Busy settling in.

I arrived at my site on Thursday. I will be living with my project partners aunt. Her house is only a year old. It was built for her by Sur Futuro. There are 2 bedrooms, a bathroom(my toilet has a seat!), a kitchen and living/dining room. She has a son that lives in Santo Domingo so it is just the two of us. She sells chicken and cheese empanadas. We just made a fresh batch today. This could be dangerous for my already expanding waisteline. Besides empanadas, she doesn't cook. Therefore I will be eating with my project partner and his family. They live a short walk away in a house they just finished constructing. They have 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls all under 13.

On Friday I attended a seminar Sur Futuro was holding for coffee growers. Today I went on a tour of community and went to cut down some green bananas from the plot of a neighbor. This included a journey over the mountain, me stepping ankle deep in mud the first 10 minutes, and a million mosquito bites. It was a great hike though. So pretty.

Tomorrow I plan on making passion fruit juice, climbing a mountain to look for mangos,and attending a birthday party.

The weather up here on my mountain is wonderful. It is warm during the day but cools off at night. My host mom and I sit around the left over coals from cooking for warmth. I have to sleep with a blanket! They laugh when I say it's cold and tell me to wait until December. Who would've though I'd be shopping for a winter coat on my tropical island?

I'm moving the mountains

Yesterday I went to visit a community that solicited for a volunteer to work with Sur Futuro's literacy program.  The town is located in the Azua providence.  It was a 2.5 hour drive from the capital.  We drove up an unmaintained dirt road for 25 minutes to reach the community of Monte Bonito.  There are around 300-350 homes, a high school, a rural clinic and a ton of avocado trees.  Their main source of income is agriculture. My project partner will be a high school math teacher who served as president of their community orgaization. 

I've been in the capital for almost two weeks now.  I'm excited and anxious to move to my new place.  My parents are sending me a netbook this week, so I will soon have a computer and hopefully an internet connection. 

Things are looking up

I was at my site for about a month, and I have been in Santo Domingo for a week now. I am getting a site change after my community was found to be an unsafe environment for me to live. I am a little disappointed to have to start the integration process over, but I know I need to do what is best for my safety.

On Monday I will visit a community that solicited for a volunteer to work in adult literacy. I was told it was beautiful mountainous agricultural community (sounds great, I know!). My main project will be working with 80 illiterate adults but I hope to help them with their reforestation project as well.

This week I shoped at the mall, went to happy hour, ate chocolate cake and watched TV in English and lounged by the pool.  I feel so spoiled! I am going to enjoy the rest of my weekend here in the capital.  I will let you guys know how Monday goes.  It is possible I will be moving to my new home next week!

"If you will call your troubles experiences, and remember that
every experience develops some latent force within you, you
will grow vigorous and happy, however adverse your
circumstances may seem to be."
-- John R. Miller

Wow.

I don't even know where to begin.  Quite a lot has happened since I wrote last.  I am currently staying in Santo Domingo.  Various incidents occured in my site and at my host family's house and will most likely result in a site change.  I no longer have a computer or my camera, but I am in good health and still in pretty good spirits. 

I will update you when I know more and I'm sure Mom and Dad can tell you guys in depth about whats going on.

I LOVE mail!

I know some of you are wondering how I receive mail.  The postal system here is a bit different than in the US.  All my mail is sent to the Peace Corps Office in Santo Domingo.  There, my mail is put into my mailbox and waits for me to come pick it up.  I will be stopping by the Peace Corps Office once in awhile to get mail, see the doctor, or complete paperwork.  As a rule of thumb, you should only send letters and padded envelopes through USPS.  My address is on the right hand side bar of my blog.

Things on my wish list include, but are not limited to:

jump rope

powdered gatorade packets

red licorice

anything on my Amazon Wishlist

face sunscreen

stickers

pictures, posters, maps, or anything to hang on my walls

Yerba Mate tea
dark chocolate M&Ms

I will add things to my list as time goes on, but for now that's all.  

It's been awhile

I know it has been awhile.  I have been at my site for a couple weeks now.  I've lost count.  This is the first time I've been able to use my laptop.  There is one internet center in Santa Rosa and I couldn't connect my laptop so I didn't spend my 30 pesos to use the internet.  I'm in Baní today.  There is a volunteer, Jessica, that lives a 15 minute moto ride away.  We decided to go to a pool near the beach and then have pizza and use the internet here in Baní.

I had a rocky spot last week.  For six days my diet consisted of antidiarrheal meds, rehydration salts, and saltine crackers.  I'm not really sure what I had.  I will finish some antibiotics tomorrow for some sort of infection/virus, I'd really prefer not to know.  While I was sick everyone had their own 'remedy' for my sickness.  My host mom made me tea with garlic and oregano.  Another woman made me fried plantains and fried chicken stating that fried food doesn't have fat.  Needless to say I can't wait to get my own place and control my diet.

Speaking of, I've had my eye out for house in the community.  Some they have shown me had latrines/outhouses, which I'm not too keen on, and others were a bit out of my price range.  We'll see what I come up with in the next couple months.  My host mom would prefer that I just live with her the whole time.

I haven't been doing too much lately as far a 'work' goes.  You are suppose to take some time to integrate into your community.  So, I spend my time hanging out at my host family's house, the elementary school on our street, the banca (lottery place) with Fatima (one of the facilitators), Fatima's house.  I meet a lot of people, watch soap operas and American movies in Spanish.

I will hopefully be updating more often.  Within the next couple of months I look forward getting wireless internet for my computer, but like everything here it is a process.

I put up some pictures.

Swearing In

my host mom in black and her sister and niece at swearing-in

I am an official Peace Corps Volunteer.  So exciting!  We swore in on Wednesday in a ceremony at our training center in Santo Domingo.  A representative from the Embassy was there as well as Dominican government officials and our host families. 

The following day, Thursday we had All Volunteer Conference.  The 200 some current volunteers serving in the DR attended.  It was blazing hot out and a lot of the information was review, but there were peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fresh juice so all was not lost.  That night I stayed in a hotel in the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo, ate at a Mediterranean restaurant and went out a bar we rented out.  The next morning I had pancakes, sausage and eggs for breakfast before heading to the pool! 

I know you’re thinking that this all doesn’t sound too Peace Corps but I would like to say I am now back in my site.  I packed up and moved the rest of my stuff to my new home on Saturday.  Everyone seemed delighted to see me and I feel content now that I’ve reached my ‘final destination’.  This week I’m going to recruit my host brothers to help me make some shelves and a clothesline in my room.  I can then unpack a little bit and be more organized.