A month of productivness but still don't feel very fulfilled.

1/10 Sunday: Feeling much better and visiting my peeps
In a nutshell: Today I feel pretty good. I was given a hose for free so I was able to fill my water tank and not have to ask Mercedes for the hose. I visited some friends and wrote a report for PC, I even nearly caught up writing my blog!

I had a gift exchange with the woman who I know has been stealing my clothing from Mingas house. I had to have it; I was signed up for the gift exchange though the Club de Madres and we happened to get each others names. Strangely I didn’t think about how she steals from me, I just wanted her to like her gift. When the gift flopped, I gave her some ugly jewelry I knew she would love (and she did) and I was super pleased with myself for fixing the failed gift. Afterwards I realized how weird the whole thing was.

I decided I am being silly about my problems and if old methods aren’t working then I of course need to reevaluate my course of action and react accordingly. Thus, I am going to write Mercedes a Thank you card for the Christmas dinner and to get her and Ernesto a little gift with the secret vendetta of not being weird between us after.

I just arrived home last night and I already have to leave again tomorrow for Santiago as I promised to help a desperate friend out with a med mission. So, I’m all packed and ready to head out again but this time in a much better frame of mind. I don’t feel like my old self still but considerably better now.

The Real Blog: I got home late last night (well, campo late so around 8 pm) and was relieved to find that I still had water in my tinaco. I was super worried about that since Mercedes was rude to me last time I needed the hose and didn’t want to have to ask her for it again. Not to mention who knows when there will be water in the tap. Well, I was super worried last Monday and Tuesday… but as the days wore on in the mansion I found myself strangely less worried about anything in life:)

I woke up today and went for a really slow but super satisfying run and on the way back stopped to talk to one of my favorite people, Juana, about her water filter which is still at the disco. I’m guessing Tono, the disco owner, is probably kind of mad at me for the filters being at his business for so long and I feel bad about it. I was going to go and visit him today but never got around to it. I visited Juana, who always makes me feel fantastic about life. She’s probably in her 50’s, very round, and the sweetest lady EVER. It was her house I went to during Easter to load up on sweet beans because I knew I would hit the jackpot there, and I did- yum! (who knew I had a bean allergy?!)

Anyways, we hung out for a good hour and then I was off to Minga’s house. I sat and talked with Minga, then the women who sells lottery numbers (but who’s name I never remember. Its not that I don’t know her; I can tell you this, she lives in the house that never visit because she’s never there and it’s a super steep hill and lets face it, I’m a bit lazy for that type of gamble.), and then I visited with Margara- Mingas daughter. I also stopped and talked to Daniel and Ciero along the way. I was at Minga’s house for about 2 hours just hanging out and mentioned how I needed a hose but was worried about the cost as I also wanted to buy a large bucket (more like a trash can to put water in for when the tank is empty) and that would take like half of the money I have left for the month. It turns out; Minga had a little piece of hose this whole time!! So she gave it to me and now I don’t have to ask Mercedes to borrow hers!!!!! Life is getting better and better!!! I ended up telling Margara how I had been really sad lately because of the whole thing of people stealing from me (I left out the whole Mercedes thing as I avoid gossip at all costs) and Margara made me feel sooooo much better. I don’t know why I don’t visit people more!!

Something weird happened today: There was a gift exchange at the Women’s Club on Monday but I wasn’t here. Pimbi (the women who most definitely stole my clothing from Minga’s house) ended up being my exchange partner. She practically stalked me today trying to give me my gift and get hers, which I understand I guess since the exchange was nearly a week ago. When I bought the gift I thought I would spend a little extra on an American gift and I got her some incenses. I showed her how to use them and it was obvious she was not impressed; despite her fake telling me she liked it. I panicked, how could she not like my gift?! After she got me a necklace, two pairs of earrings, bracelets and even wrapped in then suck them in a gift bag?! And I didn’t even have time to wrap hers yet (in my defense, I was going to wrap it but I didn’t know she was going to show up at my door and then insist I didn’t have to wrap it). Not to mention I bought the gift, then thought there wasn’t going to be an exchange so I opened it and used one. Ok, so the gift flopped. She left it at my house for a minute while she ran up to say something to Mercedes and I came up with Plan B: I went into the bag of super ugly jewelry I have that I was going to put in the free box at the office and I picked out a yellow necklace with matching earrings. She loved it. Success. Redemption. In reflection, I realize this was weird since she is the woman who steals from me. But, maybe she won’t steal from me now. Who knows?

And I have come to a great solution as to what I should do about my neighbors. I am pretty sure I wasn’t imagining things about Ernesto being mad at me too since today he didn’t come by my house even once (After Minga’s it was time to prioritize so I went home, showered, took a nap, painted my nails, swept and THEN opened my door and was home the rest of the day working on a report for Peace Corps. Point is, he totally could have come over from 3pm on). Now our relationship is just this awkward thing and I find myself avoiding the house at all costs and I’m wondering if they’re doing the same thing. I’m still not sure why Mercedes is mad at me. On a possible separate note, I’m pretty sure she never even talked to Geraldo about stealing my 50 pesos because she also said she’d pay me back and never did. (yum, I just got a craving for Portillos… ah the States.)

Anyways, my great solution. It’s very simple and I feel stupid for not doing it sooner. I am going to write her a Thank You card for Christmas dinner and maybe get her and Ernesto a little Christmas gift too! Well, I’m giving Ernesto a flashlight I brought back from the States (people just kept giving me flashlights!) and for Mercedes I have a cheapy ring in mind I’m going to get her from Santiago. Maybe we’ll get matching ones. It doesn’t count as buying someone off if it’s a Christmas gift. And I think maybe she’s feeling underappreciated? Who knows but I’m fairly sure this will work and take away the weirdness between us, at least until the next thing. I used the “kill em with kindness” method on Bertico, a motorcycle driver who was pissed at me because I hadn’t gone with him on his bike for a while. Every time I see him I wave and act all excited, to which he ignores me. Until today. Today he finally smiled and said hi. Victory, ha! I can do this.

1/2- 1/9 Monday- Saturday: Staying in a mansion.
In a nutshell: Madeline, a PCT who was in our group was kicked out back in CBT. I didn’t know her really well as she was a youth PCV but she seemed really cool. Well, she came back with her family to visit and they rented out this sweet estate in Cabrera (which conveniently is close to Cabarete, where I spent New Years) that has… are you ready for this? It has: a pool table, hot showers, laundry service (with a dryer!), a pool, a hot tub (with HOT water!!!!), we each got our own room with attached FULL bathroom, it has its own private beach, tennis courts, bicycles, horse back riding, maid service, a chef, an open bar, cable, wireless internet, diet coke, a microwave, two dogs that are clean and let you cuddle and kiss them, couches… and I got to stay there from Monday afternoon to Saturday afternoon!!! It was AMAZING!!! And I was even productive as I updated my resume and wrote a cover letter:) It was fantastic and made me feel much more ready to face my site.

12/31 Thursday: Happy New Years Eve, to Cabarete!
In a nutshell: After basically locking myself in my house since last Saturday, I am finally leaving. You may think it is incredibly pathetic that I locked myself in my house for the last 5 days, not even being able to cry despite how awful I felt… wait that is incredibly pathetic. But, keep in mind that this happens at least once for varying amounts of time to pretty much all PCVs. I’m lucky that today I was able to leave and go hang out on a beautiful beach with other PCVs and hopefully put an end to this sadness.

This New Years was so much calmer than last year; it doesn’t compare. Sure the trip there was interesting with issues getting out of my site (my motorcycle driver went MIA, I suddenly had to check/plant the seeds for a garden before I could leave, the free ride I got broke down on the way down the mountain… but I did eventually get to the beach) I had a really fun, really chill NYE. Calm meaning I didn’t even have one swig of a celebratory alcoholic beverage. My mom would be proud. As I said, I was sick on Christmas Eve and on New Years Eve I was mildly sick as well. I wonder if I had an amoeba since those are cyclical. Well, either way I didn’t feel my best and wasn’t in the mood for a repeat of last year. Strangely the few from my group that were there were really chill as well.

Seeing as NYE here was old news, I don’t feel like I have much to write about so I suppose that is all. I had a great time and I don’t think any NYE can really compete with one surrounded by great friends and being warm on a beautiful beach while watching fireworks. The only thing I would change about it would be to have someone counting down but that’s for another year I suppose:) I was satisfied.

12/26 Saturday: Staying in my house
In a nutshell: I feel like the Giving Tree.
The Real Blog: I was super singey with my guests and highly monitored their water usage while they were here. Then, to make it worse, the colmado ran out of bottled water so if we ran out of water in my tank we couldn’t even use filtered, purchased water! I was stressed. As I waved goodbye to my last guest, I went and checked the water tap again just to see and there was water!! I was so happy so I went to Mercedes’ house and asked to borrow a hose. I kind of was thinking that she had been acting cold to me since before Christmas but this confirmed it. She didn’t look at me and she just stated, “The hose is in use.” I was freaking out inside. The water is only available for about an hour and I didn’t know when that hour began! As she told me that, thank goodness Ernesto heard her and told her to give me the other hose. After all, they have two hoses but only one water tap to fill stuff. I was relieved but when Ernesto came over I was totally getting a bad vibe from him too!

That did it. I had it. I felt so awkward, I wished I could crawl into a hole or dissolve so I didn’t take up any space. I filled my tank and went into my house, shutting the door behind me. I am so tired. Why does Mercedes always have something to be angry about with me? The thing that sucks is I worked my butt off this month. It was definitely my busiest month in service. And I got things for the community; we have gardens, we have filters. It just shows me again that no matter how much I work, no matter how much I do, it’s not enough. I understand you can’t please everyone but is anyone satisfied? Part of it is that Mercedes and her family got along with Kevin great. Mainly, Ernesto and Kevin worked together a lot. They became good friends and by association then, Mercedes was very accepting of Kevin. Ernesto is never here and so we never even talk let alone work together. I must offend Mercedes and so she doesn’t take to me.

Besides stupid Geraldo stealing from me again (and thus the exhaustion of feeling like I need to be on my toes with my house all the time), and the woman stealing my clothing I feel like the freaking Giving Tree. A book I have never liked due to its injustice. I did not join PC to be a martyr and I feel like my spirit is being slowly stomped out. I feel worse than I have ever felt in my life. It’s not a one time sad feeling, it’s not a deep sadness like when someone dies, it’s a not good enough no matter what and yet I’m still supposed to be here offering more to my community type of feeling. I’m so tired of it. I don’t even know what to do. It shouldn’t be like this. I just feel so heavy and I’m counting the months until October right now. 10.

12/25 Friday: Christmas in the DR
In a nutshell: The PCVs came to my house and we had a great time. There were 8 of us in all. We hung out at my house the whole time and I had to start nagging them to stop treating me like the doña and try to persuade them to help out a bit. It turns out Wandi is a stalker. He went though my phone at some point, saw that one of my friends texts me a lot, looked up his number and actually called him last night to inquire as to why he texts me so much. I am in shock that he did that. The PCVs and I had a gift exchange which was a hit and then we went to three discos before finding one that was satisfactory but not stellar. All in all, it was a strange Christmas.

The Real Blog: Today we didn’t do much. We woke up, said Merry Christmas, and hung out in the house pretty much. We made pasta for lunch and continued to just sit and talk. PCVs are so boring! Just kidding:) I was getting all pissy with them though because I kept telling them I was not their doña as they didn’t ever even put their dirty dishes in the bucket outside for washing nor did most of them wash a single plate while they were here or help make any food! Which that may make me sound like a rude hostess but that’s what PCVs generally do when they’re with other PCVs, they all pitch in. Things aren’t as easy or as quick as in the States and so it’s too much for one person. But instead of helping, I was seriously like the freaking doña and I was going to kill them. Although part of me thought it was funny. We are all so Dominican now!

So, as I was washing dishes for the 50th time, my friend Roberto, calls me. He’s an Information Technology PCV in a town relatively close to me, in Dajabon. We just met in October but and have been texting and talking fairly regularly since. Well, he calls me and tells me in so many words that last night he got a phone call from a private number who didn’t want to give his name. The guy was asking Roberto why he was sending so many messages to Elisabet. Roberto was thinking of all the students in his classes and came to the conclusion that he didn’t even know an Elisabet, to which the guy argued that yes he did and why was he texting her so much? They hung up and then Roberto remembered that I have everyone call me Elisabet. So, I of course know that it had to have been Wandi.

We were at the disco last Sunday and he finally was being normal with me (he’s been ignoring me since the start of Dec pretty much) but then immediately escalated to him being obnoxious, trying to get me to date him. And it’s not just him saying stuff to me, it’s him trying to do weird stuff like smell my hair, pet my face, or sit really close. Newsflash: if I can smell your breath when you’re talking, you need to back off. That is NOT attractive, gross. And I’m not a dog, don’t pet me or sniff me, freak. So, I decide to do the usual, telling him that I’m not interested, my cat is more mature than he is, we will never date, blah blah blah… but he’s so used to it doesn’t faze him. I feel like the teacher in Charlie Brown for crying out loud!

Recognizing that I need to do something drastic, I tell him that I am interested in someone else: something I have never told him before. That had some results. This time he got all annoyed and said he knew who it was: Roberto. I was surprised Roberto’s name even came to his mind since I have never talked about Roberto, Roberto has never visited, I haven’t even had a conversation with Roberto in front of Wandi, where on Earth did he get that name? So I said, “Yep, that’s him.” Later I told Ali about this and she was adamant that Wandi had gone into my phone and come to that conclusion after seening that I have texts from Roberto but I blew it off telling her, “Oh come on, who actually does that?” Well, seeing as Wandi somehow magically got Roberto’s number, whether he wrote it down at some point or memorized it who knows, but I think its safe to safe: Wandi went through my phone.

I was so shocked! No one has ever done that to be before! And I let people play games on my phone all the time, its all in English and I didn’t think someone would go stealing numbers and calling people. When I got the phone call Wandi was at my house. I turned around and must have given him a death stare because before got off of the phone with Roberto, Wandi was gone.

After all that drama, we had our gift exchange which was really fun, during which Wandi called me non stop from someone’s phone. I ignored the calls and eventually had to shut my phone off. For the gift exchange we were supposed to get either something really cool or really stupid but we weren’t supposed to spend more than $150 pesos ($4) I received a pair of used scrub pants. I gave a really stupid doll. It was a fair exchange, hehe.

Then we went with Ernesto to the disco. But it was full. It was too full, there were no tables! And as Dominicans, we could not stand. So we walked up to the other one but it was closed. So we went to the intersection of the communities about 1.5 miles away and it was open. I really like that one but oddly it was dead, which made it kind of boring. So, we stayed for about an hour and then we left. We went home and went to bed.

It’s safe to say that was the weirdest Christmas I have ever had. I remember last year thinking how weird it was that people DRINK on Christmas and this year I was like, are we ready? Who’s buying the 1st round?! Hahaha, my how things change in a year! Last year I used to have to “chase” each forced sip of beer with a chip or something and now I don’t mind it. I wouldn’t buy a beer still but I can drink one. See, I’m culturally assimilated!

12/24 Thursday: Merry Christmas Eve!!
In a nutshell: I baked all day long and enjoyed it but I am never doing that again. I could only bake 9 cookies at a time and I made like 7 different types of cookies. The peppermint brownies were delicious. My friends showed up around 6 and we headed to Ernesto’s to eat with them. It turns out, they already ate. They must not have understood I thought we were going to eat TOGETHER, thus the exchange of food. Instead it was awkward because we show up and they had set the table just for us and sat there and watched us eat our food. Well, I had not been feeling well at all. And my friend Jay didn’t eat much because he had Guardia. I was personally feeling as though something was going to happen… something between vomiting and some action from the other end. I loaded my plate up despite this feeling and just sat and stared at it. I wanted to eat it so bad. After all, I heard these pigs die, the least I could do was not let it go to waste. But I had to make a bolt for it. I went to my bathroom for about 15 uneventful minutes and when I went back to Mercedes house; my friends had finished and were on their way back. I said a thank you to Mercedes and she seemed agitated with me telling me I didn’t eat anything. I felt bad. I went home and went to bed.

12/23 Wednesday: YAY!
The Real Blog: Today was a pretty good day. The highlight? Was it getting my nails painted in effort to stay in Navarrete so I didn’t have to hear everyone and their mother killing a pig in my community? Nope. I still had to hear 3 pigs die. And the chick at the nail place didn’t understand a word I was saying and painted my nails like a freaking 12 year old. Was it watching in amusement as people chased the truck with the politician though the street because s/he was throwing money into the streets shouting, “VOTE FOR ME, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!” ? Nope. Was it the fact that I baked some spice cookies and people LOVED them? One guy even told me I’m finally good for something, what a compliment! Amazingly, no. Those were not the highlight of my day. Although, those cookies were very delicious. The best thing happened today: I went to town and I purchased an economy sized refrigerator for $207 USD. I HAVE REFRIGERATION IN MY HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!! The last time I had a fridge in the house where I was living (that worked) was 14 months ago. Why did I suffer so long?! I put the cookie dough in the fridge to chill and it actually came out cold!!! AMAZING!!!

12/21 Monday: Llegaron los filtros. (The filters arrived!)
In a nutshell: For those of you who received a Christmas card from me, congratulations. Remember the part in the letter where I said I had a water filter project that I was happy for but would be even happier when it was over? (Some of you I felt it inappropriate to solicit, in which case you didn’t get the letter or some of you I included a hand written a letter in which case I don’t remember if I talked about my filter project) Today cemented that statement. The filters arrived today but not after problem after problem. None of these got me down though, I was so happy to have another tangible project that it didn’t matter that the truck broke down a few times, got stuck in the mud 3 times, backed into a mango tree and was so wedged that we had to axe some of the roots off, and that the driver (who was sick of the mud and the rain… did I mention it had been raining all day long?) decided he wasn’t going to bring the rest of the filters to each house because he wanted to get going so he left them at the disco. But, at the end of the day, I was tired, wet and a little sore but extremely happy. It was a LOT of work but we have our filters. Now all I have to do is install them all. That can wait until after Christmas.

12/ 20 Sunday: Escojo Graduation
In a nutshell: The graduation went well. I found out that Ernesto was planning on having that Escojo conference the next day; the same day the water filters were supposed to arrive. He failed to tell me that this was happening the same day but on the other hand, I’m not sure if I told him that the filters were going to be delivered that day. Then, after the graduation Josue- a guy from SD who works extensively with Escojo showed up and Ernesto was in Navarrete so I hung out with Josue until Ernesto arrived. He’s a really cool person but I was itching to leave since I wanted to run and had already been there for a few hours. When Ernesto got there, I left to go for a run and everyone tried to convince me to stay, telling me I didn’t need to go for a run… apparently I look great. I know better though; the real reason is that they wanted me to stay and take pictures. People must think I am super amazing and can read minds since no one ever asked me to do this. I asked the coach when the ceremony was going to start and he said not for another 45- 60 minutes. So, I ran and hurried to get back before the ceremony but they finished before I returned about 45 minutes later. But I left my camera with Josue just in case and so he took lots of pics. A good compromise but still Mercedes seemed agitated with me. You can’t please everyone.

The Real Blog: I was in Santo Domingo Friday and Saturday but left too late Sat to get back to my site so I spent the night at my friend Rachele’s site in Santiago Sat night. This of course meant that the graduation could be disastrous as I was getting to site the morning of but I decided not to worry about it. What will be will be, right? When I got back to site around 10 am the next day, I was happy to find several kids working diligently on the party and so I stopped in to say hello and then went to my house to unpack.

The graduation itself went well. There was no beer selling or dramas like the last graduation so it was short and sweet. I saw Ernie as I was leaving my house and she wasn’t ready at all for the graduation. When I asked her if she was going she replied stiffly, “Although I was not invited, yes I am going.” Got to love the attitude, makes me glad I’m not a teenager anymore. Here’s the thing: I didn’t invite any of the Escojo promoters. If they were in class then they each were invited indirectly. Ernie pretty much hasn’t been going to classes since she got married for one reason or another. Sure the most recent reason was legit: she had to get an ovary taken out, but still, I didn’t think to invite her as I figured someone would let her know. In fact, it never crossed my mind, so shoot me.

After the graduation, the baseball players were going to use the building for their trophy ceremony. I hung out for about 90 minutes after the grad for the sake of socializing and just when I was about to leave, Josue, a guy who works with Escojo shows up. Apparently that conference that Ernesto wanted me to help with so long ago was going to be happening tomorrow- the day the filters are supposed to get here. Perfecto. Which means Ernesto will not be helping with the filters at all, and several of the women who are receiving filters will not be in their house to receive them (as Miguel wants them at the conference to make lunch). Seeing as Ernesto wasn’t home when Josue arrived, I stayed at the Club longer to make him feel comfortable.

About 10 minutes after Ernesto showed up, I got up to leave and everyone was like, “Where are you going?!” I told them I wanted to run before it got dark and they all started going off about how good I looked and how I didn’t need to run… (Noel specifically was telling me this and all the while I was having flash backs to a time in July where he was pointing to my arms and saying “You think she’s not fat?! Just take a look at her arms for example! She’s fat!”) Turns out they wanted me to stay and take pictures of the trophy ceremony. I stuck to my guns though, passed my camera to Josue to take pics and left to run. I will not give up some mental and physical health for an evening of being used. If it was something really legit sure I would have stayed. I asked the coach when they would be starting and he told me they wouldn’t be starting for another 45 minutes so I said I would hurry back for it. I got back about 45 minutes later and found that the ceremony was over. Mercedes was annoyed with me for missing it. Let me rephrase that: Mercedes was annoyed with me for not being there to take pictures even though Josue took plenty of pictures. I was a little annoyed by the whole situation.

letter to everyone at BCHD:) (but mostly Mary Alice since she's the one who left the comment)

Hi Mary Alice, (and everyone else of course!!:)

First thing, I have other posts but I need to catch up on them and am just too busy cogiendlo suave ahora to work on that. So, a different day I will lavish you with more blog:)

Anywho, it’s so great to hear from you!!!! Do you have any pics of little Oliver? I would love to see how big he is now:) I’m so sorry about LG, how far along was she? Life bites sometimes.

As far as my grant goes, PC has irritated me endlessly about this and hopefully sometime soon the grant will be up (the fact that I turned it in around Thanksgiving and yet it’s still on my APCDs desk shows the productivity of my awesome boss) and I will post something about it when it’s ready. Sorry for all the confusion!

I literally clapped out loud when you said you guys mailed me a package again for Christmas!!! THANKS!!!!! The last package I got was in Feb so I am reaaaaallly looking forward to it:D The little daily calendar you all sent me last year has been of GREAT use to me as I have used it as my “poop log” since April; something super important given all my bowel issues. (amazingly, even these have become mundane and so I don't write much about them but I pretty much always have something going wrong involving #2) So, each time I record a movement, I think of all you there at BCHD:)

Once upon a time, when I was just a little intern doing HUD inspections, you told me to look for roach poop to identify the presence of roaches. I actually had to ask you what it looked like, imagínatelo! Remembering a time when I DIDN’T know what roach poop looks like seems like so long ago, I mean really, who doesn’t know what it looks like? Of course, each time I get a parasite, beg bug bit or amoeba I think, “Wow, I’m so lucky to be gaining all this experience in public health, and how 'bout those roaches!” And now I just have 10 months left to soak up as much as I can, better get on that…

Merry Christmas guys!!!

Extrañdoles muchisimo,

Betsy


PS: Porque sepas, I'm not being a showoff, that little bit ‘o Spanish is just for Carmen, Enseñalalo porfavor:) I generally don't put it in there bc I figure it will annoy/confuse some English speaking folks of mine. So, enjoy Miss.

11/28- 12/15: Artisan Fair, Bed Bugs, Attitude Adjustment, Escojo Final, Gardens.

12/15 Thursday: Ouch. You know it’s bad when even your thumbs are sore.
In a nutshell: Yesterday I got the great idea that I would redo my sad little garden. After all, I’m expecting my women to have one; shouldn’t I set an example and do mine the correct way as well? The issue is that my old garden was too small so I literally spent 5 of the 8 hours I worked that day simply leveling out more ground to make it bigger. Thank goodness a 14 year old boy happened over my way about 2 hours in and he helped me the rest of the day. Muchachos here are truly amazing, they work harder and better than any kid I’ve ever seen in the US. Anyways, we were able to cut all the weeds down from my yard (something I wanted to do before my Christmas party), level out more ground, dig the hole for the bed, make the bed, make a walkway to the garden, and put in all the sticks for the fence. I had a slew of helpers during all this; whoever happened to walk by would come and help for a little bit. It was a great group effort. Despite all the help, I still pick axed and machete-ed a LOT and today I am sore. So sore in fact that last night, despite how tired I was, I couldn’t sleep! Even the muscles in my thumbs hurt! Man oh man.

Today, to my surprise, I was still mildly productive. I graded all the Escojo finals and was disappointed to see, after I lowered the passing grade from 70% to 60%, still 6 kids failed. What am I going to do with them?! I also had my meeting with two of the Escojo promoter kids who are in charge of planning the graduation. I broke a piece of a tooth this week so I will have to go to the capital tomorrow to get it fixed meaning that these kids will pretty much be planning the entire graduation themselves. It will be interesting.

I was supposed to have a my women’s group meeting today but 1 of 3 didn’t show up so I told them to enjoy the Christmas break and I set off to check out the 3 women’s houses where they each already made the gardens! I made it kind of a competition telling them the 1st ones done would get a watering can and 1st pick of the seeds. I didn’t expect 3 women to finish it in the 1st day though, wow! I’m going to get them each a watering can and some special seeds because they deserve it. After working all day in my garden yesterday I appreciate how much work that was for them. And how exciting it is that they are actually doing it!

12/14 Tuesday: One. Long. Day.
In a nutshell: Erin and Kenzie showed up at my site ready to work but we were missing one very important thing: the plastic to line the garden beds. We didn’t need it on day one but on day two yes. So Kenzie and I went on a wild goose chase trying to find this plastic. We spent all day in Santiago trying to find it and literally after 6 hours of searching, the last store we went into had the plastic. We bought it and some other last minute necessities that were much easier to get a hold of and went back to my site. Gardens are hard but hopefully worth the sweat.

The Real Blog: Well the garden workshop has been going well, all things considered. I handed out 97 invitations and the 1st day 25 women showed up, the 2nd there were 18 women. I was hoping for at least 10 women without the handouts so the 12 hours of house visits I did paid off. The weather was great and although Kenz and Erin were a little late getting to my site, Dominicans are always really late anyways. Whenever they want to have a meeting or something they purposely say it’s like an hour before hand or if they say the actual time they want to meet up they add “American Time” at the end meaning that’s the time and that’s no joke! For example: “The meeting will be at 3 pm, American time.” Which I think is hilarious since this means they think Americans are always right on time. If they ever got there on time they would realize that I’m (like most Americans) generally about 5- 10 minutes late, ha!

Anyways, back to the point… so everything was going well. The women dug out the 2 garden beds the day before and today they were ready to lay down the plastic, fill the beds in and plant. One problem: no plastic. Erin said she would bring the seeds and the plastic for the project and she showed up empty handed. Luckily Kenzie had some seeds with her and I managed to get a small grant for about $70 USD the week before so I had some money to get the plastic. I figured I would just run out with Kenz the next day to find some in Navarrete. We thought it would be easy since the town closest to Kenzie is super crappy and even they sell plastic in the hardware stores. After an hour of driving around on a motorcycle looking for this stuff in Navarrete the next day we discovered it was harder to get than we thought and just decided to go to Santiago. The giant hardware store there had to have it.

We got to Santiago and it turns out, this plastic is incredibly elusive! No one has it but everyone thinks they know who sells it. And since we had no better ideas, we always followed the advice. We went to about 10 hardware stores, 2 green houses, a farm vet, walked around downtown with some random dude who decided to be our guide for a while without being asked, went to craft stores, decorating stores, we took this carro publico and that carro publico up town and down town… we were beginning to loose hope and were feeling very resentful towards Erin after about 6 hours and 4 or 5 miles of walking and sweating. As a last effort we got the bright idea of going to furniture stores and asking if they would sell us some of the protective plastic they use but no one would sell it. So we asked where they buy it and were given more directions.

We decided, for lack of other options, to keep on this trail and after following the directions, asking 3 other furniture stores and another green house, we found a store (amazingly close to where we began our search that morning in Santiago) that actually makes plastic. Sure it was in a ghetto area and Kenzie kept making comments about how mad she would be if we were robbed but it didn’t matter; when we walked into that store and saw the plastic our hearts so desired- we began yelling happily, hugged and nearly cried! I’m sure we looked completely insane to the workers in the teeny store but who cares?! I wasn’t going to have to go back to my community empty handed! I wasn’t going to have to tell the women to fill in the holes they had just done the day before and do raised bed gardens instead!

We bought the plastic and set out hoping to find some empty rice sacks quickly as we were already going to miss the whole presentation part of the workshop for the day and show up for the digging. Lucky for us we found a guy selling them on the side of the same ghetto road. He wanted to charge me 10 pesos a piece but I told him I would only pay 5 and we had a deal. That was the 2nd person that day who automatically told me 10 pesos 1st and then dropped it to 5. What the guy didn’t know was that I was actually quite tired and desperate at this point so I would have paid the 10 if it meant I didn’t have to walk anymore.

Kenz and I got the plastic and the rice bags (the bags are to nail to the stick fencing, protecting the garden), some Cokes and took off for home. I had asked a motorcycle driver to find me a sack of carbón which is a specific type of burnt wood that we needed as well. While Kenz and I were walking to the bus I called the motor guy and asked about the stuff. What stuff? He wanted to know. The carbon, I told him. Then he said that Carlo (the motorcycle man) wasn’t going to be back until 6 pm. I thought I was talking to Carlo… and 6pm?! I need this stuff by 4, I said to whomever I was talking to. I asked who I was talking to and the guy said he couldn’t tell me! By this point in the day, this really annoyed me and said fine but that if Carlo couldn’t get me the sack of carbon then he needed to give the 500 pesos I paid him to someone else who could get it. Then the guy on the phone told me to calm down and said, “Carlo who?” Are you kidding me? If it was a wrong number don’t you think the guy maybe would have thought to say that to me 5 minutes before since you have to buy a calling card to call anyone in this country and he was just wasting my minutes! I swear, sometimes…

We got back to the entrance of my site and I talked to the real Carlo in person who had gotten my carbón. Kenz and I showed up about 5 minutes after the women finished the presentation with Erin, which was perfect. I gave Kenz the materials and took off to my Escojo class to give the final, Erin had to leave, and Kenz took the women over to assemble the gardens. I delegated the exam to the Escojo promoter group and went back to the gardens. It was great. Sure there were only about 5 women working but they were all learning and they all have interest in this. I wasn’t interested in gardening before but I am so glad I did it. What a great community response! :)

12/13 Sunday: House Visits and Garden Workshop
In a nutshell: I went door to door giving out invites to go to a garden workshop a couple PCVs and I are giving Monday and Tuesday. I’m hoping giving a personal invite to a free something something where they can get free seeds seems intriguing and there will be a big turnout. I also rediscovered how much I enjoy house visits. After day 2 of 6 hours of passing out invites, finished going to nearly every single house in my community and I went to check on the garden area. It was supposed to be clean, and chopped up, ready to plant, and all the sticks needed to make the 2 beds and the fencing were supposed to be along side it. All I found was Earth full of weeds and grass. This is a problem. I talked with some people and tried to convince them to help me. I never even saw Ernesto (he got back late last night and will leave early tomorrow) and he leaves again tomorrow so I guess I can’t ask him. I think it will work out. And anyways, we have until 2 pm tomorrow to figure it out. Wish me luck!

The Real Blog: Yesterday and today I spent about 6 hours visiting each house in my community giving an invitation to go to a garden workshop we’re having in the Women’s Club Monday and Tuesday. Kenzie and Erin are coming to give charlas on this and then after we are going to make a garden. I was a little afraid that no one was going to go to it so I made invitations and walked to nearly all the houses to invite them personally. I have heard this works really well and I hope it pays off. I’ll be embarrassed if no one shows up, like it’s a flashing sign saying I’m not integrated in my community.

I got a lot of positive feed back when visiting each house and rediscovered that I really love visiting houses. It’s so fun here. For instance, yesterday by the time I went to my last house I was really cold. I caught the lady in the street and after doing this all day (with a break in the middle where I stopped at someone’s house with Anne and Tim to make no bake cookies:) I gave her the invite, explained what it was and could have left to go home and make dinner. Instead, we talked, she invited me in, we went in, drank pop (even though I was cold), her dog tried to bite me, and we watched tv together. (a really weird game show about sex) This would have been sooooo awkward in the States! But here, even though I can’t even really remember her name (I believe it is the feminine version of her husbands name though) we can do this. And I love it. I need to take better advantage of it. Today I was given a bag of yellow bananas as a gift from a family after a visit and another told me how appreciative they are of the work I do here, how they can’t count on the government or anything here but they can count on Peace Corps as Kevin came and actually gave them water as promised. It was a great feeling and I finished the day extra exhausted but really satisfied.

After my house visits I went to see how the progress was on the garden. Oney (Ernesto’s best bud) was supposed to clean and level the ground where we are putting the garden and also look for sticks to make each bed and enclose the garden. Mercedes and Santa were supposed to look for palm branches for the fencing and a bag of ash from their stoves. They were all supposed to try and get manure so it was dry by the time we had to use it. Oney got the manure and Santa had the ash and some palm branches. But that was everything. The ground is full of weeds and grass, even fallen a dead tree. We have no branches. I was acting a little nervous for show but really I just wanted to motivate them. I bet they could finish all of it in 1-2 hours. I just need to make sure they do it.

After I got back to my house, I was tired but for some reason decided to make no bake cookies for dinner, not a good idea on my calorie counting diet! I had just settled into bed around 8:30 when there was a knock on the door: Wandi. Strange since I can’t remember the last time he was at my house, the Mistoline fundraiser perhaps? Well we talked and, although he still says the root of the problem is my fault because I was the one who was mad 1st however long ago, he did apologize for how he has been acting and what he did to me in class. He also promised to apologize to the class for being such a jerk. Aside from the fact he took 90 minutes of my sleep time, I’m happy he came to talk. I’m tired. I’m going to sleep!

12/12 Saturday: A Change of Heart
In a nutshell: I need an attitude change. I am negative and feel used. Its hard to change your attitude but I am going to try to go about things in a different way and see where it gets me. For instance, when a motorcycle driver takes me somewhere, normally I get angry when they try to overcharge me but from now on, I’m going to overpay and see if they start treating me better or worse. I figure they may try to take even more advantage of me or they’ll respect me. An experiment. Also, I need stop being so American by measuring my self worth by my accomplishments. If I’m not busy, if I’m not getting results I feel like crap. But that’s so American. Lots of countries actually judge self worth by relationships and trust, rather than achievements and success. I want to do that as well. But that’s HARD. And another thing, when did I get so anal? I used to be so easy going but now I’m so high strung! Having my friend Jay visit me (who is a total hippie dude) made me realize I would make more friends and have more relationships if I just let it all go. But how? It’s so easy to feel that if I were more integrated into my community that they wouldn’t steal from me. If they were all friends with me or at least all respected me, then they would take care of me better and not steal. But is that true? It could be but on the other hand, it is a way to just blame myself? I’m so exhausted from it all. Its time for a change. I’m done complaining about it all and then doing the same old same old. I’m going to try it from a different angle and see where it gets me. May as well try.

12/9- 12/11: Enema, cell phone issues, bed bugs, car sick, downpour, artisan fair… what more is there in life?
In a nutshell: My fingers are too cold to type more. Sorry Deb.
The Real Blog: I am in a bad mood. I am crabby. I am annoyed. This is due to several things but I chose to pin all my problems on one man: Francisco, the front desk man in the Peace Corps office. This is because it is HE who told me he would be back with the phone I have been waiting for since October at 12 then didn’t show up until 2. Thus when I was walking to my bus stop, after passing the entire day simply waiting for him and nothing else, and was caught in a downpour with my super heavy bag- his face came to mind. Then when I got to my bus stop, I was late and missed the bus. The next bus was supposed to leave at 3:45, nearly an hour later, but left at 4:30. It really didn’t matter though since either way- 3:45 or 4:30, I am going to have to beg someone to take me up the mountain now since it will be dark and I will also have to pay double. Thanks Francisco.

Then when Francisco finally did get me the phone, he actually just got the same crappy model that broke on me 3 times before. Newsflash: “upgrade” at least should mean different model. And to top it off, he canceled the memory chip in my old phone so I had to reenter all the contacts in the new one! Then, after it all, he tells me I can just keep the loaner phone Anna gave me last month. The loaner phone he wouldn’t give me in October when mine broke? The loaner phone that will probably break before the end of my service seeing as how it’s more than a year old and thus ancient in the DR phone world? Yep, that one. ERRR! So, now as I sit here on the bus that is notorious for being freezing cold, and I am extra cold because I am still wet from the rain, I think of Francisco and wonder if he knows how much trouble he caused me by taking a 2 hour long lunch today and not giving me the promised phone before hand as promised. I’m sure he doesn’t.

But that was just today. Yesterday I went and talked to Lisette, the PC Doctor and asked about the weird red bites I have been getting all over my body for about two weeks and we determined that they were from bed bugs. Even better, I toted all my dirty laundry 5 hours from my house to the office so I could wash it in there, to save money on laundry this week with Minga and now I am going to have to have her wash all my sheets anyways.

Then Lisette tells me that since I hadn’t gone #2 in 7 days she wants to give me an ENEMA. Sorry dude but I am too young for that. “Is that really the first option that comes to mind?” I asked her. Ok, I convinced her to give me a laxative instead but the thing is, I was going to the Artisan fair downtown and didn’t want to poop my pants! The last time I took a laxative I had a very close call. She assured me I would be ok. I went to the fair with toilet paper in my purse just to be sure, saw some great stuff, and went back to the PC office with some friends later feeling oddly full.

About 10 minutes after I got back to the office it hit me and I bolted for the bathroom to do my business. About 2 minutes in, another PCV burst into the bathroom without knocking. It was awkward but we hugged afterwards to get over the moment quickly. Then I went to the Pen and had awful diarrhea for a few hours and vowed to take the enema next time.

UPDATE: When I got back to my site, my friend Jay was there with his Dominican friend waiting for me. Jay had called me the day before telling me he was at my house but I was in Santo Domingo so I suggested how to break into my house and he and his friend spent the night. I was happy to have him there when I arrived the next day, he also was a big help because he put the mattresses outside to sit in the sun, sprayed them with bug killer and took the sheets to Mingas to have them washed. When I got back, all we had to do was dust the mattresses with the powder Lisette gave me, make the beds with towels (since Minga had all my sheets) and hop in! Thank goodness!

12/8 Tuesday: Escojo gone bad
In a nutshell: Wandi has been a real butthead for what feels like a long time. He’s been ignoring me and being weird. Its been about a week since he came into my house even. So, imagine my surprise when he showed up at the Escojo class this week. Sure he was 20 minutes late but I didn’t even think he would go at all. We were playing Jeopardy to review for the final exam (which I am giving next week- THANK GOODNESS!!) which should be fun right? Long story short, Wandi wasn’t even on a team but freaked out when he thought I wasn’t being fair on a turn. Then the other kids freaked out. I tried to calm the others, with some success, but Wandi was ridiculous. I finally said if it bothered him so much that he couldn’t calm down he could leave. To which he said “Make me.” And this is why I am not a teacher. I was soooo mad. I walked outside and did the best thing I could- I called his dad. But of course, his dad is hours and hours away in a community working on a water system (and has been since July)- yes my project partner which my boss put there- and he has no cell phone service. So I did the craziest thing: I left a message. Dominicans never leave them, I mean NEVER. I have never left one for a Dominican. Ernesto called me back later that night and we talked about it, he promised to talk to Wandi the next day. Er, teaching bites.

12/7 Monday: Cockroach in my cereal, and I still ate the cornflakes.
In a nutshell: I really wanted to eat cornflakes and for once, I actually had some! I prepared my powdered milk and reached for the cereal. I was distraught to discover a large, live roach living in the cereal bag. But, I really wanted cornflakes. After pondering what I should do versus what I wanted, I came to a compromise. I took the bag outside, dumped out the top 2-3 inches of cereal along with Mr. Roach, and picked 1 cup of cereal out (sorting it well 1st in case there were cockroach poopies), and then poured the cereal in with my milk and ate it. It was satisfying but not like it could have been. Stupid roach.

12/3-12/4 Friday- Saturday: Brigada Verde Conference
In a nutshell: These conferences are very different that other conferences I have been to. It’s more like camping. All the kids slept on the floor in sleeping bags and the PCVs slept 2-3 to a bed on mattresses on the floor. There was no water (partly because someone left a tap open draining the water tank of what little water there was) so we all had to walk to the river to bathe each day and had to wash our faces/brush our teeth outside of the rooms with a cup full of water. We did tree planting activities and went on a nature hike. We used all plastic, reusable cups and washed our own dishes. We learned all about organic vs inorganic garbage and how to make art out of trash. It was a really good experience. But there were a few mishaps.
Mishaps: Well, long story short: I was not well informed about this conference at all. When I arrived at the meeting place, no one was there. I called another PCV and she told me it had been moved. So, 4 carro publicos later I finally got to the bus. Then, I also had no idea we were supposed to bring art supplies, sheets, blankets (it was cold), a swim suit or tennis shoes. Needless to say, I was ill prepared. Then there was the nature hike. The nature hike was interesting because I left nearly last with another PCV, three youth and a “guide” who works at the center. We ended up walking about a mile past the entrance to the river without knowing it. After we exhausted ourselves we came upon a person on a horse, coming from the opposite direction, who told us there were no people in front of us. Then the guide said that he knew where the entrance was but the other PCV and I were walking too fast which is what made him miss it. When we finally backtracked to the entrance we noticed the large sign indicating that we had indeed arrived to the entrance of the river.

12/1- 12/3: One year In Service Training.
In a nutshell: What is 1 year IST? It’s when you get together with your sector and talk about the last year; tools and challenges of the year and also when you “plan” for the next year. Well it went ok I suppose. It made me realize just how frustrated with my community I am. Aside from that, its always really fun getting together with everyone from the health and water group. We went to a baseball game (my 1st in country!, Las Aguilas against Las Estrellas) on Wednesday night and Thursday was Jay’s birthday so we had cake and played 2 truths and a lie and night. I don’t feel it necessary to talk about the training sessions because they’re kind of a waste of time. I had to leave early on Friday to get to my Brigada Verde conference but at least I was able to get some cake the night before!

11/28 Saturday: Que peña.
In a nutshell: Last night when I came back from Santo Domingo I stayed with my friend Helen and a Dominican family she knew in Santiago. I was pretty happy to stay somewhere for free, to be able to stay at the Peace Corps office later than I have ever stayed when having to return to site and for the fact that the next day I was able to get back to my site before 9 am still. The day was going well. Then I talked to Minga. She told me that someone stole a pair of my pants from the line while they were drying. Fantastic. I told Minga I thought someone was stealing my clothing a while back when a favorite tank top and sweater went MIA but she reassured me, saying it wasn’t possible. Now she’s sharing stories about how someone stole 2 pairs of her underwear recently and come to think of it, I’m pretty sure they swiped a few of mine as well. It’s always the favorites you know, they can’t steal the stuff with holes or that’s sun faded. But then, I suppose I wouldn’t steal those either.

I feel bad for Minga because she obviously feels very bad about it. She gave me two of her very Dominican pants with pink threading and some sequenced bling, accompanied by a brand new knock off purple Aeropostle shirt she just bought. I tried to say no no no but it just made her feel worse. Minga is now on a mission to find out who did it and of course people think it was the Haitians. There are a ton of people who walk around randomly selling clothing and most of them are Haitians. I could totally see a clothes vendor taking my stuff for obvious reasons but also because it would be immensely stupid for someone to take my shirt and then wear it around the campo. I think it’s safe to say I will never see my pants again, nor will I ever see the sweater or the tank top.

PS: Wandi is annoying.

Wow, its been a month... yikes!

11/25 Wednesday : To Santo Domingo, I looooove Thanksgiving!!!!!

In a nutshell: Ah, it’s that time again: Thanksgiving. I looooove Thanksgiving here. It’s fantastic. We all go to this country club and eat real Thanksgiving food, complete with green bean casserole, pies and turkey among other things. Some PCVs begin arriving in SD on Monday if they are lucky enough to be on the Thanksgiving Committee and they cook and cook and cook Monday- Thursday. They stay with an Embassy family for free the entire week. Then on Thanksgiving Day anyone can run in the Turkey Trot (6 K) and then we all go to a country club. The club is supposed to have wireless internet. It has a pool which is amazing! We have domino contests, a dance off and a talent show (which I will be performing in this year). We’re even playing water twister this year!!! It’s beyond fun. I can’t wait! :)

11/20- 22Friday- Sunday: Getting stood up in Cabarete

In a nutshell: I have been in contact with this woman from an organization that invites volunteers from all over the world to come and work here in the DR for something like 6 weeks. I met her last summer and have been trying (passively until recently) to meet up with her and discuss if we can make something happen in my community. Turns out she lives in Cabarete- which is where all the PCVs celebrate New Years- it’s touristy and beautiful. It also turns out that my friend Kenzie was going to be in Cabarete this weekend with her family and I was invited to stay with them. I called the woman from the organization, Andrea, and we set up a meeting Saturday for the morning. I was excited to maybe finally getting somewhere on something tangible. Well, I went out there Friday so I could be there Sat morning and she never called. I called her, left messages, emails and text messaged her. I even stayed an extra day hoping she would get back to me with no luck. Then Sunday I finally shut my phone off since it was about to die. I was pretty disappointed and annoyed. Thank goodness I was able to stay with Kenz’s family for free or else that would have been a HUGE waste of money. Granted I enjoyed myself at the beach, the good food with Kenzie’s family, meeting Kenzie’s family, wireless internet, comfortable bed…. It was nice but I of course still spent some money and had no meeting or headway to show for it. What a bummer.

(Update: Tuesday I checked my email and Andrea had written me telling me that it was no wonder that when she tried to call it wouldn’t go through seeing as my phone had died. The thing is, my phone wasn’t off until Sunday and there were no messages for me when I turned it back on a few hours later. Is it possible that she didn’t get any of my messages and randomly couldn’t reach me either? Why not email me? Then she said she would “make an effort” to come out to my site this week. SHE HAS A CAR!!! It took me over three hours to get home on Sunday. I will not act annoyed. I just want this to work out and want to be able to work together.)
11/19 Thursday: Mistoline is a pain in the butt with lazy kids
In a nutshell: My kids need to fundraise for some shirts that we will be making for an exchange in December in honor of World AIDS Day. (December 1st but we’re celebrating it the 6th) We got together to make something similar to Pine Sol called Mistoline and it was pretty much a disaster. The kids were fighting, refusing to do more than what they thought was their fair share of work and I was left compensation for they’re lack of work. They each worked for about an hour if you include time spent looking for bottles to put the Mistoline in, and cleaning the bottles- whereas I got stuck working for 3 or 4 hours. I’m hoping this trip boosts moral among the group or else I wouldn’t have done it. The kids are really getting on my nerves. I never did like kids….

The Real Blog: As I have said, my Escojo class has been a bit of a struggle this go around. So, I decided to invite my Escojo promoters instead of a few kids from class to the exchange for World AIDS day. We’re going to go to my friend Sarah’s site, meeting up with kids from like 10 other communities, and recognize those affected by HIV/AIDS. We decided that each participant should have a red shirt and so in October I made a design for a shirt for my kids. I thought it would be nice for them to have a shirt with something printed on it as opposed to just a plain red shirt; give our group a little pride. The thing is these shirts aren’t cheap to make. I went to SD during Halloween and was quoted about $400 pesos/shirt. So I told me kids they would have to fundraise for it. Maybe I teach in too much of a hands off manner… I’m not sure. But I can tell you, no one was motivated to do anything. I went to Santiago (making a special trip just for this), and got the recipe to make this stuff called Mistoline- which is like a flowery type of Pine Sol. People use it to clean their floors or what have you and to make it smell like perfume as opposed to dirt. (Everything always smells like dirt here) I knew it would be easy to sell and the profit margin is pretty large. I had the ingredients for a few days before I was able to coordinate with the kids to meet up and make it. They were each to bring 20 bottles, cleaned and with the labels taken off. This was an easy enough task since there is no trash pick up in my community and so it’s full of empty pop bottles.

The kids showed up and Yamelissa was refusing to wash the bottles telling me I should have to do it since she had to find the bottles. How rude is that!? Would you talk to your professor like that? Such a lack or respect, I need to stop hanging out with these kids outside of class. I pointed out the work I already had done (I had to prepare the day of, beginning at 8 while they were all about 30- 45 minutes late showing up) and the fact that I was going to use my own money to buy my shirt. Begrudgingly they began cleaning the bottles. Wouldn’t you know it; at the very start Wandi was pissed at me for telling him to shut up while I was trying to explain how to mix the ingredients. He then decided to leave and make it alone at his house. Three of the kids couldn’t come and so we were supposed to make an extra 60 bottles. I figured it was no big deal but it of course was. Vanji and Yamelissa stayed and made an extra 10 each but then just left, without even picking anything up or wiping anything off, leaving my house in disarray. Wandi made 13 and decided it as enough (although no one knew how many he had made until about noon since he was hiding how many he had done). Argeni actually pulled up a chair, making himself more comfortable while staring at Yamelissa and Vanji as they made an extra 10 bottles each and he refused to help. He only made 15. Everyone only worked for about 30 minutes and then they all left. I on the other hand was making stupid Mistoline from 8 am until 12:30. Not to mention there was no water in my water tap so I had to use water from my tank, which was nearly empty as well. I was getting pretty crabby by the whole situation but especially since it looked like I was going to have to bathe with my purchased, bottled water if the water from the aqueduct didn’t come back soon. Thank goodness for the little kids that hang out at my house and are always so helpful, they went and found me the other 47 bottles, cleaned them and took the labels off, helped me make the mixture, and helped clean it up.

After how the group was acting, I wouldn’t have even made the Mistoline but I feel like it will boost moral. I’m hoping this exchange will make the group a little stronger. I could have been a slave driver and argued with them, MAKING them finish but I’m exhausted. I try to motivate them but you have to pick your battles and it’s often easier to do it yourself. If I had had more energy or patience I would have had them stay and learn a little about responsibility and work but I just don’t have it in me.

But, karma strikes again. What the kids don’t realize is that they are going to have to sell all 20 bottles by Tuesday and collect the money. A lot of them I’m sure will sell them on “credit” where the people pay the 20 pesos when they have money. That’s fine but I don’t see how the customers are going to get 20 pesos in 5 days if they don’t have 20 pesos now. Remember, 35 pesos is $1 US. Hopefully it works out because I don’t want to have to front all the money for the shirts until they can gather it themselves.

11/15 Sunday: Miguel wants me to do what?
In a nutshell: When Ernesto came back this week from his job in Coutí, he informed me that him and Miguel talk nearly every day and Miguel wants Ernesto and I to visit 10 communities and invite 3 people from each to have a workshop about how to form Escojo groups in the 10 communities. Apparently Miguel has picked the 1st week in December to do this. Since Ernesto is only here one day a week (thanks to Miguel) he obviously can’t do this so it has been passed to me. I can’t do it the 1st week. I have training, a conference and my own World AIDS day. I’m mad. I don’t want to try and start 10 freaking Escojo groups at the same time and there aren’t grants for them either… so who is going to pay for them? One guess. Plus I’m mad that Miguel always is talking to Ernesto about things he wants US to do. I’m the PCV. I’m the one who will be doing the work. Miguel is my boss and if there is work he wants done, he needs to start talking me to directly. I called Miguel to clarify what it is he wants and he talked to be for less than 5 minutes then cut me off in mid sentence, telling me that he couldn’t continue the conversations. That if I had questions to ask Ernesto. Then he hung up. One of the few times in my life I was speechless. I just stared at my phone. And, I can’t even call Ernesto because where he is now he has no cell service. Thanks Miguel.

11/10 Tuesday: Adios Escojo and good riddance.
In a nutshell: My Escojo group this time around sucks. They don’t listen. We aren’t able to finish the classes because the kids are constantly talking. I have to tell the kids 3-4 times that class is starting to even get them into the classroom and then it still takes about 20 minutes to start. My Escojo promoters group thinks they’re above the rules and instead of setting good examples they huddle together and talk the entire time. During this last class two kids asked me if they could leave early because they live far away and it was getting dark. I said sure and went back to answering questions of some confused little girls. When I looked up, about 2/3 of the class had left. Apparently they were so busy talking with each other and were spending so much time paying attention to other kids that the didn’t realize we were still in class. When they saw the two girls leave they thought class was over and they left. I was pissed! I asked Vanji and Yamelissa if they told the kids they could go and they said no, they still had 2-3 pages of the presentation to go. That was it. I’d had it. I told the kids who were there that I was DONE teaching Escojo and that if there aren’t kids who want to learn, kids who don’t want to be in my class just because it’s the cool thing to do, that I was DONE.

The next day I met with my Escojo promoters and they convinced me not to cancel the class. I told them that I would give a midterm and the kids who didn’t pass weren’t going to be able to continue with the class. So the next class I gave a surprise exam. There were only 17 kids there to take the test and of the 17, 13 passed… a great surprise to me. The 4 that failed were younger and so we decided that we would just give them extra homework each week so they could grasp the concepts better.

Some time in October: Scary things
In a nutshell: There is no “in a nutshell” for this. It just needs to be read.

The Real Blog: Have I been here too long? Are freaky things getting so mundane that I don’t even think to write about them?! I realized the other day that I didn’t write about either of these 2 occurrences and they are ones that should be shared. Enjoy.

Story 1: This is random. One night as I was about to go to sleep, I was in my mosquito net and had just shut my computer down. I heard a mosquito right next to my ear buzzing and then suddenly it was in my ear!!!! I could feel it crawling around- YUCK! I instantly thought of two things: #1-a girl I know here had an awful ear infection it and turns out it was because a mosquito crawled into her ear and died. And #2- I thought of those bugs you hear about on the Discovery Channel or something, those bugs that crawl into your ear and then eat your brain, yikes! I was grossed out and concerned.

I jumped out of bed, grabbed my headlamp (since there was of course no power) and ran to the bathroom. I tried getting it out with tweezers but they didn’t fit. I tried looking into my ear but it was useless in the dark. I pondered my shower for a moment, thinking about trying to flush it as one would if they had something in their eye but I was afraid I would just push it in further!!! Seeing no other option however and feeling the nasty mosquito crawling in my ear, I stuck my head under the PVC tube and let the water fall in my ear, tipping my head a few times to dump the water and then feverishly inspecting the floor with my lamp to see if I could find the dead mosquito. I never saw it. I was tempted to call the PC Doctor but refrained since I was going to SD the next day for a medical checkup.

I went back to bed, made sure to lay with that ear down towards the pillow, made the pillow in the shape of a U so if the bug fell out, it wouldn’t get stuck in my ear, and tried to sleep while the water slowly trickled out of me ear- also feeling like it could be the mosquito leaving. Sick. The next day at the Dr.’s I had her check my ear and FYI: if you ever have a mosquito caught in your ear, rinsing it is the way to go. It was gone. Ya tu sabes.

Story 2: I went to Minga’s house one day, the day after I had brought her my laundry. She informed me that the clothing I had brought her… the clothing which I scooped up with my bare hands from the floor right next to my bed, to put in my laundry basket… that clothing, it had a scorpion in it. She discovered the scorpion when it jumped out as she dumped my pants into the washer. Did I mention that I am TERRIFIED of scorpions? I prefer tarantulas or snakes. And it was BY MY BED!!!! Probably living under it!!! And, I picked the clothing up with my bare hands!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Even Minga was freaked out, and she never freaks out about things that bite or sting. Scary, I told you.

11/5 Thursday: Preparing
In a nutshell: I am maybe going on a trip to Bonao to do an exchange between Ali’s kids and two of mine- Vanji and Wandi (they’re the ones who know how to the different ways to contaminate a river). In other news, one of my women canceled to go to this health promoter conference. It bothers me that out of 30 women in the Women’s Club, not even 3 want to go to this completely free conference where they will get lots of free stuff (although I didn’t tell them they would get free stuff because I don’t want them going because of that). If I can’t even get them to go to this, how am I supposed to get 5-10 of them to be the free working health promoters that Miguel wants?

The Real Blog: My friend Ali called me today and wanted to know if Vanji and Wandi could go to her site in Bonao this Sunday thru Monday to present their presentation on different ways one contaminates water. Turns out that Monday there’s no school so she was seeing if we could go out there Sunday-Monday. I told her I would see but I have the health promoter conference this weekend until Sunday so I would have to come back to my site, drop the women off, get the kids and then leave for Santiago again right away. The problem is that Wandi plays baseball and this weekend is going to be a far trip for his team, one that he was looking forward to. Also, Vanji’s parents are protective so I wasn’t sure if they would be ok with it. Wandi talked with his coach and now he can go so I’m just waiting to hear from Vanji. I hope she can go.

Then, I talked to the women who were supposed to go to the Health Promoter conference and wouldn’t you know it, 1 backed out. I hate working with this women’s group. Out of 30 some women in the group, not even 3 wanted to go. Well, forget that. I’m not going to finagle women into going on a completely free trip which is helping them. Miguel tells me I need to try other methods to get the women interested since one of the three main goals of health PCVs is to get women health promoters but there doesn’t seem to be interest here- which according to my goals, is a problem.

11/3 Tuesday: What a crappy day.
In a nutshell: Tuesday did not go well. I lost my treasured external hard drive (which I had just filled up), was sore from carrying my loaded backpack across the country again, was nearly late for my Escojo class, and Wandi was being as retarded as ever, annoying me by being mad at me for nothing again and acting like a freaking 5 year old. Then when I got to my class it was reaffirmed that my class sucks and I was feeling pretty down about it. Ah, my life sometimes… I tell you. Hopefully tomorrow is better.

The Real Blog: I got back to my site, tired from the long time in SD and from carrying my as always heavy hiking bag but had no time to recoup. I had to get to my Escojo class which was starting in 15 minutes. I would have been there sooner but for some reason the trip from SD to my house took about an hour longer than normal. I got to my class and felt really down. I feel like it’s a sucky Escojo class. The kids don’t listen, they’re too little, they don’t get concepts and I am losing motivation. Today I felt Bad but I booted 5 or 6 kids who were younger than 11. I told them PC told me I had to do it when I was in SD, which was a lie. I want the group to be better but I just don’t have the proper time to invest in it (or the proper motivation to invest the time into it). Is it too late now? Will they fail the final test no matter what? I feel down about my Brigada Verde as well class and want to restart that but how can I? What would I tell the kids? Um, sorry kids but this isn’t going as planned, I would like a do-over.

When I got back to my house after the Escojo class that I wasn’t even able to finish because it got too dark, I found that a tube or something was broken and so I wasn’t able to get any water and had to use the bottled water I buy to wash my face. I also realized I lost my $85 external hard drive in the PC office (hoping my friend Sarah can find it at the office but there has been issues with people just “loosing” them at the office) and my back was hurting me. I was so tired for some reason that I slept nearly the whole way on the bus from SD to Santiago. What’s wrong with me?

To make matters worse, Wandi was at my house driving me insane and of course he was mad at me for something and acting like a 5 year old. This was because I completely forgot that in the morning today we were supposed to meet up with a group of 6 other kids or so and talk to the coffee farmers. I was in SD a day longer than I wanted because my computer had a virus and dumped a presentation I spent two days working on, a presentation that I need for the Health Promoter conference this weekend. Errr, overall It wasn’t a good day.

(UPDATE: My external hard drive was found!!!!!!!! :D)

10/29 Thursday: To Santo Domingo, ick…
In a nutshell: I hate SD. It’s dirty and not safe. I get anxious still every time I’m there. My friend was robbed at gunpoint (the guy held it to HER HEAD!) directly in front of the hotel all us PCVs stay in, the Pen, about a month ago. (It’s the cheapest and closest to the office). The robber was probably staking out the Pen, waiting for a white person walking alone. I’m going to be in SD for a dentist and doctor appt. All PCVs get to go to the dentist once a year (gee, thanks US government, with all the sugar they put in stuff here I’ll be surprised if I don’t have 5 cavities.) and we are all required to get a checkup physical as well once a year (something I could do without). Oh well, at least my day today is going well. I got a free ride all the way to Santiago and saved 95 pesos!!! I used 40 of those frivolously on a 3 Musketeers bar and I’m planning on using 20 of those saved pesos on the Metro which will take me just a few blocks from the Pen. Still 35 pesos ahead! Not all is bad:)

The Real Blog: Don’t get me wrong: I’m glad to be going to Santo Domingo for free (eventually as soon as I get my reimbursement which could take months…) but I really hate SD. Sure, its nice to be around other PCVs, maybe get free lunch from Romeo, go to the Embassy pool when I’m not glued to the free internet in the office, be able to do laundry, have pretty much anything you need be available somewhere in the city… but it’s not safe man! I hate going here. I don’t know if I mentioned this or not but recently (about a month ago) my friend Randi was walking to the Pen (the hotel all PCVs use) from the PC Office and was robbed at gun point during the 3 blocks she was walking alone. Keep in mind that this didn’t go down like it did for me last Dec with some drugged out robber in a dark alley, downtown at 2 am- this happened in a nicer neighborhood at 8 pm where the streets are well lit and we all walk all the time. To make matters even more disturbing is that this happened right outside of the Pen and the guy had a getaway all set up and ready. He was obviously just sitting outside of the Pen waiting for someone to walk up alone. After what happened in Dec to Ry and me, I don’t even feel safe in groups and now it sucks even more not to feel safe on the short walk to the hotel we stay at.

On a better note; its 11:15 am right now and the day has been going very well. I woke up at 6 effort to try to catch a free ride to the bus station in Navarrete early enough to arrive in Santiago and catch the 9:45 bus to SD. Sadly, I woke up to find my water tank completely empty (having a lot of visitors last week really emptied it out fast and there hasn’t been water to refill it) which delayed my morning slightly since I had to find some water to wash dishes and get ready for the day. This delay pretty much squashed my chances of finding a quick bola to Navarrete since I wasn’t actively looking for one from 7am- 8am- the prime hours of bola-ing. Thus I ended up waiting with Minga for over an hour at her house, sitting in a plastic chair we set out along the road. Lucky for me, I did end up getting a bola- all the way to Santiago! Score!!!! And it saved me so much time I still caught the 9:45 bus!!! When I get to SD, I was not looking forward to the mile or so trip with my heavy bag from the bus stop, right past the PC Office to the crappy Pen to check in, and then back to the PC office. Then I remembered- I can get off early and take the Metro!!!!! (This country has like the shortest Metro ever, apparently was a better investment than say… the shotty education system here, and is waaaaaay nicer than any train transportation in Chicago- and for just 20 pesos its almost as good as a deal as the Skim Ice Man’s icy stick thingys (what the heck are those called?) for 5 pesos) The Metro will drop me off blocks from the Pen!! This makes me very happy since my book bag is loaded down with books to return to the office and a ton of stuff for the free box. And now I’m meeting my girl Regina at the Pen to walk together to Provacone, the best chicken place in the DR and for cheap too!!! Yessss! Ahhh, things are looking good. Hopefully my dentist isn’t a hack and today will be a day worth noting down! I have high hopes for this dude since his office actually called me to confirm my appt- the other dentist offices I called didn’t even ask for my number. Wish me luck!

10/28 Wednesday: More money please.
In a nutshell: Minga told me today that she wants me to not only pay her the 200 pesos/load of laundry but that she also wants me to buy the soap and softener (which I’m sure she’d use for the whole family). It is excessive that I am paying $200 pesos/load as it is. Most PCVs have someone offer to wash their clothing for free or they pay about $150 pesos per load (or they wash it themselves, no thank you). Anyways, it is a rip off to pay 200 plus soap! (not to mention she always returns all my clothing to be folded but inside out. Why even fold it?!) Minga got this idea in her head because her daughter washes clothing for one of the two very wealthy families in town and that’s what Margara gets paid. So, in Minga’s mind, that’s what I should pay her as well. Although I would love to give Minga more, I can’t afford to pay that much! I tried to explain this to Minga and she pretty much blew me off as cheap since I’m an American and so I must have money. Ugh, who knew laundry could be such a pain?

The Real Blog: Today I went to Minga’s to use her generator and to pick up my laundry when she dropped a bomb on me. She casually mentioned that she wanted me to buy the laundry softener and the detergent for my clothing on top of the 200 pesos I’m paying from now on! Let me point out that I have been asking around to see check prices of this service and I don’t know of ANY other PCV who is paying 200 pesos/load. But I really like Minga and felt bad about going from paying her $2000/month for lunch and laundry to paying her nothing since I stopped eating there. Plus, I don’t want an issue with her if I was to switch to someone else for laundry. And the other option? HA! please I sure don’t want to do it. Today she told me I need to spray bug killer in my house because when she was washing my pants a freaking scorpion jumped out and nearly stung her!!!! I picked that laundry up off my floor, obviously with my bare hands, and put it in the basket that morning before I brought it to her, ahhhh!!!

Despite the danger, 200 pesos is steep (most PCVs pay between 125-150/load and don’t buy soap) so there is no freaking way I’m buying the soap for the clothing as well. Not to mention, hello I can’t afford to pay so much in laundry. Well, I told Minga that we already decided on the price and I would really like to keep it at that. She said that her daughter washed clothes at the rich dude’s house “up” the mountain and she makes 200 plus soap. And she counts how much clothing constitutes a load. Minga tried doing that to me and I guilted her into NOT doing that to me. Well, I pointed out; rich man up the mountain is rich. I, sadly, am not. Does the word VOLUNTEER mean anything? (And the fact that’s my profession…. whew, sad) To that she rubbed her thumb, pointer and middle fingers together, making the money symbol and rolled her eyes at me as if to say since I’m American I just naturally have money, as simply and as easily as I have white skin, blue eyes and blonde hair. I mean with all that, I have to have money- I just think I don’t.

Fine, I shall go a different route. I told her that my brother from home was giving me money each month (they understand about remittances here of course with is being they’re number one or two source of income) but now his wife has cut him off from it since they just bought a new house. “Minga, now I’m just screwed and well, what can I do?” She seemed ok but I feel like she was mad. She thinks I’m cheap. I am.

Unfortunately, in this country that’s a big insult. I went to the colmado yesterday and said I didn’t want one type of cheese but the other since the 1st costs too much and people actually laughed out loud at me. This is something I’m pretty used to and no longer fazes me but later they made fun of me to my face and called me tacana which means cheap. This is bad to call someone. It should bug me but mostly I just see how it could be an issue with other things, like people not believing me when I tell them I don’t have $1000/month to spend on laundry. *sigh*

10/26 Monday: Back to site, Ernie got married!!!!!

In a nutshell: I was out of my site this weekend, at Kelly’s inaguartation for her library an also doing a Walk for the Cure. When I came back on Monday, I asked Mercedes where Ernestina was because she was selected to interview to be an Escojo regional coordinator! (A BIG deal!) “Ernie got married on Friday.” is what I was told. Are you kidding me.

The Real Blog: Friday was a fun day for me. I was at the waterfalls with my friends. Apparently it was a fun day for Ernie. Her 40-something year old boyfriend (who she has had about a week of personal contact with since July due to the fact he lives somewhere in the States) came back into country for the 2nd time in 25 years to surprise her. And wow, they got married. I’m still not sure what happened. It seems to be that she was visiting his mom’s house and he showed up to surprise her. Then they went to her house here in La Lomota to get some of her clothing so she could spend the night with him. Here, when someone spends the night with their boyfriend it means they’re married. Her mom was pissed. I mean, the dude just shows up here, helps her pack her bag and then takes her to his mother’s house (since he doesn’t have one here obviously).

I was upset. I cried. One minute Ernie was going to go to the interview in SD and the next she’s married. I called her to confirm from her mouth if she thought she was married an also to see if she was still going to the interview. She said she was married and couldn’t go to the meeting. PC has these interviews once a year and next year I’ll be done with my service. Ernie hasn’t even gone to a single meeting though since she got married. Can someone please explain to me what she’s planning on doing? Is she going to live at his mother’s house indefinitely? And they’re not legally married so she can kiss any chance of going to the States goodbye until they sign some documents. I am so upset about this. I feel for her. I feel like she had so much going for her and she just threw it away. She doesn’t need him to make her. She can make a life for herself and be independent. She’s smart and beautiful and determined. The world is hers! And, he has kids OLDER than her! Is this what it feels like when a parent watches their kid make a terrible decision that they can’t do anything about? It’s just so sad.

10/25 Sunday: Walk for the Cure Dominican Style
In a nutshell: I participated in a Walk for the Cure with my friend Kelly and another American who is teaching in Santiago, Lesa. We thought the walk was going to be pretty legit since we paid 600 pesos for transport and got a “free” T shirt but it was actually incredibly unorganized. Despite being in the area of the walk, and earnestly searching for about 3 hours, we were never able to find the entrance to the walk. This may be a let down to normal people but to us, the day over all was interesting and funny. It was a great and typical Dominican experience.

The Real Blog: Yesterday I went to Kelly’s site to support her library inauguration. Sunday morning we left with a group of people from her community and a few surrounding communities to go to SD to participate in a Walk for the Cure. There were a TON of people there. We lost our group pretty much right away but Kelly, Lesa and I managed to at least stick together. We thought the walk was going to be relatively organized since there were so many people and we each also received a T shirt which said things like, Yes You Can!! The issue was that, like everything Dominican, the walk was really unorganized and we couldn’t find the entrance, just the exit. We wandered around, asking and finally just sat down in the shade.

Other people were apparently confused as well. To our amusement, they began climbing this fence in front of us. One larger lady got to the top and began to chicken out. Then some random guy in the crowd climbed up and stuck her butt on his shoulders, like this was somehow helping. Her large rump was just hanging out there, wagging back and forth, with her bright yellow underwear begging for attention. Kelly, Lesa and I quietly stared. The woman seemed like she was going to be stuck there forever. I guess we weren’t the only people taking note because the crowd began chanting- YES YOU CAN!! YES YOU CAN!!! It worked and I guess she just needed a little encouragement. Before we knew it, her butt was up, off of Random Man’s shoulders and she was climbing down the other side. See, she could.

We wandered around looking for the entrance, with people telling us that it was “over there” for about 3 hours. Then we finally found it and we were told, as we were walking it, that the walk was over. It was a little upsetting but also reassuring since we were wondering why so many people were taking breaks along the “walk” at colmados drinking beer.

So, 600 pesos, a free shirt, and 5 hours of driving later we found that we didn’t even get to walk the walk but the day overall was pretty dang humorous and quite the Dominican experience. I was glad I went.

10/23 Friday: 27 Waterfalls: Round TWO!!!
The Real Blog: While the PCVs were in my site for the meeting we decided to plan a trip to the 27 waterfalls. It was a hoot. Because it’s the dry season we weren’t able to do all 27 for lack of water but we did like 25 and it was fun. All of the health PCVs in my group either have a bf from the States or they have at least dated a Dominican, all the Health PCVs of my group that is, except for me. Thanks to this, my girls are constantly trying to set me up with a Dominican, like it’s their mission in life. Right when we were at the beginning of the trip, I fell behind the group because I was tying my shoe and when I caught up, the guide had our group divided into who is married/dating and who is single. Well, walking up last all my friends were like… Ohhhh, she’s single and lives super close! Well, that did it and I had a personal guide the entire trip. Kenzie fell twice, Jess almost fell at least 3 times and Randi fell once or twice but I never fell. That’s because the guide insisted on holding my hand the whole time. And he gave me his number afterwards. No discount though, dang it. (Is that wrong of me?) Fear not, there will be no phone calls made to Jorge.

10/22 Thursday: Meeting with Miguel
In a nutshell: My boss, Miguel decided to have a ‘Health Field Day” at my house today. He didn’t tell us what time to meet and so he showed up 4 hours before the rest of the group. I thought he acted very rude to Mercedes who got stuck preparing lunch for 10 people with about 2 hours notice. Then he took a nap on her porch. After that we had our meeting which should have really been a meeting between Miguel and two other PCVs since Randi, Jess and I were sitting there listening and that’s it. It was a weird day.

The Real Blog: What a mess. Miguel asked me in September right before I asked him for a raise if we could have a meeting with a few other PCVs at my house at some point. Sure I said. Later I received an email from his secretary saying that my health group was going having a meeting Oct 22nd at my house. Miguel neglected to mention in the email that we were going to have the meeting at my house (the one person who is furthest from the capital) in the morning, well there was no time listed at all. He has never come to my site in the morning since it’s so far from SD so we all assumed that he was be there in the afternoon. Imagine my surprise when I got back from running, was all sweaty and gross and then discovered Miguel there in the road in front of my house. Carumba!

Since the other PCVs were still in SD, Miguel and I had 4 hours alone together. The first order of business? Lunch. He didn’t talk to Mercedes about lunch or anything but assumed she would make lunch for 10 people. But she wasn’t even home; she was in Santiago for the morning. So poor Ernie got stuck with the job. And Ernie was sick! Her whole upper lip was swollen because of a problem with a front tooth. (Looked like she needed a root canal) Miguel told her to make a grocery list for lunch and then he inspected it. He told her that it just wouldn’t do, we needed at least 2 chickens and we needed avocado and while we were at it, he was hungry now and wanted some eggs- scrambled and with crackers. But if they’re not a certain type of egg don’t bother. I was embarrassed. Thank goodness Mercedes did come back around 10 to help. When her and her family was eating, Mercedes gave him lunch from their lunches so he wouldn’t have to wait. When he was done, he asked for the burnt rice at the bottom of the pot (sounds gross but its actually the treat, its good and crunchy and tastes like popcorn, mmmm:) But Mercedes had already filled the pot with water and more rice, making lunch for the rest of the group that was arriving. Miguel wasn’t happy and wouldn’t drop it. Finally she said that she would give him the con con from the next batch. How rude can a person be!?

I wanted to shower. I was sticky from sweat still. I needed to shower but it would have looked inexcusably horrible if I just left him there and showered. (Even though we weren’t even talking; he was on the phone the ENITRE time and I was just staring off in space) Thank goodness Mark’s project partner randomly showed up, freeing me to shower. After about 10 minutes I noticed I didn’t hear any talking. When I went back out there I saw that Miguel had asked Mercedes for her couch cushions and was sleeping (complete with snoring) on her front porch. Why not?

About 30 minutes into Miguel’s nap, the other PCVs finally showed up. We ate and then went to my house. Miguel gave everyone money for their transportation and then per diem. Then he told us we had to each pay $200 pesos for lunch! I could have eaten a sandwich in my house for free, ugh! After that we had the meeting, which included about 5- 10 minutes with each PCV except Meridith and Kenz, who kind of share projects since they live really close. Miguel pretty much interrogated them. It was annoying. Plus we were only allowed to talk about three specific things; he didn’t want to hear about anything else. Which meant the only thing I could talk that I was doing was Escojo. I am doing other stuff than that but it’s not worth talking about I guess.

After Miguel left I had my Escojo class. I went to it and the other girls went for a run and then began preparing dinner. I have never made so many tostones in my life: THIRTEEN PLANTAINS I peeled cut up and fried. And it was soooo good:)

10/20 Tuesday: New PCV by ME!!!!!
In a nutshell: The 1st 6 months of service are hardest but you adjust and it gets easier. Jenn, the brand new water PCV who lives super close to me, reminds me how I felt a year ago and it makes me glad that time is past me now.

The Real Blog: Man, am I glad my 1st year of service is DONE! I am so glad I went through it but I am happy it’s in the past. It’s easy to forget how crappy I felt during those first 3 months in site until I went to talk with the new PCV, Jenn, who just swore in and lives very close to me. I really like that girl. She is sooo sweet and reminds me a lot of myself when I got to my site. Things suck sooooo bad but you barely say how miserable you are out loud because that would be recognizing it and thus making it worse.

When I visited her I asked how she felt and she slowly and timidly gave me the type of answers I would have given a year ago. Overwhelmed. Tired. Anxious. Walking on egg shells. And a plethora of other similar feelings. I told her not to worry; I swear it WILL get better. In fact, I hardly remembered all emotion until she told me how she was feeling. Her community is much more protective than mine. They wouldn’t even let her go walking to meet me at 6:30 am. This is because they say a Haitian raped a young girl a few years back. The thing is, it is not uncommon that people say Haitians do stuff to them. No one questions it, they just go and find Haitians and take justice into their own hands. I don’t know what happened to the Haitian family but I know that the Dominicans went looking for the accused and his family.

Anyways, the day we were supposed to walk I went to the intersection where we said we would meet and waited, then just walked to her house. That’s when she told me how she felt. Poor girl. To any person who’s thinking of doing PC: the 1st 10 weeks suck because of the strict minute by minute training schedule and overwhelming culture but aren’t so bad because you’re with other PCTs. The 1st 3 months in site are harder because you don’t have your PCV buddies by your side. But, after that you figure it out and it gets better. Keep your head up Jenn and I’m just on the other side of the mountain so I’ll come by often.

10/18 Sunday: Marry for Business, who needs love?
In a nutshell: I have had two people ask me since I’ve been back from the States if I knew someone they could marry “for business” Both of them were married with families. People here think that the streets are gold in the US and if you go there you will get rich and live rich like all the other people. They don’t understand that immigrants who don’t speak English have it very rough in the States. I can’t convince them.

The Real Blog: I would like to talk about an interesting interaction that occurred between me and the Disco Man, Tono. I am not particularly found of this man since when my mom and sister were here for my birthday he charged us double for everything but of course didn’t tell us it would be double until after we had already drank it all. Then when Wandi told him that some of the stuff was his, Tono lowered the price of Wandi’s stuff but kept the high price for my stuff. When Wandi argued with him, Tono said, “What, like these people don’t have money?” I have not been a fan since.

About two days ago I went to Tono’s colmado to get something and he said he wanted to have a serious talk with me. He asked if I knew anyone from the States who would marry him for business. Tolo had approached me about this before as well, trying to marry off his son (who is married with 4 kids) to someone in the States. I told Tono the same thing I told Tolo, I don’t know anyone like that and aren’t you married? Tono told me timidly that he wasn’t married (as his teenage daughter folded laundry behind us). Tono told me he wasn’t making any money with his business (to me it seems that by all Dominican standards he’s doing well for himself) and he wanted to go to Nueba Yorl (how they say New York which is what they call the entire USA) to make the big bucks.

People are so mislead here. They think that if they can get to the States they will make tons of money. For instance when I was on the bus today coming home from Santiago, I was talking to some university student who didn’t believe me when I told him not all American’s are rich. That right now there is the highest unemployment rate in a loooooong time. How can people have money if they don’t have jobs? The guy didn’t believe me. Go figure.