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!