Hey guys,
So everything is still going really well here in the Dominican Republic. The people that live here are wonderfully inviting, the other volunteers are a blast, and the culture is fascinating. The toughest part is definitely the language barrier. At first, it wasn’t so bad because I was able to greet people and make simple conversation. However, now that I’m starting to get to know all of my neighbors, the conversations are getting more technical and I am getting frustrated with not being able to communicate with anyone. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll start to pick it up more and more as I practice everyday.
Food
Since I’ve been here, I’ve been introduced to a bunch of new types of food. Most of my meals consist of rice, beans, and some sort of meat (usually beef or chicken). They have a type of soup here called sancocho that is pretty good, which has mea,t beans, and a bunch of different spices. I eat of lot of platanos (which are similar to bananas), yucca (which are similar to potatoes), and mangos. I also had “passion fruit” for the first time yesterday, which was amazing. They put a lot of sugar in everything here, especially all the juices they make with different types of fresh fruit, as well as the coffee (which is spectacular by the way). My host mom makes me breakfast and dinner everyday, and then I have lunch at the training center during the week. My body is most certainly having trouble adjusting to the food, but I won’t get into that here. It's also weird not to have anything cold, since we don't usually have electricity.
Training
We have training everyday from 8 to about 4:30. Training consists of 4 hours of language classes in the morning, then we have lunch at noon, and then a couple sessions devoted to various Peace Corps related topics for the rest of the day. These usually have one session that has something to do with our program’s general goals when it comes to development or other Peace Corps policies, and then another session that deals with cultural training. Since we are currently living in the Dominican Republic, we receive Dominican Republic culture training. Some sessions were devoted to learning the local dances (the marengue and the bachata), playing dominos, or talking about local customs and traditions. We get an hour break for lunch, during which we usually sit around and share stories of our new adventures or our cultural misunderstandings.
Host family
As I mentioned in my last post, my living situation has been great. Besides the fact that neither of us know what the other is saying half the time we talk, my host mom and I are getting along great. She loves to dance, but her husband hates/doesn’t know how to dance. So last night while we were all sitting outside on the street talking and drinking, she put some music on and made me (and a couple of the other volunteers) dance with her. My friends have told me a couple times that I really lucked out with my host family since my host mom is so much fun, my host dad is really cool, and the baby is so unbelievably adorable.
My birthday
I turned 22 last Thursday, and I have to say that it was one of the top birthdays I’ve ever had (it was up there with my 5th birthday party at Chucky Cheese, my 21st birthday, and the day I was born). The entire group of 50 people sang to me in both English and Spanish during lunch. Then, while we had some free time before our next session, it started raining. It didn’t seem to be too bad, but then all of a sudden, we heard this incredibly loud crash that shook everything. Lightning struck our training center while everyone was sitting in it. Thankfully, everyone was ok, but I was honestly terrified because of how loud it was. After lunch, we had a very entertaining speaker that talked about the Peace Corps’ strategy for helping developing countries. Then we learned how to properly clean fruit and vegetables before eating them. After training, the group decided to go out to celebrate my birthday. I’m guessing that everyone was just looking for an excuse to go out together and have some fun instead of sitting at home. We went to a car wash, which was not at all like car washes in the states. Here, you drive to the car wash, and while its being cleaned you wait in the bar, drink lots of beer, and dance. So about 25 or 30 of us all walked there and had a good time. I think I’m getting better at the local dances here, but all the Dominican guys are still 50 times better then any of us. I got home around 8:00 and my host mom showed me this giant plate of flan that she made. So after we ate dinner, 3 of my fellow volunteers came over and we ate the flan with my host family and a couple other neighborhood kids. All in all, it was a really great day.
Weekend
On Friday, a few of us got together to play some soccer. We went to this old abandoned stadium/church that was a cement floor with a volleyball court in the middle of it. We played soccer for about an hour with some of the local kids, and a couple random men that heard the noise and just walked in. On Saturday night we went to the car wash again with a couple of our host moms. I really love the dancing here, so I had a great time. Afterward, we walked back home and the brother of my friend’s host mom kept saying how hungry he and his friends were. So after a long debate, he started to build a bonfire in the middle of the intersection. Once the fire got started, all the mothers went and got rice, salami, spices, water, and a big pot. It was about 2:00 in the morning, but they just went ahead and started cooking the food. It took a long time, but it tasted really good. We didn’t get to bed until about 5:00 a.m. I guess when you’re hungry after a night of drinking, you have to build a fire and cook some rice here. On Sunday, me and 4 other volunteers jumped on the public busses (which are an adventure in themselves by the way) and went to the beach. We went to Boca Chica, and it was an amazing day. The water was warm and the weather turned out to be perfect by the time we got there (even though it rained the entire time we were traveling there). It was a little too crowded for me, but we found a spot that had a little more space. While playing frisbee, we had a couple Dominican girls come over to talk to us. The only English words they knew were “I love you” and “Marry me”, so I got proposed to several times by them. I ended up declining.
We are still planning on leaving for Honduras on July 22, so hopefully everything goes smoothly. Thanks to every who has emailed me or sent me some sort of message…it’s good to hear from my friends and family.
Miles
