We ended CBT with a bang...what a great weekend to have a birthday! We had multiple "despedidas", or going away parties, with music and food and dancing and even made it to the beach again. Our weekend of eco-tourism activities in Parque Nacional de los Haitises was incredible as well. We stayed in a little hotel in a fishing town, took a boat tour through the mangroves, stopping to explore several caves, ate seafood every day, and swam in the natural pools at Cano Hondo, an eco-tourism resort. Basically, it was a nice vacation before coming back to Santo Domingo. Excited to be reunited with our entire training class, we gathered in a group last night to cook Indian food (the hottest entire plate of food I have ever eaten, but so delicious!) and I contributed a banana pudding as a palate cleanser at the end. It came out surprisingly well, thanks to our splurge in going to the Dominican supermarket, La Sirena.
Today was a BIG day because we found out our PERMANENET SITES and got our cell phones, which are nicer than anything I've ever had in the states. It even has a camera, ha! We can receive calls for free, but only have 100 minutes and 20 text messages to use per month, for emergencies like hurricanes and medical issues.
My site is a little mountain town of about 300 people in the far north, about an hour away from the beach. I have to do a diagnostic when I get there to find out the most important community needs, but I'll most likely be building ceramic cook stoves, water filters, community gardens, and possibly latrines. I also want to start a Brigada Verde (environmental) youth group and write a grant to get solar panels, if the community needs them. There are many other volunteers that will be near my community who will be great resources and project partners. We leave tomorrow afternoon to visit our sites and will come back this weekend to have our final swearing in ceremonies.
My training has really flown by and now I'm so excited to start my real job! Hopefully I'll have internet occasionally to keep you guys updated on my adventure.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Who's afraid of the big, bad DR disease?
I wasn't...until it struck like a thief in the night. What I thought was a 24-hour bug turned into a 6-day purge-a-thon, and that's putting it delicately. It was interesting having a bug, or whatever it was, in a Dominican household where the walls don't reach the ceiling, the toilet doesn't flush without a bucket full of water, and I have a curtain for a door. As "chisme", or the Dominican grapevine, is especially strong in small towns infiltrated by gringos, news spreads like wildfire and I had many visitors within the first 24 hours, from Peace Corps volunteers to store owners to local kids. It's nice to be cared for, but I must admit it was a bit overwhelming when Tia Maria entered my room unannounced and issued a painful sounding prayer, presumedly for the salvation of my gut.
After several days of saltines and rice, I seem to be back to normal, which is a good thing because we have quite the weekend of despedidas (going away parties) and birthday festivities (I made it to 23! It's crazy to think I have two more of these before I'll be back to the states) as training is coming to a close on Wednesday. Next we'll head to Sabana del Mar for a few days of hiking through the Mangroves and painting murals with environmental youth groups before it's back to Santo Domingo to find out our permanent sites! After visiting our sites, we'll swear in on May 8th and then it's off the work I go...After a huge gringo party at the American Embassy of course. :)
After several days of saltines and rice, I seem to be back to normal, which is a good thing because we have quite the weekend of despedidas (going away parties) and birthday festivities (I made it to 23! It's crazy to think I have two more of these before I'll be back to the states) as training is coming to a close on Wednesday. Next we'll head to Sabana del Mar for a few days of hiking through the Mangroves and painting murals with environmental youth groups before it's back to Santo Domingo to find out our permanent sites! After visiting our sites, we'll swear in on May 8th and then it's off the work I go...After a huge gringo party at the American Embassy of course. :)
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Hands-On Activities
On Sunday we returned from a weekend conference of Brigada Verde, a national environmental youth group, on the top of a mountain not far from my current home of La Cumbre. The site of the conference was called Diego del Campo and was absolutely beautiful. The theme of the conference was Eco-tourism, which I just gave a presentation on last week to my fellow PCVs, and the attendees were Dominican youth ages 13-18 generally. We organized fun activities and games for them, and they attended talks about ecotourism and presented the work they have done in their own communities, such as beach clean-ups and planting trees. On Saturday we climbed the highest peak in the Cordillera Septentrional (a beautiful mountain range in the DR) and now I'm looking forward to climbing Pico Duarte, the highest point in the Caribbean, sometime in the next two years!
Training is going very well. We've gotten to the very hands-on stage of learning, which keeps things interesting. Yesterday we dug up the earth on the grouns of Trujillo's old mansion (the infamous dictator of the DR from 1930s-1960s) and prepared the beds to plant seeds next week. Today we started construction on a stove for a family that will we finish tomorrow. The house is a small wooden structure with dirt floors and the stove, made from concrete and cement blocks, is outside the house as there was no way to put a chimney through the zinc roof. The goal of this project is to prepare us to build stoves in our own community, and I feel pretty confident that after watching/helping with a few, I'll be able to lead my own stove building projects.
This weekend I'm going with my family to Bonao, another nearby mountain town, to stay with my host mother's family. They're having an Hora Santa, which is a ceremony to remember the death of an important family member. Next weekend (my birthday!) we hope to go to Puerto Plata, a beachtown not far from here, for a little relaxation. In two weeks it's back to Santo Domingo for a few days, then a visit to our ACTUAL PERMANENT PROJECT SITES! I still don't know what mine is or what I'll be doing as my primary project, but I'm getting excited!
Training is going very well. We've gotten to the very hands-on stage of learning, which keeps things interesting. Yesterday we dug up the earth on the grouns of Trujillo's old mansion (the infamous dictator of the DR from 1930s-1960s) and prepared the beds to plant seeds next week. Today we started construction on a stove for a family that will we finish tomorrow. The house is a small wooden structure with dirt floors and the stove, made from concrete and cement blocks, is outside the house as there was no way to put a chimney through the zinc roof. The goal of this project is to prepare us to build stoves in our own community, and I feel pretty confident that after watching/helping with a few, I'll be able to lead my own stove building projects.
This weekend I'm going with my family to Bonao, another nearby mountain town, to stay with my host mother's family. They're having an Hora Santa, which is a ceremony to remember the death of an important family member. Next weekend (my birthday!) we hope to go to Puerto Plata, a beachtown not far from here, for a little relaxation. In two weeks it's back to Santo Domingo for a few days, then a visit to our ACTUAL PERMANENT PROJECT SITES! I still don't know what mine is or what I'll be doing as my primary project, but I'm getting excited!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Another Town, Another Family
Today we ventured into Santiago to see the sites and use the internet, since our town (about 45 minutes away) has no phones, internet, or even a post office. The city is in an uproar for the upcoming election in May, and it's interesting, if tiresome, to see the Dominicans campaigning to reelect their beloved Leonel Fernandez.
Our town is beautiful, on a mountainside and surrounded by tropical plantlife. My new family is so kind and patient (and much calmer than my rambunctious Santo Domingo family!) I have 3 sisters, ages 18, 15, and 4, and they took to me right away, introducing me to all my friends and helping me with my diagnostic, in which I have to do a variety of tasks such as family trees and interviews, in order to get to know the area better. It's kind of a practice run for the real diagnostic I'll be doing when I get to my permanent site.
My house is simple, but clean. There's no running water in the house, and only one aquaduct that serves several communities, so the water runs from 8-10 am from a spicket outside the house. Every morning, my host mother fills up as many buckets as she can to use during the day. (Our drinking water is bought.) My room is cozy, with barely enough space for the bed, so arranging my life has been a challenge. There's also no door, but a curtain, and the 4 year old has taken to busting in whenever she pleases. Good thing I have only sisters! :)
Training is going well. Yesterday we made compost piles, and next week I'll be presenting with a partner on eco-tourism. There's a huge emphasis on non-formal education in the Peace Corps, so almost all our activities are hands-on. Spanish is coming along well, although I often find that I still don't have the vocabulary that I would like. I'm sure it will come.
Tomorrow we're going to a cock-fight. I'm a little hesitant, but the fights are such a big part of life here, and I feel that I should partake, if only for a few minutes, in what is an important aspect of Dominican culture. Speaking of chickens, my host mom bought a live "gallina" (chicken) off a passing "guagua" (transport vehicle) today. It sat, surprisingly subdued, in the corner while I ate breakfast, and then when I left the room, she killed it noisingly, jokingly soliciting her dog's help in the act. I've been eating whatever they put in front of me, including meat, but I must admit that this afternoon was a bit difficult...
I'm not sure when I'll get back to the internet, but know that I'm safe and happy and adjusting to my life in el campo. Sending letters is actually really difficult here, but I'll try to stay in cyber-contact when I can.
Our town is beautiful, on a mountainside and surrounded by tropical plantlife. My new family is so kind and patient (and much calmer than my rambunctious Santo Domingo family!) I have 3 sisters, ages 18, 15, and 4, and they took to me right away, introducing me to all my friends and helping me with my diagnostic, in which I have to do a variety of tasks such as family trees and interviews, in order to get to know the area better. It's kind of a practice run for the real diagnostic I'll be doing when I get to my permanent site.
My house is simple, but clean. There's no running water in the house, and only one aquaduct that serves several communities, so the water runs from 8-10 am from a spicket outside the house. Every morning, my host mother fills up as many buckets as she can to use during the day. (Our drinking water is bought.) My room is cozy, with barely enough space for the bed, so arranging my life has been a challenge. There's also no door, but a curtain, and the 4 year old has taken to busting in whenever she pleases. Good thing I have only sisters! :)
Training is going well. Yesterday we made compost piles, and next week I'll be presenting with a partner on eco-tourism. There's a huge emphasis on non-formal education in the Peace Corps, so almost all our activities are hands-on. Spanish is coming along well, although I often find that I still don't have the vocabulary that I would like. I'm sure it will come.
Tomorrow we're going to a cock-fight. I'm a little hesitant, but the fights are such a big part of life here, and I feel that I should partake, if only for a few minutes, in what is an important aspect of Dominican culture. Speaking of chickens, my host mom bought a live "gallina" (chicken) off a passing "guagua" (transport vehicle) today. It sat, surprisingly subdued, in the corner while I ate breakfast, and then when I left the room, she killed it noisingly, jokingly soliciting her dog's help in the act. I've been eating whatever they put in front of me, including meat, but I must admit that this afternoon was a bit difficult...
I'm not sure when I'll get back to the internet, but know that I'm safe and happy and adjusting to my life in el campo. Sending letters is actually really difficult here, but I'll try to stay in cyber-contact when I can.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Back to El Campo
We´re in the midst of Semana Santa, the Easter celebration, and there´s a mass exodus from the city ensuing as we speak. We PCVs thought briefly of taking a vacation for a few days, but then thought better of it as that´s exactly what everyone else in Santo Domingo is doing. Instead, we´ve decided to stay in town, enjoy the (relative) quiet, and maybe take in some of the festivities in the historic district.
We had our Spanish and Core Training tests yesterday, which we all passed with flying colors! After this weekend, we all leave for the countryside (me with the Environmental group to the north, and the IT people to the Northeast) to begin our 5 weeks of Community Based Training (CBT). We´ll be staying with new host families for those 5 weeks, taking Spanish classes, and doing hands-on training for gardening, organic pesticides, ceramic stove assembly, eco-tourism and the like. So all of this to say...I may be out of touch for a while! I hope to have internet access at least on occasion in the next 5 weeks, but we never know what will be available until we get there.
Take care, and keep the letters coming to the main PC office! :) I hope to have a readathon upon my return from el campo!
We had our Spanish and Core Training tests yesterday, which we all passed with flying colors! After this weekend, we all leave for the countryside (me with the Environmental group to the north, and the IT people to the Northeast) to begin our 5 weeks of Community Based Training (CBT). We´ll be staying with new host families for those 5 weeks, taking Spanish classes, and doing hands-on training for gardening, organic pesticides, ceramic stove assembly, eco-tourism and the like. So all of this to say...I may be out of touch for a while! I hope to have internet access at least on occasion in the next 5 weeks, but we never know what will be available until we get there.
Take care, and keep the letters coming to the main PC office! :) I hope to have a readathon upon my return from el campo!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Back from the Mountains
Just got back from an interesting trip to El Firme, a little ¨town¨that balances on a ridge of the Cordillera Septentrional mountain range. I visited Dawn and Charles, 2 ecclectic volunteers in their 60s who are finishing up their two years of service in El Firme, and got to know a little about their projects. Charles taught me all about Cacao (the chocolate plant, which is the main source of income for this town), and we went to a government run tree nursery and picked up over 100 trees for him to distribute in El Firme. Erosion and deforrestation are real problems in this particular part of the mountains (and everywhere really) so Charles is doing his part to recreate biodiversity in and around El Firme. Other projects include a small library (two file cabinets filled with books), a new clinic, and Charles´beekeeping, which the local youth are very interested in.
To get to El Firme, I had to take a taxi, then a large bus, then a small van, then a motorcycle. Everyone stared at me like a benign alien all weekend, especially as I was riding up the mountain with my huge backpack, clinging for dear life to the motorcycle driver. Thank goodness for my Peace Corps issue helmet!
I came back with tons of chigger-bites and a wealth of knowledge about recipes, homemade pesticides, and Dominican flora and fauna, and most importantly, a better idea of what being in the Peace Corps is really all about. (They told us when we applied that it´s not like camping for two years, but the way Dawn and Charles live, it kinda is! An outhouse, rainwater as their only source, sporadic electricity, and chickens and hogs galore!) I´m eager to hear about the experiences that all the other trainees had at their sites, as we were spread all across the country to fend for ourselves this weekend.
To get to El Firme, I had to take a taxi, then a large bus, then a small van, then a motorcycle. Everyone stared at me like a benign alien all weekend, especially as I was riding up the mountain with my huge backpack, clinging for dear life to the motorcycle driver. Thank goodness for my Peace Corps issue helmet!
I came back with tons of chigger-bites and a wealth of knowledge about recipes, homemade pesticides, and Dominican flora and fauna, and most importantly, a better idea of what being in the Peace Corps is really all about. (They told us when we applied that it´s not like camping for two years, but the way Dawn and Charles live, it kinda is! An outhouse, rainwater as their only source, sporadic electricity, and chickens and hogs galore!) I´m eager to hear about the experiences that all the other trainees had at their sites, as we were spread all across the country to fend for ourselves this weekend.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Shots and Bikes
The center that we train at is an oasis of beauty in an otherwise dusty, noisy city - which is fortunate since we spend an average of 45 hours a week there, not including organized activities on Saturday! After next weekend´s visit to the mountains, the following weekend is Semana Santa (Easter) and I´m interested to see how the Dominicans celebrate. Will report back!
Had vaccination number 6 or 7 today - ouch! Anyone looking to get vaccinated for typhoid, be informed that the pills last longer, and are significantly less painful.
I´ve started saving breakfast scraps for a lonely scruffy pup who lives on my street. I know I can´t save them all, but he really wrenches the heart-strings. Can´t wait to adopt a pup of my own when I move to el campo!
We also received our motorcycle helmets today. Although we´re not allowed to ride in the city (and are never allowed to drive), they say over 80% of Peace Corps DR sites would be inaccessible without motorcycles. We had a brief training session, and I think that combined with lessons from Dad will guarantee safe riding in the future!
Had vaccination number 6 or 7 today - ouch! Anyone looking to get vaccinated for typhoid, be informed that the pills last longer, and are significantly less painful.
I´ve started saving breakfast scraps for a lonely scruffy pup who lives on my street. I know I can´t save them all, but he really wrenches the heart-strings. Can´t wait to adopt a pup of my own when I move to el campo!
We also received our motorcycle helmets today. Although we´re not allowed to ride in the city (and are never allowed to drive), they say over 80% of Peace Corps DR sites would be inaccessible without motorcycles. We had a brief training session, and I think that combined with lessons from Dad will guarantee safe riding in the future!
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