New Host-Family, New Friends!

A lot has happened in this past week. 

For starters: Due to a safety and security incident, I moved houses and host families. Where I was living turned out to be an inappropriate placement for a volunteer. Luckily Peace Corps staff was incredibly receptive and quick acting. I am now living in a nice neighborhood with a shower (yes, no awkward bucket baths for another week), a nicer room (cha-ching!) and a 13 year old host brother who lets me watch an episode of New Girl every night with him on his computer. My host mother is an older woman, I would say late 60’s who is a true Dona. She definitely feeds me well (so far I would say I am half way to my second round of the freshman 15), does my laundry, chats with me, and actually partakes in helping me with homework! I feel so cared for and definitely look forward to coming home! When I heard the other trainees talking about having this last week I was confused and now I see the experience they were talking about and the one we’re “supposed” to have.  I am sure many of you would like to know what happened with Blanca but I would rather not share on a public forum like this. Know that I am okay and am feeling safer and better in my new home! BEST PART – my new Dona has given me fruit with every meal! Yay for finally having proper digestive processes’ (sorry for the TMI)

A bit about training….ITS INTENSE! Day in and day out we are constantly being given tons and tons of information about every topic and idea that us as future volunteers should know. History and politics of the DR, geography, topography and meteorology of the country, learning the Dominican past times and practicing them in class, tons of transportation training (more on that later), a lot of sector related information and training (my sector is HEALTH IN CASE YOU HAVENT BEEN PAYING ATTENTION!), tons of medical info and vaccinations, culture and “dominicanisms”, a lot of language training (for those of us that know the language we are learning a lot about different Dominican words and especially about how they say words…they speak very different than I am used to. Some of the trainees who don’t know the language I think are better off. ) The days are heavy and we go, go, go all day 8-5 with a lunch break in the middle where we fill up on rice,  usually some kind of meat, and beans. After training we walk home and continue “learning” with our host families while we are integrating, eating with them, doing tons of homework and just getting to know them. We have to be “ON” all the time > it is exhausting.

Transportation : We have been learning how to get around this crazy city. There is no rhyme or reason to how people get around. Other than stuffing the Guaguas full of people.  ALWAYS 5 per row and usually 5 in the row with the driver. The guy who you pay hangs out the door and looks like he could fall at any moment. It is hot, it smells, and you will exchange sweat with strangers…it’s inevitable. You will also feel like you are bound to get into an accident….the guaguas, or any car for that matter, do not follow traffic laws (I actually don’t know if there even are any). There  are no established stops…when it seems like you’re in the area where you need to get off you yell REALLY LOUD “HERE” or “WHEN YOU CAN” (all in Spanish of course). Then the guy hanging out the window bangs on the side of the guagua if the driver doesn’t stop. It’s all pretty loud and chaotic. Today we will learn how to properly ride a Motoconcho – a motorcycle taxi where five people can catch a ride up a mountain, to the beach, down the street, to the store, etc. We get our helmets too since we will be using motoconchos on our volunteer visits (more on this below) –

-talk to my brother if you want some serious detail about the chaos that is transportation here…he got a detailed description!

Cultural things!

It has been more difficult than I expected to get used to life here. I imagine part of it is the constant, unrelenting chaos that is Pantoja (the area of the city where we live and have training – look it up!) Every morning I walk to the training center and I have to walk down the main drag of Pantoja. It is essentially a two lane road with sidewalks made up of sand, dirt, broken glass, uneven rocks formations, rusty fences, a lot of trash and people EVERYWHERE. I walk by several colmados (corner stores) and a truck load of chickens in plastic cages…it smells awful and it smells even worse on mornings when I am feeling nauseous from my breakfast. During this walk I get hissed at 9/10 times, am hyper aware of how white I am and can feel the anger rise every time I get a piropo (gnarly comment as I walk by a guy) – I think the hissing is worse though. It sounds like a snake is in your ear….ugh I hate it. I have let it roll off though, I know it does no harm and it only bothers me if I let it. So I laugh to myself a little every time cuz it is ridiculous that men just sit and do that ALL THE TIME to any female…

The religious aspect of the culture here is interesting. I currently live with a Cristiana. My host mother goes to church every day and sings, dances and from what I can tell when I walk by in the mornings and afternoons, it is a church where people end up speaking in tongue. She is very respectful about not imposing views but every day, at least once, she talks to me about our father and his time for everything. I do my best to sit, listen, nod and respect her beliefs. She has asked me about mine and I say that I have beliefs and they may not be similar to hers but I still want to know about her experience. I figure it’s a good way to set a boundary while letting her know I am interested and teaching her something about myself.

History and zone tour

The history of this country is something I never knew about and more interesting that I would have imagined. For the sake of not wanting to provide wrong information, I am directing you to look it up.  Google the following if interested:

-          Columbus and the Island of Hispaniola

-          Trujillo, las hermanas mirabal, Dominican Republic

-          Hatian and Dominican relationship

With our language clases we went to El Museo de la Resistencia – it covered Trujillo’s dictatorship – fascinating and devastating.

This past Sunday, we had the option of taking a Colonial Zone tour with an incredible woman who is doing some awesome research on the Tainos (indigenous people of the DR). We learned so much about the island and how the DR was the first to have a school, a cathedral, a hospital, etc. in all of the Americas.  Much more to it….look it up for sure!

Another cool fact I learned today – the UN names Lago Enriquillo a Biosphere Reserve in 2002 – the lake is located in the south region and is a lage salt water lake where there are two species of iguanas (which apparently never happens), tons of flamingos, crocodiles, etc.

                                                Friends and awesome-ness

I have to say that I have met some incredible people. I was thinking about how close we have become and realized that we already had a major base of friendship covered…having the same values. If you join Peace Corps, you see the world a certain way! It’s definitely awesome to be around people who are also so passionate about international development and global change!  We celebrated a birthday on Saturday and all went to her host mother’s house where we MacGyver’d a flip cup table, danced for hours and bonded!   

Volunteer visit and regions of the country!

On Thursday I leave for a volunteer site visit. One of our trainers put it well – “you will be going to a volunteer’s natural habitat”. We finally get to see what it is like to work as a volunteer in Peace Corps Dominican Republic!!! I am more excited for this than I expected! We are all expected to hop on the crazy public transportation system and make our way to the part of the country where our volunteer lives. Mine lives in Puerto Plata, a little southeast of Luperon (a major city there). He lives in the campo, the most rural type of placement. I think it is going to be great and I can’t wait to experience life in the campo for four days!!!!

I will do my best to post more often…I rarely have internet but will try to post about my volunteer visit before I head out to El Cabreto NEXT Thursday for “Community based Training” for 5.5 weeks!

I am missing everyone like crazy

 Happy Reading!