TODAY I BECOME A CERTIFIED PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER!!!!
We have a ceremony with diplomats from the DR and the US embassy and everyone from the PC office. And i take an oath and sign offical documents. Its really exciting. We are all so proud of ourselves and so sad. I could cry i miss everyone already and i'm sitting right next to my best friend here, Margaret. I'm going to my other best friends house, Stephanie to blow dry my hair after i eat margarets dona's "life changing french fries" We'll see how good they really are. These were the other 2 girls in my agforestry group and they are just awesome. But they will never take the place of my one and only twin bff, Lauren Frisbie. Tears will be shed today. Training was an incredible experience, i would do it over a million times if i had to. (I'm glad i don't tho, Hubo dias muy abburidos)
Oh by the way everyone, I passed all my tests!!!!!!!! I'm an intermediate mid spanish speaker which is the requirement. I was so excited, i got a little choked up! All the other tests and interview went smoothly.
So anywho back on track. I think when i get as frustrated as I was in my site, I know that i have these great friends and great supports that i will be fine. All volunteers have told us that "your peace corps service will be a rollercoaster of emotions" I am just now at my crossroads from trainee to volunteer realizing how "challenging" this can be. But like everyone always says " what ever doesn't kill you makes you stronger" and i'm pretty sure i'll be the incredible hulk by the time i get back!!! 2 years in the DR, thats all i can say....
Tomorrow we are going to the beach!!! It'll be my second time. I wasn't impressed the first time. Boca Chica is G-Ross, but we're going to a different one this time with all my friends. And i think friday i'm getting permission from the PC office to get a horse, and a puppy at the pound!!!! Yippeee Then we might go swimming at the US Embassy, haha its nice being American!
Wish me luck i'm gonna go get pretty!
Love everyone, thanks for all your support!
miércoles, 25 de abril de 2007
domingo, 22 de abril de 2007
ai ai ai
Back in the capital. I'm in the peace corps headquarters right now cuz the girl i was traveling with was sick last night vomiting and the works. so she's getting checked out by the doctor and i'm using the internet for free.
So my hill is really overwhelming. My dona is crazy, i mean 2nd grade education level, had an abusive husband that died just crazy. She just isn't helpful, and she confuses the hell out of me. But she's a great cook. I can't wait until i get my own house and meet other people in the community. She's going to drive me insane if i don't get other friends or meet other people in the community.
Its also freezing cold and wet on my hill. Def. not tropical hot weather. Its good to not be sweaty anymore, but i get shivers and never feel warm b/c its so damp. So if anyone would like to send me a hooded sweatshirt I would love that, they are hard to come by in this country b/c most places its freaking hot. I decided that i am going to start running every morning so that i will get warm enough to want to take a bucket bath outside.
oh well i will get used to it.
Enough ranting, i think it was just a really confusing and tiring visit to my community. I will be returning back there next sunday.
Tomorrow i have my final language test, a medical test and a safety and policies test. Also tomorrow there are interviews with the peace corp director and sector director. Once again I am nervous. Ai Ai Ai
So my hill is really overwhelming. My dona is crazy, i mean 2nd grade education level, had an abusive husband that died just crazy. She just isn't helpful, and she confuses the hell out of me. But she's a great cook. I can't wait until i get my own house and meet other people in the community. She's going to drive me insane if i don't get other friends or meet other people in the community.
Its also freezing cold and wet on my hill. Def. not tropical hot weather. Its good to not be sweaty anymore, but i get shivers and never feel warm b/c its so damp. So if anyone would like to send me a hooded sweatshirt I would love that, they are hard to come by in this country b/c most places its freaking hot. I decided that i am going to start running every morning so that i will get warm enough to want to take a bucket bath outside.
oh well i will get used to it.
Enough ranting, i think it was just a really confusing and tiring visit to my community. I will be returning back there next sunday.
Tomorrow i have my final language test, a medical test and a safety and policies test. Also tomorrow there are interviews with the peace corp director and sector director. Once again I am nervous. Ai Ai Ai
viernes, 20 de abril de 2007
An unforseen miracle, i'm on the internet for free!!! 2 days of internet, this is going to be rare. Anyway i'm in Santiago, which is the nicest city in the DR, almost feel American. And i live super close only a 12 peso bus ride away after i descend the mountain that i call home. I had pizza hut for lunch. and haven't spoken a lick of spanish yet today. Jen and i met up at our office of our project partners, the name of it is slipping my mind, but anyway another volunteer met us there and showed us the city and stuff. Now i'm at her apt. which makes me miss america cuz it has internet and running water and a refridgerator.
Anyway last night we went to a showing of the pelicula, "an inconvienent truth" the one about global warming with al gore, it was in english with spanish subtitles, so i've been totally spoiled these past 2 days. I love this city!!!
Not much else is going on, i'm just really overwhelmed still.
Anyway last night we went to a showing of the pelicula, "an inconvienent truth" the one about global warming with al gore, it was in english with spanish subtitles, so i've been totally spoiled these past 2 days. I love this city!!!
Not much else is going on, i'm just really overwhelmed still.
jueves, 19 de abril de 2007
my crew
Hey aunt lisa and crew.
I´m so glad you guys are enjoying my blogs. I want to write this how i talk, so you never forget my lovely lingo.
I can´t believe little nicky is now 13!!! Get ready the teenage years are the best. I´ve got some cute dominicano boys here if she wants me to bring one home to put in her bike basket!!!!
Miss you all!
I´m so glad you guys are enjoying my blogs. I want to write this how i talk, so you never forget my lovely lingo.
I can´t believe little nicky is now 13!!! Get ready the teenage years are the best. I´ve got some cute dominicano boys here if she wants me to bring one home to put in her bike basket!!!!
Miss you all!
La Loma (the hill)
Hey folks,
I unexpectedly got to a computer, which by the looks of my site location is not bound to happen more than once a month. Ánother volunteer se llama Jen is working with the same organization as me, and seeing as though i live halfway up the highest peak in the northern most mountain range and we have a meeting in the morning my project partner brought me down the mountain this afternoon instead of having to get me in the morning. It takes about 40 minutes just to climb the mountain, by jeep mind you, to ge to my village. Let me just tell you the view is absolutely incredible!! I live in the clouds, literallly, the fog is rolling around at all times. And boy is there a chill, but I like it so far.
My house that i will be living in for the first 3 months is like camping. There is no faucett for water, its all in big barrels outside, no sinks included. We have a latrine, which if anyone has been to slateford farms and took a gander at the outhouse there, thats what i´m pooping in, and thats no joke!!! The showering is just a tin enclosure with a sheet door, luckily i love showering outside, that was a requirement of our house in north carolina, EOS!!!! enclosed outdoor shower. but now its just a bucket bath. hmmm what else, ooooh my dona, the woman of the house, cooks over a fire!!! She says its better b-c gas contaminates the food. Boy is she crazy!! Thats ok, the fire keeps me warm when we´re in a cloud.
Anyway, besides roughing it hardcore, my village is a agroforestry volunteers dream!!! I´m pretty sure i´m living in a rainforest. There is a great site for tourists that they are developing about 40 minutes more up my loma. Its kinda like tuscarora, a retreat center, and they told me i can stay there whenever i want. So if you wanna hike and stay there with me, its a pretty nice place. I mean i haven´t seen any civilized living arrangements lately but this place is really nice, it runs on renewable energy and has running water, even in shower form. mmmmm heavenly.
What else to say.
Oh could some one email me info on the Manacala forest, thats what i´m living in and its supposedly really rare or something. They have a rough accent here and i´m struggling with the language again... I got so confident when i got back to Santo Domingo, i could talk to everyone, but now, as dad would say pppp dead.
Oh well. I¨m so overwhelmed and my brain cells have formed into a geletain state of mushy peas. but i´m getting by. A week from today i will be an offical peace corps volunteer, no more of this trainee shizzle.
TaTa for now my sweets
I unexpectedly got to a computer, which by the looks of my site location is not bound to happen more than once a month. Ánother volunteer se llama Jen is working with the same organization as me, and seeing as though i live halfway up the highest peak in the northern most mountain range and we have a meeting in the morning my project partner brought me down the mountain this afternoon instead of having to get me in the morning. It takes about 40 minutes just to climb the mountain, by jeep mind you, to ge to my village. Let me just tell you the view is absolutely incredible!! I live in the clouds, literallly, the fog is rolling around at all times. And boy is there a chill, but I like it so far.
My house that i will be living in for the first 3 months is like camping. There is no faucett for water, its all in big barrels outside, no sinks included. We have a latrine, which if anyone has been to slateford farms and took a gander at the outhouse there, thats what i´m pooping in, and thats no joke!!! The showering is just a tin enclosure with a sheet door, luckily i love showering outside, that was a requirement of our house in north carolina, EOS!!!! enclosed outdoor shower. but now its just a bucket bath. hmmm what else, ooooh my dona, the woman of the house, cooks over a fire!!! She says its better b-c gas contaminates the food. Boy is she crazy!! Thats ok, the fire keeps me warm when we´re in a cloud.
Anyway, besides roughing it hardcore, my village is a agroforestry volunteers dream!!! I´m pretty sure i´m living in a rainforest. There is a great site for tourists that they are developing about 40 minutes more up my loma. Its kinda like tuscarora, a retreat center, and they told me i can stay there whenever i want. So if you wanna hike and stay there with me, its a pretty nice place. I mean i haven´t seen any civilized living arrangements lately but this place is really nice, it runs on renewable energy and has running water, even in shower form. mmmmm heavenly.
What else to say.
Oh could some one email me info on the Manacala forest, thats what i´m living in and its supposedly really rare or something. They have a rough accent here and i´m struggling with the language again... I got so confident when i got back to Santo Domingo, i could talk to everyone, but now, as dad would say pppp dead.
Oh well. I¨m so overwhelmed and my brain cells have formed into a geletain state of mushy peas. but i´m getting by. A week from today i will be an offical peace corps volunteer, no more of this trainee shizzle.
TaTa for now my sweets
lunes, 16 de abril de 2007
ocho mas!!!!!
I GAINED 8 POUNDS IN TECHINICAL TRAINING!!! is it muscle or did i just fall deeply in love with fried plantains! The world will never know...
Luckily now i will have to hike up a mountain every day for the next 2 years.
I´m up to 143 y pico MOM!!!!!
so much for me being skinny, i couldn´t imagine what would happen if icecream was easily accessible!!!!!
ok peace out my peace corps fan club!!!
Luckily now i will have to hike up a mountain every day for the next 2 years.
I´m up to 143 y pico MOM!!!!!
so much for me being skinny, i couldn´t imagine what would happen if icecream was easily accessible!!!!!
ok peace out my peace corps fan club!!!
entrainamiento habia terminado
Hola mi amores!
My week near Haiti was great!!!! It was life changing no doubt about that. The 7 of us and a few dominicans and our trainer slept in cabins, cooked over a fire stove, clogged lots of toilets and bathed in the river!!! We had a blast!!!! We encountered a bat in our room hanging from the bunk bed and a rat in our bathroom.
Haiti was the saddest site i´ve ever seen in my life. I couldn´t speak. We drove down the international highway which is the worst dirt road i´ve been on yet in this country and they are all dirt! But the dr is on one side with green hills and trees as far as the eye can see and Haiti is on the other side and its brown and dry and it would have been possible to count the number of trees on the mountains. The people live in shacks smaller than a pennsylvania tool shed made of sticks and mud with palm leaves for the roof and 8 to 12 people live in them. The people look like the ones you adopt for a dollar a day on those commercials. I cried under my sunglasses... there are no hope for those people. Dominicans are poor but their poverty doesn´t make me cry b-c this country is on the right track. Just seeing haiti put my whole life into perspective.
Anyway tomorrow i go visit my site in El Ranchito.. isn´t that fun to say El Ranchito accent on the chi!!! I´m totally psyched!!! Nervous as all heck but can´t wait to get this service started. I will be gone until sunday in my new home. Monday will be a huge internet day. My site is on a mountain so maybe i will have phone service up there. Si dios quierre! ahah thats a dominican phrase.. it literally means if god wants, and they say it for everything, are you going to school si dios quierre. haha anywho. I´m so excited i could pee
Can´t wait to get settled in speak the language (today was my last spanish class yowzer), and have so flipping visitors!!!! Bring your rain gear and your bathing suits, i´m in the clouds and near the beach!!!!
Amor para todo el mundo!!!!!!!
I gotta go home and pack!!!!!!!
My week near Haiti was great!!!! It was life changing no doubt about that. The 7 of us and a few dominicans and our trainer slept in cabins, cooked over a fire stove, clogged lots of toilets and bathed in the river!!! We had a blast!!!! We encountered a bat in our room hanging from the bunk bed and a rat in our bathroom.
Haiti was the saddest site i´ve ever seen in my life. I couldn´t speak. We drove down the international highway which is the worst dirt road i´ve been on yet in this country and they are all dirt! But the dr is on one side with green hills and trees as far as the eye can see and Haiti is on the other side and its brown and dry and it would have been possible to count the number of trees on the mountains. The people live in shacks smaller than a pennsylvania tool shed made of sticks and mud with palm leaves for the roof and 8 to 12 people live in them. The people look like the ones you adopt for a dollar a day on those commercials. I cried under my sunglasses... there are no hope for those people. Dominicans are poor but their poverty doesn´t make me cry b-c this country is on the right track. Just seeing haiti put my whole life into perspective.
Anyway tomorrow i go visit my site in El Ranchito.. isn´t that fun to say El Ranchito accent on the chi!!! I´m totally psyched!!! Nervous as all heck but can´t wait to get this service started. I will be gone until sunday in my new home. Monday will be a huge internet day. My site is on a mountain so maybe i will have phone service up there. Si dios quierre! ahah thats a dominican phrase.. it literally means if god wants, and they say it for everything, are you going to school si dios quierre. haha anywho. I´m so excited i could pee
Can´t wait to get settled in speak the language (today was my last spanish class yowzer), and have so flipping visitors!!!! Bring your rain gear and your bathing suits, i´m in the clouds and near the beach!!!!
Amor para todo el mundo!!!!!!!
I gotta go home and pack!!!!!!!
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