A few fun sights in my barrio and some updates:
The other day, while on the porch, there was a man driving a donkey that was pulling a cart with 2 mattresses. So wonderful. People burst into song constantly. You can hear the neighbors singing from their house. People also play music very loudly from their homes, literally for the whole neighborhood. People dance meringue in the street at 8am (no lie). I really think someone should come up with a Domincan musical. I mean people here really do burst into song and dance while they cook, work, plant gardens, and sit on the porch. Its like life really is a musical here.
I am so glad to have a bit of Spanish under my belt. We actually have quite a bit of advanced Spanish speakers here. I am in the “good Spanish but needs to Dominicanizarlo” group. They say that people do not speak Spanish here they speak Dominican. Needless to say, there is much to learn.
We had a volunteer to visit us the other day at training. She is a retired, older woman and lives in a very rural area. Someone asked her if she was able to keep up with the news and I loved her reply. She said that in the states she was addicted to the news, loved to keep up with it. But then, here, she just lost touch with it and has now realized that it doesn’t really matter. If she knows that there is a disaster somewhere, she can’t do anything about it. If something ridiculous is going on in politics, her opinion doesn’t change anything. She commented that there is plenty of news and things to worry about within her own community, things that she has stake in and has the ability to change. On that note, I hate that I am missing out on the elections!
I will work on getting some pictures up, but until I can get to a decent computer and connection it may be a bit difficult.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
CONNECTED!
I am beside myself! I have been deprived of internet for three days and now, finally, I am connected! It feels so good. Like I am not too far away from you guys. :)
It has been a whirlwind so far. We are in training from 8 til 5. Training takes place at Entrena, a beautiful little oasis in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city. Here we have heard about Peace Corps policies, Dominican culture, our medical care, and Spanish. We have recieved three of the ten vaccines and have already begun our antmalarials. No bad sideeffects yet. I sleep under a mosquito net, mi mosquitero, and it´s kinda fun. Takes me back to fort and tent building as a child :).
The Peace Corps staff has been amazing so far. Incredibly warm and comforting. They continue to tell us that the DR is the greatest place to be a PC volunteer and they do not seem to be equivocating themselves :). Safety has been the biggest theme so far and it appears that my RPCV freinds were correct in saying that I would receive the best medical care I have ever had in the PC.
We stayed with our families for the first time Friday night. They are truly the salt of the earth. super warm and welcoming and do everything they can to make you feel at home. My family lives on a little street where there are three other houses of family members in a little square. My Dona, or host mom, has an older daugther who lives above her and three sisters who have houses right next to each other. There are other family members that live in other parts of the city or country. She has lived in this house for 31 years. We have running water (well, sometimes, the water and electricity in the DR goes out frequently), but there is not enough pressure to take a shower. So you take bucket baths, which aren´t too bad. I honestly prefer them over showering with cold water. Everyone has a cute little front porch with four great rocking chairs, even if there are only two people who live in the house. You sit on your porch and neighbors, family, and friends come over and you chat, drink coffee, and play dominoes. Outside of training, sitting on the porch is essentially all I have done. There has been a good deal of rain and it has been super hot. My feet have swollen up like cantalopes from the heat and sitting so much. The heat probably isn´t that different from Alabama. However, the difference is that there is no escaping it without air conditioning. Fans are a life saver though!
Today is our first day off and we are to spen it with our families. I believe that mine is taking me and a few other volunteers who live closeby to the movies. I am pretty pumped!
It has been a whirlwind so far. We are in training from 8 til 5. Training takes place at Entrena, a beautiful little oasis in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city. Here we have heard about Peace Corps policies, Dominican culture, our medical care, and Spanish. We have recieved three of the ten vaccines and have already begun our antmalarials. No bad sideeffects yet. I sleep under a mosquito net, mi mosquitero, and it´s kinda fun. Takes me back to fort and tent building as a child :).
The Peace Corps staff has been amazing so far. Incredibly warm and comforting. They continue to tell us that the DR is the greatest place to be a PC volunteer and they do not seem to be equivocating themselves :). Safety has been the biggest theme so far and it appears that my RPCV freinds were correct in saying that I would receive the best medical care I have ever had in the PC.
We stayed with our families for the first time Friday night. They are truly the salt of the earth. super warm and welcoming and do everything they can to make you feel at home. My family lives on a little street where there are three other houses of family members in a little square. My Dona, or host mom, has an older daugther who lives above her and three sisters who have houses right next to each other. There are other family members that live in other parts of the city or country. She has lived in this house for 31 years. We have running water (well, sometimes, the water and electricity in the DR goes out frequently), but there is not enough pressure to take a shower. So you take bucket baths, which aren´t too bad. I honestly prefer them over showering with cold water. Everyone has a cute little front porch with four great rocking chairs, even if there are only two people who live in the house. You sit on your porch and neighbors, family, and friends come over and you chat, drink coffee, and play dominoes. Outside of training, sitting on the porch is essentially all I have done. There has been a good deal of rain and it has been super hot. My feet have swollen up like cantalopes from the heat and sitting so much. The heat probably isn´t that different from Alabama. However, the difference is that there is no escaping it without air conditioning. Fans are a life saver though!
Today is our first day off and we are to spen it with our families. I believe that mine is taking me and a few other volunteers who live closeby to the movies. I am pretty pumped!
Aug 21, 2008
I wrote this in the airport on August 21st
Staging is over and we are all camped out in the Miami airport waiting for our flight to the DR. It has been a whirlwind of new faces and names and first impressions. While everyone seems to be high quality and very genuine people, there are a particular few with whom I feel I have already connected. Tonight we will go to some sort of retreat and then the following night we will be staying with our host families.
Here are some fun facts about the Peace Corps…..
It began in 1961 and has been in the DR (without interruption) since 1962.
JFk said: "It is designed to permit our people to exercise more fully their responsibilities in the great common cause of world development"
The three goals of the Peace Corps (in Katie’s paraphrased version) are:
1. To meet the needs for trained manpower, particularly in meeting basic human needs of those living in the poorest areas
2. To help promote a better understanding of the American people on the part of people served
3. To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on part of the American people
Among the many prestigious Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV), a few that were surprising to me were Bob Villa, the guy who started Netflix, and Jimmy Carter’s mom.
There are 157 Peace Corps volunteers in the DR, 3% are over 50, the oldest volunteer is 72, and the average age of volunteers is 26.
Staging is over and we are all camped out in the Miami airport waiting for our flight to the DR. It has been a whirlwind of new faces and names and first impressions. While everyone seems to be high quality and very genuine people, there are a particular few with whom I feel I have already connected. Tonight we will go to some sort of retreat and then the following night we will be staying with our host families.
Here are some fun facts about the Peace Corps…..
It began in 1961 and has been in the DR (without interruption) since 1962.
JFk said: "It is designed to permit our people to exercise more fully their responsibilities in the great common cause of world development"
The three goals of the Peace Corps (in Katie’s paraphrased version) are:
1. To meet the needs for trained manpower, particularly in meeting basic human needs of those living in the poorest areas
2. To help promote a better understanding of the American people on the part of people served
3. To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on part of the American people
Among the many prestigious Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV), a few that were surprising to me were Bob Villa, the guy who started Netflix, and Jimmy Carter’s mom.
There are 157 Peace Corps volunteers in the DR, 3% are over 50, the oldest volunteer is 72, and the average age of volunteers is 26.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Pre AL Departure
The nephews
As most of you reading this know, I am heading to the Dominican Republic (DR) to serve for two years and three months with the Peace Corps. Though I know I will be working with a health project, most of the details surrounding it are still largely unknown. I am currently in Huntsville, AL spending time with my family, but will depart on Tuesday, August 19th, for Miami. There I will meet the other 44 Peace Corps volunteers who are beginning their service in the DR and we will have a two day pre-orientation, or staging. For the first three months we will be based in the capital city, Santo Domingo, for training. After this, we are placed in our permanent posts for the 2 year period.
Why? The question on every application and in every interview. It is the first question from Peace Corps staff and from friends and family. It is the easiest and the hardest question. Both easy and hard because there are so many reasons and so much passion that go with them.
I have long desired such an experience. Innate and somewhat unexplainable love and thrill to serve the most vulnerable, needy, and marginalized led me to social work and then to public health. An obsession for Spanish, need for diversity, and love for new cultures led me to want to practice these within a global spectrum. Through this Peace Corps experience I am hoping to gather information and simply better understand poverty, the abundant and immoral inequities, and effective development practices to reverse the increasing gaps in our world.
Thanks SO MUCH for reading and being interested in what I am doing. It really means the world to me! I am uncertain of how my access to the internet and other telecommunications will be. However, despite my periods of poor correspondence know that your thoughts, prayers, emails, and letters are always coveted!
My address for regular mail for the first three months of training will be:
Katie Massey, PCT
Cuerpo de Paz
Av Bolivar 451, Gazcue
Apartado Postal 1412
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
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