Dengue Delirium

Hello all:)

Well, it's raining yet again, and I just heard that one of the girls from my group already got Dengue. She lives in my neighborhood so I know those little buggers are buzzing around close! I've heard that while the rain here is common it's pretty excessive lately. The Director said that last year there were just 2 hurricanes or whatever they're called but that this year in the two weeks we've been there there have already been like 6 or we're in line for 6. Jeesh! I'm supposed to go on a trip this week to visit a PCV waaaay up in Puerta Plata and they may not be letting us go. Noooo!!! I wanted to go to the bea- I mean I wanted to see what life was like for a PCV after graduation! We're just sitting around in the training office right now waiting for people to show up. A lot of people are late because when it rains the public transportation stops (seems weird since they get a lot of rain you'd think they'd be used to it but their drainage systems can't handle it) and plus a lot of people's families get kind of crazy about them leaving in the rain. They worry about us a lot. Oop, time to go. Talk to you all soon. Thanks for the comments:)

love
betsy

10 Facts

9/1/08

Well, now that I’m at home I thought of something else that happened I feel the need to share. Today in our medical lesson the country nurse, Jo, went over lots of interesting things. You all know how I just love nasty things so I can gross everyone out but this was something even I could have done without. Here are some facts which, against my will, are permanently burned into my memory and hopefully will be in yours as well:

1) Tarantulas can jump up to 6 feet.

a. NOTE: Although mosquito nets are somewhat complicated and annoying, I have to admit I am grateful for the protection they give me from these monsters- forget the mosquitoes. I keep having reoccurring daydreams/nightmares that I wake up to discover a nasty tarantula on my mosquito net but I guess that’s better than waking to one on my face- ok, that made me shiver.

2) There is a great variety of worms a person can acquire here. You can get them simply by putting your nails in your mouth if you have bad timing. Some worms can grow really long and some kinds come out as little white guys flailing around. Others, as Joe put it, may come out some of the way but then “could need some help with the rest of the travel” due to their length.

3) Worm eggs can be around a spot you don’t want to be scratching and you can’t even see them. You just itch.

a. NOTE: Thank you BCHD for the hand-sanitizer. I don’t want to think about this but if it could itch like those mosquito bites I had before I left…

4) We are so lucky here in the DR because we have the kind of Malaria that “generally doesn’t kill” (unless something ruptures)

5) Dengue is also known as “break bone fever” since it is so painful it seems as though every bone is broken. (For those of you who may not know, Dengue is also caused by a mosquito bite. These mosquitoes bit during the day and the malaria one’s at night so they’ve got it covered.)

6) 1/3 of volunteers here get Dengue. Bug spray is my new cell phone, always with me.

7) Soda is better to drink that water when you’ve got the runs. So is broth.

8) There is a kind of worm you can get that lives under your skin and eats your muscles. You can see them moving under your skin.

9) Don’t ever eat lettuce. It’s just as bad (or risky) as the water and like everything else it seems will give you diarrhea or worse.

10) I will never eat uncooked (deli meat) pork here- it’s a possible worm hang out hot spot.

So there you go 10 facts you could have lived without yet kept reading. Like a car wreck- awful but you just can’t turn away. If I get a worm, I may be coming home, not that it would help. It would be an uncomfortable plane ride that’s for sure!

Another interesting note, lots of people here are afraid of frogs. How weird is that?

beaches and peanut butter

Hey guys:)

I'm at the internet center here, paying for internet again. I was super happy when the training center got wi fi for free for us but today I went to use it and, like everyone else, found that it doesn't work very well at all. So, I'm going to make this short and sweet.

Yesterday I went to the beach. It was pretty sweet. I didn't spend even one peso!!! I got to go with my friend's family. We crammed like 14 of us into a van with no seats in the back and drove over an hour to the beach. Safety is a hug concern here you know. It's ok though, here they don't need seat belts because with so many people in one place, we can't move anyways!!

Well, thats it. Short and sweet like I promised. I'm tired and it's time for a siesta then homework and peanut butter and crackers for dinner. If I eat pb and crackers, drink juice and water and makes sure to keep up the sweets (my best job) then I should have the food pyramid or stairs or whatever covered right? Hope so!! Lol

love and miss you all!!

love
betsy

Rain and hurricanes and other things

Tuesday 8/26/08- Thursday 8/28

Today seemed like it would be an awesome sunny day until we started walking to class, then it began to downpour! We got soaked!! Thanks for the poncho guys at BCHD- it REALLY helped!!! My thighs to my feet got drenched though. Ah well. I was super lucky and a Dona gave me and some volunteers a lift but by that time we were already really wet. Still, it was waaaay better than walking the 30- 40 minutes to class!

When I arrived to the training center all the rain made me have to go to the bathroom. So, I did my business and was reaching around for the TP when I saw it. I had no idea what it was but it was NASTY!!! It was a big wormy thing that was like 5-7 inches long (hard to tell because it was winding on the ground like a river in the Earth… and I sure wasn’t going to touch it to stretch it out!!) and it had like a million legs. It was wiggling all around on its back, legs flailing and kicking- YUCK!! I screamed a little when I saw it (whoops) and then calmed down, stepped over it, and calmly washed my hands. As soon as I got out of there I began to yell to the director that there was something in the bathroom!!!! She cautiously walked to it and yelled for a national to come see what it was and to please take care of it. He came over saying it was a centipede and it was dead. Dead?! It soooooo was NOT dead!!! No esta muerta, esta vive!!!! I yelled over and over!!! He needed to know it wasn’t dead!! Danny took care of it for us this time, and next time I know (thanks to Richie) not to worry “because those things are clean. People eat them and everything”. Great, good to know.

Speaking of eating, dinner was a real treat. I was wined and dined to something interesting. I have no idea how its spelled but I know that it sounds kind of like magoo, a fitting name if you ask me. I came out of my room to be greeted by a steaming pile on my plate of yellow mush with half boiled eggs on top. Appetizing. Turns out the steaming yellow blob was boiled bananas all squished up. I had this thing where I was going to try really hard to eat whatever I could that was put in front of me until I wasn’t hungry anymore. Well, after just a short week in this country I am discovering that my little motto isn’t working too well for me as I am ALWAYS really hungry and other volunteers tell me that their Dona is talking about how I don’t eat enough!!!

Wednesday we all went to the capitol to test out using public transportation. Scaaaaaary!!! Not the getting around part but the psycho drivers!!! More than once I found myself holding my breath and realized it wasn’t due to the foul air but because I was braced for a crash!!! Anyways, I knew there was a McDonalds in the capitol and was REALLY looking forward to eating there!!!! Ah, I could taste the burger, the fries and the huge sweet tea. I was going to get a delicious hot fudge sundae and life was going to be good. One problem- I’m with a bunch of health nuts!!! No one wanted to go to McDs!! How depressing. I needed that Big Mac.

We went to this place that gave me diarrhea instead, what a trade off!! I learned an important lesson that day, never think because it looks like American food that it’s going to taste like American food. I got a hot dog, fries, an iced tea, and followed up with a soft serve cone. Where to start… the hot dog wasn’t too bad except that the meat was sweet and it weirded me out so much that I needed to wash it down with my tea but discovered quickly that the tea was not what I thought it to be, no me gusta. Ok, at least the fries were mediocre. I can deal with that, I can even learn to be happy with that and convince myself I loooove the fries. I was getting the hang of this whole the-food-seems-the-same-but-isn’t thing when I went up to get some ice cream. I got a twist although I really wanted a chocolate. Who knows how it would taste though so I played it safe and got half of each. Good thing too because the chocolate was frothy. Yuck, again. The theme of my life now!!!

I have hope still, I know we are going to the capitol Saturday and maybe tomorrow too, I’m not really ever sure what’s going on because all the directions are in Spanish. But I found out after asking a lot that there are a lot of other food places next to the McDonalds that taunted me as we drove by on the guaga. Including a sandwich shop- hold the lettuce please, a vegetarian place, and a chicken place among other things super close to the heavenly place I so desire. Its not that I’m craving it or anything, I’m just hungry and want something I can maybe trust to be familiar. I guess the longer it goes eluding me, the better it will taste when I get it, and that’s no joke!!

I’ve been hitting the comadas up for candy. Gotta eat something. Kenzie and I decided it was important to conduct a diagnostic of all 50 of the little stores in the barrio (I don’t know how many there are but there are a LOT) to see which have the best prices and stuff. It was a necessity after buying out the one on the corner of his Snickers Bars. I found peanut m & m’s today, yum!! (Makes me think of the Environmental people at BCHD, hi guys!!!:) I’m saving the treat for tomorrow. I’m hungry now and just “ate” about an hour ago. Thus, to sum it all up, I need another plan of attack for this food thing because I’m pretty sure I’ve already lost weight- at least that’s what my pants tell me. I can’t afford to buy more clothes!!

So, what’s my next plan you ask? As soon as I can figure out how to get there and back, I’m going to the big store which I have been told is similar to Walmart and has “everything”. Including peanut butter I bet!!! I’m lucky that my Dona is super cool and doesn’t care that I go there and get food but just in case I misunderstood I’m bringing my backpack and hiding the goods in my room when I get home. I plan on bringing my new found source of nourishment to CBT as well.

CBT, community based training, is FIVE WEEKS LONG!!! I just found that out today although I suppose I have had the information for a week now. I’m going to Las Tapas which is near Bani (which as I understand is super close to the beach:) The bad part? Well, I guess landlines are like nonexistent so that means no phone contact for those 5 weeks. I’ll be living with another host family (whom I will be hiding my food from in my locked suitcase until I feel them out) but most of my stuff will stay here in Los Cocos. I guess a lot of the people have cell phones but they may not be charged due to the sporadic electricity. So, my health leader told me I may be able to coordinate something through her cell phone but I feel kind of bad doing that. She said I’ll be able to get to a town to check my email and stuff once a week though so I can at least let everyone know I am alive!!!

After CBT I think I just have like a week or a week and a half of training left and then I’m booted out into the real world- aka another host family somewhere in the country (my site) to begin my community diagnostic. That’s to far off for me to worry about though. Right now I’m concerned about my PCV visit to waaaaay up north in Puerta Plata on Thursday and also with how I’m going to get to the store to get pb. I tried to plan to go today but my plans were foiled.

Well, this is one long and rambling blog. I’d really like it if you guys left me some feedback so I knew who was reading this!! Thanks to Rach, Mom and the Harnisch herd lately:) It’s been pretty smooth going so far, I’ve even learned to appreciate my bucket baths!! Maybe I’ll appreciate the food one day…

Love and miss the food so much… and you guys too of course,

Betsy

PS: Thanks for all your comments Harnisch herd!! How’s school going for you? Good I hope!! Wish I was there to go school clothes shopping with you!!

PPS: This is so random but I was thinking that just four years ago Rach and I were wandering around Kish (the college, not the hospital) to find where we could register to vote!! It was my first time voting with Rach later:) My, how things change in just 4 years!! I’ve lived in 6 places since then, graduated school and live in a whole different country where there’s no running water, and a foreign language so I don’t know what people are saying hardly ever! Imagine what’s going to have changed by the time I get back. It makes me sad to miss so many changes of so many people close to me but I’m trying to accept it. I know I’m going to change a lot too, maybe I’ll like mushy boiled bananas when I get back!! Hahahaha, no.

8/25 Monday

Hello all:) Today was not my day. I woke up feeling ok but before breakfast even I was not too well. I wanted to get out of the house and to the training site because there is no running water here and I have never flushed the toilet!! This sounds weird but they all just pee in it and then when it starts to fill up someone flushes it by holding a bucket of water really high and dumping it in. Theoretically the stuff is supposed to go down but I just don’t trust that method yet. The bathroom never never smells though, I have no idea what my Dona Carmen does to keep it that way. I think they mop every day but I don’t know besides that. We are not allowed to flush our paper anywhere so far. There aren’t the best pipes here and so we have to put our paper in the trash. Which again you would think would smell but not in my Dona’s casa!! Lol.

So, for my breakfast I was served a salami sandwich and mango juice- both of which I would have enjoyed but nooooo, I couldn’t bring myself to touch food!! I walked to training with the others and had to stop off of the road to vomitar. Awesome. Two more times at the site and I was good as gold. I’m not sure why this happened, but I have my theories.

A little bit after training began the weather person but a thing up telling us there was a storm (tormenta) on the way. Turns out its like 5 miles too slow to be a hurricane but it’s a depression. Well, they call then cyclones here anyways. But there are tin roofs here and it was soooo loud we couldn’t hear each other. So we packed into a room and waited.

It’s a bummer because today we were supposed to learn how to take public transportation but the streets flooded and we weren’t allowed to go out in the storm anyways. All PCT/Vs (PC trainees and volunteers) were played under homestead, meaning they weren’t supposed to go more than 5 minutes from their houses. It’s not good we didn’t get to practice though because we have a field trip to Santo Domingo Wednesday and need to know what to do. I’m not too worried about that since I’m sure someone will know what to do but next Thursday we have to travel alone to a PCV site!! That’s a little nerve racking!! By the way, I plan on taking my air mattress Uncle Greg and Karen so thanks so much!!

Today we were told how we did in our Spanish interviews. There was a level system used I guess and we have to get to level 5 by the end of the ten weeks. I’m in level 3. There are two other level threes and 7 people lower than that. That means that out of 51 people, I’m at the same level or less than 16 others. Doesn’t sound so good but it actually makes me feel better. I was afraid I would be in the lowest group. Another cool thing about my 4 person group is that they all live in my barrio now, Los Cocos, cute name- I know:) One girl lived in another place but I guess some in-law or something was being inappropriate so they moved her today. It’s pretty neat, the PC staff goes into the house and packs all her stuff for her so she doesn’t have to go back at all. Then they moved it to her new place, in my neighborhood! I would be worried they would forget something but she didn’t seem concerned so maybe she never unpacked like a lot of volunteers.

One good thing that happened today, well one GREA T thing- I was talking with the girls in my Spanish class and they told me they think the tienda on the corner sells sweets. So, first thing we did when we got home was investigate and sure enough, they had Snickers!!! I got one for 25 pesos (I’ve already come to the conclusion I’m going to have to dip into the pesos Lisa gave me- thanks Lis:) as well as some chocolate wafers and a donut. The donut I enjoyed right away since I didn’t eat lunch or breakfast. The Snickers bar I just ate and the wafers… who knows how long they’re safe for!! Lol

As far as getting home goes, PC didn’t want us walking (even though today was supposed to be our first day walking without a family member with us) so they got a bus to pick us all up and take up to our doors practically. It was really nice, they dropped me, Jessica and Kenzie off right in front of their houses and the store!! Those little stores are all over! I also found out today that there is a place with internet somewhere in my barrio. A volunteer went there with his Don. That would be better than trying to walk an hour and a half to one.

Well, I think that’s it for now. I love you all lots and miss you. I miss being able to flush paper and miss warm water but it’s really not bad here at all. A PCV talked to our group today and she said she requested electricity and running water for her site placement and she got it. Awesome!! I’m trying to get my hands on some stamps but they cost more than my daily allowance so I’m not sure how many I’ll get but I’ll try to send some letters. Hope to hear from you all soon!!

Love,

Betsy

PS: When I heard the name of the Hurricane I thought of you Mary Alice!! Hahaha!

In Country (finally)

This is Lewe (I think) He's the nice guy who lead us around. Its so nice how protective he is of the Americanas:)














Here are my two sisters and the past trainee Stephanie. The other is of my Dona and Don and their doggies:)


Hola! Buenas Dias!!

I've been saying that a LOT lately!! I realized that my espanol is NOT very good, actually I knew that but I found out its a LOT worse that I had thought. Ah well, my host mother (or Dona- say Do ya (long o)) seems to think that despite the fact that I am the worst shes had in her house when it comes to speaking spanish that I will pick it up in a week!! At least she must think that I am smart:)

I really love my host family. I was so nervous but they are soooo nice! There are three sisters and then Fransisco and Carmen. The girls are 12, 14 and 16 and the youngest is severally mentally disabled. My Dona takes the best care of her though, its refreshing.

I will be with my host fam for 3 weeks and then I go to CBT or Community Based Training out in Bani and a director was just telling us that there is a big drug problem in this country and decided to use Bani as a great example. I guess last week they found 7 or 8 dead bodies in the ditch due to drug dealers. Great.

My host family's house is NOT what I expected. It is pretty run down on the outside and is in a barrio (as opposed to a residencia) I guess a residencia is nice and more quiet. Thats the truth. I had to walk about 45 minutes to get to this internet cafe and its in a residencia. They're more tame. My group and I would have never gotten here if it weren't for Kenzie's Don. He happened to be walking in front of us when we walking here and he lead us all over the neighborhood ( a freaking maze!!!) and to this place. We would have never found it, we thought that it was in a different place all together!!!

Today a volunteer from the city came to visit our group in our training center. It was really lucky because she had lived in my house when she was in training. She came to my house after and translated for me for an hour. I learned a LOT about my family its nice to know how they are with things like church (they don't go but I'm happy bc its catholic and like 4 hours long) or how they feel about me staying in my room with my door open... I don't want to seem snotty and antisocial not being in the living room. The house is really small so if any of you want to call me I'll have to be in the girl's bedroom to talk. My Dona told me I could use the phone so feel free tot call after like 6 eastern time but before 9. I'll give my mom my number.

Theres a lot more I'd like to say but there are 5 other volunteers waiting to use the computer. It costs 25 pesos/hr to use it here which is a lot since I just get 40 pesos/weekday starting Monday (although they gave it to us already). I'm going to try to post a bunch of pics on myspace so if you have it check it. Love you guys lots and miss you tons!!!

love

Betsy

Staging

8/21/08

Well, I’m sitting in the airport in Miami now, waiting to go to the DR. I found out that we will be going to a retreat tonight and then to our host families on Friday after training. A retreat sounds nice right? Not this time! We’re going to get some vaccines and take competency exams to see where we rate in different criteria. Great. It’s not all bad though because I think (but could be wrong) that we are staying in a hotel which could be a nice thing.

The hotel we stayed at in Miami was nice:) I never got to go swimming because it was way too busy. I got in at 1:30 on Tuesday and was in training until 6:30 then it was time for a shower and dinner. After that I was on the phone till late. The next day were wee up at 7 and were lucky enough to get done with staging early at 4:30 but we had to repack and iron clothes (I guess in the DR they’re really big on appearances). I was on the phone till 1:30 this morning and woke nice and early at 5:30 (thanks for the call Rach:) and headed to the airport.

We all thought that it was a little excessive getting to the airport at 7:30 when our flight didn’t leave until 12 but whatever. At least we’re not hurried and we all made it to the flight:) When we get in the DR the head guy, Romeo Massey will meet us and our bags will be taken to our host families while we will go to the retreat. So my carry on bag is heavy since if has to have all the stuff for the retreat.

I learned a lot yesterday in staging such as how we will not be in the capitol during training, we’ll be in a town that starts with a p and is about an hour NW of Santo Domingo. I’ll still be able to get mail and stuff about 2x/week when I’m at the training center. After 3 weeks in the p town I’ll go to my CBT or community based training where I’ll be with all the other health sector volunteers. I found out that we get to go to a town called Bani (accent on the I- I don’t know how to do it on my computer) that’s right along the coast line:) SWEET!!! :) Some others are going to a “luscious, fertile valley” that is full of strawberries and also lots of beautiful flowers that are often exported. The beach sounds great but so do strawberries!!

I also found out that we will be soo busy during training. I knew we would be but dang!! We have stuff from 8am till 6 and then meeting and stuff after that even! During training we will be given a walk around allowance which is a lot less than what we will get when training ends. They give us less because we don’t have to pay for food or anything. We’re all hoping it was a typo but some paper we got stated that we were going to be given just 45 pesos/day!!!!!! That’s like a freaking buck 25!!! So much for slow adjustment!! Lol

So, those are the updates for now:) I hope I answered any questions and I look forward to letters from you all!! Even though it still feels like I’m just on a vacation I miss you all very much! I don’t know when I’ll be able to write again so I wanted to tell Gracie HAPPY 6^th BIRTHDAY!! I hope you have a great day and I’ll be thinking of you:) Thanks for the phone call at my hotel Harnisch Herd, I can’t wait to get the 116 letters from Gabe and Isaiah, lol!

Love,

Betsy

8/19/08

Well it has certainly been a busy and loooong day. I woke up at 4 am to catch my flight out of O’ Hare at 8:35. I wanted to get some breakfast with my mom, Rach and John before I had to leave. We went to the oasis and had some McD’s which was delicious. When they were about to drop me off at the airport terminal Rach decided at the last second that she was going to park and we were going to walk together to the airport which was nice:) She surprised me and brought Toffee, the new kitten which I fell in love with before I left. So, Toffee and Booker stayed in the car and the rest of us walked inside. I checked my bags and we had about an hour to kill so we hung out on some benches. Then a lady tried to trick us into moving so she could sit there but we held firm. Wheelchair waiting area my…

Anyways, it was hard to leave everyone but impossible to say goodbye. I really mean impossible!! None of us said those words, I know I personally couldn’t. As soon as I walked to security I was a mess. The morning consisted of a very red and puffy Betsy and got worse and worse till I got to Miami. Then the terror of flying through a tropical storm called my attention away for a while.

After I landed I relied on my training from the health department to inspect a piece of paper over a random persons shoulder to discover the words DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. I knew that there were other volunteers on the plane so I asked her if she was a PCV and she was! So we hopped on a super taxi and headed for our hotel together.

One we got to the hotel we noticed that there was an awful lot of baggage in the lobby. We went to check in and were told that the storm had knocked out power so they couldn’t check us in since their computers weren’t working. They told us that they would be more that happy to take our bags though and that we could head up to our meeting if we want. Sounded good enough until we found out the meeting was on the top floor and the elevators weren’t working.

20 flights of stairs and no air conditioning later, my volunteer friend and a very sweaty Betsy got in line to fill out forms. We were in line for about 30 minutes but were still dripping sweat when they lined us up and took our picture like 3 feet from our faces! That’s a picture I don’t want to see…

The first day of training was a lot like CA training but better. It went over important issues but was sooooo much straight forward than CA training that it went quickly. One thing we did was go over our fears and goals. I was really relieved to find that everyone pretty much has the same anxieties as I do. The main thing I’m afraid of it living with the host family. It seriously freaks me out even though I know I’m over reacting. Even if they are awful, its just for 10 weeks and then its off to my site with another family for 3 months.

Well, that’s all for now:) I’ll try to write more later. I hope you all are well and I miss you all sooooo much!!!

Love,

Betsy

My last day at work was bitter-sweet and chocolaty

Today was a very surprising day and warm ‘n fuzzy kind of day. I went into my last day of work at the Boone County Health Department full of mixed emotions. On one hand it was nice to be gearing up for the Peace Corps (I leave in just SIX days!!!) but on the other hand I hate saying goodbye. I have to admit that I had wondered if there was something the scheming women and Bill had in mind since I know how they seem to generally plan things. When I came into work and there was no sign or anything up on my desk I figured that no plans had been made, which was ok since I was feeling a little down about the whole thing.

Around 11:15 or so I went to the break room to get some lunch, a tasty freezer burned peanut butter sandwich (which Bill so graciously helped me thaw) and noticed a bunch of ice cream in the freezer. I asked Bill what the ice cream was for and he nonchalantly responded, “I don’t know. Must be something the nurses are doing.” Hmm, ok then. Without suspicion I returned to my desk.

At about 11:30 Bill called me into his office to have my exit interview. We had just begun when the phone rang and Bill said I had to go with him to the back to see what they had just caught. Just caught, YUCK! I was thinking that was kind of nasty since I was just in back eating but nastier things have happened. When we were walking to the break room I noticed no one was at their desks and figured they were all looking at whatever was in the break room. To my horror when I rounded the corner I heard someone say they caught a bat!

I looked in the room and saw everyone and a large gold gift bag with tissue paper on the table. THEY PUT THE BAT IN THE GIFT BAG?!?! Then I saw all the ice cream treats on the counter and noticed that everyone looked pretty dang happy for just catching a bat. Ohhh…. I finally started to catch on. This was a surprise for me! How nice!!! They were so thoughtful to put together a bag of goodies of things I may need like bug spray, anti itch spray, toilet paper, and baby wipes (to clean the “stinky areas” after no shower”). I’m not sure what all I’ll need but I know that the things in that bag could come in handy!! They gave me a really great card too.

After we all enjoyed a little ice cream… ok, a lot of ice cream, it was back to work. But what a great day it became. Since I started this job more than a year ago I have gotten fleas, been chased by a LOT of dogs, lied too, yelled at and stepped in more piles of poop than I care to reminisce- this is my favorite job ever!:) Thanks everyone, it really means a lot:)!!!