Food and Eating

I am craving delicious food.  I want to cook and bake and shop at the grocery store.  More importantly, I want to be able to afford food at the grocery store.

Give me greek yogurt, a good loaf of bread (they sell water bread here, wtf is that?) fruit besides bananas (I heard they make you fat), a pizza!  The lack of variety is killing me.

And I'm sure you can relate, that sometimes you just don't feel like cooking.  That really isn't an option here.  All you can do is wander to the neighbors house and inquire about what they are cooking.  Or if you're lucky and it is Saturday-Monday you can eat fried chicken and toastones.

I was thinking about extending, but I would choose not to solely based on food availability.

There is this hilarious website about PC experiences.  This is me.

Do what you can. Where you are. With what you have.

Todos Leen/Yo Se Leer is a PC literacy program. There is a concentration of volunteers in my region working under the same model. We tutor small groups of elementary students and also supervise facilitators who do the same. Olga and I officially started this week working with our small groups. Another facilitator will hopefully join us on Monday. Before we began, I had to evaluate the students. The teachers provided lists of students that they felt were behind. I then evaluated them individually. Around 90% of them struggled to identify the vowels. I always feel a little down after evaluating them, but after this first week I am feeling good. They are intelligent kids who just need an extra push. I need to thank my mom for all the great tools and ideas. My alphabet playing cards, magnetic letters, and educational puzzles make learning fun, and my job a little easier.

I am able to use my house to tutor. We all sit on my floor and work. I like the informal feel of the space. My facilitators however work in the school. It isn't ideal because there are children running around, joining in on their study sessions, and making unsavory comments. My search for a space has been extensive. I tried the empty bar, the owner wanted me to rent it, the evangelical church, is ready to fall down during the next earthquake, the fritura (fried chicken shack), is afraid the kids will break the glass display case, the neighbor's house, where they may or may not be entertaining 'female' guests, was vetoed for obvious reasons. I am now crossing my fingers to use the Panaderia (bakery) next to my house. It hasn't been functioning for years except on Christmas Eve when they bake chickens.

My presence in the school has made me a celebrity with the kids. Wherever I go some little voice is calling me, “Misky”, or if they've been in my program before, “Mikki”.

I used to get upset when things didn't go as they should at the school. Until a wise man reminded me that I should just work with what I have. So my goal is to relax more and do what I can, where I am, with what I have.

We Need Your Help!

Here's the deal: several volunteer friends and I have collaborated to share a Peace Corps Partnership grant for materials and group trainings for the work that we do individually in our communities, helping children who are severely behind in an already lagging school system. Between five Peace Corps volunteers, we are working in five different rural communities with 20 local facilitators and over 300 children benefiting from our work.

PLEASE DONATE HERE: https://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?

The goal is to make our programs sustainable, so that our local counterparts will continue this work long after we leave. We need materials and trainings to make this possible. Your donation will contribute to a sustainable future for a program that helps the children who need it the most: children whose parents may be illiterate, who are at risk of dropping out of school in favor of work, who have often already been given up on, and therefore have given up on themselves.Last year, our results showed a significant improvement in the reading levels of participants. It is so gratifying to work with these kids. The ultimate goal is to keep this going, to begin a slow change that will continue after I leave. 100% of your donation will go towards materials, trainings, and facilitator support. (Peace Corps volunteers don’t really have overhead costs…)

Decisions decisions

I officially have just 10 months left of my service.  The time has flown.  There has been more talk about future plans among the volunteers.  I get excited and nervous and then overwhelmed. How do I choose?  I feel like I could live anywhere and do so many different things.  

Working with the kids at summer school is fulfilling but also difficult.  Do I want to be a teacher?  Maybe in bilingual education?  This next year of tutoring will give me a better idea if working with children is a good idea.

I would enjoy working in the non-profit field as well.  In a multicultural environment where I can speak Spanish, maybe?

As for location, I don't have a strong preference or attraction to any one city or state.  How do I decide?  

I hope that after more time stewing over these decisions will help me decide.  I welcome any wisdom.

Summer School

2 days down!  I cut the camp from three hours to just 2 hours.  It was difficult to keep their focus for that long.  I tip my hat to full time teachers who occupy children all day long.

The first day I was flying solo.  They were all sitting in their chairs silently looking at me.  I froze for a second and though, what did I sign up for?  I decided  to dive right in though.  We sang the alphabet song.  They thought it was hilarious.

Olga showed up today and jumped in to help.  I am so thankful for her.

So far so good.  I hope the rest of camp/school continues to run smoothly.

Camp Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the first day of my summer camp.  There will be around 15-20 kids.  We will focus on learning the alphabet.  There will be lots of games, play dough, and sugary snacks.  Wish me luck and patience!

Visiting Home

I left for Arizona mid June.  I thought I would be really emotional and overwhelmed about the whole ordeal, but it felt normal to be back.

I loved lounging on the couch all day in my pj's, mixing up delicious drinks at night, cooking with my mom, and the peacefulness of my parents house.

It was difficult to communicate to family and friends what my experience in the DR has been like so far.  To really understand my life here I think you have to come live it first hand like my Mom, Grandma, and Aunt did back in January.

I chose the right time to visit home.  I appreciated everything and enjoyed every second, but  I was also ready to be back in the DR.  I don't think I would have been able to say the same a couple of months back.

I think this next year will be productive, fun, and fulfilling.

Random observations:
The technology in the US is awesome, IPhones, IPads, emailed receipts, paying with a card at a vending machine. I am in awe about what my new(!) Kindle can do.
Arizona is super dry.  My body was in shock going from this humid island to the dry desert.
Gracias a dios I have learned some patience in my time here.
I still haven't learned to pack light.
I don't miss driving.
Modern washing machines are one of the greatest inventions.


"It’s a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what’s changed is you."

F. Scott Fitzgerald