Happy Birthday to ME!

My first birthday phone call- it was jerry

with the boys Sal and Pepa
Sal and Pepa
My birthday present!!!

Me looking cool on the beach- with my sea urchin

Its a manicure set!! So necessary!!!

I´m 24 now!

girls rock

I forgot to mention, Stephanie, the other girl in my agroforestry group has early terminated her service, so this means that I am the last girl in the group. Also because they are cutting the program this coming year, our group being the last Ag-4 group, I will be the last agroforestry girl FOREVER in the history of the Peace Corps Dominican Republic. Holler!!!!

gobble gobble.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!!
This year thanksgiving is definately going to be different for me, but i expect it to be fun, especially since I am in charge of the entertainment for the day. So far we have planned: a bachata/merengue dance competition, talent show, dating show, and of course and in promptu gobbling contest. haha It should be a blast. We of course will be eating turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie. I plan to take lots of pictures so i'll get those up as soon as i can.
So last week i was in my site without a cell phone. It was rough, but i survived. One day my boss from the peace corps stopped by and we chatted. I complained about my project partners, who if you don't know, have been completely unhelpful, stressful, and annoying. Everything that I said about they Alberto totally agreed with. He advised me to go ahead and start on my own projects, talk to my project partners about needing to do my own projects, and to just dont' let my stress build up to the point where i can't handle it anymore. I felt alot better after talking to him. He also came to check the safety and security of my house, on which it failed miserablely. I need to cover the cracks in my walls, put bigger sliding dead bolt locks on my windows and doors and put the cement floor in the kitchen area.
I'm making a special Christmas present for you all right now. You'll love it!

PICS

My main man - Jefe
Another foster dog - Lechoza, she's here to stay
I love this picture- It says "get out Yankees" in red. I think my smile says "I'm not going anywhere"
Estoy volando - flying in Luperon
Cooling off in Lori's baby pool

Hurricane Numero 2

So it rained for 6 days straight in my mountain, on the 5th day PC called and standfasted us, which means no traveling. Turns out Santiago was flooded and about 108 people died across the country. I stayed in my house for 5 days without going outside. I was going crazy. 2 days the electricity neglected to show its face at all. I've never experienced such boredom. Lets just say I swept the floor alot and took frequent naps. I didn't even go to Lola's house b/c besides the rain the wind la brisa was fuerte. I felt like the pig from the 3 little pigs that lives in the stick house and at any moment my house was going to come crashing down on top of me. You know if the huff and puff of the big bad wolf had the force of hurricane blows. One night one of my windows blew open, I felt like I was on that ship in the movie The Perfect Storm and I was fighting to close it to save my life. So all this time "trunca'o en su fortaleza" (closed off in your fort) as the old man says, I lost track of the days of the week. I was sure it was friday but needed confirmation, so I called Lori and over the extreme static told me that it was in fact Monday. haha Thats when i started to go a lil wacky. My walls were so wet they looked like they were bleeding, everything was becoming moldy, my matches to light my stove and oil lamp were so damp it took 20 tries to get just one lit and it was monday not friday.
Finally on thursday i was allowed by PC to leave my house and my mountain and i jumped on that opportunity to go to Luperon (Loris site) to play yatzhee with her and chris and just be dry and warm again. So the morning before I left i was cleaning up my house and tying up loose ends with the neighbors and what not, because they take care of my dogs when i'm gone. Anyway I was washing my dishes in my big bowl of water that they were soaking in over night and i was fishing in the bottom for any silverware when i grabbed something squishy and fuzzy. Immediately I knew, It was a mouse! A drowned mouse. Now I was pretty nonchalent about it because I'm the man of the house. So i took the bowl outside and dumped it and sure enough there was a drowned, bloated mouse, and i just squeezed it and washed my dishes in the very same water.

I must tell you all about my new project description. I have a few titles that I have earned through my time here. I am a dectective. I enjoy investigating unusual situations in this country and finding missing items (dective is my side job). So for my primary titles, 1. exterminator: I kill every cocroach, spider, mosquito, and ant that i can slap with either my hand or my flop flop with no fear and complete determination. 2. doctor: I have diagnosed alexis with slight ADD along with obsessive compulsive tendencies (if you knew the guy you would agree), Chris with not the fungus, but scars from bug bites, and Lori with an extreme allergy to dominican limes. 3. Home Health nurse: Chris had a severe case of mono and i stayed with him for 4 days in the hospital and 1 day at the pen, Now I am in the capital taking care of Lori and her claw hands, opening things, dressing her, and other random duties, i'm her substitute hands.

I believe thats all for now. I am very excited to come home. And i know you are all patiently awaiting my arrival as well.

LOVE YOU

mom and dad

Hola!

So its been a while... Mom and Dad were here and they totally survived and toughed it out with me no problem, and i believe they had an awesome time. It felt really great to share my life with them because words can not describe what the experience is like. Its just something that you have to see. I hope I can share it with more of my loved ones as well. We also went to some beautiful beaches, drank alot of coffee and hung out. Mom only had one moment when she was ready to "check out" of El Ranchito, after a spider lunged at her in the latrine. haha Boy did i have a good laugh. And Dad got adopted by the man across the way who rolled him his own cigars. When we brought the old man a bag of coffee, his reaction was enough to bring tears to both mine and moms eyes. Its those little things that really keep me going here. The neighbors can't wait til Mom and Dad come back.

In other news, now i have my own bed, stove, and hammock, thanks to mom and dad. I am fostering Margarets dog Caoba. Things are going better, i'm just counting down the days until i come home for christmas... 77 days.

Howdy! So its been a rollercoaster over here. This past week i moved into my own house, its got 3 rooms- bedroom, living room/dining room, and a dirt floor kitchen soon to be cement floor- and my latrine out back is now complete! ----->

Lola lent me a bed that is propped up on paint cans and i have yet to buy a stove so when i don't eat with the neighbors, peanut butter and jelly is my main food source. I got a kitten, he's all black and i named him Jefe (boss in spanish) b/c he lets me know when i can sleep with all his mewing and clawing.

Mom and Dad are due to arrive on SATURDAY!!! I'm so excited, they are in for a treat. While they are here with their rented jeep we are going to buy a bed, stove, and materials to build a few tables. We are also going to eat typical dominican food (rice, beans, chicken, and plantains), go to the cock fight, hike up to the peak of my mountain, and visit the playa. Should be a blast.

Ok so heres a story for you... The other night the power was out and i wanted to go use the latrine before i went to bed. I couldn't find my flashlight because my things are still all packed up, so i'm walking around with an oil lamp and was deciding if i should leave it in the kitchen or take it all the way out with me. I was about to put it on the ground in the kitchen, when i spotted a TARANTULA, and it spotted me too as it walked quickly towards me. I immediately screamed and ran in the living room where it wasn't. My first thought was that i needed a picture, but that only lasted about 5 minutes when i realized, I'm living alone and there is a tarantula in my house. So i threw open the front door and luckily my old neighbor was right there on his way over to talk to me about avacados, i grabbed him and made him get it. At first he couldn't find it and i felt like a fool, then he did find it and killed it. But geez all mighty it was scary!! Didn't know i had those buggers in the mountain!!!

The agroforestry group (minus jake and stephanie). Margaret is coming tomorrow to pick up her stuff and say goodbye as she has been medically seperated. Because she was my best peace corps friend i am really sad and am going to miss her terribly, but we willl stay in touch forever and ever.

Upppppppppdate

Saludos!!! So i assume you are here for an update on my life in the dominican republic verdad?

Well I was out of my site for a month, a week at training, a week in santiago, 4 days in the capital, 2 days in Imbert visiting Chris, a week at an all inclusive resort in puerto plata with lauren and nick, 5 days in luperon during the hurricane at another volunteer, Lori's site, and then i went back to Ranchito for 4 days. Right now i am in the capital to get my phone fixed, which is going to take 3 whole days (god only knows what they are going to do with it) and tonite we are going to a going away party for a dutch girl that Alexis became friends with whos internship is ending and she's flying back to the netherlands tomorrow. So i've been busy, busy lounging and thinking.

In other news. I will be moving out of my house with the crazy lady next week and into my very own house. Right now as you are reading this a man is digging me a hole for a latrine. Then he will build a little house with a seat and a hole to go around it. Its kind of an expensive thing, i mean $50 to dig a hole and even more money to get crappy wood to surround it with, but man o man it will be worth it to have my own crapper. Only friends and family will use it and i will take very good care of it so no one is afraid of it, like the one i go in now, its nasty. Monday i will being going into Santiago to buy a bed and a stove and a barrel to fill with water and 2 tables. So if anyone feels like giving me an early birthday present feel free to contact kim or stef b/c i believe i will be scrapping the barrel to get those things. I was banking on some donations from the townspeople but it seems they are being stingy, or just have no extra beds or stoves to give to me. Stoves are table top stoves here so i will need a table to put that on and a table to eat on oh and maybe i should get a chair. At any rate with or without a stove i will be moving out. I've already bought a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly in anticipation of eating meals of my choice. No more boiled bananas, you best believe that. So that is all very exciting and i do hope it runs smoothly

As for other things, my vacation with lauren and nick was awesome, we had a great time, went to the beach and hung out at the adult pool. We went horse back riding. The food was awesome and so was the air conditioning and hot showers. It was great seeing people from home, it was really comforting to me and i can't wait til my next visitors, mom and dad, get here on the 15th, they are going to be staying with me so they will be in for the time of their lives. haha in a good way of course.

I think thats about it for now. I will update you all again soon. Love and Peace

rock you llike a hurricane

Hi everyone
just giving you the heads up that i´m in standfast mode which means i can´t travel anywhere until monday when hurricane dean has past the dr. Up here in the north of the country we will just be getting some rain but in the south where alot of my friends are they are consolidated into hotels all hunkered down preparing for the worst. I was furious yesterday b-c i had to leave my all inclusive resort with lauren frisbie and nick b-c standfast mode had started and i could have stayed in the hotel til monday if i could have paid for it, but b-c i´m poor i had to leave a day early. i was not a happy girl.

So in other news, my dog perla is no longer with us, she got sick with Parvo and also got hit by a motorcycle, i brought her to the vet, but she passed away over night.

At any rate, things are not getting better or easier here for me here, but i am hanging in, at least til christmas anyway. Luckily mom and dad will be here within the month, so hopefully i will have a house by them b-c they are prepared to rough it!!! I´m excited about that for sure!

Love you all i will write more sooon when i get another chance.

Congratulations GAV on your graduation, you kick butt!!!! love you

oh and i did expect to use the computer right now so i don´t have any pics for you just yet, but i will soon

Mud ball

Hola,

So I made it through my 3 month technical training. It was alot of fun, didn't get too much out of it but being back with the whole group was a blast. One night we turned one of the communal bathrooms into a club, named Club Potty. More than 2/3 of the volunteers were in the bathroom at one time, i of course was dancing on the sink. We also built a wood burning cook stove and with the extra mud from that a couple of us played a not so friendly game of mud ball. Thats me and Kevin playing mudball

So I haven't been back to Ranchito for a week and 5 days. I tried to go back but I just wasn't mentally ready. I really haven't been happy in my site, living with my crazy host mom, struggling with the language, waiting for my house to start getting worked on, dealing with homesickness and complete and udder boredom. Its been a difficult time. Lucky my bestfriend will be here in 8 days!!!! Lauren is bringing alot of clothes and things that i have been missing and so maybe i will feel more complete when i have all that.

Lots of older volunteers say that when you move out of your host families house that it makes all the difference in the world on your sanity and happiness, so i'm really banking on that. I will need to buy alot of stuff to make that house feel like home, you know like a bed and a table and chairs and a stove, pots pans plates and i need a radio with a cd player. When mom and dad come they are going to buy me a hammock so thats exciting. I'm pretty sure i'm going back to Ranchito today to get this process started.

Hope everything is going well at home. On august 15th i will have been in the DR for half a year, FYI. Can't wait to come home!!!!!!! Love you all!!!

My lil P

So thats perla when i first got her on mothers day at the beach in Puerto Plata. She's about 23xs as big now and prettier.

for the land of the free and the home of the brave

ohhhh say does that star spangled banner yet wave.........

And to your left we have the most beautiful sunset ever seen.

I had an absolutely incredible fourth of july. We successfully traveled across the country and took a boat to a deserted island, untouched by human hands. The water was bright blue, i went snorkeling and saw starfish, stingrays and other really cool fishes. I slept under the stars on the beach and no bugs bit me. Went swimming, took a solid nap in a hammock. So fun.

Thats me and my love Alexis, just look at those beautiful eyes on that guy.

This is me on the boat and Anthony being a dingbat

We had a bonfire, but no conventional fireworks, but we did have Dinoflagulites, they are like water fireflies. We you moved the water around at night they would flouresce. It was amazying, i almost had a tear in my eye, i was so happy.

I was missing the corn on the cob and a big juicy cheeseburger, but i think that everything else that was amazying on my fourth of july filled the void for me.

Sin Verguenza

Hi guys,
Stinky nicky here, The aquaduct system broke in my mountain and so we have been getting water from the river, which doesn't flow at the point where we get the water from, I am dirty, Perla is dirty, my clothes are dirty, my ropa interior is dirty, the floors are dirty, we have to ration the water and it sucks, when will it be fixed, the world my never know.
Luckily next weekend mon thru fri i will be in the south staying with other volunteers and camping on the beach in Bahia de las Aguilas!!! wooo hooo its a fourth of july celebration!!!! Its supposed to be one of those beaches that have been untouched by resorts and human hands. I don't have a tent, like most people here, so i'll be setting up my mosquito net. i have a sleeping bag.
I'm getting really really excited to move out of my house which i will be doing promptly on August 1st!!! When we get water back i will go over and clean the house and find some men to pay to put a cement floor in the kitchen area.

Any ideas on what colors i should paint it? I was thinking canary yellow with bright blue trim, or pink with green trim... oh yea i'm living in the tropics we paint houses those colors. What'd ya think?

While i was on the jeep this morning coming down the mountain, it was packed with people and this lil girl had to pee so her mom emptied a plastic bag and pulled down her pants and she took a leak. Now thats what i call sin verguenza!!!!

love you all!!!!

ps i don't have Dengue!

SOOOOOOO, I have had to extend my stay in the capital for a day b/c there are strikes/riots in Santiago and the buses aren't traveling there today. There are about 5 volunteers that travel through there so we are all in the same boat. Thats alright tho, this way we can go to the pool at the embassy and our pc country director is taking us all out for lunch!!! I want a cheeseburger with fries. If the riots aren't over by tomorrow i will have to stay again.
Saturday night i went to the mambo concert and it was awesome. Both of Stephanies dominican flip flops broke and since i'm such a doll i let her wear one of mine, so in the morning i had one dirty foot and she had one dirty foot. But the concert was great, if anyone is interested in hearing the song thats my favorite its called Bombero by Omega. Download it. Omega is just awesome, seriously my world was at peace when i was dancing, i'm actually listening to the song right now, the guy next to me has it playing on his computer. And on the way to the beach yesterday it was playing on the bus. Oh and not only did i just have one shoe on at the concert but my fly on my jeans also broke so i was shaking my tail feather all night with my fly permenantly down. Needless to say those jeans are not going to be worn again.
Sunday it was girls day out at the beach in Juan Dolio. Really relaxing. And then last night we went to a casino a 10 minute walk away from the hostel. its really super fancy. I lost 40 pesos ($1.15) in the slot machines, my friend won 575 pesos at the blackjack table thats like $18. Mucho dinero in the peace corps salary mindset!
Thats all my news for today.
Love you all!

Fungus free is the way to be

So I'm at the peace corps office right now. Going to actually do some work. At the end of July I have to give a presentation and write a report about the interviews that I am supposed to be doing in the community, pretty much like a census. I have done 2 interviews so far which isn't enough (obviously), but I am having the youth group do the rest of them (98 more) in exchange for me teaching them English. I think its a pretty good deal. So today I must type up and print out the questions, so that they can start that.
Last night we went out for Mexican food. I had a quesadilla and a margharita. Pretty good stuff. Tonite we are going to a mambo concert. The band is called Omega and they are really perty good. Rock out!
There are alot of volunteers here so its been fun so far. Another PCV, RyRy is on his way to the capital now. But he has scabies so I don't want to touch him. Speaking of health schtuff I am offically fungus free!!! It took almost 4 months but I beat the fungus!!! Yippee
Ok I must begin my work now
LOVE YOU ALL
Ps Crimandos I mailed you a letter on monday. That means it could get to you in 2 weeks - 2 months. haha
Speaking of mail I still haven't recieved 2 packages from mom and dad and the one from Alesha. I'm ticked. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that they come eventually.

This week in Ranchito

Soooooooooo as you could tell by my last blog the week before was very frustrating. Let me just say this week was equally frustrating. Lola drives me crazy. She makes a good cake tho. And she is finally washing my clothes after 2 weeks. I'm starting to wonder tho why its always on the cloudy foggy days that she washes MY clothes.
I taught an English class on thursday, which wasn't very good b/c i'm not a teacher, i didn't even prepare anything, but i taught them "head and shoulders, knees and toes" and they enjoyed that.
But this weekend was pretty fun actually. Saturday night i went to a birthday party which i was positive it was going to be a bunch of people sitting around in a circle of chairs with no food and the women not drinking, but it was actually really fun. They had a merengue tipico band with the palo drums, acordian, maracas, and those cheese grater instruments, i forget what they are called, but i was so frustrated from having a sucky week that i just danced my lil heart out. It was really fun b/c i'm starting to get to know the people in the community so it wasn't like everyone was a stranger. Alot of my kids from the youth group were there and i really like them. I feel like they are starting to look up to me, so I am making sure I'm a good role model for them.

Last night I went to play pool in my town, which i didn't even know they had pool tables and i'm still trying to figure out how they got them up the mountain. but anyway, a fight broke out and I'm fine, it wasn't anywhere near me, but one guy had to go to the hospital, from what i gather his head got cut from a glass bottle. Now this sort of thing doesn't happen in Ranchito, its the talk of the town. And until the fight i was contimplating becoming a pool shark, but the table is on a slant and they don't have chalk for the end of the stick, they use dirt, and the lights kept going off cuz the generator would fail, and then there was the fight, so now my idea of becoming a pool shark has been smoothered. Probably better that way. I'll find another hobby. haha

OK so get this, last week when i got back from Santiago my 15 year old host sister was sitting on a mans lap. I was cornfuzzled. It turns out he is her boyfriend from newyork, he has family in Ranchito too and thats how they met. The story would be fine if it ended there, but it doesn't. He's 35, and let me repeat, she's 15 years old! They are talking about marriage and planning the marriage, of course he has to wait until she is of age, but he is taking her to ny in 6 months, but just as a girlfriend, my dona says. Ok you think that is bad enough, theres more. This 35 year old man is MUTE, he doens't speak, he cant speak, says no words what so ever, and you would think that they would do sign language or maybe write on a piece of paper to have a conversation, but that doesn't happen either. So wierd. And here's the kicker, her mom, my crazy dona Lola thinks ITS GREAT, they are in love, and even though he's mute "he drives his own car and has money!" She is sooooooooo crazy. Its not great, its the craziest situation i've ever had to pretend isn't crazy. So anyway thats whats going on in my world

This week i'm going to the capital, so i'll be on the computer from friday until monday without fail if anyone wants to email me

dogs, chickens, cows...

So this was a frustrating week to say the least, the woman i live with is so uneducated and ignorant but i can{t say anything to her b-c it just won{t go through her thick skull. So i made it through the week by keeping my distance.
Saturday I hiked with the youth group in my town to the peak of my mountain, round trip it took 8 hours, my legs are sore but it was really fun.
Then yesterday i was in Santiago all day at a earth day celebration. I participated in the longest and slowest savenger hunt ever. I didn{t even run once.
Not much else is new besides that.
Oh but one day one of the dogs damaged a chickens wing so my host brother who is 17 just decided the best thing to do was to cut off the wing all together, and the chicken lived, so that day when i was feeding the dogs and the chicken started eating the food i didn{t want to touch it like i usually would b{c of its bloody numb so i just cringed and let it eat with the dogs, i figured it was the least i could do. So that night the dogs ended up sleeping in a coop that a rooster is usually in so that they couldn{t get at any of the chickens. When i went into the chicken house in the morning there were also 3 calves in there too and a load of cow poop outside of the coop that the dogs were in. It was actually pretty funny.
By the way we have 3 dogs now, mine-Perla, Jens-Lechoza, and my dona{s a new little boy- Scooby. So yeah i take care of three dogs. It keeps me busy.

Just a day in life of El Ranchito

mud

So, I was laying in bed one night reading my book. A cockroach scurries across my chest, oh well. Then i turn out the light and hear a noise on the wall that i thought was the rat. So i shine my flashlight over there in hopes of scaring it away, but what i found was a spider the size of my hand on the wall chasing the cockroach that just minutes before ran across my chest. Needless to say i slept the rest of the night submerged in my sheet and blankets. I might have even shed a tear.

I miss indoor plumbing also and am sick of being up to my knees in MUD. Tanto lodo. Mud is taking over my legs and my life. I bathe the puppies almost everyday if the sun is out. If the sun is not out i don't even try b/c its bound to rain.

Another thing thats been rubbing me the wrong way are chickens, everytime i see one i just wanna eat it. The dogs are now being housed in the chicken house b/c my dona thinks that she is allergic to animals and went to the doctor and had the doctor write a note saying that she cannot have any type of animal in the house Bolgna *looks like we gotta get some rat poison* anyway so i spend alot of time in the chicken house. one day Perla got beat up my a hen b/c she was trying to play with the chicks, it took a broom to get her away from the dog, and Perla was trembling for the rest of the day. When i feed the dogs the teenage chickens eat the food right from the dogs dish so i have to stand around and wait for them to eat with a towel in my hand shooing away the chicken or picking them up and chucking them away. Whatever it takes. Then if i don't have food they seem to think that my toes are a snack and peck at them. Also there is a rooster that was in a cock fight and obviously won b/c he is alive, but only half alive, he is so ugly and acts like a senile old man, and b/c he is a murderer b/c cock fights are to the death. i have a fear of him. he went after me once too after i gave him some rice trying to make peace with him. Now i just scream whenever he comes near me. Also there was a rooster in the house the other night for the whole night and if you didn't know, roosters don't just crow at dawn. They crow allllllllllll night long.

I'm heading back to the mountain today. I'm going to have to stay up there for a couple weeks b/c i am running low on dough very much so. I get paid the first of the month so i should be fine, but I gotta learn how to budget a lil better. No more shopping for cute dominican clothing. Or eating at burger king and mcdonalds. Oh by the way i've gained 2 more pounds....of muscle of course.

ok i'm gonna go down to the library and find a book on how to take care of a horse.

I'll be in the capital next on june 16th. And in Santiago next monday.

until then....

Perlita

HI All!

My lil pooch's named Perlita it means cute lil pearl. And yes she was just under a tree on the beach with a few other pups, my friend jen has the sister which is staying at my house b/c her host family won't let her keep it with them. So when jen gets a house of her own in 2 months the puppy will go back with her as for now i've got 2 puppies. So cute!

Everythings good here in the capital. Hanging out with my peace corps family. I really enjoy these people. And when the 2 years is up i will have friends across the country to visit, Awesome!

So how is everyone at home???

I don't really have much news right now. I've been wearing the same dominican jeans for 3 days now b/c i forgot to pack other pants, but thats alright, i'm in the peace corps!!!

Entonces estoy feliz