This guy from my area made a deal with the former administrator of the association about a farm that the association owned that he was going to run it and if there were a certain amount of profits he would get some benefits from it. That is what I (and my project partner and board of directors) have understood. No one is 100% on the details because the administrator no longer works for us and it was a verbal deal. Well, the farm ended up losing money. The guy, who was never actually an employee of the association, later claimed that we owed him money and that the deal was more of him as an employee, which is not true. Because he wanted to get money out of the association, he hired a lawyer. The sum of money really wasn't all that high, but he had no right to it, so the board of directors, mostly influenced by my project partner, ignored the first court date that was sent to us. The second one was sent over the summer while Francis, my project partner, was in the States and so no one went. Finally, a third order is sent for the end of October and they were going to go because it was getting drawn out. Several times other members of the board had tried to come to an accord with the guy and it didn't work out because he is greedy and just wants a lot of money for nothing. The day before the appointment, he and a member of the board supposedly reach an agreement on a sum of money just to get rid of the case and that they don't have to go to the court appointment the next day. The guy shows up anyway and mentions nothing about an agreement. 2 or so weeks later there is a warrant of arrest out for Francis, who is the president and therefore representative of the association, for evading the law by not going to the appointments. This is a Thursday and there is another appointment the following Tuesday. Sitting in jail for the weekend was not really in his plan so he waited over the weekend and then the whole board of directors went to the appointment on Tuesday and straightened out the warrant, however, the guy never showed up so they have another court date for December. Who said life in the campo is boring?

I had a fun Thanksgiving. Every year there is a big Peace Corps Thanksgiving event at a country club in Santo Domingo and while not quite the same as at home, the food is really good and it's nice to be with fellow volunteers. Friday we had the annual All Volunteer Conference and today through Wednesday I have my one year IST (in service training) with the other volunteers in my project sector who came in at the same time as me. Because of that (and that we have to be at the office at 8 this morning), I stayed in Santo Domingo all weekend. Otherwise I would have left Saturday morning to come back yesterday afternoon so it wasn't worth it to go home. Yesterday Cat, Laura and I went to the botanical gardents. It was really pretty and refreshing to go there because there are not many green spaces in Santo Domingo and we don't ususally get a chance to do tourist things when we're here because there is often so much going on and so little time. Laura, Cat and I stayed with an Embassy family and it was relaxing and fun. We cooked them dinner on Saturday night and then last night Karen cooked dinner for us. They put up their Christmas tree on Saturday also and that definitely put me in the Christmas mood and made me even more excited to go home.

After IST I am going back to Juncalito and we will hopefully have our Assembly on Thursday. Next week I will be back in Santo Domingo for the Artisan fair but it should go much smoother than last year. Should.

Posted by katie at 07:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Within the past month I’ve been to Santo Domingo more times than I care to say. I’ve made a personal record of going three times within one week. There is only one thing that could possibly cause me to venture into the heat, humidity and unpleasant bustle of the capital so many times in such a short period of time- that’s right, a medical problem. The first trip was actually for the previously mentioned Coffee Committee meeting, which went well. We have 2 new members from the Agroforestry group, established key areas for the committee and held elections. I’m the new president, although it’s really just a title. A few short days after I headed back to m site, my ear became blocked up and started to hurt, which caused me to ask people more times than normal to repeat themselves. A quick call to the medical office resulted in the decision to go back on Monday. By Thursday there had been no improvement so I called again and went back in on Friday (visit number 3), this time to see a specialist. Here’s where the fun starts. You can’t make an appointment with the PC recommended EENT but have to go to the office in the open time window. The doctor was supposed to arrive at 5:30, which turned out to be closer to 7. I was the second to last person to be attended to, despite having arrived before many other patients. No problem. I just wanted to hear out of my ear. Finally, I went in. After looking at the ear, the doctor retrieved a spray bottle and squirted liquid at my ear. When I asked him what he was doing (it must have just slipped his mind to inform me), he replied that it was anesthesia. Anesthesia?! For what, I’d like to know. Before I had time to inquire, the doc came back and started shoving something, painfully, in my ear. Explanation? No. I responded with some ‘Ows’ and ‘That hurts;’ all I got was ‘Calm down.’ But really, how calm was I supposed to be with someone forcefully shoving an unidentified something into an already painful ear? Once Dr. Pain was satisfied with his work, he told me that it (whatever it is) was supposed to open my ear and that it should come out on its own by Monday, but if it doesn’t, I can just get someone from my campo to take it out with tweezers. (Uh…excuse me?) By the time I left it was dark and almost 9pm. I tried calling several taxi companies but no answer. Erica and a friend walked to come get me. I called a PC doctor the next morning because I was uncomfortable having something shoved down my ear without a satisfactory explanation. She took it out and it had actually helped a lot, however, I certainly hope to never have to go to a DR doctor again. My fourth capital visit within the month was to get the ear checked one last tie last eek. All better, but I just got an email to schedule my dentist appointment in November- something to look forward to.

Despite that unforgettable experience, it has been a good month. A former volunteer left me a camping oven- a collapsible square oven that I can use on top of my stove. I’ve already made good use of it, including several birthday cakes, one of which a group of us took to a friends’ house at night when she was asleep to serenade her (don’t worry, it was with a CD; I didn’t sing).

I wanted to do something fun with my English class so I assigned them skits with different topics to do in English. They went all out and used costumes and props. One groups’ skit was in a doctor’s office with a crazy patient. They didn’t quite, as I’d hoped, looked up medical vocabulary, however, they worked very hard perfecting the crazy lady and learned important phrases such as ‘Shut up!’ and ‘Go to hell!’ She also tried to light a cigarette during the skit but the fan was on strong and 4 matches blew out before she was able to do so. I haven’t laughed so hard since I’ve been here as I did during that class.

With the Association we are getting ready for the annual assembly with all of our associates before the new harvest begins. I want to start working on a grant to get more infrastructure for the association but that will have to be after the assembly.

Maura, Matt, Andy and Justin are coming to visit for a week. They will get here this weekend. I can’t wait! I have now been in country for over a year. The time is flying.

Posted by katie at 03:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Right now in Juncalito we are in the midst of Patronales, which is a festival for the patron saint of the town and lasts 9 days. Our patron saint in St. Antonio. During Patronales they have mass every day and then at night there are parties and musicians come. They also have a queen and court that are elected from Juncalito and the surrounding communities. It started Monday night with the coronation of the queen- I missed that because I was in Santiago. Tuesday night Andy Gutierrez, a merenguero, came and played and it was really good. On Wednesday some kids danced reggaeton on stage (I'm gonig to try and put a video up on my photo site of this 5 year old girl dancing it) and there were 2 other dancing contests. Last night Chiqui Rodriguez, another merenguero, played. A ton of people come from out of town for it and usually afterwards people go and dance in the bar. I went last night for a little bit. Supposedly the best days haven't happened yet because more people come for the weekend and then for the last few days. Adeline, another volunteer, is going to come tomorrow to stay for the night.

I had a meeting with UNACAFEN (an organization that works with producer groups in the northern region) a week ago from yesterday and in addition to working with a group in Juncalito comprised of spouses of our socios, I am going to start having meetings there every 2 weeks to help work on a list and contacts with international coffee buyers. I hope it works out well, UNACAFEN hasn't been the most reliable organization but it has good potential.

There isn't a lot else going on. Aside from last Monday, I haven't left Juncalito since my last post and I've just been working here. It poured for part of the day almost every day in May. I like to leave at least a few windows open (the windows are just slats, no glass) to have some light coming in in case the power is off, but one day the wind kept changing directions and rain was coming in on all sides so I had to shut everything up. Despite that it keeps me from getting much done (or maybe because of it?), I really enjoy the rainstorms. Now that it's June they seem to have cleared up. It hasn't rained all week. It seems a little strange that just at the end of the month it pretty much stopped, but it's been sunny and warm during the day.

Posted by katie at 06:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

For those of you who have commented on my lack of posting during February, no, I have not fallen off the face of the planet; I have just been working a lot and slow on posting. Right now at work we have to do a report for the organization that works with coffee growers' association and gives loans...it is essentially an audit from 2004 until now, so, we have been keeping quite busy in the office. I can't say I enjoy working on it, but it is helpful and necessary for the organization so it is a good step for us, especially since we won't get our next loan until the report is done.

We (the Association) had visitors from Mitsubishi in Japan come who are interested in buying coffee. I wasn't aware that Mitsubishi did more than cars, but they are apparently in a lot of different industries, including the importation of gourmet coffee. We took them to a coffee farm and to our beneficiado, where we process the coffee. We haven't heard anything yet because they had to go discuss plans with the home office, but hopefully something will come out of it! If nothing else, it's good exposure for our region. In April there is the first national competition of quality coffee in the DR; CODOCAFE (an organization that helps coffee growers in the DR) organized it and is bringing in professional coffee tasters from various parts of the world and the winners of the competition will get special prices at which to sell their coffee to prearranged buyers, not to mention great publicity. Each region can enter 5 individual growers and 1 group mix, but they have to have a certain production capacity to enter so that they can sell enough if they win. It's an excellent opportunity so I hope our region does well.

February 8-10 there was a series of events for the 45th anniversary of the Peace Corps in the DR. There were various presentations on what's going on in the DR now, PC projects, etc. and they invite former PCVs to come. There was also another, smaller artesan fair and one day all the current volunteers went to the National Palace to meet the vice president and have a toast- very political but at least we got to go there. It was a lot of fun (and a bit of work too) but one of the best parts was that I got to stay at Embassy housing. When there are big PC events, PC asks if any of the embassy employees if they will house volunteers because the cheap places where we normally stay in the capital fill up and we don't have the money to rent normal hotel rooms. The woman that housed Jessica, Morgen and I, Sarah, is very nice and the apartment is amazing. I had my first hot shower in this country and that alone made my trip to the capital 150% better than the last one. I'm in the capital now as well, trying to get some work done on my diagnostic and running various errands, so Christina and I are staying with her again. Ahh.

I'm trying to find a house to move into in Juncalito, which is proving problematic. The first problem is that there haven't been any available houses, and then when one becomes available either a) it gets snatched up really quickly or b) I don't know who I have to talk to about it and I go on a wild goose chase to find the right person. So, right now it 'appears' I have 3 options- 2 houses which aren't completed yet (one is being remodeled, and the other is a basement apartment of a brand new house- that's the one I really want but the people in charge live in NY so I'm waiting to hear from someone who is supposed to talk to them...read: not holding my breath) and one that I just found out about on Wed. which will be available in a few weeks, but I haven't seen it yet. I like the family that I am with, but I'm definitely ready to be on my own, cook for myself, and come home whenever I want without having to call if it will be late.

I've started to go on walks through the mountains and it is very calming and beautiful (not to mention good exercise). I'll start bringing my camera soon so I can take some pictures of Juncalito and post them so you can see where I live. Unfortunately there hasn't been as much dancing there as in Jarabacoa, but there was a party on Valentine's Day and I'm meeting a friend in Santiago to go dancing tomorrow before heading back up to Juncalito on Sunday. I visited my host family from Santo Domingo for lunch yesterday and then last night Christina, my host sisters' friends and I went to a karaoke place. Christina and I sang "I Will Survive," and, I know this is shocking- they didn't ask for an encore.

My parents are coming to visit in April so I'm excited for that- to see them and also to get to travel around a bit since I haven't been able to do that very much.

Cultural note of the day:
Dominicans. Love. Ballads. It's great going to karaoke and having these big men get up and sing a romantic ballad with a deep, serious, emotional voice- something very few American men would do. They get so into it- it's great. There's also no embarrassment about dancing. In the States, fewer people dance and most people stand around awkwardly, trying to look cool; here, everyone dances. I love it.

Posted by katie at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Merry Christmas a little late! Christmas was ok here, relatively uneventful. Christmas Eve (here called La Noche Buena) they have a big dinner, which wasnt that much different than normal but it was good. Then we went to Mass at 11pm. On Christmas Day, people pretty much just visit with family and friends and eat leftovers from the night before. They didnt exchange gifts, I think partially because people dont have much money and buying different foods for Christmas is extra cost enough. I got my family small gifts, played some dominoes and hung out. That was pretty much my Christmas. I want to go home next year. It was really strange not being with my family. I dont care about presents, but I definitely missed the food.

Since I ended up staying in Santo Domingo for so long, I went to the Shakira concert the Tuesday night before I left with some friends that were already going because Joy had extra tickets. No folks, her hips dont lie. It was a very entertaining and fun concert and I had a great time after that crazy week.

Im going to Jarabacoa for New Years on Friday until the 2nd. Im definitely looking forward to it as an actual break and several other friends are going to come also. Today I had a meeting with Francis about what Im going to be working on while Im here such as looking for more outlets to sell the coffee and possible exporting. Thats what they want, and Ill work on that, but I also made it a point to explain that the Association needs to work on a lot of general office practices as well. One of the nice things about my job is that I get to do what I want, on my own schedule. Its also one of the difficult things. Im going to start setting deadlines and creating more goals (Ive done some, but not a lot) and I need to get cracking on my community diagnostic after New Years. I cant say Im looking forward to doing 100 awkward interviews but Im sure the information will be helpful.

Posted by katie at 03:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I am going to a wedding on Sunday...it should be interesting to see that aspect of the culture. I can tell you the Bachelorette Party was certainly an experience.

The Halloween party was fun, unfortunately I didn't have much chance to work on a costume so I just put my glasses on and said I was Velma from Scooby Doo, since I used to get that a lot when I was a kid.

There are only 3 more weeks of training and then I'm off to my site. I'm really excited but I know it's going to be a big change from being around Americans all the time. Right before we leave there is a big Thanksgiving celebration with all the volunteers in country followed by an all-volunteer conference the next day.

Posted by katie at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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 | Comments (2)

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 | Comments (3)

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 | Comments (1)

Wow, there's so much happening that I don't know where to begin. I'll start with some sad news- a friend of mine decided to leave the country. I'm bummed about it because I was just getting to know him and I think he would have been a great volunteer, but I know he'll do great things wherever he is.

I went on a site visit this past weekend to see another volunteer, Erica in Samana. It was great to have the opportunity to sit down and talk to her, ask her all the millions of questions that I had, and really see how a volunteer lives. We had fun too- we met up with some other volunteers and trainees and went to the beach on Saturday and it was beautiful. I, in my usual fashion, got quite sunburnt despite my liberal application of SPF 30. I soaked up the beach opportunity, because I probably won't have one for quite some time. We went out dancing on Saturday night so I got in some merengue finally, and bachata.

Some notes on public transportation...it's a mess. The bus system is terrible and crowded, but cheap. The other popular form of transportation is public cars, which really means shoving 7 people into a car. I'm not talking an SUV or a roomy sedan either, a little compact car with 4 people in back and 3 in front. Not comfortable in the least. Also, motoconchos (motorcycle taxis) are everywhere and necessary to use in many areas outside major cities. Don't worry...I have my PC issued helmet. You can actually get administratively separated for not wearing it.

So, the DR is considered one of the best countries to be a volunteer in but has the highest harassment rate. However, it's striking to realize that so many people here don't have access to water in their homes. There is one group of volunteers that goes to sites and builds aqueducts. Even the houses that have water don't have it all the time because the public services are messed up here. Lights are usually out for several hours each day. Many people don't pay for electricity, driving up the cost for those that do. So yes, I often don't have water or lights. How does one shower, you may ask, if there is no water? Let me tell you about the "bucket bath." (Isn't the Peace Corps glamorous?) It's self-explanatory, but there is a bucket sitting by the shower and if there's no water, that's how you bathe. Happens frequently and for many people, they have to always do that.

Today in training we had a self defense class and a dealing with harassment/machismo class (in addition to Spanish, of course). A guy from the World Bank came and talked to us Monday. Next week we start our CBT (community based training).

I went to a church service a few weeks ago and didn't have time to post on it. It was 3 hours long- singing, dancing and lots of noise. It was beautiful and a fascinating cultural observation, but I won't be going back. It was a bit much for me and I'm not exactly the 'go crazy dancing while in church' type, which led a man to take the microphone and tell me to not be afraid of the Holy Spirit. Yeah.

Posted by katie at 07:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

OK, I will get to the public transportation part but I have to cover something else first. I moved families yesterday. It was not a great situation at my other one- highlights being that I was locked out of the house 3 times and never offered a key despite not so subtle hinting, the parents were never at the house so I spent most of the time with my 14 year old sister who is not disciplined and made comments about me in Spanish to her friends while I was there because she thought I didn't understand, and because the brother and his girlfriend were making out and my friend came over and wasn't sure it was my house but they completely ignored her and me and continued on. So I talked with the family coordinator- I was going to just stay and deal with it because, in reality, I'm only here for 2 more weeks now, and then 2 more weeks after my CBT (Community Based Training) but they really wanted me to move so I did. I went out w/my new sister and her friends last night and it was really fun- we went to a karaoke place that also played some merengue. Yes, I sand and yes, it was fun and embarrassing. It was neat b/c they have random instruments scattered around the room and people will just pick them up and play them with the beat- drums, cow bells and this Dominican instrument that I can't remember the name of. It's like a cheese grater sort of and they rub something against it to make music. I'll meet the mom shortly- she was out of town for a funeral yesterday and didn't get home until today.

Tomorrow (really, really early) I go to Samana to visit the another volunteer until Sunday. I'm really excited to hear about what she's doing, get a break from regular training and see another part of the country. What's going on with you guys? Send me some emails!

Posted by katie at 06:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, I had a request to address some topics. If anyone else has similar requests, ask and I'll post about it. I'll answer the questions and share some more about what's up. Here are the questions: I'm interested in what you like most about the country, people, etc. What you like least. What's surprised you the most. What do you miss the most (and family and friends isn't a choice... I'm talking about creature comfort besides air conditioning) those sort of things.

What I like most: everyone is really nice here- they are extremely welcoming and willing to share whatever they have, even if they have very little. Yesterday, no one was at my house when I got home and I don't have a key, but my neighbors, who I hadn't met yet, invited me to come over and have some coffee with them. It's a woman and her mother (who has to be at least 90) and their house is owned by one of the woman's sons I believe. The majority of the income generated in the DR is from tourism and remittances (money that people send from other countries back to their families here). It's 2-3 billion/year for remittances I think, but I'm not quite sure. If you are from the US, everyone thinks you're from New York (sounds like Nueba Yol) and everyone either has family or knows someone from the DR in New York- there is a highly concentrated population of Dominicans there. I met a woman who's coworker is related to A Rod (too bad it's not Papi or Manny...why AROD????).

What I like least...probably that I never feel totally clean except when I'm in the shower. It's not as though it's just me and I'm dirty (I'm sure there will be some comments about that one...haha) but still, showering twice a day at least and still not feeling clean takes some adjusting. Also, there is trash everywhere. People keep their houses really clean but will throw their trash all over the street. Most don't know that it can have a bad effect on the environment (not including that it looks bad!).

I don't really know what surprised me the most. I haven't had any big surprises because I lived in Latin America before and at least had a decent idea of what to expect. The DR isn't at Costa Rica's level, but I wasn't expecting that either. I think the biggest adjustment I'm making is realizing what I'm actually doing here. That I'm going to pretty much be going around my community, when I finish training, and it's up to me to initiate everything unless I end up working on a project already established. I guess another interesting note in the 'surprise' area is that they eat most parts of the animal here so as not to waste any. Someone said they had fried cow intestines from a street vendor with their family the other day. Mmmmm. (No, I haven't had any and I'm planning on staying away from that one.)

Fine, family and friends would be what I miss most, but I'm going to have to say air conditioning. Consider the humidity in South Carolina when you walk outside and feel sticky...only all the time, without the releif of walking into an air conditioned building. I know later I'll be missing the electricity. Electricity goes out all the time in the DR, sometimes for more than 6 hours a day (at different times). My family here has a backup generator, but all houses don't. Also, some houses don't always have running water. They keep a bucket by the shower in case it isn't working and have to use that water. It's an odd observation that so many people have cell phones and get really mad when they don't work yet the electricity always goes out and they don't always have running water. The electricity is a really big deal here, especially because it costs a whole lot of money and the payment system isn't right. Some people just don't pay, and the goverment doesn't do anything about it and then other people have to pay excessive amounts. Others rig it somehow so their meters don't read right and they don't have to pay. I don't know about that part in detail, but it's a frequent topic of conversation.

Today we had a cultural class in training- we learned merengue, bachata (another type of music and dance) and how to play dominoes, the dominican way. These are all very popular things here. It was a lot of fun- I really enjoyed the dances but they're pretty simple. I'd done merengue a little bit before- it is the official dance of the DR. Training is divided into several different sections- the first four weeks are CORE training- focused on Spanish, some on development/cross-cultural communication, things about the DR, health and a little in our technical areas. The next 5 weeks are technical training. We still have Spanish classes, but we have more specific sessions on our technical area, mine being Community Economic Development, and we go to another town to focus on our technical area where we can do some practice community diagnostics and other things we'll have to do when we go to our community. My group goes to Jarabacoa- in the mountainous area.

Next week everyone goes to a different volunteer that's already doing their project from Thursday to Sunday to see what they're doing and learn more about their area. I'm going to Samana- it's a peninsula in the North and there are some good beaches up there so I may get to go but it's not a vacation so we'll see. Getting there will be interesting if nothing else. I'll have to post on public transportation later. This is already pretty long.

Posted by katie at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, as you can probably tell from the title of this post, I have already forgotten what air conditioning is...it seems a distant memory of the past. I don't think any of us have stopped sweating since we've been here. It's hot, and humid and we sleep under a mosquito net so that doesn't help when it's hot at night and you're trying to sleep and there's this big net over you. I got sunburnt for the first time today and didn't even feel it because it's just been hot the whole time.

OK well I met my mom the other day. She's really nice but she works in her uncle's restaurant Monday through Saturday until 11 at night so I don't see her a lot- just at breakfast and then Sat/Sunday. My family is nice but it seems that they aren't usually all here at the same time. There are a few other volunteers that live really close to me so we walked around the neighborhood some on Saturday and Sunday. The families don't do a whole lot around here because it's really hot and because it costs money to go everywhere and there was a big economic crisis in 2002/2003 and they have recovered some but not totally, things are a lot more expensive than they were and salaries haven't increased any. It went from 1 dollar to about 16 pesos to 1 dollar to 50 to 55 pesos. Now it's 1 dollar to 33 pesos, more or less. My family speaks only spanish, except for my brother (who lives with the grandma), who speaks a little English. The other volunteers and I are trying to speak in Spanish but we don't all the time. It's hard especially when we are all together because it's a break to speak English, but we definitely can use the practice in Spanish. Our group has people who are beginners and a few who are fluent...and everything in between. I'm in between, but there are 3 levels of Spanish classes (and 3 sublevels with the first 3, if that makes sense)- they are basic, intermediate and advanced and I'm in one of the advanced but not the most advanced. I had my first class in that level today and it went well, there are 4 in each class. We discussed our families and took a test to see our grammar level in writing. Today is one of the girls' birthdays and some of us went out for a little while so that was fun. It's really strange when so many of us go somewhere at once because we really stick out. We aren't in the city, so I haven't seen any other gringos besides us yet.

OK about sending me stuff (because you will, right? :) )- they don't recommend getting big packages- nothing really bigger than a padded envelope, because the taxes through customs can be high. I can receive them, but it's better to only do so if it's something I really need, so it would be better just to send cards/padded envelopes. Great, can't wait to get some next week! Just kidding. I'll write more about training later when we get into it more and I know how it's going to be more than I do now because we just started.

I'm caught somewhere strange in the way I feel right now- I still feel really new here but at the same time, it feels like forever ago that I was even in Miami for staging.

Posted by katie at 11:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This is going to be a short version of what's up so far.
I got to Miami and we had a day and a half of staging (mostly an overall orientation). There are 56, give or take, volunteers here total- divided into my job, Youth and Family Development, Water Sanitation and Healthy Families. People from all over, mostly young- the average age is 24. It's a fun group and I'm excited to be a part of it.

Yesterday we got to the DR and were at a retreat center for the day where they went over the training program methodology (I'll post more on training another day), a brief overview of health info and we got our mosquito nets and DEET power bug spray. This morning we went to the training center in Pantoja, which is a barrio (town/suburb) outside of Santo Domingo, the capital. We had some more intro and overall PC stuff, 2 shots (yes!), a basic crash course in Spanish and an interview/Spanish conversation so they can place us in our Spanish classes. And I enjoyed the first of many meals featuring arroz con frijoles (rice and beans). Oh, and FYI- it's hot. And humid. Also beautiful.

At the end of training today we met our families. My host sister, Pamela who is 14, picked me up because my mother had to be somewhere. She's really nice and seems like she'll be fun.

Training's going to be pretty intense. 8 to 6 every day. Some Saturday activities but none on Sundays. Oh, we have internet in my house and I'm using it in my sister's room. I may not call much from my house because most families have a plan with minutes per month, that get taken up even by calling cards by my understanding. There are plenty of public phone places though, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

Love and miss you all!

Posted by katie at 11:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I'm currently staying in San Antonio, Texas with my parents before I leave for Miami on Tuesday. Aside from packing, I've mostly been taking it easy and trying to make sure I've got everything together, however, I have gotten the opportunity to experience some of Texas prior to my departure.

Last night I went to a rodeo for the first time. I can't say that this is something I would want to do all the time, but it was interesting to say the least. I can't understand why someone would want to ride a bull that is trying desparately to throw them off and then, when it does, it sometimes will chase the person and try to maim him with its horns. The crowd, adorned in a sea of cowboy hats, seemed to enjoy it though and I can't say I wasn't entertained.

In addition to the rodeo, I went to a Mexican restaurant with my parents where they paid a Mexican dressed in traditional garb to sing me a song in Spanish. Not at all embarrassing, really. We also ate at the Tower of the Americas restaurant- the same type of structure as Seattle's space needle- where we had a rotating view of the whole city. A lot of places have random live music. It's really hot. There are bbq, steak, and Mexican restaurants everywhere and, at a minimum, 5-10 pickups and SUV's are parked in every parking lot, many with Bush, Long Horn, or 'Don't Mess with Texas' stickers on them. This is Texas. I don't think I'd ever want to live here, but it's definitely an interesting piece of the American culture.

Posted by katie at 05:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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