Nombres

The names here come in three categories:

1. Traditional English names (with a Latin twist on the pronounciation)
Nelson, Jeffrey, Christian, Angel, Junior, Alexandra

2. Traditional Latin names
Maria, Rosa, Manuel, Juan, Miguel, Ana

3. The hard to pronounce and even harder to spell
Zuelaki (Sue-lake-e), Neftali, Digamara, Crismeyti (Chris-my-tea), Orbelisa, Arislati (R-is-lady)

*It seems like when a couple like a name, they like it so much they name all of their children variations of the same name.
Irlenny and Ilenny are sisters.
Crismayti and Crismeyti are sisters.
Yissel, Yolli, and Yoti, are siblings.

*My name: I go by Rebekah to the Dominicans for 2 reasons. (1) I like how they pronounce it. I can't pronounce it the way they do and half the time when I'm telling someone my name they don't understand me, but when they say it, it sounds really pretty.
And (2) "beca" means scholarship in Spanish and I didn't want to go by scholarship for the next two years.

Republica Americana*

*The Dominican Republic in Spanish is la Republica Dominicana.

The other day I was doing some grocery shopping in Santiago at El Cantante (like a WalMart). I was at the spaghetti sauce trying to figure out which one I wanted. Growing up my Mom always made spaghetti from scratch, and I took that habit with me to college. Therefore, this was this was the first time I was buying canned sauce. It took me a while to even read all the labels there were so many different kinds… meat flavoured, Tomato and Garlic, Basil Garlic, Original Recipe, etc.

Then I noticed two female workers that were a couple feet from me were starring at me. ¨Oh come on!¨ I thought, ¨Where am I going to hide canned sauce so I can steal it?¨ So I picked up one and took off down the aisle. As I turned the corner, I looked over my shoulder and saw one of the girls had moved to where I was and picked up one of the cans. I then realized the girls didn´t think that I was going to steal, they were just amazed that I could read the labels!

Imagine going to HEB one day, you have your list in hand and you´re ready to do some quick grocery shopping. You get to the cereal aisle and your mouth drops. All of the boxes are labeled in a foreign language and there must be at least 50 different kinds. Which one do you choose? The one with the friendliest looking character? The one with just corn flakes, it looks the safest, but then again it could be flavored? Dominicans have to do this every time they go shopping. At least until they pick one that is good and stick with it.

Before the spaghetti incident, I was down the breakfast aisle and saw there was a two for one sale on Nature Valley granola bars, which was actually still a little expensive but it was an okay deal. So I debated on it and saw what kinds they had. I left to get all my other stuff, then came back to cave in and splurge a little on the granola bars. A woman was there contemplating on which one to get. While I saw original, oats and honey, or cinnamon, she saw yellow box, blue box, or red box.

Ode to my ¨Pretty Rose¨

¨I feel like a backpacking Paris Hilton!¨ I told fellow PCV (Peace Corps volunteer) Amanda as I tightened my backpack straps and tucked my new perrita chiquita under my arm.

Before I came to the DR, I knew that I wanted a dog. Then, when I found out that they kill female dogs because they don´t want puppies. I knew I wanted to get una hembra (female). Then shortly after arriving, I read the book ¨The Farming of Bones¨ about a young Haitian working in the DR (it´s a great book, but I didn´t care for the ending). There was a character named Rosalinda. Maybe I like the character, maybe I´m just obsessed with roses (my only other dog is named Rosebud), or maybe I just liked the name, but I knew right after I read the name that I would have a female dog named Rosalinda.

So when Amanda told me that a stray dog had had six puppies in an abandoned house at her site, I said absolutely I´ll have one just make sure it´s una hembra!

Therefore at the end of August, I went over to Amanda´s in Imbert to pick her up. She is a cute orange and white (Go Longhorns!), skinny pup, but growing fast. She likes running around aimlessly (when she does this we call her LOCAlinda), digging, chasing chickens, she loves bones and rice, and she likes taking my socks outside to chew on (at least it´s not my underwear!).

Now she is my constant companion and goes almost everywhere I do. When we walk by kids in the street they say, ¨Hola, Rosalinda!¨ And I say where is my hola?

All in all, no matter what the day brings she is always there with a smile on her face ready to play.

7 months

Now I have been living in the Dominican Republic for 7 months (in my site for almost 5 months). While sometimes it feels like it's gone by so fast; other times it feels like it's been forever since I've been on American soil. This is by far the longest time I've been away from friends and family. While I miss everyone SO much and am counting down the days to visit for Christmas, I've been enjoying my two new families.

One is the Peace Corps family. I have many sisters and brothers (the fellow Peace Corps volunteers), even older siblings (the Peace Corps volunteer Leaders). We have the sweet, supporting aunts (doctors), and our hard working uncles (the APCDS, technical bosses). We all work hard, play hard, live hard under Big Papa Romio (the Country Director).

Then, of course, I have my Dominican family. Which is the prime example of organized chaos. Even though there's about 4000 people who live in my town, Estero Hondo, I don't think there's more than 20 main families. Your either someone's primo/a, tio/a, or copadre/comadre, or your married to their hermano/a.



Last Friday I turned in my first grant! It is for the community center roof. The roof is badly damaged and could fall very soon. I'm hoping that it gets approved quickly and I can get the money by the end of October or the first week of November. If I do, I can start construction the second week of November. However, if I don't get the money in time, I'll have to wait till the new year to start construction. I'm afraid that by that time the roof may fall and the damage will be greater so please pray for a speedy approval!!!


Other things I'm doing: a girls' volleyball club and a youth group called Brigada Verde. We gave a "charla" or speech to the schools last Friday about trash and the importance of putting it in the trash can. The kids had fun and the charlas were really sussessful. On October 24th, we are having a "Show de Talento" or Talent Show for the community. The last act will be my kids giving a charla about trash, so I really excited about it. Plus it will be a great fundraiser.


Yesterday I bought my plane ticket to come home for Christmas. I'm so happy it's official. I'm coming home Wednesday December 16th at 2:55pm and leaving the morning of the 30th. See yall soon!!!

Rosalinda

This is a video of Rosalinda one morning. During the night she found a few more toys!!!

Hey everyone!

Sorry it’s been so long, I was sick for a while and then had to go to the capitol for a big committee weekend. But now I’m back in Estero Hondo. I’ve moved into my own place… sort of…it’s kind of like a 2 room apartment and it’s attached to a house. I use the bathroom and the kitchen in the big house, but I have two rooms to myself and it’s really cheap. And it’s at the end of a street so it’s very quiet, which I love. Plus, I have a new dog. Her name is Rosalinda (Pretty Rose) and she is adorable.

I started a youth group called Brigada Verde. I have about 15 students and this month we are talking about trash and why it is a problem. I´m hoping to do a city clean-up at either the end of the month or early in October.

Also, I got 1000 pesos from our mayor to get new volleyballs, so on Saturday we are going to start having volleyball practices again. Overall, it´s been a very busy month!

Foto of the Week

Beef, it´s NOT what´s for dinner!

Missed Call

So this past week I had 3 month IST, basically a conference where we got to present out community and talk about what we want to do the next year. It was located in the moutains about an hour outside of Santiago. It went really well, but as always even getting there was an adventure...

So my Dona/ project partner and I woke up Monday the 3rd at 4:30am to catch the early guagua at 5am (The project partners came for the first couple of days). So we got ready and waited in the galeria (front porch)...and waited. 5 o'clock came and went. Then 5:30. So my Dona started to get a little worried so she started asking a couple of people to go ask around about the driver. The people never found outwhere the guagua was and the guagua never came. So thankfully about 6am a crappy double-cabbed truck came by that was headed for Santiago. So we jumped in and got to Santiago about 8:30. We had to go to a bus stop that neither of us had been to before, but thankfully the driver knew where it was. The place didn't take to long to find, and I'll always know how to identify it now. It was loco!

First, we turned on to a street that had more bags of onions than people at a UT football game. There were so many onions, it smelled like onions. Then we got to the next intersection and there were tons of fruit and vegetable shops littering the sidewalks. With guaguas in the middle of the intersections begging for people to get on their guagua. Everyone was shouting and honking their horns. Complete chaos.

So we jumped out of the truck and found one to take us to the center. It was the same type of truck and just as bad as the one we'd rode to Santiago in which wasn't too exciting but not surprising either. We got in and ate some breakfast (apple juice and crackers) and waited for the guagua to fill up with people so we could go. Finally, half an hour later we finally got enough people to go. So I threw I bag in the back, climbed in the back, and off we went...

But we didn't leave town straight away; no, of course not. First we had to go around town to find more people to come with us. Usually when a driver (or choffeur) does this, they go around and honk their horns to see if anyone is interested in coming. This hombre did that, but his horn sounded more like a dog's squeaky toy than the usual mad dog barking. I couldn't help but laugh.

So we collected a few more people, smushed together in the back seat, and traveled up the mountain in our squeky toy horned, double cab, falling apart truck. It took about an hour and even after all of that we still showed up first at 10am, when the conference started at noon.

We got out of the guagua and headed the 50 meters on foot to the offices. When we got inside, I looked for my phone which I had put in the side pocket of my backpack, but it was not there. Either someone had taken out my cell phone or it had fallen out in the back of the guagua! I told my Dona and a girl who worked there. The girl said that she knew the driver so she would ask him about it and see if he found it.

So the next day came (Tuesday), and I hadn't heard anything from her so I went and asked her. She said that she forgot and would ask that day. Later, she came up to me and said that my phone had "Gone with God" basically I would never see it again. So I was a little upset that I would have to go to the capitol and get a new phone. Plus we are only allowed to get one free phone and I would have to use it so early in my service.

However, the next day (Wednesday) she brought me my phone!!!! I was so excited; she said that he had found it after all. So I turned it on and there was a voicemail from my friend Alanna, from the other group saying that she was returning my phone call from the day before and sorry she missed my call.

I was like "What?" I didn't have my phone yesterday. So I checked my dialed calls and whoever had my phone had made 11 phone calls including Alanna and Whereabouts (a system we have to call when we leave our sites) and then 9 other Dominican numbers. Well whoever had used up all of my minutes on the phone. But at least I got the phone back in the end.

Foto of the Week

8 o'clock traffic in Estero Hondo!

4th of July

For the fourth of July we headed to Samana, the peninsula on the east side of the country. It was a long drive back and forth but worth it. It was beautiful! Here are some pics:


We wanted to go to a different bay a little ways down. The easiest and fastest way to get there was by boat.




This is a fresh-water, freezing-cold river that comes down from the mountains and flows into the ocean. It makes this bay so much colder than the other one.


This is the bungalo we stayed in.


Some good old American Football to celebrated USA's B-day.

Fifteen

15 Most Important Words to Know in the Dominican Republic AKA words I´ve said and heard so much in Spanish that they sound foreign to me in English

1. colmado – small shop on every corner, like a gas station without gas. Also, things like rice, oil, etc. you pay by how much you want. It’s not pre-packaged so the attendant measures it out.

2. guagua – bus or truck

3. apagon – black out (electricity)

4. bola – free ride, hitchhiking

5. baracho – a drunk

6. Sientense – “sit down,” the first thing you’ll hear when entering a house

7. mosquitero – “mosquito net,” is a must

8. Si Dios quiere – “If God wants!” Everything happens if God wants it to. See you tomorrow --- Si Dios quiere. We’ll go to Santiago tomorrow --- Si Dios quiere. Have a good day --- Si Dios quiere!

9. tigere – “tiger” or a bothersome man, the ones hat say mean piropos (cat calls)

10. platano – “plantain,” the most common growing plant here, can be fried and eaten verde (green) or ripe fro breakfast, lunch, and dinner

11. morro – habitualas y arroz, “beans and rice¨

12. gripe – flu, cold, sneezing, coughing, sore throat, any illness known to man except diarrhea (which is diarrhea in Spanish)

13. rubio/a – “blond,” white person

14. barrio – neighborhood AKA family

15. guapo/a – “angry” or “pissed off,” unlike in Mexico where guapo means pretty. So if you say, “She is guapa” here, your not saying that you think she’s cute.

Modern Pirates of the Caribbean

I’ve been meaning to write this up for a long time but kept forgetting. This took place during my CBT training in Arenoso:

One night I was sitting in my room reading when I heard the family shuffle into the living room and start a movie. Movie time equals family time in this family so I finished reading the page I was on and went out to join the movie.
“Cual pelicula es esto?” (What movie is this?) As I sat down. Just then the title came on the screen “Rapido y Furioso” (Fast and the Furious) with some more Spanish written under it that I didn’t have time to read.
Okay great, I thought, one of the F&F movies. Probably number two or three since it had a sub-title. Hopefully not three because that one was really bad.
So the movie started, and within five minutes I was really confused. First off the picture on the movie was bad, it was like a close up of the film. Second of all, I recognized all of the characters but not the storyline. Then it hit me, this is Fast and the Furious 4! Even those in the US it’s only been out in theatres for two weeks, I’m watching it from a DVD in the Dominican Republic? That’s right the DR is full of pirates…with pirated movies.

These movies are not illegal here; they are the norm. On the street corners of at least the two major cities, Santo Domingo and Santiago, you can find pirated movies by the truck-load. The price range is 50 to 100 pesos (which is US $1.50 to $3). All of the movies are already either dubbed in Spanish or have Spanish subtitles. The quality ranges from okay to really bad.

With my family in Arenoso I watched: Fast and the Furious 4, Twilight, Push, and Prom Night. All very new movies.

A Special Thank You

Hey everyone!

So I had two really cool blogs and pictures to put up today. I havent had internet in my site for like a week and a half so I came to use the internet and do some things in Santiago. But I didnt expect the computers to be so old. They dont have a plug for my memory stick! And I dont have time to type them out because my bolas coming soon.

So hopefully I get internet soon but for now...

Thank you to everyone who has sent care packages! They mean a lot to me!

Thank you to my Mom who calls on time, never failing once a week. Its so good to hear that everythings going fine and all the chisme from the States.

And thanks to my sister who called me today! No matter what happens this week, it will be the greatest thing that happened for the rest of the week! It was great to hear your voice and hear my little sobrino...well cry but hear none the less. Liz tell him his Tante Bekah loves and misses him!

Thanks to everyone who reads my blogs! Please send me updates on you too!!

My Daily Schedule

Now I'm starting to get busy with things. Here is my weekday schedule from now until prbably mid-July/ August.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
6am walk walk walk walk walk
7:15 shower shower shower
7:30 nap breakfast nap breakfast nap
8:00 walk to school breakfast walk to school
8:30 breakfast volleyball walk to school volleyball breakfast
9:00 English class
10:00 walk home English class walk home
11:30 walk home
noon lunch lunch lunch lunch lunch
2:00 interviews interviews English class interviews interviews
3:00 English class
4:00 English class
5:30 walk home
6:30 walk home walk home walk home walk home walk home
7:00 dinner dinner dinner dinner dinner
8:00 Guitar lesson Guitar lesson Guitar lesson Guitar lesson Guitar lesson
9:30 read read read read read

In my spare time, I work on my database for my interviews, plan English classes, read, talk to family and friends, etc.
Every 15th and 30th of every month we have meetings for the organizations "La Esperanza" and "Club de Madre."

Swearing-In photos

Hey everyone!

I now have pictures of my swearing-in ceremony including group pictures.
Go to -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/texana/
and click on Swearing-In on the righthand side.

Also, I know people are interested in sending money but please wait! In a few months I will have a "Volunteer Project Grant" set up on the Peace Corps website. I, of course, will give everyone the link. This is a grant that is soley based on people's donations and will go directly to a specific project.


Enjoy,

-bekah

Random Notes

Today I tried “pan de fruta,” AKA breadfruit, for the first time. I think they got the name really wrong. It looks and tastes like a mix between a peanut and a potato. I think they should have called it a “potato nut”.



I am surprised, and a little impressed, how much Dominicans seem to know about the United States history and politics. Before I found out I was coming to the DR and started researching their history, I didn’t know anything about the small country that shares Hispanola with Haiti.

But when I told one person I was from Texas, he asked: “Oh, in Dallas where Kennedy was killed?”
I had a running joke with one of our Spanish teachers who asked me if I was related to Colin Powell.
He would greet me, “Bekah Powell!” (one of the few Dominicans that knows my nickname)
I would say, “Como Colin!” (Like Colin)

The director of the school was introducing me to his daughter and said, “This is my daughter Eleanor. She’s named after Eleanor Roosevelt.”



I NOW HAVE LOTS OF PICTURES UP AND MORE TO COME ON FLICKR! MY ADDRESS IS TO THE RIGHT, UNDER THINGS I NEED. I called it Texana because when I tell people I´m from Texas they always call me ¨a texana¨.

Donda esta el rio?

On Saturday, I went to the river with my family and some of my host dad’s friends. We were suppose to leave at 6 am, so of course we left about 6:30. When it was time to go, I hopped on the back of my host dad’s motorcycle and we were on our way. That’s right! My first motorcycle gang… Mom aren’t you proud!
The river was TWO HOURS away, but it was worth it. We had two mountain ranges in our way and it was so beautiful. Getting up the first mountain range was tough, but going down was my favorite part. They turned off their engines and let gravity do the work. Then it’s just you in the air, with the sun, seeing postcard worthy landscapes, and beautiful people wiz by.
After that mountain range we went through a huge valley, eventually turned onto a dirt road, and I thought we’d be there in no time. But, no, no, silly me there was still another mountain range to cross.
We finally got there and had a blast. The river was in the mountains so it was freezing cold but after a while I finally got used to it. Here’s some pics:






They loved their pictures!

Milking the Cow

The other day, I went one of my project partner’s “finca.” He has a herd of about 30 cows, and uses them for milk. They don’t have any fancy machines that milk the cow for you like we do in the US just a pair of hands and a bag of food to keep the cow occupied.



I did get to try it out and I successfully milked my first cow.
I asked Cordero to take a picture of me milking “Rosa” and this is what he took. Oh well!

Windshield wipers! We don’t need no stinking wipers!

Yesterday I traveled with my Dona to Santiago. We were going to go to Santo Domingo Monday thru Thursday to visit her granddaughter. Monday morning about 10 am I packed my bag, called “Whereabouts” (if we leave our sites for the night, we have to call Peace Corps Whereabouts and tell them where and why), and then told my Dona I was going to go up to the school for a bit before we go. She said, oh, actually we’re not going to go. Instead my granddaughter is coming here. But you and me are going to go to Santiago on Wednesday but just for the day. SOOOO I unpacked my bag and called Whereabouts back and told them nevermind.

Anyway, Wednesday morning I got ready and planned to keep track of how long it took to get to Santiago and back, for future reference.
On the way down: We caught a bola in the truck of a friend of my Dona’s from Estero Hondo to La Isabela.
Total time: 30 minutes

At La Isabela we took a guagua to Santiago. The driver stopped in every town, it seemed like, so it probably took a little longer than normal.
Total time: 1 hour 40 minutes

On the way back: From Santiago to La Isabela we caught a bola who drove fast but smooth and hardly made any stops.
Total time: 1:15

Then we got off in the center of La Isabela to catch a guagua to Estero Hondo. There’s only three ways to get to Estero Hondo: bola it, take a motoconcho, or wait for the only guagua that goes to and from Estero Hondo. I don’t think my Dona likes the idea of “bolaing” with strangers and there’s no way she’s getting on a motorcycle so it was choice numero tres. Plus she knows the driver of the guagua! So we walked over to where he waits and he was actually there. He told us to wait next to a colmado while he went on some short errands and tried to get more people to go. So while we waited, it started to drizzle, got a little harder, and then the wind picked up and it was pouring. Then, of course, the guagua pulls up, and, also of course, doesn’t have any more passengers. So the helper of the driver, my Dona, and I run to the car and climb in. They told me to sit in the front passenger seat; which I still don’t know why, but I got in and we were on our way.
So the guagua… not so top notch…to say the least. The headlights didn’t work so he had the hazards on, no radio, he had the A/C on high but I could barely feel it, the windshield wipers didn’t work, and the driver’s side window was cracked open and he couldn’t roll it up because it was broken.
We got a little ways and then the rain started to go sideways. Right into the driver’s side window and it was getting all over the place. They told me to open my window so it would go straight out. Finally it got so bad that he pulled over so we could find shelter. But before I got out of the guagua, I was already soaked. We ran under a covered carport, thank God they left the gate open, we were all soaked now. Nobody was at the house, so we had to stay outside in the wind, but at least we were out of the rain. The rain kept getting harder and it starting hailing for a while. I wanted to take a picture of my first really bad rainstorm in the DR, so I got out my camera (which I actually had!!!) but then I realized I had taken the batteries out to use my flashlight. After a while, it lightened up a little and we ran back to the guagua. So we headed off again, after the driver pulled his window up as far as he could. Every time I shifted my weight to the left (which was often because now the driver was dodging potholes, huge water puddles, and tree branches) a squirt of muddy water would shoot up about a foot in the air from the right corner of my seat. It was so gross and so funny at the same time. Then a 4x4 truck with headlights and super fast windshield wipers zoomed past! But later we past two guys pushing their motorcycle down the street so I had to count my blessings. We finally got home safe and sound about 6:30.

Total time: 1:07 or N/A

First English Class

Yo tengo una nueva amiga. Ella se llama Escaiesrafieles (Escales). Ella tiene 7 anos. Ella le gusta el color rosado y pintar. Ella le gusta escuela pero no hoy porque esta lluviendo! La vaca es su animal favorito. Ella es mi vecina y vive en una casa rosada, rojo, y verde. Ella tiene dos hermanos, ambos son mayor. Ella es muy intelligente.

I have a new friend. Her name is Escailes. She is 7 years old. She likes the color pink and to paint. She likes school but not today because it is raining. The cow is her favorite animal. She is my neighbor and lives in a house that is pink, red and green. She has two siblings, both are older. She is very intelligent.

This was my first English class. There will be a lot more to come.

A lot of people are asking what my job is now that I´m at my site. Well in actuality I am a teacher, a construction worker, a modivator, a park ranger, a coach, the gringa, a learner, a counselor, a farmer, and more to come. I am a development worker. I am a Peace Corps volunteer.

Mi Sitio...

The long wait is finally OVER! Tuesday May 5 I finally found out I will be going to:
Estero Hondo in Puerto Plata
to serve in the Peace Corps from May 13th 2009 to May 13th 2011.

I just got back from my site visit. Basically I got to know my project partner, see where the town is and how to get there, drop half of my stuff there (that way I don’t have to carry everything in one trip), and start building confianza.
Confianza – Confianza directly means confidence in Spanish, but here it means a whole lot more. It is like respectable, serious, good person, etc. rolled into one. If you don’t have confianza in your site you don’t have anything.

I have final tests on Monday, workshops on Tuesday, then Wednesday, May 13th is the big day of Swearing-In as a Peace Corps Volunteer!!!

La Caleta

Wednesday through Friday we studied eco-tourism and did a case study of La Caleta (about an hour away from the capital). La Caleta has a national park right on the ocean. It has problems with trash (like all towns here), protecting the national park, local caves and the wildlife just off-shore.
Wednesday we learned about the park and took a tour of it. Then we did surveys of community members on local resources. Thursday we learned about native fish and other sea creatures and most importantly the reef. To go along with the national park work, the volunteer in La Caleta is trying to preserve the reef there, which is being affected by over-fishing and global climate changes. Then in the afternoon, we got to go snorkeling (my first time) and see everything in action. It was really cool (No Mom I didn’t see any Nemos but I did see a Dori)! Friday, we presented our results from Wednesday to a representative of the mayor. Then we went cave exploring!!! The caves were very cool but, of course, I didn’t have my camera!

Goodbye Arenoso

We are now back in Santo Domingo. I am really going to miss the mountains. I’d never lived in the mountains before; it was so beautiful and my host family was awesome. I almost started crying when I had to leave.

A couple of things to mention from last week or so in La Cumbre:
4/22 Earth Day! We put on a charla (speech) for 5th and 6th graders at the local school about trash and proper handling; then we did a trash pick-up along the road. Some kids got really into it and of course others did not. But I think everyone had fun.


The guy in the yellow shirt is "Papi" the local crazy.

4/25 Santiago! A group of us headed to Santiago to get a couple of things and then eat pizza for lunch from, of course, Pizza Hut. It was a lot of fun. One the way down we got what is called a bola (free ride, like hitchhiking). The “bola” system is really popular here and pretty safe which making traveling a lot cheaper and easier.

This is us crammed into the back of a carro publico.

4/27 Maribol Sisters Memorial! We took a bola to La Cumbre and then walked about a mile to the Maribol Sisters Memorial. I don’t want to go into long detail but in the 1950s there was a dictator in control of the DR called Trujillo. He actually did a lot of good for the school system and infrastructure, but he killed a lot of people and was known for “liking” a lot of young women. The Maribol family was a very respectable one and Trujillo wanted to “have relations” with one of the daughters. The daughter refused so Trujillo had 3 of the sister’s husbands imprisoned. One day on the way back from visiting their husbands in jail, the 3 sisters were stopped and killed by Trujillo’s men. Then their bodies were dumped (where the memorial is today) to make it look like an accident. The family was outraged and it lead to a revolution against Trujillo. Trujillo was eventually assassinated on his way home from visiting a girlfriend in 1961.
I recommend the book “In the Time of the Butterflies” even though I haven’t read it yet. Also, I recommend another book that I read about the DR called “The Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.” It’s not your typical book but if you don’t mind a lot of “street-talk”, it’s really good and also talks about the time of Trujillo.
Anyway, knowing the history of these brave women and seeing where they died was really sad and touching.


Then later that day we learned how to make empanadas which was really fun. Plus they turned out really good!

Pictures

Finally here are some pics










This is where I make my phone calls



My cute little cousin, Crismayte


Training for the cock fight



My little host brother, Efrailin, won first place in a running competition and we went to an awards ceremony for it.

Comida in the DR

I’ve now been living in the Dominican Republic for a little over a month (even though it feels like a lot longer) and have had different variations of food and tried some new stuff too.

Things I’ve had here:
Papaya everyday – Yum
Fried plantains – okay
Fried bananas – GROSS (way too sweet)
Coffee – Okay but they like to load it up with sugar
Grapefruit juice with sugar and honey – my new favorite juice
Yuca – not too good; kind of like a block of starch
Coca-Cola – all sodas here are made with real sugar and not frutose AWESOME
Italian-styled pizza (pretty good)
Mangu (breakfast dish of smashed plantains+) – okay
Soursop – really good, tastes like a sweet tart, but it’s a fruit
Orange juice with oatmeal – surprisingly really good and good for you too
Cow Liver – While at least I think it was liver. It definitely was not meat though. I asked my Dona when she gave me the plate, “This is cow meat?” She said, “Yes its cow meat.” And then she cut a chunk in half for me. The “meat” was really firm and had layers. I ate everything else, got down four pieces of “meat”, and then said I was full. It was disgusting and I hope I never get served that again.

The other day my Dona gave me some yellow cheese that looked like cheddar cheese so I asked her what kind of cheese it was. She replied, “Queso Amarillo” and looked at me funny (amarillo means yellow in Spanish). Apparently the only two kinds of cheese they have are queso amarillo and queso blanco (white).

Last week was Semana Santa (Holy Week) for Easter. During Holy Week no one goes to work, and none of the children go to school, I’m so jealous. Saturday and Sunday are the biggest days of the week. Saturday we had family come in from Santiago and the Donas spent all day cooking. I watched my Dona cut up a turkey because I thought it would be interesting. I was doing okay until she threw in the lungs, bladder, feet, and heart into the pile to be cooked. But luckily I wasn’t served any of those.


Our pet pavos (turkeys). Before Semana Santa there were four.

Brigada Verde Conference

We went to a conference for Brigada Verde Friday through Sunday and we had a great time. Brigada Verde is a national, Peace Corps-started youth group that allows youth to develop leadership skills and learn about the environment. If a volunteer has a good number of youth in their community, he or she can start a chapter of their own. It’s like an environmental club; a chapter does fundraisers, community service projects (like a beach or street clean-up), creates and maintains a garden, etc. The club is really cool so I really hope I can start one when I get to my community.

The conference was more like a camp. The site was in the middle of no-where on top of a hill, we slept in tents, it had a pool, one night we had a huge bonfire and of course we had s’mores. We, the group of volunteers, weren’t really campers and weren’t really camp counselors; we were just in between. We had sessions were we learned about Brigada Verde and how to start our own chapter, but we also helped out the kids with arts and crafts and had our own section of activities with them.

The kids were really into the environment stuff which was really cool to see. Also, they were very talented musically! Each night they would get out tambors (drums), maracas, and guiro and play, and clap, and sing songs. A guiro is a round cylinder with holes cut out where the metal sticks out (like a cheese grater) and you strike a metal stick up and down it. They were really good at coming up with beats and matching each other. It was a great culture experience.

Arenoso

This is a picture of my backyard!

Yeah I know you're jealous. I've been in La Cumbre (Arenoso) for almost a week know and am loving it. It's definately a little more chillier than Santo Domingo, but it's great. My host family is awesome. Somehow I got paired with another family that owns a colmodo and they also have a guagua (van for public transportation)! They have 3 kids: the 2 boys (about 17 and 10) are both star runners. The little one, Fralin, just won 1st place in a 10 K on Thursday! And the girl, whose 16, is really sweet. I promised her she could paint my nails this afternoon.

So now that we are in the mountains we are done with Core training and have started more technical training. The other day we took a walk through one of the host family's garden/ backyard. After we looked at some different kinds of trees, he led us down a path to a beautiful waterfall...in his backyard. Ironically I bought a new camera the day after. But hopefully we will go back there sometime soon so I can show ya'll some pics.

Also, we're learning about soil erosion and organic farming. Yesderday we split up into teams of two and built our own compost pile. Here's a pic of us and our compost and yes those are machetes.

I won't be able to update ya'll again till probably next weekend so have a good week!

My Up-coming Schedule

This weekend, Friday to Sunday, we’re going to a Brigada Verde conference in the Cristobol region.

Then we will return to Santo Domingo on Sunday afternoon only to leave for CBT on Monday morning. CBT training (training in the environmental education and agriculture) will be for the next six weeks (March 30th to May 9th). It is located in the Cibao region, which is up in the mountains. I’m really excited about CBT it should be a lot of fun and I’m so ready for the next step. We’ll get new host families, new environment (the campo instead of the city), and more technical training.

The last week of CBT (starting April 28th) we do come back to Santo Domingo to get more training and get ready for our Project Site Visit.

May 6th- 10th we actually go with our project partner (a person from the community that is well connected and ready to work) to our site and get acquainted with the community.

May 11th and 12th we go back to Santo Domingo for our final Spanish exam and technical exam.

Wednesday May 13th at 4 pm – we Swear-in as Peace Corps volunteers

El fin de semana (the weekend)

Over the weekend (Thursday to Sunday) I got a real taste of what it will be like for the next two years. I left Thursday morning to visit Alicia, a current volunteer, in Punta Rucia.
Alicia was already in Santo Domingo so I meet her at the Peace Corps’ offices so that we could travel together. We were still in the capitol for lunch, so Romio (the PC/DR county director) took us and about 6 other volunteers to lunch at the embassy. There is a cafeteria there, along with real American products (Lay’s potato chips, Diet Coke, etc.), and toilets which you can actually flush the toilet paper down! It was really good and fun to converse with other current volunteers. One of the volunteers had just gotten back from climbing Pico Duarte ( the highest mountain in not only the DR, but in the Carribean); she said it took them 3 days, but she should have done it in four. Climbing Pico Duarte is definitely on my list of things to do while here in the DR.
After lunch, we headed on up to the north coast and two bus rides, my first motoconcho (motorcycle taxi), and five hours later we finally arrived. The motoconcho was very cool, at first I was a little scared because I had never even been on a motorcycle before, but it was fun. We didn’t get to Punta Rucia till like 8 o’clock at night and were exhausted. But Alicia’s boyfriend, Mat, had made us Pina Coladas so we stayed up and sipped on those for a while.

Friday, I got to see her town and some of her projects. She’s just wrapping up her projects, so it was really cool to see all of the progress and success. During her time, she had built a library (which the people insisted on naming after her), did a reading hour, had a Girl Scouts team, did Brigada Verde ( an environmental youth club), taught English classes, and got 25 people birth certificates (which is a major problem in the DR). Most importantly, though, she had fully integrated into her community every time the children walked by her house, they could call “Alicia, Alicia.” Also, every time we went to someone’s house to say hi, they were not only welcoming but they kept asking “Can I get ya’ll anything?” “Can ya’ll stay for dinner?” We did get one free meal and some free grapefruit juice (which was REALLY good).

Saturday, we went to the beach, which was like 10 feet from her house. It was beautiful! We laid out on the beach staring out at the blue water and the backdrop of mountains; it was great. While walking down the shoreline we came across a beached sea-urchin. I was the biggest I’ve ever seen! It was still alive, so we put it back in the ocean. That night it rained so we stayed in and watched the movie, Fargo, by the Coen brothers. I would describe it as- good but screwed up; it’s even more screwed up because it’s based on actual events.

Anyway, the motoconcho ride back Sunday morning was…interesting. Because it had rained so much the roads had become mud and we were sliding all over the place! There were times when I thought we were going down for sure, but the driver was really good and we finally made it through. So now here I am again in Santo Domingo, ready for my next adventure.

Mi Camera!

Mi camera! Ok so I know I’ve been really slow at putting pictures up, but I was about to ( I promise). And then the unthinkable happened… I lost my camera. I think that it fell out of my bag as I climbed out of a carro publico (like an informal taxi) and I have come to the fact that I will never see it again. I will miss it a lot, we had some good times together. We had been through many of girl’s night, it went to Germany with me, and even survived a 3-story fall! Goodbye camera, I will miss you.
So until I get a new camera, which I will try to do soon, my blog will go pictureless.

Machismo

One potential challenge for me in this country is the presence of machismo. Machismo is the idea that the man is the top of the household, and the woman does all of the cooking and cleaning. Another big part of it is the “cat calls.” In Austin, you got called in the street if you are walking down 6th or certain other places. Here, you get called EVERYWHERE. Apparently, it’s even worse for Americans. Being white, you stick out like a sore thumb and are constantly badgered. Right now, I’m trying to hang out at mi madre’s colmado as much as possible. It is very popular and several young guys from the neighborhood come by for some late night soda, beer, or candy. I sit there and say “Hola, como esta?” to everyone that walks by; hopefully I can make a presence so that they recognize me on the street later on and I am subjected to less machismo and more friendliness.

Update on Machismo:
Yesterday we went over some of the things guys say and how to deal with it. They gave us some translations of some popular cat calls and taken out of context they are just hilarious and cheesy pick-up lines. Enjoy:

Que Dios te guarde y me de la llave. – May God keep you and give me the key.
Mami estas como me la receto de medico. – Mami you’re just what the Dr ordered.
Cuantas curvas y yo sin frenos. – All those curves and I don’t have brakes.
Pareces un Volkswagen, con el motor atras. You’re like a Volkswagen with the motor in back.
Un sancocho, un pote, y contigo que me maten a los diez minutos.-
Dominican stew, a bottle of rum. And with you, they could kill me after 10 minutes.

Familia y Comida

Family is very important in the Dominican Republic. A lot of the time children go from their parent’s house to a married house. Therefore, if a 25 year old is still single, he or she likely still lives at home. Other important things are musica (meringue is the most popular), baseball, and dominoes (mainly played by men).
Las casas: Houses vary greatly here in Santo Domingo, but are usually a small, concrete home. Most families do have a television, computer (sometimes with internet), electricity (but frequently goes out), and running water (but frequently goes out and do not have hot water). My host family has a nice TV (even nicer than mine in the states), a computer and a laptop, electricity and a back-up generator, and running water.
I find that the bathroom and the dining room (the food) have the most differences from the US. The bathroom: When you go to the bathroom, you put your toilet-paper in the trash and never in the toilet. If you go number 1, you don’t flush you just leave it in the toilet. This is to conserve water, and because you never know when there will be an outage. In some of the showers, there is a bucket with water. We were directed that if you found the bucket, that means you are suppose to take a sponge bath. Luckily, I did not have a bucket, so I got to take a regular shower, but with freezing cold water, of course.
The food: Most of the meals contain rice and beans in some way. They also incorporate fruits, eggs, potatoes, or meat (chicken, beef, or pork). Lunch it the biggest meal each day. Breakfast is usually coffee, milk, and bread or something very light. Yesterday for lunch, I had rice topped with fried plantains sided with roasted chicken and beans. Then for supper, I had potatoes topped with cheddar cheese chunks and fried eggs.

With all of these things in mind, I’m starting to see just how good we have it in the states, all of the amenities that we take for granted. However, I am also starting to see that most amenities don’t matter that much, as long as you have family and friends.

Mi primera semana

I’ve been in Santo Domingo for tres dias now. The vida here is much slower, the traffic is more rapido, but the people are just perfecto!

Wednesday, I flew into Miami to meet 35 other Peace Corps Volunteer hopefuls and we had orientation from 3-7 pm. After a group of us decided to eat at a restaurant that was suggested to us and we were told that it was in walking distance. 45 minutes we arrived! It was a Cuban restaurant called Versailles; I don’t know if it was worth the trouble but it was very good.

Thursday, we woke up about 6:30 in the morning to get to the airport. The plane left about noon and we arrived in Santo Domingo, la Republica Dominicana about 3:30pm. At the airport we had a welcoming committee of current volunteers and staff members which was very cool.

Then it was off to a retreat at a rented religious center on the other side of Santo Domingo. The center was right by the ocean and was very beautiful. At the center we had another welcoming session and then the first of possibly 11 shots. After we were given mosquito nets and sent to our rooms. The rooms weren’t designed to hang mosquito nets so we strategically and creatively hung them up. Before bed we talked, some people pulled out their guitars, and tried to speak some Spanish with a staff member, Juan.

Friday, we had more orientation stuff and some sessions on safety and rules. Then in the evening we got to go home with our first host familia. My host madre is very nice and owns a colmado next to the house. They have mango trees in the back (like everyone else) and a Chihuahua named Mickey.
A colmado is like a convenient store where pretty much everything is behind the counter and minus the gas pumps. It has normal convenient store food like chips, drinks, candy, etc. but it also has things like fruit and vegetables. Also, some things like sugar, oil, noodles, hamburger buns are bought by how much you want instead of pre-packaged. Another interested thing about un colmado is that you don’t stand in line at a colmado. You usually just come up next to the person already ordering.

Saturday, during the morning and into the early afternoon we spent at the training center. We got a huge medicine/ First Aide kit and two more shots (Three down eight more to go.).
Afterwards, a handful of us walked (for Kiri and me it was like a 45 minute walk) to a baseball diamond. Soon after we got there, a huge group of kids swarmed to the outfield to play a game with a kickball. It was a lot of fun and even more so knowing that baseball (o beisbol) is the most popular sport in the Dominican Republic.