Cake, Soccer, and a Blessing from Jesus Himself

First week has gone well. A lot of free time, a loooot. But I´m getting to know the community inch by inch. Yesterday was the big 2-4, how vieja. My host-mom made some kids from the evangelical church get me a slice of cake and then they stuck around for a bit, and then my jovenes that I took to a youth club training for the past two days showed up, then some kids that I´m gonig to be helping with soccer skills showed up. Crazy amounts of Spanish going on at once is very overwhelming, but it was very nice of them. And Mama Yudelka and my pastor of a host-dad both gave me separate 10-minute blessings to the heaveans (lots of Jesu Cristos and Gloria a Dioses). I´m pretty sure even if I kill someone, I´m going to heaven. Spent the afternoon at a soccer game, or something that appeared to be vaguely like a soccer game. I´m excited they asked me to help out. They definitely need some. It was pretty sad to see many of the kids playing in worn out flip-flops or just barefeet on their mostly dirt playing field. One pair of muchachos only had one pair of sneakers between the two, so one wore a sneaker on his right foot and went barefoot on the left, and the other wore a sneaker on his left foot and went barefoot on the right. Perfect picture of the generosity of Dominican culture--If I´ve got two shoes and you have none, of course I´m going to give you one.

In other news, the community center has Facebook blocked so until I can get that changed (obviously a primary project plan right there), e-mails (Kaitie.Brown@gmail.com) are always welcome! (Also, I can read what you send me on Facebook through e-mail. I just can`t write back.) I think that´s all to report for now. Possibly off to Juan de Herrerra today to see another volunteer´s site!

Buuueno...

So I lost my power cord to my computer, so while I wait for my wonderful mother to send me a new one, I won't be on here much. Tear. But things are going well. I got to my site today for good. Get started with my community diagnostic/projects. Very exciting. I will be happy to stop carrying all this stuff around. Celebrated the birthday last night with some of the volunteers. Fun fun. Oh and I got a headlamp in the mail!! I can now cook and shower sin luz. Okay. All for now!!

Back from the Site Visit...

5/10--Back in Santo Domingo from my site visit. It was great. There's a lot to be done but nothing that I'm too overwhelmed about. The biggest thing is that the radio station just plays a loop of music and no one listens to it or is involved with it, so that'll be a project. The people I'll be working with in the CTC are very cool and motivated. I went around with my one project partner to every neighborhood, going house to house introducing myself. Felt a little like a politician running for office. Went to 3 different church services in 6 days, still need to go to the Menonite service when I return. Absolutely nuts. I've never had so much juice in my life. My host family is nice--my dad is actually the pastor at the evangelical church. My host mom is crazy and pretty much lives her life to feed me (3 plates of food per meal). She told me she was going to throw Garrett and I a wedding when he came to visit. I politely declined. She also said she'd get my parents some horses to ride around town when they visited. She obviously does not know my mom (who probably won't even come to the site). The house is cute, small cinder-block, running water sometimes, although the shower spicket is pretty much over the toilet which is an awkward experience. I told them it was a rule of Peace Corps that I had to move out on my own in 3 months (which is a total lie, but I didn't want to make Yudelka-my host mom-cry). All for now--took a lot of pictures, so hopefully will get them up soon!!

El Sur here I come!

5/3--Quick updates. Being back in Santo Domingo with scrambled eggs and fruit and an actual host family is awesome. The lack of breeze--not so much. : )

So we found out our sites today. I'm in the South, although the northern most part of the South. From what I've gathered, I'm in a rural farming community (which is pretty much what I asked for) of about 4,000 (my host-dad is a farmer) and my town is directly south of Pico Duarte. There isn't much tourist-wise to see or do there, but as the South is the poorest section of the country, I'm excited. I feel like I can do a lot more here. There community center (which is where I'll be working) is the only place with computers in the town. I'll know more when I visit there tomorrow!! Then back to Santo Domingo for swearing in.

Also got our cell phones today. Exciting 2 weeks coming up. And then an exciting 2 years!