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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------{ October 28, 2006 }
Dominican men
I debated about posting this information on here, and I'll probably get some flack for it, but if you really want to know about my daily life, read on.
I've learned that our CBT is not only useful for technical training. I have definitely learned how to strategize for dealing with men when I go to my site for two years. Men here are incredibly forward and really believe in the 'love at first site' deal...and it's not just the 'I'm an American thing'...I had a conversation with a Dominican friend about this. And it really blew up b/c there is this guy who is at my house every night that plays dominoes (that's what we do for fun...and dance) and he's attractive, but that's where it ends. No intellectual possiblity there, but I was sending the wrong signals because I kept getting 'I love you, I'm in love with you, etc' and he didn't get the 'I only want to be your friend' thing, and so I got this intense love letter the other day, which apparently I shouldn't have accepted, but I didn't know what it was, so last night I had to be harsh. And he's not the only one.
I knew before that the man/woman interaction was different, but even between Santo Domingo and the campos it's really different. It's hard to adjust because at home I have a lot of male friends and it's fine. I'm not expecting them to start telling me they are going to marry me one day, but here, it's almost impossible to have a Dominican man friend in the campo. And they just start going and telling you they love you in less than a week. So my strategy when I get to my site is pretty much to cut off from having men friends at first and if gradually, after a few months, I do, then that's fine. This is seriously emotionally stressing, because I don't want to hurt people's feelings but the whole 'love' thing here is really different and so are people's attitudes about it. Ay yi yi.
Despite all that, things are still going well. 2 more weeks of training here in Jarabacoa, then back to Santo Domingo. We're going to have a Halloween party on Tuesday but I can' think of a costume with my limited wardrobe. Maybe I'll just wear my mosquito net around. Let me know if you have any creative ideas with basic clothes and materials.
Posted by katie at 12:46 PM | Permalink
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------{ October 25, 2006 }
Ecotourism? Maybe not.
Thanks for all the birthday wishes- it was great! My family did a lot for me- they bought me a shirt, a bottle of wine (b/c I told them I liked it and not beer), and my mom made this really good fruit/juice thing. I got a few other things too, but they are so generous for not having much. We also got the whole training group together the night before to celebrate my birthday and that of one of the Spanish professors. It was nice that our trainer did that because my community is so much farther than the others (they can walk to one anothers' in a reasonable amount of time, but it's 2 hours from ours to the closest of theirs). Lots of dancing, dominoes and chatting.
Last week for training we were focused on producers (agriculture), mostly coffee. I am quite tired of hearing about coffee, how it is processed, its challenges...etc. If we have another session on it, I might bang my head against a wall. We also had a second interview with the PC leader of our group to talk about sites, which we'll find out about in a few weeks. This week we're focused on ecotourism. It's definitely a buzzword for tourism around here but the problem with it is that they aren't really environmentally educated so it's hard to support true ecotourism. I also don't think any of us are going to have ecotourism sites- supposedly 70% will be in producer sites, 20% in artesania and 10% in other kinds of sites.
Saturday night I went dancing- a Dominican pastime that I definitely appreciate. The guy/girl ratio at the colmado was 6 or 7 guys per girl. I barely got a rest. A friend, Adeline, and I heard some rather colorful pick-up lines and several old men proceeded to tell me that they have land and a good home. I'm getting pretty good at merengue and bachata. They don't dance a whole lot of salsa here.
I'm getting eaten alive by these little bugs up here. I forget what they're called, but they're not mosquitoes. I've started to only wear long pants now because I have so many bites on the back of my calves that I look like I have a disease or something. Despite my complaining, I'm really enjoying it here but am definitely looking forward to getting to my own site so I can settle in and feel some sense of permanence.
Posted by katie at 01:12 PM | Permalink
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------{ October 14, 2006 }
I'm in the campo
It's beautiful here. The mountains are gorgeous- you wouldn't really think this was a Caribbean island by the area that I'm in- there are coniferous trees and it's cool at night. It's very different here from Santo Domingo...a lot more rural. Jarabacoa is the main town and is touristy, but we l ive about 30 minutes outside of it farther up in the mountains. Our group is in 4 different communities, grouped by Spanish classes, and my class is in Los Dajaos, the farthest away from everyone else. The roads are terrible and it's really hilly so I'm getting a workout just walking around the community (it's too much of a stretch to call it a town), but I am really enjoying it. Everyone is incredibly welcoming. They had a little welcome party for us the other day and I'm meeting so many people that it's impossible for me to remember their names.
I like my family- my house is one of the community hang out places because my mom has a colmado. A colmado is a small store that sells basic products...they are everywhere here. Supermarkets tend to be far from a lot of communities and many families don't have transportation or can't afford to go to them often, so there are a lot of colmados. They sell in small quantities and it's common for people to go every day or more than once a day at times. Microenterprise is very important here; many people don't leave their communities but there are tons of tiny local businesses that are supported- colmados, bread shops, people selling this and that out of their houses. Competition here does not mean what it does in the US.
I cross the river every day here...the bridge? It washed down the river the other day in the rain so we cross over the rocks and the log. It'll be a while, but eventually I'll post a picture. I'm working on my dominoes skills- they play it a lot here and it's nightly at my house that a big crew gathers around and takes turns.
For training, we're working on a condensed version of our community assessment that we'll have to do when we go to our own sites. My class and I went up to a mountaintop yesterday to see where some coffee is going to be planted and talked to guy who works for a big coffee cooperative here about how they plant it. Next week our whole group goes somewhere to learn about the whole process and the week after that we do something with ecotourism. I'm giving a talk on marketing next Friday as well.
It's cooler here so that is really nice. I've had to wear my sweatshirt...amazing. What's up at home?
Posted by katie at 11:11 AM | Permalink
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------{ October 07, 2006 }
Jarabacoa
OK this is going to be short because I´m at a less than stellar internet cafe in the city...taking a quick break from walking around the city with a few friends. Monday morning I leave for CBT to Jarabacoa and will be there for 5 weeks. It is in the mountains and is supposed to be beatiful, but is a lot more rural than where I´m at now. I won´t have a phone at my house and will only be able to get to a computer on the weekends. I´m also pretty sure my house won´t have electricity.
I will put a little hint in here though...I can still get mail. HINT. Thanks, mom, for the package. Things I will always welcome include books, candy, cards, pictures and anything random that will make me think of you.
Busy week this past week included the following: visiting a public school to see the education system, day long seminar with a coffee cooperative including a coffee tasting, stalking tourists to interview them about their purchases, just to name a few. I will need patience with my new family, as they have 3 kids whose ages I don´t know.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUSAN!!!!
Posted by katie at 02:20 PM | Permalink
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