Back in Las Lagunas, Time to get to work!

5-23-10 9:30pm

I'm baaaack. I think my project partners pissed too cause I didn't call and I just showed up and saw him at church this morning. Oops, was I supposed to call and tell you I was coming? Haha. I think I am going to keep pulling the "Sorry I'm not from here, I'm a crazy American" card whenever I feel it necessary. Or at least when I don't feel comfortable.

Anywho, it's good to be back. Except for the fact that I have to start this such thing called a "diet" because I pretty much gained 15 pounds living in the capital. That's what happens when you have McDonalds and donuts all the time. Bummer but it's going to feel good to get back in shape and my doña here is pretty awesome. She makes me massive salads and my favorite sliced cucumbers with just the right amount of chile and lemon. Yums! Plus she doesn't ever fry my food and she always is trying to eat healthy. So things should be looking up. Also, I am planning on doing a 1/2 marathon towards the end of June which I am kind of excited and scared for. I never entered any kind of running race before (not that I am going to run fast!) I just really want to cross the finish line on my feet and not be dragged by my "Peace Corre" partners Masa, Aidan and Jenn. Haha. So I am starting to train this week as well, I need to get a gym membership mañana and I have 5 weeks to train. Yikes. Wish me luck with that one.

Other than my sudden health and wellness kick, everything seems like it's going to be pretty good. I hope to start fixing the computers in my lab this week (with a hopeful visit from Masa on Saturday to help clone all my comps :) and I have a meeting on Wednesday with the APCD and PCVL (theres so many acronyms in PC) to get me started with my project partners. So slowly but surely I am getting started! These first 3 months are really supposed to be more dedicated to the diagnostic anyway so I doubt I will be crazy busy but it's still early to tell. For now I will just cogelo suave and hope to get invitations from other PCV's to visit them. 

P.S. I cut my hair a while back, definitely was a good purchase and much simpler to deal with in the times of heat. Only negative thing, now my hair is short and my attempts at growing out my hair are ruined. Oh well.

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Swearing In Day and the All Volunteer Conference...

5-12-10


So today I officially became a Peace Corps volunteer. Woo. Before I was only pretending but now I'm a real boy! Haha. Today was definitely very interesting, we sang the national anthems for both countries, introduced ourselves yet again and then got these cool pins. I definitely liked all the support from the past volunteers there to cheer us on and even my hermana showed up to wish me luck. Celebrated at the car wash cause that's the only way to celebrate a graduation; at a car wash. Haha. Interesting stats for our group was 1. None of us ET'd (early terminated) which is great! and 2. We are all at a level 5 or above in spanish (you need a 5 in order to be a volunteer). Also I've heard we are one of the best looking groups in the DR, hells yeah. Congrats to all my fellow volunteers, we rock.

All Volunteer Conference was fun. Full of awkward conversations but still fun. You basically meet all the volunteers that are already in the country, learn about any projects or groups you might be interested in joining (theres lots for me!) and check out other volunteers for future dating purposes. Haha. Okay so the last one I've heard is what happens at these junctions. Not gonna say if I participated. :)

Anywho I learned about this group called the Gringo Grita who write a biannual magazine for all volunteers and I am very anxious to be on the staff. It sounds like the sweetest group in PC and I really want to design it and make it my own. Hopefully this will be one of my new projects if they pick me. Crossing my fingers. After the conference,  we all headed for the PC prom which wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be. Oh well, I bought a nice dress and shoes which I didn't even wear but whatever I still had fun and possibly made a fool of myself. It's always funny when you see people the next day who just smile at you and say "How are you feeling?". It's like Good, was I an idiot last night? Haha. Too much fun stuff. 

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I survived voting day…

5-16-10  11:59pm

Today was the voting day for the "diputados" in the country which will now be serving a total of 6 years rather than 4. I believe diputados translate as congress members or something of that sort. Anywho, I was kind of disappointed about the outcome of today. I don't even know who won but there was nothing that happened today other than a traffic build up on the main street connected to my street where there was a voting office. Not that I was waiting for a riot or anything but PC made it seem like it was going to be crazy dangerous to be out in the streets and it definitely was very tranquil and calm. I guess that's a good thing. I even went for a run on such a gorgeous day and luckily missed out on yet another rain storm. Probably the most eventful thing of the day was attempting to make rice crispy treats with regular corn flakes (carre four didn't have rice krispie cereal!) and burning my doña's pot then having to scrub it for a half hour straight until my doña came into the house and saw me sweating bricks. She told me to relax that she would do it and pretty much cleaned the pot in 5 seconds. Haha. Thanks doña.

P.S. Swallowed wannabe rice krispie treat in one gulp. Yikes.

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More on My New Site!…

5-6-10 11:03pm

Have I mentioned that I have my own room with my own bathroom, shower and sink? I am pretty excited about that, I just moved in and put my stuff away (well half of it) and I feel so at home. It is pretty weird that there is a restroom with no door that is pretty much a foot away from my bed but I figured it would be handy when, you know, I have a hangover and cant move from my bed to throw up in the toilet. Haha. Yeah right! I doubt I will be doing any drinking here. My project partners already told me I am not allowed to drink and that I am here to work! Yikes. 

Pretty much the stuff they want me to do is simple: Fix all 20 computers in the liceo (install educational software and deepfreeze and anti-virus software, clone all the hard drives), fundraise for a new inversor or for more batteries so we have electricity to use the computers, then in the summer I will be teaching all the teachers about the educational software and how to use technology to their advantage in the classrooms, then give some informatics classes myself to the community members, show other people that will become informatica teachers, start an array of different youth groups including brigade verde for environment, IT and sex education (I forgot the group names) and also be involved in the local church activities and the neighborhood watch then after this upcoming Saturday help run the new CTC (community technology center (in english)) being built down the street from my house. Not much at all right! The good thing is that my project partners are very supportive and are completely committed to me and the reason I am here. A little too much if you can tell. It's going to be ad to live up to their expectations but I am definitely going to try to do all this and more (youth sports groups and art activities!). I definitely feel that I have a lot of work to do but I think that is a good feeling that they want you to be involved in everything, they want my presence and they want my help. It feels really good to know that I am going to make a difference somewhere rather ha just teaching classes and something I don't want to do (English). So Sunday we return to Santo Domingo for more debauchery. Swearing in, PC prom, literacy training and more. Stay tuned!

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Las Lagunas WOWS

5-4-10 11:09pm

I have arrived at my final destination: Las Lagunas near Moca in the northern cibao region. All I can say is Wows. (P.S. Thanks Adam for getting that word stuck in my head.) Heather, another volunteer lives pretty much 15 minutes away and we both live like an hour or so away from other PCV's and the Santiago region. I got the privilege to ride with Heather and see her site so now I know how to visit her. Yay. After dropping Heather off we headed toward my site and wow was I surprised. There were about 50 liceo kids waiting for me at a gorgeous house with balloons, cake, and signs saying "welcome" and all. WOWS! I pretty much was speechless, I got out of the car and everyone was staring at me, I felt like I should have done a cartwheel out the vehicle and danced an irish jig. I was absolutely nervous and there was pretty much everyone of my barrio at my house welcoming me into the town. I danced a little bachata with a random kid then they made me cut the cake. It was so cool, I couldn't have asked for a better site or welcoming party. I just wish others were here to see it. If this is the way they are welcoming me already I really hope I live up to their expectations and have all of them love me by the end of the initial 3 months. They were so excited to see me and I honestly was so excited to see them happy to receive me. I am truly blessed.

As far as the pad it is pretty much sweet as well. It is a nice ceramic house in walking distance to the places I am going to work and the family is so nice. There are 2 young girls (1 that reminds me of Emma) and 1 boy that goes to the liceo. Sweet, he can help me find friends fast! Also the doña is pretty young, I almost feel like I can't call her doña because that's kind of a wisdom sounding title that she is too young for. The don is cool and the room that they're having me sleep in right now is the master bedroom. WTF. There is actually a room on the side of the house that is a bit small but perfect because it has its own bathroom and its own shower. Exactly what I need! It even has its own lock and entrance into the kitchen, haha. I am pretty nervous still to actually start working. I feel like they are expecting so much from me and although I am ready to work and help them I hope that they don't expect too much and I fail. That would suck. I am trying to be optimistic though. 

So tomorrow I shall start meeting all the folks and start trying to put my name out there. Wish me luck y'all. I have so much work to do! I'm glad this day is over. No more nauseous nervousness. 

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Emma, Me Haces Falta!

5-3-10 10:00pm

I'd like to dedicate this post to a very special someone that made me cry today. Emma, my niece. I got to talk to the folks from home because we were finally assigned cell phones (if you need the number send me an email!) and luckily I got to talk to Emma cause she was hanging out around the house. Except I immediately got so sad the instant I heard her voice. First she says "Hi Sabrina" which broke my heart (Haha, it didn't take much) then she continued asking me if "I was going to come home tomorrow." If you could only hear her high pitched little kid voice you would have died just like I did. I immediately had to hold back the tears and the awwwwlss… and tried to continue talking to her like normal. She then told me she was playing soccer and I asked her if she missed me and she said "Yes." Holy crap the eyeballs were running like faucets. Emma is probably one of the main things in my life that really keeps me going. As much as she is a huge brat at home, I can't help but love her to death and I have to admit I miss her the most out of everyone at home. She is the only one that I constantly watch home videos of and she always brings a smile to my face. This one is for you Emma, you're amazing and I miss you so.

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