Sunday, July 8, 2012

The Vagina Shampoo Incident

Ok so here goes one of those "ohhhhh amanda that would only happen to you" stories...

As many of you know I have very sensitive skin and this usually means if I use certain kinds of lotions, shampoo, etc. I get weird reactions. Well I bought really cheap shampoo and conditioner (peace corps budget) and I got really really bad dandruff... like REALLY bad. Well Dominican woman feel they have the right... no the obligation to fix anything that is wrong with your appearance, that of your house, or really just do anything to your body or stuff that they feel they should. If they can see it, it is fair game for them to pick, probe, peel, or pop. My neighbor, Rafelina, has taken all things that have to do with my beauty on as a personal challenge (nails, hair, clothes, etc.) Therefore, she immediately started picking at my head. Ok. so when Dominican women get dandruff they ask a friend to use a rat-tail comb to scratch away and exfoliate their heads. However, Rafelina felt my problem called for something a little more drastic. She told me she had just bought some really good shampoo that completely got rid of her dandruff, and demanded that I let her wash my hair with it. So I go to her backyard and she dumps a bucket of water over my head and starts washing. She warns me (after the stuff is already on my head) that it may sting a little. Oh my, let me tell you... it didn't just sting a little bit... it BURNED like hell! My eyes were tearing up and it felt like my scalp was melting off. Of course this was when she started scratching my scalp with her fingernails. The unknown chemical then started seeping into the raw exposed skin that her fingernails were uncovering. When I couldn't take it anymore I told her to stop and give me the bottle. When I saw the title of the shampoo I am pretty sure my eyes bugged out of my head. The name..... Vaginol. I started frantically reading the label in Spanish, and thought "no, that can't be right" so I flipped the bottle over and read the english label. The english label confirmed that my spanish had not failed me, it was some kind of bactericidal vagina shampoo. Rafelina must have seen the horror in my eyes because she jumped forward and said "oh don't worry I don't use it for that!". I told her to wash it out because it hurt too bad, but the cold water only made it burn more. The tears just started streaming. Finally the pain started going away, and I couldn't help but laugh. a lot. I just feel really bad for the poor woman who actually uses that stuff in her lady bits... because if it hurt that bad on my head I can't imagine the pain it would cause down in the gumbo pot!

On another note, my outhouse/ letrine is finally finished!!! I can't even tell you how happy I am. I was using the restroom at my host families house, and lets just say there were a few too many people using it. It was also a little on the gross side, and I had no control over the cleaning of it. I found that I dreaded going in there and would hold it as long as possible or even go to a friends house. Now I can take care of business whenever my little heart desires. Plus, I can wash it down with bleach as often as I want :)


Also, Rafelina's (my neighbor) 5 year old daughter, Laisha, turned 6. We had a cute little birthday party with some of the other campo girls. It was a BIG deal because Rafelina went into town to buy a cake! The party was more catered to adults (sitting around eating and talking) and the kids seemed a little bored... so I brought out some stickers, bubbles, and a soccer ball and pretended like I was 5 again! 









Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Grads, Family, Diving and More!


Hello family and friends,
The last couple of months have been CRAZY. I have been really busy which means BIG blog post… so grab a Gatorade and a powerbar because this one will be a marathon. Here we go…

ON WORK:
First of all my teen sex ed group graduated from the course (Escojo Mi Vida). It was really exciting for them. They did a bunch of fundraisers so that they could get t-shirts made with their slogan and group name on them, and the graduation turned out to be a big production. We had teens from 3 other communities visit, a local news channel, 3 other peace corps volunteers, and a whole bunch of “powerful” leaders in my community. I was very sick, but luckily I had my friend James there to help out. (THANKS JAMES!!!)
            -Amanda moment- I made beautiful certificates for my graduates, and I had 4 people proof read them because lets face it… I have bad luck with that kind of stuff. After I gave them to my teens one of them came up to me to show me a very interesting typo… Under the line that I signed it was supposed to say “Licda. Amanda Appel Voluntaria de Cuerpo de Paz” but instead it said “Licda. Amanda Appel Voluntaria de CUERO de Paz”. Now cuero is a bad slang word in spanish that basically means slut. So I am now the slut of peace. Hahah. Luckily my teens were very supportive about it, but I was sooooo embarrassed. I later went through the entire certificate erasing one letter at a time. It turns out that was the ONLY letter that made another word (let alone a bad word). JUST MY LUCK!!!

My Nutrition and Cooking class also finished their course so we had a big potluck where everyone had to bring one healthy dish and explain to the group why it was healthy and how they cooked it. I also gave each participant a homemade cookbook with healthy recipies!

A woman explaining her dish

Oh and I also went on a Dominican talk show for the second time. I have never had problems with public speaking… but when you have to go on tv and speak in a different language it is a whole different story.


Lastly, I FINALLY got my VAST institutional grant! This means that I have lots of money to start 10 new groups. I will be starting 5 teen sex ed groups and 5 healthy homes groups in the surrounding communities. It is lots of work, but I am very excited about it J

ON DIVING:
I went back to the beautiful Las Galeras, Samana for my Advanced Scuba course. All of my diving buddies were there (the four of us have a diving club called SCUBA CORPS). We had a lot of fun, I love diving, and as always Diane and Paul at The Dive Academy were AMAZING. We did a light salvage dive (moving heavy stuff on the bottom of the ocean), a night dive, a deep dive, and we learned how to do reef checks. Now as most of you know, I am deathly afraid of fish. I have now pinpointed my fear, and I believe I am only afraid of fish when I cannot see them (aka. When I am on top of the water and I cant see what is beneath me). So lets just say the night dive was HORRIBLE. I couldn’t even move the first 10 minutes so my dive buddy Ellen had to pull me around and hold my hand (THANKS ELLEN!!!). After a while I got the hang of it, but I don’t think I will be CHOOSING to go on any more night dives. My favorite of all the dives was the deep dive! We went 40 meters deep, and it was GORGEOUS! I cant wait to do another one! My friend Hillary ran out of air so I had to share mine with her… it was a bonding experience ahahJ

night dive

scuba corps




ON LIFE:
I recently purchased an Olla de Horno (Dutch Oven) and I have been baking a lot of breads etc. My little neighbor, Laisha (5yr.), has decided she likes to help me so we have baking hour a few times a week. I have never been much of a baker…Lets just say we are learning TOGETHER!
I also had a kitten for 3 weeks. His name was Milo (because he looked like Milo from Milo and Otis) but I had to give him to another volunteer because my neighbors believe that if you inhale one cat hair you will die… this was a problem because the little girls wanted to play with the kitten all the time.
baking

baking

milo

ON VACATION:
MY FAMILY CAME TO VISIT ME!! My mom, dad, mike, charlotte, auntie linda, uncle doug, auntie pam, uncle greg, and auntie Kelly, and uncle gary, came to visit! We stayed in villas at a beautiful resort in Puerto plata. I had soooo much fun with them. We jumped off waterfalls at 27 Charcos, went to the top of a mountain on a gondola, swam, drank, partied, and relaxed in the sun. I was in heaven! Plus I had water and electricity for a week straight!! We also spend one day in my campo with my family. We roasted a pig over hot coals and ate lots of food. The American family also brought lots of gifts for me and my Dominican family! Needless to say, I have been very sad since they left, and I cant wait to see everyone in California over Christmas and New Years. THANK YOU AMERICAN FAMILY FOR AN AMAZING WEEK AND LOTS OF GIFTS!!!!
VIP pool

Auntie and I

27 Charcos 
Dancing on stage
VIP party

Mommy, daddy and I

Mommy n' Me

Lunch in my campo

Cooling off in our private pool