Dear Friends and Family,

I send you all "abrazos fuertes" from la República Dominicana!

Life here in the Dominican Republic (DR) marches on for your favorite Peace Corps Volunteer. With a little more than 6 months remaining in my service, I am keeping busy with preparations for a summer full of activities and special projects related to youth development and education. As many of you know, one of my main projects here is HIV/AIDS education for high-risk youth in my community. As part of this effort, I am working with my youth group (now 30+ strong) and with other Peace Corps Volunteers and their youth groups from around the country to organize three very special summer camps designed to give kids an opportunity for creativity, sharing, and fun... but we need your help to make them a possibility.

Please take a look at the descriptions of each event below, and if you can, please make a contribution to our work here in the DR using the electronic links attached. As always, 100% of your donation will directly benefit the program - not one penny is taken for overhead expenses.

If you have any questions about any of these programs, please feel free to e-mail me. Thanks for your support of our efforts to educate Dominican youth and provide opportunities for growth and fun.

1. Girls Leading Our World - Campamento "Estrellas de Hoy"

This is a weeklong summer camp for girls only. Girls will have the opportunity to hear and talk openly and honestly about life goals, life planning, safe-sex, healthy relationships and much more. With information and hands-on activities as diverse as HIV prevention, self-esteem, sports, art, music, and nutrition, the camp will be life-affirming for all our participants, and a much needed respite from the social and economic pressures faced by many girls in rural Dominican communities. Unfortunately, many young women in the DR have children and are married or otherwise involved in a domestic partnership far before age 18. Our Camp aims to try to break this cycle by reminding girls that they have the power to make healthy choices and take control of their lives.

Please donate to GIRLS LEADING OUR WORLD:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-303

2. Boys' and Girls' Sports Camp:

Following the success of last year's volleyball camp for girls, I have recently volunteered with other Volunteers to help organize and run a second 3-day sports camp for both boys and girls. Appropriately named "Jugar para Vivir" (Play to Live), the camp will teach younger kids (10-14) skills and sportsmanship in Soccer, Volleyball, and Kickball while also focusing on themes and activities to teach skills for healthy development: HIV and unwanted pregnancy prevention, ways to avoid alcohol and drug abuse, and incorporating sports, excercise, and nutrition into a an overall healthy lifestyle. Yours truly will be heading up the volleyball portion of the camp and teaching swimming lessons. Should be great fun and lots of learning for both boys and girls...

Please donate to SPORTS CAMP:https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-296

3. "Celebrando el Sur" Cultural Conference:

Celebrando el Sur (Celebrating the South) is a three-day conference focused on diversity and cultural understanding here in the southern region of the DR. The South is the least developed region of the country and youth throughout the area face great economic hardship and a lack of opportunities. I will be bringing three young people from my community and together with the 60 other conference participants they will participate in a variety of challenging cultural talks and activities, broadening their perspectives to the experiences of others around them and people throughout the world. Dominican youth living in rural communities rarely get the opportunity to travel outside of their own community, and this conference is an amazing chance for them to meet other young people from the South in a positive, stimulating environment.

Please donate to CELEBRANDO EL SUR:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-299

If any of the above links should not work, you can access the Peace Corps' main donations website through this link: www.peacecorps.gov/contribute and follow the menus to Dominican Republic and then look for the names of the three conferences.

As always, thank you all for being such great sources of support, freindship, love, and advice during the past two years of my service. Although I am loving my work with the Peace Corps, I miss you all very much and am looking forward to coming home soon!

Best wishes for a wonderful summer...

-Tod.

Hola amigos y amigas de los Estados Unidos,

Okay, so febrero is over, and the relatively new month of marzo is rolling right along. Gracias a Dios, my attitude is much better as a result.

First off, a very big "Gracias" to all of my readers who expressed their concerns about how down I sounded in my last blog entry. With not many positive things to say, I thought that by writing a "random numbers" and facts format, it would make me sound less negative. However, that backfired when I ended my list with those items broken or lost during Peace Corps life. Yikes!

Oh well, don't worry about me -- just like life in the States, I have my ups and downs here in the DR as well. The biggest difference is that both the highs and lows seem more extreme here because of the distance and solitude of Peace Corps life.

I'll fill in some of the details in a later entry. Today I need to get some major errands done in Santo Domingo, then head back to my site.

Un abrazo fuerte...

-Teo.

I truly hate the month of February. No offense to any of my readers who may happen to celebrate their birthdays, anniversaries, or other special events in the second (and shortest) month of our year, but in my opinion, and through years of a long-going hate-hate relationship with this particular month, February really stinks.

Life here in the DR during the month of febrero is no exception - I am still not fond of this month and have been in a quiet, yet seething funk for a few weeks now. So, rather than ruminate on the negative and describe everything that has gone worng or just proven difficult this month, I thought I'd post another short list of factoids about my life here. Hopefully yours truly will be in a better mood come March, so please stay tuned...

Random Facts:

SEVENTEEN - Months I've been in the DR

FOURTEEN - Months I've been an official Peace Corps Volunteer

NINE - Months I've got left in my service -- I come home November 20th! Woo-Hoo!

SEVEN - Number of items from the United States that have either been lost or broken during my stay here. Items include: 1. Leatherman pocketknife (lost on a bus), 2. battery-less flashlight (accidentally broken by a muchacho from my site), 3. emergency radio (broken by a fall to my concrete floor), 4. hiking boots (ruined by mud and constant rain), 5. black dress shoes (worn out walking around Santo Domingo), 6. brown dress shoes (rotted out after being wet for nearly 10 days straight), 7. iPod earphones (wires sliced by being crammed into my backpack).

Un abrazo fuerte desde la RD...

-Teo.

Hola Mis Queridos Amigos y Amigas de los Estados Unidos...

Feliz Año Nuevo - 2009!! Happy New Year, Everyone!

I know that I have been rather flojo about posting to my blog - my resolutions for 2009 include more frequent postings and more communication with friends and family back home. To start off, here's an update of all that's happened in the last few weeks... ***Christmas and New Year's Vacation:My Christmas and New Year's vacation was spent here in the DR, hangin' with fellow PCVs and seeing some of the most exciting sites the DR has to offer: Here're the details and some pictures...

December 23-25th - Santiago

Started my vacation off with a trip up to Santiago, the DR's second-largest city and one of the most progressive cities politically and culturally. My friend Espie's birthday is the 25th, so we spent Christmas Eve cooking delicious vegitarian fare topped off with a decadent chocolate ice cream cake for her birthday. Feliz Cumpleaños, Espie!

December 25 - 29th - Pico Duarte

My fellow PCVs Jenn and Kim joined me for a wet, muddy trek up the Caribbean's tallest mountain, Pico Duarte (Duarte Peak). The view from 10,127 feet above sea level is amazing, although my boots definitely paid the price...

Tod and Juan Pablo Duarte, chillin' at 10,127 feet

Jenn, Kim, and Tod with West DR and Haiti in the background Tod catching some sun after a muddy descent Our boots and shoes, post-Pico (can you guess which pair is Tod's?)

December 30th - Marathon in La VegaI attempted (but did not finish) the only full 26.2-mile marathon offered in the DR. An out-and-back course between La Vega and Moca (two smaller cities in the DR's central valley), the 4:00pm start time didn't allow me to make it to the cut-off point in time, so I was pulled from the course after running about 14 miles. Guess you need to be at least a sub-4 hour marathoner to run a race in the DR... Bummer! Still, I was proud that I was able to get past the half-way mark more or less on my pace, considering the total lack of training, diet, and having just summited Pico the previous day.

December 31 - January 2nd - Juan Dolio Beach

Fourteen other PCVs and I meet up in Juan Dolio, a funky beach community just east of Santo Domingo on the DR's South Coast. We stay at a funky hotel with kitchenettes, allowing us to prepare more delicious homemade vegitarian fare, drink cheap wine, dance to bachata, salsa merengue music until midnight, and top it all off with a bottle of champagne and a midnight dip in the Caribbean Sea. A few of us brave souls get up early on the first day of the new year to see the first sunrise. Then a warm, sunny day of sun-bathing, swimming, and frisbee.

January 3 - 6th - Santiago and Los Marmolejos

Final few days of vacation are spent back up North, first in Santiago at the HUB - a home-away-from-home for PCVs living up North. Fellow PCVs from all over joined up for a night of sushi, popcorn, and competetive board games. Next day it's off to Los Marmolejos, the small campo community of my fellow health PCV colleague, Maryam. We spend the next two days visiting her neighbors, going to the río to cool off, practicing guitar (which we both need to work on), and making easy-to-make Trader Joe's Indian food (thank God for care packages sent from the USA!) ***For now, I'm in the Capital (Santo Domingo), catching up on e-mail, blog-postings, and pictures. I'm back to my campo tomorrow, and back to the work-a-day world of the Peace Corps Volunteer.

Best wishes to all for 2009! Take care, keep in touch... y como siempre: un abrazo muy fuerte desde la República Dominicana.

-Teo.

Hello Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Dominican Republic!

Life in the Peace Corps rolls on... I am now nearly 13 months into my formal service and 15 months overall living in the Dominican Republic (DR). I was sworn in as a Volunteer last November 21, 2008, and will depart just about the same time next year: November 22nd~ish of 2009. Just in time for Thanksgiving!

I have had my share of ups and downs (just as any Volunteer does), but overall I am very proud of my work as a Volunteer and am very happy to be working hard for the people of the DR and serving as an ambassador of goodwill from the USA. This country is not an easy place to live sometimes, and I do miss a lot about my life back home in Seattle, but I am doing my best to do what good work I can in the short time I have left here.

To date my biggest accomplishments have been with the youth of my three rural communities, forming youth groups that learn and teach others about safe sex and the dangers of HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, alcohol abuse, and drugs. My fellow Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) and I have been very successful at putting together many different events and conferences to motivate kids to keep working in this area after we leave. Additional educational programs that I´ve started and will continue to do in 2009 include workshops for adults on increasing nutrition, HIV/AIDS awareness, and reproductive health.My second year of service will prove to be much more busy than 2008. In addition to my continued work and events related to my work in health education with the youth groups, I have three big building projects planned that will test the stamina and time-management of my little rural community.

For starters, we are planning on re-building several parts of the community´s aqueduct - replacing broken PVC piping, rebuilding the concrete holding tanks that collect water from the natural spring source, and forming a water board to oversee future repairs and maintenance. Second, thanks to many of you who donated to my special fundraiser on the Peace Corps website, I will also be helping my community build about 40 fuel-efficient and clean-burning stoves to both reduce the environmental impact of firewood collection and reduce the incidence of upper respiratory infections in families with small children. Finally, our youth group has been busy working on getting support for the construction of a cement volleyball court at the local school, in order to continue the positive force that having a safe, clean play area can have on kids´decisions to avoid drugs and alcohol abuse. I hope to have all three of these big projects underway by February 2009, and completed about August or September -- well ahead of the time we Volunteers need to start wrapping up our work in our communities: about 3 months before we leave the country.

Besides work (which takes a lot of my time), I keep busy with washing laundry (by hand), cleaning my house, and eating hearty Dominican food.

I have done some travelling since being here, but still have yet to go to any of the pristine, picture-perfect beaches that the DR is best known for. On my budget, travel is often limited to work-related trips to the Capital of Santo Domingo and my site.

Luckily, I will be on vacation within country for the holidays this year and have plans to visit several of my fellow Volunteers (some near the beach) and will be hiking Pico Duarte (Duarte Peak), the tallest mountain in the Caribbean. I am going with two fellow PCVs right after Christmas. At 10,127 feet, they say that on a clear dawn morning, one can see the entire island from the East Coast of the DR to the West Coast of Haiti. It takes two days to summit, and one to come back down, so it should be a great way to close out 2008 and welcome in 2009. Wish me luck!

So, until then, please accept my best wishes for una Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo!

¡Un abrazo fuerte!

-Tod (Teo)

Hola mis queridos amigos y amigas de los Estados Unidos,

***

First off, thank you to all who wrote to me and to my family expressing your concern about my safety during Hurricanes Hanna and Ike. The DR in general - and my community in particular - were indeed hit hard by the storms, but, unlike what I saw in the news about Houston, my community only received damage to roads, bridges, and water systems caused by heavy rain. We got no wind from Ike and only mild gusts from Hanna, so any damage we incurred from the back-to-back storms can be repaired over time and with minor effort. Unlike Tropical Storm Noel that hit the DR last October 2007, no additional homes were lost in these storms, thank goodness.

My personal experience in the storms was somewhat typical of most Volunteers: Due to the lack of reliable transportation and continuing heavy rain even after Ike's trip through the island, I was trapped in my community for a few days with no way to get out. However, I was not worried as my house was well stocked with food, water, and reading material to see me through the storm. As the storm raged outside, I was actually very cozy in my little house, wrapped up in a blanket, sipping hot tea and laughing to myself as I read through a book of short stories by David Sedaris.

In the morning on the third day of Ike, and once the rain had let up a little, my neighbors and I took to surveying the damage and making repairs as best we could. Last week was spent clearing branches and debris from the roads and from neighbors' yards, making provisional repairs to the three small bridges that were washed out, replacing damaged pvc pipes in our town's water system, and checking in on friends and neighbors in the community to see if anyone needed assistance.

After a few more days -- and once the three battered Land Rovers that serve as our communication with the outside world started arriving through the mud and puddles -- we were more or less back to normal. Well, as normal as life can be for a tall, bald, gringo Volunteer in this remote mountain community of the DR...

***

Other News: Believe it or not, yesterday (September 13, 2008) marked the one-year anniversary of my arrival here in the DR as a Peace Corps Volunteer in childhood nutrition, women's reproductive health, and HIV/AIDS prevention. I am stunned to think that a full year has passed by in what seemed to be such a short time. To paraphrase a saying I've heard several times about Peace Corps life: "the days can drag on forever, but the months and years just seem to fly by."

There have been a few bad times here and there, including some times when I thought about quitting and heading home to the U.S., but overall, I look back on the past year with a deep sense of pride at what I've been able to accomplish with the support of my community.

Here's to a great first year, and looking forward to continuing through the second year and finishing strong in November 2009!

Best wishes to all of my loved ones back home...

-Tod.

Hola mis queridos amigos y amigas...

Sí, it seems that once a month is about all I can handle on the blogging front. I would like to apologize to all of my readers for the radio silence on the blogg-o-sphere, but for those of you who know me, you are probably not at all surprised that I am so flojo (lazy) when it comes to keeping up.

In any case, estoy muy feliz to report again that, at the 11-month mark of my Peace Corps service, my life and work are continuing at a healthy pace this summer and that my spirits (and health) remain high. Julio and agosto were (and have been) busy months for me and my HIV/AIDS youth group. The jóvenes are out of school for the summer here as in the States, so we had several youth camps, conferences, and many other fun outings for the kids these past few weeks that have kept me busy and traveling with kids in-tow.

Julio in particular was a banner month for my work here with the youth group. My community of M----- A---- in Ocoa hosted a regional "summer camp" for kids from my town and from other towns around the three southern DR provinces of Ocoa, Peravia, and Azua. In total, 42 kids were there from 10 different communities along with seven of my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers from around the region. The 3-day camp was based around a series of informational charlas about condoms, sex, HIV/AIDS, and teenage pregnancy. For fun, we also included workshops on art, a workshop on making and selling cleaning products locally for funding group activities, an activity that talked about the importance of taking care of the envorinment, and a training session on CPR/1st Aid.

When not learning about health, the muchachos y muchachas had lots of time to swim in the río, play basquetbol and voleibol, and learned the very American tradition of roasting marshmallows over a campfire and trying their skills at making S'mores. Remember that Peace Corps is as much about teaching other people about Americans and our traditions as it is for teaching proper health practices.

Besides having the kids learn and enjoy themselves, what was most fun for me about this event was seeing the enthusiasm of the local community in putting all this together. We had a team of local volunteers who cooked and cleaned for us during our event, donated food, beds, sheets, pillows, and transportation. All in a town that does not have electricity and where most people live day-to-day off what they can gather in their small plots of land. Once again, I am thrilled to be working in a country where the people are so giving of so much, when they have so little for themselves.

I am loving my work here and can't wait for the next big project to begin... Stay tuned...

Un abrazo muy fuerte desde la RD...

Teo.

Hola mis queridos amigos de los Estados Unidos...

Sí, I admit - I really stink at keeping up with a blog. Unlike mi amigo Egan and others who post to their blogs frequently, I am not so diligente about keeping up with my posts. However -- please keep in mind that I have NO ELECTRICITY where I live and getting to a computadora with internet connectivity means a two-hour jeep ride down the mountain at the hefty cost of RD$140 (that's about US$4) one-way.

So, a new post once every two months seems about the average for me. In fact, it has been so long since my last post that several of you, my dear friends and family back home, have written to me via e-mail to ask if I'm still alive, and if so, asking what's new in my life since my last post in May.

I am alive and well and enjoying my time here in the DR imensely. I will admit, I still have days in which I often wonder: "what the h*ll am I doing here?" But, overall, those moments are few and don't often last long.

Short story is that I have been busy with work in my community. My biggest work so far has been with my youth group. In addition to putting in several weeks of training and meetings, my youth group and I are working on pestering the Secretary of Public Education to get a volleyball court built in our local high school. We have written letters to the local Síndico (like a county executive or mayor) and to our Senador as well. The kids and I will also be hosting 25 other youth from other parts of the DR for a three-day long summer camp at the end of this month. Our agenda includes lots of information about what they learned in the course on HIV/AIDS prevention, several trips to our river for swimming, and a volleyball tournament to end the weekend of fun and learning.

As for other more poster-child "Peace Corps-ish" type projects, I am working with my Community Council to get money and technical help for a latrines project (yes, latrines!), as well as money for the construction of new and more fuel efficient wood-burning cooking stoves, and a major reparations project for our water system. Updates of these and other events (including everything I've promised in past blogs) to come soon. Stay tuned!

Anyway, inspired by friends of mine who have done so in the past, here's a quick and dirty list of random numbers about Peace Corps life that I thought might be interesting:

Life:

10

months since I first left home to join the Peace Corps

8

months in service at my community

3

Dominican families I've lived with since coming to the DR

3

Months that I've lived on my own in my own house

53

Volunteer trainees who started with me in September

6

Volunteers who've quit the Peace Corps since September

1

Number of visitors I've had since starting service (thanks, Mom!)

5

Number of fellow Volunteers I've visited in their communities since starting service

Work:

1

Number of youth groups I've formed in my community

10

Weeks my youth group spent learning about HIV/AIDS prevention, avoidance of teenage pregnancy, alcohol, and drugs.

14

Kids who started in the group in March

13

Kids who completed the 10-week course and "graduated" in May

5

number of grant applications for projects I've submitted since starting work in my community

3

number of my grant applications that have been approved and awarded so far

49,500

Dominican pesos earned for projects in my community by the above-mentioned approved grants

(about 1500 USD - your tax dollars at work -- Gracias!)

165,000

Dominican pesos I hope to earn for my community if the remaining two grant applications are approved (about 5000 USD)

Creepy Critters:

5

Bats who have entered my house in the middle of the night, flown around my room for a while, then exited -- the whole time watching me cower under my mosquito net praying for them to leave

3

Number of above mentioned bats who visited me at the same time. Yes, imagine 3 bats flying around the inside of your house, and now you'll realize how freaked out I was!

1

Number of rats I chased and killed with a broom in the middle of the night, after I found the little diablito eating my bath soap

3

Times I've found spiders and cockroaches in my shoes in the morning since coming to the DR. Always shake out your shoes before putting them on!

1

Number of live tarantulas I've seen since coming to the DR (not at my house, thank God!)

Romance:

0

Number of details I'm giving out as to my luck with the dominicanas - Sorry!

Un abrazo muy fuerte desde la RD...

-Teo.

Hola amigos y amigas...

It has been a tough week for your beloved Peace Corps Volunteer, my friends. I came into la Capital Tuesday of this week after 2 days of very little or no sleep in the campo over the weekend. I was suffering from a new, powerful case of "the #3's" - with a mild fever and abdominal cramping thrown in for fun - so once I felt a little better and was able to get out of the house without the need for an urgent run to the baño, I hopped the jeep for the 4-hour trip to get into la Capital to see the doctor.

Describing my symptoms to our doctora, she did a brief exam of my abdomen for inflamation, found a few tender spots in my large intestine, gave me some ideas of what she thought it might be, then sent me on my way to the clinica in town for a few routine tests that we Peace Corps Volunteers just love: the urine test (not so bad) and the infamous and not-so-fun: "poop-in-a-cup."

Although we Volunteers have fun talking about all of our intestinal challenges that our life in the undeveloped campo throws at us, and can easily talk for hours about the different techniques needed in order to actually poop in a cup, I will leave out the details for you, my largely non-Peace Corps audience. However, you can imagine what skill is required to be able to successfully poop in a cup the size of a yogurt container and what bad luck it is if one fails at it.

Anyway, long story short (too late), I have been diagnosed with a type of intestinal parasitic infection with symptoms and a treatment regimen similar to amoebic dysentry (For more info, take a look here: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Amoebic+Dysentry.) So, I will be stuck in la Capital for a few more days, waiting to take the poop-test again and hoping for an improved bill of health.

Luckily, although a mild case and not too far advanced, these little buggers inside me are painful! The cramps are the worst at night and while eating. Surprisingly, even though it hurts to eat, I am always hungry! Of course, I'm now eating not just for me, but for a billion+ little amiguitos. Also all the things I am craving are not allowed because they aggravate the pain: greasy foods, spicy foods, cheese and milk, tomatoes and tomato-based sauces. I am also downing three types of pills a day: One to aid in digestion with meals, one for the abdominal pain caused by the inflamation of my large intestine, and a powerful anit-bacterial drug, metronidazole (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/metronidazole).

So, I guess you could say that I've arrived as a true Peace Corps Volunteer now being able to add intestinal parasite to my resume of service.

Much promised fotos of my casa de campo to come next... ¡no se vayan!

Un abrazo, - Teo.

P.S. - Egan, on a similar subject: I saw your comment on my last posting regarding my bathroom and where the bad stuff goes... Although the latrine is attached to my house, making it an "indoor bathroom" it is still a true latrine. That is, there is a deep hole in the ground lined on the sides with cinder block that is directly under the floor of the bathroom. The bad stuff goes down there (like a cistern). In theory, eventually the material gets broken down by bacteria that live down there, and the material in then recycled (absorbed) back into the earth over time. The material from my outhouse does not run directly onto the ground or into a stream. -T.

Hola mis queridos amigos...

First off, an apology to all of my dedicated readers who had to endure two months of the same picture of me on that damn horse... However, better than big spiders, don't you think?

Once again it has been a looooong time since my last post. Where March and April went I have no idea, but both months were over and done before I ever realized it, and here we are well into May. In short, I am still alive and healthy. However, it is the absolute truth when I say: THE PEACE CORPS HONEYMOON IS OVER... The realities of life here in the campo have set in, my work schedule has picked up pace, and I am BUSY!

Anyway, let's do some brief updating since my last post, shall we? Since I last wrote:

HOME:I have (finally!) moved into my own house - a photo my fantastic clean-up crew is attached. It is a great little house, although definitely showing its age and needs more TLC than I have been able to give so far. She's made of wood with a tin roof and cement floor, and she's very typical of most of the housing in my villiage. I have 5 rooms total: living/dining room, "kitchen," "master" bedroom, "guest" bedroom, and "bathroom."

Now, all of those terms are in quotes above because the reality is this: the kitchen is made up of two tables with a dish drainer, table top stove with propane tank for cooking, and a botellón of drinking water. Most campsites have more cooking facilities than I do, so when I use the word "kitchen," to descirbe my little cocina I mean it in the broadest of definitions.

The "master" bedroom consists of a double bed (borrowed from my host family) with springs that poke out and a big sag in the middle, a Presidente beer crate turned on-end for a bed-side table, and a "closet" made up of a tree branch nailed to two wall supports in the corner of the room.

The "guest" bedroom does indeed have a bed (twin size, for visiting Volunteers or relatives) but also serves as a catch-all storage room. Guests of Casa de Teo have to share living space with a big tank of (non-drinking) water, a mop, a broom, cleaning solutions, rat poison... basically anything that I have chosen to throw in there to keep it out of my way. The guest bedroom is also the gateway to the "bathroom," so it is not the nicest place to sleep in the house, thus my determiniation of it as the "guest" quarters and not the "master's" quarters.

Finally, the "bathroom." So, really, my "bathroom" is really an outhouse attached to the house. That's right: a latrine - no toilet, no flushing water, just a hole in the floor that leads to a place no human being ever wants to see, smell or visit in his life. I have seen my share of outhouses in this country and the thought of the smells, flies, and all kinds of other critters that come with outhouses didn't really make me feel "lucky" that I had one attached to my house, so close and convenient. So, as you can imagine, when most of my neighbors would say: "Oh yeah, that house is great, it has an attached bathroom," I was a bit skeptical of just how "advantageous" that would be. Yet, like with most things I've learned about this country, the locals are ALWAYS right, and I have since come to appreciate having an attached baño - especially on those cold, rainy nights when running to the bathroom outside would be worse than my attached alternative. Don't worry -- pictures coming soon!

WORK:My biggest project these past months has been the formation and training of 13 kids in the program of "Escojo Mi Vida" - a 10-week program for youth 11-25 years old that gives them information and skills in order to make healthy decisions in their lives: staying in school, avoiding drugs, drinking responsibly, and practicing safe sex to avoid unwanted pregnancy and HIV/AIDS. Although I'm no Chris Farley warning kids about living in a van down by the river (classic Saturday Night Live routine that I've thought of often as I lead the classes), I think the kids are taking to the program very well. We have 2 weeks left of the course, and then the kids will "graduate" and become what are called Multiplicadores - giving presentations and teaching other kids about what they have learned themselves.

We just participated in our first regional youth conference at the end of April, in which three of the kids from my group represented our community in a weekend camp of activities, games, and workshops focusing on the Escojo themes.

At the conference, I presented a 2-hour talk on "Gender, Machismo, and Sexual Health" - basically talking about how a few small changes in attitude about gender roles in the DR (namely, reducing the influence of machismo and making girls realize that they can and should negotiate safe sex with their boyfriends) can help prevent unplanned teeneage pregnancies and spread of HIV. Perfect topic for a sensitive pony-tail man like me... (well, okay, only without the pony-tail.) A photo of the conference is also attached. In case you don't recognize me, I'm the big white guy speaking in front of the screen. And yes, the whole presentation was done in Spanish... I've come a long way in my habla skills.

LIFE & HEALTH:In general, I am very happy to be here and doing what I'm doing. There are still some mornings where it takes me some time to get motivated to get out of bed and face the day's challenges, but once I get going with my day, all anxieties melt away and I feel like the luckiest person in the world to have the life I have. Most days, by the time I am ready to turn in for the day (which is about 8:30pm as I have no electricity for lights), I feel satisfied that I am doing the right thing by being here and sticking it out, one day at a time.

Health has been okay, but I still find myself getting sick more frequently than I ever did in the US. Mostly colds and coughs - my villiage has very extreme changes in temperature (hot during the day, bitter cold at night), and viruses get passed around fast - and are especially hard on the one gringo in town. Other than that, I've suffered from my share of bad cases of what we Peace Corps Volunteers call "the #3's" (use your imagination and you'll figure it out), but that is common for most PCV's the world over. After all, that's one reason we're here, right? Lone Volunteers fighting those food-borne illnesses one trip to the latrine at a time... Biggest health surprise so far: I've lost 10 pounds and am now under 200 pounds - the first time I've been this light since I was about 27 years old.

VISITORS:My mom visited me in mid-April, so I am also happy to say that I've hosted my first visitor from the US. My mom was a real trooper: She had to be a good sport when dealing with the rain, mud, bugs, and other inconveniences of my village. I'm planning on writing a separate in-depth blog about her visit on my next post, so stay tuned...

Until then, un fuerte abrazo desde el campo de la República Dominicana...

-Tod.

¡Hola mis amigos de los Estados Unidos!

Hace mucho tiempo since my last post - more than a month! Time to do some catching up:

I have believed for many years that febrero is the single busiest month of any year, and I can honestly say that it is true of life here in the DR as well. I am amazed at how much has happened in the past month and how my work has increased. An update of life as a volunteer:

First, I am now very close to my 6-month anniversary of arriving here in the DR (I touched down into Santo Domingo on September 13, 2007). This is a big deal for me because it represents the longest I've ever been away from the United States in my life in one stretch. True, I did travel to and from Mexico on and off for a long time back in the 1990's, but the longest stretch of time without returning home was only 5 months (mid-August '96 to mid-January '97). This month will be eventful for that fact if for nothing else.

Second, my initial work with my community is finally at an end and I am starting the next phase of my work as a Volunteer: Project Planning and Funding. For the first 3-month period of any volunteer's service, he is required to do community research and produce a detailed diagnostic report of the current situation in the community. This includes hygiene practices, general knowledge about sickness and healthy lifestyle, nutrition and eating habits, and soliciting information about the community in general. All this is done through personal questionnaires, house-to-house visits, formal interviews, observation, and participation in various community events and meetings.

My work in this phase is now complete (as is my report) so it is time to take that data and apply it towards specific projects and programs for the community. Thus, my life lately has been poring over grant applications, figuring out the rules and regulations for funds, and deciding what resources can be used for what types of projects. All this is community-driven, of course, so that means that I've been pushing and prodding (and eventually attending) a lot of community meetings where we talk about the needs of the community and what projects we'd like to start first to address a specific need. It can be a slow and tiring process to get the community's buy-in, but necessary to ensure a project's sustainability and success. Now I know why we're given two years -- we'll need 'em!

Third, I went on my first horse-back riding trip in probably 25 years last month! It was great. I went with my family on a borrowed caballo (white, of course - the gringo horse for the gringo horseman was the running joke all day long). We went up and over the main mountain between my house and the next valley to an even smaller village called Florencio. Three hours up and three hours back - it was a great time, but now I truly know what it is to be saddle sore - I thought 100 miles on a bike saddle was tough! Six hours on a horse clomping along a rocky trail can be much more punishing on las nalgas. Still, I think I did pretty well for never having ridden anything but a tourist-friendly horse in Estes Park, Colorado back in the early 80's. My caballo was old and not very fast, but he was stubborn. Getting him to go took some effort...

Final news: I will soon be moving into my own house! I am very excited about this, because it means I will finally have some personal and professional privacy to work when I need to, the luxury to sleep when I need to and, most importantly for me, I will now have total control over what, when, and how much I eat in a day. Dominican host mothers (God bless them) think the average Peace Corps Volunteer needs 3-4 times the amount of food that a normal human being will eat, and then they feel disappointed when you are only able to finish half of what you are given. This is the Peace Corps, for God's sake, aren't I supposed to be LOSING weight?

Anyway, after a lot of inquiries, a long wait and a lot of patience, I found my new home for the next two years and will be making some repairs, doing some painting, and finally moving in the week before Easter. Details of the new Casa de Teo (and some before and after photos!) on my next post... stay tuned!

Como siempre, un abrazo muy fuerte desde la RD... - Teo.

February 1st - It sure has been a while since my last post...

Short story: Life in the DR rolls on...and is getting better all the time.

I am feeling so much more a part of my community now - the difference between how I was feeling just a month ago to now is just amazing. I wake up in the morning now feeling great - full of energy, looking forward to getting up, getting out of the house, and visiting the folks in my community. One of the biggest reasons for my change of heart: KIDS! The niños and niñas (boys and girls) are the best friends of the Peace Corps Volunteer by far. They are curious, fearless, and become instant friends with anyone who (like the PCV) looks or acts differently.

To start with, the two kids who have helped me most have been Dayra (9)and Wilfer (2) who are part of my host family. These two supply me with endless laughs and surprises. Two such surprises are pictured above: One day, Wilfer comes clomping out of my room wearing my big hiking boots - with much hilarity. I just had to snap this picture of him with seemingly oversize feet. Another day, he and Dayra showed up to my door with their new "hats:" two banana (guineo) flower petals on their heads. Once again, a picture worth a post here on the blog.

With other kids in the community, I have also made strides in working with them and gaining trust in the community. Two weeks ago I started offering English classes on Saturday and Sunday afternoons (to anyone interested in attending) and to my surprise, the attendance was amazing: nearly the entire high school class of 50 were there on Saturday, and 25 kids, parents, and teens showed up on Sunday. The following week was equally packed and I was thrilled to see the high level of interest by the community.

As I am a health Volunteer, teaching English is not my priority, but since it is an activity that builds interest in my work, and earns me some trust in the community, it is something that I will continue as long as I can.

Como siempre... un abrazo muy fuerte desde la RD... -Tod.

Feliz Año Nuevo to all of mis paisanos back home!

First off, in addition to wishing everyone a very Happy 2008, I also wanted to thank all of you who posted comments to my last entry, expressing your concern and encouragement. I won't lie: Peace Corps life is tough, and there are times when it would be easy to call it quits and go back home. However, the tough times have been (thankfully) rare, and for the most part I am having a great time, so please don't worry about me.

In fact, much has changed since that very tough day I had back in early December: I am keeping busy, completing my diagnostic interviews and quarterly report later this month, getting ready to present the results to my community partners and PC colleagues back here in the capital, soliciting funds for specific projects, and beginning the process of moving out of my host family's house and renting a house of my own in my community (photos to come soon!) Lots going on now that the holidays are over, so I am happy to be busy.

New Year's Eve in the DR was fun, but low-key. New Year's (like most holidays) is a time to spend with family - and that's exactly what I did to ring in 2008: A traditional meal with the extended family in the "big" town of Ocoa, watching local kids play with sparklers in the street, waiting for the stroke of midnight by the local radio station's countdown, hugs and felicidades all around, and then joining the crush of people in the town square for dancing, socializing, and a fireworks display overhead. Rolled into bed about 2:30am on New Year's Day...

More later... Un abrazo desde la R.D.... -Tod.

Me and my fellow newly-minted PCVs / Domincan Republic...

I am now beginning my fourth month as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the rural mountains of the DR. Hard to believe that I am three months into this experience and have so much more ahead of me... It is both thrilling and imposing at the same time.

I still remember vividly the day I stepped on the plane to leave Seattle to start this adventure, not really knowing what to expect and not really knowing if I'd have what it takes to make it all the way through. In fact, since September five out of 54 of our original group of new Volunteers have decided to leave the Peace Corps early. That made me stop and think at this, my 3-month anniversary: "Will I really be able to make it?"

Luckily, I've had more good days than bad, and have generally been very pleased with my decision to do this. Especially at the very beginning of training, my spirits were always high - being in a new country, exploring a new city, meeting new friends with similar interests and aspirations, hearing the incredible improvement in my previously rusty Spanish... the list goes on of things that made me feel on top of the world when I first got to the DR.

However, reality sets in after a bit and I had a few close calls and a few bad days where I thought about calling it quits and heading home. An example is from my correspondence (and since then, a lengthy entry I wrote in my journal) a few weeks ago, shortly after swearing-in:

I had a major breakdown the other morning (Saturday) after a pretty vivid Aralen dream in which I kept wondering what the hell I'm doing here in the Peace Corps in the middle of nowhere... [Aralen is an anti-malarial drug we're required to take once a week. It often produces vivid, realistic dreams]. I actually even thought about the consequences of quitting early and how that would work. Not just thinking about it, but working out the logistics in my head... packing my bags, explaining my departure to my host family, getting to the Capital, requesting my passport from the office, explaining to the Country Director why I needed to leave, getting to the airport, etc... I ran off to be alone for a while at the top of a hill near my house and just took in the scenery for a bit, trying to think things through. I tried to call a few of my fellow PCVs to throw me a life line, but no luck, just got voicemail. Sat there for a little while longer, trying to calm down and understand what was going on. Frustrated and unsure of what to do, I walked back to town slowly, all the while wondering how and when this situation would improve.

Luckily, once coming back down the mountain, my new neighbor immediately invited me to play dominoes with him and his family and I instantly felt better. The game, the camaraderie, the feeling that I was being accepted helped out so much. I am hanging in there now, knowing that I´ll feel better once I start working on something and getting to know more people... Have to take it one day at a time and find those little things (like a dominoes game with neighbors) that will keep me going day to day...

So, not wanting to end this post on a downer note, I have come to realize that all through my service I'll have to my best to go day-by-day and take things as they come. Finding the little things that keep me involved, engaged, and in this for the long haul... Much like life anywhere, really!

Un abrazo muy fuerte desde la RD...-Tod.

It´s official. I am now a 100% certified Peace Corps Volunteer (please note that it´s "volunteer" with a capital "V")...

November 21st, the day before Thanksgiving, 50 other Peace Corps Trainees and I took the pledge and became full-fledged Peace Corps Volunteers in service to the people of the Dominican Republic until 2009.

Here´s the Oath as it´s been said by many Volunteers before...

"I, Tod *******, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge my duties in the Peace Corps. So help me God."

I know, I know-- it sounds very weighty, right? In fact, I choked up a little when saying it myself. I think a lot of us did. Even after 11 weeks of training and preparation, saying that pledge was quite exciting. It was kind of like saying wedding vows, with that kind of permanence to it -- it represented making the leap into the deep end. Bypassing that last chance to back down off the diving board and to say "no thanks" to two years of hard work and uncertainty. It was quite a moment, but I´m happy to say that I made it and am now in this for the long haul.

Anyway, I am also happy to report that I am at permanent site, making myself at home for the duration of the next two years. I really do love my new community. The people are very happy that I´m there and I love the mountains. It´s kind of like the Washington Cascades in some ways (the rainy, cloudy weather), like the Rockies in Colorado (crumbly, rocky soil and steep climbs), and like the Missouri Ozarks in other ways (bugs and deep jungle forests). Good combination of all three of my previous mountain experiences.

One funny thing about my new home (and my friends Scott and Leslie will love this) - everyone thinks that I am Canadian! And when I tell them I´m NOT Canadian, they assume that I must be Swiss!

I was baffled by these assumption at first, but now understand why most people think this way, after hearing a bit of the history of this particular area of the DR. First, there has been a big Canadian influence here in Ocoa for several years. The priest of the main Catholic Church in Ocoa was Canadian (he died just recently) and was very active in all the communities surrounding the main town. He lived and worked here nearly 40 years, so everyone knew him well. He brought a lot of Canadian relief and construction groups here (kind of like Habitat for Humanity) to build schools and houses for the poor.

As I posted in my last entry, I am the first Peace Corps Volunteer that this community has seen, so when they hear I´m with "Cuerpo de Paz" (Spanish for Peace Corps), they assume it´s a religious organization and therefore associated with the Canadian groups who have been coming here for years. Most don´t believe me when I say that I´m an American (estadounidense). They say I speak Spanish too well for an American, or that I "look Canadian!" I love it!

Anyway, after we clear up the Canadian thing, people then assume that I must be Swiss, or of Swiss descent. This is because I live in a coffee growing region of the DR and there are a lot of Swiss immigrants who moved here decades ago and were (or still are) the main owners of the coffee processing plants in the valley. You see a lot of white or lighter-skinned people in my valley - descendants of the Swiss plantation owners.

I love this actually -- unlike in Mexico where people always assume you´re gringo from the US first, no matter where you may actually be from, it´s actually very refreshing!

So for now, in my community, you can find me easily if you ask for "el canadiense" or "el suiso."

More later, friends...

Un abrazo muy fuerte a todos. -Tod.

Hello Everyone,

Thanks first to Egan for posting the information about Noel and for letting everyone know that I am safe and sound. I had a tough time getting to an internet place where I was because my area was affected pretty heavily by the storm. Lots of places closed or no transportation available for many days.

In all areas, the DR really did get hammered from that storm. Many of my new Dominican friends will be working hard for many years to recover from that storm. Houses were swept away, and the cost to agriculture, such a big part of the DR economy will be affected for years.

Anyway, as Egan said, I am fine, thank God. I was in an area that saw some flooding, but my house was fine. Two of my fellow volunteers did evacuate their houses in the middle of the night the first day of the storm. We spent many days afterwards helping them clean up and recover furniture. Luckily, no lives were lost in the community where I was at the time of the storm.

Life in Peace Corps is moving right along, despite the interruption of the storm. A few days after Noel, it was back to training and learning about our posts and projects. Then, back to Santo Domingo for a few more in-depth sessions and preparation for our final jump into the interior.

Luckily, I now know where I´ll be stationed for the next 2 years! Peace Corps doesn´t want me to post the name of my exact site for security reasons, but I can tell you that I am in the Province of San Jose de Ocoa, just about in the center of the country, high in the rugged mountains of the Cordillera Central, the DR´s main mountain range.

I am in a little bitty town of about 300 people. No electricity (except for a few houses with solar panels), and no running water. The main modes of transport are: Land Rover (yes, Land Rover!), by donkey, by motorcycle, or by foot. The roads aren´t much more than jeep trails scratched out of the rocks. For those of you who know me well will surely know that I am THRILLED to be out in the sticks like this and wouldn´t trade my new home for all the hot water in the fanciest hotels in Santo Domingo. This is Peace Corps after all!

I have some pictures to post, but alas, am again having trouble with this public PC in the internet café. Will do my best to post some pics next time. Until then... Un fuerte abrazo a todos mis amigos... -Tod.

For those of you curious about Tod's status after Tropical Storm Noel blew through the Dominican Republic, he's fine. He was able to contact his mom earlier this week and report back. Thankfully our buddy Tod is doing alright. Lots and lots of rain did fall there, power is still out in many places (as of 11/2/07), but his group seems to be out of danger.

Here's some footage I found on the local news website here in Seattle. It gives you a good idea how severe the flooding was in the Dominican Republic. The "hurricane season" is nearly over and we'll be able to rest much easier.

*AP photo courtesy of CNN

Hola Amigos,

A rare weekend off from Peace Corps Service Training, so I am taking part of an afternoon to post some much needed information (and bonus photos) on my attention-starved blog for mis queridos amigos back home.

First off... Spiders... there are a lot of them here. I shook this not-so-little guy out of my shoe this morning, then got the chance to snap a picture of him as he scurried up the wall, inches from my bed. These guys are generally shy and stay out of sight as often as they can, but they like shoes because it´s dark and humid in there. So be sure to shake your shoes out before putting them on! I know that I might have just lost a few friends by posting this creepy picture right off the bat, but I have to record my life here, and this was a big deal. He´s still not the granddaddy of critters I´m likely to see: I am awaiting my first run-in with a tarantula... that will be the highlight of my PC critter-cam experience. Stay tuned!

Training to become a Peace Corps volunteer is a lot like returning to college again, and we are very busy. The first three weeks of training were in Santo Domingo, attending a lot of lectures, finding our way around town, and learning a lot about the history, people, politics, and health of this island nation. Spanish classes have been really helpful, as I needed some practice to kick the rust off my neglected language skills. Here´s a photo of my Spanish Class in from of the Panteón Nacional in the Zona Colonial of Santo Domingo:

I am now in the 4th week of training, which is more hands-on in nature. I finally started working on a practice community health diagnostic, doing one-on-one interviews with five randomly selected housewives (doñas) and mothers of young infants in their homes in and around this community. I ask about infant health, general nutrition, knowledge of breast exams (breast cancer awareness) and PAP smears (cervical cancer is a huge problem in Latin America) . At first, I was afraid that I might find women reluctant to answer such personal questions coming from a tall white gringo from the US, especially in such a conservative culture where men´s and women´s roles and are so clearly defined. However, after explaining who I was, who I was working for, and what I was doing with the information, they were very open and seemed to enjoy being able to participate in something like this.

With the information, we were then to synthesize and present the data and suggest recommendations for further educational projects (like health fairs, women´s health groups, etc.) in our community. Granted this is a small sample, but once I am in my permanent site for the 2-year service period, I will be doing 100 to 150 interviews of this type in order to establish a base-line for community health.

Next week we begin work on exploring the choices made by the community´s teens about sex and general knowledge about STD´s. By the end of our training, we are expected to give an interactive, informational talk with youth in the community about safe sex.

Baseball here is the national religion, and with the World Series this month, all talk and heated discussion is all about who will win this year. The community I´m in is all for Boston (a lot of sons and daughters have left to live in Boston and New York). As many of you know, I am not the biggest sports fan at all, but I have made an effort to learn more about what´s going on in the playoffs and the Series so I can chat it up with the youth and community leaders who always start every conversation with: "Where are you from, and who´s your team?" Luckily, everyone knows Ichiro and the Mariners, and although not a lot agree that the Rockies might make it, they respect that I have to root for them because they are a home team of sorts for me.

I will be in this same rural community for "community-based training" until the middle of November, then its back to Santo Domingo (la capital) where I will be sworn in as a volunteer and given my assignment for the next 2 years. Just in time for Thanksgiving!

¡Hasta la proxima!

Hola Amigos! Well, it took me a while, but at long last, here is my blog that I promised you all a month ago. With 2 postings already! (well, the first one really doesn't count, since it was an e-mail I sent back in July).

Anyway, tomorrow marks my one-month anniversary as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic. The last 4 weeks have been very busy, as I am in the middle of an 11-week training period before I am officially sworn in as a PC volunteer and sent to my final community for two years of hard work.

The first three weeks of time in country I spent in the capital, Santo Domingo. Training to become a PC Volunteer is serious business - I really felt like I was back in college. There are 51 potential trainees in my "class" and we would have classes all day ranging from Spanish (obviously), DR history and politics, to merengue (yes, I have become a pretty good dancer so far) and dominoes (the national pasttime second only to baseball). We learned these last two activities in order to better integrate into our host culture - nothing like a good game of dominoes with members of a small town to break the ice and start a conversation about health issues.

I am now in a smaller, more rural village about 2 hours by bus outside Santo Domingo. I will be here another 4 weeks for on-site training, then return to SD for a few more days of final preparations, then swearing in as an offical Volunteer.

I am loving the country. People are very friendly, the food is great, and my Spanish has never been better.

I was hoping to post some pictures, but alas, I am unable to at this particular internet cafe. I will try in a few more days so you can see how beautiful this country really is.

More news later, amigos!

Great news to share with you: I have been accepted to serve as a volunteer for the U.S. Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic from mid-September 2007 until mid-November 2009! As many of you already know, I have been involved in the long process of applying for the Peace Corps since last October, so I was thrilled to finally get an invitation packet in the mail in late July. I accepted the assignment the very same day I received that packet, and am int he final stages of preparation for departure to the Dominican Republic. I am on the plane for orientation on Monday morning!

The Dominican Republic (DR for short) is a small country of about 9 million people in the Caribbean that shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. I have been to the DR's capital city, Santo Domingo, once before in 2002. I was coordinating a training conference as part of my job with the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) at Fred Hutch. From my brief trip there, I learned that the Dominican people are very friendly, warm, and welcoming of visitors. In fact, I still have friends in the DR (former colleagues from HVTN) who I will be able to see while in-country. Needless to say, I am very thrilled and excited to get started.

Although the specifics of my assignment will not be completely defined until I actually start working on-site, I have been assigned to work in a program called Healthy Families, which focuses on providing support, information, and programs to help at-risk and under-served populations in the DR (in both urban and rural locales). Specifically, it sounds like I will be working with other volunteers and health professionals to assist mothers, infants, and teen-age youth to reduce their risks of infant mortality, maternal mortality, and HIV/AIDS infection.

At this point, I am not sure where I will be living during my time in the DR, nor do I know the conditions (i.e., electricity, water, communications) in which I will live. The Healthy Families project serves both urban and rural populations, so I may be just as likely to be assigned a post living in the big city of Santo Domingo as in a rural village in the interior of the island. Either way, from what I know of the DR so far, I am sure to find friendly folks, beautiful scenery, and plenty to keep me busy and active.

As opportunity allows, I will try to post updates during my service in the DR, to this, my very first attempt at a blog! I'm a rookie at this technology, so please bear with me as I learn how to use these features, and make the blog interesting and easy to read. Pictures and other fun stuff to come soon.