was really firm and had layers. I ate everything else, got down four pieces of “meat”, and then said I was full. It was disgusting and I hope I never get served that again.

The other day my Dona gave me some yellow cheese that looked like cheddar cheese so I asked her what kind of cheese it was. She replied, “Queso Amarillo” and looked at me funny (amarillo means yellow in Spanish). Apparently the only two kinds of cheese they have are queso amarillo and queso blanco (white).

Last week was Semana Santa (Holy Week) for Easter. During Holy Week no one goes to work, and none of the children go to school, I’m so jealous. Saturday and Sunday are the biggest days of the week. Saturday we had family come in from Santiago and the Donas spent all day cooking. I watched my Dona cut up a turkey because I thought it would be interesting. I was doing okay until she threw in the lungs, bladder, feet, and heart into the pile to be cooked. But luckily I wasn’t served any of those.

Our pet pavos (turkeys). Before Semana Santa there were four.

We went to a conference for Brigada Verde Friday through Sunday and we had a great time. Brigada Verde is a national, Peace Corps-started youth group that allows youth to develop leadership skills and learn about the environment. If a volunteer has a good number of youth in their community, he or she can start a chapter of their own. It’s like an environmental club; a chapter does fundraisers, community service projects (like a beach or street clean-up), creates and maintains a garden, etc. The club is really cool so I really hope I can start one when I get to my community.

The conference was more like a camp. The site was in the middle of no-where on top of a hill, we slept in tents, it had a pool, one night we had a huge bonfire and of course we had s’mores. We, the group of volunteers, weren’t really campers and weren’t really camp counselors; we were just in between. We had sessions were we learned about Brigada Verde and how to start our own chapter, but we also helped out the kids with arts and crafts and had our own section of activities with them.

The kids were really into the environment stuff which was really cool to see. Also, they were very talented musically! Each night they would get out tambors (drums), maracas, and guiro and play, and clap, and sing songs. A guiro is a round cylinder with holes cut out where the metal sticks out (like a cheese grater) and you strike a metal stick up and down it. They were really good at coming up with beats and matching each other. It was a great culture experience.

This is a picture of my backyard!

Yeah I know you're jealous. I've been in La Cumbre (Arenoso) for almost a week know and am loving it. It's definately a little more chillier than Santo Domingo, but it's great. My host family is awesome. Somehow I got paired with another family that owns a colmodo and they also have a guagua (van for public transportation)! They have 3 kids: the 2 boys (about 17 and 10) are both star runners. The little one, Fralin, just won 1st place in a 10 K on Thursday! And the girl, whose 16, is really sweet. I promised her she could paint my nails this afternoon.

So now that we are in the mountains we are done with Core training and have started more technical training. The other day we took a walk through one of the host family's garden/ backyard. After we looked at some different kinds of trees, he led us down a path to a beautiful waterfall...in his backyard. Ironically I bought a new camera the day after. But hopefully we will go back there sometime soon so I can show ya'll some pics.

Also, we're learning about soil erosion and organic farming. Yesderday we split up into teams of two and built our own compost pile. Here's a pic of us and our compost and yes those are machetes.

I won't be able to update ya'll again till probably next weekend so have a good week!

This weekend, Friday to Sunday, we’re going to a Brigada Verde conference in the Cristobol region.

Then we will return to Santo Domingo on Sunday afternoon only to leave for CBT on Monday morning. CBT training (training in the environmental education and agriculture) will be for the next six weeks (March 30th to May 9th). It is located in the Cibao region, which is up in the mountains. I’m really excited about CBT it should be a lot of fun and I’m so ready for the next step. We’ll get new host families, new environment (the campo instead of the city), and more technical training.

The last week of CBT (starting April 28th) we do come back to Santo Domingo to get more training and get ready for our Project Site Visit.

May 6th- 10th we actually go with our project partner (a person from the community that is well connected and ready to work) to our site and get acquainted with the community.

May 11th and 12th we go back to Santo Domingo for our final Spanish exam and technical exam.

Wednesday May 13th at 4 pm – we Swear-in as Peace Corps volunteers

Over the weekend (Thursday to Sunday) I got a real taste of what it will be like for the next two years. I left Thursday morning to visit Alicia, a current volunteer, in Punta Rucia.

Alicia was already in Santo Domingo so I meet her at the Peace Corps’ offices so that we could travel together. We were still in the capitol for lunch, so Romio (the PC/DR county director) took us and about 6 other volunteers to lunch at the embassy. There is a cafeteria there, along with real American products (Lay’s potato chips, Diet Coke, etc.), and toilets which you can actually flush the toilet paper down! It was really good and fun to converse with other current volunteers. One of the volunteers had just gotten back from climbing Pico Duarte ( the highest mountain in not only the DR, but in the Carribean); she said it took them 3 days, but she should have done it in four. Climbing Pico Duarte is definitely on my list of things to do while here in the DR.

After lunch, we headed on up to the north coast and two bus rides, my first motoconcho (motorcycle taxi), and five hours later we finally arrived. The motoconcho was very cool, at first I was a little scared because I had never even been on a motorcycle before, but it was fun. We didn’t get to Punta Rucia till like 8 o’clock at night and were exhausted. But Alicia’s boyfriend, Mat, had made us Pina Coladas so we stayed up and sipped on those for a while.

Friday, I got to see her town and some of her projects. She’s just wrapping up her projects, so it was really cool to see all of the progress and success. During her time, she had built a library (which the people insisted on naming after her), did a reading hour, had a Girl Scouts team, did Brigada Verde ( an environmental youth club), taught English classes, and got 25 people birth certificates (which is a major problem in the DR). Most importantly, though, she had fully integrated into her community every time the children walked by her house, they could call “Alicia, Alicia.” Also, every time we went to someone’s house to say hi, they were not only welcoming but they kept asking “Can I get ya’ll anything?” “Can ya’ll stay for dinner?” We did get one free meal and some free grapefruit juice (which was REALLY good).

Saturday, we went to the beach, which was like 10 feet from her house. It was beautiful! We laid out on the beach staring out at the blue water and the backdrop of mountains; it was great. While walking down the shoreline we came across a beached sea-urchin. I was the biggest I’ve ever seen! It was still alive, so we put it back in the ocean. That night it rained so we stayed in and watched the movie, Fargo, by the Coen brothers. I would describe it as- good but screwed up; it’s even more screwed up because it’s based on actual events.

Anyway, the motoconcho ride back Sunday morning was…interesting. Because it had rained so much the roads had become mud and we were sliding all over the place! There were times when I thought we were going down for sure, but the driver was really good and we finally made it through. So now here I am again in Santo Domingo, ready for my next adventure.

Mi camera! Ok so I know I’ve been really slow at putting pictures up, but I was about to ( I promise). And then the unthinkable happened… I lost my camera. I think that it fell out of my bag as I climbed out of a carro publico (like an informal taxi) and I have come to the fact that I will never see it again. I will miss it a lot, we had some good times together. We had been through many of girl’s night, it went to Germany with me, and even survived a 3-story fall! Goodbye camera, I will miss you.

So until I get a new camera, which I will try to do soon, my blog will go pictureless.