Two days.... two long days

10/16 Friday: The 1 yr Slump?
Is it just me? Am I the only one who doesn’t have the drive to go out into the community and walk around? Am I the only one who, when there is power, stays in her house for a looooooong time watching 11 straight episodes of Entourage? Thankfully, no. I have been talking with other PCVs in my group and while we all feel ok, not depressed or anything, all of us are feeling very blah and have no desire to leave the house. I find that weird since I thought that normally at the 1 year people have a surge of energy and drive. I hope that wasn’t that week I had about two weeks back… I talked with my friend Kelly today and she didn’t leave her house until 12:30. It’s nearly 2:30 now and here I am, still inside. I can somewhat justify it though since I was trying to finish a grant for my stove project. Also, I had plans to go walking this morning but Vanji ditched me. See, I’m doing stuff!

Besides, the 1st step is recognizing the issue right? Another possible issue: should I feel bad when the 8 year old neighbor girl really wants to clean my bathroom? So I let her and give her a few tips too (you missed a spot….) Is that wrong? Something tells me it should be but at the same time, if she wants to do it.

10/14 Thursday: Rudeness
In a nutshell: I have morphed into a rude machine. It’s the culture here!!! You can say things in Spanish that you can’t say in English. When I went home in September I was told by no less than 5 people that I was being rude. I didn’t mean to. It’s just the Dominican coming out in me. When I go home, please have patience and let me know that I’m being rude.

The Real Blog: Dominicans are rude. But then, as I was informed when I went home for my visit, so am I. I was always a blunt person before coming to the DR but the culture here has thrown me over the edge. I was offended when my brother and his fiancé told me I was rude. I felt bad. But, that’s because I know they’re right. I’ve talked with several PCVs about this since and we have come to the collective conclusion: this culture makes you “rude” by all American standards. The problem is that you will not be heard here if you talk like Americans talk, walking on eggs with all the political correctness BS. You know, this lifestyle can for sure be offensive but I have to say I prefer it on some levels. To Americans: can we please drop all the fancy dancing along the words we can’t say and just simply say it like it is? Then, lets not be pissy afterwards because Jane said something blunt, but in reality, completely true. In a past relationship I was accused of being “emotionally challenged”. I still counter that, even more so now. I am emotional. I am sensitive. But I also say it like it is and listen to it being told to me in the same manner. I’m just maybe too extreme for American values now. Take last night for instance.

I was on my front porch when Franklin came by and asked me if I wanted to go down to the continuing wake down at Tolo’s parent’s house (this was a big night since it was night 8 since the death and according to tradition it’s the night that the dead try to wake back up). I hadn’t been out much lately… pretty much since I got back from the States to tell you the truth… so I said sure, let’s party it up at the wake. I walked “down” to it with him and another dude and sat at a table with three guys and Vanji. During the 2 hours or so that we hung out, we had a good time and when I went to leave Franklin was being a baby throwing a little tantrum (that no one thought anything of) since he wanted me and Vanji to stay. It was his 2nd little fit he threw. He’s 20.

On the way back, I began reflecting about our conversations, of which I felt indifferent. During the 120 minutes conversing, I was called lazy, asked if I ever get sick of sleeping, told I didn’t have a real job, told I never leave my “cave”, told it was apparent I wasn’t exercising right now, was at least 6 times pressured to take shots of rum, called a child, called an old lady (an insult here which I think is HILAROUS so it never has the same effect on me as on a Dominican), and called snotty… those being the ones I can think of off of the top of my head. If this was said to me in English I probably would have gone home and cried. But there is something magical about Spanish. You have to be blunt and when people are blunt with you, you just are blunt right back. In English it’s rude. In Spanish it’s normal, don’t take it personal. When I went home to the States, I crossed the line and felt bad about it. I wouldn’t have even noticed it if it weren’t pointed out to me. Imagine the monster I’ll be in even another year after this!!! I can see it now that only my PCV buddies will want to talk to me.

The point of all this: when I go home, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE cut me a lot of slack and tell me politely if speaking in English, or with as little tact as possible if speaking in Spanish, that I was being rude by all American standards. And I’ll work on it. I promise.

10/14 Wednesday: The last two days: Down, Up, Up, Up, Tragic, Drama
In a nutshell: Three girls in my Escojo group bailed mid-class yesterday despite the fact they were supposed to be teaching the class. Rumor has it, they were mad that they were not being giving enough freedom to teach the class. Instead of talking about this with me, they left. Great idea!
I should be getting my water filters soooon from that water training I had in June. Its great news but I have a lot of work to do before then.
Inflation here is MAD!
I love the view here and want to take it home.
A ton of ants go into my peanut butter, surprising me and biting my hands really well before I filled the container up with water and watched them all drown. I then dumped out the water and the ants and made my sandwich. Yum.
Noel is mad at me once again, and ignoring me. This time he’s ignoring me because he thinks I was ignoring him 1st so he’s going to do it back. Only thing is, I’m not ignoring him. I’m getting really annoyed with the level of maturity I encounter daily, or rather the lack of maturity. I mean, I am REALLY sick of it. I think I need to get away for some R&R time.

The Real Blog: Let’s start with the down: yesterday I wanted to kill three girls in my Escojo group. It was their turn to teach the class and when Wandi asked me if he could read something, not remembering that it was the girls who were teaching the class, I said sure. No big deal right? Easy mistake? Well, the three girls, Vanji, Ernie and Jamalissa decided it was a big deal and, without saying ANYTHING to me, they left. Yep, they just up and left the class. I was really mad when I found out. And of course Wandi makes things even more aggravating with his comments like, “They are such bad people, leaving like that. I told them not to go.” Shut up dude. I changed the dates of our meetings together from Fridays to Wednesdays but 4 of the 7 kids in the group won’t know that now. Why is it 4 and not just the 3 girls you ask? Because one of the boys didn’t feel like going yesterday so he didn’t go. Great group huh?

Now for some good news. I emailed the contact person for the Rotary Club again to check on the water filers and she had some guy call me back about 30 minutes after I sent the email. He said he could get them to me after the 1st of November! That’s waaaaay sooner than I anticipated them. I’m excited but at the same time, dang I have a lot of work to do! I have to change the list of people receiving the filters (long story) and collect the 500 pesos per house/recipient and I also was going to make it a requirement that they go to two or three classes of mine but first I have to make up the classes!!! It’s actually a lot of work.

On top of that, today I went around to get prices for my stove project. I need to write a budget for the grant I’m writing. I was talking to a water PCV friend, Mark, and he told me that prices change so much that when the water PCVs make their budgets they have to use the most expensive price and then add 35% because by the time the money comes in, prices have gone up that much. Inflation here is nuts.

Another “up”, when I was coming back from Navarrete today I was really enjoying the view. It’s so break taking. I wish there was some way to put it in my pocket and save it for when I’m in the States. I also wish that in the States I could always have muchachas to wash my dishes and sweep my house (although I’ll more than likely have carpet so I’ll need them to vacuum). In a perfect world…

Here’s some almost tragic news: When I opened my jar of Peter Pan peanut butter (it was on special, FYI Jiffy is still the best. Jiffy wasn’t on special) I was reminded of why I normally keep it in the fridge: ants. Despite the fact that the lid was screwed on tight, I was assaulted by biting ants when I opened the jar. I was upset but filled it up with some water and drowned the suckers. Some insects last for a long time in water, ants aren’t one of them. I tossed the water and then tossed the ants and proceeded to make my pb & j. It was delicious.

Want some drama? The word on the street is that Noel thinks I’m not talking to him. I have no idea why except that I haven’t been going out of my way to be nice to him or talk to him so now he thinks I’m ignoring him. As a result, he’s ignoring me. How retarded. I’m not going to acknowledge this issue. When we’re around each other and a topic comes up, we’ll talk. Until then, let him think I’m mad. I’m over it.

Oct 4th- Oct 9th

10/9 Friday: Escojo National Conference in SD; yeah it’s kind of a BIG deal.
In a nutshell: Today was the day that we had to leave to go to the Capital for the Escojo national conference, something that comes just once a year. We left at 7:01 am- one minute late and it was my fault (the girls showed up at my house 10 minutes early). I would like to note once again that the DR is known for everyone being like 30- 45 minutes late but it’s not the case in my community, they’re generally pretty punctual. It’s weird.

Anyways, we headed for Santiago where we waited for Mark and Sarah with their kids and also my friend Beth’s kid (who I said I could take since she was in SD sick)and then made the hike together on the bus to SD. I loved it because the girls I took, like nearly everyone if not everyone in my Escojo class, have never been to their country’s capital and so they were REALLY excited. Not to mention they are both really poor (one comes from a Haitian family) and unlike the other kids I’ve brought, they each only had a single small book bag with their best clothing and other contents for the next three days. The conference is a great example of how PCVs are able to really impact kids even if for a few days, giving the opportunities that they may not get again.

10/8 Thursday: Brigada Verde elections= FUNNY
In a nutshell: My BV class had elections and so now we’re legit. Wandi bribed the crowd behind my back with my suckers for the class and as a result was successfully elected treasurer aka fundraiser man… hehe, what a crappy job. There was a committee formed during elections and this committee and I will be going to talk to a coffee farmer on Thursday (in the hot hot sun) about ways to not throw the coffee seed-pod thingys into the river which pollute it and make it unusable and stinky. Yay!

Today was the 2nd BV class and I wasn’t sure if we were even going to have a class. The school randomly didn’t have class yesterday or today and so it depended on whether I could get a hold of the key to the school so we even had a place for it and also on whether kids showed up. Last Tuesday when I went to have Escojo class, school had gotten out early and about 1/3 of the kids didn’t stick around the 20 minutes in between. They thought that I wasn’t going to show up so they left. I was annoyed and told them that I wasn’t like that. When I said we were having class, I meant we were having class that we would always have it unless something really bad happened (like serious injury or death). But they’re used to teachers just not showing up so they thought it was no big deal I wasn’t there. Class starts at 5:30 though, not after school which was something I think they were confused about.

Anyways, back to BV… so to my amazement pretty much everyone showed up and we had class. The BV manual is pretty crappy making it difficult to use so, for lack of material, I decided to take up some time and we would have formal elections. I based them off of my experience from when I was an RA in the dorms. I thought it was really funny. It went over well, all things considered. Wandi ended up being the treasurer but I found out it was only because he was being very “Dominican-Politician” and told them if they voted for him he would give them a sucker… one of MY suckers for the class. I wondered how in the world he got them chanting for him in the 5 seconds I was out of the class…

I’m excited because this Thursday the BV Committee and I are going up to the coffee farmers to talk to them about alternative methods of disposal of their coffee seed pods. Right now they leave them in a pile and then when it rains the empty pods flow into the river and rot. It stinks and no one downstream can use the river. I’m not looking forward to the fact we have to walk there at 1 pm in the full sun but I am REALLY excited for the prospect of doing something productive and tangible, motivating my kids as well as myself.

10/6 Tuesday: Tolo’s Dad dies at 92 years old
In a nutshell: It is very awkward when someone dies. VERY. I deliberately waited to go visit Tolo until after my Escojo class (which was about 6 hours after his dad died) and when I got there he was STILL screaming and crying. Not that I’m against that, do whatever you need to do but I mean that’s a real example of stamina. When I walked up to him he hugged me super tight and cried, as he had been doing with every single person who walked in. I felt really bad for Tolo but thanks to my 4 years in the old folks home, I’m used to the dealing with death of the elderly so I wasn’t feeling particularly depressed of this man’s passing. Also, I had never even met his dad since he had been sickly and bedridden since I arrived to my site. Unhealthy and 92; it was time to go, wasn’t it?

The part I feel weird about is that everyone goes there and hangs out all day. It’s like big party where people aren’t supposed to laugh loud. Everyone uses any reason it to get together and chill in this country and so the road was lined with people and cars; even when I got there at 8:30 at night. Then, I’m supposed to say something to the degree of “sharing your pain with you” when I go up to talk to the family of the deceased. To me, its nice but it’s just not me dude. I can’t say that to someone, least of all my Don!!! So, I didn’t say anything, which a lot of the time is just as good or better, right? I do really like the way the community supports one another though. I wonder if it makes it easier or more of a burden since in the following days (the next 9) people come to your house during a specific hour (for Tolo’s mom, its between 5 and 6) and everyone gets juice and a cookie. I feel like I would like the support but a few days later would want to be alone to be depressed for a while, not handing out juice and cookies.

Anyways, when I went there that first night after he died, I felt bad leaving so I hung out for like 3 hours, trying to be supportive. Even though I hate small talk, I’m glad I was there. Despite this, the next day I skipped out on the part when they put the body in the cemetery. Minga took me to one of those on my site visit when I first got to La Lomota and I was horrified. Everyone was crying and screaming. Then Minga, literally in the middle of crying herself, stopped for a minute and introduced me very thoroughly. Yes, life here is different.

10/4 Sunday: Happy birthday Aaron and Ali!
In a nutshell: Can you believe that I saw a tarantula and actually forgot to write about it? I mean, really! What is this world coming to? It would outside of my bathroom at night and Wandi killed it with a rock. Adios, farewell and vaya con Dios. I went to another PCVs house for the weekend to celebrate Ali’s birthday (that’s where she wanted to go). We went to the beach and it turns out there had been an incident with jellyfish stinging people in the past. The only reason I knew this was because I had just learned the word for jellyfish that same week. I was pretty pleased with myself. The beach was nice but there were a lot of mosquitoes since we got caught there at dusk. I was reflecting about how the PCV we were visiting is going to be done with service in about a month and thinking about how she must be feeling. That’ll be me in a year. I think my COS (close of service) date is like the 25th of Oct. We’ll see if I can say goodbye or if I’ll extend for a bit. Time will tell:)

Before I begin about my weekend I would like to say that I must have too much time on the island. I saw a tarantula (a BIG one) and actually FORGOT to write about it till right now, like a week later!!!!! Here’s what happened: It was a peaceful night and I had conned Wandi into watering the garden for the 2nd time that day with me helping minimally. He walked ahead to the small garden area by my house (the tree truck which used to be the seedling bed) and said, hey look! It’s a tarantula. I said, Don’t kill it!!! I want to see it alive 1st! So I booked it over and sure enough, there was the big sucker. Wandi squashed it with a rock and its torso/hind end and some legs went flying. It was kind of sick but I learned something: they sure squish different than I would expect. They’re kind of airy and I bet they’re lighter than they seem. According to Bear Grills (who did an episode in the DR in Feb) the tarantula’s bite here “liquefies flesh”. I bet that would be way sicker than seeing a few tarantula legs and butt go sailing through the air unattached to anything.

On a happier note, what did I do for the weekend? Well, it was my friend, Ali’s, birthday and she wanted to visit a health PVC who is about to finish her service- Beth. So, we went through La Isabella to Beth’s site. Her house is cool. The first day we got there we didn’t do anything but hang out and talk. The next day we were supposed to go to the beach early, or so we thought. It turns out that Beth is building a library/community center and the guy who was taking us to the beach was working in the morning on that. So he said he would be by to get us at 1:30 or 2 and he showed up at 3:30. Typical Dominican time. Sometimes I’m glad my community is on time.

The beach was beautiful. Sorry, I forgot my camera so there will be no pics. We ate fried fish and fried sweet potato which were both delicious. The only issues were (1) the kids were talking about how the last time they were here Beth got something-ed by a medusa. Lucky for me, earlier that same week I learned the word for jellyfish: medusa (thanks Sarah and kids for sending me back with curtains you decorated with tropical creatures that had the Dominicans in my house pointing and playing the “And What’s That?” game.). Apparently, sometimes schools or clans or cults or whatever you want to call the little jellyfish groups hang out at that beach. I was scared. This girl from northern IL has never experienced a jellyfish sting. Ouch!

Another bad thing was that the people we were with ordered food that took forever and we ended up being on the beach at dusk. If there is ever a time to get dengue or malaria, dusk on the beach is it. Even though we were cold, we went into the water to try to avoid the mosquitoes but the little stalkers still followed us out into the water, biting our faces. Bummer.

The way home was so fun. We were in the back of a pick up truck, driving along with the 7 kids or so that were with us singing at least 20 different songs. They were singing them together for about 10 seconds and then when no one knew the words they switched to a new song. I wondered about Beth, thinking that this would probably be the last time she did this with her kids and how she felt about such a transitional time. I’ll be done next October so that will be me a year from now. I think I’ll be really sad about it. I’ve been talking to a lot of people who are about to leave and they told me the last three months are as bad as the 1st three in country; they suck big time. Even if you’re not best buds with people in your community, it’s harder than leaving home because when you left home you knew you would be back in two years. Whereas this even if you visit you won’t have it the same. I mean for instance, when you come back to visit where will you stay? With your old Doña? (Yeah because the 1st time around was such a hoot!) You wouldn’t get the feeling of it again unless you could just hang out for at least a few days and do you want to live with Doña for a few days again? Don’t get me wrong, Beth is ready to go as are the other PCVs. There’s no place like home and we all miss home but it’s hard leaving a stage in your life I suppose. Even one that’s been a rough ride. I’m glad I don’t have to deal with all that right now. I’ll put off thinking about it for another 11 months or so.

This one is a dooooozy!

Hi everyone. So, I know I haven’t posted in like 2 months but don’t you worry! I have been writing. Its just that while I was in the States Best Buy had my computer the entire time and after that I haven’t been able to post it for some reason. So, here it is. My blog for the rest of August, allll of September and some of October. For those of you who want to keep up but don’t want to read it all, I started my “in a nutshell” part. It doesn’t explain things well but it gives a very quick sum of. Enjoy!

9/30 Wednesday: No money and no electricity= a big bummer. My Escojo group lets me down.
In a nutshell: I am broke. There hasn’t been power. The director of the school made my Escojo class switch to a room with no tables since there’s less stuff to touch. Ernie called the cleaning ladies lazy and liars in front of my class. I had to kick my first kid out of class since he wasn’t being respectful. The class is full of 9 year olds which is weird for me since it’s a SEX ED CLASS!!! They’re supposed to be at least 11 but I feel bad kicking them out after they’ve been participating for 5 weeks. My Escojo promoters decided not to show up for our meeting yesterday for some reason and now I don’t know what they’re going to do for class next week. I plan on laying the guilt trip on thick. I went to Anne’s and got info to get going on a stove project I would like to do here. I put up a bunch of signs advertising my new environmental youth group, Brigada Verde, and now I’m a teeny nervous that the attendance will be more than I can handle. Vamos a ver.

Friday can not come soon enough. Its payday tomorrow but I won’t be going into town until Friday when I go to Santiago for my friend Ali’s birthday. Despite the fact I’ve been keeping plenty busy, the week has never moved so slowly. Let me say that between Monday and Tuesday there was only 4 hours with power; 2 of which I spent at the school giving my Escojo class. So there hasn’t been any blogging or movie watching sadly and it was the first time my phone was dead for about a half day, which may be a good thing since, without the distraction of Harry Potter, I’ve been pretty productive this week as planned.

In my Escojo class Humberto made a new rule that my group wasn’t able to use the classroom we normally use (even though we haven’t had class since he kind of told me that the kids were touching stuff in the other classroom) and we will now have to have class in a room without tables. Then he came into class at the beginning and lectured them about not touching stuff. I agree with that but considering how formal he has been with me about stuff (I had to get a permission from him just to enter the classrooms to ask if I could talk about Brigada Verde- the environmental group I’m starting) I would have expected him to at least tell me that he was planning on doing that. Especially since he had a perfect opportunity when I spoke to him before class that day to get the note to enter the class.

Well, right after his speech, Ernie decided to tell him, in front of the entire class, basically that the cleaning ladies were just lazy and they were lying. That they said we were dirtying stuff in the other Escojo class but really, they just didn’t want to clean it and so they said we made it dirty after they had cleaned. Oh boy.

I had to give the boot to my first student. That’s right, I kicked one out. He was talking a LOT and actually kept leaving the class to talk to his friends and then come back in, how rude! This class isn’t going as smoothly as the last one that’s for sure. I also am aware of the fact that about 1/3 of the class is under the age of 11- which is against an Escojo rule. I’m annoyed that Ernie let these kids in when she confirmed the age rule with me I was in the States, they can join as they are at least 11. So, now I feel bad since I don’t want to just kick them out… I’m going to have to sort them out of the next class and tell them they can be in Brigada Verde or something. It’s not that big of a deal really except that I feel weird teaching a sex ed class to 9 year olds!

Today I was supposed to have a meeting with my Escojo promoters group. Wandi and Argeni showed up. Antonio showed up 30 minutes late. I was pretty dang mad. 1st of all, I was just sitting waiting for them to show up but I needed to go to Anne’s site to get some info on her stove project. I could have gone over there about 2 hours sooner. Also, they are supposed to be the awesome kids and here more than half of them don’t show up?! I was especially surprised with Ernie who was in Navarrete hanging out with her new boyfriend’s family and had her mom so worried sick that Mercedes borrowed the colmado man’s motorcycle and had a friend take her to town to look for Ernie. Well, now Antionio and Jose Luis, who are supposed to present the ONE class that they have to draw out, have nothing to present since they weren’t there! Errrr. We’ll see how this goes. I may just let them present the one I did and pick a topic for them to draw in the future. I know they’re kids but they’re old enough to know better.

Tomorrow I have my 1st Brigada Verde class and I’m not worried about low attendance. On the contrary, I made a bunch of signs (which took forever but I had no money to go to town and print some off so I spent 2 days making them out of construction paper) and I feel like a TON of people are going to be there. I kind of hope not since that’s not exactly the point. I mean I want people to be there but it’s for people who are going to go each week and participate. In hindsight, I should have said not to go unless you can go each week. Or maybe I should have saved the signs for our community service days. Oh well, guess we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.

9/27 Sunday: Ernesto clears things up, politicians- bite me.
In a nutshell: Ernesto (my project partner) has been out of town and is only here on the weekends. He is really important to my work since he’s always supportive and well respected in the community. Sunday night he came over and finally sat down to make a list of 30 people who are eligible to receive a water filter while I typed it up. Now the people who weren’t chosen are mad at me since Ernesto’s wife told them that I was the one who made the list. Also on Sunday, my Escojo group and I waited for politicians to show up at the voting polls so we could solicit stuff from them (totally normal to do right before voting here) but they never showed. Jerks.

Ernesto had been out of town since I’d been back in country. He’s working in another PCV’s site, helping finish a water system. Ernesto is my rock. He and I aren’t like best buds or anything but he is super cool. I was going crazy without him here to collaborate with. When I finally got a chance to talk to him, I told him that I needed the list of recipients for the water filters ASAP and I told him about the school director and how difficult I thought he was being. He used computers as an example to explain to me that if we, for instance, get 10 computers and start a computer lab that the government will see that we already have computers and then will take the ones they said they would give, and would sell them. The government already told my community that they would put an internet center here. That means that if I am able to get some computers (something I’m working on with Kenzie) then we would have to put them somewhere other than the school. This is because if there are even computers at the school, the government won’t say, “Hey- wow you got computers; good for you! Let me use this money then to get generators or what have you.” No, they would say, “Oh… computers… well, I guess you can do it yourself and so we’ll just take this money for ourselves.” Then the community doesn’t get the internet center they were promised (although something tells me that was a false promise since we live in the middle of nowhere on the top of a mountain). Way to reward the resourceful!

As I mentioned, the politicians were supposed to show up today at the school where the elections were being held. There are three principle political groups here in the DR and they are known by colors: red, purple and white. Today the people were voting essentially in the primaries; voting for who they wanted in power for white. The guys running for office were supposed to show up at the polling place (the school) to influence people’s voting. They pay people, they give out random stuff… one year (I think for the presidential election) they flew overhead in planes and dropped salami. It was disastrous since people were fighting and scratching to get their hands on the free tubes. Obviously its wrong that they give this stuff out when people vote; in Kenzie’s site they were “helping” people vote by telling them which ones to pick and then they were paying $150 pesos. Well, sure this is wrong but I’m not voting and I figure if they’re putting themselves in this situation well, may as well use it to our advantage. So, my group and I were ready and waiting with solicitation letters for about 6 hours for the politicians, who said they’d be here at 10. We waited until 4:30 and then I left to make some dinner. So much for that.

Later that night, Ernesto came over with the list of the people who have paid their water bill. I told him I wanted the water committee to pick the people and not one person but since he’s the president and he’s never here now (thanks to the outside work) I didn’t bring it up and just typed up the names. Of course, the next day at the Women’s Meeting people were flaming mad that they didn’t get picked. Hello, there are 30 filters and over 100 houses. Doesn’t take a genius to do that math. One woman stopped me on the street and said how houses can share filters and why did I pick who I picked. Apparently Mercedes told the Woman’s Group that I picked the people. Awesome. So, I told a little lie and said that the water committee picked the names, that I just typed them. After all, I don’t want to throw Ernesto to the wolves but I seriously didn’t pick the names. And, I don’t live here. People turn on you quick and that’s the last thing I need since I’ve got to work here for another year. Anyways, we’ll see how that turns out. I said that they can work it out amongst themselves but ANYONE who wants to receive one, shared or not, HAS to pay any outstanding water bill that they have first and then work out a way to split the $500 pesos they have to pay per filter. (Which really isn’t much, especially if three houses are going to spilt it).

9/26 Saturday: A GOOD DAY!!! :D
In a nutshell: Things always work out. We are having politicians come tomorrow and I’m a liaison for my Escojo group to try to get them to donate money to Escojo thanks to my amaaaaazing letter writing skills I acquired somewhere (right Mary Alice, RIGHT?!). I got a really encouraging letter from a top notch guy at San Diego State University who wants to work with me on sustainability projects here in the DR (again thanks to my fantastic letter writing skills?) He has the same name as my one and only brother. It’s a sign. I am extra excited about it because I was researching grad school programs in environmental sustainability while I was home and would LOVE the opportunity to work with someone on a project like that. It’s possible I may be in trouble with the PCDR Country Director himself, Romeo Massy for trying to solicit funds outside of the Peace Corps before talking with my direct boss, my APCD- Miguel. I believe that if you don’t ask, how will you get anything? Guess I need to think about the order of whom I’m asking is all… I’m trying to get a basketball court built but have no where to put it. (I don’t sweat the small stuff, ha!) STORMS ARE SCARY!!! They’re scarier with an unfinished wall (that has already fallen once) which is supposed to keep my house up. They’re also louder with a tin roof, a lot louder. I am going to start my green group and put those kids to work! We may dig two deep holes to put trash in (organic and inorganic). Sounds like fun doesn’t it? I’m doing a good job of staying positive right now but that’s because I won’t be digging the holes, I’m the supervisor- LIFT WITH THE KNEES; PUT YOUR BACK INTO IT!!! Come and visit!!! (bring Luke;)

Yesterday in my Escojo group we were talking about how the new class is going to raise money (since they’re all around 11 I figured I should start thinking about this now) when it was brought to my attention that a bunch of politicians were going to be here tomorrow as tomorrow is an election- something I didn’t know! This meant that I would have to write up a letter soliciting funds from these guys and print them out today. It worked out well since I had to print out some other stuff and also because Humberto told me that before he would let my kids even think about having a mural project (one of the two reasons I went to talk to him yesterday) that I would have to write a formal letter to him asking for permission. That way in case his boss ever asks where the mural came from he can show him the letter. Makes no sense to me but what do I know. It’s ok because I can use the practice wrrriting solicitation letters (and I’m getting a LOT lately).

So I went to town today and printed off a bunch of stuff and decided to use the internet while I was there to check up on some solicitations I had written to outside sources. I told my ride I would be a half hour at the internet center but of course, after he left there were a plethora of issues and I ended up only being able to use the internet for about 20 minutes. No importa, that was just enough time to read my email and copy letters to reply to while at home.

One letter made me a little nervous. I got an email from PCDR’s Country Director, Romeo Massy, because one of the letters I wrote and sent to USAID ended up getting sent to someone he knew who sent it to him. Well, Romeo wanted to know if I had talked to my APCD (my direct boss ) about my projects. The thing is, I have a lot of ideas and there are only so many grants you can get. So, I thought it would be better to take the initiative and seek outside help. Not to mention, I know of some PCVs who have been able to get college or high school groups here to help build whatever is needed during a spring or winter break. And that was more what I was looking for. Actually, what happened was that I had this woman’s name (the one who helps build the basketball courts and libraries) but I forgot the card (or it could be lost but maybe not) and so since I was in the capital I decided to try and find other sources. On one hand, it’s good that Romeo knows that I’m being proactive, right? But on the other… I hope it’s not frowned upon or anything. I guess I’ll find out!

Especially since one letter I got made me super happy! Apparently San Diego State University and the SD Padres (baseball? l think…) teamed up to try and improve the school system in the DR. Initially I thought that I wanted to do something with the school, although that may be harder that I anticipated (I am not deterred, I’m going to talk to the Parents of the School group) so I thought that this would be good. Well, it could turn out better than I thought! I received an email from “the director of diversity in the office of the president” of SDSU who is really enthusiastic to try and work together on something!! I don’t know about you, but I was like, “WHOA!” when I saw that someone high up was contacting me. I didn’t have time to write him back as my motor driver was literally pacing waiting for me (it was lunch time), but I did forward his letter to Romeo (who has internet all the time:) and wrote a response already from my computer. So, I have no idea the process of this or what we can do but, wow, I am sooo excited!!! I can’t wait!!! And I have my fingers crossed that Romeo will be enthusiastic too.

And, to make things even better, although initially I was dismayed that only the 11 year olds wanted to participate in Escojo while I was gone, now I see how it works out well. See, now Escojo is full of kids from the minimum age level (kids who want to be there because they’re actually interested and not because the super amazingly cool fantastic Americana is teaching it) and now there are more kids available of the age group I want to work with for my green group. One could assume that these kids aren’t deserving or aren’t motivated enough but remember, this is a community group. These kids are going to have class but they’re also going to physically work. I plan on beginning the group this week or next and have completely restructured it. Well, truthfully I don’t know how it was structured before but I know that all the PCVs said that Escojo was way better so I’m going to use the charlas provided in my manual for Brigada Verde (the green group) and make the class my own. Like I said, I want to see it more a community service group and so I’m going to try to micromanage a bit and do it on a point system. Each kid gets a point for going to class weekly and also once a month they have to participate in 4 hours of community service. At first I’m going to completely focus it on trash pick up and hole digging. Yes, hole, digging. I need to find a place to dig two holes and one will be for organic garbage and the other for inorganic. I don’t know where the holes are going to be. I have no idea actually. I figure I have a month to figure that out before my first community service day. Details, details…

Speaking of details, now I need to try and figure something out about where I can put a basketball court. Although I have made NO progress on getting this, I have decided to think positive and HOPE that I get one. I have to start somewhere; I may as well start assuming I will get one built right? Think positive!

PS: It’s been raining everyday here for about 30 minutes. I tell you what, I am a chicken. I never used to be afraid of storms but, maybe it’s because I was in houses that didn’t have landslides under their front porches and then the “fixed” wall fell, or houses where the rain still enters the house through the gap of the wall and the tin roof, but STORMS ARE SCARY!!! Everything is louder with a tin roof… I bring this up because it’s about to rain.

9/25 Friday: Desagradecido (a strong way of saying ungrateful)
In a nutshell: This is not very politically correct: I am very annoyed with the school principle and think he sucks and makes my life difficult. He’s stuck in a box of thinking and even though different ways aren’t bad (potentially could get things done better and more efficiently) he does not want to defer from the way things have been done. IE: A bunch of bureaucratic BS that makes people jump through unnecessary hoops until it deters them from what they wanted to do. I don’t get indirect communication which is probably an issue but I couldn’t tell you since I missed the indirect-ness part of the conversation. I am beginning a green youth group (environmental) and I am really excited. When I gave my host mom gifts “from the states” she said thanks but she really just needed a watch.

I was annoyed today as it seemed that being ungrateful was the theme of the day. First I went to the school to talk to the principle or the director as they call him here. That was a total bust. I am no shrink but I decided that the guy has certifiable control issues. I went there and he asked how I was and got me a chair to sit in and acted all nice and normal but in reality he was in a very bad mood. He asked me what projects I was working on now and as I was answering him, about two sentences in, he began talking over me… something about unsupportive kids. I have no clue what he was going off about or what the heck it had to do with me. Does it have something to do with me? I tried to see if he was being indirect and saying something bad about how the kids were acting in my class but I had no clue. I mean for heaven’s sake, I’m freaking clueless in English let alone Spanish!

Anyways, he was still asking me what I wanted to do (in between rants) and so I told him I wanted to try to form an environmental youth group (which I am PUMPED about!!!! :D) and then he cut me short and said surely I must know some medical people in the States. What? Ummmm… yes, I guess I mean I have a friend, a PCV who is a nurse… but what does that have to do with..? A nurse wasn’t what he meant. What he was saying was that there had been two medical missions near our community and he wanted to know when my friends were coming to give out free meds and toys. Well, after I figured that out (which took an embarrassing amount of time) I explained that I could look into some medical missions offered through Peace Corps. In hindsight, I don’t belong to the same church of the group that came so what they heck would I have to do with that? It should be noted that there is a myth that the United States is the size of this campo (and yet magically larger in size) and so I must know everyone who lives in it. This means that I must know the same doctors. Duh. And, I have been checking med mission opportunities and none thus far have been applicable to our community. Furthermore, that dude is JUST as capable as I am (more so since he knew about the med missions when they happened and I was in the States enjoying taco bell, normalcy and houses that have ceilings) to walk his butt over there and see about getting something over here. Ah, hindsight is 20/20. Probably better not to have the school principle hate me anyways.

So then he asks me more about what I want to do. Well, I had already explained the green group and he was giving me the impression that I was falling short of expectations, so against my better judgment, I told him how I was in contact with a woman who has groups come and build libraries and basketball courts. We have a half finished library and I had heard that they wanted to build a half court in the middle of the school yard. I figured it would be perfect. Humberto didn’t share that view. Apparently they just decided to cut one of the classrooms in half and build a wood wall, making the other half the library. My part, as Humberto informed me, was to fill it with books and tables. Great, thanks for informing me of my job. Humberto also told me if we finish the old library they would use it as a bathroom. (The school already has two pretty nice bathrooms).

Then, the basketball court: well, the government is going to build one. Clearly, it looks like they’re on it. Right after they repair the road we have that is. (The last time the road was repaired was about 25 years ago) We don’t know when they are supposedly going to build it, Humberto himself even said they may have to wait years, but hey what are a few more years? So he would rather wait on the super reliable government to build one someday when I’m here possibly trying to hand one over now? Yep, I understood it correctly. This meeting did not go well.

After my Escojo group meeting I went to Miga’s house. I felt like a jerk because I was so busy getting generic gifts to give out to people while I was in the States that I forgot to get something really cool for Minga! So, when I went to the bachelorette party I spent all but my last $500 pesos for the month to get her some total Doña earrings. I also gave her some nail polish (thanks mom!) and a half used bottle of perfume I found in my room. (people “gift” used stuff all the time here) She took it all, liked it and then said, “You should have brought me back a watch. What I really need is a watch.” Ah, cosas de la vida.

9/24 Thursday: Saint Mary’s Day
In a nutshell: This one’s short too! Am I getting lazy or writing with you in mind Deb?:)
Today was jammed packed full of parties. I didn’t go to any of them. I didn’t feel like going. I was being lazy and antisocial. But, I did go for a walk at least to get out of my house. See, after a bunch of guys are at the colmado by my house I get this kind of timidness. I want to go outside but I don’t fell like dealing with them saying stuff to me. Then, the longer I wait, the more show up. Soon I’m contemplating if I can even go to my porch because now there are women there and which is worse?: being inside my house with the door open or being outside on the porch, in plain view of them, clearly not down there. Either way I’m not down there with them and so either way I suppose it’s bad. But which is worse? I have no idea. Well, I was thinking about all this and thinking how stupid it was so I decided since I didn’t know the answer to their question I may as well do what I would like to do. After a few hours I finished sewing all the curtains Sarah sent me back with and promptly went out to sit on my porch and read. A little while later I decided to go for a walk but it began to rain. I waited it out and was about to go when Wandi showed up. We left together but by then it was dark and everyone was drunk. We went about a ¼ mile and saw someone fall off of their motorcycle right next to us (FIY: people get annoyed if you ask if they’re ok) and someone almost hit me in their stupid truck. I mean, really almost hit me. So, we went back to my house and I played solitary until it was time to go to bed. What an eventful day.

9/23 Wednesday: Back to the grind but with a renewed attitude.
In a nutshell: Going home was great, so great I was thinking of finding a way to stay! But, not being able to think of one I have decided to put forth more effort during my time in the DR so I have it to be proud of when I’m done. Easier said than done.

I want to say thanks to BCHD again for my Christmas gift last year, I had been saving the foot mask and soak for a special day and today was that day. I boiled some water, put it in a bucket and enjoyed, thinking of you guys while I caught up on some celebrity gossip reading my US weekly magazines from home. Ahhhh, it was niiiiice:)

My trip home was FANTASTIC!!!! I LOVED it!!!!! It was AMAZING!!! WHOOT!!! I just wanted you all to know how I felt about it. Sum up: It was goooood:) I visited pretty much everyone I wanted to before going out there and ate all my favorite foods. I increased my tolerance to alcohol and cleaned my room (though not at the same time) Yep, it was a very eventful trip. My friend’s wedding was beautiful and I humiliated myself by crying very ungracefully in front of everyone at the church. I don’t know why I feel so strongly about it, but don’t you think weddings are such beautiful events? They’re so moving!

So, I got back to the DR on the 16th after 3 layovers and tearful goodbyes. Well, my first tears of the day began when the woman at the airport told me my bags were a total of 15 lbs over. “But… I’m leaving for the Peace Corps…” I whimpered. She grumbled an “ok” and something about how heavy bags means a passenger gets the boot off of the plane. What?! I was emotional and it was early ok?! Besides, this was AFTER they told me I would have to pay $50 for my bags and well, I don’t have that kind of money… I’m broke! I used the Peace Corps card again and got them on for free. (Which technically they are supposed to be free).

By the time I was in Charlotte, I was thinking of ways to stay in the US that wouldn’t shame me. I was thinking maybe I would try to break my foot… but I didn’t do it. I mean, I have to stay here and finish my service! After all, I was voted Most Likely to Quit by my fellow PCVs (only before they got to know me, of course) and I would be soooo disappointed with my service for my ENTIRE LIFE after this if I quit. I mean, what have I done really? An Escojo group, my own personal garden, a failed nutrition class, and nearly got 30 water filters. Wow. Impressive.

As I was contemplating all this, I realized that I am now half way through my service! And you know what? Things take time here, a LOT of time. Dude, I need to get on the ball. I have officially dropped nearly all shame of my Spanish (except when around someone who speaks both Spanish and English well… that’s why I didn’t say more than “muy bien” to you in Spanish Carmen!) I have all these very plausible ideas but the question is: how to get them from ideas to ACTION? Am I capable of planning so much? And planning it completely alone? I like working in groups, I’m better at it. But if my PC service is going to be something I can look back at and be proud of, I need to give it my all. Even if I don’t get any more projects done, I need to know I tried and put in all the effort I could. So, here I go, going to give it my all, try to maintain effort and push forward with as much persistence as I can muster for the next year or so. Wish me luck.

9/18: Where is my bag?
Today is a short entry, so sorry, no sum up Debbie:) I talked to someone at the airport this morning and she said they COULD deliver the bag to me, that she would give the driver my number and he would call me when he got lost- er, there. She said he should be here at 11. He showed up at 2:30. I supposed it wasn’t that far off. The bag, which is Rach’s, was ripped. She may kill me. Maybe not.

9/17 Thursday: Back in the DR, yuck.
In a nutshell: This one’s short enough, right?

Ok, so I’m sure that’s not the right attitude to have but that’s how I feel. Going home was great but leaving really sucked. It sucked so bad that it may have sucked more than going home was great! I realized when I was there how much it bites here. My attitude is bad. I feel depressed. Ugh. I wasn’t ready for this.

I’m sure this will pass as I am generally happy wherever I land. I also have some good things to look forward to. This weekend is Jess’s bachelorette party and I am 98% sure that will turn my nasty outlook right around. Also, my luggage was lost. Now you may see this as a bad thing but in reality I wasn’t sure how I was going to get my backpack and two suitcases up the mountain. I decided to go back to the campo today to get the hellos and all that over with. I don’t like a big deal but on the other hand, if they didn’t do anything I would feel bad too since that’s just their culture. So, the bags. One was lost. Ok, not lost but left in Miami. When the guy told me it would be at the airport the next night I asked him if they were going to compensate me for another night in Santiago and he told me that they would deliver it TO MY HOUSE!!! Yeah right, my house with no address? Ha! I told him I live in the campo and he said it didn’t matter. If it didn’t get lost again this could be a very good thing.

The next day (today) I called the airport when the plane got in and they said that they had the bad there and couldn’t deliver it to me since they needed an address. I was annoyed. I asked to talk to the manager and was told the manager would be in at 11:15 am the next day. Weird I know.


9/15 Tuesday: A sum up of my trip home
In a nutshell: I had a great trip home which included a trip to Chicago, a wedding, a visit to you all at BCHD, my dog rocks (yes, still), 10 days in NY state, corn picking with my nephews and niece, nearly didn’t get my computer repaired and returned to me in time, and loved being home:)

I didn’t realize how much I missed home until I went through customs. The guy stamped my passport and said welcome home. I just stared at him and suddenly I realized how happy I was. I just grinned big and said THANKS! I felt like a moron but I was soooo ecstatic! How great, I’m home!

I spent the 1st half of my trip in Illinois. The 1st two days were in Chicago with Lisa which were really fun. We went out my second night there, and to save money took a couple shots before we left. Ironically we took shots of the Dominican rum, Brugal, which Lisa bought while she was visiting me in the DR. So here I was in the great US of A, drinking Brugal. Ah, life.

On Saturday Becky’s fiancé came all the way to Chicago to pick me up. He was going to just go about an hour and a half away from his house to pick me up but I missed my train so he drove the entire way to Chicago!! It was nice to finally meet my best friend’s soon to be husband (the wedding was why I went home in September and not for Christmas). He is a great guy and I’m glad to see her so happy.

When I got to my Dad’s house finally I was nervous that my dog, Booker, wouldn’t remember me or would favor my Dad over me. When I walked in he barked like I was a stranger for about 3 seconds, paused and then realized it was me and began doing the “happy bark”. He stuck to me like glue and I loved it. In payment, I took him to the groomer. I’m sure he saw it as a treat as all dogs would, like going to the vet. When I had to leave the 6th to go to NY I cried. I love that dog.

One day during the week I went to the health dept where I used to work as Chief Inspector (ok, well… maybe I was an intern sometimes but, I was promoted! And then somehow was an intern again. Who does that anyway?) I loved seeing everyone and at first was a little apprehensive but my fears disappeared right when I walked in to Chris and Debbie. The people who work there are so marvelous and are great to work with or just plain be around.

That week I went to Becky’s bachelorette party and her wedding. Both were fun. The next Saturday, Karen threw me a party at her and my Uncle Greg’s place at Woodhaven Lakes. It was sooo great and the food was wonderful! I loved being able to see my family since I had to fly out the next morning for NY.

When I got to NY my mom and sister, Sarah, were waiting for me. We went out to eat and met up with my other sister, Rachael. Over the week I spent a lot of time with my nephews and niece. We went corn picking which was fun. I helped my mom with some job related stuff, went to Dave and Busters with Mom and Rach, and went running with Sarah. Sarah made me a ton of home made granola and some curtains to hang in my front windows so I actually have some privacy! There was a fiasco with a mystery computer sent to me at my mom’s house that turned out to my one of my PCV friends in the DR. I sent my computer in to be fixed and nearly didn’t get it back in time. (thanks again dad, I would have dropped dead I swear)

Overall, it was a lot of things; fun, sad, happy, depressing, relaxing, strange: complete. Even though I had been gone over a year it felt like I had just left for the weekend and was just going back to life. That’s how you know you have good friends and family. Thanks guys, you don’t know how much you mean to me.

8/24- 8/26: Celebrando el Cibao!!!
Finally, after all the preparation, it is time for camp!!! It was two days of sleepless chaos but I really enjoyed it. Since I am actually writing this afterwards and am a little lazy… I mean, busy I’ll give the highlights and that’s all.

Ernie was able to go. One of the CeC coordinators called me on Friday and asked if I had any extra stellar kids who deserved to go since a few spots opened. Sure Ernie went to the Escojo conference but none of the other kids in my group wanted to CeC and she is fantastic. She went and had an absolute blast. I was glad I brought her.

The place we stayed at had hot water. I feel like it was preparing me for my trip home:) It was hilarious when I told Vanji and Ernie there was hot water, they screamed! In the States it’s opposite: if you tell a teenager (or probably any aged person) that there WASN’T hot water they would scream! HA!

The charla went fantastic. I was really proud of the kids. They really nailed it and didn’t seem too nervous. A job well done. Also, I think they were really proud of our Italy presentation since we had faaar more than each of the other PCVs. Everyone called us overachievers but the truth is that we really didn’t have anything else to do in our Escojo meetings each week. Although it did get a little out of hand since the last week we were scrambling to get it done, meeting twice a day nearly each day. Whoops, my bad.

Wandi was a total flop. He completely embarrassed me. I had to tell all the other PCVs to watch out for him and cut him no slack because he was having such a crappy attitude. Long story short: by the last day I had it and wasn’t going to give him his T shirt that all the other kids get. I didn’t feel he earned it and his mind-set that he deserved it really made me peeved. I told him that if I had cell service I would have called his dad right then. When all the kids were wearing their shirts and he found out there was going to be a picture with everyone together wearing the shirts he was pleading to talk to me about it. I finally sat down with him and we talked about how he could have been better and not given in to peer pressure. After he apologized and promised to be better I gave him his shirt and he was able to take the picture with the group.

I am one of three coordinators for CeC’10. We took notes and made a reservation for the place for next year. Hopefully we can run it as smoothly as it seemed to be this year. I’m excited about it but also dreading the amount of unnecessary stress I know the Dominican culture is going to give me while we try to plan this. Ying and yang I suppose.

8/17 Monday: To Ane and Tim’s!! Nuts, do I have dengue???
This morning I woke up and felt significantly better but still really sore. I was a little worried I had dengue and so I called the PC doctor who told me I should go to the lab in Santiago to get tested. The thing was, I was already booked busy for the day: I had to get my act together because I had an Escojo meeting to lead in the morning and another meeting in the afternoon. I told the doctor that if I felt bad tomorrow still I would go then and she consented.

After that conversation, I went to my morning meeting, late since for some reason I thought they were meeting at my house, and tried to be enthusiastic. We’ve been preparing for our presentation at Celebrando el Cibao where Vanji and Wandi will be giving a charla on different ways rivers are easily contaminated and the group has also been working on the country we are supposed to represent: Italy. Wandi was mopping around at the meeting and when I asked what was wrong he told me he didn’t feel well, that he felt like he had a bone disease or something. I laughed out loud at the description since that’s exactly what I would have described how I felt. Apparently he was really sick the day before as well.

It didn’t help that we had to walk to Ane and Tim’s site to give our charla for practice that afternoon. Wandi objected but I pointed out that I felt sick too but I was still going. Also that Vanji, who had been trying to learn how to drive a motorcycle the weekend before and was tossed off and then somehow run over, was also walking with us. She wasn’t too happy about the idea of it but, I told them it was an obligation (our ONLY time to practice) and so we set off for our 4 mile round trip walk to Ane and Tim’s.

We were all very annoyed to find when we got there that the kids who were supposed to be there at 4 decided it would be a better idea to go to the river. They told Ane that they would be back around 4:30. I told Ane that it really didn’t matter to me if those kids were there or not, that we would wait 15 minutes and give the freaking presentation to her host mom if we had to. There is no reason to wait when those kids KNEW we would be there at 4. I am so glad the kids in my group aren’t buttheads like that.

We gave the charla and it went very well. The kids showed up at 4:30 and we made sure to point out that we walked 2 miles and yet still managed to get there on time, showing our annoyance. Hopefully those kids felt at least a little bad about it. I am sure that my kids will do great at Celebrando.

8/15-16 the Weekend: No dancing but Harry Potter!!!!
Well this weekend didn’t go how I thought it would, there was no pool and no dancing but there were brownies and Harry Potter. Here’s what happened; I went to Santiago on Saturday morning and met Kelly and some friends at a Chinese place for lunch (which was DELICIOUS!!) and then we went to this amazing little bakery place and each got something different to share. After that I went with one girl, Laura, to price out guitars. It was slow going because, as I found out, everything closes Saturday early afternoon and doesn’t open again till Monday. That would have been nice to know before lunch but hey, live and learn.

After not pricing out a single guitar but walking about 3 miles, we met up with Kelly and headed to Kelly’s house. We decided to watch a movie and I got so excited to see that Kelly had one of the Harry Potter movies!!!! She seemed equally excited that I was excited and she came up with the amazing idea that we would go to the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (that’s right, NUMBER 6!!!) the next day! We invited Rachelle but she doesn’t share our enthusiasm for Potter. Go figure.

Sunday Kelly and I woke up and went running. I forgot my running shoes so I borrowed Rachelle’s, thinking that it wouldn’t be an issue. Two miles later I was barefoot and walking back to Kelly’s with a large blister on my right foot, which is apparently larger than the left foot. Kelly and I planned on going to the pool this day but, after making fruit crepes for breakfast, we decided to take a nap. When we woke up it was Harry Potter time and so we headed to the theater. We had to go to two theaters but eventually we found one that had the movie, un-dubbed but with subtitles. It was extremely satisfying and wonderful.

That night, we picked Rachelle and her puppy up in the taxi we had to take home (thanks to public transport ending at 8 on Sundays, a fact we forgot) and headed back to Kelly’s. Kelly made brownies while Rachelle and I worked on a charla that we would have to give at Celebrando el Cibao. We went to bed around 12 and I thought I was going to pass out I was so tired.

The next morning I went to the artesian in Kelly’s site to pick out a few goodies for friends at home. I headed to Santiago to finish what I began on Sat and began pricing out guitars. As the day wore on, and I walked more and more, I began to feel really sore. I went to the hotel where they let me use the internet for free and sat down for a while. I thought that the longer I sat and took a load off, the better I would feel but instead I began feeling worse and worse. I decided to head home and forget the other things I was going to do in Santiago for the day. It was for the best anyways since Anna or Ann or whatever the name was of the storm was supposed to hit the DR. As a result I was supposed to be in my site at 3 pm, along with all the other PCVs in the country.

I got back to my site a little late, at 4 pm and went right to bed. I have never felt so crappy from a cold or whatever I had. And wouldn’t you know it, no one calls me for like three days and all of the sudden people can’t get enough of me! But I felt so awful that I literally had no energy to even sit up and answer the phone. After about 7 hours laying the in guest bed (so I would be hidden from view from any Dominicans who would want to stop by and say hello) I decided to suck it up and brush my teeth at least. I got ready for bed and tucked myself into my normal bed for the night.