Live with Passion: August 2014

I am coming up on my third week living and working in the capital city, santo domingo. and am quickly acclimating to the loud noises of guaguas, cars and motos, the smells of trash strewn about the side of every road and the prickling heat that is the result of stagnant, smokey air. While all of this sounds incredibly uncomfortable, ironically it is quite comforting to know that at least I am living amongst civilization; where people have fancy cars and need those guaguas, that are producing the smokey air, to get to work.

Working at the Peace Corps office has been a nice change of pace – for someone like me (a person who is constantly straddling the Type A/Type B personality type line) it is the perfect step after the regular 2 year service stint. I get to create new ideas for things, support volunteers out in the field emotionally and programmatically, I get to travel A LOT and have a semi routine! It is ideal for what I want to do in the future and I am really happy that I made the decision to stay.

My first week on the job I traveled a total of about 400-500 miles on public transport to visit 7 volunteers throughout the country. I got to see some beautiful country sides, rivers and mountains I wouldn’t have other wise seen and have finally seen a real life version of the Teletubby Mountain in El Seibo, Dominican Republic! I got stung by a bee for the first time, rode an hour and a half motorcycle to get to one site and even had to take 4 different modes of transport to get to another person’s site.

Teletubby Mountain

El Seibo

Ok Ok enough about work:

Living with the guy your dating is quite the adventure in itself. I couldn’t ask for a more patient person to deal with my neediness to be tidy/organized and clean. We are still getting used to each other and understand that communication is key. It helps that we both travel a lot for work so have our alone time structurally built in. It has been fun and crazy transition! I have learned a lot about myself in the short time living together and know it will only continue!

Some other fun things about living in the capital:

- The other day we did our first big grocery shop and, after two years of buying red onion I finally bought white! I know, I know not a big deal but for me it was awesome to even have the option! It allows for less onion-y tasting fajitas, and not as many tears shed when cutting up the onion!

- Whole Wheat Bread!

- Blueberry Bagels!

- Living across the street from an all-natural juice bar! BINGO and only 1 block away from the ocean

- My Running route is right on the Ocean on the boardwalk!

the "boardwalk" where I run everyday! - Only a block from my Apt!

So, all in all, life in this new role is great. It fills all of my requirements in my current stage of life:

- Adventure

- Stability/Routine

- Productivity

- Independence within the relationship

- Happiness in Relationship

- Fulfilling Work

My Peace Corps Experience as I originally signed up for it has officially come to an end. I will be move to the capital and beginning a new adventure as the Peace Corps Volunteer Leader for the Health Sector. Not only will I be jumping into a new professional adventure but personal one as well - I will be moving in with my best friend and boyfriend, Leo.

It has been a difficult transition primarily due to how sad it is to leave the place where I have experienced so much growth, strength and created incredible friendships. I will be staying in the DR until October of 2015 (a whole other year for people to come visit!)

Below are my thoughts I wrote down on my last night int he campo:

6 months ago I met an older gentleman, American, wandering around Paraiso. I was in the pueblo for a meeting with Catholic Church. He asked me if I was a Peace Corps Volunteer and was elated when I responded with a YES! He himself had been a PCV in Belize in the mid 70-s. He wanted help translating at a meeting so I figured why not. I later invited him over for coffee (this was also at the point in my service when I was truly portraying a Dominican) so he could see a PCVs community in the DR and I could hear about his experience etc. Before he was picked up, he told me about his last day in his community. He locked up his house, took his last boxes to the Peace Corps truck, turned around and felt an overwhelming sensation of “Bittersweet Accomplishment” as he put it.

I couldn’t imagine at the time what he could be referring to however, I am less than 48 hours away from moving out of my home in the campo and am just beginning to understand what he meant.

Bitter:

- The kids. It is going to be so difficult for me to not have all of my little kids around me all the time. They brought so much joy to my day – and at times not. When they did it literally turned my days upside down. They always knew how to make me laugh and would always keep me company at night when I didn’t have electricity. Their wonder, hope and idealism despite their conditions is something I will never forget.

- My Friendships with Dominicans. I am fortunate enough that my community at times refers to me as their own tiguera (which just means that I get nuances about the street culture that maybe others don’t). Being a tiguera people have a lot of confianza in me. This has created a space where my Dominican friends come talk to me openly about anything that is going on, feel comfortable shooting the shit because they know I understand when they are joking and what they are saying and generally just hanging out. I appreciate everything I have learned from them about life – which has been a lot:

o Take it easy when you can – no need to rush life, you have the rest of it ahead of you.

o Don’t live for anyone else but yourself – you’re the one who has to suffer the consequences of living for someone else, not them.

o They taught me that life is all about the moments you spend with the people you love

- Feeling like I could have done more. Because I did not do my full 2 years in the same site, I feel like I cheated my community out a bit – which is why I will be returning once a month to continue working with my projects – mainly holding workshops with my health promoters.

- Love the pace of life in the campo and am afraid I’ll never have it again.

Sweet:

- Having consistent electricity and running water. As most know, my life in relation to electricity has not been easy – sometime I’ll go a week or two without electricity because people stick on to my wires and steal it before it can even reach my house.

- Feeling productive: I will now have the opportunity to crank out work the way I like to – staying busy, in the office, in the field, giving volunteer support, etc.

- Closing a chapter: It feels good to say that I did it. There were sooo many times when I thought two years might not be possible for me. But here I am signing on for another year – finishing this chapter, this accomplishment that I have wanted for so long feels great – I DID IT!

Accomplishment: This is a tricky one – I feel I have accomplished so much on a personal level and a lot, but maybe not as much, on a professional level. I contributed a lot to my community in terms of knowledge, education, capacity building etc. I will admit that I am leaving my community with a sense that I could have done more – but couldn’t we all at the end of our service. I am lucky that my boss has approved me for monthly trips to my site for a couple days or R&R and workshop giving.