Countdown til Christmas

7:24 PM | Posted by Bri

12-4-10

Woo woo! There are about 9 days left until I get to fly home for Christmas in the good ol' USA. I can't even describe the emotions running through my body. Excitement, nervousness, sadness for leaving my campo but a lot more happiness to get out of here. I really did want to see how Christmas is celebrated here in the DR but I think it will be a lot more meaningful next year. This year I am very eager to see my family and teach them everything that I've learned in my first year. I am also excited to see my friends, my polo girls and get down!

I am going to say that I feel like I definitely have created another family here in the DR that consists of a mixture of volunteers, dominican neighbors and my family. With the volunteers I can bitch about the dominicans and dance and be myself and with the dominicans it's all about learning and sharing of traditions and cultures. I definitely feel a lot more comfortable without the dominican family I have here. The other day I was on the toilet and I mandar'd my little hermanita to get me my phone so I could text people while pooping. Maybe a little too much info but that's definitely an "I knew I was integrated when…" story. (Haha Heather)

I feel like the dominicans are starting to get comfortable with me as well. They are all pretty much counting down along with me for my departure giving me long lists of stuff to bring them back. They're nuts cause I ain't bringing back shit. Haha. One wants a headlamp, one says she wants a sweater, another asked me for some pants. What the hell? Even on my morning runs the sweet man asked me to bring him back an ipod! My response "Are you crazy?" What are they thinking. First off the plane ticket alone is going to put me in a tight budget for xmas gifts so purchasing stuff in the US is impossible. Looks like I am going to be doing a lot of thrift store shopping (which I love anyway). 

I feel like I am starting to feel a lot more comfortable with myself now as well. I've gained a bunch of weight and have struggled for a while on trying to lose it that it made me miserable. Now I am not completely comfortable (I still am going to try to lose it) but I don't feel helpless. I am opening my eyes to dating and what possibilities there are and I don't feel so closed shut on trying new things and just putting yourself out there. Life is all about the experiences you have and there are ups and downs and highs and lows. It's what you do after those experiences that count. Getting out of a 7 year relationship, I kind of felt like I was never going to get over it. I'm still not completely over it but now I know I am human and life goes on. Wah wah wah… :) 

To be honest, these 9 months away from home has been an eye opening experience and has taught me a lot about growing up. I really hope to come home and not be a completely different person but someone who just looks more knowledgeable about her surroundings instead of jaded by whats in and whats cool. I left not really knowing where I was going. I still don't know what I'm doing. But I know that I am happy and I feel good about myself (on most days) :). 

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Sabrina's Countdown of the Top 10 reasons to LOVE the Dominican Republic…

10:38 AM | Posted by Bri

10. The craziness of it all! The crazy carro drivers with a beer in their lap, motoconcho drivers with gashes and burns from accidents (still working), people putting dangerous wires together just to steal the luz, cobradores from guaguas hanging out the bus holding on for dear life, little girls as old as 4 dancing scandalously to reggaeton with their mothers cheering them on, getting drunk and passing out in the public streets where everyone is peeing (so gross), the list goes on and on… (My best Dr moments include sitting in a guagua with 12 other hefty doña's sweating profusely with a huge backpack on my lap. The radio is blasting some type of bachata that I'm singing, the driver is flirting with me asking for his visa and all I really want to do is grab a pineapple and sit and read in my hammock or go to the rio and drink some rum.)
9. The ríos! The rivers here aren't always clean nor are they always safe, but they are always fun. Dominicans definitely know how to party at the rio. They bring out the fogon (grill) pop open those Presidentes and blast the music. The rio is always cold and refreshing with the heat of the island. Best rios? Definitely Jamao and the rio emptying into the beautiful beach at Los Patos. Ya tu sabes. 
8. The delicious fruit and veggies grown here: pineapples, guineos, lechosa and yucca. Never tasted sweeter.
7. Dominican honesty. You know dominicans will always tell you the truth even if it is really rude. They'll definitely tell you if you have gained weight (hear that one everyday) and they'll definitely tell you if you look bad or stink (Dominican: "Yeah let's go to the rio, but first you go shower and change and I'll come pick you up" Me: "But what's wrong with what I am wearing now?"
6. Bolas! Aka Free rides! Now that I am living without any means of my own transportation I feel so dependent on unsecured and unsafe transportation which makes me feel nuts. If there is anything I miss from the states is being able to drive my own car and doing so whenever I want. You get a "bola" basically by either hitchhiking or knowing someone that will gladly give u a lift to the place you need to be. Yes I know this is highly dangerous but compared to the US it is harmless. Since I live in a campo I pretty much know the people in my town and they know me so they know where I need to go without me telling them and they're always glad to help. Ladies always get bolas because it is considered very gentlemenlike to give women lifts to not make them walk. As for the guys, psssh they can walk. Or they hide in the bushes while the ladies get the bola then they come out and take advantage. Haha. Works every time. 
5. The gorgeous beaches and all inclusive hotels. Haven't been scuba diving or snorkeling but I bet there are some really pretty fishes and coral reefs to check out too.
4. The loud thumping music and dances. Bachata, merengue, reggaeton whatever, it's loud and the dominicans are some of the smoothest dancers I have ever seen. I never see them sweat meanwhile I am always dripping!
3. The "cogelo suave" mentality. Yeah you have a meeting at 1pm but the guagua is running late, you just ate a mountain of rice for almuerzo so you don't feel like moving, you don't even know what the meeting is about (something about setting rules and planning projects, like thats important) and you don't have minutes to call anyone to tell anyone you will be late. Ah… you will get there sometime. 
2. Campo life. There are some days when I come home from a long day and theres no luz and I just feel so annoyed that I can't watch my 30 Rock or movies but it's days like these that I will also appreciate once I am back home to have peace and quiet and time to think. I feel like I have learned a lot about taking care of myself and also on how to be a more economical person. When you live i the campo, you don't get much water so you save up as much as you can, you don't eat luxury foods so you invent recipes with what you have and you may not have electricity at hand so you are forced to read or interact with other people. Bugs don't scare me half as much anymore, I am comfortable doing everything for myself and I appreciate alone time and a good book while laying on my hammock. Peace. Tranquilo.
1. The dominican people period. Life is measured here not by the amount of money you have (nor do I measure it by the successful projects that I have implemented) but by the relationships you acquire and strong friendships and bonds you make. Nowhere else will you be greeted by everyone you see during the day. Nowhere else will you be helped and given free rides (bolas) to get to the places you need to go. Nowhere else will you find people so happy and so humble with their small wooden houses, concrete floors and tin roofs. They know the country has many reasons to be angry or sad but the dominican people celebrate anything worth celebrating. They always make sure your beer cup is always full (Seriously they never let it even get half full they're already pouring drops to the rim). They never hesitate to share anything they own (Everything is "A tus ordenes"). And they all are, quite frankly, very good looking.

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Do not climb Pico Duarte if you are perceived fat in the DR…

10:37 AM | Posted by Bri

11-16-10
Pico! In the midst of all the chaos of cholera training, hurricane Tomas consolidation and hectic site weeks, I decided to continue with my plans on climbing to the highest peak in the DR, Pico Duarte.
The trip went from 12 or more volunteers participating to a mere 7 due to all the time out of site that made some volunteers feel "campo guilt" for leaving again. Glad I have no shame to leave :). 
We all arrived in beautiful Jarabacoa then headed into even prettier La Cienega to meet up with the guides and mules to start the long trek. I arrived feeling great with bursts of energy, I had all my snacks packed and my backpack on snug anxious to get started. The I met the guides. The guide took one look at me and bluntly said "You are definitely going to have to ride the mule because you are fat and you should probably eat about half of what the others eat to lose some weight." Ummmm… what?! Guess thats the DR for you. I pretty much stood there holding back tears at the meanness of his comment and had no words to reply. It was then that I knew this was going to be a tough trip mentally and physically.
The first night we hiked 4 km to our cabin which was short and sweet. The second day we planned on treking to a cabin a few km short of the tip then heading out early the next day to see the top but ended up going for it and climbed all the way to the peak, a good 22 km. Yikes. When I finally got to the top I was so mad about having to climb for so long all I did when I saw the Duarte statue was cuss at it and flip it off. Not exactly the typical form of celebration but I was pretty much saying the big "F You" to all the negative comments and thoughts surrounding me and my ability to make it to the top. The climb was so much harder than I thought it would be and to be honest I am not sure I'd like to climb it again. It's pretty much one of those things where you do it to see where you fall and never do it again. Haha. 
So pretty much after the 2nd day I was done. The rest of the trip was mainly going down the slopes which were extremely steep, muddy and SLOW. I thought I was slow at climbing but going down was just ridiculous. My lack of balance and surplus of scared-ness kept me from hauling ass like the other volunteers down the hill. So I felt like I had to take one for the team on day 3 and mount the mule to speed up time and get to our next site. I was riding the mule for only a little while but it was probably on the steepest parts of the mountain. I got an arm workout holding on!
The 3rd night camping was probably my favorite because it was in this gorgeous open valley where it wasn't freezing cold close to the peak. We got to bathe in the freezing river and get toasty by the campfire as we roasted marshmallows and I tried to tell scary stories. Turns out a lot of the volunteers are scared of scary stories, bummer.
Finally the 4th day we headed out of the mountain with more downscaling and even steeper and muddier slopes. I was determined not to mount the mule but then out of nowhere my left knee pretty much called it quits and wouldn't let me walk normal. Eric started calling me FrankenFoot when I walked with the stiff left so thats when I decided I had to mount the mule. Because of my overwhelming sense of pride I asked the guide if I could dismount and walk the remaining 500 meters of the trail to feel like I had actually done something. I met up with the other volunteers and we proudly walked back to start together as we ventured off days before.
I have to say the trip was amazing and even though I didn't make it all the way down on my own my only goal was to make it up and I did all by myself. I really enjoyed the camping nights and actually feeling cold in this country. The trail was definitely difficult but I recommend it to any volunteer or visitor in country because of the great sense of accomplishment and beautiful views from the DR's mountains. The guide and I made peace and even though the trip started off to seem like a disaster it actually turned out to be a lot of fun and a good getaway from site.
P.S. I'll never do it again...

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It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

10:14 AM | Posted by Bri

10-25-10

Okay so it's not even Halloween yet and it's way ahead of Thanksgiving but here in the DR it feels like Christmas is around the corner. I didn't think Christmas was even that big of a holiday celebrated here but apparently not. They even put up trees and lights! Everywhere I go I see Christmas decorations which is really making me ancy to go home. I finally bought my flight to go home for the holidays and seeing all these decorations is putting me in the mood for family time and cold weather. Both of which are not applicable in the DR. There is a house here in Las Lagunas that is already covered from wall to wall with Christmas lights. I really can't wait to see it all lit up. It's absolutely hilarious because here in the DR there is hardly electricity to power my refrigerator but this house is going to power 600,000 light bulbs of ornamental lights (figure came straight from the lady who said she used that many light bulbs the year before). It's insane. But you can imagine how many dominicans love passing by her house. The doña that owns the house told me she got the idea from houses in the US she had seen on tv. Now she does it every year and enjoys her 15 minutes of fame in Las Lagunas as the "house with the lights". Apparently her house draws such a large crowd even the local news channels come to broadcast her home. 

In a place like the DR it is really unbelievable that someone will cover their house with lights when there isn't even enough electricity to power all of them. She probably needs like 4 inversors and 16 batteries alone to power all the electricity she will be wasting starting in November. And guess what, I'll be there front and center to enjoy it all. Because even though I think this lady is crazy, she is still doing a public service to everyone in Las Lagunas sharing her Christmas spirit for all to enjoy. Thanks crazy light lady. I'll post pics when the show begins!

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Tipping the scales and plans until home…

10:13 AM | Posted by Bri

10-22-10

I wouldn't be true to my blog and my experience if I didn't write about my frustrations about my weight gain while being here in the DR. It pretty much is on my mind everyday because of countless dominicans reminding me I gained weight and my daily need to exercise in order to eat some rice. Since I have arrived to this country, I have gained about 20 pounds. Shocking isn't it? I am not a small girl and I will admit when I came in I wasn't exactly Miss Fit but I was smaller. Before I came to the Peace Corps I was a committed athlete with 2 a day practices and plenty of outdoor activities. Now my body is in shock from the lack of activity I do when compared to before arriving in country. Everyday I do some kind of activity, whether it be running in the morning, walking to work, biking to Moca, swimming at the Rec center (which I stopped dong because they wanted me to pay lots of money) or doing calisthenics at home. But just like my project partner "I guess it's not enough." Jerk. 

I really feel that my body is retaining a lot of water which is weird because I sweat at all times of the day. Because I am not seeing results and only seem to be getting bigger, I feel it's affecting my work because I am so uncomfortable. I guess you can say this is bad. Also things in site are becoming a bit boring so I am trying to do new things everyday to keep things fresh. I bought my ticket home so I think that also is making me feel homesick and aching to get out. 

So before I go home in December I have made a few goals, one being lose weight so people at home don't sound like the dominicans here (you gained weight!), finish my basic computer classes on a good note (so far the class is going well, there are a few of annoying instances but nothing worth crying this time, haha), and to win the Encargados del Futuro conference movie contest. My EDF group is my motivation everyday. I know they can produce good work and I am excited to show the rest of the volunteers my amazing group. 

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The Hermanas Mirabal Museum

12:26 PM | Posted by Bri

10-7-10

Recently I finished reading a book by dominican author Julia Alvarez, called "In the Time of the Butterflies." The book is a romance of the story of the Hermanas Mirabal, 4 sisters from the dominican republic who fought against the dictator Trujillo in the 50's-60's. Trujillo was a dictator of the DR ruling for 30 years until he was assassinated. He basically did a lot of good things for the country (allowed women to vote, cleaned up the streets, created order) but also a lot of bad things (killed hundreds of haitians, spread fear amongst the country for those who disobeyed him, raped hundreds of girls as young as 14). Since living here I have been increasingly interested in the history of this country so reading this book sparked more interest in the heroic sisters. There was also a film that just came out starring Michelle Rodriguez called "Tropico de Sangre" about the sisters which was based on Julia Alvarez's book. I wasn't so impressed with the film but it still hasn't taken away my interest from the story.

Apparently Las Lagunas is about 20 miles away from the home of these sisters which today is a memorial museum honoring the sisters. I was ecstatic to find time to make my way over there when one of my students Arleny (bless her heart) volunteered to take me to the museum with her dad. Sweet!

You can imagine how excited I was to do something different and get a free car ride. Arleny and her father were so nice when we got to the museum they refused to let me pay the donation admission and even bought me a hat and keychain souvenir. Dominicans aren't easy. 

The museum was pretty much amazing. Not so much because it had all of the sisters beautiful 50's clothing, jewelry, furnishings and kitchenware still intact but because seeing the gorgeous wooden house they lived in still standing was so cool I seriously just wanted to move in. My first impression was that the Mirabal family were rich because the house was so grandiose it really is a mansion in these days so I can only imagine their status in the 50's. Apart from the gorgeous house, the museum had huge beautiful yards with gardens and flowers and statues filled with artistic butterflies symbolizing their underground names during the revolution, "mariposas." 

I really don't consider myself an expert on the story and am still searching for more books on the subject but being able to see their house and the museum was really a nice treat. I hope to return soon.



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My life as a geisha in the DR…

12:25 PM | Posted by Bri

10-3-10

It's really funny, since I have been in the DR I have read a lot of books, some good some really bad but either way the book that I am reading at the moment seems to affect my life at that point in time so much. When I was on my David Sedaris trip, I was so cynical about stuff and I thought so vividly to myself joking about every little thing. When I read "The Curious Case of the Dog in the Nighttime" I found myself overanalyzing everything, thinking mathematically about formulas and equations in my head about everything around me just like the main character. I just finished reading "Memoirs of a Geisha," which I am thoroughly enjoying but is also again affecting my daily life. I come to find that the life of a geisha is somewhat similar to the life of a peace corps volunteer in many ways. For one, there is a great deal of training which one must really grasp or at least look like they know all about it or do it in a pretty way. Yep that happens to PC volunteers, some volunteers come in country not knowing anything about their sector so just appearing like you know something is big. Ha. Another thing, our reputation is huge in our communities just as geishas. If we are seen with the wrong people we are automatically sized to be like those people whether it be good or bad and our reputation is judged daily. We come into our communities fresh and exciting then in a couple of months we are those old geishas that nobody wants around anymore. We have to keep inventing stuff to make ourselves popular all year long. 

Us volunteers like geishas also, are hot commodities. Whether its a boy or a girl the volunteers have this allure that dominicans love. We can take them `pa 'lla and they think we likely have lots of american dollars so they hit on us in any way possible. Even if we are out jogging, sweating and gross, there surely will be a dominican throwing you a ridiculous piropo. Really? I'm running here! Sometimes like a geisha I have felt like a prisoner in this role of a Peace Corps volunteer as well. I have to be the perfect volunteer which means the perfect American who must always say yes to everything and follow hundreds of ridiculous rules. Although I have to admit we get away with a lot more, PC volunteers still are owned by the man. 

I guess sometimes I read way too into books and search for something about myself to connect to but I don't think thats a bad thing. Now I am reading "An Unquiet Mind," which for those who haven't heard of the book is about a very smart psychiatrist with manic depression. God help me. I was interested in the topic but after starting I realized maybe it wasn't such a good idea to read a mental disorder book. I'm trying to rush through it before it affects me and I start becoming manic depressive. :)

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Here We Go Again, Manejo Básico 2…

8:34 AM | Posted by Bri


10-4-10

Welp, its October, time to start some more basic computer classes. I pretty much knew the drill from the time I woke up today. I said to myself "Okay, today we start classes, people aren't going to show up on the first day, others are gonna be late but whatever happens you are going to just chill out and not be nervous or worried." That's exactly what happened. I went to my morning class where there was a total of 2 people that showed up in a class of 10. Okay I get it dominicans, you are all bad asses, just don't be angry with me when other people take your spots and you start saying "I didn't know…" Annoying. Although I do kind of blame myself for a reason why maybe nobody showed up. On the signing up paper I put that classes would begin Monday the 5th instead of Monday the 4th. So I will give them that error on my behalf but I would hope just like the 4 people that showed up to my afternoon class that they maybe thought critically and said "Hey, maybe our teacher isn't perfect and she put the wrong date, silly proffe!" One can only hope.

So it goes without saying, day one always is a disaster in classes in the DR. The best thing is that I already had a round to learn all the dominicanisms of learning and teaching. Ha, jokes on you, I already knew you weren't going to show up sucka so don't tell me your excuses. We shall see how Wednesday goes. :)

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My first visitor from the states, my bestie!

7:51 AM | Posted by Bri

9-28-10

So much has happened in so little time. I feel very tired and sore. Today my best friend Laura left on a 10:30am flight to Ft. Lauderdale then to good ol' LAX. I so wish I was on that plane. Before my first visitor I always felt like I could handle a visitor and that I missed home but it wasn't that I wanted to go home but I wanted home to come here to the DR. After Laura's visit I definitely don't feel the same way. Since this is my first encounter away from home it is surprisingly weird how much I miss home only after my first visitor. I think my lives finally clashed. My life back home in the states and the life I developed here in the DR. I have never really cried from being away from home (maybe once?) and when the day approached that my bestie was going to be leaving I definitely shed a couple of tears. It wasn't so much completely because SHE was leaving although having her around was a lot of fun but just the idea of her and everything at home was what hit me. Bottom line: I miss being home and am counting down until Christmas. Long way to go.

So let me recap all the wonderful things we did in a short time of a week.

Tuesday (9-21) Laura arrives, taxi man buys Laura a Presidente beer (he said first impressions are everything and he wanted her first impression of the DR to be good, wilson is cool) showed her the Peace Corps office, went back to America (haha just took her to the US embassy) went swimming in the US pool, had lunch then caught the air-conditioned express guagua back to my site. Unpacked and received the coolest gifts from home (this consisted of: sheets, table cloths, towels, shoes and dish towels from my fam, a cozy sweater i designed from D-ran (cool!), underwear, snacks and clothes from home that Laura got and head bands and a head lamp from Dee! (headlamp was the best of all Dee!)) then went out to the colmado and hung out with my neighbors where we played dominoes and Laura won 3 hands. Beginners luck. 

Wednesday (9-22) Went to my liceo to see the lab (there was luz so we stayed and worked a bit), went to my rec center in Moca for a swim, went to D'Jose's where we enjoyed delicious sandwiches and natural juices (Laura loved Chinola juice), went grocery shopping, went to my youth group class, sang happy birthday to Laura and ate DR cake then enjoyed the experience of having no luz in the nighttime. Today Laura also experienced every form of transportation the DR has to offer: We got in the guagua to Moca, took a carro to the rec club then got a bola (free ride from hitchhiking) back to the center of Moca, guagua back to Las Lagunas then motos to my house and walked to the youth class. Whew!

Thursday (9-23) Went for a morning run around the barrio then hiked up lots of hills to see beautiful views of Las Cruces, went to my doña's house to have lunch then headed into Moca to meet up with other Moca volunteers for our famous "Moca Nights." Basically went to Coffey (coolest bar) then everyone came back to my place and crashed after we made bean and cheese burritos. Haha. Lot's of fun!

Friday (9-24) We were supposed to go to another volunteer Magee's house but because of the remoteness of this site we couldn't find a way to get in and the weather wasn't allowing us to go on a hike to see the best part, a glorious waterfall and rio. So instead we decided to go to Cabarete (famous windsurfing beach in the north) and had a nice dinner at LAX. 

Saturday (9-25) Woke up and had a delicious breakfast at Friends (muesli, fruit and yogurt, deelish!) then hit the beach. The weather wasn't absolutely perfect so but at least she got to take a dip in the carribean ocean. Then we got lost on the beach and had to walk on the street in our bathing suits (why did we think we didn't need a towel?) Showered, then on a whim decided to go to Damajagua for the 27 waterfalls. I was nervous, I'm not gonna lie, but I can definitely say it was a trip highlight. We only did 7 of the 27 (cause I am a chicken) but I jumped off all 7 (there was one I asked to walk down after I climbed up but they wouldn't let me :) Laura bought a underwater camera so hopefully I can post some pics after I get them from her. Later on I found out I had a huge bruise on the side of my thigh from a jump, oops. After the waterfalls we headed into Santiago and ate dinner at Bioo-Light (delicious eggplant parmesan and chicken and mushroom crepes!) then took her to see the monument and walk around the beautiful lit streets of the city. 

Sunday (9-26) We realized everything on Sundays would be closed so we couldn't plan much for today. We just headed into Las Lagunas then had some lunch in Moca before heading back to my house to rest and repack. My neighbor was having a birthday party for her son in my car garage area so we enjoyed loud booming dominican music as we stayed indoors being antisocial. We did some calisthenics and went for a really good run and got some fruit for shakes, pineapple and lemon! :) Laura also cooked a delicious stir fry then we watched "Sicko" and went to bed. This was prob the best night only because it was what we would normally do if we were in the states, absolutely nothing. I loved it.

Monday (9-27) Last day before the bestie leaves and everything starting hitting me. We headed into the capital and decided to chill. We ate some sushi for lunch, took a nap then went to Calle El Conde to do some last minute souvenir shopping. I didn't have much money to spend to buy stuff for everybody so I just bought random gifts for myself (haha, a DR magnet, a bracelet and some earrings). I figure I would have to buy plenty more gifts when I come home in December so I would make that count. Best part of the night was going to the ladies night bar where we got free drinks and a delicious appetizer to help us get down all the strong drinks. I don't understand how they're free and still strong as hell. I had to have Laura drink my last drink (haha, weak sauce!) We enjoyed our last night of air-conditioning and cable tv. Or maybe that was just me? I never get that, it was great!

So now it's Tuesday and I am trying to organize my life again to start my classes Monday. Back to the grind! Teacher training, manejo basic classes, EDF youth group, possibly a girls group and I am gonna do brigade verde activities with a teacher every Friday. Man, good thing I have stuff to keep me busy until December!

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Living on my own and my first visitor!

7:50 AM | Posted by Bri

9-20-10
I am really starting to get used to this living on your own business. It's been almost a month since I have moved out f my doña's house and am living on my own. I love it. Not that I hated living with my doña but I just find that I am a really private person so being alone is great. Maybe I am more anti-social, I dunno but I just like being in charge of my life. I live in a small community which is basically a col-de-sac where a handful of dominicans live. I live on the corner house right in front of the colmado so my place is well taken care of with frequent watch from the neighbors. Basically my house is perfect. It's small but perfect for me with an extra bedroom that I rarely visit. Usually I am not ever home and if I am I usually hang out at the colmado and play dominoe's with my neighbors until I get tired then come home to my cozy little house where I can be alone. Recently I just bought a blender. Sweetest thing I have purchased yet. I made gineo batidas yesterday which were delicious! Only vice is the lack of luz, which lately, has been ridiculously bad. But what can you do, you can only pay the bill and hope they send you luz when the times get dark. Probably the only bad thing about living alone is sitting alone in the dark by yourself. Haha. Then you just feel like a loser so you go to bed at 8:30pm. Other than the luz problem everything else is swell. I never run out of water because I have a huge tinaco that fills up everytime it rains and I am in control of what I eat which means I can cook and experiment with food and walk around my house in my underwear. The day I did that I knew, I was living alone.
Today I cleaned my house inside and out because of my planned visitor coming tomorrow. My bestie! I have a lot of stuff planned for her visit but nothing set in stone. I really want to take her everywhere I have been thus far but realize that would be far too much traveling and guagua rides for a weeklong visit. So I decided since she may have a return visit we can cogelo suave and just chill in my site for a bit then go see some rios and beaches and everything else that makes the DR pleasant. It is really going to be surreal for me to see my friend because I haven't seen her since I left and I think seeing her will really wake me up to think wow I am in the DR and she is someone from home in my past life. Sometimes you get so caught up in the DR that you don't realize that the people and the world in which you used to live in is still continuously going without you. Things aren't on pause just cause you are away everyone is growing u and changing. I wonder if I have changed other than my increasing weight. I guess seeing my bestie will let me know. I am also excited because she is the first person visiting me from the states. I want her to be completely overwhelmed with the DR. I want her to come here and be stuffed into a crowded guagua, get on a moto with a huge helmet, travel with huge overstuffed bags and get stuck in a random rain storm, eat platano and yucca and salami and fried cheese, dance bachata and merengue and at the end of it all say wow sabrina, your life sure is tough. then i would say yep, its a tough job but someones gotta do it, you know they say that peace corps is the toughest job you'll ever love and she'll say that i am an admirable person and then as i fold my arms in front of my chest and a cool breeze flows through my hair ill say i know. haha. 

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Patronales and a mini-vacation!

7:22 AM | Posted by Bri

9-6-10
I really am a riot, I rant and rant and rant about how excited for Patronales I am and I only make it out to Patronales on the very last night. Ha. Well my opinion was that it wasn't as much as it was worked up to be but I also think that since I went on a Tuesday it wasn't meant to be the best night. I did have fun, invited Heather the volunteer from neighboring Juan Lopez out and we enjoyed ourselves even if it was only for a little while. The thing about Patronales is that you really have to want to drink or be in a large crowd to have fun, and since I lacked these two things it was just okay. Patronales appears to be just like a good lo' fair with rides, things to buy, and greasy unhealthy foods except its all DR style. This means that the rides are crazy fast and unsafe and the foods include hot dogs without buns and chimi churris (DR hamburgers). Seriously the ferris wheel goes so fast all my DR friends said they do not get on because of all the people that throw up. Aren't ferris wheels just supposed to casually go in a circle? Also they have a rendition of a pirate ship except there are no seat belts so the people seriously float in the air before they are pulled down by gravity. Needless to say, I did not get on any rides. Ha.
I did impart on a small dance my project partners were throwing for all the social clubs where I got to dance a bit of meringue and bachata with my drunk project partners. Fun. :|
So instead of drinking and dancing every night I did take advantage of the town going on hiatus for these festivities. Since there really was no work to be going on during these days I did use this time to leave my site for a while to check out other neighboring volunteer sites. First was Masa in Jamao which was extremely fun. His doña pretty much has the most beautiful river in Jamao in her backyard so I got to go bathe in the rio then be fed by his awesome doña and don. They love me. :) Afterwards I got to check out Masa's pad which is a sweet upstairs 2 bedroom apartment with running water, electricity and  a working shower. Don't think he is suffering much. Love you Masa.
Next I stayed with Magee who lives in Los Bueyes and let me tell you, this was such an adventure! First I had to get in the back of a pick up truck along with loads of animal feed and hold on for nearly an hour through rain and shine on this extremely rocky path. It was fun until Magee told me one of her visitors actually fell off the truck. I held on a little tighter after that. By the time I got to her site I cannot even explain to you the beauty of her site. Everywhere you look there are nothing but beautiful green mountains blending with bright blue skies and theres not a sound of a moto or booming colmado but quiet and serene winds in the fruit trees. Gorgeous! Her site is seriously what I imagined the Peace Corps lifestyle would be. Quiet, serene, isolated yet beautiful. Also because she is out in the middle of nowhere she does not have all those amenities like Masa and I have. She collects rain water, owns a latrine and gracias to her project partners collects electricity from the sun with solar power. Crazy huh? I was so impressed with her beautiful wooden house, it was so big and clean and perfect. I think I liked her site a lot because it really was ideal for me as far as being isolated. I am so anti-social so living where she does makes it so easy to be alone and just be lost in a different part of the world. I think if I stayed for a week I may have gone crazy with all that time to myself but for the 2 days I visited, it was really nice. Also at her site is a gorgeous waterfall and lots of hiking trails. It really was a vacation away from site.
So I went from one extreme to another. Next I got to hang out with Carly and her visiting parents from the states who got a sweet hotel room in Santiago. Wow! We got to have a night out on the town with drinks, dancing and delicious food. Carly's fam were definitely a lot of fun just like Carly and I was glad to come out and welcome them to the DR. 
Last trip away was Heather's site next-door to mine so I was a bit closer to home. We met up with other new volunteers so we got to spend some time out in Moca (Coffey!) then stayed in Heather's really cute small house complete with pink flowers and a pink kitchen and bathroom. VERY Heather. The only thing that sucked was all of Heather's neighbors hollering and chanting my name for me to come out of the house to give them my number. I have no idea why this happened because I never even met a lot of Heather's neighbors so this was definitely annoying and made me feel disrespected and frustrated. Mostly on Heather's part because she lived there and I did not want to feel like I couldn't come over anymore. This is still not addressed. To be continued…
So I definitely wouldn't say I missed too much by missing Patronales. There's always next year… :)

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Classes are ending, now the fun can begin!

2:11 PM | Posted by Bri

8-19-10

Yay, my manejo basic classes are coming to an end. Not that I don't want to teach anymore I just feel like I need a break. I learned a lot from this first group and although I may have went overboard with giving 7 classes, I feel like I have learned a tremendous amount of what not to dos and some what to dos as well. For instance, do not offer 7 classes at once, do not start a class without a student aid to teach at the same time, do not offer 2 classes back to back, do not be boring, do not cancel classes so much and do not offer classes for too long. I found my students began to skip classes towards the end and I think its because 1. I cancelled class a lot because of all the PC meetings and junk and 2. Because it started getting boring and 3. The class was going on its 6th week. I thought I went a little fast but I think my students needed a little more motivation. You live and you learn.

Now that classes are over I want to enjoy my patronales, kick start a work out regimen and diet and focus on my encargados group. I want to travel and visit other volunteers sites during the next 2 weeks since nobody will be doing much work because of patronales. I also want to equip myself with all the hot spots to take my visitors. Cabarete, Samana, Punta Cana? Anyone down?

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The Patronales Reina Night...

2:10 PM | Posted by Bri

8-15-10

So every town in the DR has a "Patronales" which is supposed to be a holy week where everyone goes to church everyday then stays out late celebrating until the early hours. The patronales of Las Lagunas begins August 22 and is in honor of the saint San Ramon. Also included in these celebrations are the selections of the Patronales Reina, vice-reina and princess. So tonight I went to the reigning of this years candidates. 

First off, this shindig didn't start until after 9pm. The streets were packed with people trying to get into the liceo to see the winners. I mainly wanted to see what its all about. It's basically a beauty pageant complete with a bikini section and question. So I watched 6 beautiful dominican girls waltz on stage wearing small bikinis then beautiful gowns. The whole time I was thinking to myself how could they parade like this in front of all these dominican men. It's already bad that every dominican woman I come across tells me about every imperfection I have so to parade in front of everyone on a stage  would be ridiculously difficult. And I think to one girl it was exactly that cause one of the candidates fainted twice on the question part. Yikes. And there were about 3 different fights that broke out throughout the night. Annoying. I just got home and its 2:40am. I plan on going to church tomorrow at 9am. Man. I think I am going to be exhausted during the real patronales week. Every night is a different day to party and be merry. I am so pumped for this!

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My first enamordo...

2:09 PM | Posted by Bri

8-8-10

Ay dios.

In the DR, men here have a very funny way of telling you they like you. As you walk down the street you can hear millions of "piropos" or cat calls saying Pssst… to get your attention at volumes so high you think theyre letting air out of their moto tires. Most of the time I never look because I think thats ridiculously rude and annoying but when you hear the millionth Pssst, you finally turn your head their way to end their struggle and they just smile, wave or say something like "Tu eres buena" which translates as "You are good." Thanks, you needed to get my attention to tell me I am good and you think by hissing at me I will be attracted to you? Ridiculous. Just thinking that dominican women find this sort of thing attractive is beyond me.

So in my new neighborhood there is a guy who just confessed to me today that he is "enamordo" with me. I have lived at my place a week now. He said it was love at first sight and that every time he sees me his heart flutters and he gets really happy. Barf. I did the mistake of giving him my phone number so now this dude calls me about 12 times a day to see if I've eaten or where I am going to be during the day. Yikes. For the DR being such a machismo country, I see that dominican men can be head over heels for a "good" woman. It's ridiculous to fall in love with someone in a week and I am sure he tells this to every girl he thinks he can get. It's just funny to experience the adoration from a dominican man. 

To be honest I don't see myself dating a dominican but I say this because I have yet to find a dominican with honest intentions. Usually they want you to "llevar" them pa'lla. Which means bring them to the US. Don't get me wrong I like latin men but not if he is going to be a tiguere trying to get a ticket to the US or the honor of bagging the americana. I just don't seem to be interested in men in this culture. Maybe after a while things will change. There are lots of PC volunteers here that end up staying in the DR or getting married to a dominican because they fall in love, so maybe I will join the statistic? 

Doubt it.

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My first nights in my new casita…

12:10 PM | Posted by Bri

8-4-10

So I am now on my 3rd night in my new casita and I definitely have to say that living on my own has made me so much more happier and I definitely feel a lot more loved. I have moved into my new place about a km and a half maybe from my work site which is a little far but thats the purpose of the bike. Since Sunday night I've been getting to know the neighbors and getting used to the distance and not having my doña around all the time. So far its been great! I still visit my old doña's place and eat my habichuelas and carne while I enjoy the luxury of coming home and cooking something that I want or something thats not yucca. Ha. I told my neighbors that I liked yucca better than platanos (doesn't mean I like it a lot) so I already have 2 huge fundas of yucca that they're waiting for me to boil. Thanks neighbors. It's really the sweetest thing, wish it was piñas but I'll work on that, ha ha.

I also already have a neighbor stalker, ha, ok no he's not that bad but he definitely has a crush on me cause he calls me like 5 times a day to see if I've eaten, if I ant him to buy me food, if I want a bola somewhere, everything. Yikes. It actually works out cause he has helped me do a lot of stuff already including free bola rides and filling up my gas tank for cooking. Just have to deal with the annoying calls daily. I'm sure soon he will get the hint.

So as far as living on my own, this is the first time I have done that. I've always lived with my parents and have been guarded with all these experiences so everything is really new to me and I like it a lot. I know I will have to get used to washing my own clothes (even by hand) and cooking for myself all the time but I really enjoy having all this freedom. I have done a few mistakes along the way of course but thats why the neighbors are here. For example, the first night the electricity was tripping out going high and low so the neighbors told me to disconnect the fridge to not burn the motor (thanks neighbors!) Next morning, I forgot to close the door to my house and left it unlocked all day! Yikes, what an idiot. But guess what nothing happened and everything was fine. I'm not going to leave the door open from now on but at least I know if I accidentally did it again things can be okay. I can't believe I did that. I told you i am new to these things. Hopefully I wont encounter anymore dumb ass mistakes on my part but if I do things work out. My neighbors are seriously totally campo folks, they help with everything, bring me food, I love it here. It's like having a whole street of doñas that love you instead of just one! :)

Today I purchased a table with chairs, yay, I can sit down in my own house now. All I need now is an extra bed and a small nightstand and I am finished! I love shopping for my house. Yay! The luz just came on. I can hear my whole community cheering. What a crazy life I am living.

P.S. My neighbors just brought me 2 fundas of avocados! Life is good.

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Patience is a virtue....

12:07 PM | Posted by Bri



7-30-10

So it's been a while now that I have been teaching the manejo basic classes and I am still alive. I say this because I have learned just how short my patience is and how frustrating it can be when you lack this important necessity. Patience. It means not getting frustrated when your students are chatting while you are talking, it means keeping your cool when as you're explaining how to do something there is a kid saying "proffe, proffe how do you do it?!"  On top of all these frustrating things there are frequent disturbances of people coming into the lab in the middle of your lecture just poking their heads in asking if they can sign up. Classes have been going on for a month now, what makes you think you can sign up now? And why are you interrupting my lecture? Ay ay yay. Definitely don't have patience for that! It is obvious that when you are teaching something you have to be patient. Its just frustrating when you think you taught someone and they come back the next week saying what I don't remember anything you said. Most of the time I have to re-teach everything I taught them and even then they need me to tell them how to do it again. Its exhausting.

I hope by the end of these classes I will be writing a blog post about all the wonderful feelings I have not just to end the damn manejo basico classes but feelings of accomplishment that I did show someone the use of the computer, that I did hopefully make someones life easier or change it in some way. For now I think I need to not get too distracted in the work I am doing but actually build relationships with these people. I was told earlier this week that I am way too closed of a person. They told me that I have not yet  grasped dominican culture. I disagree with this but what are you gonna do. Guess I have to eat more yucca and be late to more meetings. Hows that for dominican culture, so humph.

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Teaching may not be my best feature after all…

1:40 PM | Posted by Bri

7-18-10 2:36pm

After my first week of teaching the basics of Windows, I have to say that I am not impressed nor am I happy. First off, I made the mistake of agreeing to teach 7 classes because the laboratory is so small (5 computers) and for every class there is at least 1 new person that tries to either sign up or take someone else's spot. I am really bad at being strict. 

Secondly, I don't have any patience. The classes have 3 types of people with no in-between: First theres the old folks who have never used a computer in their lives, okay I expected that and I feel like I work better with them because they have patience with me to learn and I can actually see them learning. They have a desire and listen to my instructions, even if they don't understand them entirely. Secondly, there are children. Really annoying, inpatient children who kind of know how to use a computer so they think they know everything and they just do what they want without listening to me kind of folks. These are really the source of my frustration. I am really bad about repeating myself and for some reason I find myself having to repeat myself in these classes more than needed. The young kids are just too wild, clicking everywhere, yelling my name for help and always having to show me when they have completed a task (YOU DONT HAVE TO KEEP YELLING MY NAME TO SHOW ME YOU TURNED ON THE COMPUTER!!!) Ay ay yay. The third group of students already know how to use a computer so they're as annoying as the kids just doing their own thing not listening to me either.

I just feel frustrated because I don't think I am really getting to them and I feel like I am working so hard. Plus it gets really old when you teach the same lesson 7 times. You would think I would get good at it by the 6th but I still feel like I am struggling. I think it is just hard because I took too much on at one time. Plus there are electricity problems and that always doesn't help the situation.

I think I just need to slow down a bit. After these classes, I am going to focus on 1 project and have at most 3 classes on the side. September can't come quick enough. Thats when its all supposed to end.


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Officially found my house…

1:40 PM | Posted by Bri

7-18- 4:29pm

So I officially found my new house. It is 1 km away from my work site, which was a bummer but I think I can deal with it for the price. It's a 2 bedroom, 1 bath concrete house with a tin roof. Its really pretty and it has everything I need. A cute kitchen with red wood cabinets, spacious living room, patio area, garage area in the back and the bathroom is not scary. I will be having to bucket shower in the beginning until they move the tinaco to the roof to allow gravity to flow water through my shower head. 

The rent is 2,200 pesos a month, which is around $61 US, damn in my town the cheapest you can get for a place is $500 a month and thats just a bedroom, not a whole house!





So I am happy and excited to have visitors now. The main purpose of me getting this house is to have visitors. I am fine living at my place with my dona now but the room isn't big enough to host people so thats why I needed to get the bigger place. I am actually anxious and cared to move in. What am I going to do about strange noises and big spiders and bugs. If I get any rats at my place, I swear I will run back to my donnas house in 2 seconds flat. I have never lived only own, what am I going to do. I've never done this before! I am sooooo nervous!

I am going to be making big purchases soon, like the fridge and pots and pans, etc.. so I hope I get some good deals. And I also hope I don't feel too much more lonely than I feel now. VISITORS WELCOME!

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Ladrones stole my phone…

11:05 AM | Posted by Bri

7-12-10 9:53am

I decided I needed to spend some more time with my dominican hermanitos so earlier in the week I went to fix the pedal on my bike (so much better and it cost 5 pesos) and I also bought a plastic bat and wiffle ball. I invited my hermanitos out to play and they got all excited when I suggested we go to the local "play" which means the local baseball field. It took us forever to put some sandals on and walk over there but we arrived looking optimistic even though there was a dooming rain cloud over us. We start to play and sure enough it started to rain so we ran under a large canopy until the rain stopped. I normally never carry my phone on me and I am also sad I made the mistake of bringing it because I tend to do dumb things like leave it on the ground and expect nobody will take it. Well, I guess you know what happened next. I set the phone down because I didn't have any pockets and I didn't want to carry the phone in my bra (not too classy) and because we were the only people there I didn't think it was going to get stolen. Long story short, we go out and continue playing after the rain and when I felt I had enough of them arguing and yelling "Tramposa!" at each other I said Time to go! And that's when the phone was gone. Crap. Then I tried to use my brain. I did see people walk by but I didn't think anything of it. I saw 2 guys walk by with bright basketball shorts and we also saw the owner of the park come by as well. These were my suspects. I walk behind the play and there is a house with 3 haitians working so I ask them to come over so I can ask about the phone. They were wearing bright basketball shorts like I recall the people wearing as they passed by. Because they were Haitian, communication was not going through. They struggled with their spanish and I couldn't understand them but I felt like they had my phone and I really wanted it back. So I went to the police. (Now that I recall this, I know it wasn't the best idea for a silly phone but I don't learn this until after the story is over). I told the police that my phone was stolen and the only people that passed by the park were the haitians, the owner and us kids. Policia #1 tells me to stay at the base and he went along with one of the kids that was with us to investigate. What resulted was that he came back with the haitian I was questioning earlier. Ok… so I just asked him again and still communication wasn't going through. I started to think maybe going to the police was a bad idea. 2 other haitians arrived and they also said they didn't have the phone. It was absolutely awkward the judicial system here. Here I am in front of them saying do you have my phone, the haitians are looking at me saying no i don't have your phone and the policia is saying alright these haitians are guilty. Ok, fuck it. They don't have the phone no big deal. I told the police it's fine just let them go and I will just have to get another phone. But the police tell me to come back in a hour. They arrest the haitians and search them and put them in their small cell. Crap. You can imagine how dumb I felt. What if it isn't them, I am just ruining their day, they are going to be set free after this and they're gonna see me walking on the street and kill me later, what are the policia going to do to them, is it worth it for this damn phone? I return in an hour (the funny part is that the policia tells me go home and shower and come back in an hour, was i really that stinky?) and the policia says that in their attempts to scare them by putting them in the cell they still said they didn't have the phone. One said he saw it but he didn't take it. Great. He also asks me if I want to accuse one of the haitians to go throughout further prosecution. No, no, no. 

Upon returning to my house I decided I will probably never go to the police again. It's not like they didn't serve me and do what I asked but I realized that it's way more effort to get other people involved than to just deal with it yourself. Plus I really felt bad for the haitians. If they stole my phone or not, I just thought about how dangerous it is for them to deal with these injustices everyday. I merely said that I saw them passing by where my phone was set and the policia automatically said it was them I don't know if it was them I was just hoping with the policies help maybe they can communicate better but that was definitely wrong. My don tells me that now the policia was going to keep the haitians in the cell until they sent someone to send them money to bail them out. Stab my heart. He also told me that if the policia wanted to, he could deport them back to haiti or other drastic things. 

So probably Friday I will be making my way back to the capital to get a phone. I learned a new lesson and I probably won't be heading back to the play anytime soon.

11:30am

The owner of the baseball field arrived at my house and dropped off my phone. Apparently the haitians I accused returned him the phone to give to me. I am definitely lucky. What a crazy story.

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