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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