Before we can become real life volunteers we have to learn how to have real lives, so, I´m spending the bulk of my time in training. We train from 8am to approximately 4:30pm 6 days a week. During this time I´m in Spanish class learning about topics like public transportation aka "crazy phrases that will be shouted at you by the cobrador in the guaga" (the cobrador is the guy who hangs out the door of the bus, trying like mad to convice people to get on his guagua even when they`re packed in there like sardines, then he collects the sardines` money once they`re on the guagua and watches for the stops that are yelled out) or I´m taking in lectures/workshops--yesterday we had an awesome impromtu lecture about the state of Haiti from a Creole/French teacher from there or I´m getting vaccinated and hearing about the dangers of Dengue fever and eating fish and cabbage.
Those are generals that everyone attends. In addition, we have assignment specific trainings which have been interesting (albeit slightly overwhelming) thusfar. Some things I´m excited about specifically: they´re developing up a new IT education sector that focuses on literacy in certain sites, we´ve been learning about Dominican school systems and everybody knows I get worked up about education, and soon we´ll be doing diagnostics ( interviews, observations and surveys in our communities to figure out what the challenges are, where the opportunities are etc) and I love figuring out why people do things, primary research was always my favorite part of my advertising degree...
Right now I´m visiting a current volunteer at their site...more on this to come.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
First Post In Country!
I had a little trouble logging in because I couldn´t figure out how to make the @ symbol, but, get this! One of my peace corps buddies had taught me some computer vocab in spanish during training including that word "arrobo" AND I had the courage to ask the two young people running this internet cafe how to make the sign on the keyboard--JOY! In only a few days I have roughly 30 times the courage I ever had to try and get my point across in spanish, even if its incorrect. You know what´s awesome, I´m struggling right now to NOT type words in Spanish heheh
Let´s see, soooooooooo many things to say, so little time...my hands are shaking as I type this because I´m so excited to tell you all everything, but, it´s impossible to do so in one sitting and I only paid to use the computer for one hour.
First of all, I love all the 39 peace corps members in my training class, I feel like I can confidently talk to all of them about their home lives, their spanish struggles haha and anything else. I´m so lucky that some of them live in my barrio or, neighborhood, and we visit each other, talk with each others families, dance with each others families etc.
I´m in love with my host mother, whom I call mama. She reminds me so much of my grandma and aunts in Guatemala. And, though I feel a bit guilty because it´s soooo beautiful, I´m in love with her house! I´m pretty sure I have one of the best set ups of the volunteers. I´d say 70 percent of the volunteers have to take bucket baths because of the huge water shortage but my house has a working shower and the same amount don´t have electricity because of the bad infrastructure, but my house has a generator! Basically, it´s a palace, I think it´s because my mom owns a woman´s clothing store below the house that sells imported clothes that her daughter, who lives in Holland sends her. Also, it´s a great set up because there aren´t any little kids. Don´t get me wrong, for vounteers, little kids are excellent for language and cultural aquisition but, they also like to "share" everything, including your privacy (see discussion on "compartir" below) so I just like visiting with other volunteers´sisters. My mama´s name is Dona Asia, Dona is a term of respect kind of like Mrs. and I live with her, her husband, Don Rafael and their son Ramon, who´s called Tony and his wife Zoilia, pronounced like soy-la. They are all so sweet and patient with me, and I think they can tell how easily I get attatched to people because they are always smiling and at least trying to talk with me, although I can´t understand everyhting they´re saying hahaha. I think it really helps that I hug my mom all the time and say thanks a lot and when I got to the house I made sure to tell her " Quiero a compartir todo!" This means roughly, I want to share everything with you, but it means a lot more in the Dominican culture along with "confianza" or trust. These people are waaay into sharing and being generous. They always have their doors open, literally, and they always want me to eat more, and tell me so regularly. And our teachers told us that we can´t come home from class and just shut our doors right away because our famliy might think we don´t want to "compartir" or share in their life. Whenever I say thank you for food my mama tells me "a su orden," a Dominican phrase which I´ve come to understand to mean "I will do whatever will make you happy."I also love our little Chiuaua "Nina" which means girl, she is always around with me wagging her tail and shivering, as Chiuaua´s tend to do.
There´s so much more but my time is running short, other things to say: This is the loudest country in the world. Another volunteer told me that they heard that somewhere and I could EASILY believe it to be true. In addition to the usual noise of tons of cars without mufflers and the hustle and bustle of closely packed people that´s common in Latin American countries there´s also music on constantly. Blaring. On "maximo." And the people are not shy about singing in public. WHILE the music is blaring there is usually also a TV on full blast and people shouting. It´s weirdly comforting in that I feel like I´m never alone but I may come back slightly hearing impaired hahah. I´m trying to adjust to sleeping with this at night.
The people here are very clean. Even though there´s a water shortage they take multiple bucket baths a day and always smell and look good and we´re expected to conform.
I´m very happy here and I´m thinking of you all, there´s much more to come including pictures and hopefull video....
Let´s see, soooooooooo many things to say, so little time...my hands are shaking as I type this because I´m so excited to tell you all everything, but, it´s impossible to do so in one sitting and I only paid to use the computer for one hour.
First of all, I love all the 39 peace corps members in my training class, I feel like I can confidently talk to all of them about their home lives, their spanish struggles haha and anything else. I´m so lucky that some of them live in my barrio or, neighborhood, and we visit each other, talk with each others families, dance with each others families etc.
I´m in love with my host mother, whom I call mama. She reminds me so much of my grandma and aunts in Guatemala. And, though I feel a bit guilty because it´s soooo beautiful, I´m in love with her house! I´m pretty sure I have one of the best set ups of the volunteers. I´d say 70 percent of the volunteers have to take bucket baths because of the huge water shortage but my house has a working shower and the same amount don´t have electricity because of the bad infrastructure, but my house has a generator! Basically, it´s a palace, I think it´s because my mom owns a woman´s clothing store below the house that sells imported clothes that her daughter, who lives in Holland sends her. Also, it´s a great set up because there aren´t any little kids. Don´t get me wrong, for vounteers, little kids are excellent for language and cultural aquisition but, they also like to "share" everything, including your privacy (see discussion on "compartir" below) so I just like visiting with other volunteers´sisters. My mama´s name is Dona Asia, Dona is a term of respect kind of like Mrs. and I live with her, her husband, Don Rafael and their son Ramon, who´s called Tony and his wife Zoilia, pronounced like soy-la. They are all so sweet and patient with me, and I think they can tell how easily I get attatched to people because they are always smiling and at least trying to talk with me, although I can´t understand everyhting they´re saying hahaha. I think it really helps that I hug my mom all the time and say thanks a lot and when I got to the house I made sure to tell her " Quiero a compartir todo!" This means roughly, I want to share everything with you, but it means a lot more in the Dominican culture along with "confianza" or trust. These people are waaay into sharing and being generous. They always have their doors open, literally, and they always want me to eat more, and tell me so regularly. And our teachers told us that we can´t come home from class and just shut our doors right away because our famliy might think we don´t want to "compartir" or share in their life. Whenever I say thank you for food my mama tells me "a su orden," a Dominican phrase which I´ve come to understand to mean "I will do whatever will make you happy."I also love our little Chiuaua "Nina" which means girl, she is always around with me wagging her tail and shivering, as Chiuaua´s tend to do.
There´s so much more but my time is running short, other things to say: This is the loudest country in the world. Another volunteer told me that they heard that somewhere and I could EASILY believe it to be true. In addition to the usual noise of tons of cars without mufflers and the hustle and bustle of closely packed people that´s common in Latin American countries there´s also music on constantly. Blaring. On "maximo." And the people are not shy about singing in public. WHILE the music is blaring there is usually also a TV on full blast and people shouting. It´s weirdly comforting in that I feel like I´m never alone but I may come back slightly hearing impaired hahah. I´m trying to adjust to sleeping with this at night.
The people here are very clean. Even though there´s a water shortage they take multiple bucket baths a day and always smell and look good and we´re expected to conform.
I´m very happy here and I´m thinking of you all, there´s much more to come including pictures and hopefull video....
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