Adventures de la Americana: Mostly about my Tuesday

Wednesday 9/10

Hey Everyone!!

First, I want to respond to some of your great comments. Thanks so much for all the feedback, its really nice:) Sarah, I got a prepaid cell phone, you can get the number off of mom or Rach. The phone at my Dona’s house doesn’t work anyway so this is better. Call anytime you’re free though. Call at least 2 or 3 times because sometimes I miss it, and sometimes it just doesn’t go through. Call when you can, I’d rather you try and miss me then not get to talk to you guys, I miss you!! Denise, thanks for the encouraging comments, it’s good to know someone else eats peanut butter on the beach! Karen and Uncle Greg: thanks for your support:) I sent out a letter last week on Labor day so let me know when it gets there. It’s really hard to get stamps here!! One girl asked like 20 people in the super market and they all gave her different answers. In this culture it’s more acceptable to lie and “save face” than to say you don’t know the answer to something. Even my awesome Dona does that to me sometime I find. To Dad: thanks for all the long comments, call sometime would ya!?? Lol. To Aunt Claudia and Drew: thanks for the message, I never know what the weather is here until it’s upon us. I don’t have internet at home or anything and the news is not helpful but my family pretty much is always watching soap operas anyways. It’s nice to know you guys are thinking of me. It takes a LOOOOONG time to upload photos here so I put them all up on myspace because that seems to go the fastest. If you can get to it I have several photos up. Also, to everyone, if you’d like to call me I’d love to hear from you. My mom and Rach have the number like I said earlier so if you can afford it, feel free. I got a prepaid phone to last me until after CBT which starts on Friday. After that on October 20^th they give us PC issued phones so my number will be different. Calling cards are expensive so I was talking about looking into global phone plans with my mom and John. If anyone has any info on them please let me know. To everyone else who has been leaving me comments, thanks so much!! I really love reading them!!

Whew! Now that all that is taken care of it’s time to get down to business!! To begin, yesterday was kind of a bummer. We got to Entrena with all of our stuff in hand to go on our trips and we were supposed to be informed by 10 what was going on. In the meantime I figured I should pay a visit to the nurse since I had been having issues with my digestive system since Saturday. I had been trying to eat light, easy foods for my stomach but nothing seemed to be helping. I told the nurse that my Dona made me a cheese sandwich the night before and surprised me with a salami sandwich the next morning, which I ate half of. That was the most food I had really eaten since Friday. Well, the nurse didn’t like the stuff I ate at all! She told me that since I ate that stuff I would have to “start all over” and that I could only eat “white, bland, flavorless food” for a few more days. Then after a few more days I may be able to introduce white rice and after that yogurt. Well, you know what I thought? I thought I had been babying my stomach since Sat and where did it me? Nowhere. I knew we were driving by a McDonalds on the way to my PCV visit and also was holding out hope that they were going to make American food. Nothing was going to stop me from eating that stuff!! So, I humored the nurse and sipped my Gatorade (which costs more than my daily allotment of money) but in my mind I was wondering if I should go to McDs once on the way there and once on the way back or just once total.

We all sat around and talked until 12:30 when they finally were able to let us know what had been decided. Our trips were canceled. We were all really disappointed. We wanted a change of scenery so much! I personally feel like my host family is getting sick of me lately. Not my Dona but the sisters. So, it was going to be nice to get away. So much for that. So much for McDonalds and American food. As a substitute I ate 8 cookies (not the best but good enough) and had some hot chocolate- all a BIG no no (he he he).

None of us wanted to go home after lunch (which I didn’t eat- the spaghetti here is NOT something I chose to partake in) so we hung out at Entrena from 10 am until 5 pm doing nothing really. Thanks to being homeschooled while living in the middle of nowhere with no friends or tv, I have the great ability to never be bored, to endlessly entertain myself. This came in handy yesterday as my counterparts were pretty much all bored. We had dominos tournaments, played a game called Big Booty, and watched a movie (the Bourne Identity, sweet!!! If you would like to send DVDs please feel free since we can watch them on our laptops!! ) I was reading a magazine called Gingo Grita which is put out by PCVs in county. I happened to come across an article about reflections of people’s PCV visits. What are the odds that I was at that time supposed to be on my PCV and instead I was sitting on an couch with stomach pains while it was pouring rain outside? The irony.

We all walked home and when I had to slit with my group and walk alone I realized I was running low on patience. People were doing the normal things; men were staring and making their “hissing” noises (which I decided yesterday sound more like “Tsssssssst”) and some men were testing out their English with words like, Hello Baby, How are you?, and I love you. One guy told me that he spoke English and he loved me. I was tempted to say somethings back to see how well he spoke English. There is one thing particular hand gesture I think is universal but there’s just one way to find out for sure… don’t worry, I didn’t do it!

When I got back I stopped b y my friend’s house to see what they were doing the rest of the day. We ended up having a discussion about all the food we missed. We unanimously decided Taco Bell would be divine right then and one of the Dona’s knew where one was and how to get there. She offered to take us there!!! My dreams were all coming true!!!! So, I ran home and told my Dona I didn’t need dinner that night and gathered my stuff. Kenzie came over and informed me that her Don didn’t have any gas and we weren’t going now. What a bummer. So, I ate a cheese sandwich for dinner.

Needless to say, it’s pretty easy to feel bad for myself here. I was super excited to get a phone call from my mom but we don’t get to talk for very long since it’s pricey for her. I was still feeling pretty sick so I just stayed in my room, contemplating when the best time would be to put my mosquito net back up around my bed and unpack my stuff. I was about to go to bed, feeling defeated when I got a text from my mom telling me she loved me and hoped I felt better. It was just a little thing but it made me feel sooooo much better!! I started thinking about all the things I have to be happy for, and there are a TON! I have a great host family in Los Cocos and I’m in the Caribbean!! I am so lucky to be in the DR, we are the only PCVs who are able to get cell phones. I’m super lucky that I’m not disconnected from everyone at home. So, as I turned off my light and tucked my mosquito net around my bed I was feeling pretty good.