9/14 Tuesday: Book Club!!

I began my book club today and I am excited!!! I want to make it a book club/creative writing class. I think this will be as fun as my art class. A few women came to help out and I asked them afterwards if instead of just helping out, if they wanted to form a book club of their own and they seemed really enthusiastic about it!! So this weekend I’m going to research what exactly one does in a book club (aside from read) and buy a few copies of a Harry Potter for the kids and In the Time of the Butterflies for the women, and a dictionary.

What will we do in this club?! This is what I have so far: Class will be once a week for about two hours. We will have homework of reading about 15 pages a week or a chapter. The kids will have to keep a list of characters and their roles. Each time a new character is introduced they have to write it down with a description. Each week they have to sum up what they read and also keep a list of words they didn’t know and we’ll look them up together. They will write down the definitions and maybe we’ll have vocabulary tests every couple weeks? Who knows? I also want them to write little short stories to encourage their creative sides and if anyone has any other creative writing ideas, let me know! They will receive a star each week for completed homework and will earn something after so many stars but I’m still trying to think of what. I was thinking of making it a prestigious thing, like levels of reading and they get a new color name tag or something. We have to make name tags I decided. Big ones that hang around the neck with yarn, because why not?

I am excited. I don’t remember if I wrote that Brittany is the one who is going to be in La Coyota but Miguel told me she is and I am sooooo happy!!! She said she’d love to take over my projects (ie any Escojo classes/book club/library organizing). I keep picturing us working together on the book club each week (even if only for a month) when she gets here. Can’t wait! (Can you tell I am STARVED to work with someone? Ha!)

9/13 Monday: Noel goes to college

Today is a proud day for Noel and for his family. Today is the day that he begins going to the University. While this is a big deal in the States as well, here it is harder to go to school and thus less common, making it a bigger deal on average. Think of this: Noel’s dad died when Noel was 4 (the story behind that is that he was a motor driver like Noel and he was driving in the rain which made his blood cold, giving him a bad case of la gripe which killed him), Noel’s step dad, Tito went to school up to sophomore year in high school and Margara made it up to 7th grade. Nowadays most kids at least finish high school but as recently as 15 years ago it was very common to drop out before finishing.

Why is it so hard to go to the university here you ask? Well for one, I have noticed that parents don’t push their kids at all. Noel has been telling me since I got here that he is going to start college one of these days to be an accountant. And I always thought he was kind of a slacker for not just doing it. Then I realized that (A) I am naïve in thinking anyone can get whatever they want, they just have to do it and work for it (a luxury for more developed places) and (B) Noel has no one in his life giving him that little push. So one day mid August, after tiring of listening to him debate with himself when the actual last day to sign up for classes was based on what Fulana said, I said “Why don’t you just go and ask the University yourself?” And he looked taken aback before saying sheepishly, “Alone?” I had no idea that was the issue! I said I would be more than happy to go with him and we picked a date to go.

The day before we were supposed to go I casually asked if we were still going and he started to make an excuse to get out of it. I got mad and was like, “Fine!! Don’t go to school and keep on driving a motorcycle your entire life.” No no no! Of course we’re going. He was just joking. Riiiiiight. We went to three colleges the next day together to check out prices, see when school starts and when you have to sign up by. Noel is so timid, once we walked into a registration office, I took a number, looked around and Noel was gone!! So, I decided to just be Dominican and I budged in line to ask my question, I wasn’t registering after all right? Then I went out to the hallway and found him sitting out there. When I asked what happened he was like, I’m not sitting in there!! Then I told him that he doesn’t have to be embarrassed, that room was full of other guys from the campo that were nervous and didn’t know what they were doing either. I told him I was here to support him so he didn’t have to feel alone in this. He didn’t know anything about school, not even what a credit hour was. We decided what to ask based on the brochure I grabbed and when our number came up we were ready. By the end of the day he had picked which school he was going to based on a pro and con list we wrote up together. I think a lot of Dominicans get overwhelmed by the entire process and have no one to turn to for help so they never start it. Also most Dominicans get stuck in the planning stages of anything. They just aren’t taught how to problem solve/organize stuff.

Second large reason many Dominicans don’t go to college: banks don’t give school loans. I can understand that, chaos would ensue! They don’t even have home addresses here, how would you find someone who skipped out on their loan? So while the universities aren’t expensive it is difficult for the average Dominican to pay for everything. For instance, Noel has to keep paying 700 pesos/week towards his motorcycle. Now he’s also got to pay 850 pesos/week in transportation, plus the $2000 pesos/month for school and on top of it all he’s working less because he’s at school half the day! So he’s got to come up with an extra $5400 pesos/month to go to school. I know if I suddenly had to pay $5400 RD/month I would have to use money from home; and I make a little over $11,000 RD/month! Imagine someone who makes like $7000 RD/month. And that’s not buying any books or anything. Overall, college here is really cheap as compared to American university prices (ridiculous) but having to pay for it all out of pocket as you go without a decent paying job… no es facíl.

Anyways, I feel very proud of him for going to school. And it’s fun to see anyone when they start school because they try to act humble, like its not a big deal but you can hear it in their voices when they find any excuse to say, “I go to the university, yada yada yada.” I just hope that he can find a balance between earning enough money and going to school. I would be so sad to find that he had to stop going to school because he couldn’t afford it, a big reason he never started before Tito go the job as a cobrador in the guagua. (so Tito can help pay if Noel comes up short)

9/12 Sunday: So much for the beach…

This will be a short but sad entry. Today I was planning on getting away with friends to go to the beach and a stupid tropical depression or something decided to storm in and ruin my plans. Trips to the beach jinx the weather. Boo.

9/8 Wednesday: Meeting with Miguel, Ernesto and Community

I was pretty worried about this meeting because I was imagining the worst with community members turning on me. While that’s not incredibly common, it happens and it’s obviously very upsetting when it does happen. With everything that has happened with my neighbors, this thief thing is a pretty serious accusation. I was worried that Miguel wouldn’t do anything about it or that he would kind of take their side. After that conference in May I’ve decided I can’t exactly trust his judgment. Today I went to Santiago for our meeting, which was supposed to be at 11. I was running about 30 minutes late (American Time) when Miguel called and said he was running about 30 minutes late too. He met me around 1pm: 2 hours after our original time. (Turns out he was running 30 minutes late Dominican Time) We had our “meeting” while he sat in the front seat of the SUV and I in the back, in a supermarket parking lot and then like that but driving- on the way to my site. I was kind of conflicted because while I am open to criticism and suggestions, he wasn’t putting any of the blame on my neighbors. He was saying that it was my community that was saying all this stuff and that the Ruales wouldn’t be so stupid to say all that. He seemed to have already made up his mind about this. While I sat there thinking about it, I realized that no one in my community tell aside from Margara and Noel had told me about their gossip. I place full trust in her but it doesn’t make for a strong case against them when trying to convince Miguel that his friends are that stupid, rather, not stupid but malicious. I don’t think for a second that she would lie to me but how can I back up what I’m saying when I say that only two people have told me?

The meeting with Ernesto went ok. I was a little annoyed that Miguel and Ernesto spoke the entire time, and at the very end Miguel asked my thoughts. I don’t like to interrupt so I let them talk thinking that Miguel would give me my time but, true to form, Miguel was in a hurry to get out of here so I felt very rushed. Unfair since I have been waiting to have this meeting for like two weeks. Ernesto told Miguel that he would never call me a thief and that when I came back from the States it seemed like I was angry with them. (Right because angry people give gifts and cookies) And he said that I had said I was going to have a meeting to talk to him about the receipts and then never went back. This again, was not true. I went to his house and asked him if he wanted to see the receipts and he laughed and said it wasn’t necessary. And now I’m freaking out because I called the grants manager in Peace Corps to check on three packets of receipts that I accidentally turned in early and he found all but the one I really need: the library one. Fantastic. It’s going to look really bad and it’s the only inventory I have of supplies bought. It would be a HORRIBLE thing if I don’t have these receipts. It figures too, 10 grants later and this is the one that goes missing. Another thing that really bothered me was that Ernesto told Miguel that the reason we don’t get along is because I have a new “family” now- Margara’s- and that of her family one likes money a lot (offensively referring to Minga) and the other likes to gossip a lot (referencing Margara here). First of all, it was Ernesto who told Minga to charge me more when I moved out and also it’s

Ernesto who has all of his kids working on the library meaning that they are all getting paid and so out of the 6 people working on it daily, 4/6 of that total money is going to Ernesto’s house- $1850 pesos/day. Secondly, Margara is seriously one of the nicest people I have ever met!! When I was angriest and wanted to go tell the Ruales how I felt it was to her that I went to calm me down. I have never heard her say a bad thing about anyone! During this meeting I wasn’t taking notes or anything and Ernesto was going on and on and I forgot to mention everything that he said that was wrong. I told Ernesto that I think the issue here, if he really didn’t call me a thief (highly unlikely), is communication: we have none. Miguel wants us to meet in the women’s club each Monday to talk about the progress of the library so people don’t gossip. He says that whenever people ask about the progress to tell them to go to the meeting with any questions and that’s that. It could be a good idea.

Also Miguel told Ernesto to come to my house later that night and Ernesto said “I don’t have a problem with that.” And guess who never came over. I specifically stayed in my house with the door open, and was full of children (so no debating if I was home or not) until the power went out around 8:30 or 9. I was secretly hoping they didn’t come over though. It’s obvious that they don’t want to make this work and that’s fine. I am really bothered by the fact that they are going to keep on working with Peace Corps name and money for the foundation, more or less as the face of Peace Corps. People in charge of that foundation should be good, honest people who are a good representation of Peace Corps: pretty much the opposite of my neighbors.

Then we had the community meeting. This went ok, sort of. Miguel was all over the place. He was talking about Satan and having a cold and all kinds of stuff. Then he brought up the thing about meeting every week to talk about the library and everyone was in agreement. I got so lost in all the rambling that I didn’t notice that he never said in the meeting anything about where the project money went and how I’m not a thief! Ugh, great. Just when I don’t think it can get worse... Now people will be wondering why Miguel didn’t mention anything about me being a thief or not.

I am upset. I feel the same as before the meeting but at least not stressed that my community will kick me out. Ernesto kept talking about how crappy the family is that I hang out with and Miguel didn’t ask me about it but rather was like, “They are a pretty crappy family Betsy.” How would he know?!

Also, I found out that Brittany is the PCV who is going to be placed in La Coyota (site close to me) and there isn’t going to be one placed in Villa Nueva. I’m happy it’s Brit because I feel really close with her already and she has an idea of what’s going on here. But makes me feel protective of her and I want to get this foundation set right so its not something she has to just be dropped into and deal with.

What I would like to know is what happened with Miguel? He’s normally so good about picking up on things in Dominican culture but this time I felt he was turning a blind eye to it and telling me it was Margara, Minga and a power struggle within the community instead of placing any responsibility on Ernesto and family. An example of an outright lie: Ernesto told Miguel that he saw me in Santiago (when I was with Brittany) and he said hi to me and I ignored him. The truth is that I saw him because Brit and I were already sitting down and I said “Hi Ernesto” and he responded. Then Brittany asked if that was “The Ernesto” and I said yes and how weird it was that in that moment he acts like nothing is wrong. All this seems so petty but it’s the culture here. Saying hello, not saying hello, the order of saying hello- its all noticed and there’s a wrong and right way to do it. I wrote a 4 page report to Miguel and Romeo before the meeting explaining everything but I feel it didn’t help in Miguel’s case. What to do now? I’m going to call one of the PC doctors, Lissette to get her advice, and I’m going to call the grants man and see if he has my receipts! I’ll do what I can and I guess that’s all I can do.

9/6 Monday: The kittens have moved

Kouldbie didn’t seem to like that tarantula at all. She moved her kittens to Ernesto’s house again. Then I sent a kid over to get them and they had already given one away- which I was actually grateful for even though it was rude of them not to ask/inform me. Then Wandi was threatening, loud enough that I could hear, that he was going to kill the kittens and the cat if she brought them back over again. Well guess what, the next day- Kouldbie moved her kittens there again. So take that Wandi. Hopefully she is sleeping under your bed.

9/5 Sunday: Setting a meeting with Miguel, Do tarantulas eat baby kitties?

It’s Sunday night. I just got back from Santiago. Noel dropped me off at Ernesto’s driveway and we had a debate about equal rights between men and women. This is my doing because one man in the neighborhood was calling a young girl a slut. At first Noel seemed alarmed but then when he realized who was being called a slut he shrugged it off. I said that it was pretty crappy of her dad to be yelling at her at someone else’s house calling her a slut to which Noel responded, “Well Elizabeth, a slut is a slut. It’s a fact. Non debatable. If she’s a slut, then they can call her that.” I asked why she was a slut and he said it was because she had more than one boyfriend. Then I asked if Tolo was a slut- having more than one wife is worse than having more than one girlfriend right? He laughed and said of course he wasn’t a man whore, that it’s different for guys. Men are different from women. His examples of this included how men can walk around without their shirts but women can’t, how men are the ones that work… If people call the woman a whore, its ok but there isn’t even a word that exists that’s so ugly that people use for men. I said that in the States there is more equality than here and he said that’s why there are so many problems there, with divorce and all that!! I laughed. So then I asked about professionals. What about people who are educated and both are making money? He said, if they’re making the same, fine. If she’s making more and she leaves him, it’s kind of his fault and he should get a better job but that she is still a whore. Everyone will think she’s a whore but they’ll think she had a good reason. How messed up is that?! After having further conversations on this, and calling him ancient, he seems to have come around a little bit to my point of view. I find that, once given good reasons and not being rude in the debate, most people come around to a more developed way of thinking here. It’s like they begin the debate with you with the point of view that everyone has always had and they have it because they were never asked to think about it. Once they think about it and are presented with a more rounded fact base, they’re like… ohhhhh, that’s true. I think with time, I can convince Noel that equality is the way to go.

After our little debate I went up to my house to shower and get changed. I went into the bathroom to greet the kittens and Kouldbie and then I saw the first huge tarantula ever in my house, right next to them like it was stalking them for dinner! Sure there have been baby ones and one time there was an adolescent but this was a full grown adult. I don’t remember jumping over it to get out of the bathroom but next thing I knew, I was out, trying to plan my next move. I called Noel because I figured if men and women don’t have equal rights here, he should automatically be the one to have to kill this spider. No answer. Diablo. I waited outside and then decided to start making cookies until he showed up. When he arrived back he was disgusted to see that I still hadn’t showered but I asked how in the world can I shower when there is an 8 legged, fanged mammal in my bathroom? One that when it flips onto its back can spring upwards of 6 feet. My bathroom is less than 6 feet wide. Not that it could really hurt me but I swear if it jumped on me and I felt its nasty straw legs crawling around with their stiff little hairs…. SICK! Noel happens to be afraid of tarantulas as well but, like I said… men can walk around without their shirts and all that sooo…. When I showed him the spider he freaked a little. I said I would go and get Minga to kill the spider and he scoffed at me, he is a macho man after all… right? He isn’t afraid of some giant tarantula, who would be scared of that!?! Maybe a wuss, that’s who. While saying this, I think he looked a little panicked. Then, he got it together and said, “Get the machete!” I just stood there and stared at him until realization crept into his face as he remembered that I do not own a machete. (why would I when then I would have to use it?) It was then decided that he would kill it and I would hold the headlamp. I wasn’t really found of this plan as I didn’t want to be close to it but hey, compromise is what relationships are made of. Did I mention there was no power; I was out of candles, my oil lamp had burned the entire wick and my headlamp had stopped working. Fantastic!! Anyways, long story short, I seriously thought about getting Minga (or any other little kid over the age of 7 for that matter) to take care of this for me but then Noel showed up and spared me the walk around the neighborhood, killing the scary spider with my broom. And while he broke the broom I have had my entire service, the spider is dead and I am safe and showered. Whew!

9/2 Thursday: I finally get a Volunteer Visit!!!

I am super excited because after two years of service I finally am getting a newbie!!! I don’t know if you all remember how excited I was to go on my PCV visit when I was in training? Then a hurricane came and it got canceled and I was super freaking sad. We were able to reschedule the visits but it sucked because Kenzie and I went to visit this business PCV and we didn’t do anything except see an old man masturbating. It was so boring, well apart from that. Then last year this time when I was supposed to get a PTC I was in the States for my friends wedding. Thus I was sooooo happy when I got one this time around. I tried to plan things with her here. We nearly finished painting that mural outside of my house I have been trying to do forever (nearly finished because it was raining a lot while she was here), we were going to do the last stove but it fell through because the family didn’t bring the sand to their house (still), we went dancing, we had my art class, corrected/translated thank you cards, baked cookies... all the important parts of service. She is super fun and hyper. Also her name is Brittany- which no one can say in Spanish (sounds like Bree-tan-neey or Bree-nee)- so we’re going to open a new name up for voting. I think the top four should be (1) FlorLinda aka pretty flower (2) Milagros aka old doña name meaning miracle (3) Shakira aka, hips don’t lie (4) Paloma aka dove. Also I felt it was a huge success because she looooooooooved the visit and it renewed her enthusiasm. She is going to try to be the PCV placed in La Coyota, a community a little higher up the road from me. It made my week that she loved my life so much:)

8/31 Tuesday: Meeting with Miguel= failed

After I found out my neighbors were still calling me a thief (the amount I supposedly stole to pay for my 4th of July trip and Noel’s motorcycle I guess just wasn’t enough so they doubled it to 100K and it now includes me paying for his college), I called Miguel. I was super mad about all this and he agreed that this couldn’t continue. We set the date for Tuesday of last week to have a meeting but what I didn’t know was that Miguel thought it was for the capital and I was sitting on my porch waiting for him show up to my house. Adding to the badness of the situation, I told my neighbors that Miguel was going to come for a meeting on Tuesday and so they were waiting as well. The day before a milk truck drove through my community ripping down the power lines thus making us without power for 4 days or so until the community paid Oney to fix it (I contributed 50 pesos). The point of this is that my phone was dead so I sat at my house waiting until around 4:30. I was able to call Miguel the next day thanks to the fact that Minga has a generator, and I asked him what happened with the meeting. That’s when I found out that he thought it was in the cap and I thought it was at my house. I figure my neighbors had called him to confirm this meeting because Noel and I saw them leave their house around 1pm and didn’t come back until after I left at 4:30. Did they bother to tell me that Miguel would not be coming? Of course not. Anyways, I have a new meeting with Miguel next Wednesday at 3 pm in the community and we’re supposed to meet beforehand at 11 in Santiago to discuss. Hopefully all goes well.

8/27: Friday: Why the rush with my life?

So this whole time I have been freaking out about extending. I want to go to med school and that takes forever so I wanted to get started on it STAT. I just kept thinking that my 20s didn’t last nearly long enough! Well, the thing is, once I start med school there will be no traveling for a long time. And then I started thinking: I have to get this library on its feet. I may stay here in the DR be here until the spring to finish it- Who knows?! On top of that, I really would like to extend to another country for a year. I mean, it’d be so neat to compare the different Peace Corps experiences and I think I have learned so much in these two years. Plus think of how my Spanish would get so much better in another year where they say their “s” in their speech! The thing is though; I may be too late to apply for an extension for another country. That little concern aside, where would I like to go you ask? Well, as 3rd year PCVs get a LOT more freedom in picking compared to the newbie PCVs who don’t get any say at all really, I would like to go to (1) Nicaragua (2) Guatemala (3) Ecuador with a big lean towards Nicaragua. I figure that I may as well put off going to med school another year to get another great experience fit into my life. If I get into med school, I’ll be in it for so long, what’s another year?

Good news!! I just called Romeo, the Country Director for PCDR and he said there’s still time to extend to another country!! I told him I would like to Central America and he’s going to call me back so we can get the process started :) Ohhh, excitement!! If I go to CA, who’s going to visit me??????? :D

8/26: Thursday: A malicious rally conspired by diabolical neighbors.

When I left for the camp on Monday I saw Ernesto in the street and I stopped and said hello. His partner in crime, Oney was there and ignored me. I assumed he was mad at me again for one thing or another despite the fact that I haven’t seen him since he randomly came to my house and gave me a hug. I don’t really care if he’s mad at me. I don’t think about it more than noticing it and then I brush it off and don’t even try to understand it. Nor do I care if my neighbors fantasize about ways to kill me each day, which they very well may do. There was a time where it bothered me but I have come to terms with it. Recent news has pushed me past my point finally and I can cheerfully and honestly say that I hate them. I have never hated someone before. I’m pretty sure they hate me as well and their façade of being nice to my face while planning conspiracies behind my back will no longer be effective. I won’t be mean but I won’t put another ounce into being nice.

Before I completely felt this way, on this particular Monday morning, when I said hello to Ernesto he said hello back. I asked what they were working on and he answered. I stood there a moment, then realized I had nothing else to say to him at all and walked off. It seemed that maybe there was a residual resentment emanating from him but aside from that, it wasn’t so bad.

When I got back from camp on Wednesday I was so tired from sleeping about 5 hours the last three nights that I went to bed at 9:30 pm and slept in late the next day. Noel came over and told me that my creative neighbors had been up to no good while I was at camp and that his mom wanted to talk to me about it. Great I thought. What surprises await me now?

It turns out, while I was away, Ernesto went to a part of the community that doesn’t know me very well and told them that I was stealing money. Now he’s telling people that I have stolen $100,000 pesos from the library and I used 50K to pay off Noel’s motorcycle and the other 50K to pay for Noel’s school and our 4th of July trip. (In reality Noel’s school is about 6K pesos/semester- so he’s going to pay a little less than $2000 pesos/month and our trip was about 4k each; he paid most of his part and had to borrow a little from me. He owes me about $1500 pesos or about $35 USD and is paying me back in motor rides.) On one hand, at least they accuse me of sharing the stolen money, so I’m what? A generous thief I suppose. On the other hand, I’m mad. I have been patient. I have turned my cheek. But enough is enough. There is a balance between being tolerant and being a pushover and that line has definitely been crossed, probably a while ago but I like to give the benefit of the doubt when possible. I deserve respect, dang it. I’m a professional. I came here to help, I didn’t think to myself as I was about to finish college with my entire life ahead of me: “Ohhh, let me join the Peace Corps and steal grant money because that’s where it’s at.”

I don’t even want to talk to my neighbors; I don’t want to look at them. And I sure don’t want them to talk to me or try to be my friends. I want to walk in front of their house each time I come home just so they can see me. I want to go out of my to be nice to other people in my community just to make them look even more crazy. There are several things that make me mad about this so why don’t I point them out:

1) Noel works really hard to pay his way in life. It really bothers him that people now think he’s taking handouts. I can see where he’s coming from.

2) I told Ernesto when I got back from the States what happened with the finances. I offered to let him look at the receipts and he laughed and declined saying there was no need. Then he goes behind my back and tries to rally people?

3) He’s trying to get people in the community to turn against me. This isn’t just between us anymore. I don’t want the community remembering/thinking of me as a thief!

4) He told some woman who works for the Mayor to tell the Mayor that I am a thief and not to give any money to the library. WTF?!? Does he just NOT want a library?

I called Miguel and I told him all of this. We have a meeting set up for Tuesday at 2 pm. I can’t wait. When I called my friends Kelly and Rachele they were both like, “And why do you want to extend again?” Jessica told me she would have said to hell with the library and quit working on it. I thought about doing that but there is no way I’m dropping this project. I have worked too hard on this for too long. I am extending in my site to finish it and if they throw rocks at me at every step along the way as they seem hell bent on doing, bring it on. This library isn’t for them. It’s for the kids that need a place to learn and grow and it’s for the kids that I’m going to do this. Not just throw it together but finish it in a hurry but do it completely and finish it well. Despite the rumors my neighbors start on a weekly basis saying that they’re going to get Miguel to fire me, I ‘m not going anywhere. I talked to Miguel after my COS conference and he told me he would love it if I extended, to revamp Escojo, to plan the Escojo National Conference, to tie up stuff in my site. So there Ernesto and family. Take that. (sticking my tongue out)

Oh yeah, another thing. Tonight I noticed that I must not have shut my bedroom window all the way so it locked and someone stole my money box. I’m pretty sure there was just about $100 pesos in it but guess who I think did it? None other than the wonderful, consistent, shameless thief: Geraldo! Who lives with whom? One guess… that’s right! My neighbors!

8/25 Wednesday: I love youth camps!!!

It’s true. I love youth camps. Like I said, this year it was Rachele, Kelly and I planning this three day camp for 75 people and while at times stressful, I really enjoyed planning it. I like being in charge of stuff I suppose. We plan fun nighttime activities and this year we were lucky to have really interactive presentations from each PCV. I was only bored like 2 times during the entire camp whereas normally I peace out to take a nap several times during conferences.

I was really proud of one of the youth I brought, Randi. He’s Noel’s little brother and I was hesitant to bring him at first because he’s at that age where he sometimes listens but other times gives an attitude and walks away. Also I wasn’t sure because Celebrando typically has older participants- like 17 years old. Randi is 12. But seeing as he always calls me Haitian as an insult I figured he could use the diversity camp more than other kids.

I also brought a younger girl, Anyi who is 12 as well. I hadn’t ever brought her to a conference, not because she is a bad kid but because her personality bothers me. Rude to say I know. But she makes stuff up when she doesn’t know the answer (such as telling a group of people that I am home, just locked in the house sleeping when I’m actually in Santiago for the day) and she bosses the younger kids around a bit. As this was my 10th conference I was running out of options so I decided to go for it and take them. Randi was super outgoing, a real crowd favorite. All the other PCVs were asking whose he was and saying how cute he was. He won an award for being the best participant in the group (and I didn’t even vote!) and when he accepted his award he did a little Michael Jackson dance in front of the crowd upon request. It was hilarious.

Anyi however did not seem to enjoy herself. I realize that to a shy 12 year old 3 days away from mom and dad can seem like an eternity so after I found a note she wrote to her mom the first night saying she missed her and that she was different that everyone else, I asked all the other PCVs who have girls to please have their girls go out of their way to talk to Anyi. This didn’t help. She didn’t try to interact with any of the other girls at all. I felt bad for her but was also annoyed at her lack of effort. I also think that maybe she felt bad that Randi was so popular and she wasn’t.

As a last ditch effort for fun, on the way home on the last day we went to the big mall and ate pizza and ice cream in the food court. It was their 2nd time ever having pizza. Then I gave them some money and let them play in the arcade. After that we went into the big grocery store, Jumbo, and looked around. Anyi finally seemed to be enjoying herself once we began to check out the clothing:)

Overall, it was one of my favorite conferences. I’m to miss taking kids to something that they would never get to experience if it weren’t for these groups. I doubt either of them will be able to go back to Jarabacoa where the camp was, for several years but I’m sure they will always remember the experience fondly as I will.

8/27: Friday: Why the rush with my life?

So this whole time I have been freaking out about extending. I want to go to med school and that takes forever so I wanted to get started on it STAT. I just kept thinking that my 20s didn’t last nearly long enough! Well, the thing is, once I start med school there will be no traveling for a long time. And then I started thinking: I have to get this library on its feet. I may stay here in the DR be here until the spring to finish it- Who knows?! On top of that, I really would like to extend to another country for a year. I mean, it’d be so neat to compare the different Peace Corps experiences and I think I have learned so much in these two years. Plus think of how my Spanish would get so much better in another year where they say their “s” in their speech! The thing is though; I may be too late to apply for an extension for another country. That little concern aside, where would I like to go you ask? Well, as 3rd year PCVs get a LOT more freedom in picking compared to the newbie PCVs who don’t get any say at all really, I would like to go to (1) Nicaragua (2) Guatemala (3) Ecuador with a big lean towards Nicaragua. I figure that I may as well put off going to med school another year to get another great experience fit into my life. If I get into med school, I’ll be in it for so long, what’s another year?

Good news!! I just called Romeo, the Country Director for PCDR and he said there’s still time to extend to another country!! I told him I would like to Central America and he’s going to call me back so we can get the process started :) Ohhh, excitement!! If I go to CA, who’s going to visit me??????? :D

8/26: Thursday: A malicious rally conspired by diabolical neighbors.

When I left for the camp on Monday I saw Ernesto in the street and I stopped and said hello. His partner in crime, Oney was there and ignored me. I assumed he was mad at me again for one thing or another despite the fact that I haven’t seen him since he randomly came to my house and gave me a hug. I don’t really care if he’s mad at me. I don’t think about it more than noticing it and then I brush it off and don’t even try to understand it. Nor do I care if my neighbors fantasize about ways to kill me each day, which they very well may do. There was a time where it bothered me but I have come to terms with it. Recent news has pushed me past my point finally and I can cheerfully and honestly say that I hate them. I have never hated someone before. I’m pretty sure they hate me as well and their façade of being nice to my face while planning conspiracies behind my back will no longer be effective. I won’t be mean but I won’t put another ounce into being nice.

Before I completely felt this way, on this particular Monday morning, when I said hello to Ernesto he said hello back. I asked what they were working on and he answered. I stood there a moment, then realized I had nothing else to say to him at all and walked off. It seemed that maybe there was a residual resentment emanating from him but aside from that, it wasn’t so bad.

When I got back from camp on Wednesday I was so tired from sleeping about 5 hours the last three nights that I went to bed at 9:30 pm and slept in late the next day. Noel came over and told me that my creative neighbors had been up to no good while I was at camp and that his mom wanted to talk to me about it. Great I thought. What surprises await me now?

It turns out, while I was away, Ernesto went to a part of the community that doesn’t know me very well and told them that I was stealing money. Now he’s telling people that I have stolen $100,000 pesos from the library and I used 50K to pay off Noel’s motorcycle and the other 50K to pay for Noel’s school and our 4th of July trip. (In reality Noel’s school is about 6K pesos/semester- so he’s going to pay a little less than $2000 pesos/month and our trip was about 4k each; he paid most of his part and had to borrow a little from me. He owes me about $1500 pesos or about $35 USD and is paying me back in motor rides.) On one hand, at least they accuse me of sharing the stolen money, so I’m what? A generous thief I suppose. On the other hand, I’m mad. I have been patient. I have turned my cheek. But enough is enough. There is a balance between being tolerant and being a pushover and that line has definitely been crossed, probably a while ago but I like to give the benefit of the doubt when possible. I deserve respect, dang it. I’m a professional. I came here to help, I didn’t think to myself as I was about to finish college with my entire life ahead of me: “Ohhh, let me join the Peace Corps and steal grant money because that’s where it’s at.”

I don’t even want to talk to my neighbors; I don’t want to look at them. And I sure don’t want them to talk to me or try to be my friends. I want to walk in front of their house each time I come home just so they can see me. I want to go out of my to be nice to other people in my community just to make them look even more crazy. There are several things that make me mad about this so why don’t I point them out:

1) Noel works really hard to pay his way in life. It really bothers him that people now think he’s taking handouts. I can see where he’s coming from.

2) I told Ernesto when I got back from the States what happened with the finances. I offered to let him look at the receipts and he laughed and declined saying there was no need. Then he goes behind my back and tries to rally people?

3) He’s trying to get people in the community to turn against me. This isn’t just between us anymore. I don’t want the community remembering/thinking of me as a thief!

4) He told some woman who works for the Mayor to tell the Mayor that I am a thief and not to give any money to the library. WTF?!? Does he just NOT want a library?

I called Miguel and I told him all of this. We have a meeting set up for Tuesday at 2 pm. I can’t wait. When I called my friends Kelly and Rachele they were both like, “And why do you want to extend again?” Jessica told me she would have said to hell with the library and quit working on it. I thought about doing that but there is no way I’m dropping this project. I have worked too hard on this for too long. I am extending in my site to finish it and if they throw rocks at me at every step along the way as they seem hell bent on doing, bring it on. This library isn’t for them. It’s for the kids that need a place to learn and grow and it’s for the kids that I’m going to do this. Not just throw it together but finish it in a hurry but do it completely and finish it well. Despite the rumors my neighbors start on a weekly basis saying that they’re going to get Miguel to fire me, I ‘m not going anywhere. I talked to Miguel after my COS conference and he told me he would love it if I extended, to revamp Escojo, to plan the Escojo National Conference, to tie up stuff in my site. So there Ernesto and family. Take that. (sticking my tongue out)

Oh yeah, another thing. Tonight I noticed that I must not have shut my bedroom window all the way so it locked and someone stole my money box. I’m pretty sure there was just about $100 pesos in it but guess who I think did it? None other than the wonderful, consistent, shameless thief: Geraldo! Who lives with whom? One guess… that’s right! My neighbors!

8/25 Wednesday: I love youth camps!!!

It’s true. I love youth camps. Like I said, this year it was Rachele, Kelly and I planning this three day camp for 75 people and while at times stressful, I really enjoyed planning it. I like being in charge of stuff I suppose. We plan fun nighttime activities and this year we were lucky to have really interactive presentations from each PCV. I was only bored like 2 times during the entire camp whereas normally I peace out to take a nap several times during conferences.

I was really proud of one of the youth I brought, Randi. He’s Noel’s little brother and I was hesitant to bring him at first because he’s at that age where he sometimes listens but other times gives an attitude and walks away. Also I wasn’t sure because Celebrando typically has older participants- like 17 years old. Randi is 12. But seeing as he always calls me Haitian as an insult I figured he could use the diversity camp more than other kids.

I also brought a younger girl, Anyi who is 12 as well. I hadn’t ever brought her to a conference, not because she is a bad kid but because her personality bothers me. Rude to say I know. But she makes stuff up when she doesn’t know the answer (such as telling a group of people that I am home, just locked in the house sleeping when I’m actually in Santiago for the day) and she bosses the younger kids around a bit. As this was my 10th conference I was running out of options so I decided to go for it and take them. Randi was super outgoing, a real crowd favorite. All the other PCVs were asking whose he was and saying how cute he was. He won an award for being the best participant in the group (and I didn’t even vote!) and when he accepted his award he did a little Michael Jackson dance in front of the crowd upon request. It was hilarious.

Anyi however did not seem to enjoy herself. I realize that to a shy 12 year old 3 days away from mom and dad can seem like an eternity so after I found a note she wrote to her mom the first night saying she missed her and that she was different that everyone else, I asked all the other PCVs who have girls to please have their girls go out of their way to talk to Anyi. This didn’t help. She didn’t try to interact with any of the other girls at all. I felt bad for her but was also annoyed at her lack of effort. I also think that maybe she felt bad that Randi was so popular and she wasn’t.

As a last ditch effort for fun, on the way home on the last day we went to the big mall and ate pizza and ice cream in the food court. It was their 2nd time ever having pizza. Then I gave them some money and let them play in the arcade. After that we went into the big grocery store, Jumbo, and looked around. Anyi finally seemed to be enjoying herself once we began to check out the clothing:)

Overall, it was one of my favorite conferences. I’m to miss taking kids to something that they would never get to experience if it weren’t for these groups. I doubt either of them will be able to go back to Jarabacoa where the camp was, for several years but I’m sure they will always remember the experience fondly as will I.

8/23 Monday: Celebrando el Cibao

Today is the first day of the youth diversity camp we have here in the Cibao. I have been looking forward to this camp for a few months now. Kelly, Rachele and I are the ones planning it. It’s for 27 PCVs and 55 youth. I really like this camp because, (A) I’m sick of Escojo camps, (B) the kids really NEED to learn about diversity because they don’t get it anywhere in their education. It was a struggle getting the school director to let the kids go to this camp. As you know, we do not see eye to eye. He told the kids they couldn’t go because school is important. Which I agree with of course but it’s the lack of consistency on his part. He says no because he’s got power issues; a common problem with school directors in this country. He told the kids that they couldn’t miss 3 days during the 1st real week of school. They actually began school last week but that week doesn’t count as they are only in classes talking about behavior and rules. An entire week of that! Even better, they have so many “holidays” here where there’s no school that even the 1st day of school this year was a holiday and they started on a Tuesday! So when he tells me he values each and every school day it’s hard not to visibly roll my eyes at him and groan. Very difficult indeed. I had to go to the school with one of the kids’s parents and talk to him about it. I pointed out that 55 other kids were going, meaning that 25 other schools in total were letting kids miss three days of school. He didn’t say it was ok that they go but he said it was up to the parents and that if they missed these three days then they couldn’t miss another school day for the rest of the year. Bologna.

8/22 Sunday: Broken stuff and out of site!

Just as I said I was going to start writing in my blog again I (1) had my COS conference and then went to a resort for two days (2) my computer broke. So much for writing! After getting a new power cord and a new hard drive my computer is almost nearly fixed. I have learned that you have to download drivers for every single thing you can think of after your hard drive dies or else your computer won’t work. As a result, I have no sound/movie driver or whathaveyou I suppose so no Glee watching for me (making this one of the lowest points of my service now, so sad without Glee!!), and no music. Also there are random things like the fact my Microsoft Office is in Spanish as well as my iTunes. Ah well. I’m just glad to have my computer back, although sometimes the new power cord doesn’t work. I have a lot of paper work to do at this point in my service.

The question of my life now isn’t “to extend or not to extend?” but rather, “to extend for how long?” Yes sure the last blog I wrote I said how I wasn’t extending but hey, that was a while ago. Also you know me, things change all the time. Also of course when I’m in the States I didn’t want to extend! My neighbors were overwhelming me too. So I want to extend until December for sure and then I was thinking of traveling with some PCV friends of mine through Nicaragua and Costa Rica. But then I’m like, well… I’ve wanted to work with the Haitian population more and I’d love to do a latrine project before I go as well. I need to finish the library and get some community groups formed and strong to keep the library up and running. These aren’t things I can do really if I leave in December. Well I could but it would be very stressful. So I think I’m going to apply for a grant to do latrines and if I get it, I’ll stay till next spring. I also was thinking that I should take a pre calc class in the spring semester and I won’t be able to do that if I stay.

Then there’s Noel. So, I know I said I was emotionally unavailable before but I think I’ve changed my mind about that. I like the guy! I can see why the DR is number 1 in number of PCVs who marry host country peeps. They are sweet in their own way. I’ve never had anyone tell me and actually follow through, that they would do anything for me. And, not that I’m looking to get married but I find myself empathizing with many other a volunteer with ending a perfectly good relationship prematurely. It’s sad really. I’m not looking forward to the day.

8/2: Monday: Why haven’t I written? A sum up of the last 3 months

I know I have been really great about writing in my blog my entire service but I stopped on purpose in June because all I wanted to talk about was my drama with my terrible neighbors. I don’t want to look back at my service and only think of that, so I stopped writing. Although I will now recount some stories about them, it won’t be the focus so that’s good.

About Current Events and My Trip Home: First and most excitingly, my COS (close of service) conference is in two days!!!!! This means that I’ve made it guys!!! I did it!! Although my COS date (last day of service) isn’t until the 28th or 29th of October, the COS conference is as good as October. The end is so close. And, while I LOVE my service, I am excited to go home. I feel very mixed about it. I can’t WAIT to be done with my neighbors but I also realized when I went home that my PCV friends aren’t like any other. I didn’t realize how we had changed until I went home and found myself not wanting to tell my best friend stuff but rather wishing I could call my friend Kelly (a PCV) because, even though it was something that happened in the States, I knew my States bestie wouldn’t understand the way my PCV bestie would. A simple example is Chai tea. I bought some and I knew my States friend wouldn’t like it because it has such a distinct, different flavor. And she hated it, like I would have two years ago . I wanted to say, “Wait, just taste it. Really taste it and if you actually don’t like it for the flavor not for the fact that it’s a different flavor, then great.” And I want to say that with lots of things, life in general! I didn’t feel like that last year when I went home. Other differences were that I kept randomly speaking in Spanish and then would be sad that no one was around to understand my spanglish. Also, even on the last day on my trip home I was still stopping myself from tossing the toilet paper in the trashcan! Overall the trip home was fantastic but I missed my PCV friends so much. I felt like I was disrupting the lives of my States friends and was trying really hard not seem rude or imposing but still left feeling like I was selfish by American standards. That part of my trip sucked. Also I noticed that I am a lot more social and need to be around people more than before. That part was fun. I hope that when I get home I don’t have problems making new friends because I realized that there is really only one person I hang out with in Dixon and she’s since gotten married, has two new children and is pregos. So, yeah- that’s not quite the same. I talked with my friend Ali (she COSed in May) and she said that social seclusion is tough after PC. I mean think of it, now I can call up at least 5 different people at any given time to hang out or to talk and odds are, one or two will be down. At home, I went through the one on my list and then would just take a nap or something. Depressing.

About Gossip: I was dreading coming back to my community because of my neighbors. While I was gone Noel called me about once a week and told me that Mercedes and Wandi were telling people I had sex with Wandi (GAG!!!!) and Ernesto was saying that I stole 50K pesos from the library project. I was repulsed and amused by the 1st accusation- although that’s a very strong thing to say because really all I have is my rep. If that’s gone, I become ineffective in my community but it’s so out there to say that it made me laugh out of disbelief. The thief thing is super strong to say in this culture and made me incredibly angry. How dare him. I have worked so freaking hard to get funding for this project and then to say I would steal it? I was sooooo mad. People get into machete fights over throwing the T word around!! And, not to mention I was bailing hay, painting and scooping ice cream while I was home because I’m so broke. So if I had stolen roughly $1,389 USD I think I would have lived up my vacay a little more. All I can say is karma karma karma. It’s not my place to punish them but I take comfort knowing it will come one day.

About Mild but Sweet Revenge: I came up with a great plan. I baked cookies when I got back to my site and just gave them to Mercedes today, telling her that they’re from my mom. That my mom wanted to send me back with a special treat just for them since she knows how they take care of me. Mercedes was really nice to me today. It was awesome. When I was home I called Ernesto once after I found out he called me a thief. I had been avoiding calling him but I figured that he was snowballing things in his mind so I needed to straighten it out and stop being a child, avoiding the things I didn’t want to do. When I called him from the States to check on things he was not friendly, didn’t ask about my trip (very rude on his part) and then when I asked him to write down my phone number he said no thank you! How rude! Although it’s hard I’m going to try to go out of my way to be nice to them. It’s going to be 100% fake because I detest them but I think it’s the best punishment I can give and strangely satisfying.

About Noel: So, he was really sweet when I was home and he called me a lot. I previously we talked like once a week but I think it was more, he definitely called way more than that. I have decided that I am not good at relationships. Maybe I should just be an old maid. He’s all Dominican and says all the “te quiero”, “mucho besos”, “te extraño” yada yada yada and I find myself nearly cringing. I’m just not an emotional person and while I like Noel, I’ve decided that I must be emotionally unavailable. So why did I start dating him? Well, I thought I would grow to like him more. Its not that I don’t like him, I do!- but I don’t think I would have dated someone in the States if I liked them this much. Also, we’ve had our problems and I swear if a Dominican dumps me, I’m hopeless. Here’s what’s going on: he was worried that I would come back from the States changed. I explained that’s ridiculous as I am American and so it’s not like I’d come home thinking I was all cool since I could now speak English. It’s different when an American goes to the States than when a Dominican goes. We hung out the 1st day I got back and then 2nd he only came by for a few minutes. I gave him some crap about it and I think I offended him. He came back and hung out with me while I was with two other PCVs so I wasn’t talking much in Spanish and since then, he’s been cordial to me but not coming by. Actually, today he said hi to me and then changed and went to the river and didn’t even invite me!!! How are you not going to invite me to the river? Man! He and I need to talk but he needs to come over so we can talk! I am starting to get annoyed by it and am trying to tell myself if he doesn’t come over today at a decent time I won’t get mad. Maybe it’s like a junior high break up? Maybe this is his way of breaking up with me? That would be how my Dominican relationship ended! Hopeless!

About Dengue: This is just so you all know, dengue is running ramped here. Last I knew there had been 22 deaths in the country from it, 12 of which were in the Santiago area (so by me). If I get dengue I hope first hope it’s not the hemorrhagic type and I second hope it’s the kind that just makes me sleepy. No matter what though there’s that rash…

Side note: the kids hanging out at my house are really annoying me lately. Today I hid out from them for 2 hours. They didn’t know I was home, hehe. Right now they’re on the porch and I’m inside at the kitchen table and my front door is shut. They’re just waiting for me to finish the “work” I said I had to finish, basically until my battery dies because there’s no power. Just so you get a picture of my life right now.

About Projects:

The Foundation SSAMA: The foundation is a freaking joke. To sum it up, Miguel wants each foundation to form 10 new Escojo groups per year. The leaders of each foundation don’t know anything about Escojo and so they throw these crappy classes together (unless they have a PCV to do all their work) and don’t actually teach anything but write down names and get head counts. It’s a blasphemy of Escojo. I am upset because I have worked so hard with it to have its name dirtied so quickly though laziness. I have stopped helping with the foundation stuff because (1) Ernesto is pretty much not talking to me (2) I shouldn’t be doing all their work, I’m leaving in a few months (3) I went to an Escojo “conference” through the foundation and it was a complete disaster. Apparently it’s ok that the kids get drunk at Escojo conferences and stay out till all hours of the night drinking and dancing. The three PCVs that were there put their feet down and Miguel wasn’t in agreement. Romeo, the country director- the head guy in PC-DR had to get involved. I don’t want to be apart of it. It’s a mess and if Miguel sees no problem with it, I’m out. But I do feel bad for my kids teaching Escojo and feel bad for their students. They’re most likely going to fail the final exams.

Stoves: The stoves are nearly done. Word is that Ernesto charged a few people and didn’t build their stove so I need to talk to him about that. I have a feeling he’s going to tell me he didn’t take anyone’s money. My poor stove guy, Jimmy, literally has to eat with his mom at her house with his family because the stove project is over and he has no money or work. Ernesto has begun shunning him and remember that Ernesto is in charge of doing the labor on the library. The deal we had was that Oney was going to start the library and Jimmy finish up the stoves. Then Oney told me he couldn’t work in the community any more because he found work outside the community. During this time an opportunity came up for me to take a stove mason to another community to have a stove building workshop. I took Jimmy because he was the only one of the three who told me he was available to work on the stoves. Oney got super jealous and was very disrespectful to me and now Ernesto won’t give Jimmy any work on the library. Another issue that I need to talk to Ernesto about. I love the maturity levels here.

Library: I have been working diligently trying to get funding for this library and I feel like the weight of the world is on me! The first grant of $2300 USD miraculously filled in May- which we used right away on materials. Then we received another grant for $5,000 USD and we’ve got about $500 USD left from that. I’m guessing we need another $1500- $2000 USD for materials and the rest I’ll use on books!!! I have one $500 grant for books on its way. Then there’s the $5,000 grant posted online that I have been really trying to “fill” with donations. I did a radio interview, wrote a press release, contacted 9 newspapers, have been in contact with 2 foundations… and when I was home I found out that the $5,000 USD grant I have been trying to get money donated to will be receiving a check to complete the funding- last I checked it was short $1,874 USD still. I was soooo relieved and excited! I literally was singing and jumping up and down. I didn’t realize how stressed I was to get that filled. I had come to terms with the fact I wasn’t going to get the library done. And now we will be able to finish it!! It’s a good thing we’re going to get that grant because despite the fact I told Ernesto NOT to get anything else on credit at the hardware store and despite the fact I told him not to do more than half of the work on the library, he has “bought” things in my name at the hardware store on credit and has done more than half of the labor on the library. Why did I not want him to do this? Because we’re out of money. The Mayor of Navarrete is supposed to donate $150,000 pesos. She said she’d donate half of the money last May and the other half in June... I’m still waiting for anything. Today when I called the treasurer, she said maybe next month (which is what she told me last month) When I told her we were out of money, that we needed at least $40,000 to pay the workers she said the check would be ready for me for $40,000 on Monday. We shall see but I hope so! Then I can pay another installment towards the labor at least. I had just been hitting walls with this project all of May, all of June and half of July. Now I’m hopeful again. It’s true that you have to be persistent, when you get knocked down keep trying. You have to think outside of the box, be resourceful and be able to accept failure to be a PCV. Jeesh.

About After Peace Corps: So, I’ve decided to try to get into med school. I’m going to apply to a few post bachelorette programs and cross my fingers. My GPA Is decent but my math/science GPA is not so impressive and it makes me nervous. But that’s what a pb program is for! I had thought I was going to extend my service (was like 95% sure) but then when I went home instead of getting a feeling of sadness on the plane, I got his overwhelming feeling of, yessssss, I’ve paid my dues. I need a break from volunteering. No es facíl dude. Although I recently found out that Miguel is placing two health PCVs on my mountain, two from the group that’s coming in two weeks to the DR. This annoys me on several levels. First, why was I placed here ALONE and now he’s all about grouping? It SUCKED being here alone. I was the only health PCV in the entire north region of the country! Second, Ernesto told me that these girls will be here to help with the foundation. So if Miguel is making Ernesto their project partner I am seriously going to object. To me it’s a slap in the face, like the fact that he’s such a bad person and treated me so poorly doesn’t matter. Miguel is still going to reward him with more PC work. Also, why didn’t Miguel think to mention this to me or ask me to help with site development like he should have?

On the other hand, I’m glad that there will be two new girls (even though he’s putting them in the only two communities I did some stoves in outside of my community) because I am sure that they will continue the library. And I am happy for them that they will be able to work together; I think my service would have been exponentially better if I had had a nearby partner in crime. This leads to me think that I need to extend for at least a week since they will be leaving for their communities a day after I am supposed to leave the country. Seems kind of stupid to extend for a week but I think it’s important to talk to them about the library and the foundation so they don’t end up having to repeat groundwork. We’ll see if I extend. I really want to backpack across Central America when I’m done until Christmas but that depends on if my PCV friends (Kelly and Kenz) flake out… lol

8/2: Monday: Why haven’t I written? A sum up of the last 3 months (not proofread)

I know I have been really great about writing in my blog my entire service but I stopped on purpose in June because all I wanted to talk about was my drama with my terrible neighbors. I don’t want to look back at my service and only think of that, so I stopped writing. Although I will now recount some stories about them, I feel ready to talk about other stuff now, stuff that’s not all negative.

About Current Events and My Trip Home: First and most excitingly, my COS (close of service) conference is in two days!!!!! This means that I’ve made it guys!!! I did it!! Although my COS date (last day of service) isn’t until the 28th or 29th of October, the COS conference is as good as October. The end is so close. And, while I LOVE my service, I am excited to go home. I feel very mixed about it. I can’t WAIT to be done with my neighbors but I also realized when I went home that my PCV friends aren’t like any other. I didn’t realize how we had changed until I went home and found myself not wanting to tell my best friend stuff but rather wishing I could call my friend Kelly (a PCV) because, even though it was something that happened in the States, I knew my States bestie wouldn’t understand the way my PCV would. A good example is Chai tea. I bought some and I knew my friend wouldn’t like it because it has such a distinct, different flavor. And she hated it. I wanted to say, “Wait, just taste it. Really taste it and if you actually don’t like it for the flavor not for the fact that it’s a different flavor, then great.” And I want to say that with lots of things, life in general! I didn’t feel like that last year when I went home. Other differences were that I kept randomly speaking in Spanish and then would be sad that no one was around to understand my spanglish. Also, up until the last day I was still stopping myself from tossing the toilet paper in the trashcan. Overall the trip home was fantastic but I missed my PCV friends so much. I felt like I was disrupting the lives of my States friends and was trying really hard not seem rude or imposing but still left feeling like I was selfish by American standards. That part of my trip sucked. Also I noticed that I am a lot more social and need to be around people more than before. That part was fun. I hope that when I get home I don’t have problems making new friends because I realized that there is really only one person I hang out with in Dixon and she’s since gotten married, has two new children and is pregos. So, yeah- that’s not quite the same. But, after talking with my friend Ali (she COSed in May) she said that social seclusion is tough after PC. I mean think of it, now I can call up at least 5 different people at any given time to hang out or to talk and odds are, one or two will be down. At home, I went through the one on my list and then would just take a nap or something. Depressing.

About Gossip: I was dreading coming back to my community because of my neighbors. While I was gone Noel called me about once a week and told me that Mercedes and Wandi were telling people I had sex with Wandi (GAG!!!!) and Ernesto was saying that I stole 50K pesos from the library project. I was repulsed and amused by the 1st accusation- although that’s a very strong thing to say because really all I have is my rep. If that’s gone, I become ineffective in my community. The thief thing is super strong to say in this culture and made me incredibly angry. How dare he. I have worked so freaking hard to get funding for this project and then to say I would steal it? I was sooooo mad. People get into machete fights over throwing the T word around!! And, not to mention I was bailing hay, painting and scooping ice cream while I was home because I’m so broke. So if I had stolen roughly $1,389 USD I think I would have lived up my vacay a little more. All I can say is karma karma karma. It’s not my place to punish them but I feel good knowing it will come one day.

About Mild but Sweet Revenge: I came up with a great plan. I baked cookies when I got back to my site and just gave them to Mercedes today, telling her that they’re from my mom. That my mom wanted to send me back with a special treat just for them since she knows how they take care of me. Mercedes was really nice to me today. It was awesome. When I was home I called Ernesto once after I found out he called me a theif. I had been avoiding calling him but I figured that he was snowballing things in his mind so I needed to straighten it out and stop being a child, avoiding the things I didn’t want to do. He was not friendly on the phone, didn’t ask about my trip (very rude on his part) and then when I asked him to write down my phone number he said no thank you! Jeesh. Although it’s hard I’m going to try to go out of my way to be nice to them. It’s going to be 100% fake because I detest them but I think it’s the best punishment I can give and strangely satisfying.

About Noel. So, he was really sweet when I was home and he called me a lot. I said once a week but I think it was more. I have decided that I suck suck suck at relationships. I should really just be an old maid. He’s all Dominican and says all the “te quiero”, “mucho besos”, “te extrano” yada yada yada and I find myself nearly cringing. I’m just not an emotional person and while I like Noel, I’ve discovered that I’m really pretty emotionally unavailable. So why did I start dating him? Well, I thought I would come to swear if a Dominican dumps me, I’m hopeless. Here’s whats going on: he was worried that I would come back from the States changed. I explained that’s ridiculous as I am American and so its not like I’d come home thinking I was all cool since I could now speak English. It’s different when an American goes to the States than when a Dominican goes. We hung out the 1st day I got back and then 2nd he only came by for a few minutes. I gave him some crap about it and I think I offended him. He came back and hung out with me while I was with two other PCVs so I wasn’t talking much in Spanish and since then, he’s been cordial to me but not coming by. Actually, today he said hi to me and then changed and went to the river and didn’t even invite me!!! He and I need to talk but he needs to come over so we can talk! I am starting to get annoyed by it and am trying to tell myself if he doesn’t come over today at a decent time I won’t get mad. Maybe it’s like a junior high break up? Maybe this is his way of breaking up with me? That would be how my Dominican relationship ended! All I know is he needs to stop avoiding me and actually talk about it. For heavens sake, I have to do sooooooo much stuff I don’t want to. Welcome to adulthood. (although either I like less stuff than the average adult or I just have more stuff I don’t like because of my current life, I swear I have to do stuff I very strongly don’t want to do all the time!!! Too often!!)

About Dengue: This is just so you all know, dengue is running ramped here. Last I knew there had been 22 deaths in the country from it, 12 of which were in the Santiago area (so by me). If I get dengue I hope first hope its not the hemorrhagic type and I second hope it’s the kind that just makes me sleepy. Now matter what though there’s that rash…

Side note: the kids hanging out at my house are really annoying me lately. Today I hid out from them for 2 hours. They didn’t know I was home, hehe. Right now they’re on the porch and I’m inside at the kitchen table and my front door is shut. They’re just waiting for me to finish the “work” I said I had to finish, basically until my battery dies because there’s no power.

About Projects:

The Foundation: The foundation is a freaking joke. To sum it up, Miguel wants each foundation to form 10 new Escojo groups per year. The leaders of each foundation don’t know anything about Escojo and so they throw these crappy classes together (unless they have a PCV to do all their work) and don’t actually teach anything but write down names and get head counts. It’s a blasphemy of Escojo. I am upset because I have worked so hard with it to have its name dirtied so quickly though laziness. I have stopped helping with the foundation stuff because (1) Ernesto is pretty much not talking to me (2) I shouldn’t be doing all their work, I’m leaving in a few months (3) I went to an Escojo “conference” through the foundation and it was a complete disaster. Apparently it’s ok that the kids get drunk at Escojo conferences and stay out till all hours of the night drinking and dancing. The three PCVs that were there put their feet down and Miguel wasn’t in agreement. Romeo, the country director- the head guy in PC-DR had to get involved. I don’t want to be apart of it. It’s a mess and if Miguel sees no problem with it, I’m out. But I do feel bad for my kids teaching Escojo and feel bad for their students. They’re most likely going to fail the final exams.

Stoves: The stoves are nearly done. Ernesto apparently charged a few people and didn’t build their stove so I need to talk to him about that. I have a feeling hes going to tell me he didn’t take anyone’s money. My poor stove guy, Jimmy, literally has to eat with his mom at her house with his family because the stove project is over and Ernesto has begun shunning him. Remember that Ernesto is doing the labor on the library. The deal we had was that Oney was going to start the library and Jimmy finish up the stoves. Then Oney told me he couldn’t work in the community any more because he found work outside the community. During this time an opportunity came up for me to take a stove mason to another community to have a stove building workshop. I took Jimmy because he was the only one of the three who told me he was available to work on the stoves. Oney got super jealous and was very disrespectful to me and now Ernesto won’t give Jimmy any work on the library. Another issue that I need to talk to Ernesto about. I love the maturity levels here.

Library: I have been working sooooo hard trying to get funding for this library. The first grant of $2300 USD miraculously filled in May- which we used right away on materials. Then we received another grant for $5,000 USD and we’ve got $13,000 pesos left from that. I’m guessing we need another $1500- $2000 USD for materials and the rest I’ll use on books!!! I have one $500 grant for books on its way and then a possible $1000 from another grant. Then there’s the $5,000 grant posted online that I have been really trying to “fill” with donations. I did a radio interview, wrote a press release, contacted 9 newspapers, have been in contact with 2 foundations… and when I was home I found out that the $5,000 USD grant I have been trying to get money donated to will be receiving a check to complete the funding- last I checked it was short $1,874 USD still. I was soooo relieved and excited! I literally was singing and jumping up and down. I didn’t realize how stressed I was to get that filled. I had literally come to terms with the fact I wasn’t going to get the library done. And now we will be able to finish it!! It’s a good thing we’re going to get that grant because despite the fact I told Ernesto NOT to get anything else on credit at the hardware store and despite the fact I told him not to do more than half of the work on the library, he has “bought” things in my name at the hardware store on credit and has done more than half of the labor on the library. Why did I not want him to do this? Because we’re out of money. The Mayor of Navarrete is supposed to donate $150,000 pesos. She said she’d donate half of the money last May and the other half in June... I’m still waiting for anything. Today when I called the treasurer, she said maybe next month (which is what she told me last month) and when I told her we were out of money, that we needed at least $40,000 to pay the workers she said the check would be ready for me for $40,000 on Monday. We shall see but I hope so! Then I can pay another installment towards the labor at least. I had just been hitting walls with this project all of May, all of June and half of July. Now I’m hopeful again. It’s true that you have to be persistent, when you get knocked down keep trying, think outside of the box, be resourceful and be able to accept failure to be a PCV. Jeesh.

About After Peace Corps: So, I’ve decided to try to get into med school. I’m going to apply to a few post bachelorette programs and cross my fingers. My GPA Is decent but my math/science GPA is a sight for sore eyes and it makes me nervous. But that’s what a pb program is for! I had thought I was going to extend my service (was like 95% sure) but then when I went home instead of getting a feeling of sadness on the plane, I got his overwhelming feeling of, yessssss, I’ve paid my dues. I need a break from volunteering. No es facil dude. Although I recently found out that Miguel is placing two health PCVs on my mountain, two from the group that’s coming in two weeks to the DR. This annoys me on several levels. First, why was I placed here ALONE and now he’s all about grouping? It SUCKED being here alone. I was the only health PCV for hours. Second, Ernesto told me that these girls will be here to help with the foundation. So if Miguel is making Ernesto their project partner I am seriously going to object. To me it’s a slap in the face, like the fact that he’s such a bad person and treated me so poorly doesn’t matter. Miguel is still going to reward him with more PC work. On the other hand, I’m glad that there will be two new girls (even though hes putting them in the only two communities I did some stoves in outside of my community) because I am sure that they will continue the library. And I am happy for them that they will be able to work together, I think my service would have been exponentially better if I had had a nearby partner in crime. This leads to me think that I need to extend for at least a week since they will be leaving for their communities a day after I am supposed to leave the country. Seems kind of stupid to extend for a week but I think it’s important to talk to them about the library and the foundation so they don’t end up having to repeat groundwork. We’ll see if I extend. I really want to backpack across Central America when I’m done until Christmas but that depends on if my PCV friends (Kelly and Kenz) flake out… lol

6/11: Friday: It’s been a while….

I’ve been pretty busy and not motivated enough to write in my blog. Escojo is seriously burning me out. Whatever happened to the old Betsy that delegated everything and if it happened- great, if not- better luck next time? Well, 8 new Escojo groups means 8 extra Escojo classes each week for me plus an additional meeting each week with the group leaders and an additional with the “Painting Committee” (people to color the presentations and all my other stuff)- so 10 more meetings each week to prepare for and attend on top of my normal work. So, what comes to mind to write about? What’s happened in the last 17 days? To start with, what is going on with my neighbors? I went to Ernesto’s house because I was supposed to go to one of the many meetings scheduled for Escojo only to find that he had left me! Mercedes was there and so I was like, “Um, I’m here with my helmet. Did Ernesto leave without me?” She laughed and right when I was about to walk defeated back to my house, feeling like a looser, she said he was coming back to get me. Then the shocking thing happened: she told me to wait there at her house and pulled out a chair for me. I literally had to stop myself from looking around to see if she was talking to someone next to me. She hasn’t offered me a chair to sit in since last Christmas Eve!!!

Then last Thursday Ernestina started being really nice to me. What is going on here? Geraldo and Argeni began talking to me again. Wandi is still ignoring me but hey, I’ll take what I can get.

All of these attitude changes may be because I’ve started seeing someone, one of Wandi’s cousins. (Although it’d be nearly impossible NOT to date one of his cousins in my community). So, remember how I was going to go on a date with Noel but “got a stomach ache” and didn’t go? Well, he’s been coming to my house lately, professing his love for me. The thing is he only does it when he’s drunk. Then when I bring it up the next day (we see each other a lot since he’s my motor driver) he immediately changes the subject! Funny. Normally Dominicans are so sure of themselves. I kid you not when I say that old, old men without teeth regularly hit on me and sincerely think it’s going to happen. So, Noel, an attractive young man with no children, all his teeth, graduated high school, has a motorcycle and is the go to motor man in my community full of motor drivers, being shy about it is something incredibly strange.

How did this happen you wonder? Well, one day he came to my house kind of drunk and I mentioned that my friend Jenn was having a party to raise money for her aqueduct and I invited Noel. Not thinking anything of it really until the next day when he told me that he’d take me- that we’d go together meaning that I couldn’t ditch him when we got there. Ohhh so it’s like a date… Yikes! I told him about the party because I was telling everyone about it to help Jenn out. Then when he said we should go together I thought, makes sense- I’m going, my motor man is going… go together sure. Then he said we’d have to stick together. The minute I realized it was different than when other Dominicans tried to date me though was that I found myself wanting to go with him to this party and didn’t want to get out of it. We went together (although he almost chickened out) and it was really fun. He was joking with me the entire time, another strange thing since Dominican humor isn’t the joking type (not sure what type it is actually....) I didn’t dance with him because he didn’t want people to think that we were dating which made me happy on two levels: 1) He’s not trying to hangout with me because I’m la americana (2) He’s not a crazy jealous guy who doesn’t like when I dance with other Dominicans.

Dominicans like to take things FAST. I do not. And so randomly, even though its like we’re already dating on Dominican terms (spending a lot of time together, holding hands, me saving a bundle on transport) I explained that Americans have THREE stages of dating as opposed to Dominican’s two stages. We have (1) friends, (2) getting to know each other/time before commitment, (3) Novios! And we’re in the 2nd stage. He wanted to know how long before the 3rd stage. I didn’t know so I blurted out 3 weeks because it sounded good.

So, that’s what’s new with me. I go home to visit 4 weeks from yesterday and I strangely find myself really sad I made my vacay for 3 whole weeks. After all, I’ve just got a few months left, I should enjoy them here and not in the States where I’ll be by Christmastime. A year ago I would have killed to go home. Strange how we adjust and grow.

I’m at a conference right now for the foundation. Its back at that resort but this time its for 3 days and I’m in charge of 10 kids and have to give a presentation. It’s been interesting so far. Watching the kids try to use the room key-cards was hilarious. None of them had ever been to a buffet before, aside from Doña Fulanas of course but a buffet with 4 items hardly counts as a buffet. It’s been really fun so far but we have only been here for 6.5 hours. I anticipate possible disaster seeing as it’s an all inclusive resort and the kids weren’t given bracelets for minors (ie: all you can drink on a large compound) Wish me luck!

5/25: Tuesday: Life goes on

Today I went to Ernesto’s house to talk about Escojo stuff and asked him how much he thinks his friend would charge me to put up a fence around my house. He told me that I would just have to buy the materials and he would do it for me. Isn’t this weird? I think the situation is really strange. I bought the materials today and when they get here, we’ll see if he does it. (Note, the wall and walkway still aren’t done despite the fact that I bought 3 bags of cement a few weeks ago)

Then today, when I went to their house, Mercedes actually said hello to me. She hasn’t said hello to me since before Christmas and today she says hello. How am I supposed to feel about that? I mean of course I said hello to her like she was my best friend but… what she’s going to start being super nice to me now because Miguel is coming Thursday?

In other news…. Ernie still isn’t talking to me. Isn’t that fantastic? She’s in the wrong, she chews me out and then she ignores me. What am I supposed to do, say sorry? Ha.

5/24 Monday: A dead donkey = a poisoned dog?

Yesterday I spoke with Ernesto about the cat situation. I was very firm about it. I told him that Wandi and Geraldo took my cat and a kitten, stuffed them in a rice sack, and botar-ed them. A lot of people here don’t understand the importance we Americans place in animals so I made it clear: I spent $7000 pesos on that cat last month. Do not take her. Do not put in her a rice sack. Do not botar her. He was like, nooo we said we were going to do that with the cat from my house… and I said, no they did it with my cat. Your cat is still at your house, I saw him yesterday. Then I was very Dominican and said someone needs to talk to them and make sure they don’t do this again because it’s absolutely not ok. And you know what he said? He said that I had better tie Lucy up because some dogs ate the neighbor’s donkey or something (not sure how that would even happen) and now he’s maybe going to start poisoning dogs. So, I had better keep Lucy tied up because someone may poison her. FML.

5/23 Sunday: Cancelled Escojo, a chill out with Jenn to prevent rash decisions

I wasn’t upset when I went to bed last night but I knew I should be. When I woke up this morning I stayed in bed an extra hour because I was so angry I didn’t know what I should do next. Each minute that passed I was more and more angry. Luckily Jenn called me and suggested that instead of my plan of going over to Ernesto’s house and sitting on a rock in silence for hours, showing my protest of their existence, that I go over to her place. She was going to a saint offering today that was supposed to be the party of the year in her community. Dancing? Presidente? Dona lunch? I’m in. I went to Ernesto’s first to give him some money I owed him and saw his cat sitting there happily which really made me mad. I didn’t say anything about it since I’m not one to try and work things out when I’m mad. I got on a motor and went over to Jenn’s site around 11 and didn’t come back to my site until around 7, feeling much better but still to pissed to try to talk to them about it.

5/22 Saturday: A stolen cat. My cat.

It was raining when I got home today. I wanted to go to a water inauguration at my friend Iain’s site but the all inclusive didn’t have internet (go figure!) and I had to send some emails and do some grant work so I just went to Navarrete instead of Iain’s site. Sad. Ah well, I stayed in Navarrete and then it began to rain. And rain and rain and rain. A lot of rain. I called my friend Tito (Noel’s step dad and Margara’s husband) and he came to get me but we had to stop along the way in someone’s house to wait out the rain. I love stopping at people’s houses here! We stopped (I don’t know these people) and the 1st thing they say is, “Come in! Sit down! I’m eating dinner, come and eat.” I passed on dinner with the polite Dominican response (they say something to the effect of “good timing” and I say, “enjoy your food”. Wonderful isn’t it?

Anyways, when I finally got home, I was wet, tired from only sleeping 4 hours the night before (in choosing between sleeping and dancing, dancing wins every time), and so I changed and went to bed early. Around 9:30 there was a knocking on my door. It was my two little girls who were really worked up about something. Aside from telling me I left my key in the door (I’m known to do that, safety first!) they also had a “gift” for me: my cat. Gee, thanks guys but technically something I already own isn’t a gift… Turns out a woman in my community saw Wandi and Geraldo drive down the road with a rice sack. Inside of the rice sack was my cat and one of her kittens. They stole my cat and a kitten, drove down the road and dumped them off at an old abandoned house!! Erg… I was too tired to think about this. The woman saw them do it and sent my two little friends to go and get the cats. The little girls got them and had been taking care of them for me. I thanked them for the gift, took my key out of the door and went to bed.

5/21 Friday: A conference with Ernesto for the Foundation… at an all inclusive resort.

Today went with my project partner, Ernesto to a conference for the foundation. We acted like nothing had happened between his daughter and I last Tuesday and while it drove me insane, it was strange how easy it was. I wanted to say something to him but Miguel told me not to so I held back and didn’t mention it. This conference was weird. We went to an all inclusive resort. Who does that for a conference?!? I brought a towel because I thought we were going to the normal semi-crappy places we go for Escojo- the type where you even have to bring your own sheets sometimes. But no, we went to a place with 3 pools, a discoteca, hot water, our own FULL sized beds, enough food for seconds, free drinks!! It was insane for a conference but pretty crappy for a resort if you ask me. The sad part is that we were there for 24 hours and didn’t get to use the pools because we were literally working from 2pm when we got there until 1030 pm, then of course had to go to the disco and aprovechar the free drink situation, and then we were up at 6, breakfast meeting at 7:30 and back to the main meeting at 8 until 12:45. So sad.

The breakfast meeting was with Ernesto, Miguel and I about the incident with Ernestina. I was annoyed because Ernesto said he didn’t know anything about it when there is NO WAY he didn’t know. We live in the campo, he knew. But I decided to use it to my advantage and I said, oh well if you don’t know do you want me to tell you what happened? And he was like… errr, um ok. So, at least he knows my side of the story. But I think he is in agreement that I am a friendless loser because after it all the only thing he disagreed about, the only thing he had to say was, “But you’re not lazy. You work a lot.” Wow, thanks… followed by a blank stare from me. So, Thursday Miguel is going to come to my site to talk to Mercedes, Ernesto, Ernie and myself about the chain of events. One problem I have is that Ernesto wants to bring Argeni (his youngest) to a conference we’re having in June. We are allowed 10 spots, we have 9 groups which means two kids from the older group here and one from each of the other groups. I’m not about to say it’s ok with me to give one of the two spots here to Argeni who isn’t even in Escojo and when he was in it he was a brat. I tried to explain to Ernesto that I didn’t think it was fair and he said that he wasn’t doing it just because Argeni is his son…. Really? Why then? This is going to be an issue. I think that this foundation is going to benefit his family more than the community as a whole.

5/18 Tuesday: Sick, guest speakers, and Ernestina flips out

You never know what you’re getting into when the day starts. Or do you? I woke up today with full body aches and a headache to match. Little did I know that it was a foreshadowing of the day to come. It was a bummer being sick today but at least I didn’t have anything to do until Escojo at 4- MY Escojo class:) You know I’m sick because I’m worn out from all these kids and all this EMV stuff!! Today I didn’t get out of bed until 11:30 and then I laid back down again at 1:30. I was concerned because I only had about 60 pesos on my phone and the colmados were all out of calling cards. I needed to get in touch with my guest and also I wasn’t even sure if the kids would be out of school at 4 when we were supposed to have class!! School goes until 5:15 but this week they’re in review sessions for the exams and so they’re generally done early. I was hoping so.

The kids showed up on time but it was a disaster with my guest. He got so lost that he couldn’t tell me where he was each time I called. He just kept saying he was on his way. As I watched the balance of my phone card dwindle, it began to rain and the kids got out from school. It was 4:00, the kids were being bratty about waiting and my guest speaker was lost in the rain somewhere. Urg, and I had a headache. Luckily the kids were actually being bratty about waiting because they had forgotten we were having a guest speaker and when I reminded them they perked up. The speaker showed up around 4:45 and we had a fun class.

Nearly at the end of class, Ernestina showed up outside of the Club. I invited her to come in with us and she declined. About 5 minutes later she came in, when the class ended, and she began to talk with the speaker, a Regional Coordinator or RC. I offered her some pop and she declined that as well. As the kids lined up to put their stickers on the attendance sheet, Ernie began to yell something to all the kids about how this 3rd group is terrible. How she is part of the 1st group and no one can pass her up/walk on her. She said she’s a coordinator now and if we have guest speakers she will be informed about them. She said that the 3rd group just wants to work by themselves and she wouldn’t let that happen. Whoa. Can you say “Monster”? Needless to say, the kids all looked petrified. So I told the kids to keep on with the stickers and told Ernie that we would talk after.

She is insane. After the class left, it was me, Ernie, the two guest speakers and 4 other youth that are going to teach these next Escojo classes. I was asking each youth whom they wanted to be paired with from a list I had and when I go to Ernie she said she wasn’t in the project and wasn’t going to do it. Ummm… why not? Well, that did it. She went off. She said that I was the one who left her and all the others from the 1st group out of this one, that SHE was the one who formed the 2nd group while I was fooling around in the States- and for how long was I there? THREE WHOLE WEEKS!! (Dominicans come here from the States and generally stay the entire winter to visit with family) I was the reason she wasn’t a Regional Coordinator (RC) last fall because someone told her I was talking about her, she said it was HER that went to training in SD, it was HER that got that position and she doesn’t need help from anyone, nor did she get it. She said that I took out my angry feelings for Wandi on her whole family, she has been my enemy since last fall (which I was not aware of), I have no friends here, she tells people I didn’t come here to work but to live alone on the hill, I don’t visit anyone, I don’t do anything, she tells everyone that the fist PCV who came here was excellent but the 2nd one sucks and that they don’t want to work with Peace Corps anymore, that they don’t ever want another PCV… on and on.

Don’t get me wrong, I was glad that we were “talking” I would have maybe preferred somewhere where crowds weren’t gathering (literally) or somewhere in front of the 2 guests. But, so be it….

I told her that I never told anyone she shouldn’t be a coordinator last fall. On the contrary, I wanted her to be one, I called her my “Star” but she couldn’t make the interview date because that was the weekend she got married! Also, new rule: RCs are supposed to have at least one year with EMV and she had one class. I didn’t say this but I wish that Miguel had spoken with me about selecting her to be a coordinator for the foundation because I would have suggested against it since she left EMV and has shown no interest in going back. I told her she’s at fault for not being an RC. She needs to change her bad attitude and also she quit EMV last fall. I told her that I’ve tried to fix things with her and her house, I wrote a poem for Mercedes (ok, so I copied it from some website…), I visit, I gave gifts. I tried to talk to Wandi and he ignored me. I tried to talk to Ernie, I even offered her a seat the other day when I found her on my front porch as I was leaving to go run. When I visit I can only visit when Ernesto is there because Mercedes treats me so coldly. What more can I do? Pay them? Don’t think so! I didn’t mention anything about my having no friends or never visiting because I felt it was irreverent to the problem and she apparently wasn’t going to take the high road in problem solving. I didn’t even really feel bad (I felt a teeny bit bad) that she said all that crap to me because I’m used to it from her family!! Ha! In hindsight, I am very happy with the things I said and where this happened. Now everyone can see both sides of the story and I didn’t say anything even remotely bad. Yay for me!

Tomorrow I’m either going to call Miguel or I’m going to tell Ernesto that I am not working with the Foundation from this point on until things change with Mercedes and Ernie. If Ernie can/wants to do it all alone, be my guest but I’m still in charge of the current EMV class and will continue teaching it. Miguel would be a good mediator but it’s not like he’s going to come out here tomorrow and I have to go with Ernesto on Thursday to another EMV thing. Not sure what I’m going to do yet, guess we’ll see. Whatever it is, I’m ready. I feel good about the decisions I’ve made. Mercedes needs to put some effort into this too; it’s always Ernesto telling me to go over there. Forget that. It’s got to be from both sides, I’m done being a doormat. And Ernie needs an attitude change. She thinks she’s always right, she’s perfect, and that she has to be in control of everything. She’s a monster.

The good side of this is that I told Minga and Margara about it and they both back me up 100%. They make me feel so good. I went to each of their houses tonight for a total of about 5 hours. With them behind me, I can do anything!! Also, it made me feel good because Margara walked past the crowd while Ernie and I were discussing things and she heard them saying how Ernie was saying so many lies (maybe I’m not a friendless looser who joined PC just to live alone on a hill!!). It feels good to think that the community supports me, even if it is silently. After all, if I wasn’t already in the fire, I’d avoid being burned by this family too!

5/17 Monday: Escojo takes over Betsy’s life

Today I began the day with a run (less sore today) and then had to hurry and get ready to go with Ernesto to Paradero, a town kind of far from us, to give the 1st Escojo class. When Ernesto told me about the foundation starting 10 Escojo classes I said I’d be glad to help but I’m not going to run 10 classes. That would be insane. Well, I kind of ended up running the workshop to start the classes and now I’m giving at least the 1st class to each group. And while Ernesto was with me in the morning, when we did the one in the afternoon, he dropped me off and went to Navarrete. Great. You know, it’s a good thing Escojo doesn’t make me nervous anymore because there were 25 kids in that class and I didn’t know any of them!! The class in the morning had 12 kids. Anyways, it looks like I’ll have the pleasure of giving classes 5 more times this week in addition to my other stuff. Oh boy! I complain but actually, if this works out I think it could be really cool. Also I like that I get to travel to other communities in my mountain and get to teach classes to other youth. Pretty sweet deal! (when they aren’t driving me insane like the afternoon group who wouldn’t shut the heck up) I just hope it works out because I don’t think I can keep this up for more than 2 weeks without loosing it.

5/16 Sunday: Elections

Elections in this country are insane. Politicians lie in wait outside of the poling areas and pay people for their votes (although many people say that they’ll vote for Fulano, take Fulano’s 100-8,000 pesos and then vote for Pedro). I wanted to see this spectacle but sadly went running super duper far yesterday thus today, the idea of walking .25 miles to the school and back was too much. Instead I stayed in my house the entire day. I was so sore that any ideas of getting out of bed made me ache. Jeesh.

5/12-14 Wednesday-Friday: Newbies Swear In, All PCV Conference, Peace Corps Prom

Talk about negative. Today I was stuck in my site for like 2 hours because I couldn’t find anyone to take me to Navarrete. I decided to kill time at Minga’s house while waiting for a ride or a hitchhike and her daughter, Margara came over. I always refer to her as Minga’s daughter but let it be known that she is also Noel’s mom (btw, I was sick that Sunday so Noel and I didn’t go on a date, I take that to be a sign) and she’s my best friend. She’s really fantastic and my go to for advice. So, imagine my surprise when she came over today and spent about an hour warning me about how terrible the people are in the community!! She wasn’t saying it in a malicious way but man- an entire hour?! I figure something bad must have happened to her recently.

I went to Navarrete finally only to find that the buses were on strike, great. So when I finally got to the capital I missed the meeting by about 2 hours- the meeting I was supposed to be co-running. Then, since I got there so late, I didn’t have time to go to the swearing in of the newbies. Which means I’ll never see a swear in unless I extend (a very likely option). Although, remembering my swear in- they’re boring.

That was all on Wednesday. On Thursday I went to my last ever (and 2nd) All Volunteer Conference. It was ok. They’re kind of boring but fun because you get to meet all of the newbies. The conference is at the training center in Pantoja and it’s far from the office which makes it a pain in the butt to get there by 8 am. Nevertheless, the conference is from 8 am until 4 pm. The great thing was that they gave great snacks this year (DONUTS!!!).

Something about Entrena that makes the weather crappy- it rained. So we ended up spending 45 minutes in the rain before our taxies arrived. Urg. I was surprised at the punctuality of the PCVs because my group was the 1st to get back to the hotel and we got back at 6:30. Prom began at 8! So, imagine 4 girls trying to share one bathroom, one shower and one mirror to get ready. Not to mention we got locked out of our room. But, we got dressed in prom attire and hit the road. Prom was really fun. What made it prom you ask? While we had it at a regular get together for PCVs we got the happy hour extended 2 whole hours and we had to wear nice clothes. Also, some PCVs got together and drew a picture backdrop!! Happy Prom!!!

5/11 Tuesday: Woooo Whoo!!! RAIN DAY!!!

I am an old campesina. I went to bed last night at 9:30 and didn’t get out of bed, officially until 9:30 this morning. I say officially because I had to get up 3x to deal with the psycho puppy who peed in my bed the night before and since has been temporarily band from the bed. She doesn’t like this and so, in addition to waking me up to tell me her puppy bladder is full, she wakes me up to show her disapproval of her not in bed with me. Great.

Today I was also able to sleep in because it was raining. I was supposed to have an Escojo class but had to move it to Saturday due to the school once again being uncooperative with the schedule we’ve have for nearly 3 months and trying to coordinate the new time with a guest speaker who moved and so was going to send someone else. So I was going to keep working on the mural but- hey it’s raining!! Thus, I took the day off… kind of. I cleaned the house, made some cake, am writing in my blog, talked with Ernesto, and am doing that grant jazz I need to get done. Later I’ll prepare to head out to the cap early tomorrow and hang with the Dona some. I mean, sure there’s no power and there’s a lot of mud everywhere, and my cell phone has been lost for about 3 hours now, but those are the worst things about my day!! Life is so good:)

5/10 Monday: A very strange day.

So today was a weird day because everything fell into place in a seemingly productive way. Today I was supposed to meet up with Ernesto in Navarrete at 1pm and we were going to buy the wood for the library. We were both late, getting there at 2 pm. We went to the wood shop and ordered the wood, and strangely the wood shop said they could deliver the wood that same day. (I agreed but figured it’d be delivered Wednesday or Thursday). The wood buying went so quickly that Ernesto and I found ourselves with an hour to kill before our meeting with the Mayor at her house at 4. We went to a furniture store to hang out with a friend of Ernesto. A thing to understand is that furniture stores are a dime a dozen around here. They’re on everyone corner along with the same type of clothing stores and colmados. Well, here is where the day gets weird. We were at this store for maybe 20 minutes when the Mayor shows up to buy a mattress. Of all the furniture stores in all the world… Anyways, we had our meeting right there and she agreed to the amount we asked for on the letter- $150, 000. After a long and confusing conversation with Ernesto (because her agreeing to give this money just like that isn’t what happens here… it’s like trying to convince me that pigs really do fly or something) I discovered that this money has to also be approved by a board (which Ernesto is pretty good friends with) and then they generally approve half. Well dang. If I had known that I would have asked for double instead of 1.5 times more. Anyways, we have to wait for them to have the board meeting and then see how it goes I suppose. I’m not holding my breath. I feel like we will get something from the local government but it’s going to be in the stage where we’re buying books and furniture.

And the day gets suspiciously better: Ernesto told me he talked with one of the people we spoke with last week about getting all of the sand donated for the project. We went there together last… well, some day last week and dropped off a letter explaining our cause. The guy, to me anyways, seemed completely uninterested and after a 2 minute conversation of Ernesto talking, we left. Does that seem promising? No. Well, Sunday when I was with Ernesto, I called the Mayor and set up a meeting with her (luckily being able to set one up for the next day) and then Ernesto called a friend of his. His friend happened to be with Sand Man and so his friend talked to him about the sand. And Sand Man said he’d donate all the sand we need! It would be available next week and we just need to get it transported up, aside from that it’s free! (not sure how we’re going to get it up here, but hey, one step at a time…)

After all this good news, I went to an internet center to write letters to newspapers asking for help in filling the second Peace Corps Community Partnership grant, or PCPP (the one that is posted on the internet and then the funds become available once the grant has reached it’s goal). The letters were going well, I wrote letters to 5 newspapers from my hometown area asking them to write a story about the library we were doing here, and to see if they could run the story on the same day- to see how fast we can fill it. Well, the weirdest thing happened- I wrote a wealthy friend of a friend two months ago about the library and he never responded. Literally 15 minutes after I had finished sending the last letter to the newspapers, the friend of a friend sent me an email asking if I still needed help with the library, how much we needed and where he could send a check!!! Not that I think by any means he’s planning on donating $5K but it’s just another sign of how things that are meant to be always come together. Now I just need to close out the other PCPP (for those interested in this, we spent the entire $2,300 USD from that grant in one trip to the hardware store and still had to use another $1750 USD just to buy the rest of the materials to make the floor of the library and the support columns… so no books, no walls, no electric wiring, no furniture, no paint… we have a long way to go still) and then write up PCPP #2; which I’m doing tomorrow. Today I am so tired. Having a puppy, two kittens and a cat that won’t shut up for the last month and however much more time is making me tired and grumpy.

5/9: Sunday: Writing less, working more…

For any of you following my blog, you may have noticed that I am writing significantly less and less. This is because I am really super busy. I haven’t even gone to Santiago since my birthday!! Not that I am complaining, I love being busy. Being bored makes me sad. The problem with this is that I say yes to everything and then later realize that I’m actually doing something already that day. Saturday for instance I was supposed to be in 4 places at the same time. Whoops…. I ended up teaching an Escojo workshop. Something I wasn’t expecting. I thought that Ernesto and I were having a meeting for an hour or so with some of the youth from other communities, explaining what Escojo is and all that jazz. Well, nope. There is a super cool guy named Joshua who is PCs Director of Escojo and he was supposed to be here at 9am Saturday to give this workshop. I have never gone to a workshop and wasn’t really sure what it all entailed so I was happy to be there to experience the magic. Well, after waiting for Joshua to show up for an hour, Ernestina and Ernesto looked at me somewhat desperately and asked me to do something. Did I mention there was a full house? Over 70 people from 11 communities. Good thing I’m not shy!! Ha! So, I stalled and rambled and stalled. Until nearly 11 when Joshua arrived. But he was sick. He showed me his agenda and once I had an understanding of what a workshop was exactly I was ok and I took over while he went up to the house to nap. I taught the workshop the rest of the day and the next day he took over again. It great was a success and I felt very satisfied afterwards. We have between 5-7 groups set up to start and we should know who’s serious by next Saturday when I go around with Ernie to collect the lists they’re supposed to make.

Speaking of that, I found out that Ernie recently went to training in SD for Escojo Regional Coordinators. I guess she went last March or April and this is the first I’m hearing of it. I was upset. Annoyed. I talked with the PCV health leader last fall about Ernie being a RC for Escojo and Katie told me that each participant needs to have been in Escojo for at least one year and that it didn’t help her case that she was married since that’s not the image that Escojo wants to project. And now, after Ernie left Escojo for 7 months, she talks with Miguel (who never talks to me about anything) and she’s suddenly in training to be an RC? I can’t tell if I’m annoyed that she’s doing this because she didn’t put her time in and has a bit of a big head about it all or if its more personal and I’m mad that she left EMV, ignores me slightly and now can be an RC without my input on it at all. Not sure really but I guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I think that she can be a good RC but she should still have had to have put her time in for the job. Ah well, cosas de la vida.

Anyways, after the workshop ended today I called the Mayor of Navarrete. I got her cell phone number and I called her up today to talk about getting some financial assistance with this library. Ideally we would like to get about $100-$150,000 pesos from her but vamos a ver. She invited me to her house tomorrow at 4 pm. Not only do I expect her to be super late if we even are able to talk to her but I don’t expect to achieve what we hope to achieve tomorrow. Everything in this country is a fight although with the elections being only a week away, we may have an advantage.

Anyways, I’ve been surprised lately how I don’t have much fear about talking in Spanish. Although, Mary Alice you can tell Carmen that if she tries to talk to me in Spanish again when I go home in July I’m going to quedarme callada because I have a ton of vergüenza of my Dominican Spanish to other Spanish speakers. She’d think I had a speech impediment if I can a conversation with her, I know it.

5/1 Saturday: Despedida para Ana y Temo

Today was Anne and Tim’s farewell party. In a nutshell, it made me realize that my group is the next to go!!! Bummer because I really love it here now. I understand what a PCV was telling me right after I swore in now. She was in the group about to leave and she was complaining how right after you get used to being here it’s time to go. I only have 5 months left and I can’t picture leaving. Urg, I also don’t want to think about applying to grad schools (essays, letters of recommendation (ready for that Mary Alice--- er, I mean Bill?), the GRE and the COLD!!!! We finish the end of October although with this library project I may find a reason to stay until December. All I can say is, la vida no es facíl.

4/27 Tuesday: “Maybe I should just go for it and see how it goes?”: when your motorcycle driver asks you on a date.

As you all may have read, I have been extremely happy these last two months in my site. Life is good. No, life is great. Sure things aren’t going great but there are always problems in life. For example, today y pa’ ‘lante I have to change my Escojo class to the afternoon because all the teachers decided they don’t like the time I’m having it at. Later today I was at Margara’s house making tostones and spaghetti for dinner with her and her fam, having a great time when Ernestina and Mercedes showed up. Mercedes saw me and wouldn’t even go into the house. She told Margara that she had to go because Ernesto was sick from some juice and then left. Ernie said she was charging her phone and left. In case you didn’t get that, those were both bunk reasons and they were avoiding me. I am going to make this hard for them. I’m going to go to the Club de Madres each Monday from now on and I’m going to go out of my way to hang out at the houses they go to. And we shall see how long they decide to keep trying to ignoring me! Ha!

After dinner I went back to my house and there were 3 kids there who I got into a water fight with until nearly 10pm. It was fun because I wasn’t getting wet, just them! I was sitting out under the moonlight writing in my journal when Noel came over to visit. I have suspected that he has a crush on me because lately he’s been acting a little different. Well, last night he was like, “I’m not just saying this because I’m drunk right now but I’ve had a crush on you since we met”- the paraphrased, shorter version of course. This complicates my life. Not just because he is my motor man but also because it’s his mom and his grandma who are my best friends!! I’ve thought about dating him actually. I mean, I’ve wanted to date a Dominican (this may sound weird to people who don’t live here but it makes sense I swear) and he’s not a player, he’s in my site so I’d get to see him all the time, he’s got a motorcycle and works so he’s not a bum, he’s respectful and has never said anything inappropriate like 95% of the other Dominican men… and I love his family. On the other hand, this could end badly and then I’m screwed. I mean, if we date it’d almost have to be until the end of my service and I don’t think I want a commitment like that! (Sure I only have 6 months left but that’s a lot of hours…) Do I like him like that? Not really but Dominican relationships aren’t started based on that. It’s more of convenience and other simple factors. Then maybe something comes from it. So the question is what are the expectations at first really? I don’t know, I mean maybe I should just go for it and see how it goes? But is he the one I should experiment with? This whole entry sounds bad…

4/25-26 Sunday and Monday: Happy Birthday!!

This weekend was GREAT!!!! There was a regional meeting Sunday and my friend Kelly send out an email to all the PCVs in my region saying that we were going to have a birthday party afterwards for me so people should stay the night. It was the best party I have ever had! The last time I threw a party for myself no one showed up (8th grade graduation, big ego hit) but this time there were like 20- 25 people!! Fun!!! We went to a Mexican food restaurant and I didn’t have to buy any dinner because my little group got there late and ate everyone’s leftovers. So I got to try a bunch of the food there for free!! Then my friend Chris bought me a shot of tequila (which ended up being a double shot) and Mica told the restaurant it was my birthday and she bought me a piece of cheesecake and everyone sang to me when the waiter brought it out!! And they put a huge sombrero on my head. After dinner we went dancing and had a great time. It was so fun!! It was the 25th but close enough to my birthday. Someone was watching the clock in my group because at midnight they played a happy birthday song at the club and everyone clapped for me. It was so nice!!!!

I ended up having to sleep on the floor that night without a pillow or sheet or anything but no big deal. At least it was free! The next day I went out with Ali, Kelly and a girl named Mary who is visiting to lunch and then we all bought matching shoes together. I used the internet and talked with my best friend from home, Becky (1st time since September!), and also with my mom (talk with her online all the time:) though Skype. Later that night my sister, Rach, called me and we talked- 1st time since January! When I got to my campo no one had planned anything but that’s because no one knew about it. I didn’t really make a big deal about it to anyone, just mentioned it to the kids who hang out in my house that Friday before. Someone made me habichuela con dulce though which was delicious!! Ah yes, birthdays get better and better each year. It makes me nervous about next year, will I be sad I’m not here in the DR? I’m sure there won’t be a party with even 10 people to go out dancing with… better enjoy this time in my life while I can. And so I will:)

4/15- 4/18 Bola Race!!!

For those of you reading this who are seriously seriously behind the times and don’t have facebook, Bola Race is essentially hitchhiking across country with a bottle of alcohol in a costume with a partner. Yep, a perfect recipe!!! I wanted to go last year but couldn’t find a male partner (the ratio is ridiculious) so I missed out. This year I considered not going because I’m worn out!! I have been out of my site every weekend and just want to stay in my site and chill. But I went. And it was a hoot. We met up in Hato Mayor Friday and did a white elephant type of alcohol exchange. Then at 9 am the next morning we met up, the destination place was announced and a bunch of oddly dressed, mostly white people began trying to get a bola out of town. The rule is that you have to have an empty bottle before you get to the finish line and you can’t dump it out. Never in my life have I drank that early. I gave a bunch of our bottle to some homeless guy around 9:30 and so I can still say that I have never been drunk before noon. Mine and Andrew’s story was very original. We were newlywed brother and sister who were washed out to sea after a bad storm in LA a few months ago. After 3 days at sea a boat found us and took us to the DR. There is a lawyer at the end destination (a beautiful, calm tourist area called Bayihibe… may have spelled that wrong) who specializes in helping shipwrecked people without passports back to the States. The only part anyone ever double took on was that we were married brother and sister. We placed 7th out of 23 teams:)

4/9- 4/11 Escojo Conference:)

In a nutshell: Rachele, Ali and I planned this conference by ourselves and it went great. It makes me confident that the youth conference in August that Kelly, Rachele and I are planning will go well. We had a Sundae Bar one night and a Snack Bar another night (who’s idea do you think that was?:) along with a talent show. I know it seems like all I do is have fun here but what can I say? The fun stuff is more fun to write about! (Aside from the entry about someone poking out Kouldbie’s eye of course…)

4/7 Wednesday: Someone pokes out Kouldie’s eye.

Today I went to my Doña’s house to eat lunch after taking it easy in the morning with an Indiana Jones movie (until the power went out). Before I went to Minga’s I decided to check on my cat, Kouldbie and her two little kittens. I took some pics to post up on facebook for the next time I was online and then set off for some free rice and beans. About 20 minutes into my visit with Minga, a little boy ran up to me telling me that Kouldbie’s eye was outside of her head, giant and had blood all around it. I assumed that maybe something insignificant had happened to her but that he must be exaggerating. I ate some mangoes and headed up to my house, forgetting about the crazy kid.

When I got to my front door I was surprised to find Kould waiting for me and even more surprised to see that she indeed had a big problem with her left eye. It was bulging out of the socket and surrounded by red tissue. Well great, fantastic. I had to cancel planning English with Jen, loaded up the cat and the kittens into the carrier and got onto the motorcycle headed to the vet in Navarrete.

When I got to town everyone was closed still for the 2 hour lunch break. So we found the vets house and asked him to end his lunch a half hour early. I should have taken it as a sign when the 1st thing the vet did was take out a roll of packing tape and tell me to hold her legs together while he taped them… my jaw dropped and I asked him if he had thought about using some… ohhh I don’t know, anesthesia? Jeesh! He thought about it for a minute and said, oh yeah, I guess we could do that. So he put the tape away and instead of giving her something to put her to sleep he gave her something to dull the pain and tried for the next 45 minutes to force the eye back into the socket while she growled. It made me nauseous as I pet her. Poor thing. I finally convinced the vet that this obviously wasn’t working and so he said that he would give her an anti-inflammatory and maybe the eye would go back in on its own. He said it was important to keep it moist in the meantime and so I had to constantly keep wetting it. The problem was that I wasn’t going to be here this weekend because I have an Escojo conference Friday-Sunday. He offered to keep her until Monday and after weighing the options of taking the cat back on the motorcycle for a day and then bringing her back while I went to the conference, I decided to leave her with the vet. I was worried though, remembering the tap incident and asked him to use pain meds every time he was going to do something that hurt her.

Thursday I was really busy with two art classes, English class and stove making in between but Friday on my way to the conference I stopped at the vet and checked on Kouldbie. The vet wasn’t in yet and when he finally got in, he took about 10 minutes to go and look for her… making me wonder what was going on. When I did see her I was upset to see she looked gaunt. The vet said that her eye was still outside of the socket and that if it didn’t go back in by Monday he would have to operate. Ummm, hello…. It’s been over FOURTY hours. If they anti-inflammatory meds didn’t work yet I doubt they’re going to go into overdrive and shrink her eye back into her head. When we took off the little mask he had made her, I saw that the eye had lost all of the original color and was completely black. I’m no doctor but I know anything black on the body generally gets cut off, STAT. Problem was I didn’t have enough money on me to pay the vet and get to the conference and all of the banks were closed due to some computer problem. So I told him I was just taking her back with me so I could take care of her until Monday when we would operate if they eye was the same and I took Kouldbie to Santiago to the vet there.

When we got to the vet in Santiago (“we” because during all of this I had my youth with me, a timid 13 year old girl who had only been to Santiago 2 times in her life, ah the things I was showing her!) the vet took one look at the eye and said it was too late to save it. But Kouldbie had a fever from infection so they had to wait a day to operate. Poor cat!! I asked how much it would be and laughed when they said it would be $5000 pesos- more than half of my months salary. I thought about putting her to sleep but after she suffered for 2 days, and if we did that her kittens would die too. Urg…. I’m going to have to figure out how to save up $5000…

I left Kouldbie and went to the conference. The conference was really fun and went really well (surprising since I’m one of the head people planning it!). When I picked up Kouldbie the next Wednesday I was happy to find her one happy cat, loving life!! The vet had to sew her eye shut so she looks like a pirate, maybe I should get a patch. Anyways, I’m glad I have her home. She’s one smart cat because there is no way I’m leaving a $6200 (with the vet bill from Navarrete) in the DR!!!

4/6 Tuesday: So this is what it feels like to finally be adjusted… well, mostly adjusted.

Today was the day of the condom races in Escojo. This is the best class ever, something about spinning blindfolded kids around and watching them trying to put a condom on a plantain is great. So great in fact that last year I planned to have this class around my mom and sister’s visit so they could be in the most fun class. I really like my Escojo class this time around. I regret not putting myself in the last class 100% because I think all the classes have potential to be great if they’re lead properly. This class and my first class are great. Sure they fight and argue and say the other team cheated and yada yada yada but that’s a given with these kids- maybe all kids, I really don’t know. But with my kids I expect it. I’m so glad that I have Escojo. Sure I don’t feel like drawing/planning the 4 new topics we’re going to do in the upcoming weeks because drawing the classes takes forever and I am quemada, but I really love my classes. Teaching kids is really fun, something that seriously surprises me. (Remember I am the one who when asked what I wanted from my host fam in CBT I said, “I just don’t want to be in a house with children.”) I’m so grateful that Escojo is my project (or one of them) because I never would have volunteered to teach anything before PC. Now I know I can do it, I understand how to do it and I really enjoy it (although not enough to do it for a career). One great thing about Peace Corps I’m discovering, aside from the friendships and freedom, is that in a very hands-off way it throws you into things you probably would have never done before and makes you do them. I realize I really can do anything. It’s not about being smart or super talented- it’s about determination and motivation. If you stick to anything and have the right attitude you will become good at it. I never wanted to do things before that I wasn’t fairly good at but I embarrass myself alllllll the time here and it’s fine. I am so glad that I am here, that I did this because it’s opened up my world: to food (I ate my 1st and hopefully last, full bowl of boiled bananas the other week because a poor family gave them to me and it was so nice of them), to experiences, to culture, to friendships, to an entire world I never would have experienced simply because I didn’t speak the same language. I can say for certain that I am adjusted to my situation here. Yes I will continue to adjust and to grow but I am comfortable and happy now. I know not everyone likes me and that’s how it’s going to be. I love it here (but am still counting down till I go home!!!) and I appreciate all the opportunities I have been given. I am finally not living being really careful not to become attached because I’m leaving in X number of days. I got a dog for heavens sake! With only 7 months left, who does that?! The main thing I want to do now is work on Dominican relationships. I want a Dominican best friend who is really a best friend. I really love my Doña and her daughter but that’s it. Noel and I are becoming pretty good friends, surprisingly. It’s strange but the last week or two, I have begun seeing my service and Dominicans through different eyes and I really like this new outlook. I’m excited for each day to come and grateful for each that passes. I think I am gaining a better understanding of Peace Corps and what it means to be a Volunteer.

Later that day… I went looking for Lucy Loquita (I changed my dog’s name) and ended up sitting and talking with Ernesto for a loooooooong time. How long I will never know as the watch fixer in the community has my watch (hopefully just a dead battery). But it was a nice talk and I’m glad to have Ernesto as a friend to hang out with. I never just hang out with people. I always feel like I’m passing time because I have to and am waiting until I can leave. What a bad attitude. Anyways, I left his house and called the grants coordinator of Peace Corps (who I have been calling a lot lately so my grants for the library move along quickly). I was on the phone with him working out this and that with the grants when he told me that- oh! The money from the PCPP (the grant that was online) was sitting there waiting for me and he just noticed he had forgotten to approve its deposit. And also, oh! The money for the SPA grant has arrived!! Not for me in particular-however, my SPA was written and since I had been calling it moved along quickly and was approved in Washington already which just means that I have to wait for the divining up of the money. That was the one I was really afraid of. SPA can take FOREVER to finally come in for the people who are on the waiting list and Conrado told me that he didn’t know if there would be enough money in the funds (whenever they finally came in) for my project since I was at the end of that waiting list. So I called Miguel last week who told me he would make sure that I was bumped up on the waiting list since I’m in the next group to COS (leave). YAYYYY!!!! The SPA grant is $5000 USD!!!! And the PCPP is $2300 USD!!!! And the other grant I wrote and should hear back from by this Friday is for $2500 which means that potentially by the end of this week I could have gone from having no funds for the library to having everything I requested- $9500!!!!!!!!!! WHOOOOOOT!

More good news: I wanted to write a grant for a small latrine project and Conrado kept telling me there were none that were applicable. Then I read about a new one that seemed applicable but Conrado told me it wasn’t. Knowing that he deals with lots of people and wouldn’t remember that it was me that asked him every time we spoke about that grant for latrines I kept asking him if this grant was applicable for latrines. I figured he would double check after “so many people” were asking him about this grant and latrines. It worked and today when I asked him about it again he reread it with me and realized that it can be used for latrines! So now I can write one for that and do a latrine project too if I get approved!! The only two other things I would like to do before I leave in the way of projects are the basketball court and garbage pick up. Well, murals too but that’s just a few days of work and doesn’t involve much planning. The other two involve a lot of harassing. I am so pumped right now!! We are meant to have this library!!! :)

4/3 Saturday: Concert at a water park= genius idea

I had heard that Santiago and Puerta Plata have water parks but I never had gone to one here. To tell you the truth I was scared to go thinking that I would contract some nasty fungus or disease. I pictured the water in a park like this, in a country with no general regulations for anything, to be cloudy and full of pee- maybe even poop. I vowed that if I went and the smell of chlorine was not in the air then I was absolutely not getting in the water. I also thought it was going to be a joke in size, having one small, crappy pool full of people and maybe having two slides. I was ready for the worst and ended up being pleasantly surprised. The water was pretty clean, the park was waaaaaay bigger that I had expected with multiple slides and pools- it even had a sprinkle area, platforms to jump from into deep water (with Dominicans actually in lines and waiting!) and, my favorite part because I have never used one before: it had a bar in the water!!! The prices to drink were double or triple that of a colmado but I guess that’s to be expected, especially on a day where there was going to be a concert with multiple singers, some really famous.

We were mildly concerned that we would miss a singer since they claimed that the concert was going to be from 10 am to 10 pm and, since we had to get ready by going to the salon beforehand, we didn’t get to the park until around 3. Luckily we are in the DR and so they didn’t start singing until around 3:30 or 4.

Overall we all had a great time. I haven’t gone to many concerts in my time but I think I prefer Dominican concerts. No one has any shame and so they’re singing and dancing. I must have danced for 3 hours Saturday night. The park closed around 10 or 10:30 and we took a cab home. There was a group of 7 of us and we all went to my friend Kelly’s house because she lives pretty close. If you are ever in the DR and can go to a concert, I recommend that you go!

4/1 Thursday: Easter Egg Hunt!!!!!

In honor of Semana Santa, today is my only class this week. I canceled all the others for “spring break” but I still wanted to have my art class. I really wanted to have an egg hunt for them and this week is the most appropriate time for that so we had to have art class! The only issue was figuring out a way to dye the eggs. After lots of searching and research I have decided to dye the eggs using the DR version of kool aid. The only sad thing is that we only have red and orange but I was fortunate to come across some actual Kool Aid grape flavored powder on Monday! At least we will have purple which is all that really matters, verdad?

I knew today was going to be crazy but fun. I only let 30 kids participate since we had a limited number of eggs and it’s nearly impossible to control more than 30 kids at a time. I bought 120 eggs and Minga hardboiled them on her new stove for me that morning. I set up all the bowls with juice and explained to the kids how to use the crayons and then dye the eggs. Then I told them to collect their eggs and memorize which eggs were theirs before trading eggs with a partner. Then they had to go out and hide their partner’s eggs and after, return to the Club. Of course chaos ensued. All 30 kids went right up next to the side of the Club and hid all three of their eggs TOGETHER in a pile- when they had the entire baseball diamond at their disposal!! This would not do. I herded the kids back into the Club and said they weren’t allowed to hide them next to the Club and they couldn’t be together, that the point was that the person had to really try to find them so they needed to use all the space in the play and put them separate from one another. I saw their light bulbs turn on, now this was going to be fun. The went out and re-hid the eggs and then came in for a lesson on why we have the Easter Bunny in the States and why we do fun stuff with eggs. Then I let them go out to find the eggs before the big dog in the neighborhood found them and ate them, and that was equally funny. Ah, I love my “job”:)

3/31 Wednesday: A talk with a neighbor.

Today I spoke with Ernesto about Mercedes. I have done everything else. I’ve avoided her, I’ve talked to her, I’ve been super nice, I’m sucked up, I’ve gone to her house to hang out, I tell her when I’m leaving and when I’m back… after 4 months of this, there are no other options aside from talking to Ernesto. And I was a little nervous because if Ernesto decided that I suck as well after this conversation, I would be in a pickle. Surprisingly it went well. I explained my problem, telling him that I wanted to talk to him about this because he randomly told me the day before that if he were in the US and I was his project partner and he had a problem with someone, he would talk to me. I told him how I have really tried to make things better between Mercedes and myself and have not been seeing the fruits of my labor. I told him I care for his whole family and when I first realized she was angry with me, it really upset me. I also told him even other women have approached me telling me that I should talk to her about this because she seems really mad at me. He told me he would talk to her so we shall see how it turns out but, as usual, I’m hopeful.

3/29 Monday: This is kind of a boring story but I thought it was funny: A trip to the vet….

Last Friday I went to the only vet I knew about near the downtown area where I always go in Santiago. I was nervous that is was going to be one of those agro-veterinarians which are a dime a dozen here and is staffed by people who don’t generally know how to care for a “pet” rather than just shoveling vaccines down farm animal’s throats. Sure I def have a different opinion of them in the States but they’re different here. For instance, I went into one of these shops last week in Puerta Plata. I told the guy behind the counter I needed a deparasite med for my puppy. He didn’t ask how big she was or how old she was, he just gave me a bottle and said to give it all to her. I decided not to buy anything and instead went to a different place. With common sense stuff like that I know it’s no big deal but with actually giving vaccines I need a legit vet. So, I was very happy to find on Friday that VetBoca in Santiago seems very legit. I would prefer that they spoke English but Spanish isn’t really an issue anymore so that ok. I had decided to bring Caramelita into the vet on Monday and wasn’t sure how I was going to go about it still. I have heard many many horror stories about PCV’s animals freaking out on the bus rides, throwing up, defecating or urinating all over everything. I hoped that if I was calm she would be calm. But also I had some errands to run in Santiago and didn’t know about getting her into the stores.

Getting out of my site was a piece of cake. I assumed the motorcycle ride would be ok because we had already been on a motor when we went to paint the mural last week. We ended up getting a bola down in a truck with Tolo, went to a lumberyard to buy some wood for the stoves and then waited at the expresso bus stop to Santiago. To my relief she rode on the bus like a champ and slept. We got off at the giant hardware store in Santiago, Ochoa, and I decided to put her in my shoulder bag and see what happened. Success! We got in! I picked out some paint, bought some seeds for the gardens and checked out, all the while with her being a very good girl in my bag. It wasn’t until as I was leaving, I went to pick up the bag I had checked that they saw her. And they didn’t even care!! They thought it was so cute that she was in there the whole time! So, I took her out of my bag and put the harness I had just bought for her on her. Stop at Ochoa to get some stuff: Check.

Next we walked for a while… she doesn’t understand how to walk (a) in a place with lots of stuff to distract her (b) on a leash (c) with a harness. So when I say “we” walked I really mean it took her about 15 minutes to walk one block and then I carried her the rest of the way. We went into the next store, her carefully stowed away in my shoulder bag, and I went to the counter to get some tickets to a concert “water park” this weekend. Apparently only one guy can sell tickets and he wasn’t going to be in for another 30 minutes. So I walked around the store, found grape Kool Aid for my egg dying art class on Thursday, tried on some clothes, looked at makeup… a little of this a little of that. An hour later I went back to the counter and the dude still wasn’t there. Not surprising. But there was another store that sold tickets that wasn’t too far from this one so I set out to find that store. All the while Caramelita was zonked out in my bag. Overstimulation can be a good thing sometimes! I went into the next store and bought the tickets without a problem. Buy 7 tickets for this weekend: Check.

After that I decided that now would be as good of a time as any to buy some paper for my Escojo class. When I went into this store Caramelita was readjusting and the door checker said, “Let me see what’s in your bag.” I showed her and it was our 1st rejection: she said I couldn’t go into the store with her. So I asked her to get me some paper and glitter for my art class and she stared at me for a minute and then said I could go in. Stop to get supplies for Escojo and art: Check.

Now I was really beginning to become loaded down with stuff so we went to the park and played fetch and then went to the vet. She did a good job with the vet and so I left her to go to the normal spot to use internet: the hotel Aloha Sol. They have free wireless for their guests and while I have never stayed there, that’s the hotel PC uses when we need to be consolidated (for hurricanes generally) so they let us use it.

When I went to pick Caramelita up she was laying peacefully on her side staring at the wall. I asked if she had been sleeping the whole time and the vet said no it was just the opposite. She had been crying so much that they thought maybe she was hot so they moved her to a different cage on top of all the other cages so that she was closer to the fan, they gave her water and even shut their front door and turned on the AC! What a diva!! I put her in my bag, grabbed all my stuff and walked to my bus stop. She slept for a while but woke up when we were half way home and was standing at attention looking out the window on the way home. Then on the motorcycle she didn’t behave quite as well as the 1st ride but overall she was good.

I thought this day was funny. All those stores and only one cared that I had a dog in my bag!! Hopefully when I take her back to the vet for her 2nd vaccine set she still fits in my bag!

3/26 Friday: A trip to the mayor’s office, the public health office, the vet and a miracle!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday I told Ernesto that I have that letter asking for trash service but wanted someone to go with me to talk to the mayor about it. He immediately volunteered to go with me the next morning, Friday. So, today I really prepared myself. I picked out my nicest blouse, my dress sandals, even scrubbed my feet and pained my nails!! We went to the office after printing out the letter and an envelope only to find out that all the prep was in vain. She is out sick from an operation! What a pain!! So we explained to her secretary and I guess I’ll go back alone sometime after Samana Santa (Easter week) to see if she’s back in.

I felt like the day was off to a bad start and Ernesto seemed pretty crabby too. He dropped me off at the bus stop and I headed for Santiago. 1st stop was SESPAS- the department of Public Health- to try and get condoms. For those of you who remember, last year this was a bit of a challenge. I need condoms for my Escojo class and don’t want to use grant money to buy them when I can get them for free. Last year I was in the office for a good 45 minutes trying to get someone to give me condoms, I even left defeated and then went back in, deciding I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. I did eventually get some condoms but the experience was not forgotten. This time I went to the clinic in my community and asked the doctor if they had condoms. They didn’t have any but the doctor said he could get some for me the next day. I knew that he would forget so I said I could swing by SESPAS the next day and get them. But, if he would please write me a note with his name on it and the stamp of our clinic my life would be easier. When I went to SESPAS the security guard wasn’t going to let me in because I was wearing my nice blouse still which was sleeveless. I told him I was from far away and couldn’t change so he offered me HIS shirt- a denim button down SESPAS shirt. I said thanks, put it on (sure it was a little big) and walked in like I knew what I was doing. I walked right past the secretary, flashing my SESPAS badge on my shirt and went to the room in the back with the condoms. I asked them to give me condoms and they drilled me- Condoms for who, when do you need them, what’s the name of your organization, what’s the name of this youth group, how many kids are in it, what are you going to do with them, where are you from, what community…. Really? They’re condoms people, not your 1st born son. Then I pulled out the gold: The Note. Almost right away they passed me an entire box of condoms; 144 brand spanking new condoms. Now I think we’ll have enough for our Escojo conference in April as well!! Yippee!

After that triumph I went to the find the vet I was recommended to see if it was legit. It was a decent walk in my nice sandals but I made it and the vet was pretty nice. I bought some cute stuff for my little puppy, made an “appointment” for next week and set off to use the internet.

Once I was on the internet, I was upset to see that my grant had disappeared! Where did it go? I called Conrado, the grants coordinator and he said if it was gone that meant it was filled! No way dude, as much as I would like to believe that the hours I spent writing emails to friends and family asking for donations (which makes me feel guilty since everyone at home has already given so much) I just don’t see $1500 being donated in 4 days. Conrado said he would check and call me back. He never called back.

That night my mom called me to ask me why I didn’t tell her I was interviewed for the Dixon Telegraph and Sauk Valley Newspaper. I told her I must have forgotten to tell her, whoops. I also didn’t know the story was going to be printed today. The reporter wanted to interview me because of a grant I received called Kids to Kids. It’s a great grant where kids from the States raise money for other kids in impoverished countries. The grant is for $500 and it’s what I’m using to do my art class. So when Kids to Kids contacted me asking if I would be willing to interview for my local newspaper to get them some publicity of course I said I would be more than happy to! After all, if it weren’t for them I wouldn’t have my most fun project right now- art class. I asked the reporter if she could include a little tidbit about how I’m trying to fill this grant to build a library and she said she didn’t know if she could but she would check. My mom read me the story and I was super happy to find that the reporter was able to include the URL for my grant and so it is VERY possible that my grant was filled that same day!!!!! Can you believe it!??! $1500 filled in ONE DAY!!! I am soo happy!! I did a happy dance in my house when I finished talking with my mom. Amazing the way things always work out and fit together. I was so worried about getting that grant filled and now it’s probably filled, after just a few weeks online!! (I just have to get a hold of Conrado to confirm it is actually filled and not MIA.) Fantastic and thank you soooo much to everyone who donated!!!

3/25 Thursday: Don’t procrastinate and your dreams will come true.

In hindsight this was wrong of me but after not having anything to do during my 1st three months in site I developed this habit of procrastination. See I thought that I would always try to“save” some things to do for tomorrow so that I would always have something to do. Ever since I saw how the new PCV, Jenn was acting- doing everything as soon as she could, not only was I a little embarrassed about my behavior and impressed by hers but I took note of how she was always busy. Hmmm, maybe this newbie is on to something. Since then I’ve tried to do things right away and, yep my theory has proven true, I have had more to do. The moral of this story is that once again I am very glad to have Jenn living so close to me and that even here with the slower pace of things, you can get more done if you don’t procrastinate. (Genius I know)

An example of a typical “workday” for me these days is like today: wake up at 7, take puppy out and clean any messes. Get dressed and find where the stove workers are at the moment. Meet up with them around 8 and stay with them until 9:50 or so. Then find the key to the Club and go have my art class from 10 until 12. From 12- 1 hang out with the Doña and get a free lunch. 1-2 shower if I’m really hot or relax away for a bit. 2-4:00 have second art class. 4:30 head up to the intersection (about 1.5 miles up) to teach English. From 5:30- 7:30 have English and from 7:30- 8:15 walk home. Hang out with the kids who were at my house waiting for me to get back until 9 or 9:30 and then shoo them away so I can grasp at the few strands of sanity I have remaining.

3/24 Wednesday: A mural and nice walk.

Today as I was preparing for my next English class I received a phone call from Anne asking me to go over to her site to help her paint. As any of you who know me are aware, I love painting and decorating. I don’t like painting alone or painting a wall one boring color but help paint a mural? Yes. Especially since I went to her house last week and helped her design the mural. Caramelita (my new puppy) and I hopped on a motorcycle and went to the mural site (about 4.5 miles away) and had fun painting. We didn’t finish it so I said I would come back Saturday or Sunday to help again. Anne and I discovered that Caramelita likes to eat paint and paint brushes.

I told my motor man to come and get me around 6 and by 6:45 it was getting dark and I was still at Anne and Tim’s. So I called him and he said he would leave right then to get me. I told him I would begin walking back so look for me along the road. I was a little freaked out because there are lots of parts of the road where there are no houses and it was foggy. Can you say creepy?! Tito showed up after I had not only walked all the way home in the dark and fog but also had the time to go to Minga’s and then to the colmado to chat. Thanks Tito. He’s Noel’s step dad and I was thinking I would split my business between him and Noel since Tito’s money goes to the family and Noel’s doesn’t but on second thought…. maybe I’ll just call Tito when I’m not creeped out or in a hurry.

3/20-22 Saturday- Monday: A legit vacay in Cabarete

This weekend was fantastic. Saturday morning I went to the hardware store before skipping town to pick up some supplies and send them up with Noel. I was waiting for them to be prepared when the hardware store owner told me that he would get them ready and send them in about 10 minutes. So far he has been very reliable and so I trusted him. He took down 2 numbers for me, Noel’s and Franklins, and assured me it wouldn’t take long. So I set off for Cabarete!

When I got to Cabarete about 3 hours later I met Kenzie’s mom and her godmother. They’re both really nice and we had a great time. They reserved a hotel room which was more like a sweet apartment with a balcony, ocean view, two bedrooms, comfy couch, kitchen with dishwasher… it was great. And the hotel had a pool and a hot tub! The 4 of us along with Kenzie’s host brother and boyfriends spent the rest of Saturday, all of Sunday and part of Monday together before I had to get going. I was planning on picking up my puppy later that day and I needed to get food, a collar and parasite medicine for her. Little Manchita Gallenia Cabrera Espencer was going to have one comfy night ahead of her!

When I finally got back to my house I passed by Ernesto. He seemed annoyed. I asked what time the tin and rivet gun arrived on Sat and he said they never came. He finally went to Navarrete on Monday and had to wait until 11 am for the owner of the store to arrive. I guess the owner, Leo, had an emergency with his wife (interesting he’s married since he always hits on me and once last week sent me a love poem text) and that’s why he was late. I’m annoyed because it looked bad on me that I was on a vacay while things here were falling apart. Urg.

After I put my stuff down and put some time in with Ernesto and his fam and then I went to pick up my new puppy, Manchita or Little Spot only to find out that she had died on Saturday. And so did one of her sister’s leaving just one sister puppy left. And Manolo, the owner told me that the puppies died dramatically and painfully. Apparently they were whining in pain and then just died. I was sad for them and not sure what to do about the last puppy. If I left her she would probably meet the same fate but then again if I took here would she die in the same manner, leaving me to dispose of a puppy body!? I took her and hoped for the best. I had picked up some de-parasite meds and gave them to her that night. The next day she pooped out a ton of worms and was in considerably higher spirits. Maybe there’s hope for her yet, little Caramelita Yautia Cabrera Espencer.

3/19 Friday night: Payday for the men

Jimmy, Oney and Ernesto weren’t able to complete any stoves this week since we were missing a rivet gun and tin to make the chimneys. They took the initiative and built 10 stove bottoms, which impressed me and showed their commitment to the project and eagerness to make money. They are supposed to make $500/stove so I was thinking I would give them half since the stoves were half done but that only would have been about $800 pesos or about $24 USD each for the entire week. As they have all done prep work for this going back about two weeks I decided to pay them $1500 or about $43 USD each which was nearly all of the money if they had finished the stoves. I know that they will finish the project and so I figured it was ok. Well, when I was talking with Ernesto, one of my favorite people, we were discussing how many stoves to build. I said we should have enough to do about 60 or 65 stoves. I also want to give at least 5 for “free” (meaning they don’t have to pay the $500 labor) to the poorest families- probably Haitians. The problem with that is most all of the Haitians live in group living, in a house provided by a rich farmer who gives them free living and pays them to farm his field. So the issues with this grand idea are that (1) Dominicans don’t think we should give free stuff to Haitians despite the fact that they may have been born here and should be entitled to the same things as Dominicans (2) Many of the Haitians are migrant workers and so Dominican’s don’t want to put something in the house for them when they’re just going to leave (although many Haitians live here for years and years if not their entire lives) (3) The owner of the home can afford to improve the living conditions but won’t pay for it. What a conundrum!

Anyways, back to the point. I was talking with Ernesto and he seems to think that 40 stoves is enough here. I think that’s a huge waste of a perfectly good grant (the money that isn’t used is returned) and so I want to use it all. We have 100 houses here and I’m sure 60 of them would like a stove and the majority of them can pay for one too. If there aren’t 60 that need a stove then we can reach out a little to other surrounding communities. If we have to donate the labor for 10 stoves instead of 5 then we’ll do that. Sure I have to lie to the community and say it was a separate grant I wrote and so I have to give stoves to Haitians or something like that but whatever. The thing is, everyone here thinks they’re entitled to a free stove and that they are dirt poor but that’s not the case. I am sure there will be a little uproar over this but I’m prepared to deal with it because I support it. And, let’s face it; people have been upset with me for less than that here so… why not?! :)

Then Ernesto tells me he has 3 houses in mind to donate to. One I agree with completely, one I’m not sure who it is and one is not going to happen. He wants to donate one to his mother in law- who doesn’t even live in the community and I think Ernesto can afford to pay for one! I was annoyed that he suggested it. Not only to see if we could build one there (which I probably would have agreed to since she lives in the neighboring community) but to have her be one of the donated ones? No way dude! Not to mention it looks bad giving him extra perks because he’s my project partner. Since he is a worker, if he wants to work on her stove for free and donate his time that would be ok but I am not going to pay him $500 from the grant to do her stove.

Then he tells me that he doesn’t think we should do all the stoves because it’s better to have extra materials rather than not enough. Sure I agree to that but doing 20 less? Not an option. While I’m letting my mind wrap around all this he tells me that doing 40 stoves is the way to go to save money and that we can make up receipts for whatever. Oh great. Just fantastic. I was disappointed. I couldn’t believe my Ernesto was talking like that. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume I misunderstood but then there’s the issue of the change from the hardware store. He went 2xs to buy stuff in the same week and each time I gave him $1000 pesos. I didn’t know how much he had spent but tonight I finally asked and he had spent just $500 pesos. I asked about the $1500 pesos in change 3 times and he never went and got it. I think he spent it. And so I need to figure out a way to get it back without offending him. No matter what, he is still the best person I have here. I just need to watch him more closely I suppose until I figure out something else.

Then, a few days later I found out that he asked Jimmy to lend him $1500 from the paid money which Jimmy didn’t have since he gave it to me already (thank goodness) and that Ernesto collected $500 from two houses and wouldn’t give the money to Jimmy to give to me. I mentioned to Ernesto how weird it was that only one new person had requested a stove this week and he said, “Well you know how it is here, everyone wants something for free.” And so he had the chance to tell me, “Oh yeah- by the way Fulana and Bob paid and I collected the money. I’ll give it to you later.” But he didn’t. So, this sucks. It also sucks because I feel like an enabler. I knew when he did my wall that there was no way it cost over $48,000 pesos and the wall still supposedly wasn’t able to be completed. That wall should be done and lined in gold for that amount of money. It’s upsetting for me and now I’m not sure where that leaves me with the library project. The only thing I can say about it is that I’ll have to wait to do that until the summer when all my other projects are done and I can carefully monitor supplies each day. How sad and what a pain.

3/18 Thursday: My 1st English class and possibly an offense...

The Offense: Today I was in the Club de Madres, attempting to multitask but failing miserably. I was supervising the art class while trying to draw out the papers for the English class Jenn and I were going to give that night, and it wasn’t going well. The kids were insane as usual, the wind kept blowing my large paper away and the guy I sent to buy some materials from the hardware shop came back after buying stuff from the wrong place and not getting something I still need to look the definition up of… something like a rivet gun?? (How did I know he didn’t have it if I didn’t know what it was you ask? Because I am just that great of a detective, what can I say?) Anyways, in the middle of all this confusion that has become my life, some dude walks in and tries to take a water filter. If you remember this project, there were 30 filters delivered to our community in December and it’s been a process getting people to pay for them. So, resisting the urge to simply give them away to get rid of them finally, I have been holding out telling everyone who tells me that they’ll pay later that they have to pay BEFORE and then they can pick up their filter. Imagine my surprise then when this guy shows up to take one and I have no idea who he is. I found out he was picking it up for Minga’s sister. She had given me $300 pesos towards the filter that day or the day before and I was very clear that AFTER she paid the other $250 she could pick up the filter. So I told the guy he would have to come back later to get it and he was a little rude, telling me I was going to have to pay for his gas and time. I asked how much she was paying him (just because I’m nosey, obviously I’m not paying for anything of the sorts) and he said he was just helping her. So I was feeling double annoyed that A) She sent him to get the filter after I told her she had to pay 1st (B) This guy was trying to haggle me, in my community, in my art class, and with my project. I sighed, told him he couldn’t take it right now and went back to trying to draw out my lesson for English. Then Monino walked in, Minga’s sister. When I tried to explain (yet again) that the rule is that EVERYONE has to pay BEFORE she got really mad at me and started yelling and getting all frantic. Then she said, “If you think I can’t pay, I can!! I have your money right here I just have to get change!!” as she began waving a $1000 peso bill around. Before I could say anything she handed the bill to Santa and told her to guard it since I obviously didn’t believe she was good for the money and when she got change for it, she would give it to me. Then she walked over with her rude helper man and took the filter. At this point I would have been fine with her taking the filter and then making change to pay for it. But what a way to go about it. And what drama in my art class. After the class I walked to her house to make sure there were no hard feelings since I’m pretty sure I offended her. We hung out a little bit before I had to leave for English class and I think she’s mad at me. Look, everyone has to pay before, the only people who haven’t paid beforehand are the richer people who live in the weekend homes and that’s because they came and took one after they got my permission to have a filter. I guess I didn’t convey that they had to pay for it first. I’m not concerned though because I don’t think they’ll try to finagle their way out of paying. Monino I think would. She’s asked me for money before, her son is the one who stole from me for months on end and she is one of the types that always says she has no money and is trying to get people to give her stuff for free yet she lives in a pretty sweet house.

English Class: On Sunday Jenn called me and asked me if I wanted to participate in teaching an English class with her. I have been avoiding English simply because it’s not like Escojo where there are clear and immediate results and because they aren’t going to be fluent in 16- 90 minute sessions over 4 months but that’s what they think will happen. I guess Jenn is pretty good friends with the pastor of the church there and he wanted her to teach a class. Poor girl is in her digging stage of building the aqueduct which means she leaves her house at 7 am each day, walks 2.5 miles with a pickaxe over her shoulder to the site and digs 3 ft deep trenches until 2-3 each day. Sooooo glad I’m not a water PCV. Needless to say, she is tired. I however am like the Teaching Master now and love working with someone else on projects so I said I would love to! It works out well for both of us: we have a reason to meet up during the week to plan the class, I prepare the class (why not when I already have all the markers and paper?) relieving Jenn of that duty, I get exercise walking the 3 miles round trip to where we have the class or walking the little over 4 miles round trip to her house each week to plan and I feel satisfied that I am going to give an English class, something that I simply feel I should do. Win win. We anticipated having a lot of people in the 1st class and there were a lot of people but it wasn’t out of control. I only told about 6 people from my community so there weren’t many from La Lomota but there were a lot from the other communities. Where we have the class is far for everyone to walk but it’s the most central location and a lot of communities can participate. I think we had about 40 kids there, which was a little crazy but manageable since we have a large space and there are two of us teaching. Other PCVs have had 80 people show up to their 1st classes, thank goodness that didn’t happen since we wouldn’t have gotten anything done. Overall I think it went really well. We talked about the rules, took attendance, did some kind of little drama and played a game with greetings and farewells. We have this electronic manual but I think we’re going to more use that as a reference and do our own thing. I personally like to play at least one game in each class and the manual doesn’t have any games so we’re going to have to get creative. Aside from the fact everyone from my community except my little 12 year old friend, Niña, and I got a free ride back- leaving her and I to walk the 1.5 miles alone in the dark and in the rain, the experience was a good one. Even the walk back was fun. Messy but fun!

3/17 Wednesday: Stove Training, new puppy!!

Today we were all supposed to go to Ane and Tim’s site to see how a stove is built. Out of the 4 of us working on the stoves (Jimmy, Oney, Ernesto and myself) Ernesto and I are the only ones who really needed to go to this training as we are the ones who have never see a stove built before. That’s why I was a little disappointed when the morning of Ernesto told me he couldn’t go because he had a doctor’s appointment. He had a bad kidney infection last week but I just wish he had mentioned the checkup to me before so I could have made the training for a different day. No matter, at least the guys are getting a 2nd training and I’m getting a 1st. The training went well. The stove is simple enough and right when we got to the part where we’re going to add the mouth (the hardest part) to the stove Ernesto showed up!! He’s so dependable. We made some changes to the design and hopefully each of the two pots will heat up now (it’s a two “burner” stove).

Something you should know about Oney and Jimmy is that they think its hilarious to tease me with things such as slamming on the brakes of the motorcycle so I slam into the driver or making up stupid names for me. I’m pretty accustomed to this by now and so what happened today shouldn’t have surprised me. A little background for this story: I have decided to care for a puppy while I’m here. I wasn’t going to but I broke down and now I am getting a puppy with only 7 months of service left! There was this really fuzzy cute one I liked a lot- I walked around with it before returning it to its home and I even named it. It makes all kids of weird noises so I named it Chewbacca. I have it set up so that when I’m out of site and when my service is over a certain family will care for little Chewy. The daughter wanted to name him Beethoven so I decided to be very Dominican and gave him the name…. drum roll… Chewbacca Beethoven Cabrera Espencer with a nickname of Chewy (Dominicans have two last names and nearly everyone has a nickname). Fantastic! Well, Jimmy saw me walking around with this puppy the day before and during our stove training he decided to start calling me Chewbac. I was hoping they would forget about it after a day or so, especially when I bring Chewy home to live. Well, when I got home that day I went to play with the puppy and had he died. Bummer. And Jimmy and Oney still call me Chewbac… oh my.

This sounds cruel but since Chewy died (I would have been much sadder in the States but for some reason am more disconnected from animals here… maybe its watching all the chickens die or listening to the pigs get slaughtered) I picked out his sister, a cute and spunky little white thing with brown spots, and not at all furry (sadly). She likes to cuddle and already sleeps on a pillow!! I need to name her something cool that can be pronounced in English and Spanish so if anyone has some ideas… let me know! Thanks! (Just not “Spot”)

3/12-3/13: Hellllllooooooo Committee Weekend and Christmas in March!!

The reason I had to go to committee weekend was because I am in a co-planner for the Celebrando el Cibao kids camp this summer (a fun 3 day camp on diversity for kids at the end of August, something very important especially considering the level of discrimination against Haitians here) and so I had to hold an informational meeting for PCVs. To my grand surprise, I checked my mailbox and had a package slip. I was sooooo excited because that means that my Christmas package from my mom and sister had arrived:) Imagine my shock to find that I had TWO Christmas packages- one from Mom and Rach and one from the Health Dept!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS!!!! For those of you interested in the goodies, Mom and Rach sent me fun yet practical things like a super colorful table clothe and curtains but also included the essential bag of candy- YUM!! Then BCHD gave me two DVDs (Blood Diamond and Pirates of the Caribbean- great choices guys) and the rest was CANDY CANDY CANDY!!! Which as I opened each box I realized that it was everything off of my wish list on my blog- lol!! So, not only do I now know that you do read my blog but I am fat with sweets! Merry Christmas and thanks soo much for thinking of me! :)

3/12 Friday: Getting the brick for the stoves…

THURSDAY: I received the grant money nearly 2 weeks ago and yet we still don’t have all the materials to make the stoves. This is largely due to the rain. I didn’t want to repeat the same craziness that ensued after/during heavy rains when we had the water filters delivered so I put the brakes on the project and said we had to wait until it had been sunny for at least 2 days. Well, this week the weather finally began to cooperate and on Thursday the hardware store began delivering the supplies. This surprised me since no one mentioned to me that they had spoken with the hardware owner to have the supplies delivered today. Minga was at my house around 8 am calling me, saying that the truck was here and they were waiting for me. I was awake but needed a few minutes to get dressed and by the time I arrived to the park where the truck was waiting about 10 minutes had passed. The annoying guy in my community who speaks English was there, perfectly playing his role of being annoying, acting like he knew what was going on or that he was somehow in charge of the project. When I got past him I was slightly dismayed to find out that none of the workers were around since some family member had died the night before. So I took inventory of what was there and we began looking for spots to unload. The truck had to make 4 trips that day and it took alllll day. I was running back and forth between my art class and driving with the truck, dropping the supplies in different locations. Ernesto was there off and on (thank goodness!) and so he helped with where we would put the supplies.

Then on Friday I’m supposed to go to the capital for committee weekend but we really needed these ceramic pieces to make the mouth of the stove (where you load the wood) which means we have to go to Santiago since that’s where the pieces are. Ernesto is a valuable person to have with you because he knows everyone and everyone respects him. People say no to me or tell me a super high price but when Ernesto walks over they say yes and give him a discount. He was able to find us a truck to take us to Santiago for great price. When we got there they didn’t have the right sized pieces and, once again- thank goodness Ernesto was there because he said he could cut the pieces that were too big because he has a saw. We got the brick, loaded it up and Ernesto and the driver headed back while I headed in to Santiago, making my way to the capital.

3/8 Monday: The Carnaval Parade

Today was a good day. It was finally sunny but still cold (a high of 70 with a cold breeze is cold here people). I wanted to leave the house but I had a bunch of stuff to get done on the computer and there was power so I stayed in (well on the porch, plugged in) until nearly 4 pm when I went to the Women’s Club for the meeting and after the parade. When I was walking up, a woman who I was surprised to see on that side of town (her and Mercedes hate each other so she stays on her side of the community) approached me and handed me a pamphlet about interfamily abuse. Then she said that I would be the one to present the presentation. Wait, what? I stared at her for a minute and then figured, what the heck. It’s just reading and I think my accent has gotten quite a bit better since I began reading Harry Potter in Spanish aloud. It went over pretty well. After the meeting there were a lot of kids waiting for me, asking about the candies I said I would give. Dominican culture has no order. People don’t say please or thank you. They say, give me. Add that to 25 crazy kids who are hopped up on the idea of a parade and candy and you have a recipe for disaster. They were insane. I wanted to choke them. There were 50 little hands in my face, palms up and wide open, swaying back and forth frantically accompanied by 25 little children’s voices shouting at different octaves GIVE ME CANDY ELIZABETH. Holy crap. There was grabbing, shouting, and shoving. I tried to get them to line up but forget about it, they’re not programmed that since kindergarten like US kids. So I took my baggie of mints and put it in my satchel and we went on the parade candy-less. Not how I had pictured it but aside from the little candy gremlins it went really well. We walked from the Women’s Club to the school (1/4 mile) and back with me taking pictures of them all along the way. I think it was a success!

3/7 Sunday: Visit from Jenn!!!

I loooooooooove having a neighbor who likes to visit. Don’t get me wrong, I really like Ane and Tim but they’re got each other so they don’t visit. I think in the 16 months I’ve been in my site they’ve come to my house maybe 2 times. I’ve gone to theirs at least 5 or 6 but I don’t feel like that’s very much for being only about 5 miles from each other. Jenn and I were talking last week and she’s going through some hard times in her site so last week I showed up to her new house with some dinner and dessert. It was so nice!! Then yesterday she came over and we talked, made cake and kind of watched a movie. It’s really nice to be able to make someone newer feel comfortable like I thought my neighbors were going to do with me. I’m looking forward to the rest of my service in my site for several reasons, one of which is a great friendship with Jenn:)

3/6 Saturday: Escojo Fieldtrip to Marks’ Escojo graduation:

This field trip was fun. I told my kids about it when we started Escojo which was 3 classes before. We had some fundraisers selling raffle tickets and a floor cleaner similar to pine sol. With that money we bought the group a recognition plaque and some pop and cookies. I didn’t even try to find a driver to take us until 3 days beforehand which wasn’t a great idea but thankfully it worked out fine. I asked Tolo if he could do it, actually I invited Minga and got her all excited about it and then she asked Tolo. They agreed and Saturday morning 14 of us piled into Tolo’s truck- two kids less than were originally going to go since it was raining and their parents didn’t want them to get wet. We arrived to Marks and all the kids were pretty excited. To my dismay several of them felt it would be more fun to hang out in someone’s house watching tv instead of participating but kids will be kids I suppose. We stayed for about 3 hours and then most of the kids were antsy to get going since they were all really cold. We headed back without a hitch! Amazing, no breakdowns, we didn’t run out of gas or get lost… the biggest obstacle was the rain! Ha!

3/1 Friday: My Quarterly Report…. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that…

So, every 3 months we have to write a report that is basically a number tally but PCDR tries to make it more personal for PCVs by adding little personal sections for our APCDs to read. All of health and water are pretty sure our APCD doesn’t read them but supposedly the APCDs are going to start reading them and giving feedback. I was skeptical but then what wasn’t I skeptical of at the time? Well when I had to write my report I was in the slum of my funk and was pretty negative in my report. For example, on the Success Story section where it asked for me to share a success story I wrote: not applicable. So when I heard that two months later Miguel was beginning to respond to people I was NERVOUS!! I don’t like confrontation and I wasn’t looking forward to what could possibly come from this. Well, Miguel wrote me back March 4th and I was nauseous before opening it. I brought this upon myself. I read it and Miguel was really cool about it all. He told me he understood how much it must suck to have community members steal from you and that having Mercedes not like me must be rough as well. I was shocked and relieved, whew! Yet another thing to be grateful for!

2/27-28 Friday and Saturday: Carnaval!!!

Last year I went to La Vega and was the only one in my group that didn’t get wacked really hard by the swinging goat bladders. Sure it was because I ran shamelessly like a huge chicken but hey, I wasn’t sore the next day at least. This year we went back to La Vega but we went with other kids from the new group, the group one year after me. And it was funny!! The newbies were all really drunk and some of them threw themselves in the streets to get the butts kicked by the carnaval men. One of them really deserved it because he bought a souvenir goat bladder and was hitting all the females that walked by! Including me!! He freaking attacked me and I was so surprised I dropped my phone in a NASTY puddle. So, when he got smacked, that’s karma baby. Hehehe. At the end of the day we went to a concert with some band from Puerto Rico and we all danced in the streets to the music. It was really fun. And aside from the PCV, I didn’t get hit at all again this year!

The next day Kelly and I went to Santiago to see their Carnaval. I liked that one better. Maybe it’s because they use whips instead of bladders so they don’t hit you but also because its more like a parade. They throw candy and do little dances. It’s a performance. We were only there for about 15 minutes before it began to DOWNPOUR and we got soaked! We ran to McDonalds for some shelter (and McFlurries) but by the time we got there it had stopped raining and we were soaked and cold. We still ate the ice cream though:) We went home and made soup and it was a good day!

2/18 Thursday: Art Class!!

So I had my 1st art classes today. I decided to have two each Thursday that way all ages can participate. I have one at 10 am and one at 2 pm. Today I wanted to make face masks for carnaval with the kids and I wasn’t sure how many kids would go since I didn’t make any official announcements for it. I just told as many kids as were around me when I thought of it and counted on the fact that the 1st class was so cool it would attract more kids. The 10 class had a small but comfortable amount of kids; about 15. Then at 2 pm there were about 35 kids… which was a LOT. And we only had two pairs of scissors. All the kids really struggled with what they were going to do. They have never learned how to be creative so to speak so they were like, “Elizabeth, cut my mask for me because I don’t know how to do it. Glue for me because I don’t know how. Paint for me because I don’t know how. What colors should I use?” And so it went. Well I compromised and cut the mask for them since there were only 2 pairs of scissors and there were so many of them but the rest I made them do. After a while they really seemed to get the hang of it. It was really great to see them blossom into having more confidence. On the 8th we’re going to have a parade with all the kids and their masks which should be fun and interesting. I have no idea what it’s going to entail aside from bribing them with candy to go. But I’m looking forward to it.

Random things that happened sometime between Feb 19th and March 5th

Money Money Money!!

Well my grants finally came in on the 24th or so. In the past it has always been that you have to go to the PC office in SD to pick up the check which would be in your project partners name and then you have to go to a bank with your project partner to cash it. This time was different though as I discovered when I went to the ATM to withdraw the last few little pesos out of my account for the month. I took the most I could and when I checked my receipt in hopes of seeing an extra 1,000 pesos from some surprise reimbursement, my jaw dropped at the 181,000 pesos that was in my account! I checked the balance again and then was concerned. I don’t want that much money!! So the next day I was relieved to find out that PC is now doing grants different, simply depositing them into your account. Thank goodness!! Also because I was having a nervous breakdown that very day of boredom. I mean I was BORED. I was in near tears to my fellow PCVs asking the normal questions, Why am I here, What am I doing with my time… yada yada yada and let me tell you, being bored does not help. I was pretty much biding my time until my grants arrived, not a great use of time. So, now I have my grants- one for my Escojo class, one for the more efficient wood burning stoves, one for my art class… all in the same week! I am one happy camper.

What I’m going to do with all that money!

Thanks to all this money I can now repay myself a LOT of money I lent my classes for supplies which is reason to party! Also I can order the supplies for the stoves which people in my community seem to really want. (After the filter fiasco I’m not holding my breath that they’re going to be willing to pay the 500 pesos for the labor but I remain optimistic!) I went to a few hardware stores with Ernesto to recheck the prices to the ones I got back in November. They went up quite a bit so instead of being able to do 80 stoves I think we’ll be able to do more like 70. I think that should be more than enough.

The one thing we need that the hardware store doesn’t have is the special ingredient: ceramic bricks. We have to go to one special place in Santiago to get those which means we need a truck. Well the hardware store dude, Leonardo, seems like a cool guy so I went to his store and asked if we could pay him for transport and go get some bricks. He agreed and then tried to get my number (ugh) and I left without giving my number.

A lesson in Dominican Men from Betsy:

The next day I was supposed to go with Ernesto down to the hardware store but it was raining. After the chaos when the filters were delivered I know that I don’t ever want anything delivered when it’s rainy or muddy again if I can help it. So, I called Leo and told him we weren’t going to be able to go until the weather shaped up. He agreed and at the end of the conversation he said how great it was that now he had my number. Oh brother. Later that day he sent me a 4 page love poem text. Gag. I tell you, when I get home I’m going to be upset with myself for not taking advantage of so many options in men but it’s just that I don’t trust Dominican men! They generally cheat, like nearly all of them! Sure they may be great looking, romantic, sweet… but they’re that way with their other 2 girlfriends too. And it’s a sure sign I’m right when every single one I ask tells me they don’t have a girlfriend. All of them, really? Jeesh.

2/19 Friday: Filter Charla

In a nutshell: I am soooo over dealing with these filters. I made announcements and personally told people about this presentation and only 1 new person showed up. The requirements to get a filter are easy: pay $550 pesos and go to a class. Then you get your water filter and stop getting parasites. $550 isn’t so much that people can’t do it. Every single person in my community could do it if they set aside a little money here and there. Today was the 4th time I gave the same class and out of the 30 original filters we still have 6. People are so freaking lazy! I refuse to just give these away. I think that people think that I will just give them away if they wait long enough. The thing that really annoys me is that I had at least 5 people come up to me and tell me they really wanted a filter and they would be at the class but not one of them was there. There are two houses where the people want filters but they’re just weekend homes and I wanted to give the filters to someone who lived in the house all the time. Sometimes I get so frustrated by the mentality here. A lot of people want stuff but they won’t do anything to get it except complain. Well until they decide to do something about it, those filters are staying in the Women’s Club. People have to put something in for them or they won’t take care of them. I’d rather give them to someone in a different community who will take care of it than give them to someone who doesn’t appreciate it here.

2/16 y 2/18: Tuesday and Thursday: Escojo

In a nutshell: Tuesday was my 1st Escojo class. It went soooooo well!! My 1st Escojo class I ever had was incredibly boring but this one, with all the promoters there (kids who got at least an 80% on the final exam and didn’t have a lot of absences) went fantastic! I hope this round goes better! I have a feeling it will since my old promoter group had a bad attitude and this time around there are only two from the previous group. Mostly Wandi and Argeni were the worst. Oh, and the time Ernie, Vanji and Yameliza walked out… that was pretty bad. Vaji and Yameliza are still in it but being the only old ones makes them less bad. They’re not the type of girls who are bad on their own but are obnoxious when paired with someone bad. Anyways, the class went great! Afterwards I invited all the promoters to my friend Mark’s Escojo graduation on the 6th of March. I said we should get the other group something as a happy graduation gift. All the kids agreed so we decided to have a raffle and also to make and sell Pine Sol again. I was a teeny bit concerned for the making of the floor cleaner but decided to just roll with it. I was nominated to get something “cool” for the raffle and when I went to Santiago on Wednesday for an Escojo meeting I stopped at a store which is more like a huge garage sale (very disorganized but cheap!) and found the perfect thing: a thermos! Doñas will like it because they will only have to make coffee 1x/day and it will stay warm and men will like it because, well why not?

On Thursday the Pine Sol making went soooooo smooth! It was amazing!! I kept having flashbacks of my other promoters sitting and watching while just 2 people worked and then all arguing about the amount of work to be done. We made about 60 bottles in about 90 minutes. That includes looking for the bottles, cleaning them, making the floor cleaner and bottling it. They didn’t help clean up much but I was planning on being there for about 3 hours anyways so I was happy! Now we’ll see how many they can sell. No matter what though we’ll have enough money for the gift. The raffle alone raised enough money as the gift costs about $500. I told them we could use the rest for a party or something.

2/15 Monday: The Mother’s Club gift exchange

In a nutshell: I wasn’t sure how Mercedes was going to treat me this week since we have since talked about our issues. She was civil and even kind of friendly which was a nice change. I bought the gift for my secret santa to exchange but I also wanted to get a gift for Minga. So, when I was in Santiago today coming back up from the concert, I stopped at a great store called Jumbo. I found a flower pot with little hearts all over it and got it for Minga. Then I went to the counter and had them wrap it (all the stores here will wrap presents for free) and Jumbo takes FOREVER but they do a great job. Minga liked the wrapping job so much she refused to open the gift! I found this hilarious so I took a picture of it. Finally her daughter came by a few days later and opened it for her. Next time I’ll save the money and get a rock wrapped for her!

2/13 Saturday: Adventura!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In a nutshell: My favorite band is Adventura. They’re great and sing my favorite type of music, bachata. I found out last December that they were going to come to the DR for a concert and definitely wanted to go. Through some miscommunications with friends buying tickets, I didn’t get one in time and unless I wanted to pay 700 pesos more ($20) for better seats, I wasn’t going. Well, I am too cheap to pay 1600 pesos for a ticket so I resolved to not go. Then, a miracle happened: one of my friends had an extra ticket and called me on Thursday to see if I wanted it!!!! So, I went to see Adventura in concert. We got there about an hour late and were really far away but who cares?! The crowd was amazing and we all agreed it was one of the best concerts we had ever seen. Yippee, my 1st concert in the DR!!!!

2/12 Friday: A short example of why school here no cive para nada

In a nutshell: This entire week I have been trying to go to the school to talk to the director. I’ve been trying to go during the least intrusive time of day so as to not disrupt classes too much but I need to get Escojo started again and have to compile a list of interested kids. I can’t do that if I don’t have permission from the Director, Humberto. Well, to be blunt- school here sucks. I know I have said this before but here is a great example of why it sucks. Every single day this week I was going to go around 5, near the end of school to talk to Humberto and then come back the next day to talk to the students. Every single day my plans were foiled because, after beginning school at 2 pm each day, school was let out no later than 4 every each day this week for reasons such as meetings with other teachers, the school is being remodeled and they’re putting in windows…. I finally just went on Friday in the morning to talk to him but he wasn’t there. So, I sat and had a 20 minute conversation with Violeta, his wife and a school teacher, about Christmas, New York (aka the States) and how everything is so organized (so says her husband who was there for 45 days over Dec and Jan), and other random things. While this was during her class I have decided that it really doesn’t matter if we have a long conversation in the middle of it. She’s more likely to be agreeable if I chit chat with her for a while before getting to the point. Finally we began the topic of Escojo. I made a list of kids who were old enough to participate who have school in the morning and said I would come back in the afternoon to talk to Humberto. I went back later, school once again got out early but I was able to make a list of kids and talk to Humberto. Even though I’m not having class in the school anymore he insisted I write a letter to him about it again before he would agree (agree to what?). So, I wrote the letter and I have a very small class. Only about 10 kids are interested in it as opposed to 40 I had this time last year. That was a little discouraging since I’m sure a few will drop out of it but at least it will be more manageable.

2/10 Wednesday: Controlling the situation

In a nutshell: It made me very happy today when Pimbi came over. This is the woman who stole my clothing from Minga’s house and gave it to her prego daughter (I still haven’t say anything to her about it). She came to my house to see when I was going to fix her filter and then told me she wanted me to “gift” her one of my shirts. My first reaction was laughing out loud thinking, well, at least she’s ASKING me now! But then I was annoyed not only because its rude even in this culture to ask people for stuff like that but because it was the 2nd time this week people have out right asked me for something. One woman I don’t even hang out with sent a little kid to my house 2x asking for nail polish. Anyways, after the initial shock of this woman’s audacity in asking me for a shirt, I asked her if she knew the story about someone stealing from me. She said she did and I then went on and on about how it made me feel so terrible and sad. I thought the community didn’t like me and after leaving all my family and friends in the States, people here treat me like that… so sad, yada yada yada. She agreed, said of course it wasn’t her (to which I of course agreed) and said her goodbye- without a shirt of mine. Adios mujer!

2/7 Monday: For the love of all things holey, can we PLEASE move past this!?!

In a nutshell: Today I confronted Mercedes about our issue as the poem and gifts didn’t have the affect I was hoping. To my surprise, she seemed bursting with things to say and pretty hurt. In a nutshell, she is offended that I don’t tell her when I’m going to eave for days at a time and when I’ll be back. That’s a fair complaint as she is my closest neighbor and one of the two people signed up to take care of me with PC. We talked and we sealed it with a hug. PC told us in training not to be direct here but I’m finding that’s horrible advice.

Then I went to Minga’s and had a great talk with her and her daughter, Margara in the kitchen while Margara’s kids played in Mingas house. For some random reason I opened up about everything, I haven’t opened up about everything to anyone here- not even Wandi. But I told them how I was in my house crying for days after Christmas and how awful I felt about the entire situation. They supported me and said that Mercedes gets mad over lots of little things but mostly when she thinks someone messes with her kids. She knew Wandi liked me and that I was really mad at him so then she was mad at me. When I was gone I think it turned into her thinking I must be mad at her and her entire family for whatever I thought Wandi did to me since I didn’t tell her I was leaving or when I was coming back.

I also told Maragara and Minga about how it was Geraldo who broke into my house before and that he did it again in December. Then when I went back to my house, I passed my Mercedes house and said hi to Geraldo sitting on the porch and he ignored me. I know he heard me because I walked up to him, kicked his foot and shined my light on him. He wouldn’t even look at me. Then I noticed Margara’s son sitting behind Geraldo. Nuts.

The Real Blog: In the 15 hours I since I returned home I had 2 people come up to me and tell me that “someone” is saying I’m mad at Mercedes. This amazes me since I have not been here to be mad at her, which I pointed out to each person who said that to me. Today I must have been feeling surprisingly bold. I went to the Women’s Meeting and unknowingly sat right next to Mercedes. She literally turned her body so her back was to me. It took me a good 30 minutes to notice it was her since I couldn’t see her face and why would I assume someone is purposely putting their back to me? Then, when the meeting was nearly over, I was the only one left to talk, she actually left! More like bee lined it out of there. She is the president and so she’s supposed to stay until the meeting is done and all the women are gone. After this, I decided that I would just talk to her. I’ve tried hiding from her which obviously was not successful. I tried a poem with a gift and that didn’t work. (I thought for sure that would work) So, without other options, I’m going against the advice of not being direct in this culture and I’m talking to her.

I walked up to her house and she was there washing clothing. I told her people have been telling me that they heard I’m mad at her and to my complete surprise she said, Of course Elizabeth. That sure opened up conversation. We talked for about 5-10 minutes and she was pretty upset, in fact she talked for at least 8 of those 10 minutes. I actually felt kind of bad. She told me that she knew Wandi supposedly did something horrible to me but that she didn’t think I needed to treat her family bad when they have never done anything to me. I told her I wasn’t mad at Wandi anymore and that even if I was, I would never displace that on anyone else. I told her that her family was very important to me and I never wanted to offend them but that I thought they were mad at me and it made me feel awkward going over to visit. She said they weren’t mad at me either. The main thing she was upset about was that she is my closest neighbor and as my project partner with Ernesto, she’s responsible to PC for my wellbeing and I never tell her when I’m leaving for a few days or when I get back. I personally think she’s embarrassed that when people ask if I’m home or when I’m coming home she has no idea. I guess I didn’t think it was a big deal, didn’t think they cared and I’m not used to having neighbors who care. She said one day she looked in my house in the afternoon to make sure I wasn’t dead in my bed. (See why I felt bad?!) I told her I was sorry and that I would tell her from now on. I gave her a hug and felt very satisfied when I left.

Then I went to Minga’s and she and her daughter, Margara, told me I had better talk to Mercedes after how Mercedes was treating me in the Club earlier. I told them I had already talked to her and ended up spilling everything to them. I haven’t ever completely shared how I’m feeling with anyone here, people are such gossips and I’m worried they’ll turn on me. Well, Minga and Margara always defend me and watch out for me so I opened up today, which is weird because I wasn’t even upset today. But it made me feel so much better! Like there are some people who really understand where I’m coming from now, they couldn’t have understood me before since I didn’t tell them the whole story. I need to learn to let Dominicans in. I have a hard time trusting them, which is awful. How can you really make any friends when you don’t trust them? And that’s my problem: I have no Dominican friends and it makes me feel awful. On the other hand, I trusted Mercedes without question and then in May she turned on me and it was devastating. So, I need to trust again but figure out whom to trust. I can think of two other ladies I think I can completely trust- but I’m such a bad judge of character it’s hard to know. I am very ingenuous, way too naive.

Minga told me that no one wants to get on the bad side of Mercedes and her family, that they will pick a fight with anyone for anything but especially for messing with one of their kids. Apparently Wandi told them all that I was accusing him of something he didn’t do and of course they believed him. Then they saw me ignore each phone call when he called me 50,000 times on Christmas. So I’m sure I wasn’t imagining them being mad at me in the days after Christmas. I had no idea they were mad at me for Wandi, I thought I offended them for not eating their food! Then when I was gone so much in the following weeks the problem just grew and grew in their imaginations. The problem that I was angry with them grew so much that while the gifts and the poem helped for the time being, I left again and so the problem continued to grow.

I’m just hoping that one of Margara’s kids didn’t run off to Mercedes house and tell her everything we said tonight at Mingas. When I got back to my house one of her kids was there and Geraldo wouldn’t look at me or respond to me. I told Minga and Margara tonight how Geraldo was the one who stole from me. It could be bad but if it is I supposed I’ll deal with it as it comes. Today was productive if nothing else, I feel supported by Minga and Margara.

1/31- 2/6: Medical Mission

In a nutshell: This week was amazing. I kind of fell into an opportunity to translate for a medical mission (medical mission = when a medical group comes to the DR for a week or so do to medical type things and needs people to translate). It was a hernia med mission which had me less than thrilled at first but, as always, things worked out and I loved it. I ended up with two really fantastic doctors, Clayton and Gladys, who incidentally love to teach. Because of this, Justin, Sarah and I (the 3 PCVs on duty) were able to be really hands-on instead of only translating. We were able to make incisions, give stitches, and take gross stuff out of people (cysts and lipomas). It was so fun!

The Real Blog: This week was the coolest week ever! Even better than when I went to Jimaní! Let me explain what a medical mission is. Lots of groups of medical-type people (nurses, doctors, med students… you get the idea) come to the DR to help out for a week or so but need translators. So, PCDR has a “med committee” with PCVs who are in charge of coordinating interested PCVs with groups. Spring and Fall are “med mission season” and so there are a lot of opportunities at the moment for PCVs to translate. Generally, PCVs are very interested and so it’s competitive to get a med mission. But since there are so many med missions, most PCVs are able to do at least one before they finish service. I had signed up to do a surgical mission in the cap for a week in Feb but as I’m not in the next group leaving, that group was given preference and that group filled all the spaces. I was annoyed because most people just wanted to do this one since the group of doctors have a rep of really “taking care” of their PCV translators, staying in a niiiiiice hotel, and taking the out to 5 star restaurants, whereas I’m easy to please and just wanted to see some cool surgeries.

It turns out there was a different med mission for the 31st until the 6th. Meredith asked me if I could do it, she was kind of scrambling for translators since it was such short notice. At first I thought, How lame… hernia surgeries for an entire week? Boo. But I figured, meh, why not? I still haven’t started any classes in my site and what’s another week. Sign me up.

When I got to the center on Sunday I was happy. Sure it was no 5 star hotel with gourmet food promised in the future but I had my own twin bed with mosquito net, a room with a ceiling fan, HOT WATER with pressure, and…. WIRELESS INTERNET!!! Whoot! It turns out there were only 3 of us there to translate, with one person getting there later on Monday. Sunday night, I was in the cafeteria, happily using the internet for several hours when this really tall guy who was in there with me walked by and on his way out said, “Jeesh you’ve been facebook-ing for hours.”- with a total tone to his voice! I was offended. I thought he was rude, I even told my mom about him. I ignored him, flipped back to my facebook tab to keep stalking people, and later went to bed.

The next day, Justin (the other PCV there with me) and I were assigned to the consulting side of the operation. We were going to be with 2 doctors evaluating people to see if they actually had hernias and setting them up with appointments. We would be doing this all week. I translated that me an no surgeries for us. To make it worse, one of the doctors we would be with was that tall, rude dude from the night before!! He walked by us and said how he really wanted a Coke and Justin and I looked at each other with horror, just waiting for him to send one of us to get it for him! When he walked away, Justin said, What an egomaniac! To which I said, he was going to Justin’s doctor for the week and Justin of course disagreed and said I was going to be stuck with him. His nametag said he was a pediatrician; I pitied the kids who had to have him as their doctor! About 5 minutes later, Justin headed off down the hall with the other, female doctor and said, see you later Betsy- have fun! My jaw dropped and my eyes narrowed: Justin had officially been placed on my “list”.

So, I went into the 1st consult with Clayton and after about 3 minutes realized that once again my 1st impression couldn’t have been further from the truth. This guy was so nice! Really hyper and funny to boot. So I ended up being his little sidekick the entire week with the worst part of it being the fact that he loooooooooves kids so he wanted to be the one to see all of them...yes alllll of them. The 1st one we saw I had to help hold down while he screamed and kicked! (And we all know how I just looooove screaming kids)

But, by the end of the 1st day it was evident that people thought this was a clinic that would be taking care of any type of lump or bump people had. Clayton and Gladys noticed that there were a ton of people that had something to be removed and so they began scheduling mini surgeries for the afternoons after all the consulting was done. It turns out; both Clayton and Gladys teach medical students that are doing their residency all the time so they love teaching people stuff! I’m not sure how it happened but, where most doctors say, Stand back and don’t touch anything blue, these guys were like, Scrub in! Fantastic! So, the 1st thing we did was take a lipoma (a fatty cyst) off of the tip of a penis… and I got to hold the penis! I can see that to many this wouldn’t seem like a treat, but it was. The rest of the week passed the same but with Justin, Sarah and I becoming more and more involved. Gladys and Clayton had us giving people stitches, making incisions (I made an incision on the 1st day!) using the skin glue (ok, not really cool but still strangely satisfying), popping huge, nasty cysts (Justin loved this part and consequently was strayed with a TON of pus one day) and I even gave a shot! (Although that was just for practice on Justin but it was still fun!) It was the best week and I was sooooo sad when it was over.

Jimaní: January 20th- January 24th (as written for a magazine by PCVs, for PCVs)

When I first heard that PCVs had the opportunity to go to a boarder town to help out medically, I was really excited. I have some experience in health care, am a health PCV, AND people in my community call me Doctora which has to count for something. I, like most PCVs I’m sure, was hoping for the chance to help out in a hands-on, noticeable way.

Honestly, when Randi, Kenzie and I arrived to Jimaní Wednesday afternoon we had no clue what to expect. The extent of our knowledge was that there were two hospitals and an orphanage which were all being used as hospitals. Since the public hospital was located right in town and the others were together a hike outside of town, we went to the public hospital first. We walked in and were affronted with complete chaos. There was no one in charge, everyone seemed to be speaking different languages, probably ¾ of the injured had something amputated, people were in mats on the floor, and patients were moaning in pain… it was kind of what one should expect given the situation I suppose. There also seemed to be a lot of people just standing around, not sure what to do. Randi, Kenz and I went on a mission to find someone in charge so we didn’t become bystanders.

After some looking, we found someone who seemed important. We followed him to a patient lying on a mat. The man in charge had a handful of little bottles and a sharp. He handed all of it over to a random woman, turned to Randi (who we had already established as “the one who knows stuff”) and told her, “Teach her.” Then he walked away. We all looked at each other and Random Woman, who apparently decided not to loose any time, had begun trying to inject the poor, very awake man with some of the liquids in her hands. Randi, of course, mildly flipped out whereas Kenz and I decided to back off and began surveying the scene.

People were everywhere. There weren’t enough IV stands for people so their gravity flow IV bags were on the floor beside them. There weren’t any beds in the area we were, just mats on the ground. A lot of people hadn’t received lunch yet and it was nearly 5 pm. To be brief: this hospital was a hot mess and more patients were arriving by the truckload.

Overwhelmed with the situation and not knowing what could be done, we took the sharp from Random Woman and decided to visit what was dubbed as the “American Hospital”, the one on the other side of town. We got a bola in a truck and as we sat in the back we found out was the truck used to take away the bodies all week. (Did I mention I only had one pair of pants to last me the entire week?) While the American Hospital seemed crazy as well, it seemed more of an organized chaos (maybe it was because we were a little more adjusted).

Kenz and Randi absorbed their fill of the hospital and went back outside while I remained inside, contemplating the fragility of it all when someone asked me if I was doing anything. No. He asked me if I wanted to change a dressing. Yes. I gave him the warning that I wasn’t a nurse to which he laughed and said it didn’t matter, making me think of Random Woman giving an injection. I followed him over to the patient, a large woman on a mat on the floor with two long, visible rods in her- one in each leg. Lucky for the patient, and for my stomach, this doctor was an anesthesiologist and so he put her to sleep right away. I helped by elevating her leg while the doctor pulled gauze from a hole in her leg, the diameter being the size of a quarter, and judging by how much of the doctor’s finger disappeared while inserting the fresh gauze, it appeared to be at least 2-3” deep. He attended her other wounds and then she woke up. It was a thing of beauty. There was another doctor there, not from the US but not from the DR either. She was complaining that before the US doctors arrived there was more to do but now that they have “Americanized” the hospital, it was too organized and there wasn’t enough to do. What a complaint!

In the following days we found out that the second hospital, the “American Hosp.”, wasn’t actually being utalized as a hospital before the earthquake. It was being used to do some eye surgeries here and there but it was never set up to be a hospital. It amazed me to find that doctors from the US (and from other countries as well but mainly from the US) were able to come here and organize an entire hospital that functions relatively well, all things considered, in a matter of days- all while receiving more critical patients!

Randi, Kenzie and I ended up working night shifts, 7pm -7am but more like 6:30 pm- 9 am, the rest of our time there. That first night I worked in one of the two critical care trailers with some Dominican doctors. It was great that they were there to help but I hope I never need serious medical care in this country. I found several used needles in patient’s beds that were forgotten. A patient that couldn’t breathe was told it was in his head and was held down when he began to panic. Another woman was having problems with her IV, which was in her neck, and the doctor said it would have to wait until morning because she didn’t know how to change IVs. We couldn’t reposition patients with neck/back injuries unless an American doctor was present because the Dominican doctors didn’t know how to move a person with a spinal injury (imagine lying in the same position for 12 hours) It made me think of all the people receiving “care” in the public hospital and think of how lucky the patients here were that they ended up in the American Hospital.

A few times there were aftershocks and all the patients panicked. It was really sad. One man who wasn’t hurt in the earthquake was badly injured when he jumped from the second story because he had been trapped in rubble for 5 days in Haiti. Each time an aftershock happened the patients would scramble outside. One night they slept outside because the aftershock occured at 5:30 pm and another about an hour later at 6:30 so they moved all the beds outside and slept under the stars. I’m not sure how the doctors kept everyone straight. It was really amazing the work they did.

By the end of the week we were surprised to find that there were now a lot of empty beds. Despite the overall hesitation on the Dominican hospitals part (a lot of them said they wouldn’t accept Haitian injured), doctors were able to send patients to other, more equipped hospitals throughout the DR. The problem was that no new patients were coming in. Blame it on difficulty getting back and forth to Port au Prince with all the traffic, blame it on boarder control, no one could give an exact answer to the question. One thing is certain though: there were more people somewhere who needed care and were not getting it.

Overall, I am very happy I was given the opportunity to serve in Jimaní. It really gave me a new perspective and a new direction in life as I am 100% certain I want to study medicine when I return to the States. In my four days there, I grew prouder and more aware each day of how efficient the American medical system is and more impressed by the dedication and leadership of the American people. We can’t change racial tensions between Haiti and the DR any more than we can convince all of the Doñas of the world to use green leaves in cooking, but we can at least be examples. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the enormity of any situation but feasible make a change one day at a time, one situation at a time. We are American Ambassadors here in our little communities and with each day that comes, comes an opportunity for change. Don’t let yourself get lost in it and let it pass you by. Its two years that pass quicker that you would expect and it’s your two years so make them count.

1/18- 1/20: How I ended up in Jimaní, a boarder town

In a nutshell: I went down to the capital Monday morning, the 18th, unsure if I should even be going since I had been out of my site so much in January. But, it was for a meeting to coordinate the next regional Escojo conference and so I packed a couple days of clothes, extra undies (because you never know what’s going to happen) and headed out. I went to the meeting that afternoon and later found out that there was an opportunity to help package boxes with USAID or some NGO the next day, aid relief boxes to send to Haiti. As I had only done a mini food drive in my community and wanted to help out, I decided to stay an extra day. After all, I was already here, may as well.

The next day we were all waiting around to go and package the boxes when Romeo came down and told us to go up to his office. We sat down and he gave us each a list of 4 places that needed volunteers to help out. One was in Jimaní, one in another boarder town, and two in Santo Domingo. I immediately said I would like to go to Jimaní, and noticing it said it wanted medical personnel I pointed out that I was a nurses aide for several years. Romeo immediately shot the idea down and said gruffly that they were just going to send an RN and an EMT there. The only other place on the list that was ready to receive any volunteers was in Santo Domingo. Then Romeo rudely told us that the meeting was over and we could leave. I definitely got the feeling the entire time that he wanted nothing to do with the aid effort.

We all went down to wait for a driver to take us to the warehouse when Randi rushed into the office and grabbed Kenzie. I knew they had some meeting with Romeo and then remembered that Randi is the only PVC who is an RN in PC. When they came back from their meeting I asked if they were going to Jimaní and they were all secretive about it! I was getting really annoyed. The driver was ready to take us to the warehouse but I wanted to go to Jimaní. I was afraid if I went with the driver I would miss my opportunity to go to Jimaní so I stayed behind.

Later I was talking to my friend Rachele and she said her APCD, Adel, had INVITED her to go to Jimaní! Rachele has NO health background (but then, neither does Kenzie and she seemed to be going). I went up to Adel’s office, slightly nervous that I would get in trouble for all this after Romeo specifically told me no. I told her that I have a background in health and would really like to help in Jimaní if possible. She said she thought that would be great and she would talk to Romeo.

Later that day she called me and said she had spoken with Romeo and convinced him. I was the only other person allowed to go for now and we were to leave in the morning!!! I was so excited!!! It turns out that the EMT in the group is married and she said she would like her husband to go with for support. Because of that, PC said Randi could take one person for support too. She asked Kenzie because she knew Kenz wants to be a nurse after PC. They weren’t supposed to tell anyone because Romeo didn’t want a stampede of PCVs headed for the boarder. I was still annoyed with them for not telling ME for crying out loud but, at least it worked out in the end. The PCVs who went to pack the boxes said that when they showed up, the people weren’t ready for them and they had nothing to do still. So, I made the right decision. Persistence pays off:)

1/14 Thursday: Making amends

In a nutshell: I find myself in the usual pickle of not facing my issues. I needed to figure out a way to talk to Mercedes in a Dominican appropriate way that will actually get me somewhere and I needed to fix the situation with Wandi. I haven’t said one word to Wandi since he snooped through my phone. (creeper). I am really proud of Wandi as he began college this week! I felt bad about not even knowing about this big event in his life and guilty as I have been complaining a LOT lately to other PCVs about how much it sucks that Ernesto is out of my site. But, if he didn’t have this job I doubt that he would have had enough money to pay for Wandi’s 1st semester of school. I decided to give Mercedes and Ernesto each a little gift (a flashlight and a necklace) as well as a thank you poem. I gave it to Mercedes and feel like it helped. I still haven’t been able to talk to Wandi. Then there was the normal weirdness that occurs in the colmado. The owner was trying to convince me to get a Dominican man to keep me warm, a guy came in and called me fat and a few minutes later another guy began sniffing my ponytail. Never a dull moment in the DR!

The Real Blog: My stress level in my site is insane. I chalk this up completely to my neighbors and my lack of conflict resolution. I still haven’t talked to Wandi about privacy issues, and still haven’t faced Mercedes. With all this rain, I don’t want to keep avoiding their house because the walk down my front yard is slippery! I had the great idea of getting them with kindness. So I found this poem online, wrote it out on paper, and decorated it (with glitter even!). When I was in Santiago I found a necklace/earring set that Mercedes may like (for only 20 pesos!) and I wrapped it, along with a flashlight for Ernesto, and gave it all to Mercedes yesterday. I think it worked! I kind of invited myself in and we sat and talked with her sister for a good hour.

I saw Wandi leave for school this afternoon and I felt so proud! He did it! He’s going to the university! And then I felt selfish because he wouldn’t have been able to go to school if it weren’t for Ernesto being in that other community making such good money. I also felt bad that I haven’t been here and didn’t wish him well on his first day, I didn’t even know about it! So, I sent him a message (which I’m not even sure if he got) I said that I was proud of him for going to school and that if he was willing to tell me his side of the story I would like to hear it. But he didn’t get home until really late so maybe tomorrow.

Then, later that day I went to the colmado and in the same visit I had someone tell me I’m really fat (not in a complimentary way, but I was wearing a coat, duh of course I look fatter!) and about 2 minutes later, someone else picked up my ponytail and smelled it! What a weirdo, I told him to knock it off! All this happened of course after the colmado owner went through the usual spew, telling me that I need to get a Dominican boyfriend to keep me warm at night. I’m not going to lie, the idea is tempting right now because last night I was so cold I had to get up to put a 3rd blanket on me!

Now, it’s only about 60 degrees here at night but keep in mind, with the tin roof there is a constant breeze and there are no heaters to get any relief from the chill. I think I am much more used to this now though as it doesn’t bother me like last year. It’s rained most of this month and I don’t really mind. I remember when I first got to my site in November last year and it had rained 9 days straight, I was freezing (although I didn’t have the warmer clothing that I have now) and I was MISERABLE. This year I don’t mind at all. Ah, how great it is to be well adjusted and have rain boots!

1/12 Tuesday: Earthquake

In a nutshell: My story of this is not too interesting. I was taking a nap. The earthquake woke me up. I don’t think there were any injuries here in the DR or damages to buildings.

The Real Blog: I’m writing about today because I’m sure you guys back home are curious but really it’s not much of a story from the DR. I was at a med mission and we had been out all day in the rain (it has rained 10 days since the 1st here) translating. We got back to the center, which was located in a teeny town called Las Lajas up in the mountains of Santiago. It’s not close to my site by car but looking at it in map its not far, it’s north of Santiago as well but further east. Anyways, I was really tired and was car sick from the drive back so I promptly went to my room, climbed up on the top bunk of the bunk bed and went to sleep. I was woken up a little while later by the bed rocking, at first lightly. My roommate, Regina was on the bottom bunk and as the bed rocked harder I became really annoyed and told her to stop moving for crying out loud! She said she wasn’t moving and so, incensed I figured someone was playing a joke on my napping time and began looking for the culprit. Not wanting to exert too much effort during nap time and not seeing anyone, I went back to bed. Then I heard everyone outside yelling about an earthquake. My bed had stopped moving, I was still tired and now I didn’t have to worry about a jokester in my room. I went back to sleep but was woken up a couple times by the afteshocks.

Later Regina (who woke up after she realized there was an earthquake whereas I went back to bed and even slept through dinner) told me how it devastated Haiti. That poor country can’t catch a break. It’s interesting that the night before an elderly man was telling Regina and me about how he felt an earthquake around 230 am. We laughed together and teased him saying it was just a dream.

The next day all of the translators left the medical mission (by the way, a med mission is when nurses/doctors or what have you come to the DR for 5-14 days and give medical care/medicines. Some groups then solicit PCVs to translate for them. It’s really fun to be a part of. ) I had to go through Santiago to get home and figured my family was freaking out since I had no cell service on the mountain. So, about 21 hours after it happened, I got online to let everyone know I was ok. Thank you for all your concerns on facebook. Sometimes I feel a little forgotten about down here so it was nice to see that my family was checking up on me.

Santiago was a weird site as the streets resembled a Sunday when there are hardly any people- only it was Wednesday! Also, about half of the businesses were closed. I asked about this and was told the obvious answer, people just want to be home with their families. It makes me think of 9/11 and how different our cultures are in their responses. When I try to talk to people about this here (yes I was trying to “interview” people for you Sarah!) no one seems interested in talking about it. Then, yesterday Minga told me that someone on the news was saying that Haiti deserved it because they had a pact with the devil and so it was a punishment from God, and it was Pat Robinson who said that! I hope that was translated wrong or Minga didn’t understand correctly.

So, that’s that. As far as I know, there were no fatalities here in the DR or even damages to buildings but you guys could find out better than I. It figures that during the biggest earthquake in the last 200 years, I was taking a nap! Hopefully that’s the only big earthquake I feel in my life.

1/10 Sunday: Feeling much better and visiting my peeps

In a nutshell: Today I feel pretty good. I was given a hose for free so I was able to fill my water tank and not have to ask Mercedes for the hose. I visited some friends and wrote a report for PC, I even nearly caught up writing my blog!

I had a gift exchange with the woman who I know has been stealing my clothing from Mingas house. I had to have it; I was signed up for the gift exchange though the Club de Madres and we happened to get each others names. Strangely I didn’t think about how she steals from me, I just wanted her to like her gift. When the gift flopped, I gave her some ugly jewelry I knew she would love (and she did) and I was super pleased with myself for fixing the failed gift. Afterwards I realized how weird the whole thing was.

I decided I am being silly about my problems and if old methods aren’t working then I of course need to reevaluate my course of action and react accordingly. Thus, I am going to write Mercedes a Thank you card for the Christmas dinner and to get her and Ernesto a little gift with the secret vendetta of not being weird between us after.

I just arrived home last night and I already have to leave again tomorrow for Santiago as I promised to help a desperate friend out with a med mission. So, I’m all packed and ready to head out again but this time in a much better frame of mind. I don’t feel like my old self still but considerably better now.

The Real Blog: I got home late last night (well, campo late so around 8 pm) and was relieved to find that I still had water in my tinaco. I was super worried about that since Mercedes was rude to me last time I needed the hose and didn’t want to have to ask her for it again. Not to mention who knows when there will be water in the tap. Well, I was super worried last Monday and Tuesday… but as the days wore on in the mansion I found myself strangely less worried about anything in life:)

I woke up today and went for a really slow but super satisfying run and on the way back stopped to talk to one of my favorite people, Juana, about her water filter which is still at the disco. I’m guessing Tono, the disco owner, is probably kind of mad at me for the filters being at his business for so long and I feel bad about it. I was going to go and visit him today but never got around to it. I visited Juana, who always makes me feel fantastic about life. She’s probably in her 50’s, very round, and the sweetest lady EVER. It was her house I went to during Easter to load up on sweet beans because I knew I would hit the jackpot there, and I did- yum! (who knew I had a bean allergy?!)

Anyways, we hung out for a good hour and then I was off to Minga’s house. I sat and talked with Minga, then the women who sells lottery numbers (but who’s name I never remember. Its not that I don’t know her; I can tell you this, she lives in the house that never visit because she’s never there and it’s a super steep hill and lets face it, I’m a bit lazy for that type of gamble.), and then I visited with Margara- Mingas daughter. I also stopped and talked to Daniel and Ciero along the way. I was at Minga’s house for about 2 hours just hanging out and mentioned how I needed a hose but was worried about the cost as I also wanted to buy a large bucket (more like a trash can to put water in for when the tank is empty) and that would take like half of the money I have left for the month. It turns out; Minga had a little piece of hose this whole time!! So she gave it to me and now I don’t have to ask Mercedes to borrow hers!!!!! Life is getting better and better!!! I ended up telling Margara how I had been really sad lately because of the whole thing of people stealing from me (I left out the whole Mercedes thing as I avoid gossip at all costs) and Margara made me feel sooooo much better. I don’t know why I don’t visit people more!!

Something weird happened today: There was a gift exchange at the Women’s Club on Monday but I wasn’t here. Pimbi (the women who most definitely stole my clothing from Minga’s house) ended up being my exchange partner. She practically stalked me today trying to give me my gift and get hers, which I understand I guess since the exchange was nearly a week ago. When I bought the gift I thought I would spend a little extra on an American gift and I got her some incenses. I showed her how to use them and it was obvious she was not impressed; despite her fake telling me she liked it. I panicked, how could she not like my gift?! After she got me a necklace, two pairs of earrings, bracelets and even wrapped in then suck them in a gift bag?! And I didn’t even have time to wrap hers yet (in my defense, I was going to wrap it but I didn’t know she was going to show up at my door and then insist I didn’t have to wrap it). Not to mention I bought the gift, then thought there wasn’t going to be an exchange so I opened it and used one. Ok, so the gift flopped. She left it at my house for a minute while she ran up to say something to Mercedes and I came up with Plan B: I went into the bag of super ugly jewelry I have that I was going to put in the free box at the office and I picked out a yellow necklace with matching earrings. She loved it. Success. Redemption. In reflection, I realize this was weird since she is the woman who steals from me. But, maybe she won’t steal from me now. Who knows?

And I have come to a great solution as to what I should do about my neighbors. I am pretty sure I wasn’t imagining things about Ernesto being mad at me too since today he didn’t come by my house even once (After Minga’s it was time to prioritize so I went home, showered, took a nap, painted my nails, swept and THEN opened my door and was home the rest of the day working on a report for Peace Corps. Point is, he totally could have come over from 3pm on). Now our relationship is just this awkward thing and I find myself avoiding the house at all costs and I’m wondering if they’re doing the same thing. I’m still not sure why Mercedes is mad at me. On a possible separate note, I’m pretty sure she never even talked to Geraldo about stealing my 50 pesos because she also said she’d pay me back and never did. (yum, I just got a craving for Portillos… ah the States.)

Anyways, my great solution. It’s very simple and I feel stupid for not doing it sooner. I am going to write her a Thank You card for Christmas dinner and maybe get her and Ernesto a little Christmas gift too! Well, I’m giving Ernesto a flashlight I brought back from the States (people just kept giving me flashlights!) and for Mercedes I have a cheapy ring in mind I’m going to get her from Santiago. Maybe we’ll get matching ones. It doesn’t count as buying someone off if it’s a Christmas gift. And I think maybe she’s feeling underappreciated? Who knows but I’m fairly sure this will work and take away the weirdness between us, at least until the next thing. I used the “kill em with kindness” method on Bertico, a motorcycle driver who was pissed at me because I hadn’t gone with him on his bike for a while. Every time I see him I wave and act all excited, to which he ignores me. Until today. Today he finally smiled and said hi. Victory, ha! I can do this.

1/2- 1/9 Monday- Saturday: Staying in a mansion.

In a nutshell: Madeline, a PCT who was in our group was kicked out back in CBT. I didn’t know her really well as she was a youth PCV but she seemed really cool. Well, she came back with her family to visit and they rented out this sweet estate in Cabrera (which conveniently is close to Cabarete, where I spent New Years) that has… are you ready for this? It has: a pool table, hot showers, laundry service (with a dryer!), a pool, a hot tub (with HOT water!!!!), we each got our own room with attached FULL bathroom, it has its own private beach, tennis courts, bicycles, horse back riding, maid service, a chef, an open bar, cable, wireless internet, diet coke, a microwave, two dogs that are clean and let you cuddle and kiss them, couches… and I got to stay there from Monday afternoon to Saturday afternoon!!! It was AMAZING!!! And I was even productive as I updated my resume and wrote a cover letter:) It was fantastic and made me feel much more ready to face my site.

12/31 Thursday: Happy New Years Eve, to Cabarete!

In a nutshell: After basically locking myself in my house since last Saturday, I am finally leaving. You may think it is incredibly pathetic that I locked myself in my house for the last 5 days, not even being able to cry despite how awful I felt… wait that is incredibly pathetic. But, keep in mind that this happens at least once for varying amounts of time to pretty much all PCVs. I’m lucky that today I was able to leave and go hang out on a beautiful beach with other PCVs and hopefully put an end to this sadness.

This New Years was so much calmer than last year; it doesn’t compare. Sure the trip there was interesting with issues getting out of my site (my motorcycle driver went MIA, I suddenly had to check/plant the seeds for a garden before I could leave, the free ride I got broke down on the way down the mountain… but I did eventually get to the beach) I had a really fun, really chill NYE. Calm meaning I didn’t even have one swig of a celebratory alcoholic beverage. My mom would be proud. As I said, I was sick on Christmas Eve and on New Years Eve I was mildly sick as well. I wonder if I had an amoeba since those are cyclical. Well, either way I didn’t feel my best and wasn’t in the mood for a repeat of last year. Strangely the few from my group that were there were really chill as well.

Seeing as NYE here was old news, I don’t feel like I have much to write about so I suppose that is all. I had a great time and I don’t think any NYE can really compete with one surrounded by great friends and being warm on a beautiful beach while watching fireworks. The only thing I would change about it would be to have someone counting down but that’s for another year I suppose:) I was satisfied.

12/26 Saturday: Staying in my house

In a nutshell: I feel like the Giving Tree.

The Real Blog: I was super singey with my guests and highly monitored their water usage while they were here. Then, to make it worse, the colmado ran out of bottled water so if we ran out of water in my tank we couldn’t even use filtered, purchased water! I was stressed. As I waved goodbye to my last guest, I went and checked the water tap again just to see and there was water!! I was so happy so I went to Mercedes’ house and asked to borrow a hose. I kind of was thinking that she had been acting cold to me since before Christmas but this confirmed it. She didn’t look at me and she just stated, “The hose is in use.” I was freaking out inside. The water is only available for about an hour and I didn’t know when that hour began! As she told me that, thank goodness Ernesto heard her and told her to give me the other hose. After all, they have two hoses but only one water tap to fill stuff. I was relieved but when Ernesto came over I was totally getting a bad vibe from him too!

That did it. I had it. I felt so awkward, I wished I could crawl into a hole or dissolve so I didn’t take up any space. I filled my tank and went into my house, shutting the door behind me. I am so tired. Why does Mercedes always have something to be angry about with me? The thing that sucks is I worked my butt off this month. It was definitely my busiest month in service. And I got things for the community; we have gardens, we have filters. It just shows me again that no matter how much I work, no matter how much I do, it’s not enough. I understand you can’t please everyone but is anyone satisfied? Part of it is that Mercedes and her family got along with Kevin great. Mainly, Ernesto and Kevin worked together a lot. They became good friends and by association then, Mercedes was very accepting of Kevin. Ernesto is never here and so we never even talk let alone work together. I must offend Mercedes and so she doesn’t take to me.

Besides stupid Geraldo stealing from me again (and thus the exhaustion of feeling like I need to be on my toes with my house all the time), and the woman stealing my clothing I feel like the freaking Giving Tree. A book I have never liked due to its injustice. I did not join PC to be a martyr and I feel like my spirit is being slowly stomped out. I feel worse than I have ever felt in my life. It’s not a one time sad feeling, it’s not a deep sadness like when someone dies, it’s a not good enough no matter what and yet I’m still supposed to be here offering more to my community type of feeling. I’m so tired of it. I don’t even know what to do. It shouldn’t be like this. I just feel so heavy and I’m counting the months until October right now. 10.

12/25 Friday: Christmas in the DR

In a nutshell: The PCVs came to my house and we had a great time. There were 8 of us in all. We hung out at my house the whole time and I had to start nagging them to stop treating me like the doña and try to persuade them to help out a bit. It turns out Wandi is a stalker. He went though my phone at some point, saw that one of my friends texts me a lot, looked up his number and actually called him last night to inquire as to why he texts me so much. I am in shock that he did that. The PCVs and I had a gift exchange which was a hit and then we went to three discos before finding one that was satisfactory but not stellar. All in all, it was a strange Christmas.

The Real Blog: Today we didn’t do much. We woke up, said Merry Christmas, and hung out in the house pretty much. We made pasta for lunch and continued to just sit and talk. PCVs are so boring! Just kidding:) I was getting all pissy with them though because I kept telling them I was not their doña as they didn’t ever even put their dirty dishes in the bucket outside for washing nor did most of them wash a single plate while they were here or help make any food! Which that may make me sound like a rude hostess but that’s what PCVs generally do when they’re with other PCVs, they all pitch in. Things aren’t as easy or as quick as in the States and so it’s too much for one person. But instead of helping, I was seriously like the freaking doña and I was going to kill them. Although part of me thought it was funny. We are all so Dominican now!

So, as I was washing dishes for the 50th time, my friend Roberto, calls me. He’s an Information Technology PCV in a town relatively close to me, in Dajabon. We just met in October but and have been texting and talking fairly regularly since. Well, he calls me and tells me in so many words that last night he got a phone call from a private number who didn’t want to give his name. The guy was asking Roberto why he was sending so many messages to Elisabet. Roberto was thinking of all the students in his classes and came to the conclusion that he didn’t even know an Elisabet, to which the guy argued that yes he did and why was he texting her so much? They hung up and then Roberto remembered that I have everyone call me Elisabet. So, I of course know that it had to have been Wandi.

We were at the disco last Sunday and he finally was being normal with me (he’s been ignoring me since the start of Dec pretty much) but then immediately escalated to him being obnoxious, trying to get me to date him. And it’s not just him saying stuff to me, it’s him trying to do weird stuff like smell my hair, pet my face, or sit really close. Newsflash: if I can smell your breath when you’re talking, you need to back off. That is NOT attractive, gross. And I’m not a dog, don’t pet me or sniff me, freak. So, I decide to do the usual, telling him that I’m not interested, my cat is more mature than he is, we will never date, blah blah blah… but he’s so used to it doesn’t faze him. I feel like the teacher in Charlie Brown for crying out loud!

Recognizing that I need to do something drastic, I tell him that I am interested in someone else: something I have never told him before. That had some results. This time he got all annoyed and said he knew who it was: Roberto. I was surprised Roberto’s name even came to his mind since I have never talked about Roberto, Roberto has never visited, I haven’t even had a conversation with Roberto in front of Wandi, where on Earth did he get that name? So I said, “Yep, that’s him.” Later I told Ali about this and she was adamant that Wandi had gone into my phone and come to that conclusion after seening that I have texts from Roberto but I blew it off telling her, “Oh come on, who actually does that?” Well, seeing as Wandi somehow magically got Roberto’s number, whether he wrote it down at some point or memorized it who knows, but I think its safe to safe: Wandi went through my phone.

I was so shocked! No one has ever done that to be before! And I let people play games on my phone all the time, its all in English and I didn’t think someone would go stealing numbers and calling people. When I got the phone call Wandi was at my house. I turned around and must have given him a death stare because before got off of the phone with Roberto, Wandi was gone.

After all that drama, we had our gift exchange which was really fun, during which Wandi called me non stop from someone’s phone. I ignored the calls and eventually had to shut my phone off. For the gift exchange we were supposed to get either something really cool or really stupid but we weren’t supposed to spend more than $150 pesos ($4) I received a pair of used scrub pants. I gave a really stupid doll. It was a fair exchange, hehe.

Then we went with Ernesto to the disco. But it was full. It was too full, there were no tables! And as Dominicans, we could not stand. So we walked up to the other one but it was closed. So we went to the intersection of the communities about 1.5 miles away and it was open. I really like that one but oddly it was dead, which made it kind of boring. So, we stayed for about an hour and then we left. We went home and went to bed.

It’s safe to say that was the weirdest Christmas I have ever had. I remember last year thinking how weird it was that people DRINK on Christmas and this year I was like, are we ready? Who’s buying the 1st round?! Hahaha, my how things change in a year! Last year I used to have to “chase” each forced sip of beer with a chip or something and now I don’t mind it. I wouldn’t buy a beer still but I can drink one. See, I’m culturally assimilated!

12/24 Thursday: Merry Christmas Eve!!

In a nutshell: I baked all day long and enjoyed it but I am never doing that again. I could only bake 9 cookies at a time and I made like 7 different types of cookies. The peppermint brownies were delicious. My friends showed up around 6 and we headed to Ernesto’s to eat with them. It turns out, they already ate. They must not have understood I thought we were going to eat TOGETHER, thus the exchange of food. Instead it was awkward because we show up and they had set the table just for us and sat there and watched us eat our food. Well, I had not been feeling well at all. And my friend Jay didn’t eat much because he had Guardia. I was personally feeling as though something was going to happen… something between vomiting and some action from the other end. I loaded my plate up despite this feeling and just sat and stared at it. I wanted to eat it so bad. After all, I heard these pigs die, the least I could do was not let it go to waste. But I had to make a bolt for it. I went to my bathroom for about 15 uneventful minutes and when I went back to Mercedes house; my friends had finished and were on their way back. I said a thank you to Mercedes and she seemed agitated with me telling me I didn’t eat anything. I felt bad. I went home and went to bed.

12/23 Wednesday: YAY!

The Real Blog: Today was a pretty good day. The highlight? Was it getting my nails painted in effort to stay in Navarrete so I didn’t have to hear everyone and their mother killing a pig in my community? Nope. I still had to hear 3 pigs die. And the chick at the nail place didn’t understand a word I was saying and painted my nails like a freaking 12 year old. Was it watching in amusement as people chased the truck with the politician though the street because s/he was throwing money into the streets shouting, “VOTE FOR ME, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!” ? Nope. Was it the fact that I baked some spice cookies and people LOVED them? One guy even told me I’m finally good for something, what a compliment! Amazingly, no. Those were not the highlight of my day. Although, those cookies were very delicious. The best thing happened today: I went to town and I purchased an economy sized refrigerator for $207 USD. I HAVE REFRIGERATION IN MY HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!! The last time I had a fridge in the house where I was living (that worked) was 14 months ago. Why did I suffer so long?! I put the cookie dough in the fridge to chill and it actually came out cold!!! AMAZING!!!

12/21 Monday: Llegaron los filtros. (The filters arrived!)

In a nutshell: For those of you who received a Christmas card from me, congratulations. Remember the part in the letter where I said I had a water filter project that I was happy for but would be even happier when it was over? (Some of you I felt it inappropriate to solicit, in which case you didn’t get the letter or some of you I included a hand written a letter in which case I don’t remember if I talked about my filter project) Today cemented that statement. The filters arrived today but not after problem after problem. None of these got me down though, I was so happy to have another tangible project that it didn’t matter that the truck broke down a few times, got stuck in the mud 3 times, backed into a mango tree and was so wedged that we had to axe some of the roots off, and that the driver (who was sick of the mud and the rain… did I mention it had been raining all day long?) decided he wasn’t going to bring the rest of the filters to each house because he wanted to get going so he left them at the disco. But, at the end of the day, I was tired, wet and a little sore but extremely happy. It was a LOT of work but we have our filters. Now all I have to do is install them all. That can wait until after Christmas.

12/ 20 Sunday: Escojo Graduation

In a nutshell: The graduation went well. I found out that Ernesto was planning on having that Escojo conference the next day; the same day the water filters were supposed to arrive. He failed to tell me that this was happening the same day but on the other hand, I’m not sure if I told him that the filters were going to be delivered that day. Then, after the graduation Josue- a guy from SD who works extensively with Escojo showed up and Ernesto was in Navarrete so I hung out with Josue until Ernesto arrived. He’s a really cool person but I was itching to leave since I wanted to run and had already been there for a few hours. When Ernesto got there, I left to go for a run and everyone tried to convince me to stay, telling me I didn’t need to go for a run… apparently I look great. I know better though; the real reason is that they wanted me to stay and take pictures. People must think I am super amazing and can read minds since no one ever asked me to do this. I asked the coach when the ceremony was going to start and he said not for another 45- 60 minutes. So, I ran and hurried to get back before the ceremony but they finished before I returned about 45 minutes later. But I left my camera with Josue just in case and so he took lots of pics. A good compromise but still Mercedes seemed agitated with me. You can’t please everyone.

The Real Blog: I was in Santo Domingo Friday and Saturday but left too late Sat to get back to my site so I spent the night at my friend Rachele’s site in Santiago Sat night. This of course meant that the graduation could be disastrous as I was getting to site the morning of but I decided not to worry about it. What will be will be, right? When I got back to site around 10 am the next day, I was happy to find several kids working diligently on the party and so I stopped in to say hello and then went to my house to unpack.

The graduation itself went well. There was no beer selling or dramas like the last graduation so it was short and sweet. I saw Ernie as I was leaving my house and she wasn’t ready at all for the graduation. When I asked her if she was going she replied stiffly, “Although I was not invited, yes I am going.” Got to love the attitude, makes me glad I’m not a teenager anymore. Here’s the thing: I didn’t invite any of the Escojo promoters. If they were in class then they each were invited indirectly. Ernie pretty much hasn’t been going to classes since she got married for one reason or another. Sure the most recent reason was legit: she had to get an ovary taken out, but still, I didn’t think to invite her as I figured someone would let her know. In fact, it never crossed my mind, so shoot me.

After the graduation, the baseball players were going to use the building for their trophy ceremony. I hung out for about 90 minutes after the grad for the sake of socializing and just when I was about to leave, Josue, a guy who works with Escojo shows up. Apparently that conference that Ernesto wanted me to help with so long ago was going to be happening tomorrow- the day the filters are supposed to get here. Perfecto. Which means Ernesto will not be helping with the filters at all, and several of the women who are receiving filters will not be in their house to receive them (as Miguel wants them at the conference to make lunch). Seeing as Ernesto wasn’t home when Josue arrived, I stayed at the Club longer to make him feel comfortable.

About 10 minutes after Ernesto showed up, I got up to leave and everyone was like, “Where are you going?!” I told them I wanted to run before it got dark and they all started going off about how good I looked and how I didn’t need to run… (Noel specifically was telling me this and all the while I was having flash backs to a time in July where he was pointing to my arms and saying “You think she’s not fat?! Just take a look at her arms for example! She’s fat!”) Turns out they wanted me to stay and take pictures of the trophy ceremony. I stuck to my guns though, passed my camera to Josue to take pics and left to run. I will not give up some mental and physical health for an evening of being used. If it was something really legit sure I would have stayed. I asked the coach when they would be starting and he told me they wouldn’t be starting for another 45 minutes so I said I would hurry back for it. I got back about 45 minutes later and found that the ceremony was over. Mercedes was annoyed with me for missing it. Let me rephrase that: Mercedes was annoyed with me for not being there to take pictures even though Josue took plenty of pictures. I was a little annoyed by the whole situation.

Hi Mary Alice, (and everyone else of course!!:)

First thing, I have other posts but I need to catch up on them and am just too busy cogiendlo suave ahora to work on that. So, a different day I will lavish you with more blog:)

Anywho, it’s so great to hear from you!!!! Do you have any pics of little Oliver? I would love to see how big he is now:) I’m so sorry about LG, how far along was she? Life bites sometimes.

As far as my grant goes, PC has irritated me endlessly about this and hopefully sometime soon the grant will be up (the fact that I turned it in around Thanksgiving and yet it’s still on my APCDs desk shows the productivity of my awesome boss) and I will post something about it when it’s ready. Sorry for all the confusion!

I literally clapped out loud when you said you guys mailed me a package again for Christmas!!! THANKS!!!!! The last package I got was in Feb so I am reaaaaallly looking forward to it:D The little daily calendar you all sent me last year has been of GREAT use to me as I have used it as my “poop log” since April; something super important given all my bowel issues. (amazingly, even these have become mundane and so I don't write much about them but I pretty much always have something going wrong involving #2) So, each time I record a movement, I think of all you there at BCHD:)

Once upon a time, when I was just a little intern doing HUD inspections, you told me to look for roach poop to identify the presence of roaches. I actually had to ask you what it looked like, imagínatelo! Remembering a time when I DIDN’T know what roach poop looks like seems like so long ago, I mean really, who doesn’t know what it looks like? Of course, each time I get a parasite, beg bug bit or amoeba I think, “Wow, I’m so lucky to be gaining all this experience in public health, and how 'bout those roaches!” And now I just have 10 months left to soak up as much as I can, better get on that…

Merry Christmas guys!!!

Extrañdoles muchisimo,

Betsy

PS: Porque sepas, I'm not being a showoff, that little bit ‘o Spanish is just for Carmen, Enseñalalo porfavor:) I generally don't put it in there bc I figure it will annoy/confuse some English speaking folks of mine. So, enjoy Miss.

12/15 Thursday: Ouch. You know it’s bad when even your thumbs are sore.

In a nutshell: Yesterday I got the great idea that I would redo my sad little garden. After all, I’m expecting my women to have one; shouldn’t I set an example and do mine the correct way as well? The issue is that my old garden was too small so I literally spent 5 of the 8 hours I worked that day simply leveling out more ground to make it bigger. Thank goodness a 14 year old boy happened over my way about 2 hours in and he helped me the rest of the day. Muchachos here are truly amazing, they work harder and better than any kid I’ve ever seen in the US. Anyways, we were able to cut all the weeds down from my yard (something I wanted to do before my Christmas party), level out more ground, dig the hole for the bed, make the bed, make a walkway to the garden, and put in all the sticks for the fence. I had a slew of helpers during all this; whoever happened to walk by would come and help for a little bit. It was a great group effort. Despite all the help, I still pick axed and machete-ed a LOT and today I am sore. So sore in fact that last night, despite how tired I was, I couldn’t sleep! Even the muscles in my thumbs hurt! Man oh man.

Today, to my surprise, I was still mildly productive. I graded all the Escojo finals and was disappointed to see, after I lowered the passing grade from 70% to 60%, still 6 kids failed. What am I going to do with them?! I also had my meeting with two of the Escojo promoter kids who are in charge of planning the graduation. I broke a piece of a tooth this week so I will have to go to the capital tomorrow to get it fixed meaning that these kids will pretty much be planning the entire graduation themselves. It will be interesting.

I was supposed to have a my women’s group meeting today but 1 of 3 didn’t show up so I told them to enjoy the Christmas break and I set off to check out the 3 women’s houses where they each already made the gardens! I made it kind of a competition telling them the 1st ones done would get a watering can and 1st pick of the seeds. I didn’t expect 3 women to finish it in the 1st day though, wow! I’m going to get them each a watering can and some special seeds because they deserve it. After working all day in my garden yesterday I appreciate how much work that was for them. And how exciting it is that they are actually doing it!

12/14 Tuesday: One. Long. Day.

In a nutshell: Erin and Kenzie showed up at my site ready to work but we were missing one very important thing: the plastic to line the garden beds. We didn’t need it on day one but on day two yes. So Kenzie and I went on a wild goose chase trying to find this plastic. We spent all day in Santiago trying to find it and literally after 6 hours of searching, the last store we went into had the plastic. We bought it and some other last minute necessities that were much easier to get a hold of and went back to my site. Gardens are hard but hopefully worth the sweat.

The Real Blog: Well the garden workshop has been going well, all things considered. I handed out 97 invitations and the 1st day 25 women showed up, the 2nd there were 18 women. I was hoping for at least 10 women without the handouts so the 12 hours of house visits I did paid off. The weather was great and although Kenz and Erin were a little late getting to my site, Dominicans are always really late anyways. Whenever they want to have a meeting or something they purposely say it’s like an hour before hand or if they say the actual time they want to meet up they add “American Time” at the end meaning that’s the time and that’s no joke! For example: “The meeting will be at 3 pm, American time.” Which I think is hilarious since this means they think Americans are always right on time. If they ever got there on time they would realize that I’m (like most Americans) generally about 5- 10 minutes late, ha!

Anyways, back to the point… so everything was going well. The women dug out the 2 garden beds the day before and today they were ready to lay down the plastic, fill the beds in and plant. One problem: no plastic. Erin said she would bring the seeds and the plastic for the project and she showed up empty handed. Luckily Kenzie had some seeds with her and I managed to get a small grant for about $70 USD the week before so I had some money to get the plastic. I figured I would just run out with Kenz the next day to find some in Navarrete. We thought it would be easy since the town closest to Kenzie is super crappy and even they sell plastic in the hardware stores. After an hour of driving around on a motorcycle looking for this stuff in Navarrete the next day we discovered it was harder to get than we thought and just decided to go to Santiago. The giant hardware store there had to have it.

We got to Santiago and it turns out, this plastic is incredibly elusive! No one has it but everyone thinks they know who sells it. And since we had no better ideas, we always followed the advice. We went to about 10 hardware stores, 2 green houses, a farm vet, walked around downtown with some random dude who decided to be our guide for a while without being asked, went to craft stores, decorating stores, we took this carro publico and that carro publico up town and down town… we were beginning to loose hope and were feeling very resentful towards Erin after about 6 hours and 4 or 5 miles of walking and sweating. As a last effort we got the bright idea of going to furniture stores and asking if they would sell us some of the protective plastic they use but no one would sell it. So we asked where they buy it and were given more directions.

We decided, for lack of other options, to keep on this trail and after following the directions, asking 3 other furniture stores and another green house, we found a store (amazingly close to where we began our search that morning in Santiago) that actually makes plastic. Sure it was in a ghetto area and Kenzie kept making comments about how mad she would be if we were robbed but it didn’t matter; when we walked into that store and saw the plastic our hearts so desired- we began yelling happily, hugged and nearly cried! I’m sure we looked completely insane to the workers in the teeny store but who cares?! I wasn’t going to have to go back to my community empty handed! I wasn’t going to have to tell the women to fill in the holes they had just done the day before and do raised bed gardens instead!

We bought the plastic and set out hoping to find some empty rice sacks quickly as we were already going to miss the whole presentation part of the workshop for the day and show up for the digging. Lucky for us we found a guy selling them on the side of the same ghetto road. He wanted to charge me 10 pesos a piece but I told him I would only pay 5 and we had a deal. That was the 2nd person that day who automatically told me 10 pesos 1st and then dropped it to 5. What the guy didn’t know was that I was actually quite tired and desperate at this point so I would have paid the 10 if it meant I didn’t have to walk anymore.

Kenz and I got the plastic and the rice bags (the bags are to nail to the stick fencing, protecting the garden), some Cokes and took off for home. I had asked a motorcycle driver to find me a sack of carbón which is a specific type of burnt wood that we needed as well. While Kenz and I were walking to the bus I called the motor guy and asked about the stuff. What stuff? He wanted to know. The carbon, I told him. Then he said that Carlo (the motorcycle man) wasn’t going to be back until 6 pm. I thought I was talking to Carlo… and 6pm?! I need this stuff by 4, I said to whomever I was talking to. I asked who I was talking to and the guy said he couldn’t tell me! By this point in the day, this really annoyed me and said fine but that if Carlo couldn’t get me the sack of carbon then he needed to give the 500 pesos I paid him to someone else who could get it. Then the guy on the phone told me to calm down and said, “Carlo who?” Are you kidding me? If it was a wrong number don’t you think the guy maybe would have thought to say that to me 5 minutes before since you have to buy a calling card to call anyone in this country and he was just wasting my minutes! I swear, sometimes…

We got back to the entrance of my site and I talked to the real Carlo in person who had gotten my carbón. Kenz and I showed up about 5 minutes after the women finished the presentation with Erin, which was perfect. I gave Kenz the materials and took off to my Escojo class to give the final, Erin had to leave, and Kenz took the women over to assemble the gardens. I delegated the exam to the Escojo promoter group and went back to the gardens. It was great. Sure there were only about 5 women working but they were all learning and they all have interest in this. I wasn’t interested in gardening before but I am so glad I did it. What a great community response! :)

12/13 Sunday: House Visits and Garden Workshop

In a nutshell: I went door to door giving out invites to go to a garden workshop a couple PCVs and I are giving Monday and Tuesday. I’m hoping giving a personal invite to a free something something where they can get free seeds seems intriguing and there will be a big turnout. I also rediscovered how much I enjoy house visits. After day 2 of 6 hours of passing out invites, finished going to nearly every single house in my community and I went to check on the garden area. It was supposed to be clean, and chopped up, ready to plant, and all the sticks needed to make the 2 beds and the fencing were supposed to be along side it. All I found was Earth full of weeds and grass. This is a problem. I talked with some people and tried to convince them to help me. I never even saw Ernesto (he got back late last night and will leave early tomorrow) and he leaves again tomorrow so I guess I can’t ask him. I think it will work out. And anyways, we have until 2 pm tomorrow to figure it out. Wish me luck!

The Real Blog: Yesterday and today I spent about 6 hours visiting each house in my community giving an invitation to go to a garden workshop we’re having in the Women’s Club Monday and Tuesday. Kenzie and Erin are coming to give charlas on this and then after we are going to make a garden. I was a little afraid that no one was going to go to it so I made invitations and walked to nearly all the houses to invite them personally. I have heard this works really well and I hope it pays off. I’ll be embarrassed if no one shows up, like it’s a flashing sign saying I’m not integrated in my community.

I got a lot of positive feed back when visiting each house and rediscovered that I really love visiting houses. It’s so fun here. For instance, yesterday by the time I went to my last house I was really cold. I caught the lady in the street and after doing this all day (with a break in the middle where I stopped at someone’s house with Anne and Tim to make no bake cookies:) I gave her the invite, explained what it was and could have left to go home and make dinner. Instead, we talked, she invited me in, we went in, drank pop (even though I was cold), her dog tried to bite me, and we watched tv together. (a really weird game show about sex) This would have been sooooo awkward in the States! But here, even though I can’t even really remember her name (I believe it is the feminine version of her husbands name though) we can do this. And I love it. I need to take better advantage of it. Today I was given a bag of yellow bananas as a gift from a family after a visit and another told me how appreciative they are of the work I do here, how they can’t count on the government or anything here but they can count on Peace Corps as Kevin came and actually gave them water as promised. It was a great feeling and I finished the day extra exhausted but really satisfied.

After my house visits I went to see how the progress was on the garden. Oney (Ernesto’s best bud) was supposed to clean and level the ground where we are putting the garden and also look for sticks to make each bed and enclose the garden. Mercedes and Santa were supposed to look for palm branches for the fencing and a bag of ash from their stoves. They were all supposed to try and get manure so it was dry by the time we had to use it. Oney got the manure and Santa had the ash and some palm branches. But that was everything. The ground is full of weeds and grass, even fallen a dead tree. We have no branches. I was acting a little nervous for show but really I just wanted to motivate them. I bet they could finish all of it in 1-2 hours. I just need to make sure they do it.

After I got back to my house, I was tired but for some reason decided to make no bake cookies for dinner, not a good idea on my calorie counting diet! I had just settled into bed around 8:30 when there was a knock on the door: Wandi. Strange since I can’t remember the last time he was at my house, the Mistoline fundraiser perhaps? Well we talked and, although he still says the root of the problem is my fault because I was the one who was mad 1st however long ago, he did apologize for how he has been acting and what he did to me in class. He also promised to apologize to the class for being such a jerk. Aside from the fact he took 90 minutes of my sleep time, I’m happy he came to talk. I’m tired. I’m going to sleep!

12/12 Saturday: A Change of Heart

In a nutshell: I need an attitude change. I am negative and feel used. Its hard to change your attitude but I am going to try to go about things in a different way and see where it gets me. For instance, when a motorcycle driver takes me somewhere, normally I get angry when they try to overcharge me but from now on, I’m going to overpay and see if they start treating me better or worse. I figure they may try to take even more advantage of me or they’ll respect me. An experiment. Also, I need stop being so American by measuring my self worth by my accomplishments. If I’m not busy, if I’m not getting results I feel like crap. But that’s so American. Lots of countries actually judge self worth by relationships and trust, rather than achievements and success. I want to do that as well. But that’s HARD. And another thing, when did I get so anal? I used to be so easy going but now I’m so high strung! Having my friend Jay visit me (who is a total hippie dude) made me realize I would make more friends and have more relationships if I just let it all go. But how? It’s so easy to feel that if I were more integrated into my community that they wouldn’t steal from me. If they were all friends with me or at least all respected me, then they would take care of me better and not steal. But is that true? It could be but on the other hand, it is a way to just blame myself? I’m so exhausted from it all. Its time for a change. I’m done complaining about it all and then doing the same old same old. I’m going to try it from a different angle and see where it gets me. May as well try.

12/9- 12/11: Enema, cell phone issues, bed bugs, car sick, downpour, artisan fair… what more is there in life?

In a nutshell: My fingers are too cold to type more. Sorry Deb.

The Real Blog: I am in a bad mood. I am crabby. I am annoyed. This is due to several things but I chose to pin all my problems on one man: Francisco, the front desk man in the Peace Corps office. This is because it is HE who told me he would be back with the phone I have been waiting for since October at 12 then didn’t show up until 2. Thus when I was walking to my bus stop, after passing the entire day simply waiting for him and nothing else, and was caught in a downpour with my super heavy bag- his face came to mind. Then when I got to my bus stop, I was late and missed the bus. The next bus was supposed to leave at 3:45, nearly an hour later, but left at 4:30. It really didn’t matter though since either way- 3:45 or 4:30, I am going to have to beg someone to take me up the mountain now since it will be dark and I will also have to pay double. Thanks Francisco.

Then when Francisco finally did get me the phone, he actually just got the same crappy model that broke on me 3 times before. Newsflash: “upgrade” at least should mean different model. And to top it off, he canceled the memory chip in my old phone so I had to reenter all the contacts in the new one! Then, after it all, he tells me I can just keep the loaner phone Anna gave me last month. The loaner phone he wouldn’t give me in October when mine broke? The loaner phone that will probably break before the end of my service seeing as how it’s more than a year old and thus ancient in the DR phone world? Yep, that one. ERRR! So, now as I sit here on the bus that is notorious for being freezing cold, and I am extra cold because I am still wet from the rain, I think of Francisco and wonder if he knows how much trouble he caused me by taking a 2 hour long lunch today and not giving me the promised phone before hand as promised. I’m sure he doesn’t.

But that was just today. Yesterday I went and talked to Lisette, the PC Doctor and asked about the weird red bites I have been getting all over my body for about two weeks and we determined that they were from bed bugs. Even better, I toted all my dirty laundry 5 hours from my house to the office so I could wash it in there, to save money on laundry this week with Minga and now I am going to have to have her wash all my sheets anyways.

Then Lisette tells me that since I hadn’t gone #2 in 7 days she wants to give me an ENEMA. Sorry dude but I am too young for that. “Is that really the first option that comes to mind?” I asked her. Ok, I convinced her to give me a laxative instead but the thing is, I was going to the Artisan fair downtown and didn’t want to poop my pants! The last time I took a laxative I had a very close call. She assured me I would be ok. I went to the fair with toilet paper in my purse just to be sure, saw some great stuff, and went back to the PC office with some friends later feeling oddly full.

About 10 minutes after I got back to the office it hit me and I bolted for the bathroom to do my business. About 2 minutes in, another PCV burst into the bathroom without knocking. It was awkward but we hugged afterwards to get over the moment quickly. Then I went to the Pen and had awful diarrhea for a few hours and vowed to take the enema next time.

UPDATE: When I got back to my site, my friend Jay was there with his Dominican friend waiting for me. Jay had called me the day before telling me he was at my house but I was in Santo Domingo so I suggested how to break into my house and he and his friend spent the night. I was happy to have him there when I arrived the next day, he also was a big help because he put the mattresses outside to sit in the sun, sprayed them with bug killer and took the sheets to Mingas to have them washed. When I got back, all we had to do was dust the mattresses with the powder Lisette gave me, make the beds with towels (since Minga had all my sheets) and hop in! Thank goodness!

12/8 Tuesday: Escojo gone bad

In a nutshell: Wandi has been a real butthead for what feels like a long time. He’s been ignoring me and being weird. Its been about a week since he came into my house even. So, imagine my surprise when he showed up at the Escojo class this week. Sure he was 20 minutes late but I didn’t even think he would go at all. We were playing Jeopardy to review for the final exam (which I am giving next week- THANK GOODNESS!!) which should be fun right? Long story short, Wandi wasn’t even on a team but freaked out when he thought I wasn’t being fair on a turn. Then the other kids freaked out. I tried to calm the others, with some success, but Wandi was ridiculous. I finally said if it bothered him so much that he couldn’t calm down he could leave. To which he said “Make me.” And this is why I am not a teacher. I was soooo mad. I walked outside and did the best thing I could- I called his dad. But of course, his dad is hours and hours away in a community working on a water system (and has been since July)- yes my project partner which my boss put there- and he has no cell phone service. So I did the craziest thing: I left a message. Dominicans never leave them, I mean NEVER. I have never left one for a Dominican. Ernesto called me back later that night and we talked about it, he promised to talk to Wandi the next day. Er, teaching bites.

12/7 Monday: Cockroach in my cereal, and I still ate the cornflakes.

In a nutshell: I really wanted to eat cornflakes and for once, I actually had some! I prepared my powdered milk and reached for the cereal. I was distraught to discover a large, live roach living in the cereal bag. But, I really wanted cornflakes. After pondering what I should do versus what I wanted, I came to a compromise. I took the bag outside, dumped out the top 2-3 inches of cereal along with Mr. Roach, and picked 1 cup of cereal out (sorting it well 1st in case there were cockroach poopies), and then poured the cereal in with my milk and ate it. It was satisfying but not like it could have been. Stupid roach.

12/3-12/4 Friday- Saturday: Brigada Verde Conference

In a nutshell: These conferences are very different that other conferences I have been to. It’s more like camping. All the kids slept on the floor in sleeping bags and the PCVs slept 2-3 to a bed on mattresses on the floor. There was no water (partly because someone left a tap open draining the water tank of what little water there was) so we all had to walk to the river to bathe each day and had to wash our faces/brush our teeth outside of the rooms with a cup full of water. We did tree planting activities and went on a nature hike. We used all plastic, reusable cups and washed our own dishes. We learned all about organic vs inorganic garbage and how to make art out of trash. It was a really good experience. But there were a few mishaps.

Mishaps: Well, long story short: I was not well informed about this conference at all. When I arrived at the meeting place, no one was there. I called another PCV and she told me it had been moved. So, 4 carro publicos later I finally got to the bus. Then, I also had no idea we were supposed to bring art supplies, sheets, blankets (it was cold), a swim suit or tennis shoes. Needless to say, I was ill prepared. Then there was the nature hike. The nature hike was interesting because I left nearly last with another PCV, three youth and a “guide” who works at the center. We ended up walking about a mile past the entrance to the river without knowing it. After we exhausted ourselves we came upon a person on a horse, coming from the opposite direction, who told us there were no people in front of us. Then the guide said that he knew where the entrance was but the other PCV and I were walking too fast which is what made him miss it. When we finally backtracked to the entrance we noticed the large sign indicating that we had indeed arrived to the entrance of the river.

12/1- 12/3: One year In Service Training.

In a nutshell: What is 1 year IST? It’s when you get together with your sector and talk about the last year; tools and challenges of the year and also when you “plan” for the next year. Well it went ok I suppose. It made me realize just how frustrated with my community I am. Aside from that, its always really fun getting together with everyone from the health and water group. We went to a baseball game (my 1st in country!, Las Aguilas against Las Estrellas) on Wednesday night and Thursday was Jay’s birthday so we had cake and played 2 truths and a lie and night. I don’t feel it necessary to talk about the training sessions because they’re kind of a waste of time. I had to leave early on Friday to get to my Brigada Verde conference but at least I was able to get some cake the night before!

11/28 Saturday: Que peña.

In a nutshell: Last night when I came back from Santo Domingo I stayed with my friend Helen and a Dominican family she knew in Santiago. I was pretty happy to stay somewhere for free, to be able to stay at the Peace Corps office later than I have ever stayed when having to return to site and for the fact that the next day I was able to get back to my site before 9 am still. The day was going well. Then I talked to Minga. She told me that someone stole a pair of my pants from the line while they were drying. Fantastic. I told Minga I thought someone was stealing my clothing a while back when a favorite tank top and sweater went MIA but she reassured me, saying it wasn’t possible. Now she’s sharing stories about how someone stole 2 pairs of her underwear recently and come to think of it, I’m pretty sure they swiped a few of mine as well. It’s always the favorites you know, they can’t steal the stuff with holes or that’s sun faded. But then, I suppose I wouldn’t steal those either.

I feel bad for Minga because she obviously feels very bad about it. She gave me two of her very Dominican pants with pink threading and some sequenced bling, accompanied by a brand new knock off purple Aeropostle shirt she just bought. I tried to say no no no but it just made her feel worse. Minga is now on a mission to find out who did it and of course people think it was the Haitians. There are a ton of people who walk around randomly selling clothing and most of them are Haitians. I could totally see a clothes vendor taking my stuff for obvious reasons but also because it would be immensely stupid for someone to take my shirt and then wear it around the campo. I think it’s safe to say I will never see my pants again, nor will I ever see the sweater or the tank top.

PS: Wandi is annoying.

11/25 Wednesday : To Santo Domingo, I looooove Thanksgiving!!!!!

In a nutshell: Ah, it’s that time again: Thanksgiving. I looooove Thanksgiving here. It’s fantastic. We all go to this country club and eat real Thanksgiving food, complete with green bean casserole, pies and turkey among other things. Some PCVs begin arriving in SD on Monday if they are lucky enough to be on the Thanksgiving Committee and they cook and cook and cook Monday- Thursday. They stay with an Embassy family for free the entire week. Then on Thanksgiving Day anyone can run in the Turkey Trot (6 K) and then we all go to a country club. The club is supposed to have wireless internet. It has a pool which is amazing! We have domino contests, a dance off and a talent show (which I will be performing in this year). We’re even playing water twister this year!!! It’s beyond fun. I can’t wait! :)

11/20- 22Friday- Sunday: Getting stood up in Cabarete

In a nutshell: I have been in contact with this woman from an organization that invites volunteers from all over the world to come and work here in the DR for something like 6 weeks. I met her last summer and have been trying (passively until recently) to meet up with her and discuss if we can make something happen in my community. Turns out she lives in Cabarete- which is where all the PCVs celebrate New Years- it’s touristy and beautiful. It also turns out that my friend Kenzie was going to be in Cabarete this weekend with her family and I was invited to stay with them. I called the woman from the organization, Andrea, and we set up a meeting Saturday for the morning. I was excited to maybe finally getting somewhere on something tangible. Well, I went out there Friday so I could be there Sat morning and she never called. I called her, left messages, emails and text messaged her. I even stayed an extra day hoping she would get back to me with no luck. Then Sunday I finally shut my phone off since it was about to die. I was pretty disappointed and annoyed. Thank goodness I was able to stay with Kenz’s family for free or else that would have been a HUGE waste of money. Granted I enjoyed myself at the beach, the good food with Kenzie’s family, meeting Kenzie’s family, wireless internet, comfortable bed…. It was nice but I of course still spent some money and had no meeting or headway to show for it. What a bummer.

(Update: Tuesday I checked my email and Andrea had written me telling me that it was no wonder that when she tried to call it wouldn’t go through seeing as my phone had died. The thing is, my phone wasn’t off until Sunday and there were no messages for me when I turned it back on a few hours later. Is it possible that she didn’t get any of my messages and randomly couldn’t reach me either? Why not email me? Then she said she would “make an effort” to come out to my site this week. SHE HAS A CAR!!! It took me over three hours to get home on Sunday. I will not act annoyed. I just want this to work out and want to be able to work together.)

11/19 Thursday: Mistoline is a pain in the butt with lazy kids

In a nutshell: My kids need to fundraise for some shirts that we will be making for an exchange in December in honor of World AIDS Day. (December 1st but we’re celebrating it the 6th) We got together to make something similar to Pine Sol called Mistoline and it was pretty much a disaster. The kids were fighting, refusing to do more than what they thought was their fair share of work and I was left compensation for they’re lack of work. They each worked for about an hour if you include time spent looking for bottles to put the Mistoline in, and cleaning the bottles- whereas I got stuck working for 3 or 4 hours. I’m hoping this trip boosts moral among the group or else I wouldn’t have done it. The kids are really getting on my nerves. I never did like kids….

The Real Blog: As I have said, my Escojo class has been a bit of a struggle this go around. So, I decided to invite my Escojo promoters instead of a few kids from class to the exchange for World AIDS day. We’re going to go to my friend Sarah’s site, meeting up with kids from like 10 other communities, and recognize those affected by HIV/AIDS. We decided that each participant should have a red shirt and so in October I made a design for a shirt for my kids. I thought it would be nice for them to have a shirt with something printed on it as opposed to just a plain red shirt; give our group a little pride. The thing is these shirts aren’t cheap to make. I went to SD during Halloween and was quoted about $400 pesos/shirt. So I told me kids they would have to fundraise for it. Maybe I teach in too much of a hands off manner… I’m not sure. But I can tell you, no one was motivated to do anything. I went to Santiago (making a special trip just for this), and got the recipe to make this stuff called Mistoline- which is like a flowery type of Pine Sol. People use it to clean their floors or what have you and to make it smell like perfume as opposed to dirt. (Everything always smells like dirt here) I knew it would be easy to sell and the profit margin is pretty large. I had the ingredients for a few days before I was able to coordinate with the kids to meet up and make it. They were each to bring 20 bottles, cleaned and with the labels taken off. This was an easy enough task since there is no trash pick up in my community and so it’s full of empty pop bottles.

The kids showed up and Yamelissa was refusing to wash the bottles telling me I should have to do it since she had to find the bottles. How rude is that!? Would you talk to your professor like that? Such a lack or respect, I need to stop hanging out with these kids outside of class. I pointed out the work I already had done (I had to prepare the day of, beginning at 8 while they were all about 30- 45 minutes late showing up) and the fact that I was going to use my own money to buy my shirt. Begrudgingly they began cleaning the bottles. Wouldn’t you know it; at the very start Wandi was pissed at me for telling him to shut up while I was trying to explain how to mix the ingredients. He then decided to leave and make it alone at his house. Three of the kids couldn’t come and so we were supposed to make an extra 60 bottles. I figured it was no big deal but it of course was. Vanji and Yamelissa stayed and made an extra 10 each but then just left, without even picking anything up or wiping anything off, leaving my house in disarray. Wandi made 13 and decided it as enough (although no one knew how many he had made until about noon since he was hiding how many he had done). Argeni actually pulled up a chair, making himself more comfortable while staring at Yamelissa and Vanji as they made an extra 10 bottles each and he refused to help. He only made 15. Everyone only worked for about 30 minutes and then they all left. I on the other hand was making stupid Mistoline from 8 am until 12:30. Not to mention there was no water in my water tap so I had to use water from my tank, which was nearly empty as well. I was getting pretty crabby by the whole situation but especially since it looked like I was going to have to bathe with my purchased, bottled water if the water from the aqueduct didn’t come back soon. Thank goodness for the little kids that hang out at my house and are always so helpful, they went and found me the other 47 bottles, cleaned them and took the labels off, helped me make the mixture, and helped clean it up.

After how the group was acting, I wouldn’t have even made the Mistoline but I feel like it will boost moral. I’m hoping this exchange will make the group a little stronger. I could have been a slave driver and argued with them, MAKING them finish but I’m exhausted. I try to motivate them but you have to pick your battles and it’s often easier to do it yourself. If I had had more energy or patience I would have had them stay and learn a little about responsibility and work but I just don’t have it in me.

But, karma strikes again. What the kids don’t realize is that they are going to have to sell all 20 bottles by Tuesday and collect the money. A lot of them I’m sure will sell them on “credit” where the people pay the 20 pesos when they have money. That’s fine but I don’t see how the customers are going to get 20 pesos in 5 days if they don’t have 20 pesos now. Remember, 35 pesos is $1 US. Hopefully it works out because I don’t want to have to front all the money for the shirts until they can gather it themselves.

11/15 Sunday: Miguel wants me to do what?

In a nutshell: When Ernesto came back this week from his job in Coutí, he informed me that him and Miguel talk nearly every day and Miguel wants Ernesto and I to visit 10 communities and invite 3 people from each to have a workshop about how to form Escojo groups in the 10 communities. Apparently Miguel has picked the 1st week in December to do this. Since Ernesto is only here one day a week (thanks to Miguel) he obviously can’t do this so it has been passed to me. I can’t do it the 1st week. I have training, a conference and my own World AIDS day. I’m mad. I don’t want to try and start 10 freaking Escojo groups at the same time and there aren’t grants for them either… so who is going to pay for them? One guess. Plus I’m mad that Miguel always is talking to Ernesto about things he wants US to do. I’m the PCV. I’m the one who will be doing the work. Miguel is my boss and if there is work he wants done, he needs to start talking me to directly. I called Miguel to clarify what it is he wants and he talked to be for less than 5 minutes then cut me off in mid sentence, telling me that he couldn’t continue the conversations. That if I had questions to ask Ernesto. Then he hung up. One of the few times in my life I was speechless. I just stared at my phone. And, I can’t even call Ernesto because where he is now he has no cell service. Thanks Miguel.

11/10 Tuesday: Adios Escojo and good riddance.

In a nutshell: My Escojo group this time around sucks. They don’t listen. We aren’t able to finish the classes because the kids are constantly talking. I have to tell the kids 3-4 times that class is starting to even get them into the classroom and then it still takes about 20 minutes to start. My Escojo promoters group thinks they’re above the rules and instead of setting good examples they huddle together and talk the entire time. During this last class two kids asked me if they could leave early because they live far away and it was getting dark. I said sure and went back to answering questions of some confused little girls. When I looked up, about 2/3 of the class had left. Apparently they were so busy talking with each other and were spending so much time paying attention to other kids that the didn’t realize we were still in class. When they saw the two girls leave they thought class was over and they left. I was pissed! I asked Vanji and Yamelissa if they told the kids they could go and they said no, they still had 2-3 pages of the presentation to go. That was it. I’d had it. I told the kids who were there that I was DONE teaching Escojo and that if there aren’t kids who want to learn, kids who don’t want to be in my class just because it’s the cool thing to do, that I was DONE.

The next day I met with my Escojo promoters and they convinced me not to cancel the class. I told them that I would give a midterm and the kids who didn’t pass weren’t going to be able to continue with the class. So the next class I gave a surprise exam. There were only 17 kids there to take the test and of the 17, 13 passed… a great surprise to me. The 4 that failed were younger and so we decided that we would just give them extra homework each week so they could grasp the concepts better.

Some time in October: Scary things

In a nutshell: There is no “in a nutshell” for this. It just needs to be read.

The Real Blog: Have I been here too long? Are freaky things getting so mundane that I don’t even think to write about them?! I realized the other day that I didn’t write about either of these 2 occurrences and they are ones that should be shared. Enjoy.

Story 1: This is random. One night as I was about to go to sleep, I was in my mosquito net and had just shut my computer down. I heard a mosquito right next to my ear buzzing and then suddenly it was in my ear!!!! I could feel it crawling around- YUCK! I instantly thought of two things: #1-a girl I know here had an awful ear infection it and turns out it was because a mosquito crawled into her ear and died. And #2- I thought of those bugs you hear about on the Discovery Channel or something, those bugs that crawl into your ear and then eat your brain, yikes! I was grossed out and concerned.

I jumped out of bed, grabbed my headlamp (since there was of course no power) and ran to the bathroom. I tried getting it out with tweezers but they didn’t fit. I tried looking into my ear but it was useless in the dark. I pondered my shower for a moment, thinking about trying to flush it as one would if they had something in their eye but I was afraid I would just push it in further!!! Seeing no other option however and feeling the nasty mosquito crawling in my ear, I stuck my head under the PVC tube and let the water fall in my ear, tipping my head a few times to dump the water and then feverishly inspecting the floor with my lamp to see if I could find the dead mosquito. I never saw it. I was tempted to call the PC Doctor but refrained since I was going to SD the next day for a medical checkup.

I went back to bed, made sure to lay with that ear down towards the pillow, made the pillow in the shape of a U so if the bug fell out, it wouldn’t get stuck in my ear, and tried to sleep while the water slowly trickled out of me ear- also feeling like it could be the mosquito leaving. Sick. The next day at the Dr.’s I had her check my ear and FYI: if you ever have a mosquito caught in your ear, rinsing it is the way to go. It was gone. Ya tu sabes.

Story 2: I went to Minga’s house one day, the day after I had brought her my laundry. She informed me that the clothing I had brought her… the clothing which I scooped up with my bare hands from the floor right next to my bed, to put in my laundry basket… that clothing, it had a scorpion in it. She discovered the scorpion when it jumped out as she dumped my pants into the washer. Did I mention that I am TERRIFIED of scorpions? I prefer tarantulas or snakes. And it was BY MY BED!!!! Probably living under it!!! And, I picked the clothing up with my bare hands!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Even Minga was freaked out, and she never freaks out about things that bite or sting. Scary, I told you.

11/5 Thursday: Preparing

In a nutshell: I am maybe going on a trip to Bonao to do an exchange between Ali’s kids and two of mine- Vanji and Wandi (they’re the ones who know how to the different ways to contaminate a river). In other news, one of my women canceled to go to this health promoter conference. It bothers me that out of 30 women in the Women’s Club, not even 3 want to go to this completely free conference where they will get lots of free stuff (although I didn’t tell them they would get free stuff because I don’t want them going because of that). If I can’t even get them to go to this, how am I supposed to get 5-10 of them to be the free working health promoters that Miguel wants?

The Real Blog: My friend Ali called me today and wanted to know if Vanji and Wandi could go to her site in Bonao this Sunday thru Monday to present their presentation on different ways one contaminates water. Turns out that Monday there’s no school so she was seeing if we could go out there Sunday-Monday. I told her I would see but I have the health promoter conference this weekend until Sunday so I would have to come back to my site, drop the women off, get the kids and then leave for Santiago again right away. The problem is that Wandi plays baseball and this weekend is going to be a far trip for his team, one that he was looking forward to. Also, Vanji’s parents are protective so I wasn’t sure if they would be ok with it. Wandi talked with his coach and now he can go so I’m just waiting to hear from Vanji. I hope she can go.

Then, I talked to the women who were supposed to go to the Health Promoter conference and wouldn’t you know it, 1 backed out. I hate working with this women’s group. Out of 30 some women in the group, not even 3 wanted to go. Well, forget that. I’m not going to finagle women into going on a completely free trip which is helping them. Miguel tells me I need to try other methods to get the women interested since one of the three main goals of health PCVs is to get women health promoters but there doesn’t seem to be interest here- which according to my goals, is a problem.

11/3 Tuesday: What a crappy day.

In a nutshell: Tuesday did not go well. I lost my treasured external hard drive (which I had just filled up), was sore from carrying my loaded backpack across the country again, was nearly late for my Escojo class, and Wandi was being as retarded as ever, annoying me by being mad at me for nothing again and acting like a freaking 5 year old. Then when I got to my class it was reaffirmed that my class sucks and I was feeling pretty down about it. Ah, my life sometimes… I tell you. Hopefully tomorrow is better.

The Real Blog: I got back to my site, tired from the long time in SD and from carrying my as always heavy hiking bag but had no time to recoup. I had to get to my Escojo class which was starting in 15 minutes. I would have been there sooner but for some reason the trip from SD to my house took about an hour longer than normal. I got to my class and felt really down. I feel like it’s a sucky Escojo class. The kids don’t listen, they’re too little, they don’t get concepts and I am losing motivation. Today I felt Bad but I booted 5 or 6 kids who were younger than 11. I told them PC told me I had to do it when I was in SD, which was a lie. I want the group to be better but I just don’t have the proper time to invest in it (or the proper motivation to invest the time into it). Is it too late now? Will they fail the final test no matter what? I feel down about my Brigada Verde as well class and want to restart that but how can I? What would I tell the kids? Um, sorry kids but this isn’t going as planned, I would like a do-over.

When I got back to my house after the Escojo class that I wasn’t even able to finish because it got too dark, I found that a tube or something was broken and so I wasn’t able to get any water and had to use the bottled water I buy to wash my face. I also realized I lost my $85 external hard drive in the PC office (hoping my friend Sarah can find it at the office but there has been issues with people just “loosing” them at the office) and my back was hurting me. I was so tired for some reason that I slept nearly the whole way on the bus from SD to Santiago. What’s wrong with me?

To make matters worse, Wandi was at my house driving me insane and of course he was mad at me for something and acting like a 5 year old. This was because I completely forgot that in the morning today we were supposed to meet up with a group of 6 other kids or so and talk to the coffee farmers. I was in SD a day longer than I wanted because my computer had a virus and dumped a presentation I spent two days working on, a presentation that I need for the Health Promoter conference this weekend. Errr, overall It wasn’t a good day.

(UPDATE: My external hard drive was found!!!!!!!! :D)

10/29 Thursday: To Santo Domingo, ick…

In a nutshell: I hate SD. It’s dirty and not safe. I get anxious still every time I’m there. My friend was robbed at gunpoint (the guy held it to HER HEAD!) directly in front of the hotel all us PCVs stay in, the Pen, about a month ago. (It’s the cheapest and closest to the office). The robber was probably staking out the Pen, waiting for a white person walking alone. I’m going to be in SD for a dentist and doctor appt. All PCVs get to go to the dentist once a year (gee, thanks US government, with all the sugar they put in stuff here I’ll be surprised if I don’t have 5 cavities.) and we are all required to get a checkup physical as well once a year (something I could do without). Oh well, at least my day today is going well. I got a free ride all the way to Santiago and saved 95 pesos!!! I used 40 of those frivolously on a 3 Musketeers bar and I’m planning on using 20 of those saved pesos on the Metro which will take me just a few blocks from the Pen. Still 35 pesos ahead! Not all is bad:)

The Real Blog: Don’t get me wrong: I’m glad to be going to Santo Domingo for free (eventually as soon as I get my reimbursement which could take months…) but I really hate SD. Sure, its nice to be around other PCVs, maybe get free lunch from Romeo, go to the Embassy pool when I’m not glued to the free internet in the office, be able to do laundry, have pretty much anything you need be available somewhere in the city… but it’s not safe man! I hate going here. I don’t know if I mentioned this or not but recently (about a month ago) my friend Randi was walking to the Pen (the hotel all PCVs use) from the PC Office and was robbed at gun point during the 3 blocks she was walking alone. Keep in mind that this didn’t go down like it did for me last Dec with some drugged out robber in a dark alley, downtown at 2 am- this happened in a nicer neighborhood at 8 pm where the streets are well lit and we all walk all the time. To make matters even more disturbing is that this happened right outside of the Pen and the guy had a getaway all set up and ready. He was obviously just sitting outside of the Pen waiting for someone to walk up alone. After what happened in Dec to Ry and me, I don’t even feel safe in groups and now it sucks even more not to feel safe on the short walk to the hotel we stay at.

On a better note; its 11:15 am right now and the day has been going very well. I woke up at 6 effort to try to catch a free ride to the bus station in Navarrete early enough to arrive in Santiago and catch the 9:45 bus to SD. Sadly, I woke up to find my water tank completely empty (having a lot of visitors last week really emptied it out fast and there hasn’t been water to refill it) which delayed my morning slightly since I had to find some water to wash dishes and get ready for the day. This delay pretty much squashed my chances of finding a quick bola to Navarrete since I wasn’t actively looking for one from 7am- 8am- the prime hours of bola-ing. Thus I ended up waiting with Minga for over an hour at her house, sitting in a plastic chair we set out along the road. Lucky for me, I did end up getting a bola- all the way to Santiago! Score!!!! And it saved me so much time I still caught the 9:45 bus!!! When I get to SD, I was not looking forward to the mile or so trip with my heavy bag from the bus stop, right past the PC Office to the crappy Pen to check in, and then back to the PC office. Then I remembered- I can get off early and take the Metro!!!!! (This country has like the shortest Metro ever, apparently was a better investment than say… the shotty education system here, and is waaaaaay nicer than any train transportation in Chicago- and for just 20 pesos its almost as good as a deal as the Skim Ice Man’s icy stick thingys (what the heck are those called?) for 5 pesos) The Metro will drop me off blocks from the Pen!! This makes me very happy since my book bag is loaded down with books to return to the office and a ton of stuff for the free box. And now I’m meeting my girl Regina at the Pen to walk together to Provacone, the best chicken place in the DR and for cheap too!!! Yessss! Ahhh, things are looking good. Hopefully my dentist isn’t a hack and today will be a day worth noting down! I have high hopes for this dude since his office actually called me to confirm my appt- the other dentist offices I called didn’t even ask for my number. Wish me luck!

10/28 Wednesday: More money please.

In a nutshell: Minga told me today that she wants me to not only pay her the 200 pesos/load of laundry but that she also wants me to buy the soap and softener (which I’m sure she’d use for the whole family). It is excessive that I am paying $200 pesos/load as it is. Most PCVs have someone offer to wash their clothing for free or they pay about $150 pesos per load (or they wash it themselves, no thank you). Anyways, it is a rip off to pay 200 plus soap! (not to mention she always returns all my clothing to be folded but inside out. Why even fold it?!) Minga got this idea in her head because her daughter washes clothing for one of the two very wealthy families in town and that’s what Margara gets paid. So, in Minga’s mind, that’s what I should pay her as well. Although I would love to give Minga more, I can’t afford to pay that much! I tried to explain this to Minga and she pretty much blew me off as cheap since I’m an American and so I must have money. Ugh, who knew laundry could be such a pain?

The Real Blog: Today I went to Minga’s to use her generator and to pick up my laundry when she dropped a bomb on me. She casually mentioned that she wanted me to buy the laundry softener and the detergent for my clothing on top of the 200 pesos I’m paying from now on! Let me point out that I have been asking around to see check prices of this service and I don’t know of ANY other PCV who is paying 200 pesos/load. But I really like Minga and felt bad about going from paying her $2000/month for lunch and laundry to paying her nothing since I stopped eating there. Plus, I don’t want an issue with her if I was to switch to someone else for laundry. And the other option? HA! please I sure don’t want to do it. Today she told me I need to spray bug killer in my house because when she was washing my pants a freaking scorpion jumped out and nearly stung her!!!! I picked that laundry up off my floor, obviously with my bare hands, and put it in the basket that morning before I brought it to her, ahhhh!!!

Despite the danger, 200 pesos is steep (most PCVs pay between 125-150/load and don’t buy soap) so there is no freaking way I’m buying the soap for the clothing as well. Not to mention, hello I can’t afford to pay so much in laundry. Well, I told Minga that we already decided on the price and I would really like to keep it at that. She said that her daughter washed clothes at the rich dude’s house “up” the mountain and she makes 200 plus soap. And she counts how much clothing constitutes a load. Minga tried doing that to me and I guilted her into NOT doing that to me. Well, I pointed out; rich man up the mountain is rich. I, sadly, am not. Does the word VOLUNTEER mean anything? (And the fact that’s my profession…. whew, sad) To that she rubbed her thumb, pointer and middle fingers together, making the money symbol and rolled her eyes at me as if to say since I’m American I just naturally have money, as simply and as easily as I have white skin, blue eyes and blonde hair. I mean with all that, I have to have money- I just think I don’t.

Fine, I shall go a different route. I told her that my brother from home was giving me money each month (they understand about remittances here of course with is being they’re number one or two source of income) but now his wife has cut him off from it since they just bought a new house. “Minga, now I’m just screwed and well, what can I do?” She seemed ok but I feel like she was mad. She thinks I’m cheap. I am.

Unfortunately, in this country that’s a big insult. I went to the colmado yesterday and said I didn’t want one type of cheese but the other since the 1st costs too much and people actually laughed out loud at me. This is something I’m pretty used to and no longer fazes me but later they made fun of me to my face and called me tacana which means cheap. This is bad to call someone. It should bug me but mostly I just see how it could be an issue with other things, like people not believing me when I tell them I don’t have $1000/month to spend on laundry. *sigh*

10/26 Monday: Back to site, Ernie got married!!!!!

In a nutshell: I was out of my site this weekend, at Kelly’s inaguartation for her library an also doing a Walk for the Cure. When I came back on Monday, I asked Mercedes where Ernestina was because she was selected to interview to be an Escojo regional coordinator! (A BIG deal!) “Ernie got married on Friday.” is what I was told. Are you kidding me.

The Real Blog: Friday was a fun day for me. I was at the waterfalls with my friends. Apparently it was a fun day for Ernie. Her 40-something year old boyfriend (who she has had about a week of personal contact with since July due to the fact he lives somewhere in the States) came back into country for the 2nd time in 25 years to surprise her. And wow, they got married. I’m still not sure what happened. It seems to be that she was visiting his mom’s house and he showed up to surprise her. Then they went to her house here in La Lomota to get some of her clothing so she could spend the night with him. Here, when someone spends the night with their boyfriend it means they’re married. Her mom was pissed. I mean, the dude just shows up here, helps her pack her bag and then takes her to his mother’s house (since he doesn’t have one here obviously).

I was upset. I cried. One minute Ernie was going to go to the interview in SD and the next she’s married. I called her to confirm from her mouth if she thought she was married an also to see if she was still going to the interview. She said she was married and couldn’t go to the meeting. PC has these interviews once a year and next year I’ll be done with my service. Ernie hasn’t even gone to a single meeting though since she got married. Can someone please explain to me what she’s planning on doing? Is she going to live at his mother’s house indefinitely? And they’re not legally married so she can kiss any chance of going to the States goodbye until they sign some documents. I am so upset about this. I feel for her. I feel like she had so much going for her and she just threw it away. She doesn’t need him to make her. She can make a life for herself and be independent. She’s smart and beautiful and determined. The world is hers! And, he has kids OLDER than her! Is this what it feels like when a parent watches their kid make a terrible decision that they can’t do anything about? It’s just so sad.

10/25 Sunday: Walk for the Cure Dominican Style

In a nutshell: I participated in a Walk for the Cure with my friend Kelly and another American who is teaching in Santiago, Lesa. We thought the walk was going to be pretty legit since we paid 600 pesos for transport and got a “free” T shirt but it was actually incredibly unorganized. Despite being in the area of the walk, and earnestly searching for about 3 hours, we were never able to find the entrance to the walk. This may be a let down to normal people but to us, the day over all was interesting and funny. It was a great and typical Dominican experience.

The Real Blog: Yesterday I went to Kelly’s site to support her library inauguration. Sunday morning we left with a group of people from her community and a few surrounding communities to go to SD to participate in a Walk for the Cure. There were a TON of people there. We lost our group pretty much right away but Kelly, Lesa and I managed to at least stick together. We thought the walk was going to be relatively organized since there were so many people and we each also received a T shirt which said things like, Yes You Can!! The issue was that, like everything Dominican, the walk was really unorganized and we couldn’t find the entrance, just the exit. We wandered around, asking and finally just sat down in the shade.

Other people were apparently confused as well. To our amusement, they began climbing this fence in front of us. One larger lady got to the top and began to chicken out. Then some random guy in the crowd climbed up and stuck her butt on his shoulders, like this was somehow helping. Her large rump was just hanging out there, wagging back and forth, with her bright yellow underwear begging for attention. Kelly, Lesa and I quietly stared. The woman seemed like she was going to be stuck there forever. I guess we weren’t the only people taking note because the crowd began chanting- YES YOU CAN!! YES YOU CAN!!! It worked and I guess she just needed a little encouragement. Before we knew it, her butt was up, off of Random Man’s shoulders and she was climbing down the other side. See, she could.

We wandered around looking for the entrance, with people telling us that it was “over there” for about 3 hours. Then we finally found it and we were told, as we were walking it, that the walk was over. It was a little upsetting but also reassuring since we were wondering why so many people were taking breaks along the “walk” at colmados drinking beer.

So, 600 pesos, a free shirt, and 5 hours of driving later we found that we didn’t even get to walk the walk but the day overall was pretty dang humorous and quite the Dominican experience. I was glad I went.

10/23 Friday: 27 Waterfalls: Round TWO!!!

The Real Blog: While the PCVs were in my site for the meeting we decided to plan a trip to the 27 waterfalls. It was a hoot. Because it’s the dry season we weren’t able to do all 27 for lack of water but we did like 25 and it was fun. All of the health PCVs in my group either have a bf from the States or they have at least dated a Dominican, all the Health PCVs of my group that is, except for me. Thanks to this, my girls are constantly trying to set me up with a Dominican, like it’s their mission in life. Right when we were at the beginning of the trip, I fell behind the group because I was tying my shoe and when I caught up, the guide had our group divided into who is married/dating and who is single. Well, walking up last all my friends were like… Ohhhh, she’s single and lives super close! Well, that did it and I had a personal guide the entire trip. Kenzie fell twice, Jess almost fell at least 3 times and Randi fell once or twice but I never fell. That’s because the guide insisted on holding my hand the whole time. And he gave me his number afterwards. No discount though, dang it. (Is that wrong of me?) Fear not, there will be no phone calls made to Jorge.

10/22 Thursday: Meeting with Miguel

In a nutshell: My boss, Miguel decided to have a ‘Health Field Day” at my house today. He didn’t tell us what time to meet and so he showed up 4 hours before the rest of the group. I thought he acted very rude to Mercedes who got stuck preparing lunch for 10 people with about 2 hours notice. Then he took a nap on her porch. After that we had our meeting which should have really been a meeting between Miguel and two other PCVs since Randi, Jess and I were sitting there listening and that’s it. It was a weird day.

The Real Blog: What a mess. Miguel asked me in September right before I asked him for a raise if we could have a meeting with a few other PCVs at my house at some point. Sure I said. Later I received an email from his secretary saying that my health group was going having a meeting Oct 22nd at my house. Miguel neglected to mention in the email that we were going to have the meeting at my house (the one person who is furthest from the capital) in the morning, well there was no time listed at all. He has never come to my site in the morning since it’s so far from SD so we all assumed that he was be there in the afternoon. Imagine my surprise when I got back from running, was all sweaty and gross and then discovered Miguel there in the road in front of my house. Carumba!

Since the other PCVs were still in SD, Miguel and I had 4 hours alone together. The first order of business? Lunch. He didn’t talk to Mercedes about lunch or anything but assumed she would make lunch for 10 people. But she wasn’t even home; she was in Santiago for the morning. So poor Ernie got stuck with the job. And Ernie was sick! Her whole upper lip was swollen because of a problem with a front tooth. (Looked like she needed a root canal) Miguel told her to make a grocery list for lunch and then he inspected it. He told her that it just wouldn’t do, we needed at least 2 chickens and we needed avocado and while we were at it, he was hungry now and wanted some eggs- scrambled and with crackers. But if they’re not a certain type of egg don’t bother. I was embarrassed. Thank goodness Mercedes did come back around 10 to help. When her and her family was eating, Mercedes gave him lunch from their lunches so he wouldn’t have to wait. When he was done, he asked for the burnt rice at the bottom of the pot (sounds gross but its actually the treat, its good and crunchy and tastes like popcorn, mmmm:) But Mercedes had already filled the pot with water and more rice, making lunch for the rest of the group that was arriving. Miguel wasn’t happy and wouldn’t drop it. Finally she said that she would give him the con con from the next batch. How rude can a person be!?

I wanted to shower. I was sticky from sweat still. I needed to shower but it would have looked inexcusably horrible if I just left him there and showered. (Even though we weren’t even talking; he was on the phone the ENITRE time and I was just staring off in space) Thank goodness Mark’s project partner randomly showed up, freeing me to shower. After about 10 minutes I noticed I didn’t hear any talking. When I went back out there I saw that Miguel had asked Mercedes for her couch cushions and was sleeping (complete with snoring) on her front porch. Why not?

About 30 minutes into Miguel’s nap, the other PCVs finally showed up. We ate and then went to my house. Miguel gave everyone money for their transportation and then per diem. Then he told us we had to each pay $200 pesos for lunch! I could have eaten a sandwich in my house for free, ugh! After that we had the meeting, which included about 5- 10 minutes with each PCV except Meridith and Kenz, who kind of share projects since they live really close. Miguel pretty much interrogated them. It was annoying. Plus we were only allowed to talk about three specific things; he didn’t want to hear about anything else. Which meant the only thing I could talk that I was doing was Escojo. I am doing other stuff than that but it’s not worth talking about I guess.

After Miguel left I had my Escojo class. I went to it and the other girls went for a run and then began preparing dinner. I have never made so many tostones in my life: THIRTEEN PLANTAINS I peeled cut up and fried. And it was soooo good:)

10/20 Tuesday: New PCV by ME!!!!!

In a nutshell: The 1st 6 months of service are hardest but you adjust and it gets easier. Jenn, the brand new water PCV who lives super close to me, reminds me how I felt a year ago and it makes me glad that time is past me now.

The Real Blog: Man, am I glad my 1st year of service is DONE! I am so glad I went through it but I am happy it’s in the past. It’s easy to forget how crappy I felt during those first 3 months in site until I went to talk with the new PCV, Jenn, who just swore in and lives very close to me. I really like that girl. She is sooo sweet and reminds me a lot of myself when I got to my site. Things suck sooooo bad but you barely say how miserable you are out loud because that would be recognizing it and thus making it worse.

When I visited her I asked how she felt and she slowly and timidly gave me the type of answers I would have given a year ago. Overwhelmed. Tired. Anxious. Walking on egg shells. And a plethora of other similar feelings. I told her not to worry; I swear it WILL get better. In fact, I hardly remembered all emotion until she told me how she was feeling. Her community is much more protective than mine. They wouldn’t even let her go walking to meet me at 6:30 am. This is because they say a Haitian raped a young girl a few years back. The thing is, it is not uncommon that people say Haitians do stuff to them. No one questions it, they just go and find Haitians and take justice into their own hands. I don’t know what happened to the Haitian family but I know that the Dominicans went looking for the accused and his family.

Anyways, the day we were supposed to walk I went to the intersection where we said we would meet and waited, then just walked to her house. That’s when she told me how she felt. Poor girl. To any person who’s thinking of doing PC: the 1st 10 weeks suck because of the strict minute by minute training schedule and overwhelming culture but aren’t so bad because you’re with other PCTs. The 1st 3 months in site are harder because you don’t have your PCV buddies by your side. But, after that you figure it out and it gets better. Keep your head up Jenn and I’m just on the other side of the mountain so I’ll come by often.

10/18 Sunday: Marry for Business, who needs love?

In a nutshell: I have had two people ask me since I’ve been back from the States if I knew someone they could marry “for business” Both of them were married with families. People here think that the streets are gold in the US and if you go there you will get rich and live rich like all the other people. They don’t understand that immigrants who don’t speak English have it very rough in the States. I can’t convince them.

The Real Blog: I would like to talk about an interesting interaction that occurred between me and the Disco Man, Tono. I am not particularly found of this man since when my mom and sister were here for my birthday he charged us double for everything but of course didn’t tell us it would be double until after we had already drank it all. Then when Wandi told him that some of the stuff was his, Tono lowered the price of Wandi’s stuff but kept the high price for my stuff. When Wandi argued with him, Tono said, “What, like these people don’t have money?” I have not been a fan since.

About two days ago I went to Tono’s colmado to get something and he said he wanted to have a serious talk with me. He asked if I knew anyone from the States who would marry him for business. Tolo had approached me about this before as well, trying to marry off his son (who is married with 4 kids) to someone in the States. I told Tono the same thing I told Tolo, I don’t know anyone like that and aren’t you married? Tono told me timidly that he wasn’t married (as his teenage daughter folded laundry behind us). Tono told me he wasn’t making any money with his business (to me it seems that by all Dominican standards he’s doing well for himself) and he wanted to go to Nueba Yorl (how they say New York which is what they call the entire USA) to make the big bucks.

People are so mislead here. They think that if they can get to the States they will make tons of money. For instance when I was on the bus today coming home from Santiago, I was talking to some university student who didn’t believe me when I told him not all American’s are rich. That right now there is the highest unemployment rate in a loooooong time. How can people have money if they don’t have jobs? The guy didn’t believe me. Go figure.

10/16 Friday: The 1 yr Slump?

Is it just me? Am I the only one who doesn’t have the drive to go out into the community and walk around? Am I the only one who, when there is power, stays in her house for a looooooong time watching 11 straight episodes of Entourage? Thankfully, no. I have been talking with other PCVs in my group and while we all feel ok, not depressed or anything, all of us are feeling very blah and have no desire to leave the house. I find that weird since I thought that normally at the 1 year people have a surge of energy and drive. I hope that wasn’t that week I had about two weeks back… I talked with my friend Kelly today and she didn’t leave her house until 12:30. It’s nearly 2:30 now and here I am, still inside. I can somewhat justify it though since I was trying to finish a grant for my stove project. Also, I had plans to go walking this morning but Vanji ditched me. See, I’m doing stuff!

Besides, the 1st step is recognizing the issue right? Another possible issue: should I feel bad when the 8 year old neighbor girl really wants to clean my bathroom? So I let her and give her a few tips too (you missed a spot….) Is that wrong? Something tells me it should be but at the same time, if she wants to do it.

10/14 Thursday: Rudeness

In a nutshell: I have morphed into a rude machine. It’s the culture here!!! You can say things in Spanish that you can’t say in English. When I went home in September I was told by no less than 5 people that I was being rude. I didn’t mean to. It’s just the Dominican coming out in me. When I go home, please have patience and let me know that I’m being rude.

The Real Blog: Dominicans are rude. But then, as I was informed when I went home for my visit, so am I. I was always a blunt person before coming to the DR but the culture here has thrown me over the edge. I was offended when my brother and his fiancé told me I was rude. I felt bad. But, that’s because I know they’re right. I’ve talked with several PCVs about this since and we have come to the collective conclusion: this culture makes you “rude” by all American standards. The problem is that you will not be heard here if you talk like Americans talk, walking on eggs with all the political correctness BS. You know, this lifestyle can for sure be offensive but I have to say I prefer it on some levels. To Americans: can we please drop all the fancy dancing along the words we can’t say and just simply say it like it is? Then, lets not be pissy afterwards because Jane said something blunt, but in reality, completely true. In a past relationship I was accused of being “emotionally challenged”. I still counter that, even more so now. I am emotional. I am sensitive. But I also say it like it is and listen to it being told to me in the same manner. I’m just maybe too extreme for American values now. Take last night for instance.

I was on my front porch when Franklin came by and asked me if I wanted to go down to the continuing wake down at Tolo’s parent’s house (this was a big night since it was night 8 since the death and according to tradition it’s the night that the dead try to wake back up). I hadn’t been out much lately… pretty much since I got back from the States to tell you the truth… so I said sure, let’s party it up at the wake. I walked “down” to it with him and another dude and sat at a table with three guys and Vanji. During the 2 hours or so that we hung out, we had a good time and when I went to leave Franklin was being a baby throwing a little tantrum (that no one thought anything of) since he wanted me and Vanji to stay. It was his 2nd little fit he threw. He’s 20.

On the way back, I began reflecting about our conversations, of which I felt indifferent. During the 120 minutes conversing, I was called lazy, asked if I ever get sick of sleeping, told I didn’t have a real job, told I never leave my “cave”, told it was apparent I wasn’t exercising right now, was at least 6 times pressured to take shots of rum, called a child, called an old lady (an insult here which I think is HILAROUS so it never has the same effect on me as on a Dominican), and called snotty… those being the ones I can think of off of the top of my head. If this was said to me in English I probably would have gone home and cried. But there is something magical about Spanish. You have to be blunt and when people are blunt with you, you just are blunt right back. In English it’s rude. In Spanish it’s normal, don’t take it personal. When I went home to the States, I crossed the line and felt bad about it. I wouldn’t have even noticed it if it weren’t pointed out to me. Imagine the monster I’ll be in even another year after this!!! I can see it now that only my PCV buddies will want to talk to me.

The point of all this: when I go home, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE cut me a lot of slack and tell me politely if speaking in English, or with as little tact as possible if speaking in Spanish, that I was being rude by all American standards. And I’ll work on it. I promise.

10/14 Wednesday: The last two days: Down, Up, Up, Up, Tragic, Drama

In a nutshell: Three girls in my Escojo group bailed mid-class yesterday despite the fact they were supposed to be teaching the class. Rumor has it, they were mad that they were not being giving enough freedom to teach the class. Instead of talking about this with me, they left. Great idea!

I should be getting my water filters soooon from that water training I had in June. Its great news but I have a lot of work to do before then.

Inflation here is MAD!

I love the view here and want to take it home.

A ton of ants go into my peanut butter, surprising me and biting my hands really well before I filled the container up with water and watched them all drown. I then dumped out the water and the ants and made my sandwich. Yum.

Noel is mad at me once again, and ignoring me. This time he’s ignoring me because he thinks I was ignoring him 1st so he’s going to do it back. Only thing is, I’m not ignoring him. I’m getting really annoyed with the level of maturity I encounter daily, or rather the lack of maturity. I mean, I am REALLY sick of it. I think I need to get away for some R&R time.

The Real Blog: Let’s start with the down: yesterday I wanted to kill three girls in my Escojo group. It was their turn to teach the class and when Wandi asked me if he could read something, not remembering that it was the girls who were teaching the class, I said sure. No big deal right? Easy mistake? Well, the three girls, Vanji, Ernie and Jamalissa decided it was a big deal and, without saying ANYTHING to me, they left. Yep, they just up and left the class. I was really mad when I found out. And of course Wandi makes things even more aggravating with his comments like, “They are such bad people, leaving like that. I told them not to go.” Shut up dude. I changed the dates of our meetings together from Fridays to Wednesdays but 4 of the 7 kids in the group won’t know that now. Why is it 4 and not just the 3 girls you ask? Because one of the boys didn’t feel like going yesterday so he didn’t go. Great group huh?

Now for some good news. I emailed the contact person for the Rotary Club again to check on the water filers and she had some guy call me back about 30 minutes after I sent the email. He said he could get them to me after the 1st of November! That’s waaaaay sooner than I anticipated them. I’m excited but at the same time, dang I have a lot of work to do! I have to change the list of people receiving the filters (long story) and collect the 500 pesos per house/recipient and I also was going to make it a requirement that they go to two or three classes of mine but first I have to make up the classes!!! It’s actually a lot of work.

On top of that, today I went around to get prices for my stove project. I need to write a budget for the grant I’m writing. I was talking to a water PCV friend, Mark, and he told me that prices change so much that when the water PCVs make their budgets they have to use the most expensive price and then add 35% because by the time the money comes in, prices have gone up that much. Inflation here is nuts.

Another “up”, when I was coming back from Navarrete today I was really enjoying the view. It’s so break taking. I wish there was some way to put it in my pocket and save it for when I’m in the States. I also wish that in the States I could always have muchachas to wash my dishes and sweep my house (although I’ll more than likely have carpet so I’ll need them to vacuum). In a perfect world…

Here’s some almost tragic news: When I opened my jar of Peter Pan peanut butter (it was on special, FYI Jiffy is still the best. Jiffy wasn’t on special) I was reminded of why I normally keep it in the fridge: ants. Despite the fact that the lid was screwed on tight, I was assaulted by biting ants when I opened the jar. I was upset but filled it up with some water and drowned the suckers. Some insects last for a long time in water, ants aren’t one of them. I tossed the water and then tossed the ants and proceeded to make my pb & j. It was delicious.

Want some drama? The word on the street is that Noel thinks I’m not talking to him. I have no idea why except that I haven’t been going out of my way to be nice to him or talk to him so now he thinks I’m ignoring him. As a result, he’s ignoring me. How retarded. I’m not going to acknowledge this issue. When we’re around each other and a topic comes up, we’ll talk. Until then, let him think I’m mad. I’m over it.

10/9 Friday: Escojo National Conference in SD; yeah it’s kind of a BIG deal.

In a nutshell: Today was the day that we had to leave to go to the Capital for the Escojo national conference, something that comes just once a year. We left at 7:01 am- one minute late and it was my fault (the girls showed up at my house 10 minutes early). I would like to note once again that the DR is known for everyone being like 30- 45 minutes late but it’s not the case in my community, they’re generally pretty punctual. It’s weird.

Anyways, we headed for Santiago where we waited for Mark and Sarah with their kids and also my friend Beth’s kid (who I said I could take since she was in SD sick)and then made the hike together on the bus to SD. I loved it because the girls I took, like nearly everyone if not everyone in my Escojo class, have never been to their country’s capital and so they were REALLY excited. Not to mention they are both really poor (one comes from a Haitian family) and unlike the other kids I’ve brought, they each only had a single small book bag with their best clothing and other contents for the next three days. The conference is a great example of how PCVs are able to really impact kids even if for a few days, giving the opportunities that they may not get again.

10/8 Thursday: Brigada Verde elections= FUNNY

In a nutshell: My BV class had elections and so now we’re legit. Wandi bribed the crowd behind my back with my suckers for the class and as a result was successfully elected treasurer aka fundraiser man… hehe, what a crappy job. There was a committee formed during elections and this committee and I will be going to talk to a coffee farmer on Thursday (in the hot hot sun) about ways to not throw the coffee seed-pod thingys into the river which pollute it and make it unusable and stinky. Yay!

Today was the 2nd BV class and I wasn’t sure if we were even going to have a class. The school randomly didn’t have class yesterday or today and so it depended on whether I could get a hold of the key to the school so we even had a place for it and also on whether kids showed up. Last Tuesday when I went to have Escojo class, school had gotten out early and about 1/3 of the kids didn’t stick around the 20 minutes in between. They thought that I wasn’t going to show up so they left. I was annoyed and told them that I wasn’t like that. When I said we were having class, I meant we were having class that we would always have it unless something really bad happened (like serious injury or death). But they’re used to teachers just not showing up so they thought it was no big deal I wasn’t there. Class starts at 5:30 though, not after school which was something I think they were confused about.

Anyways, back to BV… so to my amazement pretty much everyone showed up and we had class. The BV manual is pretty crappy making it difficult to use so, for lack of material, I decided to take up some time and we would have formal elections. I based them off of my experience from when I was an RA in the dorms. I thought it was really funny. It went over well, all things considered. Wandi ended up being the treasurer but I found out it was only because he was being very “Dominican-Politician” and told them if they voted for him he would give them a sucker… one of MY suckers for the class. I wondered how in the world he got them chanting for him in the 5 seconds I was out of the class…

I’m excited because this Thursday the BV Committee and I are going up to the coffee farmers to talk to them about alternative methods of disposal of their coffee seed pods. Right now they leave them in a pile and then when it rains the empty pods flow into the river and rot. It stinks and no one downstream can use the river. I’m not looking forward to the fact we have to walk there at 1 pm in the full sun but I am REALLY excited for the prospect of doing something productive and tangible, motivating my kids as well as myself.

10/6 Tuesday: Tolo’s Dad dies at 92 years old

In a nutshell: It is very awkward when someone dies. VERY. I deliberately waited to go visit Tolo until after my Escojo class (which was about 6 hours after his dad died) and when I got there he was STILL screaming and crying. Not that I’m against that, do whatever you need to do but I mean that’s a real example of stamina. When I walked up to him he hugged me super tight and cried, as he had been doing with every single person who walked in. I felt really bad for Tolo but thanks to my 4 years in the old folks home, I’m used to the dealing with death of the elderly so I wasn’t feeling particularly depressed of this man’s passing. Also, I had never even met his dad since he had been sickly and bedridden since I arrived to my site. Unhealthy and 92; it was time to go, wasn’t it?

The part I feel weird about is that everyone goes there and hangs out all day. It’s like big party where people aren’t supposed to laugh loud. Everyone uses any reason it to get together and chill in this country and so the road was lined with people and cars; even when I got there at 8:30 at night. Then, I’m supposed to say something to the degree of “sharing your pain with you” when I go up to talk to the family of the deceased. To me, its nice but it’s just not me dude. I can’t say that to someone, least of all my Don!!! So, I didn’t say anything, which a lot of the time is just as good or better, right? I do really like the way the community supports one another though. I wonder if it makes it easier or more of a burden since in the following days (the next 9) people come to your house during a specific hour (for Tolo’s mom, its between 5 and 6) and everyone gets juice and a cookie. I feel like I would like the support but a few days later would want to be alone to be depressed for a while, not handing out juice and cookies.

Anyways, when I went there that first night after he died, I felt bad leaving so I hung out for like 3 hours, trying to be supportive. Even though I hate small talk, I’m glad I was there. Despite this, the next day I skipped out on the part when they put the body in the cemetery. Minga took me to one of those on my site visit when I first got to La Lomota and I was horrified. Everyone was crying and screaming. Then Minga, literally in the middle of crying herself, stopped for a minute and introduced me very thoroughly. Yes, life here is different.

10/4 Sunday: Happy birthday Aaron and Ali!

In a nutshell: Can you believe that I saw a tarantula and actually forgot to write about it? I mean, really! What is this world coming to? It would outside of my bathroom at night and Wandi killed it with a rock. Adios, farewell and vaya con Dios. I went to another PCVs house for the weekend to celebrate Ali’s birthday (that’s where she wanted to go). We went to the beach and it turns out there had been an incident with jellyfish stinging people in the past. The only reason I knew this was because I had just learned the word for jellyfish that same week. I was pretty pleased with myself. The beach was nice but there were a lot of mosquitoes since we got caught there at dusk. I was reflecting about how the PCV we were visiting is going to be done with service in about a month and thinking about how she must be feeling. That’ll be me in a year. I think my COS (close of service) date is like the 25th of Oct. We’ll see if I can say goodbye or if I’ll extend for a bit. Time will tell:)

Before I begin about my weekend I would like to say that I must have too much time on the island. I saw a tarantula (a BIG one) and actually FORGOT to write about it till right now, like a week later!!!!! Here’s what happened: It was a peaceful night and I had conned Wandi into watering the garden for the 2nd time that day with me helping minimally. He walked ahead to the small garden area by my house (the tree truck which used to be the seedling bed) and said, hey look! It’s a tarantula. I said, Don’t kill it!!! I want to see it alive 1st! So I booked it over and sure enough, there was the big sucker. Wandi squashed it with a rock and its torso/hind end and some legs went flying. It was kind of sick but I learned something: they sure squish different than I would expect. They’re kind of airy and I bet they’re lighter than they seem. According to Bear Grills (who did an episode in the DR in Feb) the tarantula’s bite here “liquefies flesh”. I bet that would be way sicker than seeing a few tarantula legs and butt go sailing through the air unattached to anything.

On a happier note, what did I do for the weekend? Well, it was my friend, Ali’s, birthday and she wanted to visit a health PVC who is about to finish her service- Beth. So, we went through La Isabella to Beth’s site. Her house is cool. The first day we got there we didn’t do anything but hang out and talk. The next day we were supposed to go to the beach early, or so we thought. It turns out that Beth is building a library/community center and the guy who was taking us to the beach was working in the morning on that. So he said he would be by to get us at 1:30 or 2 and he showed up at 3:30. Typical Dominican time. Sometimes I’m glad my community is on time.

The beach was beautiful. Sorry, I forgot my camera so there will be no pics. We ate fried fish and fried sweet potato which were both delicious. The only issues were (1) the kids were talking about how the last time they were here Beth got something-ed by a medusa. Lucky for me, earlier that same week I learned the word for jellyfish: medusa (thanks Sarah and kids for sending me back with curtains you decorated with tropical creatures that had the Dominicans in my house pointing and playing the “And What’s That?” game.). Apparently, sometimes schools or clans or cults or whatever you want to call the little jellyfish groups hang out at that beach. I was scared. This girl from northern IL has never experienced a jellyfish sting. Ouch!

Another bad thing was that the people we were with ordered food that took forever and we ended up being on the beach at dusk. If there is ever a time to get dengue or malaria, dusk on the beach is it. Even though we were cold, we went into the water to try to avoid the mosquitoes but the little stalkers still followed us out into the water, biting our faces. Bummer.

The way home was so fun. We were in the back of a pick up truck, driving along with the 7 kids or so that were with us singing at least 20 different songs. They were singing them together for about 10 seconds and then when no one knew the words they switched to a new song. I wondered about Beth, thinking that this would probably be the last time she did this with her kids and how she felt about such a transitional time. I’ll be done next October so that will be me a year from now. I think I’ll be really sad about it. I’ve been talking to a lot of people who are about to leave and they told me the last three months are as bad as the 1st three in country; they suck big time. Even if you’re not best buds with people in your community, it’s harder than leaving home because when you left home you knew you would be back in two years. Whereas this even if you visit you won’t have it the same. I mean for instance, when you come back to visit where will you stay? With your old Doña? (Yeah because the 1st time around was such a hoot!) You wouldn’t get the feeling of it again unless you could just hang out for at least a few days and do you want to live with Doña for a few days again? Don’t get me wrong, Beth is ready to go as are the other PCVs. There’s no place like home and we all miss home but it’s hard leaving a stage in your life I suppose. Even one that’s been a rough ride. I’m glad I don’t have to deal with all that right now. I’ll put off thinking about it for another 11 months or so.

Hi everyone. So, I know I haven’t posted in like 2 months but don’t you worry! I have been writing. Its just that while I was in the States Best Buy had my computer the entire time and after that I haven’t been able to post it for some reason. So, here it is. My blog for the rest of August, allll of September and some of October. For those of you who want to keep up but don’t want to read it all, I started my “in a nutshell” part. It doesn’t explain things well but it gives a very quick sum of. Enjoy!

9/30 Wednesday: No money and no electricity= a big bummer. My Escojo group lets me down.

In a nutshell: I am broke. There hasn’t been power. The director of the school made my Escojo class switch to a room with no tables since there’s less stuff to touch. Ernie called the cleaning ladies lazy and liars in front of my class. I had to kick my first kid out of class since he wasn’t being respectful. The class is full of 9 year olds which is weird for me since it’s a SEX ED CLASS!!! They’re supposed to be at least 11 but I feel bad kicking them out after they’ve been participating for 5 weeks. My Escojo promoters decided not to show up for our meeting yesterday for some reason and now I don’t know what they’re going to do for class next week. I plan on laying the guilt trip on thick. I went to Anne’s and got info to get going on a stove project I would like to do here. I put up a bunch of signs advertising my new environmental youth group, Brigada Verde, and now I’m a teeny nervous that the attendance will be more than I can handle. Vamos a ver.

Friday can not come soon enough. Its payday tomorrow but I won’t be going into town until Friday when I go to Santiago for my friend Ali’s birthday. Despite the fact I’ve been keeping plenty busy, the week has never moved so slowly. Let me say that between Monday and Tuesday there was only 4 hours with power; 2 of which I spent at the school giving my Escojo class. So there hasn’t been any blogging or movie watching sadly and it was the first time my phone was dead for about a half day, which may be a good thing since, without the distraction of Harry Potter, I’ve been pretty productive this week as planned.

In my Escojo class Humberto made a new rule that my group wasn’t able to use the classroom we normally use (even though we haven’t had class since he kind of told me that the kids were touching stuff in the other classroom) and we will now have to have class in a room without tables. Then he came into class at the beginning and lectured them about not touching stuff. I agree with that but considering how formal he has been with me about stuff (I had to get a permission from him just to enter the classrooms to ask if I could talk about Brigada Verde- the environmental group I’m starting) I would have expected him to at least tell me that he was planning on doing that. Especially since he had a perfect opportunity when I spoke to him before class that day to get the note to enter the class.

Well, right after his speech, Ernie decided to tell him, in front of the entire class, basically that the cleaning ladies were just lazy and they were lying. That they said we were dirtying stuff in the other Escojo class but really, they just didn’t want to clean it and so they said we made it dirty after they had cleaned. Oh boy.

I had to give the boot to my first student. That’s right, I kicked one out. He was talking a LOT and actually kept leaving the class to talk to his friends and then come back in, how rude! This class isn’t going as smoothly as the last one that’s for sure. I also am aware of the fact that about 1/3 of the class is under the age of 11- which is against an Escojo rule. I’m annoyed that Ernie let these kids in when she confirmed the age rule with me I was in the States, they can join as they are at least 11. So, now I feel bad since I don’t want to just kick them out… I’m going to have to sort them out of the next class and tell them they can be in Brigada Verde or something. It’s not that big of a deal really except that I feel weird teaching a sex ed class to 9 year olds!

Today I was supposed to have a meeting with my Escojo promoters group. Wandi and Argeni showed up. Antonio showed up 30 minutes late. I was pretty dang mad. 1st of all, I was just sitting waiting for them to show up but I needed to go to Anne’s site to get some info on her stove project. I could have gone over there about 2 hours sooner. Also, they are supposed to be the awesome kids and here more than half of them don’t show up?! I was especially surprised with Ernie who was in Navarrete hanging out with her new boyfriend’s family and had her mom so worried sick that Mercedes borrowed the colmado man’s motorcycle and had a friend take her to town to look for Ernie. Well, now Antionio and Jose Luis, who are supposed to present the ONE class that they have to draw out, have nothing to present since they weren’t there! Errrr. We’ll see how this goes. I may just let them present the one I did and pick a topic for them to draw in the future. I know they’re kids but they’re old enough to know better.

Tomorrow I have my 1st Brigada Verde class and I’m not worried about low attendance. On the contrary, I made a bunch of signs (which took forever but I had no money to go to town and print some off so I spent 2 days making them out of construction paper) and I feel like a TON of people are going to be there. I kind of hope not since that’s not exactly the point. I mean I want people to be there but it’s for people who are going to go each week and participate. In hindsight, I should have said not to go unless you can go each week. Or maybe I should have saved the signs for our community service days. Oh well, guess we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.

9/27 Sunday: Ernesto clears things up, politicians- bite me.

In a nutshell: Ernesto (my project partner) has been out of town and is only here on the weekends. He is really important to my work since he’s always supportive and well respected in the community. Sunday night he came over and finally sat down to make a list of 30 people who are eligible to receive a water filter while I typed it up. Now the people who weren’t chosen are mad at me since Ernesto’s wife told them that I was the one who made the list. Also on Sunday, my Escojo group and I waited for politicians to show up at the voting polls so we could solicit stuff from them (totally normal to do right before voting here) but they never showed. Jerks.

Ernesto had been out of town since I’d been back in country. He’s working in another PCV’s site, helping finish a water system. Ernesto is my rock. He and I aren’t like best buds or anything but he is super cool. I was going crazy without him here to collaborate with. When I finally got a chance to talk to him, I told him that I needed the list of recipients for the water filters ASAP and I told him about the school director and how difficult I thought he was being. He used computers as an example to explain to me that if we, for instance, get 10 computers and start a computer lab that the government will see that we already have computers and then will take the ones they said they would give, and would sell them. The government already told my community that they would put an internet center here. That means that if I am able to get some computers (something I’m working on with Kenzie) then we would have to put them somewhere other than the school. This is because if there are even computers at the school, the government won’t say, “Hey- wow you got computers; good for you! Let me use this money then to get generators or what have you.” No, they would say, “Oh… computers… well, I guess you can do it yourself and so we’ll just take this money for ourselves.” Then the community doesn’t get the internet center they were promised (although something tells me that was a false promise since we live in the middle of nowhere on the top of a mountain). Way to reward the resourceful!

As I mentioned, the politicians were supposed to show up today at the school where the elections were being held. There are three principle political groups here in the DR and they are known by colors: red, purple and white. Today the people were voting essentially in the primaries; voting for who they wanted in power for white. The guys running for office were supposed to show up at the polling place (the school) to influence people’s voting. They pay people, they give out random stuff… one year (I think for the presidential election) they flew overhead in planes and dropped salami. It was disastrous since people were fighting and scratching to get their hands on the free tubes. Obviously its wrong that they give this stuff out when people vote; in Kenzie’s site they were “helping” people vote by telling them which ones to pick and then they were paying $150 pesos. Well, sure this is wrong but I’m not voting and I figure if they’re putting themselves in this situation well, may as well use it to our advantage. So, my group and I were ready and waiting with solicitation letters for about 6 hours for the politicians, who said they’d be here at 10. We waited until 4:30 and then I left to make some dinner. So much for that.

Later that night, Ernesto came over with the list of the people who have paid their water bill. I told him I wanted the water committee to pick the people and not one person but since he’s the president and he’s never here now (thanks to the outside work) I didn’t bring it up and just typed up the names. Of course, the next day at the Women’s Meeting people were flaming mad that they didn’t get picked. Hello, there are 30 filters and over 100 houses. Doesn’t take a genius to do that math. One woman stopped me on the street and said how houses can share filters and why did I pick who I picked. Apparently Mercedes told the Woman’s Group that I picked the people. Awesome. So, I told a little lie and said that the water committee picked the names, that I just typed them. After all, I don’t want to throw Ernesto to the wolves but I seriously didn’t pick the names. And, I don’t live here. People turn on you quick and that’s the last thing I need since I’ve got to work here for another year. Anyways, we’ll see how that turns out. I said that they can work it out amongst themselves but ANYONE who wants to receive one, shared or not, HAS to pay any outstanding water bill that they have first and then work out a way to split the $500 pesos they have to pay per filter. (Which really isn’t much, especially if three houses are going to spilt it).

9/26 Saturday: A GOOD DAY!!! :D

In a nutshell: Things always work out. We are having politicians come tomorrow and I’m a liaison for my Escojo group to try to get them to donate money to Escojo thanks to my amaaaaazing letter writing skills I acquired somewhere (right Mary Alice, RIGHT?!). I got a really encouraging letter from a top notch guy at San Diego State University who wants to work with me on sustainability projects here in the DR (again thanks to my fantastic letter writing skills?) He has the same name as my one and only brother. It’s a sign. I am extra excited about it because I was researching grad school programs in environmental sustainability while I was home and would LOVE the opportunity to work with someone on a project like that. It’s possible I may be in trouble with the PCDR Country Director himself, Romeo Massy for trying to solicit funds outside of the Peace Corps before talking with my direct boss, my APCD- Miguel. I believe that if you don’t ask, how will you get anything? Guess I need to think about the order of whom I’m asking is all… I’m trying to get a basketball court built but have no where to put it. (I don’t sweat the small stuff, ha!) STORMS ARE SCARY!!! They’re scarier with an unfinished wall (that has already fallen once) which is supposed to keep my house up. They’re also louder with a tin roof, a lot louder. I am going to start my green group and put those kids to work! We may dig two deep holes to put trash in (organic and inorganic). Sounds like fun doesn’t it? I’m doing a good job of staying positive right now but that’s because I won’t be digging the holes, I’m the supervisor- LIFT WITH THE KNEES; PUT YOUR BACK INTO IT!!! Come and visit!!! (bring Luke;)

Yesterday in my Escojo group we were talking about how the new class is going to raise money (since they’re all around 11 I figured I should start thinking about this now) when it was brought to my attention that a bunch of politicians were going to be here tomorrow as tomorrow is an election- something I didn’t know! This meant that I would have to write up a letter soliciting funds from these guys and print them out today. It worked out well since I had to print out some other stuff and also because Humberto told me that before he would let my kids even think about having a mural project (one of the two reasons I went to talk to him yesterday) that I would have to write a formal letter to him asking for permission. That way in case his boss ever asks where the mural came from he can show him the letter. Makes no sense to me but what do I know. It’s ok because I can use the practice wrrriting solicitation letters (and I’m getting a LOT lately).

So I went to town today and printed off a bunch of stuff and decided to use the internet while I was there to check up on some solicitations I had written to outside sources. I told my ride I would be a half hour at the internet center but of course, after he left there were a plethora of issues and I ended up only being able to use the internet for about 20 minutes. No importa, that was just enough time to read my email and copy letters to reply to while at home.

One letter made me a little nervous. I got an email from PCDR’s Country Director, Romeo Massy, because one of the letters I wrote and sent to USAID ended up getting sent to someone he knew who sent it to him. Well, Romeo wanted to know if I had talked to my APCD (my direct boss ) about my projects. The thing is, I have a lot of ideas and there are only so many grants you can get. So, I thought it would be better to take the initiative and seek outside help. Not to mention, I know of some PCVs who have been able to get college or high school groups here to help build whatever is needed during a spring or winter break. And that was more what I was looking for. Actually, what happened was that I had this woman’s name (the one who helps build the basketball courts and libraries) but I forgot the card (or it could be lost but maybe not) and so since I was in the capital I decided to try and find other sources. On one hand, it’s good that Romeo knows that I’m being proactive, right? But on the other… I hope it’s not frowned upon or anything. I guess I’ll find out!

Especially since one letter I got made me super happy! Apparently San Diego State University and the SD Padres (baseball? l think…) teamed up to try and improve the school system in the DR. Initially I thought that I wanted to do something with the school, although that may be harder that I anticipated (I am not deterred, I’m going to talk to the Parents of the School group) so I thought that this would be good. Well, it could turn out better than I thought! I received an email from “the director of diversity in the office of the president” of SDSU who is really enthusiastic to try and work together on something!! I don’t know about you, but I was like, “WHOA!” when I saw that someone high up was contacting me. I didn’t have time to write him back as my motor driver was literally pacing waiting for me (it was lunch time), but I did forward his letter to Romeo (who has internet all the time:) and wrote a response already from my computer. So, I have no idea the process of this or what we can do but, wow, I am sooo excited!!! I can’t wait!!! And I have my fingers crossed that Romeo will be enthusiastic too.

And, to make things even better, although initially I was dismayed that only the 11 year olds wanted to participate in Escojo while I was gone, now I see how it works out well. See, now Escojo is full of kids from the minimum age level (kids who want to be there because they’re actually interested and not because the super amazingly cool fantastic Americana is teaching it) and now there are more kids available of the age group I want to work with for my green group. One could assume that these kids aren’t deserving or aren’t motivated enough but remember, this is a community group. These kids are going to have class but they’re also going to physically work. I plan on beginning the group this week or next and have completely restructured it. Well, truthfully I don’t know how it was structured before but I know that all the PCVs said that Escojo was way better so I’m going to use the charlas provided in my manual for Brigada Verde (the green group) and make the class my own. Like I said, I want to see it more a community service group and so I’m going to try to micromanage a bit and do it on a point system. Each kid gets a point for going to class weekly and also once a month they have to participate in 4 hours of community service. At first I’m going to completely focus it on trash pick up and hole digging. Yes, hole, digging. I need to find a place to dig two holes and one will be for organic garbage and the other for inorganic. I don’t know where the holes are going to be. I have no idea actually. I figure I have a month to figure that out before my first community service day. Details, details…

Speaking of details, now I need to try and figure something out about where I can put a basketball court. Although I have made NO progress on getting this, I have decided to think positive and HOPE that I get one. I have to start somewhere; I may as well start assuming I will get one built right? Think positive!

PS: It’s been raining everyday here for about 30 minutes. I tell you what, I am a chicken. I never used to be afraid of storms but, maybe it’s because I was in houses that didn’t have landslides under their front porches and then the “fixed” wall fell, or houses where the rain still enters the house through the gap of the wall and the tin roof, but STORMS ARE SCARY!!! Everything is louder with a tin roof… I bring this up because it’s about to rain.

9/25 Friday: Desagradecido (a strong way of saying ungrateful)

In a nutshell: This is not very politically correct: I am very annoyed with the school principle and think he sucks and makes my life difficult. He’s stuck in a box of thinking and even though different ways aren’t bad (potentially could get things done better and more efficiently) he does not want to defer from the way things have been done. IE: A bunch of bureaucratic BS that makes people jump through unnecessary hoops until it deters them from what they wanted to do. I don’t get indirect communication which is probably an issue but I couldn’t tell you since I missed the indirect-ness part of the conversation. I am beginning a green youth group (environmental) and I am really excited. When I gave my host mom gifts “from the states” she said thanks but she really just needed a watch.

I was annoyed today as it seemed that being ungrateful was the theme of the day. First I went to the school to talk to the principle or the director as they call him here. That was a total bust. I am no shrink but I decided that the guy has certifiable control issues. I went there and he asked how I was and got me a chair to sit in and acted all nice and normal but in reality he was in a very bad mood. He asked me what projects I was working on now and as I was answering him, about two sentences in, he began talking over me… something about unsupportive kids. I have no clue what he was going off about or what the heck it had to do with me. Does it have something to do with me? I tried to see if he was being indirect and saying something bad about how the kids were acting in my class but I had no clue. I mean for heaven’s sake, I’m freaking clueless in English let alone Spanish!

Anyways, he was still asking me what I wanted to do (in between rants) and so I told him I wanted to try to form an environmental youth group (which I am PUMPED about!!!! :D) and then he cut me short and said surely I must know some medical people in the States. What? Ummmm… yes, I guess I mean I have a friend, a PCV who is a nurse… but what does that have to do with..? A nurse wasn’t what he meant. What he was saying was that there had been two medical missions near our community and he wanted to know when my friends were coming to give out free meds and toys. Well, after I figured that out (which took an embarrassing amount of time) I explained that I could look into some medical missions offered through Peace Corps. In hindsight, I don’t belong to the same church of the group that came so what they heck would I have to do with that? It should be noted that there is a myth that the United States is the size of this campo (and yet magically larger in size) and so I must know everyone who lives in it. This means that I must know the same doctors. Duh. And, I have been checking med mission opportunities and none thus far have been applicable to our community. Furthermore, that dude is JUST as capable as I am (more so since he knew about the med missions when they happened and I was in the States enjoying taco bell, normalcy and houses that have ceilings) to walk his butt over there and see about getting something over here. Ah, hindsight is 20/20. Probably better not to have the school principle hate me anyways.

So then he asks me more about what I want to do. Well, I had already explained the green group and he was giving me the impression that I was falling short of expectations, so against my better judgment, I told him how I was in contact with a woman who has groups come and build libraries and basketball courts. We have a half finished library and I had heard that they wanted to build a half court in the middle of the school yard. I figured it would be perfect. Humberto didn’t share that view. Apparently they just decided to cut one of the classrooms in half and build a wood wall, making the other half the library. My part, as Humberto informed me, was to fill it with books and tables. Great, thanks for informing me of my job. Humberto also told me if we finish the old library they would use it as a bathroom. (The school already has two pretty nice bathrooms).

Then, the basketball court: well, the government is going to build one. Clearly, it looks like they’re on it. Right after they repair the road we have that is. (The last time the road was repaired was about 25 years ago) We don’t know when they are supposedly going to build it, Humberto himself even said they may have to wait years, but hey what are a few more years? So he would rather wait on the super reliable government to build one someday when I’m here possibly trying to hand one over now? Yep, I understood it correctly. This meeting did not go well.

After my Escojo group meeting I went to Miga’s house. I felt like a jerk because I was so busy getting generic gifts to give out to people while I was in the States that I forgot to get something really cool for Minga! So, when I went to the bachelorette party I spent all but my last $500 pesos for the month to get her some total Doña earrings. I also gave her some nail polish (thanks mom!) and a half used bottle of perfume I found in my room. (people “gift” used stuff all the time here) She took it all, liked it and then said, “You should have brought me back a watch. What I really need is a watch.” Ah, cosas de la vida.

9/24 Thursday: Saint Mary’s Day

In a nutshell: This one’s short too! Am I getting lazy or writing with you in mind Deb?:)

Today was jammed packed full of parties. I didn’t go to any of them. I didn’t feel like going. I was being lazy and antisocial. But, I did go for a walk at least to get out of my house. See, after a bunch of guys are at the colmado by my house I get this kind of timidness. I want to go outside but I don’t fell like dealing with them saying stuff to me. Then, the longer I wait, the more show up. Soon I’m contemplating if I can even go to my porch because now there are women there and which is worse?: being inside my house with the door open or being outside on the porch, in plain view of them, clearly not down there. Either way I’m not down there with them and so either way I suppose it’s bad. But which is worse? I have no idea. Well, I was thinking about all this and thinking how stupid it was so I decided since I didn’t know the answer to their question I may as well do what I would like to do. After a few hours I finished sewing all the curtains Sarah sent me back with and promptly went out to sit on my porch and read. A little while later I decided to go for a walk but it began to rain. I waited it out and was about to go when Wandi showed up. We left together but by then it was dark and everyone was drunk. We went about a ¼ mile and saw someone fall off of their motorcycle right next to us (FIY: people get annoyed if you ask if they’re ok) and someone almost hit me in their stupid truck. I mean, really almost hit me. So, we went back to my house and I played solitary until it was time to go to bed. What an eventful day.

9/23 Wednesday: Back to the grind but with a renewed attitude.

In a nutshell: Going home was great, so great I was thinking of finding a way to stay! But, not being able to think of one I have decided to put forth more effort during my time in the DR so I have it to be proud of when I’m done. Easier said than done.

I want to say thanks to BCHD again for my Christmas gift last year, I had been saving the foot mask and soak for a special day and today was that day. I boiled some water, put it in a bucket and enjoyed, thinking of you guys while I caught up on some celebrity gossip reading my US weekly magazines from home. Ahhhh, it was niiiiice:)

My trip home was FANTASTIC!!!! I LOVED it!!!!! It was AMAZING!!! WHOOT!!! I just wanted you all to know how I felt about it. Sum up: It was goooood:) I visited pretty much everyone I wanted to before going out there and ate all my favorite foods. I increased my tolerance to alcohol and cleaned my room (though not at the same time) Yep, it was a very eventful trip. My friend’s wedding was beautiful and I humiliated myself by crying very ungracefully in front of everyone at the church. I don’t know why I feel so strongly about it, but don’t you think weddings are such beautiful events? They’re so moving!

So, I got back to the DR on the 16th after 3 layovers and tearful goodbyes. Well, my first tears of the day began when the woman at the airport told me my bags were a total of 15 lbs over. “But… I’m leaving for the Peace Corps…” I whimpered. She grumbled an “ok” and something about how heavy bags means a passenger gets the boot off of the plane. What?! I was emotional and it was early ok?! Besides, this was AFTER they told me I would have to pay $50 for my bags and well, I don’t have that kind of money… I’m broke! I used the Peace Corps card again and got them on for free. (Which technically they are supposed to be free).

By the time I was in Charlotte, I was thinking of ways to stay in the US that wouldn’t shame me. I was thinking maybe I would try to break my foot… but I didn’t do it. I mean, I have to stay here and finish my service! After all, I was voted Most Likely to Quit by my fellow PCVs (only before they got to know me, of course) and I would be soooo disappointed with my service for my ENTIRE LIFE after this if I quit. I mean, what have I done really? An Escojo group, my own personal garden, a failed nutrition class, and nearly got 30 water filters. Wow. Impressive.

As I was contemplating all this, I realized that I am now half way through my service! And you know what? Things take time here, a LOT of time. Dude, I need to get on the ball. I have officially dropped nearly all shame of my Spanish (except when around someone who speaks both Spanish and English well… that’s why I didn’t say more than “muy bien” to you in Spanish Carmen!) I have all these very plausible ideas but the question is: how to get them from ideas to ACTION? Am I capable of planning so much? And planning it completely alone? I like working in groups, I’m better at it. But if my PC service is going to be something I can look back at and be proud of, I need to give it my all. Even if I don’t get any more projects done, I need to know I tried and put in all the effort I could. So, here I go, going to give it my all, try to maintain effort and push forward with as much persistence as I can muster for the next year or so. Wish me luck.

9/18: Where is my bag?

Today is a short entry, so sorry, no sum up Debbie:) I talked to someone at the airport this morning and she said they COULD deliver the bag to me, that she would give the driver my number and he would call me when he got lost- er, there. She said he should be here at 11. He showed up at 2:30. I supposed it wasn’t that far off. The bag, which is Rach’s, was ripped. She may kill me. Maybe not.

9/17 Thursday: Back in the DR, yuck.

In a nutshell: This one’s short enough, right?

Ok, so I’m sure that’s not the right attitude to have but that’s how I feel. Going home was great but leaving really sucked. It sucked so bad that it may have sucked more than going home was great! I realized when I was there how much it bites here. My attitude is bad. I feel depressed. Ugh. I wasn’t ready for this.

I’m sure this will pass as I am generally happy wherever I land. I also have some good things to look forward to. This weekend is Jess’s bachelorette party and I am 98% sure that will turn my nasty outlook right around. Also, my luggage was lost. Now you may see this as a bad thing but in reality I wasn’t sure how I was going to get my backpack and two suitcases up the mountain. I decided to go back to the campo today to get the hellos and all that over with. I don’t like a big deal but on the other hand, if they didn’t do anything I would feel bad too since that’s just their culture. So, the bags. One was lost. Ok, not lost but left in Miami. When the guy told me it would be at the airport the next night I asked him if they were going to compensate me for another night in Santiago and he told me that they would deliver it TO MY HOUSE!!! Yeah right, my house with no address? Ha! I told him I live in the campo and he said it didn’t matter. If it didn’t get lost again this could be a very good thing.

The next day (today) I called the airport when the plane got in and they said that they had the bad there and couldn’t deliver it to me since they needed an address. I was annoyed. I asked to talk to the manager and was told the manager would be in at 11:15 am the next day. Weird I know.

9/15 Tuesday: A sum up of my trip home

In a nutshell: I had a great trip home which included a trip to Chicago, a wedding, a visit to you all at BCHD, my dog rocks (yes, still), 10 days in NY state, corn picking with my nephews and niece, nearly didn’t get my computer repaired and returned to me in time, and loved being home:)

I didn’t realize how much I missed home until I went through customs. The guy stamped my passport and said welcome home. I just stared at him and suddenly I realized how happy I was. I just grinned big and said THANKS! I felt like a moron but I was soooo ecstatic! How great, I’m home!

I spent the 1st half of my trip in Illinois. The 1st two days were in Chicago with Lisa which were really fun. We went out my second night there, and to save money took a couple shots before we left. Ironically we took shots of the Dominican rum, Brugal, which Lisa bought while she was visiting me in the DR. So here I was in the great US of A, drinking Brugal. Ah, life.

On Saturday Becky’s fiancé came all the way to Chicago to pick me up. He was going to just go about an hour and a half away from his house to pick me up but I missed my train so he drove the entire way to Chicago!! It was nice to finally meet my best friend’s soon to be husband (the wedding was why I went home in September and not for Christmas). He is a great guy and I’m glad to see her so happy.

When I got to my Dad’s house finally I was nervous that my dog, Booker, wouldn’t remember me or would favor my Dad over me. When I walked in he barked like I was a stranger for about 3 seconds, paused and then realized it was me and began doing the “happy bark”. He stuck to me like glue and I loved it. In payment, I took him to the groomer. I’m sure he saw it as a treat as all dogs would, like going to the vet. When I had to leave the 6th to go to NY I cried. I love that dog.

One day during the week I went to the health dept where I used to work as Chief Inspector (ok, well… maybe I was an intern sometimes but, I was promoted! And then somehow was an intern again. Who does that anyway?) I loved seeing everyone and at first was a little apprehensive but my fears disappeared right when I walked in to Chris and Debbie. The people who work there are so marvelous and are great to work with or just plain be around.

That week I went to Becky’s bachelorette party and her wedding. Both were fun. The next Saturday, Karen threw me a party at her and my Uncle Greg’s place at Woodhaven Lakes. It was sooo great and the food was wonderful! I loved being able to see my family since I had to fly out the next morning for NY.

When I got to NY my mom and sister, Sarah, were waiting for me. We went out to eat and met up with my other sister, Rachael. Over the week I spent a lot of time with my nephews and niece. We went corn picking which was fun. I helped my mom with some job related stuff, went to Dave and Busters with Mom and Rach, and went running with Sarah. Sarah made me a ton of home made granola and some curtains to hang in my front windows so I actually have some privacy! There was a fiasco with a mystery computer sent to me at my mom’s house that turned out to my one of my PCV friends in the DR. I sent my computer in to be fixed and nearly didn’t get it back in time. (thanks again dad, I would have dropped dead I swear)

Overall, it was a lot of things; fun, sad, happy, depressing, relaxing, strange: complete. Even though I had been gone over a year it felt like I had just left for the weekend and was just going back to life. That’s how you know you have good friends and family. Thanks guys, you don’t know how much you mean to me.

8/24- 8/26: Celebrando el Cibao!!!

Finally, after all the preparation, it is time for camp!!! It was two days of sleepless chaos but I really enjoyed it. Since I am actually writing this afterwards and am a little lazy… I mean, busy I’ll give the highlights and that’s all.

Ernie was able to go. One of the CeC coordinators called me on Friday and asked if I had any extra stellar kids who deserved to go since a few spots opened. Sure Ernie went to the Escojo conference but none of the other kids in my group wanted to CeC and she is fantastic. She went and had an absolute blast. I was glad I brought her.

The place we stayed at had hot water. I feel like it was preparing me for my trip home:) It was hilarious when I told Vanji and Ernie there was hot water, they screamed! In the States it’s opposite: if you tell a teenager (or probably any aged person) that there WASN’T hot water they would scream! HA!

The charla went fantastic. I was really proud of the kids. They really nailed it and didn’t seem too nervous. A job well done. Also, I think they were really proud of our Italy presentation since we had faaar more than each of the other PCVs. Everyone called us overachievers but the truth is that we really didn’t have anything else to do in our Escojo meetings each week. Although it did get a little out of hand since the last week we were scrambling to get it done, meeting twice a day nearly each day. Whoops, my bad.

Wandi was a total flop. He completely embarrassed me. I had to tell all the other PCVs to watch out for him and cut him no slack because he was having such a crappy attitude. Long story short: by the last day I had it and wasn’t going to give him his T shirt that all the other kids get. I didn’t feel he earned it and his mind-set that he deserved it really made me peeved. I told him that if I had cell service I would have called his dad right then. When all the kids were wearing their shirts and he found out there was going to be a picture with everyone together wearing the shirts he was pleading to talk to me about it. I finally sat down with him and we talked about how he could have been better and not given in to peer pressure. After he apologized and promised to be better I gave him his shirt and he was able to take the picture with the group.

I am one of three coordinators for CeC’10. We took notes and made a reservation for the place for next year. Hopefully we can run it as smoothly as it seemed to be this year. I’m excited about it but also dreading the amount of unnecessary stress I know the Dominican culture is going to give me while we try to plan this. Ying and yang I suppose.

8/17 Monday: To Ane and Tim’s!! Nuts, do I have dengue???

This morning I woke up and felt significantly better but still really sore. I was a little worried I had dengue and so I called the PC doctor who told me I should go to the lab in Santiago to get tested. The thing was, I was already booked busy for the day: I had to get my act together because I had an Escojo meeting to lead in the morning and another meeting in the afternoon. I told the doctor that if I felt bad tomorrow still I would go then and she consented.

After that conversation, I went to my morning meeting, late since for some reason I thought they were meeting at my house, and tried to be enthusiastic. We’ve been preparing for our presentation at Celebrando el Cibao where Vanji and Wandi will be giving a charla on different ways rivers are easily contaminated and the group has also been working on the country we are supposed to represent: Italy. Wandi was mopping around at the meeting and when I asked what was wrong he told me he didn’t feel well, that he felt like he had a bone disease or something. I laughed out loud at the description since that’s exactly what I would have described how I felt. Apparently he was really sick the day before as well.

It didn’t help that we had to walk to Ane and Tim’s site to give our charla for practice that afternoon. Wandi objected but I pointed out that I felt sick too but I was still going. Also that Vanji, who had been trying to learn how to drive a motorcycle the weekend before and was tossed off and then somehow run over, was also walking with us. She wasn’t too happy about the idea of it but, I told them it was an obligation (our ONLY time to practice) and so we set off for our 4 mile round trip walk to Ane and Tim’s.

We were all very annoyed to find when we got there that the kids who were supposed to be there at 4 decided it would be a better idea to go to the river. They told Ane that they would be back around 4:30. I told Ane that it really didn’t matter to me if those kids were there or not, that we would wait 15 minutes and give the freaking presentation to her host mom if we had to. There is no reason to wait when those kids KNEW we would be there at 4. I am so glad the kids in my group aren’t buttheads like that.

We gave the charla and it went very well. The kids showed up at 4:30 and we made sure to point out that we walked 2 miles and yet still managed to get there on time, showing our annoyance. Hopefully those kids felt at least a little bad about it. I am sure that my kids will do great at Celebrando.

8/15-16 the Weekend: No dancing but Harry Potter!!!!

Well this weekend didn’t go how I thought it would, there was no pool and no dancing but there were brownies and Harry Potter. Here’s what happened; I went to Santiago on Saturday morning and met Kelly and some friends at a Chinese place for lunch (which was DELICIOUS!!) and then we went to this amazing little bakery place and each got something different to share. After that I went with one girl, Laura, to price out guitars. It was slow going because, as I found out, everything closes Saturday early afternoon and doesn’t open again till Monday. That would have been nice to know before lunch but hey, live and learn.

After not pricing out a single guitar but walking about 3 miles, we met up with Kelly and headed to Kelly’s house. We decided to watch a movie and I got so excited to see that Kelly had one of the Harry Potter movies!!!! She seemed equally excited that I was excited and she came up with the amazing idea that we would go to the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (that’s right, NUMBER 6!!!) the next day! We invited Rachelle but she doesn’t share our enthusiasm for Potter. Go figure.

Sunday Kelly and I woke up and went running. I forgot my running shoes so I borrowed Rachelle’s, thinking that it wouldn’t be an issue. Two miles later I was barefoot and walking back to Kelly’s with a large blister on my right foot, which is apparently larger than the left foot. Kelly and I planned on going to the pool this day but, after making fruit crepes for breakfast, we decided to take a nap. When we woke up it was Harry Potter time and so we headed to the theater. We had to go to two theaters but eventually we found one that had the movie, un-dubbed but with subtitles. It was extremely satisfying and wonderful.

That night, we picked Rachelle and her puppy up in the taxi we had to take home (thanks to public transport ending at 8 on Sundays, a fact we forgot) and headed back to Kelly’s. Kelly made brownies while Rachelle and I worked on a charla that we would have to give at Celebrando el Cibao. We went to bed around 12 and I thought I was going to pass out I was so tired.

The next morning I went to the artesian in Kelly’s site to pick out a few goodies for friends at home. I headed to Santiago to finish what I began on Sat and began pricing out guitars. As the day wore on, and I walked more and more, I began to feel really sore. I went to the hotel where they let me use the internet for free and sat down for a while. I thought that the longer I sat and took a load off, the better I would feel but instead I began feeling worse and worse. I decided to head home and forget the other things I was going to do in Santiago for the day. It was for the best anyways since Anna or Ann or whatever the name was of the storm was supposed to hit the DR. As a result I was supposed to be in my site at 3 pm, along with all the other PCVs in the country.

I got back to my site a little late, at 4 pm and went right to bed. I have never felt so crappy from a cold or whatever I had. And wouldn’t you know it, no one calls me for like three days and all of the sudden people can’t get enough of me! But I felt so awful that I literally had no energy to even sit up and answer the phone. After about 7 hours laying the in guest bed (so I would be hidden from view from any Dominicans who would want to stop by and say hello) I decided to suck it up and brush my teeth at least. I got ready for bed and tucked myself into my normal bed for the night.

8/14 Friday: Visit from Miguel= Site Change??? :(

I decided to finally call Jenn Bingham, the Safety and Security Officer for Peace Corps, and tell her how “someone” had been stealing from me and the whole story about Geraldo. She told me that she thinks it is a big deal… a huge deal and so she talked to Romeo about it. Romeo told her that she should go out to my house to show the community that I was supported by Peace Corps or that Miguel should go to my community. I thought that was really nice of them. I mean, I am not confrontational at all but, hey, if someone else is doing it I’d sure watch! I trust Romeo completely and I know that he knows what he’s doing so if he thinks that is the best thing, well then it probably is. I can see this ending badly but I plan on watching and learning.

Around 3:30 I was wondering where Miguel was and decided to call him. I called and he was on his way which made me relived because I thought that he had ditched me. He showed up around 4:30 and we talked about everything that had been going on in my site, how Argeni was being a butthead for a few months and ignoring me, how Geraldo came into my house and all that jazz, how Ernesto’s wife didn’t talk to me for two weeks in June due to the spare key… it was a lot to go over. I didn’t mean to tell him all of it but it was all kind of an answer to questions he was asking me. For instance, why didn’t I talk to Mercedes about the neighbor boy coming into my house? Well, after she ignored me and then talked crap about my back for two weeks in May/June I don’t have the same relationship with her and I was afraid how she would react. But she has been completely back to normal now for about 3 weeks and so I felt bad bringing it up to Miguel. I am a -forgive and forget/if it’s not broken, don’t fix it- type of person and so I didn’t want to bring it up and have to deal with it again, even if the issue is there there, hidden under everything.

Miguel feels differently. He told me in so many words that he feels really close to this family and had treated them as more than just friends for a long time. He thought that they would take care of me, expected them to take care of me- like leaving your child with a family member- and here they were, the only ones in the community treating me badly. He said that it is completely unacceptable, even in this culture where people share so much, that someone feels they can go into the house of another while that person isn’t there. Then when they get called out on it, to be mad at the person’s house they went into-that’s ridiculous. He seemed to be really hurt and feel really betrayed about it and so I actually felt really guilty about it. He told me that they were so good to Kevin that he thought that they would be fantastic to me as well. To tell you the truth, that made me feel even worse, like what did I do that I screwed things up so much?

Now the game plan is that he will come back on Wednesday and talk to Mercedes and Ernesto about all this with me there talking with them. He said that he will see how they react. If they over-react then he will pull me out the community and put me somewhere else!!!! I don’t want to move!!! We both decided that they probably wouldn’t overreact but I’m afraid that to his face they’ll be fine and later Mercedes will be crappy. I’m not even sure how Ernesto will react. Miguel was talking to him on the phone in front of me and he lied right to Miguel and told him that I didn’t talk to him about Geraldo on Sunday! Miguel said that this was probably just because he was embarrassed about it but still… I’m concerned. Can you imagine having to move to who knows where, having to start all over again, having to live with a host family again for at least 3 months, I could be somewhere without water, I could be somewhere hot and have a horrible host family and I almost definitely wouldn’t have an awesome Escojo group, free house or awesome view. Ugh, I get stressed thinking about it. I would hate that. I’m so happy here I don’t see how the grass can be any greener on the other side. I’ve finally gotten adjusted to this community, don’t move me please.

When Miguel and I talked about it we decided that probably what would happen during our meeting on Wednesday was that Ernesto and Mercedes wouldn’t overreact but that it would kind of ruin the chance of us having a tight relationship. They would probably distance themselves from me. This makes me feel awkward. I hate the thought of it. After Miguel left I went up and hung out at Mercedes house with her and Ernie for about 2 hours and it was fun. I’m torn because part of me feels like Mercedes isn’t a real friend anyways but on the other hand, good friends are hard to come by no matter where you are. Not saying that it’s better to have fake friends than real ones but is it better to be alone than to hang out with people you wonder will turn on you? That’s the question isn’t it?

8/12 Wednesday: The worst day at the beach EVER.

I have had a fellow health PCV visiting me since Monday and it has been fun. I hadn’t seen her since May and it was so nice to catch up. She is completely cool with just hanging out and even going to my meetings. She got here Monday night and pretty much entertains herself. I’m super happy because she seems really comfortable here in my house and I LOVE visitors and love the fact that she feels so at home. We were planning on going to the beach tomorrow but had to change our plans since Miguel maybe was coming to my site tomorrow to talk to Geraldo about the “incident” (little punk).

Stephanie and I left my house around 10:30 am, after we went to the clinic to get some more anti parasite medicine for me since I have another freaking parasite. Its bad when you start to feel off and recognize it as a parasite since you have gotten so many of them. Anyways, we got to Altamira and sat and waited for a bus to come for what felt like ever (about 45 minutes). Finally a carro publico showed up and charged us the same as a bus. While we were in the car the driver told us that there were no buses running that day because there was a nationwide strike for the entire week. That would have been helpful to know before we left the house. It was too late by that point to turn back; we were more than half way to Puerta Plata but it was a bad omen for what was to come the rest of our day.

When we got to Puerta Plata it was no problem getting to the beach. You have to take a motorcycle and Stephanie was on the motor in front. She was getting impatient because for some reason her motor man decided to give her a tour of the waterfront and so my motor followed suit. We had been driving for about 15 minutes and were at the far end of the road when she told him to just let us off. I felt a little weird about where we were since there were like no people. I don’t like getting in the water where there are no people, what if there is a riptide or sharks or piranhas or something?! Where is everyone!? In an effort so avoid sounding how I just did, I kept my mouth shut and let Stephanie lead the way over to some shade. There weren’t a ton of Dominicans but there were a few. There were no tourists though so we stuck out like sore thumbs. Stephanie went into the water first and when she came back I went in. When I got out of the water and walked up to her, she was flaming mad yelling all kinds of stuff at some guys down the way. Turns out, while she was sitting there a group of guys walked by and chucked a cell phone at her crotch. What a bunch of tools. She was really upset and felt violated. We decided to leave that part of the beach and thankfully after we moved to a different part we had no more issues.

Stephanie got the number of the motor driver from the morning and when we were ready to leave she gave him a call. I thought it was so weird that he showed up to take us both on just his bike, they NEVER do that. Sure they could make more money packing the people on but motor drivers ALWAYS get another driver if there’s two people. Anyways, we get on his bike and he takes us to the other side of town. I thought that he was showing us a fish restaurant in town but after we reached the main highway where he was supposed to let us out and he kept going I was wondering were we were going. He told me that he wanted to show us the restaurant still but that it was just a little outside of town. He was super friendly, I wasn’t getting my creep-o goose bumps and Stephanie seemed at ease so we just went with it. I figured it’s always helpful to know where a good seafood place is, right?

Well, when we FINALLY got there, it was not “a little outside of town” but like 25 minutes out of town. Then he didn’t want to leave until Stephanie and I ate. He said he had to make sure we were on a bus first. We told him we weren’t hungry and he said we should go to his house to meet whomever. Keep in mind, this is not unusual Dominican behavior but I said absolutely not. There was no way I was going to go to this dude’s house. We told him we wanted to get going and I thought he said his brother was a carro driver and could meet us. We sat on the side of the road waiting for a car or bus or something- not necessarily with a member of his family or anything- and then his brother showed up. This dude was something else. He had both ears pierced complete with Air Jordan earrings, gold chains and bracelets, converse shoes… and he had to be pushing 50. Of course he was very confident he could speak English while Stephanie and I exchanged looks during his “conversation” with us. Finally, Stephanie was getting really annoyed and told them they were messing up our chance to get a ride, sending them off.

We sat there on that road for about 20 minutes trying to find a car or something but there were no buses and by the time the cars arrived they were already full. It would have been better if we were in Puerta Plata trying to get a car. After a while a red truck pulled over to give us a ride. It wasn’t the type of bola I like to take. It was a regular truck and we had to sit in the cab with the dude. I sat in the back seat because I sat in the middle with the stupid motorcycle driver the entire way and figured I had met my small talk quota for the day. I couldn’t really hear the driver of the truck talking over his music but I heard him say he was American like we were and he tried to talk in English- which was awful. Stephanie was trying to be polite, I was ignoring him. After a while I noticed he was swerving a lot and thought it didn’t seem like the normal –trying to avoid the million potholes in the road- type of swerving but much crazier. About 5 minutes after this thought he pulled a BIG, nearly empty bottle of rum out from under his seat. Well that explains that… I rolled my eyes and began hoping he was just a bad driver and had drunk that bottle a different day or maybe the bottle had a hole it in.

We had been in the car for about 20 minutes when I heard Stephanie saying, No thank you. No thank you. No thank you. He had been offering her rum earlier so I wasn’t paying much attention to it until she said, Let us out here. We hadn’t even gotten to Imbert, the town between Altamira and Puerta Plata, and we had a long way to go still. Stephanie wasn’t familiar with the area at all so how does she know where to get off. Immediately I realized he was putting the moves on her and that’s why she had been saying no thank you. I reached up to him and said, My friend just called me and he is going to meet us in Imbert so let us off at the park there please. He kept trying crap with Stephanie and so I said, if you really were an American then you would KNOW with out a doubt that it isn’t ok to force yourself on someone after they tell you know. He asked me what and I told him to turn down his music so he could hear me and then I told him to take it easy and leave Stephanie alone. We got into a mini discussion and Stephanie was reaching back to me and trying to get me to shut up. She was worried I was going to make him mad or that we would get in an accident. Well, I believe in God and I believe everything happens for a reason. If this guy is going to do something, he’s going to do something. The least I’m going to do is tell him to knock it off before hand and if he keeps going, well, I’m sure going to give him a GOOD piece of my mind because someone should. By this point we were in site of the park and I reminded him of our friend awaiting us among the crowd of other motorcyclists. He pulled over and let us out. What a douche bag.

Poor Stephanie, this was the 2nd time she got violated in one day. I was feeling pretty bad for her but was under the impression that at least he had only been trying to hold her hand. She said that she felt really scared he wasn’t going to let us out and he could do anything to us. It reminded me of when I was in Santiago and the carro driver wouldn’t let me out of the car because I wouldn’t pay him 100 pesos. I had had my hand on the door, waiting for him to slow down in traffic and I was about to jump out of the car and run. Here with Stephanie we were on a busy highway with no stops, no slowdowns and no where to get out. It could have gone very badly.

So there we were, stuck in Imbert with no ride to Altamira, the next town over. All the motor drivers were saying tasteless things to us, to which Stephanie was not handling well. I learned that she is a screamer, which is dramatic- aka: Dominican’s LOOOOOVE it. She was putting on a show for these guys, screaming at them to shut up and leave us alone. I took note that she was upset and decided telling her to try to calm down wasn’t the right approach. There were no women around except for one who was working at the little snack stand so I decided to go over to her and say hello. After that I found some decent motor men that weren’t sleazy and made struck up conversation with them. I told them my friend was really nice but had a bad day and so if they could help us look for a way to Altamira, that would be fantastic.

When the brain damaged motorcyclists were still asking us 45 minutes later if they could just drive us to the next town, after we have explained that we don’t have our helmets and CAN’T RIDE ON A MOTORCYCLE WITHOUT A HELMET 50 times, I decided to make it a interactive mind puzzle and talk to them like they were 8. “Now remember, we had this conversation 4 minutes ago, didn’t we? We can’t go with you. Do you remember why? (here’s where I point to my head) That’s riiiiiiiiight, say it out loud to me though. Yep, because we don’t have our H-E-L-M-E-T-S. Now, is that hard to remember? Answer me, is it? No, that’s right it’s not. Now why don’t you help your friend learn, he’s asking me again…”

Stephanie and I passed an hour there like that. Not one bus drove by. Three carros but they were full and we even took to looking for bolas again but there were none. Stupid strike. There were taxi drivers but they wanted to charge us 300 or 200 pesos to take us. We didn’t even have that much money on us so we told them to forget it. I figured it should cost about 30 or 40 pesos. One guy had a legit little bus but he wanted to charge us 300 pesos. We told him to get lost. 15 minutes later he wanted to charge us 200 pesos. Still no. Then he said he would charge us 100 total. Ok we decided. We got on the bus and then we sat. He was about to go but then two other woman arrived and they were pitching a stink about how much he wanted to charge. I heard him tell them a different price and they wanted to know why he was charging us more. Because they’re white. I asked one of the women how much they were paying and she said 40. I told the driver that we would not be paying one peso more than 40 ourselves, I didn’t care WHAT color our skin was or how much money he thought we had. We are volunteers here to help this country, HIS county and SHAME ON HIM for wanting to rip us off. Stephanie flipped out. She began yelling at him and said we were getting out. I sat her back down and pointed out that we had been waiting for an hour. We were taking this bus and we would pay 40 pesos. She was afraid he would beat us up or shoot us so I told her to have the other 20 pesos in her pocket in case he got out of hand but that we would pay 80 to begin with.

Along the way the driver kept telling me and Stephanie to pay and I calmly told him we would pay when we got there. No one else was paying and neither were we. He got pissed after about 10 minutes of this and threatened to kick us out. Go ahead, I told him, but then you won’t get anything. By this point we could have walked it if he decided to kick us out, even though it would have been a hike. He kept going. I took up conversation with the woman sitting behind us and when we got to our stop I asked her to say it since I was afraid the driver wouldn’t let us out. He stopped, thinking it was to let that lady out and Stephanie and I got out. I walked to the passenger side window and held out my 80 pesos. He tried to trick me into thinking that the other women in front paid 100 pesos. I told him he was full of it, take the 80 pesos, have a good day y Dios te bendiga. And I turned on my heal and walked my happy little butt away as Stephanie called him a thief and shook her fist right back at him.

I told Stephanie that when we got to Altamira it would be a sign that our luck was changing if, at the very least the empanada stand I loved was open. They have the best chicken or cheese empanadas. Well, we got there, it was open but it had 4 food items total. Not 4 varieties for food on their menu for the day but 4 items of food: 3 yucca balls and one beef empanada. The idea of a beef empanada has never appealed to me, and the last yucca ball I got wasn’t worth the money so no thank you and good bye. I just wasn’t sure how to interpret our sign… “Open but Empty”

The entire day I had been going to snack stands and asking if they had Coke in a glass bottle. Not one person did. There was one last place to look: a cafeteria right at the entrance of the road to my community, And guess what. They had Coke in a bottle. I was so pleased. I asked how much and the guy told me 20 pesos as he opened the bottle. As I handed over 20 Stephanie freaked out. She told him it should cost 15, and began shouting lots of things. I was embarrassed. She was making a scene over 5 pesos and he was charging more because of where his cafeteria was located, right on the highway where no one stays and drinks it so he has to charge for the glass deposit. I tried to tell Stephanie and she was flipping out but it was too late. The guy made fun of us to his friend that he was playing dominoes with and gave me the 5 pesos change to calm Randi down. I sunk my shoulders. I needed to have a talk with Stephanie. I told her I knew she had had a bad day but that she can’t just go yelling at people! That’s when I realized through conversation that the dude in the truck had been reaching for more than her hand. I felt awful.

Bertico showed up with Noel and we headed up the mountain. Bertico told me on the way up that he saw Stephanie had been crying the entire way, about 35 minutes. Then when we got to my house she sat outside and cried. I made her a peanut butter and Kelly sandwich, heated up some bath water for her and gave her some space and while I went and ate dinner at Mingas without her.

Stephanie seemed to be feeling better the next day and she called one of Peace Corps doctors and talked with her for a while. She talked to her dad who of course tried to get her to quit and come home right away. She is not dealing well in general with Dominican men and their attitude towards women here. She told me she has a lot to think about since she still has a long time left in her service and she doesn’t want to spend it very unhappy, unable to cope with the men here as she is now. I told her she should do whatever she thinks will make her happy. She has put in a great year here so far and if she thinks she’ll be happier at home, she will not be going home empty handed. She has made a difference and has grown as a person. What more can you ask for?

8/11 Tuesday: For the first time in 12 months, I’m saying I can’t wait for the weekend.

Today I had my Escojo meeting. They have been real crappy since school got out and whenever we meet, someone gets into a fight. Last week Wandi and Vanji got into one. I had to have a talk with each of them on separate occasions and explain how they were responsible for their own actions and can’t control someone else’s actions. I feel like an elementary school teacher. They seem to be the two that are fighting more than anyone which is a real bummer because they are the two that are going to the conference in Jaraboca the 24th- 26th with me and they may kill each other... or me. I don’t want to think about it.

I am looking forward to this Saturday when I get to go to Santiago. Sure, I’m going to work on a charla with another PCV for the Celebrando el Cibao presentation so it’s not going to be all fun and games but let me assure you, there will still be fun and games. Saturday I’m going to do some special shopping in Santiago with Kelly and then work a little with Rachele on the charla. Sunday we’re going to go to the pool and then at night to the concert in Rachele’s site, which hopefully means we’ll dance a lot. Monday I’m going to the artisan shop in Kelly’s site to make some gifts for my trip home and then I have to go back to the campo and practice giving the water charla we prepared. We worked on coloring that charla for 4 hours today and I am happy to say that it looks really good. We put extra work in it because it’s going to be presented in front of 50 other kids. I was shocked that Geraldo showed up to the meeting. That kid has some nerve. I would wonder if I should let him participate if it was just Escojo but it’s the promoters group and he not an example. He is a thief. I’m sure Ernesto talked to him because he hasn’t said a word to me since Sunday and he hasn’t visited my house at all. Also Argeni finally was kind of talking to me today. Well, I asked him something and he mumbled a response that I kind of understood. I need to just crack down on that kid. He is getting on my nerves. Anyways, I can’t wait for this weekend.

8/10 Monday: Work work work work work work work work work work work

Today Anne came over to work on the water presentation we are going to present at the Celebrando el Cibao conference. I told my kids that the kids that go have to present a charla on a country (I was given Italy) and that we had to present another topic of their choice. The second part wasn’t true but I feel like my kids can handle it since they are a really good group (when they’re not fighting during the meetings). I had them “pick” a topic to present at the conference but I rigged the results a little because I wanted them to present on water. That way when I get the water filters I can have them help out and give that charla to the people who will receive water filters.

Anyways, planning a presentation from scratch is time consuming. We had to still narrow it down, what did we want to talk about in relation to water? We decided to talk about the different ways water can be contaminated, or rather some of the common ways here, the effects of that and how the kids can make a change. It took all day to plan it and write it out but it was worth it. Tomorrow in the meeting the kids will color in the pictures and block letters I drew. I’m excited! I love environmental issues, its so interesting and so fun to teach stuff to the kids where they can actually make an impact.

Later in the day I went to the Women’s Meeting. You will be happy to know that, as promised, right away I had the woman get into a circle and share what they cooked with the green leaves. I know that some of them lied because I was asking very specific questions to throw them off a bit. Despite this, I was thrilled that they put the effort into lying. Every other week they simply said they didn’t do it and that was that. What type of person doesn’t have any shame when they don’t do their homework!? There were two women who said they didn’t do it, maybe 6 or 7 who lied and I think about 12 that actually did it. I was really happy with that. I’m going to make a point of going to their houses and making them feel guilty about not putting those dang leaves in their meals until it’s a habit for them. It IS possible to change bad habits or to better old habits, you just have to be obnoxious and find methods that work.

8/9 Sunday: A cacophony of things: Beer is a great fundraiser but if only the kids could make change… bake like there’s no tomorrow, dance your butt off, who’s mad now?

Today began well and ended well. It was the middle that less than perfect. I went to bed super early yesterday and got a ton of sleep, something surprisingly rare here and started the day off right. I promised a woman in my nutrition class last week that I would bake two types of cake for the class on Monday if she brought me the carrot, squash, and flour for the cakes. I still ended up paying 215 pesos for the other ingredients but it was worth it because I wanted the women to see how you can make something that they initially think will be nasty (because its different and has green leaves) but it turns out delicious. Well, let me tell you, grating two pounds of carrot and squash is no fun nor is it a simple task. Not to mention, in the middle of all this grating, my Escojo group was at the Mother’s Club selling beer as a fundraiser. I wanted to be there with them but couldn’t leave my house with something on the stove, baking (yes ON the stove). I was down in the Mothers Club for a while, grating away and finally the little girls came around and I passed the job on to them. We went to my house and I spent the rest of the day trying to juggle making the bread and helping the Escojo group.

When the first of the bread was done and cooling I went back to the Mother’s Club to see how they were fairing. I was a little nervous that they wouldn’t sell all the beer since I was the one who fronted the money for it. But when I arrived they had sold all the beer and were going to the colmado to buy more. I kept asking them how much the colmado was charging per beer but they were so excited to be selling so much beer they didn’t care or know. I was getting annoyed with this, trying to give a crash business 101 course about how they may not be making a profit but no one wanted to listen to me. Fine, eat up the profits with ignorance then and we will have this same discussion afterwards when you have learned the lesson the hard way. I was annoyed.

Have I explained why we are doing this fundraiser? We have to raise 1000 pesos to take 2 kids to the conference, Celebrando el Cibao, which is a great deal since it is PRICEY to have this conference. Thank you soooo much to all of you who helped my group out by donating for this trip. I know that Aunt Claudia did specifically, and we really appreciate it. We can raise 1000 pesos with some work but trying to raise nearly 5000 (which is what we would have had to have done) by the beginning of the summer would have been nearly impossible.

Anyways, after the fundraiser was over I took all of the money (despite the fact that Wandi was being a child, wanting to hang on to it) and figured out how much we should have made after we paid the colmados. Thank goodness we were still making a profit when we bought beer from the colmados (a whopping 10 pesos a beer) but somehow we were 335 pesos short! We still don’t know why we were so short- Could it be the thief? Could it be that Vanji isn’t great at making change? Could a confusion have happened when Vanji got pissed at Ernie and walked out about 45 minutes before we closed? (and she had how much everyone owed written down in some weird code in a notebook that Antonio and Wandi tried to decipher afterwards when we were collecting the tabs) Who knows but everyone was pretty bummed. I tried to refocus on the fact that we at least made 750 from one day, which is great.

After all that commotion I still had to finish the other cake. I popped it in the oven and Ernie invited me to a party up where the roads cross. Hmmm, a party, eh? Count me in!! I showered and got ready and by the time Franklin (Ernie’s cousin) was here to get us, I was all ready and the cake was done. We went to the party (which- crazy- had a 100 peso cover, can you believe that?!) and it was amazing. It was at a large disco at the crossing and it was packed. It had a teeny dance floor in relation to the building and the people were dancing in between the tables as a result. I haven’t danced that much ever in my life I think. I danced every since dance, except the 3 times salsa was playing, straight through from 8:30 until 12! It was so fun but, ooooh when I woke up the next day I just laid there for a minute, feeling every bone in my body. Merengue is not gentle on the body and it was mostly that which was playing.

On the way to the party we stopped to ask Ernesto if Ernie could go to the party. I still hadn’t been able to get him alone to talk to him about how his son refuses to talk to me in class, even when I ask him a direct question (a complete lack of respect) and how the other kid living with him tried to steal from me. I pulled him aside and told him everything and he didn’t really seem to acknowledge the fact that Geraldo was trying to steal from me. He said, “Of course it’s not ok that he opened your window and also, if your front window was open he should have called you instead of going inside to close it.” Ummm, what about the fact that he was TRYING TO ROB ME and that it was a load of crap he was going in to close the window?! Ernesto said he would talk to him so I guess I’ll let it lie and see what happens?

8/8 Saturday: The Beach and the Store: Day of Adventures, Pizza and Mangoes

I want to take this very special moment to inform you all that I was at the beach all day today eating mangoes with my friend Kasey. While on the beach, we bought a ton of mangoes for 5 pesos each and ate until we felt sick and couldn’t possibly fit anymore mango goo between our teeth. The beach was fantastic and beautiful. We got a bola from the beach to Puerta Plata afterwards and went to La Sierna, the new grocery store there where I had to pick up 150 pesos worth of school supplies for my Escojo group. We’re raffling off the stuff for 10 pesos a ticket so we’ll make 850 off of this, a good amount. School starts Monday the 17th. Next, Kasey and I ate Dominoes Pizza (they do Dominoes Pizza here way better than at home) and then headed home. It was a great day.

8/6 Thursday: How do you catch a thief? My advice: hide out in your house.

Today I was tired. I was trying to work on my charla for the very last Nutrition Class in the Woman’s Club but decided that eating a sandwich would be a better move, followed by a nap. I had just made my sandwich and went into the back room to eat it so no one could bother me before my nap when Geraldo, the neighbor boy who lives with Ernesto, began calling my name from outside of my house. I just ignored him and was pretty dang pleased with myself for having the foresight of eating my sandwich in hiding. All of the sudden the back window slats snapped open and his face was on the other side, peering inside. For some stupid reason, it startled me and I ducked down out of view. As I sat there, squatting I began to wonder what the heck my life had come to. I mean, here I am in the DR, in the back of my own house, squatting down with a sandwich in hand while someone peers in to see if I’m there. After he shut the window I became more and more annoyed. I mean, can’t a person get some privacy? What if I was naked?! Then I looked over and saw him standing by my front, glass window, just standing there. What a weirdo, I thought irritably. I wondered what he could possibly be doing now and then realized that he was opening the window really slowly and climbing inside!! Right when I realized that, he must have seen me because all of the sudden he bolted and shut the window behind him.

By this point, I was really mad. I was pretty sure that this meant he was my thief. This made me mad. I mean, I hung out with this kid. He’s 16 or 17 and only in 8th grade so I have tried to help him with his homework. He cheated on his Escojo final but I still let him graduate, just went over the test with him individually… he’s even one of the 6 in my Escojo promoter group! What a sneaky little punk! I could have felt betrayed but instead I was thinking about ways to catch him in the act. I didn’t want ANY doubt.

When I walked by the front window about 5 minutes later, still in my bedroom, I saw him there again and I decided that two can be sneaky. I looked around my room for somewhere to hide but couldn’t find anywhere good. I contemplated hiding under my bed for a quick minute but I would only be able to see his feet from there and I needed somewhere I could watch him and catch him red- handed so I went into the bathroom. Almost immediately and without making a sound he was in my bedroom. Sadly, he saw me right away and asked me why I left my front window open. Which window, I wanted to know. He pointed to the window that was messing with earlier. He had shut it behind him but didn’t lock it. I pointed to my shut front door and asked why he was inside and he said it was so he could lock the window. I told him he could leave.

Now I’m paranoid about my dang windows. And what a shame because they were really something I was proud of, glass front windows…. how fantastic. I didn’t say anything to anyone about this and I figure I will talk to Ernesto when he comes home on Saturday and see what he says. At least now I know who my thief is.

8/5 Wednesday: Am I prego or fat? D: None of the above. So there.

Today in the morning as I was hanging out with Wandi he poked my stomach and said, “Dang Elizabeth! Are you prego?” Ok, so maybe I am a little bloated. Maybe I ate one too many packs of cookies yesterday. Maybe my shirt was a little tighter than normal but really? PREGNANT?! I feel like that was an unfortunate word choice.

Later that day, I was in Minga’s kitchen with her and a new friend. Her friend was buttering me up, telling me how I really didn’t look that fat and Minga was in total agreement with her, saying that for how long I have here, I’m not that fat. This may not seem exactly like a compliment but I’ll take what I can get here that doesn’t have to do with my “good- hair”, white skin, or blue eyes so I was beaming. Remember, it’s counter intuitive for them to call someone skinny so, in my experience, the best they can do is call someone thin or “not that fat”. Minga’s grandson was in there as well, the 20 year old Noel who enjoys calling me fat. When Lisa was here he called me really fat- TWICE, and not as a compliment (I’ve learned the difference). The first time he just said I was huge and carried on about his business. Then the second time he called me colossal and Wandi tried to stand up for me. He tried to tell him that I wasn’t fat when Noel decided to get more specific, telling him to look at my arms. Wow, were my arms ever fat. All this talking as though I wasn’t sitting a foot from them looking right at them. Thank goodness I haven’t ever had a complex about my arms! So anyways, I felt the need to point out to Noel while we were in the kitchen that the ladies here with me thought that I wasn’t fat and what did he think of that- HA! He turned to the guest and casually said, ‘Hey, sure she is skinny now but that’s only because she runs every day. Before, she was a COW!’

I was at a loss for words, my jaw involuntarily dropped. DANG IT! I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of a reaction but what could I do? It was surprising. He actually compared me to a cow! A COW! But on the up side, at least he said that was before… maybe I’ve lost some weight? I’ll tell you this; after I stopped eating red beans I feel 100 xs better. I’m a new person, so screw you Noel! Ha!

8/3Monday: Giving the Mother’s Club a piece of my mind.

I never have liked giving classes to the Mothers Club. They don’t participate, they talk over me and they never do their homework. The homework is simple and has been the same every week since June: add green leaves (found from plants in their yards) to your food. But does anyone do it? No. This week I felt just like every other Monday giving the class but when I asked them who did the homework and everyone glanced around and looked at eat each other sheepishly, giggling. That did it. I lost my patience. I said, “Ok then… let me ask you all this: do you think that just listening to this information and then not applying it is helping anything or anyone? Sure it’s great that you sit here and listen (“listen”) but you won’t remember a thing if you don’t use it. Do you think that it’s easy to draw and color these presentations? It takes time and I care about you all so I do it, it’s my homework. How does it make me feel that you don’t take 5 extra minutes a day to toss some leaves in your rice? Next week we are going to sit in a circle and say what we cooked this week that we put leaves in. We are all going to share and if you don’t have anything to say, shame on you for not wanting to improve your family’s nutrition and health.”

We shall see if this worked. The women were very clearly shocked I spoke to them this way. Minga has told me several times I need to be sterner and not let people walk on me. Well, no time like the present, eh? After I began the class with that little introduction I felt a little weird just continuing with the day’s lesson but on the other side I felt good about it. It’s a tactic I haven’t tried yet and going the tranquil road isn’t accomplishing much. Hopefully it pays off. Next week is our last meeting.

8/2 Sunday: Death by Cow

Tonight Wandi and I thought that it would be fun to go up to the hill since we hadn’t gone for a while. It was a rare night; we walked all the way there without any little kids with us. I always just assume someone will end up going with us. Since I’m an old lady now with my campo bedtime, when 8:30 rolled around I was dead and ready to sleep.

We left and as we were walking back Wandi jumped and pointed to something. I thought it was something small and stupid, like “Look at the big spider!” since everyone and their mother here knows I’m scared of spiders (although I’m now much better that I was). But no. It was a cow. Now, never in my life have I been afraid of cows, I grew up in northern IL in the country for crying out but when some people here are seemingly scared of an animal, I think it’s probably with some reason, right? So, when he acted freaked out, I got a little freaked out. When I was about to keep walking, he was like, “Sure, keep going if you want to die.” What? He asked if I would be ok spending the night on the hill and the idea did not delight me. I tried to think of any other way down the hill and he said there was none. He said he wasn’t going to keep walking because “Where there’s a cow there’s a bull.” It seemed like a logical statement but I DID NOT want to spend the night on that hill, especially with Wandi, no gracias. I began having visions of things written in the next Peace Corps newsletter about the PCV who was killed by a cow.

I was starting to get really scared, really desperate. I wasn’t going to spend the night on that hill. Wandi was insistent that it wasn’t safe but I was weighing the options: possible death by cow or spend the night with Wandi on this stupid hill while mosquitoes and ants feast on us. Nope, that did it. I did the best thing I thought- I threw cow caution to the wind, forgot the cows and power walked my butt out of there, leaving Wandi in my dust. He told me to slow down but, why? So the cow can get us? No way. Tú eres loco. We finally got to the gate at the end of the path and I breathed a sigh of relief. I went to my house and lived through another night. The next day I told Ernie about it and she looked at me like I was nuts. After all, what’s a COW going to do to you?

7/29 Wednesday: Nightmares of scary things. But I’m not sleeping. Dang.

Life has really gotten rough here in the DR in the last month, let me tell you. Summer here is hot (although not where I am thankfully) and I’m learning that summer means a LOT more of your favorite insects, which is really not ok with me. You name it and there are more of them. Examples you ask? Well, how about the community of centipedes living in my shower. Recently I decided to be proactive and take action about this but I didn’t want to make a mess and squish them. So I hosed them with repellant (thank you PCMOs) and that did the trick. Keep in mind that centipedes here are the ones that, if they bite you, the bite supposedly hurts for 3 days. I took the liberty of preventing that experience.

The DR is all about survival here right now, let me tell you. Nothing is safe, not even the food in the fridge. A few weeks ago I was dismayed to I find a roach happily taking a stroll through my fridge. I thought I nipped the issue in the bud when I taped over a hole I detected. It turns out there is more than one hole. More tape then. A few more days passed and I figured my food was safe there. I was wrong. I put a peanut butter and honey sandwich in there to eat later (couldn’t eat in front of company) and when I went to eat it later it was covered in ants! The ants here suck by the way. They’re not like the friendly little one from Honey I Shrunk the Kids. Noooo, these ants bite, literally. Eat them at your own risk but know that you have to chew them before they chew you. Needless to say, I carefully picked nearly all the ants off (lazily leaving a few because I figured I could eat a couple at least before they bit me) before digging in.

Another example of how you have to live to merely survive on this little isle happened about two weeks ago. I was doing my business in my bathroom (not even in a latrine) when a leg of something randomly fell from the ceiling, landing of course on my lap. I’m not sure what it was attached to at one time but I’m guessing from the color it was a roach.

Things have a habit of falling from the ceiling in my house. Sunday I was sitting on my porch with two Domincans when a baby spider fell from the ceiling RIGHT next to my foot. You could tell this was no wimpy spider; it was going to really be something. You can tell these things by the way it walks. It was going to be large. I tried to not mess with my Spider Karma and so I flung it into space but it came back. I did this two or three times, each time surprised to discover this spider was not to be deterred; it had the persistence of a true Dominican. I left it alone to see where it would go and found that it was going right for the open window of my house. I finally gave up and smashed it right below the window. Don’t judge; I tried to be diplomatic first, I swear.

Last week I was in my room when I noticed a large spider by my window. I was going to ignore it but then I saw that all familiar sack on its back. It was the type that carries its babies in a little round bag on its posterior full of tons of little spiders. Sick. As I looked at it, pondering the best way of how to get it out of my house, it must have seen me eyeing it and it took off hiding in my clothes. I searched but it was too late; the Elusive DR Spider strikes again. About 3 days later I discovered the empty sack in a shoe.

Two nights ago as began my normal “cleaning of the bed” ceremony (to make sure there are no ants) I encountered a small spider (about the size of a half dollar) right on my pillow for crying out loud. This spider didn’t have a bad attitude though, you can just tell. I stared at it, willing it to run out of my bed but it seemed to be sleeping. Finally I took my shoe and flung it out of the bed. I haven’t seen it since.

The pinnacle? Last night I was in my dinning room, talking to my mom on the phone when I noticed my neighbor’s cat playing with something about a foot from me. There was no power so I bent down trying to get a better look, thinking it was a lizard or something when all of the sudden it walked. It was a gia-normous spider. It was in its adolescence, not yet reaching full potential. I was FREAKED OUT. I shoved out of my chair and ran to the back of my house and the spider followed! It was like it thought it could eat ME. No no no no no! I made a break for the door and the stupid thing turned on its axis’s and made for the door as well. This spider had an ego. It wasn’t the least bit phased by the fact that the cat was batting at it and biting it, it thought it was so cool. Well, it at least followed me outside and so I took off for the neighbor’s. It didn’t matter that it was 11:30 at night. Then I realized that I should just knock on my best friend’s window and wake him up but I didn’t know which window was his. Why does life have to be so complicated? I went back to the house and saw that the spider was giving up the chase, with the cat now in hot pursuit of him. The spider lazily stopped and actually scratched itself with its leg! Have you ever seen a spider scratch itself? No, and so as I watched it meander down my front yard in the night, I decided that it is actually a mammal.

To make things even worse, when I went back inside I realized that there is a large gap between the front door and the floor so Senor Spidy can come back whenever he pleases. Great, that’s a comforting thought for bed. Then, when I began to tuck in my net, I discovered a large roach on it. Can’t a girl catch a break, I mean really!

So yes, there you have it. My life is becoming WAAAAAY to full of roaches and ants and especially spiders. I’m looking forward to visiting IL and NY where the insects aren’t nearly as large or daring. Less than a month till I’m on base! Until then, they’re “it” and I’m running, trying not to let them tag me, gives me the creeps.

7/26 Sunday: Visitors.

Today 4 other PCVs came to my house as a break between their sites (all over this country) and tomorrow when they’re going to go to the 27 Waterfalls. I loooooove having guests so I was pumped. I ran out of toilet paper back on Thursday and kind of figured my guests wouldn’t enjoy the “cleaning your butt in the shower” method as opposed to TP so I used some of my few remaining pesos and splurged on a roll. Never a peso spared in the name of hospitality, thats how I roll.

I firmly believe in what goes around comes around and wouldn’t you know it, when my guests got here around 5 pm they surprised me with a pack of Oreos! And they brought this corn cream stuff to make for breakfast. What a trade off for a 17 peso roll of TP. It was a fun night. Of course it didn’t go like we thought it would but it was still pleasant. We hung out at my house, eating peanut butter and jelly on crackers (I have no bread left) for dinner before heading out to do a tour of my town. We went to the clinic and the school and the PCVs were really shocked that my little community has this stuff. Brittany told me that her town of 10,000 is still fighting to get a clinic. I have 400 people in my town.

On the way back to my house we were going to stop in at the disco since it was to be a big night with it being Fathers Day here in the DR. One woman in my community tried to warm me about something being dangerous by the disco while we were walking back from the school but I thought that she was talking about traffic. Turns out she was talking about a fight that broke out at the disco. People had cleared out of there almost as fast as they run towards the mothers club when they hear there’s going to be free gifts. Meanwhile, we were walking to the disco, still unknowing, and a bunch of people were like, “You can’t go there! There was a fight! Get away quick!” Fights here are a big deal because people like to shoot guns in them. On the brightside, I thought it was so considerate that people were taking care of us and telling us that we shouldn’t go to the disco. You know your community cares about you when they try to protect you and your friends from maybe getting shot. Despite this, I was still a little disappointed since I wanted to show them the disco but I figured it was ok because we went to the hot dog stand instead. That’s when I found out that 2 of the 4 of the PCVs are vegetarians. Whoops. Next we went to my house and had a super small, somewhat lame, dance party (Wandi, Noel and Franklin were no doubt disappointed since it turned out that my female guests didn’t like to dance). We were going to go up to the big hill to look for shooting stars but everyone was too tired so we ended up going to bed around 11. What a night.

7/25 Saturday: Left out.

This morning I woke up nice and early and met up with Wandi and Vanji to go for a run. Normally we got about 4- 4.5 miles but I wanted to run a certain amount for the week so I wanted to go a little further. When we reached the normal goal Wandi and Vanji were horsing around far behind me so I just kept going. When they caught up, I had met the goal and was ready to head back but Vanji wanted to keep going to see some spot she had never seen. Turns out the “close” spot she wanted to see wasn’t close like she said, it was another 1.5 miles away. Needless to say we were gone in the morning for nearly double the normal time and Wandi of course had to act mad about it the whole time. He always acts mad but hardly ever is really mad. He reminds me of someone from a sitcom or something, maybe like a younger version of the dad on Everybody loves Raymond… or maybe just like Oscar the Grouch.

Anyways, supposedly Wandi told Vanji before we left to run that he was supposed to go with Ernesto to that morning at 8 and work for the day (something I didn’t find out about until more than half way into our adventure). That wouldn’t have been an issue if we hadn’t trekked the whole west side of the mountain, to which Wandi was acting mad but he never actually stopped and said he didn’t want to continue. When we were walking back to the house, back on the main road finally, a guy named Jimmy passed us on Ernesto’s new motorcycle. We asked where he came from and he said he just dropped Ernesto off in Altamira. He went to work all the way in Altamira? No, he was going to go to a water inauguration. I knew right then that he went to the inauguration that I wanted to go to and he didn’t even tell me about it! And, to make it worse, I had talked with my APCD- Miguel, earlier that week and he told me he was going to the ceremony. I told him I wanted to go and could he please pick me up in Altamira on his way to John’s site. Miguel told me he couldn’t because his car would be full but failed to mention that my project partner was one of the people filling it. On top of that, if Ernesto knew back on the day I talked with Miguel that he was attending the water inauguration in the site where I was for like 5 days in April, a water inauguration for Peace Corps, and that he was getting a bola with my boss… don’t you think that would have been something to share with me? Call me crazy but I would say why, yes it is something worth sharing.

I wasn’t mad yet at this point. I was pondering over these facts thinking that I hadn’t told Ernesto I wanted to go either so I guess I can’t really fault him since it was lack of communication on my part as well, and I didn’t ever ask Miguel who he was taking in his car… so can I really be mad? I was feeling kind of offended over the whole thing when Wandi started in saying that this entire situation was my fault. If I hadn’t wanted to run a little further then we would have been back and I could have gone with. I could have smacked him. No one is perfect and everyone has their good and bad qualities but I swear with Wandi, his qualities are so extreme; it’s maddening. Yes, it could maybe be true that if we had gotten back by 7 like normal I could have possibly gone with Ernesto. In reality though, probably not since he left at 7 and I would have gotten back at 7, needing to shower still. I pointed out to Wandi that he didn’t even know about it, thinking that he was going to work with Ernesto that morning and, what, am I supposed to try and make plans around plans that I don’t know? Don’t be ridiculous. I was so pissed at Wandy and his dumb little hang up about getting the last word in always, saying I told you so and just generally making situations worse that I told him to not talk to me for a while but he kept on being obnoxious. So, I snapped. I told him that he was immature and he always had something stupid to say to make things worse. After I was sufficiently rude about it I went straight to the guilt method and told him he must really enjoy making me feel bad. It was true that I was feeling bad about it and then he rubbed salt in the wound. And, besides this whole state of affairs it should be noted that I would have been able to go if someone I trust hadn’t stolen my money and along with it my trip to the ceremony, the rest of my TP for the month and other things. How frustrating.

I didn’t talk to Wandi for a while afterward my little blowup since I didn’t want to keep being rude and that was exactly how I felt like being. About an hour later we talked about it and I told him that telling anyone “I told you so” whether warranted or not, is not ok and generally is going to make someone feel negatively. The thing that’s so irritating about this whole thing, aside from the obvious, is that not 12 hours before Wandi and I had a talk about how trying to pin the blame on someone and saying things that are better left unsaid (like “neener neener neener, I told you so”) even if true, just make the situation worse. I suppose it was kind of a good thing since here we had this perfect example applicable to what we were talking about. Live and learn, both of us.

Later I talked with Ernesto and after he told me how much fun it was and how the other PCVs were asking about me, I told him I wanted to go to the party but couldn’t since someone stole my money. Ernesto asked if I knew who it was, which I don’t, so then he told me I should keep the little kids out of my house. And that was that. After that a bunch of us hung out on my porch (there was like 9 of us) for a good 4 hours until everyone kind of just got up and left. It was weird. Good timing though because not 20 minutes later I began feeling really sick with awful pains in my abdomen, also really weird. Lucky for me, I went straight to bed and when I woke up 10 hours later I was cured.

7/23 Thursday: An unexpected exchange

Today I was walking by Noel and he yelled to me to give him some chocolate. He’s generally asking me for something, or rather telling me to give him something- which I find extremely annoying. In this culture it’s ok to tell someone, “Hey, gift this to me!” or “Bring me some tennis shoes when you come back from the states.” Or, “That’s a neat headlamp you have there, give it to me.” Does this really annoy me? Yes. It makes me want to punch someone but do I? No. If there is one thing I have learned here, it is restraint (or more specifically, ignoring people) and never having the last word.

So, anyways, when Noel told me to give him some chocolate I shouted back asking what he was going to bring to my house and “gift” me. He asked what I wanted and I said the first thing that came to mind- cake. He told me to make hot chocolate and I said sure, as soon as I had that cake in my hands. Well, at about 9:30 pm, guess who shows up at my house asking where his cocoa was: Noel. I laughed and asked where the cake was and to my absolute shock he pulled a little cake out from behind his back! I was stunned! I thought it was about the funniest thing ever for some reason and told him that tomorrow would have to hold the cake eating activities since I was about to go to bed. Who would have thought that he actually was going to bring me cake?!

7/22 Wednesday: Am I really that broke? ¿Y quien tiene la culpa?

This month is killing me. I am so penniless it’s painful. I ran out of TP but didn’t want to use any money to buy more so thank God my shower just happens to be right next to my toilet. I’m out of TP but not out of soap and water… How did it come to this? Well, sure I took that trip to the south at the beginning of the month and that used a decent amount of money and sure I went to the beach with Lisa when I took her to the airport- another somewhat pricey day, and sure we went to the 27 waterfalls which cost me 500 pesos… but REALLY? I used money from home already this month but my pockets somehow seem to be extra vacant and lonely.

Each time I go to the bathroom I can’t help but think a little extra about my finances. The only month I wasn’t painfully strapped for cash was in May. This is really counterintuitive since I was in the capital (a pricey place) for 11 days... paying for 7 nights in a hostel, paying for however many meals and who knows what for transport. On the other hand, I was away from my house nearly the entire month as well… and thus my cash was away as well. I don’t want to accuse someone of stealing from me but doesn’t this seem fishy? I mean I’m sure someone recently stole the missing 1000 pesos and at least 500 of Lisa’s which’s opens the door of thought on the subject. It’s hard to keep track of money here.

Here’s the system that I have: take out 2000 pesos or so at a time (it’s pricey to go to town and back to take out less but more often) then I put all but 500 in a “safe place”. The 500 I use on this and that and when it’s gone I grab another 500 from my stash. Do I keep close track of the 500 pulled out? No, just on what’s left in the bigger pile. It’s easy to lose track of the smaller bills. I go to the colmado and buy 10 pesos of sugar or whatever and break the 500 to smaller change. After that it’s each peso for itself since it’s hard to keep track of 30 pesos here and 20 pesos there. There have been several times that I wondered- “Wow, that money went really fast, did I leave 200 in my pants pocket or something?” But I am amazingly scatterbrained so I didn’t think too much about a crook taking it from under my nose- a crook who would have to be one of my friends or someone I trust. Nearly every person who comes to my house I trust and those that I don’t, I don’t leave alone.

So, now I’m in a pickle but at the same time feel like I’m on the verge of relief. Does this mean that it is possible to get by on my measly salary? There are lots of PCVs who do it but they’re generally the ones who either never leave their site or it costs them like 50 pesos to get to the nearest city to use internet or go grocery shopping (it costs me 150 round trip just to leave my site at all, let alone to get a city. That’s the price for living on a mountain though). I feel relieved that I can live a little better maybe (at least buy freaking TP) but then I’m offended by the fact that someone’s been taking from me. I’m no nun or anything but really? Not to pout or anything but to point out the obvious; would YOU steal from someone whose sole purpose is to better your community and your life in any way they can while leaving their entire life- language, culture, friends and family for over two years? Karma is going to come around and bite that person in the butt, hopefully hard. I don’t know ANYONE here that is so hard up for cash it warrants stealing.

What shall I do about this predicament? Minga is set on me leaving all my money with her but I’m not really feeling that option. I don’t want to have to go to her house whenever I want to buy some eggs or sugar. So I guess the only thing I can do is hide it in a better place, tell as many people as I can that someone stole from me (try to scare the thief) and try to keep track of nearly every peso. Wish me luck with that because that last part has a dim future.

7/21 Tuesday: A meeting and missing cash

Today I had my meeting with my Escojo group. I feel like it went really well. I’m trying to change the dynamic of the group a little and make it more informal. The ideal goal is that they will be teaching the next class. They will be in pairs and each pair will have to do like 4-5 classes. I was thinking of rotating the pairs so they work with someone different each time but I’m not sure. They will have to meet once a week to work together on the classes and then another time to present the classes. I feel like this is a good system but we’ll see. There were 7 kids in my class today but two of them who were there I could do without. Not only are they the two that cheated on the test, Argeni (one of them) is the one who was pretty terrible in the last class, refused to participate and now he thinks hes going to give charlas? I just don’t see that happening but I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt. The fact that he is now not talking to me again for some reason unbeknownst to me doesn’t help his case.

I have one issue and that is that I would like to start an environmental group but how am I going to start it if all the awesome kids are committed to being in my Escojo class 2 times a week. Asking them to have meetings 3 times a week is too much. I need to get others involved but I’m not sure how. I talked with another PCV about having an exchange of kids, to have like 4-5 PCVS each bring 3 kids and present to my kids while my kids present Escojo or some environmental topic. I think that this could be really fantastic but that’s only if I have a good group. With school not in session I’m not sure how to get kids nor am I sure I should have it as only a youth thing (although I am leaning towards that).

Anyways, after I got home from my Escojo meeting, a bunch of us hung out for a while drinking juice and eating crackers and whatever unidentified objects were hidden in my fridge. I should be a little more careful with whom I let in my house now but I trust those kids completely. The issue is that I trust everyone and someone stole 1000 from my bag. Also when Lisa was here 500 pesos disappeared. I have been thinking for the last few months that someone has been stealing money from me but have been terrible at keeping track. I just thought that I was going through it fast... super fast but without me buying much.

I’m upset about this for a few reasons: Reason 1: I have 452 pesos to get me through the rest of the month which is doable if I don’t plan on leaving. But I was going to go to the water inauguration for the completion of the water system in the community that I helped out with in April (with the high schoolers from the States) and also I have to go to Andrew’s site on the 31st- one day before payday and I need at least 150 pesos for this and that’s including the luck of getting some serious bolas. Now I definitely don’t have enough money to go to the water inauguration, which is a BIG bummer. Not to mention I need to get more cat food and toilet paper (I have already thought of a plan B the TP though). Reason 2: Hello, there is a thief and I have no idea who it could be! Reason 3: Minga knows about it because I went to her house to check my laundry and see if it was in a pocket and she is all riled up about it. Minga knows: aka: everyone knows. Although that could be good, maybe it will freak out a thief and they will stop. Either way, it doesn’t help me for this month. I have to get through 9 days on less than $13. Awesome.

7/19 Sunday: A recap of yesterday

So, yesterday proved to be a pretty interesting day after all. I thought that I was going to a meeting with some other PCVs and the Director of Environment of the country, Jaime David. Well it turned out that it wasn’t a “meeting” really but a big party in the back yard of some Dominican’s yard- out in the middle of no where. It was different than I thought it would be but soooo much better. They were cooking out and we ate the best meat I have had in a year. It was FANTASTIC. Not to mention that Romeo Massey, the PCDR Country Director was there with our little group along with the APCD for environment, Alberto- some big rollers and so we received super special treatment. Even though there were a ton of people there, we sat at the same table as Jaime David and talked. Ok, so when I say “we” I mean to say that I didn’t talk to him really except for when she asked me questions directly because I still get nervous with my Spanish when it comes to really educated people that I feel the need to impress.

Lucky for me, the APCD of Environment, Alberto, is really cool and helped me with the mission I was given by my Ernesto. I was asked by him the night before I left to talk to someone about the issues we have with the river here during coffee season. The farmers throw the shell of the coffee bean in the river; it rots and pollutes the river so no one can use it. Not to mention it stinks something awful. So, I talked to the Alberto and he got the number of the chief of the environmental police (with whom I had talked to a little bit earlier) and talked to him. Now I just have to call the Environmental Police dude whenever and talk to him about it. Maybe this is too optimistic of me but I really feel like this will resolve the issue. I can feel it in my bones.

After the party Alberto gave me a ride to Ali’s site (which, by luck, was really close to where we were having this meeting). I arrived to Ali’s site and we hung out before heading around to try and convince some girls to go to a camp with Ali this week. This is mean to say but I’m going to put it out there: poor Ali; her community bites. Why on Earth does she have to beg and CONVINCE girls to go on this trip? They have nothing to do, its all expenses paid and they get to get out of the pueblo for an entire week with 70 other girls their own age. Not to mention there is a POOL! Ali had been trying to get people to go but they all kept backing out- which to me was unbelievable! Good thing I’m not there because I am a lot less persistent than she is and I would say, “Great, if you little jerks don’t want to go then I’m not going to convince you. And, by the way, you suck.” So I’m not the super-encouraging- school-teacher- type of PCV, so sue me. I feel no guilt. And I don’t like kids much anyways, especially ones who think you owe them something.

This makes me feel realize once again that my kids are phenomenal and they rock my world. Tuesday this week we are going to have our first meeting since the last one a month ago. Well see how many of them want to be promoters but I’m sure that there are at least 5 really committed ones. To tell you the truth, I would prefer to just chose 6 of them from the entire group that I think would be good and not offer it to the others but I don’t feel like that’s really fair. Plus some of the ones that I may not think are committed may surprise me and I want to give that opportunity to them all. Although, on the other hand, if I make it more of a prestigious thing with invites then maybe I would have better luck. Who knows but of course I took the nicer way because I am a sucker.

The main reason I went to Ali’s site was to help out with this dance. Her dance ended up being really good in general but not for her group. It was a flop for her group who didn’t plan anything and so another group pretty much took over and thus took all the earnings from it. I think that’s fair but felt bad for Ali since she gets really stressed out about it. On a good note, the dance was a huge hit. At first there were just little kids there and it was like a junior high school dance. After about an hour though things got better and it started filling up. It was an interesting dance/talent show and went late into the night. I was really tired by the end of it. We didn’t get to bed until like 3 am and at 8 I woke up because it was too hot to sleep. I hate that. I’m so glad that I don’t live in a place where I wake up because I can’t sleep due to the sweat. I would be MISERABLE. Thank God that I live on a mountain, that’s for sure.

7/18 Saturday: To Bonao!

Today I have a meeting with the Director of Environment of the entire country. How did I get this meeting you wonder? Well, I signed up for this marine interest group back in May at the all PCV conference and it’s actually the group that has the meeting. I was sent a text on Wednesday inviting me and I figured why not? After all, it’s about the contacts you make right? Well, lucky for me, Ali lives in Bonao and her Escojo dance was moved to this Saturday! So, I get to kill two birds with one stone! I’m going to go to the meeting, and visit Ali in her site (finally) while helping her with the dance. This is another example of me not being in my site but still working. Not to mention, I have a laundry list of stuff to get done while I’m out. It’s a pain planning all this stuff. I have to write notes to remember to read notes that I wrote to remember something! I miss the days of efficiency. Ahhh, imagine how nice it was when I was able to type something up, with out the worry of the power going out, use the internet AND print it all within the same 10 minutes! WOW! 5 weeks and 5 days..:)

7/17 Friday: “And what a hard worker you are Elizabeth!!”

Today I have been sneaky but it was not premeditated. I went to Minga’s with my computer because I am preparing an English class (not super excited about this but figure it has to be better than my nutrition class) and needed the computer and her generator thanks to no power. Well, I did what I needed, talked to Minga and sorted out yesterday and then decided to write in my blog. Only, I didn’t feel like writing in my blog and so I sat, watching episodes of Heroes in secret. Everyone is like, “Wow, what a hard worker you are, sitting there for so long!” and while I nod my head in agreement, I’m eyeing the screen of my favorite television show. I got all my work done, watched three episodes, didn’t bathe, hid out from Wandi all day, and man do I look like a hard worker. The worst part of today is that there are a lot of mosquitoes in Minga’s house that were feasting on me all day. Is it a curse or a blessing that I can’t feel their bites? I’m not sure but if that’s the bulk of my problems, life is pretty good.

7/16 Thursday: Veloria and of course, more drama…

I find myself always making things more complicated with my indecisiveness. Yesterday I was with Minga and she invited me to go to a vela or a wake. I figured I could go sure but she wanted to leave at 8:30 am and then wait for Tolo to pick us up whenever in the afternoon- aka like 5 pm. Forget that dude, that’s waaay to long to hang out at a wake. So I told her I had some things to do and wouldn’t be able to go that early and that she could go with out me, I could eat a sandwich in my house for lunch. She wouldn’t hear of it though and said she wouldn’t go, which made me feet bad. So at like 10 at night Wandi tells me that Mercedes invited me to go to a vela as well, the same one I assumed which meant that this was no normal wake, this was a big to do. Now I knew I should go or else I would seem antisocial but still didn’t want to go super early and then have to rely on Tolo to pick us up who knows when in the afternoon. Here is where my indecisiveness comes in; I didn’t tell Mercedes yes or no because I figured I should talk to Minga since she invited me first. I thought that maybe I could go with Minga and then leave with Mercedes or something. Since it was late when I found out, I figured I would go to Minga’s the next morning.

The next day, I heard a bus was going to come and pick people up from my community and take them to the wake. It was supposed to be here at 8:30. It was 8:15 when I found out and so I went to Minga’s to tell her to go with the bus and I would meet her there around 11. She refused to go without me and said if I was going to go in a motorcycle that she would pay to go in one as well which was sweet but it was bad too. Bad because when I told Mercedes that morning that Minga invited me already she went off, seemingly upset saying something about me going with Minga and being alone… I’m not sure. My Spanish isn’t up to par yet with ranting women and their slang. The issue is that I like Mercedes less and less as more time passes. This is mean but she reminds me of a toxin or poison, you don’t see it coming and then it kills you- BAM! The woman likes to talk about people, which is pretty common here but she does it in a malicious way and can turn on anyone who’s not her family. It’s annoying that people like to talk here but I can deal with it normally. It’s when they do it to cause harm, that’s when it crosses the line.

So, as I have said before, she isn’t exactly someone I want mad at me and it seems pretty easy to piss her off. Well, I was hoping that I would just go alone but Minga ruined those plans. I decided the next best thing would be to go to Mercede’s house and to tell her I was going to go later in the day and that Minga wanted to go with me. Mercedes acted like she wasn’t mad but she made sure to repeat at least 3 times that if I “wanted to go with Minga…” it was fine. So much for trying to make things smooth.

In June this would have bothered me a lot but now, I’m just like, “Well I guess you can’t make everyone happy.” As long as I do what I think is right I’m not going to feel bad about it. I need to focus on the right choice and not on trying to appease everyone because that’s impossible. I’m not sure if it’s more impossible here where the level of education is so low and people are so unrealistic and irrational or if I’m just more aware of when I offend people here. All this isn’t some type of epiphany or because I have a new sense of clarity. It’s because I had a vacation. I feel so much better after being away from the campo for a week for the 4th. I was tired afterwards and still have that stupid cold but nevertheless I feel refreshed. I realized that I haven’t had a real break from the campo since April and even that was with my mom and sister (which was awesome but not without lots of another type of stress). Really the last time I have had a break, a day off- a true breather, was in January for New Years. No wonder I have been so testy. Peace Corps “gives” two R & R days a month but even when I’m trying to take those I’m still doing some type of work. It costs too much to leave the campo and not do some of the work stacked up that requires resources outside of the campo (like, I don’t know… a printer or internet).

So anyways, when I went to leave the wake there was some confusion with Minga and she ended up leaving, seemingly pretty pissed off at me. I heard later that she told someone she wasn’t going to go out with me anymore. The great thing about Minga is that I know all I have to do is talk to her tomorrow and we can sort it out. And, to make things even better, no matter how stressed I get, I know that I have 6 weeks from tomorrow until I’m home for a 3 week vacation!!!!!!!!!!! WHOOT!!!!:) I can take whatever gossip they want to throw at me with that armor.

7/14 Tuesday: Dog attack, foot in a bucket and not much more

A good indicator that I’ve been here for a while is that I feel like I don’t have anything interesting to write about. Lisa’s visit pointed out that I’m fairly used to life here and the idiosyncrasies of the everyday- which was something I thought would never happen. Today when I went running with Wandi I was bit by a dog. That’s never happened to me before and let me tell you, when someone says they got bit by a dog I swear they never say how it hurt but dude, it stings! It wasn’t even a real bite, nothing to write home about but here I am… Stupid dog. And thanks a whole lot to Wandi who didn’t even stop walking to throw a rock at the dog or anything while it chased after my leg growling. Thankfully there was a woman walking by at the same time and she lobbed a rock at the measly dog. Note to self: don’t depend on Wandi to save my life against a dog attack. Got it.

Later that day Minga’s 4 year old grandson came walking by my house. The day before he fell on a rock and ripped off one of his toe nails and pulled a good piece of skin back on an adjacent toe. His dad was there and I told him to clean it until it looked clean, put a Band-Aid on it and make sure the kid wears shoes for a few days. Well, surprise surprise, here shows up little D, running by me with no shoes on and no Band-Aids. This is the same little boy that gashed his forehead when I got here and everyone was telling me to stitch it up because I’m a doctor you know. Anyways, I was little annoyed that the dad didn’t listen to a thing I said (especially since I’m a doctor) and I took the kid and cleaned him up. The nail-less hole was so packed with dirt I had to have him soak his foot in a bucket of warm water for a good 20 minutes. I sent his brother to get his shoes and had a talk with his mom on how to care for it. The boy is a trooper, he didn’t even cry. I gave him a sucker and Wandi tried to steal it and still he seemed un-phased.

All this I was doing when Rach called me from NY to tell me she’s at this delicious ice cream place that we have here in the DR. “Enjoy your ice cream”, I told her, “I’m sitting here on my porch with a bucket on my lap and a kid soaking his foot in it, performing the great show of the week for the crowd to stare in awe at…” It seems every time we talk we are doing such different things from each other; it’s amazing to think that we pretty much had the same life the last 4 years in college. Although I definitely don’t have enough money in my bank account to get that delicious ice cream this month, I have something to look forward to August 1st- pay day and it just so happens that it’s also a day I will be in a city that has the wonderful ice cream store:) Its meant to be.

7/11 Saturday: Sleep… I just want to sleep…

This morning, as I sat on my porch, trying to cool off, I took a look at my yard. Yesterday, while I was gone, Argeni and Ernesto worked on the stairs again, doing another 4 (so I now have 7 of which just 3 are finished) and I guess Ernie worked on the landscaping. My yard was looking really ugly before. I went and picked up the trash but that’s all the effort I put in and all the effort I really feel like putting in to tell you the truth. I’m not sure if Ernie made it better or worse. Is it better to have a crazy overgrowth of plants or to have chopped them down to bare numbs and dirt? I’m not sure. She replanted the branches she cut and if they grow then they have the potential to look really good. Not that I mind, it was ugly before with no potential and now its ugly with maybe soon-to-be beauty (or something like beauty… in a maybe abstract way, don’t want to get the hopes up too high), that’s better for sure, right?

Today has been a very calm day, which is just what I need. I was supposed to go to Bonao to help Ali with a dance for her Escojo class but it was rescheduled for the 25th so today I spent the day writing my blog and I took a nap. Mono is going around PCVs right now and I’ve got my fingers crossed that I didn’t’ share anything with a sicky. Aside from the skin fungus, bean allergy, a few parasites or what have you, a bout with food poisoning, and a lot of gripe (common cold) I have been really lucky the last 11 months. I have to ask myself, “Do you feel lucky?” Why, as a matter a fact, yep I do. You can’t get me mono, HA!

7/1 Wednesday- 7/10 Friday: Lisa’s Visit!

It sure has been a busy 10 days! I had so much fun these past few days and I’m sure my good friend Lisa did as well. It was a great visit. Lis and I have been friends since we were 8 years old. It’s one of those relationships where we can go for a few years even without talking but as soon as we do, we pick up like we were hanging out yesterday. It’s a strange friendship really, we’re pretty much as different as you can be and in the past have not been able to spend more than 3 days together without honestly needing a break from each other. We were interested to see how the 10 days completely together every minute was going to go and, amazingly, it went well. We each had our crabby moments (but of course she had more:) and we never actually needed a break from each other! It was a thing of beauty. Since it has been so long since I last wrote and there was so much action in the last week and a half, I’ll just write about the highlights.

Day 1 and 2: This was true Dominica style with my cab driver telling me that he was going to be 30 minutes late to get me and me freaking out about Lisa wandering around the airport lost. Lucky for us, her one giant bag took forever so we ended up waiting for her for about an hour. It was sooo funny when she got to the taxi, she thought it was a real terd of a car but I personally thought that it was kind of nice for a taxi. She actually took pictures of it.

For those of you who know me, I generally talk a lot. I like to think that the information I share is of the utmost importance. Lisa seemed to disagree, telling me during the entire trip that I didn’t warn her about this or I never told her about that… beginning that first morning. In my defense we only chatted once before she got here and that was in April. Aside from that, I hadn’t talked to her since July last year and I even tried to help her out and wrote her a suggested packing list (per her request) So anyways, morning one: she went to take a shower. The water was running for a while and after listening for a bit and not hearing any screams I figured that she was fairing ok with the cold water I forgot to tell her about. That was because she hadn’t gotten in yet, whoops. When she did get in, she screamed… a lot. Guess I never told her it doesn’t warm up, in fact it has never even crossed my mind that it would warm up. But really, what do you expect for 175 pesos/night? At least it’s hot here, cold showers are refreshing.

She arrived on Wednesday evening so we had all day Thursday to hang at the ever wonderful embassy pool. She stayed there, relaxing while I went with the Safety and Security Officer from PC, Jenn, to file the police report finally on my iPod. The police told us we would have to pay to file the report, which is crap so we left. Jenn called the embassy and tattled on them and she took care of the report for me. I knew the police station would try to screw me over, I could feel it in my bones… I felt bad because Lis and I were supposed to go sightseeing but I was held up at the police station and the medical office until about 5 pm. No police report, two stool samples and a skin fungus diagnosis later, we were off to see downtown at least a little before it got too late.

***It should be noted that right when I was diagnosed with the fungus the first thing I asked is if it can grow on the face. That’s really the last thing I need you know. So, lucky for me, I got the kind of fungus that only grows on the feet and hands. When she told me that I remembered a few weeks ago asking Wandi what was on his hand (it was peeling weird) and he said he didn’t know, that he had it forever. Nasty! I got Wandi’s fungus!!!!***

Day 3: The next morning Lisa and I woke up really early to try to go downtown to get some sightseeing in before we left for the Dirty South. We had to go to the lab to drop off the samples I had been carrying in my purse since the day before and ended up running really behind schedule thanks to the lab making me take a number before they would let me simply hand them my bag of poop and leave. I tried to be sneaky and hand it off to someone different working like three times but must not be super stealthy at 7 am. But on the other hand, is it possible to be stealthy when trying to pass off a bag with two containers of poop. Anyways, by the time we got back to the Pen (after the fastest sight seeing EVER) we were about to miss our bus. Being a little more accustomed to dragging large, heavy bags long distances than Lisa is, I took her suitcase and booked it to the PC office where all my stuff was still.

By the time we got there I was my attractive deep red color, sweating profusely, and panting some too. Lisa had packed her smaller book bag she brought for the weekend trip but I forgot mine and so just stuffed my stuff for the next few days in a plastic bag. Apparently Lisa was impressed with herself for “packing my life for the next 3 days in a book bag” but then was put off by my plastic grocery bag. (which ripped before we even got there, errr) Maybe I’m just used to it but putting all my stuff in a plastic bag for three days doesn’t seem like a big deal although I would of course accept a prize for it, maybe a cookie or a sticker? We were practically running to get to the bus (which is the worst walk ever, even when you’re not in a hurry) and made it just as everyone was getting on. Thank goodness because the next bus wasn’t for another 4 hours.

The majority of the PCVs went to Samaná for the 4th, which would have been really fun but New Years was a huge group as well and I have already been to Samaná- twice (VERY beautiful by the way). I’m more of a small-group type of person anyways. I talked to Lisa about it and we opted to go south to Bahía de las Aguilas (Eagle Bay) with a much smaller group of 20. We arrived in Barahona around 1, bought some groceries and toilet paper (should always been prepared when it comes to TP, especially when at a beach in this country, fyi) and waited for the others to show up until 5:30. We killed time by taking pictures with the Skim Ice Man (there is almost always someone selling Skim Ice, delicious little popsicles for the right price of 5 pesos) and drinking beer.

When everyone was there we loaded up into a van and headed off to the house we rented. There were 20 people, 1 dog, 1 guitar, a ton of bags and at least 6 helmets packed into the caravan bus. The more the merrier. We arrived to the house and decided to go for a swim at the beach. Lisa and I hung back to search out some filtered water and man were we glad we did since the beach was a loooooong walk and we hopped on a bola to it while the rest of the group walked the whole way. The beach there in San Rafael is beautiful but wow did it mistreat us. After we left, we all felt assaulted in some way. It took my swim suit off twice- once when I tried to get into the water and once when I tried to leave. It was the first time I ever opened my eyes under salt water and that was only because when it pummeled me as I was getting in I opened my eyes as a survival thing in an effort to see where I was going while the water hurled me around as though I was nothing but a piece of sand! After I got myself and my swim suit back together, Marissa and I were enjoying ourselves when we realized we were getting pretty far away. We began swimming back and after about 5 minutes I looked up and asked if we seemed any closer. Nope. Great. I began to have visions of PC sending a helicopter out to find the missing PCV who was floating out in the sea somewhere while wondering how far away I could get before that would happen. I figured I would be beached in Venezuela or Columbia by that time.

After we had been sufficiently abused by the ocean we headed back to the house. We realized then the house, while at first seemingly perfect, had some flaws for a group of our size. The first, most noticeable was that there was one bathroom. PCVs can improvise for any situation and so, not to be deterred, in effort to save time and be conscientious, Lisa, Kelly and I showered together in our swim suits. Next, problem number two: no water. While the water at least lasted through our shower it failed for others. We tried to figure out what the issue was since the water tank was full but we were unsuccessful and ended up spending the night in a very unsanitary way. As PCVs, no water is nothing new but we kind of need to know in advance so we can find some buckets and load ‘em up with water to flush the one toilet. This is why latrines really aren’t so bad and can definitely be much more sanitary than a toilet. (Useful fact: I prefer latrines when doing my poop samples. Here’s why: fill the cup, scoop it into the tube with the handy, tiny, pronged spoon supplied in the lid of the tubes and then what’s left in the cup, toss down the latrine. No trying to scrape the cup clean into the toilet or leaving stinkys in the trash can like when using a toilet.) Not to mention that as the night passed, two water PCVs got really sick with wicked diarrhea and violent vomiting. Speaking from experience, puking in a toilet with diarrhea is enough to make even a healthy person want to throw up but its way worse when the toilet is full of other people’s poop- and I really mean full. We began just going outside if we could.

The house had 2 sleeping spots on thin, little couches, 3 bedrooms and 6 beds so we had 3 people to a bed. When Lisa and I got there, she thought she was being so clever by picking the room with the best view but it turned out to be the room right across from the bathroom… the bathroom with no water and a toilet full of all kids of nasty things, all this in the house with walls that of course don’t reach up to the ceiling. It was a pleasant night. At 3 am I got up to try and help poor Andrew who was hurting me just listing to him and I honestly was sad that I had to go back to bed for THREE MORE HOURS. I just wanted to be on our way to the beach and out of the house with no water. Not to mention the house began to fill with mosquitoes probably right when Justin made the reservations for it and of course none of us brought our mosquito nets across the country (PC doesn’t exactly supply “travel” mosquito nets). It was an all out feast for a million mosquitoes. I haven’t put bug spray on in months but I got out of bed to do it this time.

Day 4: While the house experience sounds pretty bad looking back on it, it really was a pleasant experience. We were lucky that our driver showed up on time at 7 am and so we were off to the beach in the back of a flat bed truck bright and early. I thought that it was like an hour away but it turned out to be like 2-3 hours away. This is a bit of a mystery since it took three hours to get there and about 2 to get back. The two guys who were sick the night before seemed to be doing better and it’s a good thing Lisa and I bought TP because we had to stop along the road a few times for them on the way there.

When we arrived to the national park the guys who take people out on the boat to get to the beach were telling us it was 50 pesos a person instead of the normal 20 to “enter the park”- aka, sit on the beach. Being super cheap PCVs we argued and argued until they gave in and charged us each the 93 cents less. My favorite moment of the trip was before we even got to the beach. We all piled on the boat, life jackets buckled, the two dogs gravely looking over the sides of the boat (didn’t like water), and we all began to sing the Star Spangled Banner. One of the PCVs recently came from the States and she brought some little flags with her so we had those up in the air as we sang, our hands hanging over the boat in the crystal clear water, on the way to our own little paradise. Everything was perfect right then and I think that was pretty much how everyone felt. We were away from our families and old friends but here we were, together with new friends in a new place, really enjoying each other, connected with the song we were singing and feeling like there wasn’t a cultural barrier in the world right then. I always have loved the 4th at home, its right up there with Christmas. I love Dixon’s Petunia Festival during the 4th (however cheesy) and I love the rip-off carnival with the fireworks every year. I love the Taste of Chicago and boat rides in the river. Sure there were no fireworks or petunias but this was definitely a fantastic 4th of July that I will always remember and appreciate warmly.

Day 5: After a day at the beach, with some food that Dominicans shared with us (goat and some type of crustacean) we headed back to the truck for the ride back to the San Rafael house which thankfully now had water. The next morning Lisa and I left around 7:15 to go to Justin’s site, where they mine Larimar. This is the only place in the world where Larimar can be mined and Justin’s site is the place to go to get it; it’s cheap there and you can make your own jewelry. We left his site very satisfied and almost missed our bus back to Santo Domingo. Lisa and I decided that we would spend a little time in SD before heading back to my site. I needed to get my plane ticket for my visit home in August. Despite the fact that we tried to go super fast, we found ourselves once again running up the horrible walk to Caribe Tours. This time we weren’t so lucky and we missed the bus. That was a bummer but I figured we could get the next bus. The problem was that by some fluke, there were a ton of people traveling or something and all the tickets were sold out until the 6 pm bus. That would have put us back way after dark which is not ok. So we had to spend another night in SD.

To make the most of yet another night in SD, we decided to go out with my friend Chris and it was a good time. We went to the famous Rinconcito where they have a free salsa show to watch every Sunday. Thanks to some rain, we missed the salsa but it was still fun to go. It’s a colmado down in the Colonal Zone, right next to some ruins. Then we went to a different, larger colmado and danced, giving Lisa her first dance class on bachata and merengue. It was a fun night but I was still a little bummed Lisa couldn’t go to my disco in my town that night.

Day 6: Monday we got to my site in the afternoon and took it easy. We hung out with some people and walked around a little. We went up to the hill at night but it we couldn’t see the shooting stars because it was cloudy. Normally you can see a lot of shooting stars on any given night. The biggest news I have to share for this day is that the PC doctor called me to tell me that my samples came back and I did indeed have a parasite. I wasn’t concerned until she told me that it was “untreatable”. This is not something a person wants to hear right after they find out that they have a parasite. What she meant to say was that it was self limiting and after it peacefully lives out its life in my intestines it will die. Awesome. How long would that take? Nadie sabe but I was feeling better after a few days so I’m going to guess like 3-4 days, like a fruit fly. I had a fruit fly parasite.

Day 7: Tuesday morning I was an opportunist and decided to use the fact that I had Lisa with me to my advantage. There were a couple of guys throwing themselves at her and so I told them that she doesn’t get impressed by talk (also because she doesn’t speak Spanish), that if they want to impress her they should show her what hard workers they are. And this is how I finished my garden. It’s amazing to me that the guys stuck around since Lisa would help for about 5 minutes and then disappear in my house for 20. It took the whole morning but we were about to finish the garden. It got too late to transplant the already planted veggies so we decided we would have to do that the next day. Another motivating factor? I told the guys we would go to the river in the afternoon if and ONLY if we finished the garden in the morning. Oooo, how exciting seeing la Americana in her swim suit! And she doesn’t wear the panteloncitos either, bikini bottoms all the way! Was this wrong of me? Maybe… but Lisa didn’t know what I was saying to them, besides she has no shame anyways. She didn’t care.

We finished the garden and so we went to the river in the afternoon, going to a new part I had never been to. I think it’s the best part. Not only does it have a huge rock to throw yourself off of (or throw someone else off of) but it has a giant jungle vine hanging from a tree to swing from. When I first went to jump from the rock I was a little (or a lot) freaked out. I mean, I’m pretty sure I never went off the high dive at the pool I worked at for 4 years for crying out loud, and the high dive generally doesn’t cause bodily harm (belly flops aside) and the level of safety isn’t directly correlated with how much it has rained. Wandi, always there to help, decided to throw me off of the rock, making me jam 4 of my toes on my right foot as it bounced off of the rock on the way down. I guess it was partly my fault, I mean I was taking a long time to gather the courage to jump and once you’re up there you sure can’t turn back and climb back down, that would be way worse than a screaming belly flop.

I wasn’t mad that I jammed my toes but- dang it, I just spent like an hour on them making them look so nice! So much for that, now there’s blood under two of the nails. You know it’s the little things in life and my toes are little. Really I haven’t paid that much attention to my nails since I’ve been here but I was just trying to counteract the ugly foot fungus. I guess it doesn’t matter much, my feet are jacked up. I would like to point out that they weren’t perfect before I came here but they were at least 5 times better than they are now. It seems like everything that happens, happens to my right foot. There are 4 cuts, a peely fungus and now 4 jammed toes on my right foot right. I’ll be surprised if I even have right a foot after another year here.

Day 8: Jumping off of the rock was good practice because Wednesday, the next day, Lisa and I went to the 27 waterfalls. It was so much fun! It wasn’t what I expected but it was pretty sweet. I think that the waterfalls in my site are bigger than almost all, if not all of the 27 at the 27 waterfalls but I hadn’t jumped off of a waterfall yet by this point. There were two times where Lisa and I thought we may drown since you have to climb up the waterfalls first. 4 people just died there two weeks ago but that was due to a flash flood. We had two guides to help us and also lifejackets and helmets. My helmet was too big so every time I popped up out of the water it was over my eyes but at least my head was safe right? Advice: if you aren’t in any shape at all (can’t pull yourself up out of water), are afraid of jumping off of somewhat high rocks into water, or are afraid of jumping across areas of water from one rock to another, maybe the waterfalls aren’t for you. If you’re ok with this stuff and are going to be in the DR, then I would recommend the waterfalls to everyone.

When Lisa and I got back to my site Mercedes had some guests over. I was definitely getting the hate vibes from her again and so I was hesitant to hang out but she was inviting us so we sat down and chilled with them, drinking beer and talking for about 2 hours. Lisa was peer pressured into dancing with someone and one other couple in front of everyone. She won some merengue competition a few years ago and when I told everyone they insisted she dance for them. Ha! I tried to tell them she didn’t remember but Dominicans are pushy and next thing I knew, Lisa was up there shaking her little booty. It was funny. Later that night we had a little dance party in my house with Wandi and Noel and Lisa was able to practice even more.

Days 9 and 10: Thursday I said I needed to buckle down and transplant the stuff I planted however long ago in the seed-growing thing (I know the Spanish word for it but the English one has slipped my mind) aka the tree trunk in my yard with stuff growing that Ernesto and I planted. We successfully transplanted and planted new seeds and I have a ton of seeds left. I really hope stuff grows. It looks like the tomatoes already bit the dust which is a big bummer. I’m hoping they come back from the dead.

In the afternoon Wandi said he wanted to go to the river again so after lunch Lisa and I got ready to go (although we were both getting a little sick of the river) and to our surprise, we were the only 3 going! We went to the river up the hill and Lisa started it off right by climbing up the rock stairs I still haven’t done and jumping off into the water. After that she went further and jumped off of the waterfall. Not to be outdone, I climbed up with Wandi and, after trembling for a minute from fear, jumped off the waterfall as well, redeeming myself slightly from the other day, the long delay between when I climbed on the rock and when Wandi threw me into the water. I decided I needed to do it twice to get some respect since I hesitated the last time. I climbed up there and while I was there Lisa began signaling something. I thought that she was saying she was going to climb up to take a picture. She went up through the forest and Wandi and I waited for her. About 20 minutes later we began to wonder where she was and decided she must have gone up too far so we began to walk up to meet her. After climbing up more waterfalls (taller ones than in the 27 and with no rope, guides, helmets or life jackets) after jamming yet another toe, this time causing bleeding outside of the nail that broke off (on the left foot for once) and actually bruising the undersides of my feet, Wandi and I said forget this and we climbed up to the road.

We ended up at a nasty cow farm and there was poop everywhere. I was feeling a little bad since I had no idea where Lisa went. We sent a little boy up the road to see if he could find her but he was unsuccessful. We began walking back when Ernesto came up and told us that Lisa had been at my house for a long time and he gave us a look like he suspected we had been doing something together while we were alone! Are you kidding me, not to mention Raul (an 8 year old ) was with us the entire time. At least Lisa didn’t lock the key in the house again this time like she did on Tuesday. Lucky too because the spare key is lost at the moment. Wandi had it but after I used it on Tuesday it disappeared. Hopefully it turns up.

That night, for the second time, Ernie, Lisa, Me, Wandi and Noel went up to the hill where you can see all the lights from the other towns. It was so pretty. It was a good ending to her time in my campo. The next day we woke up early and Noel and some random guy took us to Alta Mira. Bertico was supposed to take us but he wiped out on his motorcycle the night before and we passed him on the road as he went to the hospital. Don’t worry, he’s ok.

It was pretty cute when Lisa said good bye to Noel because he gave her a little gift of two mangoes. She thought it was adorable. Too bad she’s got someone in the States she likes and they don’t speak the same language, it could be something sweet. But, I enjoyed the mangoes anyways.

Day 10: Lisa and I spent the day in Cabarrete, where I was for New Years. Lisa loved it and was shocked that since I live so close that I had only been there once. If I’m going to use money to travel I like to go to different places. Besides I would be too tempted to eat at the delicious restaurants there and that is not in my budget. Thanks to my bean allergy the plato del día available in lots of places isn’t so appetizing either. Lisa was set on getting tan so she decided it would be a good idea to not use sun block. Bad move. She was RED by the end of our beach time. At 2 we packed it up and headed to the airport. A guy from Ireland got in the bus with us and turns out he is a volunteer in a student abroad thing and he’ll be here for a month, working with communities all over the country. I thought what they were doing sounded interesting and so I stuck around until I could talk to a leader of the group. I was there from about 2:30 when I dropped Lisa off until 5 but in the end I think it was worth it. I talked to a leader and she told me she had worked with Peace Corps in the past a few times. Her group does things with reforestation and builds things like clinics and libraries. I was thinking how this could be applicable to my community and I think a youth center or finishing the library would be ideal. I have her contact information and hopefully we can work together.

I got a bola from the airport to Puerta Plata. The guy dropped me off at the new grocery store which is huge and beautiful. I walked around it for a little while and then decided it was time to head out. Puerta Plata is bigger and more complex than I thought. I got lost and ended up walking around aimlessly for about an hour. I was getting a little nervous because Noel told me he would meet me at 6:30 and I was going to be really late. I was going to try and save some money and bola it back to Alta Mira but was afraid that it would be tough to get a ride since getting the one from the airport to Puerta Plata took a while. Guess the people in that area are too used to white people, dang tourists. Lucky for me Noel was there still waiting for me. I hope that things are better between us now, I feel like they will be.

I feel like I learned some things about my time here with Lisa’s visit. I’ve noticed a lot of ways that I am different and I noticed a lot of ways I can change. I need to loosen up and let go a lot more here if I’m going to really reach potential. Lisa just did whatever and while I don’t think I should quite do that, I recognize that I am way too uptight. I have a cool community, I need to open up more.

I was so tired on the bus from Puerta Plata to Alta Mira I was doing the head bob, falling asleep. Thankfully I was a little more awake on the motorcycle but when I got home I was pooped. I think that the reason I was getting the hate vibes from Mercedes was because it had been a while since I visited, even though she’s my neighbor. After I chilled at her house with Lisa she seemed a lot better with me. So, when I got home last night, even though I was tired, I hung out there for about an hour and a half before heading back to my house. Wandi of course showed up at my house despite the fact I told them all I was going to bed and to sleep well. I pretty much kicked him out and was in bed asleep earlier than I have been since I lived with Minga- 9:30.

6/27 Saturday: Happy Birthday Sarah and happy day at the beach Escojo!!

That’s right, there are two birthdays this week in my family, and so HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!!! It was really nice that I was able to talk to Sarah at night, Mom called me while everyone was singing happy birthday to Sar:) Then we talked while she was out on her porch and I was under the mango tree in the “play” (by the baseball diamond) and we were both looking at the moon. It’s cool to think that even though you are so far away from someone you can both still be looking at the same thing.

So, the beach trip that almost didn’t happen. As you faithful blog followers know, on Wednesday our crappy bus driver backed out on us and no one would take us to the beach for any less than $3000 pesos, what thieves! Even the dude who works at the school wouldn’t do it for less than $3 Gs which was a shame because we had exactly $2 Gs. Luckily Xavier has a cousin visiting right now from the States and so his family decided to help out by pitching in half for a bus and all of us going to the beach together. It worked out really well.

There was some drama the night before when Joheiry asked Ernie if she could go to the beach with us. This little girl is always with me and generally she is pretty cool but sometimes man, I think she just needs a good spanking. She KNEW I told her she couldn’t go, that it was just something for the Escojo group for all their hard work. Despite this, she asked someone else until she got the affirmative answer she was looking for.

There are very few things that I stand firm on but this was one of them. I didn’t want to have to tell 14 kids from my class that they can’t bring their kid sister with them and then let her go. This wasn’t meant to be a family trip and a family trip it will not be. Joheiry came to my house and I told her that despite what Ernie told her, she was still not going. Sorry kid but asking other people if its ok isn’t going to change a thing because ultimately, I am the one in charge. All those kids are MY responsibility when we’re at the beach. I was pretty mad about the whole situation. To make things worse, Joheiry can be a real brat sometimes so after I told her no (again) she ran off in a pissy huff and that was that, or so I thought.

Then Ernie came over and I explained why Joheiry couldn’t go with us. I couldn’t hear what she was saying to me though thanks to the stupid colmado having their music so loud that I couldn’t even hear the person sitting next to me at my house. Ernie left and when she came back she said she wasn’t going on the trip. I thought that this was really childish and dumb. She worked harder than anyone else on this and here at the very end, just because she didn’t get her way for one thing she said she wasn’t going to go. I told her that I wished she would change her mind but she is a pretty stubborn person. She left and the next morning she was holding strong to what she said the night before.

In the morning people began showing up at my house at 7:30 am despite the fact that we said to meet at 9 (but forgot to mention a specific meeting place). Guess it was understood to meet at my house and to be at least an hour early. Aside from the fact I couldn’t eat breakfast since there were so many people in my house and not enough food to share, I was happy they were there. I was happy that they were excited about their trip. After Ernie began seeing all of her friends all excited and ready to go to the beach, she changed her mind and got ready to go with us. I talked to her, Joheiry, and Mercedes (now I try to make sure I don’t “lose face” to Mercedes and I didn’t want to look like the jerk who didn’t let the little girl go with us) telling them that Joheiry could go to the river with me the next time I go which seemed to suffice everyone. Even Mercedes was supportive, telling me that it was too much responsibility taking a little girl to the beach with us. Whew!

When we were about to leave I spied some rum in one of the kid’s bags and had to really lay the law down. I didn’t want alcohol in the first place and so the compromise was no hard alcohol. The kid was surprisingly obedient about it, not even arguing and (after I made sure to tell Mercedes to get her support) the bottle of rum went back to the house of the kid. However, Xavier was not there when we had this discussion and I sure can’t tell his family not to bring rum. Alas, there was still rum with us on the beach. I have a feeling most of the kids were pretty tipsy and none of them know how to swim, a recipe for disaster but, take it easy; no one died. They watch out for each other. We left La Lomota at around 10:15 headed for the beach (over an hour late thanks to the bus) and left the beach around 5 pm.

When we got to the beach I went to a store in search of boy short bottoms to wear instead of the bikini bottoms I have. Apparently it is NOT ok to wear bikini bottoms, also called panties. I would have worn the pajama shorts that I wear to the river over the panties but, nooooo I wear those to the river and the beach is a spectacular event, one should dress like it. Lucky for me the store I found (since we were at a tourist beach) had some bikini shorts that fit ok. I would like to say that I used to work as a lifeguard over the summers and never felt embarrassed to sit there all day in my swim suit but the kids made SUCH a big deal about it to me, I was really embarrassed! I was happy I at least had those boy short bottoms.

When we left the beach around 5 everyone seemed really tired. We were about half way home when the bus broke down. For one thing, it was out of gas. The other thing was that it was smoking. I guess it was overheated from lack of water. Luckily this happened here in the northern part of the country so we were able to find some water pretty easily. When I say “we”, I mean Wandi and some other kid.

After “we” got the bus up and going, we had the driver drop us off at the river. Wandi and I went to the nearest colmado and bought some shampoo and we all bathed in the unusually ice cold river. Yep, it was a great ending to a great day. This group of kids is awesome. I hope that they keep on with Escojo and the next class I have is as active as they are.

6/25 Thursday: Problemitas

Well at least I can say for now that these issues are small but bothersome nonetheless. Here is what is plaguing me at this moment in time:

1) Small problem 1: Rats. When I woke up this morning there was once again rat poop on my kitchen table. Last night I could hear the rats and I have gotten so used to them that I can say that I honestly was not bothered by them at all. The thing that bothered me was waking up this morning and having to wipe the poop off of my kitchen table. Yuck. Also I have rubbery window clings up from Easter still and there is an actual bite taken out of one of the eggs. Guess Ratatouille wanted a sample. He also got into my suitcase with my candy stash and seems to love to eat the Ziplock bags while only taking a bite or two of some Snickers bars. I still ate the Snickers bars of course, just cut off the gnawed on part. Luckily the inside of the suitcase seems to have been spared of the rat pee.

Why do I have at least one rat you ask? That would be because my prego cat was unable to continue pulling her weight in this household by protecting the house to do her impossibly round size. About 10 days ago or so she gave birth to two kittens in her cat carrier. Sure I locked her in there to have them so she wouldn’t have them on my bed (a reoccurring day-mare of mine) but she seemed to enjoy her assigned place of birthing- at least for the first two days until she took her kittens by their necks (not their scruffs)to the neighbor’s house to live under Ernestina’s bed. Yes it is true, my freaking cat moved out. I still feed her so she comes back a few times a day to reap the benefits of that and also when it rains she comes back to sit on my lap as she is afraid of storms. Used by my own stupid cat.

2) Small problem 2: Holy mosquito net! I guess the problem isn’t that I have a mosquito net with holes, I have fixed that issue but now am confronted with yet another. Yesterday I went to town and the first store I went into I found mosquito nets that hang from the ceiling, something I have discovered to not be an easy task. I was pretty happy with the luck of finding them at the very first store and figured I would buy one for sure. The guy told me that these were one size fits all so I figured that they were pretty big. The problem? Well, it has no door for one and holy crap is it ugly. It’s yellow and has these UGLY foamy-fabric shapes sewn on it. The shapes include a heart with festive lace around it and then there are some flowery shaped thingys to compliment it. The net itself is hug on a rectangular frame so it’s like sleeping under a box. Then, the dude at the store lied to me or doesn’t know his butt from a hole in the ground because this net is even smaller than my last one. This means that I have to have it hung really low, making the awesome heart and other decorative items right at eye level. Awesome.

3) Small problem 3: Dirty water, dirty neighbors. I guess there is this person out by the clinic who dumps their laundry washing water in the road. This is an issue with others since the water is “dirty”. Ernesto asked me last night if I could go over to the clinic and talk to the doctor about this, see if she could talk to the doña house about the health risk. I see a few issues with this. First, no one has talked to the people of the house yet, telling them that they are concerned. Second, why is this an issue? Not to make one issue smaller than reality but hello- there is TRASH everywhere, I’m not sure that throwing some water from the hand washed laundry in the road, in the heat the dries it up before the daily rain, is an issue. And I really I think that if it were me who was throwing my water in the road, that I would feel pretty bad that my neighbors, aka my friends, didn’t talk to me about it first but instead went to the gringa and the doctor and had them talk to me about it. People in this culture don’t like to confront things; I understand that but why send other people that are not from the community to confront the issue? It’s possible that this is a more productive way to get thing done but I asked Vangie about it and she seemed to be in agreement with me. We shall see, I’m going to talk to Ernesto again about it.

4) Small problem 4: Beached. Our ride for the beach trip this Saturday backed out yesterday. This doesn’t seem to have a solution yet but I will keep you posted.

5) Small Problem 4: Prune Jelly. Yesterday I was on several missions when I went into town. One of which was to buy some jelly. I went to two different stores in search of this sacred item. The first store I found some jelly by a super nasty brand and others which were some unknown flavor by an unknown brand. Jelly here is not cheap. The absolute cheapest is like 95 pesos and it’s not for the biggest jar. 95 pesos is like $2.75 but that’s a big chunk of change for me to spend on something condimental like jelly. The second store didn’t even have jelly but oddly enough, although this store is my store of choice it rarely has peanut butter; today it had a TON of peanut butter. I’m talking like 4 brands, crunchy and creamy, quite the impressive collection, but alas, no jelly. Back to store one. I picked up the two unknown brands and asked for a price check. They were both the same flavor whatever ciruela flavor was. It looked like there were little green apples on the side and so I thought that it was some type of green apple? Who knew but I was in a hurry at this point and a little desperate so I bought the cheaper one. When I got home and took it out of the bag, I was studying it more carefully and realized that it could quite possibly be prune jelly! It was brown, yuck. They like prune stuff here. They put prune jelly stuff on top of pastries like prune is a delicious dessert! Turns out ciruela means plumb but may as well be prune. So, I will be eating toast with prune/plumb jelly and eating pb & js with prune/plumb jelly. Another thing I noticed after purchasing the jelly was the expiration date of November 2008. I ate it last night (and fed it to Wandi too, hehe) and no indigestion today on either of our parts so it looks like I will be eating this jar of jelly in its entirety. It’s not that bad actually, it kind of tastes like a local fruit, tamarindo. The downside, I have never liked that fruit.

6/24 Wednesday: Happy birthday Mom!!!

Today is my Mom’s birthday and so I wanted to say HAPPY 52nd BIRTHDAY MOM!!! I love you and I wish I was there with you to help eat the cake Rach is going to make… I mean to celebrate this great day with you:) I hope you have a fantastic day and know that I am thinking about you all day.

Talk about changes though, Mom and Rach arrived in New York early Tuesday morning, moving into their new house. A lot has been going on at home that I can’t be apart of due to my being here. My brother Aaron bought a house in March and moved into it (wow!) My Dad was in a devastating accident but, thank God, is recovering amazingly. My very best friend is getting married in September to a guy I don’t even know and I obviously won’t be able to help plan anything which is a HUGE bummer. And now my Mom and sister have now moved from IL to NY... both of whom have lived in IL their entire lives. It’s weird how things happen in life. It’s like nothing has changed really since I was 12 years old and now, after I’ve been gone for just 10 freaking months, there are drastic changes in my life from home. It goes to show you though that choosing to join Peace Corps wasn’t just a decision that affects me but also everyone who I am close with at home. I didn’t think about that when I signed up but I’m still glad I’m here. Everything in life has a negative and a positive side and if those are the biggest problems I have from being in a 3rd world country for a little over two years, then I think life is pretty good.

All morning my house has been full of kids. This isn’t anything out of the ordinary for me but occasionally I get lucky and the little girls take it upon themselves to clean. Today is one suck lucky day. They clean the weirdest things, like my shoes, matching up all the earrings I have or cleaning or the window sills. I will take what I can get though! I never ask them to clean because I don’t feel right about it but I sure wish they would get a bug to mop more… hehe.

Today the only plans I have are going to town. I just talked with a reliable motor driver and so I feel confident that today will be the day which is good because I’m all out of jelly. So much for peanut butter and jelly or toast and jam. And the bread I have is weird so it’s nasty to eat with just peanut butter. I also have to try to find a mosquito net that hangs from the ceiling thanks to sitting on mine two days ago and ripping it down from the ceiling, the net is FULL of holes anyways though thanks to my cat. I’ve been sleeping with the crappy net PC gave me which is depressing yet very spacious. Anyways, hopefully it doesn’t rain because a 20 minute motor ride up to my community from town while its pouring down rain is not fun. We shall see how well things go today.

6/23 Tuesday: Absolutely nothing

That’s what I did today. I was going to go to Navarrete but, after my ride ditched me and I sat and waited another 30 minutes for another ride that never showed, I went in my house and read a little. Reading isn’t as easy as it used to be, let me tell you. It’s really becoming quite impossible to read around here now. I’m not sure if I just ignore people less than I used to or if there are more people trying to talk to me than there used to be but I suspect it’s a little of both. I should have found someone else to take me to town. I decided against it because it looked like it was going to rain soon (and has rained nearly every single afternoon/evening since the last week of April) and I was sleepy. There’s always tomorrow as I have nothing to do.

This is the first time since I’ve been here that “nothing” has really been an option. I always had something to do with my Escojo class but now that they have graduated the only things I have to do this week would be better prepare myself for future classes- aka: drawing charlas for either the next nutrition class or my Escojo youth leader classes that will be next month or in August. I’m more of the procrastination type myself though so that knocks that out.

Saturday we’re set to go to the beach which will be interesting since my youth group already decided they were going to bring beer. Is this against the law here? Yes. Am I promoting this? No. Am I being as strict as I should be? I guess that depends on your point of view. There is one thing you should know: people here think NOTHING of beer. At the graduation last weekend, Ernesto was giving beer to the 6, 7, and 8 year olds at the table. Ernesto: my morally sound, stable rock here. The shocking thing is that the kids were drinking the beer and liking it. What type of child likes beer? This gives me a little hope for my nutrition class, if they can like beer, they can like green leaves and cucumber peels.

Anyways, back to the beer thing: I am going to be watching how much beer they drink because I can tell you now; if I have to try to save some underage drunk person from my YOUTH GROUP in the freaking ocean I am not going to be a happy camper. This is a reward for everyone, not a death sentence. Needless to say, Saturday will be interesting. Drunkenness is not looked upon favorably here and the kids are used to drinking so I don’t think that it will be an issue. I still have a few days till I have to worry about it though. Maybe I’ll make a rule that they can bring beer only, no rum. Until then, I’m not completely sure what I’ll do to keep busy, guess I’ll write in my blog:)

6/22 Monday: Mothers Club

Even though I had my class for the day long prepared, I wasn’t looking forward to giving the nutrition class to the Women’s Group. Sure when I began Escojo I wasn’t enthused either but that was more because of my Spanish and Xavier being a smart aleck little tiguere. The Women’s Club is just plain old boring. I’ve given three classes so far and this one today was particularly boring. It was about the alimentation of small children. Yawn. Shame on me, this is one of the main goals I’m supposed to be working on here. Don’t get me wrong, there is always something to be learned and thus always something to be taught but it’s not like there is a huge “small child” population in my town. And I just can’t get into it. Sure, I should have the attitude that if one person learns then at least one child will be better fed and the world will go round but hey, what can I say? I guess I just have 0 faith in the fact that the women are doing anything more than politely listening (or talking with their neighbor getting the latest gossip) during the class and then when they leave, they change nothing. This could be due to the fact that when I check to see who did their homework (cooking a new meal or telling me an example of a healthy one, bringing a green leaf to class…) not one person has EVER done it. I feel like I should try to begin my own group and have it once a week. Every 15 days isn’t frequent enough and people forget.

On top of that, the women don’t participate. They actually fight about who is going to have to read stuff. I’m not going to stand up there and read the big sheets of paper I spent hours preparing. The class is boring already yet alone to have me standing up there reading. And, getting volunteers to cook food is like pulling teeth! I can’t even guilt them into it. I tried and I think I am a really good guilter. I also tried specifically picking people but they actually said no! I tried the we’ll-sit-and-wait-till-someone-volunteers method and they didn’t care. They had no where to be and so they used it as a social time. I finally just sat down with the recipe book open and two women began reading it. One of them recognized something she cooks and so she volunteered. Thank goodness there are only 7 classes in this series. But I am really supposed to be training health promoters here? I can’t even get someone to give up time to cook or get a volunteer to read a sentence.

I get the feeling that here I won’t have a real “health promoter team” per say but rather classes educating and in turn hopefully that will be a mild type of promoter-ness. The homework in my nutrition book wasn’t really applicable to the women’s enthusiasm and so this week I assigned them the task of sharing what they learned with at least one other person who wasn’t in the class that day. I know that they are interested or else they wouldn’t be there but I need to figure out how to be more interested myself and how to teach in a different way that works with their dynamic. Wish me luck.

6/20 Saturday: GRADUATION TIME!!!

What a crazy day. After issues with the music, Miguel and Ali (the PCV who lives about two hours from me whom I met at the regional Escojo conference) being over an hour late and some other little issues, we began the ceremony- an hour late. But hey, that was when the crowed showed up. I am so proud of my group, the graduation pulled together perfectly. They did two of the four dramas (two that I picked after the exams, the exams went really well by the way as did the dramas) and a teacher from the school presented the certificates to each person. In the middle of the ceremony, all of them went to the front with their diplomas and I was confused. Ali asked me what they were doing and I told her I didn’t know, I though that it was time to do Drama #2 but it looked like they were going to take a group picture or something. Well, it turns out that they were so secretive with the fundraising money because they used some of it to buy me a plaque, getting it engraved and everything. I was so touched, I almost cried. I wanted to give them all a huge hug but there were 14 of them. After everything that happened this week it really made a huge difference. It was prefect. It was so amazing. It meant so much to me; I really am blessed to have a group like them.

After the ceremony the kids set up some tables and sold more beer. This time the money was for Ernesto and Mercedes though, which I thought was tacky of them. Making money off of our group is kind of shameful. No matter, my group has exactly 2000 pesos left which is what our ride to the beach told us he would charge. So, thanks to the work and planning of the leaders in my group, the graduation went really well and now we’re all set for the beach trip.

6/18 Thursday: A Breakdown

Man, I have been sooooooo stressed out here lately. Last night I finally reached my point. Here’s what happened:

Like everything, it’s a long story but to sum it up a little- Mercedes (my neighbor, project partner’s wife, my best friends mom, the president of the mothers club…) is pissed at me. She hasn’t been visiting, she leaves when I try to visit her house, she ignores me when I talk directly to her and come to find out, she has been saying really stupid, immature things about me to people, actually name calling if you can believe that! I have no idea why I even would come up in conversation but the kids who hang out with me have been coming up to me on separate occasions telling me in confidence things that she has been saying about me, things that I guess I would rather not know.

I’m not sure if this is because of what happened when I got back from the water filter training I was at or if it’s from what happened at the mothers club. First, when I got back from Santiago after being at that training for 3 days, I discovered that there was a pan missing from my house. Actually I didn’t notice, Yoheiry noticed almost instantly and asked where it was. I was a little annoyed that someone was in my house AGAIN after I have been more than clear about how I feel about it but more than that, I was annoyed that they were borrowing things on top of it without asking or anything. I know that this has been a long, drawn out issue that seemingly could be solved simply by taking back the spare key but I don’t want to offend anyone. I’m not sure how I would ask for it without making someone mad and I don’t want to offend my neighbors of all people.

Wandi came over and I calmly asked him if he knew if someone was in the house. He asked why and I told him I knew someone was in there and I would like to know who. He told me he didn’t know, which I found hard to believe. Then Ernie came over and I asked her. Before she could answer, Wandi started yelling and saying that he was the one who was in the house. With that Ernie left and I asked Wandi why he lied about it. Now I was put off for three things: being in my house when I’m not there, taking stuff like it’s theirs, and then Wandi looking me in the eyes and lying about it! A little while later a boy came up to me with the spare key to the house and said Ernie sent him to give it to me… and I never even asked for the key! Great, now I was wondering if Ernie was mad at me.

The next day was Ernie’s birthday and I already bought the ingredients to bake her a cake as a surprise. I figured that if she was mad, really mad, and didn’t want to eat the delicious cake, I would suck it up and take on the responsibility. She visited me in the morning though and wasn’t mad at all. She spent the majority of the morning in the Mothers Club selling beer for the fundraiser and when I surprised her with the somewhat ugly cake she was so sweet and seemed genuinely excited to have it. I thought that this was particularly sweet since someone else bought her this really pretty cake (by Dominican definition) with a giant number 19 on it. Here she already had this pretty cake but she was still excited over my ugly little cake. (ugly but alllll chocolate:)

So anyways, back to the spare key issue: later I found out that Wandi was in my house 2 times while I was gone- once to deliver some paint I had Tolo bring up from town and then again to get a frying pan for Mercedes to use. I have no issue lending stuff but people have to ASK. I am always lending/giving stuff to people in my house and I’m fine about it as long as I don’t feel used. People here ask their neighbors for things if they need them and they don’t go into other people’s houses when they’re not there, why am I any different? No, I am absolutely holding my ground about this. That may cause more conflict since I’m not going to change my stance on it and she obviously feels like she has every right to send people in my house when I’m not home and also use whatever she wants.

On the upside, she had been sending little boys to my house 3-4 times a week to ask for stuff, which was getting excessive. At first it was once a week or two and it was for a match or a plastic shopping bag- no big deal- but now its- “Oh when you were in your room, Mercedes came over and took a box of matches” two times a week, or it was her asking for an entire onion when it’s a 1 minute walk to the colmado. Why doesn’t she send a little boy to the colmado to get that instead of mooching off of me? Nevertheless, I thought that I would let it go since it’s really not worth being stingy over; until this incident. And, in my defense I wasn’t rude, angry or even aware that it was her that sent Wandi in my house. If I had known it was her I would have talked to her in a direct/non-direct way somehow… the way you seem to have to handle things here.

The second thing that happened is absolutely stupid. When politicians are campaigning here they give presents to people. A politician was scheduled to go to the Mother’s Club and give each woman a gift. This has happened before and I purposely stayed home since I don’t feel right about taking a gift. However, on this day I was already there since I had to give my nutrition class. This class was two days after the spare key incident went down and at this point I was unaware that Mercedes was mad at me. She seemed a little ruder but nothing super significant. I suspected things weren’t peachy because of the spare key thing and also because Argeni, her youngest son who is in my Escojo class was apparently telling his parents I was ignoring him in class (this is because everyone in class received a sucker when they participated and some received 2-3 suckers but since he refuses to participate he didn’t get a sucker). So I thought that Mercedes was irritated with me for one of those two reasons.

In the Mother’s Club, I tried to avoid being counted when they were seeing how many people to give gifts to. I even went outside but Mercedes saw me and counted me. There were too many women and so the politician said that he would get some more gifts from Navarrete. Later that night a little boy came up to me and gave me an opened gift of three glass cups from the Woman’s Club which I assumed were from Navarrete. Pretty handy too because who doesn’t need glass cups? Especially ones with handles!

The problem began a couple days later when Minga told me her sister was upset that she was at the meeting but didn’t get a gift. I figured I already had some glasses and of course didn’t mind not getting a gift so I gave my cups to her sister. I tried to do it discreetly, sending the cups with a little girl, hidden in my laundry basket. I don’t want people thinking that I am going to give away all my stuff or that I have a lot of money because then they bug you ALL the time asking for stuff.

Despite my clandestine efforts, Wandi came over the next day really mad asking why I had given my gift away. Turns out that there weren’t enough gifts and so Mercedes gave me hers, which I obviously didn’t know. So now she was really mad at me for giving the cups away… or is it because of the key thing… or is it because she thinks I’m being a jerk to her son? Who knows, all I know is that she is NOT someone I want mad at me. She likes to physically fight with people, she’s all the stuff I already listed (neighbor, wife of project partner, bff’s mom, pres of mothers club…) not to mention I always felt like if everyone here turned on me for some reason I would always at least have that family and Minga.

So, for this I was feeling completely and utterly abandoned, discarded. I wanted to confide in someone but whom? Should I really talk to Wandi about issues I’m having with his mom? I felt like I was being stabbed in the back every time one of the little girls told me crap she was saying about me. Stabbed in the back by one of the very few people I completely trusted, someone I thought would be there for me no matter what. I mean, they’re the family who solicited me! They’re supposed to help me and take care of me- not talk crap about me to people and ignore me.

I decided that I need at least one person here that I can completely trust. At home everyone has someone, they’re mom or best friend… someone they can tell anything who understands, someone who, no matter what thing you do, they will never turn on you and they will always support you. This, I think, is why so many PCVs have significant others here. A lot of PCVs in this country get married to locals (I forget exactly but out of the 70 some odd countries Peace Corps operates in, the DR is the 1st or 2nd highest for marriage rates of PCVs to Nationals) Also, to me it seems that a lot of PCVs end up dating people they would never date if it were at home. I guess the combo of the campo, culture differences, and loneliness are kind of like beer goggles in that sense.

Peace Corps is not what I thought it would be. I didn’t think that I would feel attacked by the people I trusted in my community, especially for something so little. This is the second time someone was so pissed at me they wouldn’t talk to me, and both times I didn’t do anything horrible, I didn’t even know when I was doing something that it was wrong! Ignorance is NOT bliss. Before I left home, I didn’t have a lot of expectations of what I would find in my time here but one thing I did expect was to make life long, lasting friendships. I never thought there would be soooo much drama. I’m not completely sure if that is very normal here in the DR but, after talking with other PCVs, it seems I am in a super dramatic community. I am sick of everything always somehow being blamed on me, even when I wasn’t here when whatever happened. I’m sick of feeling used. I’m sick of backhanded compliments (you have so much pretty clothes, why don’t you ever wear them?) I’m sick of feeling alone in this.

So I was having a really low moment, and getting lower and then Wandi came over. I had been in my room crying and talking aloud for about an hour, trying to sort things out but it wasn’t helping. First the little girl came over and, not knowing I was upset, she told me that now it seems like Ernesto is upset with me too. That at first it was just Mercedes who didn’t care about me but now it’s both of them. Great, awesome thing to say. I honestly don’t know what I would do if Ernesto started acting like Mercedes. He is the rock I have of the entire community. We’re not really close but I know he’s there and he will support me and seems like he is always the voice of reason, rationality. After she told me that, all my efforts of cheering myself up went down the drain.

After a little while, she left and Wandi showed up. I decided that I would open up to Wandi. I was feeling so bad and it seems things are adding up and getting steadily worse. It’s like, as soon as I confront one issue another one pops up that’s bigger than the one before! I felt bad to burden him with what was weighing on me but he genuinely wanted to know. It was so great to have Wandi there because he actually made me feel better. He told me he would try to see what was going on with his mom. Literally for the first time since I have been here, someone was empathetic. I’m not looking for anyone’s sympathy but I am looking for understanding and he actually gave it to me. We talked about it while I cried and it felt good to finally be able to let me guard down, like the first breath after being under water for so long, it gave me the warm tinglies that you get when you hug someone you really missed, when you hang on to them and let go of all the time in-between.

I know that PC has ups and downs, life does in general, but I’m hoping that I’m learning to deal with it so I have less downs and more ups. I talked to another PCV, someone who’s turning out to be a great friend, Ali, and she told me I should write Mercedes a letter apologizing and telling her I never met to offend her. I would rather just go over there and talk to her but that’s not how they roll in this culture. It’s hard to keep my attitude in check and my pride. Tomorrow is the graduation and Miguel is going to be here. I’ve been thinking that maybe I would talk to Miguel about all of this but I don’t want him to think I suck at this and need help with my personal issues. I’ll try the letter first and see. The sucky thing is that even if she’s not mad at me anymore, my confidence in her is gone. Things won’t ever be the same. She said horrible things and now, after this I’ll always be wondering in the back of my mind if she’s going to turn on me again. It’s a terrible feeling.

6/15 Monday: TO THE RIVER!!!!

Today we all went to the river, to a part I have never gone to before. It was a long walk to get there but wow, it is amazing. Now I have been to two parts of the river here, one that is “up” from my house, closer but what a pain trying to hike down the hill to it. The other is a hike but easier to get to, although I still need some help. Lucky for me Wandi is as always, attached at the hip and Dominicans are amazingly agile. This is a random fact: when I had some friends over one of them arm wrestled Wandi. It was my friend Mark, who was not so long ago on the swim team in college and is a big guy. Well, Wandi completely kicked his butt- which was a COMPLETE shock. I figured Mark was drunk but he said he wasn’t. So it seems to me that in general Dominicans are uncannily strong. It’s weird. Another weird thing is how talented the group of kids I hang out can learn how to do things. When we went to the river Vanji didn’t know how to swim at all but by the end of the day, and just a few attempts, she was able to stay afloat! Wandi didn’t even know how to dive and all of the sudden he started doing back flips! BACKFLIPS! Its not like that’s not what you start with.

All I can say about this is that I love going to the river. It’s getting hotter here and so I feel that once Escojo is over and I have more time, river trips will have to be more common.

6/14 Sunday: Cogiendolo suave… for now

Yes, that’s right. Today has been the first time in a long time I felt like a kid without tons of homework to do weighing me down. Although I do still have to prepare a few things today, it’s nothing like last week. Gracias a Dios.

This week I have to give a review class on Monday. I think it will go pretty well but that’s if I actually get on it and prepare the class. I figure, despite the fact that no one knows what Jeopardy is, I’ll make the class Jeopardy style. Then on Wednesday they have to take their exams. I originally made their exam pretty thorough- it was 5 pages with body diagrams and all that jazz but after giving it some thought, I guess I don’t have that much faith. I don’t want anyone to fail and let’s face it, I bet the easiest test in the States would be like the hardest test here. I don’t want to intimidate them with a long test so I decided to make the test 2 pages plus include a questionnaire. But, not to skimp on actually testing their knowledge, I decided to have them prepare and perform dramas as part of their “grade”. I broke them up into groups based on shyness/participation and assigned them topics like Abstinence, VIH/AIDS, Discrimination, and Alcohol. I wrote a few requirements on the back of each topic, specific things they had to cover in the dramas, told them they should last 5-10 minutes. For motivational purposes, I told them that the group with the most focus, that was the most creative, and where everyone had some part in it, would win. What do the winners receive you may wonder? The best drama will receive the honor of performing in front of everyone at the graduation! This may seem like a punishment to some but not here in this culture, attention is always a great prize.

As far as the graduation, well due to a TON of stuff I have had to do, I have been nearly completely hands off with it. The only thing I did was help form the groups, provide fundraising opportunities, and set times to meet in the groups with deadlines to get stuff done. But the kids have planned it all. To tell you the truth, I really have no idea what’s going on with it. Now I know you may be thinking that it is really irresponsible of me but I told them from the start that this was their baby and while I would love it if they had a graduation, it doesn’t reflect poorly on me if they don’t have one.

One thing I have been trying to be more hands on with is the money situation. I have been hounding Wandi and Ernie, as they are the treasures, trying to see how much money they have between the two of them that the group raised. I would like them to write down how much they raised from each thing but they keep putting it off. Guess next time I should try to be a little more hands on with this part. And it has not even crossed my mind that they’re pocketing the money, I have complete confidence in my kids. I really feel like I lucked out with my group, even though they drive me insane sometimes.

6/8 Monday: Beer as a fundraiser

Yesterday was a fun day. It was a good day actually because I was able to start it by watching Heroes:) Let me just say though that I think that season two was lame. Anyways, I went down to the Mother’s Club where kids from my youth group were selling things to raise money. While I was gone in Santiago I guess some dude gave our youth group like 2,000 pesos and so Ernie decided that with that money she would buy 24 bottles of beer. At first I was like, “Ummmm, ok... why did she buy beer with that money?” But then it turns out that she decided to take it upon herself to buy the beers so that she can sell them at the baseball game on Sunday. I thought that it was really funny because here my youth group was on Sunday, at the Mother’s Club, selling beer as a freaking fundraiser. What a cultural difference eh? I guess they were a little worried that they wouldn’t make money off of it because it turns out, the baseball team my community was playing was Evangelical, which is VERY strict here, but they sold all 24 bottles of beer before the game was over. Pretty impressive and I think they made like $500 pesos más o menos. Way to go Escojo.

6/4 Friday: A week of real work, no power and confrontations

So I have been a slacker and not been writing in my blog very much. Wait, let me correct that, I’ve not been slacking actually- I can’t even blame it on Heroes since I finished season 1 and the realized that the first episode of season two didn’t download right, along with some other episodes. Its better to not ruin the experience I suppose and so once again, I will be patient and wait until I can watch it in order, *sigh*.

What have I been doing this last week?, you may ask, aside from neglecting my blog of course. Well my faithful blog followers, I have been very productive in this week. Where to start? Let me give a little background: when I got back from the capital Ernie told me that someone from the local municipality was in our town a few days prior. She talked to them about getting some funding for our graduation on the 20th and apparently they said that they would be able to give the group however much money they wanted as well as provide a live band. Ernie and Ernesto were really pumped about this, I on the other hand was VERY skeptical. The catch? We had to write a letter requesting what we wanted. Except Ernie doesn’t tell me it like that, she tells me I have to write the letter. Whhhoa, I am the professor here, I am not a part of the graduation committee. So, I told her I would not be writing the letter that the kids from the committee should write it. I felt attacked after that because she argued with me about it, along with Wandi and Ernesto even! I totally felt like they thought I was slacking, not doing my job when my job is not to do things for people but guide them along the way of them doing things for themselves. Not to mention, having a graduation is a perk, not a right. I told them if they wrote the letter I would be more than happy to type it up for them to which Ernesto countered that Wandi, Ernie and I could just write it all together. I figured this was an ok compromise.

A few days passed with no sign of any progress. Then I find out that Ernie asked her uncle, a teacher at the school to write the letter and he agreed! I was flustered but figured I would let it go. Then on Sunday she came up to me at while I was sitting at a colmado sharing a pop with Minga and Tolo and told me about some dude she just met who told he would like to donate to our group. She was really excited, telling me that we were going to have so much money for our graduation! Then she said, “Miguel (my APCD) is going to be so pleased with the graduation and even though you didn’t do any work, I won’t tell him and you’ll look really good.” I was speechless in English let alone in Spanish. She wasn’t trying to be mean or anything, she thought she was doing me a favor and she really doesn’t think I’m doing anything!!!!!! Does she not know how long it takes to plan a charla? Errr, I was feeling very bombarded since I get the feeling that her entire family, my main supporters, feels that way.

On Tuesday Ernie shows up with these two letters to the sindico (municipality) and tells me to sign them. I read the letters, if you even want to call them that, and was not impressed. Aside from the spelling errors, the grammatical errors, and the crazy uses of different types of font, each letter was like 5 sentences long. They basically said, “After I say hello to you all, I would like to tell you that our group, Escojo, needs a band of music (or in the other letter: 7,000 pesos) for our graduation. God bless you”. Then at the bottom it said, “Leader of Group” and left a line for me to sign. It didn’t even have a name on it or explain what Escojo was!!!! While I was thinking there was no way I was going to sign my name to this crappy letter I said, “Wow, this is a really good letter. You know what though? It doesn’t explain what Escojo is or anything. I think we would have a better chance of getting money if we explained a little more.” Ernie insisted that there was no time and we had to turn the letter in the next day. I was frazzled. I didn’t want to write the stupid letter, I wasn’t the one to ask for money in the first place and now, somehow, I ended up the one who was supposed to sign my name to this POS letter. Not to mention, as I have noted, there hadn’t been much power lately so when she showed up at 8 pm, I was trying to make the most of the power by finishing up my lesson for the next day (a day earlier than normal since I had to go to Santiago for some training on bio sand filters… I’ll elaborate more later). For some reason, on top of it all, I had been in the worst mood for a week and her pretty much dumping this responsibility on me when I didn’t want it in the first place, really ticked me off.

I cut my lesson plan in half, finished it up and told her I would write the stupid letter. Two hours later I had a sweet freaking letter if I do say so myself and, after Ernie and Wandi proof read it, I felt pretty great about my Spanish writing skills (there were only 2 mistakes!).

After Wandi and Ernie left, I felt obligated to use the power more since it was present. So I wrote up my Escojo exam. This took me until 3 am. Go figure but we had power until at least 3 am. The next day, Tuesday, I woke up at 8 to Wandi knocking on my door asking me when I would be ready to go to Navarrete with him to the sindico and drop the letter off. “In 30 minutes.” I told him and then lied about how I was still sleeping when he knocked on my door. I’m not sure what happened but we didn’t leave until 9:30 and spent the entire morning in Navarrete. I figured if I’m paying to go to town I would run a few errands as well. So, we bought some glitter from the paper store, some cat food from the vet, and later went to the hardware store and bought some “melon” colored paint (think cantaloupe) and of course, went to city hall.

When we went to the Ayuntimiento or city hall, we ended up talking to some head honcho for quite some time. She annoyed me a little for a few reasons. First, she had our letter in front of her, open but didn’t read it and so was asking us questions directly from the letter. Then, after a lot of wasted time, she tells us that there is no money left for the month. Despite the fact that we went on the first business day of the month (June 2nd), she neglected to tell us three weeks earlier that she would need a letter from us at least 2 months in advance of when we need it. Well then, Wandi and I left and said so much for that.

When I got back home, I dropped my paint stuff off at my house and then went to Minga’s for lunch. While I was eating, Noel showed up, obviously unaware I was there since he had been avoiding me since the beginning of April. At first I was just hanging out, talking with Minga outside of the house waiting for him to come out so we could talk but then I decided to be more proactive. I walked inside the house and sat down on the couch right next to him. I took the Dominican way about things and decided to stare shamelessly, right at him until he became uncomfortable and began to laugh. Then I asked him if he was still mad at me. I told him that what happened was a miscommunication and that I didn’t want any “anti-friends” here. It was a little weird to have this conversation with him since his mom was there, laughing and asking if we were anti-friends. Then Minga, his grandma, comes in and says how he is such a proud person, getting mad about nothing, and how its in his blood… how he’s so ridiculous. While that was soooo helpful, I wished that we could just talk alone or something. Despite all that, after we talked he said he wasn’t mad anymore but that I should still go with other motorcycle drivers and not him when I am at the entrance in Navarrete. This to me means he is still mad but as long as we don’t have conflict over it, I’m ok with it.

Another problem I faced this week was Wandi’s little brother, Argeni. This kid has been sending me love text messages since March, sometimes mixing it up a little with some tangible love letters left at my house. Well, earlier this week I found one on the floor of my bathroom (probably stuck there through my window) and his grammar is so awful, and his letter so difficult to read that I just read a few lines and tossed it to the side to read when I had more time. Then on Tuesday when I had my class he was being really unruly, it was very disruptive. Two weeks before I had a talk with him about how he wasn’t participating at all in class. He would literally sit in class and do NOTHING. He wouldn’t write anything down, wouldn’t read, he refused to do anything when asked… it was really obnoxious. I told him that he wasn’t giving himself the same opportunities as the other kids since he wasn’t participating. Then the next week, he showed up at the school and then stood outside of the classroom, looking in the windows. I was sick that week and that was the week I was in the awful mood so I let it go. Later I talked to Wandi about it who told me Argeni took our talk before as me telling him he was stupid since he wasn’t participating! Ugh!

I tried to talk to him about this before the next class, the one this past Tuesday, but I couldn’t catch him and then he was terrible in class. So, after class I finally talked to him. I told him that while it was great that he was more lively and was participating, walking all around during class, talking constantly over me, and trying to hit other kids with a broom stick or whatever it was incessantly, wasn’t the type of participation I was talking about. Then I told him I had received his text messages and letters and that there was no way we would ever date. I told him he is 15 years old, love does have an age (he told me in the letter left in my bathroom that love has no age so if I didn’t want to date him it was because I had a secret boyfriend) and it’s called being a pedophile, but that if he wanted to hang out that he shouldn’t be afraid to visit. I also told him to talk to me in person instead of sending all those messages. He then told me that he would have talked to me but there are always people at my house and that we wouldn’t be friends because he didn’t want to be friends with me. Well then, quite the hostile one aren’t we? At least I tried to clear it up and at least I talked to him about it so he hopefully won’t do things for attention thinking I’m ignoring him.

That all about brings us up to date. Today I am at ISA, a university in Santiago. I arrived yesterday and will leave tomorrow. I’m here to complete training on how to install bio sand filters. It’s a sweet deal through the Rotary Club where if I go to the training, pass the requirements and complete the forms along with a report (which I have to write tonight, ick) then I will receive 25 free filters for my community in the future. The communities have to pay for the transportation but that’s it so they’re making out like bandits. Tomorrow I have to go to Santiago and fill out the police report for my stole iPod which should be interesting. I don’t even know where a police station is but I hope it’s near a photo shop because I have to get some pics developed! That’s all for this update:) Peace.

5/29 Friday: Am I just being a crab?

Very quick recap since Monday:

There was hardly any power at the beginning of this week and so when there was, rather than write in my blog I felt it was a better use of time to catch up watching the greatest tv show ever, Heroes, which I acquired while in the capitol last week. I mean, I have THREE SEASONS to make up! This is serious business…

So, due to rainy season it has been… you guessed it, raining. A lot. When I got back on Saturday there wasn’t much I could do to be productive since there wasn’t any power which meant that I had to prepare the entire charla for my nutrition class all on Sunday. So, the whole day Sunday was devoted to drawing the 13 pages for that class. Lucky for me, Ernie colored them all but I can see it is burning her out asking her to color 13 pages in one day. Despite all the preparing, we still couldn’t have class on Monday. I went to the meeting along with about 25 other women but it was raining so hard no one could hear. I caught a cold while in the capital and pretty much had lost my voice from Friday until Sunday. While it was back on Monday, I still couldn’t compete with the rain. We decided we would just have the class next Monday after the normal Woman’s Meeting.

Next Monday is the Mother’s Day exchange. I was on a mad hunt in the capitol to get something good for about 100 pesos and I finally found it: a 5 glass bowl set for 123 pesos. I received my first ever Mothers Day gift from Minga. She bought me an alarm clock. I told her I wasn’t a mother so she didn’t have to but she insisted. Now the question, is she trying to tell me something by purchasing an alarm clock for me?

Wednesday I had my Escojo class. It was a great class. We talked about discrimination, which like anywhere else in the world, is a big issue here. There was one part in the class where we read a story called The Lottery. I remember reading it when I was in 8th grade; it’s a pretty famous story. It’s about this town that gets together once a year and everyone selects a sheet of paper. If your paper is the one with the X on it, the townspeople stone you to death. We read it, discussed it, and related it to discrimination. Then I told them that I wanted them to really understand it so we were going to reenact it. I had everyone pick a sheet of paper out of a bag and whoever chooses the one with the X was going to have to stand in front of the class and endure one minute of insults from the rest of the class. I told them to be really mean, use all the bad words they could think of. The reaction was absolutely priceless. Jaws dropped and half of the kids didn’t even want to draw a sheet of paper so I picked one and gave it to them. And you should have seen their faces when they saw that their sheet had the X! I drew an X on each and every sheet. It was so funny. And I feel like it really brought home how unfair discrimination is for the person born with whatever quality the X is (being poor, being “crazy”, being black…). I have to give two classes this week since we couldn’t have class the week of the strike. So, today I’m going to have a second class on Sexual Orientation. People here generally seem to be very homophobic so this should be interesting.

As far as my personal life, well I am in a better mood than the last time I wrote in the blog but let me say that Wandi is once again, really really annoying me. Last night he pointed out that I don’t really have any friends in my community, which is true. Ernie is great for Escojo but I don’t see her being one of my friends. She’s kind of mean actually. She’s always calling people names and putting people down. Not to mention she is BOSSY, I mean really really bossy. I need to get out more and hang out with people more. It’s a problem because I kind of prefer to try and stay busy hanging out around my house. It’s hard to make myself get out but its time to make the effort... and having seasons 1-3 of Heroes probably doesn’t help…

Anyways, back to Mr. Annoying, he’s annoying me for more than just saying rude but true things and also lately always calling me names (joking but anything in excess is unhealthy) and I’m not sure what to do other than tell him we can’t hang out. He’s very extreme. I tell him to back out of my personal space (he’s constantly trying to be literally a few inches from my face, yuck) and so he goes across the room and sits down. So I tell him, not in a mean way, that if he honestly doesn’t understand the balance of where it’s ok to stand then he should stand across the room. (This is not a cultural thing either, he is the only one who is always in my space) Also, he’s always trying to put his arm around me or hold my hand. So, when I tell him not to be in my space he gets all offended and starts asking if everything he does annoys me, since he isn’t supposed to be close to me or touch me at all. Well, if you want the honest answer… Really though, I just don’t get it, no matter how many times I tell him to knock it off he doesn’t care or doesn’t get it.

To make things even better, last night he was hanging out with me and the little girl who hangs out with me all the time, Yojeiry (Joe- Hadey). For some reason, when she left, she left with a little attitude. She had been moody all day so I didn’t think anything of it until today when neighbor told me that Yojeiry had been telling people that the night before Wandi kissed me. This is not helping. And it’s so not ok. I’m going to have to start dealing with these issues that are piling up and stop ignoring them. Things are adding up, I can’t get away from it and I’m feeling the stress. Things don’t solve themselves or simply go away. I feel like either I was a lot better at ignoring things in the States or things did just kind of go away there.

That reminds me, Noel asked Wandi a few days ago if he could use my headlamp again. I told Wandi no. I’m good enough to ask (or have someone ask me for that matter) to use something of mine but when I asked Noel a question a few weeks ago he wouldn’t even look at me. I’m not sure if its better to let him use it, if saying no is making things more complicated but I said yes before (not fully realizing that he was still mad at me) and that didn’t change anything. Besides, it made me mad that he even asked for it with how he’s been treating me and I feel like telling him no is the right thing to do. This is really exasperating.

5/13- 5/23: Ten days in Santo Domingo

After I already left my house, while I was heading down the mountain, when I was about 10 minutes by motorcycle away from my house, about half way to Navarrete with my big hiking bag (which was packed for 11 days) on my back… right then, at that moment, was when I realized that I had forgotten my power cord to my computer. There was nothing I could do aside from ask the driver to pull over, let me off, dropped my bag off at someone’s house, walked about an hour back up hill to my house to look for it and then look for another ride later. I was too close to not think about going back but too far to actually go back and get it. So much for all the free internet that I can possibly get my hands on…my battery lasts about 45 minutes. Right then, at that moment, I was sad. It was a dismal moment.

Ten days in the capital is a long time to recap, and it would be a recap since I couldn’t write on my computer. So, I’ll list the highlights:

All Volunteer Conference: was fun. It was a full day together with the other PCVs and was a good time. We broke up into our sectors and gave each other advice which was really helpful. It was from 8 am until 4 pm. The day before was the swearing in of the new group so we all went out to the car wash the night of the all volunteer conference. It was a really great time and I was excited to meet a new PCV named Helen who told me she used to read my blog all the time; she read ALL of it!!! Vindication, sweet vindication.

The weekend that followed a lot of PCVs went to the beach but I, trying to save money, went with Kenzie to her site. It was a lot of fun. During my two days there, a group of boys went to a bee’s nest and got me a huge bottle of honey with amazingly only one boy obtaining a sting, we went to the river on horses (someone thought it would be a good idea to put me and Kenz on a horse together… I’ve ridden a horse maybe 5 times in my life with those few times being in Wisconsin Dells with guides- oh, and saddles. Does an empty rice sack count as a “saddle”?) Another interesting thing was when Kenzie got so sick she honestly thought that she was going to die (her words) while I, sleeping right next to her, managed to sleep through her spell of illness. Sure I was sick myself (I have been sick at least since April 30th) but did that warrant sleeping through her vomiting numerous times, having explosive diarrhea, calling her boyfriend who came over for about 5 hours and having her Doña come over? The next morning her whole community of course knew she was sick and they were all asking where her friend was during it? “Oh, she was sleeping…” What a great friend… not to mention I was embarrassed because my stomach issues apparently give me some hard core gas and during the night, and during the silent night in the campo I had some major releases, calling the attention of Kenz and her boyfriend. Apparently it was sooooo funny with perfect timing because Kenz was actually in the middle of crying she was in so much pain when my stomach decided to put on a show… with two performances. Oh and, due to my strange issues the Peace Corps doctors had given me not one or even two but THREE tubes to fill with stool samples. I happily was able to fulfill my duty but I forgot about them, they were kind of sitting out and so soon people saw them and started commenting on how the tubes looked filled with peanut butter. Yep, and that’s my peanut butter in those tubes… so I guess its no surprise that between my gas and Kenzie’s diarrhea, her boyfriend really wasn’t sure who the tubes belonged too but I wasn’t claiming them.

After that interesting weekend at Kenzie’s, we headed back to Santo Domingo for language training or ISLT, complete with 3 full tubes in my purse. I was dreading this as I was going to have to go back and stay with my original host family. Sure they were kind of cool but mostly I felt like they were making fun of me. It turned out to be ok, worse than the first time I was there though. There used to be a generator but now the battery is bad. This means that the room I had, which had no windows, was a great little heat box since there was no fan. The first night I pretty much didn’t sleep but the second I was a little better adjusted. Kenzie and Jess seemed to really like their families now. What a change that from when we first arrived where I was the only one who liked my family. I have to admit though; the house is niiiiiice, nicer than I remember.

It was a long week with a lot of rain. When we first got there I asked my friends to look in my bag on my back for my umbrella, which they couldn’t find. I thought that it must have fallen out somewhere so I went the entire week without. It rained everyday… a LOT and we had a 25 minute walk to Entrena each way. Guess what I found on the last day when I was packing my bag to go home? My umbrella.

The last day of language training was supposed to be Friday but since it was just a half a day and my fellow PCVs and I needed to get stuff done in the office when the administration is in, Enrena let us out of training a day early. This worked out well since the next day was Randi’s birthday and we wanted to go out that night.

We ended up going out to this street with a lot of DR dance clubs, Calle Venezuela. Aside from the creepo taxi driver who ripped us off in the end, it was a great night. It’s so fun going out with my health group. Of course the Americanas were the center of attention, with Kenzie, Randi and Jess doing a sort of a talent show on a sort of stage… it was hilarious. I was sitting at a table watching. The next day we all felt a little sick from the night before but each time Kenzie got a call from some other random dude who I had given her number to the night before, the nausea went away.

I ended up staying Friday night even though I could have gone home that afternoon mostly because I was writing my trimester report in the PC office and because I needed to get to the store the next day to look for a gift for the Mothers Club exchange. When I finally got back to my site on Saturday, I was really really grouchy. For one, my iPod was stolen or something sometime during my 11 days there and so I very regrettably no longer have it. Second, I went up the other side of the mountain this time to get to La Lomota in an effort to (a) stop at Ane and Tim’s house and learn how to make a new type of bracelet to sell in a fundraiser, (b) borrow Ane’s iPod until I can get another one, and (c) avoid the entrance to my site on the Navarrete side at all costs since I feel awkward with all the drama from stupid boys. After riding the 30 minutes or so on the amazingly crappy road with Camilo, good friend of Ane and Time and the guy who always hits on me (I was NOT in the mood this time) with my 66 lb backpack (yes I actually weighed it) I was all but grunting by the time we arrived at Ane and Tims, trying to keep myself on the motorcycle. It was ridiculous. Then Camilo, who was being extra annoying by being an extreme know it all, tells me that he can’t take me to my site unless I leave right then. So I didn’t get to do anything I would have liked to except avoid the motors at the other entrance. And it cost me an extra 30 pesos.

When I arrived at my house I realized that the huge thing of honey had fallen out of my bag somewhere along the way, but why not? Then there was Wandi who poked my gut and asked me if I was pregnant. Welcome home. The joys of being in the Peace Corps and cultural adaption.

5/11- 12: Meetings meeting and more… and getting ready for another still!!

Today was my first Nutrition class. I had it after the Women’s Meeting and so we were supposed to begin at 4 pm. I was pretty happy to find out on Friday that FALPO was to have a community meeting today, at the same time, (same day) and in the same place I had planned on calling the community meeting to talk about the trash! It is on the agenda again but this time I have talked to others in the group about saying something about the trash if its not brought up in the meeting again. If they don’t speak up I’ll be ready to this time. I was really happy to see it on their agenda because I was NOT looking forward to holding a community meeting and giving a charla to a group of 50 people. Not my cup of tea, well, not in Spanish anyways.

The nutrition class went really well. There were about 35 women there, which you would think would make me nervous but I love the woman’s group here. They’re open and inviting. After my class was the FALPO meeting where they did talk about the trash, yay!! They also talked about having a strike which I thought was supposed to be in Navarrete but I figured out around 11 pm at night that they were talking about having a strike here in La Lomota the very next day! Despite that, when people came to my house throwing the rocks from my wall (the loose rocks, not the ones in the wall already) down into the road at 12 am, I was a little freaked out. I guess I didn’t realize people were going to come in the middle of the night (something I think is a bad idea since people consistently drive without lights on) to throw crap in the road and also I didn’t realize that they were throwing stuff in the road to block it for their strike.

The next morning when I woke up, I tried to stay away from the “strike zone”. I did everything possible. I cleaned my house, took a shower, made my bed, did the dishes… this was all before 9! After the press came and went, and after I stared at the plume of smoke from the burning tires in the road I decided it was time to look for Minga. I was maybe going to have a few guests but figured that with the strike they wouldn’t be able to get to my community anyways so I needed to tell Minga not to make lunch for 3. I was looking for her when I saw Noel. I asked him where she was and you know what that little punk did? He ignored me! Can you believe he is still mad at me for like 5 weeks ago when we got in the argument about how Ernie, Karina and I went with another motorcycle driver up the mountain? Rediculious. I was annoyed because he’s still going to be mad at me, be immature enough to ignore me but had the guts to ask to borrow my headlamp like 3 or 4 weeks ago? I was in disbelief and luckily didn’t say anything to make it worse. What a jerk though.

About the strike though, my community really worked together on this. They moved huge branches in the road from one end of my community to the other and they had tires burning right by Minga’s house. I understand the point they are trying to make but I feel like it could be more effective. If they’re going to burn things I really feel like they should organize earlier, collect trash from around the community and from their houses and burn that in the road, blocking it. Why burn tires and cut down branches when they can get two birds with one stone? After all, there is an issue with the road and with the garbage.

As far as I know, the day went off without a hitch. They had their strike. It was peaceful, nobody was hurt and they are going to give city hall an ultimatum: agree to fix the road (and recognize it is a problem) or they’ll strike in ___________ days. Sounds fine and dandy but what about the freaking garbage issue?!? Ahhh!!! Another bad thing about all these freaking strikes? There was no Escojo class today. Now I have to have two classes in one week to stay on track… errrr.

5/10 Sunday: Happy Mothers Day:)

To all the mothers out there, I would like to wish you all a happy Mothers Day:) I was able to talk to my Mom today which was really nice. Mothers Day in the DR seems like it’s a big to do, I’ll know more when the DR Mother’s Day happens on May 31st. I’ll keep you all who are on the edges of your seats posted with information as I receive it.

Today I finally bucked down and finished drawing my first nutrition charla and what a pain! I wanted to make sure it had a few drawings on each page since the crowd isn’t as educated as my Escojo youth. It took forever and all I can really say about the 11 page feat (normally my charlas are 3 pages) is that I hope drawing out so much crap keeps their interest. Today I went to a woman’s house to help her cook a meal out of my health recipes book. She picked which one she wanted to make and today we cooked it together (for practice) and tomorrow she will cook it on her own and then bring it to class. I think that it turned out really well; I ate a lunch’s worth. Only one of her kids that was there didn’t like it, one out of three isn’t bad for kids. Anyways, I am fortunate that Ernie likes to help out with this stuff because she colored (and enlisted others to color) straight from 10 am until 6 pm. She takes her time sure but she does quality work too. Imagine if I had to draw AND color this. No no no, that would bite.

After Ernie made sure ALL of it was colored (even with her dad and brothers outside waiting for us to go to the discoteca) we headed out. I made sure to look presentable with my aqua blue shirt, matching bracelets, matching earrings, and matching necklace. Sure my belt and shoes weren’t blue but they were a matching white and I had on my bling blig butt DR jeans (Dominicans love their Bedazzler and embroidery) Thank you Santiago Shopping trip with Mom and Rach. Now I don’t look homeless!! I look like una Dominicana. Wandi even told me I look elegant- why, thank you, thank you very much!

During all the cooking, drawing and coloring my little girl Yojedi (the 8 year old, sassy wonder that follows me EVERYWHERE but who I think is super cute and hilarious so I don’t mind) stuck to my side. She went to Margara’s with me to cook. She ate lunch with me there. She ate a second lunch at Mercedes house since Mercedes was saving food for me and I found out today that it is rude to tell her I already ate. (Minga went to a wake today by some beach which is why I didn’t eat with her). Yojedi sat by my side and played in the hammocks while I drew. She disappeared for a while to go home and bathe and when she came back she was all dressed up! She looked adorable in her little white dress. She was going to visit with us while we walked “up” to visit people I guess. Well it didn’t take long before Vangie and Ernie gravitated for the discoteca and so Yojedi went as well with us. We hung out longer than I would have liked, since I thought we should get her home, but it was down pouring for a while. We walked her home and right before we got to her house, Wandi and Ernie told her not to tell that we were at the discoteca! I was so mad! If she isn’t supposed to go there, and you two BOTH knew it, why didn’t you send her home earlier or at least tell me and I would have done it? Teenagers I swear! I feel pretty bad about this, deceitful. I immediately told Yojedi that this would be the first and last time she could go with us on a Sunday. I said that I really liked spending time with her but that she can’t go back with us again since she’s not supposed to. Maybe when I’m 30 and she’s 15… then we will see when I come back to visit (no I am not staying here until I’m 30 for those of you whack jobs that were wondering…)

5/6 Wednesday: A cockroach and some omens?

So today I had my Escojo class and it went pretty well. We talked about La Abstinencia (abstinence) which was a concept that, at the beginning, the kids didn’t get at all but I’m fairly sure they understand it now. That made me pretty proud, I actually taught something! But, that is not what the focus of today’s blog will be. No, today’s focus will be about how I shouldn’t have slept during the night but I have acclimated to the Dominican weirdness I suppose so that normally disturbing things that used to keep me from sleeping now do not disrupt my REM. Let me start at the beginning…

Once upon a time I lived in the United States of America. It was there that I had free, unlimited access to the internet, a wealthy, flowing supply of peanut m & ms, constant power, and privacy among other wondrous things I took for granted. It was during one carefree afternoon, where I was indulging in all the peanut m & ms my heart could desire, while using the free, high speed internet, without worry of se fue la luz that I came across a particularly disturbing blog from a PCV right here in the DR. I’m not sure if I have recounted this story before, I think I have, but it is worth reciting again. Brace yourselves, what you are going to read may give you nightmares.

Picture this: una Voluntaria was sleeping peacefully in her bed when she was awakened by something running across her chest. Fear not, it was just a cockroach… although it was a rather large one, even for the DR. She thought nothing of it and went back to bed. A few minutes later she heard something and thought it was maybe one of the rats that like to visit during the night. She shone her flashlight in the area of the noise and low and behold, there was a spider “the size of my palm” chasing the cockroach that had just been running across her chest, up the wall.

Now that I have lived here in the DR for nearly 9 months I understand more components of this story that used to bother me, like large cockroaches scurrying across ones chest, why the girl felt the need to sleep with a light, rats in a house being a normal thing, etc… but most importantly I was disturbed by two facts: that there were spiders the size of one’s palm (I have fairly large hands) and the fact that they CHASED their prey!!! What was I getting myself into? I was heading to a place where the spiders were confused and thought that they were missiles whose sole purpose was to seek and destroy!!! Holy crap!

While I am lucky that I have never seen a rat in any of the houses I have lived here in the DR, I have seen a LOT of roaches but never larger than a few inches in length. I have only one time been aware of them crawling on me, which is lucky because I would rather not know. I of course sleep with a headlamp each and every single night but that’s mostly because of the power situation in this country, that I don’t have a bedside lamp and generally not because I’m afraid (but sometimes for that too). I have seen large spiders but have gotten to be much better about fearing them. I have never seen one the size of my hand except as road kill where I’m assuming it once was as big as my hand. And I have never seen one chase it’s prey…. That is until last night.

There I was in the bathroom, still having digestive issues but relatively pain-free, when I noticed a cute little bug walking along my shower. All of the sudden, in a flash, a spider (NOT the size of my palm, THANK GOD!) ran from a small hole in the wall I had never noticed, snatched the poor unsuspecting bug, and ran back. I just sat there, open mouthed. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen!! I stood up to try and get a better look at where the spider went but there was no sign of it. I was so startled that when I went to sit back down I missed the toilet! And my bathroom is NOT that big.

I immediately sought the comfort of my cat, trying to see if she could master the skill of seeking and destroying but the concept was lost on her. She waltzed around before plopping her gordita self on the floor, looking up at me with those satisfied-with-life eyes, blissfully unaware of the creature of death lying in wait just inches from where she lay. So much for Seek and Destroy Cat.

Ok, no worries I told myself. I would learn from the mistakes of the other PCV and make sure my mosquito net was tucked in well. The problem was, after I anxiously tucked in the net my eyes began to wander over all the holes the net has acquired since arriving to my house in late January. Thanks to the net being really crappy (the only one I have found that’s round, thus taking up less room, and has a door) and my cat being very mischievous the net leaves a lot to be desired. I can’t sew the holes because, as I discovered, it makes the already too small net smaller and then the door won’t close, creating another problem.

I got in my bed and my cat followed, opening up the door all over again. I was just about to go to sleep when I noticed that she was staring intently across the room. Soon enough she was up, out the door, opening it again, and trying to scale the cement wall by my clothing. I got up out of bed and walked cautiously to her point of interest. I tried to be prepared incase it was a spider the size of my palm. But, no it was the only thing missing from the equation- it was a VERY large roach. I mean it was like 5 inches long. Nasty. Seeing the roach gave me mixed feelings. Was it going to get in my net some how? Was it going to scurry across my chest? Was the spider going to chase it down? I felt like it was too many coincidences in one night! I was nervous but retreated back to my bed, making sure to know exactly where my headlamp was and was thinking about how the cat had opened the door again when she came back to bed when I fell asleep.

I woke up in the morning, not quite with those satisfied-with-life eyes like my cat has but still blissfully unaware if there had been anything crawling on me during the night. There was a time, not very long ago where I would have woken up several times in the night due to fear. I may have even dreamed about it. On the contrary, the morning following this, I slept a little later than normal as the campo was unusually quiet. Yep, I have adjusted in yet another way to life here and now I can proudly say that Missile Spiders that hunt their prey, 5 inch long cockroaches and lots of holes in my net aren’t quite the combo that are going to disrupt my sueños.

5/4-5 Monday and Tuesday: Feeling better, have LOTS of work

I finally feel better. Last night I went up with some kids and Wandi to a high point in the community to look at the other towns lit up at night. You can see Navarrete, Esperanza and then Moa to the right and to the left you can really see Santiago. It’s a hike up there but, on the rare occasion when the kids aren’t being annoying, it is very tranquilo and so worth it. The view is breathtakingly beautiful.

Its nice to go up to the point during the day too. I’ve never been able to sneak up there alone since there is always someone with me or who sees me along the way and follows but its still nice. It helps me to wind down. Right now I feel overwhelmed by everything. I told Wandi I didn’t feel like I had been doing very much and asked what he thought. He agreed with me which could have hurt my feelings but it’s true, I mean I have been only teaching one class. Sure it was because I’m overwhelmed and anxious with all the adjustments that need to be made to live here (and not to mention I haven’t had the desire to be a teacher since momentary insanity in the 4th grade), and I am terribly insecure with my Spanish but is that an excuse? After all, this is my job and I have to push through. I went to the Mother’s Club and we decided we would start our nutrition class on Monday after their meetings. Step one.

Another new project I’ve been tweaking has to do with the Escojo class. Sunday I began working with Wandi and Ernie forming two committees of our Escojo group. I was conflicted as to the attendance policy of the class. Initially I said that they could only miss 2 classes if they wanted to graduate. I want to reward kids who go to all the classes but I don’t want to discourage kids who miss a few classes to drop out completely. I had kids telling me that they had missed a class or two and didn’t want to go back since they thought that they couldn’t graduate. The solution I came up with? There will be an exam at the end of the course (which I will grade of course) and if you pass, you can graduate regardless of the number of classes missed. I will say I had to send the exams to the PC Office in Santo Domingo for official use and then I’ll only pass the kids who went to most of the classes. Then they can’t argue to see them afterwards if they “failed” and it will seem even more official since people in the capitol needed the exams. Although I am pretty sure all the kids who are going to be taking the exam are kids who haven’t missed many classes anyways so I hopefully won’t have to fail anyone.

Wandi is in charge of forming the graduation committee to plan their graduation, a decision in which I’m not sure how much faith I have but we will see. He seems to want more responsibility but then when he has it, he doesn’t know what to do with it. So I’m sure I will be micromanaging since I don’t think he’s planned anything in his life. As long as he’s making the effort I have no problem helping with whatever he needs. Maybe this will give him some confidence in doing more.

Then for the kids who have missed three classes or less, we are planning a trip to the beach. It won’t cost very much and each kid is obligated to sell so many raffle tickets to raise money and also has to be able to being some food for the trip. What are we going to raffle you ask? Well when I was in Santiago the other day I found a mug that says Happy Mothers Day and it was only 20 pesos. I’m going to buy 5 of them and we’re going to raffle them off. No one knows how cheap they were so I figure we can sell the tickets for 20 or 25 pesos each. All the extra money from this will go to the graduation fund.

The other thing I’m beginning this week and next is finally forming the garbage committee. I’m calling a community meeting of my own and I’ve begun to prepare a charla on trash which I’m going to give followed by an invitation to all to our garbage committee meetings on ____________ date. Wish me luck because I’m nervous to talk in front of 40 -50 adults in my Spanish.

So anyways, I have a lot of new stuff on my plate this week. On top of it, Ernesto gave me the budget of the wall and it’s going to be another 19,000 pesos! I’m trying to work something out with the PC office to get an advance on my monthly salary and have them take out 1000 pesos each month but you know how it is working with Money Man…. Wish me luck.

5/3 Sunday: Still sick, I’m giving the key back

I still felt very sick today. I decided while I was sitting in my house, trying to ignore all the annoying kids around me that I would talk to Ernesto about the key. It just so happened that he showed up at my house alone at night and so I told him I “found” the key but that I wanted to make it clear that it was to be used only for emergencies by ME for when I lock myself out. He agreed and so to be clear that this was not what the key was being used for I cited a story of Geraldo coming into my house while I was sick one time. We’ll see how it goes… again. I really would like to have them have a spare key.

5/2 Saturday: Sicker

Today I pretty much sat in my house and slept. I was still sick with something that gave me an awesome sharp pain in my stomach. I am a little concerned that I may have an ameba or something but I guess we shall see if it comes back in a couple weeks in true parasite fashion.

5/1 Friday: May Day!!!! Kelly moves into a castle. I don’t feel so hot…

Last night Kelly and Rachele were up relatively late talking, enjoying her new place during her “move-in party”. I, being a fun sponge, went to lie down around 8:30 or 9 and accidentally fell fast asleep. They woke up around 7 the next morning, which, to me, signaled the time to put my ear plugs in. I then went back to bed until 9:30. I still was feeling pretty bad in the morning but didn’t want to be a party pooper. We all got ready and went to Santiago for the day. Kelly bought different things she needed for her house and I got some stuff from the hardware store, Ochoa.

Aside from my stomach issues, another disturbing factoid to throw in my current mix of life was shared with me by Ernesto. He called me on Thursday around 6:30 pm (nearly 11 hours after I left that morning) telling me that my front door was open! He asked if he could shut the door and if I had the key since they couldn’t find theirs. I knew where theirs was; I had it! I’m not sure if I want to give it back with all the issues I have had with them having the spare. I was happy that I had the other key during this point since this way I knew that they weren’t in my house, leaving the door open when I wasn’t there. The problem was that I knew I closed the door when I left since it had been left open earlier in the week when Mom and Rach were here. I took extra care to close the door when I left this time to be sure I didn’t leave it open. I should note that my door is a little jacked up and has issues closing. Since I had the only key and was sure I shut the door I began thinking of other alternatives as to why the door was open. Is my door more broken that I thought? Is the lock broken? My bathroom roof was damaged so I began to think that maybe someone was able to get in my house that way and didn’t close the door when they left, what a rude thief! I had my computer with me and my iPod so at least the only thing of great value someone could steal would be my camera, my wonderful camera.

One good thing about the door being open was that I had forgotten my helmet when I left so I asked Ernesto to grab it out of my house before he shut the door. I asked if he could send it down with someone the next day so it was waiting for me at the entrance. When I arrived at the entrance Friday there was no helmet. I called Wandi when I was on the guagua still and he told me something but I couldn’t hear it thanks to the loud music. I was pretty annoyed by the guagua since I felt like I may poop my pants and it was the freaking slowest bus EVER. The dude told me it was an express when I got on it (which means it charges a little more but doesn’t stop to pick up every person it passes in the road) but it DID stop to pick up every person on the road until we got out of the city meaning that it took FOREVER to get out of the city. We even went looking for people! We took side streets and stopped at vendors! It was ridiculous!

Ernesto came through for me and mandar-ed a muchacho to bring me my helmet. Although it wasn’t until after I had been sitting at the entrance for a while. He is pretty forgetful I decided but then that’s the pot calling the kettle back isn’t it? The problem was that, after I had been sitting there for a while, Tito drove by in his car and offered to give me a bola! Ah, the ironies in life. I got in and as we drove we passed the boy with my helmet, on his way to the entrance looking for me. I got out and rode with the motorcycle instead and paid him a little more than normal since he came just to find me. Well on the brightside, at least I didn’t poop my pants.

4/24- 4/30: Mom and Rach’s visit:)

It was soooo nice having visitors, even if it was for a short time. I really loved being able to show Mom and Rach where I live (although Rach was here in Dec) and how the cultures are different. None the less, having visitors is exhausting. Having to translate everything (something which I’m not used to since I’m normally with my Spanglish- loving fellow PCVs) and being responsible for every little thing is tiring but definitely worth the trouble.

4/24 Friday: Time to start the vacay!! Mom and Rach supposed to arrive at 8:35 pm

When Mom and Rach arrived on Friday I decided to take a little risk and arrive at the airport around 8:40, about ten minutes after their plane was supposed to arrive. Normally I’m a little early but since the planes are generally late and then there’s some type of fiasco with the luggage, I’m left waiting with the taxi driver for like an hour. This time the plane was early and so it worked out that I was at the airport for about 5 minutes before Mom and Rach walked out of the doors. It was pretty lucky really that they didn’t get out before me but the airport lost Mom’s only bag so that stalled them a little thankfully.

We loaded everything in the taxi and stopped at a delicious chicken place on the way to the hotel. Mom and Rach were able to indulge in boiled bananas, yucca, moro and chicken on their very first night in the DR! We ate in the hotel lobby before heading to bed. We were all pooped. Despite loosing one bag, Mom and Rach still had a lot of luggage and so we were lucky enough that the hotel let us keep some bags in the downstairs closet since we had a room on the 4th floor.

4/25 Saturday: Watch out Santiago, here we come!

Today was to be our day out in the city. We began the day by eating some banana bread and some fresh, delicious pineapple and mango. Turns out Mom and Rach don’t like mango!!!! Crazy, I know. We left the hotel around 10ish and set out for town. It was pretty fun walking the streets with Mom and Rach. We went to the market and the grocery store. I had to run some errands for my class so we did that and by that time it was time for lunch! We ate lunch at this place called the Crazy Plantain which has sandwiches where they use fried plantains as the bread instead of actual bread. It’s delicious and was a hit with Mom and Rach although a little rough for Mom to chew.

After lunch we went back to the hotel to drop our bags and Mom and Rach took a nap while I caught up on some writing. When Rach woke up we went out to find some veggies from a vendor and got sidetracked into an accessories store. We picked up some cool, super cheap, gaudy Dominican jewelry and I said how I would like to get a new shirt for my birthday and then some jewelry to match. Rach agreed with me and this sent me into a serious shopping spree. This is what happens when I find out I’m getting my tax return back… although I have to say, it is a lot easier to find deals on clothing here than in the States. The most expensive thing I bought was $10.

After Rach and I went back to the hotel to get Mom, we all got in a taxi to take us to this giant hardware store called Ochoa (or 8A). We were all impressed with this store; it was like being home in a Lowe’s or Home Depot. We picked out some paint for the shelves in my house and set off for a mall called Jumbo. We were going to see a movie there but all the movies were lame (sorry Rach but alien movies just don’t grab me) so we spent the time walking the stores. We ate some delicious pizza, had a coffee drink that tasted like it was from home and ate some Yogën Fruz. It was so much fun, a total girls day:)

We didn’t get back to the hotel until around 10:30 and by then we were tired. We pretty much went right to bed. We had to get ready for the next day you know:)

Sunday 4/26: My Birthday and Time to go to the Campo!

The next morning when I came out of the bathroom Rach and Mom had decorated the hotel room with a balloon and a little happy birthday banner for me! It was so nice!:) Rach was sneaky and picked up some stuff the day before when we were in the stores. They sang to me and then we packed up our stuff and went out to look for a touristy shirt for Mom before heading out.

Pretty much everything is closed here on Sundays so it wasn’t very chaotic walking the streets, unlike the day before. We found Mom’s shirt fairly easily and went back to the hotel. The guy at the front desk helped us carry all of our stuff to the bus and soon enough we were on our way to Navarrette.

It had been raining off and on since Mom and Rach arrived and as soon as we got on the bus it began to really downpour. The bus driver did a sign of the cross before taking off and Mom, Rach and I all exchanged worried glances. I had called Tolo while we were walking around Santiago and told him we would be there around 1. I was hoping he would be there for us since it was raining but I wasn’t holding my breath.

When we got to Navarrete it was raining but not too bad. Tolo was there waiting for us and I guess he had been there since 9 am for some reason. He acted like it was ok that he had been there for 4 hours but I have a feeling he was annoyed, who wouldn’t be? I have no idea why he was there so early and also why he didn’t call and tell me he was there waiting. I told him and Minga SEVERAL times that there was no way we would be there before 11 but more than likely would be there after lunch time. But he is like Minga a lot in the sense that he’ll ask a question and then repeat the answer he wanted to hear rather than what I said. We can go though this cycle with him asking the same question and me answering NO and then adding my answer followed by his question… and me responding NO plus the same answer I just said… several times. Just have to do it with a smile on my face though.

Anyways, we waited until it stopped raining a little and then Mom, Tolo’s second wife (remember the Other Woman? She was there, waiting to get a ride to a party on the way) and Tolo all climbed in front with Rach, me, and some random girl in the back. We were joined along the way by a random kid who wanted a free ride. It began to rain on us a little but we didn’t get too wet before we arrived at Minga’s house for lunch.

We ate lunch (which was delicious and very complete with guandules, tostones, repollo, ensalada mezcla, y arroz blanco or beans, fried plantains (kind of like French fries), cabbage, mixed salad which is like potato salad, and white rice) and hung out for a bit before heading to my house.

As we drove up to Ernesto’s house we passed my house and I was really surprised to see that the wall was done! Well, mostly… there still aren’t stairs or a railing but the wall itself is done. Its huge and beautiful. Ernesto told me later that we just need about two more bags of cement to finish it up once and for all.

It was hard to get up the drive to Ernesto’s house since it was so wet and muddy but lucky for us Geraldo was there to help with the bags and Marvey and Randi were there to help us walk. You know it’s slippery when even the Dominicans are falling!

What a great surprise it was when I arrived in my house to find it full of people who were there throwing me a surprise party! They decorated my house and baked me a cake and even bought orange pop! It was so great! It was the only surprise birthday party I’ve ever had (I would say the only surprise party but you know BCHD threw me a sweet surprise going away party which I had no clue about… I’m not sure how they kept that quiet) and it was great! After we were a little more settled in (and I’m saying “settled in” loosely) Rach used Mercedes oven and made me my favorite kind of cake. There were about 20 kids and 6 or 7 adults in my house watching intently while Rach was decorating the cake. They think that she is God’s gift to the Earth since she can bake and color cakes, oooo fancy pansy! Later she helped me paint my house and I thought they were going to drop dead from shock at how talented she is! It was fantastic.

Later that night we headed off to the discoteca. It wasn’t too full of people but it wasn’t dead either. Rach was once again the center of attention as she was asked to dance about twice as often as I was! We both danced, and sat, drinking pop at the table with Mom, Ernie and Wandi. We were really annoyed later when we tried to pay and the discoteca owner overcharged us. I heard him telling Wandi “What you don’t think these guys have money?” I was really pissed at him. I guess I can’t get away from it even in my own small campo.

Monday 4/27: Paint-a-thon!

Today was our day to decorate my house. I still hadn’t opened up any of the gifts Mom and Rach brought since there were always people in my house. I didn’t want to open anything in front of people because: for one, it’s embarrassing and for two, people will think that I have a lot of money and also will expect me to share everything with everyone. Well, let me just say this: thank you sooo much Grandma and Grandpa for your gifts! Who knew a shower curtain with pretty butterfly hooks could make a person so happy?! I guess I didn’t notice how crappy my musty colored, torn shower curtain was… I couldn’t open or close it because there weren’t rings on the “shower bar” (a piece of PVC tube hung from the ceiling with ties) but instead the curtain was tied with some type of wire, thus contributing to the tearing of the curtain and explaining why only about half of it was still hung, the other, torn part left dangling. Anyways, the shower curtain makes a world of difference so thanks a lot:)

And, even though I know you don’t read this Aaron I’m still going to say: THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE HARD DRIVE!!!!! The all PCV conference is soon, May 14th, which means there will hopefully be lots of opportunities to share movies and music (I know someone who has every season of Heroes!!!!!). This is an especially useful gift since the CD drive in my computer has decided to almost never work y entonces, muchas gracias!!!

After we open gifts we got to work on my house. Ernesto cut and hung almost all of the shelves for me while I was gone. Almost because while he was using the power drill the power went out so he didn’t get to hang two shelves. Rach and Mom went around and took all the screws out of the ones that were up while I tried to organize all the stuff they had brought me, stuff which I was trying not to let everyone and their mother know I had. It wasn’t until after lunch that we were able to get painting but we painted until around 10 at night. There is a weird Aztec looking design around one door (Rach may kill me but I think I’m going to paint over it in June when I save some money to buy more paint) and the front door is painted along with all the shelves and a cute little mural thingy to put pictures in. Ah, my house is beginning to take on a personality. The only bad thing about it is that we were so busy painting that I completely forgot to take Mom and Rach to the Woman’s Meeting! I felt bad because I wanted them to meet everyone; or rather I wanted everyone to meet them.

Tuesday 4/28: Day at the beach with some bad news and a bola

Today was a good day until around 12. Tolo picked Mom, Rach and I up around 8 am and took us to the entrance in Altamira. Once we arrived he asked me why I didn’t ask him to take us there earlier than yesterday since he was planning on doing something with his son that day. I told him I had talked to Minga about it and he said she had never told him. Then he told me we had to pay him 500 pesos for gas. It annoys me when they tell me that I have to pay afterwards. 500 pesos isn’t much though, it’s less than taking a taxi. We have to take a guagua or taxi since Mom can’t use a motorcycle with her bad back.

When we got to Altamira we waited for a bus and went to a beach I had never been to before, called Cofresí. (Co- fra- sea) It was really nice once we found a part without any rocks. Rach being the fish of the group, was in the water more than Mom or me. I was contently sitting in the shade. We enjoyed ourselves on the beach till 11:30 when we left to get something to eat. It was then that I checked my cell phone to find a message from my bother saying my Dad had been in a bad accident the night before and broken his neck. The doctors were saying he may die. So much for a relaxing day at the beach!

I told Mom and Rach to prepare themselves that something bad had happened at home. I told them what I knew and tried calling Aaron back. Miraculously it didn’t use any of my minutes as he recapped what happened. He was transferred to a bigger hospital in Rockford and about to have an operation. Because of his COPD he had a small risk of not coming out of the anesthesia and thus not making it through the surgery. Due to the location of the shattered vertebra he had a very high risk of being paralyzed afterwards. Needless to say, none of us were in the mood to enjoy the beach after this so we just wanted to get back to my house as soon as possible.

I called Tolo and couldn’t get through. I called Minga and told her what happened and asked if she could get a hold of Tolo and ask him to meet us in Altamira in an hour. Then I called the PC-DR County Director, Romeo, and told him about it. Before I could even finish my story he asked me if I needed to go home. I told him I didn’t know, that I would know more after surgery. He was incredibly supportive. He said that PC would do whatever they could to help and gave me the name of someone to talk to who could get me a plane home and even change the tickets of my mom and sister to the same as mine, which may be a day earlier than Mom and Rach had planned on leaving.

When Mom, Rach and I got to the entrance of the beach, at the highway, I told them that we would look for whatever came first- whether it is a bola or a guagua. I was pleased that a large truck stopped before a bus approached so we all got a free ride in the back of that all the way to Altamira, about a 20 minute drive. Call it hitch hiking if you want. Call it a free ride. I call it a bola. When we got to Altamira Tolo wasn’t there but I knew that he would be. This was a family emergency and Dominican’s take these things very seriously. Within a few minutes he showed up and we were on our way to my house.

We spent the rest of the day at my house, just waiting to hear from Aaron who got stuck with all the responsibility of keeping everyone informed since he was the only one home. He dealt with it like a champ though and around 7:30 he called telling us Dad was out of surgery and was going to be fine. My community was so supportive, with families coming to visit me and see how Dad was, and people walking by yelling up to me to see how he was. Dominican’s have a very strong sense of family which is very comforting.

Wednesday 4/29: Passing time and teaching my Escojo class.

Today it was raining again. It was raining yesterday too but not too bad. Despite the rain, we painted some more and when it was time, we went off to my class. It was a fun and educational class about condoms. I think that it is the most fun of all the classes and specially planned to have it the same week Mom and Rach would be here. Aside from the yelling that broke out at the end when they were competing during the race of putting a condom on a plantain, blindfolded after being spun around in a circle 5 times, the class went off with out a hitch. The fight was due to the fact that someone broke one of the plantains somehow during the commotion. I told them it was a learning experience to handle with care when putting on a condom, after all that would be a tragic accident wouldn’t it?

The class went pretty late, till about 6 or 6:30 so we didn’t get back home until around 7. There was no power and since it was raining, it was already dark. We learned how to make tostones out of the plantains from the class and enjoyed them along with shells n cheese macaroni cooked with salami, a good American-Dominican mixed meal.

Thursday 4/30: Se fueron

We had to wake up early today to make sure we left enough time to get to the airport. You can’t depend on any Dominican transportation. Tolo was here to pick us up at 7:30 and we arrived in Santiago around 9. Mom waited by the luggage while Rach and I walked around a little in Santiago to get some pineapple one last time. When we returned to Mom she was occupied doing some word searches, trying to look busy so people would stop yelling at her, trying to get her to take their taxi. At the last minute Rach threw out the idea to take a carro publico to the airport which would cost 135 pesos total as opposed to a taxi which would cost 400 pesos.

The first car that stopped began putting our bags in the back and I told him we would pay 45 pesos each. He told me we had to pay more since the bags were taking up so much room. I got pretty annoyed and asked if he was planning on putting a passenger in the trunk where the luggage was, if not then we weren’t paying more. We began to argue and right then another car for the same route pulled up. I told the first guy I was going to ask the other driver if he would charge extra for room in the trunk. I think the new guy was a little taken off guard and maybe a little afraid, I asked him if he charges to put people in the trunk and if he was a thief. He looked started and shook his head no, I said “Good, then you won’t charge us to put our luggage in the back right? It is 45 pesos each then and that’s all right?” He agreed with me, which was good because the other driver was already angrily taking our luggage out of his car. Good riddance.

We arrived at the airport and had about an hour until Mom and Rach had to leave. It was sad seeing them go but at least I was able to see the plane fly away. I also found out that there is free internet there which I made the most of. I was planning to go to my friend Kelly’s site for the night and help her move into her house but she lived really close to the airport. I didn’t want to pay 45 pesos to get back to Santiago and then another 50 or so to get to her house later that day. Because of this I spent the entire day in a very uncomfortable chair, using the internet that cut off whenever there were people by a certain widow. I was there until 6:15 at night and by then I was not feeling good at all. I had been having my normal digestive issues so the night before I took the normal dose of 4 teeny leaf pills and drank some laxative out of the bottle. That morning I had the runs but chalked it up to maybe drinking too much laxative. By that night I was beginning to think that I should use a spoon to take the laxative and not measure it in mouthfuls.

I left the airport and was going to walk the 30 minute or so walk to the highway but then it began to rain. Not wanting to get my laptop wet I approached the carro drivers and asked how much they would charge to take me to the highway. The crook told me it would be 50 pesos! “50 pesos!!” I squawked, “You have got to be kidding me!” Too bad it costs 45 to go all the way to Santiago. They guy asked how much I thought I should pay and I said 5 or 10 pesos and nothing more. He told me he could take me all the way to where I was going and then I wouldn’t have to wait for a bus. I asked him if he would take me all the way there for the 15 pesos it was going to cost me with this and the bus ride put together and can you believe it, he called me cheap! I told him that I really didn’t care if he thought I was cheap since I didn’t know him and if it made any difference I thought he was part thief. I explained that I wasn’t a tourist with a ton of money that I was a VOLUNTEER here to help this country. He told me he understood and we talked a little more before I left.

While I was walking towards the highway a man in an SUV told me his friend would be happy to give me a ride for free. I wasn’t sure since it wasn’t the type of bola I liked to take (where I get in the back of a truck) but the driver spoke English and seemed trustable enough. It was raining and I guess I am cheap so I got in and they were nice enough to take me the whole way to the community of my friend Kelly.

Kelly, Rachele and I met up and by this point I was feeling really sick. I was cursing drinking the laxative out of the bottle but was beginning to wonder if it was something else, if I was coming down with something or if maybe I was just sore from sitting for 7 hours. We went to Kelly’s host family’s house and showered then went to her new castle. It is a huge, beautiful house. I would be shocked but then this is the PCV who lived in the host family’s house that has cable tv, and she had her own bathroom with a shower (complete with glass shower doors) a sink and the bathroom is even tiled! It is amazing and so is her new mansion.

4/24 Friday: MOM AND RACH HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I woke up at 6 like I planned and I helped Wandi paint his lamp to look like a bumble bee. I made sure to give myself enough time since Tolo was giving me a bola again. I was ready by 7:15 and wouldn’t you know it, he showed up at 7:40- 20 minutes early but I was prepared this time. He said he’s going to pick Rach, Mom and I up in Navarrete on Sunday so we’ll see if he’s early then…

On the way to Navarrete today Tolo and Minga discovered that I still hadn’t met their son, Nolasco. He lives in Ohio but has been here since December. He has to go back to the states this week though until next December so they wanted to make sure I at least met him. This required a detour on the way to the bus stop in Navarrete to his house. So, we stopped by his house for a little bit, then stopped by the bank (so I could get out $5000 RD to pay the workers for my wall… which I don’t think is even all of it:( and then they dropped me off at the park.

When I arrived in Santiago I had two missions: get seeds from the Dept of Ag and get condoms from the Health Dept. I happened to see the Health Dept when I was on the guagua so I knew where to go. I first went to the hotel that Mom, Rach and I would be staying to secure a room for two nights but it was full. Thankfully there was one right across the street that had just one room with two beds left. It was on the 4th floor (no elevators of course) but better than nothing. Luckily the chick at the front desk told me we could leave the majority of the bags in a closet on the first floor. After I paid the $2000 RD for the two nights ($60) I headed off to the health dept for what I thought would be an easy mission.

When I arrived to the health dept I was sent on a goose chase. “Go to this door, go to that door… we can’t help you, go to that office…” Finally I arrived at the door of someone who seemed to have some authority. She asked for the name of the doctor in my clinic and I didn’t know it. She seemed like she was going to help me until that moment and then she said that I wouldn’t be able to get condoms from them, that I need a note from the doctor. I told her I was a PCV but she said that she can’t just give out condoms to anyone off the street, that people would come in, get free condoms and then sell them. Ok, so I need to go back to my campo where there are no condoms, ask the doctor for a note and then come back here? Or they could just cut out the middle mad and give ME the condoms… errr. I was pretty annoyed but the woman stood her ground. Feeling defeated I left.

I was outside, kicking myself for not putting my PC ID tag on while inside to look more official when I decided to try another tactic. I felt a little underhanded, like after one parent says no and then going to ask another, but it was for my community so I justified it. I remembered that there was another girl looking for condoms for a class she was giving and I didn’t see her discarded outside with me. I walked back up there, found the girl and asked if she got condoms. She told me not yet but that she was told to talk to another woman. I found the woman and explained my cause. She said it would be no problem and lead me back to the very first room I had been sent to. She told the woman at the desk to give me the condoms I needed and that it was no problem. Success! I left with my condoms and a little more poise. The fear of my limited Spanish being a handicap is finally going away.

Next stop was the seed shop. I went to the Dept of Ag and found them to be much easier to deal with than the Health Dept thanks to the fact that they are very familiar with PCVs. I introduced myself and didn’t even have to ask for seeds before they got me a chair and set off to get some weird seeds. I asked what the seeds were and they tried to explain what they were but they’re just too bizarre I guess. They didn’t even have pictures of them among the charts of fruits and veggies they had up. I’m not sure how I’m going to do garden projects with only 4 types of seeds (and uncommon ones at that) but it’s a start.

After my productive morning I piddled around. I went to the grocery store and then to use internet for free for a few hours until I headed back to the hotel to watch some tv. Finally 8 pm arrived and I got a taxi to the airport. It was soooooo great seeing Mom and Rach. I though that I would cry when I saw Mom but surprised myself. I am so glad that they are here with me. I wish that they could stay for longer but I will take what I can get gladly! It’s amazing what a difference a year makes; on this day last year I was miserable, getting my wisdom teeth out. And it was cold too! This year for my birthday I won’t be eating Friday’s soup (which I looooove) with a baby spoon but I’ll be partying it up at the discoteca, eating habichuela con dulce!! Yum yum!! Who would have ever thought!? Here I am in the DR!!!! :)

4/23 Thursday: Escojo part2, still preparing the house…

Yesterday I was writing the definitions of the body parts in my class again (since the boys were complaining that they couldn’t read the parts that one of the girls wrote for me) when Wandi came in and asked if I was going to help Ernie. I guess she took it upon herself to straighten out the hammock area. There was a pick ax and a machete. She used the machete and I went to help and used the axe making steps. The pick axe handle was broken at the end and before I noticed what I had done, I had a big, ripped open blister on the palm of my left hand. Fantastic. I was literally dripping sweat by this point so I decided it was as good of a time as any to stop. Later Ernesto saw my hand and when I told him what happened he told me I should have waited, that I knew he was going to have some muchachos do it. I told him they were all busy working on the wall and so I just did it. Not those muchachos, the little ones who are like 8… well I guess that makes a difference.

Today Ernesto had a migraine and so he stayed in bed all day. Poor guy, I would hate to have a migraine here in the DR- the noise is obnoxious when I don’t have a headache! Another bad thing about this is that he was going to put the shelves up today (since I’m a girl I can’t do it you know, and they’re not my tools) and disconnect the tubes from my water tank so I could clean it! So much for that, I just made some marks with chalk where I wanted the shelves and I guess we’ll see about the tank. I haven’t had running water all week though, something I’m not sure how Mom and Rach will respond to when they arrive.

The wall is really coming along. I have faith in this one, although I had faith in the last one as well. Even though they’re working really hard I don’t think that they will be able to get it finished by Sunday. If they do it would be great but on the other hand… that would mean that I have been waiting since Feb 7th for them to finish a wall that could have been completed in 5 ½ days. There are worse things in life I suppose.

In the morning I went to the clinic in my town to get some condoms for my next class. It’s the condom charla and it will be the most fun I think. I was disappointed to find that not only does a person have to go to the doctor and ask for a condom but there were only 22 condoms!! To make it worse, I took 20 of them and of the 20, half expired in 2004!! They were giving those out to people! Aye aye aye! The doctor told me he would stop by the Public Health office on Monday and pick up some more condoms but I’m not sure I want to put the fait of my class in his hands so I’ll stop by there tomorrow when I’m in Santiago. Although I’ll have to find it first.

Later in the day I had my Escojo class which was markedly different from the exact same class the week before. Don’t get me wrong, Wandi still fought a little, Ernie fought a lot and so did Vanji. I thought that if I gave them more responsibility they would act better, not the same. Then, Ernie, Karina and two guys who were there the week before just sat in the corner and talked. I get the feeling that Ernie is getting mad that she doesn’t have the same level of responsibility as when the class started. Aside from that, I didn’t think the class was as fun as this week either. It went well though. I need to rethink it a little is all. Better luck next time maybe.

Even later in the day I told Wandi I would help him with a school project. He made a light out of a gourd shell and I told him I would help him paint it. He tried very hard to just get me to do it but since it was homework I told him I was only there to HELP and lend some of the paint I just bought. Turns out the paint I bought was more like water and sucked really bad. I had a small container of orange so I told him I would help him paint something on it in the morning when the other “paint” dried. Ugh, that means I have to get up at 6 tomorrow!! But, YAY Mom and Rach get here tomorrow!!!!!!!

4/22 Wednesday: Escojo… think positive think positive think positive…

Today’s topic was Family Planning. I think I’m finally really getting used to this whole teaching thing. I’ve gone in stages from terrified to not so terrified but incredibly uncomfortable and kind of a doormat to mostly comfortable to teaching on my own and being stern (well you know, stern for me). Today when I had class only 11 kids were there which is much more manageable anyways. When they were talking amongst themselves I asked them to repeat what was just said. Or towards the end of class I would just announce in class that we had to wait to continue until whoever’s conversation was done. It worked really well. I was proud of myself that I even explained a somewhat complicated game. It took about 5 full minutes of explanation but after they understood they had a lot of fun. Yep, today’s class went really well.

There were 5 students in the class who weren’t in the last one. Since I plan on offering last weeks class again, I told them that I would be having class tomorrow, repeating the topic, since so many people missed it. BUT I said this would be the only time I was going to do this and it is the responsibility of the student to remember to go to class. If school gets out early they need to either wait for class or come back. Then there were a few students (the ones who weren’t at the last class even!) who were throwing a fit saying that the kids who missed today and last week shouldn’t be able to come back due to the attendance policy. I told them they didn’t have to worry themselves with that since it was a decision I would be making. And what do you know but that response worked! I’m not sure what I’m going to do about that. Maybe I’ll stick to it but I always forget to collect the attendance sheet from who was supposed to write it and so I doubt that they’re all still floating around. I told them that there was going to be an exam at the end and the people who don’t go to class will have a harder time with the exam. You have to pass the exam to graduate. Wandi was worried about this. He’s gone to each class but still is worried about failing. I don’t think that will be a problem because guess who is going to be grading the exams? :) Not that I would cheat for someone but I may pull them aside to clarify things. Escojo isn’t a hard topic and it’s not meant to make people feel bad and fail. I want as many people to pass as possible but of course if they completely fail the exam, it will be a problem.

Tomorrow I was supposed to go to the med mission but they ended up not needing me (bummer). It works out though since I’ll be teaching the body parts topic again. This time I have 4 peace keepers, one for each group and I’m not nervous at all. I know I can handle it. I’ve instructed the other students, the peacekeepers, of their jobs. The great thing about this game is that the participants are the ones who stand up in front of the class and read the definition of the parts and what they do. I don’t have to do any of it! Why didn’t I think of this game before so I didn’t have to freak out about the topic so much?!

4/21 Tuesday: Getting ready and doing repairs

Aside from the scramble to work on the wall (Ernesto has other people helping now so there are 8 in total) there are other things to fix up before the visitors arrive. Today I went to the hardware store to get some stuff to move my tinaco on my roof. I am very pleased about this. The problem was that the kids always play behind my house and they break the tubes leading from my tank to my house thus empting out the tank very quickly. This way the tubes won’t be on the ground for the little monsters to break and as an added bonus, the big, black tank will be in the sun where the water may actually heat up! I have to clean the empty tank out today and Ernesto said that we would move it later today.

Another thing we did was hang my newly purchased hammocks. When I went to John’s site, there was a guy who sold hammocks that he made out of rice sacks. Ernesto and Wandi think that 250 pesos a piece was a rip off but I don’t think so. They’re sturdy hammocks! I told Mercedes that I would need to clean up the area where they are and she said that she would have a kid go over there, clean it up, and level out the ground with a pick axe. Sweet, sounds good to me. I’ll wait until the afternoon and if they’re not doing it, I’ll just do it myself which is fine since I have so much practice using a pick axe at John’s site.

Yesterday evening Ernesto cut up the planks I have had in my house for the last few weeks. I bought them to make some shelves and I bought some paint from the hardware store today. I have been collecting seeds since the beginning of the month, end of last month to decorate the edges of the shelves and I think it will be fun to paint and decorate them with Mom and Rach. I want to hang them before Mom and Rach get here so we just have to worry about paint but I’ll see about that tomorrow maybe since we have to move the water tank and hammock-area cleaning today.

So, as you can see, having visitors is a BIG deal here. Ernie made sure I bought special cleaner for my floor and her and Mercedes insist on cleaning my entire house while I’m in Santiago picking up Mom and Rach. I have gotten really lucky here and still haven’t had to mop even once. Despite that my wall crumbled before my eyes, I won’t let that get me down. No one was hurt and the earth my (an under) my house still seems the same. I was a little afraid there for a minute that I was going to lose my house but nope! I am really grateful for that.

4/20 Monday: Encache? Adios…:(

This morning I thought that I would wake up nice and early and do my walking in the morning instead of after school gets out. While I was out I decided to take my sweet time and went really far again. After all, what did I have to get back for? Watching the guys work on the encache? Make them coffee? Buy them breakfast? No thank you, I will take a pass. So, after I had gone about 6 miles of running and walking I decided to take a break and I sat under the comforting shade of a mango tree and watched the clouds move. It was nice. When I got back, I went to Minga’s house in search of her delicious batata y coco flavored ice. It’s like sweet potato kind of and coconut. Delicious!

When I finally got back to my house it was about 11. I was on the porch talking with the guys for a while before finally going inside to shower. While I was picking out my clothes Ernie began yelling my name. I went outside to see what was going on and she pointed to her dad, Ernesto who told me that the wall had just had another little landslide. It looked the same to me but on closer inspection I realized that all the walls had cracks throughout. DANG IT! And they were almost done too. They were on the last wall of the 6. They got the tools out of the way and stood back. I asked if they could fix the cracks on it and Ernie said it didn’t look like it.

About 10 m minutes later, as we were all watching, the earth at the very top of the wall cracked and a big portion of it slid down, knocking the newly built, still wet, wall down. As that one fell, the next one fell and the next one and so on. It was a big bummer but I’m not going to lie, it was really cool looking. I felt bad for the guys working because the moral was really low after that. They said that all that work was just gone. So not true, I pointed out that we still had a LOT of rocks. I had jus been discussing other options for my wall with Mark the day before at his site. They do something here to prevent landslides on the roads where they take chain link fencing and essentially make a large pillar out of it, filling it with rocks. This was something that we had been discussing from the beginning so I thought I would mention it to Ernesto.

Ernesto was really upset about the wall. I feel a teeny bit bad because to get them working on it, I really laid on the guilt about my Mom visiting. I said that she would feel like they weren’t taking care of me if it wasn’t done and that she would be really disappointed. I said that she has a hard time walking since she has a bad back and the nice smooth entrance they were building would help her a lot. But at the same time I don’t feel bad. Ernesto told me that he was working in another town last Thursday and Friday but he came home to work on the wall when I was here. Why was he working in another place when the stupid wall wasn’t done still! So, if this lights a fire under his butt, great. Ernesto made an executive decision that my idea with the fencing and rocks wasn’t as good as building another encache out of the same thing, rocks and cement, but instead of having 6 pieces they would build one huge one. I am no engineer but wouldn’t that be worse because it would put more pressure on one singular wall? I have no idea. He said that the other one fell because as separate pieces they are weaker and it was the space between them that was their demise. I guess we will see won’t we?

4/19 Sunday: Getting back from Mark’s site

Yesterday I spent the night at Mark’s house. It was really nice, I love going to other PCV’s houses to see how they look. Mark has been building his house- that’s right, he built one- for a few months now, since January I think. This weekend he finished it and so this was his moving in party. Iain and I got a free ride from Sosúa to Altamira (from the Builders Beyond Border’s group or B3) where we took motors to the entrance of Mark’s site. Then it was a 10- 15 minute hike uphill on a dirt “road” with the type of mud that you helplessly sink in to as it eats your shoes, never to be seen again. And of course, it was raining when we were making the climb. At least it was a light rain.

His house is cute. I think that it looks like a tree house or something for a boy scout, which I don’t intend in a rude or unpleasant way but still it probably sounds bad so I refrained from verbalizing the comparison. The house is small but very efficient. It’s impressive that he was able to build it and the furniture. He built everything from the house to the mattresses in the bunk bed. (he made the mattresses by using foam and making a cover for them)

Iain and I got to Mark’s site Saturday around 2. We didn’t do anything at all the whole time. Well, that’s not true, at night there was power so we watched the movie Babel which we all found a little confusing. His site is very tranquil. My house, my site is NUTS compared to his. It got me thinking that it would be nice to have a mix between what I have and what he has. Mine is overwhelming but I have been afraid to send people away for fear that they will stay away and I’ll be completely solo in my house all the time. After Marks (even though it was just for a day) I feel like I could deal with that as well. No wonder others PCVs are shocked when they visit me, they’re used to more alone time. Although I have to say, even though it can be annoying, it’s nice to have so many people want to spend time with me all the time. It’s a good compliment.

I didn’t want to get back to my site too early because I wanted to avoid the discoteca so I went to the internet center for a while. I found out that a good friend’s boyfriend proposed to her Saturday night and I wanted to see if I could get a hold of her. My phone didn’t have service at Mark’s site except when it was in a very strategically placed cup which was nailed to the side of his house. But then there was the rain which made the little service available in the cup very hit or miss. I was upset the next day to see that she had called me to tell me about it and I didn’t’ have service! I was online for a while on Sunday seeing if I could catch her online to talk but no such luck.

I was also very disappointed to find that, for the first time in my life, when I checked to see what the top 10 songs were I didn’t know them!!!!! No, I didn’t say that I didn’t know 1 or 2 or the number 1 or even some of them, I said I didn’t know ANY of them! How did that happen? I knew them all in November. Then I tried to listen to the sample of them that iTunes provides but the internet connection I was paying for was so crappy that it couldn’t process them so I still don’t know!!!!! Ahhhhh!!!!!!

I maybe would have been dwelling on this but I was quickly distracted to find that one of my very best friends who I haven’t talked at all since I left, was online and I was able to chat with her!!!!! It was great and the best part? She bought a ticket to come out and visit in July!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN’T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s going to be so fun!! Now I’m torn between the excitement of Mom and Rach visiting me for my birthday (they’re getting in on Friday) for the medical mission I was asked to help out with Thursday and Friday (as a translator… again, I’m a TRANSLATOR!!!!!!!! YIPPEEEEEE!) and for Lisa coming in July!!! Ah, life is good when your biggest problem is that you can’t pick what to focus on for being excited. I’m just excited in general:)

4/16- 4/18 Thursday- Saturday: YAAAYYY!!

Today I woke up nice and early with Ali to each head our separate directions. I was to go back to Los Mangos, John’s site and she was heading back to Los Arrozes- her community. When Ali came the day before she happened to get on Noel’s motorcycle and he proceeded to tell her about how he was mad at me still. She told him that no one was perfect, not knowing the story, and that he should really get over it since it wasn’t a big deal. Then he told her that he was already over it and that she should mention that to me. Ali was solving all kinds of problems for me! I have yet to talk to Noel but I feel like it will be a lot less awkward now thanks to Ali.

So, anyways, she went down the mountain with him and I went up and over the other side with Camilo, Ann and Tim’s friend. Camilo is cool because he takes me the whole way to John’s so I don’t have to change motors. It took me about 45 minutes to get to John’s and then another 25 to walk to the aqueduct. I was there with the kids from about 9:30 until 11 working and then we all went up to the aqueduct (a large cement box constructed around a natural spring at the top of the hill) that the kids had done a great job painting and we took some pictures. After that we ate lunch and then headed out to Sosúa where they had reservations at a resort called Sosúa by the Sea. The PCVs who helped were invited and I was really excited I was able to go.

The first day we arrived we didn’t do much. John, Iain and I went to Sosúa to a bar that had free internet while the kids went to the 27 Waterfalls just outside of Altamira. We all met up at the hotel around 7 and stuffed ourselves with the delicious dinner. The hotel is beautiful. Our room has a huge bed in one room, another room with a tv and a bed with one of those pull-out beds-in-a-drawer underneath. I took that room and Iain and John shared the massive bed. We were so tired when we got there that we went to bed pretty early, especially John who fell asleep in his clothes on the bed at 8.

The next day was sooooooo cool. Despite the fact that we brought the PCV plague with us (somehow the water “broke” there was no water in anybody’s room in the morning and in our room there was a problem with the air conditioning so not only did our bathroom flood but the light broke the night before so we had no power in the bathroom) we can’t think any less of the hotel. The service was great and the view was breathtaking. We ate a delicious breakfast by an ocean view and went out on a boat all day. The boat had some really interesting workers who entertained the kids by dancing, singing, doing awkward impressions of other cultures and cross dressing. Dominican humor. We stopped twice to snorkel and the guys on the boat tossed some bread and hard boiled eggs out to the fish. It was awesome because the fish would eat it out of your hands and there were tons of beautiful fish. On the way back we saw some dolphins playing by the boat. It was the coolest boat trip I have ever gone on.

When we got back to the hotel somehow the kids found the energy to hang out at the pool the rest of the day. I went for a walk and bargained a sarong for 300 pesos cheaper than the guy originally told me which made me pretty happy. I walked to the grocery store, which was the most Americanized grocery store I have seen so far, being fully stocked with Doritos, pop in cans and American candy. I found some cheap ground spices and then headed back to the hotel. After a hot shower in a new room (our old room was still flooded) I watched some tv and then went to dinner. I tried to focus and write my blog but I was too tired and too distracted. I went back to the room and read an issue of Cosmo from December while watching music videos in Spanish. Some people may think that is boring but to me it was a relaxing end to a sweet day.

The next morning I loaded up big time on breakfast since I would be skipping lunch. We were all going to meet in the lobby at 11:45 to leave for good. The kids all had to pack up to get ready to go to Santiago where they’ll be spending a day shopping, dropping Iain and I off in Altamira on the way so we can help Mark move into his house finally (poor guy has been living with his host family still since he has been building a house this whole time. His new house is finally done though, yay!) The kids leave tonight to go back home and then Monday they’ll be back to school.

That seems surreal to me, to go back to school in two days after a week like this. I really have to commend this group of kids. I guess the group (Builders Beyond Borders or B3) used to plan two weekends of fun in their trips but the kids would always write on the suggestion sheets at the end of the trip that they would have rather worked longer and played less since they were there to work. Because of that they worked Saturday- Thursday and only had two days very much deserved days of relaxation. They were able to dig enough 2 ½ ft trench line that they put in a little over 100 tubes, with each tube being 19 feet. They dug the trenches, cleaned and glued tubes together, laid the tubes in the trenches and then buried the tubes. Before they left on the last day they were able to put in a tap to a woman’s house and turn the water on. The tap wasn’t completely finished since it still needed to be enclosed in a cement casing but it is usable and now, for the first time in the woman’s life, she has water at her house.

It really is amazing what people can accomplish when they put themselves aside and think of others. These kids are a great example of that and I really hope that they continue to do things like this with their lives. I hope that this made a big impact on each of them they way they will have impacted the lives of the people they have helped.

4/15 Wednesday: Escojo…. Just breathe.

Today was to be the big day: the day that Ali (another PCV who has really great Spanish) was going to come to my site and help me prepare and teach a charla on the reproductive system: something I did not want to talk about at all. She arrived at 12:30, we ate lunch, caught up on things and began to prepare the presentation around 2:30. Normally I have the presentations done a day or two at least a head of time but we were supposed to work on it together so I waited. Vangie had gone to the school the day before to remind the director we were going to have class today at 5. So, imagine my surprise when at 3 Ernie called me from school to tell me that I needed to be at the school by 4. She said I had to have the class early since school was getting out early. That wasn’t going to happen so I asked her to remind the kids that we were going to have class and that I would be there as soon as I could. We had only been working on the thing for 30 minutes, it was nowhere near done! Then, adding to the surprise, at 3:30 Wandi, who should have still been in school still, showed up at my house telling me all the kids had gone for the day so I couldn’t have class. That means that they got out at 3:15! I asked Wandi to tell the kids that I was going to have class at 5 and to have them come back and he said no.

I was getting more and more frustrated since Ali could only help today. She has to leave early tomorrow and so do I since I told John I would be back to help out more on Thursday. Ali and I continued to work on it but were constantly stopped by distraction. Vangie showed up and I asked her if the director had mentioned to her the day before that school was getting out early. She said he did but she forgot to tell me. I guess I should have just gone myself to ask so that was my fault. Then Ernie comes home and starts telling me that I should have been ready because she called me to tell me. Yeah, she called me 15 minutes before hand! Not that it mattered really, I appreciate the effort on her part but the whole blame game is really old. Then Wandi, who for some reason was being AWEFUL starts calling me a procrastinator and says I should have had it done, that the whole thing is my fault. Breathe. I was about to SNAP. Here I was, sitting on the floor in my kitchen/dinning room, drawing a huge penis diagram with 5 people in my house staring at it. I couldn’t even draw the other one in front of them, I had to move to my room. I get too embarrassed about that stuff. And all the while I was in my room I could hear Wandi complaining about how I am a slacker while Ali defended me.

We finished everything and arrived at the school a little after 5. When we were preparing the charla I happened to think of a game where the kids have to match the function with the body part and then have to put up all the names of the body parts on the diagram. It went fairly well but I thought there was going to be a throw down. There were only 9 kids in the class and I thought that they may have killed each other. We made it a competition between the girls, who were in charge of the man-parts and the guys who were in charge of the woman-parts. It seemed like it was going to be fun but they were fighting the whole time about how the other team was cheating. The girls were able to match up what the guy parts and functions were fairly well but the guys had no clue. They didn’t even know where the vagina was. I found out this is because it is largely thought here that the girls are to please the men and should know about their functions but the men aren’t expected to reciprocate. I don’t know how many in my class have had sex but I’m guessing not many of the guys have since they would at least have to know where the vagina was. So, I guess this could either be a good thing or a very disturbing one, explaining why I have a very low pregnancy rate in my community.

During the class Wandi was unbearable. He was angry that I let the girls go first to explain what parts they had and started yelling about how I think men are trash. I know calling him out on this in front of everyone will get me nowhere so I ignored him. He was doing stuff like this the whole time, fueling the negativity of the class. Ernie and Wandi are leaders for sure; people naturally do what they do. Ernie was being very rambunctious on the girl’s side as well. After class Wandi walked up to me with a smile like nothing happened. I wasn’t sure how to respond so I told him I would talk to him after class. I talked to Ali and told her I was planning on choking Wandi later during our talk and thankfully she had another suggestion. She majored in Social Work and her patience shows. She is a really amazing person.

Per her suggestion, I sat Wandi down afterwards and told him that I have higher expectations for him. I said that I felt he is a natural leader and capable of a lot. I told him that I knew other people were behaving poorly in class but that since I have higher expectations for him I was let down by him. I told him I thought that he had the special ability to really influence people around him, an ability that seems to come very naturally to him, something hard to find in people, and that this is why I expect more. I said I wanted to give him more responsibility because of this, and this is why I expect more. I asked if he wanted the responsibility and he said he did. He said he didn’t know when he was acting poorly and so I told him when he told me that I treat men like trash. He didn’t like that the girls got to go first, which I understood but I pointed out that he is always the one telling me, “Ladies first.” Then he said he was really just upset that he didn’t get picked to go to the conference and that I always have Ernie help me with the class. I told him that I would love it if he would like to be a promoter for the new class in the Fall but there are requirements. He would really need to think about things before acting out of emotion, that he needs to be an example. I said that I didn’t bring him to the conference because he hadn’t been setting a very good example during the first few classes we had before the conference. I pointed out that my job is to find leaders who want to be promoters so of course I’m happy that he is interested. The reason I always have Ernie help prepare the course is because he was able to help me with the interviews I had to do during the first three months and I wanted to be able to share my experience with as many people as possible. (Really it’s because she’s the best at coloring of the group) So, I said, this means that if you really want to be a promoter, you need to be a good example to the rest of the course. There are a few other people I have been considering asking at the end of the course if they would like to be promoters and participate in a workshop I’ll have on how to teach and prepare charlas. To my credit, I listed another boy from the class.

All this seemed to really satisfy Wandi and so I am really glad I did it. I have never been one to cater to another’s feelings when they are acting out or acting what I think is overly sensitive. Normally I ignore people, get mad at them or just tell them to suck it up. This is not easy for me but I know that it is the most productive road. I am learning how to look at things differently, trying to be more creative in my solutions and learning how to solve problems doing things another’s way. It’s frustrating and I have to swallow my pride and remind myself to think this way. I think that this will be a very valuable thing for me to take home to the States and well worth the trouble.

4/13 Monday: A Community Meeting

Monday when I left John’s site I was in a big hurry. There was a community meeting scheduled for the afternoon where there were two things on the agenda: the crappy road and the lack of trash pickup service. The meeting seemed like a really big deal since a few people went around on Friday handing out papers announcing the meeting, organization I had never seen from a community in the DR. I was pretty pumped about it, really looking forward to the trash discussion and plan of action so I didn’t want to miss it. The meeting was supposed to be at 4 pm so when I left John’s at 12:30 I thought I was leaving more than enough time because I only live about an hour from him. The problem was that I didn’t leave enough time for the Dominican black hole. I can compare this to when I go to my Dad’s house in the States. It just eats the time somehow and before you know it three hours have passed, and not because you’re having that much fun.

Anyways, I stopped in Altamira to use the internet for a bit and ended up scrambling to get to my site in time. Of course I had to end up on a super crappy motor up the mountain that probably couldn’t go more than 40 miles per hour. Lucky for me, I had just learned how to say that I was in a hurry (thanks to reading the 501 verb book for leisure) and so I relayed this to my driver who dutifully increased velocity to the impressive top speed. I was really dirty from digging at John’s still but I arrived to my house at 4:10 and didn’t have time to shower. I changed my pants at least which were thick with dirt thanks to my rubber boots. When I hurried to the meeting 15 minutes late, I was the 4th one there. I was happy that I didn’t miss anything but thought that it was weird that there were just three women there. Mercedes was one of them and she assured me that the community meeting was still going to happen. While that ended up being true, I wish I had known what everyone else in La Lamota knew: the meeting was going to take place AFTER the Woman’s Meeting. So, I ended up sitting through the Woman’s Meeting but I decided that was ok since I should be going to them anyways.

When the Community Meeting did happen I was very happy to see that there was a fairly large turnout of about 50 people. What was a bummer though was that they were so busy talking about the road and planning strikes for it that the trash issue didn’t even come up. I understand that the state of the road is important but don’t they see how important a trash pick up service is?! People could get sick. It’s horrible for the environment. It attracts rodents. It pollutes water sources. It’s plain old ugly. Sure we can put our trash in the ditches and the rivers and let it be an issue for the people who live at the bottom of the hill but that’s no solution. Not to mention a lot of the community has family at the bottom of the hill. No no no, this is not ok. I obviously need to rethink how to approach this. I don’t think people know how big of an issue it really is so I guess I’ll have to try to get the word out there. I will have to be more proactive in getting people to make the change and move this up on their list of priorities. Hopefully we can have another community meeting talking about the trash issue instead of complaining about how the community closer to Navarrete didn’t help out with the last strike.

4/11- 4/13 Saturday- Monday: A weekend in the shoes of a Water PCV

There is something to be said about being in PC and actually having a tangible project. Educating is a semi tangible project since the students will hopefully graduate and don’t do something demonstrating that they aren’t practicing what they learned- like become pregnant when only being 15 years old. Water PCVs are envied in a way since they are for one treated like Gods for “bringing water to a community” and two, they are the only ones on this little island of PCVs who have a tangible job. They get their assignment, they design a system, get funding, and then put in a system. Easy right? No. I just spent the last 2 ½ days at the site of a water PCV while he was lucky enough to score a group of high schoolers willing to donate their spring break digging trenches to help complete the “put in a system” part of the process. I was supposed to just be a translator but really, what kind of a slacker feels ok just standing there for two days while everyone else is working? So, I was using the pick axe and I was shoveling and getting blisters alongside the 50 kids from Connecticut. The difference was that I was just there for 2 ½ days, they were there for a week and John, the PCV who lives there, does this four days a week! There is something to be said about being able to be a Health PCV. Sure I get blisters but they’re from holding the colored pencils too tight not from digging for 9 hours a day.

The weekend was hard but it was really encouraging too. The kids, as I found out on the first day, had to each raise $2000 to pay for their trip and to largely fund John’s water project. In the short time that I was there nearly all of the kids were working hard and not complaining at all. And these were long days to be digging the whole time. Let me tell you, digging a 2 ½ foot trench in cocoa and coffee fields, or in direct Caribbean sun, or on a steep slope- is NOT easy. It’s especially hard the more days it drags on. We would wake up around 6:30 or 7 after sleeping on a cot which I think was the most uncomfortable sleeping arrangement I have had in country, and then we would go to breakfast. At 7:30 it was off to get the tools (all the picks and shovels) and then we would head up to the worksite where we dug trenches until 12. We ate beans, rice and some variation of meat for lunch that boys brought up for the day so we didn’t have to leave, wasting time, and were able to eat right at the worksite. Then we would return to digging from 12:30 until around 4:30.

The first day when I was pick axing I backed into some barbed wire and cut my hand. The second day I tried to tape it shut and clean it but my whole hand swelled up. Monday, after it was still very swollen, I decided that I would be better Monday if I took it easy and didn’t work too hard. Let me tell you that it was difficult not working that last day but I found a way to do it and successfully only picked up a pick once that day (and that was to pose for a picture).

When I left I went to this dude’s house looking for a hammock. There is a guy who sells them in John’s community for a bargain of 250 pesos. They’re made from rice sacks and a must have for the season you know. I went to his house but he wasn’t there. While I was walking out of John’s site I was lucky enough to pick up a companion along the way, a man who told me it was his responsibility to protect any visitors in the community and he was fulfilling his duty by walking me to the entrance and helping me look for a motor. He also walked with me to the Hammock Man’s house and when the man wasn’t there he told me that he would talk to the man later and get me two hammocks. This will hopefully work out well since I will be back in John’s site on Thursday to help some more. I would like to get the hammocks before my mom and sister get here on the 24th but who knows?

Anyways, the point of this blog is to point out that everything really does happen for a reason. I talked to some other Water PCVs who were there and they were telling me how they would so much rather be doing that work that trying to teach classes to a bunch of kids. Not that I’m a huge fan of teaching classes but I am much less of a fan of digging every day so I guess I’m pretty lucky in that sense. There’s always something to be grateful for isn’t there?

I don't have much time right now (as normal I know) but I read the two comments I had from Lisa and Deb and I wanted to say... YYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY Mary Alice!!!!! That's so exciting!! Could you email me some pics? I'm so happy for her!!!! I wish I could have seen her prego but thats ok, she'll just have to have another one when I'm there! lol. Thanks for the comments, its so nice to know that the blog is being read. As far as packages go, it takes anywhere from 10 days to 4 months to get a package but I think the average is about 6 weeks, so that's not too bad right? Anyways, I hope you all are doing very well and I'll be sure to keep writing!

love

b

4/9 Thursday: Semana Santa

Monday marked the start of Semana Santa or Saint Week. Most people go to the beach or a river during this week to celebrate. Last Sunday was called Domingo de Ramos (literally translates as Sunday of Branches) and this Sunday is the Domingo de la Resurreción, which I think you can figure out the meaning of. While there aren’t many people who left for other towns in my town (or came for that matter) a lot of people in other places go to a relative’s house for a mini vacay. My community doesn’t seem very religious at all but even the people who I have never seen go to church are either planning on going on Sunday or went last Sunday. I apparently am going to violate a rule that pretty much everyone follows which is not working from 12 noon on Thursday until Monday. Unfortunately I already told a water PCV that I would go to his site on Saturday to help out with a group of high schoolers who volunteered to help build his aqueduct. The only thing that makes me sad about the whole situation is that I’ll be missing out on an awful lot of habichuela con dulce which is delicious.

I know, saying that I love a dessert made out of beans is weird coming from me, the girl who detested beans when arriving into country. What is this delicious treat you ask? It is a ingenious mix of beans, coconut, crackers and a pumpkin type of veggie thing along with I’m sure a LOT of sugar and cinnamon and whatever else the person cooking wanted to toss into it. It’s delicious. It’s so good that Minga was going to make me a cake for my birthday (as a gift) and I traded it for the bean dish. Nuts I know.

4/7 Tuesday: Drama, Machetes and Bites- OH MY! (say it 3 or 4 times fast…)

Today I became a Dominican I think. I spent two hours with Wandi cutting my yard with a machete. Lots of people do this here but I don’t recommend it. I recommend letting the yard grow out and having bugs and snakes instead. I now have 6 blisters on my right hand, two of which have explotaron and me duelo mucho (aka they popped and they suck). Tomorrow, si Dios quiere we’re going to dig up the dirt in a nice large square for the garden. What fun.

In other news, I know that I should be a good representation of the great USA but a person needs boundaries right? Well, thanks to those boundaries Noel is pissed at me. I’m not sure what all I have written about this and am too lazy to re-read everything again but long story short he was mad at me last week for not switching to his motorcycle when I was already in town with another kid. Then he took me to Navarrete in the morning on Friday when Ernie, Karina and I had to leave. Ernie and Karnia got on the other motorcycle and I got on his. I paid 70 pesos for me and 140 total for the girls. On Sunday when the three of us were leaving Jarabacoa the girls asked me if we could go shopping in Santiago to which I said sure. I sent Noel a text telling him that we would be in Navarrete around 5 more or less and that he should send me a text if that was ok. He had called me earlier twice but my phone was still on silent from the conference and so I didn’t hear the call. I didn’t have any minutes on my phone to call him so I could just text. When the girls and I arrived in Santiago, the stores were closed so we left earlier than I thought. I sent Noel a message saying that we were on our way from Santiago and we called from Karina’s phone but he didn’t answer. When we arrived at the entrance in Navarrete he wasn’t there and I still hadn’t received a text from him. I wasn’t sure if he was still mad at me from before or if his phone had service and he had received the messages so we just got on a motor each and went up. On the way we passed him and he began yelling “It’s not 5 o’clock!”.

Well, I knew he would be mad at me even though any sensible person could see that’s just not right. I found out he was working at the entrance all day so it’s not like he made a special trip for me or anything either. I figured that it was crappy of him to be mad at me either time, last week or now. If he thinks that I’m just peachy with him being unjustly angry with me, making me feel like I should apologize whenever I go with someone else then forget that. I also think that it’s sucky that he has always charged me more when I make sure to always give him business.

When I saw him today we got into an argument. I didn’t intend to get in an argument; I just wanted to stand up for myself without apology. On Friday when he took me down the mountain I apologized for any misunderstanding and he was still pissy with me. This time I thought I would try a different route. I said hello to him and he asked what happened on Sunday. I said, “Yeah, what did happen on Sunday? Why didn’t you answer your phone or text me back?” He said he didn’t have any minutes on his phone. I said he called me twice on Sunday though. He said that I shouldn’t have told him 5 and then showed up at 3:30. Then he said that it was him that looked for me at 6 am on the day that I left (which, by the way it was 7:30) and that he should have been the one to have two passengers not the other guy so he was mad about that. That took me off guard. I told him that I can’t control other people and it’s his job not mine to get people on his bike. If he wanted two passengers he should have said something. Obviously I wasn’t going to pay him for taking two people when he took one person and pay the other dude for one person when he took two. Duh. (although I’m not sure how that translates) To that he told me that he wasn’t going to look for me anymore and I would have to find someone else. Like that’s going to be hard; there are like 10 dudes working at a time at the entrance. I almost said great because it would save me money to go with someone else but instead I just said that was fine with me.

And so, I wasn’t exactly being a representative but I’m glad I’m not being a doormat. I think maybe I could have handled it better but maybe being stern about it will help me. If he only wants to be friends with me to get my money or my cakes when I bake them then good riddance. Although this is a little concerning since now I can’t go with Franklin, Noel or Neno (I can with the other two but I feel weird). Plus I have this little paranoia that once one person doesn’t like me here a bunch of people won’t. Although, who knows? Maybe he’ll get over it.

Another fun story would be Wandi’s little brother, Argeni. I continue to get texts from him and looking back at some of the first texts, they’re a little disturbing. Of course when I read (that’s past tense) the first ones I thought they were a joke from someone so I didn’t think anything of it but now…. Ick! Let me give you an example of these texts:

“Betsi, I would like to tell you that I am very happy (happy written in English even) to, see you, to know you, and to be able to look at those eyes and those lips which are so lovely. I would like to be your friend. Many kisses for you forever, ~Argeni”

Or then there’s this one:

“Although you don’t think Betsi that I love you with all of my heart, I love you like no one else. Although not right now, I would like to give you a kiss. Please think in how I love you. ~ Argeni”

Pretty deep for a 14 year old right? Well, he did just turn 15 on Saturday maybe its not that impressive. I’m not sure how many I have received from him but I’m guessing like 20 or so. I can tell you one thing; I think that Wandi thinks that we are in some type of weird-dating relationship. Last night he even tried to brush my hair! What a weirdo!!! What the heck am I supposed to do with that? Ugh. He’s been staying home from work the last two days (which he has also had off of school) due to a “stomach ache” and today Argeni stayed home due to a “sore arm”. Wonder where they were most of the day? On my porch with me making bracelets.

Ah, bracelets. That’s another short story. Yesterday Ernie wanted to walk to Ann and Tim’s house to learn how to make bracelets since Ann knows how to make really cool ones. I have never made a bracelet in my life. I missed that phase in my teenage years. Was it because I never went to camp? Was it because I was homeschooled in 7th and 8th grade? Who knows? I didn’t know how to make them and Ernie wanted to learn so we can sell them for our Escojo class. So, we walked an hour and a half to Ann and Tim’s house and learned two ways to make bracelets. When we get good at these we’ll walk back again and learn a more complicated way. I’m not sure what we’ll be fundraising for but I guess it’s better to be prepared right?

Well, the power has gone once again so I guess that’s all for this letter today. This may have been a slightly negative letter so I would like to throw something good in there. When I got back from Jarabacoa I noticed that the water in my bathroom doesn’t smell like beach so maybe someone filled it while I was gone! I just hope that they put the lid back on tight so nothing gets in there and dies again. Maybe I should check that…

One more thing back to the negative, I am covered in mosquito bites and these other nasty bites where the bug bites you, leaves a tiny blood spot, and then the exaggeratedly large red spots itch incredibly the next day. All from playing in the “grass” today. So, if it’s cold there and you all are miserable just think: at least you’re not wondering if something has died in your bathing/brushing teeth source, not covered in 50 weird bites that itch a LOT, aren’t getting creepy love letters from the 15 year old next door neighbor, DO have power all the time, don’t have a 17 year old boy trying to brush your hair, don’t have several blisters on one hand from cutting the grass in your yard with a machete and don’t have the great privilege of looking forward to more blister-forming work tomorrow shoveling up the yard which is actually a steep hill. At least I have a toilet (yes I know you do too but at least I have a toilet). Ah, life in the Peace Corps; it’s a beautiful thing.

4/3- 4/5 Friday- Sunday: Escojo Conference Weekend.

This weekend was the weekend of the Escojo Conference in the Ciabo, the region where I live. Let me take a minute to explain what Escojo is exactly first since I don’t think I’ve explained it well enough. It is a “movement” started by a PCV just 5 years ago. It’s a class/course for youth between the ages of 12- 25 that lasts anywhere from 12- 14 weeks generally. A PVC begins the course teaching from a manual created by the PCV who began the course 5 years ago. The manual is modified each year and updated by a committee of PCVs. There are a lot of chapters in the book which are focused on HIV/AIDS/STDs and pregnancy prevention but also have chapters on drugs, alcohol, making healthy decisions, discrimination, gender equality, body parts, abstinence, how to use a condom correctly… ect. There are about 24 chapters in the book and the course should cover at least 12 of the topics. I have the class once a week and it generally lasts for about an hour and a half but I would like to extend that to two hours. The idea is that the PCV has the first course and then graduates whoever met the requirements of the course. After that, if there were outstanding students, the PCV picks a few to help teach the next course. Then the course after that they teach with less help from the PCV. After a little while the student leaders or promoters should be able to teach completely alone. Then they will begin they cycle of picking leaders and teaching them how to teach thus making the project sustainable since the youth themselves will probably leave when they get older. In theory it sounds great but it is a lot of responsibility and a lot of times the course ends up falling through after the PCV leaves. In a perfect world it would work and sometimes it does. PCVs do what they can while they’re here and try to be positive about it.

This weekend I took Karina and Ernie with me to Jarabacoa, the town where we had our training. We were in a center and the kids weren’t allowed to leave so they didn’t get to see the town but there wasn’t time anyways. We began the days with breakfast at 7:30 and had activities until 10 pm at night. We arrived on Friday around 11 am and left Sunday at 1 pm. I am really excited about the whole experience because I feel like my girls were really empowered by it. They’re really enthusiastic and motivated now. One thing that I really love about this course is that the majority of the students really want to learn, there’s just a lack of information which the course helps to pacify. Most of them are sponges for the knowledge. Ernie often sits in my house for hours and pours herself over a book I have which is called Where There is no Doctor (about how to treat things in an extremely simple way for people who live in areas without care).

As you all know, it’s not perfect in my course. There are just a few who are in my course because somehow it became cool to be in my course and they want to be cool I guess. They’re annoying but I’m trying to deal with it. I think that when I switch the place to the Mother’s Club on Saturdays and people have to make an effort to get there it will weed out the slackers, or so I hope.

There is such a lack of education here about sex it’s shocking. A lot of people think that if a girl urinates after sex she won’t get pregnant. They don’t know that the vagina is a separate entity from the urethra so they believe urinating will flush out semen. I asked Ernie and Wandi last week if they thought a woman could get pregnant if she urinated and one said no the other wasn’t sure before saying yes. Wandi and Ernie also told me last week that a teacher was teaching that if a woman uses a towel after a man used it and didn’t clean it first, she’ll get pregnant. I didn’t say anything about it since I didn’t want to devalue the teacher but I will mention things in my class about it and let the kids form their opinions about it after they have proper information.

One of the highlights of the weekend for me was Saturday night when we had a talent show. Two acts that stood out to me among the joke telling, dancing, and singing were when a PCV and her youth sang a song. First the youth went, singing the song in Spanish. Then the PCV sang the same song in English. Then they sang it together, each in their native language. It was such a great example of what we are doing here. We’re mixing with the culture, bringing our own, not changing ours or theirs much but adapting together and learning together. When the two cultures are together, accepting differences and mixing well it can be a great and beautiful thing.

The other thing that I really liked was when a group of about 6 people, 5 youth and 1 PCV did an African dance. The DR is a mix of culture from Spain (the conquistadores) and Africa (the slaves) and as I have mentioned before, the culture here generally wants to “purify” themselves back to the Spaniards and have lighter skin. Seeing that the group knew the dance already (the talent show wasn’t announced until Friday when we arrived) and that they embraced it was really great. It showed me that Escojo really is having an impact on youth and their views and ideas. The dance was so well received that the crowed began to chant that they wanted an encore. The performers got ready to do the tiring dance again and about half of the crowd ran up to the front where we had the “stage” to learn how to do it and participate. It was really great.

During the weekend we played a LOT of games, or dinamicas. I told Ernie and Karina right away that they were going to be in charge of leading a game or two in each of our courses so they should write them all down this weekend. They loved the responsibility of it and I loved that I wouldn’t have to try to learn all these songs in Spanish in two days! Not to mention that now I don’t have to try to be all enthusiastic, looking like a freaking weirdo leading these games. What a relief.

One other great thing about this conference is that I was able to meet the regional coordinators. Every one in a while there is a youth that is outstanding and so is nominated to be a regional coordinator. These youth are invited to give presentations at conferences and when PCVs need help they can call these youth and invite them to go to their communities to give presentations, lead games or just give advice. I think that it was inspirational for my girls to see youth, the same as them, given this responsibility and gave my girls something to shot for. One coordinator that seemed especially good to me is a guy named Wilkin. Lucky for me, although he moved to Santo Domingo recently, he used to live in Altamira- which is about 30 minutes from me. So I asked him if when he is visiting his family if he could let me know and come by to help out. He said he would be more than happy to and that I should call him for anything I need. Sweet.

Last December I wrote a grant for a coordinator who lives close to me. A small problem with sustainability is that when the PCV goes, so does the money and these groups need money. Fundraising can only go so far and it’s hard to motivate people to do as well. So, I was assigned a girl who has a PCV still but her PCV is done with her service later this month. The girl’s name is Maribelis and she’s just 13. She is in charge of her group completely and seems pretty cool. We set up a date that I’m going to take either Karina or Ernie and go to her town to give a presentation in her course. We also tried to set a tentative date when she or one of the two other girls who were with her could come to my community to give one. Maribelis leaves each summer for Santo Domingo to stay with family so we’ll have to work around that. Although I still don’t know if I’ll be having my group meet during the summer since I’ve heard from other PCVs it’s very hard to continue in the summers with so many kids gone. Ernie told me not many people leave La Lomota for the summers though so we’ll see. When Maribelis needs money we’re supposed to meet up and she has to submit a report along with a budget (or receipts if it’s a reimbursement) to me, which I review before giving the money. I hope that this will work out well but we’ll see. Now that I know her, I’m not nervous about talking to her on the phone like I was before. Talking on the phone is Spanish is tough.

So, anyways, that was the weekend. I was sick the whole time with digestive issues and almost had to go to the capital but aside from that it was good. I’m really looking forward to the next conference, Celebrando el Ciabo in August.

4/1 Wednesday: Happy April!!! So much to be happy about!

Happy April Fools Day!! I have been thinking a lot lately and I decided I have a lot going for me here right now. First of all, I have my 4th Escojo class today and I am feeling so much more comfortable with these classes. I also talked to another PCV who lives by me and she’s coming to visit me on the 15th to help me with the body parts class. I talked to Idonnah (the PCVL) about getting an Environmental Manual to help me teach an Environmental class. I think its soooo important and I really love issues with the environment so I’m excited for it. Idonnah suggested I do it in my Escojo class but that class already has a very full schedule. I figure that I’ll have it open to whoever wants to do it (at least 12 years old) and if the people in my Escojo class don’t want to go to two meetings a week (one for Escojo and one for this) they don’t have to.

Then I was thinking about starting an English class soon. There’s been a lot of power today so I was able to look through a CD I have that has a lot of tips for teaching an English class. There is a lot of interest in my community for this or so it seems. These classes cost me money to have, to print things or even to write out stuff on my paper. Because of this, I think I’m going to charge an entrance fee which I think would keep people motivated to go as well.

When I walked to Minga’s today I saw that they are painting the club de Madres building and so I’m going to talk to Idonnah about what types of murals the PC Office has. I need to talk to Mercedes and the Club de Madres as well of course and see if they’re interested. If it’s ok and goes well, I would really like to do one with the community at the school as well.

Another thing I plan on doing is meeting up with Kenzie this month to write a grant together to try and get some computers for the school. I think that it’s really important to have at least a basic knowledge of computers and most people here don’t even know how to turn one on. Depending on how that goes I would really like to find a way to help finish building the library that the school has.

What other projects are there you ask? Well, I could always do nutrition classes (not much of a fan of that though) and I plan on building/planting a garden in my yard as an experiment (also not much of a fan but it could be beneficial). After I learn how to do it a little better I’ll see if there’s interest in the community for it. If so then great. If not, at least there’ll be a garden here for Ernesto and his fam to use.

Yesterday Ernie randomly came over with shovels and said it was time to clean up the yard to make it pretty for when Mom and Rach visit (23 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) They then proceeded to weed the entire yard of the grasses and other stuff growing by shoveling the whole thing. Yes, I said shoveling. One person had a machete and was cutting stuff down with it, two people had shovels, and an 8 year old and I were picking up all the trash. Vanji was sweeping my yard. It was a good idea but shoveling the yard like that made it nearly impossible for me to walk through now with it’s current still-damaged from the landslide state. Ernesto told me that they would start working on the wall this week but now he changed it to the week after Easter. I told him I was worried about pushing it off so much since I wanted it to be done before my Mom got here, something that I thought couldn’t be a problem since it was so far off: wrong. He’s not working on it right now since he’s working on someone else’s house now. He told me he would work during Semana Santa which is next week, a week normally reserved for doing absolutely nothing. We’ll see. I guess if it’s done, it’s done and if not then we’ll just have to walk the long way around to get up to my house. I have to pick what things to be stubborn about and this isn’t one of them.

When I got back on Monday, Ernesto told me that a doctor from Navarrete had visited that day and he had talked with her about the trash issue. I guess she has ties with the municipality somehow and she said it wouldn’t be an issue to get trash pick up here once a week. I found out that the garbage pick up only happens about once a month at the school, not each week like I assumed. I have doubts that this doctor will be coming back to the community since that’s the way things work here so I would still like to get a committee started to monitor the trash pick up.

Aside from all the potential projects, I actually have a lot of compromisos this month. It seems like each month (well, except March) I look at it and I’m like, “Dang, where’s the time to do all this stuff?!” I told a water PCV I’d go to his site for three days to help dig trenches and translate to a group of 30 or 40 high schoolers who are going to be here to help build the water system. I don’t know how much vocab I have with water stuff but I guess we’ll find out! I’ve got another trip planned to SD to work on a grant with Kenz, my mom and sister will be here the last week like I mentioned, and I have an Escojo conference to go to this weekend! I wanted to get in on the bola race really bad but I guess it’s for the better since I don’t really have time for it.

I’m beginning to feel a little more enthusiastic about my Escojo class as well, adding my own little touches and trying to make it more game filled. Today’s topic is about making health decisions and recognizing that there are pros and cons to every story. I initially skipped this one since there was a lot of discussion with it and I was intimidated. Now I’m figure I’ll take a stab at it and if I don’t understand what they’re saying I’ll just nod my head and ask the class what they think about that. That’s what I did in the last class and it worked like a charm. Plus when I feel bad about my Spanish I just stop and think: “Hey! I’m actually teaching a class in Spanish for heaven’s sake! I must know something so don’t get discouraged and keep going.” Ah, the ups and downs of the Peace Corps…

3/27- 3/30 Fri- Tues: My time in La Capital

This past weekend was pretty fun. I arrived in Santo Domingo around 12:30 on Friday, just barely missing my opportunity for a free lunch with Romeo. But I was lucky in the sense that I actually caught my bola with Tolo down the mountain in the morning. He told me to be ready to go by 8 or 8:30 and he “showed up” at my house at 7:30. I was brushing my teeth when I heard a car honking. I went outside to see if it was just someone driving by or it if was Tolo and there was no one there. This is because he honked as he drove past, obviously thinking that I would know that it was him. Despite the fact that I have only had one experience with him where he was early or on time (the last time I was going to get a bola with him), the fact that people drive honking their horns all the time here and the fact that he didn’t even honk and then stick around, I had a scary feeling that it was Tolo who was honking for me and then left without me. I hurried and very soon after the honk Marvey showed up at my door telling me that I had to get to Minga’s. When I showed up, about 10 minutes after the honking, Tolo told me “Oh, you sure like to sleep a lot. You sleep a ton. I went to your house looking for you and you were sleeping.” First of all, no I did not get completely ready and walk to his house from a sleeping state in just 10 minutes and second of all, I explained, that when a person goes to bed 3 or 4 hours after someone and they wake up an hour after them, the person is actually getting less sleep. I don’t think he got it. Ah well, at least I got a free ride.

My first day in the capitol was spent the same as every first day there; on the internet catching up on a month’s worth of stuff. Friday night I did absolutely nothing after the office closed at 8. I was tired. I felt lame. I get out of my site for the first time in a month and I all I do is go to bed! This is what age does to a person…

Saturday Jess, Kenzie and I left for Baní. I guess we were supposed to get there by 11:30 but we missed that memo. There was a Mini Vac meeting we wanted to go to (if you get to them then you get 550 pesos reimbursed to you someday (still waiting on mine from mid Feb) plus transportation costs if it’s in your region) and to make it better; the Mini Vac was on the beach! We took what we thought was the bus to Baní, and it was, but it wasn’t an Express bus so it stopped… a lot. All kinds of vendors got on the bus here and there trying to sell things from sunglasses to apples to pizza. I bought an apple, my first one in country. What was supposed to be just over an hour ride took 2 ½ hours. We arrived to Randi’s house and then all headed off for the beach Palma de Ocoa. We went to this one in CBT and it’s really pretty. After ordering some food and waiting an hour and a half for it we had the meeting with the other PCVs and headed back to Randi’s site. There was to be a beauty pageant at the local discoteca that night so we were pumped to be able to get out and dance.

As a little side note, Randi’s house is very large. It’s got TWO bathrooms (with toilet), a latrine and a kitchen SINK!!!! I couldn’t believe it had a sink, that’s luxury right there. We all got ready and headed over to the discotec around 9:30, which I thought was pretty late since in my community things are winding down or down by that time. I was already being a fun sponge before we left, being the only one laying on the bed half awake while the others split a drink. To our surprise, the pageant didn’t start until 11:30 at night! We left before it was over since we’re all lame-o PCVs and are used to going to bed by 11 or earlier. On the way we stopped and bought some jimmies or street burgers. Being a former food inspector I knew that I should not eat a burger from this place but having eaten one before and being hungry I thought I would take my chances. We all indulged in once very delicious, small burger (I had a burger and slit a hot dog) and the next day Randi and Kenzie were both really sick. 2 out of 7 people isn’t so bad though right?

We were going to visit the host fams from CBT on Sunday but with two of the 5 health PCVs there at the time being sick we decided not to. We were also going to stop in Baní for their Carnaval but didn’t since Jess wanted to get back to her site and Kenz wasn’t feeling so hot. I was pretty dang proud of myself because I single-handedly flagged down a bola for Danny, Jess, Kenz and I to Baní from Randi’s site, saving us each a whopping 25 pesos. It was the first time I actually caught a real bola.

When we got in Baní we walked around looking for the bus stop from the random side street where our bola let us off. When a bus came up it wasn’t an Express but the Cobrador was so dang pushy and then I swear there’s always somehow a random person on the street that is pushy too, so we ended up taking another stupid bus that wasn’t an Express. Luckily it was Sunday so not as many people were traveling and it didn’t take as long to get to SD.

On the way to SD we passed a pretty bad car wreck. People on the bus were yelling that there were kids involved. It must have just happened because there were limp bodies in both of the cars and the people who were awake were still in the cars, just staring off into space. Not a good situation but amazingly only the 2nd or 3rd accident I’ve seen here.

About 5 minutes after the car wreck, our bus had to deal with more drama: Kenzie. She had her head out of the window and was throwing up. There were some dudes sitting behind her who were trying to help. When she began to throw up they were yelling at the one sitting closest to her to do something so the one jumped up and began patting her head while it was hanging out of the window. I was going to tell him not to but then I thought, “Well, I don’t know- maybe she likes it…” she didn’t. Then they were yelling at the bus driver to “give her air” since the bus driver was pissy the window was open and had shut the air conditioner off. The Cobrador had told her earlier to shut the window but she said she was about to vomit. He had a worried/sickened expression and kind of backed away without saying anything. When she did throw up the Cobrador suspected so but to be sure he opened the door of the bus and hung out to the side for a better view. Yep, there was vomit alright.

By the time we got to SD, Kenz was feeling much better. We spent the rest of the evening at the office, working on things we needed for some projects, and then headed off to the Pen. While I was at the office I overheard one PCV, Todd, offering another PCV a bola back to Santiago. The second PCV couldn’t take it so I asked if I could. Todd said sure and that we would be leaving sometime after lunch the next day. Sweet.

The next day, Monday, I went to the office when it opened since I was trying to get a different cell phone and that can take a while. Mine has developed a new problem where people can’t understand what I’m saying now on top of the fact that it hangs up on people all the time. The guy at the front desk told me that I would have to give him at least 3 days to get a new phone. Great, so much for that. Guess it’ll have to do until May when I’m in SD for like 10 days due to language training and some other stuff.

While in the office, I made some SDI (Sexually Transmitted INFECTION- that’s right, they’re not called DISEASES anymore people)- or ITSs as they’re called here- slides for my Escojo class and I had to get them printed and laminated. They took forever to make thanks to PC’s security internet blocks. I wanted graphic stuff to show these kids! I know it’s contradictory since I’m embarrassed to talk about freaking body parts with the kids but for some reason I’ve never been shy with STIs. Hey that could be a song!:

“Don’t be shy,

Check that STI!”

What do you think? Anyways, I took my flash drive to a print/copy store which I discovered to be really busy. It was pretty funny when my power point popped up on the computer screen of the guy helping me: BAM! A big picture of a woman’s vagina covered in huge, red warts/sores. Right away about 4 other people crowed around to look as the man scrolled through the images. As they walked away I heard one girl say to another, “Ya tú sabes…” (now you know). I noticed when the other man was laminating them there were two other guys standing there silently staring. It was hilarious. Expensive too. I hope those slides last for a loooooong time.

I was lucky enough to catch a free lunch with Romeo and some other PCVs around 12. Pretty soon after I sat down with my food Todd called me and told me the bola called and it was on its way meaning it could be there in 10 to 30 minutes. Yikes! I wolfed my food, said thank you and power walked back to the office from the restaurant. The rest of the afternoon the bola kept calling and saying he would be there in 20 minutes but he really showed up at 3:30- over 3 hours after he first called. I wasn’t complaining though, this bola was saving me 255 pesos! I ended up being dropped off even closer than Santiago; they dropped me off in Navarrete! I caught a motor that tried to overcharge me 10 pesos and then was relieved to find motores at the entrance of my street still. It had gotten pretty late since we stopped at a sweets store so I was worried no on would be there. I tried texting Noel but didn’t get a hold of him. I made it up to my house before dark and the whole thing only cost me 90 pesos! What a deal! I got a ton of freebies this time around:)

This is a lovely pic of a toilet I had to use when I went to the beach a few weeks ago. Public bathrooms here are SICK.

3/26 Thursday: Sick and Escojo

Tomorrow is finally the day that I will be leaving the campo overnight… it will be four weeks straight, a new record for me! I’m proud of myself because I don’t even feel like I’m going nuts. I think maybe I’m finally beginning to getting used to this whole campo thing. Or maybe it could be the fact that I had a visitor and went to Ann and Tim’s site twice. Who knows? Either way though I’m going to La Capital Friday, Sat to Randi’s site in Baní for a meeting and then Sunday maybe to visit the host fam from CBT since Randi’s site is like 15 minutes from there. Sunday there is another carnaval in Baní so we may hit that up on the way back. Either way we’ll all be getting together (Jess, Kenz, Randi and I) so It should be fun.

Tuesday wasn’t the best day for me. I had a headache all day (which is really rare for me) and felt like something wasn’t right. Sure enough, 8 hours after the headache began the other digestive issues commenced. It was a long night in the bathroom but at least I had my cat at my side the whole time. She was pretty cool; she came when I called her, she ate a spider and then she sat and chilled with me. I think that she is part dog maybe and so I’m starting to get attached.

With a night like Tuesday, it doesn’t really need to be said that I felt pretty crappy on Wednesday. I was supposed to have my Escojo class later that day. I didn’t want to change it to another time since it was the first time the director let me have it on the day that we discussed. I really want to try to have some type of regularity. I was a little concerned about how I was going to teach sex versus sexuality when I still lacked the concept myself. Well, I am happy to say that Wednesday’s class went surprisingly well. Despite the fact that the class began at 5 since none of the teachers let the students out early, I feel like we didn’t lose our flow. First we played Peso Caliente where the kids made two lines and then had a race where each line had a peso that they had to pass through their clothing. Not only does this reward people with clothing that isn’t skin tight but it put the class in a really great mood. We didn’t have enough time to do the Sexuality part of my lesson so we just did the part on Auto Esteem. At the end, kids each put a piece of paper on their backs and went around writing things on other’s backs. Then they wanted to read all the things people wrote about them out loud. It was a huge success. I think that the next class I may try to either do body parts or STIs. We’ll see how brave I am, I’d rather do STIs.

When I went to Minga’s house today she sat me down to have a very serious talk with me. She explained that I have hot blood and people with hot blood simply should not be out in the rain. I could be paralyzed but more likely than not I will have at the least have a headache from it. She said that if I want to go running or walking when its sunny then that’s great but in the rain, well that’s why I “got sick” three days later with my headache (which is all I told her I had). Of course this is the advice from the woman who has been given information as accurate as putting deodorant or vaginal cream on your eye will cure whatever is wrong with it or the same women who was told that medicine for acne will cure a stomach infection (the directions were in English and when I explained what it said it was for she graciously gave the pills to me explaining that I could use them. Then the next day, after she talked to the man she bought them from, she asked for them back since she decided that they were to cure stomach issues). This is life in the campo.

3/24 Tuesday: Preparing for Wednesday’s class

Sunday I was supposed to go to the 27 Waterfalls with the two PCVs down the road from me and with their trainee who was visiting (remember how I went on a PCV visit when I was in training?). But, surprise surprise it was raining and cold so we decided not to go. Instead we went to Santiago where I ate a sandwich where the “bread” was a fried plantain. It was so tasty! I really like fried plantains, they’re like French fries kind of and so when you have them for the bread it fills the void of having potato chips accompany it.

I’m happy to say I went grocery shopping in Santiago so I once again have bread and peanut butter. The down side is that the only grocery store open didn’t have cheap peanut butter so I had to splurge and get Peter Pan honey roasted pb at a whopping 189 pesosa a jar!!!! That’s like 80 pesos more than the knock off brand!! But, dang, it does taste GOOD!

Yesterday it was still raining and so I had no phone service. We also didn’t have power at all yesterday until around 9 or 9:30 at night. When we woke up today, it was gone again. Bummer. Lucky for me the power came back around 11 stayed until around 7- right around when I turned on my computer. I think it’s correlated with the weather. I think that when it’s raining we don’t have power as often. Maybe I should write down when we have power and the weather to prove or disprove this theory. It could also very well be that when its raining there’s not much to do but dwell on the fact that I’m cold and when it’s dark I feel even colder so I sit, cursing the “power companies” of the DR.

I felt a teeny bit bad last night because I was a snot to Wandi. Sometimes I get annoyed with having absolutely nothing to myself. One time people were even commenting on what was in my trash; it’s ridiculous! Well, I had my cheese (another costly extravagance I have) in the fridge and Wandi of course was going through my stuff. I was ignoring him, trying unsuccessfully to get some songs on Ernie’s iPod for her which was only after my sister had been trying in vain to call for an hour just to get through literally long enough to tell me she had been trying for an hour before the phone hung up. At the risk of sounding ungrateful, I’m going to say that I really hate my PC phone. They gave me a new one, which is definitely so much better than the first one they gave me but this stupid thing phone broken. The 500 peso phone I bought in CBT is better than the one they gave me in the sense that it doesn’t hang up during the conversations. I would bring the phone to PC and ask to trade it but I can’t afford to be in SD waiting 3 or 4 days to get a new phone (it takes forever to get things done in the office… scratch that- it takes forever to get things done in the DR) when I’m buying Peter Pan pb- a jar of that cost more than it costs to spend a night in the Pen!

So back to Wandi; it’s not like I thought he was going to eat my cheese or anything but he sat there and baulked at the price (the sticker was still on it) and he asks me all these annoying questions like a freaking 5 year old. Whats this? Why do you have that? Where did you get this? And on and on and on… He’s overwhelming sometimes like I’ve said. He even pokes at tugs at you like a child, and I’ve told him I don’t like that. Anyways I finally snapped at him and told him to leave the stuff alone; that sometimes I like to have things that aren’t for the whole freaking world to mess with so bug off. After some silence I began to feel a little bad. I told him that I understand that here people don’t care much for any privacy but that in the States it’s pretty much the opposite. I said it was fine that that’s how they do things here but I am still American and I’m not going to instantly be ok with all my stuff being on display to play with all the time. He was quiet for a minute and told me that if I didn’t feel like talking because I was in a bad mood I could have just said that. Ha! I told him I would have but then he would have said, “Why are you in a bad mood?” And the cycle continues.

Overall, life is good. I have my 3rd Escojo class tomorrow. I still haven’t talked to the humping boy from class. I guess I’ll have to do it before or after class next time, tomorrow. The Director is actually letting me have class on Wednesday so that’s good since I wanted to go to SD on Friday. There is something embarrassing though- so I was supposed to teach Values and Auto Esteem in my last class but ran out of time. So, now I have been looking for a short topic to go with Auto Esteem. But, remember I am the person who was embarrassed to even teach about Abstinence in CBT and now the topics I had to chose from for this next class are waaaaaaay more forthright than that. I don’t want to take human anatomy into a classroom and teach about the female/male reproductive system to small class with a boy making humping motions behind my back or to my face for that matter. Not to mention the other kids…. I could do it with a little more faith if they had even the same as low maturity level as the 17 year olds in the States but it seems worse here, although I have never had to teach sex ed to teenagers in the good ol’ US of A. Who would want that job? Me I guess. Live and learn.

I found a topic I thought would be ok; sexuality. Sure this seems dangerous to teach as well but I thought it’s vague enough that I can handle it. Problem is, once I began to look at it, the vagueness thing may be an issue. What is sexuality? Sure it requires some critical thinking, no big deal right? Wrong. The kids here aren’t taught to think critically at all. That’s why they wanted to copy the whole test in my last class; they’re used to being fed information word for word and not having to think about it much. Just read and copy things. I saw a “summary” a girl wrote for homework and it was just some key sentences she had copied word for word from the book! So, I’m trying to get something together for class tomorrow but we’ll see how it goes. I’m surprisingly not worried about it. I feel like this whole first class is a bit of an experiment and if I can see the last session in a positive light I think that I will think good things of this one as well. Wish me luck!

3/21 Saturday: How long have I been in the campo?

I’ve been in the campo for a long time… too long. I’m running out of food but I think I can live off of trigo and carrot cake. Yes, that is something that needs to be mentioned: the carrot cake turned out to be delicious. By the end of the night tonight it was all gone, after just one day, and there was a lot of it.

Today was kind of a crappy day. It was still rainy off and on. I went for a run, and after getting another blister on top of an old one I came to the conclusion that my feet have grown- or rather my right foot has grown. Is it possible to develop a callous on the top of my toe that’s strong enough to bear the shoe rubbing on it for at least 4 miles? When I ran today it wasn’t raining but by the time I was on my way back it was pouring. Aside from the salt water in my eyes the rain felt really good. I kept going but was a little embarrassed since there were crowds of people here and there that I was running past (since they all packed together from whatever they were doing to get out of the rain) who were just staring at me, yelling things. I felt like I was in a marathon or something.

After I got home I took a shower and got ready for dinner. Ernie, Vangie and another girl whose name I always forget, came over and hung out. I went outside to study a little and Wandi came over. I decided that telling him I was disappointed was the way to go in regards to the class. It seemed to work. We had this whole long discussion about expectations and why I didn’t invite him to go with me for the Escojo conference. I’m not sure if I mentioned that but I had to pick two youth to take with me for the regional Escojo conference which is April 3-5 in Jarabacoa; coming up soon! I invited Ernie (which I may regret) and another girl named Keyla. She participates, listens and went to both of my classes. I thought it would be hard to pick who I thought would be good to take with to the conference after only two classes but it’s pretty obvious who the serious students are and which aren’t.

Well, Wandi was hurt that I didn’t ask him so I was a little relieved that he acted like such a butthead in class because I told him he wasn’t setting a good example and thus had a good reason not to invite him other than he drives me nuts. I explained that there are some students who may be in this class to learn for themselves and may not want to be health promoters, and that’s ok. I told him that since he wasn’t participating and also because I outright asked him if he had interest in being a promoter earlier in the week, to which he said no, I figured he wasn’t interested in teaching others about the topics aka being a promoter. I asked him if he understood where I was coming from and he said he did. His little brother I still haven’t talked to about anything. He’s so strange I feel like if I tried to talk to him he would just walk away from me. I’m going to see if he’s better the next class since I’m sure Wandi will talk to him about what I said. Guess we’ll see!

3/20 Friday: Escojo Part 2; What is in my water tank?

This is annoying but last night I had to have another talk with Wandi about how we are friends and NOTHING MORE EVER. He left almost immediately, surprisingly without an attitude so maybe I got through. Who knows? Anyways, after that I went to my bathroom to get ready for bed and when I turned the water on, a weird noise came out of my tube instead of water. That’s not good. I was hoping it was just that my water tank was empty and not that it was another broken tube. It has been raining a good amount here. Without Wandi coming to my house harassing me, I knew I would have to look for someone else to lend me a helping hand. Lucky for me Ernie came over before 10 am. I explained my problem and she jumped up (literally) to help. She can be pretty bossy but she loves to be given responsibility and loves to help.

We went to my tank to see if it was empty. Up until now I didn’t even know where the tank was so I suppose it was good that this happened. It’s a bummer though, the tank is in a spot where it won’t get much sun so I doubt I’ll ever really have decently warm water from it. We opened the lid and were surprisingly assaulted with a mal olor. Next, I was assaulted with Ernie, who was the one who opened the lid, shouting what I thought was “Ay! La gata! La gata se murió aquí!” What?! Not my cat!! It’s just been a say since I last saw her!! I thought she said that my cat was dead in the tank so I started yelling, “La gata?! No, no la gata! Mi gata?!” To which she corrected me and said lagarto (lizard) ... Oh. Well at least it’s not my cat but at this point I still didn’t know what lagarto was so I walked over to see for myself.

What I saw was a little disturbing. There, in the tank with the water with which I bath, cook, sometimes drink and always use to brush my teeth was a dead, bloated, smelly, floating lizard. I went too see this dead lizard for myself and in hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have. It’s safe to say the thing had been in there for a while but at the same time comforting to know that el tinaco was filled about 3-4 weeks ago so at least no longer than that. I’m guessing that lizard was larger than it was about a month ago. Another informative piece of information was to see was the inch or two of dirt in the bottom of the tank. You know, I had noticed my bathroom had a kind of stinky smell so earlier this week I tossed some some bleach in there but didn’t think anything of it.

Mercedes found out about this and started cursing all the little boys that she has apparently told many times to leave the lid on the tank and leave it alone. What a funny joke those little boys played on the Americana! Of course I couldn’t say anything about how I more than just bath with this water since Ernesto recently gave me some advice. About a month ago I was telling him how I could just cook with or drink the water from my tinaco… right? And he responded with an enthusiastic NO, don’t use that water! Well, I figured it was just a concern because sure we didn’t exactly clean it before using it but hey- that’s not such a big deal. I had been using the water for all of the above and more and also, in the Dominican spirit, sharing the fruits of my labor with my neighbors and whoever else happened to stop by. But don’t worry, no one got sick that I know of.

To resolve the issue we decided it would be a good idea to put some bleach in el tinaco after running water through it for a bit and, of course, fishing out the dead lizard. Thanks, but who are we kidding? Unless we drain the thing and clean it, the dead lizard-ness is still in there! For some more comfort I bought a 7 peso thing of bleach and had a muchacho toss it in there for me. Maybe it was a little too much for the size of my tank. It smells really strongly like bleach in my bathroom now. On the brightside, I can use that water to mop; it’s a built in air freshener/ breathe mint and free perfume since I smell like Mr. Clean after each shower. ¡Que buuuueno!

Now for the other part of my day: my Escojo class. I was feeling better about my class for this week than I felt about the class the week before, more prepared for some failure but also I went through the entire class with Ernie and Vangie in the morning so there were some people who would be able to help me if I needed it. I tried to bake some banana bread before hand but didn’t have any baking soda or bananas. I asked Noel to go to Navarrete to get some for me but he couldn’t find the soda. I figured that I didn’t want to have to pay for him to come back up to my house from town just to bring me bananas so I told him no thanks. I decided that I would try to make carrot cake since I had all the ingredients for that already, except the baking soda. I didn’t end up having enough time to bake it before my class so I guesstimated the ingredients (since I have no measuring utensils whatsoever), tossed them all together, and put it in my “fridge” until I could bake it later.

I headed off to the class with Argeni and Geraldo. We arrived at the school and the director, despite remembering that we were going to have class today at the same time as before, didn’t have a room for me. Let me correct that; there was an empty room but it was being cleaned by the cleaning ladies so I guess that meant that we couldn’t use it. Apparently school got out early because the teachers needed time to tally up the grades of all the students. The teachers were still in their classrooms though, sitting at their desks, figuring out the grades. No one wanted to take their notebooks to another classroom to work on them and open up a room for us. So there it was, 4:15, and I still didn’t have a classroom to have class in. Finally one of the teachers told me that he would move so I could use his room. We set up class and had to wait for the one teacher who was actually still having class to let the students out. We began class around 4:45.

There were a lot of problems with it. Ernie, who was supposed to “help” me decided that she was going to try to take over the class and wasn’t a student, therefore she didn’t have to participate. Not to mention she was correcting me on what I was teaching, the order and my responses to questions over things not pertaining to the material but to how I was going to teach the class. Holy power trip. I plan on talking with her before the next class.

Then there was the boy who seemed really helpful but later I found out he was making humping motions at me behind my back the whole time. There was actually note passing (yes, during a once a week, one hour class) and there was a boy who insisted on hitting on Ernie the whole time with comments I’m pretty sure (but not completely) weren’t appropriate to announce to the class. Of course this was only when he wasn’t talking to Wandi, who was sitting next to him.

Ah Wandi, him and his brother wouldn’t participate AT ALL. They wouldn’t stand up to play the game, they wouldn’t write anything- well, Wandi at least was writing and was sitting in the circle of desks but Argeni refused to write during the majority of class and for a while refused to sit in the circle. It was absolutely ridiculous. Of all people, I thought that THEY would be helpful! So, of my neighbors, I had a power-tripped girl and two non-participatory boys; great examples. Also, I had written out a simple pre-test on a large sheet of paper to for everyone to do. Despite me telling them several times, and even writing an example on the board of how I only wanted them to write the number and then the letter corresponding to their answer (ex: 1. A, 2.B, 3.C) , they all wrote out the ENTIRE test. Something that took so much time I didn’t have time to do the second lesson I had prepared for the day (a lesson on auto esteem). On top of that, there were two women who were standing outside, snapping the windows open and closed during the last 20 minutes of class or so. It was actually kind of creepy when they snapped the windows open since they were standing there, stone faced, looking in, and it was raining outside- then SNAP! The window was closed. I thought that they were some weirdo parents or something but it turns out they were the cleaning ladies, impatiently waiting to clean the room! To top it all off, the rain made it dark and very loud so we had to try to shout over the sound of the rain on the tin roof, and we couldn’t see very well.

Despite all this, I’m happy with my class. I think that it turned out way better than the first. At least it wasn’t boring. We even played a game (a different one) and they seemed to have a lot of fun with it. I’m looking forward to the third class. I just need to figure out how I’m going to talk to the humping boy since class is the only time I see him. Should I give him the extra attention he seems to want and pull him out of class to talk to him a bit? I have no idea but that seems better than not doing anything so I think that’s what I’ll end up doing.

I walked home in the rain and Wandi was trying to talk to me. I was pretty disappointed in him and his little brother, Argeni. I told him I didn’t want to talk to him right then until I knew what I wanted to say (I had to look up the word for disappointed for one thing…) Well, he took it as I didn’t want to talk to him at all and that I was pissed at him so he kept his distance the rest of the night.

And what a surprise his little brother is! Let me give a little background here: when I got back from my beach trip last Sunday, Ernie and Vangie had been in my house most of the day. There was a “love” note supposedly from Argeni on my bed, written in English. It was something about how I was a beautiful flower. Argeni is extremely shy so I was certain it was from the girls. I called Vangie out on it when we were alone and she all but confessed but when I talked to Ernie about it she acted much more surprised. I am one of the most gullible people ever though and I really can’t tell when someone is messing with me. Vangie and I had been discussing all of her admirers earlier that weekend and she showed me the text messages they send her. They are about the cheesiest thing you could possibly think of but at least very inventive. Well I began getting text messages from Argeni the same day the “love” note was left for me. Since I had just had the conversation with Vangie about cheesy love messages and I figured she had left the note for me, I laughed out loud when I would get the texts from Argeni since I assumed they were from Vangie. I didn’t even have Argeni’s number so I wasn’t sure if they were even from his phone.

Well, after getting the texts from “him” all week I was beginning to wonder. After all, it costs to send texts; would Vanige really want to pay to send me more than two or three as a joke? Then, after my class I began getting apology texts from him. I noticed that he was just sitting out on my porch for hours, silently ignoring Ernie when she tried to call him to sit inside. (I said this kid is a little weird. He’s pretty emotional I think but I really wouldn’t know that well since I can’t remember ever even having an actual conversation with him!) It was after I got the first apology text, after he left my porch, when I realized the texts are actually from him!!!! Its sooooo weird! He’s super shy; he’s barely ever talked to me! The first month and a half at least he would only intently stare at me the entire time I was in his presence, which was weird but hey, I’m in the DR. How is it possible the same kid be sending me love messages saying something about how if he was a submarine he would guard the opening of my heart…. And what the heck does a submarine have to do with a heart anyways? Maybe I’m just not that romantic.

To make things worse… earlier this week Ernesto told me to invite Argeni out with Wandi, Ernie and me when we go out because he was feeling left out. And of course I had been doing that since I felt bad for the kid. So basically since I got the love note and the texts began I’ve been inviting him to do stuff with us. Since I didn’t think the texts were from him I didn’t act any different except invite him out with us. Is he unaware that he is FOURTEEN YEARS OLD?!!! I mean for crying out loud, I was in 3rd or 4th grade when he was BORN! And his brother has a huge crush on me, isn’t there like an unspoken rule about that? It’s so retarded that last night, sitting alone in the dark in my house I just started cracking up. I mean, you have got to be kidding me! I’ve been ignoring the texts the whole time because I thought they were from Vangie and now I feel a little bad because Argeni keeps telling me to text him to let him know if I’m mad. But, I kind of feel like I’d rather not acknowledge the fact I’ve gotten any of the messages. I still don’t know who the love letter was from but I suspect it was from Vangie since in the texts he writes my name “Betsi” and the love letter was “Betsy”. Although, nobody calls me Betsy here… the world will never know.

3/19 Thursday: A recap of my 1st Escojo class, Idonnah visits, and exercise

Yes, we have power finally so I thought I would take advantage of that and finally write in my blog. Although that’s not to say that I haven’t had power in 4 days, I have, it’s just that I used my power time to watch two movies this week or listen to the radio while coloring something, sorry guys.

Since I last wrote on Sunday, I have finished my charla for this week. I actually finished it on Monday thanks to Ernie. I drew everything and, never being much of a fan of coloring, wasn’t looking forward to coloring the 7 pages. While trying to color, Wandi said something stupid to me and I thought I may kill him. I don’t know where Ernie was during this but she must have known a throw down was about to take place because she left, taking my bag of coloring stuff and all the posters to her house to work on them. She finished them all that night! And they look really good too! Not that I’m really picky about my charlas but I would prefer them legible at least and she went above and beyond. I’m really happy about this. I think that she’ll help me color all of my charlas because she seems to really enjoy coloring. I say “help” because I did after all color one page and Wandi did another (but Ernie did 5). Awesome.

If only my class could be as awesome. I realized I never wrote about how bad my class bombed last week. Maybe it’s premature to say this, but let me put it out there- I’m glad I didn’t major in education. It was a disaster- something I wasn’t prepared for AT ALL. I understand that it was the first class and each one will be a learning experience for me and all that jazz but even the game at the beginning failed for crying out loud! Here’s a recap of my class: I show up at the school a little after 4 to look for Ernie and set up. Ernie had helped me pick out about 25 kids to participate earlier that day and she was going to go to the classes to tell them which kids had been selected to participate. When I showed up, she came out and asked me for the list of kids. Well, she had taken a list with her in the morning but apparently it was only half of the list and I was supposed to take the other half. So I tell her I don’t have it and start trying to remember the names of the people I don’t even know while she’s telling me for the next three minutes that it’s my fault the list isn’t there, not hers. Finally I ask her just to pick another 25 and meet me in the classroom.

Ahh, the classroom; another issue. Despite the fact I reminded the director the day before that we were having class today he “forgot” and so we didn’t have anywhere to go for class. He walked to I guess the seemingly least productive room, booted the teacher out for the day and told me to take over. Are you kidding me? I’m not sure where the rest of the kids went from the class but my Escojo class piled in and we got started. I tried to get them to play a game where everyone stands in a circle and then each person says their name while making a gesture about their personality. For example, “Hi, I’m Betsy, I like to shop…” and then I would make a credit card swiping motion with my hand or something. I must not have explained it at all because after each person mumbled their name they said a word that described them. That may not have been so bad if I had had the foresight to implement a rule saying you can’t repeat other’s word since by the time the “game” was done, about ¾ of the class’s word was “heart”.

The rest of the class was boring with the highlight being when I gave out candies for participation. Looking back, I remember thinking that the class was going to be boring since the whole first class was going over rules. I guess I didn’t think that it too much so I wasn’t prepared for it and the class ended up being a let down. One thing I have been told I’m going to learn very well in PC is failure and how to fail. I guess it’s true that a lot of people (myself included) don’t try things too extreme (aside from PC itself) or things that we think we can’t do. Sure it makes sense not to, why try something you’re going to fail at? But then on the other hand, how will you ever push yourself and who knows, maybe you won’t fail after all? I guess a lesson can be learned in confidence with this as well. With that said, I suppose failure can be a good thing, I just need to look at it as such.

I was supposed to give my second class yesterday at the school and I was really excited for it actually since Idonnah (my PCV- Leader, a PCV who has been here for at least a year and a half and is hand selected by the APCD) was going to be here. Tuesday I baked cookies for the class and everything. When Vangie went to school Tuesday I asked her to please remind the director for me that we were having class the next day but of course, there was a problem. The director said there was too much work to be done yesterday so we couldn’t have the class. We could have it Thursday (when there’s no school) or we could have it Friday. I was initially really put off by this but I got over it. It’s a bummer that Idonnah won’t be there to help me since I knew it would be a great class with her there but I guess I’ll just have to learn it on my own. I plan on moving classes to Saturdays in the Club de Madres building so I don’t have to deal with the director and his erratic schedule. I don’t want to move it this week since it’s not much notice and next week I’m planning on going to the south of the country on Saturday, so I guess it’ll have to be at the school for two more weeks.

When Idonnah was here I walked to the school to talk to the director about having the class on Friday. He already let one class out early that day (so much for a lot of work to do…) since it was drizzling and when we walked up he said that I could have had the class that day if I wanted but that the weather wasn’t great so how great that I was going to have it on Friday instead. How annoying is that?!

Having Idonnah here was a great mood lifter. She really is a breath of fresh air. She’s very encouraging and one of the most positive people I have ever met. She and I talked for a long time about how one’s attitude/outlook affects their life and their successes/failures. I believe in fate and understand different people are given different gifts/opportunities but I completely agree that life is what you make of it. If you think you’re getting screwed over all the time, then it will seem like you are for sure. I know I was getting pretty down here lately, it’s easy to do. That’s one reason I enjoyed the visit from Idonnah so much, I feel like I have a renewed outlook again. She’s really great. I’m bummed that her service will be over in May and I hope she can come out for another visit once more before then.

Aside from Idonnah, another mood lifter is exercising. Although I already knew this, I’m not normally a fan. But I do have to say it’s helpful. I have been walking everyday after school with Wandi, which is nice but it hasn’t been de-stressing me much. Wednesday we decided to walk “up” instead of “down” the mountain. We walked to the intersection and Wandi wanted to stop because he said we had gone far enough but I wanted to keep going for an even 3 kms (2 miles). I walked the other .75km without him and when I got to the top, I turned around and decided I would run back. Yes, I know… I have this weird fear of hills and falling down them but the good thing about going “up” from my house is that the incline is much more constant and therefore less steep. I ran back, passed Wani, and ran the whole way back to my house but still felt like running so I ended up running down to the bridge- the point we normally walk to when we walk “down”. I was going to try to run back up but that lasted about 3 minutes. I power-walked back to my house and when I looked to see how far I had gone, it was about 12kms. The next day I went out again but didn’t have as much time so I just did 2 miles up walking and 2 miles down, running. My feet are a hot mess now though. I have four blisters and I feel like the bones in my feet hurt! Guess I’m not used to running anymore and not that much either- but it feels so good! When I get tired I just think about how frustrated I’ve been and then I get a little burst of energy. I would like to go today but I’m not sure if I’m going to- not only do my feet hurt but now I feel like an old lady since I’m so sore. Maybe I’ll just walk today…

3/15 Sunday: A day at the beach and more

I was going to walk to Ann and Tim’s house but ended up not having to since Ernesto let Wandi take the motorcycle and bring me to their house. It was my first time on the motorcycle with him and I told him that I was afraid since he is a psycho. Just to prove me wrong, he didn’t drive like a nutty 17 year old boy, thank goodness.

When I arrived at Ann and Tim’s I was tired. The colmado next to my house didn’t turn the music off until 12:30 and I had to get up at 7. One would think that after so long in the DR that I would be able to sleep through such things but I doubt if that day will ever come. Instead it seems more like the ear plugs aren’t quiet as effective but who really knows? Anyways, Ann, Tim and I sat at their house waiting for our ride from 8:30 until 11:15. It wasn’t too bad though, they have hammocks which I utilized happily. When our rides did show up, they weren’t what we were expecting. We thought that we were all going together in a car but I guess the story goes something like the driver of the car was in the hospital because his appendix burst… so we took 2 motors. That was the longest I have ever been on a motor! We went to Altamira, looking for an ATM but it was out of money. So we went to Imbert next and wouldn’t you know it- there’s a problem with all three of our ATM cards. Not to mention there is an annoying new policy prohibiting PCVs from taking out more than 2500 pesos at a time in a 24 hour period! I can see how this seems like a great preventative measure against theft but 2500 is nothing! And when it costs money to go to the ATM each time, that rule is a pain. Not to worry though since none of our ATM cards would work at all anyways. Luckily I had enough to get us through the day.

We drove to Luperón, where the beach is. It is a really pretty beach but pretty rocky in places. There are a few resorts along the beach which must be all inclusive since when Ann and I tried to enter to use the bathroom we were told we couldn’t since we didn’t have a bracelet. Dang- that meant I had to use the beach bathroom which was so hideous that I took a picture for all you visual folks.

We were at the beach for a few hours before heading to a river to wash off all the sand. We stopped at a colmado to get some shampoo packets and officially “bathed” in the river. This is such a common occurrence in this country that they don’t call swimming “swimming”’ but instead they call it “bathing”. The river was a lot more fun than the beach. Not only was it a surprisingly big river, with a spot deep enough to swim in, but it was salt free, hardly windy at all and kind of warm! An added bonus: the cows were even crossing downstream. We had found a winner!

On the way back we stopped at a stand, per my request, to get some yucca balls (sounds nasty but they’re fried, cheese-filled delights!) and had some issues with communication. One thing I noticed about a lot of Dominicans, with each other and us, is that they think they know what you’re going to ask before you ask it so they either answer a question you didn’t ask or they don’t listen, assuming they knew what you were going to say. Well, Tim doesn’t eat meat so we asked what was in the pizza empanadas and we told it was just cheese and sauce. We ordered three but ended up getting ham, ham and cheese and a cheese one. When we asked about it, the dude got all pissy with us and told us that’s what we ordered, something that seems weird to me since we had a conversation about pizza flavored ones! I ate the ham and cheese, Ann ate the other two and Tim was protesting since he was annoyed by the whole thing.

We ended up driving up the mountain really late, it was already dark! On the way up, the guy driving the motorcycle told me he wasn’t going to be able to take me home since it was so late. Thankfully he changed his mind and ended up taking me home.

The day ended well. No one was home (or awake) when I got home so I showered off the rest of the sand, and hopped in bed. I feel so much better after going out with Ann and Tim, it was a lot of fun. Not to mention that now I have a number of a guy who works down at the Altamira side of the mountain so I can call him up when I need a ride from Altamira instead of going with Franklin. Thank goodness!

3/14 Saturday: Things to look forward to…

Yesterday I asked Franklin if he could take me to Ann and Tim’s house on Sunday morning (the PCVs who live on the other side of the mountain) and he said, “We’ll see”. I figure he must not want to so I think I’ll plan on walking it. It’s probably only about 2 ½- 3 miles and I won’t be exercising much the rest of the day I think anyways. They invited me to go to the beach with them:) I’m looking forward to it. I’m not sure who they’re going with, some guys in their site who have motorcycles I guess. I have only been out of my site 2 days this month so far and Wandi is getting on my nerves. Today he came over after lunch (early- at 12:10!) and I told him I was writing and pretty much to go away. I just don’t want someone here at the house all day long. At least with him I can tell him to get lost but with Ernie I can’t. I’m still thinking of a method to have some alone time during the day when she’s here. Although, she’s not here every freaking day like Wandi.

I’m looking forward to a lot of things I have going this month, which is lucky for me since I feel myself getting more and more negative- something I wasn’t expecting! The 18th, this Wednesday, my PVCL will be here and I’m hoping she’ll be able to help me with my 2nd Escojo class so it goes better than the 1st one, an unexpected failure. Then, the 22nd I may be going with some other PCVs and a newbie, a trainee on their PCV visit, to the 27 Waterfalls. Next, on the 27th I’m going to a Mini Vac meeting (when PCVs from that region get together to talk about concerns, happens 4 times a year and you can go to any region you want to) in the south where I’ll visit my friend Randi and then my host family from CBT. That should be fun, I’m thinking since it’s so far I’ll stay from that Friday until Sunday or Monday. Before I know it, this month will be over and next month is APRIL!!!!!! That’s when my Mom and sister are going to visit me for my birthday!!!!!!!!!!! Yaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!!! 41 more days…:)

3/13 Friday: Hable mejor? Escuche mejor! (Speak better? Listen better!)

Last night around 8:30 my friend Sarah called me and asked if I would be able to go to her house the next day to help her lay a floor in her house. She lives with her host family still because her housing options were bleak in her community and the crappy house she can live in has some issues that need to be corrected before PC will let her move in- like putting in a cement floor and a latrine. So, being the dedicated friend that I am, I told her I would check to see if I could find a ride through the mountain to Altamira the next morning, today so I could help.

When I woke up today I was just wiped out for some reason. I couldn’t get out of bed until almost 9:30. I felt bad because with public transportation it takes a while to get from one place to another and so I wouldn’t be at Sarah’s until around noon. Plus, I wasn’t planning on spending the night. I want to make things into day trips if possible because I don’t want to seem like I’m never here. After not being here a lot in February I think it’s important to have more of a presence. Anyways, I caught Franklin around 10 am who told me he would give me a ride to Altamira and pick me up later, around 6.

It was an awkward ride because I think he is definitely still pissy with me for the whole not being his girlfriend thing. I’m not sure if I explained this but it’s partly my fault. I didn’t tell him no right away, I told him we would have to get to know each other. Well, long story short: he was pushy and insistent that we date so after about 4 weekends of this I told him there was no way. Then he was obviously upset with me for a while. I thought he had gotten over it since he came up to me a few weeks later and shook my hand, saying hello at the discoteca. What I wasn’t prepared for was, after a dance with him the same night of him being completely normal, he randomly told me in so many words that he was still interested. Arrrg.

Today there weren’t many options for people to take me to Altamira- I DON’T want to ask Borein to take me all the way to Altamira which is about a 35 minute, twisty, very bumpy ride on the crappy road. Noel was working and I would prefer to go with someone I knew. Franklin has the most comfortable bike anyways. I was glad Franklin told me he would take me but I knew it was going to be weird. I was right.

After he dropped me off in Altamira I caught a guagua in record time and headed to Sarah’s site. I told the Cobrador to let me off at her site, La Colorada. He had me repeat it 4 times and then said, “Ohhh, ok”. I figured that maybe he didn’t understand me at first or couldn’t hear me since I couldn’t talk very loud thanks to a cold I have or la gripe. Then I thought that he must have heard me since he said “Ok”. A lot of the time people don’t know where her site is because it’s small. I paid less than the other people on the bus (who were going all the way to Puerta Plata) and since he didn’t question that either I figured he must know where it is as well. Then we passed her site.

As we passed my stop I yelled, “Here! Let me off here! Aquíííííííí!!!!! (Heeeeeeere!!!)” In hindsight, it sounded pretty funny to me but I was soooo mad when I got off the bus. Not because we passed it and I had to walk a little, that’s no big deal. It was because the rude freaking cobrador told me to Hable mejor. (speak better) Are you kidding me?!?!?! AHHHH!!! I am getting soooooo sick of people being crappy like that! “Speak better”. You know what? Here’s an idea: how about you don’t act like you understand/know where I said I needed to get off if you DON’T?! It’s a good thing the bus drove away really quickly because, as I experienced in Santiago, my patience is pretty much GONE when it comes to people not understanding me. I may not habla bien but I have acquired the awesome skill of telling people off like a skilled Doña. Yes, it is I who has the accent but I gladly repeat myself if asked. I wish I could say I felt bad about being hostel with the cab driver in Santiago who told me to talk to him in Spanish but not even a little part of me feels bad. I still fail to see how a cab driver in a tourist city doesn’t understand someone with an accent when they list a major street in the city. It would be like a foreigner responding to the question: “Where to?” with “Lake Shore Drive” in Chicago- I would expect that the drivers would understand that. Not to mention, I know my Spanish is far from perfect but the fact that the majority of people, the majority of the time understand me tells me it’s not so bad that one would need to ask me in the same language I am speaking what language I am talking. Errrr, it’s exasperating!

Luckily, the rest of the day went much better. I walked the 20-25 minute walk to Sarah’s house, ate lunch, and set off learning how one goes about laying a floor. It was interesting and although I didn’t personally mess with the wet cement except for carrying bucket after bucket to the house, and dumping it on the floor I did my share of shoveling the sand to mix with it. I left with Mark around 4:30 so I could go to Altamira and meet Franklin on time. I called Franklin to see if he could meet me later (since I wanted to get pizza with Mark) but he said no so I ate an Empañada and ignored the dude hitting on me while I ate it. Franklin was late so I ended up sitting there waiting for about 30 minutes. It wasn’t all bad; I found out that my phone has some games on it at least. I was glad he was there because I didn’t want to have to explain to another driver how to get back. Franklin is good too because he doesn’t try to overcharge me like Borein. It cost me 300 pesos that day to go and see Sarah and come back.

When I got home, Ernie was in my house with the music blaring. Normally I don’t care and normally she isn’t in the house when I’m not here. Since I was just gone for a day trip and I didn’t kick her out when I left in the morning she was still there when I got back. It didn’t bother me that she was here but I was in a bad mood and I didn’t feel like listening to music at a deafening volume. I did something I never thought I would do: I went to Minga’s for some quiet. Minga made me some juice and fried cheese. We sat and talked until I felt a little more sane and then I went back home.

Wandi saw me walking back and so he followed me back to my house. I don’t mind him here as long as he leaves me alone but he just doesn’t get it. When I’m writing or reading I’m not going to be talking to him. He’s such high maintenance! I tell him he wants attention all the time and how annoying it is but he doesn’t seem to think that’s a bad thing. Ernie left around 8:30 and I kicked Wandi out around 9. My Mom called me and we talked for a while, after which I felt a lot better. I don’t know what I would do without my Mom. She really helps keep me sane.

3/12 Thursday: Harder to Blog…

With the power being as it has been (1-5 hours per day, the majority of time those hours occurring at night) it’s been hard to write but here are the highlights:

Monday 3/9: I’ve been working on my charla for my first class feverishly this week. Today is supposed to be the first day of my class. Monday I wasn’t able to prepare much since I went to the Club de Madres meeting to be the official photographer. Mercedes called to me from the street at 2:30 and asked if I was going to the meeting which was starting an hour earlier at 3 today. And also if I could bring my camera and take pictures. Oh ok then. I showered, got ready, and was walking out of my house at 3 when Santa magically appeared on my porch. She wanted to know if I would make a sign for the group. Sure. 25 minutes later we were on our way, with Santa hurrying along. I knew better. The meeting started 45 minutes late- at 3:45. It went longer than normal since there was a special guest speaker for National Women’s Day. It’s uplifting that the women were all so encouraged by the presentation and that they were all willing to sit there for an hour and just listen pretty much. I was mentally taking notes for my nutrition class… whenever I start that.

Tuesday 3/10: Here is where I would talk about Tuesday but I don’t really remember what I did. Wandi seemed to think that we were dating (so much for me thinking we were in the “friends- zone” so I had to give him The Talk again. Errrr. Aside from that, I have nothing. Minga went to the hospital Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and they ended up finally giving her medicine yesterday. Well, yesterday she seemed a lot better and looked like she didn’t even need medicine!

Wednesday 3/11: This is the day I went to the assembly. I was alert, trying to listen the whole time (2 1/2 hours!), waiting for when the director would call me out and make me introduce myself but he never did. I was relived for this but at the same time I wish he had told me he wasn’t going to include me. The assembly was a weird thing, that’s for sure. Each of the teachers got up and gave a lesson with the focus supposedly being on student rights. Somehow this equated to manners and we got to sit through 150 minutes of lessons on manners. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t think this was undeserved but I do think that giving a lesson like this to a bunch of 14- 20 year olds in an assembly is an odd idea. Shouldn’t they be taught to say please and thank you as children? Wouldn’t it be easier to tell the 4 year old not to disrespectfully call to the elderly neighbor as “Hey old woman!” than to tell an 18 year old not to? I mean really, did they need to have an assembly on it? The parents were invited but what did they have to do with it? The whole thing seemed like they were having an assembly just to have one, not because they had anything really useful to say to a large group.

The only useful thing that they really did was to announce new hours for the school. Normally grades 1-8 go to school from 8am- 12pm and then kindergarten and grades 9-12 go from 1:45- 5:15pm. So, yes this wasn’t a mistype: they go to school about 3 ½- 4 hours a day and they get recess, milk and bread or cake everyday. School is pretty much optional. Marvey hardly ever goes and it’s uncommon that a student DOESN’T fail at least one grade. The school just changed the hours so the mornings go from 8-12:30 and the afternoons go from 1:45- 6. They don’t have that many students (all the students from the afternoon, the teachers and the parents all fit into one classroom with room to spare) so I don’t understand why they have it broken up the way they do. There are only 6 teachers so obviously they don’t each have their own grade. The state of the schools here in the DR is a perpetuation of the under-development of this country. Maybe instead of giving out shoes, book bags, shirts, (given to every student, each year up until grade 6 or so) and cake, the government should look into hiring more teachers and having school longer each day.

Today, Thursday 3/12: Anyways, aside from Monday, I’ve been working a lot on my charla. I finished it pretty much yesterday, just have a few things left to do to prepare. It required more work than I anticipate for future classes since I had to make some extra things that I won’t have to make each week like the contract, the page explaining what Escojo is and a few other random things. I still wanted to laminate them to ensure I don’t have to make them again. I went to Navarrete today with Borein (the guy who crashed into a cow) to try and get the papers laminated. I was initially a little nervous about going with Borein thanks to Noel telling me last night to make sure to tell him to drive slow. When I was first on the bike with Borein today I had a flashback of a time when we went really fast and afterwards he was like, “Yeah! We were going really fast!” Really? I didn’t notice.

Now, I know you’re probably wondering why I went with someone who drives fast and had an accident with a cow, breaking his leg in three places like two months ago but I tried to go with Noel. Noel has been working on that American dude’s house (remember the huge house with a pool and hot, running water that I visited with Minga sometime in December or November) in Los Cabreras (another part of my community) so he hasn’t been driving. I would have gone with Franklin but I didn’t want to ask him since he was a snot on Sunday and the only other person I know somewhat ok is Neno… and there was no way I was going to ask him. So, Borein it was.

We went to the grocery store (I had to get more peanut butter since I used a lot in those No Bake Cookies) and then we went to the shop that Kevin supposedly went to when he had to laminate something. Well, not only was there no power at the time but they couldn’t do big pages. You would think that they would have a generator or something seeing as Navarrete hardly ever has power and their business depends on it… Ok, plan B: packing tape. Yep, always have to have a plan B and although the idea of incasing each of the 5 sheets I have, strip by strip in tape doesn’t excite me, the idea of making them over again thrills me even less. Thanks to my experience as an RA last year I know how I feel when people deface things that I spent a long time making. I’m supposed to be promoting a positive image of the States, not killing teenagers in a fit of rage.

So, here I am now in my house, my only company the power… a rarity. I still have to figure out a way to pick who is going to be able to be in my class today and who is not. I have a list of 42 kids who want to participate but I only want a class of about 25. I feel bad turning some away but I will have more classes in the future. I just don’t want to make some people feel rejected, like they didn’t make the cut or something and then deter them from announcing their interest in the fall. I’m not sure how I’ll do it but we’ll see. Well, se fue la luz and Wandi is here annoying me again so I guess it’s time to go. Until there’s more power…. :)

3/9 Monday: Still raining! Are you freaking kidding me?!

Yep that’s right, it’s still raining and there still hasn’t been power for more than 2 hours. Let me just say that I discovered that when it’s not already on, my computer battery lasts for about 20 minutes now sin luz (without power)…

3/8 Sunday: Do things ever go the way they were planned? Ah well…

I woke up today around 7 so that Noel and I could go to town to get my Escojo contract laminated and run some other errands and still be back in time for the plant class which was supposed to start at 10. Noel told me that all the stores are open at least in the mornings on Sunday so we would be ok. He’s been working on building the new Club de Madres building so he hasn’t been working as a motorcycle driver lately. Sundays are the only days they don’t work on the Club de Madres so I figured we’d go to Navarrete and see. We left around 8:15 and turns out, all the office stores are closed on Sundays. Great. You know what else? I don’t know what the Spanish word for “sticker” is but it’s nearly impossible to describe it to people. I’m not sure if they don’t know what they are here or what but no one understands what I’m talking about or the word in my dictionary. I can’t find them anywhere in Navarrete. So, if anyone at home is so inclined, I would like to use stickers for an attendance sheet I’m going to make and also maybe for prizes so feel free to send me some :) Until then, I guess I’ll be cutting out shapes and gluing them on each week.

After the office stores were a flop, we went to the grocery store and I got us each a chocolate milk and some ingredients for a new recipe I got from a friend for no bake cookies. I’m pretty excited about this. Maybe its because people think I can cook or maybe it’s because I love to each the stuff but I love to try out things. Randi, Kenz, Darryl and I are working on a Campo- friendly cookbook for PCVs here in the DR so if anyone from home has any really easy recipes that don’t require things that need to be refrigerated (keep in mind that I can use things like milk powder instead of milk…) or expensive things like chocolate chips, please send me them.

On the way back home Noel and I stopped at Minga’s house. Minga told me that the plant class was cancelled on account of it being National Women’s Violence Awareness Day. Did I mention that the professor is a man? So, here I am again, contemplating the validity of this class. I talked to Ernesto about it and he seems to think that the professor is more concerned about getting the money from the women than teaching them, which seems quite possible. I guess last week they cancelled class because a Catholic church was having service in one of the rooms at the school. Despite the fact that there are 6 rooms at the school and church service was in a different room than we were using before, the professor decided that we weren’t able to have class. Seriously, I could use a little outside input- what do you guys think? Do you think that it would look irresponsible if I didn’t go? I’ve only gone to one class (out of 2 that have happened but there were supposed to have been 4 by now).

After I went to Minga’s I went home. 5 minutes later, there were like 5 little kids on my porch. As you know, I do not enjoy the company of children much but for some reason I decided to be nice about it and hang out with them. To document this rare occasion, I took out my camera to take a picture- a mistake. They LOOOOOOVE pictures here and somehow, I’m not sure if there are just a lot of kids who walk by my house all the time or what, but there were 12 kids on my porch within minutes. Again, I thought I would be a good sport and so we had a dance party with Ernie. I think there was a 9 year old prodigy on my porch by the way… the kid was like a little man dancing!

A little while later I went to lunch at Minga’s to find Minga in bed. I think that she thinks when she’s cold she has a fever because she was telling me that over and over. Tomorrow she plans on going to the hospital to get checked out. I seriously question the dependability of the medical care here since they seem to want to fix everything with a pill- even more so than in the States.

I went home after lunch and I must have been followed or something. There were two little boys on my porch pretty much right after I arrived. I told them I wanted some alone time and that just confused them. I felt a little bad but I just shut the door, trying to ignore them and went about my business of making cookies. Soon there were at least 7-8 kids on my porch all saying my name, Elisssssssabet, while squashing their faces against the front windows. Yes it was annoying but I tried to make the most of it by sending one of them down to the colmado to get me ingredients three separate times. Maybe it was mean of me not to share my cookies with them but I don’t want them thinking that every time I make something I’m going to share it with whomever is on my porch.

After I showered they were still there. THANK GOODNESS for Ernesto who saw them and told them to go away. They all scattered and very soon after I was peacefully sitting on my porch reading. Three girls came back but they weren’t being annoying. They were just sitting there, starting at me while I wrote in my journal,

POSTED 2/25- 3/2 Monday: Whew

A lot has happened since I last wrote and to tell you the truth, I’m just too lazy to write it all. So, in a nutshell:

When we went to Samaná the place we were going to stay lost Jake’s reservation so we ended up getting a free upgrade to this house called The Cave. It was really freaking cool. There was a cave part of the house! Jake is really good at taking pictures so he took a lot of them. Check them out; I can’t explain it well enough to do it justice. I posted a bunch of pictures from Jake’s visit on myspace- the link is to the right still.

Even though we were staying in luxury, we still used our provided mosquito nets and I somehow ended up taking a cold shower. The one full day we were there Jake wanted to go for a hike to the top of this hill. It was a big hill. He said there was supposed to be a trail but we never found it and we ended up lost in the freaking jungle for about an hour and a half or two hours. Jake compared the walk to swimming since we had to use all of our limbs to get out. The stupid jungle plant/vine thingys were grabbing us, making it nearly impossible to get around. Plus, it was hot. Where is a machete when you need one?! I still thought it was kind of funny though and had Jake take my picture. Once we got to the half way point, a beach called Playa Madama, we took a load off and plopped on the ground. There was no one else there. It was a tough hike and a little while after we arrived a tour group came walking in behind us, staring, probably wondering how long we had been homeless. They were there for about 5 minutes before they continued on, following the path.

We went snorkeling for a little while and then after we cooled off, we followed suit and took the path as well. Although Jake and I weren’t able to find the peak he was looking for, we found the second beach, Playa Fronton and with it boats that were taking people back. With some persuasion from me, Jake and I were on a boat, comfortably heading back to the main beach.

Friday, the 27th (Independence Day in the DR) Jake and I left Samaná and met up with Kelly and Rachelle in La Vega but not before getting a flat tire. We met up with them to go to Carnaval which is supposed to be the best in La Vega. Carnaval is something that all Latin American countries do but I think that they all do their own variations of it. Here in the DR they have people dress up in extravagant costumes and walk the streets. In La Vega the people in costume are called Diablos or Devils. There are groups of them and each group is different. The Diablos walk the streets with bags full of sand (actually supposed to be goat bladders but I don’t know how many of them actually are) and smack people on their butts. It’s supposed to hurt really bad so I was actually kind of afraid. Why would I go to this place where I may end up welts you may ask? I have no idea really. It just seemed like a cool cultural thing to do and if I get a welt, well I guess there’s not much I can do but take lots of pictures and cry after from the pain. It actually added to the experience though, it was really fun trying to not get hit. I looked like a retard a lot since I literally took off running a few times but out of the group of us 5, I was the only one who didn’t get hit really hard.

Sometime during this chaos some dude came up to me and asked me if I wanted to do an interview. Heck no I didn’t want to give an interview in Spanish, are you nuts!? So the guy went a few people down and asked my friend Kelly who said she would loooooove to! Great. Rachelle, Kelly and I all went up on stage and made our first tv debut with someone I later found out was a semi-famous tv personality in the DR. A little later Wandy text me and told me he saw me on tv. I told him I was famous.

That night we went to Rachelle’s site (which was on the way home) since the next day was her birthday and she was having a little party with her youth group. They played a game and poor Jake ended up having to dance a little with a partner (Rachelle) in front of everyone but all the guys did. I thought he handled it quite well.

Sunday I went to the Plant Class in my site but this time the professor didn’t show up at all. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I mean, I guess I know how I feel. I think that it’s complete crap but I’m not sure if I’m going to stop going to class (where there are classes) or if I should still go. After that we had some dance classes in my house and the Ernie, Wandy, Jake and I headed to the discoteca to get our grove on. A fight almost broke out between some random people but aside from that it went well.

This morning Jake and I woke up at 6 and drove to the airport, only getting semi-lost once which is pretty good since we didn’t have a map and they’re aren’t really signs. I dropped Jake off, bargained a taxi to take me to the grocery store for less than half the normal fare, walked really freaking far in search of free internet with all my groceries and finally arrived at Aloha Sol, the hotel PCVs in my area consolidate in when PC makes us. They have Wi-Fi here and let me use it for fee, which is nice since I’ve been on it for like 5 hours now. Well, that’s it for now. I have so much more to say as always but I guess I’ll save it for another day

2/24 Tuesday: First real day of “Vacation”

Well, this has been an eventful few days. I want to start by telling BCHD thanks so much again for the Christmas gifts!!! I never got a chance to write in my blog really about it when I was home and there was power. I shared some of the starbursts, hid the skittles and hot chocolate and am saving the great smelling bath stuff for when I really need it (although I may smell now, who knows?). I appreciate it a lot, it was really thoughtful and nice of you all to think of me:) Thanks again.

So, back to my last few days; first when I picked Jake up from the airport, the airline forgot to put his luggage on the plane with him so the poor guy had nothing! I had meetings to go to in Santo Domingo and couldn’t miss them so Jake had to wear the same clothing that he was wearing from Thursday until Monday when we could get back to Santiago.

2 ½ of those 4 smelly days we were in the capitol. When I wasn’t in my meetings, we went to the Embassy (to look at the pool since Jake didn’t have his swim suit:(, we went downtown to the Colonial Zone to look at the cathedral (1st church of the New World), we went to the 1st paved street of the New World, and we went to the old ruins of a hospital and a monastery among other things. One night Randi, Jess, Kenzie and I went to the famous Cave Bar (not the actual name but the name I gave it) which, as my given name indicates, it’s a huge dance club/bar in a cave. It was super cool but there were hardly any people there so we didn’t stay long. If you ever got to Santo Domingo on a Saturday, I recommend stopping in there.

Another night we went to Lady’s Night at the Hard Rock. The last time I went there was when I got mugged with Ryan! No worries though, this time I didn’t leave the group and I also took a taxi home. I know I shouldn’t focus on Lady’s Night at the Hard Rock Café but I think it’s funny that the last time we went there, the girls were getting free drinks and handing them to the guys all night long. This time there were security guards watching for it and when they saw a guy with the special Lady’s Night cup, the guy got busted and had to pay. Then the bartenders must have gotten mad because they stopped serving the American girls at the bar! Ha! So, after I managed to get two free drinks we headed to a little colmado called the Rinconcito (which means “the Little Corner”) We were all there just hanging out, talking until about 1 am then we called a taxi and called it a night.

After we finally got Jake his luggage on Monday, we rented a car at the airport. As we drove down the road in the car I began to feel a little free, like I had gained a teeny bit of independence back. It was a nice feeling but weird how a car could make me feel like that, and not even a car that I can drive since PC has rules against PCVs driving here! I can understand that though since the driving here is crazy and the roads are in baaaaad shape. At first Jake seemed nervous about driving Dominican style but he adjusted to the craziness quickly enough.

We drove to my site and of course stopped at Minga’s. She was thrilled to see him and feed him too. We went to my house where we unpacked (and Jake brought me a hiking backpack so I don’t have to bring two book bags with me anymore and I can pack a towel!!!!!) and I repacked just in time for se fue la luz. There was nothing to do so Jake decided to show a magic trick to Noel and Vangie who were in my house at the time. Jake lit a match, let it burn down a lot and then wrapped a “magic frog hair” around it that was “so small no one could see it”. At the same time that he “pulled” the frog hair he secretly flicked the bottom of the match and the top, burnt part went flying making it look like the magic hair wrapped around it and pulled it off. It was sooooo funny to see the looks on Noel and Vangie’s face. It was like they were 6 years old! I wish I had taken a picture.

While I was in my site, Wandy never stopped by. This as you know, is very weird. Today in the morning I saw him and he completely ignored me. I was kind of irritated that he was acting weird again for who knows why but didn’t feel like dealing with it. I went to the school to do some Escojo stuff and then Jake and I left. Later I sent Wandy a text to see what his deal was and he replied saying that he was mad at me because I was mad at him on Thursday when he didn’t do anything. First of all: What? It took me a minute before I remembered that he was talking about how he told my bola that I was still sleeping on Thursday. Dang! I was supposed to be mad at him still! So much for that, I’m not cut out for this grudge thing anyways. Well, I wasn’t sure how to respond and then kind of forgot about it so he actually called me to talk about it. I guess it’s good. When I asked him if he really thought I was sleeping he said yes (which I don’t believe really) but what am I going to do? So, I said we were all good and that was that. Man, I was home for a day and never even talked to him but there still managed to be Wandy Drama.

When I was in the capitol I was super psyched to happen to talk to Kevin (the dude who lived in LR before me) on facebook! I mentioned that Wandy was my best friend (by default not choice) and Kevin was shocked. I guess Wandy was no different when Kevin was there so how is it possible that we’re besties? When I mentioned the annoying thing Wandy does like pout and put his coat over his face Kevin said, “Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” I thought he was talking about the pouting but no, he was talking about the coat over the head thing. You have got to be kidding me. I need a new sidekick in life. I felt bad talking for long with Kevin because Sarah and Jake were waiting for me to go to Provacone (the best chicken place in the DR) but it was so great talking to him and getting some info on LR. I’m sure I’ll get a chance to talk to him again later though (I hope).

Today Jake and I left LR around 10 and drove to Sarah’s site, which is on the way to Sosuá. I’m glad I live in LR. Sarah’s Don sat there and talked to us about how there is a God of Good and a God of Evil for waaaaaay too long. Her Doña served us moro, chicken and sugar cane for lunch. I decided that sugar cane is really good for cleaning your teeth if you eat it right. Sugar cane is pretty tasty too if you can get over the fact that it’s like chewing on a piece of wood (and I recently found out that you are supposed to chew on it and then spit the pulpy-wood piece out. Thanks Juan for telling me I was supposed to eat it!) We walked to the house Sarah wants to live in and it made me even more grateful for the fact that I have a great house, ready and waiting and free.

We were at her site until about 2 or 3 and then left for Sosuá (a town in between Puerta Plata and Cabarete on the north coast). The place we’re staying at is pretty cool. It’s a bungalow with space for three groups of people but we’re the only ones right now. We got here, unpacked a little and then went to the pool. Afterwards I took a great, hot shower with water pressure and wished I wasn’t so fast at showering now. We went to a delicious, cheap little Italian place and tomorrow we’re going to wake up early for the free breakfast then hit the road. Jake is kind of an adventure-vacation type of guy and I’m realizing that I’m more of a sit-by-some-body-of-water, sipping-a-coke/juice, reading-a-book type of vacation person so I’m trying to make the effort to be less lazy. I think it will be fun though. I talked to Kenzie and Randi today and they want to come back to my site on the 28th (after we meet up in La Vega for Carnaval) and stay for a few days. I hope they can, that would be sooo much fun! But then after this week of Samaná, Sosuá, beaches, hot water and pools, I think I’m going to go back into culture shock when I go back to my site! Guess we’ll see:)

Hello everyone:)

As you all may know, I am finally beginning to start projects in my site. For those of you who have been reading my blog, you know that racism is a huge issue in the DR. In an effort to turn the tide on racism, each year 30 PCVs get together for Celebrando el Ciabo. El Ciabo is the region where I live so this translates as “Celebrating the Ciabo”. What is this interesting thing you ask? Well, Celebrando el Ciabo is a conference that PCVs host in August to raise awareness with the youth in the DR on racism. Each PCV brings some youth from their community to participate in the 3 day conference where we have games, and charlas on topics like disabilities, American culture, and of course racism among other things. After the conference, each youth is able to go back to their community and teach what they learned, thus achieving the constant goal of sustainability.

Like all things in life, this costs money. In addition to having a goal of raising $30 in our sites, each PCV needs to raise at least $125 to help with the costs of the center, food, transportation and materials. I have included the URL to the website where you can easily donate and any donation is tax deductible. Just copy and past the URL. Please take the time to donate. In reality these kids don't need that much money to go and so if only 5 people donated $25 we could reach our goal. If I am able to raise more than $125 that money will still be used for this conference. I promise to put pictures up on my blog and myspace of the event after wards in effort to keep sharing my PC experience with everyone. You have all been so supportive of me in so many ways since I arrived; please take the time for this as well and support my community too. Thank you so much!

- Betsy

URL: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-290

On the right side of the page in blue it says CONTRIBUTIONS. There it lists how much money we are soliciting and how much we have left to raise. Just enter how much you would like to donate in the box and click the DONATE button.

2/18 Wednesday: Brownies for the Workers

There was no power from yesterday morning until about 12:30 last night (I know because I always forget to turn the switch off when they go out and then they wake me up when they turn on) After that we had power from then until about 7:30 this morning. It’s not really helpful when we have power from 12:30 at night until 7:30 in the morning except to charge stuff. But I guess I can’t be too picky, I am in the PC, living on a mountain/large hill in a 3rd world country (well, mostly 3rd world… not so much in the cities).

Thanks to my phone being charged I talked to other PCVs, Randi and Sarah, for a while today while I sat down at the drinking colmado and watched the men working. I don’t know if I have ever explained the stupid phone situation here in the DR. There is no such thing as a phone contract. All the phones are prepaid and the PC phones are, of course, no exception. We do have a perk though and that is that most PCVs are on the “network” or flota. This means that we can talk to each other for free but technically we’re not supposed to use more than 100 minutes a month. They told use in training that the phones have a lock thing on them and won’t call out after 100 minutes but that was just a scare tactic. That’s never happened to anyone so I like to take advantage of the free flota for those friends of mine who are on it. Kenz isn’t on it because the carrier PC uses, Claro, doesn’t have service in her site so she has a phone and PC gives her some money to buy calling cards each month.

Anyways, after I got off of the phone, I tried to appear productive like the guys working so I took my Escojo manual down with me and translated the words I didn’t know while swatting at the stupid rooster who kept walking by me, bugging me. I’m such a multitasker, I know. I managed to stay busy all morning doing this, which I was pretty proud of.

I know I was complaining when there were only two people working on the wall and now I’m complaining where there were 7 men working but it’s a little annoying having so many people focused on my house. For instance, this morning I didn’t leave my house until 8:15 or so because I wanted to make sure I did my exercises today so I did them in the morning (since I didn’t get to do them yesterday). When I walked out to ask who wanted coffee they were like, “You slept a lot last night huh?” I’m not sure why but for some reason it bugs me when people think I slept a lot. I told the dude I was exercising and he was like, “Where? In there?” Yes, it is possible to exercise inside I told him. Who knows, maybe I can try to set some example with exercise; something that would never have even been possible if I hadn’t gained weight. At least something good may come of it.

I have been really tired lately since I have a cold (or la gripe as they call so many sicknesses here) and haven’t been sleeping much and so after I ate lunch at Minga’s I laid in the sun for a bit in her front yard. It’s funny because I would have felt stupid doing that before with people walking in and out right past me but not today; I was tired and comfortable! It’s been really cold here lately (comparatively of course) and so the sun felt good. I was all covered up in pants and had my hoodie over my head and nearly fell asleep right there on the ground when I felt something tickling me… don’t you just love kids? For some reason, maybe it’s the lack of snacking, but I was semi dreaming about making brownies. When I went home I decided I would make some brownies in my new oven thingy. It’s a pot that you put on your stove and it acts like an oven! I’ve never used it before and I’m not much of a cook but I had a good feeling about this. It may have been the thought of brownies that was giving me that warm, encouraging feeling but whatever it was, I was set on making them.

I went home and when I walked by the guys working they were like, “Hey! Bring us coffee or pop or something!” I know this seems a little rude but it’s normal here. When they’re really rude about things (or I think they’re being rude) I tell them so. But in this case I’m more lenient because I feel bad for them. They’re all super glad to have work and they’re working really hard. I wouldn’t want to do their jobs! Not to mention that they haven’t gotten paid yet since last time I checked I hadn’t gotten the money from PC. When they do get paid they’ll get about $10/day. So, I like to bring them coffee in the morning and maybe some candies and then in the afternoon either another cup of coffee (which is extra special since I put creamer in it) or if it’s hot, pop. Although I try really hard to encourage water first.

Anyways, I told them that I wasn’t going to bring them coffee or pop, that I had a surprise for them instead. I had invited a little girl and Marvey kind of tagged along too so I had some helpers. Even though I don’t like little kids much these two were fine, plus it’s more fun to do stuff like that with a little kid around. They loved it. The guys kept trying to guess what the surprise was and the kids kept guard of the door so the guys couldn’t sneak in. Noel was the worst! I was a little nervous that it would turn out bad since I didn’t have vegetable oil (is soy bean oil the same? ) and hadn’t used the oven thingy before. There was all this pressure on me now! On the other hand, I thought it would be interesting to see if who would pretend they were good and eat them anyways. In the morning I got a little overwhelmed with how many cups of coffee I had to make and so some were cold and I knew one of them didn’t have sugar but wasn’t sure which. I thought it was funny. I warned them. The guy who go the one without sugar still drank it (amazing since they have to have a LOT of sugar in them) which I thought was nice of him. I was lucky with the brownies since they turned out really good. Now everyone knows what a brownie is… a very important cultural sharing experience. Plus, I felt really cool since they were all telling me that I was a good cook! They say I make good coffee and good brownies! (The guy who got the sugar free coffee in the morning wasn’t there to share his opinion of my coffee)

While we were sitting there eating the brownies and taking pictures a motorcycle passed by. Right when it drove in front of my house that pesky rooster ran in front of it and it the motorcycle ran over it like it was nothing! It looked like less than a speed bump! While I have played hit and run few animals in my day, I have never actually seen an animal be turned into road kill. I know that this was just a chicken but I felt like it should have bothered me more than it did. My mouth dropped and everyone laughed at me but I didn’t even really feel the need to say, “Poor bird…” All the guys were telling each other to go down and get it so we could cook it for dinner but then the colmado owner walked over and picked it up. It wasn’t even dead all the way but a lot if it’s insides were in the road. It sounds gross but I bet if you saw it you wouldn’t be too fazed by it either for some reason. Weird, I know. Is it sick or am I just adapting?

2/17 Tuesday: Exercise and going to the school.

I know I said I was going to take a nap after I went walking with Minga but I feel bad sleeping when there are people working so hard on the wall for my house. The colmado finally shut off the music around 12:30 last night so I got about 6 1/2 good hours of sleep. I even woke up before Koodbie today! The men started working on the wall earlier today at 7:30 which I wasn’t expecting. I felt a little bad since I didn’t have time to make them coffee before I went to Minga’s but I made them some when I got back.

When I got to Minga’s at about 7:35, she was doing laundry. I know that she only gets to do laundry when there is power and sometimes there’s not much power but I want her to value exercising like she values laundry. I know I have them on the same pedestal. She argued with me a little about going since she was doing laundry. After a little while I convinced her to go since we agreed that we would walk down the mountain for 15 minutes and then back up. I don’t think she understands that it’s faster to walk down, and easier, and that the faster she goes down, the more she’s going to have to walk up. I tried to explain it to her when after literally 3 minutes she asked if we were at the stopping place but I don’t think she got the point. We ended up walking about 3 kms or a little less than 2 miles. I was impressed with how much she could walk. She told me she wants to go further tomorrow since she won’t have to do laundry. It’s good but I’m afraid that if we don’t stick to the 15 minute rule she’s going to tell me later that we don’t have to walk at least 15 minutes.

Yesterday Minga was all riled up, telling me how it wasn’t fair that Ernesto doesn’t look for more people to do work. She said that he is in charge of building the building for the Women’s Meetings (which I think should be a community center, not just a place for the Women’s Club) and in charge of my wall and that he only has his family work for him. Then she started complaining about how each month the person who collects the money for the water taps (they have to each pay 40 pesos a month for maintenance) is always someone from Ernesto’s family too. The person who does this job gets paid so she basically said that Ernesto was being greedy. The thing is that Minga doesn’t want to collect money and she couldn’t list anyone who would want to, she thinks it’s a crappy job. Then she told me about a man down the road with 5 kids and no work, she made it seem like it was Ernesto’s fault the man wasn’t working. I told her that I didn’t know why Ernesto has who he has working for him but that he obviously knows what he’s doing since he’s always the person in charge of construction here. I also said that if people are looking for work, they need to talk to Ernesto at least and ask for work. Ernesto’s not a mind reader. Yesterday I asked Wandy why there were only 2 people working on the wall and he didn’t know. Today there are 5 guys working on it so I guess something changed.

By the end of today, I had had no time to myself, but I wasn’t really bothered by it. I ate lunch with Minga and when I got back to my house around 1:30 I talked with Ernesto about my wall then Santa showed up to go with me to the school. While we were walking there I was told her how I was feeling so much more secure with my Spanish then I had the meeting with the teachers and like no one understood me… so much for self-confidence. I’m not too concerned about it though, I’m kind of over it. I’ll learn however fast I learn and that’s that.

I was really happy with how my meeting at the school went though. I think that the Director is a genius. He asked me when I was going to have my meetings (for Escojo remember) and I said every Wednesday at 5 or 5:30, when the kids get out of school. He told me that he thought that was too late and I should have it at 4:30. Since there will (hopefully) be kids who want to go who are in school, he said that he will give whomever a pass to go to my class. Sweet! So much for being concerned with having enough interest! Now the worry was having too many kids. I have no freaking clue how many kids I can handle…. in Spanish… ick. So, I asked the teachers to ask who is interested, write all the names down and then put stars next to the people who they think are serious, responsible people. If there’s not enough room, I’ll take the “stars” first, then randomly pick from the rest of them. I’m happy that I probably won’t have to worry about recruiting kids but now I’m feeling the pressure!

2/16 Monday: Nothing starts on time but at least I’m not in a hurry

Yesterday when I was at the pool with Minga and Mercedes (she came with us too) they told me that there was a class today teaching women how to have gardens. Since one of the goals of a health PCV is better nutrition, I thought that this was something I would like to see. Class was supposed to start at 8 and Minga was supposed to go be at my house at 7:45. After I made myself and the guys working on my encache (remember, it’s the supporting wall that’s being built for me) some coffee it was 8 am and Minga still wasn’t at my house. I walked to her house to see what was going on and she told me that she knew the car the professor was driving and he hadn’t arrived yet so she was doing laundry and cleaning the house. I guess that made sense.

I sat at her house with her until 9 when she decided we should go. We walked to the clinic, which is next to the school, and waited. While we were there Minga of course had pain somewhere so she went and talked to the doctor who gave her pills for whatever she has. Later she told me that she has swollen feet and pain all over and that it was from high blood pressure. I’m not sure what some symptoms of high blood pressure are but we had a conversation about what she could do differently instead of having pain and then trying to correct it with pastillas de químicas (pills made of chemicals). Her feet really are swollen. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we’re going to go walking. I told her exercise is good for you and she seemed ok with the idea of going. She wanted to go at 6 in the morning though! Forget that dude! We settled on 7:30 which is early enough.

Anyways, today at the clinic, we ended up waiting for the professor until 10:30, which I think is really crappy. I wouldn’t think much of it if he was 30-45 minutes late since that’s how this culture is but 2 ½ hours is excessive, even here. Despite that, no one complained to the Prof, at least not that I noticed. The class was pretty interesting although I don’t know how realistic it is. The guy wants to teach people how to actually build greenhouses. I would be amazed if people even threw a few seeds in the ground and took care of them. Not to mention that there were several people in the room who told me that the reason they don’t have vegetable gardens is because they don’t have space. Where the heck are they going to put a freaking greenhouse?! I asked if we would only be talking about building one or if we were going to be actually building one and he said we would build one so at least one person will end up with a greenhouse.

I guess its going to be a series of classes ever Sunday from now on, until he teaches 120 hours. I feel like that’s a weird requirement since it should be over material covered and comprehension if there’s no set date to end. I also think that it’s stupid that each person has to pay 1000 pesos by the end of the classes but still have to buy materials to build their own greenhouse. As long as I’m critiquing, I don’t like that we all have to wear a white shirt with sleeves and jeans. Maybe it gets the women to take the class more seriously. I was talking with Minga about it and she told me proudly that it was like going to school since we all had to wear the same thing. Great, I normally avoid white like a plague so I don’t have any white shirts. Guess I’ll have to borrow a shirt from Minga this week until I get paid and can buy a white shirt or two.

Despite my complaining, there were some good things about the class. For instance, there were women in there who made me feel really bad for them during my interviews by telling me how they have noooo money. One of them I really believed since she has a dirt floor. If they can afford to pay 1000 pesos for a class, they’re not that broke. Also, I was told not to make my charlas more than 20 minutes of talking since it won’t hold people’s attention. The professor of this class talked for an hour and everyone was still engaged which takes some of the pressure off of me when I do my charlas. And the last positive thing: there are a lot of women who are enrolled in the class despite having to pay. This gives me hope for my group that I want to form and also hope for meeting my goal of training at least 5 health promoters.

It was 12 when the class ended so I went home for a little bit then headed to Minga’s. Her son (the one that hit a cow on his motor) was there and I was happy to see that he didn’t have his cast on. He told me that he doesn’t have any pain except at night and he’s happily back to work, driving. His bike is broken (or totaled, I’m not sure) so he borrowed Noel’s bike for the afternoon. I have a feeling that it’s a bad idea for someone on crutches to drive but I guess we’ll find out.

After lunch I hung out with Minga and then sat and watched the two guys work on my wall with Noel until about 3:30. It was an interesting afternoon, let me tell you. I feel really bad for anyone who has to build this stuff. It looks like backbreaking, tedious, slow, hot work. I bought the guys and a drink and then went back into my spot in the shade, reading over my youth group stuff. (I tried to get them to drink water but they weren’t interested so a refresco (pop) it was.

Tomorrow I’m supposed to go to the school to talk to the professors about Escojo. That’s the youth group that I want to form. Escojo means “I chose” meaning “I chose my life” or “Escojo mi vida”. It’s all about teaching youth that they have options and they control their life. It’s about STIs, HIV/AIDS and empowering youth to make healthy decisions with their relationships. The goal is, by the time I leave here, to get at least 5 youth who are committed and responsible who can be promoters and teach this stuff to other youth after I leave. Then the youth they teach take over after a while and so on. I have some hope but more so I’m afraid that there won’t be enough interest and no one will go to my meetings. Although, it is very common to pretty much have to bribe people to go to things so we’ll see how inventive I have to get. I’m sooo not paying people.

After getting my fill of watching the two men build (it’s a mystery to me why there were only two dudes on this task), I went to my house, did my exercises, and then went to the Women’s Meeting. It began 45 minutes late. They asked me to give a little speech randomly to fill time which was ok I guess. I feel comfortable enough with my Spanish and with the women so I rambled a nice little ditty about what I’ve been doing and everyone seemed satisfied. I also invited everyone to go with Minga and me walking in the morning. One woman seemed really happy and exclaimed that I was starting a “walking group”. I doubt anyone else will show up but I’m going to hold Minga accountable so at least one person will be getting a little bit of exercise.

Next, I went with Wandy and 4 or 5 little kids down to the river- where I walk each day. (Well, you know, starting yesterday.) I’m proud to say, unlike yesterday when I had to sit in the shade and cool off three times during the climb back up to my house, I didn’t stop at all today but my calves hurt. Ahhh, feel the burn of turning the scale back.

After melting off the calories of the rice I ate for lunch (I hope) I went home, showered, made some weird dinner with powered milk, eggs and canned mixed veggies (something I would have never eaten back home but hey, I’m trying to work with what I have here), shared it with Wandy, did the dishes with Wandy, and finally kicked Wandy out early so I could go to bed at like 9. I’m so tired from all this exercising! Plus, I have to get up at 7 to go walking with Minga.

The only problem I have now is that it’s 11 pm and the stupid colmado is still blaring music for some reason and the men there are still playing Dominoes. They’re yelling over the speakers which are right next to them and my ear plugs just aren’t cutting it right now. Maybe I’ll talk to Ernesto tomorrow and see if I should say something to the colmado owner. I heard the owner say something about people trying to sleep and then one of the men playing Dominoes convinced him to keep the music on. Hopefully they turn it off soon but already, as it stands, after I go walking with Minga tomorrow I’m coming home and taking a nap.

Yes this is annoying but I don’t regret that I’m in this house. Even though there was a landslide that caused me a lot of grief, I’m next to a church where they have service for 5 hours on Sunday’s with a microphone that’s surprisingly loud (and the people can NOT sing at ALL), and I’m next to a colmado that plays music into the night, I wouldn’t trade this house for any other house here:)

2/16 Sunday: The flu, Exercising, Waterfalls and pools and of course the discotecha= a complete Sunday

When I woke up today my whole body hurt. I think maybe the cold was getting the best of me. I woke up at 7:30 as always thanks to Koodbie (I know, I change the way her name is spelled all the time) but I didn’t get out of bed until 10:30. I felt awful. In my mind I was thinking of the poor water PCV who lives about 35 minutes from me and started showing symptoms of Dengue while we were together at IST. He was in the hospital for about 6 days. I haven’t heard good things about the nurses bedside manner or their ability to find a vein to put an IV in (for those of you who don’t know this- I developed an awesome phobia of people who don’t know what they’re doing when around my veins with needles thanks to a few bad experiences when donating plasma and a pre-existing phobia of any type of hematoma on my body) so I was laying in bed contemplating what I would do if I ever did get Dengue. I came to the conclusion that if I could do it, I would try to just stay home. Although I’m a huge whiner so I really doubt I would be able to. The only thing that may keep me from La Capital aside from my fear, would probably be the 4 hour travel there. Hopefully I never have to deal with all that.

I took some medicine and decided that no matter how I felt, I was going to exercise. My body obviously isn’t used to the food here and since I can’t really control what food I eat, I can control how much of it I eat and also I can exercise. Never in my life have I suddenly gained weight ever or been on a real diet but now is my time. This sounds a little vein but, like a car wreck where you don’t want to look but can’t stop looking, I look in the mirror a lot, trying to see where the weight went. I can’t find it! I guess I’m glad for that but then on the other hand, one time I lost like 20 pounds all of the sudden and people kept telling me how good I looked but I really thought I looked the same. So, I guess I’ll have to trust the stupid scale and actually watch what I eat. And…. exercise… errr.

After exercising in my house a little, I went to Minga’s to eat lunch. I took a small helping and was going to only drink water but told Minga too late. She already made me juice but I was able to tell her I didn’t want sugar in it. It was nasty juice. It was mostly water (it was still clear even!) but had some sour oranges in it and a ton of nasty vanilla flavor. I passed it off to her after a bit, figuring she would drink it or give it to a muchucho and went on a walk.

Thanks to the storms, there was a lot of damage to the semi-paved/semi-dirt road that we have. After muchachos fill in the holes, they stand in the road with their hands out collecting money from passing cars so I was able to find a few to go with me easily. I have this thing about walking alone here, maybe because I wasn’t encouraged to do it at first, so I always look for someone to walk with me. I feel super safe here, it’s just that the passing cars can be a nuisance and even the young boys who walk with me help me out. Plus, they’re up for anything. We walked to some waterfalls that I had never seen (small ones that were kind of like slides. The boys found large leaves and rode down the “slides”, it was really fun.) and then on the way back they spotted a tree with mangos on it already so they climbed them and we all ate some mangos on the way home. Delicious!

Despite the great plan of going with muchachos, it was a bad idea to go for a walk when I did. It was about 3pm and it didn’t seem hot until I began walking back up hill. I walk about 1 ½ miles down hill and the same up. It doesn’t seem like much, and I hope to be able to run up it soon, but dang its hard! It’s actually just what I need I decided. When I was in school last year went through a stint where I liked to run and I used to run like 6-7 miles each time. It was annoying because I felt like I wasn’t getting the best workout and it took about an hour. With this, it takes about 40 minutes and I’m sore and beat afterwards. See, things always work out.

After I went for my walk and the medicine kicked in, I was feeling a lot better. I went to Minga’s and Ernie was there, all done up in her Sunday going out clothes, looking for me. Tolo was there and since it was so freaking hot, he suggested we go to the colmado-pool. Ernie was there and she wanted to go too so I wasn’t so afraid. I went home, showered and off we went. I thought I had my memory card in my camera but it was in my computer so I still don’t have pictures of this world wonder. I even brought my camera with me before I realized!

When I got back, Ernie had me under the impression we were going out to the discotecha so I changed into something warmer and waited. We ended up hanging out in my house forever. I was going to tell them that I wanted to leave the discotecha at 8 or so but we were at my house until then! Sure I could have just stayed in but I already changed for it! We ended up staying at the discotecha forever! I guess it was only like 2 hours but it felt like longer. I haven’t decided if I’m going to swear off beer like I’ve sworn off pop due to this “diet” of mine but I definitely value not gaining weight more than I value sharing beers. Maybe that’s not exactly culturally sensitive but I’m back to the leading by example thing, drinking water (after all I am a health PCV).

After my night of no dancing (I think my balance was off or something and didn’t feel like falling over in front of everyone when I broke out my crazy mad dancing moves, not to mention it was the first time I wore heels in el campo- an experiment that I think went fairly well), not drinking, and getting crap from a few guys who were mad I surprised them by being here on Valentines Day when they weren’t prepared, I went home and went to bed. It was way later than I had planned on going to bed and I was pooped.

2/14 Saturday : Happy Valentines Day, I have a cold…

I went to the PC office and made sure I got all the things done that I needed. Pretty much the only other thing I needed to do before leaving was write a grant which was already partially written for me so it didn’t take me long. I’m getting a lot better at this whole Spanish thing (finally) and so writing it in Spanish wasn’t too hard. I left the office loaded up as usual with my one backpack on my form, the other on my back with two PCV tubes full of charla paper sticking out of each side, paper in my hand, my purse (which was loaded up with what wouldn’t fit in my backpacks) and, of course, my power ranger red helmet. Even thought I normally stick out being a gringa and all, there is no chance I wouldn’t stick out with all that stuff loaded on me- and plus.. NO ONE wears helmets here so I MUST be a foreigner.

On my way to Caribe Tours I stopped at the colamdo that owed me money from the day before. How did this happen? Well this country is so weird about change. It’s like the government doesn’t make enough of it or something so people are really freaking stingy with it. Yesterday when I bought some delicious chocolate milk (and asked for a straw since the milk still tastes better when drunk through a straw… even this “milk”) they didn’t have any change. I was a little apprehensive when they told me to come back later for my change but they seem pretty cool and not even a little creepy so I guessed it was ok. I forgot to go back that day and when I went back the next day they were still cool about it and gave me back my change. Whew, I was nervous I was going to lose 30 pesos- that’s more than a milk!

I don’t want to jinx myself but I’m feeling pretty confident with this whole traveling back to my site thing. I was in a really crappy mood still from the weekend and also because I weighed myself (I seriously hope there is something wrong with that scale…) but I have noticed that when I’m in an intensely foul mood, men don’t hit on me. I must either look really ugly when I’m super pissy or I must look like I could beat them up. Either way, it works in my favor here so I’m happy… but not too happy since I want to keep this going.

I hopped on my 3 o’clock bus (the last one for 45 minutes which is a lot since they normally run every 15), the last bus I can catch and still get home before dark. When I arrived in Santiago I opted to walk the 15 min walk with all my junk thanks to the scale in the back of my mind. I got my bus to Navarrette but my mood was slowly getting better (no thanks to Rachael telling me she laughed really hard when she read my IM to Mom that I gained ___ lbs. errrr). While on the bus, the men on it saw my awesome helmet and began talking about how cool I must be that I drive a motorcycle. When people talk about me I enjoy sitting there like I don’t understand it. Maybe it’s because I didn’t understand for soooo long or maybe it’s because I was a spy in another life, who knows? After a while they decided to ask me and I burst their bubble- I don’t know how to drive a motorcycle and I can’t drive in this country anyways thanks to a Peace Corps rule. Then the dude who collects the money on the guagua, the cobrador told me that he normally frequents the discoteca in my town and so maybe he would pay me a visit. I need to get better at this vague “up there” or “over there” thing before I get a stalker or something.

When I got home I put my stuff down and went to talk to Ernesto and Mercedes for a bit. They were all going to the discoteca but I was not feeling so hot since I was getting a cold or something so I took a rain check and instead talked to my great and wonderful Mom for a long time while in my bed. It was a nice ending to my week.

2/13 Friday the 13th! Have I gotten all my bad luck out of the way yet?

I was hoping that yesterday was the end of my frustration streak but I was only half right. Today when I went to print my budget, it wouldn’t print. Then it turns out that the thing didn’t save right so I had the budget of an entire aqueduct from the water PCV who helped me instead. The water PCV, Danny, was at the hardware store (for about 4 hours) and so I had to redo the thing by myself. I didn’t have lists of prices of things like the cement or gravel so I ended up just kind of estimating. I remembered the end numbers and I guess that’s what counts.

Before I started that, I began a load of laundry. I love doing laundry at the office because there’s a washer and the clothes smell so nice and are so soft afterwards. I didn’t have room in my backpack for much so I didn’t pack another pair of pants. Because of this I was wearing shorts while my pants were being washed. Well, as I was walking back and forth, trying to get my budget to print, Romeo saw me and told me I wasn’t allowed to wear shorts. Apparently this is a rule that’s not really enforced (since a lot of people wash their clothes here) but today it was being enforced since there was a going away party and people from the Embassy were going to be there. Awesome, I didn’t have any pants.

By this time, after the last few days I had, I was at the end of my rope. I was so frustrated. I walked straight from Romeo to a storage room to have some alone time. After I straightened myself out I went back to the computer room and asked if anyone had some pants I could use. The only person who had any extra pants was this dude named Anthony. I was pretty happy because his pants actually fit me really well. I walked around in them until my laundry was done and no one knew they were dude’s pants… well, they did because I was like, “Hey! Check out my pants! They’re man-pants! Look how they fit, isn’t that cool?!” So, yes, I was pretty impressed that I could cross dress so well. Peace Corps helps Volunteers realize undiscovered talents.

The day began to take a turn finally. I went to the going away party and got another delicious, free lunch. Later I went to a paper store and got some more paper and markers. Its ridiculous- the markers here that I’ve used so far are so crappy. They dry out after one charla. I guess I really took Crayola brand for granted. After that I went to the Embassy and took a hot shower (but those showers aren’t perfect because they don’t drain… ewww). Then I went to the office and used the internet for a little while before being kicked out when they closed. I wanted to go to the Marriott and use their free Wi-Fi but my friend, Iris, who was going to go with me was afraid we would get robbed since it was dark.

For fun at night a group of us bought some beers from Drinks to Go (Which is so weird in itself. It’s a store that sells alcohol but then the people sit outside the store with their stereos in their cars and it’s like an outside bar. Everyone hangs out, drinks and some people dance.) and then went to Burger King where my friends each bought an Angry Whopper and drank their beers (I got water and fries). We stayed at Burger King until 11 when they closed and the store mysteriously began to fill with the stench of sewer. We hit Drinks to Go again and then went to a car wash. I was pretty tired but we ended up staying out until 3 am! I would have gone home sooner but I didn’t want to go alone. I guess it was ok because I needed to work on my dancing anyways. Tomorrow I’m going to the office and working on a grant then I’m heading home. I didn’t have any extra money in my account for the wall for my house today so hopefully it will be here Tuesday. If not, at least I’m going back to the capitol on Friday morning so I can bug Money Man then again if need be.

2/12 Thursday: Another Frustrating Day

When I arrived today at the Peace Corps office around 11, Romeo’s secretary told me he was booked all day and that I would have to come back the next day. I was flustered but figured that it was ok because I had a Plan B. Romeo is notorious for taking PCVs out to lunch that happen to be around when he goes to lunch. So, I sat outside of his office for about 30 minutes and as a result was able to get a very delicious, very free lunch out of it. (This is good because I had to pay for the 4 days I was at the Hub out of my pocket. I’ll get reimbursed but it takes like a month) I talked to Romeo about my problem over lunch and we had a meeting about it after as well.

We talked with a water PCV who studied engineering and a water PCV who worked in construction and they both were so helpful and came up with possible solutions. Sure they’re not experts but they knew a little about the topic. I was so relieved because Romeo told me during lunch that it was definitely a possibility that I would have to move out of my great house. There are only two other houses in my community that I know about that are empty and I don’t think they would pass PC’s minimum living requirements- which is really sad. There aren’t many requirements. (1) Have a door and window’s that are secure and lock (2) Have a latrine (shared with other people in the community or private) or somewhere sanitary (as sanitary as a latrine) to use the bathroom (3) Have a roof and it can’t be made of leaves (4) Has to be somewhat close to neighbors and can’t be somewhere stupid like in a flood plain, …or on a cliff where it may fall off due to a landslide.

2/3-2/10 IST, Whale watching and a lot of rain…

Feb 3rd marked my 24th week in country! I can hardly believe it’s been 24 weeks- 6 months! Time seems to go pretty quick here but then people always tell me that time always seems to go faster and faster the older we get. I have this theory that being in the Peace Corps actually accelerates time. Not day by day… those go slow, but week and month by month are what are effected by the magic of the Peace Corps. I’m not counting down when its time to leave but I think that its important to be aware of the time left so I can plan out things to the best of my ability. I’m trying not to but I’m stressing about getting things started in my community- something that I really shouldn’t worry about since I can always extend my service if I have something I’m in the middle of when the time comes to leave. But, I’ve been here for 6 months so I have just 21 months left. I wonder how long that is in Peace Corps time…

Ernesto and I left the campo and arrived in Santiago to meet up with the other PCVs around 9 am. I met with the regional PCVL and received TWO packages from home! I finally got the Thanksgiving package that Rach sent me- which was actually Thanksgiving in a box… complete with a turkey tv dinner! Then the other one I got was from BCHD- thanks sooooo much guys! I felt bad opening it in front on Ernesto so I decided to wait until I got home to open it. I can’t wait! Thanks so much for thinking of me guys:)

We had our IST in Jarabacoa which is a beautiful location. It’s pretty much the base of Pico Duarte- the highest mountain in the Caribbean. The only problem with being that high up was that it was cold! We already had to bring our own sheets and towels but some smarty pants were really prepared by bringing a sleeping bag. Unfortunately, I was not one of them. I don’t have a really big backpack so I have to prioritize when I pack. I didn’t pack for my computer or a towel even let a lone a blanket. Then, to make it better- the showers were pumping out water from glaciers or something so we felt like we were in the freaking North Pole. With no towel, after showering I squeegeed off and then warmed up by chugging lots and lots of the Dominican-strong coffee. Needless to say, when I think back of IST, I’ll think of diagnostics, learning about grants and everyone plagued by a mysterious, uncontrollable twitching.

When we arrived in Jarabacoa on Tuesday in IST we began by presenting our diagnostics. Ernesto thought it was really funny that my APCD, Miguel, kept falling asleep and so he kept nudging me saying, “Look at Miguel!!! Hahaha!” Miguel I think is a little narcoleptic or something. One may think that the presentations were really boring due to this but I swear they weren’t bad at all! I guess, no one is perfect and so what’s a little nap here and there? Although there is a debate about whether he’s actually sleeping since he seems to be snoring but then he will sometimes ask questions related to what’s going on. Is Miguel sleeping or awake? The world may never know.

IST was pretty boring but as always, it’s great to be together with all the other PCVs in my sector group so it was a lot of fun. Another great thing about IST was that Ann, my technical trainer is great about bringing us sweets to eat. With the junk food combined with the coffee, it’s amazing we weren’t all in sugar-induced comas or seizures by the end of the 4 days.

After IST Sarah, Mark, Randi, Meredith and I headed off to go whale watching. Mark had the GREAT idea of buying two boxes of plants in Jarabacoa so we all had the pleasure of accompanying him during the 5 hour trip while switching from a taxi to a bus to another bus and then walking around Samaná, trying to find our hotel. Lucky for us, we didn’t have to walk around much before we found the hotel- which, by the way, was a sweet, sweet sleeping situation. We had a room with a twin and a full bed and slept 5 to the room, divining up the 500 pesos per night. There was a porch with a great view of a beautiful resort so we were able to sit on the porch at night and stare at the resort, silently sitting in blissful revere. Ahhh, one can dream. Our hotel provided something amazing that we weren’t expecting though: a shower almost like home. It was the first time I have had a shower that was HOT the whole time, had pressure, and the drain drained. What a combination! It was amazing.

Normally when the PCVs are together we like to go out and go dancing or something but, thanks to the awesome road we were on for about 4 hours in the bus, I was nice and car sick. Randi (a RN) pointed out with exclamation about 3 hours in that I was “gray” in the face and then offered me her paper bag, “You know, just in case.” Thankfully I didn’t need to use the bag but when we got to the hotel I went to bed nice and early. It was raining and cold so I didn’t miss much.

The bummer was that the rain came and stayed at least the two days I was there. No worries, we were lucky enough that the whale watching boats still went out the day that we went. They didn’t go the day before or the day after since the water was too rough for the boats. The only had thing was that we were all wet from the rain, it was chilly and the boat was like a freaking roller coaster. I ended up in the back on the top level and definitely caught some serious air a few times. I was a little concerned a few times but don’t worry: no one flew off the boat and got eaten by a whale or anything. A few people got sea sick despite the fact that the guide had free Dramamine which we were all popping like candy. Sure this may not sound like fun but I would recommend whale watching to anyone who goes to Samaná. It doesn’t cost much and we saw 3 whales! Sure, they didn’t do any cool tricks or anything (like breaching) but I saw their “humps” and so I was pretty dang happy.

After about an hour of watching, we were dropped off on an island for three hours and would have gone swimming but it was too freaking cold. Mark went in his orange Speedo that says “Hope” on the butt but even he wasn’t in the water for long. It’s amazing how we are all so wimpy now when it comes to the “cold” here. We were in awe of the people who were walking around in their swimsuits! They didn’t even seem cold! Didn’t they know that it was like 60 out and windy?! We had our sweatshirts on and we were complaining.

(This is a really important paragraph) One really great thing about the island is that I discovered that I loooooove coconut! I used to HATE coconut at home. I had eaten it but never fresh and (brace yourself, this sounds a little stupid) now I know why it’s called cocoNUT. I ate a piece and was like, “Whoa, it tastes so familiar… what’s it taste like…. OH! It tastes like a nut!!!” It never tasted nutty to me before. Now I could just snack on coconut like I snack on peanuts or carrots… it’s just amazing to me and soooo tasty!

Saturday after whale watching and lots of coconut and pineapple I was happily back in the hotel when I got a text from Wandy: Betsy, there is a problem with your house. There was a landslide with the Earth under your house.” Oh, ok…hmmmm, what should I say to that? I was actually at a loss of response. He didn’t say that the house had fallen and anyways I was hours away so I responded with what I think anyone would have responded with- I asked him to please not like the house fall and said thank you. A few minutes later he called me and handed the phone to the creepy guy who speaks English in my town. Creepy Guy told me that the landslide included the land from under the side of my house. Great. When I talked to the old PCV who owns the house, Kevin, I told him I would probably be able to build a supporting wall to protect from erosion (he was aware of the problem and had asked me if it was possible) and I was saving for a wall. The bad thing is that I haven’t lived in the house for very long and so I don’t have much saved up. Well, there is no way I’m moving back in with Minga so I guess I should just hope for the best while living in the house and ask for an advance from the Country Director so I can build the wall STAT. Although the wall will help it, it’s no guarantee so I’m hoping the damage isn’t too extensive and I can still stay in the house safely. I don’t know much about landslides and I have this image of the house riding the dirt down the road like a surfer on a board. I have a feeling this is wrong but even if it’s not, there’s an awesome little drop off right next to my house so it may just “surf” itself right off of the cliff one day.

Sarah, Mark and I hopped on a bus from Samaná to Puerta Plata and I was planning on spending the night at Sarah’s house. I was supposed to hang with Kenzie’s family in an all inclusive resort that night but I couldn’t get a hold of her and didn’t want to end up stranded in Samaná so I hopped on the bus with Sarah and Mark. One the way we were beginning to realize how bad the water damage was when we were driving through towns which were completely flooded. We got a phone call from one PCV who had just left his site because he didn’t think it was safe to stay. He had to waddle across a fallen tree in a river to get out of his site. He said that the rain was stronger last night that he had ever experienced in his service and also that on Tuesday there was supposed to be an even bigger storm. Great, if my house didn’t wash away before then Tuesday just may due the trick. I had visions of my house going over the cliff while I was in it Tuesday night and it made me a little nervous. We called the Safety Security Officer and were told that if it wasn’t safe to go to our sites we could stay somewhere else until the weather got better and we would receive per diem for it. Two people have died in the area due to a landslide (no, not the one under my house) and some people have died in the flooding as well. I called the Hub and have been staying here in Santiago since Sunday night. Wandy told me that on Monday it wasn’t raining and they were going to get started on that wall soon. I feel bad staying in the Hub when it’s not even raining but I’m nervous about tonight (Tuesday) so we shall see. I hope I have a place to go home to!

2/2 Monday: Presenting my Charla… oh wait, I still have to finish it.

I was taking it easy this morning because I thought, “Well, I just have one page to finish on my charla so what’s the rush?” Not to mention that some tube or something broke in my bathroom so I have no water… back to bucket bathing and throwing water in the toilet for flushing it. That slowed me down in the morning for sure. Bucket bathing takes a lot longer. Lucky for me, something broke in my water tap before and Ernesto fixed it so I had water available at my tap. Although the water is not normally available every day so I need to make sure I get some water in a bucket for tonight and the morning. It’s so handy having a handy man next door that is so helpful. He told me he’d look at the problem while I was gone and see about fixing it. Good thing too or else I’ll have to buy a really big bucket to keep in my house for water. One good thing about not having the tank hooked up or whatever today was that I boiled my water to shower with and it was nice and warm:)

Anyways, I was supposed to finish my charla by 4 to go to the Women’s Meeting. Lucky for me, today was one of the days where the meeting starts really late. I was able to finish my charla and when I showed up 15 minutes late, they hadn’t started yet. One reason I may have been so late was that I was like MacGyver and had to use my kitchen knife to sharpen all my pencils since someone (Ernie) broke my pencil sharpener. It was kind of a bummer; all that work during three months and I presented it in about 10 minutes. Ah well. It went pretty well.

Tomorrow Ernesto wanted to leave at 7 am but we don’t need to be in Santiago until 9. This means that we technically don’t have to leave until 8 so I convinced him to wait to leave until 7:30- whew, that was a lot of numbers! If all goes well we’ll still be really early to In Service Training but I guess better late than never. After IST I’m going to go whale watching. It’s the season for that so although there are no guarantees of seeing one, we have pretty good odds. Well, that’s it for now. Guess I’ll write more later.

1/30 Friday- 2/1 Sunday: Sweet, I made it to February in one, mostly-sane piece!

The power has been really lax lately… we’ve had power for about two hours a day since I got back on Thursday. If I was trying to do my diagnostic on my computer still that would be a big bummer since I even Minga’s inversor (generator) has been losing all its juice between the short spurts of power. The good news: I finished my diagnostic!! Everything but the pretty front page… I still need to think of something cool to put there within my 5th grade drawing ability. That’s one thing that surprised me: I was actually nervous about bringing what I had drawn home since I thought that Wandy and whomever else were going to make fun of it. After all, I draw ok but I think my drawing skills prematurely stopped progressing in the 5th grade and I also found some mistakes that I couldn’t change (like I how spelled community wrong three times on the 2nd page… at least I was consistent). I was trying to prepare myself for them making fun of something that I put hours into and in the meantime I kind of hid it so I didn’t have to deal with it. When I got it out on Friday, Wandy was at my house (of course) and surprisingly he didn’t say anything about it! I was pretty happy but still braced incase he was holding off till later. Then Ernie and Vangie came over and they made a big deal about how cool it looked. They were like, “Why didn’t you tell us you knew how to draw?!” Let me point out that I have several stick people in my charla so I was very sincere when I said that I didn’t know I knew how to draw…

Anyways, pretty much every PCV who was at the office last week told my group and me not to freak about the diagnostic and don’t put too much time into it since it’s not a big deal. I understand that people lied on the interviews like no other (I asked: How often should women get a pap? Every 6 months- 1 year. How often do you get one? Every 6 months- 1 year. How many have you gotten in your life? Two. Take into consideration that the majority of women in my community are 30- 49 years old) and that I changed some numbers myself to make them match the totals in my spreadsheet (never was that good at data entry…) but it’s like I can’t just slack off and do a crappy job on purpose. It’s a little frustrating because I know that I’m only going to present this two or three times total.

When I got home I only had about half of my charla drawn… it takes a looooong time to draw since there are so many dang pictures to think of and draw. So, I did the unthinkable for a somewhat control freak: I asked if Vangie and Wandy wanted to help me by coloring. All that time I put into it and I was letting them color it. This sounds so mean, and it’s not their fault since the schools here don’t encourage ANY creative thinking, but they color like third graders. Every single letter is a different color and they color in the centers of every letter (so, each O has the center colored in, etc…) I guess it shouldn’t be that bad; it kind of matches the theme of the drawings although there were some that I was proud of… there were. I also need to take into account that it’s not very efficient coloring by the light of a lantern.

So, now my charla is colored thanks to the help of 6 other people in Los Ruales. Some things I fixed after people left (like how Vangie colored in the silhouette of a women bright red so I couldn’t even tell what it was) but overall it definitely saved me time. I figure that sure it doesn’t look like I would have liked but at least people helped me and feel like a part of the process. I learned the hard way that I had to erase each line that I didn’t want traced because they traced ALL of them in permanent marker and I also learned that if there was something I really wanted colored a certain way I should just color that part myself. There are about 5 pages colored by them and about 9 colored by me. I can deal with that. I need to learn to let people help anyways so I don’t get stuck doing everything myself and I need to learn that just because I want it a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the best way. (What?!? No way!) This is for Los Ruales and maybe they’ll like the 5 pages more than the 9 I did, who knows?

One cool thing about coloring my diagnostic together is that it was a conversation starter. When we got to the STI/HIV/AIDS page everyone was asking about the different diseases. They thought that syphilis was more dangerous than AIDS! It got me kind of excited to start teaching my classes. Now I’m just going to have to pick what classes to do first! Ernesto asked me if I was going to have gardening classes. Oh boy, I have killed every plant I’ve ever had. But, I guess I’ll just try to read up on it, talk to other PCVs, look around for some free seeds, and try it out. Maybe I’ll discover a hidden talent for gardening.

With all this time in my house and my little helpers wouldn’t you know that Wandy was there all the freaking time. I don’t want to tell him to get lost because he’s more helpful than any other person- and he’s only helpful about 25% of the time. He can be cool but it’s not too often. Anyways, I feel kind of like a snot because I’m so mean to him sometimes. For instance, the first night I got back he was being a brat and giving me crap about how long I was gone, what I was doing for so long if my diagnostic wasn’t even finished, and more. I think he was acting like that because he was pissy that (1) I missed the party he wanted to go to with me (2) I text his cousins Noel and Franklin more than him but tooooo freaking bad. I have pointed out several times that he’s not my boss. So, my first night back I said called curtains things instead of curtains (since I didn’t know the word at the time) and he corrected me in a snotty way (as always) and told me to learn how to talk! Oh no, I know you did not just say that to me! I was like, “Ummm, excuse me? What did you just say to me? If you’re not going to be nice (but I said helpful by mistake) then LEAVE.” He stopped talking and stayed but I was done talking with him.

The one good thing about this is that I seriously practice standing up for myself in Spanish. Then the next night my friend Jake called me long distance from the States and Wandy was like, “Don’t talk forever. You have guests.” Ha! What a little pisser thinking he can tell me how long to talk to my friends from home! I said with a smile, “You know what? If I want to talk, I’m going to talk as looong as I want.” Then the next day he was like, why did you say that to me? I explained that he obviously didn’t understand how much it costs to call from the States and what was I supposed to say, “Sorry can’t talk now. My neighbors who are here all the time are over right now but why don’t you call around 10 when they leave?” No. I know I sound a little hostile but I feel like it got the point across. I also explained in a nicer way that whenever I get a call from home, I’m going to take it. I asked him to try and think how he would feel in a foreign country, a foreign language, with no friends that you’ve known for more than 6 months and no family. Of course I’m going to talk to people from home when they call.

Later that day I was talking with Ernesto and we were talking about it. I guess Ernesto said something to Wandy because Wandy asked why I told his dad. I explained that we were just talking and sorry if I got him in trouble. It’s good to know that I can go to Ernesto if I have a problem with his kids though. Ernesto is so helpful. I feel like he’s American sometimes. He’s got a very forward thinking family and they’ve got a lot of the same ideals I’m familiar with from home. Also, he monitors and fills my water tank with out me asking and I guess some tube is broken in my bathroom so he’s going to go into Navarette and pick up a new one and fix it for me when I give him some money. It’s so nice having such a helpful neighbor. I decided that when I go back to the States I’m really going to miss knowing all my neighbors and the way the whole community is really a community. Guess I should enjoy it while I have it.

1/25- 1/29: My time in La Capital in a nutshell:

Since I was in Santo Domingo for so long, and generally don’t write in my blog at all when there, I have a lot to catch up on so I figured that I would only write the highlights… well, the ones I remember since trying to recall what I did for 5 days is asking a lot from me.

Sunday 1/25: Although I really don’t remember too much about what I did here I can tell you this: Kenzie met me in Santo Domingo this day and we wanted to go to the pool but it’s not open on Sundays:( We worked on our reports but pretty much enjoyed using the internet most of the day.

Monday 1/26: Hmmmm, nope… don’t remember what happened today either. I do remember however, that it was hot and we were able to go to the pool for about an hour. I discovered on this day that writing the report was going to take me forever (and not just because I had to pool and internet at my disposal). Kenzie finished her report today and began drawing her charla. I was starting to feel like I had ADD or something…

Tuesday 1/27: While Kenzie was making beautiful pictures for her charla I was focused on my report. I finally finished writing it and asked someone to help me out by proofreading it. (Something I should maybe do more with my blog…) Kenz and I made an appearance at the pool but the locker rooms were shut and locked. So, being the incredibly motivated PCVs that we are, we decided it wasn’t worth it to hut down the key. We didn’t change into our swim suits and we didn’t get in the water. We also didn’t collect $200 when we passed GO. We did, however, sit on the pool chairs and talk for an hour, looking at the water and commenting on how nice it would feel to swim (but not really bothered by the fact that we weren’t swimming)

Wednesday 1/28: I had been getting texts from Wandy telling me that I needed to come home Wednesday because there was a big party in Los Ruales. This one was going to be at someone’s house as I understood it and it was a pretty big deal. While I felt bad, I was still waiting for my new cell phone (PC now has phones with memory chips that are part of the PC network which means that I can call other PCVs for free. The chip phones get much better service for some reason so I was hoping that this would make it easier to talk in my site. Not to mention that my old phone broke. It was letting people call me but then wouldn’t let me answer the calls or call out.) I did get my new phone and if I had hurried I could have made it back but I was a little apprehensive about going back without have started my charla. So, I stayed but Kenzie insisted that she needed to get back.

About an hour after Kenz left, I was diligently working on my charla when she called me. It was hard to hear her because people were screaming in panic in the background. She said her bus driver had just been shot and she didn’t know what to do. Well, that’s not good. I wasn’t sure what to tell her except remembering when Ryan and I were attacked I just kind of walked away and was spared. So, I told her to walk away. Get out of there but do it calmly if possible. She told me she had to go and hung up. Well, great. Now I was worried. I tell you what; this is getting to be a little much. I thought to myself, “If Kenzie get’s shot, that’s it dude- I’m going home.” It was the first time I seriously thought about going home. I wasn’t sure what to do since I didn’t just want to go back to working on my charla but I didn’t want to tell Romeo incase it wasn’t as big of a deal and I cause a lot of headache for Kenz. Then I remembered the Safety and Security Officer- Jenn. She was really helpful with everything that happened with Ry and I so I went to her office and told her. She called Kenz and told her to come back to the office.

When Kenzie got back to the PC office I found out the whole story. She was on her bus heading home with about 9 other people when the police stopped the bus, saying there was a thief somewhere and they wanted to search the bus. They made everyone get off the bus but everyone piled into the doorway and so Kenz and another woman were still on it. The driver was getting pretty pissed that the cops were slowing his route down. He showed them his papers and said how he needed to get going. The people on the bus knew the driver (since they were mostly all from the same community- the little one that Kenz lives in) and were telling the police that the guy was legit. About that time, Kenz and the other lady decided that the one other bus that was going to the community may be a faster bet so they pushed their way off the bus, past the little crowd and the bus driver. About 20 seconds after the got off the bus they heard gun shots and people screaming. The police had shot her bus driver and killed him. What will happen to the police? Probably nothing. Now poor Kenz has to go back to her community and answer a ton of questions about it to people she knows and doesn’t know, like the driver’s family.

It’s pretty common when on a guagua that the police stop it to “check” it. They stand on the side of the road with a 6’ or so plank with nails and a big gun. Then the one with the gun gets on the bus, looks around and if it all looks good then we get to go on our way. I’ve been stopped plenty of times but the police have always let us go. Everyone knows that they’re looking for Haitians. Sometimes I ask the person next to me just to see what they say and they always whisper that they’re looking for Haitians. I’m not sure about this but I’ve heard that if someone has really dark skin, they think that they’re Haitians and will take them off the bus. After that, I don’t know what happens. Just a little reminder that I’m not at home I guess.

Thursday 1/29 : Well, although I only got about half of my charla draw, I was able to get a lot done. I got a new phone, medically cleared to climb Pico Duarte, a re-fill on meds, and my report written and corrected. I feel like it was a pretty productive stay in Santo Domingo.

Sarah, Mark and I left the office around 2 and stopped at the Embassy to get some food to go. It took forever and so we ended up missing our bus by about 4 minutes. That was a bummer because we had to wait 45 minutes for the next one and it was going to be packed. Normally the buses leave every 15- 20 minutes. When we got to Santiago normally we take a carro to the rotunda (bus stop/turn-around) and its 12.5 pesos. We were lucky enough to grab a bus that took us there for 15 pesos each and we had a lot more room. Then, it turns out that the bus was going to drive through Navarette so they took me the whole way and only charged me another 15 pesos! So, normally I would have paid 13 pesos + 45 pesos to get home but today I just had to pay 30! Although, at one point I was a little nervous and contemplated putting my helmet on when my bus and another decided to race. It was faster than I had ever gone on a guagua and faster than I think they were ever intended to go. They didn’t race for that long but the road wasn’t exactly straight and they don’t handle well. It seemed that right when my guagua had taken the lead we arrived in Navarette which was a relief.

Noel was waiting for me at the entrada of Calle Santiago and so I hoped on his motor and headed up the mountain. We stopped to see Minga who had a huge pile of clothing… my clothing… on the couch. I thought it looked like more clothing than I remembered giving her but shrugged it off. Then she told me that she had Ernie gather all the dirty clothes in my house and bring them down to her. That’s a little embarrassing since they were just wadded up on the floor and Ernie would have had to pick them all up. Ah well I guess.

After a little visit Noel and I went up to my house and he helped me carry all my stuff inside. Mark was nice enough to make me two tubes from PVC pipe to put my charla paper in so if I’m ever going down the mountain with them or something in the rain again, I don’t have to worry about them getting wet. When I arrived I was a little surprised at the state of my house. Wandy told me he was going to sleep at my house when I was gone which I thought was weird but I figured it wasn’t causing any harm and it would be better for the devil cat I have. The last time Wandy told me he slept in my house (yes, after the fact) I couldn’t even tell he had been there. This time however… it was no secret. Of course when I got home there was no power so I set about cleaning the house with my great headlamp.

This may be weird but since I knew Wandy has a crush on me I was hesitant to leave my underwear out. Normally it’s in a bag but Minga had taken the bag over a week ago to wash it and never got it back to me (since it was STILL wet) so all my ropa interior had been piled on the bed I don’t sleep on. When I left I took it all and hid it under some curtains on a bench, after all, I didn’t want him like smelling them or something! I don’t know what goes on in the minds of 17 year olds! I also took the pillow cases off of my pillows and made sure to put some on the other bed to encourage him to sleep on the other bed. Needless to say, when I walked into my room and fond my bed made different, complete with pillows in cases, and the other bed piled up with the curtains and my underwear, I shuddered. Who knows why the underwear was there… I don’t want to think about it.

Then, when I walked into the bathroom, I was greeted with an awesome surprise: the cats had pooped and peed at least 8 times in there. They went in my trash bucket on top of the bag, in the corners, in my shower… and I know it was both due to the two distinct sizes of off. Man, yuck! I cleaned out the bucket, filled it with water, added some shampoo for soap and started mopping. Of course as soon as I finished the power came back on. The first time I mopped my house it was because of cat excrement and it was with the light of my headlamp: Welcome home!

Its chilly up on the mountain after a few days of rain!->

1/24 Saturday: Change of Plans and Scenery but not Weather

Yesterday sometime during the 5 ½ hours I was working on my diagnostic, Sarah text me and asked if I would be interested in going to Santo Domingo to work on our diagnostic together. We were planning to go to the Hub in Santiago but we weren’t able to get a hold of the owners to make a reservation. With the rain for the last few days, the cold weather, the constant distractions when I was trying to work and the irregular power schedule, I figured going to the Capitol was a great idea.

I woke up in the morning nice and early at 7 due to my alarm clock, Koodbie. It was so cold and my blanket wasn’t doing the job so I was using my pillows as insulators on each side of my body as well as Koodbie under the blanket, curled up on my leg. Due to the comfort of my bed and the cold environment afuera, I felt the need to stay in bed for an excessive amount of time. When I finally did get out, I knew that it was time to wash my hair. It had been a few days and putting a hat on just wasn’t going to cut it today. I managed to deal with washing my hair but the idea of submerging myself in the icy cold water to scrub a dub dub was too much so I just washed my hair and put on some nice smelling spray to make up for the other part.

When I left my house it wasn’t raining. I asked myself, “Should I take my poncho?” Nah. So, as Noel and I headed down the mountain and it began to rain, I did what any sensible person would do: I ducked behind Noel and chuckled. We ended up stopping at someone’s house to wait out the rain but it was too late; Noel was soaked through his coat and t-shirt. I was wet but nothing compared to Noel, thanks Noel.

I met Sarah and Mark in Santiago and we hopped on a bus to Santo Domingo. The bus company that we took, Caribe Tours, is under the impression that we’re in the freaking desert or something and tries to freeze us with the air conditioning- something amplified this time since we were all wet from the rain. Two and a half hours later we arrived in Santo Domingo, dismayed to discover that the storm had followed us and it was raining. We got some lunch, some delicious yogurt and headed to the office to do some work. Tomorrow is another day and we’ll see how productive I can be:)

1/23 Friday: Still raining… still cold but not as cold

Well, it’s still raining but today it’s not as cold at least. I’ve noticed that people like to use how cold it is as a preface to telling me I need a boyfriend, a Dominican boyfriend. For example, here is a scenario played out yesterday when I went to the colmado…

Colmado Man: “Man, it sure is cold isn’t it?”

Me: “Yep.”

Colmado Man: “What do you do at night? All alone… isn’t it cold? I bet you’re pretty cold. You should get a boyfriend to keep you warm at night. Why don’t you look for one here? There are a lot of good ones here.”

Me: “Sure there are but I have a cat who loves to sleep in bed with me. If I got a boyfriend the cat would get jealous. If my cat was jealous I would be afraid.” (Yes my friends, this is how I actually talk here… somewhat like a 3rd grader)

That generally stops them in their tracks since people are appalled with how I treat the cat which has soooooo many parasites. (You kiss it?! Aye mi madre!!!) After I’m given the advice that the parasites will kill me I ask if I should be buried here or in the States. I mean, there is a cemetery conveniently right down the road. Then I ask if it’s here if they could please make sure I’m in a tomb off of the ground; like maybe on the 3rd level or something. The idea of being in a puddle in the ground makes me even colder. If the cat sleeping with me didn’t distract them from the fact that I’m sleeping solo, the grave thing does it every time. Hehe

My days have been consisting of working on the computer and whatever distraction happens to fall into my lap. Today I was so cold when I got up that I stayed in bed with the hell-cat until 9:30. By the time I put breakfast on (hot chocolate), and got dressed it was 10: time for se fue la luz. I worked on my computer and was distracted by Wandy barging in my front door without knocking- something I yelled at him for. How rude can you be? He left but then returned with a friend. He and his friend sat out on my porch for an hour (making sure to pass by or stand in front of the window incase I didn’t see them) until they finally knocked and I let them in. My battery was just about to die anyways.

I decided to study Spanish while they played cards and looked at the Gringo Grita magazine I somehow have that has the Closing of Service (COS) information of Kevin in it (from Fall 2007). The Gringo Grita comes out 4 times a year and 3 of those 4 issues have COS information from whomever is left in the group about to COS. Each person fills out a survey complete with questions like, “I knew I was Dominican when…”, “Funniest moment in country”, “Advice to new PCVs”… and so on. My neighbors here love to look at the magazine from the fall 2007 since it has pictures of people they knew, even though the magazine’s almost completely in English. The Gringo Grita isn’t online or anything because it’s written by a bunch of people mostly in their 20s with a lot of time on their hands so it’s not exactly politically correct and most likely wouldn’t give the best image of PCDR. It’s freaking hilarious but most of the things are probably inside jokes for PCVs who live here.

Anyways, I was just asking Robin, Wandy’s friend, if he was going to be in my Escojo group (the HIV/AIDS education youth group) when they started getting all excited by something in the magazine. One of the types of dances here is called Reggaton and is pretty risqué. Well, this particular magazine posed the question: What came first in the DR: crazy sex positions or this dance? And it was complete with stick figures demonstrating to ensure the reader was following the descriptions. So much for asking about ways to prevent STIs and such, Robin wanted to know the answer to the question. I don’t know, which do you think came first? Could this be a debate topic at one of my classes? After two years here I’ll be remembered like this: Betsy Spencer, PCV who didn’t teach about abstinence but about different sex positions. “Use a condom kids!”

1/22 Thursday: A visit from Miguel and rain that wouldn’t stop

I got a phone call around 10 am from Miguel’s receptionist letting me know that Miguel would be visiting today around 3. Ernie, Wandy and Noel were here at the time and asked who it was. When I told them they all started cleaning my house in a frenzy. I felt a teeny bit bad since I wasn’t helping but the power was already out and my battery has a very short life for some reason (It’s depressing; during CBT it would last for 3 hours while I typed but now it’s good for about half that) so I wanted to keep working. They cleaned my whole house, mopped and all, in about 25 minutes. After my computer died I felt compelled to do something to help the appearance of my house so I organized the books on my shelf. Every little bit helps right?

When it was lunch time I went to Minga’s house for the bandera of Domincan food: arroz, habichuelas, y carne (rice, beans and meat although I pretty much never eat the meat unless it’s chicken- they know how to cook chicken here let me tell you). Minga had a mini food crisis on her hands today though: she ran out of gas to cook. Luckily, she has a back-up: a fogon, which is a large can fashioned into a stove with wood in the bottom half, a large hole cut into the side for air and to load up the wood, and a shelf near the top to put more coal/wood and the food. She cooked the rice on that and I think she felt happy that she had my food from the day before she could give me- more rice and beans.

I didn’t eat there yesterday because at noon I wasn’t hungry and I told her I’d come by later to get the food. Well, I went to that party and then the discoteca so by the time I went to her house to see if she was still up, it was 9pm and all the lights in the house were out. So, I headed home and ate leftover pancakes from lunch. (I found a box of blueberry ones:) When Minga asked why I never came by and I told her I did she insisted that she wasn’t sleeping. She said although I sleep somewhere else I still live there so she wants me to knock on the door “at 12 in the afternoon or 12 at night”. Awww:) That’s really nice but I still won’t wake her up.

After lunch, I went back home around two, stopping at the colmado for some crackers and Coke to give Miguel when he arrived (I wanted to make the Doñas in LR proud). I sat on my porch and was just about to start reading a book, happily listening to my iPod when Ernesto and Mercedes came over to wait with me for Miguel. Dang, so much for some alone time, I put my book down and took off my headphones. I guess I get enough of that in the mornings when I don’t open my door until 10 or 11 sometimes. Miguel called around 3 to tell us that he got his SUV stuck in the mud and would be late. It has rained every night now for about 3 days and now all day today so there was a lot of mud and I guess he was stuck for about an hour and a half.

When Miguel finally arrived it was a little after 4 and we all piled into Ernesto’s house. This means that I got my house cleaned as a freebie, hehe. The meeting was a little annoying because it was pretty much Ernesto talking to Miguel the whole time with other people pitching in at times and I was just sitting there. At one point Miguel told Ernesto that he was talking about the other PCV too much. Which, yeah that happens a lot but it really doesn’t bug me since it’s something to talk about and also I can understand it. He was here for 2 years and I’ve been here for 3 months; there are a lot more stories to talk about dealing with Kevin. When I did finally talk I told Miguel that it was lucky there was an activist group here and I was hoping that they would be motivated enough to do something about the trash. When I mentioned the name Miguel flipped. Guess the group isn’t exactly peaceful. They have strikes, throw rocks and bombs sometimes and sometimes use guns. Hmmmm….. well, so I guess that means I should maybe focus on getting the Mother’s group to do something about the trash. And don’t freak out, there are only like 5 people in the group here so I seriously doubt anything is going to happen here in La Lomota- I wasn’t planning on going down to Navarrete with them to strike or anything. Ah well…

1/21 Wednesday: I’m going insane

Although I know you may not feel bad for me, if I was in your shoes I probably wouldn’t either, but- remember how I said that this job was so great? Having to make posters and be social was right up my alley… well, this is more social than I’ve ever been in my life and for the longest duration too. It’s tiring! Maybe because it’s in Spanish it’s more exhausting but let me just say- dang! Not to mention that finding a balance between being social and doing diagnostic work isn’t easy either.

For instance, today was a holiday. Everyone went to this big party up the road to drink and dance. I was faced with a dilemma because I thought that I should go since I’ve been locked up in the house a lot working, but there was power when everyone was going to the party and I wanted to get some work done. Plus, I’ve never been a partier and this parting all the time thing is wearing me out! It takes extra effort to do willingly do things that are embarrassing and I wouldn’t normally do- like dance in broad daylight to a beat I can’t keep and a dance I don’t know while a lot of people were already staring at me. I would also like to point out again that I never danced while back in the States thanks to an embarrassing incident when I was 16 so dancing in itself is a bit of a push for me. (Although, I really do love dancing:) Anyways, this is hard in a different way, one that I didn’t expect but I still love it here and I love my “job”.

So, back to my story- I ended up staying home from the party today until the power went out. I figured that people will probably forget that I was antisocial in the beginning of my service and besides, I need to get my work done. Not to mention that I’m sick of trying to keep up with trying to get people to think of me a certain way. It seemed like training tried to get us all to do that but you know what? I live here and I’m going to live here for two freaking years. I couldn’t try to be something different (or be on my best, tip top behavior reserved for when relatives visit) for that long even if I wanted to. I’m going to try to be social and have a degree of professionalism but overall I’m going to try to relax finally. I think that’s what’s really been wearing me out.

Anywho, after the power went out I went to the party for about 2 hours. The power was still out so we went to the discoteca where we were supposed to only stay for a little while but ended up staying for over two hours. The power finally came back while we were at the discoteca but it was pouring and chilly- forget walking home in that. After we waited out the storm by dancing, we left and I got home just in time to have a conversation with Wandy about what I did today when we went out that upset him. Ugh.

Finally, I’m here in the house with psycho Koodbie and I can do some work since there will probably be power tonight (generally there is every other night) but I’m pooped! And, I know I told myself I wouldn’t stress about my diagnostic but today I found a CD that had some useful information on it, including another diagnostic (much shorter) that I found out I have to have done and the CD also pointed out that the report I have to write is in Spanish! AHHHHHH!!!! So much for whipping that out at the last minute.

I have 12 days (well, actually 10 since I have two days of meetings in there) to get all that done, plus of course drawing my whole presentation out- all while trying to navigate between the sporadic power schedule. There is something to be glad about here though; the power does have somewhat of a schedule that I can plan around. If it was the night where there wasn’t power, it generally comes back during the night, and it always (so far) goes out at 10 am. The afternoons I haven’t figured out much yet but I think if there’s going to be lights at night, there’s power in the afternoons (from when to when, who knows) but it goes out in the early evening and returns around 8:30pm. The days when there’s not power at night, generally the power is out from 10am until later in the afternoon (like 4) and lasts until 8-9pm. Then it comes back sometime in the night (like 2 or 3 am)- except last night when it didn’t come back at all. Ok, so I wouldn’t try to set my battery powered clock to this schedule but it’s something anyways.

1/20 Tuesday: A different view

Ever since I signed up for PC, people have been telling me that the whole process is an emotional rollercoaster. I hadn’t experienced it much until arriving at my site. Although I have only had about 2 really bad days, (and those were right before I went on my site visit) I have definitely had some rollercoaster-type induced nausea with this whole experience. Life is so absurd in PC. I live in the DR which is somewhat like being in the States at times. I think that makes it difficult in an unexpected way. Sometimes I forget that I’m here and when one of the many different cultural things happens I get really annoyed by them, as if they were happening to me at home. (Like when Dominican men call me like 9 times a day) I need to remember to keep an open mind and not think that just because it’s not what I’m used to its wrong. I hope that this is a habit I get into and take home with me. Each PC experience is unique I’m sure, but I think that overall the experience for every person in PC is just plain bizarre and yet can be so normal.

For instance, today Obama was inaugurated. I had just finished putting the last of the information from the interviews in my computer. Kenzie texted me during this process, telling me that someone at a grocery store had just robbed her. (She’s ok thankfully. It’s a little alarming that my entire Spanish class has been robbed in the last 5 weeks). 20 minutes later, during the inauguration ceremony, Minga was screaming (yes, literally) at Marvey to go to school, I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, the annoying roster on the porch wouldn’t shut the heck up, and I was contently eating my rice and beans, trying to concentrate on what Obama was saying and ignore the Spanish translator. I didn’t think about how strange all this was until I noticed the neighbor boy staring at me, I assume to see how I was reacting to the ceremony. Then I remembered that even though, right then at that moment I felt comfortable and at home, I’m not. I’m still in the DR and I still am the center of attention nearly all the time. Even though these things seem normal now, they’re still there and life is anything but my idea of normal. It kind of opened my eyes to ridiculous and relative idea of normalcy.

Sure, at times my situation can be unnerving. This past weekend was a little unnerving for some reason. However, there is always something positive to focus on here in La Lomota. For instance, yesterday I went to the club de madres (an hour late, whoops) and they were having a session on HIV/AIDS awareness. Everyone was sitting, listening intently to a woman reading a brochure. Dang, if that can keep their attention then I should have no trouble with my presentations! I talked to Mercedes and she said that they would love it if I could give presentations at their meetings. This is great news since normally the women want to have their own time at their meetings and want to keep them short.

Also, I was a little relieved at how excited I felt to be able to give a charla (technically translates as a speech but it’s more like a presentation or a mini class). I can’t freaking wait to be done with the diagnostic and begin my English classes and whatever else! I was worried about it before but suddenly, I feel ready. This is great news. I have two weeks from today to finish up my diagnostic presentation and after that I’m free to do what I would like with the community. I can’t wait.

1/19 Monday: And this is why I’m a dog person

I was sitting with Wandy and Ernie, practicing my best “I’m focused, don’t ask me a million questions” face, working on my interviews in the dark when I heard a cat growling. I couldn’t find my headlamp and tried to use the lantern that I had but it wasn’t cutting it. The growling was getting louder and it seemed like Koodbie was about to get beat up by some kind of a tiger or something. Not that I think she doesn’t deserve it after how she treats the kitten next door. Wandy was under the impression that it was the other cat that lived there with Kevin, Grendel, who was about to put Kood in her place. I guess Grendel liked to fight with other cats, was a little feisty with people and was a giant, super-sized beast.

Right when I got to where the growling was coming from, the power came back and Koodbie took off under the bed. Whatever it was that scared her scared her so much that she pooped all over the floor! Right in the doorway and not in a nice little pile either. Gross! I guess it was time for something to happen since I hadn’t mopped the floor yet (I don’t like mopping) Lucky for me, everyone thought it was as funny as I did and Ernie jumped up to help. She’s a machine! She ended up mopping my whole house, and my porch! Sure she did it with the broom for some reason but hey, it was clean. She then made some coffee for everyone and washed the dishes! So, in return I tinkered with her iPod (left from Kevin) and put some more Spanish music on it. What a trade off:)

The thing is, Koodbie is super cool and all but she is annoying! I mean, she has her perks but dogs are so much easier! She scales my mosquito net at least 5 times a day (that I see) and that’s bad news! I also hate cleaning out the poop box. Not to mention that I use dirt instead of buying litter and it’s been raining at least once a day now for the past 4 or 5 days so all the dirt is wet. FYI: wet dirt doesn’t contain the smell like dry dirt does- and I clean the thing every day. I guess I have to take the good with the bad. I feel a little bad since I know that I don’t appreciate her like I should. And Kenzie put it in perspective for me; she’s annoying but not as annoying as Wandy. If I can deal with him, I can deal with her and like her. Plus, she eats cockroaches.

UPDATE: Later that night, it was raining and when Wandy left he shut my front door, mistakenly locking Koodbie out. I didn’t realize it (how I have no idea since she’s extra annoying during the rain storms that she’s afraid of) until about an hour and a half later when I was going to bed. I went outside, looking for her but eventually just went to bed. I thought it was ironic that I had just written something about taking her for granted and then she disappears. She was ok though. It turns out that she broke into Ernesto’s house and spent the night in Wandy’s bed all night. I asked how he slept with her and he said hardly at all! Ha! At least I’m not the only one who thinks she’s obnoxious!

1/18: Sunday Morning: A recap of Friday and Saturday and some insecurities

Friday I went to the school dance party thing with Ernie, Vangie, Ernie’s brother whose name I always forget, and Wandy. It went pretty well for the most part. I had a talk with Wandy about being jealous and how unattractive/annoying it is. He was upset the last time we all went out and acted like a total baby. It was so obnoxious; something like a bad combination of a 17 year old and a 12 year old. Friday he was better but still a little irritating.

I should have remembered that the last time I went out with them to a party type thing we played the game Surprise. This game is a little embarrassing but I guess that’s the point. Someone goes up to the front, pulls out a strip of paper, reads it, and has to give a kiss on the cheek to someone of the opposite sex that the paper applies to. Of course, all the things are slang so I’m never sure what they say- not that it matters because the point is pretty much the same of them all. It’s also so great that all the girls are incredibly enthusiastic; all of them silent as the person reads the paper and chooses who to kiss. Once the person hones in on their target and it’s obvious who will be next, the room fills with cheers and screams while the person makes their way over and delivers the little kiss. What a site.

I got picked pretty much at the beginning, and it was especially great since the boy kissed each of my checks twice to show off, also that it was the boy who told everyone I was his girlfriend at school. (I had a talk with him about this but really, I mean who cares? I can’t be everyone’s girlfriend like a bunch of muchachos are claiming and people are going to think what they’re going to think.) When I picked my note it said something about the skin of a chicken. Apparently saying someone has the skin of a chicken here is a compliment, meaning it’s soft and nice. I personally think this is weird since I think the skin has a nasty texture and always give it to the dog or cat to eat. Anyways, I wanted to pick someone safe; someone who wouldn’t think it was a big deal that I kissed him on the cheek. I went for Ernie’s little brother and he wouldn’t let me! I gave a kiss to my friend Franklin instead and I would have been embarrassed by the failed attempt (since this doesn’t happen) but everyone seemed to peg the shame on him. So I felt really bad instead. I didn’t mean to embarrass him. After about 15 more minutes, I acted like I had a phone call and went outside trying to call whomever.

Saturday there was power for a good portion of the day, an amazing phenomenon. I should have worked on my interviews more than I did but I felt like studying Spanish instead. I was out on my beautiful porch when these two old dudes came over. One of them is a neighbor of mine but the other was some dude from Santiago and was a total showoff. He was like, “Oh, I have three cars…I have a great job… I go to the States for business conferences…” Great. What do you want a sticker or something because I’m fresh out. I had to sit and listen politely to him for like an hour. Then he got his 13 year old son to come up and wanted us to talk English. Well, the poor kid didn’t know much or was nervous or something because I asked where he was from and he told me his name. I asked his age and he told me his name. I asked how he was and he told me where he went to school. So on and so on. After that, one of the old dudes invited us (me and Ernie) to go down to the drinking colmado and hang out a bit. It’s rude not to go so we went and were the only females with 15 drunken men. There were 7 empty bottles of rum on the ground and countless bottles of beer. Ernie and I each took a glass of beer and then I said I had to get back to studying. Awkward.

The night was a pretty quite one. We all just hung out at a friend’s house. Ernie called Wandy out on his crush on me in front of 4 other people which was nice and awkward. She also started this annoying thing calling me gringa. I told her not to but she keeps doing it. I’m not sure why this bothers me, maybe because it’s what they call the white chickens. Quien sabe but it’s obnoxious. I don’t mind Americana, or Rubia but that one bugs me.

Sometimes I wonder what the heck I’m doing here. I mean, I know that I’m going to walk away with Spanish and friends but what else? What am I doing in my community? And will I go about it the best way possible? I don’t expect to change the world or even make a huge, noticeable, measurable difference but I want to make sure I’m helping/changing at least a little. The time in my site has been going sooooo fast and I wonder how I’m going to get going on things. That’s the thing about development, it’s not something you can jump into and change. It’s frustrating and takes a lot of time. (So, I hear… I haven’t had a lot of experience with it yet you know) It’s been going fast but I still have a lot of time left. I get down when I over-think things. I don’t know how my community is going to respond to the programs I want to do here like English classes, Nutrition, Women’s Health, HIV/AIDS education with the youth, school murals, the garbage… there are a lot of opportunities and I haven’t started anything. I know it’s early and as soon as I can, I’ll jump into it like I have with this whole PC thing. The truth is that I’m afraid to start. I will but I’m nervous. It’s like, how the heck do I get started? I’m afraid of the things I can’t control. I know it’s useless to think about it but I can’t help it sometimes. For instance, where is the line on going out to the discoteca? I know that each community is different but during training they warned us a lot not to go out a lot since we shouldn’t seem like partiers. I’m anything but a partier. My community seems to encourage going out, to socialize. I want to socialize but I want to make sure I’m not secluding myself from the people who don’t believe in dancing and singing. Also, I’ve noticed that training seemed to take the extreme on everything so that we were prepared. I know I can’t please everyone but I’m hoping I can find the balance so I can bounce between the most groups possible. Not worrying about this stuff and telling myself not to worry about it are two completely different things.

For now, I’m trying to just go with the flow and see where it leads me. Today Ernie, Franklin and I are supposed to go on Franklin’s motórrr to “get to know” a street. I’m not sure which one or why but I love riding motórrrs so I’m down with it. It’s been raining for about 10 hours though so I’m not sure if we’ll be going. Vamos a ver.

1/16 Friday: Rants

So, yesterday and today I woke up to music from my great neighbors. I’m not sure if it’s just because it’s only happened twice or what but for some reason it doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I kind of like the music that they play. Lucky for me, their kitten slept at their house last night so I was able to sleep a little better. Today though Wandy brought the kitten (him) to my house, concerned that he wasn’t eating the rice they were giving him. Poor little guy hadn’t eaten in like 2 days. I put some of Koodbie’s food in water and gave it to the kitten who happily ate it.

So, Wandy told me last night that he has a crush on me which was no surprise since he’s always at my house. I told him I didn’t want to date him and didn’t want to be friends if he was going to be all jealous all the time. I feel a little bad for him but at the same time it’s annoying. He wants to talk about it all the freaking time but at least understands, I think. He’s at my house a LOT. This morning I had my door shut and when I went outside to throw out the food scraps he was on my porch! It scared the crap out of me! I wasn’t expecting to see him there. Also, I’m not sure if I said this, but when I left for Santiago Monday I asked Ernie to play with Koodbie and to make sure she had food. When I got back I found out that Wandy took over the job. He slept at my house too…. I’m thinking in my bed since it’s the one with pillows. That could be a little creepy. I don’t think that he’s creepy or anything, I just think that he’s a 17 year old with a crush. I’m not sure what to do about this; first I tried to be nice about it. That didn’t work. Then I was snotty about it. That didn’t work. Then I ignored him. That didn’t work. Now, I’m just waiting it out. After all, he can’t be persistent forever. What a pain.

I don’t know if I’m getting stingy or what but I’m starting to get annoyed with Minga again. She was one of the people who told me not to give Angie my clothes since she takes so long to give them back (like 5 days to give back a dress) and here Minga had one of my sweaters so long I forgot she had it! Then she talks about how I let her borrow it so she’s going to wear it. I was like, “Ummm, yeah I let you borrow it- not forever.” She asked if I wanted it back and I said of course. It’s cold today (and raining) so I asked if she was going to wear it today and she said no and gave it back. I like to share clothes but a lot of people here are looking for handouts. It’s the mentality of a lot of 3rd world countries. People come, build a school or give a bunch of stuff and leave so it’s what’s expected. I get pissy when people ask me to give them stuff. I say; “No, what do you think am I? A store?” Besides that, the majority of people here have more clothes than I have! (Amazing I know:)

Another thing that gets me is that now that I’m paying 2000 pesos a month, I’m not going to be supplying food. When I moved I saw that Minga used half of a container of my chocolate power (which I never even opened) and like half of the cinnamon I had. I figured after I moved that she wasn’t going to ask for my stuff since I’m not walking home to get things to share. Today she had some fruit and was like, “Oh, we’ll save this for tomorrow when you can bring some milk to make a smoothie.” Guess I need to lay down the law. I feel a little confrontational doing this but I’m sure I’ll think of a way to do it where it’s not confrontational. One great thing about this culture is that you can be as blunt as you want and it’s not rude. Great for me.

1/15 Thursday: Power, Activist Group, Drive, Dance= my day

The lights were finicky today. They were here, then they were gone…. completely unreliable but maybe that’s because no one pays for electricity. I don’t like to have my computer plugged in when there are surges like that even though I have a surge protector. I have a method for charging my computer. I use it in the morning until it dies. Then I do the dishes from the cooking fiasco from the night before. Next it’s time for lunch and I bring the computer to Minga’s house to charge it. It takes forever to charge so I plug it in, eat and then watch a telenovella with Minga while it’s charging. I’ve noticed that for some reason the battery monitor thingy in the corner lies and doesn’t tell me how much charge I have left really so it’s a guessing game for how long to let the computer charge.

After the novella, I head back to the house and see what distractions are there to entertain me. Today it was one of the boys who used to live in the house I’m living in, Jeraldo. He was telling me all about the movie he had seen called Hanky Panky. It’s pretty interesting; an entire movie set in the DR about how a guy (or two, I’m not sure) is trying to get an American wife. That seems pretty comparable to real life here. So that took like two hours. When I first met Jeraldo I thought that he didn’t like me much. He was a little snotty with me and quiet. He’s really funny though and surprising. I guess you shouldn’t judge a person by the first impression (or maybe the impression for the first 3 months.) Anyways, that makes me want to get to know more people in the community.

Right after Jeraldo left Minga came over to walk with me to the school to pick up a map someone drew for me. Not what I was looking for but I appreciate the effort. Going to the school reminded me of my site visit when I went to the school and everyone was hissing and saying nasty things to me in English and Spanish. Then, I was horrified and kind of embarrassed. This time when I went I was able to look the students in the eyes who were doing it and at least shake my head at them. It was still awkward but I felt a lot more confident about the whole thing.

After that I went to Minga’s house to drop off my computer to charge while I went to a meeting for a group whose name I forgot. Turns out that there is this activist group in my community! This is really good news if they’re actually active. There are like 3 places in the DR that are really active and strike a lot; Naravette is one of them. Well, I guess this group is really large in Navarette and take part in a lot of the strikes. Strikes can be dangerous so PC wants me to stay away from them if possible of course. I almost got stuck in one once but thankfully it was just beginning so I was able to get right past it without problems. Since the larger part of this group (the part in Navarette) takes part in strikes a lot, people in the community are afraid to join because they correlate the group in LR with being killed by the police. A bit of a jump, I know. Well, yesterday I went to the group and brought up the issue with the trash. (Recap: there is no trash pick up here so people either toss the trash out in the ditches of the road to wash down when it rains or they burn it. There is a school in my community that has trash pick up from the city so I don’t see why they can’t pick up trash for the community too.) I want to talk to the Women’s group and the Water Committee as well. I can’t solve the problem myself. I would like to go to City Hall with someone or a group and help but I don’t want to actually do it. Doing things for the community instead of helping people do it themselves isn’t going to sustain after I leave.

When the meeting was finished I went to Minga’s house to get my computer. She insisted that I go with her and Tolo to Rosa’s house. I asked like 6 times who Rosa was or where she lived and they were like, “Up! Up!” Wow, so specific. I told her I had work to do but she assured me that we wouldn’t be there long. While that was true, we went like three other places as well so I was gone for over an hour and didn’t get home until about 6:30.

Amazingly the power came back around 8 but instead of doing more interviews, we had a dance party at my house. It was me, Ernie, Vandy and Wandy. They said that it looks like I can dance Merenge (finally) but I need to work on Bachatta. Well, that actually gave me some hope. I guess tomorrow is a party at one of the discotecas for Ernie and Wandy’s grade- invite only. Vangy and I have been invited by Ernie and Wandy so it’s a good thing that I had some lessons!

1/14 Wednesday: a kitten and dinner in the dark

Yesterday Ernesto sent Wandy to get a new kitten for his house. For some reason the kitten had to sleep in my house which I didn’t think was a big deal until I realized that it was going to cry endlessly. Plus, Kubdie like to “play” with the kitten who doesn’t seem to want to play. The only way I could get the kitten to shut the heck up was to let it sleep with me in the bed. Somehow the two cats slept peacefully next to each other and so I had one on either side of me the whole night.

There wasn’t power at night but I felt safe in the house with two guard cats. The power has gone out at 10 am each day and sometimes comes back at night and sometimes doesn’t. For this, making dinner can be a mild challenge. Writing in my blog is also a minor challenge since I have to use my computer for my interviews and the battery only lasts about 90 mins.

Anyways, tonight Wandy and Noel were “helping” me make dinner. I was trying to make a stir fry with the only meat I have: salami, but it ended badly. I couldn’t see how much oil I was putting in or how the meal looked when I was done cooking it. So, when I thought it was done… well, let’s just say that it was nasty. I was pretty glad that Noel and Wandy left early so my cooking shame wasn’t made public. Even though it didn’t’ turn out like something from the cooking channel, I ate it. I am not deterred. I’ll have a lot of time to practice and hopefully I’ll be a decent chef after 2 years, especially in the dark.

Well, I was going to write more about this but the power was out for a long time and my computer died. I don’t remember what else I did that day so I’ll use this opportunity to say thanks a bunch Grandma and Grandpa for your contribution to my Christmas fund:) There’s nothing like having a little extra cash for when I’m in the Capitol or who knows where- maybe at the beach! I’ll probably use it for food, to eat something other than the Dominican Plato del Día of rice and beans when I’m out. Or maybe I’ll add it to a savings that I haven’t started yet to pay for scuba diving lessons. I guess there’s a guy here who gives a discount to PCVs and it’s a type of scuba cert that’s good for life and I can use anywhere. Sounds like fun but I’m going to have to save for a while for that so maybe I’ll go with the more instant gratification of a big, juicy bacon cheeseburger. Thanks so much! :)

Hey there everybody!

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. It's been crazy lately and hard to get to decent internet. Anyways, thanks so much for the comments!! One was anonymous so I don't know who else to thank! But Mary Alice, thanks so much for the updates!! I miss you all there too. How are you Deb and Chris? I hope you guys had a great Christmas!! Good luck with the new intern, I'm sure you'll make them feel right at home. Make sure to never call them by their name, instead always call them intern, that will make them feel all warm and fuzzy:)

Mary Alice, it's so great that you're doing well with the baby! Make sure to take lots of pregnant pictures so I can see when I come home to visit and also keep me posted on the sex of the baby. I bet you have some interesting names picked out, Mertel Janis or Ivan Humphrey... just some suggestions:)

I haven't gotten any package yet but I'm sure it's just taking it's sweet time to build up excitement! I did hear about Costa Confections, that's a bummer. With the Sweetery closed for a few more days what have you been eating to fill the void? I feel for you, I really do.

Well, I think I covered it all, I posted some more pictures on myspace so feel free to follow the link on the right to my page. I hope you guys are doing well there! I miss you a lot!!

1/10-13 Move in Weekend:

Saturday: This weekend was so much fun! I pretty much was moved into my house Friday night so when Sarah, Mark, and Kenzie showed up on Saturday we had the day to ourselves. We went to the store and got some groceries so Mark could make us some delicious meals for the next two days. When we got back we went to this party that was a little awkward since, after we go there, found out that it was invite only and we didn’t have an invite. But, I guess the group of Americanos was enough of an invite since we were all welcomed and asked to dance.

After that we went home and Mark made some great food- a chicken-veggie stir fry that barley fed us since there were 5 extra people in the house at the time (so we had to feed them too). It worked out well though because after that we went to a colmado that I had never been to for dancing before and we got free beers and food. Mark bought a different type of beer, Presidente, which costs a little more and tastes a little better, and I was able to drink like 5 cups of it! I was so proud of myself!

Earlier in the day I had a joke with Noel that he should try to date Kenzie because then she would come and see me more often. Never mind that she has a boyfriend in her campo. Noel knew she had a boyfriend but he was trying to work for the better good and get Kenzie to fall for him so she will pay the 1000 pesos to travel across the country more often and visit! So, Noel was dancing with Kenz and I was dancing with his cousin, Franklin. Meanwhile, Wandy had been amazingly annoying this particular night. It was ridiculous. Sometimes he’s great and other times he tries so hard to be cool that it’s hard to tolerate being around him. He was getting on everyone’s nerves and acting like a 14 year old nearly the whole night.

Sunday: The next day Kelly arrived and all the girls went to get our nails done after we shared some drinks at noon with some neighbors. We ate a very late lunch and Minga told me that I would need to pay her 200 pesos since she bought chicken for us all to eat. I was a little pissed off by this since we didn’t eat a whole chicken and also since when I don’t eat there for a week straight I don’t pay any less. I told her that she would need to tell me before hand next time and then gave her the money.

We were supposed to have some dance lessons that day in my house but we ran out of time. Before we knew it, it was time to head off to the discoteca. We ended up being at the discoteca for about 6 hours that night; it was absurd but so much fun. Wandy was being even worse this night; being annoying and jealous! After about three hours of it I was getting pretty pissed at him and told him just what I thought about how he was acting. He was mad since I told him there was never any chance a PCV would date hi since he was jail bait. I know I was maybe a little mean and incredibly direct but if anything, I’m learning that’s just what is needed sometimes. Talking to him helped a lot but he was drunk so he was still obnoxious. That night he sent me an “I’m sorry” text. I didn’t respond. The next morning he was sitting on my porch, something that I have a feeling will be normal for him and Geraldo (the other boy who were living in the house until I moved in), and I didn’t say much to him. I’m definitely not mad anymore (I can stay mad for about a day and that’s with effort) but I wanted him to know that it’s not ok to be a jerk when your drunk, say sorry and expect things to be ok.

After we got back to the house Sunday night, Sarah’s allergies were so bad (because of the cat we think) that we had to move one of the mattress outside on the porch for her to sleep on! I tried to leave the door open but Mark was sleeping out there with her and said that they would be fine. I just felt bad shutting the door on them! It was a great view for them though:)

In the morning, we ate breakfast, said bye to Wandy and Ernie and headed out. Sarah and Mark went home while Kelly, Kenzie and I went to Santiago to get some things and spend the night at Kelly’s sight. We ate at this great pizza place for lunch and decided to get some ice cream for dessert. I splurged and got a Brownie A La Moda for 125 pesos. I asked for chocolate and dulce de leche ice cream with it and when they handed it over to me, there was no brownie. “Donde esta la brownie?” I inquired and was told that there’s no brownie in the Brownie a la mode, it’s just a name. Also, the price wasn’t 125 like the sign said, it was 150. Kelly and Kenzie got two scoops of chocolate in a cone and it was 40 pesos. Normally this would have pissed me off but since I’m here, it was so outrageous that we all started laughing hysterically. The thing is, I’ve ordered that at another store of that franchise and it had a freaking brownie! Despite this, the ice cream was still satisfying.

Kenz, Kelly, and I headed off to her site after that. I was starting to feel a little bad about how great my house was, like I wasn’t suffering enough since it’s so much better that other water and health PCVs. That is, I was feeling bad until I went to Kelly’s host family’s house! She has her own bathroom, running water, a generator… she even has a sink in her bathroom and a tub! WOW! So, I’m feeling a little better about my house now:)

We watched Sex in the City after eating yucca balls (very tasty fried, cheesy treats) and went to bed. Kenz got up and left around 7:30 and I left to meet Rachelle around 10. Rachelle and I went to Santiago where I got some things I didn’t get before (like a mirror) and now it’s about time for me to head back to Los Ruales. I don’t feel any campo guilt for being out of my site or anything but its weird; when I left yesterday I couldn’t help but miss Los Ruales. I think it’s starting to finally really grow on me. I’ve always liked it but I’m glad that I’m starting to miss it when I leave:)

1/9 Friday: Last night with Tolo!!!!!!!!

Although I don’t know if the music from the colmado down the cliff from my future home will bother me or if my neighbors will wake me up each day, I am holding on to the hope that the grass is greener on the other side. ONE. MORE. DAY. YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I feel like sharing that Marvey peed the couch again so remember that when you all visit (I’m also keeping a hopeful view of that, notice I said when not if you all visit:) steer clear of the couch in Minga’s house. Minga says that Marvey never wet the bed before (yes, the one that I have been sleeping in for the last 10 weeks and seemed damp when I first began using it). It’s so perplexing. To me the child has a problem, there’s no mystery in that.

Something that is perplexing to me though is the school system here. I think I’ve already pointed out how the kids are only in school for about 4 hours a day, which in itself is obviously a problem. However, today I went to the school to return a map to one of the very helpful teachers and walked in on what I guess was a parent-teacher conference. The parents go to the school and talk with the teacher right there in front of the class full of other students while the students are doing busy work. Turns out that Marvey failed his grade this year. He’s in 3rd grade right now and I guess he’ll be in it next year too. I’m no therapist but I think that an 8 year old who whines like no other, pees the bed, and is failing school has some issues (well, the whining thing may be normal…). I feel a little compelled to take some sort of action but I’m at a loss at what to do. I don’t really like kids in general and especially not this one. That’s not even the problem really though, even though I don’t like him doesn’t mean I want the kid to fail in life. I’m just not sure how I can help. When I talked with his Aunt she seemed un-phased that he failed as most people fail two or three times!!

Later that day…

I realized I need to readjust my goal of getting the 93 interviews entered into my computer by tomorrow. I managed to get 15 done by the end of today. Well, ok so it’s not quite 93, it’s not quite half or even a quarter but I’m not deterred. Although it’s a little bit of a downer, while I was finishing up interview number 12, Ernie and Vangie showed up to do some twisty thingy to Ernie’s hair. When I reached my more realistic goal of 15, I stopped for the day and went out to talk. They were all excited about me moving and so we ended up taking all my stuff tonight (minus what Kudbie and I need for the night) to the sweet house on the hill: my new house! At first I thought that we were just going to take some things but, nope, we ended up having some guy take the big suitcase to the house and we took the rest of it. When I got there, Ernie had already unpacked all my stuff that was already there! (Stuff I bought and some stuff I brought earlier with Minga) Some people may be annoyed by this but I think it’s great! This is the fourth time I’ve had to move everything and unpack it (sure it’s not that much but it’s still a pain) since August! She and Vangie seemed to have a heyday unpacking all the stuff that we brought over too, I didn’t unpack anything. I was pretty dang happy.

Another reason to celebrate? Ernesto is on the ball and went to Navarette today for me and bought the stuff to hook up my huge (150 gallon!) water tank. He also already filled the tank so I have running water in my shower and a flushing toilet!!!!! I haven’t had a flushing toilet in my house since the States!!!! I’m sure I’m not going to flush any paper and to tell you the truth, I’m a little afraid to go #2 in it. Kevin never used it (remember he was a water PCV so for the majority of his time here there was no water) I guess and since there was no water hooked up to it until today, it would have just been easier to use the latrine for the kids living in it up until now. I’m afraid… we’ll see how long I keep using the latrine, I’ll be sure to let you all know:)

As far as the shower goes, I think I’m still going to do the bucket bath though because the water is COLD. Ernesto is going to put up some shelves for me in my kitchen sometime too and tomorrow he’s going to hang some tubing so I can have a closet. I’m sooooo pumped! I didn’t even ask him to do all this for me, how nice is that!?

I feel a little bad for Minga since she’s told me how she’s going to miss me so much when I go. I’m literally a 5 minute walk (and that’s walking Minga’s speed: s…..l…..o….o…..o…..w……) up the hill. Plus, I’m going to be eating with her each day for lunch and she’s going to wash my clothes. I’m starting to appreciate her more already and I’m still in her house! Poor Minga, I told her to come to my house and I’ll make her feel better with some hot chocolate when she was feeling down:)

1/8 Thursday: Two more days and a goal

That’s correct: just TWO more days in this house. Although it’s just the start of the day, tonight and tomorrow night are all I have left to suffer with Minga and Tolo competing in the Snoring Olympics, with Tolo using the pee cup at night, waking me up with his nasty, endless farts. Yes, two more days, and only one with Tolo. While I’m sure I’ll miss the little perks (not having to clean anything, a generator…) I’m equally sure the happiness of having privacy at some parts of the day, being able to sleep, and having a Marvey-Free Zone will certainly be worth the trade off. Ahhhh, I feel relaxed just thinking about it; it’s like I’m on a beach:)

You may have noticed the other part of my heading: “and a goal”. That is because, well, I have a goal. I would like to get all my data entered into the computer by the time the PCVs arrive Saturday. This means that I will be spending a LOT of time in front of the computer today, tomorrow and possibly Saturday. Wish me luck (and my neck from looking down at my lap all day long).

Later that day…

After working for 3 hours straight and only getting 4 interviews (out of 93 so far) in my computer I’m starting to wonder how realistic my goal is. Maybe the speed will pick up, we shall see. After my three hour stretch I went to take a shower and was assaulted by the smell of urine. The only reason I can think of that the shower area stinks like urine is 8 years old and peed the couch again last night. Sick.

Looking on the bright side, at least Rach brought me a portion of the insane amount of body washes and lotions I had accumulated as if stocking for Y2K. So, while I had to breathe through my mouth in the shower, at least when I got out and put on some lotion I smelled like an attractive flower that mosquitoes from miles will flock to (despite the fact that they’re not attracted to flowers I think they’re attracted to Cherry Blossom Bath and Body Works lotion).

I’m pretty sure I forgot to mention something interesting that I discovered on Monday. PCVs are supposed to be solicited by the community to show that the community has interest in the PCV and is going to be active in working with the PCV. Since I arrived I’ve wondered what the heck Los Ruales needed a PCV for. It seemed that there were some things that I could help with but for the most part, the community seems to have a handle on it. Well, turns out that they didn’t solicit me. Ernesto called my APCD one day in July to see how he was doing and my APCD asked if they wanted a health PCV. Awesome.

I could see this in a very negative way since I am sure there are other communities were that have more need and who maybe petitioned for a PCV. I hope that my community will be willing to put effort into working with me even though they didn’t put any work into requesting me. Who knows? Maybe Los Ruales will work with me. I hope I don’t end up feeling like a free mosquito net given to people who later just used it to catch fish; after all, they didn’t buy it so why take care of it? Despite these concerns, I feel like there is some good to come of this. Amazingly, all this makes me feel a little better. This sounds bad, but I guess it takes some of the pressure off. I am going to do my best, like I was before I found this out but I feel like, well they didn’t work really hard and wait a long time for a PCV so if I hit wall after wall, at least I won’t be letting anyone down but myself.

1/7 Wednesday: Getting Ready to Move!!!!!

Yesterday when I walked with Ernie back to her house Ernesto told me he was under the impression that we were going to go to Navarrete to buy stuff for my house today. I never met to say that but hey, it sounded good to me! The PCV was supposed to be at my house in the afternoon for the inspection so Ernesto and I had the morning to look for the stuff that I wanted to get. I was pretty excited about this; I even got out of bed early at 7! Quite the accomplishment, I know:)

We went to Navarrete and bought plates (45 pesos each but so worth it, they’re so cute!), bowls, cups (cute clear ones with blue polka dots), silver wear, a water tank so I’ll have “running water” in my shower (Si Dios quiere…) three plastic lawn chairs (for only 100 pesos each! So what if they kind of look like a dog chewed on them and are quite possibly the ugliest colored plastic chairs ever produced?), a box spring, two large bowls to wash dishes in, a toilet cleaner tool thingy (because- that’s right, I have an INDOOR TOILET!!), a plunger (just in case…), a mop, two coffee mugs (for hot chocolate- one for me and one for you when you visit:), a broom, a bucket, a sponge, a hamper (Mercedes said it wasn’t good to just use the floor like I’ve been doing and that a grocery bag wasn’t a good idea either), and dish soap. Minga is adamant I go to a house in the community this Monday (she tried to get me to go yesterday) that sells blankets and sheets and buy some. I guess it’s like 100 pesos for a sheet so that’s not bad. Sure, they’re used and don’t match or anything but I’m sure they’ve at least been washed right?

I bought all that stuff and I still have almost half of the move in allowance left- 5000 pesos! ($143) There are a few other things I would like to get (like a mirror and also a shelf so I have somewhere to put the food I don’t have and the dishes I do have) but I don’t need to get that stuff this month. Whenever is fine with me. I’m not sure how much that wall I need to build will cost (you know, so the house doesn’t fall off the cliff eventually) so I think it’s a good idea to hold on to the extra money I have.

In the afternoon, Neal the Regional PCVL, came to inspect the house. I was afraid that he wouldn’t be cool about me moving in early but he knows about it and even may come to my move-in party on Saturday-Sunday. Sure it’s true that I don’t have that much stuff to move so I don’t exactly need to enlist the help of other PCVs. I mean, really if there were like 5 people who each took stuff probably all of my stuff would be moved in one trip but it’s a good reason to have people over. Plus, I like to show off my site and my house. And I really don’t want to spend the first night(s) alone in my house, even though Kudbie will be there. Let face it though, cats are only loyal as long as they are being fed and even then it’s questionable.

One thing that I don’t have to question is the house. The inspection went off without a hitch so I’m all set to move. I’m soooooo lucky! I talked to Kenzie yesterday and she had to buy a bed, a stove, and a bunch of other things. She’s not going to have enough money to get what she needs. I saved money since I didn’t have to buy that stuff which is partly why I sprang for the water tank. I’m also lucky that I have this fantastic, rent-free house to live in! Sarah is looking for a house in her community still and it’s either a house that is on the edge of town, may flood, and is supposedly possessed by demons or it’s a house that needs a new floor and roof among other things. If she has to make repairs before she can move in, it comes out of the move in allowance or her personal money from home. Not to mention that neither of the houses available to her are furnished so she’ll need every peso for that. The majority of PCVs have to pay rent and don’t have furnished houses. Most people aren’t lucky enough to live in a block house either. Marc is just building his house since there aren’t any available and he doesn’t want to live with his host family for two years.

Something I’m not so lucky about is how much I’m going to pay for my laundry and lunches. Minga and I talked about it and I’m going to pay her 2000 pesos per month starting this month- a 400 peso increase from when I was living with her! Sure that’s a little less than $60 total each month for lunch everyday and hand washed laundry- but dang! I had to do it, Ernesto pretty much told me I had to so that’s that. I’d rather pay it and be in good favor than not and have Minga bitter with me or something.

Anyways, me casita is pretty much set now except that for some weird reason the water tank, chairs and box spring haven’t arrived yet (it’s after 8pm) but I have hope for tomorrow. Minga gave me all kinds of crap this morning trying to convince me to buy two large buckets for water instead of a tank since they’re so much cheaper. While they are cheaper, they’re also smaller and we don’t have water all the time as I understand it. When there’s not much rain the aqueduct can run dry. Also, there is a chance I’ll have running water for my shower with the tank so I think it’s worth it. (By “running” I think it’s more like a gravity-flow system type thing but hey, it’s not due to my arm rotating a bucket) The tank cost me 2,500 of my 12,500 pesos (it’s actually only $357 we get to move in) I received for move in. I’m hoping the water will come out at least lukewarm if I take a shower at the hottest time of the day. If not, well, I’ll be boiling my water and using the good old bucket bath for the next year and 9 months which isn’t so bad really. At least I’ll be doing in inside! :)

PS: I wanted to say Happy 24th birthday to my great friend Lisa!! :) I hope that you had a great birthday!!

1/6 Tuesday: Off to meet the secret boyfriend, you put what in your eye?!

Ernie and I were supposed to do some more interviews and finish up the map but she never came to my house. It’s just as well though because I wanted to get started on entering all the information into Excel so I spent the morning doing that. After lunch around 2 she showed up and we went off to look for the notebook I misplaced that had the entire map I had been working on. We also tried to do another interview but the person was gone at the hospital for an “eye allergy”.

After failing at each thing we needed to do, we headed up the mountain to meet up with her secret boyfriend. We hiked up and over the other side of the mountain to meet up with him at a friend’s house. I figured there would be other people there but there weren’t. So, I awkwardly sat there and actually read my dictionary for a while before realizing that my PC phone had service. I talked on the phone for a while and finally, after about 2 hours, we left. I told her that I don’t want to lose her Dad’s respect, that it was nice meeting her boyfriend but that I didn’t want to make a habit of this. I did find out that her bf knows how to play the guitar and so do a few friends of his so I may be getting some free guitar lessons. They won’t be in secret though.

For the last two weeks or so Minga has been telling me that she has pain in her eye. She’s a bit of a hypochondriac though so I didn’t pay much attention to her complaints. She also tells me often how her eye is swollen but it looks the same as the other eye. So, last night I was in the kitchen when she came in with cream all over her eye. It was globbed on her eyelashes, in her tear duct, and all underneath her eye. I asked what type of cream it was and why she put in on her eye lid or with her eye closed. She can’t read and didn’t know what type of cream it was but figured it was a good idea because it was medicine and her eye hurt.

We went into the house and I read the type of cream it was as she wiped it off. It was anti-fungal foot cream. The next morning she told me that she found another cream and put that on. She showed me the tube and this time it was a used tube of vaginal anti-itch cream. I suggested she go to the doctor and turns out, she has an eye infection! I feel kind of bad for not suggesting it sooner. I don’t understand why she didn’t go herself though. If it was really bothering her, why didn’t she just walk there? When I suggested that she go she argued with me that the doctor’s are never there but she’s the one who took me to the clinic in the first place! I thought that she knew that they were there in the morning! Not to mention that they drive by Minga’s house every day when they arrive and leave- it’s the nice, black, shiny Mercedes. Now she has two types of pain medicine to take and Amoxcillin; a step up from yeast infection cream.

1/5 Monday: Make fun of me, why not? A wipe out and a meeting.

I woke up wondering how I should feel about last night. The way people gossip here I’m positive everyone knows about it (and I really mean everyone). I decided that there’s nothing I can do about it and, who cares actually? It was fun…. sort of. I went into the kitchen and a few minutes later Noel showed up and graced Ming and I with a reenactment of my dancing debut last night, complete with the “Por ya!”, “ Por aqí!”-s. Guess now I’m even more famous and for such a fantastic reason!

A little while later this cute little boy-terror fell on some metal thing and gashed his head. There was a decent amount of blood but really, the cut was nothing. I whipped out the ol’ PC med kit I have and put some antiseptic cleaner on it, some Neosporin and a Band-Aid. Good thing I was there because they were talking about taking him up the road to the chick who is the receptionist at the Clinic to get stitches. She apparently knows how to stitch foreheads, guess their receptionists are better trained here in the DR. Just hope people don’t think that I’m some sort of a doctor now because I have no freaking clue about 90% of the problems people have already been coming to me for. “No, I’m sorry but I don’t know how a swollen eye can give you a fever or what’s causing the shaking…. Maybe you should walk down the road to the Clinic.” I’m sure there’s a pill they’d looooove to give you.

By the way, I would like to announce that I remembered to go to the Woman’s Meeting today. I couldn’t hear anything that was going on thanks to the three dog fights, the children throwing rocks at the dogs, the naked children who were running with squirt guns (where did they get those…?) and the seemingly never ending stream of motors driving by. I seriously have no idea what happened… I think it was something about watching your children though.

Not much else happened today. I got a lot of practice with my Spanish, got hit on, drew some more of the map, did a few interviews, got made fun of more, found a dead spider on my face clothe…. just an average day here.

1/4 Sunday: Discoteca time

Today I began the day with Ernestina. We walked to her house and I sat and talked with Ernesto for a good two hours when I just went there to find out how much I owed him for the ride to Altamira. I like talking with him a lot. There is another guy, Minga’s son-in-law (but he seems kind of close to her age), Tito, who is really fun to talk to. I don’t think I have to worry about either of them putting the moves on me which is a relief.

After lunch at Ernesto’s house I found out that I only owed him 30 pesos and I set off for Minga’s house. Around 3 Tolo, Minga, Ernie, and I were on our way up the mountain. After a lot of discussion, a lot of walking and a lot of time, Ernie and I ended up at the discoteca in town closest to me. It’s the one where I think the most people go to. I really love dancing (this is a new occurrence in my life) but since I’m still learning the dances here I like to go to the one that is a real hike up the hill since there are less people.

I was sitting there with Ernie for a loooong time without dancing. I mean, she was getting asked to dance but I wasn’t. What was the deal here?! Was it the sweater I was wearing? I was starting to think that I must be putting off a vibe or something. After a while some guy asked me why I didn’t want to dance. What? But I do want to! Why isn’t anyone asking me? That did the trick and after my first dance, I think people realized I want to dance so I finally was getting some practice. Yipeeee!

It was all going so well until The Incident. I think the Ernie was upset about something and thus wasn’t being quite as helpful as normal. One of her friends asked me to dance and I looked to Ernie who said it was ok. Great. Well, turns out he was a little drunk. This is something I actually didn’t notice at first. We danced one song and after it was over everyone left the dance floor. I tired to as well but it was too late. He pretty much wouldn’t let me and continued dancing despite the fact that there was NO ONE else out there with us and also that it was a different type of dance I haven’t learned. So, here we were, in the middle of the dance floor with just one other couple who wandered out with us, “dancing” together in the packed discoteca. It isn’t enough that people stare at me when I’m simply walking down the street but add bachata dancing and a big guy trying to “teach” me by saying “Por ya!” “Por quí!” which of course was indicating direction change, and you possibly have a valid reason to stare. Did I mention that the songs people dance to here are loooong? I’m talking like after I dance one song my hips hurt. It was long enough for me to get over the shame a little, make horrified eye contact with several people sitting down and then start to enjoy it. Yes, it was so awkward and embarrassing but hey, I have to learn somewhere, somehow right? Can’t get much worse than that so I guess it’s down hill from now. On the up side, now that everyone knows how great I dance, I think they’ll compliment me on my improvement pretty much no matter how I dance when I leave.

When I got back home Rach called me and I wished her a belated happy birthday. Minga wanted to get in on the fun too so she serenaded Rachael with her own rendition of Happy Birthday. Apparently a lot of people thought that the song was Happy Baby Foo Foo… I had to laugh but of course I can’t really make fun since I still don’t know the birthday song that they sing; it’s pretty long actually.

1/3 Saturday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHAEL!!!

I’m not the only one missing Rach on her 27th birthday; Minga has said several times how she misses Rach and to make sure to tell her happy birthday. It’s the first birthday of Rachael’s I’ve ever missed and the second one I’ve missed in my family (I missed my brother Aaron’s in October:( It’s a bummer but at least I got to see her last week and I get to talk to her as well.

Today has been a slow day. I was so tired from lack of sleep in Cabarete that I thought I would sleep really well last night but nooooo. Part of that is because, beginning at 6:30 am, Minga started the washer. About an hour later I think there was some type of a party or loud game in the street outside of the house with a lot of screaming children. I’m still really tired, despite predicting I would wake up early and thus went to bed early at 9:30. Minga told me I should go to the doctor and get some medicine to help me sleep. Hmmm….

I’ve begun the tedious task of tallying up the interviews. So far I’m just entering all the questions into Excel and man is it boring. I still have to draw out about 1/3 of my community in my notebook and then I can begin drawing the map. I can spend hours drawing the map and the diagnostic with out problem but entering in all the data makes me painfully aware of how long I’ve been sitting in front of the computer. Ick.

One of the many things I did today as an excuse to get away from the task at hand was to talk to Minga about how much I would be paying when I move out. I’m still going to have her do my laundry and eat lunch with her and we haven’t really talked about how much I’m going to pay. A lot of PCVs kind of mooch lunch off of different people in their communities and so they just pay for laundry. Minga was insistent that I eat with her and have her do my laundry. Fine by me.

Well, when I was talking with her about the price, she told me that I should pay the same or more. I pointed out that I will be using less stuff, she won’t have to clean my room (she insists on mopping it every day), and I won’t be here as much so I should probably pay less. I’m not sure how to say “it makes sense” in Spanish but I was trying to get the point across to her that paying less when using less is generally the way it goes. It turns out that the problem is Ernesto asked her how much I was paying now. She told him and he said it was too little. Then he told her that when I move out I need to pay more. I had to admit that I am a little annoyed by this. I told her I would pay 1000 pesos/month for laundry and food but I don’t want her feeling like she’s getting ripped off so we still didn’t pick a price. People here have told me that the guy who lived here before me, Kevin, overpaid for his laundry and lunch so I’m wondering if they expect me to overpay. Ugh.

One other problem I have is that Minga was under the impression Ernestina was living with me. Who would have told her that? This leads me to believe that the day Ernie was drunk and talking about living with me, she was serious. I told Minga I would be living by myself and I’m hoping to talk to the guy who’s going to inspect my house, Neal, and see if he will say something about it being PC policy that I live alone or have to have my own room or something. (there’s only two rooms in the house so I don’t think that she would want to sleep in the kitchen/dinning room) I can only hope. There is no way I want to live with anyone. I even have my doubts about Kudbie.

Kudbie has stopped using the cement under my bed as her toilet. She figured out how to use her box of dirt while I was gone I guess but she still enjoys using the kitchen floor as her bathroom. Mark told me that cats hate baby powder so I bought some and sprinkled it under Minga’s and my bed. The kitchen is next on the list. I figure even if it doesn’t work, at least it smells nice. I also have a backup plan suggested by Mark: hose the cat with a squirt gun when it goes where it’s not supposed to but be stealth about it so the cat doesn’t know it’s you and hate you instead. Well, that’s why it’s plan B.

1/2 Friday: Back to the Campo, goodbye beautiful beaches and PCVs…

Yesterday was a lot of fun, spending allll day at the beach and eating good food at Jose O’Shays. I seriously feel like I’m on a vacation here! I’m having a lot of fun but I’m ready to get back to the campo. A bunch of us met up and ate at a place called Friends. Aside from the fact that the food took for-freaking-ever, it was really good as well. We all went out again last night and there was a little trouble this time. My friend who was really sick, Iris, was over her aliment so that was good but another girl, Jessica (yes, the granddaughter of the Grandma I did a shout out to) was robbed. I guess some woman walked up to her and was telling her to watch out for thieves and stuff then took her wallet off of her lab and took off running! Jess, like the crazy girl she is, took off after her but the chick had too much of a lead and got away. It’s a bummer because the lady got Jess’s bank card and ID but the real tragedy is the fact that she stole her lip gloss!

Some good news: I called the Regional PCV and set up an appointment for him to come and inspect my house! He’s coming next Wednesday and so January 10th (that Saturday) I’m hopefully having a move-in “party” with some other PCVs in the area. I figure it’s no big deal because it’s only 19 days early out of my three months that I’m supposed to live with a host family. Thank goodness though, because I wasn’t sure how I was going to draw my map in Minga’s house. There is no room for the big piece of paper I have.

Yes, that’s right: I have paper now. When Sarah, Mark and I were on our way home we stopped in Puerta Plata to take care of some errands. I needed to get paper so we went on a wild goose chase for paper. Unfortunately we arrived around 1 pm so a lot of the paper stores were closed. We grabbed lunch in the meantime and finally, after trying 3 or 4 stores, we were able to find the paper I needed. It was a great store! It was really nice inside, had everything I needed (tape and whiteout too) and for a good price too! They even had great customer service! Mark was looking for corkboard and when they didn’t have it, they called another store for him to see if it had it! Customer service in the DR, as I’ve experienced, is pretty much non existent so this was amazing.

We stopped at a little place to use internet which was a waste since I couldn’t get anything done I was trying to get accomplished due to several problems with their internet. We left and had walked about 4 blocks when I remembered I left my helmet there! That would have been baaaaaad! I walked back, got it and we continued on our way. We were quite a bit further when I realized that I didn’t have my paper! Not again! I left that at the internet place too!! Arg! I walked back, discovering that people here are weirded out by a power-walking chick, and got my paper. Thanks goodness!!!

I hopped on a different bus than Sarah and Mark and arrived in Navarrete from Puerta Plata in about an hour. It took me another 25 minutes to get to my house which puts me about 2 hours from Cabarete and only an hour from Puerta Plata: something to keep in mind when planning your trips to see me:)

1/1 Thursday: Happy New Year!!!

Before I begin talking about last night I would like to point out that Cabarete is a weird town. There are people here who don’t even speak Spanish. I’m not talking about the zillion of tourists that are here, I’m talking about the people who live and work here! I understand how it’s possible but I still think it’s weird. Although, being in a town with a ton of white people sure has its perks. For instance, people hardly stare and me and I don’t get hissed at very often. It’s beautiful here with the white sand beaches and cool, gentle waves in the ocean but the people selling stuff to tourists are annoying. When we were on the beach yesterday we had to tell a lot of people no. No we don’t want a massage. No we don’t want fruit for 5 times the price of the vendor on the street. No we don’t want our hair braided. Ugh. Cabarete is beautiful but like everywhere else, it has it’s pros and cons.

One pro is has is the restaurant/bar we hung out at a lot; Jose o’Shays. Yum. If you ever go to Cabarete, want good food and don’t want to pay a lot: go there. I suggest the brownie a la mode. The restaurant is open to the beach and is nice enough to let us use their beach chairs for free. Most other places charge for beach chairs.

I wish we had eaten at Jose O’Shays last night for dinner but we went to this restaurant called Casanova. It was my first sitdown meal since sometime before I left the States. It was ok but it was overpriced and didn’t have a lot of choices. I went with the classic, delicious burger. How are we able to pay for all this you may wonder? Well, we received our move in allowance today so we had an extra 12,500 pesos in our account. Yes, I do need the money to get some stuff for the house I’m going to move into (such as a wall to keep the house from one day falling off the “cliff” it’s on) but for now, that burger was worth it.

After we ate we went back to the hostel. I ran with a friend to the grocery store to pick up some crackers and Gatorade for another friend who was sick with food poisoning or the flu. We both had the same thing for lunch at the same time so hopefully it wasn’t food poisoning! By the time we got some stuff for her and we ready to leave it was already 10:30! We tried to find the group but were only able to find about 10 people. That was ok though. The 10 of us spent the night on the beach, dancing and having a blast. At midnight there were fireworks and it sounded like everyone on the beach was counting down. There were a TON of people on the beach and at the bars dancing. It was so much fun.

I was trying to remember where I was last year for New Years and I finally remembered: I was at Niagara Falls freezing my butt off! That was a lot of fun too:) I was with family and we went to a concert at midnight. Hmmm, last year a waterfall, this year the beach… what’s in store for me next year?!

12/31 Wednesday: Off to Cabarete!

When I woke up today I was a little concerned that Minga would think that I threw her “no cats inside after dark” rule out the window when she saw that the cat was happily sitting inside of my net with me. I was going to put the cat outside but every time I did it would meow. The goal was for Minga to think that the cat came into the house after the front door was opened in the morning. So, I had to try to keep Kudbie quiet until then. (By the way, I’m still not sure how to spell her name… any suggestions? Koodbie maybe? ) Why I didn’t think to simply explain that the cat knows how to get inside without using the front door, I don’t know, but I would have gotten a lot more sleep if I had thought of that. Tolo got up at 6 and so did the cat. I appeased her until 7 when Minga finally got out of bed and then put her in her box of dirt. She just sat there. I thought that cats naturally knew the point of litter boxes but I guess I was wrong. She seemed to be eyeing the area under my bed with a kind of scheming expression on her little face so I just tossed her outside to avoid another mess while I made some breakfast.

I took a motor ride to the next town, which was about a half hour away. It was kind of a rough motor ride with a rocky, dirt road. When I got into Altamira I hopped on a bus for about 20 minutes and got off in Imbert to meet up with two other PCVs, Sarah and Mark. I was able to get that bus for 10 pesos cheaper than normal thanks to misunderstanding Mark who told me it was 50 pesos. I thought he told me it was 15 pesos so when I handed the guy 15 pesos he maybe felt bad for me and told me it was just another 25. When I met up with Sarah, Mark, we took a bus from Imbert to Puerta Plata, a city right on the coast; another 20 minute bus ride. In Puerta Plata we had to get on another, smaller and crappier bus from Puerta Plata to Cabarete, which of course since it was the smallest, crappiest ride, it was the longest at about 30 or 40 minutes.

When we finally got to Cabarete we had to find the hostel, Laguna Blue, where we made “reservations” but we didn’t have the address or anything. Once off the bus we began asking people if they knew where it was and it just so happens that we got off of the bus about 3 blocks away from it. When we got to the hostel we found that Laguna Blue didn’t have quiet a few people’s reservations. It works out well though since I’ll be sharing a full bed tonight and tomorrow with 2 other people so the two nights here will only cost me 700 pesos- a great deal for a tourist place.

After we dropped our stuff off we went to a great little pizza place and got the daily special for only 75 pesos each. I used to only like cheese pizza but since living in the DR I’ve had to eat so many different things that I’ve adjusted to trying new things with an open mind. (For the most part. I wasn’t going to eat pig intestines for Christmas no matter how good Minga said they were.) I got Hawaiian pizza- ham with pineapple and it was gooood. Pineapple on pizza is a good idea. So is corn.

After lunch we all went to the beach while other PCVs straggled in. We were at the beach for about 4 hours before heading back to the room to get ready for tonight. We’re about to meet up at 7 to go get dinner. What will we do the rest of the night? Vamos a ver…

12/30 Tuesday: Drawing my map, going to a party

Today I had a fun and interesting day walking around with Wandy, Vangie and at the end of the day, Ernie. I was working on drawing my map which is coming along nicely. I’ve drawn about 2/3 of my notes and so far there are only two people I have found that I still have to interview. There are also a handful of semi-sane or semi-crazy, however you want to view it, people who I can’t interview.

After lunch a random car drove by and invited me to a party later that night. Minga seemed a little pissed that she wasn’t invited. She was going on and on how the guy invited Vangie, Ernie and me but not her. It was because of this that she later told me that I would have to be home by 8. That was too early since the party didn’t even begin until 6 so I negotiated another hour. I feel like I’m 15 again with a freaking curfew only this curfew is way earlier than the one I had when I was a teenager!

After lunch I went out and did some more interviews and map drawing. I was wearing my awesome new rain boots (Rach brought me some that I ordered online from Target. They’re a beautiful blue plaid:) so I was being made fun of a lot. I didn’t care though; I wore them proudly. I also discovered that they are awesome for climbing up to the muddy mountain side to the hard to reach houses. I joked with the girls that I was going to wear the boots to the party and they dropped their jaws and screeched how I couldn’t do wear la botas.

When we finished for the day it was a little after 5, and being the punctual people that we are, we all hurried home to get ready. I arrived to my house to find that Ming had left somewhere with Tolo so I was locked out. Vangie was horrified that I was going to wear my boots to the party but I thought it was pretty funny. Luckily Minga came back around 6 so I changed and was just a little late to the party.

The “party” was at the discoteca. There was a bonfire and we played a game called surprise. A person chooses a paper out of a cup and reads it out loud. Whomever the paper applies to, the person gives a kiss on the check. I kind of felt like I was in junior high but it’s not the first time I’ve felt like that in the DR. Also I was thinking that these are maybe the kids who I’ll be playing lots of games with for my youth groups. I wasn’t sure what the big deal was since people greet with the check kiss here. Despite that, I got three or four kisses and they were embarrassing each time; although it was more embarrassing when I had to pick someone for each thing that I drew.

My group was pretty bummed when 9 came and I said I really needed to go. We were having a lot of fun dancing and stuff. I’m not sure if it was the little bit of alcohol that Wandy was drinking but he was putting the moves on me which is a big bummer. He’s 17! When I got home it was about 930 and Minga had already locked me out so I had to wake her up to get in.

After I got in and packed my bag for my trip the next day, I brushed my teeth and tossed my cat outside. About 15 minutes later I heard an awful noise and looked up to see the cat climbing over the wall into my room! There’s a space between the tin roof and the wall and somehow the kitten that I can’t teach how to use the litter box figured out how to get up the house and into the hole.

I was just going to ignore her but then she started kneading my net and meowing. I don’t need anymore holes in my net! So I let the little flea bag in my net with me and she slept the whole night next to me. At least when she’s in my bed giving me fleas I know that she’ not under it, pooping.

12/29 Monday: More interviews, another run, forgot the meeting again…

Here I am, sitting here in my room and actually enjoying it for once (I have 5 candles burning- two of which are citronella) while Minga carries on a conversation with some guy who’s name I should probably know, in the other room. Of course, with walls that don’t go to the ceiling and a sheet for a door, I can hear the tv and their conversation perfectly. The only problem is that, hopefully just today, my Spanish seems to have regressed to where it was about 6 weeks ago… maybe even more than that! I feel like I can’t understand anything!!!! Why is that? Is it because I’ve been out of my site a lot lately and haven’t been practicing? Is it because it’s been forever since I studied? I’m not sure but I feel the need to crack open the books some more and study study study!

Aside from that little roadblock of communication, today went well. I have 18 interviews left to do- or rather I had 18 left to do this morning. I wanted to do 100 interviews in total to make my statistical analysis easier since I don’t have a calculator and never considered myself to be much of one. I’m learning that there may not be 100 houses here though, which, thanks to Rach, is not big deal since I’m entering all of my results in Excel. Today Wandy and I did 5 interviews and then went through my notes where I wrote the Doña’s names of the completed house and tried to figure out who was who. Everyone gave me their proper name but most everyone uses a nickname here. So my lists of who was done were pretty much useless since my helpers didn’t know what people matched with the names.

Tomorrow I’m going to begin my map. Since I’m leaving Wednesday for Cabarete I don’t think I’ll get all my notes made for the map but who knows. After I have each house marked down and assign a corresponding number to each house and interview completed I should be able to see who I skipped, if anyone. There are three houses still that I know of that I need to do. Even after those that, I’m 12 short of 100 and 37 short of the estimate I was given for how many houses are in my community. We shall see.

After Wandy and I did the interviews and sorted out the names, I decided to try and take a nap. I just don’t understand it: why was it so calm when Rach was here and now it’s back to the normal psycho state? With the tv blaring, Minga yelling from inside the house to people walking by in the street, and the 4 kids in the house screaming and punching each other it’s no wonder I didn’t sleep. Now, I know you all are probably not feeling bad for me. I can hear it now; “Oh, jeesh, you couldn’t take your nap? Here I am working all day while you’re complaining you can’t take your nap. Pleeeease!” And it’s a good argument. The only thing I can say is this: you don’t have to listen to Tolo all night snoring and getting up to use the pee cup while he farts endlessly. It’s disgusting.

After a much needed nap of which I was deprived again (I should expect this now) I went out with Wandy and Vangie to go for a walk or run or whatever you want to call it. We walked down to the river (or bridge as they refer to it) and back. I’m not sure if the way back was a lot slower but it felt like we were sure walking a lot faster. In all it’s only about 1 ¼ mile each way. It took us about 50 minutes to power walk it. It was painful. My right calf is demonstrating its disproval right now and I wonder if I’ll be able to walk it tomorrow without some serious consequences. After all, my legs have a mind of their own.

When I got back home and was talking with Minga, it was mentioned that Minga went to the Woman’s meeting again today. DANG!!! I know that things have been all messed up with the holidays and all but shoot! I need to remember to go to those things! Ah well… hopefully next week.

One good thing happened today, sort of. So, last night I was not about to sleep above the makeshift cat box the cat had created under my bed. I decided that although it would be super disgusting, if I can deal with Tolo each night, I could deal with what I knew I had to do. I semi-crawled under the nasty bed which I don’t think has ever been cleaned and all the spiders scurry to when Minga swats them away. I took my scissors and began cutting the plastic away. I couldn’t get it all but I got most of it out. I was a little concerned since I was doing this in secret and I had to pull the plastic from the corners without pulling the bed off of the paint cans it’s perched upon.

After I successfully removed the plastic with puddles of cat pee and a few piles of cat poop, I took some wipes I had (thanks Rach!) and went to town on the cement. I couldn’t and wasn’t willing to get all the way under the bed to the few lingering dried pools of urine but I planned on swiping the mop from Minga the next day when she cleaned the house. My plan worked except the next day she saw me and took the mop from me. I left to do my interviews and apparently there was either a fresh pile of poop or one I missed because Minga saw it and reported it back to me.

There is now a new rule that the cat is only allowed in the house during the day when the front door is open. Minga must be giving the cat the benefit of the doubt that it just does this when it gets trapped inside. That’s fine and well except Minga doesn’t know that yesterday when I was sitting outside with the cat, it went inside to use the bathroom under my bed. Maybe I should just get a new kitten when I move and start over…

12/28 Sunday: Dude, where’s my paper? Back to the campo and what IS that smell???

As I sit here in my room, trying to enjoy my delicious peppermint bark (thanks Rach!!!) despite the nasty smell of cat excreta emanating from under my bed, I realize how glad I am to be back in the campo. Although it is true that life in PC is a roller coaster I feel that overall it is good. I feel very safe and wanted in my community. Yes, no matter what happens in the city or how anxious I feel, I know that I can always come here and feel better, for the most part.

However, Marvey is REALLY getting on my nerves already. It was really nice last week when Rach was here. Not only because she was here but also because Marvey was not. I don’t like kids and I especially don’t like this one. It seems to me that each offspring produced by Borein, Minga’s son, is a terror on Earth and needs to be at least temporarily institutionalized. Marvey is not the worst but he is the one who lives with me. He whines. He hits. He’s rude to adults. He ignores whomever he wants. It’s like he’s 2 but really he’s almost 9. Ah yes, I enjoy this house but I think I’m back to counting down until I can officially move out. 32 days.

Overall, my day today was pretty good, pretty regular. With the exception of one thing: when I got out of the taxi we all took from the Hub to the bus station I left the paper I bought in the back seat. I was a little upset by this but more upset by the fact that when I called the company, even after talking to about 4 or 5 different people, nobody understood what I was saying. Yes, I know even a PCV who has lived in the DR for over a year has problems on the phone with people but it was frustrating to no end. I wanted to cry. It was only 150 pesos worth of paper but Santiago is so huge, unless someone goes with me I don’t think I’ll be able to find the store again. It’s not like I can just get on a car and drive by the store. Well, I can do that if the car follows its route but I learned this past weekend that they commonly don’t follow their route exactly. They don’t turn in some places and if you know where you’re going and aren’t just looking for a store then its fine. I however, don’t.

When I got on the bus finally after giving up on the paper search, I called my friend Jess. Since I don’t have service much and it’s hard for me to make calls, I’d only talked to her once sine Romeo’s party. I was glad that I called her since she is hilarious and cheered me right up. I also found out that her grandma reads my blog! Yay for Jess’s Grandma!!! :) Hi there Grandma, you rock! :)

When I got home, Minga wasn’t here so I sat outside and chatted with the neighbors (who understand me quite well thank you very much) and Wandy until Minga arrived home. I went inside and tried to find the source of the nasty cat smell and was grossed out to find it coming from under my bed! I cleaned what I could but now what am I supposed to do?! Seriously, if anyone has suggestions that don’t include throwing the cat outside (which is my last option but I’ll do for sure if I have to) PLEASE let me know. It’s a cement floor and the cat is going on a plastic bag on top of it! The problem is that the bag is attached to the bed but is sagging down onto the floor. Sick.

Tomorrow Wandy said he would help me with my interviews. I have 18 I would like to do. Actually I would like to do all the houses for the sake of knowing everyone and also for the sake of my community map but we shall see. I may have done all but a couple after I complete the 100 I want to do. The next few weeks (after my trip to Cabarete) are going to be pretty busy getting my diagnostic completed. I would like to make the optional community map and number all the houses to a correlating number assigned to the interview I do. That will require some help since I don’t remember each person’s name but if I can get it done, then this should help me remember each person’s name!

When I asked Wandy if 9:30 tomorrow was ok he said that was kind of late so Minga piped up, saying we should meet at 8. What are you nuts? I don’t want to meet at 8! Wandy’s on winter break so he told me he could help me during the afternoons too. There’s no rush thus no reason to begin at 8. Wandy had already walked away so I’m not sure when he thinks we’re meeting in the morning. How about 9? Ugh.

10/7/08 Tuesday night Well, we got our new PCVs. They’re two girls who were stationed in Bolivia. I think one of them was there for like 18 months and the other for 7. It seems pretty cool to be able to live in another country but at the same time, wow- that would suck! I mean, these girls were told that they had to get to the capitol in Bolivia within 12 hours and to bring all their stuff just in case they had to leave the country. Then they were evacuated into Peru, they didn’t know if they would be going back or not. Next thing you know they’re all being given the option to transfer to another country or early terminate! Poor girls had friends and projects; they just had to walk away from it all. And how do you say goodbye that fast? I think there were about 150 PCVs there at the time and just 38 of them transferred. I believe they were also given the option as to how long they wanted to stay here in the DR (one year or two). They were given a list of countries which were able to accept transfers and then asked to pick their first three choices. Amazingly, they all got their first choices. Only two of the 38 came to the DR and my health group got them both. It’s nice because we’re just down one from our original number now. This is a short blog but I guess there’s not much to write about today. Tomorrow we’re going to the capitol to see a clinic… but I forgot which one. That should be interesting. I’m glad we don’t have to take public transportation there because Santo Domingo is so smoggy and when I’m on the guagas I get car sick. Not a good combo when you’re crammed in like sardines. Always something to be happy about!! I hope you all doing great and I get to hear from you all soon, leave a comment if you’re reading this (even if I don’t know you!) so I know its getting read by people I don’t talk to on the phone. (Oh yeah, and I changed the settings so I approve all messages first, that way I know when there’s a new one and don’t have to fish through my huge novel of a blog and waste time). Miss you guys and home!! Love B 10/5/08 Sunday Lessons Learned Some things happened on the home front these past few days which made me pretty upset. I was antisocial here at in the DR, tucked away in the safety of my mosquito net to watch Sex in the City marathons and bootlegged movies for so long my computer began to protest. I had no appetite and I know my Dona was wondering what the heck was wrong with me. She was probably worried I was getting sick or something, a BIG concern with everything that’s been going around. (another girl got sick and spent all day in her house yesterday, that puts the total up to 5 PCTs sick with whatever weird thing is going around… just three of us left to run in fear!!:( Anyways, so my poor Dona was concerned and to tell you the truth, I really didn’t care. It seems when it rains it pours and makes one thing- which may not normally be a big deal- combined with other things a huge deal. Not to mention I’m however many miles away from the issue/home and so the control freak in me is helpless to do anything about it. So, on top of being upset, and pissy for not being able to do a thing about it, I was learning even more needed PC (and I guess life over all) traits: patience (of which I have none), trust, and dependence. That’s right, I said DE-pendence. It’s weird isn’t it? You would think that this experience would make you more independent but, nope definitely not, at least not yet. Hopefully one day... And to tell you the truth, that in itself can be maddening, no wait; it is maddening. Normally however my lack of independence doesn’t upset me; I just kind of ignore the issue. But, when I told my Dona I didn’t want breakfast and she guilted me into eating at least toast (she made me chicken noodle soup too, with hotdogs in it but my stomach wasn’t having it), I could hear myself cursing my dependence. So, what got me out of this awful, mean funk you wonder? Well, actually the poor girl who was sick yesterday got our Spanish teachers to agree to take us to the beach today (sympathy card all the way). Never being one to turn down the beach, I planned on going- funk or no funk. When I showed up, there was only about half of the group there. I was a teeny bit apprehensive about going to the beach because the three girls I normally hang out with weren’t going. Once we got on the road my anxieties were put to ease and after a little while I found myself sharing my story. To my surprise, they were all interested and had somewhat similar stories of their own as well as insight and empathy. What’s better than a little “friend therapy”?:) I got support from an unlikely source that picked me up when I wasn’t expecting it. I’m so glad I left the house and went with my group. It was really nice, despite being harassed a lot by the nasty guys at the beach who never cease to amaze and disgust me with the very select words of English they have learned and also despite the fact we got rained on and kind of beat up by the beach. I had a great time and learned another lesson today: just because you think you don’t have a connection with some people, don’t underestimate the prospect of a relationship. That’s it for now, hope all is well with you all! Love B PS: We’re actually getting two transfer Volunteers from Bolivia tomorrow! In true PC style, I just found out today at the beach and I am PSYCHED!

Week of 9/27/08- 10/4/08

I can’t believe it’s been a week since I was able to post! I didn’t even have time to write in my blog until about half way through the week and man I feel like there’s so much to write I could never remember it all but here goes…

BUT FIRST….

Today is my brother Aarons 25th birthday!!! I wish I could be there (birthdays are a BIG deal in my family) and I’ll be thinking of Aaron a lot today. I hope you have a GREAT birthday and can’t wait to talk to you all today during the party!!! :D HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Illnesses

So, last Saturday the lone guy in our group got really sick. At first we were all afraid he had Dengue since he had a lot of the classic symptoms and seemed miserable but the next day he was pretty much better. Then on Sunday another member of the group came down with the same thing he was sick with. At least we knew she would most likely be better the next day although she was so ill and was losing so much fluid that she was worried she would have to go to the capitol to the hospital for an IV to rehydrate. Thankfully that didn’t happen. The then next day, Monday, another girl got really sick but it was different from the first two; she was only vomiting like crazy. All three lasted for a strong day but then just as quickly as they came, they left. Last week one girl found out she has Scabies (it’s gone now) and someone else had bedbugs!! Monday or Tuesday one of the language teachers discovered she had pink eye and I’m not sure but I think another one has it. People in the town have pink eye like crazy and they don’t use medicine to get rid of it, they use cherry juice or Vicks (Vicks is used for a lot here, I’ve put in on my mosquito bites so far)- that’s right, they put that crap in their eyes. Not good. Anyways, we’ve ALL had diarrhea here and with two weeks left I’m wondering what else is in store for us here at CBT. At least we have each other for support. When we get to our sites, we’ll be on our own.

DR Moments worth noting:

1) It’s customary here for a person to offer you a chair to sit in. This includes when you’re in the park with friends I guess since a child came out of no where with one of those plastic yard chairs on his head for us to sit in. When he walked up to us, dropped the chair and took off I think I had a “DR moment”- aka- “Wow, that was different… and yet normal”.

2) A PCT left the community building we were having class in at the time to use the bathroom in a host family’s house and when she came back she asked if anyone wanted the coffee. We looked up to see that in the five minutes she was gone the Dona had managed to give her coffee. People looooove to offer coffee or juice here and Patty just couldn’t get out of it that time.

3) During class the only girl who has a latrine stood up to demonstrate to me the proper way to balance on a latrine for me so I don’t pee on my pants again when I have to use one. No one though it was weird, just informative.

4) “I love using other people’s toilets” – PCT who has a latrine at her house.

5) When we talk about not wanting to get up at night to pee either due to sheer laziness from not wanting to un-tuck our mosquito nets only to have to re-tuck them a few minutes later or because we can hear something scurrying around on our floor. (The latter hasn’t happened to me thankfully)

6) The weird new sensation that I would rather know what’s crawling on me before getting it off of me.

7) The strange but strong satisfaction that comes with lying in bed and looking at all the mosquitoes that can’t get in my net.

8) Finally understanding why people shut their windows at night when it’s the best time to cool off their house. One word: insects (or in my case, spiders).

9) Waking up each night, not sure why and then realizing it was because the power came back on and the coolness of the fan freaked me out.

10) Not ever being able to sleep through a storm due to the zinc roof. Also, not being able to have a conversation when it’s raining hard since I can’t hear the person sitting next to me.

11) Fitting 22 people in a van that is supposed to hold like 15. (This happened just yesterday when we stopped to pick up a huge group of kids walking home from school).

12) Going from hating to tuck my mosquito net in since it scratches up the back of my hand every time to enjoying it since it scratches my various bites.

Building a Garden

So, on Monday (9/29) my group and I set out to build a garden. The house had already been selected by the technical trainer, Ann so we all showed up at 5 pm, after our Spanish classes, somewhat ready to work. Ann walked us over to the site of the future garden which didn’t seem very spectacular. It was nice and shady but not very flat, and our garden was going to be kind of small. Well, that was ok with me actually. So the group got to work- well about half of the group since there weren’t enough tools for everyone to work or enough space really. I stood there watching the others pick- ax away at the dirt and starting thinking that I would maybe prefer to just supervise this project. One problem: I had never constructed a garden before! I tried to do some flowery things at home last summer but they were quickly overtaken by weeds and I realized that gardening is NO easy task.

So, as I stood there pondering life I was brought back to reality as I somehow had volunteered myself to help get the manure. I strolled off to the van and we drove to a pig pen where two other girls and I shoveled pig poop into bags. This part proved easy but the challenging part was not stepping in the fresh stuff. I didn’t want my tennis shoes to get all nasty so I had worn my Crocs- that’s right, shoes with holes. We went back to the house with the soon to be garden and I was still shaking suspect pieces of “dirt” out of my shoes. Two hours later we had finished! The garden had three raised beds in it and we planted something like 8 plants: onion, garlic, carrots, cilantro, and I forgot the rest.

During the process we had the usual weird person come up to see what we were doing. We were in someone’s fenced in backyard but someone walking by and seen all of us and had to know what was going on. I guess it was some important person from Santo Domingo. After haggling Ann for a few minutes about what we were doing, who we were and why the garden was so small he decided he knew a better way to work and, in his dress shoes and business casual office clothing, he took the pick ax from a PCT and began hacking the dirt. He did a pretty good job I thought, except he didn’t look first before he swung the instrument and almost took out the Spanish teacher standing behind him! As quickly as he came, he was gone again… but not before getting something to drink from the Dona of course!!

The Market Field Trip

Well I can’t remember what day it was exactly but sometime this week we were informed that we were going to the market in our Spanish groups, something we were supposed to do forever ago. (I know I’ve been at CBT for like 3 weeks but a week ago feels like forever!) The whole health group went to the market together and broke up into our groups when we got there. To my surprise, Juan (my teacher) walked us to the entrance and said, “Good luck, remember to bargain!” and then walked off. Hmm, that’s not what I had in mind.

Well, ok then and off we were. My group decided to make cookies (recipe compliments of Rach:) and we had to get the ingredients for the presentation we were doing the next day. (making Super Eggs but I’ll get to that later) We were able to find a stand with items for our Super Eggs pretty early on and gathered up the ingredients. The guy told us it was 45 pesos and Darryl (guy in my group) said ok and handed him the money. I was like, “Darryl!! Why’d you do that? We’re supposed to bargain, remember?” Ok, I said the next place I would try to haggle.

So we went into this place with most of the goods for the cookies where a really helpful guy assisted us. We asked for half cups of this and tablespoons of that and he would scoop stuff out randomly and say, “That looks about right.” Not exactly an exact science but ok. When we got it all it was supposed to be 90 pesos without the eggs. “90 pesos! Oh, but that’s soooo expensive!” I said. “How about 50?” The guy laughed and joked a little but didn’t say no. Kenzie and Darryl felt a little bad for him I think so they were like, “Ok, how about 80?” The guy was happy with that and so off we went. I still think we could have at least gotten away with it all for like 65 or 70 though.

Next we had to find chocolate chips. They are impossible to find in this country!! We had some random boy who was about 12 trying to help us and he was leading us all over the place looking for chocolate. He was helpful but a little annoying and Bossy Betsy had to shush him at the end finally. He kept trying to get us to buy these bitter chocolate candy pieces which people use in hot chocolate. Being the inquisitive chocolate pig that I am, I had already sampled those bars and they are soooo not ok to use in cookies. Thanks to the lesson Jackie and Rach taught me when I was like 13, I know for sure that chocolate bark is gross if you’re going to be consuming it when it’s not totally mixed in with something. 10 years later and their mean trick finally came in handy!

So we walked and walked and finally we found a candy store. They were selling chocolate bell thingys for 3 pesos each. Well, we needed like 20 and that’s a lot to spend on chocolate when all other other ingredients cost us 80 pesos. I asked her if we bought 20 would she give them to us for 2 pesos each. I have no idea what she said but when I counted out 20 so told me it was 40 pesos so I guess it worked.

Next I went to buy some fruit and the mango dude was selling them for 10 pesos EACH! I just bought them last weekend somewhere else for 5 pesos each. I asked if he would give me two for 10, he said 2 for 15 and I said 2 for 12 and we had a deal! Needless to say, I was pretty dang satisfied. After all the walking and looking though me and my group were about 30 minutes late for meeting everyone else so as we were walking back we were met by our Spanish teacher who was pretty worried. Poor guy thought he lost his whole class!

Nutrition Center

Wednesday we all went to the nutrition center in Bani. It’s the only nutrition center in the whole country. Its way more than just a regular nutrition center though, it’s for children under the age of five and so it doubles as a day care. People have to pay a little per month to take their kids there (to help with the costs since its run solely on donations) but in the morning the kids are fed breakfast, then they play and run around until snack time. They get milk as a snack at 10 and then lunch at 11 or 12. Then they are all given baths and lay down to nap while their clothes are washed. After more playing and another snack of milk, the parents can either pick their children up or let them stay for preschool. Children get a lot of milk at the clinic since they generally don’t get it at home. Due to the global food crisis, the cost of food has gone up a ridiculous amount in the last few years. Milk is much too expensive for the average person to buy and so they just go without.

The clinic is run by a nun who is from Canada. She’s lived here in the DR for more than 30 years and had the nutrition clinic for a looong time. I’m not sure how long but I know that she moved from a church to her current building and has been there for the past 12 years. It seems she runs the clinic pretty well. In order for a person to bring their child to the center they have to come and volunteer one day a week. The children come to the clinic five days a week for up to a year. By then the mothers should know how to properly nourish their children with what they have and the child should be close to normal expected weight.

You all know that I am no fan of kids so playing with them for an entire hour was less than entertaining for me but it wasn’t too bad as long as I wasn’t one of the people holding the bubbles. After the kids at their lunch of “green soup” (which is made of green leaves made into a paste and noodles) my fellow PCTs and I were treated to lunch. It was the best lunch I have had in the country with delicious cheese, (the cheese from the colmados has the nick name “squeaky cheese” since it squeaks against your teeth when you eat it and this is the only cheese I’ve been eating pretty much since I got here), healthy cookies with oatmeal, fresh cantaloupe (which ALWAYS makes me think of you Rach since you loaded me up with it my last few days there:), fresh veggies which weren’t cooked, nice fluffy rolls and of course green soup. It was great!

The nutrition center also has a clinic on the property which offers consultations, vaccines and other common services. It’s really a great asset in the middle of a very poor community. The nun showed us pictures of various children she has had there, some that have made it and others than died. Right now they have a child who is 9 months old and just 11 pounds. It’s really sad to see the pictures of the children who died because the mothers were unable to feed them or unwilling to take them to the clinic each day.

Presentation

So, yesterday was the day that I had to give my first presentation in front of the members of the community. When I first heard about this I was nervous but later I felt ok with it but then right before it I began to get nervous. Here it’s normal to take a nap after lunch (which is when I write my blog since it’s too hot to nap) but the day of our presentation I fell back into Bossy Betsy mode and our Spanish teacher didn’t take a nap either. I worked on this with my Spanish group and with two of the three of us being sick on Saturday and Monday it put us a little behind. So, college style, we were working on finishing it up a few hours before we had to present. I figured we needed all the time we could get and there wasn’t time for naps, but then I felt bad. I was later reassured that I’m not that bossy and that in this country all the women are bossy so it’s ok.

When it came time to present we had dealt with all the issues that come up right before hand and were ready. We went outside (it was held in my Dona’s backyard) and saw that the crowd of what we thought was going to be 8 grew a LOT. By the end of the presentation there were probably over 30 people there. For our presentation we could talk on either nutrition or breastfeeding. We chose nutrition. Giving a 45 minute speech in Spanish where you can’t read it straight off of paper is no easy task. We played games and cooked a meal for everyone (super eggs) with green leaves in the community. The presentation got off to a rocky start with a turkey mistaking me for its mate (or dinner) as it followed me around all puffed up but by the end, it went well.

Spanish

Last night proved to me that my Spanish MUST be getting better. We were planning on cooking our meal in the kitchen and having the 8-10 expected to show up in there with us. There was no way 30 people were fitting in the kitchen though, in fact when I said it no one moved from their chair. So my two other presenters were in the kitchen cooking while I was trying to explain the steps and then ad-lib so I wasn’t standing in front of a crowd in awkward silence. Ad-libbing in Spanish is no easy thing but you all know me and I guess I can babble in more than just English!

Also, today we had to take another proficiency exam to see where we are in our Spanish. When I took the first one I was placed at a level 3. I was pretty nervous since I was afraid I would be having a bad Spanish day or something and she would tell me I was like a level 2 now. But, I did in interview and can happily report that I’ve improved to a level 4. I need one more level by the 29th; I think I can do it! The professor told me that I am a good conversationalist but I need to work on using the imperfect more, I’m not sure but I think she said she would have put me at a 5 if I had done that more. Luckily for me, she told me not to study but to practice by speaking. I told her that’s good news because I like to talk and don’t like to study!

MY SITE!!!

So, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…. Where will I be for the next two years? Drum roll please… As I said in my last blog, I was nervous about having to live in the south or having to live in a batey. I was surprised to find out that we were being told our sites so early since I had heard from other volunteers that they didn’t find out until the week they were to leave for their sites! Well, to add to the suspense, let me just say that we were all having class and the APCD began calling us out of the classroom one by one to tell us where we would be going. I found out that some people were being given a choice between a few places. After one after another went, I found myself the last person to be called to go, which could have meant that I got the last pick!! I was so nervous when I finally got to talk to Miguel that I had prepared myself for the worst.

I got the opposite. Miguel began by telling me that the area he was thinking of sending me was in the mountains and was cool and crisp. He said that there had been water volunteers in the area on several occasions and so PC is known there (and kind of celebrities since water volunteers are almost thought of as gods since they “bring water” to the communities) and so PC is very popular as well. He said there is a team of community members for me to work with and that the community is excited to have me. At first it sounded really good but then I wondered if I would be far up on some side of a mountain that I would need a whole day to get to my site or that my phone wouldn’t work! He told me the nearest town is about 20 minutes away by car and that my cell phone should work there since it worked with the other volunteers. I guess Miguel is really found of the site, he told me he goes there just to get away sometimes and relax. He said it’s more than beautiful, that it’s “God’s gift to the Earth”. If you knew Miguel, you would be shocked to hear such vivacious statements from him, I know I was. He also said the people are great there, that they are very open and kind.

Where is it you ask? Just where I wanted to be, in the North in the beautiful, fertile area of the country!! It’s really close (I’m guessing within an hour) of a ton of tourist resorts (which are in Puerta Plata- the region directly north of mine- but there are a lot more in other regions of the country) so you all can visit a resort and swing by to pick me up at my site!! My site is in a town called Los Ruales which I think is outside of a town called Villa Bisoró or Nayarreto. It’s a campo (which may even be a campo campo since it’s pretty small) with a total of about 125 houses and that sounds perfect to me:) If you find anything out about it on google or something let me know!!

I’m excited too because it’s pretty close to Santiago and there is a regional PC office there. This means I can get mail there and won’t have to go all the way to Santo Domingo for mail and I expect that will save me a ton of money in traveling. So I’m going to change my mailing address as soon as I get the Santiago address. Don’t worry if you forget and send something to the Santo Domingo address because I will always have a mailbox in Santo Domingo, it’s just that I’ll be going to Santiago much more often than Santo Domingo.

Feliz Navidad

Ok so today was mail day and let me tell everyone it was like Christmas here!! Let me say thank you sooooo much Rach, Mom, Sarah and Stewy for your letter/packages!! I was soooo surprised; there was a ton of mail for a lot of people today too which was nice since almost everyone got something. Dad, just so you know I have not gotten any other flashlight. Rach send a light but it’s not a flashlight, it’s like a light you stick to things and leave in place (thanks Rach!!). And I think the book bag will be great Mom, thanks a LOT!! It was good today to use to carry my mail back in! I got a letter you mailed me on September 4th Sar and I always love to hear what’s going on and look at pictures of family so thanks for that! Gabe and Isaiah, thanks for the new words! I don’t know my animals or body parts at all so maybe you can send me body parts next time. I informed the class that a fox is called a zorro, so we all learned something new thanks to you guys! And Stewy, aside from planning a movie night at my house on Friday thanks to all the great movies you sent me, I really enjoyed munching on some snacks while I worked on this super long blog!! You’re a freaking genius for stuffing that gladwear full of starbursts!! So thank you so much guys!! You’re really spoiling me here.

Other Random Things (added the next night 10/3…)

So, one other person in the total group left this week. He was in the youth group. Guess he woke up one morning and just thought to himself that he had had enough. And that was that I guess. The health group may be getting some new additions from Bolivia. I guess that there was a program there and something happened so the PC pulled out of the country. So the news is that there are possibly two volunteers who may be coming here to the DR this weekend and join us as early as Monday! But here it is Friday night and I haven’t heard anything so who knows.

Movie Night!

Friday night we had a great time at my house! Everyone came over between 5:45 and 7:30 (well, the Spanish teachers were fashionably late showing up at 8:30) and we made a bunch of food. My group made our chocolate chip cookies and they were sure a gamble! No one has measuring cups here and I’m no cook. So we guessed and did our best with what he had. Turns out the vanilla we got was white vanilla, aren’t we supposed to use brown vanilla? Well, aside from burning a few of them, and the fact that there may have been a little too much sugar since they were crystally, they were goooood:) The other two groups made a HUGE fruit salad and salsa with avocado, garlic, tomato and other good stuff. We didn’t have chips so we used this crunchy bread made out of yucca and it was good too! Then sat out in our plastic chairs and watched What Happens in Vegas with Spanish subtitles for the teachers. We were pretty happy because we got through the whole movie without my battery dying.

The next day I woke up disappointed to find that the power had not come back during the night so my computer was dead still. Normally it comes on between 11 pm and 2 am. So, I had a lot of stuff I needed to get off out my lap top since today we’re going to go to Bani and use the internet for the first time in a week. Luckily my Dona is a genius and told me to ask a colmado for a favor since some of them have generators. Three colmados later here I am hooked up to the generator in a colmado, drinking a coke from a bottle, my favorite:) In Conclusion...

So that was my week, nice and busy!! I guess next week is finally supposed to be slow down a bit which is good. Hopefully I’ll be able to charge my laptop so I don’t always have to go to the colmado and use the power but boy am I happy they had one!! I miss you all and hope you’re all doing well there. Can’t wait to hear from you and read your responses!

Love

B

9/27/08

The longer my training drones on, the more I wish I could know where I was being placed. I decided I really want to either be in the mountainous region with the lush, fertile, beautiful valley, or maybe up north near the tourist beaches and stuff or on this peninsula that I hear is beautiful. There’s whale watching and stuff there. I told my ACPD (the head health dude who places people) that I need to be somewhere pretty or I’ll get depressed. His answer was NOT promising saying "Everywhere in this country is beautiful." Sorry but, even with the mountains in the backdrop where I am now, it is NOT beautiful. It’s not ugly and I think I could learn to really appreciate it but I’d rather of course have someplace I could really brag about!:)

There are a few places I could be placed; I specifically asked to not be placed in a city though. I want a personal feeling which you can’t get in a large city, and Santo Domingo is really dirty so I don’t want risk it and end up in another really polluted city. So, starting with the smallest type of town here in the DR- a batey is an agricultural sugar cane plantation, often with Haitians. This means they are mostly on the border which is shared with Haiti. Batey’s are generally very poor since there is a lot of racial tension here against Haitians so that the Haitians are not able to be citizens, go to school past something like 6th grade, get a birth certificate if born here… they’re not allowed to do anything. Even people who are born here but have a drop of Hatian in them are shunned. In Santo Domingo there were a few families in my barrio and one of the PCTs stopped to talk to them only to be yelled at by her Dona later not to talk to them. It’s really sad but there are similarities so Mexican immigrants in the US. They’re "illegal" and its’ not uncommon for them to work for a day shy of two weeks (when they’re supposed to get paid) to have their boss call the DR form of border control and have them sent back, unpaid.

So, another type of town is a campo- which are throughout the country, some are in the mountains without electricity or water but as I understand most have water and electricity most of the time. I live in a campo right now in Las Tablas. There is usually water but here, after a large rain there’s a problem getting water since the tubes that supply the town with water are above ground and run over the river. Every single time there’s a heavy rain the river sweeps a part of the tubing away and the people don’t have water. Keep in mind, it’s not drinking water but water to wash clothes, clean the house and to bath with. They have to buy the drinking water and thankfully they can afford to do that.

I think it was Tuesday when it rained so now we’ve been without water for 4 days. My family is lucky and has a large bin in back that they fill with water so we have enough to bath with but I have a ton of laundry and can’t wash it. I think it smells so I’m not too happy but at least I can shower. I need to pick up some detergent but I’m a little low on cash thanks to my cell phone issues to I’ll just have to be stinky till CBT is over- 4 more weeks I think. Other PCTs don’t have families with water one showered in the river yesterday and brought some clothes there to wash them. I’m going to hold out a little longer before I do that. Hopefully they fix the tubes soon.

The electricity here goes out generally once in the afternoon, between 12 and 2, and my Dona says it comes back around 4. Then around 8 pm it goes out until 11- give or take an hour. At least we can expect when it goes out so while it’s a nuisance it’s not too bad. Last night the other volunteers came over to my house and we set my laptop up outside to watch My Best Friend’s Wedding. We made it 75 minutes until my battery died so we popped the DVD into the backup computer another PCT brought. It was a good plan until her computer started malfunctioning and we couldn’t finish the last 20 minutes or so. It was still fun though.

Even smaller than a campo but still bigger than a batey is a campo campo. I’m not sure the difference, I think it’s just got less people. My campo here has a lot of colmados and lottery stands (big here I guess), a clinic (which is not used nearly enough), a school, a community center and a small library. No internet or stores but luckily they’re only about a 15 minute drive away, in Bani.

Now that you know all about campos, the next size up are pueblos which larger towns sometimes with water, electricity, Internet. That’s pretty much all I know about pueblos, sorry. And lastly are ciudads which I thought were just cities but someone else told me were more like suburbs of a large city so I don’t know.

So, with all this information, I hope end up in a campo or in a campo campo. If I was placed in a batey I think it would be especially challenging. I really hope I have access to water and don’t always have to worry about where my next bucket is going to come from like the families here. One PCT here unfortunately got scabies. She had to have all her clothes washed and felt really bad because her family had to buy the water to wash the clothes since they were out of water. (Scabies don’t look the way you would think either. Another health PCT got bedbugs. I’m not looking under my mattress, I’d rather not know.)

So, all in all- wish me luck!! I don’t know when I’m going to find out but the APCD comes this week, on Tuesday or Wednesday so maybe he’ll have some information. If not, that’s ok because I don’t feel like I was able to talk to him much about my preferences and I guess they really try to place you somewhere that will work for you. There are 8 volunteers and 11 sites the APCD said we would help (3 volunteers left remember so I guess 3 places will get dropped) so it’s not like I just get to pick a community and say, "Hey this one looks good, put me there!" but at least it’s a process, the APCD calls it a "negotiation". I’m not sure about that but ok.

This afternoon my fellow PCTs and I are headed to the beach again! Yay!!! I have some pictures up of my whole trip so far on myspace so if you can check those out feel free. If not, I’m trying to persuade someone from home to upload them to a common place you all can see. The connection here is soooooo slow but I find that myspace is the fastest although still really slow. I don’t have the money to pay for internet time and upload them myself somewhere else. Anyways, hopefully soon! Tomorrow it’s back to work on group projects and we’ve got a super busy week ahead of us. I miss home and hope you’re all doing well. Feel free to send me email updates/letters of your lives there, I’m sick of hearing about the DR!!

Love

betsy

A Little Insight

9/26/08 Friday

Ok, so I was just reading a friend of mine’s blog and he had an excerpt written from another person who is living in Thailand. I thought that while it seems a little dramatic to me, it is also very true. Here it is:

A Dose of Reality by Josh Stein (Thailand ESL Teacher)

"Lately, I’ve had the concept of reality on my mind. I think about the concept of reality and how it is all relative based on your experiences. I used to live in Chicago, and before that the suburbs – and no, it wasn’t Schaumburg, thank you! My reality prior to going off to college was the palatial bliss of Palatine, Illinois – home of the fighting Pirates! Upon arriving at college, my reality soon changed. The boundaries of my life had been expanded to include Chicago-proper, and with that I gained new experiences. These new experiences quickly reshaped my sense of reality. Continuing on with my life, each new experience changed my sense of reality. Whether it was graduating from college, landing a new job, moving into a new apartment, a new neighborhood, a new relationship, or loss there of, my sense of reality was constantly changing.During my journey, I was fortunate and blessed to have great mentors and friends help me throughout the various stages of this journey. One such mentor exposed me to so many different experiences and ideas that I have been forever changed. I had the opportunity to go on service trips to remote parts of the United States, as well as within Chicago. I had opportunities to work with individuals who had a drastically different reality-base. Their reality was different because life dealt them a different set of cards to play with -- in some cases, a completely different game. These experiences changed my reality and reshaped my views. When I decided to take this position as an English Teacher in Thailand, I knew this would be another experience that would reshape my reality. This was a chance to change my views and opinions, yet again, and bring with it the awesome responsibility of reshaping someone else’s reality.I realize that not everyone is privileged enough to leave their hometown, explore different worlds, different cultures, different foods, different languages, different traditions, and different people. I also realize that there are people in the world who never want to experience those things – they are completely content with where they’re at in life – their reality. The idea of their reality being changed, well, it scares the hell out of them. But, I started to think more about my presence and how it is shaping the reality of those I interact with; my students, the Thai teachers, my neighbors, the vendors at the market, the woman at the coffee shop who always smiles and personally greets me every time I come in (heck, I’m there nearly every day), or the other Ferang who are from the Western World, but not "my" Western World. I constantly think how I might be altering their reality, about "Americans" (which I always correct to United States – "American" implies two whole continents of people, not just the states).I also think about how I am changing your perception of reality – you, the reader. How has my journal changed the way you view Thailand, or South East Asia, or Asia as a whole? I think about this, and the impact I’m having on molding your sense of reality. Has reading my journal prompted you to leave your house and explore other worlds? Do you get a hankering for Thai food after you finish reading my various escapades? Or, have I managed to instill the opposite reaction? Has my journal reinforced your own biases? Or has it made you want to lock yourself in your house, never to experience anything new? I will say that I bring in humor and sarcasm to my stories (at least I try to) because it is what I know, and these are the emotions I am most comfortable expressing in such a large forum. What I want you to know is that the stories I tell are my reality, and I want you to experience it with me – if you so chose. I want you to be there with me as I try to navigate through the market, or try my hand at driving through the streets of Thailand. I want you to experience my reality, so you can understand that there are different realities in the world. The reality of a family who has to commute to work using a motorbike because that’s all they can afford on 5 Baht a week ($0.15). Or, what about the man who sells Pineapples on the side of the road because he can’t afford a pick-up truck to transport his goods to the market. Or, what about the student who commutes for 2 hours on a motorbike every day, because our school is one of the best in the area and his family wants him to have the best education they can afford. Or, what about the other Thai teachers at school who understand only their culture and therefore our interactions are socially awkward at best. I want to help you understand the realities of these people because my hope is that it will help to reshape your own reality. It will help you think differently about the Pakistan cashier at Wal-Mart, who doesn’t speak very good English; the Latin-American family at the grocery store who shop with their extended family and take up too much room in the aisles while you’re trying to shop too; or the man on the street corner who is simply trying to get back on his feet with a little help from you. These are the realities I want you to think about, and how we’re all connected by something larger. Because once it’s all stripped away, the only thing we have left to cling to is our human dignity. "

Back to Betsy…

Ok, so I think that this could give anyone something to think about. I have found myself many many times thinking about all the people, myself included at times, who think less of people who do not speak English well in the States. I can say now with proof, that it sucks not being able to speak the language of those around you. Just because I speak Spanish like a 3rd grader- and that’s probably on a good day- doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I feel like being a jerk sometimes and yelling , "I have a college degree, I’m not stupid so stop looking at me like I’m retarded!" when people are being rude to me but even that’s impossible since I would say it wrong and sound even more unintelligent. So, I would like you all to try and put yourself in others shoes. Even after I have lived here for 2 years I know I will still sound funny to people. I get so aggravated when I ask something simple like; "Do you have orange juice without sugar?" and I know I said it with all the right words and the person at the desk stares at me and says, "I don’t understand what you’re saying." It’s not that I said the wrong words but that I said it different with an accent of a foreigner, a way they’re not used to and so they don’t get the first few times I try. For those of you who know me well, I am not a patient person and I especially HATE repeating myself so this is a challenge. It reminds me of an immigrant in the store that maybe said something the cashier didn’t understand. You know that she is wrong about something but she seems to not understand and gets really upset and snippety with the sales clerk. Well, I get it now. It’s annoying and frustrating. And even though it’s easy to see people as inferior when they don’t speak correctly or easy to make fun of the Pakistani at 711 who you have to concentrate to understand, it’s wrong. Think about them before you act or say rude things. Try to put yourself in their shoes, it could make a world of difference. Living in a different country is not a piece of cake. The language is just ONE of the million new/different things a person has to deal with every single day.

betsy

9/24/08

Today after lunch we all got together to build a chicken coop, that’s right- a chicken coop. It was probably about what one would expect, well maybe a little worse since we do things DR style here. When we arrived where we would be building the chicken coop, the men of the house had already built the “frame”. I think it looked pretty good considering it was made out of tree branches nailed together. We then took the wood planks that the technical trainer bought and cut them to size with the dullest saw I have ever used. Which, ok so I haven’t used many saws but if I had I still think this would rank high in the dullness factor. It was like cutting a piece of wood with a freaking piece of floss! (Ok, so you get the idea.) Needless to say, I cut about one full piece and decided my service could be better used elsewhere. So I moved on to other projects like nailing. I found that I’m just not that handy. Nailing didn’t go to bad for my hands at least but as for the nails… good thing they’re long and so it didn’t matter that I mangled the ends of a lot of them. All in all, after about 2 hours we had ourselves a chicken coop and I was lucky enough to come away with even more, I had chicken poop on my knee.

We were supposed to do this project yesterday but with the rains from who knows what storm now, it wasn’t a good idea. It was the first time it really rained while I’ve been at CBT and when it rains, it pours! Of course that made me think of the huge spiders that come into the house when it rains. Not cool. Luckily I haven’t had another encounter with one in my room although I have this reoccurring nightmare that one will get me in the bathroom.

Speaking of bathrooms, I forgot to mention that on my PCV visit I was lucky enough to experience my very first latrine. It could have been a lot worse since my PCV had a new one and it was all to herself. It never floods either, another bonus. So, no joke though, latrines are SICK. Even porter johns are better than these nasty things. Picture this, my PCV’s latrine was about 15 or 20 feet from her house (good thing she doesn’t have a well huh Mary Alice!?!) and it’s made of tin or zinc. I opened the tin door and looked inside (only after I really couldn’t hold it anymore) and there to greet me was the smell first of all and then the concrete block with the hole in the middle for which to give my unwanted digestive goodies. I discovered, after peeing on my pants the first time, that using the latrine is more of an art than anything. It’s hard to get positioned so everything goes just where it’s supposed to since you can’t sit on the concrete thing. I mean you could but it’s where everyone else stands or squats so it’d be bad for your butt. Also, the concrete thingy is super low which would be a pain to get up and off of and the concrete isn’t smooth or anything so it wouldn’t be nice for your butt either. I guess it’s just flat out not made for comfort/sitting. I think I would like to maybe figure out a way to get a higher one and buy a toilet seat!

For those of you who are more visual, picture squatting down balancing with your hands clasped straight out in front of you and doing your thing. That’s the latrine. Our PCV also had a “shower” in her latrine which means that there was a little hole near the base of the concrete butt thingy for water to go down when she stood in there and bucket bathed. I for one, will not be doing this. Unless I build up an amazing immunity to the stench of the latrine, baking all day in the sun in the zinc building, I will shower in my kitchen. I guess it’s not that uncommon for PCVs to just strip down in their kitchens or where ever and bucket bathe then sweep the water outside. I figure this could be a good double use for my water since I could mop with it afterwards!

My PCV’s latrine wasn’t all bad though. There was a palm tree fairly close to it and she had liquid soap!! Some things you don’t realize you miss until you have them again… She also had a soap dish (which was super nice to have!!! ) and a little thingy that hung off of the wood support and held her TP. Not a bad set up. Also, the position one needs to be in is not the best for reading but it’s a good leg workout an “atomically correct” for going number two, so it’s a helper! (Per Nurse Joe) Also, since the latrine belongs exclusively to the PCV, she keeps it really clean and sprays often so when I went at night I didn’t see any roaches or spiders. Although I did see a VERY large dead, deflated spider next to the TP in the morning. Anyways, this is another reason why you don’t want to sit on the hole to the abyss, things could very likely be crawling around and you don’t want them to crawl up to see what’s blocking out the sun. For this reason I have just decided against the toilet seat idea.

Well, I think one of my Dona’s cats just peed under my bed so I need to take a breather and get out of here. I’m sure I’ll have more to write later. Tomorrow we’re going to practice making DR food healthy style (an oxymoron if you ask me) with food from the colomado!! That’s right, PCVs can accomplish the impossible and they’re going to teach us newbies!!

Hasta luego,

Betsy

PS Dad, I am still at CBT in Las Tablas. The post with the suitcases went with the date it had on it, the date I wrote it. So, I'm still here, I haven't moved again. I will be back in the capitol sometime the end of October and thats the next time I move. I'll be there for 2 weeks and then move to my permenant site, where ever that may be. I get mail like once a week if that. So, I recieved a package from Rach and Sar this week, THANKS GUYS!!! but I haven't gotten Aarons. I think it takes somewhere between 5 and 10 days for me to get a package from when it's sent, much longer for letters though. I did get one flashlight in my package from Rach, thank goodness! Its the kind you shake that doesn't need batteries. Hope that covered everything!!

9/23/08 Well this past weekend I was finally able to go on my volunteer visit!! It wasn’t to Puerta Plata but it was nice either way to get away from Las Tablas for a bit. I went with another PCT, Kenzie. We began our trip on Sat morning around 8:30 and walked to the main road with our overnight bags, complete with our mosquito nets. It didn’t seem like it was going to be that long of a walk but in the heat it felt longer than the 3 miles it was. We got to the “bus stop” (aka, we stood on the side of the road in the shade) and waited for a bus for about 20 minutes. After about 45 wonderful minutes in the AC we were let off at our stop. The directions said for us to walk to a green colmado and wait for a guagua. Well we saw all these motorcycles circling and thought that would be faster since the bus was just going to drop us off at the front of the PCV’s neighborhood and then we would have to walk around and find her house. Kenz and I were proud of ourselves because we shooed off the creepy motorcycle guys and were able to find some normal looking ones that didn’t call us their loves. We were double proud because we got the price down from 120 pesos for both to 80 pesos and they understood us!! I found that I think its better to just go to town and say what I think is right rather than pausing a lot and being correct when I talk. I’m surprised people understood me but I guess it works ok. We got to the town and drove around and around since we couldn’t find the “bakery” which was an unmarked house that made bread inside… I don’t know how we would have found it. We asked the people in the town where the gringa or Americana lived and they told us. We got great door to door service when the motorcycle dudes dropped us off right in her front yard. The visit was a good example of how different PCVs service can be. Our volunteer was really nice and we didn’t do too much but visit with people in the town and ask her a million questions. I learned how to make spaghetti with “white sauce” (very plain but good) and also hot cocoa with food stuff from the colmado. Although I tried it out myself the next day in Spanish class and found that I am no Dona, my hot chocolate was chunky with powered milk. Even the Dona didn’t want to drink it (she did though:) Anyways, on Sunday it was time to leave so we walked together to the “bus stop” again. This time there was a house like structure for us to hang out in. There were two women in it as well as a man. The man was laying down and to our surprise was very openly pleasuring himself. It was a little awkward for us as we stood there about 5 feet from the man who was obviously enjoying himself very much. Eventually a van came up the road and we were able to catch a ride to the main road. From there we took another van to the nearest town and then hung out a while before we took a nice bus home again. When we got back to that 3 mile stretch between where the bus dropped us off and our houses I was allll about haggling the motorcycles to give us a cheap ride but Kenzie seemed content to walk and save the money, even though I got one guy to offer to give us a ride for just 10 pesos each!! It didn’t seem so bad at first but soon the clouds parted and it was HOT. When we finally got to our house, mine was the closest on the walk, my Dona was freaking out that we walked in the heat. I really wanted to talk a shower but she absolutely would not let me. She made me sit down and drink some “juice” (like 30% juice and 50% sugar- they LOVE their sugar here, its even too much for me) before she would let me take a shower I was literally dripping sweat for about 25 minutes until I had unpacked and was able to shower. When I was putting my net back up I heard my Dona talking to another PCT who was passing. She made him sit down and take some juice too and she made us both eat. I told her I could go for something cold but really wasn’t hungry. I thought I said it right but she made me a big plate of hot rice and a fried hot dog. Oh gosh. Poor Darryl got what I didn’t eat since he showed up later but he got an extra hot dog! Hahaha!! I love my Dona though:) This was the first time she was really pushy and it was just because she was worried. Well, I forgot to plug in my lap top last night to charge it and the power is out again so that’s it for now. I’m getting a different cell phone today so give my mom a call or text if you want it. Hope to hear from you all soon. Tomorrow is the day we get our mail I think so I’m looking forward to that! Miss you all!! Love Betsy 9/19/08 Today was the day that we had to give our presentations in front of everyone. The presentations were pretty much over whatever we wanted but in essence they needed to be based off of something from our house visits. I decided to do mine over the Dos and Don’ts of interviewing. It went ok, it was all in Spanish and had to be at least 10 minutes. Not bad though. I’m not looking forward to two weeks from now when I will have to do a presentation in front of a women’s group. Hopefully my Spanish somehow gets a LOT better by then so I can understand questions a little better. I noticed it is getting better but it’s no where near where I want it to be. It’s really tiring trying to talk in Spanish all the time. I like it but it wears me out! It doesn’t help either that I have to go to bed by like 9:30 every night so I can function in the morning. It’s because even after a week here I still can’t sleep through the night. I wake up at least 4 times/night. Although, I have to say that after my sheets were washed the ant problem disappeared. As far as insect issues go, I have been having a terrible time since I got to the campo! I had hardly any mosquito bites by the time I left Santo Domingo and now my freaking legs look like they have the chicken pox!!! Today one of the Dona’s gave me Vicks to put on them. I don’t know if it helps but I did it. I guess that Dona uses Vicks for everything though. There’s a big problem with pink eye here in the campo and that Dona put Vicks in her eye after she got it. Ouch. She still has it too. Today we all went for a long walk to the river. Some of the girls knew about a shortcut down to the river in the back of one of their houses but we took the long way there instead planning on using that way to get back. Well we walked to the river and through the river and I even sat in the river and then had some problems with our last step- finding the trail back. Some people popped out along the way so we figured that must be the way but I guess it wasn’t. We ended up roughing it on the way back, hiking up some steep terrain littered with some type of poop in our flip flops. I got home and promptly took a shower. Tomorrow we leave for our volunteer visits, finally! I’m bummed because I don’t get to go to Puerta Plata but I’m glad I get to go somewhere. I don’t have to go alone now either; Kenzie and I are paired up to go to a site that’s only about 30 km from here. So that’s pretty sweet, and I don’t think we have to take a motorchoncho- even better! Well, I think that’s it for now. Hope you all are doing well and I hope to hear from you soon! Love Betsy

9/18/08 Four weeks later… It’s Thursday and we’re going to go again into Bani at 3:30 since today is our one month anniversary. Well, according to the date it’s not but according to the number of weeks it’s the fourth today. Tomorrow I have to give a presentation to the group in Spanish about my findings for the community diagnostic. (That was the house visits I did) I thought that it would be a lot easier to present on my methods of interviewing since I’m pretty sure 90% of what I did was an example of what not to do. I normally love making presentations and such but today it sucked a little. Doing everything in Spanish takes a lot of extra effort so even things that normally come easy to me take a lot more work. I’m feeling a little intimidated about having to do this whole thing in Spanish (10- 15 min presentation) because there are so really good speakers in my group. The good thing is that out of the 8 people in my group about 5 of us are at the same level more or less. So, I don’t have to feel really bad. This is different from the last few health groups I think since most of them seem to have had a lot more fluent speakers. Would you like to hear something ironic? Today when I came home for lunch my Dona was busy as usual but there were a ton of clothes all around. She told me that they were collecting clothes to give to the church and the church was going to donate them to the poor… in the US. Wow, I wonder how much of that type of stuff goes on. I’m glad to be here and all but it makes me wonder if people poured resources into their countries first and then into others how different things would be. I would like to give you all an insect update. You’ll be happy to know that I have seen no more monster sized spiders in my house. I have seen several cockroaches and while these are very large, I really don’t care too much about them. I have been pretty lucky. Last night I asked my sister why there weren’t more in their house, I wish I knew what she said. My friend had a ton in her house the other night, they were just spilling out of her dresser I guess. My other friend, I feel so bad for her, she has to use a latrine. She’s the only one that has one in our group. Some people even have running water! I’ve been taking bucket baths the whole time. I have been able to perfect flushing the toilet though, I ‘m proud to say. Anyways, poor Randy has it bad in more than one way. Not only does she have a latrine and have to pee in a bucket in her room at night (the roaches come out at night and she doesn’t want them crawling on her when she’s trying to do her business) but she saw the biggest spider to date. She said it was the size of her whole hand and it was just chilling on her wall!! She ran out and her Dona came in to save the day. Randy couldn’t stay to watch because she was freaking out but I guess her Dona said something about the spider being tranquil and scooped it up with her hands and put it outside!! Holy crap! Well, that’s all for now my friends. If you have any easy recipes or no bake recipes please send them my way!! I hope I can talk to you all soon! Love, betsy 9/16/08 Headlamp desire… Headlamp headlamp, where can you be? Headlamp headlamp, now I can’t see! I wish I thought to buy one… Cause now it’s just no fun Oh headlamp headlamp, come take away the night Headlamp headlamp, can’t you take my fright? I’m sorry I did you wrong, Now please, help me get along Headlamp headlamp, where can you be? Headlamp headlamp, I wish I could see! 9/15/08 Life in the Campo Even though I have been in the DR for a while now I still feel like it hasn’t really sunk in. So today I realized I was in the PC when I was just chilling in my house for lunch when I turned around to see a goat walking through the house. He walked right in the front door and right out the back. During another lunch there were about 8 turkeys that wandered in and back out the way they came. I can honestly say, although this is the first time these things have ever happened to me, I didn’t really think it was strange. There are goats, chickens, cows and pigs that walk wherever they want all around the town. There are tons of poor hungry dogs that flinch when you approach them, obviously from not having good experiences with people. Today I found a puppy and tricked it into letting me hold it- which means it was only about 6 weeks old because by 8 weeks I swear they can’t be tricked- and it was already terrified of people. It’s sad really. I would like to start a program that does something to address this at least a little. I was thinking maybe an awareness program but I have no idea how I would get people to attend. People are awful to animals. This morning on my way to class I walked by a guy who was trying to herd his cows. He did this by whipping rocks at their heads when they went the wrong way. There are sooooo many sickly animals around its overwhelming, where would I even start? I feel bad for my Dona’s cats. Sure, its kind of their fault they’re so skinny since cats are all about mice and such but would you chase something bigger than you? So today I gave them a few of my dog treats and make sure to give them table scraps too. My family gets a big kick out of feeding them the dog treats. In other news, CBT is keeping me busy! Today we went into Bani to talk with the Director of Health in the health dept. I couldn’t understand what he was saying- not so much because he was talking in Spanish but more because he was trying to speak in English. He would go back and forth but his English was about as good as my Spanish so the accent was so heavy it was hard to tell what was what. Then when he would tell Katie (another trainee) to translate but then he would understand what she was saying and keep talking very loudly over her in Spanish. So, she would stop and then he would, she would start and then he would… it wasn’t good. But after the confusing conversation we all were let loose in Bani where we used the internet very briefly and were able to run some errands. After that we went home to eat lunch. Lunch is a long break- 2 hours! It’s so we can share with our families and all that good stuff. My family likes to share outside alllll day in the back. It’s hot here so I like to sleep. These things don’t go well together. Next I went to my three hour Spanish class and right when I got home went with my sister for my three last house visits. These were not nearly as painful this time, thankfully. I generally try to take a shower before the sun goes down but today wasn’t able to do so. I never know what time the lights are going to go out but I know its coming and I don’t want to be in the shower, mid-song when it happens. So, tonight I brought my loaned flashlight (since mine didn’t make it in the bag here somehow) but the lights went out super late- like 8:30- so I didn’t need the light… this time. After that its time for dinner (which was an apple and a cheese sandwich) and then Spanish homework, jeesh!! I talked on the phone a bit and then hit the hay. It was just about 9:30 but I have to go to bed early since the sleep I get isn’t quality. The ants crawling on me is something I hope to adjust to so it won’t keep waking me up. I’m glad they’re not the biting kind. My family has the weirdest solutions for things too. They told me the other day that the 50 mosquito bites I have couldn’t be from their house. They said it’s not from my bed (because I use a mosquitero I’m guessing). I hope they’re not from my bed but when my mosquito net keeps mysteriously putting itself up during the day who knows what gets in there. Anyways, it’s clear to my fam that the mosquitoes are not from inside their house but from the street that the house is like 4 feet from. As with the ants, well I guess it’s because I need to wash my sheets. I had a small victory today in Bani though. It began a few days ago when my sister got me hooked on some amazing cookies called “Casino” cookies. I asked her when she went shopping if she could get me some and gave her like two days worth of my money to buy some. She went shopping and got all kinds of food- stuff I know was just for me like mac n cheese and a LOT of hotdogs.. a little intimidating- but I didn’t see any cookies. So, I asked if she was able to get the ones I asked for and she said she was. I went on and on about how I was psyched about that so she got up to show them to me and said, “Oh these have a different name…” Hmm, yeah that’s because they’re NOT Casino cookies but I of course politely said: “Why yes they do, they are different cookies.” So, lesson learned: don’t give money for something specific, just get it yourself. I couldn’t ask for the money back, not after she bought other cookies by mistake and the fridge is full of food for me. Oh yeah, another lesson learned: don’t buy food that tastes weird/bad when it’s old from the colomado. Colomados are not good about rotating their products and the Oreos I bought seemingly as a great substitute were a little funky since they expired in January. It was ok though because this all lead up to my small victory. I went with Randy, another volunteer to a phone store so she could get a prepaid phone and was pleased to be able to help her. We were able to get what we needed and had no problems really. Then I went, all on my own like a big girl, to the store, happily found my cookies, made very small talk with the people in line with me and left with a renewed sense of independence. No joke, I haven’t felt older than 12 since I’ve been here so this was no small thing for me. That’s all for now. I hope I hear from you guys soon! Love betsy

Hey everyone. I thought that I should reply to all your comments.

Rach, thanks for the cookie recipie in spanish!! I asked my doña for it and she said her daughter had it but I´m a little scared its gone. Don´t need it now though!! And don´t worry about keeping mom, we were able to talk. I felt kind of bad because I was a little pissy since my phone wouldn´t work. Anyways, thanks for all your support and love. It help soooo much!! I love you!!

Aaron, dude, as you can see I really am in need of a headlamp. My Doña lent me a flashlight but it´s super dull so thanks a LOT!!! Stewy said you were able to get batteries from Brian Gomes? That´s pretty cool. Thanks a lot for the text and I wrote you a reply in myspace. Thanks for the package you guys are working on too!! It´s nice to hear from you, however you´re able. I miss you guys!!

Dad, I like the long messages. I´m going to be gone for so long and I don´t want to be clueless to what´s going on at home. It makes me feel like I´m there so thanks so much!! I´m glad it sounds almost like the school is coming together!! Amazing but you know me, still the skeptic... Thanks for sending me those markers but they don´t really work so if you could find some that do... thanks. Also, I haven´t gotten mail yet this week and I´m hoping they being it out to us next week but the point is, I didn´t get a flashlight yet. But I´ll be looking for it!! Thanks!!

Mom, thanks so much for all of your phone calls and responses!! I´m going to email you a letter I wrote you as well as those numbers. Thanks for your persistence with my obnoxious phone!! love you lots!!

love

betsy

Sunday 9/14/08

Hey there everyone:) Hope all is well for you there. I’m happy because I haven’t seen another large spider now in two days although it hasn’t really rained yet. Today my group and I are supposed to go into Bani and go to the internet center so hopefully I’ll be able to post this. After that we’re going to go to a beach which is supposed to be a tourist beach so it should be really nice. The last beach I went to wasn’t bad but it wasn’t super clean.

The food situation here with my family is better than I could have hoped for! They are super cool about trying to get food that’s familiar to me. I tell them that I like everything they’ve made (I haven’t not liked anything they’ve made but I told them right away that I don’t like the boiled banana bit so that helped) and today they made me pancakes for breakfast. I ate all of them (with jelly which was new for me but good) and then my Dona said she knows I liked it because I actually ate it all. Then she told few people that I ate all my food. I asked her if she doesn’t believe me that I like the food unless I eat it all and she said yes! She doesn’t believe me?! The thing is, lunch is like 4 hours after breakfast during the week but on the weekends breakfast is later and lunch isn’t later. So when lunch comes, I’m not even that hungry and then she thinks I don’t like it. Dinner is at 6 or 7 and breakfast is at 7 or 7:30 so I’m generally hungry for those. Last night for dinner they made me mac n cheese and the night before they gave me an apple with peanut butter and a ton of cookies! Awesome! I don’t think I have to worry about losing weight at this house. They gave me fruit and corn flakes for breakfast yesterday:)

As far as my Spanish, well- it’s still the same. We did the map exercise with the kids in the community and let me tell you, I am GLAD I don’t live in a house with kids. They were crazy! They started fighting and drawing on each other with markers, one stole a marker, and they almost tore the map into pieces! Yikes! Now my focus is on my grammar book- studying a lot- and on my house visits I have to do. I have five to finish my Tuesday or Wednesday and let me tell you- they are painful! I have to ask random people questions like, "When was your last pap? How long did you breastfeed? Do you know how a person gets AIDS? Have you had a child die? When?". My Spanish is not that good for one thing- yesterday when I asked my family these questions I just had to write "Did not understand answer" next two a few of them. After you ask a person three times if they’ve have a child die and you still don’t know what they’re long answer is, you stop asking. So, wish me luck on the other 3.

In other news, my sister was nice enough to take my phone into Bani yesterday when she went to get her hair done because my phone broke already! What a piece of crap! The phone place fixed it for me but then this morning it was broken again. That’s annoying. I’m glad PC is giving me a real phone in October. If I knew how to get a countdown feature on here I would have a countdown till when I get my phone! (5 weeks from tomorrow by the way).

Well, that’s it for now I think. I miss you all tons, and thanks so much again for your encouragement!

Love

Betsy

PS: The longer I’m here the more I realize the necessity of a headlamp so for all you who know where the nearest camping store is and would like to purchase a super bright headlamp… :D

Friday 9/12

Wow, its just been two days since I last wrote but it feels like a lot longer than that! Lots has happened since Wednesday. Thursday was an adventure all in itself. I began my day late, sleeping in. I had to pack up my things and take my mosquito net down since I was leaving for CBT. I wolfed down breakfast and said goodbye as I heaved my one suitcase out the door. It was pretty big and very heavy and I had planned to leave about 20 minutes early since I had to drag it out of the barrio to the main road and then to Entrena. I still left early but severely underestimated the time it would take to drag my bag. It rained the night before and there are no sidewalks (there are but the road was a better option) so the gravel, cratered roads were wet and muddy. And of course I had to go up several steep hills with the stupid thing so I stopped like 3 times. In fact, I was almost to the front of the neighborhood after 25 minutes (which is usually how long it takes me to walk the whole way to Entrena from my house) and I just sat on the curb. It was 7:45 in the morning and I was already bright red and dripping sweat. Some random guy walked up to me and asked me if I needed help with my bag. I told him it was heavy but figured he had already gathered that. I have been told not to let people help me that I don’t know since the DR is known for theft but you know what? That bag was kicking my butt, besides I really doubt anyone could run away with it. Although, by that point I don’t know if I would have even chased them. So, I gratefully accepted his offer and walked to the front of the barrio. I was going to walk to Entrena originally but after that walk I knew paying half of a day’s allowance was more than worth a car ride. I was standing there when this random truck pulled up. I tired to wave him off and tell him I didn’t want to hitchhike when I realized it was a technical trainer from Entrena!! AWESOME!! So, he gave me a ride and we picked up 6 other panting volunteers along the way:) The day was off to an awesome start!

Then it went downhill. When I arrived to Entrena I found out that my bud Richie had to leave due to medical problems and about an hour later I found out my friend Kelly had to go home! Then today, I another volunteer and his wife need to head out as well. Seems like we’ve been here for a while but we’ve just been in the country for three weeks today. Of the four people who are leaving three of them are from my little health group:( Now we only have 8 people in our group. I can’t believe it. I have to admit that for some reason all these people going home puts a lot of doubts in my mind as well. I have to work harder to remind myself to stay positive but there is still a lot of reasons to be happy.

For starters, my new host family rocks. Last night we sat down and drew pictures for food I like and I learned some new words. I tired really hard to tell them I couldn’t eat lettuce but I don’t think they bought it. They just told me they cleaned it well and it would be ok for me to eat. They use bleach but I never have been found of lettuce and don’t see it as a risk worth taking. Anyways, my hermana- who is supposed to be my Dona but is just 26 so I feel weird calling her that- is really nice. She’s super sweet and has three cats. Her mom lives with her but her grandparents live next door so her mom sleeps there when I’m here. The Uncle lives on the other side of this house and across the street are the cousins. It’s kind of a bummer that I’m the farthest out from the rest of thevolunteers but even that means I have about a 3 minute walk till I get to the next volunteer’s house and I’m just 10 or 15 minutes away from the center of the town. The name of the town , by the way, is Las Tablas- I thought it was Las Tapas, whoops.

After being in this town I know that I want to live in a campo. The city sucks. It’s dirty, smelly, and impersonal. The time I’ve been here so far I have not had any one "hiss" at me. It’s refreshing that small towns are generally the same; made up of people who are largely related, impossible to keep a secret, and people look out for each other. Tonight over dinner my sister and Dona were telling me what the other volunteers were and were not eating, talk about knowing everything.

I have to say that last night was not pleasant though. I went into my room to get ready for a shower around 6:30 and freaked out when I saw a huge freaking spider just chilling there next to my bed! Needless to say I ran out screaming that I needed my sister to come look and she went in and squished it for me. She swept it out with her shoe to I don’t know where but sadly, there were 3 or 4 legs left that taunted me. I took my shower, cautiously and went and sat with everyone- away from my room. The lights went out around 8 pm and I toughed it out till about 9:30 but was falling asleep. I knew it was time to brave my room. Luckily my Dona gave me a flashlight to use till I get one (still on the wish list by the way, and as I am discovering I need to think about modifying that to a headlamp). So I went to my room, careful to step around the nasty, huge, scattered legs. I was happy to find when I arrived at the house that they already had a mosquito net up so I didn’t need to get out the tank of one PC gave me. Sadly, when I tried to tuck the existing one under my mattress (reaching behind the bed was something I was NOT looking forward to after the monster I found) I discovered that it was not big enough. There was no way I was going to be able to take that down and put mine up in the dark, maybe with a headlamp but no way with a flashlight. So, I tried to sleep with what I had. I was terrified about finding another spider in my bed and with no mosquitero to keep me safe I only slept about 2 hours. On top of that, yesterday was my Aralen day (my anti malaria pill day) and that stuff gives me trippy, vivid dreams. So, the two hours I did sleep were accompanied with nightmares but at least they weren’t about spiders!!!

I woke up about an hour before I needed to this morning but was happy to discover the daylight brought about a sense of bravery and I was able to take a picture of one of the large spider legs for you all to see. If I can get it up here I will if not I’ll put it up on myspace eventually. I even had my wits about me enough to put a quarter next to it. I think it was huge but my family seems to think it gives me comfort to tell me that that spider wasn’t even big. Wow, why doesn’t that make me feel better? Also, they said it was just because of the rain, that it rained the night before (which I remember from the wet road in the morning with my suitcase) and that’s probably why the "small" spider was in my room. So, I guess it’s not good for me that I happened to arrive in the DR during rainy season then. I originally thought I that I would have no problems here in this house since there are three cats but then I realized that all of the cats are really skinny which is not a good sign.

Tomorrow I have to plan an activity with kids (there are none in my house so I have to hunt them out- thankfully. I don’t want to try to tell the kids to leave my stuff alone although they seem to generally be pretty well behaved here). After that I need to interview my Dona and sometime before Wednesday I need to go to five random houses and conduct surveys. This will give me some practice at doing a community diagnostic which is what I will theoretically be doing for the first three months, give or take, at my site. Then on Sunday we’re all going somewhere- either to Bani or the beach. It is unbearably hot here. I have never been one to complain about the heat but today for instance, I tried to take a nap but when the power went out , so did my fan. I couldn’t stand to lay in bed because I was soaking it with my sweat. Last night at 10pm it was still out and I was soooo hot. It came back at 12 thankfully but then so did the light that I didn’t realize was on. I tried to ignore that and stay off of the floor littered with spider legs but eventually I had to give in and turn it off. The point off all this, other than that fact that I need to adjust already, is that I hope we go to the beach. We’re going into town a couple times next week for stuff I think and I think the beach would be cheaper than going to walk around town. So I’m hoping for the beach!! It’s time for me to go meet up with my amigos and have a little goodbye shindig for the guy going home tomorrow. I miss you all.

Love

betsy

Wednesday 9/10 Today we got to Entrena and we have nothing to do again. There were some PCVs to talk about what it’s like to be a volunteer because, we’re all just measly trainees now you know- so it’s nice to hear. They served us lunch which was waaaay better than spaghetti so I was happy. Plus, one of the girls here has a Dona who makes her 2 pancakes for breakfast each day but she can only eat one. She doesn’t want to hurt her feelings so she had the other with her. I ate it and it was good, who needs syrup? Not me. The poor girl who had dengue got out of the hospital yesterday. She’s back here with us all so we’re pretty psyched. Poor chick, Dengue sucks. Right now people are gathered around her to take pictures of her legs because the end of Dengue is marked with a bad rash and she has it on her legs. It’s pretty cool looking actually. Sorry, I didn’t bring my camera today:) I got my test back and was extremely relieved to find I passed!!! I got an 85% which was enough for me to be happy!!! So, I don’t have to worry about retaking the test, whew! Well, today has consisted of pretty much nothing. I wrote a loooooong blog for yesterday so I don’t have much to say. I think my idea of eating what I want helped cure me because this time yesterday I was miserable. They’re passing out the mail now, I’m hoping I got something!!! The suspense I killing me! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!! I GOT MAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rach, you’re going to be mad… my first package was from Dad. Thanks so much for the candle, how did you know my room stunk?!? And great thinking to send me matches and a lighter too!! Thanks so much!!! WOW!! I got TWO packages!!! Rach, thanks for the slippers!!!!!!!!!!! And it’s amazing you sent me wipes because I spilled juice all over and haven’t been able to get the stickiness away!!! Thanks sooo much!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! Love you guys!! Love Betsy

Wednesday 9/10 Hey Everyone!! First, I want to respond to some of your great comments. Thanks so much for all the feedback, its really nice:) Sarah, I got a prepaid cell phone, you can get the number off of mom or Rach. The phone at my Dona’s house doesn’t work anyway so this is better. Call anytime you’re free though. Call at least 2 or 3 times because sometimes I miss it, and sometimes it just doesn’t go through. Call when you can, I’d rather you try and miss me then not get to talk to you guys, I miss you!! Denise, thanks for the encouraging comments, it’s good to know someone else eats peanut butter on the beach! Karen and Uncle Greg: thanks for your support:) I sent out a letter last week on Labor day so let me know when it gets there. It’s really hard to get stamps here!! One girl asked like 20 people in the super market and they all gave her different answers. In this culture it’s more acceptable to lie and “save face” than to say you don’t know the answer to something. Even my awesome Dona does that to me sometime I find. To Dad: thanks for all the long comments, call sometime would ya!?? Lol. To Aunt Claudia and Drew: thanks for the message, I never know what the weather is here until it’s upon us. I don’t have internet at home or anything and the news is not helpful but my family pretty much is always watching soap operas anyways. It’s nice to know you guys are thinking of me. It takes a LOOOOONG time to upload photos here so I put them all up on myspace because that seems to go the fastest. If you can get to it I have several photos up. Also, to everyone, if you’d like to call me I’d love to hear from you. My mom and Rach have the number like I said earlier so if you can afford it, feel free. I got a prepaid phone to last me until after CBT which starts on Friday. After that on October 20th they give us PC issued phones so my number will be different. Calling cards are expensive so I was talking about looking into global phone plans with my mom and John. If anyone has any info on them please let me know. To everyone else who has been leaving me comments, thanks so much!! I really love reading them!! Whew! Now that all that is taken care of it’s time to get down to business!! To begin, yesterday was kind of a bummer. We got to Entrena with all of our stuff in hand to go on our trips and we were supposed to be informed by 10 what was going on. In the meantime I figured I should pay a visit to the nurse since I had been having issues with my digestive system since Saturday. I had been trying to eat light, easy foods for my stomach but nothing seemed to be helping. I told the nurse that my Dona made me a cheese sandwich the night before and surprised me with a salami sandwich the next morning, which I ate half of. That was the most food I had really eaten since Friday. Well, the nurse didn’t like the stuff I ate at all! She told me that since I ate that stuff I would have to “start all over” and that I could only eat “white, bland, flavorless food” for a few more days. Then after a few more days I may be able to introduce white rice and after that yogurt. Well, you know what I thought? I thought I had been babying my stomach since Sat and where did it me? Nowhere. I knew we were driving by a McDonalds on the way to my PCV visit and also was holding out hope that they were going to make American food. Nothing was going to stop me from eating that stuff!! So, I humored the nurse and sipped my Gatorade (which costs more than my daily allotment of money) but in my mind I was wondering if I should go to McDs once on the way there and once on the way back or just once total. We all sat around and talked until 12:30 when they finally were able to let us know what had been decided. Our trips were canceled. We were all really disappointed. We wanted a change of scenery so much! I personally feel like my host family is getting sick of me lately. Not my Dona but the sisters. So, it was going to be nice to get away. So much for that. So much for McDonalds and American food. As a substitute I ate 8 cookies (not the best but good enough) and had some hot chocolate- all a BIG no no (he he he). None of us wanted to go home after lunch (which I didn’t eat- the spaghetti here is NOT something I chose to partake in) so we hung out at Entrena from 10 am until 5 pm doing nothing really. Thanks to being homeschooled while living in the middle of nowhere with no friends or tv, I have the great ability to never be bored, to endlessly entertain myself. This came in handy yesterday as my counterparts were pretty much all bored. We had dominos tournaments, played a game called Big Booty, and watched a movie (the Bourne Identity, sweet!!! If you would like to send DVDs please feel free since we can watch them on our laptops!! ) I was reading a magazine called Gingo Grita which is put out by PCVs in county. I happened to come across an article about reflections of people’s PCV visits. What are the odds that I was at that time supposed to be on my PCV and instead I was sitting on an couch with stomach pains while it was pouring rain outside? The irony. We all walked home and when I had to slit with my group and walk alone I realized I was running low on patience. People were doing the normal things; men were staring and making their “hissing” noises (which I decided yesterday sound more like “Tsssssssst”) and some men were testing out their English with words like, Hello Baby, How are you?, and I love you. One guy told me that he spoke English and he loved me. I was tempted to say somethings back to see how well he spoke English. There is one thing particular hand gesture I think is universal but there’s just one way to find out for sure… don’t worry, I didn’t do it! When I got back I stopped b y my friend’s house to see what they were doing the rest of the day. We ended up having a discussion about all the food we missed. We unanimously decided Taco Bell would be divine right then and one of the Dona’s knew where one was and how to get there. She offered to take us there!!! My dreams were all coming true!!!! So, I ran home and told my Dona I didn’t need dinner that night and gathered my stuff. Kenzie came over and informed me that her Don didn’t have any gas and we weren’t going now. What a bummer. So, I ate a cheese sandwich for dinner. Needless to say, it’s pretty easy to feel bad for myself here. I was super excited to get a phone call from my mom but we don’t get to talk for very long since it’s pricey for her. I was still feeling pretty sick so I just stayed in my room, contemplating when the best time would be to put my mosquito net back up around my bed and unpack my stuff. I was about to go to bed, feeling defeated when I got a text from my mom telling me she loved me and hoped I felt better. It was just a little thing but it made me feel sooooo much better!! I started thinking about all the things I have to be happy for, and there are a TON! I have a great host family in Los Cocos and I’m in the Caribbean!! I am so lucky to be in the DR, we are the only PCVs who are able to get cell phones. I’m super lucky that I’m not disconnected from everyone at home. So, as I turned off my light and tucked my mosquito net around my bed I was feeling pretty good. Hope you all are doing well and can't wait to hear from you!!

love

Betsy

Sat 9/6 So, here I sit in my bed, as I have been doing all day since I’m a little sick, and I can’t help but think about everything that’s changed in the last couple weeks. I have to say that I am so lucky to be here!! There isn’t a day that goes by though that I don’t feel at least a little out of place as the other trainees seem to be so much more qualified than I. Almost all of them are very good at Spanish or fluent in at least one other language than English, most were straight A students, several have master’s degrees, all but me have been out of the county before, tons have studied abroad for at least a semester but most have been out of the country for several sessions of abroad living. These are people who are in the same decade of their lives as me, many the same age as me or even a year younger. So, as I sit and think about all the reasons I’m not qualified in this group I’m hit with a realization: if I were so under qualified I wouldn’t be here either. The PC must have seen something I’m not aware of yet but I think it’s not so much about what has been accomplished but about the potential to accomplish. I also think that I am so lucky to be here with so much talent. Everyone has to start somewhere so I guess this is my start. I’m really glad I’m so young and I can get used to the fact that I see my self with little to offer for now since when it’s time to come home I’ll see myself with more to offer. It’s jus been two weeks and I’ve already been very surprised with how my perceptions are different than I had thought they would be. I’m not even homesick yet!! How is that possible? I know it is because you all are so supportive and also because of all of your prayers. There is not even one day that passes that I don’t feel blessed to be in the DR. This is the only country in the PC that distributes cell phones to their volunteers. This is because they are able to and also because it helps out a lot when there is a need to get in contact with volunteers during times like these, hurricane season. I am grateful everyday when I get to talk to family and when I get to use the internet. Something I don’t take lightly is that I get to charge my computer and sit here in a room with the tv loud in the next room. Sure, this makes me need ear plugs but I was also lucky enough to get a free pair during a training exercise! Everything always works out:) Sure the tv is in Spanish which I don’t pretend to comprehend yet but my point is that, as of now, I’m not washing my clothes in a river or literally only living off of rice and beans. I’m super close to the states and I have the luxury of living in the Caribbean. Yes, it is sooooooo freaking hot right now, well more humid than anything, and my room is pretty much always 90 degrees (thanks for the cool whistle/thermometer/compass guys at BCHD:)but that makes me enjoy the bucket baths! I simply can not find the same appreciation for the ice cold water (which we collect off of the roof and I learned in my med class that there is a certain breed of worm that thrives in water on roofs, ick) after a nice cool day. Yes, cool days happen here. In fact one day this last week I was downing hot cocoa since I was FREEZING. Rain makes it a lot colder here. So, while there is always some bad that can be focused on, there is way more good in my circumstance! I thank God everyday that he chose me for this and that I am lucky enough to be here. So, feel free to send me the fruit roll ups (tropical tye dye is my fav by the way:) but don’t worry about me- although I never turn down sympathy:) I feel so taken care of here, the staff is very caring. How many people can say that they really like their boss? (don’t read into that Bill or Molly:) The country director, the highest person in the PC in country, personally greeted us at the airport terminal and helped us get our bags when we arrived! We don’t even need an appointment to see him. Yesterday I was having an extra super frustrated day and the technical trainer for the health group, who had no idea how I was feeling, just happened to ask me if I had some time to talk to her. She said she was a little worried about me after our last conversation since I don’t like the food and expressed concern about a new host family for CBT (mine is so good now, how can any family really have a fair chance to compare?) as well as concern for the prospect of being homesick during CBT since there are no phones available. So I wouldn’t be able to talk with my family for the 5 weeks of CBT. I thought it was so nice that she noticed all that and took the time to see how I felt a few days later. I noticed that others in my group often just randomly ask each other how they’re doing and it’s not a generic question. They really want to know and offer help if possible. I told Ann (my tech trainer) that I purchased a pre paid cell phone so people can call me if they want, and I already bought a jar of peanut butter to get CBT started. I went through a whole jar last week! But after talking with her I felt so much better!! It’s true I may still get homesick but even though I don’t know all the volunteers well enough yet to picture myself crying to them if I get homesick I feel like Ann is already there for us. It’s a great feeling. I was invited earlier today to study by Richie (another volunteer from Chicago who speaks Spanish so good that I think my Dona is in love with him) but I told him I didn’t think it was a good idea to be far from a bathroom today since I’m not functioning at my best. A few hours later, after I had been in my room with the lights out pondering how my eyes were able to adjust to the darkness so well, and my Dona knocked at my door to tell me I had some visitors. There were 6 volunteers who heard I wasn’t feeling well and decided to stop by for a visit, how nice is that?! So, I know this is long and rambling but after my Dad’s comment a couple days ago about rescuing me by plane or boat (by the way Dad, if I want to leave I just have to say so and they’ll fly me home so rest easy.) I figured it was a topic that I should maybe cover more thoroughly. Thank you all for your support because it really means a lot to me. I’m still nervous about this and that and my Spanish pisses me off endlessly but I am my own worse critic. The upside of my Spanish is that people really get a kick out of me so they like to talk to me. Today I was trying to talk to my family about the “art” of flushing the toilet and they were laughing hysterically at me. Turns out I was saying winter when I was trying to say toilet. I could get offended by this but I’m not sure if I’m past that point or perhaps not up to it yet. Getting laughed at, whether by other volunteers because of my “cute” Spanish or my family because of my “I don’t know what they’re saying” Spanish or just by random people who think a poncho is the funniest thing ever, is a very normal part of my day now. Sure, I got laughed at a lot in the states but this is a LOT more for sure. So, thanks to all of you back home who were never shy to laugh at me and helped condition me for it here. Way to think ahead! Talk to you all soon I’m sure. Love Betsy

Hey there everyone :) Hope you are all well there. We just finished lunch here and the internet isn’t working so I decided to write you all yet another blog. Everyone is sitting at a toilet right now thinking about their pooping habits now vs before. One girl is giving an example of how a person is supposed to poop if one can not go- like how you are supposed to sit. Interesting. So, Dengue has claimed yet another victim here in the group. This time it was a technical trainer (the people who teach us what to do next week at CBT) and there are just four of them total- one for each sector. So, we hope he gets better soon!! To answer some questions, the girl who got Dengue is doing better. At first we were all upset about our PCV visits were going to be moved to Tuesday- Thursday but now we’re all pretty happy since that girl won’t be missing her trip. That would be a BIG bummer. She thought she was having symptoms when she was sitting in the lecture the nurse was giving us about Dengue and Malaria but she wasn’t sure if it was just in her head. I guess she had a headache and her eyes were hurting. She said she just didn’t feel well. Poor girl, glad she’s on the recovery now though. I guess there are 4 strains and once you get one your more prone to get the others. One of them is really bad where your organs hemorrhage, so that’s not good. But, people typically (well PCVs) die or go home or anything due to it. With all the rain that’s coming I guess this weekend is going to be pretty dull. We’re all talking about going to a car wash to party it up on Sat but not if it’s pouring. (Note, here car washes are transformed into dance partys at night). It may be a good thing though since I have a bunch of tests on Monday. They won’t kick any of us out for not performing well on these. They’re to monitor our progress, and I don’t feel like it’s much so I need to study study study!!! Yesterday my Spanish group practiced calling realators in the paper. We need to know how to get housing so we thought this would be good practice. The first girl got through the second sentence and then started laughing so hard she hung up on the guy. I went next and did really well till I started reading off of my sheet. Turns out I used too many new and big words so when I tried to pronounce them they had no idea what I was saying. They passed the phone from person to person till finally I started laughing so hard I couldn’t talk. I said I was sorry and meant to say I was sick but accidently said they were sick. I have no idea what she said but it wasn’t nice and then she hung up. Whoops. The next girl did a good job but the last girl didn’t have good results. She got through a few of the questions and accidentally asked if there was gold in the kitchen instead of an oven. She didn’t know what the guy was saying in between her questions so she just kept asking new ones. Finally he told her she needed to learn how to speak Spanish and he hung up on her. We think she may have had the wrong number anyways. So, yesterday was fun in my 6 ½ hours of Spanish. We played Monopolio (Spanish monopoly) and got better with our numbers. I thought it was going to suck soooo bad being in Spanish that long but my teacher did a great job keeping it interesting. Well, that’s all for now. Dad, I don’t need you to come and rescue me but thanks for the offer. It’s seriously not bad here so don’t worry about me. They take care of us here. The worst thing I have to deal with is my own frustration, which was in full swing today. But thanks for all the comments, I love reading them. Sarah, whats the deal with not calling me on Sunday you butthead? Good thing I didn’t stay home from the beach for the call!! If you call and I’m not there just try a few hours later. I’m always home by 8 or 9 but generally by 7. Ok, hope to hear from you all soon. Miss you tons!! Love Betsy