Hello all! Sorry I haven’t written in some time. I have been out of the capital and in the country (“campo”).

This past weekend in the country was revitalizing; it reassured me that what I will be doing in Peace Corps IS what I want to be doing (living a slow paced life while helping develop slow-paced projects). The country is absolutely gorgeous. Think lush hills and fruit trees everywhere. Specifically, this weekend I did a volunteer visit, so I visited a current 2-year volunteer in health. We were in the central region of the DR, in a small village (200 houses) about a 40 minute walk from the main road and another 20 minute drive to the nearest town (Cotui). Basically, I got to see what daily life was like and how she initiated her various projects.

Details/Adventures:
My volunteer lives in a small wooden house connected to her host family house. Her family was very nice but very in-your-face. The senile great grandma loved to creep in the house and say funny things and feel us up. I realized I need to live on my own (and not with a host family for 2 years). My volunteer’s house consists of two rooms: a bedroom and a kitchen/sitting room. It was cold at night (I used a blanket)! I hope to be placed in a mountainous region in a very small village (the smaller the better—projects function better that way). Among other important things, we watched a movie on her laptop, ate Kraft Mac and Cheese and peanut butter, and read books in english! So American (but wonderful). I’m really ready to live on my own and cook my own food (however I still have 5 months of host family to go through). I felt so much healthier in the campo; walking everywhere and eating normal amounts. I also had my first motorcycle ride. It was thrilling (I now know why people ride motorcycles), the wind in your hair and the incredible landscape!

I did not bathe at all while I was there. We went to the river and washed our hair (the river was kinda dirty..but she has never gotten any diseases from it) and also went to a pool in the nearest town. We thought about going to a different river, but it turns out that 25 cows died from contamination in the river. Good thing we heard this before we went to that river! I was also bitten by “mayes” which are like chiggers. Even if you don’t scratch them they swell and itch and look like horrendous chicken pox. I have about 20 around my ankles.

A tropical storm downgraded to a tropical depression passed by one night and I literally thought the tin roof was going to fly off from the house. I have never heard a storm like this one (and the ceiling started to leak—we had to put blankets over ourselves in bed).

My volunteer has accomplished typical health stuff: HIV/AIDS youth group, women’s health group, nutrition class, community garden, community library, building healthier stoves, etc. She gave me a folder of all the forms/templates she has ever used, which should prove to be helpful.
Basically everyone in the community was friendly and eager to meet me. I can’t wait to have my own community!

The only real low of the weekend was the ride back to the capital. The journey took about 6 hours due to many factors, including a two hour busride on a unpaved dirt road with about 60 people on a bus meant to hold 30. We had 5 people sit on 3 seats; I was stuck between an old women with a box (where my feet should have been) and a fat man who smelled like vinegar and was holding a saw. Not to mention the pregnant woman and the many industrial bags of grain. I thought my feet were going to have permanent damage; they were twisted in such a way that they both were asleep for about 1.5 hours. I have never been happier to be off a bus. I also took the subway, which is actually the nicest subway I have ever been in on my life (think new, clean, empty and airconditioned). Also, I took another bus in which I was squeezed in the backseat (“la cocina”) with 5 people and 4 seats. The three drunk men in front of us just stared at me and another blonde PC volunteer. While I told them to stop staring, my friend just stared back, trying to keep a straight face. We ended up laughing hysterically the whole ride. I quickly learned that at the end of the day, you just gotta laugh (and that is what we did). Never have I been happier to finally get back to my host family’s house in Santo Domingo. So, suffice it to say, the lows may be low, but the highs are always higher.

Other Updates:
• The taxi I was riding in broke down in the middle of the street. It was actually hilarious and the driver ended up getting some gas and filling up the tank, while we sat in the middle of the street and got honked at (although neither the gas gauge or speedometer work). Then, the car in front of us broke down. Haha.
• Aaron Williams (current PC director) came to the DR last week and came to training to talk to us. He is amazing, wise and his speech gave me goosebumps! We told him to convince Obama to come down..maybe he will!
• 2 PC trainees left the DR/Peace Corps today. Our group of 51 is now down to 49. It was emotional as they said their goodbyes; many of their sentiments reverberated with our own.