New Beginnings 1.20.2009

Already the New Year…January marks the start of yet more changes for me and the continuation of this interesting Peace Corps experience. The past two and half weeks have included the following:

-Sick in bed with diarrhea and a fever
-Moving into my house
-Meetings with the cooperative
-Finishing up my diagnostic report and PowerPoint presentation
-Playing a lot of dominoes
-Began my first English class last Saturday
-Cooking for myself again and learning how to make Dominican food

I guess I’ll begin with the diarrhea and fever. That was the first time I’ve come down with a fever here. I think I contracted that because a virus was going around. The diarrhea was completely separate. I believe I got the diarrhea around the same time because that’s when we ran out of bottled water here and I realized later that my jug of “special water” in the fridge wasn’t from the bottle but from the tap with a little chloride in it. Must not have been enough chloride to kill whatever was in the water. After about a week I am pretty much back to normal.

Moving into my house came at a good time, actually, especially after feeling crummy the week before. I am finally now comfortably settled into my own space after living out of my suitcases for the past 4.5 months. That gets a little old after a while. I have been in my house for exactly a week now. I wasn’t sure when I was going to be able to move in but the Italian who owns the house left for Italy early and then it was quickly cleaned out and I moved my things out of my tiny little room and am now happily spread out.

The house is made of cement with tile floors, a front and back porch with a front gate. It has nice landscaping with grass and different tropical plants. I have a few palm trees right in front and then the street. Right behind me is my host family’s house and I can call over to my host mom from over the fence. Before coming here I’d prayed that I would have a place to live close to my host family and that is an answered prayer. I feel very safe and hardly have the opportunity to feel alone or isolated as my neighbors are always around and making a lot of noise. With that said, I’m able to shut my doors and have some privacy and quiet when I need it- which is something I’ve missed these past 4 months.

The house is fully furnished which has been an incredible blessing. I have a living room with a wicker sofa, chairs and table, a kitchen with fridge, stove, cabinet and sink (with cooking ware, dishes and silverware (I even have a blender!), there are two bedrooms with a bed and dresser/mirror in each and an extra room with bunk beds and a wardrobe. There’s even a small charcoal grill that I hope to use some time. I haven’t had to buy anything for the house which is really nice. I even have a small t.v. in my room. I had no idea that I’d be able to live this comfortable in the Peace Corps. Many volunteers have a hard time finding a secure place to live and when they do they usually have to make repairs and buy all their appliances and furniture. I am so relieved that I don’t have to mess with that.

It’s been fun to make this my own space. I still have a lot of books and stuff thrown into one room but will get to organizing that when I feel like it. Having this personal space makes living here so much easier and normal. When I was in my host family’s home I had the urge to “get out” and take a bus to the next town over or something. Now it’s easier to stay in my site because I feel less overwhelmed, I guess. Granted, I had a great host family (probably one of the best).

My host mom still invites me over for lunch. She says she misses having me there to cook for. I go over there and visit with her a lot. She really made a special effort to make me comfortable in her home and she’s a good friend. All the people here are very generous with me. I pretty much eat lunch at other people’s homes every day and usually only make breakfast and dinner for myself. They’ve also given me a lot of food items to stock my bare fridge. So far I’ve received: fruit juice, a papaya, an avocado, beans, potato and yucca bread (which is kind of like banana bread) and an auyama (?) which is kind of like a sweet potato.

I’m learning how to make Dominican food and have already mastered the art of Dominican-style coffee (I was told that now I am ready to marry because I know how to make coffee). They drink their coffee here like the Italians and Spanish do- a little cup with very sweet, very dark coffee. They tell me I’m becoming more Dominican as I learn their customs. For example, it is their tradition to serve coffee when a group of people are together. So the other day I made coffee and brought it down to the park where a group was sitting. You make the coffee in a big tin cup and serve it around to people in little cups. Then, when one person is done you take the cup and fill it up for another person. You wait around until everyone is done and make sure to take their empty cup from them. You want to have enough for everyone- even if it’s only a little. This is definitely a sharing culture/community and I’m growing more accustomed to that. Now when someone tells me to sit down or offers me something I take them up on their offer. At first I felt like I needed to reject the offer to be polite but really it is more polite to just take what they are offering. It is also just as important to share whatever you have. I’m looking forward to cooking more and bringing food to my neighbors.

The start of the New Year means the cooperative is back in action now (after the long Christmas holiday). We’ve had quite a few meetings already. They’ve been meetings about a new project the cooperative is starting as well as a meeting about their annual business plan. They are starting an organic fertilizer project. The cooperative is going to sell organic soil to the 170 farmers in the organization (for a cheap price) as well as to farmers outside of the coop (for a higher price). They are in the process of obtaining land to build the structure where they’ll produce the fertilizer.

I usually feel a bit lost in these meetings as I’m trying to understand everything they’re doing and what they’re saying. So far, during the meetings I’ve been in charge of working on the Excel spreadsheet with all their data. This gets a little complicated as they rattle off to me in Spanish what to type out…in Spanish. I’ve never done secretarial-type work in another language before. It’s interesting. I will be working more as their accountant during this project. I’m glad that work with the coop is picking up. I was beginning to feel a bit discouraged during December as there wasn’t much going on.

I am also working on my diagnostic report and presentation. In the first week of February I will be going to the capitol with one of my project partners to present the diagnostic and work on our two-year plan. I also have my English class on Saturdays. I had my first class last Saturday and about 50+ people showed up. It was a little crazy. I’m going to have 2 different classes on Saturday. One at 10am for younger kids and the other in the afternoon at 2pm for adults (for about 1.5 hours). Teaching them English is fun. A lot of them are very enthusiastic about learning and we had a good time. I’m hoping to really teach them a lot. English classes here are usually very expensive and are not offered in small communities like mine. I’m glad I can teach them right in their own school for free. I’ve started teaching two women some basic computer skills (typing, etc.), as well. I guess I never really considered how blessed I am to have such basic skills under my belt that I can pass along to others who cannot learn these skills as easily.

I’ve been honing my Dominican dominoes skills quite a bit lately, too. I usually plan with my neighbor next door and some of the neighborhood kids. My neighbor is an older guy from Italy who lives here 10 months out of the year. Some of the local Dominican boys help him out around the house and yard and in the evenings we’ve started playing. Occasionally I play with a group of guys who play in the afternoons, as well. Women don’t play dominoes much but I enjoy playing with them- even though half the time I have no idea what they are saying around me. I didn’t like the game at all when I first got here but now that I’m learning more of the strategy it is actually really fun. It’s also a good way to build “confianza.”

Well, every week is different and I hardly ever know what it will be like from one week to the next. In general, though, I feel so much happier now to have a “home base” to operate from. I feel more energized and prepared to get to work now. It is different living in a house. I’m still getting used to it. To be continued…