Happy Weekend!

This weekend has been busy so far-which is unusual. Last night I went to a 7th Day Adventist church service with my next door neighbor. I thought it would be interesting to compare the Evangelist service with the 7th Day Adventist service, and meet more community members. The church was very beautiful, clean and white. As we walked into the church I signed in as a visitor and was given a name tag. Then, my picture was taken (as to why, I didn’t know). We were one of the first few to get there at 7:45. The service ended up taking about two hours, and the church was packed by the end. The service was much more what I was used to as a protestant—songs, a sermon and scripture reading (less “GLORIA A DIOS” than the evangelist service). What I was not ready for was the slideshow at the end of the service which showed all the visitors –including my lovely picture. We had to stand and wave. Of course, I was the “rubia” from gringolandia (aka the USA). No surprise there. Then, to round off the service, there was 15 minutes of saving people (of which I was not one). I trotted home and then met with my other next door neighbors who had enticed me with promises of Dominos and beer. Unfortunately, there was a power outage and Dominos was no longer an option. Instead, I sat on the sidewalk with Dona Maria, Johnny, Eleni and Dona Ondina and drank wine and talked about the future.

This morning I slept in, which means I slept until 7:45am. I woke up, ate some fried eggs and smashed plantain and brought out my French spice mix from home for the eggs (included fennel, basil, parsley, etc)! Delicious! Then one of the other PC members in the neighborhood invited me to go shopping with her and her family. It turned out to be a true shopping extravaganza—we were gone in the city for 8 hours! We went everywhere from a stationary store to different fruit and vegetable markets to about 13 different clothing stores. I found exactly what I was looking for, which included double sided tape, a skirt and some tanktops. We ate lunch at a chain sandwich shop and I ordered a mozzarella, tomato, pesto sandwich. It was absolutely delicious and reminded me of home.

I was in bed by 9:30pm.

Other Updates:
• My Dona stumbled upon my blankie while washing my sheets (which sadly I did bring to the DR), as to which she questioned, “what IS this?”. However, she kindly offered to wash it.
• I have been given gifts from my two next-door neighbors (one on either side of my house); one of which was a ripe mango, and the other Fig Newtons. Clearly food is the key to my heart.
• I received my first letter in the DR—thanks mom! It took about 2 weeks to arrive.
• I traded in my mosquito net for a larger one that fits over my full-size bed. Now I will actually be able to sleep without fighting with the net for space (and hopefully prevent some malaria along the way).
• I woke up at 1:44 am to a gigantic cockroach crawling on me. Panic ensued as I attempted to get out of my mosquito-net covered bed. I eventually found the cockroach and had to use 2 precious wet-wipes to kill it. Pretty bad, but not as bad as the spider.
• ASB loves: My journal is recorded only in daily highs/lows.

I have officially been in-country for 1 week. Can you believe it? It feels as though I have been here about 1 month! My rusty spanish has been dusted off and I am no longer a stranger in the community in which I live—both necessary and exciting updates for my success as a future volunteer. Outside of our ~8 hours of Peace Corps training a day, I live a very slow Dominican life. I rarely leave my small barrio (neighborhood) and many afternoons consist of getting together with a volunteer or Dominican friend and sharing a Coke on the porch (a glass liter—very retro!). My neighbor taught me how to play Dominos the other night, which is the Dominican national pastime (besides baseball of course). It is a very fun game that gets rowdy fast! Lots of shouting and pounding on the card table, but all in good fun. We also practiced merengue and bachata in class the other day, which are the Dominican popular dances. The men here are great dancers (and I am not—not yet!)!

I also had the opportunity to venture with my classmates to downtown Santo Domingo, which I hadn’t yet been to. It was blazing hot and the busride took about a half hour—we were drenched in sweat by the time we arrived. From there, we were shown the hospital that we would need to go to if we were hurt, and the Peace Corps office and the American Embassy (which has a free pool not to be “abused” by us). After lunch at a restaurant (I got the pizza especial which consisted of pizza topped with corn, pepperoni and ham) we toured the sites. This included the zona colonial which contains old Spanish buildings including the first cathedral of the new world and the house of Christopher Columbus’ family, and the tourist shopping area. I must say, I favored the shopping area myself…

However, my favorite part of class yet has been our lessons on food (duh). We are learning the foods grown in the DR, the main food groups (of which there are only three), and how to cook various dishes. I am in a spanish class with 2 guys who know nothing about food, ingredients or cooking (including not knowing what an eggplant looked like or what it was), so me and Juana (our spanish teacher) took over (I felt so proud when she brought anise into class and I could identify it by simply seeing the seeds!). I often like to hang out by the kitchen at our training center, which is manned by 3 old Dominican women. They not only know how to cook the most amazing food for 75 people (in huge pots over open flames), but help me practice my spanish and help me identify foods. They are also the friendliest, wisest women I have met thus far!

Last night was an exciting adventure! My Dona, who rarely leaves the house, invited me to go shopping with her (which is great because I have been needing some more blouses/skirts). She suggested we go to the Carrefour, which is a french Walmart. And, as promised, it was exactly like Walmart. I was able to get 2 blouses for ~$20 which is expensive (in the Dominican), but I needed them. I also got huge pearl earrings for 60 cents, which I was excited about because I didn’t bring my real pearls from home. The adventure came when Dona and I became separated and I couldn’t find her. I went to the entrance, where she said we would meet in an emergency. So, I waited and waited and waited. For at least 30 minutes. I went back into the store to look for her, to no avail. Finally, I saw her walk out of the store and I chased after her. Turns out, she had been waiting at another entrance for me! She said she had an employee looking for me in the store (because of course, I would be the only young, white girl) and she almost had them announce my name over the loudspeaker. Now that would have been embarrassing! Gracias a Dios que no lo pasó.

Also last night I had my first scary encounter with the local fauna. In my neighborhood you find many street dogs, cats, geese, roosters and even goats that freely walk around—however I have never felt threatened by this menagerie. Rather, it was in my own room that I encountered the scariest local wildlife: A SPIDER THE SIZE OF MY PALM. Now, look at your own palm to grasp the significance of this size. Story: So I dropped my USB drive under my bedside table, and as I looked under the table, I saw my USB drive and this gigantic spider (A skinnier cousin of the tarantula, I’d say). While I am not someone who is scared easily of insects, I immediately screamed for my Dona, who came rushing in. I showed her the monster and she just laughed, as she picked up her flip flop and beat the spider to death (which had crawled onto my suitcase at this point)—this took a good 5 whackings. When I asked her what she was going to do with the crumpled carcass on my suitcase she said—“just leave it, I’ll clean your room in the morning”. Whelp, I woke up and the many ants had already gotten to the carcass. Lesson: it’s a doggy dog world.

Tonight I was invited to the “Car Wash” to celebrate another Peace Corps member’s birthday. There are many “Car Washes” around the city, which are real car washes during the day and bar/nightclubs at night. Whoever thought of this combination is a real entrepreneur! Unfortunately, the car wash that everyone is going to is many neighborhoods away, which means different modes of transportation late at night. My Dona has disallowed me from going, as apparently it is very dangerous to be a young, white American woman and take transportation (Peace Corps workers aren’t actually even allowed to take public transportation past 7pm because it is dangerous). So, while I can’t sample the nightlife, I have been invited next door to play Dominos and drink beer with a Dominican family. Some Peace Corps friends are coming too, so it’s a good compromise! Ah, the simple life. May all of you reading take some time out to enjoy friends and family!

Hello! It’s crazy to believe that I left the US less than 1 week ago! It seems like forever. I am learning so much and everyday is a new adventure. This past week has been full of paperwork and initial orientations, but we are starting to settle down. I feel very comfortable in my host family house and I know my neighborhood well (Los Angeles)! I also finally know everyone’s names and general background (all 50 volunteers). Many of the current PC trainees are in/just graduated from grad school with their MPHs. I’ve been asking about programs and getting great information that will hopefully aid in my own grad school process.

In training this week we have been learning about navigating the public transportation systems and the main routes we need to know in Santo Domingo (Peace Corps Office, US Embassy, Hospital Abreau). I will be going to downtown Santo Domingo for the first time tomorrow. We will be seeing the major sites, including the first catholic church in the New World (gotta love Columbus) and the supposed burial place of Columbus.

Peace Corps has been vaccinating us like crazy! We must get MMR, Meningitis, Hep A&B, Typhoid, the 3 shots of Rabies, Diphtheria, Tetanus along with the weekly Malaria pills in the PC clinic here. All in about 3 weeks. That’s about a shot every 2-3days. Whoppee! Luckily, the nurse gives out lollipops with the shots. I recommend grape.

Besides for health matters, we learn about Dominican cultural expectations/general development daily. This includes everything from non-verbal communications (they have about 20 gestures that all mean distinct things) to machismo to concepts of development. In our morning development session we specifically covered international development players, measurements of development and the UN Millennium Goals. A quote from the UNDP defining development that particularly touched me:
“People are the real wealth of nations”.
Much of the time, developed nations pour financial resources into developing countries with little knowledge about how it is spent or how individual communities are affected. It feels good to know that I will (si Dios quiere) be empowering community leaders to promote sustainable change from within the country to become more self-sufficient! I also learned in this session the true poverty that I will be facing: 42% of the Dominican Republic lives below the poverty level. The number one source of income for the country is remittances, of which they receive 2.7 billion dollars a year, mainly from Dominican families in the US (new york & boston represent) and Spain.

Today was also my first day with the Healthy Communities group! All 10 of us met with our technical trainer who will be teaching us all we need to know in the next 8 weeks. Our technical trainer is great—enthusiastic, knowledgeable and was a PC volunteer in the DR! We then each met with her individually to go over our “skills” and I confessed how excited I was for the organic farming and malnutrition aspect of our training!
As it turns out, maternal health is actually the most pressing topic we will be covering. In public hospitals, hundreds of women wait in waiting rooms and typically get 30 mins in the OR to have their baby, and then they must go home—no hospital stays for the mother or child. Sometimes, if supplies like thread run out (to stitch up the mom), a husband will be sent to the local store to get necessary supplies.

On another note, today I found out about my volunteer project visit! I will be visiting/staying with a current Healthy Communities PC volunteer next weekend for 3 days. I will be going to the town of Cotui in the north. I will be riding a bus, and then on a motorcycle to my site (!!!). This is basically a preview to what I will be doing on my own in a few weeks. Very exciting.

Other Interesting Notes:
-Dominican coffee is WONDERFUL. Not only is it incredibly tasty black, but is the strongest coffee I have ever encountered. I drink un cafecito at morning and then purchase a 16 cent cup during the day at the training center. 16 cents!!
- I am known fondly as “Liz”. It seems that Dominicans cannot easily pronounce Leigh, so to my host mother and my neighbors I am “Leeeez!”
-I somehow underpacked coming to the Peace Corps. Everyone else overpacked. However, the fact that I am constantly sweating means I am using my 6 shirts quite a lot. Unfortunately, laundry is only done once a week, so I can typically be found once a day in the bathroom washing clothing by hand. It’s not easy, let me tell you. I am going to attempt to buy some clothes in downtown Santo Domingo this weekend.
-I have been befriended by my 35 year-old next-door neighbor, “Johnny”. This is good, because I can’t go out at night alone (young, white female), and thus he comes over to the porch and chats. Occasionally we look at the commotion on the street at night from our hill. We occasionally practice his English. Of course, even his comings-over are supervised by my host mother. He cannot come over when I am alone.
-I’ve begun learning the public transportation system, which, like all Latin American countries, is “organized chaos”. Basically, there are two types of transportation: Guaguas (buses) and carros publicos (taxi-like cars). Guaguas hold around 16-25 people (think: a bit bigger than 9 person passenger vans) and carros publicos hold 7 people (although it’s the size of a compact car. 3 sit in front, 4 squish in back). Suffice it to say, these are dirty and sweaty vehicles.
- I have been placed into my spanish class, and I am with 2 other males and our teacher. It is so fun! We chat and learn street slang. I spend much of the day with them in a tiny 3-sided open-air classroom on the beautiful training grounds.
- While employed by Peace Corps, I will be unable to travel to Haiti (due to huge security/safety issues) and Cuba. This is truly unfortunate.
-The amount of food I receive from my Dona is improving. She made me a veggie scramble & some toasted bread for breakfast yesterday. Perfect.
-I bought my first calling card. I only get about 7 minutes for 1$. Rip off. Sorry family and friends, but I won’t be calling you, especially because I will soon be living off $1.30 a day. L

So as today was nearing (Sunday), I asked about the inevitable: church. The DR is about 90% catholic, and 7% protestant/evangelical/jehovah’s witness. I assumed my Dona was catholic, but nope, she’s evangelical. I asked if I could attend church with her (while I’m not very religious, I thought it would be a great cultural experience). She was excited! So, we gussied ourselves up Sunday night and left for church at 5:30. Of course, we didn’t go directly to church but stopped at many people’s houses on the way to say our hellos. We got to church by 6pm and it was definitely not what I expected. Her evangelical church was on the second story of a building, and had about 20 pews and 6 fans (quite a few). There were only a handful of people there and a woman was already preaching (evangelical TV style of course) loudly on a microphone about Gloria a Dios y Halleluyah! However by 7pm the church was packed with people coming and going, children running around and various people preaching the word. We were there for a bit over two hours. I actually enjoyed myself. I met many community members (who quietly asked my Dona.. does she speak spanish?!) and there was great music! About half the service was composed of people singing and clapping to a band composed of guitar, drums and keyboard. As well, the fans felt like air conditioning. I actually had goosebumps from the circulated air—certainly the coolest I have been since entering the DR. While I couldn’t really if there was a central message to the service, I think I will be attending services weekly with the Dona.

Other Life Updates:
• Mosquitos here are fierce. Although I wear bugspray nonstop, I still manage to get bitten (and I have never actually seen a mosquito bite me—they are fast!) and the bites swell and hurt even if you don’t itch them. :(
• I stupidly left my chocolate M&Ms out on my bedroom table.. the ants got to them and subsequently I doused my room in bleach. Shucks.
• I went to the “colmado” (corner store) today by myself and got some laundry soap. The employees were able to understand me! Yes!
• I am the only white, American person in this neighborhood of 20,000 (besides 2 other PC workers nearby). Suffice it to say, I am receiving a lot of attention, especially from males and small children who want to practice English with me.

Hello! Good news! I am alive and have successfully made it to the Dominican Republic!

The past few days have been chock-full of meetings, orientation and travel. I met the 50 other future DR volunteers on Wednesday in Washington DC where we passed in forms, played some get-to-know-you games and got $120 (for dinner and a day of travel—thank you, government!). All volunteers seem qualified, motivated and really nice—really a perfect group. Our group is composed of: 20 males, 30 females; 3 older women and the rest are under 30 years old. At 2am our group left for the DCA airport where we spent the next 3 hours attempting to check-in and check our massive amount of luggage. From there, we flew to Miami and then boarded our plane to the DR. Flying from Florida to the DR is actually one of the most beautiful flights; passing over islands and blue sea. It first hit me that I was actually going to be living in the DR as we finally landed amidst lush flora and the shining sun. All of us Peace Corps let out a large whoop as we landed- something I’m sure that scared the others on the plane. But truly, you couldn’t help but smile to realize what a paradise we have moved to.

Once we had arrived in the DR, we were transported to a conference center where we were formally welcomed by Peace Corps in-country staff and learned how truly amazing our coworkers are (we have lived in 31 countries combined and speak 12 languages!). Turns out, the Peace Corps DR site is actually one of the best in the world (no exaggeration). They have some of the most supportive, qualified staff, trainers and have a very stable, successful program. It doesn’t help that we are in a very safe country that is American-friendly (we didn’t even have to go through customs arriving in-country due to our status!).

Interesting (or I think so) DR program facts by the numbers that I have learned:
40 DR Peace Corps members that have been married in-country in the past 3 years.
28 Americans (some of which are PC volunteers) languishing in Dominican prisons (apparently horrific)
8 DR volunteers that have died in the past few decades
1 The DR is the only country that gives cell phones to its volunteers
1 The DR is the only country that allows its volunteers to ride on motorcycles

We then slept (8:30pm bedtime due to jetlag) and ate some delicious chicken. Fast forward to yesterday. We awoke at 8am to go at the Peace Corps training facility in Santo Domingo which is absolutely GORGEOUS. Think: tropical grounds with flowers, birds, lizards, outside classrooms made out of concrete and thatched roofs, and WIFI! I will be training here for the next three weeks. We met all the 14 language staff members and other coordinators. Everyone is so friendly and willing to answer any questions! We had our language placement test and went over important details concerning parts of Dominican culture. We also received our host families! I am living with a Dona who is 65 and lives alone. We don’t have running water and thus flush the toilet (that has plumbing but no running water) through dumping in a bucket of water after we have gone to the bathroom. It’s tricky—let me tell you (the first time I just filled the toilet with water). I also bathe through taking sponge baths that consist of me standing in the shower and pouring cold water over my body. My Dona and I have bonded over eating (chocolate M&Ms I brought her) and talking about family.

Today I woke up at 5:45 to the rooster next door crowing. Wonderful. My Dona was going to wake me at 6am anyway because it takes a lot of time to get from the house to the training center…so I didn’t go back to sleep. I carpooled in a neighbor’s car to the training center where we learned about keeping healthy and received a LARGE first aid kit filled with hundreds of medicines ranging from iodine tablets to advil to bug spray & a safety whistle. I’m not worried about health although malaria and dengue fever are endemic. We then did an activity with current PC volunteers and got to hear their advice on everything. It was informative and reassured us all as to our eventual integration into our communities and future successes of our projects.

I will be at this training center in Santo Domingo for only the next three weeks; after that I go to the very south of the DR (where it is even hotter but has great mangos) to go to a specific health training center for 5 weeks to simulate future work in a health setting. I will be going here with the ~7 health volunteers (youth and economic development are the most popular PC sectors here). Then, pending that everything goes well, I will be sworn in as a true PC member and will head to my community, wherever that may be at the end of October!

As is evident, I do get wifi at this training center for the next few weeks. I will try to update the blog every few days. Thanks for reading! 


Key facts about my current living situation:
• I take malaria pills weekly and sleep under a mosquito net (“mosquitero”) every night
• I am overfed here. I eat a combination of rice, beans, a bit of meat and some sketchy veggies for lunch/dinner. For breakfast, I had chicken noodle soup and a grilled cheese (!!?!?!), a cup of coffee, a cup of hot chocolate, and water.
• You can’t drink the water in the DR.
• Everyone constantly sweats; morning, noon, night. After a shower, you immediately start sweating again. The humidity is about 85%.
• The electricity is in and out, constantly. “Se fue la luz” should be the national motto.
• There are no rules of the road. Driving here is insane. We are most likely to die in a car crash in Santo Domingo than anything else.
• I will be learning A LOT about public health. We got our specific area training manuals and I know about 10% of what I will be teaching.

Hi! Welcome to my blog (friends and family I hope)!

It's officially the night before the big move to the Dominican Republic, so I guess I should get this thing going! I want to emphasize from the get-go that I am a.) not a passionate "blogger" and b.) may not be the most witty/entertaining. However, I hope to provide you all with a window into my life for the next two years.

Schedule: I will be flying from Providence to D.C. tomorrow where I will meet up with the 45 other Peace Corps volunteers going to the DR. We will have about 15 hours together (a brief orientation), where I will receive my official government worker passport. Then, on August 20th we will fly to Santo Domingo, D.R. for the beginning of our 3 month orientation. Basically I get lots of vaccinations, learn some Dominican spanish, become trained as a community health worker and live with a host family during these 3 months. Then I am shuttled to my community (whether they place me rural or urban) where I will be a community health worker for 2 years!

I am very excited to finally leave (after months and months of delightful bureaucracy) and cannot wait to be engulfed by the spanish language and tropical weather. However, this is not to say that this summer has not been excellent and busy-- work at Dunkin Donuts (NEVER WORK THERE), volunteering at the HIV/AIDS organization Project CARE, taking the GRE, 3 trips to NYC, 2 wonderful visitors, and the list continues..

I have packed my goods for the next two years in 2 suitcases totaling a mere 66 pounds (impressive, I know). This includes everything from hiking boots to sheets to hot sauce and kitchen utensils! I only brought along 6 tshirts and 2 pairs of jeans..and one Calvin Klein dress (along with other clothes). Hopefully I am prepared for both the hot weather and daily "business casual" attire necessary as a public health worker. Whatever I don't have I can probably find in Santo Domingo.

I hope to keep in touch with you all (thus I have created this blog). Feel free to post comments (please please!) and email/facebook me. Do not attempt to call me. My internet accessibility is unknown, but most likely I will be able to check my email every few weeks at the latest. I will be updating this blog at least once per month, if not more often.

Que Dios te cuide,
Leigh

P.S. The picture for my blog is not of the DR, but rather Vina del Mar, Chile. I will replace it soon with some local pictures upon my entry!