"SI DIOS QUIERE"

Ok so I think I have mentioned before that Dominicans say “Si Dios quiere” (meaning God willing or if God wants) ALL the time. At first it really bothered me because I would say “I will see you at the meeting tomorrow!” and everyone would respond “Si Dios quiere” or in other words “maybe” or more likey “probably not”. I always wanted to respond with “No! If you want to go you will go!”. However, recently I have developed a newfound respect for this phrase. My friend Norma says that I have turned into a “Dominican catholic” because I attend too many catholic functions here. She thinks that I am now a slave to “catholic guilt”. All I know is that I have never attended a catholic service in the US, and I have found that participating in church events here has really helped me to integrate. Anyways, I am going to share two recent experiences with you where a Dominican catholic would say God taught me a lesson.

The first one starts out with a conversation I had with other Peace Corps volunteers. They were all telling me that, compared to them, I attend too many velas/valorios. Now for those of you who don’t remember, the Dominicans treat death a lot different than Americans. When someone dies they spend 9 straight days mourning the death with mini services every day in the house of the deceased. After that they have a “vela” or mini-service/gathering every month on the day the person died , for a year. After that they do the same once a year, on the day the person died, for 7 years. Seeing as my community is very large, we have a lot of these and I usually attend them. They can be very boring and uncomfortable for Americans because there is a tone of screaming, crying, hugging, singing, chanting, etc.

 So one day when I wasn’t feeling so great and I had a lot of work to do I decided not to go to a vela…. BAD IDEA. I think God got mad. The next day someone in my community died. I ended up going to all 9 days of the celebrations, not by choice, by pure coincidence (all for choosing not to go to ONE vela). On the 9^th day I was spacing out, as I usually do at these events to keep my sanity, and I realized all of a sudden that my mouth was moving and words were coming out of it. I was so shocked! I realized I was saying the rosary in Spanish. I don’t even know the rosary in English! Anyways, long story short I will not be choosing to miss any velas anytime soon!

The second story has to do with my rural health promoter and teenage peer educator graduations. I have been teaching courses in 6 communities for about 6 months. We have now finished the coursework and exams so it is time for the graduations. I made these really pretty certificates on my computer, and I was so excited to print them out when I went to the capital for Thanksgiving (more on t-day later). However, I was unable to print them out due to the fact that I was not paid on time and had absolutely zero pesos. So I ended up having to wait until I went home to my campo to print them out. Now this is a problem because I cannot get nice things printed in my community. My nearest pueblo is Luperón which is a 25 minute moto ride on a good day, 1 hour on a bad. However, I never print stuff there because they charge up the butt so I have to take a 45 min long carro publico (public transportation= little Honda with 6-7 ppl smashed in) ride to Imbert. Now the day I decided to go it started raining which means the dirt road was all slick mud, and it took me 2 hours to get to Imbert. I went to the shop where I usually get stuff printed ( I like to go there because they have a little gas-run generator so they can print even when there is no electricity). Unfortunately they didn’t have any ink cartridges so they couldn’t print them out. They sent me to another print shop down the road. At the second print shop the guy put my memory stick in his computer and somehow deleted everything on it, including my certificates. I was very upset because this meant that I was going to have to make the long, EXPENSIVE trek home empty handed. I got the email address for the shop and told them I would email them the files and come back to pick up the certificates the next day. It ended up raining on me, a lot, and I had to pay the moto driver extra to take me home on the slick mud road. The next morning I repeated the long, expensive trek and went straight to the second print shop. The boy told me that he had not received my email and therefore had not printed out the certificates (I don’t want to call him a liar but by the look on his face I think he just forgot). So I gave them my memory stik, this time I brought two just in case, and they started printing out my certificates. An hour went by and they had printed out 10 of the 72 certificates when the electricity went out. This print shop did not have a little generator like the other one so they told be they would not be able to finish until the electricity came back which would probably be in the late afternoon. I could not wait until the late afternoon because I had a graduation that day… and I needed the certificates. I went back to the first print shop in hopes that they had gotten new ink cartridges… but they hadn’t. So I bought a whole bunch of nice cardstock and went home. When I got home I went to the internet hut in my campo (literally a small hut that has 3 computers in it- I think one works) but the guy that runs it was out of town. I had to beg his mom to give me the key so I could get in and print out my certificates on the cardstock I bought, before the graduation. I ended up getting it done, but his printer is not very good and it only prints in black and white. I was so angry, frustrated, tired, upset, and annoyed. I did all that work and spent all that money only to have my certificates look ugly and cheap. I went to the community where I was graduating 9 rural health promoters feeling defeated. As we were doing the ceremony and giving out the certificates each women decided they wanted to say something. Most of them just thanked me and my regional coordinator, Luz Maria, and talked about how much they had learned. Finally, this woman named Silvia, one of my favs, got up to say her thanks. She said she was 67 years old and had never graduated from anything. She thanked me for taking a special interest in her (I stayed after the meetings to help her with the stuff she didn’t understand, and I dictated the exams to her because she could not read or write) and said she wouldn’t have finished the course without me. Then she started crying and said the certificate was so beautiful and she was going to put it on her wall. Boy did I feel silly for getting so worked up and disappointed about the stupid certificates.

Anyways, call it catholic guilt or whatever you want… I definitely think God taught me two very big lessons, and I will never look at the phrase “Si Dios quiere” the same EVER AGAIN.

UPDATES:

1. MACLA Medical Mission- I worked as a translator on a medical mission. A group of plastic surgeons came to do reconstructive ear surgeries. It was an AMAZING experience and it reminded me how much I love working in a clinical setting. I got to get to know a lot of really cool patients and watch as their lives were transformed by these surgeons. I also got to observe a ton of surgeries and even scrub in :)

They put us up in a REALLY nice hotel

One of my favorite patients. She gave me a really pretty hair clip.

My English soccer buddy. He gave me these awesome soccer scrub

Two other PCVs and a Dominican doctor.

They took us out to a lot of really nice dinners too!!!!

2. One year celebration- To celebrate our one year of service mark my group of PCVs and I rented a really nice house on a cliff in San Rafael right outside of Barahona. It ended up only costing us $50USD a night, and we split that between 16 of us! It was beautiful and we had a lot of fun.

The view from our porch.

The beach.

Our fried fish and plantain lunch right on the water.

front yard.

My friend Hillary and I "sitting" in the cold river that leads into the ocean.

Enjoying a fruity concoction on the porch.

Scuba buddies and I on the beach.

The whole gang.

3. I went to a stove training to learn how to build improved cookstoves. I brought one of my jovenes as my mason and we had a lot of fun. I am hoping to build about 40 of them in my site!

4. Halloween- We had a nice little halloween get together/ celebration in the capital for the new group that just swore in. We health volunteers went as Mad Cow Disease with our pesky prion.

5. We had our 1 year of service training. There are only 8 of the original 12 health volunteers left so it was very small, but we had a lot of fun. One night we had to write all of our challenges for the upcoming year on a wood board and break it. I helped James break his after he failed the first time.

Health PCVs Group 517-11-02 with our PCVL

6. Thanksgiving- Since Dominicans don't celebrate Thanksgiving we always have a big Peace Corps Thanksgiving in the capital. We have a cocktail/ swim hour on the rooftop of a nice hotel and then we move down into a conference room and have a big traditional Thanksgiving dinner. The food usually isn't that great but it is nice to be around other Americans for T-day. We also do a big talent show after dinner that is always a lot of fun. Last year I did a spoken word piece by myself and this year everyone was bugging me to do another one. I didn't really feel up to it ... so as a joke my health group and I did a very dramatic spoken word/ interpretive dance piece. Then after the whole event there is always an after party in the colonial zone.

rooftop

rooftop pool full of volunteers

afterparty

7. World AIDS Day- My teenage peer educators and I planned a big event for World AIDS Day (December 1st). We did a big parade/march from our community to the community on the beach (3 miles). We passed out candy, condoms with information taped to them, and red ribbons. Once we got to the community on the beach we had a little show in the park (which we decorated in the morning) where each group gave a little lecture, demonstration, drama etc. about HIV/AIDS. It was so much fun and I was so proud of all the work my teenagers did! All the way home (in the back of a truck) we sang Feliz Navidad and they let me have a solo on the english part of the song.

taping informative papers to condoms.

candlelight vigil at the hogares conference.

preparing all of the signs and decorations

decorating the park

some of my Barrancón teens and I

My rural health promoters participated too!

The girls and their ribbons

passing out condoms

one of the rest stops where the teens read out statistics about HIV

One of the presentations

Another presentation

How to use a condom demonstration.

How to get tested (complete with a mini clinic)

A play about tolerance.

the teens.

me in the back of the truck caroling all the way home

THANKS FOR READING... AND IF YOU LIVE IN CALIFORNIA I WILL BE SEEING YOU SOON BECAUSE I WILL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!! YAYAYYYY!

Under attack!

Ok y'all. this is NO JOKE. I am seriously under attack. SERIOUSLY. it is like the movie Birds only its not just birds.... it is EVERYTHING. 

It all started about a week ago on an extremely hot and humid day… I noticed that our chickens were multiplying. Quickly. I blame the giant cock who roams our yard. He is the biggest I have EVER seen. We don’t get along because he crows like it aint no thang. If you have ever skyped or spoken with me on the phone you know what Im talking about (sidenote- don’t believe the movies… those things crow all day and all night long, not just when the sun comes up) Anyways, all blame aside, we now have chickens everywhere which usually isn’t a problem because they run away before you can get close to them… but two of them have chicklets. If you get close to them they get extremely aggressive, fly up in the air, scratch you with their talons and peck at you with their beaks. Now I learned my lesson very quickly. You know, it’s a make me bleed once shame on you, make me bleed twice shame on me type of thing. The only problem is sometimes they resort to  sneak attacks. Example: when you are searching for signal under the mango tree so that you can skype with your cousin and you are not looking where you are going, or when you are running frantically to the latrine because you think your butt might explode, turn the corner, and bam – chicken in the face. Im telling you… straight out of a horror film.

So it started with the chickens, and it has continued with all sorts of creepy animals. For example, rat infestation. My host family uses the spare room in my house to store all of the stuff that was in the house before I moved in. There is this really old, nasty mattress in there that has recently become the home to a bajillion rats. For reals. It started with just one baby rat. He was a cutie and I named him Hootie because I only saw him a few times at night. MISTAKE. Hootie is now a giant rat who has fathered a whole bunch of other rats. They are horrible roomies. I can hear them all night long causing a ruckus, and they never clean up after themselves. Plus, the old mattress is starting to smell funky. I graduated them from mild nuisance to serious problem when I woke up and found at least 5 rats in my kitchen and a dead baby rat with half of its head chewed off. I was pissed, and I saw Hootie fleeing the scene, rat-bastard. I played CSI and determined that it was a ratacide, and I am now seeking revenge. Weapon of choice: poison.

The rats are not the only thing keeping me up at night. Last night I woke up to ants biting me. I do not eat in my bed for multiple reasons, the largest being the rats and other crawlies. So you can imagine my surprise when I found a bunch of biting ants in my bed. When they bite it HURTS. It turns out an aunt hill popped up under my bed last night. Ant hills pop up all the time in my house because the concrete is broken up and there are cracks and areas that are no longer concrete, just dirt. However, this was the first time in happened under my bed. ANNOYING.

As usual there are still a ton of lizards, spiders, and mosquitos roaming my house, but they haven’t started acting crazy-like. YET…

Stay tuned.

scene of the crime

One year and counting...

One year. What?

Hi beautiful people!  I have recently hit my one year in country mark. (August 18^th) Crazy right!?!? It definitely doesn’t feel like it has been that long! I will be hitting my one year of service October 26^th. You know what that means… you only have one very short year left to come visit me so get on it! Anyways, I have recently become VERY busy. The work has just started piling on. I am not sure if it is due to my inability to say “no” or just because I think I can be in 12 places at once… but it is happening! Here is a short recap of A FEW things I have done since my last post.

Deportes para la Vida

I went to a training came with 2 of my teenage girls for a youth initiative called Deportes para la Vida. It is an extension of the Grassroots Soccer program. We were trained to use basic drills from various sports to teach kids about HIV/AIDS prevention. It was a five day training, and we were going going going the whole time. We usually had a one hour break a day, and I chose to play soccer with the Dominican and Haitian staff during that time. BAD IDEA! They were REALLY good and I am so out of shape. I also brought poopy shoes so my knees were bothering but then when I was about to complain I realized they were playing barefoot. Relativity folks, relativity. Needless to say I shut my mouth and kept playing.

When I returned to my community I went to the school and asked if I could do the program with the high school kids during PE once a month. The director of the school told me that they did not have a PE teacher for the high school, and that during PE the kids just stand outside. Then the director went on to give me the position of PE teacher in the high school. I walked out dazed and confused. I have no idea how I walked in asking for a one hour a month commitment, and walked out having a full time, every day job (without the $) haha.

Deportes para la Vida

The whole camp...Deportes para la Vida

My girls and I

Corps Forum, Health Conference=Hurrication, and Training

I have been fortunate enough to get to go to the capital twice recently. The first time was for a health conference. I was only supposed to be there for 2 days and it turned into a week because we were put on standfast due to hurricane Isaac. That was interesting because we all only brought 1-2 days worth of clothes = lots of smelly volunteers crammed into a tiny hostel. The second was for committee weekend and the training for the new volunteers. I went and taught all the newbies about the health initiatives and what they will be doing the first three months in their site. It was very fun, and gave me a lot of time to reflect on the last year.

beach time

out after corps forum

braving Issac to give a proper goodbye to jenna

hurrication

Day with Laisha

Okay so one of the best days I have had recently was with my 6 year old BFF Laisha. During her summer vacation I let her go to a couple of my meetings in the surrounding communities with me. She loved it because it got her out of the house and she felt very grown up “helping” me with all the important work I am doing. Since school started up again, she keeps talking about how she misses working with me and taking the long walks to the other communities. So on a Saturday I invited her to take a long walk to the farthest colmado (tiny store) from our house. She got so excited and got all dressed up. When we were about to leave the house she handed me five pesos and asked me to protect it for her because it was all the money she had. I was a little confused, but I put it in my purse anyways. The three of us laisha, skeeter (my new dog) and I walked and talked and visited some other people on the way to the colmado. When we got there Laisha asked for her 5 pesos and bought us each a piece of candy. It was the cutest thing in the entire world! When I thanked her and told her she didn’t have to do that she responded by telling me that she wanted to share her money with her best friend. It melted my heart. We then went to the park, ate our candy, talked about life, and watched the world go by.

The girls also enjoy  “exercising” with me. It usually just turns into play time on my yoga mat… but we have good intentions.

Laisha and Skeeter

Laisha and Skeeter

Sharing our candy in the park.

Tat time. Thanks Mom!

This is what happens when I try to exercise.

... and this.

This is what Sharlin does when you ask her how Amanda exercises.

She loves looking at pics of herself.

How I spend my downtime: Laisha, Sharlin, and Skeeter.

Pregos

Recently two of my Escojo Mi Vida graduates (people I trained to be peer educators about safe sex, HIV, condoms, STDs, etc.) got pregos. One of them I was very sad about because it was an unplanned pregnancy, and the man who got her pregnant has daughters her age and is married. I have been trying to reach out to her because she needs all the support she can get right now, but she had to move to another community really far away due to her family having problems with the pregnancy. The other girl is one of my best students. She is extremely bright and really believes in Escojo and what it teaches. She got married when she was 12 years old, and she has managed to not get pregnant for 4 years (which is a miracle here). She recently decided that she was ready to be a mother (I think that her husband and his family were pressuring her). As her friend and mentor I could not judge the decision she made because she did exactly what I ask the kids to do in Escojo. She planned her pregnancy, and managed not to get pregnant during her first 4 years of marriage. She is also married and financially stable. However, I realized that she needs help managing her pregnancy. Her mother died 8 months ago, and her father lives in the US. She is now living in our campo because her husband is from here, and she is far from all of her family and friends. I realized she doesn’t have anyone to take her to the doctor or tell her what she can and cannot do while pregnant. I decided that I would be that person for her, and I took her for her first visit to the doctor. We had to leave at 5 am and it was a crazy mess at the clinic. We were there for 6 hours and all she got done was a blood test to prove she was pregnant and 30 folic acid pills. We have to go back again in a week for an ultrasound, and it will probably take even longer. Gracias a Dios I will be here for her entire pregnancy.

Of mice and woman….and spiders.

I have been traveling a lot for work recently, and my house has been empty = attack of the critters. I have seen multiple taranchulas and I can hear the rats running around at night. Needless to say I have been tucking my mosquito net in VERY tight at night to keep all the creepy crawlies out.

I also killed my very first taranchila. I usually let them live when I see them as long as they don’t give me an aggressive glare. If I decide they need to die I go find someone else to do it. However, this time it was the middle of the night and I had seen the exact same taranchala one week before. I realized it had almost doubled in size and it was a little too close to my clothes for my comfort (taranchula in clothes= worst morning surprise EVER). I killed it with my shoe and I was in awe of how much goopy stuff came out. It squirted a good foot away from the site o’ smush.

Site o' Smush

Work Update

I am still working on training the 6 groups of rural health promoters and 6 groups of teenage peer educators, I am now the PE teacher (kinda), every time I step into the school someone else asks me to give some kind of charla, and I recently started working as one of 3 volunteers one the national Escojo Mi Vida (teenage peer educators) program.

Random Work Photos:::

Future

-The second week in October I will be translating for the Geraghty Medical Mission in Santo Domingo (MACLA). I am a little nervous because my Spanish will definitely be put to the test… yikes!

I have decided to do a big art project in my community. It’s a long story but basically nobody wants to use the clinic (empty building) for meetings because of political reasons. I think it is really sad because it is a great space for the community. So my plan is to do 3 big murals on the walls facing the clinic with different community groups (one wall per group) and then to do a photo contest/project. All photos will be taken of community members by community members (using my camera… nerve racking). We will blow up the best photos and place them on the walls in the clinic. The rest we will get little prints made and sell them as a fundraiser (most people don’t have any photos of themselves). I plan on finishing this by the end of my service (long term project) and having a big art opening in the clinic. The hope is that by getting the community to work together on this project, and having the community as the subject matter, they will feel like the clinic is theirs and feel more comfortable using the space.

-Starting in January (after my much needed trip to the states for Christmas) I will be starting an exercise and nutrition program based loosely on the biggest looser. We will be concentrating on obese women with diabetes and/or hypertension.

-Oh yeah, next month I am also going to a training to learn how to make “stoves”. They are actually just an improved version of the fogons (open fire cooking)that the women use here. The improved version makes an inclosed space for the fire and a tube to ventilate the smoke. We will probably be starting this project in February after we find funding for it J

Well if you made it all the way to this point…. Congrats man. You deserve a pat on the back.

 OH WAIT ONE MORE THING! Congrats to my beautiful cousin and her dashing husband... they had baby boo number two! Sad Im not there but SO happy for you guys! Hudson, cookie is coming with hoho!

Until next time…