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