This past Sunday was our first Tournament at our Cancha (basketball/volleyball court we built back in March). The boys' basketball team invited 3 other surrounding communities to participate and my girls' volleyball team invited the neighboring town's team. In all of my 2 years here I have only seen softball or baseball tournaments, and this was my first time witnessing the basketball/volleyball tournament. But what can I say, they were the same thing, just different sports.

The morning was suppose to start off at 9 a.m. but of course it really started around 10:30. The sound equipment was blasting reggaeton and merengue music just like expected before the games even started. They insisted on waiting for the 4th basketball team to get there before starting, but finally after some talking I convinced them to start with 2 of the teams whom were already there. My girls played after the first basketball game was finished and they unfortunately lost the 1st game of the match. However I would like to point out that the other team recruited another woman who has played volleyball nationally and in Puerto Rico, aka not on any of these girls' levels. I tried to convince the my team that one player does not make the team and we could win the next couple of games (it was the best 3 of a set of 5) and it would all go great!

After a couple more games of basketball (where one team walked out because they were angry with the umpire, something which is decently common here in the DR due to their high competitiveness), my girls played again. They lost, again. But we still had one game of hope to keep playing. Then they actually pulled themselves together and won the game! It really got their spirits up, but then they lost the next, causing their loss 1-3. They all claimed they will never play again because they were upset about the umping and the fact that the other team recruited the semi-professional. I tried and tried to convince them everything would be alright, this was just one game of the many (my girls already have 3 trophies, why do they need 4?). However they were pretty upset about it. We'll see if they come back to practice.

p.s. the Reparadero Men's team won. And I'm not sure on the final count of money they raised but its going to go towards buying lights for the court; something much needed when it's dreadfully hot to play during the day and at night you can't see.

Yes, I have one month and 2 days left in this beautiful country and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. Here are a list of things that I will miss and not miss about the DR.

I will NOT miss:

Waking up at 7 am to fill buckets with water

Traveling over 30 minutes to get fruits and vegetables & to us the internet

Motorcyles without mufflers

Dame "give me" which stems from the Drop & Go Development which is widely seen here

Electricity outages (basically 50% of the day)

Muddy dirt roads

Snakes, spiders, cockroaches, mice, rats, centipedes, milipedes, and whatever else wanders into my house.

Chickens & Roosters making noise at all hours

Taking out an entire day to do laundry, if the water comes that day and if the electricity stays long enough.

The river of trash next to my house.

Blaring music at all hours

Men hissing and yelling comments as you walk by

Heat and Humidity every single day

Being so far away from my family

I will miss:

Being my own boss

My community

Machete chopping my lawn

Dominoes

Waterfalls, beaches, rivers and other natural beauty just a step away

All my Peace Corps people

Being able to get anywhere on public tranportation (Motoconcho rides!)

Bola (free rides)

Santiago

Fresh fruit

Laid-back pace of life

Some people say it is harder to transition back to the States than to tranistion to your life in a "developing" country. We came in expecting the worst and maybe getting a little more than we hoped for, and going back we expect everything to be exactly the same. However just as things have changed in our countries during our service life in the States has changed. Did you know we have a new President? And that Michael Jackson died? Life will be interesting when I get back, but eventually I will adjust. However, I think my dog Panda might have a harder time.

If it feels like its been ages since I've written a blog, its because I haven't written one in ages, June to be more specific. Since then I have been busy with Close of Service business. Just saying Close of Service give me the chills. I'm so close to being finished with my PC service and I'm not quite sure how to feel about it. I'm certainly ready to be back home, but there are too many things to list of what I'll miss about the DR. Anyways feelings put aside I must tell you about my amazing volleyball team!

This past weekend six of my volleyball girls and I traveled south to San Cristobal for a 10 team volleyball tournament named "Sirve con Fuerza" Sirve with force. In addition to being a volleyball tournament, the girls received presentations about nutrition, health prevention, their futures, listened to successful Dominican women speak about their lives (included one woman who plays volleyball in the University), and most of all worked on team building skills.

My girls finished the round robin with a 5-4 record sending them to the "not-so-good" bracket containing 6 teams. (The best four teams played for the Championship.) My girls had a bye the first round, then won their second game putting them in the final game for the sub-championship game. We played Experimental, a batey in the East, and after two close games, my girls won the trophy! I was so happy for them. They worked together really well and it was great to see how much they have progressed over the past two years.

Out of all my projects in this country I feel like volleyball is something that will continue after I leave. They always have practice when I'm not there and have even learned how to fend off the boys who are always trying to play basketball on our new cancha. I just hope that they continue teaching the younger girls all they have learned so the tradition can continue. Maybe volleyball will become the next baseball??? Doubtful, but one can hope.

That’s right I was standing there on Tuesday afternoon at about one pm, but unfortunately it was foggy and we couldn’t see anything but the white right in front of our faces. We started our five day journey to the highest point in the Caribbean, Pico Duarte, on Saturday afternoon after a meeting for the Celebrando el Cibao Diversity Conference we’re planning. Seven other Female Youth Volunteers and I went on a three hour bus ride to arrive in Mata Grande at about six pm, and the hiking started right then. Although it was almost dark we hiked five kilometers uphill to the National Park office where we slept on the floor preparing to leave the next day for our five day hike.

Day One- We started at 8 am and hiked a total of 18 Kilometers. It was a hard first day of going up, down and around smaller mountains but all-in-all it was a good day. We passed through El filo de la Navaja, which was a narrow pass on the side of the mountain where you could see the entire valley with the river flowing through the valley. Once we arrived at the cabin, we set up camp, I noticed the soles of my shoes were falling off, we ate the dinner that our guides cooked, and then called it an early night at about 8 pm.

Day Two- After peeling myself out of my sleeping bag, all of us and our sore muscles started hiking at 7 am on our way to Valle del Bao. My shoes were duct taped together, leading to a rough day. This was a harder day with steeper slopes, but was only 14 kilometers so we arrived at camp early, and our guides told us it was so we could rest and prepare for the next day which would be the hardest… Little did we know exactly how hard it would be. Valle de Bao looks like Montana, Utah or some other wilderness place with the pine trees, rolling planes and river running through the lowest point in the valley. It definitely felt like we were somewhere other than the DR.

Day Three- We barely could make it out of bed at 5:30 am in order to leave at 6 because we were so sore, but managed to get up and be on our way. This day we had 28 Kilometers to go. I went in my Chacos because my shoes were literally in pieces. Those of you who know what Chacos are, they’re actually good for hiking because they have the same soles as making types of hiking boots, but as for those who stub their toes more than average like me, hiking in sandals didn’t seem like such a good idea. We hit the false summit at about 11 am, and if I would have known it was only 2 meters shorter than Pico Duarte, I don’t know if I would have kept going because I was already tired from hiking uphill all morning. We arrived at the peak at about 12 pm, took our pictures with the Statue of Juan Pablo Duarte, El Padre de la Patria, basically meaning founding father, then went back down to the Valle de Lilis to eat our celebratory salami & bread sandwiches. It was so cold at the top of the mountain that we couldn’t wait to return to the site which had better weather of about 70 degrees. Then it was the dreadful hike back to Valle del Bao, we arrived at 5pm. I didn’t even have the energy to walk down to the river to bathe because I was too afraid I wouldn’t make it back up the hill to the cabin.

Day four- Basically it was day 2 in reverse order. We were starting to fall apart. 2 girls were having knee issues, another fell and hit her knee causing it to swell up and turn black and blue and another was just plain tired, so the mules got a little workout by the girls taking turns riding them for periods of time. When we arrived back at camp we found that the one who went on the mule had tripped on a rock and her entire big toenail of her left foot was ripped out. The poor thing was planning on walking the next day, but unfortunately there was no way she would even be able to put on shoes at that point. We all bathed in the river feeling better about our bodies as the muscles were less sore, but the fatigue of the trip was starting to wear in.

Day Five- This day we hiked the first 18 kilometer day plus the 5 from the park office back into Mata Grande. We arrived in the town at about 4 pm and being that we missed the last bus out (1 pm) we had to ride in the back of a Daihatsu to Santiago. This wouldn’t have been so bad, but about an hour outside of Santiago it started to rain. We put a tarp over the top of us and the entire truck bed and had to listen to the rain beat down on the tarp while trying not to get carsick. We finally had arrived in Santiago at a volunteer’s apartment at 7 pm. We all got to bath for the first time in 5 days in a bathroom, not a freezing river, ordered pizza, coke and stayed up until 11, breaking our week-long habit of going to bed at 8pm.

It was such a great time hanging out with the volunteers and hiking Pico Duarte. It took a toll on my body; sore muscles, my knee-cap felt like it was going in circles, blisters, and we can’t forgot the numerous times I stubbed my toes in those sandals, but it was worth it. I already miss the company, pine trees, the cooler weather and the peacefulness. Now it’s back to the real world of showering 3 times a day to take away the heat, palm trees, motorcycles without mufflers, and having to speak Spanish. I guess vacation can’t always last forever.

After being in this country for 22 months I still had never been east of the Airport outside of Santo Domingo. I finally had the opportunity to go visit three friends who live out in the land of sugar cane. The east coast is most likely what most of you have seen in photos of the beaches and all inclusive resorts, however these friends of mine live in everything but that. One which many of you may have never heard of was a Batey.

Bateys started out as migrant settlements for Haitian workers in the sugar cane business. Now these sites have became permanent settlements of generations of Haitians & Dominicans alike. These types of communities are usually more disadvantaged than other parts of the DR. This is due to heritage of these immigrants as Haitians are not looked highly apon in this country. Also their remoteness (in the middle of miles of sugar cane fields) doesn't help in the lack of receiving external help. For example a Batey in the South only has one latrine per 10 houses, or their roofs are made of palm leaves, or their education level doesn't surpass the 8th grade, or possibly its still a reality for them to go look for water in the river each day.

Batey Las Pajas, where my friend lives, is a little better off than other Batey's but life there is still rough. She has water which comes to her fawcett at least for part of the day, as well as having electricity half of the time. Her "house" is about 20 x 20 ft and is part of the old clinic which was declared structurally unsound and was made into 4 little houses/apartments. Her projects include helping her women's group study for the National test to pass the 8th grade (one woman is my age and has an 10 year old... you do the math) helping in a Sala de Tarea (after-school like program to help kids learn), coaches volleyball as well as a Documentation project for Dominican and Haitian citizens. Unlike my children who run around half naked and without shoes because they just don't want to, hers just don't have any other option. She even feeds one of her neighboor boys because it is unlikely that he will receive food at home because they can't afford it.

Despite the desparities her community faces the community members were all so happy and accepting of me. Maybe they don't have all things necessary to live a comfortable lifestyle, but they make do with what they have. It's yet another face of the diversity here in the Dominican Republic.

In the United States some people really get into local elections, they aren't really anything that strikes me as fun, but here in the Dominican Republic everyone is involved, has opinions, and celebrates when they are over. We as Peace Corps Volunteers are not able to take part in local politics, but when it surrounds you it's hard not to ge an upclose look at what is going on in our communities.

I am very thankful for local elections this year because of the numerous donations that we have received from hopefulls towards the basketball court. But due to all of the donations we were not able to inaugurate the court and we still don't have a set date. If it doesn't happen, that'd actually be better in my opinion. Anyways, donating to projects like basketball courts, building churches, paving parts of roads, donating money for who knows what cause (I have seen a man's personal motorcyle which was donated by a politician)are ways of trying to win the votes of the dominican people. Here you don't win because of your values and goals, you win depends on how much money you invest into the voting populations' communities. The more you give, the more likely you are giong to win the election.

Now does this seem strange to anyone else? A large part of this system has to do with the governments do not have transparancy in the government. Nobody really know how much money each local government receives or how they are spending it. They claim many things, but many times the money is just going straight to the pockets of the local officials. There are really high stakes for these elections, aka lots of money, and it lasts for the next 6 years, aka 6 years of lots of money! Each Dominican wants their party member to win because then they are more likely to receive funding for their projects, whatever that may be.

Leading up tot election day, the intensity was building and nobody even showed up the day before the elections to my meetings, they were already on holiday. Election day was on Sunday, which I really agree with making it a day where most people do not work giving almost everyone the opportunity to vote, and it started early in the morning. I'm not sure at what time the crowds started but by 9am the streets in front of the grade school (voting location) were full of people chanting for their candidates trying to convince anyone who hadn't already made up their decision of who they were planning on voting for. This lasted all day up until the polls closed a 6 pm. Then it was the waiting time while they counted the ballets. Once results came out, the winning parties strted parading around and had dummies of other candidates strapped behind their cars along with a suitcase, signifying pack up your things and go home because you lost.

Monday was an official holiday, and it was full of people drinking in the streets (either celebrating or drinking their sorrows away). It was also accompanied by loud discussions at almost every colmado. I am really thankful that elections are finally over, however it now makes me wonder if I'm going to receive any more money for projects because the politicians really don't need to start looking good in front of the people for another 4 years.

My refrigerator was attacked by ants the other morning and it led to a very long and painful two hours.

After I woke up Saturday morning at about 7:30 am I put on the first two sandals I could find that wouldn't hurt my feet (I stepped on a nail at the basketball court 2 days prior) and happily turned on the light because we had electricity. I walk through the living room and into the kitchen when I notice the container where I keep Panda's food is covered in an army of ants. Not just any ants, but angry ants that bite. As I try to take off the lid of the container without being bit I was happy to find out we had running water and threw the lid into the sink and turned on the water at full blast. Panda was getting excited because I was opening up her food container and put her front two paws on top of the mini fridge to smell her dog food and received a nose full of biting ants in return. She starts shaking her head and ran away leaving me to take care of the mess by myself.

I grabbed the bag of food from the container which the ants had chewed a multiple holes in and ran outside because I knew it wouldn't be possible to get out all of the ants which were having a feast on Panda's dog food. I banged the bag on the ground and tried to salvage what I could of the food becuase after all it's expensive, 20 pesos a pound, which is close to 60 cents a pound. I managed to save enough to least maybe a day or two of food for her, just enough until the next time I would be able to go into Santiago and buy more.

My fight was only half won. I still had to battle the rest of the container and the top of the mini fridge where all of this was sitting. I would try to swipe off the top of the fridge with a sponge and then throw it in the sink to wash it off with water before getting bit, but that rarely happened... it usually ended in me dancing around trying to brush off the ants on my hands and on my clothes. Then I repeated this little action probably 50 times, and I thought I had finished.

I lit some inscence to try to calm down, sat in a chair and started to eat some grahm crackers to celebrate my victory. Then I opened my fridge... yup, they had entered the fridge. Part two started... it lasted about30 more mminutes then I finally gave up. I just poured some ant killer and bleach everywhere, locked up my house and got away. When I came home tha afternoon they were all gone... now let's just hope they don't come back.

They gave him freedom.

My community threw a party for a young man, about 26, who had been in prison for an entire year. It all started when they brought him back from the prison and everyone paraded around in cars and on motorcycles showing everyone that he's back. Then we met up at the Colamado at about 8pm and hung out, drank some beer and waited for the food to be ready. They cooked pork, rice and yucca and we finally were able to eat at about 11 pm, then we all returned to our houses. It was a great night, and good to see all of my side of the community coming together for one things.

Why was he in prison you might be wondering. Well the story goes like this...

Last March I was sitting on the porch of my friends when we heard a gunshot. People started screaming and everyone ran towards the action. Me personally I went inside the house; as a child we were taught when you hear gunshots you run in the other direction, not towards the action. After the commotion goes down and people come back to the house I finally figure out what has went one, a young man in the town was shot in the middle of a street which has absolutely no lights. Nobody knew why, all they knew was he needed to go to the hospital.

As time goes by I start piecing together the story little by little (remember at this point my spanish wasn't that great). The police claim that he was robbing a gas station when he was shot by the guards and that his friend was his accomplice. Lets remember something here, there's no gas station in my town, and his friend who was his "accomplice" was at home in the town over. The community fought and fought to have them released, but nothing they tried worked. But finally one year later they're both back at home.

Now one always has to wonder what were the motives behind these police framing these 2 men. It may have been drug related, whether the police were involved in some sketchy business and were taken advantage of, or maybe the person who shot him was freinds with the police and they were covering it up for him. Really the possibilities are endless, and we may never know what really happened. But he's home, and the community couldn't be happier.

For the past week, Semana Santa (Holy Week), Reparadero was lucky enough to have 16 American visitors. 11 High school students with 5 sponsors made up a group from the organization called Courts for Kids, and were here to do exactly that, build a basketball/volleyball court in our community. They arrived on Sunday and were ready to get started, but unfortunately we were not able to start pouring the cement until Monday morning so a tour of the town, watching some of the baseball games that were going on and a welcoming party with the youth group had to work.

Monday we started on the court and got a late start and only finished 4 of the 18 sections of concrete for the court. This made us really worried that we weren’t going to be able to finish it within the time they were here, but there was nothing we could do about it so the project would continue on as planned. Monday night it was dance lessons. We tried to teach them the basic steps to Meringue and Bachata, and some of them did pretty well, others are still a little confused. Tuesday and Wednesday we worked so hard on the court we actually finished 7 sections each day and were able to finish pouring the court in 3 days!!! During these 3 days 2 brothers in the group had unfortunate luck and were eaten alive by mosquitoes. One looked like he had purple spots as he obviously had an allergic reaction to the bites. We also had one girl sprain an ankle, so we did have our setbacks.

On Thursday they had their free day and we ate breakfast at McDonald’s in Santiago (a break from their new Dominican diet) then did the 27 waterfalls at Damajagua. They all seemed to really enjoy the hike as well as jumping off of the different waterfalls. Afterwards we went to the beach for a couple of hours, ate some dinner and then returned to Reparadero super tired only to wake at at 4:15 am the next morning for the Via Cruz.

The Via Cruz literally means, the Way of the Cross. It’s a catholic tradition in my town to start a large walk at 5 am out to one highway, over to the other and then back representing Jesus’ walk with the cross to his crucifixion. About ever y ½ mile or so they would genuflect and then read the passage from the station of the cross and they went through all stations and ended up back at the church where they started. Only 4 of the kids woke up to do the Via Cruz, but the ones who did enjoyed being surrounded by at least 300 community members on their yearly tradition.

Then Friday was topped off with a small workshop with kids on Basketball and Volleyball. Then the night activity of habichuelas con dulce, a traditional treat during Semana Santa. It was set up like many of the despedidas (going away parties) I’d been to and almost all of the group got up and talked about what they had learned from the community. It made me really proud of what great things they had to say about my community. After being here for so long I sometimes forget about how I felt when I first arrived and fell in love with this community as well. I am very thankful that these amazing youth from the United States could give me a renewed perspective of my community which will hopefully last for my last 7 months.

Saturday was a bittersweet day. They left early in the morning and it was sad for all of them to say goodbye to my community, but some were eager to get back to their lives in the United States. For me I was sad to say goodbye to my new friends and who I had been hanging out with from 6 am until 10 pm for a whole week, but at the same time I was ready for some sleep and for the hard work to be over.

If any of the volunteers on that trip are reading this I want to give a huge thanks for everything you did. You all gave up one week of your comfortable lives in the states to come and build a court in my community which will last for many years to come (there have been non-stop volleyball games since you’ve left). You survived through bucket baths, mosquito bites, twisted ankles, some stomach issues, but were still happy you came. Hopefully you will all do what you said on Friday night and take home the aspects of my community to Vancouver; greet people you see on the road, work hard with other community members for a good cause, and never stop giving.

I haven't posted in awhile because I've been super busy trying to prepare for Courts to Kids to arrive and spend a week in in my site helping construct the baskteball court. The construction is going well but there has been a minor set back, my site hasn't had water in a week. Water usually wouldn't be that big of an issue, but when it comes to mixing cement for a basketball court it takes a large quantity of water. Therefore we've had to go to find water from large tanks that collect it when the water comes.

On a personal note about water, my house hasn't received water since Monday either. I'm used to going without water for at least 4 or 5 days, but this time is different. On Saturday morning when the water finally came I heard my neighboors filling up their buckets and thought it was really weird that I didn't hear my leaky faucet. I went outside to see if my water was turned off and found out my water tube is missing. The water company took my water tube, I am officially cut off of the water supply.

Now you're probably wondering why the water company would take my water pipe, but it's quite simple I haven't paid my water bill since I moved in. Here when it's time for water bills, they send out a group of people to walk around the communities and go from house to house charging for water. However they come around on random days and at random hours, so I'm never in my house when they come to my house. I finally saw the water people and told them I would pay and they asked who's name it was under and I told them that I really had no idea. Then the next time they came around I told them the name the lady in charge of the house told me, and then the water people told me that didn't exist and they'd come back Thursday. Well I wasn't home Thursday... they apparently took my water tube. Personally I don't feel it's my fault that I don't have water, but I will have to go and fix this on Monday. Life is sometimes more difficult than necessary...

I recently started a book club with a group of 5 eighth grade girls during my library hours to keep me entertained just in case nobody shows up that day. First we read the mystery of the disappearing dog. It was a short chapter book with about 5 chapters which would have fallen into about a 3rd or 4th grade reading level in the states, but here you never know. But the book really was too easy for them and we sped through it so we could move on to something harder, Charlotte’s Web.

I chose this book because other volunteers had used it in the past and been successful, and also sometimes it’s hard to relate books about people from other heritages to their lives here in the DR. Therefore a book about animals on a farm… perfect.

I assigned the girls to read the first two chapters of the book and we would get together to discuss what happened, answer comprehension questions, teach them how to look up words they didn’t understand in a dictionary and then always some activity related to what is happening. The activities have been anything from drawing a picture, making a vocabulary log, to writing a brief essay.

The first class went really well and the girls had lots of words to look up. However it caught my attention when one of them started asking me about who was going to disappear in this book. I was quite confused at first and then realized she was asking about the conflict of the book. I then had to explain about how every book has a conflict and usually a resolution. And this conflict isn’t always going to be something disappearing. They didn’t quite seem to get what I was saying, and I realized that I need to teach these kids way more than just what’s going on in the book. They don’t know about antagonists, protagonists, scenes, settings, plot, characters, or most things that make up books. I guess getting into this I assumed too little about their reading abilities, but too much about the understanding of the makeup of a book. Who knew that I, someone who always was terrible in Literature class and who hated to read, would actually be proud that I received what I thought at the time was useless information and be happy to share my information with others. The club now needs to include more information about books in general, not just trying to learn if they really will serve Wilbur for Christmas dinner. Maybe the information seems irrelevant to them right now, but in the future they will be happy to have it. Maybe this will even help them identify parts of a work of literature which is featured in their national test which they have to pass to technically pass the eighth grade. Whatever it is, we’re having fun and I’m enjoying hanging out with these girls however catty they might be. (Remember they’re still teenagers). Next week we’re going to attempt to draw the setting, aka Zuckerman’s farm!

A very large THANK YOU goes out to everyone who donated to our basketball court via the PC website! I really appreciate the support you have all given me and it is going to be a great opportunity to build this court with the help of our friends at Courts for Kids. I will try to figure out how to post pictures sometime or another that way you can all see the process as well!! Once again thanks a million! Cuidense.

Somtimes after being in this country so long and talking about the differences between the Dominican Republic and the United States I forget about how different the life is between the social classes here in the Dominican Republic and how much they differ within the States.

I must make a disclaimer before I start talking about social classes because it all runs on a spectrum and I'm just giving a glimpse into the life of the contrasts that exsists even within our own country. I am working at a Medical mission who brought medical students with them and these are just a few highlights of our conversation.

I said I like going to shows, and he agreed saying opera was his favorite type. But we both agree on blugrass, and acoustic/alt rock, such as the Format although they broke up.

I spent years buying food for the homeless kitchen in what was considered the "poor person's grocery store." He's been to Walmart twice and Walgreens once. I asked him where he buys personal items, and he told me you just tell the maid and the next day it shows up in your house.

I have one sister, he is an only child.

3 words... Heated towel racks?? Apparently they warm up your towel while you're showering so you can have a hot towel when you're finished.

I am from a caucasion family who has been here for years, he's first generation Filipino.

I lived in Kansas, rain, snow or shine. He moved from N. California to S. California depending on the season. I also went camping when I was little, his first time was when he was in college.

Maybe this post seems pointless to you all, but I just get so caught up in the difference between the DR and the US that I forget that differences exist within the US as well.

The truth is I actually have two sour orange trees (naranja agria) in my backyard. You can’t eat them because like their name, they’re too sour. However they make some great juice and the Dominicans squeeze them when they’re ripe and then keep the juice to cook with for quite some time afterwards. I have been using oranges from these trees for about 3 months now, because you can start picking them when they’re still green. Now they were orange and on the verge of going bad so they needed to be squeezed to be saved for later use.

My neighbors had asked me about these oranges time and time again and my response was always, if you find someone to come and pick them, you can have them. The problem with almost all of these oranges is that they are hanging over the stream that runs by my house, so if you try to knock them down with a tall stick they just roll right into the stream and you come to the house empty handed.

On Tuesday, the old man from the vegetable/fruit stand came to my house with a super long pole, a machete and another older man; they were here for the oranges. It’s 8:30 in the morning and although I had been up for about an hour, I was still in my pajamas but I went out to help anyways. They looked at the tree puzzled, I guess they didn’t believe me about how if you try to knock them down they just fall straight into the river, and the tree doesn’t have that my thick branches making it hard to climb. No big deal they thought, and the vendor made the other old man climb up the tree with took a couple tries, but they it was good. As a team effort, the oldest man pulling branches towards the other old man up in the tree and me catching the oranges as he pulled them. At one point I was even pulling on one branch the old man had brought to the land with the large pull, but then lost grip and almost threw me into the stream. If it wasn’t for the fence post I was leaning against I would have been head first into the polluted water.

When we finished we had over half of a rice sack full of oranges for the old men and then one grocery bag of them for me. I’m guessing more than 100 oranges in total. It was an interesting morning and it cracks me up each time I think about the old man cussing out the other old man in the tree about not grabbing the oranges in time, or hitting him in the face with an orange when he wasn’t paying attention. It was an unexpected morning, but it’s great to have neighbors who do chores for me. And most of all, for all of the juice that I’m going to be able to make and add to my cooking from these delicious oranges thanks to my neighbors.

don't forget!

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-352

Remember to help us out! =)

thanks a million

This is basically a letter which I have e-mailed out to a large number of people, but I don't have everyone's email addresses, so I'm posting it here as well!! People always ask what they can do to help out, here's how! Also my birthday is around the corner! ;)

Saludos-

The youth group of Reparadero, Dominican Republic needs your help. In 1997 the youth group, Manos que Trabajan (Hands that work), bought land to build a community meeting space and a basketball/volleyball court. Since this time, the youth group along with the women’s group realized their dream of having a community meeting space. They also worked along with local government to construct a fence around the center and the space for the court. However the group is still missing part of their dream which closest relates to their own lives, the basketball/volleyball court.

Community members as well as the students at the local grade school are forced to play sports on the busy streets, or cross the busiest highway in the country to play in a nearby community. However due to these inconveniences the youth and community members elect other activities which usually are not as constructive. This court will give Reparadero a safe place to practice sports encouraging constructive activities as well as a healthy lifestyle through exercising.

The community already bought the land and is donating half of the labor to the project contributing 25% of the budget. Reparadero is committed to this project, and was listed as most community members as their top priority in a community diagnostic conducted in February 2009.

We recognize and acknowledge the situation on our island with the devastating earthquakes which have struck our neighbors in Haiti. Our community grade school even organized a food drive to send items to Haiti. However the need in other developing countries, like the Dominican Republic, still exists. The average income for a family in Repardero is around US$200 monthly. Your help can enhance the lives of these individuals, creating a safe place to practice sports for many years to come.

Please visit the website https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-352 for further information. We hope you choose to help support this project, this community and their current Peace Corps Volunteer Rachele Vierthaler, in their effort to better the lives of the community of Reparadero, Dominican Republic. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Rachele Vierthaler on Behalf of Manos que Trabajan

Reparadero, Dominican Republic

p.s. all donations are tax deductable and 100% of donations go directly to the project itself.

I feel like it has been a long time since I have updated my blog about work activities, and that’s because it has. I know I have mentioned this before, but work really doesn’t happen in December and for a good part of January. But that being said; I’m back to my normal activities. My girls’ volleyball team is practicing twice a week, however we had to switch our practice space because another one of our balls got a hole in it. It’s due to the fact that we practice in such a small space that each time the ball hits the top of the wire fence, the wire pokes then ball and this time it was hard enough to puncture it. Now we’re going to start practicing on the baseball field. We’ll see how that goes for that fact that the entire field is in the sun, and it’s a hike up the hill to get to it. I guess we’ll see how committed these girls really are. I even got asked to go and speak at the new Youth Development PCVs 3 month training about staring sports activities and teams within your project site! I’m super excited to go and hang out with the “newbies” for a day!

The youth group is working hard towards raising more money to hopefully put towards expanding our clinic. We recently received a grant called the “Community Challenge” which is composed of donations from Returned PCVs from the Dominican Republic. So basically people who served in this country and want to keep giving to the cause. We have enough money to start building the outer wall, but not quite enough to finish so we’ll have to keep raising money until we hit that amount then we can start the addition. The youth group is also preparing for the visit from Courts for Kids. It’s a great organization which is doing an ‘alternative spring break’ ish type project for us. A High School in the states raised money to fly down here and pay for 2/3 of the cost of the court (the other 1/3 might be pleaded from you all very shortly ). They’re coming in March so we’ll be planning out activities and all arrangements for them.

Then I have the library. Although a man said he would donate most of the materials to build the bathroom outside, he still hasn’t given us these materials making it hard for us start up that project. I also started up a book club this past Wednesday. I had 5 8th graders show up and we read the first chapter of “The Mystery of the Disappearing Dog.” In the states this would be a 2nd or 3rd grade reading level, but here is a little different. However I would say, the book is easy for them, but still I wouldn’t give it to a group younger than 6th graders in this country. It’s so sad to see the difference in education, but reality is, we are just truly blessed in the States and there’s hardly a comparison. But the girls were great and I think maybe we can move on to a harder story after this one, I’m thinking Charlotte’s Web.

Anyway, my life is finally getting back to the routine that it was before I left for the States. That seems so long ago, but sometimes life here just moves at a slower pace and you have to sit back and enjoy the ride.

As probably all of you know, two days ago was a devastating day in Haiti. The earthquake was centered around it's capital city and from the news I've seen here it looks pretty much destroyed. Here in the DR we felt the shake, but were lucky not to have anything major happen. I am in the middle of the country and felt the shake and it has been said that even people on the East coast (furthest away from Haiti) felt it as well.

I happened to be at the high school and I had a headache previously and all the sudden I thought I was getting dizzy from the headache. Then somebody pointed out that the trees and the building were rocking back in forth. It felt like we were on a boat in the middle of water just rocking back in forth. We are very grateful to be free of damage in my community but Haiti was not as lucky. Haiti is a very poor country, I have even heard it called the poorest in the Western Hempisphere. The situation is so terrible that us PCVs are not allowed to go to Haiti (this was before the Earthquake). Many Haitians cross the boarder to the DR to look for cheap labor jobs such as selling goods on the streets, on sugar cane plantations, and in my community agriculture farms and pottery workshops. Although they work for half the price of Dominicans, that money is worth more in Haiti. Sometimes we think the situation is bad here in the DR, I can't imagine was it is like in Haiti for so many Haitians to risk their lives to illegally cross the border to look for work. They needed help before, and now even more so. May your hearts and prayers be with them.

Last you all knew I was just arriving back in the DR to settle in a bit after being in the states. Now I’m doing about the same thing in my site after being fortunate enough to do some traveling the past couple of weeks with some friends. John came to visit all of the way from Korea. He had a month break off and didn’t feel like spending it in cold weather, so he headed down to the DR. We didn’t have that spectacular weather while he was here, but there was at least a couple days of sunshine and many pretty beaches that hopefully made it worth it!

It started out with a get together at my friend Betsy’s site for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. There were 6 PCVs and 2 visitors from the states to make up a great gift exchange (I won a set of toy disc throwers) then we went out to the discoteca for dancing on Christmas night. It was great fun and Betsy lives on top of a hill, literally and you have a great view of most of the valley. I’m jealous of that rather than looking towards our river a.k.a. trash dump. After Christmas John and I traveled back to my sight just for one night and on the next day our adventure started again.

Jay & his sister visiting from the states rented a car and picked us up and we went all the way to my friend Iris’s site for the night on the way to Samana. We spent 3 days in Las Galeras hiking to nearby beaches. The beaches there are beautiful! The first one we hiked to was called Madama, and this was about a 45 minute hike and we passed by this mansion which they quit building. We got word from a Dominican that it was some French couple and they just never returned. Who knows. Then the next day we hiked all the way to Playa Rincon. Usually you take a boat or drive a car to get there, but the ocean was too rough for a boat and there’s no way the little rental car would have survived. So we hiked along the coastline passing through 3 secluded beaches to end up at beautiful Rincon! The beach was pretty and relaxing after the hour and a half hiking trip.

From there we went to Cabarete for New Years Eve. There is always a good gathering of PCVs in Cabarete for this holiday because it has such a great night life. Time was enjoyable, but I’ve been there before so not as exciting. Then John and I headed off to Rio San Juan for one night to wait for the arrival of another friend from the states. There was bad weather so we had to enjoy Playa Grande by just sitting on the shore, but it still was pretty and relaxing. The last stop on our journey was next.

One friend of mine who was a trainee for PC who went home was back to visit with her parents and one brother. They rented out a Villa which had 6 little cottages our own pool, tennis court, private beach, cable TV in each room, horses and their own cooking staff. It was great! Let’s just say it was the best ‘resort’ I’ve ever been to. I went horseback riding one day, learned how to play some tennis, played dominoes (of course) and basically just enjoyed friends. The family invited a large group of people from our training group to participate and was calling it a “Celebration of Peace Corps Volunteers.” Definitely was worth it and so good to see her as she has been gone for over a year.

Now it’s back to reality. First it was the reality of my site from the states, but now it’s the reality of my site from being a tourist. I’m not looking forward to not being surrounded by English speakers at all times, but I am looking forward to starting up my projects again, my Escojo kids already asked me about this Saturday if we have class. So now you know how fun my country is, you should visit too, and we can play tourist together! =)

I've been back in the DR for a week now and it's not an easy transistion. I don't know what I was doing before I left that made me so busy! Right now I just kind of wander around or hang out at my house with Panda. It is December though, here in December everyone takes it easy. Usually businesses pay doble sueldo (double salary) which helps families out during the holiday season. Also school has already been dismissed for the year and who knows when they will return. It won't be until after the Epiphany on January 6th. However that falls on a Wednesday so the kids probably won't start until the following Monday. Also many people's families are coming in from the cities or states to visit, adding more reason to like December here. Everyone enjoys their Decembers, but makes it harder for a volunteer to get something accomplished. However I don't see a pressing need at the moment so I think I might take part in the easy going life of December. I am currently in the Capital, last night the director of PCDR had a Christmas party for all of the volunteers and staff members at his apartment in the city. It was up on the 11th floor and you could see the entire city, the ocean and the mountains. It gave me a new appreciation for Santo Domingo. It just made the city look pretty and serene when I feel it is anything but those two describing words. It was great to see a large amount of my friends who aren't going home for the holidays either and spend some time in the city which I have mixed feelings about. I'm heading back to my site, and I'm going join in the December festivites and cogerlo suave (take it easy).

However, it's time for me to return to my other home in the Dominican Republic. Kansas has been great to me, I even got to witness the first snow of the year, but that warm weather is calling my name. I have been out of my site for 3 weeks due to my one year PC training, and then 2 weeks here, and I feel like it is time that I return. My puppy is going to be a mess, she's currently staying with my host family, and I'm sure has not received a single walk or let off of her chain... I'm just hoping that I'm not going to have to re-house train her. But I miss her, so either way it'll be great. My Escojo kids want to meet the Saturday after I get back, and I'm actually excited to see their faces and answer their questions about "Nueba Yol"aka. New York. My friends are going to ask me about my family, want to see pictures of everything and I'm sure I'm sure I'm going to be drinking lots of coffee while sitting on porches, making sure the people know that I didn't get lost and I am still part of the community. I am scared to see my house and what types of creatures are inhabiting it. Hopefully the spiders didn't multiply too much, and the mice didn't find a reason to enter, but vamos a ver. However I am ready to be in my house again, cook dinner and have my life return to the 'normal' campo life that I left behind.

I will miss the convenience of the internet at my fingertips, not having to check to see if theres electricity before doing anything, drinking water out of the tap, hot water, driving a car, having a life after 7 pm, and of course all of my family and friends who have been so great to me over these past two weeks. A special thanks goes out to all of you who fed me, bought me a drink, let me sleep at their house, called just to chat, let me hang out at their houses to catch up, traveled long distances just to see me, shared the past year's stories, and especially those who have taken an interest in what I do and fully support my work in the DR. Without all of you, I don't know if my service in the DR would be possible. I'm grateful for all of you and all you've done, but it's time to return to my other life and my other friends and family. I'll return in 2010, si dios quiere.

I'm here!!! In Kansas, that is. I'm visiting my parents, friends and finally meeting my almost 9 month old nephew. I'm here for 2 weeks, which seems like a long time, but I know it will go speeding by. These are just some observations that I have made while being here, (3 days so far). Sorry if they seem rude, but reverse culture shock is definitely sinking in and I feel like I'm in a foreign land.

Chicago Airport Bathrooms: Rotating seat covers on toilets, warm handwashing water, it smelled pleasant and I was super confused about where to throw the toilet paper... fyi it goes in the toilet.

Flannel/Plaid must be the new fashion statement.

Strollers, I'm just not used to seeing them, and the parents of the kids are old... well older than most Dominican parents who start having children in late teens and early twenties, compared to here in the states where late twenties to early thirties is more common.

Seeing so many white people, I feel like I should know them. In the DR I feel like almost every white person I saw (excluding touristy areas) I knew. I kept seeing people and wondering who's friends or family members they were.

I just kept wanting to speak Spanish to everyone. Old habits die hard.

Mountain Dew... oh how I missed it.

Americans dress sloppy. In the DR everyone is so well put together, it was hard to see people with messy hairdos, sweatpants, and missmatching outfits walking around in a public place. In the Dominican Republic I have given up wearing T-shirts because people would continuously ask me if I was heading to practice. Let's just say fashion in different here.

Each day I continue to be amazed at how much I have gotten used to life in the Dominican Republic and how life here feels like the foreign country.

It´s almost time for me to go home to visit the states and I cannot wait to be back. I´ve had a rough last couple of weeks here with a mix of not having electricity for a good 2 weeks, not having water for 5 days, transportation struggles, and normal struggles with projects. Let´s just say I´m ready for always having electricity, having running water at all times, even HOT water, driving my own car, not hearing motorcyles zooming by a all hours or the roosters that don´t know when dawn is and start crowing at 3 am. Don´t get me wrong, I love this country and the people here, but I need a break and it couldn´t be coming at a better time! But for now I´m staying super busy trying to tie up some projects before I leave. I have Escojo Graduation on Saturday, trying to book a place for Celebrando el Cibao for next year and finding out about some lodging for our guests who are coming at the end of March. Anyways if any of you are in the Kansas area November 27-December 10 maybe we´ll run into each other. Nos vemos pronto! (we´ll see each other soon)

This is a link to a dance we did at the National Escojo Mi Vida conference. If anyone knows spanish try to listen to the lyrics. Theyre about HIV-STI prevention and using condoms. I´m the one in the white shirt with the hat right at the begining. Enjoy the PCV creativty! =) and of course our great singing and dancing skills! At least the kids loved it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blhzywyC3bk

Life has been a whirlwind lately, as I really haven't had time to sit and think. it all started with the volleyball tournament, then Escojo national conference, then an intercambio (group exchange) in my site at the pool(holla back), then finally the Library inauguration. Side note, libraries are super rare in this country, schools don't even have libraries, so this is a big step for the education of our communities... if they utilize it that is.

I woke up that Saturday morning with such a large day ahead of me, I was quite overwhelmed... not really anything to do with the inauguration because the library has already had open hours for a couple of weeks and it's definitely not finished so it was really just a formality and a politics show to say the least. Anyways in the morning I had to prepare for my Escojo class which I couldn't give up teaching because I want to finish the course before I head back to the sates on Vacation (t minus 31 days). But after planning, showering and putting on heels for the second time in country I headed out the door at 1:30pm for the start of a long day.

Escojo went well from 2-3, and then I found a bolla (free ride) to Higuerito. We set everything up and started fashionably late (one hour) which is normal here. It was super nice because the former volunteer that started this project, who now works in the capital was able to come and talk. However the Rotary club or 'Club Rotario' from Moca showed up to donate a box of books. Super! I was stoked, however they continued to hang up their flag and then take credit for some of the library making it look like they had done so much, when really this was the first time I'd ever seen them and it was one box of books, whereas many people in the community have done so much more and not receiving any credit. Oh well it's over and everthing went great and then the baton ballet (little girls dance team) performed, we drank soda and we were on our way.

So many people had great compliments on how many books we have and how great everything looks. However, the Master of Ceremonies wasn't too pleased with the place and mentioned how we're still missing paint for the fence, we have a crack in the floor and one of the walls and we still don't have a bathroom or a librarian. Yes, we know, but there's no money and those are all future plans! But due to him saying that a man in the crowd offered to give us all the materials to build a latrine if we can just find a guy willing to do it! Thanks Tio Luly!

After the inaguration I went to my jovenes meeting (youth group) and it was filled by a politician running for Syndico (mayor) so I was really sad I was missing the after celebration of the library for politicians speech. However after walking home in my high heels at 9 pm, my friend came to my house and offered to take me back to Higuerito to celebrate with the rest of the Library committe on finally inaugurating the library. This brought my almost tears into a smile and I spent the night laughing, having fun with a mixture of other PCVs and Dominicans, as we chatted and ate the best Sancocho to celebrate the educational resource that they are extremely proud of.

This past weekend was my girls’ first volleyball tournament, heck it was there first real game too. We only have about 2 months solid of practicing twice a week for about an hour and a half each time, so basically no experience. Four other volunteers and I planned a regional volleyball tournament for the ‘North/Central’ region of the country. Each of us brought our own teams in hopes to bring home the trophy. It was held in Fantino in their Cultural Club which has a space especially for volleyball. In the states this facility would be considered extremely out of date, but for us, it had lines, a net and a roof therefore it was better than anywhere our girls had ever played.

My girls only won one match on the first day and asked if we could go home. Dominicans are super competitive and it’s hard for me to deal with because I’m not really, but I encouraged them that we should stay because the next day in the bracket anything could happen, plus they needed to stay and sleep at other player’s houses to make new friends. That night we bravely sent our girls to houses of families I’ve never met, but were of players that lived in Fantino and Los Limones. We crammed 20 people into our guagua (mini-bus) for the 30 minute ride to Los Limones, and we were off for the night. Needless to say it was a huge success and now each girl that stayed in another’s house are of course ‘best friends for life’.

The 2nd day we (ranked 4th out of the 5 teams) were playing the girls ranked first who are an excellent team. However, we won the first game of the match, then they won the second so it went into a third game. My girls played SO well that we won the 3rd game and that sent us to the finals since it was such a small tournament! I was so proud of them, as they were of their team. Final game… we lost the first game, and then won the 2nd. It’s going into a 3rd game again, so maybe it’s not a fluke that we beat the #1 ranked team. Then after a fight we lost the final game 15-11. It doesn’t matter, I was so proud of them for playing so well and we still got a trophy! (although the arm of the little gold volleyball player is broken from some mishap of the first day)

Sunday night after we returned to our sight so happy about their performance we decided that we needed to celebrate by eating some pico pollo (fried chicken usually served with fried platanoes) with our trophy mounted on the table while we ate. The girls showed up in some of the nicest clothes and looked like they were ready for the night on the town and we took many photos with the trophy, ate food and drank soda, and of course was topped off with a bunch of screaming and couple of dances. It was so much fun to hang out with the girls outside of practice and to have them all in such high spirits. I can only hope that this will encourage them to keep practicing and bring more girls to play with us! Watch out Reparadero, volleyball might become the new sport in place of softball! =)

It’s 8pm on a Monday night (the28th) and I’m sitting here in the dark (writing this by my lampara (small gas lamp) to type up later when the electricity comes back, I haven’t had it all day) eating my soup that I made. It’s quite a simple soup really, water, seasonings, noodles that I found which are probably more than a month old and I splurged on 8 pesos of potatoes (22 cents). It’s the end of the month and since I traveled to the South a week ago to go to a friend’s bachelorette party, who is now legally married to a Dominican, it’s a scarce end of the month. I usually find that my monthly stipend is enough to make it through the month and usually have a few pesos left over, but due to traveling and staying in an actual hotel with air-conditioning, tv and full length mirror, I’m stretching every peso. Tomorrow is probably going to be a day where I “happen” to show up at someone’s house around lunch time. Dominicans are such a sharing culture they’ll always offer you food. I try not to do this often as I know that many don’t have the resources to feed one more mouth at the main meal of the day.

I’m trying to think of something to do tonight, but it just so happens that on the way back from the colmado (small business that sells pretty much your basic necessities) my key got stuck in the door, and I couldn’t get it out or open the door. After my neighbor got into the extra attached room and then climbed over my wall into my house to open the front door, I decided that I shouldn’t leave tonight because I might not be able to get back in. I’ll get my door looked at tomorrow because at night without electricity is just too much of a hassle. So what shall I do tonight? I need to call another volunteer about the upcoming volleyball tournament, but due to not having electricity all day my phone is dead, so that will have to wait. Panda (my puppy) is sleeping so I could try to wake her up to play, but she sleeps like a rock. The current book I’m reading is in Spanish and I don’t feel like concentrating that hard. My laptop doesn’t work because it doesn’t have a battery life, so can’t type this up yet or watch a movie that I have seen too many times. I guess the option that sounds most appealing to me right now will be to just sit here and listen to the motorcycles pass by and enjoy my ‘gourmet’ candlelight dinner.

This past month has been a whirlwind. I took a total of 4 jovenes to two different 3 day conferences, took 3 to a one day conference and then regular work on top of that by finishing up one English class and starting another, working with volleyball full force again, and yes trying to finish the library. Since those conferences are all over I took this week and dedicated it to the library, because I think it should be open. I’m going to give a little insight to my week working with the library (not including normal weekly activities) so people can see why some things take so long to get accomplished. We all wish things could just happen when we want, but of all things I have learned in this country is that patience is the key and it will all happen… eventually… si dios quiere.

Tuesday: Library meeting as normal, but only 4 committee members show up, excluding the president and treasurer. Put a date for inauguration which we need to get approved my the Ayuntamiento (city hall type place), and the school director. Put dates for other activities of the week, and then long discussion between committee members about stuff we have don’t have any control over. 4 of us volunteered times to have “open hours” at the library starting next week! Hooray it’s kind of open!

Wednesday: Started painting the mural with 5 local artists that I rounded up, I’m just lucky I have artistically talented friends. Went to the Ayuntamiento, got the date approved, but found out we need to get the agenda pre-approved before the inauguration so we can recognize the Sindico (Mayor) which hasn’t done basically anything for us. We asked when they were going to give us the rest of the dirt needed to fill the area (5 months in the making), they told us next week, we’ll see. Talked to a constructor about why he didn’t finish the fence and when he’s going to do that. Found out the guy we hired wasn’t paid to finish it, just put the block there, so we had to do more budgeting and figure out how to get this thing finished with the tiny bit of money we have left.

Thursday: Painting again, only 1 guy shows up. So I help out with my limited painting skills and we knocked out a good part of the wall, but since only he showed up we have to go again. Talked with the School director, and got the date approved. She suggested we put a fake inauguration date so maybe the Ayuntamiento might do something (aka give us the promised dirt) sooner than later. Called the guy to come and fix the fence because we can do it for what they asked, he never answered. At 3 pm that day we finally found me at my house. We were suppose to go into Moca to present a letter to the Rotary club and ask for some help for the Library, but the guy who was going to drive us, “felt a little bad”(probably a headache) so he couldn’t take us. Guess maybe that’ll be for next week.

Friday: 3 of us painting to finish the mural. FINISHED!! I must say it’s the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen, it even says my name in one of the books! The fence is basically finished (we don’t have money for the door, but once the materials show up a guy said he’d do it for free, we’ll see about that). Put up poster in the school advertising the new open hours. Tried to find the President of the committee to tell him about inauguration date and ask for the part of the fan that he was suppose to put up (6 months in the making).

And it’s Saturday, not really much else to do with the library for this week other than making sure the fence gets finished and paying the guy for his labor. I consider this a successful week!

I wrote this blog on August 23rd, and now it's September but I still wanted to post this! enjoy

It has officailly been one year since I have seen american soil (if you aren’t including that of the embassy). I left one year ago Friday from Miami to come down the the Dominican Republic with expectations of how I was going to help make one community’s lives easier. How I was going to accomplish that, I didn’t know, but I was coming to imerse myself into the Dominican Culture basically without knowing anything about it. Looking back at this past year it has flown by, but at the same time feels like I have lived here my whole life.

I have learned that taking time out of the day to spend with the people you care about is essential. Porch time is necessary, not only is it the coolest place during those hot days, but you can always find good conversation or sit in the quiet and watch people and cars go by. Just being there is a symbol that you care.

This government’s budget is not sanctioned how it should be. Only 4% of an Ayuntamiento (Municipal’s city hall) goes towards, Health, Education and Gender. This includes all of the teachers’ salaries, paying for the Drs in the clinics, medicine and things along those lines. The other 96% is for what? Stuff that is necessary, but not as necessary as the others for actual long term, sustainable development of this country. I have heard that the average kid in this country received 2.22 hours of class each day, and would need 8 extra years of schooling to be on the same level as the United States. And I could go on for hours about the multiple health myths, for example my fellow PCV once heard from teachers at the grade school that you can’t put ice on a bump on the head because the blood will freeze and they’ll die.

Shared public transportation is the way to go. Yes it’s uncomfortable riding 4 people to the backseat of a car and 2 people in the passenger seat, but you get where you’re going faster and uses fewer cars and gas than everyone taking their own.

Sharing is caring. I have shared a piece of bubblegum 3 ways, let a 3 year old lick my lollypop for a little bit, taken bites of so many people’s food. Received cake from wedding’s I haven’t attended. If you have something, you share it. Sometimes I get offended in the PC office if people have something and don’t offer it to me. However in the States, this always happens and it’s just how things are, but after spending a year of always being offered, whatever it is, it’s weird to watch people eat.

Getting hissed at isn’t necessarily a cat call, they’re just trying to get your attention. I have people do that all the time, it can even be girls, and then they call me over to ask me a question or say hello. Also being called Rubia (blonde) or Americana (American) isn’t any type of rude remark, that’s what I am, and I can’t be offended for that. However I still get mad is people call me Gringa (term for forgeiner related back to US invasions). In the States none of this goes, but here it’s just how they do things.

Well I have learned a lot in this past year and I hope everyone who has read this has learned a lot about the Dominican Republic as well. I can only hope that my next year and 2 months will be just as fulfilling and teach me just as much.

It is that time of year, crunchtime in my site! School starts next week, and I'm trying to wrap up summer projects and prepare for new ones. I finished 2 english classes! (they all want me to continue, but we'll see) I started 2 others, I'm starting up volleyball practice again with a workshop this Saturday and we'll have practice twice a week until our tournament in September and then hopefully we'll continue practicing the same. I also have two upcoming camps, Celbrando Cibao which teaches about cultures and diversity and Jugar para Vivir, which is promoting a healthy lifestyles through sports and nutrition. I"m super exciting to take 4 kids to these camps and then 6 to the volleyball tournament in September, but we'll see how traveling with young dominicans go! I took two girls to a conference in April and it was great, so hopefully these will follow suit. I had super sad news this past July from Courts 4 Kids. They told me that they were committed to building our basketball/volleyball court, and now they are backing out on me. This was of course after I told me whole community that they were coming and everyone was super exciting. It was really hard to break the bad news to them and I was really sad for awhile because I feel like it hurts my credibility as a volunteer. I said something would happen and now it's not. I know it's not my fault and we're all human, but it's still sad and now we're back at square one.

As far as life goes, everything has been going the same. I feel like I'm in such a routine here that I need something to spice up my life. Panda is growing and likes to growl and bark at me, I think I need the dog whisperer to come. So if any of you have contacts let me know! =) Actually she's great company to have, but just a little loca (crazy). Man, my life is such a routine I don't even know what to talk about. I guess that will be all until next time!

Yup I'm fastly approaching my one year mark in country! Time is flying by as I do not feel like I have been here that long, but at the same time it's hard remembering what daily life in the states was like (not waiting for those 5 hours of electricity, or waking up at 7 am for the (sometimes) 1 hour of running water, not walking around with a motorcycle helmet and the luxury of driving a car.) Anyways just a short reflection on how fast time really is going by here, I'll be home before we know it!

I have been terrible about using the internet lately, I haven't just been ignoring my blog. It's just been frustrating because the 2 places where I usually use wireless internet have not been working the last 2 weeks. Finally after searching forever today in the hot hot sun, I'm here at McDonalds in the air conditioning using their wifi, it almost feels like the states. Well nothing exciting has been happening in my life. Yesterday I took my Escojo group (which has dwindled from a good 17 to 8) to the river to meet up with another PCV's group. Only about 6 of her kids came so it was a pretty small group, but just perfect to enjoy the day, cook some good food and swim in the freezing cold river! I'm hoping this little trip can help animate them to keep going with the program and hopefully soon they will be preparing their own talks (charlas) to give to other students or groups. The actual goal of the program is for them to be giving their own charlas to more people across the community to multiply the information (leading a healthy lifestyle).

On Friday I started a kids "english" class. I am sick of teaching English and I really feel like they should be learning to read spanish instead of English, but by popular demand I am doing a short 4 week class with kids ages 6-10. We sang a song and learned how to say "my name is ---" Then they drew pictures of themselves and presented themselves to the class. You could say that I'm just throwing the English part in there and just making it an hour of activities each week until school starts up again and that's fine with me. And wow, let's just say I have a whole new respect for people that handle a large group of children at those ages (mom). There was a whole lot of, he said, she said, and of course I had one little girl crying. Good thing this only lasts 4 weeks!

It means ‘Eagle Bay’ and it is probably the prettiest place in this country and it is where I spent my 4th of July. Me and 19 other volunteers made this long journey (for me it was about 10 hours) to the deep south of the country to a beach which you get to by taking a boat and is right off of the desert, needless to say it’s perfectly secluded and unharmed. The Caribbean waters were so clear and calm it was perfect for snorkeling, if only there were reefs nearby, and the white sandy beaches were absolutely perfect.

I started out my journey with my volunteer friend Kelly at 4:30 am on Friday morning (the 3rd) as we headed to the capital in order to catch the 9:45 bus to Barahona (on of the main cities in the south). From there we went to San Rafael to set up camp at the Casa San Rafael, known as San Raffy House to us PCVs. It is a 3 bedroom house, not hotel because it did not have an electricity generator nor water all the time so it seemed just like any of our houses with the exception of the incredible view. In this part of the South the mountains are almost directly off of the beach. So this house was on a tall cliff overlooking the crystal blue waters below and gave a perfect view of the Southern Coast. And yes we fit all 20 of us volunteers in the 6 beds and 2 benches of that house! True PCV style with 3 to a double bed and the other two on the living room benches. Then early Saturday morning (the 4th) we left at 7 am to make the 4 hour trip to Bahia de las Aguilas. We were all in the back of a pickup truck and we started out the morning singing the Star Spangled Banner tacking on mini American Flags to the Cab of the truck. Later on we sang other patriotic songs(I must say I failed when I was asked all of the words to home on the range, but later I remembered!), then we tried to list all of the 50 capitals (and yes that was a success). Once we finally made it through the desert to the beach we got onto a little motor boat which took us to the secluded beach where we spend the entire day enjoying the company of other Americans, eating sandwiches, homemade cookies sent from the states and of course swimming. On the way back we sang multiple songs, but with less enthusiasm because we were so tired due to all of the sun. On the 5th I left decently early in the morning to return to my site. The weekend was full of traveling and I probably spent more time on the road than I did actually hanging out with the other PCVs, but it was definitely worth it to see a bunch of my friends and celebrate an American holiday with people who understand and share many of the same traditions. 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays from the states and my family has a long tradition of celebrating it with bbqs and fireworks, and although this 4th of July didn’t include either two things mentioned above it will be one I will never forget.

Yesterday I was privileged to attend the inauguration of a pool in my site. Yes my site now has a type of country club which bring big named artists to the area. However, this being said who attends this country club? Rich people from Santiago, not people from my campo (except for Sunday nights when ladies enter free). You can always tell what day Nene's ranch is open because there are Lexus, BMWs, and Cadillacs cruising the one paved street. (Definitely a difference between the have and have-nots.) So yesterday Nene's Ranch which changed owners since I've been here finally opened up there renovated Rancho Tipico which includes a HUGE pool that has a poolside bar and a poolside stage. I got so dance and watch 3 big musical artists. Tito Swing, who is a Merengue Mambo Artist, Juliana, Merengue Mambo, and El Prodigio, Merengue Tipico. Let me just make a few comments, Tito Swing is way shorter and smaller than I expected, and has an attitude problem, but the beats of this Merenguero rock. Juliana was AMAZING! She's one of the few Merengueras, aka not that many women are known to sing this type of music, and she does her job well. Lastly was El Prodigio which has been around forever, said to have the best saxophone & Guira (looks like a cheese grater) in the country. He also plays the accordian while he sings which I think is really cool.

I'm having mixed feelings about me attending this activity. On one hand it was super fun to go swimming in a pool, and see those famous artists, but on the other hand does a volunteer need to be there? Not necessarily as if it is a bad place for me to be, but it cost RD$300 pesos to enter which is less than US$10 but it's a lot of money here. In the states that's nothing to enter a fiesta the size this was, but it just goes to show the difference between the two countries. Either way I went and loved it, but now I'm afraid the people in my community who know I went will think I'm rich, and by any means I'm not.

On a side note I had two volunteer friends visit me this weekend which was SUPER fun. It's fun bringing people to your site, except for the fact that both were attractive single women volunteers so all of the guys are instantly in love and ask about them ALL the time now! Oh well I guess it's better than they like them instead of hating them! :)

Yes a Panda is a type of bear, but it is also the name of my puppy! Yes, I can’t believe it either and I’m about to throw her in the river! Not really, but sometimes the frustrations of having a month old puppy is just too much to handle. She’s super cute (looks like a panda bear) and when she’s not being a little terror, she can be quite entertaining. I have noticed though ever since I’ve had her (one week) I have had a weird rash on my hands… coincidence?

So why did I get a dog? Good question, I thought I was lonely living in my house by myself, but actually it makes it more lonesome. While she’s a puppy I can’t leave her by herself for hours on end, so I’m less likely to be out visiting with other people. It has had quite the opposite affect than what I thought. However, I’m hoping that once she’s older I will be able to leave her outside or on my porch without having to worry about getting back to let her outside. But the real reason I got her was because they were going to throw out (botar) all of the girl dogs in her litter which was 5 of the 9. I decided although I couldn’t save all of their lives I could at least take one of them. Throwing out all of the girl puppies is their way of doggy birth control. And how do they ‘throw out’ dogs? Well some get dropped off in the middle of nowhere, and one volunteer actually found three girl puppies buried alive, so it just depends.

Now Panda is staying at my friends house while I am in the capital for Language training. We’re required to go back and have a little bit more training and focus on the areas of Spanish that we’re struggling with. I’m struggling with understanding what some people say. Maybe this is a problem with my Spanish but I personally think this has to do with my hearing because I don’t understand people in English usually, because I can speak just fine. We’ll see how it goes, being back at my first dona’s house in Los Angeles for a week. She’s such a great cook so I’m excited, however it won’t be the same without all of my friends that were there during training.

This weekend was my Escojo graduation!! It feels so great to be done with the classes, but we’re going to keep meeting, so class really isn’t over. In total I had 17 graduate from the sexual health/healthy decision making course that I was giving. Their ages ranged from 13-19. They’re such great kids, but oh so frustrating at the same time. They were supposed to work on a drama to do for the audience for them to understand what they’ve learned over the past 3 months, but that didn’t happen, nor did the girl who was suppose to give a short speech, nor did they bring family and friends. Needless to say it was a pretty short graduation where I just talked for a little bit, handed them their certificates, we ate some cookies, drank some soda, then left. Last night I had a small get together with them at my new house complete with music and glow-stick bracelets (courtesy of my parents which were a HUGE success, I had the whole neighborhood coming over and asking for one).

Escojo isn’t the only thing that’s ending but not really, I’m almost finished with my English classes! I only have 2 classes left for one and the other only needs to take their final exams. However this is only part 1 of the English course and I’ll be continuing giving the course to the kids who want to continue starting back up in July and I’m getting sucked into starting more basic classes. Man, I really don’t like teaching English but the community keeps demanding it, because it’s hard to find a job if you don’t know English as Tourism is the #1 source of income for this country.

On another note, things are rolling in my community. Everything is pretty much normal and I’m finally getting settled into my house! One of my friends sisters is lending me a table for the next year and a half and I think I might be buying a couple of chairs this week, so it might actually look like a house! I’m also hoping to paint with this gallon of free paint that a guy gave me. I also got rid of the ants inside of my house! There were literally thousands of them inside what I call the “recreation room” aka the bedroom that’s not attached to the rest of the house where I keep my art supplies and volleyball net. However the red ants that bite are still outside of the house and bit my feet each time I’m unlocking the gate on my fence! Asi es la vida. (As is life)

And lastly I can't forget that my parents were here for a week! It was a great time to see family! They spent a whole week here and it was their first time out of the good 'ol US, so of course it was interesting. I think they said it's hot, dirty and lots of bugs. However, I think it was good for them to see both my campo, as well as hang out at the beach! We spent some time in my town, took them into the city (Santiago) on Public transport, yes guaguas (a van) that you can squeeze 20 people into, Public Cars (usually small mazdas) which fit 3 sometimes 4 upfront and 4 in the back, went to the cultural center, the Teleferica in Puerto Plata to see all the way around from the top of the mountains, and of course, the beach! I think it was a good trip even though I had to leave them for work related activities for about 2 days, I think they managed! But now I'm ready for more visitors whenever somebody wants to come! =)

Well it´s finally happened... I HAVE A HOUSE! It´s not that nice, but ít´s mine and that´s all that matters! It´s right by the river in *aquel lado* which means the other side, technically in a different provence than Reparadero, but it´s the same town. Not many towns can say they´re divided by two provences... oh yeah kind of reminds me of Kansas City, but just not as nice or big. Anyways my house, it´s bright teal, has 2 bedrooms, a porch, a kitchen/bathroom (known in PC as a bitchen), a living room and a nice overhang to park a car or a motorcycle if I could only have them. I recently realized there´s an ant problem (don´t tell my parents they´re in flight here right now and going to be staying there). I´ve went at them with this powder that´s suppose to kill them, but I still have the fire ants right by my gate so each time i´ve leaving and standing there to lock it, yes definitely leave my house with bites that start swelling up and turn bright red. Other problem with the house, we only get water about 2 hours a day, so it makes things interesting. At all of my previous houses we had tinacons, which are large tanks of water which fills when there´s water and then is released whenever you want so you never notice that the water *se fue´d* So this morning when I heard my shower start leaking I jumped out of bed and filled my two 5 gallon buckets, hand washed some clothes, took a shower and tried to wash some dishes. So much for thinkig I was going to be able to sleep in once I had a house of my own!

But I shouldn´t complain it´s super nice living by myself, although I´ve only been doing it for 2 days. I´m going to miss my host family, always having a meal made for me, laundry done for me, but finally I have more flexibility to do what I want when I want. And most importantly I can have visitors in my house!!! As I mentioned before my parents are in flight right now on their way here. I live about 30 minutes from the Santiago Airport, so let me just tell you, that makes it super easy to come and visit me, and I promise I´ll have the ants taken care of before you get here!

I attended the all volunteer conference this past week and it was great to see everyone, literally EVERYONE in Peace Corps DR. It is actually the first time I have even met some of the volunteers. It was a pretty boring conference, but just good to see everyone, but it did give me more ideas to implement in my community to get things rolling again. I also had my youth group trip to the beach on Sunday which was such a great time. I had so much fun with my community teaching some how to swim and playing volleyball on the beach. My face got pretty sunburnt, but it was well worth it. However it’s interesting to note that even though Dominicans hate rain, I think they hate the sun more. Usually they don’t leave their houses when it’s raining, but everyone entered the water when it started to rain because the sun was no longer as strong as it was before! But the rain and climate that day made the waves even stronger than normal, but this didn’t scare them, even though the majority can’t swim. I think it was a good bonding time for all of us and I can’t wait until the next one!

Yesterday I started learning how to make pottery. With pottery being the main income generator in my community I figured that I should probably learn how to make at least something by the time I leave here, especially since there is a workshop (taller) in my backyard. So I started learning how to spin the table with my foot, and then learned how to prepare the clay to make the balls that you start out with. It’s hard work smacking the clay together to get out all of the air and then rolling it into 6 pound balls. Maybe soon I can start actually trying to form the clay into shapes using the spinning table (torno). A guy who works for my host family told me that maybe if I practice everyday for the next year and a half, perhaps I could learn something, so we’ll see. I know they spend years learning from other people, but we’ll see what I can do in this year and a half if I keep practicing.

I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve written a blog, but I assure you everything is continuing on here. I’ve had a rough time with my projects lately as I feel like everything is starting to fall apart. My volleyball team, well there isn’t one anymore. It’s been raining on a daily basis making our practice area (which is now overrun by knee high weeds) too muddy. Then my Escojo class has been reduced to 12 who I think will graduate, which everyone is assuring me that this is still good. However, compared to the 28 that I had it's not too many. I thought I was going to get through to more kids, but I guess not. My group of jovenes have been working on our trip to the beach (this coming Sunday) and making t-shirts that we haven’t talked about anything else for probably over a month, making us completely unproductive. I mentioned doing a project for World Environment Day and they just kind of looked at me funny. But English is still rolling along. My Thursday class is a mess, but I love my Saturday class because they all behave and really want to learn. The library feels like it’ll never be finished. We’re lacking supplies and money which is hard to come by right now and the garden project has yet to happen. The inside is ready to go, if only we could fix the front so people who enter don’t treck in a muddy mess!

As you can see this has put me in a down mood lately because I feel like everything is on a stand still. Well not everything because some things are going downhill and I don’t seem to have the energy to fight to bring them back up. It doesn’t help that I was sick this past week. I’m pretty sure I had the flu, but gracias a dios, I’ve recovered. My Doctor told me that if I got worse I would have to go to the capital to be put in the hospital, but luckily I was able to start an uphill climb after 18 hours of not being able to eat or drink anything. I’m feeling so much better now and I’m going to the all volunteer conference this week which will hopefully give me more motivation to get back to fighting for my projects, and then hopefully starting more!

Well I don’t feel like anything super exciting has been going on here lately, except for all of the rain that we’ve been getting, which makes it hard to get things done! One day it rained so hard for so long that a tree fell down and blocked the road, and then a lot of the sides on our drainage system collapsed as well as a wall that Nene’s ranch was building along the road. Needless to say this rain has not let us practice volleyball for 2 weeks now, and people did not come to the library meeting yesterday. Rain really stops activities here, but it makes sense because if you don’t live on a paved road everything turns into a muddy mess and makes it hard to get around. It’s really sad because we were planning to do a project with a lady from ‘Project DIG’ (Development in Gardening) in front of the library. We were able to move around all of the dirt we had on Sunday but now it’s just too big of a muddy mess to do anything! It makes me really sad and hopefully we’ll be able to do it next week, but she is about to leave the country, so hopefully we’ll be able to do it before she leaves.

Exciting news in my town. My friend is now managing a video game place. I don’t want to say arcade because that would be misrepresenting it, but it’s a room that has 2 playstations and 2 xboxs. It’s 25 pesos for half an hour or 40 for an hour. It was set up by an uncle of his from Nueva York (somewhere in the states, not necessarily New York). I really don’t care how it got there, but it’s entertainment for everyone! One time I had the opportunity to play Guitar Hero, and man do I miss that game! I find myself going there to hang out and watch other people play games, especially when we don’t have power. He has a generator so people are able to continue playing. Who ever thought that I would be living in a town with this type of technology? Here my presumptions that I possibly wouldn’t have power or running water coming here, but look what I have! However I must say that this is type of business is rare, except for the people who live in Cities. Nobody else I know has this, and there are the people who don’t have electricity or water, but I guess in the suburbs (where I live) life is just different! As my project partner says, I live in the "gloria."

I don’t know if I have ever went into detail of how meetings seems to happen here. I shouldn’t generalize for all meetings, but I must say that a majority of the meetings I have attended have fallen into this format. If it sounds a little bitter I am sorry, but meetings here frustrate me. I don’t feel comfortable taking them over because my job is not to run things, but encourage them to take the lead. I have tried to work with some of the “directiva” separately to help with their meeting running skills, but it’s not going to well. Anyways I’ll walk you through one of my meetings of an organization which will remain anonymous.

After starting anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes late, they start with a slow roll call where each person must say “presente.” If someone happens to be missing they ask where they are and if someone could call them to come. After that finishes we all stand to do a prayer, read the agenda, and start with the first theme. As this starts people walk in late and must interrupt the speaker by saying “Buenas Noches” or “Saludo” in a loud voice so everyone can here. Then everyone has to respond by saying the same thing. So the meeting starts up again after a little side chatter and then they start taking opinions about the topic. The person who offers to talk will give a philosophical statement, sometimes not even having to do with the theme, which at the end everyone will clap and fully support. On to the next opinion, it’s the same thing just using a different choice of words, once again comes the applause. A suggestion gets made to make a decision on the theme, so it gets discussed a little more while people are snapping their fingers to get called on. A cell phone rings and the person answers it without leaving the meeting and talks for awhile, finally telling the other person they’re in a meeting and they have to go. Then it is on to the next theme. Wait what is missing here? Right decisions don’t ever seem to happen, we’ll get to that in a minute.

More people will go on philosophical rants, there’s more applause, more people entering and interrupting the speaking to tell everyone good evening and make their presence known. Then it is noticed that a decision was never made on the first theme. So they talk more about the first theme and finally make a vote. Back to the second theme. More people talk and then it is noticed that the hour has passed and nothing has been accomplished. Even though the meeting started almost 30 minutes late, they sure have to be out of there on time. But somehow people stay a little bit longer and they try to make a decision about the second theme, but they decide to leave that until the next meeting.

We all stay and chat for about 15 minutes after the meeting and there’s many comments about how the decision about theme number one was completely wrong and people don’t know what they’re doing and it’s not going to go as planned. So people get mad and then say that they don’t support whats happening and don’t want to return to the meetings. Then everyone leaves, returns the next week only for the same thing to happen all over again.

I feel really negative for writing it like this, but I feel like this is an honest depiction of how some of the organizations/groups are ran here. It’s just frustrating because the people have such a good intention, but sometimes just don’t know how to carry through with things. That’s why I’m trying to work with the “directiva” so they can learn to lead more productive meetings.

Well this is going to be my first plea for help. I am going to be helping out with a 3 day summer camp for teenagers which will be focusing on Diversity. Of course this project isn't fully funded and we're in charge of finding our own supplies. I am planning on doing an art project with them which focuses on skin color and how it's OK that all people are different shades. And where you come in is people are always asking me what they could send me, what I need and what I would use. WELL it's your lucky day, I could actually use some packages of Crayola Multicultural markers. They come in packages of 8, but they're about $5. However getting them to me, you have a special opportunity of sending them to my parents first who are coming down to visit me at the end of May.(just e-mail me and I'll give you their address r_achele@hotmail.com) That way you don't even have to bare the horrible 3 month shipping, and the higher cost, it takes for things to get to me. You could send it in two or 3 days to them! You can find them on the Crayola website and it says they're available at Wal-mart, K-mart, Target, Walgreens and more. So you should check it out, but if you can't find them it's ok too, just thought I would put that note out there for all of you who have been asking what I need and I can never think of anything. And a personal note included with the markers is always great because it's hard to keep up with people's lives! Hope this finds you well!

Oh and I added new pictures to my website today so you should check them out, they're in the album 2008-10-31. http://rachelevierthaler.shutterfly.com

http://rachelevierthaler.shutterfly.com

Well this week was officially boring. All of my meetings were canceled because of Holy Week so needless to say I haven't done anything work wise. However that means that I was able to go to 2 different rivers and eat lots of habichuelas con dulce. Habichuelas con dulce is a special treat that people make a lot during semana santa. It's beans, coconut, milk, sugar, raisins, and sweet potato. It sounds kind of weird to say it like that, but it's super tasty. My youth group got together last night and made a huge batch and we ate it, sat around and talked. After I went to the Easter Vigil at the Catholic Church. It seemed the same as the masses in the states. On Friday I took part in the Via Cruz, which literally means way of the cross, but it was a long walk to represent the walk Jesus made carrying the cross. We started at the church and walked to one highway, then down to the other highway and finally back to the church. It took about 2 hours and we walked a lot! Not to mention that I woke up at 3:45am to take part in this walk that started at 4 am. Oh well it was worth it because it was really cool to see about 300 people walking in one group singing and praying. As we walked we would stop every now and then and we went through each of the stations of the cross, just like the walk was happening. However, nobody was carrying a cross, that was being towed in a truck with huge speakers blasting religious music. I guess thats how you know we're in the 21st century! =)

Today is Easter and there are not any big plans. I think it's a whole week full of church activities leading up to this day and then they don't really do anything. But maybe I'll find something to do and enjoy this beautiful day! HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!

I just got back from my very first ESCOJO conference! It was a lot of fun and I was able to take two girls from my site. (I could have been able to take guys but none of them turned in their application forms.) I had to include that info because people in my campo think I give preference to girls, but it just goes to show that I take people that participate. Anyways, we left Friday morning and came back on Sunday. So needless to say it was a good 2 days of receiving different talks about STDS, AIDS, pregnancy and healthy decision making. But of course we did about 100 dynamicas. Dynamicas are either little games, or songs that usually get people up and moving and get people participating which you can do before your talks. And man do Dominicans like dynamicas. Whenever there was a moment to spare one of the kids would get up and start leading a dynamica. These kids show no fear and most were excellent public speakers. It really amazes me how in the States so many people are terrified to speak in front of people, but here people flock to the limelight. My girls did amazing and participating in all the activities and made new friends among all the other youth that were there. The thing that really impressed me about this conference was that there were Regional Coordinators from the Cibao who brought their own students with them. These coordinators are Dominicans who has already graduated and participated in ESCOJO for more than 2 years and are now teaching their own ESCOJO classes and helping facilitate group exchanges and workshops. The reason I am so impressed by this is because it shows the sustainability of this program. Peace Corps whole initiative is to have something that will function once the program leaves the country. This goes to show that these people, who no longer have volunteers in their site, are continuing to teach more and more people about this subject so one day hopefully this country will lower the number of AIDS cases and teenage pregnancies. I can only hope that after I leave my site that this group will continue to teach other about these important issues, because knowledge about these subjects is truly lacking in this country.

And now it’s Semana Santa (Holy week) so there’s no school, which means no meetings of any sort. Most Dominicans work at least until noon on Wednesday, but activity-wise nobody really goes to regular meetings so I guess I have a week of doing random projects and planning for next week. Maybe I’ll get to go to the river, another popular activity during Semana Santa. We can only hope, otherwise it could be a very boring week!!!Also on a side note with what's going on in my life, I might be moving into an old discoteca, and one of my good friends from a nearby site is at the end of her service and I'm slowly taking over a lot of duties in finishing the community library. Can't wait for the garden project that we're going to do outside!! Super exciting! =)

Well this week wasn’t as productive as I had hoped. I went to several meetings which some went well, and others, well let’s just say that nobody showed up so they didn’t go anywhere. On Friday we were supposed to have 2 meetings for the library that is currently under construction. The first was supposed to be with the American Chamber of Commerce, who is supposedly going to give us money to buy bookshelves and tables. However, they didn’t show up, so we don’t really know if we can count on this money. Then for the regular meeting we have with the library committee that day, nobody showed up again. On Saturday we had a fund raiser for the library, aka second round of movie night. This time it was during the afternoon and we showed Home Alone, or Solo en la Casa in Spanish, because it’s a fun Christmas movie for kids. We had about 25 kids show up, which was great that’s about all we could handle. I think they want to do it again next Saturday and keep it going so we can raise sufficient money to buy the paint we're still missing. Then on Saturday night I had a meeting with my jovenes and we brought our “angelito” gifts, which is kinda like Secret Santa. I was stoked because on the outside of my sack it said, “para Rachel, la Americana mas bella de Cansa City” basically to Rachele, the most beautiful American from Kansas City. Hey, at least I’m not from New York anymore! =) It had an apple, some chocolate, cookies and some gum… basically heaven! As you can probably tell I was super excited because it’s stuff that I don’t get that often, which I’m sure it’s the same for them, I hope my person liked theirs because it had practically the same things in it.

Sunday I taught the teachers at the school in the neighboring town activities they could use to teach geography in the classroom. We talked about explaining the different time zones using Santa Claus to see who is going to get their presents first, the geography of Jerusalem and about different Christmas traditions around the world. Here is is legal to teach religion in school, and its not only permitted, but it’s widely taught, therefore why not use it to have fun activities in the classroom. Kelly, the other volunteer in that site taught them about the US tradition of sending Christmas cards, how to design and make them and how to make snowflakes, even though they don’t have those here. It was a lot of fun and I’m pretty sure I taught them a thing or two about the time zones and how the world rotates. However they still didn’t know where half of the countries I was talking about are located. One of them even suggested an entire workshop to help teach them geography because it’s something that’s lacking in the education system here. Then in the afternoon I played softball! We started up a team from my town so I no longer have to go to Kelly’s town to play. And no, I don’t pitch for them, I play 3rd, I made sure that was established from the first practice. However our manager guy told me that next time we scrimmage the boys I can pitch but he needs to make sure that he brings the gear because he wants to keep all of his teeth. But we lost both of our games to my former team, so yes, the other Americana won. However we have time to practice so we can win next time.

I can tell I am starting to change already after being in country for three months now. They are subtle changes which I can mainly tell through food, imagine that! I am starting to eat things that I wouldn’t eat in the states. #1 Celery; I’ve drank celery juice and it’s actually quite good. #2 Green peppers; I’m still not to the point of eating them raw, but in food or on pizza definitely can do it now. #3 Yucca; it’s pretty much one of my favorite foods, and I don’t really mind that I get it twice a day although it’s full of carbs and probably not so healthy. But put some fried salami, or fried cheese with some onions (yes I eat those now too) with a little bit of lime, it’s great! I would have never eaten that in the states, but it’s a typical meal here, maybe add a fried egg, and it’s spectacular! #4 if you couldn’t tell from #3, is fried foods. Without ovens, frying and boiling are about the two options we have for cooking things, so I eat lots of oil which isn’t good for my health, but it’s great. Slice some eggplant and dip it in an egg mixture, fry it, it’s amazing! Lastly #5 Coconut; I am still not to the point of drinking or eating artificially flavored coconut things, but eating it raw or these things called dulce de coco, it’s good. Dulce de coco, is basically brown sugar and fresh coconut and maybe a little molasis, yes it’s great! But I can’t drink coconut water yet, although it’s the most pure water you can get in this country. Anyways some other things that I have realized that have changed in relevance to food, is I’m starting to eat everything out of bowls and with a spoon, true dominican style. I also share everything that I am eating or drinking. I am bound to get sick, especially after sharing cups, silverwear and popcicles with my two year old friend, yes friend, she’s not as scared of me as she used to be!

Anyways enough about food, this Sunday I went to the beach with a large group of people on a trip that benefited a man with cancer in our community. My jovenes sold tickets and we took two school buses full of people to Sosua, which is a beach outside of Puerta Plata. It was a lot of fun, and of course it always comes with a story. So we were suppose to leave at 6:30 in the morning which naturally means that we left at about 8. We spent the day playing in the water, eating and sitting around chatting. Let me tell you, some of these Domincans are pretty brave for not being able to swim. I had one girl out with me who could barely touch, and then she would be toppled over by water, the poor thing was trying so hard but ended up with some cuts on her legs from taking some pretty rough spills when the waves were coming in at full speed. Then we left at about 5, we were supposed to at 4, and a little bit down the road they realized that we left behind some people. So we waited a little more then they decided just to go on without them. Then we stopped again, I’m not quite sure for what because the combination of the blaring merengue music and people shouting in Spanish I couldn’t quite figure out what was going on. My friend who is a volunteer in the neighboring community went with us and she commented, “I’ve come to realize that in this country even though there’s many stops, for reasons I don’t really understand, I know that I will eventually get where I am going.” It’s so true because you always end up where you’re going, just later than you hoped. But everyone really enjoyed themselves on this trip and you could tell that it was a special occasion to be at the beach. People were singing and dancing on the bus, yes including the driver which gave us a few scares, one being when he practically side swiped a car and knocked their sideview mirror off. However the best part when when this song came on, don’t really know the name of it but it goes… “Que bonita es esta vida!” which means, “How beautiful this life is,” and it’s so true. Everyone was singing it at the top of their lungs as we’re going down the highways with palm trees on both sides and the warm breeze in our faces. These people may not have much, but their happy and realize how beautiful life really is, and that’s what matters most.

Well yesterday was one of my favorite holidays, and it was the first time I've spent Thanksgiving away from my family. Of course my family called me right after I ate probably the largest Thanksgiving meal I have ever eaten because in this country I don't know when I'll ever get anything even close to that ever again until next Thanksgiving! There were over 200 people, PCVs, some staff and some family members who were in town visiting, at this country club in Santo Domingo. Yes, PCVs at a country club, sounds odd I know. Anyways this was completely PCV organized and we all paid money for a ticket and we had an amazing dinner complete with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, salad, batata, and yes pumpkin and pecan pie. I literally couldn't move for about 2 hours after dinner! But anyways I am sad to say that Lauren and I lost in the second round of the domino tournament. However we had a great game, I even had a 25 & capicua! I know this doesn't make sense to you, but it was great! I swam in the pool, danced in the talent show, but skipped the soccer tournament because I couldn't run because of all the food! Anyways the talent show was excellent! Us PCVs have some great rappers, poets, dancers, singers, pianists, and comedians! Then afterwards most of us went to you guessed it, a car wash! So I danced even more and had a great night. Today after I run some errands I am heading back to my campo. I was happy to see pretty much my whole training group, but I am even more motivated now to go back and get my diagnostic done, start interviewing people and start some unofficial projects!

Well I have now been in my site for almost 4 weeks! Man I really feel like there’s never anything to talk about because I feel like I’m not doing anything in my community as of now, because I’m not. It’s what we call the community diagnostic, and we have to observe and just participate in everyday life with our community to get the real scoop of what’s going on. We have 3 months to do this, and we have to include everything in a report that we present, in Spanish, to both Peace Corps and then our community. This presentation includes a community map (which I am still confused at where my campo exactly begins and ends), history of the community, resources, economy and most importantly their priorities. Basically a long research project which is supposed to lead us to figure out what projects are most needed. Along with this presentation is our first year plan of what we’re planning on doing.So this being said my job right now is to make myself present in the community by attending various events, hanging out with people, getting to know people to gain confianza so when I want to do something they just don’t think, “Who’s this foreigner and why is she telling us what to do?” However I am sitting in on a committee for a library that’s being built in the neighboring community by another PCV. It’s built, but is missing paint, shelves and yes, books. It’s a work in progress, but we’re seeing what we need right now to get it completed hopefully sometime soon. But I do have some exciting news, my community just formed a “Junto de Vecinos” which is like a neighborhood interest group. They had a meeting with the heads of our youth group, the women’s group and other community members to discuss the necessity of a group like this, and we’ll see how it progresses.

Anyways this past week I went with one of my jovenes to his university because he wanted to show me around. This actually turned out to be quite an experience. The campus looks like any other college campus, but the class was the interesting part. It was a 2 hour long class, and the teacher showed up 1 hour and 15 minutes late. The class was talking, and talking, and they started to calm down when a helicopter showed up on campus, so of course about 10 of the 30 people leave the classroom to go see what’s going on. Then the professor starts explaining this huge math problem that takes up the entire white board, only to find out at the very end that she made a mistake somewhere in the problem and it’s all wrong. Yup, that was the end of class. I asked my friend if that’s the way it usually goes and he said sometimes. I feel that usually classes are productive, but only once in awhile they end up this way and it happened to be the day that I was there.

Well for Thanksgiving I am going to the Capital to meet up with a bunch of other PCVs. It’s a day complete with dominoes, soccer, bachata and merengue competitions, a turkey trot for the runners, talent show and of course turkey!! I have yet to eat turkey in the country come to think of it. This is something that is completely put on by a committee of volunteers, and sadly we have to use our R&R days for this, we don’t get vacation for it because it’s not a Dominican holiday. Oh well it’ll be great to see everyone who I haven’t seen since we left for our sites 3 weeks ago. Lately it has been getting down to about 60 degrees which is quite cold for here, so it’s seeming more like Thanksgiving time. And on a side note, if anyone is planning on sending my anything, please write “Vaya con Dios” on the outside. It means, to go with God and it’s suppose to help get it here because people won’t mess with it because if they do, they’re afraid God will have it out for them. =)

I forgot to write the other day about going to the mall with a group of girls from here. I went with a group of about 15 girls from the Evangelical church here to the mall in Santiago. We went to play games in the arcade and afterwards go for pizza. They were so super excited to go to this mall which looked much like all others we have in the states. Then we went up an escalator, and some of them were terrified of it, I even had to hold one girls hand because she was too afraid to go up it alone. Then one even asked me if I had ever seen one of these before. It never occurred to me that something as simple as an escalator was something so rare for these girls. Maybe for the people in Santiago it´s common, but not for my girls from the campo. It´s funny how things are. Even last night my mom(in KS) was talking to me about getting a new dishwasher, and I just had to remark about how nice it would be to have a dishwasher, or even a kitchen sink. We don´t have a kitchen sink, so we wash our dishes in a tub of water that we fill up with the hose when there´s water. Also we don´t have an oven, although some people here do. But we do have a stovetop which just sits atop the counter. We also use this ¨fogon¨ in our backyard which is a ceramic stove which uses wood since gas is so expensive here, to cook different things. Anyways enough of that rant about not having technology. The day I went to a veloria of a man who passed away in my town. It was kind of like a wake, but what you do is go wait at the house until they bring the body. Then you say your condolences to the family and then to the body itself. People were crying and grabbing the body, which kind of scared me, but it was their way of facing the facts of what actually happened. This lasts all day until about midnight, then the next day there is a procession to the funeral for the burrial at the cemetary. We had to cancel a fundraising activity for the school because of this veloria, which is a way of showing respect to the family. But to end this blog on a happy note =) That night we threw a suprise birthday party for my host mom. It was SO much fun. All of her kids came with their kids, and lots of neighboors, we even had cake!! Which is unusual because as I mentioned before not many people have ovens. It was so much fun and something out of the ordinary for here, but she deserves it because she´s such a great lady and respected by the community.

Yesterday I went to the beach for the first time after being in country for almost 3 months. I was really starting to wonder if I was really on an island or not. We had the day off because it was the equivalent of Constitution Day here. It’s not their Independence day, because that happens to fall the day before my birthday in February. Anyways me, and 3 other volunteers that live nearby went to the north shore for some quality beach time to enjoy our day off and it was great! The water was super clear and actually a nice temperature. Even though it’s November, I really don’t ever remember what month it is because it’s still hot here. I can however tell a difference between now and August, it’s still hot, but a little cooler, and less humid. Well I’ve been in my sight for over one week now, and I honestly feel like I haven’t accomplished anything, but I just have to keep telling myself that it’s only been a week. I went to a women’s group meeting, hung out with my group of jovenes, watched a tarantula get killed with a machete, played softball and of course, dominoes. Also on Sunday I helped out the IT volunteer with a training session for the teachers in her town. It was actually a lot of fun, and seemed like a success. We taught them how to play baseball in the classroom using questions to act as hits and so on. Here it is interesting to see the teaching techniques that are used, because much of it isn’t interactive and involves a lot of reciting and copying. Therefore it’s fun to give new ideas to teachers and show them how to make learning fun for their students. On a different note I just remembered that I have yet to talk about the fascination here with Titanic. For those of you who knew me back in the day when Titanic came out, you probably remember that I HATE the Celine Dion song “My heart will go on.” Anyways this is the hit song here, and everyone gets so excited to play it for me since I actually know what is being said. (Including my host dad at CBT who had it on his cell phone). I can’t bear to break their spirits so I sit there and listen to the entire thing with a fake smile on my face. They have such great intentions though! One of my friends brought over a cd to play at a get together “just for me.” Yup, it was about the 3rd song on the cd. I told them next time we get together, if there’s light, I’ll bring my computer and let them listen to my music to expose them to some other artists and songs. Hopefully this will change their minds and they can find a better song to be obsessed with!

Well I made it to Reparadero safely after missing my stop on the highway. Thank goodness for a great project partner who found someone with a car to come pick me up to take me to my house so I didn't have to walk over a mile with all of my luggage. It was a great last weekend with all of the volunteers. We went out for Halloween, although they don't celebrate it here, about 70 PCVs did! Well I came home to a porch full of people playing dominoes, which was expected. I love passing time with my uncles and various others who stop by playing dominoes and drinking coffee after lunch each day. It's probably one of my favorite times during the day. But they all told me how hard it's been here while I was in the capital, electricity has been coming less and less and we haven't had water for over 5 days. So much for thinking that I had running water all the time! =) Then on Saturday night my group and I had a small fiesta for everyone who's birthdays were this past month. It was a good time dancing and eating spaghetti. Then yesterday was a spectacle! I told my friend that I played softball and she wanted me to come and play with her team. I told her that I pitched, but I played fast pitch in the states, and it's not the same as slow pitch which I can not do. But she told me that it was ok because their pitcher couldn't make it so however I pitched would be ok. Well we fit 16 people in the bed of a small pickup and trecked about 10 miles down the road to a field to play our game. Well once we were there, I knew it was going to be a bad idea for me to pitch and I tried to slow pitch but it wasn't working for me. My coach was putting SO much pressure on me to pitch the way I know, but I told him that it was illegal, but they didn't care. Anyways the other team stormed the field along with spectators. Everyone was arguing and I kept saying that I didn't have to pitch and someone else could, but nobody else on my team would... so we packed up and left the field. So much for softball yesterday. I felt terrible and it caused such a scene, but man, what an interesting day. Anyways elections are tomorrow in the US and I'm hoping to go into Santiago to watch the outcomes. Everyone here talks about the elections there because the economy here depends on the economy in the states. I guess we'll all have to see how it goes.

Well I put up some pictures from these past three months. My shutterfly website is http://rachelevierthaler.shutterfly.com Hopefully I'll be able to add all my pictures but it takes a long time to upload 400 and some odd pictures, so right now 45 will have to do! Pool party was great yesterday, and I'm planning on going back today to soak up more sun and relax before I go to my new home!