I just can't have a pet I decided...

11:25 AM | Posted by Bri



I got a cat. Well more like one of my neighbors brought me a cat in a sack of rice. So I tried to give it a chance. We put it in a cage so we can take it to my house. It was so angry it kept spitting and trying to scratch me (Clue #1 I shouldn't have a cat). So we got it in the cage then it escaped through a hole (Clue #2) and my neighbors caught it again and fixed the hole. I took it to my house and let it free, I don't like to see animals tied up. I thought maybe after a few days it would warm up to me and love me. I was wrong. (Clue #3). The cat still hissed and tried to scratch me every chance it got. Now I was living with a creature who not only hated me and pooped everywhere but stressed me out and brought me grief (Clue#4).


Bye cat.


I let it loose outside and she stayed around for a couple of days but lately I have not seen her. I didn't completely abandon her, I bought cat food and set it out for her to eat but I have not seen her in a couple of days. There are a lot of other cats in my neighborhood that I think may have adopted her which is much better than me. I really just wanted a cat to love and to feel loved and this cat did not do it for me. I obviously was not ready to be a parent and I am fine with that.


Bye cat. rawr.

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White Water Rafting (aka when I almost died)

10:52 AM | Posted by Bri


To celebrate our 1 year mark (yet again) a group of us volunteers decided to do something extreme. Haha. The most extreme things I do are ride my bike and go for runs so white water rafting seemed like it was really out there. Initially I thought sure, I can do this. I am an athlete and I know how to swim so this should be no problem. Most of the time when I decide to do stuff like this I try not to give it too much thought. If I do, I might just freak myself out and decide not to do it and I will regret it in the end so I try to just say yeah and go with the flow.

So we were off to the rapids!

To begin, the guides here in the Dominican Republic almost never completely know english so there is always a language barrier as far as relaying important instructions on safety etc. Ah... whatever I can do this, I didn't completely understand him but I think he said don't fall out. Ok don't fall out. Easy...

First rapid, boom fell out of the raft. Hahaha. I was all laughs and smiles as I tried to pull my fat butt back in the raft. Ok don't fall out anymore.

The next few rafts were easy I was holding on pretty good then we approached a raft the guide called 'Mike Tyson'. Mike Tyson, the boxer? I wonder why?

Mike Tyson pretty much almost killed me. The rapid consisted of 2 falls in which of course I fell off on the first fall. Trying to pull myself back in the raft, the raft kept moving forward which meant on the next fall the raft went completely on top of me. Heather later told me she was screaming at the group "We're on top of her!" Underwater I remember tumbling pushing my hands underneath the raft thinking "And this is when I die, maybe I should have thought this one through..." Finally in what seemed like an hour, I broke the water with the eyes of helpless death upon me. Seconds later a guide jumped in the water to help me as I breathed in and out panicked that i forgot how to swim. As soon as I got in the raft I decided that I was not having the best time of my life as I thought it would be. Other volunteers were congratulating me and telling me I was having "the real experience" but I say bullcrap, I almost died. :)

The rest of the rapids I sat in the raft holding on for dear life. Thank god there was not another Mike Tyson and the rest of the ride was pretty smooth.

Upon getting back to camp, I just wanted to forget the whole thing but of course the guides revealed that they had taped our whole trip and were showing the video at lunch. I got myself a large, strong rum and coke and watched this video of our trip with 30 other participants as everyone echoed woes and sounds of pain as they watched me get pummeled by the raft. It was funny I have to admit and I now have soemthing else checked off on this DR Bucket list. Needless to say, I won't be doing this again.


Surely this was taken after Mike Tyson. I do not look like I am having fun.

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The DR Bucket list...

4:43 PM | Posted by Bri

Since I am passing the one year mark (I know you guys are tired of hearing me talk about it) I decided to make a DR Bucket list that has a series of many things I want to do and experience here in the Dominican Republic.

From now on, I am going to set up my blog in this format. I am going to post only things from this list (so my blog can be more interesting).

Here we go!

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I dedicate this one to my enamorado...

4:38 PM | Posted by Bri

Enamorados: People that are crazy infatuated and obsessed with someone and will NOT stop calling/stalking/passing by your house until he/she receives your attention/affection. This is also mostly for show to the other people they know, kind of like "hey look at me, I bagged the Americana".


Yeah I have an enamorado. I won't disclose too much info on him but I definitely felt that as part of my Peace Corps experience I had to write a blog post dedicated to the one and only because of how much he has affected my service. This guy claims he fell in love at first sight. He called me about 10 times a day just to know if I ate, just to know exactly where I am, just to know if I am okay or if I need help or need a ride somewhere. He would pass by my house constantly just to see if I am home or if I will come out to chat with him. He got close to another nearby volunteer who gave him advice in obtaining my "love".


"Don't call her so much"
"But I want her to know that I want to talk to her"
"She knows this because she has caller ID and she sees that you have called her 20 times"
"But she wont pick up the phone"
"Because you call her too much. Buy her pineapples, she likes that."


I am not going to lie, I have embraced (not kissed just appreciated) this person in my life as a commodity. With this person I got free rides anywhere I needed to go, he would do me favors, he would buy me fruit, he was just super convenient to have around. I have communicated to this person (pretty much every time we talk) that I am not interested in him nor will I ever be interested. I only want to be friends and no, not the kid with benefits either. But as I have learned, Dominicans are ridiculously persistent (I wish they were this persistent in my projects) so he still insists that he will one day be my boyfriend and conquer my heart. He is out of his mind.


I really do consider this person a really close friend of mine. In my time here, he has been one of those people that I know I can count on to do whatever I need to do. We have been fishing, flying kites, hiking, seeing new places out on moto rides, cooking, baking, dancing, the list goes on. Things I pretty much should not do with a boy. These are things I would do in the states with my guy friends and know that there is nothing wrong because there is no interest but here in the Dominican Republic, things do not work this way. There are no boy friends. All boys want to get with you if they even look at you. While doing all of these activities, I have not tried to show this person that I am interested in dating them. I just felt good about having a friend that I can do these activities with. But, I know that he did not interpret my actions this way. Just spending time with him was telling him that I was accepting his offer. My mouth is saying "No" but to him my actions are saying "Yes". So now, I had to cut the cord on our relationship because I realized it was not benefiting me in the end. People in the neighborhood were spreading rumors and his enamorada attacked him because he was dancing with me (that was pretty much when I knew our friendship was over). :(


I can admit that at one point of time he was one of my best friends. But due to the cultural differences and my personal security I have diminished communication with my enamorado so as to not affect me or my work in my site.


Enamorados can be fun but you definitely have to be careful with their intentions, their history and how it will affect you in the future. As a Peace Corps volunteer, you are put somewhere to serve in that community for 2 years. Sometimes you can get lonely (2 years is a long time when thinking about romance and relationships) but you can't forget about how you are affecting the community and how the community views you.

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Being a Volunteer Without a Computer...

3:46 PM | Posted by Bri

...sucks.

My mac recently just decided to take a poop. Well I have had it for a long time and the battery wasn't even working (I had to be connected to the wall outlet in order for it to work), and since the electricity is so sketch here, when the luz se fue's it took my computer with it :( . So now I am one of those volunteers without a computer. I have no excuse to do real work other than not having a computer to do computer work.

Having a lap top in the Peace Corps has its many benefits. 1. You have the convenience of working at home. 2. You also have the convenience of having all of your stuff saved and accessible whenever you need it. 3. You can use your computer as a tool to stay sane and get away from the DR life (ie. watch American tv, movies, workout videos etc...).

I have to admit, I really miss my laptop (volunteer friends are working to help fix this situation) but at the same time it has helped me stop being lazy and forces me to get out of my house and work in the computer lab. So maybe it was a good thing in a sense?

(This does however give me an excuse to my lack of blog updates!)

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No more teaching for me!

11:32 AM | Posted by Bri

4-9-11


Ahhhhh... I have finally reached that point in Peace Corps where I finally feel comfortable enough to say "No" and discontinue teaching. It only took a year of worrying, learning, planning, stressing, yelling, crying, laughing, and screaming. Haha. It's been a looooong year.


I started these classes with the intentions of 1. meeting new people in the community and 2. finding ways to make the sustainable. Needless to say I have met so many great people in my classes young and old. It really is a great tool to meet people because they respect you and they will remember you long after they skip your classes, haha. (My gradation was this past week and my students were so cute that they got me a plaque. A plaque. How awesome is that? This is a prime example of the contacts you make and how much the stress and tears are worth it in the end.) As far as sustainability, my computer classes sadly did not continue but my english classes, gracias a dios, will continue with a superb, replacement teacher. Nilka is a Jehova's Witness from Puerto Rico who will be continuing my english classes to help her pay for her living expenses to continue her religious work in the DR. She rocks.


My english class made me a plaque. Sooooo nice.
To be honest, after doing all these classes I have figured out that I am an okay teacher but my only flaw is patience. Patience is super crucial for teachers so you can see how this wasn't working out for me. I always needed to prepare and have options available for my students, I always had resources for them, made sure I didn't dress bad, made sure I was on time but I just couldn't handle it when I had to repeat myself 10 times or when I saw that people weren't learning. It was hard for me. Not everyone is perfect so I am glad I have decided to end my classes and continue with my youth groups which are basically classes but not so formal and not that much prep work. I am just glad that I can say I did it. I did it, I lived it, it's over and let's move on to bigger and better things.


I am coming up on my one year mark (as a volunteer) and I feel like my time here is starting to count down. I am having to fill out my VRF (volunteer reporting form) which basically asks for all the info and data of everything that you have done. I have done 2 computer classes, an english class, some teacher training, and I have 2 youth groups. My work with the liceo (high school) has not been completed (which is sad, cause its the purpose of me being here) and I have a lot of other side projects that I want to develop before I leave (literacy, art group, boys group, basketball court). 


In retrospect I feel like I have been really busy. I was having to go to the high school everyday and teach my classes in another location, stay late for my youth groups, attend and plan conferences and on top of all this do various design projects on the side for everyone in Peace Corps. Literally. Everyone. But I am not complaining, I love to be busy. I love being asked to do design work (since I am not really using it anywhere else in my site other than my youth group) because I love to feel needed and useful. But as much as I do love to feel important the one year mark really is the time to stop being important and start passing that torch to other people. Nilka will be saving me so much strife by doing something she is good at and saving me from having to do it. It's not even like I have to do it either. It's this feeling of "crap everyone wants these classes I have to give these classes" that I am glad I can shake off. I have to admit there is a feeling of loss when you don't do these things anymore and they don't need you anymore but I guess thats the point of Peace Corps; creating sustainable projects. 


So now I have to think about how I will be remembered in my town. I've only done projects that are learning based, meaning, there is nothing physical that I have brought to my town. I feel like I've done a lot to teach my community but because there is nothing physical I know if I left today people would say I didn't do anything and the reason is because I haven't physically donated something. So the majority of my focus for the year is going to be on developing my school lab, building a library in my liceo and a basketball court in another escuela. Physical properties that are necessary. We shall see how this goes.

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Grita Week

2:11 PM | Posted by Bri

3-25-11

Gringo Grita is a volunteer publication made by volunteers for volunteers. It is a really cool opportunity for me, a graphic designer, to showcase my many talents of laying out and using Adobe programs and also my cool tablet. Hehe. But more than that, it's a full week of hanging with volunteers in the capital as we organize COS (close of service) surveys, edit cool articles and drawings by talented volunteers and create a 60 page magazine with stuff we think other volunteers would like to read or look at. I participated in working with the magazine in the Fall of last year and I have the pleasure of working on it again this past week for the Spring issue. I am happy to announce that my pal Justin Seiter is the new editor, yay! And I will continue serving until I leave. I love being able to design something here in a place where design doesn't matter. I was really worried in the beginning of my service that I would lose my edge with design coming to the Peace Corps but I am happy to be able to showcase my talents or at least just use these programs so I don't forget how to add a stroke or put in a drop shadow. I believe the grita will will be out for release in late May or maybe June but I am excited!
Here is last years cover picture. It's an iphone with apps for everything you need in the DR...

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IT Trainee visit!

11:35 AM | Posted by Bri

3-20-11

Zenia Perez arrives! She is a new trainee who just arrived to the country in March just around my year mark. Basically every year in March a group of IT volunteers come in and around May of the same year an old group leaves. This cycle continues going on and on until there is a certain level of sustainable projects and the country is completely free of volunteers. Clearly that hasn't happened yet. We are coming up on Peace Corps DR 50th anniversary. That may be really sad. 

It's crazy having a trainee visit because I still feel "new" to Peace Corps. When I go the email asking to host this volunteer I almost didn't reply because I didn't feel like I was ready but I am really glad I did because after the visit I can see how integrated into my community I am and how much I have grown living here. I am casi a dominicana!

Anyways, as far as I know, there are 17 new trainees in country who will have to go through the same things I did, living in Pantoja for spanish training, CBT in el Seibo for tech training then finally being thrown into their own site to figure out their lives for the next 2 years. Its exciting to see a new group, to have new friends and I am excited to see the next generation of volunteers who will watch me on my way out. 

I am sad to see the old group go. I have gotten very close to a lot of the volunteers and its sad to see the "seniors" leave and make us fill in that role. The older group is so good at managing things and having things run smoothly so it will definitely be hard to let them go. It's now my groups turn to fill in their shoes which will definitely be a hard thing to do. May 2012 will be my time!

So this past weekend was a really fun time. We had a special Moca night for the trainees then crashed at Heather's house after we sang karaoke at a colmado in her town. The next day Zenia and I went to my site where I showed her my "work." I showed her the club, liceo and ayuntamiento and we even got to chill at my donnas for a free lunch and hang with the neighbors. I feel like I may have been a bit harsh because I was trying to get her to talk constantly since she is a fluent spanish speaker but she was so shy. Then I talked to the volunteer I visited last year and she reminded me that I was the exact same way. I was quiet the entire time and really shy so now I understand. I think sometimes I don't realize how comfortable I am living here now so when other people get thrown into these situations I am expecting them to just adjust as fast as I did. And they will, it's still their second week being in country, after CBT they will really get the hang of this "Peace Corps" thing.

Best of luck to the new trainees! Soon you will be volunteers and begin this amazing learning experience. I honestly can't believe I am here a lot of days and I am thankful for everything and everyone. Being a volunteer in the Dominican Republic is tough but it's amazing.

Magee, Phil, Zenia*, Charlie*, Me and Keaten* hanging at the colmado in Juan Lopez. (*New trainees)


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My 25th Birthday in the DR!

11:16 AM | Posted by Bri

3-25-11

Twenty five years ago I would have never thought I would be living in the Dominican Republic doing what I am doing now. Scratch that, make that 2 years ago or even 1 year and 6 months ago. This is my second time celebrating my birthday in the Dominican Republic and it is definitely by far the best birthday I have had in a while. (Haha, its hard for me to commit to the best ever, but it was very good!) My group arrived in the DR in the beginning of March last year so because everything was so new and foreign to me I didn't tell anyone it was my birthday and spent it eating yucca and spaghetti alone in my room with my dona who also didn't know it was my birthday. Crummy. But this year I definitely went all out celebrating my birthday for an entire week! Yeah! I didn't even have to announce it to everyone, people actually remembered. Haha.

To commence the celebration, a big group of volunteers headed into the capital and we had a fun night at the Conde with drinks and dancing. My two favorite things. The next couple of days I visited a fellow volunteer Amber in Las Canas which was so nice to just be tranquil and peaceful. I pretty much slept a lot because her site is sooooo quiet. I didn't hear concho drivers, horns, trucks, nothing. It was perfect for sleeping and chilling out. Plus her dona was an amazing cook and her host family was super nice. From there I headed over to my favorite site in the DR, Magee's house where we continued the delicious food and tranquility. I honestly think I have gained 10 more pounds just from this week. Everyone was giving me so much free food and goodies I couldn't turn them away! I even got midnight birthday pancakes! 
Heather, Me and Masa swinging at this cool new bar in the Cap

Heather, Me and Amber got all dolled up to go to a family wedding. Yep, we were way overdressed!

Lindsey, Magee and Jose. We ate delicious Mexican tacos with homemade salsa! Yummmmmmm!

Virgen, Melvin, Me and Mirian, my beloved neighbors who take care of me very much.

My birthday pies! Me blowing out the candles. Can't believe I am 25. :(

So thinking everything was over I returned back to my campo ready to detox all the bad food and relax. I spent the night hanging with the neighbors and surprise! They bought me 2 pizzas and drinks to celebrate my birthday too! It was really cute the way they went about it, they slyly asked to go to my house to have some tea then came walking in singing "Happy Birthday" in english. Cute. I have to say I definitely feel loved. Comparing my birthday from last year to this year I'd say it was a huge improvement and I am most excited about the stuff that happened in my campo. It's one thing to celebrate and do things with your friends but having poor dominicans buy you things to show you how much you mean to them was priceless. I couldn't stop telling them "thank you" and how happy I was to be spending it with them. 

This goes to show that wherever you are you can make an impact on the others around you. I cant say this was the best birthday ever because I still was missing those people at home who mean the world to me like my friends and family but regardless of their absence I still felt loved and cared for. 

Thank you to everyone who helped make my birthday special and rememberable. Guess what? I get another year to celebrate here in the DR! March 2012 will be even better!

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1 year living in the DR

4:17 PM | Posted by Bri

3-20-11

So March 4th marks the 1 year reunion of me being here in the Dominican Republic. As I sit here reminiscing on the past years frustrations, triumphs, tears, smiles and times of major confusion, I realize that I have definitely come to love this country and am turning into a campesina.

I remember my first impressions of the DR were that it was a dirty country, full of trash on the streets, it was so unorganized and lazy. Now living here for a year I feel like I am now starting to see past these traits and also see them in me. I definitely am a lot more lazy. If it rains, I don't want to leave my house, if it's cold I won't go on my morning runs and I am also more prone to ask for bolas, no longer embarrassed to show that I don't want to walk. Maybe its not so much that I am lazy but I am getting comfortable. I speak like my neighbors, I live like my neighbors (for the most part) and I have to be completely honest when I leave I miss my neighbors. It is such a simple life to just sit by the colmado and talk about the day. I love learning new things from them and compartiring with special dinners and cross culture chats. I can honestly say the DR is starting to be a big part of my life.

Hitting the one year mark also makes me feel like everything that I have done is finally making sense. I now know what my role is in the community, I now know who the people I can trust are and I feel more comfortable in my community to be myself and not this stuck up professional. I have one year left! My time is now not a large amount of hanging out but a countdown of work I still have to do. I want to leave my community knowing I am leaving something physical (like a library), and emotional (like my presence, youth groups and memories). I definitely feel loved. All my neighbors and community members are super overprotective of me, they always claim me like I am their volunteer, always asking if I am thinking about staying forever, and telling me never to leave.

It's only the one year mark but I know that I will be very sad when it is finally that time to say goodbye. I feel like a dominicana already. I am very anxious to see how much I grow from here. Vamos a ver...

The cutest little girl in my barrio, they call her "China"

For some strange reason, she adores me. I think it has a lot to do with the bike.

The cute barrio girls. We tried riding the bike together and fell. Haha. Finally a dona told us not to do it. I am so glad an adult was around. :)

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Celebrando Las Chicas

9:13 AM | Posted by Bri

3-6-11

Dios mío! So, Heather, the volunteer next to me in Juan Lopez, and I got this grant to do an event for International Women's Day observed March 8th. We were so excited because we are just starting to get our girls groups going so we thought this event would help us get more attention and girls to attend. I would say if I don't get a 10% better attendance rate from girls I am going to be sad because the conference was planned for 30 girls in total and about 70 girls ended up showing up. Yeah. We were crazy.

The day started off as a disaster. I asked my project partner to help me find people to help me bring over chairs and participants to the event over a week ago and he said he would take care of it. Needless to say, he had no clue who could help me. Jerk. So I am scrambling trying to find someone with a truck while still trying to attend to the million other things I have to do and keep a cool, calm face. I bought the 10 huge 2 liter refrescos and decided to call my neighbors. In about an hour my neighbors came to the rescue with a guagua to transport the chairs and my project partner decided to take my girls. Bien right? Well in the process of all this I tried to carry all 10 refrescos (I am pretty strong but not that strong) and while lowering the sodas onto the ground I ripped my pants! So I went to the event and tried my best not to open my legs. Thank god, my enamorado Melvin showed up and I sent Lindsey to my house to pick up another pair. Ha! I forgot about it for a while but it was a good idea to change since I was in front of tens of girls staring at me.


All in all, the event was a huge success. We shot for 30 girls and got 70. We ended up being right on our budget so there were no miscalculations. We got lucky to get help from 2 other volunteers which helped us out A LOT. We started behind but later caught up on time. We got to play volleyball. We got to dance. We got to do face painting and I think we did a pretty good job on the informational charlas too. I liked mine!

Basically the week of the event Heather and I were pretty stressed. I tried to never make Heather worry but deep inside I was so worried for us but I am proud of everything the way it turned out and our success. We couldn't have done it alone so thanks to all those who helped (Joe and Lindz). 

Heather is already talking about the next event we are going to collaborate on. Hopefully that wont happen for a couple of months. I have to admit, this was one event that I am very proud of myself about. We did it Heather!

Heather and I

I gave a gender charla so I decided I should have a mustache.

Taming these girls caused me to lose my voice for a bit, but it was fun

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Carnaval in La Vega Baby!

9:08 AM | Posted by Bri

3-6-11

Carnaval. In a few words I can describe it as colorful, fun scary and painful. Let me count thy ways…

Basically Carnaval is a celebration for the entire month of February in the DR where different towns dress up in costumes and walk the streets with these things called "vejigas" where they beat anyone in front of them exposing their butt. The best place to go for Carnaval is La Vega because they have the most elaborate costumes and they are the heart of the country for this fiesta. 

I arrived in La Vega pretty early considering American party times but apparently Carnaval is something celebrated during the day into the night because around 9pm I found the streets of Carnaval empty. So FYI if you come to celebrate Carnaval, do it early. I was in bed and asleep by midnight, which was kind of nice actually especially since I had a fun night the night before.

So basically the streets are filled with people of all ages wearing masks, purchasing vejigas to whip people and running away from costumed whippers. I was pretty nervous getting to the site because I heard they whip people pretty hard and I saw a couple of grown men fall to their knees from the pain but I was lucky to not get whipped too bad, it was mostly the kids who would get me cause I would not expect it from them.

The costumes are beautiful with different colors, themes and groups. There was even a lot of girls dressed in the costumes which I was totally all about and I am actually going to look into being in costume walking the street next year. I am going to try and be a part of it cause it looks like a lot of fun. 

I ended the night watching a free salsa concert with a couple of volunteers which was definitely a good way to end the night. I am glad I got to experience this cool DR tradition. Although I was scared and running away from scary costumed people, it was so much fun to be able to do something different and new. I have a whole new view on February. Screw Valentine's day… it's all about Carnaval!




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Med Missions are cool...

8:35 AM | Posted by Bri

2-19-11

So I've been bugging my buddy Joe to let me in on one of these things Peace Corps calls "Med Missions" where volunteers work as translators for medical physicians that come to the DR to aid dominicans for FREE. I was pretty much ready to give up and start putting Joe on my "I hate" list but he saved himself when I finally got an invitation. Haha Joe.

So the mission was set up through ILAC in Licey with these doctors from Chicago's Loyola University Medical Center. This team was super great at what they do, and they were tremendously nice and polite to us (well, most of them). It's remarkable for a team of such high status, busy people getting together to work long days and nights in a foreign country just to help people in need of their services. Thousand dollar surgeries were offered for free but it was because these people really needed the help and the surgeries were needed and deserved. 

Getting there things were super awkward because you don't know who anyone is other than the other volunteers who were really fun (Claire, Chandler, Sarah Roberts). So everyday I pretty much had to get up as early as 630am, eat breakfast, translate a little, snack, sit, translate a little more, eat lunch, poop, watch a surgery, snack, translate, sit and draw, snack, watch another cool surgery, eat dinner, sit around, translate a little more then try to find a way to sneak out so I can get a run in from all the eating. It was fun but it was also exhausting on my feet. My legs were so restless from standing all day long it kind of suck but it wasn't so bad if I sat down.

Here I am with a girl who had to get keloids extracted from her ears from the use of earrings. Weird coincidence: She's another volunteers neighbor! I stayed by her side during the entire procedure because they used local anesthesia so she wasn't completely put under. In the end, she gave me some clips she was wearing to say thanks. Sweet.
The best part of the missions were the patients and being able to serve and feel important and useful. I feel like because I am not the typical american view the people really understood me and had more comfort in speaking with me than with the doctors. It felt really good to talk to the patients about absolutely nothing but see in their faces that they appreciate my time because they are nervous for a surgery or feeling anxious because they can't communicate with the doctors. I even had a few patients that would hug me and look for me or gave me cute little gifts when they left to have something to remember them by. It's the little things like that, that really makes me feel like I am helping someone and doing something good.

Another benefit was getting to know the med students and being able to hang out and celebrate with them. After a long day in the clinic, we all would just want to go out so we went to Puerta Del Sol (bar in Santiago) or other casinos to have fun and relax after working 12 hour days. Last night we went to Cabarete. I am mentioning this because I am writing this half asleep, running on 2 hours of "rest" and I just ended my english class thinking why did i schedule these on Saturdays? Hmmm.

I am really glad I got to go on this mission and will probably be harassing Joe to let me go on more missions because of it. Sorry Joe.

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Here we go again...

12:13 PM | Posted by Bri

1-31-11
January is ending but really all the work is just beginning. This week sparks the brink of a lot of new projects which I am very excited for. Oh let me count the ways..
1. Still working on getting batteries and an inverter for my high school, but this process sure does take lots of patience (that I feel I am running out of). I am crossing my fingers for this year!
2. Started english classes this week (which I am not excited for) but it was ooooook. One class is full of little ninos. And if you know me you know I don't really like kids. So this is agonizing. Good thing I have other projects to focus on to give me some patience.
3. My community is the only community in my town that does not have water sent through pipes and tubes. We have to receive our water from trucks passing through then purchase and store the water in big tanks and barrels. Sucks. So I am working with some neighborhood leaders to solicit aid in creating an aqueduct for my community. If this can actually happen and take off I would be sooooo happy. Right now I don't have water because it hasn't rained in over a month and the trucks have not passed by all week. I haven't showered in 2 days and its really bugging me because I want to work out and I cant because I wont have water to shower afterwards. This is really putting a hinder on my workout regimen. Really annoyed.
4. I am also working to get a basketball court built in my community at a nearby school. Basically the community has told me that the school can't offer physical education classes because there is no space to teach this subject and they also said the delinquency is a problem because the teenagers have no way to funnel their energy and time other than hanging out at a nearby colmado where they can drink and gamble. Building a basketball court can solve the problem by offering sports as an after school activity and also a school educational course. I am actually really excited about this one. There is this site called www.courts4kids.org where anyone in the US can sign up to travel to a different country and help build a sports court where it is needed, no experience required. It is sort of like a mini peace corps because you stay in the site and learn about the culture, help out a community and gain a new experience. I hope I can get this aid cause I know my community really could use the help.
5. I also am working with a local women's group on getting them training on how to make household cleaning products and such so they can start their own company and make money. I'm also working on teaching them literacy and offering them health and family workshops too. So much to do!
My women's group and I celebrating International Women's Day together

6. On top of this I will be starting a new youth group this week called Chicas Brillantes made up of girls helping each other out and also includes fun activities and games. It's meant to support girls in this misogynistic country and helps build their self esteem and knowledge about being a woman. There is a conference that I am taking 2 girls to later on this month and an activity I want to plan together with my PC neighbor, Heather in combing our two groups to work together. Cool! Update: We got the grant! Yay! Activity to plan March 5th!
First week of girls group, making masks to celebrate Carnaval of course! Super fun!

7. I am still continuing with my first youth group, Encargados del Futuro, a computer group who I am at the moment, teaching photoshop and blogging. Go figure. The center where we work just installed the Internet so now we will actually start facilitator training so they can start their own computer classes and I can focus on other things like getting pedicures and massages. Oh I wish…
My Encargados del Futuro youth group, look at our flow!

8. I am also doing stuff for myself like I am going to start a worm composting bin this week. I just need to get the worms in santiago and then I will start feeding them all my leftover food and scraps and feel one step closer to being environmentally friendly. Yay! Also maybe I can encourage all my dominican neighbors to start worm bins too? I may be getting too ahead of myself they already think I am crazy.
9. I am also working on an art manual for Peace Corps so we have an A-Z book on everything art including cheap art projects and artworks to enjoy. You can tell this is one of my passions right?
10. Did I mention probably one of my biggest projects yet? Constructing a library for my high school including constructing the building then filling it with fun books and a certified librarian? Yeah it's going to be hard and although my school sucks at supporting me I really want to do this one. Just need someone to help me with the budget… darn it may take a while after all…

Of course there are more side projects in the air such as teacher training, art clubs, sports clubs and more but for now I feel a little bit overwhelmed so I need to tackle things one at a time.

I do feel like I want to take advantage of this year and feel like I have been doing things I normally don't do. I went and visited friends recently, rode a horse (never done that, well not alone without it attached to that circle thing at the swap meet),  I just got scuba certified (terrifying but FUN!) and I want to continue this year with white water rafting, the worm compost and who knows maybe eat more street food, I shouldn't get too crazy though... :)

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Christmas Vacation! Visit to the states!

4:20 AM | Posted by Bri

1-3-11

Welp I am back in the DR after a wonderful christmas vacation back to the states. I am laying in bed under a small throw blanket and a neighbors comforter freezing my butt off. What the hell happened since I've been gone? The temperature here has gotten strangely cold and thank god for neighbors I have some temporary remedies to fight off the cold before it turns into the usual summer heat and I am sweating again. I have to admit it is kind of nice to be cold in the DR when I think of all the times I wanted to die from all the sweat I was perspiring. Hooray for cold temps!

Christmas this year was a lot of fun to be able to visit home and be comfortable and lazy for a while. I only spent 2 weeks at home but it was well worth the excruciating 8 hour flights through Panama. Weird, I know. I got to see my family which is always a pleasure but I think I got a vibe from them that I don't normally get all the time and it was a lot of love. Haha. Not that my family normally doesn't love me, but I just really felt their support and happiness to see me which was really great to experience. I think they really missed me! 

I also got to see my best buds like my girls and besties which was spent mostly drinking dominican rum or some kind of substance to celebrate my arrival. Yay. I forget how many friends I have at home sometimes when I am out in this country scourging to find anyone to be my friend. :) It ain't easy…

I got the best christmas presents this year: A new traveling backpack, new wardrobe, running shoes and money. All of which definitely help me out in this country. I even got treated to a mani pedi from my sister which felt super nice to be pretty and girly again.

So it was definitely harder this time to say goodbye than it was the first time leaving, especially to the fam. For some reason I think my family didn't really believe I was leaving for the DR until the night before my flight and even then the goodbyes were very subtle and short. This time I just wanted to bawl my eyes out but I am a weirdo and can't cry in front of people so instead of them saying goodbye subtly and short, it was me trying to just give them a quick hug and goodbye. I didn't want my fam to see my face get so teary eyed because I really enjoyed my time at home and I didn't really want to go back yet.

So I get back to the DR to see my neighbors and family with so much desire to see me. I am not sure if its to see what I brought them back or if they really wanted to see me. Haha. Just kidding, but seriously some of my neighbors whom I never even said 2 words to were asking what I brought them back which was hilarious because I couldn't even bring back the things I wanted for the people who mattered. 

I spent new years on the island which was a blast. A bunch of volunteers got together and celebrated the new year in cabarete, the tourist capital of the DR north beach. What can I say, the place was packed full of dominicans, americans, europeans, everyone all doing the same thing: Getting drunk as a skunk. Needless to say it was a good time and I am kind of glad to be chilling in my site now. Not gonna say I am excited to start working but I am excited to be back in the DR. 
I got to go to Disneyland, it was pouring rain but it was fun! Here are my sisters and nieces avoiding the rain.


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