25 May 2006

Another visitor

What a week it's been! Never a dull moment, especially not when you have company! Krista was here again, for the 2nd and last time before she takes off for Africa (happy trails... I'm sad I won't be there for the goodbye party!). We had a good week, being our usual unseperable and self-entertaining selves. But we had some help in making a crazy week out of it.
First of all, we had elections here (local, not presidential). Now, while I could write a whole other post on this subject (sadly I didn't get pics taken of some of the more interesting aspects of elections here), I will suffice to say that all Volunteers were ordered to stay in their sites from the Friday before Krista came until the day she left. This gave us limited run-around space, but we made do!
Some of the other excitement included:

  • finding my first scorpion (in my bedroom!)

  • a waterfall trip
  • evening games (Zilch is spreading worldwide!)
  • swimming in the river - we decided to take a gira to the river (think camping-style picnic) instead of participating in election-type stuff
  • LOTS of pictures (taken by Krista)
  • getting sunburned
  • daily bringing of flowers and singing to the Virgin Mary by the women (everyday for the entire month of May)
  • putting up a world map and lots of pictures
  • Dominican men (you'd have to experience it to understand what all that entails!)
  • lots of standing around and hanging out
  • Jessica's chocolate pancakes (yes, she cooks a few things now!)
  • learning to cook arepitas (yuca)
  • some amazing thunder & tropical rain (but not too much)
  • Jessica getting pink eye (it's all better now)
  • breaking a corkscrew

  • hosting a spaghetti dinner for my local girls
  • and lots of language training - Spanish and English and a smattering of Kreyol

Although it wasn't some crazy whirlwind trip, it was nice to relax and enjoy the everyday. The little things made us smile and the thunder made us sigh dreamily (yes, we're suckers for amazing thunder). Now all that remains is explaining for the millionth and 2nd time that Krista won't be coming back to visit since she's going to Africa. ("Is that farther than Nueva Yol?" Sigh. Geography isn't a strong subject here...)



Pics: Jaime "Fish-out-of-Water"; Jose & Fernando working on the Bamboo School (someone's gotta watch!)

08 May 2006

Time waits for no one...

And I think it has flown by me on a Yamaha DT, leaving me sitting on my butt in the dust. Krista recently called to my attention the fact that it's been OVER a month since my last update! Where HAS March gone?!? Of course, this lack of communication is not an indicator of a boring life. Au contrair. Things have been wildly exciting! To briefly highlight a few...

  • Krista visited for a week

  • my parents visited for a week

  • (shouldn't that sum up why I've been AWOL?)
  • I moved into a new house

  • I lost 2 volunteers near me - one finished, the other left early

  • the new volunteer group swore in (welcome!)

  • and... I've taken over the Emergency Coordinator position for my region.
Naturally there has been the over-abundance of meetings to attend, and plenty of time spent with neighbors. The latest pastime has been teaching everyone to play UNO. It's been a blast, but surprisingly difficult for some people to understand! But more on my visits...

Game night at my house with the local crazy boys!

What more could a PCV want...

... than a visit from friends and family? Well, I certainly lucked out and got visits from BOTH, within one month!
I always enjoy having people visit. It gives me a chance to step back from my daily life and see from a new perspective. (Example: Oh yeah, I guess riding in the back of a pickup truck up a mountain road, over a landslide, with 17 other passengers ISN'T a normal activity for most people!) When Krista came, I made sure to give her the "volunteer version" of the DR. This included things like public transportation (crowded pickups - yes, you can fit 8 people in a double cab - and motos - you can also fit at least 3 on a moto!), no electricity, attending a 2 hour mass, dealing with my obnoxious community boys, and of course weather. Yup, rain, and lots of it. Although it deterred us from making it to Samana, we bravely set out for the great cascading adventure known as 27 Charcos.* Naturally, since it'd been raining for a week, the falls were very full, which made for adventure travel indeed!
*For those of you unfamiliar with cascading, it is an
adventure sport that usually involves climbing up a series of waterfalls, and
then jumping back down them. We took the option of hiking up the mountain and
coming down the falls... all 26!
The trip culminated in a typical Dominican evening - a night out dancing, followed by a mad rush to the airport with 4 people squashed in the truck cab... at 1 am. (Go figure, Krista loved it so much she's coming back! What adventures shall we have in store this next time...?)

The twins' First Communion

Jaime playing in the rain

The La Vega cathedral

Beach in Puerto Plata (proof we went to the beach!)

2am is way too early (or late?) to be at the airport!
Flat Stanley got to meet up with my mom again!
My parents' stay was much more... calm, although I did manage to inflict some true Dominican lifestyle on them as well! Unfortunately, my mom was mostly immoble due to a broken ankle the month previous. But she was a great sport and gingerly gimped about as much as we would let her! Although they had made plans to stay in Puerto Plata, about 3 hours away, I managed to convince my parents to visit my site. Naturally I proudly showed them off to all my friends and neighbors. We only regretted that there wasn't enough time (and the lack of communication. Time to learn Spanish, Mom & Dad!)

That evening my favorite bachata artist, Frank Reyes, was in town. Being my loving parents and wanting to experience the DR, they opted to come along to the concert. Well, they got an earful! The DR ranks as the 3rd noisiest country in the world, and they live up to their reputation! Somehow I don't think they enjoyed "Princesa" as much as I did... :o)

Thanks to my mom's first grade class, my neighborhood kids got some new toys. Toys are rare in my campo, and thanks to the generosity, my friends can play jacks and jumprope and cards and frizbee. They have a lot of new games to learn!

After leaving my site, we made our way to Puerto Plata where we spent the rest of the week being spoiled and soaking up rays. It was nice to take a vacation and see new parts of my country... and spend some time at the beach!
So, while I've been avoiding my blog updates, life has marched continually on. Hopefully the next won't take so long! (Although, I have to say this is much more of an update than I've heard from any of y'all! Shoot me an email sometime! ;o))