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.