IVE MOVED IN TO MY NEW HOUSE! It is fantastic! Cool, breezy and a great kitchen! My host mother gifted me a working stove/oven, and I received plates, cups, pots, utensils from about 10 different community women. I have already noticed a huge difference between having my own home and living in the home of others. Now, whenever people come over I have to prepare coffee, juice or food (as is the Dominican custom). But, I also have the pleasure of entertaining others in my own home! I feel much more relaxed in the new home.

My water filter meetings have taken place! 13 filters are each going to my three communitites, and we only had to raffle off the filters in Guayabo due to huge demand (since there were more than 13 people who wanted them). 1 filter will be going to the local school. I will be ordering the filters this week and hopefully in October we will be installing!!

I went to the dentist for the first time for a cleaning. It was a very modern office with state of the art facilities! No cavities! Woohoo! The best part about peace corps is that they pay for all your medical needs-- no questions asked! And, we have specific peace corps doctors at the capital office at all times for any necessary consultations. They make it so easy!

September is full of beginnings and endings. This weekend marked the graduation of my women´s reproductive health class, my second sex-ed class for youth, and my health promoter training workshops. I have now started the water filter project which consists of 3 community meetings in each of my three communities. In Guayabo there has been a huge demand for the water filters. We will see if it is the same in the other two communities.

Also, I will be moving into my new Dominican house next week! The lighting and water have been installed, only a bit of paint lacks. I am having some other volunteers visit the first weekend in October to help paint the outside of the house. My community women are so great-- many of them have already starting gifting me plates, pots and cups! I probably wont have to buy any kitchen tools! Imagine that! Unfortunately, I wont be able to upload any pictures until Thanksgiving due to my broken computer.

Today I returned to the capital to do a presentation to the new health volunteers who arrived in country a few weeks ago. They seem to be a great group! Tomorrow I take back a volunteer to my site for the weekend to show them what the true "peace corps experience" is like. This will include my escojo class, my health promotors workshop and distributing flyers for a water filter meeting. Hopefully they enjoy!