I've been in Santo Domingo since Friday and I'm heading back to my site shortly. Christina, our PCVL (Volunteer Leader) for my group is coming up to my site to see how everything is going and will stay the night. I came first for medical (which has gotten much better) and also for language training, which I am leaving early from. I had a nice weekend last weekend where I stayed at Sarah's house and relaxed, saw Spiderman 3 and read. It was a nice little break.

Monday I went to Pantoja to stay with my Santo Domingo host family and have language training. There were only 6 of us so it was a good small group (3 classes). We got to do pretty much whatever we wanted. We played dominoes, listened to music, went to an art museum where there were Picasso drawings and got some evaluation. I knew I wasn't really going to learn anything new, but I wanted to know if I was making any consistent mistakes in the language in order to work on them, but my professor just told me I'm doing fine, mostly self-correct when I say something wrong, and have developed a campo accent where I cut off words. Well, what do you expect? I'm sure it will be that way for a while. It was a pretty relaxing atmosphere and I'm glad I was able to make it.

I got a huge surprise last night...one of my PCV friends is pregnant and is going to early terminate and marry a Dominican. I was struck speechless when she called last night, as this came mostly out of nowhere. I'm still floored.

I mentioned before that the DR was having a competition for Quality Coffee in the country. Well, Juncalito did fairly well for itself. There were 3 different categories that were judged. We won 2nd place in the group category. There were also categories for individuals and individuals that are associates. One of our associates won 1st in the associates category and 3rd in the individuals overall, and a grower from our area won 1st in the individuals. The winners are guaranteed a certain price above market for a fixed quantity of coffee but I believe we've been contacted by some others who are going to pay more. This is an excellent opportunity for my association so I hope this shows the socios that producing a high quality coffee pays off even though it is a difficult process. These winners are only the best of our coffee, and we have a lot of socios who really need to work on their quality. There are so many stages in the production of coffee that there are a lot of chances to mess it up and change the flavor in a bad way.

I may start teaching English classes soon. Other than that, I'm working on a report of the coffee that we've sold since 2004 to see how much per month, at what prices, etc. to know our capacity and its growth. This is going to be very helpful while working with exporters and others interested in buying our coffee. It doesn't matter so much for the internal market where we sell the majority of our coffee but clearly we want to get away from that. I'm enjoying my house and looking forward to Patronales in June. Patronales is a celebration for the patron saint of a town and it lasts for 9 days and there are a lot of parties and activities. It should be a lot of fun.

Posted by katie at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

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)

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 | Comments (2)

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)

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)

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