Hoy

I think I will take this oppurtunity and do what I never thought I'd do. Talk about what I did in a day. I am doing this because my good buddy Will requested that I do so and also because other people often ask me what I do everyday. So here it goes...

I crawled out of my mosquito net today before the sun rose. Randy, a fellow volunteer who lives across the street, and I decided to go to the Perfect Body Gym this morning for some much needed exercise. I've found excerise way too few and far between here. It is hard to go for a jog because the streets are really rocky and it is very likely that I would be hit by a moto. And soccer here is played less then in the states which is very unfortunate. Anyway, I came home dripping in sweet since at 6am it was already about 85 degrees and heading for my favorite thing in the world. The Cold Bucket Shower! I think I'm getting used to it but every time my hand pours those first few drops over my head I still chring. I survived and made it to breakfast.

Breakfast was nothing out of the ordinary. Bread and warm chocolate milk. On to 4 hours of Spanish class were we discussed the rights of children and the subjuncitve tense of verbs. After countless times going over this I can finally say I have it down. Around 10am the sweat started again. Our class is in a tin roofed house and for those who have not experienced the tin roof, it heats up like an oven as soon as the sun comes out.

At 12 I headed home for a lunch of rice, chicken, and some fried corn meal. Pretty standard. My diet here is very different but that was to be expected. Green vegtibles and meat are expensive so rice and different types of roots are eaten at almost every meal. A lot of starch and carbs to fill you up. Afterwords I head across the street for a few rounds of dominos. I don't know if I've mentioned this but dominos is huge here. I swear the old guys across the street play it all day long!

At 2 I headed to my NGO intership and today we presented a talk on AIDS to about 50 people in a small rural community nearby. In the states I didn't really hear AIDS being preach that much and I don't remember when I was taught about AIDS. But here it is a very important issue. People still don't have the facts right and almost every person you talk with can tell you of a family member with AIDS.

I was home by 5. I took my book out to the front patio and read a bit. We are reading Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Fiere for training right now. It's a critique of the educational system that exists in the US and throughout much of the rest of the world. He basically says this is not allowing peole to fully become human and is keeping them unconscious of the oppresson they are suffering. Its way more indepth then that though.

And that brings me to the present. After I leave here I am headed to work on a leadership workshop we are giving to the youth leaders of the community in Nagua. Then I will crawl back into my mosquito net to rest my tired head on my pillow for a nights rest.

Buenas Noches

¡Se fue la luz!

This has become one of the most common phrases to hear in Nagua. It literally translates as "the light left" but is used when the power goes out which has just happened about 5 times during my current internet session. My fellow Peace Corps'ers and I have learned to have some fun with this phrase saying it randomly and in different tones of voice. Se fue la luz. Or se fue la luz. I just love to say it. It slides so gracefully off the tongue. Se fue la luz. Commical at times. Well maybe not commical but I have made myself laugh at it. It's also fun to hear the neighborhood when the light arrives at night. Everyone cheers.

Hurry. Post. Before la luz se va.

Adios Amigos

Saludos

Just wanted to make it known that I have put up some pictures.

But first this needs some explanation. There are not many pictures of Dominican streets or shacks or people or the other stuff of the nature that would give a wonderful visual of what life is like here. This is for two reasons. The first is selfish in that I don´t want to be flashing my camera around to let everyone know that the Gringo has a machine that looks like a space camera. Mainly to protect my camera from deciding to walk out of its home and not come back.

The second reason being a little more in depth and still something I haven´t quiet figured out how to deal with yet. I´m sure everyone would enjoying seeing what my barrio is like and other pictures of Dominican country side and maybe even the reality of poverty. It´s just that I can´t bring myself to whip out my $300 camera to capture a family sitting on their dirt porch when my camera is worth more then their house. It´s hard to take a picture of a person knowing that they most likely make 1 US dollar a day. Thats almost a years work for them to buy the camera I have in my hand. Or showing pictures on my camera to my host brother whos foremost desire is to get to Puerto Rico, in a raft. This is something that carries a lot more weight then a simple photo and is just one of the thoughts I have been thinking over.

Now I will probably end up getting over this, if its something to get over, and will have more pictures of life here but until then...

Saludos de la Republica Dominicana

My New Digs

It's day 2 in Nagua, my new home for the next 5 weeks. I'll be going through the second phase of training here, which has been dupped "community based training" by the Peace Corps. I'm relieved to get out of the rat race of the capital and the grouling training schedule we had there. Anyway, in an attempt to maximize my 20 pesos for this hour long computer session I share what I wrote in my journal yesterday.

3/10

I've been here 24 hrs and I've already seen some interesting things. I was sitting in tech training and our trainer calmly tells a group of three of us who are sitting along the wall to stand up and take three steps forward. He then throws his foot into the back of a chair, kicking it against the wall. I guess he missed what he was going for because I seen the biggest spider run across the wall. Possibly a tranchula.

On the way home I pass a guys getting a cast put on that goes from his foot to the mid thigh, with a bed at the knee. Not something you expect to see outside on the corner. I would never go to the guy nextdoor with a broken leg and let him set it in plaster to heal in whichever way he sees fit. But then it may be better to have it set wrong then live without it being set at all. I don't know. A decision I would never have to make in the US.

I was told yesterday that I had "pelo malo" or bad hair by an eight year old. It was because my hair is curly. This is really a sad fact about Dominican culture. While Dominicans are a mix of Spanish colonists and African slaves they refuse to acknowledge their African heritage. They call themselves indo-mezclado and any african traits are seen as wrong or bad. This is where the phrase pelo malo comes from. This also gets into racism against Haitians. I don't know enough yet so I will stop here.

I shaved today without a mirror for the first time every! No mirror or running water in my new house. I was quiet impressed with the results.

arlight my 20 pesos has been stretched to the limit. take care whoever is reading this.

paz y amor