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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