2/19 Friday: Filter Charla
In a nutshell: I am soooo over dealing with these filters. I made announcements and personally told people about this presentation and only 1 new person showed up. The requirements to get a filter are easy: pay $550 pesos and go to a class. Then you get your water filter and stop getting parasites. $550 isn’t so much that people can’t do it. Every single person in my community could do it if they set aside a little money here and there. Today was the 4th time I gave the same class and out of the 30 original filters we still have 6. People are so freaking lazy! I refuse to just give these away. I think that people think that I will just give them away if they wait long enough. The thing that really annoys me is that I had at least 5 people come up to me and tell me they really wanted a filter and they would be at the class but not one of them was there. There are two houses where the people want filters but they’re just weekend homes and I wanted to give the filters to someone who lived in the house all the time. Sometimes I get so frustrated by the mentality here. A lot of people want stuff but they won’t do anything to get it except complain. Well until they decide to do something about it, those filters are staying in the Women’s Club. People have to put something in for them or they won’t take care of them. I’d rather give them to someone in a different community who will take care of it than give them to someone who doesn’t appreciate it here.
2/16 y 2/18: Tuesday and Thursday: Escojo
In a nutshell: Tuesday was my 1st Escojo class. It went soooooo well!! My 1st Escojo class I ever had was incredibly boring but this one, with all the promoters there (kids who got at least an 80% on the final exam and didn’t have a lot of absences) went fantastic! I hope this round goes better! I have a feeling it will since my old promoter group had a bad attitude and this time around there are only two from the previous group. Mostly Wandi and Argeni were the worst. Oh, and the time Ernie, Vanji and Yameliza walked out… that was pretty bad. Vaji and Yameliza are still in it but being the only old ones makes them less bad. They’re not the type of girls who are bad on their own but are obnoxious when paired with someone bad. Anyways, the class went great! Afterwards I invited all the promoters to my friend Mark’s Escojo graduation on the 6th of March. I said we should get the other group something as a happy graduation gift. All the kids agreed so we decided to have a raffle and also to make and sell Pine Sol again. I was a teeny bit concerned for the making of the floor cleaner but decided to just roll with it. I was nominated to get something “cool” for the raffle and when I went to Santiago on Wednesday for an Escojo meeting I stopped at a store which is more like a huge garage sale (very disorganized but cheap!) and found the perfect thing: a thermos! Doñas will like it because they will only have to make coffee 1x/day and it will stay warm and men will like it because, well why not?
On Thursday the Pine Sol making went soooooo smooth! It was amazing!! I kept having flashbacks of my other promoters sitting and watching while just 2 people worked and then all arguing about the amount of work to be done. We made about 60 bottles in about 90 minutes. That includes looking for the bottles, cleaning them, making the floor cleaner and bottling it. They didn’t help clean up much but I was planning on being there for about 3 hours anyways so I was happy! Now we’ll see how many they can sell. No matter what though we’ll have enough money for the gift. The raffle alone raised enough money as the gift costs about $500. I told them we could use the rest for a party or something.
2/15 Monday: The Mother’s Club gift exchange
In a nutshell: I wasn’t sure how Mercedes was going to treat me this week since we have since talked about our issues. She was civil and even kind of friendly which was a nice change. I bought the gift for my secret santa to exchange but I also wanted to get a gift for Minga. So, when I was in Santiago today coming back up from the concert, I stopped at a great store called Jumbo. I found a flower pot with little hearts all over it and got it for Minga. Then I went to the counter and had them wrap it (all the stores here will wrap presents for free) and Jumbo takes FOREVER but they do a great job. Minga liked the wrapping job so much she refused to open the gift! I found this hilarious so I took a picture of it. Finally her daughter came by a few days later and opened it for her. Next time I’ll save the money and get a rock wrapped for her!
2/13 Saturday: Adventura!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In a nutshell: My favorite band is Adventura. They’re great and sing my favorite type of music, bachata. I found out last December that they were going to come to the DR for a concert and definitely wanted to go. Through some miscommunications with friends buying tickets, I didn’t get one in time and unless I wanted to pay 700 pesos more ($20) for better seats, I wasn’t going. Well, I am too cheap to pay 1600 pesos for a ticket so I resolved to not go. Then, a miracle happened: one of my friends had an extra ticket and called me on Thursday to see if I wanted it!!!! So, I went to see Adventura in concert. We got there about an hour late and were really far away but who cares?! The crowd was amazing and we all agreed it was one of the best concerts we had ever seen. Yippee, my 1st concert in the DR!!!!
2/12 Friday: A short example of why school here no cive para nada
In a nutshell: This entire week I have been trying to go to the school to talk to the director. I’ve been trying to go during the least intrusive time of day so as to not disrupt classes too much but I need to get Escojo started again and have to compile a list of interested kids. I can’t do that if I don’t have permission from the Director, Humberto. Well, to be blunt- school here sucks. I know I have said this before but here is a great example of why it sucks. Every single day this week I was going to go around 5, near the end of school to talk to Humberto and then come back the next day to talk to the students. Every single day my plans were foiled because, after beginning school at 2 pm each day, school was let out no later than 4 every each day this week for reasons such as meetings with other teachers, the school is being remodeled and they’re putting in windows…. I finally just went on Friday in the morning to talk to him but he wasn’t there. So, I sat and had a 20 minute conversation with Violeta, his wife and a school teacher, about Christmas, New York (aka the States) and how everything is so organized (so says her husband who was there for 45 days over Dec and Jan), and other random things. While this was during her class I have decided that it really doesn’t matter if we have a long conversation in the middle of it. She’s more likely to be agreeable if I chit chat with her for a while before getting to the point. Finally we began the topic of Escojo. I made a list of kids who were old enough to participate who have school in the morning and said I would come back in the afternoon to talk to Humberto. I went back later, school once again got out early but I was able to make a list of kids and talk to Humberto. Even though I’m not having class in the school anymore he insisted I write a letter to him about it again before he would agree (agree to what?). So, I wrote the letter and I have a very small class. Only about 10 kids are interested in it as opposed to 40 I had this time last year. That was a little discouraging since I’m sure a few will drop out of it but at least it will be more manageable.
2/10 Wednesday: Controlling the situation
In a nutshell: It made me very happy today when Pimbi came over. This is the woman who stole my clothing from Minga’s house and gave it to her prego daughter (I still haven’t say anything to her about it). She came to my house to see when I was going to fix her filter and then told me she wanted me to “gift” her one of my shirts. My first reaction was laughing out loud thinking, well, at least she’s ASKING me now! But then I was annoyed not only because its rude even in this culture to ask people for stuff like that but because it was the 2nd time this week people have out right asked me for something. One woman I don’t even hang out with sent a little kid to my house 2x asking for nail polish. Anyways, after the initial shock of this woman’s audacity in asking me for a shirt, I asked her if she knew the story about someone stealing from me. She said she did and I then went on and on about how it made me feel so terrible and sad. I thought the community didn’t like me and after leaving all my family and friends in the States, people here treat me like that… so sad, yada yada yada. She agreed, said of course it wasn’t her (to which I of course agreed) and said her goodbye- without a shirt of mine. Adios mujer!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
first week of feb
2/7 Monday: For the love of all things holey, can we PLEASE move past this!?!
In a nutshell: Today I confronted Mercedes about our issue as the poem and gifts didn’t have the affect I was hoping. To my surprise, she seemed bursting with things to say and pretty hurt. In a nutshell, she is offended that I don’t tell her when I’m going to eave for days at a time and when I’ll be back. That’s a fair complaint as she is my closest neighbor and one of the two people signed up to take care of me with PC. We talked and we sealed it with a hug. PC told us in training not to be direct here but I’m finding that’s horrible advice.
Then I went to Minga’s and had a great talk with her and her daughter, Margara in the kitchen while Margara’s kids played in Mingas house. For some random reason I opened up about everything, I haven’t opened up about everything to anyone here- not even Wandi. But I told them how I was in my house crying for days after Christmas and how awful I felt about the entire situation. They supported me and said that Mercedes gets mad over lots of little things but mostly when she thinks someone messes with her kids. She knew Wandi liked me and that I was really mad at him so then she was mad at me. When I was gone I think it turned into her thinking I must be mad at her and her entire family for whatever I thought Wandi did to me since I didn’t tell her I was leaving or when I was coming back.
I also told Maragara and Minga about how it was Geraldo who broke into my house before and that he did it again in December. Then when I went back to my house, I passed my Mercedes house and said hi to Geraldo sitting on the porch and he ignored me. I know he heard me because I walked up to him, kicked his foot and shined my light on him. He wouldn’t even look at me. Then I noticed Margara’s son sitting behind Geraldo. Nuts.
The Real Blog: In the 15 hours I since I returned home I had 2 people come up to me and tell me that “someone” is saying I’m mad at Mercedes. This amazes me since I have not been here to be mad at her, which I pointed out to each person who said that to me. Today I must have been feeling surprisingly bold. I went to the Women’s Meeting and unknowingly sat right next to Mercedes. She literally turned her body so her back was to me. It took me a good 30 minutes to notice it was her since I couldn’t see her face and why would I assume someone is purposely putting their back to me? Then, when the meeting was nearly over, I was the only one left to talk, she actually left! More like bee lined it out of there. She is the president and so she’s supposed to stay until the meeting is done and all the women are gone. After this, I decided that I would just talk to her. I’ve tried hiding from her which obviously was not successful. I tried a poem with a gift and that didn’t work. (I thought for sure that would work) So, without other options, I’m going against the advice of not being direct in this culture and I’m talking to her.
I walked up to her house and she was there washing clothing. I told her people have been telling me that they heard I’m mad at her and to my complete surprise she said, Of course Elizabeth. That sure opened up conversation. We talked for about 5-10 minutes and she was pretty upset, in fact she talked for at least 8 of those 10 minutes. I actually felt kind of bad. She told me that she knew Wandi supposedly did something horrible to me but that she didn’t think I needed to treat her family bad when they have never done anything to me. I told her I wasn’t mad at Wandi anymore and that even if I was, I would never displace that on anyone else. I told her that her family was very important to me and I never wanted to offend them but that I thought they were mad at me and it made me feel awkward going over to visit. She said they weren’t mad at me either. The main thing she was upset about was that she is my closest neighbor and as my project partner with Ernesto, she’s responsible to PC for my wellbeing and I never tell her when I’m leaving for a few days or when I get back. I personally think she’s embarrassed that when people ask if I’m home or when I’m coming home she has no idea. I guess I didn’t think it was a big deal, didn’t think they cared and I’m not used to having neighbors who care. She said one day she looked in my house in the afternoon to make sure I wasn’t dead in my bed. (See why I felt bad?!) I told her I was sorry and that I would tell her from now on. I gave her a hug and felt very satisfied when I left.
Then I went to Minga’s and she and her daughter, Margara, told me I had better talk to Mercedes after how Mercedes was treating me in the Club earlier. I told them I had already talked to her and ended up spilling everything to them. I haven’t ever completely shared how I’m feeling with anyone here, people are such gossips and I’m worried they’ll turn on me. Well, Minga and Margara always defend me and watch out for me so I opened up today, which is weird because I wasn’t even upset today. But it made me feel so much better! Like there are some people who really understand where I’m coming from now, they couldn’t have understood me before since I didn’t tell them the whole story. I need to learn to let Dominicans in. I have a hard time trusting them, which is awful. How can you really make any friends when you don’t trust them? And that’s my problem: I have no Dominican friends and it makes me feel awful. On the other hand, I trusted Mercedes without question and then in May she turned on me and it was devastating. So, I need to trust again but figure out whom to trust. I can think of two other ladies I think I can completely trust- but I’m such a bad judge of character it’s hard to know. I am very ingenuous, way too naive.
Minga told me that no one wants to get on the bad side of Mercedes and her family, that they will pick a fight with anyone for anything but especially for messing with one of their kids. Apparently Wandi told them all that I was accusing him of something he didn’t do and of course they believed him. Then they saw me ignore each phone call when he called me 50,000 times on Christmas. So I’m sure I wasn’t imagining them being mad at me in the days after Christmas. I had no idea they were mad at me for Wandi, I thought I offended them for not eating their food! Then when I was gone so much in the following weeks the problem just grew and grew in their imaginations. The problem that I was angry with them grew so much that while the gifts and the poem helped for the time being, I left again and so the problem continued to grow.
I’m just hoping that one of Margara’s kids didn’t run off to Mercedes house and tell her everything we said tonight at Mingas. When I got back to my house one of her kids was there and Geraldo wouldn’t look at me or respond to me. I told Minga and Margara tonight how Geraldo was the one who stole from me. It could be bad but if it is I supposed I’ll deal with it as it comes. Today was productive if nothing else, I feel supported by Minga and Margara.
1/31- 2/6: Medical Mission
In a nutshell: This week was amazing. I kind of fell into an opportunity to translate for a medical mission (medical mission = when a medical group comes to the DR for a week or so do to medical type things and needs people to translate). It was a hernia med mission which had me less than thrilled at first but, as always, things worked out and I loved it. I ended up with two really fantastic doctors, Clayton and Gladys, who incidentally love to teach. Because of this, Justin, Sarah and I (the 3 PCVs on duty) were able to be really hands-on instead of only translating. We were able to make incisions, give stitches, and take gross stuff out of people (cysts and lipomas). It was so fun!
The Real Blog: This week was the coolest week ever! Even better than when I went to Jimaní! Let me explain what a medical mission is. Lots of groups of medical-type people (nurses, doctors, med students… you get the idea) come to the DR to help out for a week or so but need translators. So, PCDR has a “med committee” with PCVs who are in charge of coordinating interested PCVs with groups. Spring and Fall are “med mission season” and so there are a lot of opportunities at the moment for PCVs to translate. Generally, PCVs are very interested and so it’s competitive to get a med mission. But since there are so many med missions, most PCVs are able to do at least one before they finish service. I had signed up to do a surgical mission in the cap for a week in Feb but as I’m not in the next group leaving, that group was given preference and that group filled all the spaces. I was annoyed because most people just wanted to do this one since the group of doctors have a rep of really “taking care” of their PCV translators, staying in a niiiiiice hotel, and taking the out to 5 star restaurants, whereas I’m easy to please and just wanted to see some cool surgeries.
It turns out there was a different med mission for the 31st until the 6th. Meredith asked me if I could do it, she was kind of scrambling for translators since it was such short notice. At first I thought, How lame… hernia surgeries for an entire week? Boo. But I figured, meh, why not? I still haven’t started any classes in my site and what’s another week. Sign me up.
When I got to the center on Sunday I was happy. Sure it was no 5 star hotel with gourmet food promised in the future but I had my own twin bed with mosquito net, a room with a ceiling fan, HOT WATER with pressure, and…. WIRELESS INTERNET!!! Whoot! It turns out there were only 3 of us there to translate, with one person getting there later on Monday. Sunday night, I was in the cafeteria, happily using the internet for several hours when this really tall guy who was in there with me walked by and on his way out said, “Jeesh you’ve been facebook-ing for hours.”- with a total tone to his voice! I was offended. I thought he was rude, I even told my mom about him. I ignored him, flipped back to my facebook tab to keep stalking people, and later went to bed.
The next day, Justin (the other PCV there with me) and I were assigned to the consulting side of the operation. We were going to be with 2 doctors evaluating people to see if they actually had hernias and setting them up with appointments. We would be doing this all week. I translated that me an no surgeries for us. To make it worse, one of the doctors we would be with was that tall, rude dude from the night before!! He walked by us and said how he really wanted a Coke and Justin and I looked at each other with horror, just waiting for him to send one of us to get it for him! When he walked away, Justin said, What an egomaniac! To which I said, he was going to Justin’s doctor for the week and Justin of course disagreed and said I was going to be stuck with him. His nametag said he was a pediatrician; I pitied the kids who had to have him as their doctor! About 5 minutes later, Justin headed off down the hall with the other, female doctor and said, see you later Betsy- have fun! My jaw dropped and my eyes narrowed: Justin had officially been placed on my “list”.
So, I went into the 1st consult with Clayton and after about 3 minutes realized that once again my 1st impression couldn’t have been further from the truth. This guy was so nice! Really hyper and funny to boot. So I ended up being his little sidekick the entire week with the worst part of it being the fact that he loooooooooves kids so he wanted to be the one to see all of them...yes alllll of them. The 1st one we saw I had to help hold down while he screamed and kicked! (And we all know how I just looooove screaming kids)
But, by the end of the 1st day it was evident that people thought this was a clinic that would be taking care of any type of lump or bump people had. Clayton and Gladys noticed that there were a ton of people that had something to be removed and so they began scheduling mini surgeries for the afternoons after all the consulting was done. It turns out; both Clayton and Gladys teach medical students that are doing their residency all the time so they love teaching people stuff! I’m not sure how it happened but, where most doctors say, Stand back and don’t touch anything blue, these guys were like, Scrub in! Fantastic! So, the 1st thing we did was take a lipoma (a fatty cyst) off of the tip of a penis… and I got to hold the penis! I can see that to many this wouldn’t seem like a treat, but it was. The rest of the week passed the same but with Justin, Sarah and I becoming more and more involved. Gladys and Clayton had us giving people stitches, making incisions (I made an incision on the 1st day!) using the skin glue (ok, not really cool but still strangely satisfying), popping huge, nasty cysts (Justin loved this part and consequently was strayed with a TON of pus one day) and I even gave a shot! (Although that was just for practice on Justin but it was still fun!) It was the best week and I was sooooo sad when it was over.
In a nutshell: Today I confronted Mercedes about our issue as the poem and gifts didn’t have the affect I was hoping. To my surprise, she seemed bursting with things to say and pretty hurt. In a nutshell, she is offended that I don’t tell her when I’m going to eave for days at a time and when I’ll be back. That’s a fair complaint as she is my closest neighbor and one of the two people signed up to take care of me with PC. We talked and we sealed it with a hug. PC told us in training not to be direct here but I’m finding that’s horrible advice.
Then I went to Minga’s and had a great talk with her and her daughter, Margara in the kitchen while Margara’s kids played in Mingas house. For some random reason I opened up about everything, I haven’t opened up about everything to anyone here- not even Wandi. But I told them how I was in my house crying for days after Christmas and how awful I felt about the entire situation. They supported me and said that Mercedes gets mad over lots of little things but mostly when she thinks someone messes with her kids. She knew Wandi liked me and that I was really mad at him so then she was mad at me. When I was gone I think it turned into her thinking I must be mad at her and her entire family for whatever I thought Wandi did to me since I didn’t tell her I was leaving or when I was coming back.
I also told Maragara and Minga about how it was Geraldo who broke into my house before and that he did it again in December. Then when I went back to my house, I passed my Mercedes house and said hi to Geraldo sitting on the porch and he ignored me. I know he heard me because I walked up to him, kicked his foot and shined my light on him. He wouldn’t even look at me. Then I noticed Margara’s son sitting behind Geraldo. Nuts.
The Real Blog: In the 15 hours I since I returned home I had 2 people come up to me and tell me that “someone” is saying I’m mad at Mercedes. This amazes me since I have not been here to be mad at her, which I pointed out to each person who said that to me. Today I must have been feeling surprisingly bold. I went to the Women’s Meeting and unknowingly sat right next to Mercedes. She literally turned her body so her back was to me. It took me a good 30 minutes to notice it was her since I couldn’t see her face and why would I assume someone is purposely putting their back to me? Then, when the meeting was nearly over, I was the only one left to talk, she actually left! More like bee lined it out of there. She is the president and so she’s supposed to stay until the meeting is done and all the women are gone. After this, I decided that I would just talk to her. I’ve tried hiding from her which obviously was not successful. I tried a poem with a gift and that didn’t work. (I thought for sure that would work) So, without other options, I’m going against the advice of not being direct in this culture and I’m talking to her.
I walked up to her house and she was there washing clothing. I told her people have been telling me that they heard I’m mad at her and to my complete surprise she said, Of course Elizabeth. That sure opened up conversation. We talked for about 5-10 minutes and she was pretty upset, in fact she talked for at least 8 of those 10 minutes. I actually felt kind of bad. She told me that she knew Wandi supposedly did something horrible to me but that she didn’t think I needed to treat her family bad when they have never done anything to me. I told her I wasn’t mad at Wandi anymore and that even if I was, I would never displace that on anyone else. I told her that her family was very important to me and I never wanted to offend them but that I thought they were mad at me and it made me feel awkward going over to visit. She said they weren’t mad at me either. The main thing she was upset about was that she is my closest neighbor and as my project partner with Ernesto, she’s responsible to PC for my wellbeing and I never tell her when I’m leaving for a few days or when I get back. I personally think she’s embarrassed that when people ask if I’m home or when I’m coming home she has no idea. I guess I didn’t think it was a big deal, didn’t think they cared and I’m not used to having neighbors who care. She said one day she looked in my house in the afternoon to make sure I wasn’t dead in my bed. (See why I felt bad?!) I told her I was sorry and that I would tell her from now on. I gave her a hug and felt very satisfied when I left.
Then I went to Minga’s and she and her daughter, Margara, told me I had better talk to Mercedes after how Mercedes was treating me in the Club earlier. I told them I had already talked to her and ended up spilling everything to them. I haven’t ever completely shared how I’m feeling with anyone here, people are such gossips and I’m worried they’ll turn on me. Well, Minga and Margara always defend me and watch out for me so I opened up today, which is weird because I wasn’t even upset today. But it made me feel so much better! Like there are some people who really understand where I’m coming from now, they couldn’t have understood me before since I didn’t tell them the whole story. I need to learn to let Dominicans in. I have a hard time trusting them, which is awful. How can you really make any friends when you don’t trust them? And that’s my problem: I have no Dominican friends and it makes me feel awful. On the other hand, I trusted Mercedes without question and then in May she turned on me and it was devastating. So, I need to trust again but figure out whom to trust. I can think of two other ladies I think I can completely trust- but I’m such a bad judge of character it’s hard to know. I am very ingenuous, way too naive.
Minga told me that no one wants to get on the bad side of Mercedes and her family, that they will pick a fight with anyone for anything but especially for messing with one of their kids. Apparently Wandi told them all that I was accusing him of something he didn’t do and of course they believed him. Then they saw me ignore each phone call when he called me 50,000 times on Christmas. So I’m sure I wasn’t imagining them being mad at me in the days after Christmas. I had no idea they were mad at me for Wandi, I thought I offended them for not eating their food! Then when I was gone so much in the following weeks the problem just grew and grew in their imaginations. The problem that I was angry with them grew so much that while the gifts and the poem helped for the time being, I left again and so the problem continued to grow.
I’m just hoping that one of Margara’s kids didn’t run off to Mercedes house and tell her everything we said tonight at Mingas. When I got back to my house one of her kids was there and Geraldo wouldn’t look at me or respond to me. I told Minga and Margara tonight how Geraldo was the one who stole from me. It could be bad but if it is I supposed I’ll deal with it as it comes. Today was productive if nothing else, I feel supported by Minga and Margara.
1/31- 2/6: Medical Mission
In a nutshell: This week was amazing. I kind of fell into an opportunity to translate for a medical mission (medical mission = when a medical group comes to the DR for a week or so do to medical type things and needs people to translate). It was a hernia med mission which had me less than thrilled at first but, as always, things worked out and I loved it. I ended up with two really fantastic doctors, Clayton and Gladys, who incidentally love to teach. Because of this, Justin, Sarah and I (the 3 PCVs on duty) were able to be really hands-on instead of only translating. We were able to make incisions, give stitches, and take gross stuff out of people (cysts and lipomas). It was so fun!
The Real Blog: This week was the coolest week ever! Even better than when I went to Jimaní! Let me explain what a medical mission is. Lots of groups of medical-type people (nurses, doctors, med students… you get the idea) come to the DR to help out for a week or so but need translators. So, PCDR has a “med committee” with PCVs who are in charge of coordinating interested PCVs with groups. Spring and Fall are “med mission season” and so there are a lot of opportunities at the moment for PCVs to translate. Generally, PCVs are very interested and so it’s competitive to get a med mission. But since there are so many med missions, most PCVs are able to do at least one before they finish service. I had signed up to do a surgical mission in the cap for a week in Feb but as I’m not in the next group leaving, that group was given preference and that group filled all the spaces. I was annoyed because most people just wanted to do this one since the group of doctors have a rep of really “taking care” of their PCV translators, staying in a niiiiiice hotel, and taking the out to 5 star restaurants, whereas I’m easy to please and just wanted to see some cool surgeries.
It turns out there was a different med mission for the 31st until the 6th. Meredith asked me if I could do it, she was kind of scrambling for translators since it was such short notice. At first I thought, How lame… hernia surgeries for an entire week? Boo. But I figured, meh, why not? I still haven’t started any classes in my site and what’s another week. Sign me up.
When I got to the center on Sunday I was happy. Sure it was no 5 star hotel with gourmet food promised in the future but I had my own twin bed with mosquito net, a room with a ceiling fan, HOT WATER with pressure, and…. WIRELESS INTERNET!!! Whoot! It turns out there were only 3 of us there to translate, with one person getting there later on Monday. Sunday night, I was in the cafeteria, happily using the internet for several hours when this really tall guy who was in there with me walked by and on his way out said, “Jeesh you’ve been facebook-ing for hours.”- with a total tone to his voice! I was offended. I thought he was rude, I even told my mom about him. I ignored him, flipped back to my facebook tab to keep stalking people, and later went to bed.
The next day, Justin (the other PCV there with me) and I were assigned to the consulting side of the operation. We were going to be with 2 doctors evaluating people to see if they actually had hernias and setting them up with appointments. We would be doing this all week. I translated that me an no surgeries for us. To make it worse, one of the doctors we would be with was that tall, rude dude from the night before!! He walked by us and said how he really wanted a Coke and Justin and I looked at each other with horror, just waiting for him to send one of us to get it for him! When he walked away, Justin said, What an egomaniac! To which I said, he was going to Justin’s doctor for the week and Justin of course disagreed and said I was going to be stuck with him. His nametag said he was a pediatrician; I pitied the kids who had to have him as their doctor! About 5 minutes later, Justin headed off down the hall with the other, female doctor and said, see you later Betsy- have fun! My jaw dropped and my eyes narrowed: Justin had officially been placed on my “list”.
So, I went into the 1st consult with Clayton and after about 3 minutes realized that once again my 1st impression couldn’t have been further from the truth. This guy was so nice! Really hyper and funny to boot. So I ended up being his little sidekick the entire week with the worst part of it being the fact that he loooooooooves kids so he wanted to be the one to see all of them...yes alllll of them. The 1st one we saw I had to help hold down while he screamed and kicked! (And we all know how I just looooove screaming kids)
But, by the end of the 1st day it was evident that people thought this was a clinic that would be taking care of any type of lump or bump people had. Clayton and Gladys noticed that there were a ton of people that had something to be removed and so they began scheduling mini surgeries for the afternoons after all the consulting was done. It turns out; both Clayton and Gladys teach medical students that are doing their residency all the time so they love teaching people stuff! I’m not sure how it happened but, where most doctors say, Stand back and don’t touch anything blue, these guys were like, Scrub in! Fantastic! So, the 1st thing we did was take a lipoma (a fatty cyst) off of the tip of a penis… and I got to hold the penis! I can see that to many this wouldn’t seem like a treat, but it was. The rest of the week passed the same but with Justin, Sarah and I becoming more and more involved. Gladys and Clayton had us giving people stitches, making incisions (I made an incision on the 1st day!) using the skin glue (ok, not really cool but still strangely satisfying), popping huge, nasty cysts (Justin loved this part and consequently was strayed with a TON of pus one day) and I even gave a shot! (Although that was just for practice on Justin but it was still fun!) It was the best week and I was sooooo sad when it was over.
jimani
Jimaní: January 20th- January 24th (as written for a magazine by PCVs, for PCVs)
When I first heard that PCVs had the opportunity to go to a boarder town to help out medically, I was really excited. I have some experience in health care, am a health PCV, AND people in my community call me Doctora which has to count for something. I, like most PCVs I’m sure, was hoping for the chance to help out in a hands-on, noticeable way.
Honestly, when Randi, Kenzie and I arrived to Jimaní Wednesday afternoon we had no clue what to expect. The extent of our knowledge was that there were two hospitals and an orphanage which were all being used as hospitals. Since the public hospital was located right in town and the others were together a hike outside of town, we went to the public hospital first. We walked in and were affronted with complete chaos. There was no one in charge, everyone seemed to be speaking different languages, probably ¾ of the injured had something amputated, people were in mats on the floor, and patients were moaning in pain… it was kind of what one should expect given the situation I suppose. There also seemed to be a lot of people just standing around, not sure what to do. Randi, Kenz and I went on a mission to find someone in charge so we didn’t become bystanders.
After some looking, we found someone who seemed important. We followed him to a patient lying on a mat. The man in charge had a handful of little bottles and a sharp. He handed all of it over to a random woman, turned to Randi (who we had already established as “the one who knows stuff”) and told her, “Teach her.” Then he walked away. We all looked at each other and Random Woman, who apparently decided not to loose any time, had begun trying to inject the poor, very awake man with some of the liquids in her hands. Randi, of course, mildly flipped out whereas Kenz and I decided to back off and began surveying the scene.
People were everywhere. There weren’t enough IV stands for people so their gravity flow IV bags were on the floor beside them. There weren’t any beds in the area we were, just mats on the ground. A lot of people hadn’t received lunch yet and it was nearly 5 pm. To be brief: this hospital was a hot mess and more patients were arriving by the truckload.
Overwhelmed with the situation and not knowing what could be done, we took the sharp from Random Woman and decided to visit what was dubbed as the “American Hospital”, the one on the other side of town. We got a bola in a truck and as we sat in the back we found out was the truck used to take away the bodies all week. (Did I mention I only had one pair of pants to last me the entire week?) While the American Hospital seemed crazy as well, it seemed more of an organized chaos (maybe it was because we were a little more adjusted).
Kenz and Randi absorbed their fill of the hospital and went back outside while I remained inside, contemplating the fragility of it all when someone asked me if I was doing anything. No. He asked me if I wanted to change a dressing. Yes. I gave him the warning that I wasn’t a nurse to which he laughed and said it didn’t matter, making me think of Random Woman giving an injection. I followed him over to the patient, a large woman on a mat on the floor with two long, visible rods in her- one in each leg. Lucky for the patient, and for my stomach, this doctor was an anesthesiologist and so he put her to sleep right away. I helped by elevating her leg while the doctor pulled gauze from a hole in her leg, the diameter being the size of a quarter, and judging by how much of the doctor’s finger disappeared while inserting the fresh gauze, it appeared to be at least 2-3” deep. He attended her other wounds and then she woke up. It was a thing of beauty. There was another doctor there, not from the US but not from the DR either. She was complaining that before the US doctors arrived there was more to do but now that they have “Americanized” the hospital, it was too organized and there wasn’t enough to do. What a complaint!
In the following days we found out that the second hospital, the “American Hosp.”, wasn’t actually being utalized as a hospital before the earthquake. It was being used to do some eye surgeries here and there but it was never set up to be a hospital. It amazed me to find that doctors from the US (and from other countries as well but mainly from the US) were able to come here and organize an entire hospital that functions relatively well, all things considered, in a matter of days- all while receiving more critical patients!
Randi, Kenzie and I ended up working night shifts, 7pm -7am but more like 6:30 pm- 9 am, the rest of our time there. That first night I worked in one of the two critical care trailers with some Dominican doctors. It was great that they were there to help but I hope I never need serious medical care in this country. I found several used needles in patient’s beds that were forgotten. A patient that couldn’t breathe was told it was in his head and was held down when he began to panic. Another woman was having problems with her IV, which was in her neck, and the doctor said it would have to wait until morning because she didn’t know how to change IVs. We couldn’t reposition patients with neck/back injuries unless an American doctor was present because the Dominican doctors didn’t know how to move a person with a spinal injury (imagine lying in the same position for 12 hours) It made me think of all the people receiving “care” in the public hospital and think of how lucky the patients here were that they ended up in the American Hospital.
A few times there were aftershocks and all the patients panicked. It was really sad. One man who wasn’t hurt in the earthquake was badly injured when he jumped from the second story because he had been trapped in rubble for 5 days in Haiti. Each time an aftershock happened the patients would scramble outside. One night they slept outside because the aftershock occured at 5:30 pm and another about an hour later at 6:30 so they moved all the beds outside and slept under the stars. I’m not sure how the doctors kept everyone straight. It was really amazing the work they did.
By the end of the week we were surprised to find that there were now a lot of empty beds. Despite the overall hesitation on the Dominican hospitals part (a lot of them said they wouldn’t accept Haitian injured), doctors were able to send patients to other, more equipped hospitals throughout the DR. The problem was that no new patients were coming in. Blame it on difficulty getting back and forth to Port au Prince with all the traffic, blame it on boarder control, no one could give an exact answer to the question. One thing is certain though: there were more people somewhere who needed care and were not getting it.
Overall, I am very happy I was given the opportunity to serve in Jimaní. It really gave me a new perspective and a new direction in life as I am 100% certain I want to study medicine when I return to the States. In my four days there, I grew prouder and more aware each day of how efficient the American medical system is and more impressed by the dedication and leadership of the American people. We can’t change racial tensions between Haiti and the DR any more than we can convince all of the Doñas of the world to use green leaves in cooking, but we can at least be examples. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the enormity of any situation but feasible make a change one day at a time, one situation at a time. We are American Ambassadors here in our little communities and with each day that comes, comes an opportunity for change. Don’t let yourself get lost in it and let it pass you by. Its two years that pass quicker that you would expect and it’s your two years so make them count.
1/18- 1/20: How I ended up in Jimaní, a boarder town
In a nutshell: I went down to the capital Monday morning, the 18th, unsure if I should even be going since I had been out of my site so much in January. But, it was for a meeting to coordinate the next regional Escojo conference and so I packed a couple days of clothes, extra undies (because you never know what’s going to happen) and headed out. I went to the meeting that afternoon and later found out that there was an opportunity to help package boxes with USAID or some NGO the next day, aid relief boxes to send to Haiti. As I had only done a mini food drive in my community and wanted to help out, I decided to stay an extra day. After all, I was already here, may as well.
The next day we were all waiting around to go and package the boxes when Romeo came down and told us to go up to his office. We sat down and he gave us each a list of 4 places that needed volunteers to help out. One was in Jimaní, one in another boarder town, and two in Santo Domingo. I immediately said I would like to go to Jimaní, and noticing it said it wanted medical personnel I pointed out that I was a nurses aide for several years. Romeo immediately shot the idea down and said gruffly that they were just going to send an RN and an EMT there. The only other place on the list that was ready to receive any volunteers was in Santo Domingo. Then Romeo rudely told us that the meeting was over and we could leave. I definitely got the feeling the entire time that he wanted nothing to do with the aid effort.
We all went down to wait for a driver to take us to the warehouse when Randi rushed into the office and grabbed Kenzie. I knew they had some meeting with Romeo and then remembered that Randi is the only PVC who is an RN in PC. When they came back from their meeting I asked if they were going to Jimaní and they were all secretive about it! I was getting really annoyed. The driver was ready to take us to the warehouse but I wanted to go to Jimaní. I was afraid if I went with the driver I would miss my opportunity to go to Jimaní so I stayed behind.
Later I was talking to my friend Rachele and she said her APCD, Adel, had INVITED her to go to Jimaní! Rachele has NO health background (but then, neither does Kenzie and she seemed to be going). I went up to Adel’s office, slightly nervous that I would get in trouble for all this after Romeo specifically told me no. I told her that I have a background in health and would really like to help in Jimaní if possible. She said she thought that would be great and she would talk to Romeo.
Later that day she called me and said she had spoken with Romeo and convinced him. I was the only other person allowed to go for now and we were to leave in the morning!!! I was so excited!!! It turns out that the EMT in the group is married and she said she would like her husband to go with for support. Because of that, PC said Randi could take one person for support too. She asked Kenzie because she knew Kenz wants to be a nurse after PC. They weren’t supposed to tell anyone because Romeo didn’t want a stampede of PCVs headed for the boarder. I was still annoyed with them for not telling ME for crying out loud but, at least it worked out in the end. The PCVs who went to pack the boxes said that when they showed up, the people weren’t ready for them and they had nothing to do still. So, I made the right decision. Persistence pays off:)
When I first heard that PCVs had the opportunity to go to a boarder town to help out medically, I was really excited. I have some experience in health care, am a health PCV, AND people in my community call me Doctora which has to count for something. I, like most PCVs I’m sure, was hoping for the chance to help out in a hands-on, noticeable way.
Honestly, when Randi, Kenzie and I arrived to Jimaní Wednesday afternoon we had no clue what to expect. The extent of our knowledge was that there were two hospitals and an orphanage which were all being used as hospitals. Since the public hospital was located right in town and the others were together a hike outside of town, we went to the public hospital first. We walked in and were affronted with complete chaos. There was no one in charge, everyone seemed to be speaking different languages, probably ¾ of the injured had something amputated, people were in mats on the floor, and patients were moaning in pain… it was kind of what one should expect given the situation I suppose. There also seemed to be a lot of people just standing around, not sure what to do. Randi, Kenz and I went on a mission to find someone in charge so we didn’t become bystanders.
After some looking, we found someone who seemed important. We followed him to a patient lying on a mat. The man in charge had a handful of little bottles and a sharp. He handed all of it over to a random woman, turned to Randi (who we had already established as “the one who knows stuff”) and told her, “Teach her.” Then he walked away. We all looked at each other and Random Woman, who apparently decided not to loose any time, had begun trying to inject the poor, very awake man with some of the liquids in her hands. Randi, of course, mildly flipped out whereas Kenz and I decided to back off and began surveying the scene.
People were everywhere. There weren’t enough IV stands for people so their gravity flow IV bags were on the floor beside them. There weren’t any beds in the area we were, just mats on the ground. A lot of people hadn’t received lunch yet and it was nearly 5 pm. To be brief: this hospital was a hot mess and more patients were arriving by the truckload.
Overwhelmed with the situation and not knowing what could be done, we took the sharp from Random Woman and decided to visit what was dubbed as the “American Hospital”, the one on the other side of town. We got a bola in a truck and as we sat in the back we found out was the truck used to take away the bodies all week. (Did I mention I only had one pair of pants to last me the entire week?) While the American Hospital seemed crazy as well, it seemed more of an organized chaos (maybe it was because we were a little more adjusted).
Kenz and Randi absorbed their fill of the hospital and went back outside while I remained inside, contemplating the fragility of it all when someone asked me if I was doing anything. No. He asked me if I wanted to change a dressing. Yes. I gave him the warning that I wasn’t a nurse to which he laughed and said it didn’t matter, making me think of Random Woman giving an injection. I followed him over to the patient, a large woman on a mat on the floor with two long, visible rods in her- one in each leg. Lucky for the patient, and for my stomach, this doctor was an anesthesiologist and so he put her to sleep right away. I helped by elevating her leg while the doctor pulled gauze from a hole in her leg, the diameter being the size of a quarter, and judging by how much of the doctor’s finger disappeared while inserting the fresh gauze, it appeared to be at least 2-3” deep. He attended her other wounds and then she woke up. It was a thing of beauty. There was another doctor there, not from the US but not from the DR either. She was complaining that before the US doctors arrived there was more to do but now that they have “Americanized” the hospital, it was too organized and there wasn’t enough to do. What a complaint!
In the following days we found out that the second hospital, the “American Hosp.”, wasn’t actually being utalized as a hospital before the earthquake. It was being used to do some eye surgeries here and there but it was never set up to be a hospital. It amazed me to find that doctors from the US (and from other countries as well but mainly from the US) were able to come here and organize an entire hospital that functions relatively well, all things considered, in a matter of days- all while receiving more critical patients!
Randi, Kenzie and I ended up working night shifts, 7pm -7am but more like 6:30 pm- 9 am, the rest of our time there. That first night I worked in one of the two critical care trailers with some Dominican doctors. It was great that they were there to help but I hope I never need serious medical care in this country. I found several used needles in patient’s beds that were forgotten. A patient that couldn’t breathe was told it was in his head and was held down when he began to panic. Another woman was having problems with her IV, which was in her neck, and the doctor said it would have to wait until morning because she didn’t know how to change IVs. We couldn’t reposition patients with neck/back injuries unless an American doctor was present because the Dominican doctors didn’t know how to move a person with a spinal injury (imagine lying in the same position for 12 hours) It made me think of all the people receiving “care” in the public hospital and think of how lucky the patients here were that they ended up in the American Hospital.
A few times there were aftershocks and all the patients panicked. It was really sad. One man who wasn’t hurt in the earthquake was badly injured when he jumped from the second story because he had been trapped in rubble for 5 days in Haiti. Each time an aftershock happened the patients would scramble outside. One night they slept outside because the aftershock occured at 5:30 pm and another about an hour later at 6:30 so they moved all the beds outside and slept under the stars. I’m not sure how the doctors kept everyone straight. It was really amazing the work they did.
By the end of the week we were surprised to find that there were now a lot of empty beds. Despite the overall hesitation on the Dominican hospitals part (a lot of them said they wouldn’t accept Haitian injured), doctors were able to send patients to other, more equipped hospitals throughout the DR. The problem was that no new patients were coming in. Blame it on difficulty getting back and forth to Port au Prince with all the traffic, blame it on boarder control, no one could give an exact answer to the question. One thing is certain though: there were more people somewhere who needed care and were not getting it.
Overall, I am very happy I was given the opportunity to serve in Jimaní. It really gave me a new perspective and a new direction in life as I am 100% certain I want to study medicine when I return to the States. In my four days there, I grew prouder and more aware each day of how efficient the American medical system is and more impressed by the dedication and leadership of the American people. We can’t change racial tensions between Haiti and the DR any more than we can convince all of the Doñas of the world to use green leaves in cooking, but we can at least be examples. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the enormity of any situation but feasible make a change one day at a time, one situation at a time. We are American Ambassadors here in our little communities and with each day that comes, comes an opportunity for change. Don’t let yourself get lost in it and let it pass you by. Its two years that pass quicker that you would expect and it’s your two years so make them count.
1/18- 1/20: How I ended up in Jimaní, a boarder town
In a nutshell: I went down to the capital Monday morning, the 18th, unsure if I should even be going since I had been out of my site so much in January. But, it was for a meeting to coordinate the next regional Escojo conference and so I packed a couple days of clothes, extra undies (because you never know what’s going to happen) and headed out. I went to the meeting that afternoon and later found out that there was an opportunity to help package boxes with USAID or some NGO the next day, aid relief boxes to send to Haiti. As I had only done a mini food drive in my community and wanted to help out, I decided to stay an extra day. After all, I was already here, may as well.
The next day we were all waiting around to go and package the boxes when Romeo came down and told us to go up to his office. We sat down and he gave us each a list of 4 places that needed volunteers to help out. One was in Jimaní, one in another boarder town, and two in Santo Domingo. I immediately said I would like to go to Jimaní, and noticing it said it wanted medical personnel I pointed out that I was a nurses aide for several years. Romeo immediately shot the idea down and said gruffly that they were just going to send an RN and an EMT there. The only other place on the list that was ready to receive any volunteers was in Santo Domingo. Then Romeo rudely told us that the meeting was over and we could leave. I definitely got the feeling the entire time that he wanted nothing to do with the aid effort.
We all went down to wait for a driver to take us to the warehouse when Randi rushed into the office and grabbed Kenzie. I knew they had some meeting with Romeo and then remembered that Randi is the only PVC who is an RN in PC. When they came back from their meeting I asked if they were going to Jimaní and they were all secretive about it! I was getting really annoyed. The driver was ready to take us to the warehouse but I wanted to go to Jimaní. I was afraid if I went with the driver I would miss my opportunity to go to Jimaní so I stayed behind.
Later I was talking to my friend Rachele and she said her APCD, Adel, had INVITED her to go to Jimaní! Rachele has NO health background (but then, neither does Kenzie and she seemed to be going). I went up to Adel’s office, slightly nervous that I would get in trouble for all this after Romeo specifically told me no. I told her that I have a background in health and would really like to help in Jimaní if possible. She said she thought that would be great and she would talk to Romeo.
Later that day she called me and said she had spoken with Romeo and convinced him. I was the only other person allowed to go for now and we were to leave in the morning!!! I was so excited!!! It turns out that the EMT in the group is married and she said she would like her husband to go with for support. Because of that, PC said Randi could take one person for support too. She asked Kenzie because she knew Kenz wants to be a nurse after PC. They weren’t supposed to tell anyone because Romeo didn’t want a stampede of PCVs headed for the boarder. I was still annoyed with them for not telling ME for crying out loud but, at least it worked out in the end. The PCVs who went to pack the boxes said that when they showed up, the people weren’t ready for them and they had nothing to do still. So, I made the right decision. Persistence pays off:)
Monday, January 18, 2010
Earthquake and sucking up.
1/14 Thursday: Making amends
In a nutshell: I find myself in the usual pickle of not facing my issues. I needed to figure out a way to talk to Mercedes in a Dominican appropriate way that will actually get me somewhere and I needed to fix the situation with Wandi. I haven’t said one word to Wandi since he snooped through my phone. (creeper). I am really proud of Wandi as he began college this week! I felt bad about not even knowing about this big event in his life and guilty as I have been complaining a LOT lately to other PCVs about how much it sucks that Ernesto is out of my site. But, if he didn’t have this job I doubt that he would have had enough money to pay for Wandi’s 1st semester of school. I decided to give Mercedes and Ernesto each a little gift (a flashlight and a necklace) as well as a thank you poem. I gave it to Mercedes and feel like it helped. I still haven’t been able to talk to Wandi. Then there was the normal weirdness that occurs in the colmado. The owner was trying to convince me to get a Dominican man to keep me warm, a guy came in and called me fat and a few minutes later another guy began sniffing my ponytail. Never a dull moment in the DR!
The Real Blog: My stress level in my site is insane. I chalk this up completely to my neighbors and my lack of conflict resolution. I still haven’t talked to Wandi about privacy issues, and still haven’t faced Mercedes. With all this rain, I don’t want to keep avoiding their house because the walk down my front yard is slippery! I had the great idea of getting them with kindness. So I found this poem online, wrote it out on paper, and decorated it (with glitter even!). When I was in Santiago I found a necklace/earring set that Mercedes may like (for only 20 pesos!) and I wrapped it, along with a flashlight for Ernesto, and gave it all to Mercedes yesterday. I think it worked! I kind of invited myself in and we sat and talked with her sister for a good hour.
I saw Wandi leave for school this afternoon and I felt so proud! He did it! He’s going to the university! And then I felt selfish because he wouldn’t have been able to go to school if it weren’t for Ernesto being in that other community making such good money. I also felt bad that I haven’t been here and didn’t wish him well on his first day, I didn’t even know about it! So, I sent him a message (which I’m not even sure if he got) I said that I was proud of him for going to school and that if he was willing to tell me his side of the story I would like to hear it. But he didn’t get home until really late so maybe tomorrow.
Then, later that day I went to the colmado and in the same visit I had someone tell me I’m really fat (not in a complimentary way, but I was wearing a coat, duh of course I look fatter!) and about 2 minutes later, someone else picked up my ponytail and smelled it! What a weirdo, I told him to knock it off! All this happened of course after the colmado owner went through the usual spew, telling me that I need to get a Dominican boyfriend to keep me warm at night. I’m not going to lie, the idea is tempting right now because last night I was so cold I had to get up to put a 3rd blanket on me!
Now, it’s only about 60 degrees here at night but keep in mind, with the tin roof there is a constant breeze and there are no heaters to get any relief from the chill. I think I am much more used to this now though as it doesn’t bother me like last year. It’s rained most of this month and I don’t really mind. I remember when I first got to my site in November last year and it had rained 9 days straight, I was freezing (although I didn’t have the warmer clothing that I have now) and I was MISERABLE. This year I don’t mind at all. Ah, how great it is to be well adjusted and have rain boots!
1/12 Tuesday: Earthquake
In a nutshell: My story of this is not too interesting. I was taking a nap. The earthquake woke me up. I don’t think there were any injuries here in the DR or damages to buildings.
The Real Blog: I’m writing about today because I’m sure you guys back home are curious but really it’s not much of a story from the DR. I was at a med mission and we had been out all day in the rain (it has rained 10 days since the 1st here) translating. We got back to the center, which was located in a teeny town called Las Lajas up in the mountains of Santiago. It’s not close to my site by car but looking at it in map its not far, it’s north of Santiago as well but further east. Anyways, I was really tired and was car sick from the drive back so I promptly went to my room, climbed up on the top bunk of the bunk bed and went to sleep. I was woken up a little while later by the bed rocking, at first lightly. My roommate, Regina was on the bottom bunk and as the bed rocked harder I became really annoyed and told her to stop moving for crying out loud! She said she wasn’t moving and so, incensed I figured someone was playing a joke on my napping time and began looking for the culprit. Not wanting to exert too much effort during nap time and not seeing anyone, I went back to bed. Then I heard everyone outside yelling about an earthquake. My bed had stopped moving, I was still tired and now I didn’t have to worry about a jokester in my room. I went back to sleep but was woken up a couple times by the afteshocks.
Later Regina (who woke up after she realized there was an earthquake whereas I went back to bed and even slept through dinner) told me how it devastated Haiti. That poor country can’t catch a break. It’s interesting that the night before an elderly man was telling Regina and me about how he felt an earthquake around 230 am. We laughed together and teased him saying it was just a dream.
The next day all of the translators left the medical mission (by the way, a med mission is when nurses/doctors or what have you come to the DR for 5-14 days and give medical care/medicines. Some groups then solicit PCVs to translate for them. It’s really fun to be a part of. ) I had to go through Santiago to get home and figured my family was freaking out since I had no cell service on the mountain. So, about 21 hours after it happened, I got online to let everyone know I was ok. Thank you for all your concerns on facebook. Sometimes I feel a little forgotten about down here so it was nice to see that my family was checking up on me.
Santiago was a weird site as the streets resembled a Sunday when there are hardly any people- only it was Wednesday! Also, about half of the businesses were closed. I asked about this and was told the obvious answer, people just want to be home with their families. It makes me think of 9/11 and how different our cultures are in their responses. When I try to talk to people about this here (yes I was trying to “interview” people for you Sarah!) no one seems interested in talking about it. Then, yesterday Minga told me that someone on the news was saying that Haiti deserved it because they had a pact with the devil and so it was a punishment from God, and it was Pat Robinson who said that! I hope that was translated wrong or Minga didn’t understand correctly.
So, that’s that. As far as I know, there were no fatalities here in the DR or even damages to buildings but you guys could find out better than I. It figures that during the biggest earthquake in the last 200 years, I was taking a nap! Hopefully that’s the only big earthquake I feel in my life.
In a nutshell: I find myself in the usual pickle of not facing my issues. I needed to figure out a way to talk to Mercedes in a Dominican appropriate way that will actually get me somewhere and I needed to fix the situation with Wandi. I haven’t said one word to Wandi since he snooped through my phone. (creeper). I am really proud of Wandi as he began college this week! I felt bad about not even knowing about this big event in his life and guilty as I have been complaining a LOT lately to other PCVs about how much it sucks that Ernesto is out of my site. But, if he didn’t have this job I doubt that he would have had enough money to pay for Wandi’s 1st semester of school. I decided to give Mercedes and Ernesto each a little gift (a flashlight and a necklace) as well as a thank you poem. I gave it to Mercedes and feel like it helped. I still haven’t been able to talk to Wandi. Then there was the normal weirdness that occurs in the colmado. The owner was trying to convince me to get a Dominican man to keep me warm, a guy came in and called me fat and a few minutes later another guy began sniffing my ponytail. Never a dull moment in the DR!
The Real Blog: My stress level in my site is insane. I chalk this up completely to my neighbors and my lack of conflict resolution. I still haven’t talked to Wandi about privacy issues, and still haven’t faced Mercedes. With all this rain, I don’t want to keep avoiding their house because the walk down my front yard is slippery! I had the great idea of getting them with kindness. So I found this poem online, wrote it out on paper, and decorated it (with glitter even!). When I was in Santiago I found a necklace/earring set that Mercedes may like (for only 20 pesos!) and I wrapped it, along with a flashlight for Ernesto, and gave it all to Mercedes yesterday. I think it worked! I kind of invited myself in and we sat and talked with her sister for a good hour.
I saw Wandi leave for school this afternoon and I felt so proud! He did it! He’s going to the university! And then I felt selfish because he wouldn’t have been able to go to school if it weren’t for Ernesto being in that other community making such good money. I also felt bad that I haven’t been here and didn’t wish him well on his first day, I didn’t even know about it! So, I sent him a message (which I’m not even sure if he got) I said that I was proud of him for going to school and that if he was willing to tell me his side of the story I would like to hear it. But he didn’t get home until really late so maybe tomorrow.
Then, later that day I went to the colmado and in the same visit I had someone tell me I’m really fat (not in a complimentary way, but I was wearing a coat, duh of course I look fatter!) and about 2 minutes later, someone else picked up my ponytail and smelled it! What a weirdo, I told him to knock it off! All this happened of course after the colmado owner went through the usual spew, telling me that I need to get a Dominican boyfriend to keep me warm at night. I’m not going to lie, the idea is tempting right now because last night I was so cold I had to get up to put a 3rd blanket on me!
Now, it’s only about 60 degrees here at night but keep in mind, with the tin roof there is a constant breeze and there are no heaters to get any relief from the chill. I think I am much more used to this now though as it doesn’t bother me like last year. It’s rained most of this month and I don’t really mind. I remember when I first got to my site in November last year and it had rained 9 days straight, I was freezing (although I didn’t have the warmer clothing that I have now) and I was MISERABLE. This year I don’t mind at all. Ah, how great it is to be well adjusted and have rain boots!
1/12 Tuesday: Earthquake
In a nutshell: My story of this is not too interesting. I was taking a nap. The earthquake woke me up. I don’t think there were any injuries here in the DR or damages to buildings.
The Real Blog: I’m writing about today because I’m sure you guys back home are curious but really it’s not much of a story from the DR. I was at a med mission and we had been out all day in the rain (it has rained 10 days since the 1st here) translating. We got back to the center, which was located in a teeny town called Las Lajas up in the mountains of Santiago. It’s not close to my site by car but looking at it in map its not far, it’s north of Santiago as well but further east. Anyways, I was really tired and was car sick from the drive back so I promptly went to my room, climbed up on the top bunk of the bunk bed and went to sleep. I was woken up a little while later by the bed rocking, at first lightly. My roommate, Regina was on the bottom bunk and as the bed rocked harder I became really annoyed and told her to stop moving for crying out loud! She said she wasn’t moving and so, incensed I figured someone was playing a joke on my napping time and began looking for the culprit. Not wanting to exert too much effort during nap time and not seeing anyone, I went back to bed. Then I heard everyone outside yelling about an earthquake. My bed had stopped moving, I was still tired and now I didn’t have to worry about a jokester in my room. I went back to sleep but was woken up a couple times by the afteshocks.
Later Regina (who woke up after she realized there was an earthquake whereas I went back to bed and even slept through dinner) told me how it devastated Haiti. That poor country can’t catch a break. It’s interesting that the night before an elderly man was telling Regina and me about how he felt an earthquake around 230 am. We laughed together and teased him saying it was just a dream.
The next day all of the translators left the medical mission (by the way, a med mission is when nurses/doctors or what have you come to the DR for 5-14 days and give medical care/medicines. Some groups then solicit PCVs to translate for them. It’s really fun to be a part of. ) I had to go through Santiago to get home and figured my family was freaking out since I had no cell service on the mountain. So, about 21 hours after it happened, I got online to let everyone know I was ok. Thank you for all your concerns on facebook. Sometimes I feel a little forgotten about down here so it was nice to see that my family was checking up on me.
Santiago was a weird site as the streets resembled a Sunday when there are hardly any people- only it was Wednesday! Also, about half of the businesses were closed. I asked about this and was told the obvious answer, people just want to be home with their families. It makes me think of 9/11 and how different our cultures are in their responses. When I try to talk to people about this here (yes I was trying to “interview” people for you Sarah!) no one seems interested in talking about it. Then, yesterday Minga told me that someone on the news was saying that Haiti deserved it because they had a pact with the devil and so it was a punishment from God, and it was Pat Robinson who said that! I hope that was translated wrong or Minga didn’t understand correctly.
So, that’s that. As far as I know, there were no fatalities here in the DR or even damages to buildings but you guys could find out better than I. It figures that during the biggest earthquake in the last 200 years, I was taking a nap! Hopefully that’s the only big earthquake I feel in my life.
Monday, January 11, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, January 1, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
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.
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.
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