What a week!
I arrived back to the capital last Sunday, the 26th and low and behold it was my host mom’s birthday. So we sat in a colmado (corner store) and listened to really loud music and drank Presidente. I hadn’t realized it was her birthday, so in a hurry I rushed to the nearest store and bought her a nice bottle of wine (surprisingly expensive here!). She was very thankful and suggested we make tacos and drink wine the following day in celebration of my near completion of training. I was so excited. Well the next day came, and when I got home, my host sister was vomiting all over the floor and we were fairly convinced she had dengue (she doesn’t) so tacos were off. It happened to be my last day at my original host family’s house and the mood was like a horrible terror movie – it was raining, I was using candlelight to pack a suitcase, the sounds of vomiting were in the background, and I could hear cockroaches crawling up and down the walls. It was depressing way to leave my first family, but what can you do, ya know?
Meanwhile, back at work, I had to give a presentation called “Readiness to Serve” to my bosses. Turns out, I was ready to serve, so Wednesday, the second-in-command at the US Embassy swore in forty-four (we lost five people before swear-in) volunteers and we took the Peace Corps oath to serve in Spanish and English. I teared up because I’m not gonna lie, it felt like a pretty big deal to finally become a real live Peace Corps Volunteer! To celebrate, straight after the swearing in ceremony, my newly minted volunteer friends and I went to a professional baseball game - tickets were $1. And of course, no celebration here would be complete without topping the night off with a trip to a discoteca for some merengue and bachata dancing, so that's just what we did.
I spent the next two days downtown in the capital running errands, swimming at the US embassy pool (not nearly as elegant as it sounds), eating American food (Pizza Hut), celebrating Halloween (I dressed up as Earth in a threesome costume of Earth, Wind and Fire), fixing my computer (!!!), chatting with my bosses to confirm how I would start the health projects at my site, and dancing!
Friday, I hopped on a bus up to the beach town of Monte Cristi, only about 30 minutes from my lesser known site in Manzanillo. There, I met two other Peace Corps volunteers who live there and they’ll be my crew from here on out, so it’s a good thing they rocked. Saturday, I ventured to yet another Peace Corps Volunteers’ site in a town called Palo Verde (Green Stick). We went to a Dominican wedding, in which the church service was dominated by little kids getting baptized. Finally, on Sunday I jetted back to Manzanillo where in a random twist of events, I changed host families and now live in the center of town (instead of up on a hill) in my own mini-apartment above the house of an awesome family (mom - Luisa, dad - Enriquito, brother - Dawen, aunt - Chichi, and five little nugget kids) who are super social, chevere, helpful, bacana and fantastic.
Monday was a holiday in celebration of the Dominican constitution, and as such, was naturally full of music, coffee, and porch sitting. But I’ve got a job to do, so I went out and made the rounds of town meeting anyone and everyone I could. I also made myself a schedule, and have hit the ground running with full days of meeting school/hospital/government directors and administrators, finding myself a small group of youth to help me conduct interviews, creating interview questions, starting the first of eighty-five interviews/home visits, going to English School to help facilitate classes for kids, attending literacy for adult courses, introducing myself to every classroom in the two elementary schools and one high school, walking up to random groups of people porch sitting to introduce myself, singing at Evangelical church services, being attentive at Catholic mass, and eating my fair share of fried food.
But, enough of that! Let me to create yet another list of the interesting things I’ve noticed this week!
1) You can interrupt anyone or anything whenever you want.
When I went to visit the high school, my project partner and I just stepped right on into a classroom, interrupted the teacher to say, “Hi, we’re here.” The teacher would stop what s/he was doing, and say “Oh hey, Licelot, good to see you, why don’t you introduce yourself and your friend.” Then I would introduce myself, tell everyone that I am a volunteer with Cuerpo de Paz and I will be here for two years working on health things blah blah blah, ask them to be my friends, and repeat my name three times (I'm Bea here because lord knows how hard Bronwen is to pronounce even in English). Then there’d be a few awkward seconds of pause before the teacher would say “Cool, anyways back to geometry.” And you never need to make an appointment for anything. Saying, “around ten o'clock” or “later” or “when God wants” seems to as effective (if not more) than penciling someone in.
2) You can send muchachos (little kids) to do anything for you.
If you have a little kid, are tight with a little kid, or see a little kid, you can make her/him do any number of errands for you. For example, I can send a kid to get me five pesos worth of sugar, flour, or rice from the nearest colmado. I can send a kid to pay my electricity bill, relay a message to a friend down the road, paint my nails, bring back a beer (wow, right?), or recarga my cell phone. It’s nuts the utility little kids have here. And unlike my own little brother in America who almost always refuses to do my errands, these kids here always say yes. It’s awesome.
3) I am still not sick of rice and beans.
I love la bandera (rice, beans and meat) and I eat it every day, without fail. Even when I was in the capital and had the choice of any food my heart could desire, I chose la bandera. It’s just SO good! They call it doña food because it’s the only thing a doña will give you for lunch so she can ensure you’re well fed. Without rice and beans, no meal is complete, she’ll say.
4) Christmas is all around!
You wouldn’t believe the Christmas cheer that’s all around! Since they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here, the Christmas decorations are dusted off and set up at the end of October/early November. It’s weird (because it’s still 85 degrees everyday) and nice (because Christmas is my favorite holiday) to see all the trees, lights, wreaths, ornaments, sparkles, angels, and nativity scenes in the middle of the DR. Christmas truly is a beautiful thing, and it’s awesome to be able to feel the cheer for more than two months!
5) I’m going to start walking with doñas on the beach at 6am.
Hopefully I can work them up to jogging/running/lifting weights, but we’ll see. For now, I hope they’ll just become my good buddies and that I can develop confianza (trust) with. Maybe I’ll even get some good chisme (gossip) by walking early with them! And I don’t have pictures yet, but my morning jog/walk/run is absolutely gorgeous...I get to watch the sunrise on a beautiful beach.
6) My job is so cool.
I am an anthropologist. I get to experience a completely different way of life, learn from friendly, warm and caring people, and go to weddings, drink coffee, and chat with people in order to understand their culture. My job rocks! I am so lucky. This is such a unique and vibrant experience to be having and even though it sounds like I’m just sitting on porches and eating (which I do my fair share of), I am learning so much from the stimuli around me. Even the most relaxing day on a porch teaches me something new. The busiest day running around from meeting to meeting allows me to grow in a different way. I talk to people, ask questions, listen, learn and think. I haven’t been bored for even five minutes in this country because there’s always something to be digesting, debriefing, and analyzing about my experience. It’s cliché, but everyone here has something to teach and show me. It’s my job to keep the right attitude about it, remembering to reflect at the end of every day, demonstrate compassion, and practice patience as true integration is neither immediate nor easy.
Sending you all love, fried plantains, and bachata rhythm!
Missing you all, the top music hits in America, NPR radio, white wine, and the streets of Boston after our sports teams win things!
Xoxo,
Bea (often mistaken for Vea (to see) or Bella (beautiful))
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