Campo girl steps off the metro..

I’ve officially been living in the capital for a month. As much as I would love to admit my days are completely full of work, I will admit guiltily that this month has served more as me adjusting to life in the capital. I’ve realized that my Spanish is slowly going out the window, due to speaking mainly with just Americans. My clothes are getting looser as I sweat my way to the Peace Corps office nearly every day. Walking a lot more and getting away from arroz and habichuelas (rice & beans) will make that happen apparently. I have officially lost all of the weight that I gained here in the Peace Corps. I do not want to lose any more--so pass me my presidente, that blue cheese bacon cheese burger at the embassy that I had for lunch last week and a chocolate bar por favor.

Speaking of food.. The other night I made a delicious eggplant tomato pasta..just throwing everything we had available into it. It turned out well considering the ingredients on hand..I believe it was a success and could tell by the quiet but very happy munching that was going on. Our apartment has an actual oven as well so I’ve been doing some baking as well, my banana bread and brownies have been mastered without a measuring cup. Cooking with friends or for friends is so enjoyable. Cooking is meant for more than one person and eating with other people is probably one of the best things in life. On my list of things to buy this payday—a large baking pan.

The Metro. Phil showed me a new way to the Peace Corps office. I can take one public carro (carro public) down to Maximo Gomez, where there is a metro that drops me off 4 blocks from the Office. The other way is taking 2 different carro publicos. I like to switch it up, but this morning I took the metro. I’ve road metros before but something about this morning was different for me. It was a great morning. I left the house around 10am and took my carro to the metro. I realize I’ve forgotten the IPod..but, that’s okay, I have a song in my head (It’s a Brand New Day-Joshua Radin) and hum it the whole way there. I look around at all of the people, everyone from such different backgrounds, everyone with their own lives and problems and I am just another person riding the metro and walking on the sidewalk. I look up and trash is blowing in the air. Somehow even that is beautiful to me at that moment. When I look around it kind of makes me feel bad for getting stressed out about my own problems because God only knows that everyone has their own issues that they are dealing with. I am one person and when I am gone, the world will keep spinning. And trash may or may not continue to fly from the tops of buildings like rain drops in the Dominican Republic.

Music. An typical night in our home consists of Phil rapping strumming a few strings on the guitar or to mixed beats that he creates on his computer, my attempts at the guitar (which…is actually decent, even playing a little bit that I’ve made up myself), teaching Marite the little I know on the guitar (and she is sounding pretty damn good I might add). Gabe, Marite’s boyfriend just moved in and we really would like him to pick up the harmonica so we can start a band here at the house..but...unfortunately he does not think that this is as great as we do but we have decided that we can totally picture him out on the field building water systems in the middle of nowhere and just whipping on his harmonica to play a tune… I think we all have a little bit of talent that is going to be unleashed throughout the months to come.

Water. The water situation here at the house is unpredictable, a reminder that I am still living in a developing country. Last night there was no water. We have two big tanks in our bathrooms to fill with water and last night we hardly had any in our tank but needed to do the dishes. My friend Jose and I washed the dishes with the absolute minimum of water and I am thinking—this is a skill that if for some reason the electricity goes out in the states for longer than a few days and there is no water, I will be the first to step up to the plate and show everyone how to minimize their water consumption and get their dishes spotless.
Reading. I find myself being able to focus more and read guilt free. Well..mostly guilt free. My director overheard me talking about a few books I had read and I quote him, “If you are reading that much..you aren’t working enough”. I laughed. He laughed..kind of. A good book recommendation for anyone interested in learning a little more about China’s Cultural Revolution should consider reading Life and Death in Shanghai. I haven’t finished it just yet, had to put it down a little over halfway through and start something a little lighter. It really makes you feel like you are there as you learn about one woman’s (who is considered capitalist because of working for Shell) experience.

Laundry. Laundry is a half day event. It might be another reason for the pounds shedding away because it consists of going up and down 5 flights of stairs with the laundry basket. Between that and mopping the house I think that my arms may get some definition over the months to come. Vamos a ver. My roommate Marite was a little appalled by me putting my underwear into the laundry machine. I was surprised because I didn’t know that it was all latinas (she’s Cuban) that handwash their underwear. I thought it was a Dominican thing. Well…now that I read that aloud she says it could be just a Carribean thing. Regardless, I am done hand washing my underwear after leaving the campo…I paid my dues and lived like a latina for long enough. Sorry Marite.  I know you still love me.

Closing our service. Things are going to start feeling different around here as some of my group is already beginning to leave. We had a few early COS-ers, including my roommate from my hotel room at staging. We still have memories from our first weekend together and it was strangely unreal saying our goodbyes. I hope it is not forever. I admit that I teared up the other night thinking about another friend leaving me. I expect that we will have a reunion all together within the next few years even.
Work. As I look at all of the things that I would like to accomplish, 5 ½ months is a very short time. I am pondering a 13 month extension instead of my original 5 ½ months. I am not ruling it out, but am waiting a little longer to make my final decision. I have around 10 volunteers that are going to be working on composting latrines, although a few of these will only be constructing 1-2 at their sites to get the idea of excrement composting in the air, and to better determine if this project would be a success.

Monday we traveled to Bonoa so that I could meet Yovanny, the man that is designing and making our molds for the toilet bowl. He is doing a great job and we finally have the mold we have been perfecting since I first started this project. I will be coordinating with him and other volunteers with the ordering and transport of the molds to sites.

This weekend I will be headed out to a campo outside of La Romana to present the project to a site that is in need of composting latrines. There is no projector so I plan to just put together a small photo album of pictures for people to see and an informational handout.

I submitted my proposal to USAID to hold three training conferences over the next months in Samana. I have a feeling it is going to be awhile before I receive any support, so am planning to hold training in the South with some left over grant money of another volunteer.

The construction manual for the project is looking sharp and my goal is that anyone could pick this up and build one with these instructions. Another goal of mine for the months to come is working on a video project for the compost latrine. I am going to be collecting footage of the construction, the swivel toilet seat (a new invention that the AT group came up with during training), health promotion and the actual removal of the compost. In December, we are planning a trip out to Los Miches to see the removal of the compost from one of the composting latrines from my project.
Fun. Peace Corps “Homecoming” is this next week and we are also going to have a little Halloween celebration at our house. My sister is coming down next week and I am so excited to spend time with her and share with her everything that I have learned about navigating in the capital. 

Culture shock?

Is reverse culture shock possible if you are in the same country but in a different area? The last week and a half has been super intense for me (in a good way), which is why I ask. I have come to realize that I made the best decision by moving to the capital and adjusting to this before returning to the United States. I think that living with other Americans and also adjusting to a more "consumer" society you could say will make my transition to the States much less shocking when April arrives.

I do have to say that one of the most enjoyable parts of being in the capital is not having to feel the need or obligation to socialize with my neighbors constantly. Don't get me wrong, I am a social person but I think 2 years of campo socializing was about all this girl could take. I realized that now that I am living with people that understand me, where I come from and people with many of the same values that I have..I am so much happier. I can finally laugh constantly throughout my day to jokes in English..really, long, hard laughing. I get to play scrabble with my friends in English and finally get to break in a Scrabble dictionary that I got.

We were all talking about it the other evening and someone said "We can never see this but any outsider who comes realizes quickly that volunteers as a whole are depressed". I agree to a certain extent..you definitely are leaving a certain part of you, your sanity and your happiness upon your decision to join Peace Corps. I don't think that I quite realized just how much I need other like minded and awesome individuals in my life until just over the last week and a half. I feel like a new woman.

So. Living in the capital has been super interesting because the view behind our apartment is an impoverished neighborhood (barrio) and the street next to us is an extremely wealthy area (I mean..were talking 5 minutes walking from Louis Vuitton..and tons of other designer type of things I have never heard of). I have had Krispy Kreme donuts twice and Burger King in the last week..I don't even like those things all that much but it was so incredibly wonderful. Burger King was just an all around terrific experience..and it wasn't just the food. Friday night 4 friends and I were hanging out at the apartment and we decided lets go to Burger King..little did we know how incredible burger king is now! We go in..and the first thing I notice is, WOW this is spotless clean. It isn't that cleanliness isn't common here in the DR but in most business it isn't exactly up to par with U.S. standards. Then, the kids play area--incredible. Brilliant. They had super cute big couches in the place..genius. THEN, I am wondering--why are there no salads on the menu? Well..it just so happens that there is a flat screen television, yes..a flat screen television, with a menu that is constantly changing and I just hadn't seen the salads. I was completely blown away. I feel crazy finding all of these different things crazy, but I am not.

So, other businesses within walking distance from the apartment.
-2 shopping malls--not just any ordinary Iowa shopping mall..were talking like wow..I didn't even know Dominicans could shop here. Did I mention that the food courts have cinnabon, sbarro, sushi, papa johns..ect the list goes on.
-2 grocery stores..with mostly anything that I could ever dream of.
-5-6 liquor shops..
-A Naturalizer shoe store..still can't stop thinking about the shoes that I tried on last week that were soo comfy (and all of my shoes are broken except 1) but oh so almost half of my Peace Corps monthly pay.
-Taco Bell
-TGIF
-Outback steakhouse

The list could go on and on.

American society and the way that we live is absolutely insane and out of this world. I am not saying it is a bad thing..I was quite excited about all of the wonders in Burger King, trust me. It is bad that it has let some of us become these greedy, unconscious human beings.

Why is it that I feel ashamed/guilty about feeling the consumer and wanting feelings for the first time in so long? Even wishing that I made more so that I could get the things that I want. Not just the things I want, but need as well. I barely get enough money to get all of the food I need here in the capital let alone get shoes that I am in need of. I can't help but feel that it is wrong to feel this way toward things after seeing some very impoverished parts of this country, and people that struggle to put food on their table or don't even have a bathroom or running water.

Work is slow but coming along. I am currently working on a budget to submit to USAID to get money to train volunteers, their masons and health promoters on composting latrines and health promotion. I will be sending that to a contact that I made at a tourism fair last week to see if there is funding available. Also, the toilet bowl mold that we have been working on since we first started developing the composting latrine project is FINALLY perfected and the AT PCVL Mark and I mixed up some cement and poured a toilet bowl at the office today to test it out. I am super excited, because now there are going to be around 5 volunteers doing this project and they will all have actually cement toilet seats with real toilet seats and lids for these latrines. :)

In a few days my director, the PCVL and I are headed out to the border near El Cercado to an AT volunteer's site that is going to begin a compost latrine project. Over the next few months I may get the chance to go to Isla Saona and a few other places to help out another volunteer with composting latrines which would be incredible.

Other news..chopped a good 13-15 inches of my hair off for Locks of Love. No regrets, it is so refreshing to not have to worry about all that hair! :)

and best of all.. Coming home for Christmas on December 20th-January 7th.

So, I am an AT volunteer now..

The clay oven for my women's group is finished. It took 4 days to complete after we had a table built with blocks. I can now say that I could build one on my own. It was a lot of work though, and we had to make due with the materials that I was able to locate here in Samana. We had originally planned to use all yellow clay for the oven because it is more flexible for building than red clay. Unfortunately, the yellow clay that arrived from the hardware shop was full of rocks and we only had a little after sifting. The oven ended up being built mostly with red clay. Here is a brief description of each day of work.

The table we built was supposed to be 2 meters by 2 meters, but the women were quite sneaky and added in extra block to make it larger because they wanted an even larger oven.. This was the biggest oven that Duncan had ever built, and he didn't really want to go much bigger than 2mx2m. After building the table, we filled it with dirt and left a small amount of space at the top.

Day 1- In a 2x2 meter space, we put a layer of sand and then broken glass on top of it (for handling the heat from oven), with salt over that to fill in the space between the glass. Then, another layer of sand. After we put in a brick floor and built a mold for the oven with block and sand.

Day 2- We covered the sand/block mold with newspaper, and then made our clay mixture. The clay mixer had red clay (which was supposed to be yellow), the yellow clay that we had available, koalin (which is a clay like substance that helps the oven not crack) and water. We formed blocks with the clay and then proceeded to put them around the oven and smooth them together. We built an arched entrance to the oven with bricks and clay. I added sea shells to make it more beautiful. :)

Day 3- Another clay mixture with sawdust, kaolin and clay. We formed balls out of the clay and put them around and around the oven smoothing them and packing them in until it was finished. The sawdust is used to make the oven stronger.

Day 4- A layer of pure clay and water to give the oven a nice finish.

Little by little we have taken the sand mold out of the oven and now are making fires each day that have started with a small fire and will grow into a roaring fire after about a week which will finish the curing process. The oven will reach full baking potential after using it for 3 months. I want to give a shout out to my co-volunteers Duncan and Gabe, who taught me everything I know about clay ovens and assisted me so much throughout this project! :) I couldn't have done it without you guys.

More news on the latrine manual. I finished updates on the manual, but it is STILL a work in progress. It is much, much better than before and is the official copy that will be used with the new Appropriate Technology volunteers. I included a section on how to form a latrine committee and updated the construction segments and various other parts of the manual, along with adding in the new drawings that had been done by a few of our more artistic volunteers.

This next week, I will be training a group of 15 volunteers and their masons on composting latrine construction and the BIBOBSI latrine manual (the one from the last paragraph). My mason that I used in Dajabon will be joining us in a mountain outside of Santiago for the 4 day training to build 1 latrine. The goal of the training is so that these volunteers will learn how to implement a composting latrine project at their sites and have a mason who is trained to construct them.

And..finally, the BIG NEWS. There are still people here in the Dominican Republic without a place to poo...so, on September 15th, I am officially an Appropriate Technology Volunteer and will be moving to the capital. I will be living with 3 other close friends that I have made throughout my service 2 carro publicos from the Peace Corps office. My new Close of Service date is April 15th. My work plan is as follows...

"In my extension as an AT volunteer, I plan to move to the capital on September 15th, 2011 so that I can serve as a “consultant” for the ecological bathroom project. I will begin by immediately reaching out to volunteers that are trying to implement composting latrine projects at their sites so that I can begin to plan for cross-sector training for ecological bathrooms. I will use October to search for funding and the means to hold an ecological bathroom training event for volunteers. In the following months, I will be planning and hosting the training event. Throughout my 5 ½ month extension, I will also be working on developing a more systematic approach to the project which will include learning objectives and lesson plans. I will also be visiting volunteers at their sites to help them with the BIBOBSI method and their projects. Throughout these visits to volunteers, I intend to continue updates on the latrine manual as needed. At the end of my extension in April, I will present during the training sessions for the project to the incoming group of AT volunteers in CBT."


Don't worry friends & Fam--I'll be home for Christmas most likely for a visit! :) I love you all, and thank you for supporting my mission here in the DR!

My snoring neighbor..a literal wake up call to life back in the DR

I decided it is well past time for a blog. It’s about 12am here in the campo and you can only begin to imagine what would trigger me to feel like writing a post. I’ve been listening to my neighbor snoring for a good hour now....it woke me up. (nope..that is not a joke, this is a true night in the campo…). As soon as I typed that out her snoring stopped, which means I’ve stopped smiling. Actually, it isn’t the first time I have smiled tonight. I smiled all 5 times the electricity came on tonight too, even if the longest stretch was for 10 minutes! Something strange happened with the electricity here since I left and came back from my vacation to the USA..it comes and goes like crazy. It will come on for a good 5 minutes and then literally leave for an hour and then come again for 10 and then gone again for 2 hours. Can someone please make me understand the electricity crisis here, because after 2 years I still remain clueless as to why it is like this. People tell me it’s because no one pays there bill—but if I never get one then how can I pay it in the first place??

Going back to the States for 3 weeks made me come back here and wonder how I have been doing this for 2 years. Part of that has to do with a herniated disc and muscle spasms that I am currently trying to bed rest my way out of..which the muscle spasms are way intense and started in my lower back 3 months ago..went away..came back stronger and more paralyzing and in the last few days of bed rest have traveled to my right upper butt cheek..hopefully that means they are headed down to my toes and will be all the way gone soon. I’m trying to be positive about the whole situation and I really truly believe that is what is going to happen. Okay so..the other part is because I’ve now realized the problems that exist in this country or in any other developing are MUCH more complicated than a 20 something year old Peace Corps volunteer can resolve. I have come to terms with the fact that I certainly cannot save the world as I originally believed upon my arrival. When I talk about how I don’t know how I’ve done THIS for the last 2 years, I am not talking about not living without 24/7 electricity and not doing my business for the first year y pico in a latrine and bathing outside, but I am talking about living without my family and people who truly understand me, don’t judge me for every little thing I do and care about me. Sure, other volunteers understand, and are like my family but it’s not like I get to see them as much as I would like to. I miss living with people who speak English. I miss living with people in general. Living alone was fun for awhile but I really just want an American roommate. I do prefer living alone though to living with Dominicans. I’d even go back to my college days right now and live in the same room as one for the next 4 years (MEL if you’re reading this—I mean that…I can truly say right now that I would looove to be back in the Pods in our little tiny room together…even on our messiest days. I’d do it all over again…)

So, it’s official. I think I am going insane. I am thinking the 3 week trip back to the States officially made things 100x more difficult for myself. Not because I had hot water, but because I realized how wonderful it is to be surrounded by all of these amazing individuals that I love so dearly and could not get enough of in just 3 weeks. Especially my mom………….yes I’ve gone insane. Just kidding, I have the best mom in the whole world who has been so amazing to me ESPECIALLY since I’ve been here listening to my countless anxieties over the telephone twice a week, and refilling her calling cards for those special nights when I need longer than 45 minutes to vent.) Thank you mom, you have been my biggest supporter.

Back to the herniated disc and muscle spasms. How did this happen? People keep asking me what I did, so here it is. I really have no idea what I did to myself, but if I could pin point one thing it is this. LISTEN CLOSELY NEW/FUTURE VOLUNTEERS. MUY IMPORTANTE PA’ K SEPAN. ESCUCHA BIEN. 2 years ago, I bought my bed at a store that apparently puts old springs inside of a new mattress. I had no idea that people did that—and no one seemed to care to warn me about it..SO IM WARNING YOU. Save your money BEFORE you go to Peace Corps for a bed because you don’t get enough to buy a decent bed…unless you can live without a stove, gas tank and plates..then you might have enough. Thankfully, a volunteer that was leaving gave me a good deal on a tempurpedic bed that he splurged on for his service (why hadn’t I thought of that?) and I am finally resting in peace without a spring jammed into my hip.
Good thing I still have enough work to do and even a little time for procrastination before I leave to keep me here. And a good bed too—that helps. You know what- Actually there is more than that that is keeping me here. My Dominican neighbors are quite amazing. Two of them came over and cleaned my entire place without me asking for help because they knew I was incapable of doing so. The same with my laundry. I even have a few that come over to lay in bed with me to chat during my bed rest times. Women of course…God only knows the gossip in this campo would hit the roof if it were anyone else.

Ok so back to the work in store for me. Right now, I am looking for yellow clay for this oven we will be building (On July 28th and 29th to be exact if anyone wants to stop out we are building it right on the shore line). No one seems to know what that is, but if they want their oven they are going to have to figure it out. They know better than I do where to find it. I’ve asked over 50 people in the community and every construction store in town and everyone just has the same blank stare on their face. My director thinks they should know where to find it. That is my number one goal for the week is to locate this supposed yellow clay that exists somewhere on this island. My other task is to get these women organized in our meeting this week to build our base for the oven and a little shack for it before our Peace Corps handymen come out for building day.

Another task that I am doing is updating this composting latrine manual, which will be wrapped up over the next few weeks. I don’t think I’ve written anything about that on the blog but it’s actually been a process. My friend Marite and I began brainstorming in March on what we were going to do about this out of date manual. We decided it needed to be completely reformatted. WELL finally after many attempts with PHOTOSHOP and even recently attempted to understand the complexities of INDESIGN through countless unhelpful youtube videos, I’ve decided it is beyond me to reformat the manual the way we want it. I think that reformatting would require a graphic designer, which is not me. SO, that actually makes my job a lot easier. I have decided only to update the manual so that it fits with the composting latrine that Peace Corps Dominican Republic is building, instead of Peace Corps Bolivia (the manual is one used before in Bolivia). Phew, when I came to terms with the fact that I am no graphic designer…you have no idea the weight that was lifted off my chest.
SOOO that leaves me with a little less than 3 months after these next few weeks of work. What to do what to do what to do. Well, some of my time will be occupied with helping a few people get latrine projects off the ground..which will require some traveling..possibly back up to the border and to Puerta Plata. Also will be finishing up all of my grant reports…been slacking, haven’t reported on any of my grants, but I have until my close of service date to get those wrapped up….It will get done.

Then that brings me to September. September is our Close of Service conference for a few days in the capital with all of those crazy trainees that accepted the same invitation as I did for August of 2009 and entered this journey with that are making it out alive. The conference is basically just to help us figure out our next step in life and to help us edit our description of service paper (a description of our work here and then a little signature at the bottom that tells whatever employer to be that we are eligible for the noncompetition for government jobs)..and resumes.
Then October. I won’t think that far yet. One day at a time is how I will get through this. Back to the present…the snoring continues.

Summing up the last 5 months..

22 months in country..could it be?

I have spent a lot of these past months hosting American visitors at my site and in between doing work/traveling to do work in other parts of the country, which has been great but I think has left my community wondering what I am doing here. It also is making me wonder what I am doing here. Every time I come back to my community, I feel suffocated, sad, isolated and miss my old Peace Corps experience (even though I was much more isolated and further away from other volunteers?) which doesn't make any sense. I should be happy-being on the beach and all, right?

Here is what happened. The fact that I was a volunteer elsewhere for so long made me take for granted the amount of "confianza", or trust, that I had already built. How did I build that trust in Dajabon.. 1, I never left my site for the first 3 months because it was the "rule" given to us by Peace Corps. 2, I was actually completing a project that was visible to people and was something that they needed. Now, where I am at now, I have had to leave my site for different reasons--all of which are "work related" but somehow can not get my community to understand that I am not just a tourist. Now I understand the rule of not leaving your site (AT ALL) during those first months.

At the end of February I finally submitted my community diagnostic of Villa Clara. It definitely was not as detailed as my first diagnostic, mainly because there is not the same kind of ''need'' as there was on the border. As much as I do not enjoy teaching English (mainly because I am not certified to be an English teacher, and really don't know the correct methods for teaching), I started an English class here in Villa Clara that is just about complete. I also have taught some business classes to my women's group, and we have plans to build a new oven in July when I return from the US. I am waiting to receive the funding for the grant that I applied to do this, and am trying to line things up with another PCV that is working on a design for this oven. The other project that I wanted to try to tackle over the next several months was latrines.

When my director came to visit with my community and I over what projects that we had decided on, she told us there was no way I would have time for latrines if I was planning to COS in October. I think I could do it if I receive this ADEMI grant by July, but grants take forever so I am not going to count on receiving the funding. An option is to do an extension at my site, or even move to the town of Samana..I am still considering. I have a few options, one would be to extend for a few months to finish up projects in Villa Clara which means staying in the community. The other is to extend in the town, but it would have to be a year extension. The year extension would be to do a latrine project in Villa Clara and to work with other volunteers by assisting them in their latrine projects. Still thinking on that..

Between hosting visitors in March and April, I spent some time out in Jarabacoa (mountains!!) at my friend Marite's site to give training sessions to the new Appropriate Technology volunteers on ecological latrines. My masons from my project in Dajabon were also out there to teach the new volunteers how to build the latrine that we were building out there. It was awesome to be able to share with other volunteers what worked/didn't work with the project. Also, I am excited to share that one of the AT volunteers is currently beginning his service in my old community, and will be working on more bathrooms! I was overjoyed when my director told me that he was sending someone out.

Last week I returned to Dajabon to spend a week translating for doctors (wavesofhealth.org) and then go out to check out the finished latrine project. Yes--finished project. People really stepped up to the plate after I left and completed 51 latrines in total. Overall, I was impressed with what they had done. There were a few disappointments--such as people not using their lids for their toilet seats, which completely defeats the sanitation efforts of this project. There were still a few latrines without the "caseta" (upper zinc house of the latrine), one of which was actually finished before I had even left the community but the couple had divorced and the wife took half the zinc with her..I guess that's a good excuse? Not.

Although I realize at this point that there are different levels in development, I do know that if I were continue working in development after Peace Corps I would want it to be in an area that is much less developed than where I am at now. I find it much more satisfying, although more difficult, to be working with a group of people that have huge basic necessity needs than a community where people have nicer tv's or houses than most people I know in the USA. Or use my housing deposit to buy a huge flat screen instead of fixing the leaky tubes at my house. Maybe that is an exaggeration--but is is how I am feeling.

Heres to the next 5 months of attempting work in my community..wish me suerte.

That sums it up for now..lo siento for not writing sooner. I'll try to be better.

Those that don't know..I'll be home June 7-28 <3

Am I in heaven or the Peace Corps?

I've been at my new site a little less than a week and wonder if I am even in the Peace Corps anymore. Other volunteers have called it Peace Corps retirement. I wouldn't consider myself retired just yet though. Yes, I am right on the beach and it would be wonderful to be retired here in the exact same spot someday. It's cheaper than living in the states. Get this, my beach front apartment that I am going to move into is only $2,500 pesos a month (so about $75 US a month). No I won't have electricity or running water all of the time but I didn't have that at my last site either. What I will have is an indoor bathroom and a kitchen sink. Two things that I had been living the last year y pico without. That's right! Maybe I have retired...

I am more than excited for the work ahead of me. My woman's group will be meeting tomorrow for the first time since I moved out here but I have had the opportunity to speak with several of the women and even watch them make their bread. And eat a lot of their bread. A LOT. It's delicious. It reminds me of the homemade bread that my great grandmother used to make. They use a huge cement stove to make the bread, and form the dough into long french style loaves. They produce about 80 loaves a week on Mondays and sell only door to door within the community. I really think that they can expand their market and take their bread to other parts of the peninsula. I don't really understand why they have not done that yet.

Also, an environmental volunteer that was at my site a year ago started a Brigada Verde group (the environmental group for youth) and they are still having weekly meetings even after the volunteer left. Hopefully I will be able to do some projects with them during my year here.

I have a month and a half to do my community/organizational diagnostic and turn it in to Peace Corps. It's weird looking back to a year ago when I was beginning my diagnostic in Dajabon. I was so stressed out about it and confused at was I was supposed to be doing. Now, I feel really laid back, confident that I know exactly what I am doing and how to analyze my community and look for potential projects.

Also..exciting news about my old community. They are going to continue the latrine project and I will be allocating funds to an account for them to work weekly and sending out another volunteer closeby at the end of work weeks to check that the work was done correctly. If they do end up finishing the project, I am going to feel good that I did something for that community that was somewhat sustainable. If they can do the project by themselves, that means that I was able to capacitate them (with the help of Peace Corps of course, I couldn't have done it alone) to do this project and run in by themselves.

I guess that everything is working out in a weird way, even though I am still somewhat sad about leaving the people I spent the last year of my life with. In another year I would have had to do the same, so it was bound to happen eventually.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of my family and friends back home and the rest of you who are following my blog. :) God bless. Please visit me here at my new site..there is no excuse now for anyone that is planning a beach vacation.

Saying goodbye and hello a year early.

I don't even know where to begin. Two weeks ago I left my site in a hurry, being told my safety and security to pack a bag and be escorted to the bus station by my at the time Dominican novio (that I was ending things with because of a crazy ex-wife). I'll spare the details, mainly because I don't want my personal life all over the internet but also because it is far too complicated to even begin to discuss. I will say however that it looks as though 2 months has gone by since my last blog which is actually around the time that the story begins..

I could begin by saying I am sorry to my community for having to cut our time shorter than it had to be. I am not sure where to place the blame. I could blame myself for being ignorant and getting myself into a situation that could have been avoided from day one. I could put the blame on the Dominican novio for maybe being the person most aware of the loca and should have never have included another person in the drama (and kept it well-hidden). Or I could blame the many people in my community for giving me the okay to even enter this situation in the first place. Or even put the blame on the loca that threatened me and put me in the situation I am in now. I think I will put the blame on fate.

Ironically, I am sitting in the same air-conditioned, hot showered bathroom hotel that I was sitting in on July 6th after cutting my big toe open on a glass after a fun-filled 4th of July weekend in paradise, the Samana Peninsula. Why is this so ironic? Towards the end of the healing of my big toe is when I started spending 2-3 days a week in line at the hardware shop for my latrine project, meeting the guy that would lead to a crazy situation to lead me out of Dajabon forever. Starting this project would lead me back to Samana to spend (hopefully) the rest of my career as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

The last 2 weeks spent in the capital have given me a lot of time to think and prepare for what is going to take place tomorrow. Tomorrow I will be headed back to Dajabon with a Peace Corps driver to pack up my entire life from the past year. I will also be holding a meeting with some community members to discuss the possibility of them continuing the latrine project with occasional supervision from a close volunteer and having myself allocate funds to the bank account for them to buy materials and pay wages for the project. I am a little nervous about how this will all work out, given the past lack of support and organization of the latrine project. I am not saying it was just me, I couldn't have whipped out the 19 latrines on my own..obviously. In fact, I only stepped in with construction when completely necessary. I did however organize by handling all of the purchases, accounting, logistics, family organizing and mainly just bossing people around to make sure everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing when they were supposed to be doing it. Now, I'd really love to be there to see someone step into that role. Actually, someone should have been there doing that the whole time and that is what we call a PROJECT PARTNER. Yes, thats right, the ones that come to look for us in the capital when we first go out to our sites. Yeah, I never had one and no one ever stepped up to the plate as much as I desperately searched for that kind of support. I think that this is the best thing that could have happened to my community, because I KNOW they can do this on their own! They need to see that for themselves and I think it couldn't have worked out better. My director Tim tells me that this will be a real test to determine the "sustainability" of the project.

Stay tuned for more on my journey to Samana...