I have officially been in country for one month, 26 more ahead of me. There are a lot of things I have and have not done in the past month. Here is a short list of both.
Things I HAVE done in the past month:
Eaten Avacado every day
Danced Bachata & Merengue
Played Dominoes
Slept in a Mosquito Net
Eaten mysterious meat
Showered in the pitch black
Worn the same clothes two days in a row
Hiked
Yoga
Missed family, friends & my dogs
Made friends
Gotten Sick
Been awoken by chickens
Bucket showered
Things I HAVE NOT done in the past month:
Cooked
Flushed Toilet Paper
Felt clean
My hair
Worn heels
Washed my underwear in a washing machine
Watch TV
Driven
Gone shopping
Bought clothes
Read the news
Before I give an update, I would like to say a few things in regards to some of the comments from the past post. First and foremost, I know you all are going to be disappointed, but I DID NOT get my hair done with my Dona. There was no electricity that evening so we had to cancel, I was so relieved. She really wants to go though so I told her we could go when I come back from Constanza so if/when we do, I will take some pictures.
Second, I mentioned how I did a horrible job packing...this is true. There is not anything I desperately need but I wish I had done a better job selecting clothes and just brought a lot more in general, especially more casual clothes. I am short on shirts and wish I had brought another pair of jeans and or pants of some sort. I also only brought one sweatshirt, it has THE NORTH FACE written across it in huge letters and I have worn it every single night for the past two weeks...I wouldn't care if I ever saw it again. I am worried the people in the community might start calling me THE NORTH FACE because it's all they see me in and because the writing is so big. My shoe packing has been the worst though. I have no clue how I chose which shoes to bring but they are the most random selection. Dominicans think it is weird that we wear flip-flops, regardless of the condition of them, they consider them shower shoes. I somehow forgot to put my Chacos in my bag so my "go to" pair of shoes are flip-flops. I am in the market for some Birkenstocks with the back strap and I am hoping my loving parents will send my Chacos along with them ;) One thing I really need are pens, paper, index cards and really any school supplies. We do so much writing and have so many projects. I think I have lost all of my pens already and nobody ever has any. Feel free to mail anything!! Pens, Uno, old DVDS (it's a real treat to watch a movie in English), other small games, peanuts, candy, gum, trail mix etc. etc. I have added my address to the right. I believe it takes a while for things to get here, but they do make it. A group of volunteers got packages our third week so I think it takes about a week and a half - three weeks to make it, the key is the packaging. Anything sent should be in one of those yellow padded envelopes from the post office, you just handwrite my address and such and off it goes! Anything would be much appreciated, I would even love notes or pictures! It is just fun to get mail here so feel free, I would love it!!!
So.....
I am in Constanza for CBT which is Community Based Training. Constanza is a campo surrounded by mountains. It is really pretty here and definitely cooler which has been awesome. I believe the population is about 130,000 people, it has a main street and it is easy to walk everywhere so that is nice. My new host family is good. I have a Dona and she has a daughter that lives with her. Her mother and sister come by for every meal along with another girl who lives with her sick grandparents. There are officially 3 of us living in the house but there are always way more people around and they scream a lot. My Dona is nice, she is a teacher and works everyday from 1:30-9:30 so I do not spend as much time with her. She is very well respected in the community and rather serious. All 25 of the volunteers are living in the same neighborhood so that has been really fun. In Santo Domingo, I was a off the beaten path a little so I wasn't doing too much after training but here I can walk out my door and see another volunteer so I have been running around a lot more.
As I briefly mentioned earlier, I was a little sick. I think I just had a virus but I am all better now. I missed a day and a half of training because of a fever and I am still having some stomach issues but I think the worst of it is behind me. It was not fun. I wasn't eating much but I needed to stay hydrated so I lived on gatorade for 3 days...it isn't cheap, especially when I am living off less than $1.00/day. I am a little sick of the food but I guess there is not much I can do about it so I just have to keep eating it. They give the largest portions and they are tough to eat. This is a standard day of meals for me:
Breakfast - Cornflakes with boiling hot milk. The cornflakes aren't bad but the milk part is not my favorite. The cereal gets soggy twice as fast so I usually just have a few bites until its mush.
Lunch - Rice, beans and chicken. There are a few different ways they prepare this and sometimes they throw me a curveball and give me lentils instead of beans but its pretty much the same every day. I also sometimes get a little salad which consists of lettuce drenched in oil, I also try to shy away from this. I then get homemade juice which is my favorite part and it usually varies. I had really good carrot and lime juice yesterday. Lunch is the big meal of the day so I usually eat with everyone: dona, sister, grandma, aunt, friend, cat that sits on the table and stares at me until grandma hits it and then 217 flies.
Dinner - Yuka and Salami. It is a chore to get this down.
We have training, in english everyday from 8:30-12:00 in this preschool a street over from my house. The children just aren't going to school for the 5 and a half weeks we are here. This training is way better than the previous. My trainer is really cool, she finished her service about a year ago and came back to train us so she has been in our shoes and makes it fun for us. I now have Spanish class from 2:00-5:00 everyday. My spanish is still struggling but I know more than when I walked off the plane so that is all that matters. It is tough to understand the people in Constanza. They talk so fast and have a really strong dialect. They drop all of their "S" so I have a hard time keeping up. I still have to translate each word in my head to understand - it makes it pretty hard to translate a word when it really isn't a word. For example: Donde esta? sounds like Ande ta? Even the people with strong spanish have been having a difficult time with the dialect, I didn't even know they did this until a few days ago, I just thought they were saying stuff I just didn't know and I just do my standard grin and nod and say si. They are catching on though, my Dona told my trainer that she can tell when I actually understand her or if I'm pretending...she did say it was improving though but maybe I am just becoming a better actress.
We have been split into groups of 4 or 5 and each group is working with a different youth group. My group is working with an enviromental group that has been around for some time. They are probably the most active group so we have had it a little easier than the other volunteers. We did a trash pickup in their neighborhood Saturday morning at 8am. It went well and it was really nice because all of the Peace Corps Volunteers came to help even though it wasn't their group. We gave a Community Diagnostic on our group last week and from here we have to come up with an activity they would like to do and then plan events to fundraise for the final event. The last week of training we all just go and participate in eachother's activities and celebrate our work for the past five weeks.
I find out where I will be placed in about two weeks. It is exciting and nerve wracking because it is where I will be spending the next two years and the decision is out of my hands. I am excited though.
That about wraps it up! Shoot me any questions and I will get back to you. I have easy access to the internet as of now so I check it often. Hope all is well with everyone and I miss you all each day! Take care!
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| The Colonial Zone in Santo Domingo |
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| Colonial Zone |
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| The Flag of the DR |
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| Constanza |
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| Constanza |
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| Friends |
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| My room in Constanza |
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| Me with my host sister Perla (far left) and her friends, Pamela & Jennifer |
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| Youth group and Chritsy |
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| My youth group and Peace Corps Volunteers in Constanza - After trash pick-up |
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| Food - That is the salami I eat (woof) and some chicken feet |
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| Market in Constanza |
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| Training center in Constanza |
