Well hello there my bloggy friends! Sorry it has been so long, but I have been quite the busy girl! Okay hold on to your hats and jackets because I have a LOT to tell you…
On Swearing in: Ok so I officially became a peace corps volunteer October 28th, 2011. Woot woot! The swearing in ceremony was really nice, and the director of PCDR was sick with dengue so we had the US ambassador swear us in. cool. All of our host families in Santo Domingo were invited and we had a big celebration with cake and everything.
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| All of our swearing in group with the US ambassador. |
On Homecoming: The night after swearing in we had PC “homecoming”. It is a night where all of the “old” volunteers come to the capital and throw a big party for all of the newbies who just swore in. It just so happened that our homecoming fell really close to Halloween so some people dressed up… and yall know me… I HAD to dress up (I mean I am my mothers daughter). Anyways, with my PC salary I was unable to go crazy like I usually do… but I was able to put together a pretty good 80’s costume for $300 pesos (About 8 USD).
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| My costume. |
On My New Home: Ok so my new home is pretty awesome if I do say so myself :). I live in Barrancón, Puerto Plata. It is a small campo (aka rural village), but there are actually some pretty wealthy (and by wealthy I mean “campo” wealthy) families. I live with one such family. My mother is a teacher at the local school, and my father is an ex-military dude = pension. We have a nice little house made out of bloc (I know what your thinking… not wood or zinc! How lucky!) and I live on the roof in a separate little room that they built up there. It is nice because you cant get to it from inside the house so I have my own little stairs. I also have two host brothers around my age, but they both go to university (rare) in Santiago so I don’t see them that often. Lets see… what else… OH! My house is about a 30 second walk from a river (did someone say river bathing? Because that is what happens sometimes). I am also about 3 miles from the beach. Sweeeeet.
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| River after a big rain... flooded. |
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| My road with my house on the right. |
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| Our cock fighting ring. |
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| the cemetery. |
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| this is pretty much what all of the land looks like in Barrancon. |
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| view from my bathroom |
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| Internet hut. |
On Work: Blah. The first three months is the “diagnostic period”. So basically all I am doing right now is visiting all the houses and asking questions about nutrition, hygiene, living conditions, diseases, family health etc. I will then put all of this information together to decide what projects I am going to do in my community. As a health volunteer I have to do Escojo Mi Vida (sex ed for teens) groups and Hogares Saludables (healthy homes for adults), but beyond that I get to do whatever I want/my community needs :). I am really excited because I have already figured out that a lot of people in my community are overweight, have diabetes, have high blood pressure, have high cholesterol, or all of the above (All they eat here are carbs carbs more carbs, sugar, and salt). Anyways, I think it would be awesome to do a DR version of the biggest loser, and incorporate nutrition and exercise classes. Also, a brand new clinic (we didn’t have one before) was just built in our campo, but from what I hear… after they are built it takes multiple years to equip and staff them. Therefore I am going to see if I can get my hands on some basic stuff (blood pressure cuff, scale, etc.) and keep charts on all of the people that participate. I am going to talk to some doctors in the nearest clinic (Luperón) and see what format they use, and if it would even be useful for me to start collecting this info for them. REMEMBER PEEPS, I just came up with this idea so it is very rough around the edges… any suggestions???
On Funny Stories:
1. 1. I met the Dominican Sarah Palin the other day. No joke.
2. 2. When I was frustrated with my Spanish (or lack thereof) I tried to tell my host mom my cabeza esta rota (my head is broken)… but accidently said my cerveza esta rota (my beer is broken).
3. 3. I had a baby cacata crawl down the back of my shirt… I freaked out and that made it scurry into my pants… my Doña saw this and smacked my booty to kill it… as I peeled cacata guts off of my rear I realized it bit me… it hurt really bad for a couple of days and one day when two other Doñas were visiting my Doña asked me how it was… I said it still hurt (BAD IDEA) so her and the two other women brought me into a room, pulled down my pants and rubbed menthol and butter on my rear. Awkward.
4. 4. I forgot to mention… menthol is the Dominican equivalent to windex (my big fat greek wedding). No joke. They put it on EVERYTHING!
5. 5. My first day here I was walking down the biggest dirt road (that’s all we got folks) in Barrancón (I like to call it the main streen promenade) when I was confronted with a herd of cattle. Now this happens twice a day… the cowboys take the cows out in the morning and back in the evening (ps. We are a rural village so we’s gots lots o’ cows). Since it was my first day I was not exactly sure what to do. I remembered that when we were driving to Barrancón the day before the cows all just went around the car… so I took the head on approach. It turns out that a lone female does not have the same effect that a giant truck does… I was rubbed up on all sides, pushed around a little, laughed at by the cowboys. But I made it out alive!
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| the cows |
On Weird Dominican-ish:
1. 1. menthol
2. 2. When a woman is on her period she is not allowed to hold a baby because it will hurt the baby.
3. 3. Mal de ojo: If you say a baby is cute or pretty without attributing it to god the baby will get sick and possibly die, but if you tie a string around the baby’s arm it will ward off the evil spirits.
4. 4. If you open the refrigerator when you are hot the cold air will make your face freeze in an ugly position, hurt you, or possibly kill you. I find this one exceptionally funny because I sometimes go buy ChocoRica (chocolate milk) at the colmado after I am done excercising (so I am all hot and sweaty). When I do this I like to walk reallllly slow up to the refrigerator so that inevitably someone who is in the colmado will come running to my rescue, step in front of me, get my drink for me, and then explain why I cant do that…. It makes my day when I see the funny/awkward faces they make as they try to tell me how your face will get stuck. Im mean.
5. 5. Silla Caliente- some people believe that if someone with HIV/AIDS sits in a chair and then another person sits in that same chair afterwards (without letting it cool down) they second person will then have HIV/AIDS as well. As far as I can tell this is true for all other viruses as well.
6. 6. A home remedy for UTIs is to pee on a really hot rock so that the vapors go up your whooohaaa and cure the infection… a nice cricket tea is also said to do the trick.
7. 7. Halls throat lozenges are considered candy.
8. 8. The best advice the “old” peace corps volunteers gave us was “never trust a fart in this country”
MORE PICS!!!
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| my neighbors |
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| rolos/moto |
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| my host parents |
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| my bff. we color a lot. |
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| my host brother and a friend. |
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| some friends |
MISS YOU. LOVE YOU. MEAN IT!
I HOPE EVERYONE HAS AN AMAZING T-DAY!
<3 AMANDA MANZANA
