Peace Corps: Dominican Republic

Merry Christmas from the Tropics

2006-12-23T07:16:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Tropics!

Happy Holidays!

Everything is going fine here. I have two days until Christmas, but here, the big day is actually Christmas Eve. Tomorrow night we will have a big dinner, drinking, listening to music, and just hanging out with the family. The Doña who owns my house is in town to make dinner at my house, and on the 27th, we are going to host a Noche Bela, which is a big party to honor the saint of the house. We are going to kill a pig, goat, and lots of chickens to cook food all day long. Later, the fun starts. They pull out the drums and start dancing palos. People drink A LOT, and in the end, through the music and everything, some women become possessed by the saints. There are some that begin rolling around on the ground like snakes, others all they want is water. I guess one year, one woman put her head in the canal to quench her thirst! It sounds pretty intense. I’ll get some pictures after the day to show you all. I’m looking forward to having the party, and you never know, maybe I’ll be ¨montado con un santo.¨

Thanksgiving went relatively well. There was a big party in the capital with all the volunteers. We ate a lot of good food, danced, played football and swam in the pool. It was a great day to share with the other volunteers. The new kids swore in so we got to know the new people a little bit. The only thing missing was the Macy’s Day Parade, and whipped cream for the pumpkin pie.

On the work side of things, I finally got my youth group started. They seem really motivated to have fun, but I want them to do more. I want them to do service projects for the environment, but they don’t seem interested. I think I can get them interested in an initiative called Escojo Mi Vida, which is a sex education program that covers everything from teen pregnancy, STDs, HIV-AIDS, and just basic health stuff. I hope, hope, hope I can get them to do more than party all the time.

Our vivero is on hold, kind of. We are selling tickets for a raffle. They can win a sack of rice, a gallon of cooking oil, or a water thermos. The tickets are selling well. We’ll get enough money to clean our parcel. The problem is that the group wants me to write grants, write you guys for money, and just give them all the money. What I want to do is have almost all the funds come from within the community. They need to be owners of their project, to be invested in what they are doing. I’m afraid that if I get all my money from outside, they won’t maintain their project.

Lately I’ve really been struggling with being an American in another culture. I was at the store the other day and someone asked me if I was Columbian or Venezuelan and I was ESTATIC! When I’m in the street and I hear Gringa or Americana, I just get frustrated because of all the connotations that I hear in my head- Hey rich girl! Give me some of what you have! I feel like I can’t leave my house without some kid asking me for money, a mint, my dog. I am over charged where ever I go. I pay double for taxis. Triple for food. And the vendors get away with it, because I’m white, and I don’t know any better. What makes it worse is that Peace Corps pays us the minimum we need to live. I’m not a tourist on vacation. I don’t have the extra money to get screwed over on prices. And it won’t change. Not until I change my language, clothes, and skin color.

Anyway, I hope all is going well in the United States of America, or wherever you are. I still am waiting on some visitors. Get your Spring Break, Summer Time, or just plain old vacation time planned. I want all of you to see this country. It’s beautiful here. And it’s warm. Get yourselves out of the freezing cold and get to the tropics!!

Stay safe in the holiday season. Let me know how you are.

P.S. I have a new puppy. Her name is Shakira. And she’s beautiful.
P.P.S. I saw Shakira, the singer, in concert. And she’s beautiful.

Development in the DR

2006-10-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody!

So, I know, it's been almost 2 months. I feel like I've been too busy to write, but at the same time, I have nothing to write about! Mom was here for three weeks. We spent a lot of time sitting in the campo staring at each other, but it was fun. It was nice to have someone to share my house with besides Rubio. Who, by the way, is HUGE, and no longer has balls. He lightens my life in ways that no Dominican ever will when I'm having an awful day and want to have someone cheer me up.

I'm finding out that sustainable development work is actually much harder then I've ever thought. Now, I'm one to just go with the flow. I delagate reponsabilities, and hope that everything falls into place. My project here is to develop a community tree nursery to help reforest the area and create an income generation project for the community as well. So, I formed committee from the men's association, we decided what we wanted and needed in the vivero, and we set a date to clean the parcel where we wanted to put the vivero. We decided to use money from the association to buy the wire and posts for the parcel, so we could plant in November. The day before the clean up day, more than half the men decided that they didn't want to use the money from the association to pay for this, because they thought that I had all the money waiting to make this vivero. First off, Peace Corps doesn't have the money, and secondly, neither do I personally! So our day was cancelled, and there is a tiny rift in the association for the maldito vivero.

What did I learn from this: Dominicans are cheap. Now I don't want to sound negative, because there is not a lot of money in the country to begin with. But with the money that the vivero will hopefully produce, the men will have more than enough money to replace what we are going to spend now. And, in many developing countries, the people are accustomed to having projects given to them. Many large companies DO have the money for projects for communities, but Peace Corps doesn't and I thought that I had made it clear in the community, but apparently I didn't.

When I have bad days, or weeks, like the one above, I remember that I have Rubio sitting at home waiting for me. And, I have an announcement to make: I am the pround parent of a beautiful rubia Puppy. Her name is Mariposa (butterfly). I love her. Her and Rubio are good friends. We spend a lot of time hanging out and playing together. They are very good models for the camera. Be expecting a calendar soon.

I want to hear about you guys back home! Or wherever you are. I also want to know who's next on the visit list. Christmas break is coming up and I hear December in the DR is a riot. Also, Spring Break plans need to be made. I know you all have vacation days staring you in the face!! Come to the DR!!

My Dominican House

2006-08-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

I am in my house!! It's wonderful to finally have my own space to pass my free time (which is a lot right now) and when I want to close out the Dominican world, I can always find a way to do it. Now, living alone in the Dominican culture is very rare. Often times, if a woman is widowed, and her children are grown, the neighbors or kids will send their own kids to live with the woman. When I told them that I wanted to live alone (although an american has lived in my community), most say "aren't you afraid?" I just have to tell them no, and explain that most Americans are very comfortable and actually prefer to stay alone. I've had kids say they are going to stay with me, and a steady number of men trying to say that they will be more than happy to stay in my house to take care of me. But I just tell them that I have my cat, and I am completely safe and happy to be alone.

My first night I was in my house, I was having troubles closing my door, it just wouldn't lock, so I went over to my neighbor's house, who is also my Honey-To-Do, so ask for some help. He came over, locked me in my house, but before he shut the door, handed me his machete and told me to sleep with it under my little head. So rather than cuddling up with a teddy bear, blanket, or boyfriend, I now sleep every night with a very sharp machete. I'm also in the process of getting a puppy, one that barks. Here in the DR, dogs are possibly more effective security measures than locks on the doors. I'm going to name her Pixie, in memory of my old self :).

I also attempted my first Dominican meal. Last week I successfully made Moro de Guandules y Berenjena Guisada, which is rice and beans with roasted eggplant. Since I've gotten here, I've been very adamant that I'm not going to cook Dominican food for myself, and I haven't actively been learning how to cook. So, everyone has been bugging me about when I am going to learn how to cook, because "Ana did." Well, finally I decided, I have my own house, I'm going to cook a Dominican dinner. Almost all by myself, I was able to cook, to the liking of several Dominicans. One even said that I can now get married. Not ready to do that, but at least everyone is off my back about learning how to cook.

I hope all is well. I would love to hear from you. Here is my address, again. I know that postage is getting ridiculous, so I won't rag you for packages, but if you are feeling generous:

Cuerpo de Paz
Jennifer Bingham, PCV
Av Bolivar 451, Gazcue
Apartado Postal 1412
Santo Domingo
Dominican Republic

I would like pictures, of your kids, your dogs, you, scenery, so if you have any great doubles, I know that a normal size letter is only 84 cents. Grandma is doing a great job of writing letters, and I have enjoyed every last story about pinochle parties and the weather. It's not taking much to entertain me, so you guys could even write to tell me that you ate a great dinner at Toi's or walked to the river and I'd be happy.

Let me know how life is in the US, or if you aren't in the US, elsewhere. Thanks for all you support. I know I couldn't be here without it.

Six Months Down

2006-07-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

I realized it had been a long time since I had written when I recieved a post card from Germany with my new address on it. I think it's about time I get on to keeping in touch a little better.

Things have been going pretty well. I have spent the last week out of my site and trying to recuperate from something that has been unidentified by the medical office. I left my site on Monday to make the trip to La Vega for our 3 month In Service Training. At this training, we take our project partners to present our Community Diagnostics and to begin our first year plans. Well, after the grueling trip of 3 Americans shuffling along 5 Dominicans in the glorious public transportation of the DR, we finally made it to the Conference Center on Tuesday morning. Several presentations, a couple bowls of Jello, a little bit of rum and a lot of dancing, I woke up Wednesday morning with a bit of a hangover. You know, the upset stomach, diaherra, the usual after one too many drinks. Well, Thursday, it still hadn't gone away. Now I'm thinking to myself, "That's one hell of a hangover." So, we finish up our presentations, send our project partners home, and I head up with a few other volunteers to visit our host families in Jarabacoa. Lo and behold, the hangover from hell hits me about 100 yards from our destination. Here I am, hanging out the window of a mini van, vomiting all over the road and my arm. Not a pretty sight.

So, I spent that night and the next day spent between the bathroom and my bed at my host family's place. They were very upset that I was "flaca" and sick. I made my way back to the capital, and my host brother and sisters from the campo have been taking care of me. Chicken soup, rice, the usual. It's nice to have someone take care of you when you are sick. I finally made it to the medic today, got a "kill all harming agents" pill and hopefully within the week I'll be healthy again.

Enough about me being sick. I do have some good news. I finally get to move out on my own!! Tommorrow is the first of August, the first day I can live all by myself. I moving into a house across the dirt road from my host family. It's green and orange, 4 bedroom, kitchen, porch, latrine, you name it for a campo house, I got it. It even comes with it's very own black and white cat (a best friend for Rubio). Everyone is concerned about me living alone, but with that concern comes even more people watching out for me. But finally it will be nice to have my own space. A bookshelf to put my books, a living room to clean, and my own kitchen to cook, it's all calling my name. So if you want to send a house warming gift, I'm always open to books, recipes, and chocolate. :) Gifts could also include a visit. I have 3 extra rooms!!! I have space for company!!!! Book your ticket now!!!!

With 6 months down, I also begin my work as a real volunteer. Training is over, the diagnostic period is over, and now projects begin. I don't know exactly how I'm going to go about making my projects, but this is when it starts. My community is geared up and ready to go with a tree nursery, so now I need to get going on looking for our funding for that. I found out this last week, however, that the community has all the infrastructure to make the vivero, it's just a matter of man power and finding the seeds and seedlings. Yeah for me! A project waiting to happen. Our plan is to have it started by December, but you know how plans are. And in the PC, apparently they are a lot harder.

Beaches, Kittens, and Meat Markets

2006-07-05T15:57:00.000-07:00

So, I've had a very adventurous couple of days. It was the 4th of July yesterday, so a bunch of volunteers decided to get together to go to Bahia de Las Aguilas in the deep south of the country. This beach is an undeveloped beach without hotels, restaurants, nothing. It's part of a national park and for now, no development has happened, but that could be rapidly changing. A company wants to start building on it with a golf course and hotels, so I'm incredibly lucky to have seen this paradise before it happened. But getting there was much more of an adventure then I thought.

I had been out walking visiting people on Sunday when I got a phone call from my neighbor, Jenny, telling me that we would be leaving at 3 am for the beach, and that I needed to get into the pueblo before dark since getting there at night would be very difficult. So, I went home, got my stuff together, shaved my legs, and hopped onto a motor to get into town. We decided it was useless to sleep since we had to be on the bus at 2:30, so we spent the evening hanging out in the park, we danced a little bit, at some street food for dinner, and finally, at 2:30, we made our way to the bus. Now once we were on the bus, we had a 2 hour trip to the Azua Junction, where we got out hoping to find a way West to Barahona, where we would find our bus to the Pedernales. It was dark when we got to the junction, it was in the middle of nowhere. we were exhausted, and we found out we were going to have to hitchhike west. After about 45 minutes, we found ourselves a truck that let 5 Americans pile in the back of their truck. Another 45 minutes later we were dropped off at our bus stop for Pedernales. This time, we squeezed into a van with about 12 other people, 3 of them the smelliest you've ever smelled, and rode another couple hours to Pedernales where we met up with about 40 other volunteers. From here, we put 45ish people, their luggage, and food into the back of 2 large trucks, and rode to the entrance of our beach. Once we were there, we put 12ish people into little boats for another 45 minute ride across the ocean to one of the most beautiful places on the island. It was amazing. Blue water, white sand, and, wow, a little piece of heaven. The water was refreshing, the company was great, the food, well, that was a couple of cans of tuna and pringles. Despite the lack of food, it was nice to relax for the 3rd of July. We built a huge bonfire, and just hung out, chatting, catching up with friends we haven't seen in a while. Beautiful. We camped out under the stars, got eaten by mosquitoes, and woke up to rain. Luckily it was just a sprinkling. We got back into the capital late last night, after a 10 hour boat/bus ride. About 30 minutes from the capital, we blew a tire on the bus, so we spent more than an hour stranded on the side of the highway while they changed our tire. And now dry, clean, sunburnt, happy, I'm waiting to go eat Chinese food before I make it back to my campo.

We had kittens in my house a couple weeks ago. These ones lived. There are four beautiful, rat-faced fluff balls. When we found out that the cat was pregnant, I hoped and prayed for a little yellow one. I was lucky. I now am the proud mom of a 3 week old yellow kitten named Rubio (Blonde). I spend some quality time with the cats every day. My Host dad told me he thinks that Rubio is going to be my husband. I'm regularly told that I'm going to get parasites from holding the cats, but my new defense is that humans have parasites, too, and I can get the parasites just as easy from holding them. I'll get pictures attached soon of Rubio.

I went to the Livestock sale the other day. One of the men in my community is a negocio (buyer and seller). The Sale is in a large dusty arena sort of thing with over hundreds of bulls, cows, goats, sheep, and pigs. It's chaos, hot and dusty, and full of men. I was one of about 3 women and hundreds of men. It was crazy. The owners of the animals have these beasts on ropes and the buyers walk around looking at which ones they like. The buyers then find a negocio who starts the bidding. The owners say that they want, say, 10,000 pesos for their bull, and the negocio wants to sell for more so the difference is his commission. Its fun to watch the animals and the negocios at work. At one point, I was up on a hill watching the action, and I saw it...my bull. It was a yearling, black and white pinto, and it's brand across it's side said "PIXIE." I was incredibly close to buying myself a bull. But then I realized, what would I do with a bull. They don't cuddle, and they are not cute. And it wouldn't be very useful in getting milk into my diet. Then I realized the ultimate reason: I'm a volunteer who can't go around spending 10,000 pesos on a bull.

I would love to take some more time to write you all, but I really need to go find the Chinese food I've been craving since about March. So, write me back, tell me how you are and what you ate for dinner. I am on a steady diet of rice, beans, and plantains (an e-mail about food is on it's way).

My Site.

2006-04-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

It's absolutely beautiful in my site. I have dirt roads, a couple small rivers, rolling hills of pastureland, and lots of rice, corn, and platano fields. My community is about 200 people, but the pueblo that's about a 20 minute motoconcho ride away has about 12,000 people. My house has electricity (lucky me), the water comes out of a faucet in the yard, and a poop in a latrine. I did finally figure out how to use the chamberpot during the night, instead of for my showers.

Everyone has been incredibly friendly. There is a group of young girls in my site that were good friends with the past volunteer, so I have an automatic shoo-in for friends. We got to my site on Tuesday night, so the last few days have been a whirlwind of meeting new people and trying to learn about my site. Friday I went to the Men's Association meeting where I gave a little introduction about myself to about 15 of the community. After I was done, one of the men stood up and told me that they are now my new family and that everyone of the men are my new brothers. Everyone is really excited for me to be there, and excited to get some things done. On one of my visits to some houses, one of the women talked to me about how they are all poor in the community, but that they are all good people. They just have such big hearts, I think I'll like it.

We also have a Mennonite community in my area. There is an American that lives in La Meseta. Apparently, he came here 25 years ago at 18 years old, married a Dominican, and now has a bunch of gringo kids running around. One of them looks almost exactly like Woodrow, it was kind of creepy. I also met a Jehovah's Witness, and there are 4 mormons in the pueblo. I was bombarded with all of this in my first day. And I thought I'd be the only American.

My project will be working with the men's association to create a tree nursery. It will be of fruit trees and some wood trees. I'm looking foward to it, but they tried before and something happened where it didn't work out. The last volunteer started a library that I'll finish up, it's just sitting there with a lock on the door. Also, I'm hoping for a stove project, all the women cook on an open fire, so I think there's potential there. But, we'll see, my projects will come as they can. There are 3 other volunteers in my area, so we're hoping to work together on youth clubs. There is one called Brigada Verde that is an environmental club for youth that we're hoping to get started in our area.

Anyway, I'll be off to my site on Sunday. I'm back in the capital for a week to finish off training and our swearing-in ceremony. My cell phone isn't working yet, but I'll get that number out soon. Also, I will be keeping the same address for the next two years:

Jennifer Bingham, PCV
Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 1412
Santo Domingo
Dominican Republic

Please, please, please write me, even if it's just a short e-mail. I would love to hear from you guys back home. I hope all is going well. Keep me posted, even if it's just Brad and Angelina gossip (by the way, they were recently in the DR. Angelina is/was filming a movie here).

Love,
Jenn (Pixie)

Things I've done

2006-04-06T14:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a journal entry from March 26th. I know it's long overdue, but I still did them:

Learned to use a machete
Built compost
Built a huerto
Planted berenjena, aji, y pepino
Built biosand water filters
Came to El Salto de Jimenoa with the family
Learned to plow with oxen
Planted yuca, batata, yautia, maiz, platano, and name, by hand.
Built a fance with bamboo sticks
Began and analysis of trees
Walked
Caught my first bola
Used a chamberpot to bathe
Played Spades
Spent a third of my allowance on wine
Learned to dance merengue, reggaeton, and bachata
Laughed, felt lonely, and realized that I love the people I'm working with
Made brownies and savored them
Learned to tease in Spanish
Learned my host mom speaks English
Did Stations of the Cross in Spanish
Ate an apple
Played Dominoes
Froze at 70 degrees Farenheit
Regularly got up at 6:15 am, or earlier
Made friends with a dog named Paloma
Ate Pizza
Came to terms with the fact that my underwear will not dry discreetly in my room, but will hang in the front yard for all the world to see.

A real life PCV

2006-03-08T14:14:00.000-08:00

So, I´m not so great at this blog thing. By time I get done with my e-mail, I am tired and don´t want to write a blog. Anyway, I´ve been doing great. Training is all day, most days. Last week, luckily was a short week with a three day weekend for independence day and a trip off to meet a real life PCV starting on Thursday.

For our three day weekend, my housemate and close neighbor traveled to Playa Caribe with our host brother, his girlfriend, and another brother and sister...in a Geo Metro. Now, I told you about travelling in public transportation, but the clown car act in a Geo Metro seemed a bit much. Actually, seven people can fit in a Geo Metro quite comfortably. The day was AWESOME!!! I deemed it the BEST day ever in the DR. The beach is known for its deep waves, and sharks, but fortunately we did not run into any sharks. My friend, Michael, who cannot win in English Scrabble, beat a native speaker, and fluent speaker, in Spanish Scrabble. I was proud. All in all, we had a great time playing on the overly crowded beach.

Thursday morning, I got up before the sunrise to get on the road to my far off campo. I made my way to the highway to catch a bus into the city to catch my long distance guagua. Well, to let you all know, as PC volunteers we have to carry helmets with us to ride motocycle taxis. So, there I was, on a packed bus, standing out because I have a large backpack making me twice as wide as I am, then carrying a water bottle and my brand-new, shiny, bright helmet. And to top it off, I'm white, so I REALLY stuck out. It's definately like living in a fish bowl here, and I thought I lived a pretty high profile life back home. Well, I made it downtown and on a four hour bus ride without problems. But once I got to Neiba, I had to ride a motoconcho for thirty minutes up into the mountains. Now, the mountains were a lot like our mountains, but my thirty minute ride was probably like going up the W for thirty minutes. The problem was, I didn't pick a big enough motoconcho for my bags and me. So, I ended up walking for about a mile up a very steep hill with my pack after a long day of travelling, and I'm incredibly out of shape. Next thing I know, I have a trail of kids following me as I walked into the campo, I felt like a celebrity as I searched for the other Americanos that I was going to be staying with for the weekend. Luckily, since there aren't a lot of Americans that live in the small campo of San Pulin, it wasn't hard to find them. My parade led me to the school, where I found Cassie teaching a group of first graders. Cassie and her husband, Nathaniel, are both Agroforestry volunteers who no longer do Agroforestry work. I guess it's incredibly hard in their community to get people motivated to do anything. So, Cassie is now teaching kids and working with mothers and Nathaniel is working on designing an aqueduct that collapsed from a landslide, as well as designing a children's park.

The weekend was pretty relaxing. We did a lot of sitting with Dominicans. Dominican time is incredibly slow, so you spend a lot of time sitting and talking, not pushing subjects. I guess it's considered rude to not sit and talk about the family, the weather, the harvest before you get down to business. Every house we went to, whether were were there to talk about healthy babies, the organization of the teenager's club, or trying to get a kid to come to school, we had to sit for a long time just to prevent offense.

Another thing we went off to do was chop sticks for a fence around the volunteer's garden. We took a few 9 year old boys with us to help carry the sticks back. Now a 9 year old Dominican boy sure can use a machete. On the other hand, a 22 year old American Girl sure cannot use a machete. It was a disaster waiting to happen. As all young boys get when they are holding something as cool as a machete, one of the boys stopped paying attention to where his feet were going. He slipped, and the machete sliced open his forehead. Not a pretty sight. There wasn't much blood, but the welt was as big as my thumb. Word to the wise: Don't let 9 year old boys use machetes.

Well, I´m looking foward to getting all the snail mail you´ve sent me. Be sure to check on my pictures, I hope to get them up soon. Also, Michael´s blog has some awesome pictures of the beach. You can also find PC/DR pics at www.flickr.com/groups/pcdr . Hope to hear from you soon!!

Public Transportation in the DR

2006-02-25T07:26:00.000-08:00

Whew, I made it through my first week!! Well, I´m safe and sound. I love it here so far. I´m dedicating this blog to my experience with public transportation in the DR.

To get to and from my home in Los Angeles, I have to take a carro publico for about 10 minutes to get to our school down the highway. Now a carro publico is a shared taxi, so it´s cheaper to take then a real taxi, but you, as the name says, have to share it with others. Imagine a really old, beat up car, put 6 passengers, plus their bags in it, and drive down the highway. Now, my first concern with this is the door is going to fall off, and I´m going to hit the highway at a very high velocity. But our instructors reassured us that the more beat up the car is, the safer it is because it means that it´s been in use for a while, and can be considered reliable. Well, after a week, we´ve finally figured out how to fit 4 people in the back seat comfortably, and can flag one down with ease.

The other option to get around is in a guagua. It´s the DR version of a bus. There is a man (called a cobrador) hanging out the door yelling at people on the side of the street the route of the bus, once again, you flag one down, and squish into the bus like sardines in order to get to your destination. It´s a bit cheaper, and a little more comfortable, but not as regular to catch as a carro publico.

So, Thursday, our classes went downtown for a practical lesson in public transportation and to tour the Peace Corps offices. At one of the busstops, the cobrador exited the bus to find some passengers. He´s a pretty important person to have on the bus. He knows where everyone is going and takes the money from eace passenger. Well, at this particular busstop, the driver left without the cobrador. Everyone either needed to pay or get there change, and there was no cobrador to pay. Fortunately, the cobrador caught up in a carro publico, much to his own humilition. Poor guy.

Home Alone and Bachata

2006-02-03T14:32:00.000-08:00

Once again, I have a weekend home alone. It's nice after days of kids, moms, and non-stop go-go-go to have a while to spend with the the cats, dogs, and myself. I can sleep in, eat whenever I want (as long as I can find some food), and just get some good quality alone time. Now, it'd be a good time to spend packing and working on my Spanish, but I find myself playing on the internet and watching T.V. Today that all paid off. Earlier, the internet was down, so I watched T.V. I found some documentary channel that was doing a show on the history of Bachata, a Dominican form of music. I got to watch T.V., practice Spanish, and learn about the DR all at once!

Bachata is a form of music that this documentary compared to the American Blues. It grew out of the poor people of the Dominican Repubic and apparently "Bachata" is derived from street or backyard parties. The common people began to play this particular music. Bachata is music from the heart. It talks about love, suffering, poverty, and so much more. When it first came out, the higher class refused to listen to it because it was associated with the poor, loose women, and farmers. A lot of times, it is associated with the campesinos who were slowly moving to the cities, so you would find this music in seedy, cheap bars and brothels. Today, however, Bachata has become much more mainstream. One Dominican who now lives in New York talked about her relationship with the music. She said that she is able to connect to the people of her home country through Bachata. Also, she believed that if a Dominican isn't moving to Bachata when they hear it, they are not really Dominican. I have read others blogs about the music of the DR, but never really thought about where it had come from.

Running into the documentary made me realize that I am going to the DR for a reason. I mean, really, I would have never found a documentary such as the one on Bachata a year ago! I truly believe that I have made the right decision about where I am going and what I am doing. I have promised myself that I will work hard to do what I need to do in the DR. I won't lie and say that I'm not a little scared and worried, because I am. But, this is a time to get over that fear and learn about the people of the DR, the environment of the DR, and myself.

Don't Worry About It

2006-01-23T11:05:00.000-08:00

I don't know how many times I've been told in the last six months: "Don't worry about it." Usually whenI hear this, I am asking people for packing advice. I go through ups and downs thinking that I'll just patch together what I already own and not worry about anything I don't already have. Then I start to wonder about the stuff I don't have. What about a shortwave radio? Or a laptop? Or a sleeping bag? Are they necessary? The little things hit me, too, about toiletries or a blow dryer. How am I going to do this??

I have to keep going back to what I've been told over and over again. DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT!!

I fly out exactly three weeks from today. I am going to start packing today to see what I do need to get. I don't have a huge shopping list, but batteries, film, and the like are things I need to stock up on. I feel like there's a lot to do, but in the end, who cares? I'm going into my biggest lifestyle change to date and what I'm wearing isn't going to matter. It's the education, experience, and attitude that I pack that will make a difference.

Woo Hoo!!

2006-01-18T16:27:00.000-08:00

Finally, my staging kit came! For those of you that don't know what that is, it is a packet that includes our reporting instructions and information on airlines, hotels, the first few days in Miami, and info for our families. I made my flight reservations. I leave the day before (February 13th) because if I don't, I won't make it to Miami in time on the 14th.

So, the countdown is on. I have 26 days left. In those 26 days I need to pack, see friends, eat good American food, and learn Spanish, among numerous other things. Everything should turn out just fine, even with some stressful days, it'll all get done.

A Month To Go

2006-01-15T12:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I leave in a month. I haven't started an official packing list, just a modified version of what was in my Welcome Book. I haven't gotten the paperwork filled out for my student loans. I don't have any clue what day or time I might be leaving. But I do know that I'm incredibly excited for what lies ahead of me.

I'm now in Idaho. I don't have a job anymore. I figured that once I leave, it'll be the six weeks I was able to spend with my family and friends that will be more memorable than the six weeks I could have spent working. My co-workers threw a fabulous party for me. I am definately going to miss those guys. I met with a RPCV from Namibia who shared his pictures with me a couple nights before I left, which made me REALLY excited to leave. Spent Christmas with my mom and brothers, then it was off to Las Vegas for two and a half weeks of Dad and step-family.

Vegas is definately an interesting place. Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend as much time going out and meeting people as I thought I would. I did, however, spend a lot of time with my two sisters (23 and 4). My four-year-old sister had a hard time grasping that she probably wouldn't see me until she was six. My 23-year-old, on the other hand, is already planning her vacation to the DR. In the end though, after that much time with my family, what hit me the most was when my dad said to me, "Well, we'll see ya in a couple of years."

So, now I've said good-byes to half of my family. The other half will put me on the plane next month. Friends may not even get good-byes, only on the off chance that I run into them. I'm anxious to see what my life has in store for me. But in Vegas I did learn that if you are doing the same thing, hanging out with the same people day in and day out, it's time for some change. Saying good-bye is a tell tale sign that you are moving on and moving up in the world. You are making the choices that will help you to grow and learn even more about life.

Sad, not Apprehensive...

2005-12-04T13:47:00.000-08:00

I was sitting at the Windbag the other day. I leave in three weeks for home. I realized that I'm extremely sad about leaving Helena, my home of four and a half years. However, as sad as I may be, I'm not apprehensive about leaving. Of course, I'm giving up two great jobs, I'm putting some friendships on hold, many that won't last two years, but I'm heading in the right direction. I feel right about the decisions I've made in the past year. I'm looking forward to the challenges I have ahead of me.

Whoda Thunk It?

2005-11-22T13:56:00.000-08:00

So, I never thought I'd meet so many PC people in my little town of Helena, MT. But as I've prepared to leave, I've learned that each and every one has helped me in my decision to join the PC. Dr. Strode and Dr. Swartout planted the seed in my mind and kept me constantly thinking about joining. It was Stella who told me to just apply, go through the application process, and then make the decision when I have that invitation in my hand. Greg and his friend from Ecuador eased my tensions, kept me excited, and just the next day I recieved my invitation. Tony, a fellow Carroll grad, was only a few months ahead of me in my application process. This past week, I've met Loni at the Windbag, and Nathaniel at Miller's. Everytime I've stopped thinking about PC, someone has come into my life to get me excited again and keep my passion strong. Thank you to all those who have helped me along the way. You inspire me and keep me strong.

Dreaming of Anxiety

2005-11-07T14:31:00.001-08:00

Last night, after a long day of reading and watching movies, I had one of the most vivid dreams regarding my future experience in the PC. I had a few days left until I left, without an ounce of stuff packed for my trip. I hadn't gone shopping for those necessities I've been reading about (headlamps, radios, decent underwear). I had no clue as to what I was doing. I didn't have much time, and a lot of stuff to do. Talk about anxiety.

I think I'm just starting to realize subconsciously that I leave in close to three months. I only have six weeks left in Helena. I'm absolutely terrified. I'm afraid that I don't understand what I'm getting into. I don't know anything about my assignment. I barely can ask where the bathroom is in Spanish. I have all these ideals about what I want my life to be like when I get to the DR, and I don't know if it's all going to fall into place.

I know I can place this into the hands of fate. Whatever happens, happens for a reason, but at the same time, do I want to be unprepared for the biggest lifestyle change I may possibly ever have?

Agroforestry, Spanish, and Me

2005-10-17T13:18:00.000-07:00

I've been going through my welcome book and been searching for every inkling of information regarding my assignment. I'm an Agroforestry volunteer, and although I don't have any experience in it, the Peace Corps seems to think that I will be a good volunteer. So, here's a quick paragraph about what I will be doing straight out of the Welcome Book:

"This project aims to reverse the process of soil erosion and environmental degradation. Volunteers work with low-income rural farmers in four areas of the Dominican Republic, participating in reforestation activities and introducing appropriate agroforestry and soil conservation techniques. Agroforestry Volunteers also help Dominican organizations improve their capabilities to train small farmers in appropriate soil conservation and agroforestry practices, including seedling and fruit tree production, multiple-use tree plots, live and dead barriers, contour planting, and alley cropping."

I'm looking forward to what ever I may be learning; I get to work outside, hike, and get dirty, from the sounds of it. I can't wait to start Spanish classes and learn about the Dominicans. Right now I'm studying tapes. I bought "Harry Potter y la pieda filosofal." I'm hoping with a little time and dedication I can get through it before I leave. My friend Dana from work has been helping me with conversation. I'm starting to remember a lot more from my classes at Carroll. But I'm sure I'm still going to struggle A LOT when I get down to the DR.

Less than four months!!

Back in April

2005-10-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

Back in April, I decided (upon much prompting from a recruiter) that I was going to apply for the Peace Corps. After two weeks of editing my personal statements and figuring out every job and volunteer experience I ever had, I submitted my application to become a Peace Corps volunteer. I began making plans to leave in September, moved twice, and drove my boss crazy by not having any sort answer to the question of "when are you actually leaving?" In August, however, I found out that I was not on the next flight out in September. I knew that still wouldn't have any answers about the Peace Corps for my family and friends for several months.

Then, just a few weeks after finding out I wasn't leaving in September, I recieved my invitation! I hadn't been expecting it until at least November. I was invited to the Agroforesty program in the Dominican Republic! Although initially (for the first 5 minutes) I was bummed about the country, I realized that I was in the program I wanted, and a Spanish-speaking country. Now after hours of reading other blogs, books, and websites, I don't think there is anywhere else I'd rather be. I'll be in the Caribbean for crying out loud!!

So I leave in just four months. I have lots of time to think and prepare. I began re-learning Spanish on tape. I'm sure the people I pass on street are a little surprised at me repeating "Quisiera un cuarto con bano y una regadara." But oh well, as long as I'm learning. For the next four months, I plan on eating, sleeping, and breathing Spanish and the DR. Wish me luck!