The Many Travels of Stearns003

Closure

2007-08-23T15:24:00.000-04:00

Well, time to bring some closure to this blog. In June I found out I was pregnant, which brought an unexpectedly abrupt end to my near 2 years of Peace Corps service. Once Washington heard I was having twins, they wanted me on the next flight back to the good ol' US! (At least by then it was July.) Realistically, it took me an extended weekend of packing a saying goodbye, and another 3 days of paperwork in the capital before I was on a plane. Saying goodbye under pressure is NOT the ideal way to leave people that have been your family for the last 2 years. To boot, there's no phones up there, so not much communication with them. On the plus side, my boyfriend keeps me posted on some of the happenings.

Speaking of Hito... it's been a challenge to be separated. We have been together for over a year and half... and for the last half year, we've been inseperable. He was my support and my sanity during some of the crazy projects I was undertaking. We're working on his visa, but it's proving to be a serious test of our patience. It's strange to be experiencing so many of the things I've been missing (like washers and dryers, and Starbucks, and Target, and hot water), and in a few months or a year, I'll finally get to introduce him to all that.

My friends back in the DR are all starting to think of their last big hurrahs of projects as their time is quickly coming to a close. I'm hoping to help a couple friends with the high school computer lab project we started. They've gotten some of the funding for Phase I (hurrah!), so hopefully the computers will be purchased soon. Over all, I'm very proud of Courtney and my work on the Birth Certificate project, pleased with how the youth camps went last year (and sad I couldn't be around to do them again this year), and super excited for the future of this rural computer lab. Good luck Megan! It's been a good service overall, even if it did end a bit early. And thank you for all your reading and support!!!

Another ¨typical¨ day...

2007-05-11T14:49:00.000-04:00

With all the visitas and traveling I've done this last month, I've spent very few days in the coffee association's office. Last weekend, I stopped by with my cousin's group to give them a tour. With the best intentions, I told Arelis I would see her Tuesday. So, why is it Thursday and I still haven't set foot in the office? Simple. I'm a volunteer and nothing goes as planned or intended!

On Tuesday, after declaring Jajhaira, I met up with Courtney since she begged me to help her create certificates for a course she's giving. As everything is closed from 12-2 for lunch, I agreed. Halfway thru, it began to pour. We finished up shortly before 2, just as the rain let up. We prayed that it would hold, and we made a run for town to get lunch. Luckily we both found bolas (free rides) fairly easily and got lunch quickly. After running some errands, Courtney was going to head back home and me to the office. But it looked like rain again, and we passed a friend who said the truck was just about to leave. So, although it was early, I headed home also.

Arriving in Manguito, I found people were working on building our computer center, so I hung around doing the only thing I was qualified for... carrying the buckets of mixed cement! Go figure... the rain decided not to return that afternoon. But it was a good thing because we got a lot of work done on the building! (The walls are half up; hopefully we'll be finishing the walls this week.)

Wednesday, I awoke to the dual sounds of my cat crying to be let in... and pouring rain on my zinc roof.... at 5 am. Grudgingly, I let the cat in and went back to bed, hoping that rain would end by the time I woke up. The next thing I knew, it was 9:30... and still dark and rainy out. I knew there was no chance of making it to town, at least not until the afternoon. And sure enough, it rained all day.

So, I did what I do best on rainy days (and hadn't had time for in weeks). I washed and cleaned. Although I pay someone to do my laundry, Dominican culture says each person is generally responsible for his/her own underwear. At least, this is what they told us during training. So I hand wash my underwear and the few hand towels in my house when I have the time. My other favorite stay-at-home activity is mopping. Somehow I managed to grow up without mopping, so this was something I had to learn here. Luckily, over the last year and half, I've managed to perfect my technique. :o) (Naturally, it involves putting on some good music!)

And lastly, to complete my stay-at-home doña day, Hito showed up with some beans that had already been ablandar-ed (the main reason I haven't learned to cook beans... it takes several hours on the stove to soften them before they can be cooked!). He taught me to make moro (...again... maybe I'll try my hand at making it next time). :o) By that time, the rain had cleared, but the day was spent. We passed the rest of the evening playing cards (Dominican 21), and (si Dios quiere), I'll head down to the office tomorrow...!

Why are birth certificates so difficult?

2007-05-09T14:21:00.000-04:00

I was thinking through my blog the other day, and I realized that I have a tendency to write and take pictures of the extra special happenings. So, although I planned to write all about my parents' visit and my hike to Pico Duarte, and although I would love to tell you all about my cousin and her classmates' visit - teaching English and passing out toothbrushes at the school, a rafting trip, our attempt at helping build a computer center (the rain put an end to our efforts), and our various soakings in the back of pickup trucks - I will let the pictures tell their own stories and relate instead a ¨typical¨ day in the life of a DR volunteer.

Yesterday was a super important day. Jajhaira and her family, after 10 months of pushing and reminding and pleading, were FINALLY going to go to the hospital to get Jajhaira's papers so we could proceed with the birth certificate process... 17 years late. For me, Jajhaira's case was special, yet so telling of how people here live and think. When I began the birth certificate process, her father said his 2 girls needed to be declared; apparently he wasn't so neglectful with his sons. Unfortunately, the youngest was born in a different town, and Jajhaira was over 16, making both cases special. As time went on and I searched for hospital documents for various families, we discovered that birth records from before 1991 had been destroyed by the previous hospital director. Since this was the case for Jajhaira, I was told to bring her mother and 3 witnesses from the community and they would give us the paperwork. Glad to hear it wouldn't be too difficult, I went home to tell the family and they said they would look into it.

As time went on, my work progressed. We got Jajhaira's sister declared in the other city with much support from her father. But whenever it came to Jajhaira, I was put off. Finally her father told me ¨I helped you with the other one. This one is us to her mom.¨ Naturally women don´t leave their communities often, leaving me with little hope.

That was back in October. About a month ago, it was called to my attention that Jajhaira was pregnant and due shortly. While I had wrapped up most of my birth certificate work, I decided to give it another go for the baby's sake. (A mother without a birth certificate cannot declare her children, continuing the cycle.) I made another attempt at talking with the family, but they were still unresponsive. So, a week ago, I made my last attempt. I approached somebody from the community with the situation and asked her to organize some witnesses and a date. Then I told Jajhaira what I had done. And lastly, I told her parents that next week they would need to go to the hospital and I had organized some witnesses. All they had to do was tell me the date. After 10 months of waiting for action, the date was set for Tuesday.

So yesterday, bright and early, we headed down to the hospital... Jajhaira, her parents and me in the back of the truck of one witness, Jajhaira's ¨husband¨ trailing along behind on his motorcycle. Apparently the other 2 witnesses, none of which I had arranged, had gone on ahead. The hospital was its typical bedlam, and we were told to wait... and then to wait some more for the director. Hot-headed folk that they are, when the waiting got to an hour and half for the director to show up, Jajhaira's father went to say a few choice words to the office. This easily could have been the undoing of the whole day! Fortunately for Jajhaira, I have been working closely with the hospital office, and she announced that she would only give the papers because I was with them.

Next thing I know, I´m outside waiting for the director to drive by in her car and sign various papers because, sure enough, she wasn't coming in to work today. By the grace of God and my belief in patience, we were finally given Jajhaira's hospital document stating when she was born. (And we didn't even need the witnesses!) Now I could finally collect the rest of her paperwork in order to get her birth certificate.

Since I had the family with me and transportation, I decided to drag them along to the church. There we requested a funny little document that has driven me crazy during this process. In order to declare someone late, the state requires a document stating they are not baptized. However the church cannot legally baptize anyone unless they have a birth certificate! Anyway, with the new church document in hand, we headed to the oficialia to see what they would say about Jajhaira's case.

I handed the papers over to the judge, and to my surprise she told me they could be processed there! When we had started this process, any declarants over 16 had to send the paperwork to the capital for processing... something that can take 3-6 months for an easy case. Apparently some changes had been made in the law, namely making declarations free nationwide, but also changing the age to 18! Using all the gringa power available to me, I told the judge that the papers were all there, but one had a small error. As the family was all there, if she would process it now and have them sign, I would get her the corrected document this week. To my surprise, she agreed! Again, with much patience, we waited to be called to sign the paperwork.

By 11:30, only 4 hours after leaving, we had done far more than I imagined was possible! In a mere 15 more days, Jajhaira should have her birth certificate in hand... and then we can work on declaring her child that's due any day.

2007-04-02T14:59:00.000-04:00

I love getting the occasional update from home! I thought I'd share with the rest of you what showed up in my inbox today. I can't believe this little bugger is almost 2 years old already. Where does the time go??? I'm looking forward to coming home and meeting and re-meeting all my friends' kids... :o)

Ian Cooper Standring

Updates and Travels - PICTURES ARE HERE

2007-03-17T19:00:00.000-04:00

It's 9 am on a Saturday morning. Now that my house has been partially cleaned and things put away, I sit here with my bowl of Lucky Charms that I sprung for this week, with the powdered milk that I hate the taste of (a little extra saved for my cat of course), and contemplate how to update you all on what my life's been like lately. Since January, I have been working at the association office daily, as well as doing several coffee sale days in the capital (see pic of Katie, me & Kat selling coffee at the PCDR 45th Anniversary), which leaves limited time for internet related activities such as research, news updates, and keeping my blog updated. The last few months have also been full of fun activities as well as rough times.

In January, my boyfriend, Hito, quit his job and moved back to my community. Now he works in construction nearby and spends free time taking me places on his moto and playing baseball with all the other local guys. It's been nice to have him nearby, although it's meant some adjustments for both of us.

A week ago, one of my good friends got in a motorcycle accident. He has 2 head injuries where he hit his head on the back of his motorcycle, as well as a busted mouth where the tire hit him in the face. In the last week he has healed remarkably well, and we are hoping that he continues at this rate.

Also in January, I re-started and English class. This time around there have been few students since it's during school months and the evenings are dark. The session will end at the end of this month, to start again in May or June. I continue to find teaching English frustrating. I don't have a curriculum, and although I have a few excellent students, many Dominicans have been taught bad pronunciation, so a lot of time goes into trying to re-teach them. Later this week I need to put together their final exam, which I think I am dreading more than they are!

Carnival

2007-03-17T18:00:00.000-04:00

In February we celebrated Carnival. Unlike similar Mardi Gras celebrations which occur the weekend before Lent, Dominican Carnival is every Sunday in February, culminating on the 27th - Dominican Independence Day. As the years continue, fun-loving Dominicans seek to extend this time, beginning at the end of January and stretching celebrations into March. Carnival is celebrated throughout the country to varying degrees, but La Vega (my province capital) is famous for their festivities. Jarabacoa also celebrates in a very similar manner, but on a much smaller scale.

Each Sunday afternoon, people line the streets to watch the parading of the mascaras - masks. These demons are elaborately designed each year by different groups. Each group has a name (Los Tigueres, Los Indeseables) and a theme. The costume for each member is the same with occasional slight variations. Jarabacoa has 8 groups, but La Vega has over 150! In Jarabacoa, after the parading of this year's masks, there is a free-for-all with the kids, teenagers and adults walking around in last years' costumes.

It all sounds like a lot of fun, right? Well, of course there's a catch. Each of the mascaras carries a vejiga. Originally, these were sheep bladders filled with rice. Now vendors sell them (along with plastic masks) as cloth-covered balls filled with air. However, the parade participants carry vejigas made of tire rubber and filled with rice. As the parade wanders down the streets, any onlooker in the street can be hit with one of these. Of course there are rules... If you're on the sidewalk or behind a rope you are safe (usually!). And the mascaras can only hit you on the backend. But that doesn't mean they have to be gentle! Often times they wind up, delivering quite a wallop! Unfortunately, I don't think I got any good pictures of people getting whacked, but you can see the vejigas in many of the pics.

After the parade is over (about an hour in Jarabacoa; all afternoon in La Vega!), there is usually a concert with a famous artist. Jarabacoa is just starting to put on concerts, so there were several glitches this year and a lot left to be desired, but over all it's a great time for celebration. Hito, Caroline and I made the worthwhile trip to La Vega one Sunday, as well as attending the Carnival in Jarabacoa as often as we could!

Samaná

2007-03-17T17:00:00.000-04:00

Besides local festivities, I finally made the long trip to Samaná to visit my friend's site. Erica organized a library in her community, and in February she had the official inauguration. Almost all the business volunteers in my group were there. It was a great time to meet up and see how we're all doing. But the highlight of the weekend was whale watching on the bay. I brought Hito along, and it was a great time of firsts! He had never been out to Samaná before. I made plans for the 5 hour trip on public transportation, and despite his occasional doubts, we got there on time and even managed to find everybody before the ceremony! The ceremony itself was a typical Dominican affair, surprisingly well attended by the local kids and adults alike. After the ceremony, we went to the beach to swim. Unlike many of my friends, I am far from any beaches. I think the last time I had been to a beach was last April when my parents visited! (I'm working on visiting more of these beautiful beaches near all my friends this year though!)

Sunday we got up early to go whale watching. Every February, humpback whales return to the Samaná bay for mating season. The 9 of us clambered into a small motorboat and set out on the tranquil and empty bay. For awhile, everywhere we turned we saw whales surfacing, flicking their massive tails and fins, blowing, and occasionally jumping in the distance. It was the first time many of us had seen these impressive creatures in real life, and it was Hito's second time in a boat! The highlight of the morning though was seeing a huge stingray (Hito said it looked like a guinea fowl because of the spots!) and a jellyfish, which our guide scooped out of the water with his bare hands! (In Spanish, jellyfish are called aguaviva - living water!)

After an hour or so, more boats started coming out, and the sun started beating down on us, so we decided to retire to an island nearby to swim for the afternoon. A resort dominates the island, and we all felt high-class for a bit.

Hito and I intended to visit some other local sites the next day, but we woke up to pouring rain and decided to make the long trek home instead. Despite the rain, I stared out the window of the bus, catching last glimpses of the coconut palms that Samaná is famous for. Now I only have to find time to visit all my other friends scattered across this ¨tiny¨ island!

2007-03-17T16:00:00.000-04:00

So, that's the end of my story for today. Now that it's 10:30, I'm off to finish cleaning my house before running some birth certificate errands. Hopefully it didn't take you as long to read all this as it took me to write! :o) Until the next time I find some free time!

Christmas Pics

2007-01-13T16:52:00.000-03:00

New pics!
(And a new pic site.... Google Picasa this time. Still trying out sites to find the one I like best!)

Hey First Graders! Anybody recognize these letters?! Thanks for all the Christmas wishes!!!

2007-01-05T14:54:00.000-03:00

The effects of growing up in an educated and educational society are numerous... and sometimes the proof just sneaks up on you. Two such examples caught me by surprise this Christmas. I had been at a neighbor's house maybe a half hour, and suddenly her 26-year-old son took me to the table and asked if I knew how to do "this". Now, in this case, "this" was a Christmas puzzle probably intended for ages 6+. So, I sat down and, having nothing better to do, put the puzzle together. It was one of those with the piece outlines on the board. I finished in maybe 10-15 mins, and suddenly everybody was super excited. The 10-year-old took it around to show everybody, and they were amazed that I could put it together. "Bolivar and I spent an hour on that, and we couldn't even get one piece!" my neighbor told me. Not even the 26-year-old had been able to put it together. I thought of my house where I recently put together a 1000 piece photo mosaic and a 300+ piece globe. How easily we take for granted our growing up in a problem/puzzle-solving world!

The second mind-blowing revelation occurred the next day. I was at the same neighbor's house, and somehow the conversation turned to the way the "land rotates". My neighbor's son-in-law very matter-of-factly told me he didn't believe that. At first, I thought maybe they were talking about continental drift and how land masses are moving, but his position was soon clarified as someone announced "It's the sun that rotates around the earth!" This was roundly accepted (since of course it's the sun that moves across our sky every day) until I spoke up. I tried explaining (briefly and simply!) how the earth was like a ball turning - we wouldn't see ourselves moving (as they pointed out we can't). I went on to say that the sun does not move, but the earth and all the planets go around it. "Yeah, I was taught that in school, but I never believed a word of it," chimed in the son-in-law. And that was the end of that conversation.

How much our education shapes us! Growing up we are taught to understand facts, not just know them. Teachers spend precious time explaining and teaching us to learn. In countries such as this one, students are taught by rote. Whatever is on the board, they copy down and memorize. There is no why, no problem-solving, no application. I won't say education in the entire country is this way, but if this is a sample of the learning process for the majority, what implications does this have for development? for change? Often times it's the little things - reading a book to open your world, doing a mind puzzle to exercise your brain - that reflect our joy in the learning process. As educated people, we enjoy learning and seek out "learning opportunities". Peace Corps is just that for me - a learning opportunity. New cultures, new ideas, new lifestyles. But wouldn't it be amazing if I could be a "learning opportunity" for them? May you be a learning opportunity in your community this new year, wherever you may be!

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-23T13:19:00.000-03:00

Just a quick note to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

It's been a work, travel and fun packed month (too many days in the capital!), and I'm looking forward to some time around the house and with my community "family" and friends. To celebrate the holiday season, I've had fun splurging with some of my friends. We went to a Shakira concert in the capital on Tuesday (amazing!). Her singing and dancing is uncomparable. We decided it was well worth the splurge!

Shakira Raulin Rodriguez

And last nite a couple of the new volunteers in my area and I went to a Raulin Rodriguez concert. Raulin sings bachata... the musica typica here besides merengue. It's my favorite music here, and Raulin is a good performer. We danced the night away... and into the morning - from 8:30 until 4am!

Needless to say, the holiday season has begun (along with my requisite cold). Family and friends are all making the trips up to the campos, pig roasts have begun, and (most Dominican of all) the drinking has started!
While I enjoy my Christmas in the tropics (although Jarabacoa is actually cold!), have happy holidays of your own and stop to enjoy your traditions!

Updates

2006-11-25T16:00:00.000-03:00

Coffee season is starting again. I have been terrible about keeping things updated lately. As so much has happened in the last month, I decided to make several entries so I can post and you can read at your leisure. (It may be awhile before the next update!)

PICTURE UPDATES ARE FINALLY HERE!!! (See the sidebar.)

A few of the things that are keeping me busy these days... :o)

Thanksgiving pies

My kitten... getting big!

Volunteer friends visiting

New Work Projects

2006-11-22T16:30:00.000-03:00

"So, now that your projects are finishing up, what will you do?" you ask. Well, that's a good question because life here is never dull! Courtney and I have found that working together on community projects is much more fun than alone. So besides finding more undeclared kids and following up with the stragglers, we have decided to dive into a very ambitious project. A few months ago, I was contemplating how I would keep in touch with my new "family" here, and I started thinking about ways to teach the youth computers. One option was to take some people down to Jarabacoa and spend time at the internet cafes. But this seemed very expensive and not very effective, so I began to dream bigger. In May, 2 days before the local elections, electricity arrived to Manabao and families living along the main road. Teaching computer classes at the liceo (high school) seemed a much more effective method. So I turned the idea over to Courtney and we began researching our new project. The director of the liceo is thrilled to get computers. The students currently have a Computer Theory class. Imagine... learning about a computer and programs without ever seeing a computer! But despite the enthusiasm, this will be a challenging project. For one, Courtney and I both have primary projects that we cannot neglect. Second, although electricity is now available in Manabao, the school is still not hooked up, nor are the rooms equipped with things like outlets. And naturally, the costs. To supply a computer lab large enough for a class of 25 students will be a challenge... but I think we're up to it! (And if you'd like to be a part of it, ask me how you can help!)

Acta de Nacimiento

2006-11-22T15:00:00.000-03:00

Many of you have been interested in the birth certificate campaign Courtney and I have been working on. Well, after months of house visits, searching hospital records, and trying to understand the maze of bureaucratic DR, our hard work has been rewarded. On Oct 20, the DGDC (our government counterpart for this campaign) organized a ceremony for the families to receive their birth certificates. It was a typical show of political-ness. The families gathered i the church in Manabao, a rural town about 40 minutes outside of Jarabacoa. Our Peace Corps Country Director was there representing us, but Fernando insisted that we join the head table also. We were told we would have a few minutes to speak, and Courtney and I decided to thank the people that made it all possible - the community health promoters, the judge, the hospital director... As soon as the DGDC director arrived, we were off and running. Speeches were made - unusually short and to the point. When our turn arrived, we began by explaining the significance of the pins we were giving as thank yous. But as Courtney began to call up the different people, we were waved off and told "later".
The the interesting part began. They began calling out the names of the parents to receive the actas. As each parent came forward, a man was there to photograph them receiving the document... and a package of condoms. Nothing was said about the unusual "gift", but it made a statement on its own.
After all 75 certificates were handed out, everybody was herded to the back door where packages of food were given to the families. If the children were present, they received mosquito nets also. After everyone had gone through the line, the kids were lined up to get toys. In all, it was a big day for these families, although many were upset because their kids weren't there to get the gifts. As soon as the gifts were given out, the officials pulled up and out, leaving all the questions to Courtney and I.
Overall it was a very eye-opening experience to see how Dominicans run an event such as this. Courtney and I had our own feelings and reservations about the process, but we realized that all we could do was step back and let it happen. We would still be here, in the communities to answer questions, do follow-up, and thank the real players. Politics and appearances are very important in this country, and we got a front seat view this time around. Of course... the "officials" weren't the only visible ones. The following Monday, and still to this day, we get reports of how people saw us on the news! ...I do believe I've been on TV twice in this country now... and have yet to see myself!

New Groups

2006-11-17T16:25:00.000-03:00

One of the big reasons I've been MIA lately is a new group of volunteers that was doing training in my site. The group of 17 business volunteers arrived at the beginning of October to spend 5 weeks in the "campo" for Community Based Training (CBT). Some of you may recall my CBT experiences in Moca last year. Anyway, as part of "hosting" this group, Courtney and I helped find housing with local families in 4 communities. Once the group was here, we helped out in several of the training sessions, giving "charlas" (talks), or being available to supplement the material with our experiences, or just answering questions about what it's like to be a real volunteer. Of course... it wasn't ALL work. :o) I tagged along on a field trip to Ebano Verde Scientific Reserve (where we went swimming in a beautiful swimming hole with waterfalls), and had another run at the North Yaque River rapids. It was a great chance to get to know part of this new group of volunteers. This week they are all off visiting their new sites, and next week, right before Thanksgiving, they will swear in and become official Volunteers. Here's to the 2006-08 group! Best of luck!

The infamous jeepon (there were 18 of us in it!)

Rafting the Yaque del Norte

Celebrations!

2006-10-05T14:32:00.000-04:00

So much has been going on lately, where to begin?!

First off, I celebrated my 27th birthday on Tuesday. Courtney and I decided very last minute to have a party. She made me a cake, and I invited some people from my community. It was a very "Peace Corps" birthday! First, Courtney had problems with the cake and ended up piecing together a cake out of the good pieces of 2 cakes. It was so pretty though! She decorated it with flowers, and of course it tasted good! Surprisingly, people came to the party. Naturally, the people who keep complaining that they haven't been invited to the house yet didn't come though! We started around 6pm. Caroline, a new American in my site (not PC), came also. We had cake and chex mix, and all was well, until the water went out! As Miguelo said, "That's a party for pobres (poor people)! Not even water to drink!" But that didn't stop us. I put on some music, whose volume was apparently laughable by Dominican standards. So someone ran to get a better stereo, and we danced the night away! It looks like that year will be full of adventure - I began my 27th year climbing up crazy hills the next morning! :o)

And just last weekend I had another dancing night at my friend's inauguration party. I headed up to Imbert, Puerto Plata to support Mike in the inauguration of his visitor center at 27 Charcos where he's working on an eco-tourism project. There are 27 waterfalls that you can hike up and then jump down (yes, hike up the falls!). The guides are all youth from the surrounding communities. After the morning ceremony, attended by all the big-wigs of supporting organizations (USAID, UN, Canadian Embassy to name a few) there was a band which played all evening. Naturally there was dancing, and I was an easy target among all Mike's guide friends! Mike and I finally took off around 10:30. Getting back to the main road, we thought we heard firecrackers, and turned to see a fire starting. We were certain the brand-new palm-branch roofs were on fire! There was nothing we could do about it, but we were plenty nervous that night! How do you explain to multiple aid organizations that the building they just financed and inaugurated was burnt down?! It was with great confusion, relief and annoyance the next morning that we heard the fire was the caña (sugar cane) fields burning right across the river from the center. Why would anyone burn fields at 10:30 at night? Oh, but life's always an adventure here!

And speaking of "celebrating", our youth camp "Celebrando el Cibao" went well! We had 50 youth from all over the north & east of the DR. The main focus of the weekend was diversity. We had a group of JICA volunteers from Japan, some Brazilian martial arts, a Dominican jazz musician that "creates" instruments out of anything (think Stomp, but not as loud!), and many more sessions. I brought 2 13-year-old youths from my community, and I think after finally getting settled in, they enjoyed themselves. It was the first time they had participated in something like that!

Among other busy-ness, the new training group arrives here in my campo on Monday for a month, and I'm taking another 3 youth to a business conference in the capital next week. Should be an interesting time for all!

Musings of success

2006-09-21T14:47:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been sitting at home saying, I need to write a blog... but all I want to do is sleep! This craziness of this last month has caused me to reflect on the meanings of success, and what it means to us Volunteers in the DR and other developing nations.

Success... the word calls up images of high-powered business suits, of private offices, of money. Refocusing, I see crowds and praise and thank-yous. Acknowledgement that the job done was worthy of recognition. Most work in development goes unnoticed, un-praised. Many people in developing places know they are poor, and begin to expect "help" - handouts, support, etc. I am not saying these people don't deserve help, otherwise I wouldn't be here. Nor am I saying development workers should be recognized more... I am just stating our reality.

This reality has required me to make a shift in my understanding and measurement of success. Success here means the completion of a project, the involvement of one person, or changing one person's life. It often can't be measured in dollars or in numbers of people, but in small things: an English word learned and remembered; a family willing to do legwork themselves instead of relying on other people; project partners finally understanding and admitting the need for a business plan (even if they think it was their own idea).

In light of this understanding of success, I walked away from last week with wide eyes. Courtney and I have been working for the last 3 months to get birth certificates for the kids of our communities. We had 120 people - kids and adults - that we were working with. Finally, the day came for all these people to go to the Judge's office to sign papers. By the end of 2 days, we had 70 people completed. Seven more are adults entering the 6-month process in the capital. Courtney and I were blown away by the success of the operative... something we can actually measure in people affected for a change!

We will continue to work with the remaining 50, to encourage the parents to get the missing paperwork and be processed. I have even been asked to extend the project to Constanza, a town about an hour away, where several people have family members.

Seventy people in the campos of Jarabacoa are now legally recognized as existing. They will be able to go to school and declare their own children when they have them. But the work doesn't stop there! Back to the fuzzy view of success... now we must educate the people of these communities on the importance and the process of getting birth certificates for their children so they will have an equal chance at the future.

Sometimes one just has to work knowing it is important and right, and leave the recognition and rewards as a pleasant surprise.

One Giant Update

2006-08-25T17:00:00.000-04:00

Time certainly flies when you're busy. I can't believe I left home 11 months ago, and have spent 8 of those months in my site already! I figure you're all overdue for a Peace Corps update by now!

A quick recap: I am in the Dominican Republic with Peace Corps, a 2 year commitment of which remains about 1 1/2 years. I am doing "Community Economic Development" in Jarabacoa. My particular placement is with a coffee growers association (ASCAJA) where I am helping with marketing aspects and group/association strengthening (specifically, working on a new logo and packaging for roasted coffee, and trying to get the directiva to meet monthly). I live in the "campo", or countryside, with the coffee growers. I was lucky enough to get a placement in the mountains where it's much cooler, although it rains frequently.

In the last couple months, I chose to dive in to several unrelated projects, which now take up the majority of my time. The first of these projects is the often-requested English class. We've been meeting twice a week since June, and have our last class this week. I regularly have between 20-30 students. They range in ages from 8-40, and English levels of knowing nothing to those who can hold conversations. While an actual testable curriculum is hard under these circumstances, I have chosen to focus on pronunciation and getting everyone to talk. As with most people learning a new language, most of my students are shy about speaking out. Therefore, a lot of the one-hour class time is spent going one-by-one with practice phrases.

The second project is a preparation class for a youth business plan competition called Constructing Your Dreams. The idea is to meet weekly to learn about a step in the business plan process (evaluations, feasibility, accounting) which culminates in a 3-day workshop and competition in Sept. The winners receive prize money to start their business.

There is another youth conference in Sept called Celebrando Cibao (Celebrating the Cibao). This conference will focus on national and international diversity. Each volunteer on the planning committee can bring 3 youth to the conference. While planning has been overwhelming at times, we are looking forward to the conference.

The last project I have undertaken is my most important and time consuming. I am working with another volunteer, Courtney, who lives 30 mins from me on a project to get birth certificates for the kids in our campos. Birth certificates are very important because without one, you cannot attend high school, get an ID card, get insurance (although few of these people will anyway), or declare your own children. There are many reasons these people don't have birth certificates: lack of knowledge on the parents' part, lack of money, mothers waiting for the fathers to agree to declare his kid, or just plain neglect. Between Courtney and I, we have found 120 children and adults, 60 of which are ready to get their certificates by the end of August. We are excited about the success of this venture, although overwhelmed by the numbers. After we finish this round in August, we are hoping to continue the campaign through education regarding birth certificates, and possibly have another round later in the year. So far this has been my most concrete and rewarding work here!

Apart from work, life here is good. I am a new aunt (John Michael born July 9 to my brother, Peter, and his wife, Kelly); I have a new kitten, Bean, which wreaks havoc on my life sometimes; I have a Dominican boyfriend named Hito who takes good care of me when he's in town from work every other weekend; and I have a wonderful house that no Peace Corps volunteer deserves, but I lucked out with the owner. My life is much more "tranquila" since I moved out of my host family's half-built house, and it's given me time to appreciate the countryside around me. I've learned more than you can imagine about coffee growing, and (wonders of all wonders!) I've learned to actually cook a couple things! (Nothing fancy or out of the ordinary, believe me!)

And how can you be a part of this experience? Lots of ways! Keep reading my blog (updated when possible). Also feel free to email me or snail mail:

Jessica Stearns, PCV
Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado 1412
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

I would love to get news from you, home, or the states in general! (Care packages are welcome too!)

And lastly, if you are so inclined, we can use your financial support in one of the following projects. (A donation of $20-100 goes a long way.)

**Business Plan Competition - a youth business conference and competition,training today's future in entrepreneurial skills

**Celebrando Cibao - a youth conference celebrating diversity

**Birth Certificate Campaign - resources will be used to cover costs of paperwork and logistical expenses. In the future, we may do an education campaign on the importance and process of getting birth certificates.

If you would like more information on the conferences, please follow the above links (or just keep reading) or feel free to contact me. Each conference has its own manner of coordinating funds, so please note where checks can be sent. If you would like to donate to the Birth Certificate Campaign, please send checks to:

Jessica Stearns
1532 Castle Hill Rd
Walnut Creek, CA 94595

I hope you are all well, and I would love to hear what's going on in your corner of the world! Dios te bendiga!

Constructing Your Dreams - Youth Conference

2006-08-25T16:30:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends and Families,

Saludos from the Dominican Republic! It is our greatest hope that this letter finds you well. As you are read this, over 150 Peace Corps volunteers are hard at work here in the DR. Working in a variety of capacities, each of these volunteers has dedicated two years of his or her life to promote the social and economic development of this third world country. I would like to take this opportunity to inform you of an opportunity to support one of the more exciting efforts being undertaken by volunteers.

Constructing Your Dreams is a youth entrepreneurship initiative founded by a group of 6 volunteers and planned in conjunction with a local non-profit organization, the Dominican Institute of Integrated Development (IDDI). The goal of the initiative is to promote economic development in the DR through youth entrepreneurship. To achieve this the initiative focuses on training Dominican Youth how to plan, start, and manage small businesses.

The initiative has two components. The first is training youth in basic business skills and working with them to develop business plans for micro-enterprises. This is done at a grassroots level by Peace Corps Volunteers and IDDI trainers who work to educate youth in their communities. Through an 8-week curriculum these youth are trained in the basic business skills (finance, accounting, marketing, feasibility studies, etc.) needed to start and manage a micro-enterprise. This culminates in the drafting of a business plan for a micro-enterprise. The second component is an annual business fair. During this fair participating youth from all over the country will come to the nation’s capital, Santo Domingo, for a three-day, two night conference. At this conference participants will listen to speakers from the Dominican business community, attend workshops on more advanced business skills, and participate in a business case study competition. The highlight of this conference will be the presentation by the youth of their business plans. These plans will be judged and winners will have the opportunity to receive a share of prize money to help fund the start-up of their businesses.

We are already pleased with our progress. Over 150 Dominican Youth have received or will receive business training in our inaugural year. We expect that 90 will attend the conference in Santo Domingo in late September. As this date approaches we are currently raising the ~US$20,000 needed to finance this business fair. This is where your support would be greatly appreciated.

Please consider an offer of financial support for our initiative. Donations will go to cover the costs associated with the conference (including food, lodging, and transportation for the participants) as well as prize money to finance winning business plans. Support of any amount is welcome. Our partner organization, IDDI, has 501 c3 status in the US and all donations will be tax deductible. Since Peace Corps Volunteer and IDDI staff costs are already covered by their parent organizations, this is a very effective way to give charitably – 100% of your support will go directly to the youth participating in this initiative.

Below are instructions for those interested in assisting our efforts.
Please direct any questions or comments to:
b.christopher.moore (at) gmail.com
or leave a comment on this blog

Thank you for your time!

Respectfully,
"Constructing Your Dreams" Planning Committee
Peace Corps Volunteers, Dominican Republic

Instructions for Making Donations

1. Checks should be made payable to: Dominican Foundation, Inc.
2. Please write “Peace Corps Program” on the check memo line
3. Checks should be mailed to:

Dominican Foundation, Inc.
5840 Red Bug Lake Road, Suite 280
Winter Springs, FL 32708

4. Please include your name and a return address. You will receive a thank-you letter from the Dominican Foundation which can be used as a receipt for tax purposes.
5. Please also send an e-mail to Peace Corps Volunteer Chris Moore at b.christopher.moore (at) gmail.com or PCV Jessica Stearns at stearns003 (at) gmail.com confirming your name and your donation amount.

Celebrando Cibao - Youth Conference

2006-08-25T16:00:00.000-04:00

Dearest Family and Friends,

Saludos from the Dominican Republic! It is our greatest hope that this letter finds you well. All is well in the Dominican Republic; Peace Corps Volunteers are busy promoting and positively affecting sustainable development throughout the country.

As you may or may not be aware, volunteers, of all sectors, are involved in secondary projects. These are projects not part of our initial assignment. Most of these projects involve youth, and range from local reading projects to regional summer camps, etc. Projects are designed to present opportunities to deserving motivated youth in each of our respective communities that might not otherwise be available. One project in particular is especially important to volunteers and for this reason you are reading this letter.

“Celebrando El Cibao” (or Celebrating the Cibao) is a summer camp that takes place over the course over three days and two nights in the Cibao region, or the northern region of the Dominican Republic. For the past three years, participating volunteers have brought between two to four youth from their respective communities, who have expressed an interest in participating in the camp, usually through an application process.

Once at the camp, participants are encouraged and engaged to get to know and share with other volunteers and participants. The theme of the camp is “Celebrating Diversity.” Diversity is a very important topic here in the DR. The homogeneity of the country often causes Dominicans not take the time to look outside of their own backyard.

The camp engages participants, through a course of physically and mentally challenging activities and exercises, to the think about the world. Presentations are given covering topics looking not only at the DR, but to the island of Hispaniola, that is shared with Haiti, as well as the world outside the DR. Participants will then look at the role that they play in these settings and how their actions, both positive and negative, affect those around them. Gender, racial, physical, and religious are just a few of the forms of discrimination looked at over this three-day/two night camp. Members of foreign embassies, dance instructors, chefs, as well as nationals from other countries all share their experiences with participants.

From the camp, we have seen participants come away from the experience with the understanding of the importance of diversity as it relates to their everyday lives. Campers also gain the realization that we are all human beings and deserve to be respected and honored for whom we are inside and out. Following the camp, participants will be charged to return to their respective communities and initiate diversity-related activities that can range from a school presentation to a sports event using the skills and tools acquired during the camp.

If you are wondering how you fit into this equation, let us fill you in. Celebrando El Cibao is planned and executed by Peace Corps Volunteers and has been since its inception three years ago. Volunteers solicit financial resources yearly from the Dominican community and from friends and family in the US. Your donation to our cause would be greatly appreciated. The budget for this camp is approximately $4000 US Dollars. Donations of $25-100 dollars would cover the budget of our camp. With your donation we would be able to continue providing this once in a lifetime opportunity to deserving youth.

Below is the information for those interested in assisting our efforts. Thank you so much for you time.

Respectfully,
“Celebando El Cibao” Committee
Peace Corps Volunteers, Dominican Republic

Check Information and Mailing Information
Please make your check payable to Jessica Stearns. Please mail your check to the address listed below.

Celebrando el Cibao
c/o Marita Lamb
SDQ 8148
P.O. Box 025725
Miami, FL 33102-5725

For questions or comments please contact:
Rachelle Olden, 2006 Celebrando el Cibao Chair (rachelleolden (at) yahoo.com)
Jessica Stearns (leave a comment on this blog)

I'm an AUNT!

2006-07-10T14:37:00.000-04:00

My brother and his wife, Kelly, had a baby! John Michael Stearns was born Sunday (July 9, 2006) at 10:58 am. He weighed 8 lbs 7 ozs. Mother and baby are doing well. My parents and I are looking forward to visiting soon and meeting the new member of the family!

2006-06-22T14:59:00.000-04:00

Today my morning started with an epic battle against a horde of ants. At least, from the ants' perspective it must have been on a Lord of the Rings scale. Now, don't get my wrong. Ants serve their purpose. They nicely carry away the remains of dead cockroaches and spiders and other misc inhabitants of my humble abode. But they last two mornings I opened the front door to let out my cat, only to find the floor by the door swarming with millions of ants. Apparently this particular colony decided to migrate with all their eggs into my house. So, today they experienced a flood, although no redemption was promised. An hour later, with a freshly bathed kitchen, perhaps only a hundred or so ants remain, scrambling to regroup, and I can rest with my coffee and wait for everything to dry. With any luck, they won't be here to greet me and my kitten tomorrow morning!

A new addition!

2006-06-16T15:02:00.000-04:00

I GOT A KITTEN! As of yesterday (June 15) I am the proud owner of a 2 month old black kitten. For those of you who know me, that´s a big deal, and I´m very happy about it. :o) Here´s a couple pics that I took this morning. I brought her home last nite in a bag on a moto (welcome to my life...) and she wandered around the house crying and talking until I went to bed. She actually slept fine though! I´m really hoping she´ll turn into an excellent cockroach catcher. :o) I´m still looking for a name for her... suggestions are welcome. I´m trying to think of one that has to do with coffee, since that´s what I´m working with here. (So far I´ve got Mocha, Coffee, Bean, Coffee Bean... you get the idea.) Suggestions for food and care are also welcome! ;o)

"You know you're in the DR when..."

2006-06-06T13:34:00.000-04:00

One of my fellow PCVs here in the DR wrote up a list of "you know whens..." that was right on. (Elena, sorry for the copying! But it's so true!) So, if you want to know what life in the DR is REALLY like, check out my friend's blog.

Another visitor

2006-05-25T13:18:00.000-04:00

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!)

Time waits for no one...

2006-05-08T16:00:00.000-04:00

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

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...

2006-05-08T15:55:00.000-04:00

... 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!

2006-05-08T15:50:00.000-04:00

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))

Milestones

2006-03-25T12:44:00.000-04:00

These last couple weeks have seen some big times for me. During the last 3 months, our job as volunteers was mostly to be conducting a diagnostic research, ending in a presentation for our peers. Last Tues thru Thurs, my group of business volunteers had our 3-month meeting. Not only did we present our findings, but we also had training for us and our project partners and had time to work with our project partners to start creating an annual plan. It was good to see my friends again... we hadn't been together since November... and to spend some time with our project partners playing, working, and of course dancing! Go figure, I had the 2 project partners "mas vivos"! They were the best bailadores, and spent most of the days giving each other hard times about women since both are single! In all, it was a good time... and a definite relief to have the presentation over!

The week before my big presentation, I got the chance to visit a couple friends in the south of the DR who are also working with coffee. I got a chance to see the coffee plantations down there and compare stories. Of course, Kat has it the best... coffee AND the beach! :o)

More "you'll never believe" news... I rode a horse! The other Saturday, Fernando and I made a visit to a community across the river. The only way to get there is walking or on horseback. Well, we started out walking, and I think we made it about 3/4 of the way before our "escort" showed up... with 1 horse. :o) So, I got to ride. It was about 2 hours walking, or 1 1/2 riding. Naturally, we only had 1 horse going back too... I was super sore by the time we got back! I think next time I'll walk! :o)

And, the last big news... I finally have my own house! My boss finally approved a house up the hill from where I've been living. It's a nice house that belongs to an American (my boss might say a little TOO nice!), and it's perfect for right now. I'm still considering another house in a nearby community, but it'll need some work first! In any case, I've spent this last week arranging stuff and cleaning... and even cooking!... between hours at the office. It's so nice to have my own place! And just in time for people to visit! (Hint, hint! Anybody's welcome to come stay and play for a few days!)

And so, that's the big update for March! Next issue: the adventures of Jessica and Krista during her visit!

Flat Stanley

2006-03-13T16:06:00.000-04:00

Flat Stanley was sent to me by my mom's first grade class. Stanley is a boy who one day was flattened by a falling blackboard. He discovered that this way he could travel the world in envelopes. Stanley has traveled to the DR and has shown up in a few pics of places I've been. For all those who have been patiently waiting, see some of his pictures on my photo site. See more adventures of Flat Stanley with my Mom's first grade here. Stay tuned for more additions to Stanley's travels!

Peace Corps Week

2006-03-07T10:54:00.000-03:00

Last week, the Peace Corps celebrated its 45th anniversary. The Peace Corps was founded by John F Kennedy in 1961. The DR was one of the first countries, welcoming volunteers in 1962. We have had 44 years of uninterrupted service here in the DR in areas such as forestry, education (now including technology ed), business, health, and water to name a few. Next year the DR will celebrate our 45th anniversary.
One of the programs of the Peace Corps is World Wise Schools (WWS). This project connects volunteers all over the world with classrooms in the US to fulfill the third goal of the Peace Corps: to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans. I have the joy of being connected to my mom's first grade class (see their blog). To celebrate the 45th anniversary of Peace Corps, CWWS held a contest with the schools for a 40-minute phone call with their volunteer. My first graders put together an excellent letter explaining why they should win the phone call, and they were one of 40-some schools that won.
Last Thursday I made a trip to the office in the capital to receive the phone call. The class had prepared questions about my life, my family, my work here, as well as how people live here. I was very impressed by their questions and the way they paid such careful attention during the phone call! I hope they got a taste of life in the DR, and I look forward to my continuing contacts with them!
See www.peacecorps.gov/wws for more information on World Wise Schools, including lesson plans and volunteer matching.

New Realities

2006-03-04T16:42:00.000-03:00

"Like a stop light... Red, green, and... BLUE," rambles my friend Jackie. "Yellow," I gently correct her. It's amazing sometimes to realize that the most basic, taken for granted things in life aren't universally known. Jarabacoa only has one stoplight, and it hasn't worked in years. So hou could I expect my friend from the campo to know? Constantly I am being surprised by these types of little realizations, such as finding out a friend doesn't know how to read. Even more fun are my friends' realizations of me. What do you mean you don't know how to cook rice and beans? wash dishes when there's no water? take a bucket bath?
Last week I was in one of those situations again... but luckily my friends didn't expect me to know. We went to Carnival (not in La Vega like I hoped, but a smaller one in Jarabacoa). How was I supposed to know that if you walk in the street you can expect to get smacked (and I mean HARD!) on the bum?! Like I said... my friends warned me, and I managed (narrowly) to avoid getting a "pela" (beating). Carnival is celebrated every Sunday in February, as well as the Dominican independence day - Feb 27th. They block off some streets where people dressed like demons prowl around looking for an unsuspecting person to smack. At the end of the afternoon, they have a parade with the new masks and costumes for this year. These will in turn be recycled next year to the kids prowling in the earlier parts of the afternoon. In La Vega, all this color, movement and confusion is accompanied by big name musicians. In all, it's a time for Dominicans and tourists to get out and do their favorite things: go out with friends, drink, and dance.
Now we enter the season of Lent, and I'm faced with more things I was unaware of. As the country is largely Catholic, many women observe the religous regulations. (Most of the men aren't religous.) This includes not eating meat on Ash Wednesday (last week, btw) and all Fridays during Lent. Although they were surprised that I didn't know about it, my friends also didn't expect me to participate in this "fast". But it's just one more example of the cultural identities that I am constantly learning and absorbing.

Raindrops keep falling on my head...

2006-02-16T16:55:00.000-03:00

...and mud keeps filling up my shoes! Ok, so the other nite I wrote a long rambling blog (not that this one's short!) on the rain and all its inconveniences. Let's just say it's a good thing I write these things out beforehand! Naturally the rain is good for coffee and other crops, and naturally it has its inconveniences. But as those inconveniences differ from life in the states, let me tell you about our life with rain here. First of all, 90% of the drivers here drive motos. Which means if you're going to get anywhere, you will most likely get wet. It's not uncommon to see people riding around clothed in garbage bags as ponchos, or the passenger (usually a woman) holding an umbrella over her and the driver. But a moto is still better than the back of a wet mule! Secondly, the roads in the campo are dirt, which turn to rivers and muddy lakes when it rains. This makes travel on a moto or even a truck rather dangerous. While a truck is just likely to slip or get stuck, a moto can slide out from under you (or land on top!). Luckily I haven't experienced this! Another interesting result of rain and travel is that the trucks running up the mountain only take people in the cab. Naturally since they're losing money on passengers in the back, they fill the cab full. Imagine... 8 people in a truck cab! (That's still alot for a king cab!)
And the list goes on. Since this is an agricultural zone, the rain is important. But it also damages crops. Nobody picks coffee when it's raining, but the rain makes it ripen faster, often leaving the farmer with over ripe coffee, or a loss since most of the ripe coffee falls from the trees. Cloudy and rainy weather also means not being able to dry coffee (since it's dried in the sun).
So imagine, you go to school walking, or maybe you get a bola (free ride) on a friend's moto, and you get there wet & muddy. None of the buildings are closed or warmed, so you sit thru your 4 hours of school wet. When you get home, there's no way to dry your school clothes (no sun to hang them up, and definitely no driers!) and no way to warm up (no hot showers or heaters here!). So you head back outside to play or work in the rain. Any wonder people get sick here?!
Anyway, rain affects the lives of the people here greatly, but life goes on. For me, it's alot of little changes. Such as how there's no water in the pipes when it rains. (Ironic, huh?) And how there's very little to do other than sit around and talk or play pool. Or how everything gets damp! Clothes left hanging in my room and my bedding all get a wonderful damp feeling when it rains. Hurrah for humidity! So, today I sit here, watching the rain come down, hoping to stay dry, but knowing at some point I'll be getting wet... but hopefully not too muddy! Hope you all are surviving the rainy season at home and staying dry as well!
P.S. I'm hoping to have my own house by the end of this month. Pray all goes smoothly!
Some random recent pics:

Some women picking coffee

Me & some of my volunteer friends during a recent trip to the capital

The New Duct Tape

2006-02-15T14:59:00.000-03:00

"Floss It" (excerpted from the Lonely Planet - Dominican Republic and Haiti, 2002 2nd ed.)

For the cost of a crummy cigar, you can buy a vacation-saving item called dental floss. It's cheap, it's light, it's strong, and it's outrageously useful. Got a fishhook but no line? Try green waxed dental floss. Need to secure a mosquito net? Reach for the floss. Forgot to pack a clothesline? String up a line of floss instead. Got a tear in your jeans or a rip in your pack? A little dental floss and a sewing needle and life goes on.
Dental floss comes in 50m and 100m lengths and is sold in nifty little cases complete with built-in cutters. Some say it can even remove decay-causing material from between teeth and under gums! Now in cinnamon, mint and grape flavors.

Wishlist

2006-02-04T12:22:00.000-03:00

If any of you have the desire to send a care package, here are some ideas!
NOTE: Mailings in a padded envelope are best, but packages get thru also. Please assume one month for delivery!

Mail to:
Jessica Stearns, PCV
Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado 1412
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Snack foods (eg. peanuts, Balance bars, granola bars, candy - that won't melt easily!)
Packaged foods, spices, mixes, etc for cooking (yes, I will be cooking)
Recipes
Cheap/used books (books in Spanish are welcome too!)
Music cds with current American music (burned cds)
Pictures!!!
Phone calls (1-809-723-7817 - yes, it's international)
Letters
News!
Any other home comforts you can think of!

Surprise!

2006-01-15T15:56:00.000-03:00

"We left your things, but can I move a small bed into your room?" This is how I was greeted after a week away from my house... and faced with walls that were waist high! While gone, they decided to remodel, which means tearing down the house (accomplished this week), and completely rebuilding, this time all block (not wood). Who knows who long it will take! So, I spent a couple days sharing my room (which they left intact!) with the dona and without light since the solar panels have been taken down. We've decided that she's better off in her son's house where her grandson can share the bed with her... and keep her warm I suppose! (I had to be the one to tell her that it wasn't ok with me for her 9 yr old grandson to share the room with us! She took it ok... but she certainly thought I was odd for it!

This surprising turn of events followed on the heels of a good couple days of translating for a medical mission in the capos near Puerto Plaa. They're a group from University Southern Maine that comes every 6 months to these communities. The best part was that my 2 closest friends here came to translate also, and we had time to catch up about the last month. I had the chance to teach several of the med students about coffee. It amazed me how much I have learned already! I'm looking forward to the next medical mission I can translate for (even though health issues give me the willies sometimes!) because it was a great experience, and a welcome chance to see another aspect of the DR.

OH NO!

2006-01-14T16:35:00.000-03:00

Today started out as any other day... went to the office, met more important people, went with them to see the roads they've been fixing... typical. But it all changed for the worse with the words "Let's stop here for a picture." (Note: These words WERE NOT spoken by me!) As soon as we opened the doors, the engine exploded, started smoking, and water gushed out from the engine. Naturally we were about an hour up in the hills, in the middle of nowhere. It turns out the radiator had over-heated and exploded. Miguel and I went walking (hiking actually!) to find someone with a truck. So much for getting back to town quickly! An hour laer, we found someone to give us a ride back to the truck, where they had already taken the radiator out. After stowing the truck, we finally headed down to town, only to discover half way that we forgot a part in the truck! Welcome to a luckless day in the DR mountains! The Dominicans have a saying... "Whoever leaves his house takes a journey." Today that saying definitely held true!

Life on $10 a day

2006-01-05T16:06:00.000-03:00

So, the math has been done, and the results aren't pretty. We've discovered just how poor volunteers actually are! During training we were allotted a whopping $1/day, and now that we're on our own and covering all our costs, it's been increased to $10/day (300 pesos) - and that's for city living! To put that in perspective... 71 pesos goes to my family for food; a ride to town or home is 50p; one hour at the internet center is 20p; a 5 min phone call is 50p; a bag of chips is 15p; and a Coke (bottled of course!) is 14p. Of course, if I go to the capital, the transportation alone is more than half of my daily allowance! Lucky for me, I don't drink (beer is 40-60 pesos a pop), and I know how to be cheap!

Christmas Past & Present

2005-12-28T14:22:00.000-03:00

Well, Christmas this year was certainly different. I spent the 2 days with y family in Los Dajaos. Relatives came in from the capital and town to spend a couple days. Most of their time was spent going from house to house visiting friends and family. On Christmas Eve day (Noche Buena), we roasted a pig. They roasted it for 10 hours in the yard next door, and we had puerco asado for dinner. This wasn't my usual sit-down-with-the-family dinner though. I think about 15 people came in to eat. Everybody grabbed their own food, and some sat at the table while others took the food elsewhere. Within 15 or 20 mins, everybody had eaten and most had cleared out to go back to the colmado to talk and drink. The women stayed behind to clean up or went to clean their own houses & take care of the kids. Later that night, Fernando put on some music in the colmado and a few of us danced. But about 9 pm, the lights went out and then the radio died, so we all went to bed early.
Christmas day I assumed I would stay around the house with the family, but I shortly found out that half were going to the cemetary, and the other half to a vela (similar to a wake) across the valley. I opted for the vela, and soon found myself on the back of a truck with about 10 other people. A vela isn't a very somber affair here, and the guys grabbed a few beers to enjoy on the way over. It took over an hour to get there, and when we arrived there were lots of people there. Generally for a vela, people come visit the house, eat, and talk. I think the close family was in the house praying and crying all afternoon. It's almost like a family reunion! We were there for a couple hours, but the people I went with didn't know many people there, so we sat off by ourselves in the shade. How's that for a Christmas?
After that interesting Christmas experience, I celebrated Christmas night in a very Dominican way - dancing. Several of us went out to Las Guazaras and danced the night away. I discovered I like bachata, but my merengue needs some work still! We left about 1 am, and I was the party pooper who was too tired to go to another club. :o) For New Year's we'll "amanecer" (wake up) dancing though!
Hope you all had good, or at least interesting, Christmases as well! I definitely missed seeing all the family and friends... but you were all in my thoughts! Here's to an interesting New Year!!!

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-17T20:17:00.000-03:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope the holidays are treating you all well. This year, Christmas will be very different. I will be spending it at my site with my family. It definitely doesn't feel like Christmas time here... even in the cold of Jarabacoa. It's been a busy start to my service. But hopefully I will get a chance to calm down and reflect on the meaning of the season in the next couple days. I will definitely let you all know how Christmas goes and how we celebrate here!
I wanted to thank all of you reading my blog for your comments and well wishes. I love getting the notes from you all! Keep reading to discover life in the DR!

Welcome to Insanity...

2005-12-13T15:12:00.000-03:00

...it´s a state of mind.
I don´t really have much to update on, but I owe you all something for this week! I´m still adjusting to my living situation and trying to figure out my role for work. Last week I attended 3 meetings with various organizations, and this week I attended a 2-day computer workshop with Arelis in the capital. This weekend there is an artesianal fair in the capital also, where I will sell ASCAJA´s coffee: Café Jarabacoa. Last year they sold 300 lbs! Hopefully I´ll do as well with Chris´ help. Soon though I need to buckle down and work seriously on my diagnostic!
On the home front, it´s been interesting. My dona is currently in Nueva Yol (as they call NYC), although rumor has it she´s returning while I´m gone this week. In the meantime, I´ve been living at her house with her son (48), daughter-in-law (19), and 2 grandsons (1 1/2 and 3, with another on the way). We´ll see how things change in the house when the dona returns! Next door is the local colmado where the community congregates to talk, drink, and play pool. It´s a great place to meet a lot of people, although occasionally it gets a little rowdy. I´ve found a few people in my community that I can hang out with. One is a Spanish lady who´s been in the area 5 years teaching ceramics to the ladies in the area. The ladies all have their own kilns now and are working from their own houses. In Jan, Angie is going to start working with kids in a little school where I might help if I have time. The finca de Julia Alvarez is right up the hill from me. I´ve gotten to know the lady who cooks there, and it´s nice to spend time at her house where it´s tranquillo (quiet). She always gives me coffee too!
Overall, December is a month for transitions here. Lots of adjusting: new house, new family, new friends, new coworkers... (luckily not a new language too!). Although things are a little tough at the start, I´m sure things will smooth out soon. Lucky for me, there´s 2 volunteers from my training group nearby, who I saw this weekend, and one that´s finishing up. It makes things easier to have someone to share with!
As Christmas is coming quickly, I might not have another chance to write. So... Merry Christmas to all, and Happy New Year!

It's Official!

2005-11-28T14:55:00.000-03:00

As of Wed, Nov 23, I am an official Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV)! We had the swearing-in ceremony at the training center, and our host families attended. It was a nice ceremony, and very official. Out of the 51 trainees we started with, we have lost 6. But the remaining 45 were very happy to be done with training! One of our group gave a very nice speech - he represented us and our training time well. After the ceremony, we each stuck our pictures on the big map with all the existing volunteers. It was a test to see if we really knew where our sites were! ;o) It was an exciting time, and of course we all went out to celebrate afterwards!
The following day was Thanksgiving, which was held at a very ritzy club in the capital. Almost all the volunteers were there. There were sports, dominoes, swimming (although the pool was only filled half-way - it was empty when we got there!), good food and excellent desserts (!), a dance contest (where Kat & Juan won for bachata), and a talent show. In all, it was a very fun day.
Friday was the yearly All-Volunteer Conference. The best part was getting to know a few more volunteers. It was a long ay, but there was some good information. That night, we went out dancing at a club built in some caves. The place was really cool (complete with stalagmites!), but the music was disappointing. That night several of us stayed at a pension downtown since we knew it was going to be a late night. The best part was having running hot water!
Sat and Sun are a blur. Sat morning I went on a walking tour of the Colonial Zone, which was interesting although I was tired. Then we had lunch and a pool party at the Ambassador's house - although he was out of the country. Many people left for their sites from there or later that day, so there were lots of goodbyes to be said. It was hard to say goodbye to people we'd been spending so much time with, and knowing we won't be seeing them for at least 3 months, and many for a year.
On that note, I left the capital early Sunday morning to come start my new life for the next 2 years... in Jarabacoa!

Training Outings

2005-11-22T19:21:00.000-03:00

We´re in our very last weeks of trianing now. Grad is actually on Wednesday! This last week as part of training, we got to take several exciting outings. To learn more about the free-trade zones, we visited a cigar factory. It was very interesting to see the process and care that goes into production and exporting. Each cigar is handmade, and we even got to see them making the different boxes. (And yes, we got some free cigars, and I heard they were good! :o))
My sector-specific outing was to Jarabacoa (my site) with the other coffee volunteers. We got to visit the Julia Alvarez farm (although she wasn´t there), and the Ramirez Brothers factory (which is currently exporting to Europe). It was interesting (and overwhelming) to see the detail that goes into separating the coffee good enough for export. We got an overwhelming amount of information on coffee, but it will be good to have a base to start from. Tim, our trainer, is an amazing source of information, and it was good to get his input and ideas while at my site.
Leaving Santiago, the Los Camachos group (me, Kat, Erica, Cora) went back to Moca to visit our families there. We were there less than 24 hours, but it was so good to see everybody again - especially my girls! I´m lucky I´ll be close, but I think it´d be too weird to go without the other 3. Now we´re back in the capital for our final week. I can´t believe 3 months have gone by so quickly!

Go Aguilas!

2005-11-22T19:00:00.000-03:00

Training wasn´t all serious... We spent some time just hanging out, and even went to a baseball game. Baseball is the biggest sport in the DR, and we got to see the 2 best teams play. There are only 6 DR teams - 2 in the capital (Licey being the favorite), 2 in the Cibao (where Aguilas is the favorite), and 2 in the East. We got to see Licey vs Aguilas, and as a future Cibao resident, of course I rooted for the Aguilas! It was an exciting game, complete with cheerleaders, a mascot, and a home run. The best part was winning! Oh, and of course, the ¨band¨ of drums, horns and guiras (traditional instrument) that roved the stadium! People waved their flags, danced to the merengue music between innings, and had a generally good and noisy time... true to Dominican spirit!

Site Discoveries

2005-11-13T11:40:00.000-03:00

So, I got the site I wanted. Does that mean everything is dandy? Well... I've made a few discoveries of my new home this week, and they will take some getting used to!
I'm actually really lucky as far as my room goes. It's set apart in the back of the house. It's a huge room with a dreser (partly full), a closet (mostly full - NOT of my stuff!), and my own bathroom. Yes... my own bathroom in my room! And here's one of many things to get used to: the shower is a tube coming out of teh wall... directly in front of the toilet! (And there's no sink.) I will have to figure out how to take a shower without soaking everyghing in my "bathroom"... and how to wash my hands without bathing my feet as well. :o) Unfortunately for these learning goals, the water was off for 2 days, so instead I got to practice being "clean" without a shower! And lastly for my shower learning experiences... the water here is freezing (straight from the moutain springs!), so I will have to learn how to heat my own shower water on the stove - including lighting the stove - and soon!
The temperature here is actually cold. It reminds me of camping in the mountains during the summer. It warms up during the day (if the fog & clouds leave, which isn't as often during the winter), and temperatures drop at night. True to dominican style, the houses are open & there's no heat, so staying warm is a little challenging since I didn't bring many warm clothes! And of course, the mayes thrive here, so I'll be battling more bites for awhile!
Lastly, some quick observances of my new home: 2 of the boys currently have chicken pox. Good thing I've already had it! I discovered they don't use toilet paper here. (How?!?) And my room is directly in front of the gallera - where they hold cockfights - so I'll have to make sure to be gone Friday afternoons to avoid the bullah (noise)!
But despite all these oddities, the family here is great. The house has a family of 4 (soon to be 5!), but everyone here is family... all 100 or more!
Oh! And how could I forget the most exciting discovery of all?! Wednesday I met Julia Alvarez, the author, who owns a finca across the road. Her finca (farm) is run by an organization to help teach the cafecultores here to better their coffee. I'll probably be working with her farm, but it was a treat to meet her since she's rarely there! Now I'll definitely have to read her books!

NEWS UPDATE!

2005-11-07T18:33:00.000-03:00

So, time for some news updates! Here goes...
1. MOST IMPORTANT! I got my site assignment today!!!!! I will be placed in JARABACOA, working with a coffee association. I haven´t read thru all what I will be doing, but I am super excited about the placement. It´s the site I wanted, and it´s beautiful! (Honestly, if anyone´s interested in visiting after March, feel free!)
2. PICTURE UPDATES! I updated some of the missing pictures on posts below that I couldn´t upload last week.
3. No phone. :o( We were supposed to get cell phones today, but it looks like we´ll have to wait another 2 weeks. I will attempt to get an email out when I get my number to let you all know.
4. MOCA UPDATE. The last week in Moca was good. We spent alot of time hanging out with our families, and dancing! Friday all 13 of us went with our technical trainer to a waterfall in the area, called Ojo de Agua. It was a great hike down, including wading across a river. We ducked a barbed-wire fence and treked down to the fall to go swimming. It was absolutely beautiful, and a great end to CBT. Friday night was sad as we all had to say goodbye to our families in Moca. The donas and the jovenes (youth) threw us a party, complete with dancing, to say goodbye. It was lots of fun, but there were lots of tears the next morning when we left. :o( The 4 in my group are all hoping to stop by Moca to visit again in a couple weeks, and we´ll definitely have to visit during service!
5. LASTLY... I may not be able to update this for a couple weeks. Wish me luck as this week we all have our site visits. Six days of just hanging out with our project partners! Hopefully it´ll all go well, and everyone will love their sites! We´ve been told that it´s the worst and hardest week of service, for lack of scheduled time. :o) After site visits, I have one more week of CBT at a retreat center in Santiago. It´ll be nice to hang out with just the 13 of us again and get some detailed info on our sector (mine being coffee). And after that, it´s the home stretch! We swear in on the day before Thanksgiving, and by the following Monday, I´ll be up in Jarabacoa as an official volunteer!

La Finca

2005-10-29T01:00:00.000-03:00

So, Kat’s don, a sickly older man, invited us to visit a finca this week. The poor man had/has cancer and had surgery this year, and the most movement we’ve seen out of him is a walk across the street to the colmado (general store). As he has no vehicle, we weren’t quite sure what we were going to see or what we should expect. He began the morning by inviting each of us to visit a finca in the afternoon. Generally a finca is a ranch or farm. When the time came, we made sure to wear walking shoes, and we set off. We crossed the small river leaving our neighbourhood and headed up the steep shortcut to the main road. Although it was slow going, we couldn’t believe he was making it! When we got the main road, we proceeded up an even steeper hill! As we neared the top, we noticed a closed gate. But this was no deterrent! We began walking thru the grass on the hillside and ducked thru some barbed wire… (Of course the view was amazing!) We were about to duck another barbed wire fence (right were the cows were… naturally), when we noticed some people inside the closed property. Dominican-like, they invited us in, and I thought we had escaped our second fence encounter. Little did I know what was in store for us! After enjoying a gorgeous view of Moca, we returned to the second fence crossing. At least the cows had wandered off! A beautiful walk, a steep hill (holding the grass to keep from falling downhill!), lots of clay mud, and 2 more barbed-wire fence crossings later, we arrived back to the shortcut! Apparently in this case – we learned – a finca just meant a large expanse of property! But to round out the visit, we made sure to stop at a chicken and pig farm! More on that below…

20,000 Chickens?!

2005-10-28T02:00:00.000-03:00

Yep, that’s how many chickens one of our neighbors raises. He raises and ships them all over the DR… even as far as 5 hours away. (That’s far for the DR!) Chicken and pig raising is the primary income for many people in this area. And we were lucky enough to visit a farm that had both! Did you know pigs can reach 4 feet tall or more?! These animals are huge! And it’s quite an experience to encounter one being walked down the road! At the farm, each pig is in its own cage – just big enough for it and the trough. It’s really not something I’d want to work with… a feeling doubly reinforced when one sneezed on my foot! Ewww!
The chickens are also raised from birth – usually in 60 day cycles: hatching to growth of about 4 pounds for sale. Chicken is the primary meat in the DR, and these chickens are transported all over the DR for consumption. Can you imagine cleaning up after 1,000 chickens once they are sold? What about 20,000?!?

Gallera

2005-10-25T12:00:00.000-03:00

A couple weekends ago, we got to participate in one of the DR’s favorite pastimes (besides baseball) – a cockfight. One of our dons (fathers) is involved and invited us to one. On top of that, our Spanish teacher raises roosters in the capital for fighting. So Dany took the four of us, plus a Dominican female Spanish teacher, and an African-American trainee. We must have been quite a spectacle! Five women in a place primarily for men, 4 gringas, and 3 native-looking people! Dany explained how the preparation, weighing, fighting, and betting works. (Unfortunately, he lost 70 pesos!) It was quite an interesting experience… although one I don’t feel a great need to do again. But I must say it’s not as violent as bull fighting!

Moscas in Moca

2005-10-22T12:40:00.000-03:00

Ever lived in a small town? Here EVERYONE is related, and naturally everyone knows everything about the 4 gringas staying here! Last week, the biggest town news was that the gringas were sick. Of course, to top off the joys of being sick, within 24 hours I was both asked out on a date AND asked to marry someone so he could go to the States! I guess I didn't look as bad as I felt...
This 2nd month of training is very different from life in the capital, and much more like life will be at our sites. The barrio I'm living in now is primarily an agricultural community. Just about everyone (all 500 habitants) has their own plot of land to grow crops or raise pigs, chickens, or ducks. The roads here are dirt, although stones were laid so it wouldn't be as muddy, and there's a small river just down the hill to ford when leaving. When it rains, the river raises, and nobody SHOULD cross! Naturally with all the water and livestock, flies (moscas) and mosquitos are plentiful here. Water comes twice a week, and the houses fill up their tinacos (water storage tanks). Although, this week we had to wait from Mon to Fri before the water came again, and 2 of our houses ran out of water!
We've had class - Technical Training or Spanish - almost every day. The rest of the time is spent with our families or doing diagnostic interviews in the community. We've only got a couple more weeks here, and then things speed up until December! I get to hear about my site on Nov 7... and I'll be sure to let you all know the details as soon as possible!

Life in CBT

2005-10-15T11:00:00.000-03:00

This last week we began CBT - Community Based Training. It's just the business group of 13 here. We're in a small town in the north of the DR, out in the campo. We all have new host families, and mine is wonderful! My dona loves to talk... She carries on all the time. Of course, for me that's great! She lives with her husband, and her children live in 3 houses surrounding her house. Three of the grandchildren are over all the time, and I am enjoying playing with them and getting to know the families. One of the babies is 11 months old, and she just started taking her first unassisted steps this week! It's an exciting time here. :o)
We have business (technical) class twice a week with all 13 of us. We are further divided into barrios by Spanish class. There are four of us in my Spanish class (which meets every day), and we're all living close together. Three of the four of us are living with sisters! The whole community knows everyone, and almost everyone is related. It's definitely a small town life! My particular house has a flushing toilet... But it's outside. This makes for some interesting problems in the middle of the night since the back door is really hard to reclose! Most of the other families have toilets inside, although there are a couple people in our big group whos families have latrines. Almost all of the families in my community raise some type of livestock - pigs, goats, ducks, geese, chicken... and almost all have some sort of plot of land where they grow some plants, either for consumption or sale - plantains, bananas, beans, corn, avocado, and more. Many of the families have their own fruit trees also - mine has a mandarin orange tree, cherry tree, orange tree, and more! It's been interesting to see how these people live off the land. There's not much of that left in the US!
This last week we started our first big project - a community diagnostic. Unfortunately, we haven't had much time to work on it. Either it's been raining (we have dirt roads), or the power's been out (I'll have to explain the power situation here in the DR at a later date), or we have school or homework. It's definitely been a busy week. On Monday we have to present our findings in Spanish to the rest of the business group. Luckily it's a group project by community, so the 4 of us have been working on it every chance we get!
As this post is getting long, I should bring it to a close. Sorry there's no picture attached to this post... I haven't brought out the camera here yet and I forgot the cord at the house. I'll be sure to at least post one pic next time! If you're sending mail, please send it to the same address in Santo Domingo. Mail will be brought out to us sporadically. Hope all the beautiful people reading this are doing well! Send me a line so I know who's getting this. Miss you all and I'll write again as soon as I can!

Happy Birthday... to me!

2005-10-03T18:00:00.000-04:00

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! A few people here actually knew it was my birthday. :o) My neighbor found out our birthdays are a day apart, so we went to the beach (Boca Chica) on Sunday to celebrate. To give you an idea of Dominican travel, the rule of thumb is to ALWAYS fit one more person than there are seats (ie. 4 people in the back seat). So, I counted the bodies to see how well we did in a personal car. Can you guess how many of us went in one car??? NINE! (ok, ok, only 4 of us were adults, but still!) It was a nice day at the beach, and this weekend I´m going again for a friend´s birthday.
On Monday, my actual birthday, my wonderful fellow trainees dutifully embarrassed me... and sang twice! Of course, the ice cream after class made up for it. :o) In all, it was indeed a happy birthday... and I´m looking forward to a good year!

Stepping Out

2005-09-26T17:49:00.000-04:00

This week we all got to visit current Volunteers scattered throughout the DR. I was super lucky and got to visit one up in the mountains! Everyone in the capital kept telling me it was cold up there, and indeed it was cooler! (Although, definitely not COLD by our standards - merely nice out!)
The trip up was very easy. Carribe Tours runs bus lines to various parts of the DR, and the buses are caoch buses with AC. The trip took a couple hours, and when I got here, we went to lunch - 2 volunteers and 3 "Aspirantes" (Trainees). We ate lunch at this very conspicuous place that the local volunteers call "Starbucks" simply because it doesn´t fit in here. In any case, we had a nice break from Dominican food! Shortly after that, I got my first "motoconcho" ride! I was glad the volunteer was there to get me one, etc and I didn´t have to negotiate it myself! So, I got to use my helmet and lo and behold... I did it! :o) (Still not a huge fan though!)
There´s too many stories to recount here, but here´s a brief overview of the week: I got a tour and explanation of the coffee factory and how it´s produced; Thrus we went to a junta in Santiago for the coffee growers; Friday we went to visit some coffee fincas where I got totally eaten by bugs!; and Sat we went to a little known waterfall which was absolutely beautiful. Of course, then we had to come back to the hot, sticky capital. I didn´t realize quite how LOUD the capital is until I got back!
It´s been a busy week! But one quick guagua story before I go...
We were riding in a guagua (bus) back from Santiago, and naturally it was packed full. There were 3 people in the front seat (plus the driver!), and someone mentioned the front door was open. Without warning, the cobrador (the man who collects the money, etc) swung around and opened the front door while we were moving! The lady up front was super surprised! When she got off 15 mins later, she poked her umbrella at him! Wow, gotta watch out for those crazy cobradors!
Hope you´re all well & not encountering any crazy cobradors of your own!

Saludos!

2005-09-15T17:00:00.000-04:00

Saludos de la Republica Dominicana!
I have survived my first week here in the DR. We've had lots of firsts (many of which have been repeated, such as shots!): first day (HOT!), first bucket shower, first day on public transportation, first malaria pill (so far so good!), first nite under a mosquito net (yes, they're required)... and many more!
My host family is great, although frequently a zoo! I live with the Dona and her 30 yr-old son. But she has 7 grown children, and 13 grandchildren! Of course, at least 2/3rds are over here every nite, and since her daughter from Nueva York is here with her twins, we now have four 2-yr-olds! It's definitely been a learning experience!
Yesterday we took class trips to the centro of Santo Domingo. We squished onto the guagua (bus). I think at least 40 of us fit! We went to the Peace Corps office - a beautiful building near the old part of town! We got to see the old city ruins, the gate where the revolution started, and the cathedral. We didn't quite make it to Cristobal Colon's house, but I'm sure I'll see it before I leave!
Next week, we get to take a 4-day trip to visit another volunteer in the interior. I get to go up in the mountains to visit a volunteer working with coffee growers. It will be a great part of orientation!
Dios les bendiga! ...Until the next adventure!

The Land of Coffee and Sugar Cane

2005-08-29T17:00:00.000-04:00

Coffee - what a beautiful thing it is to sit and relax with a hot cup of coffee. Of course, with milk, chocolate, sugar, etc you can make a multitude of variations on the basic cup to suit the many moods of life.

As I head off to the Dominican Republic next week, I am looking forward to living in a land where coffee and sugar cane is grown. Maybe I'll even get to work with coffee farmers for my Small Business Development work. For those of you wondering what this is all about, I'll explain. Beginning Sept 6th, I will be a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic. Of course, this means 3 months of training before I can begin my position as a Community Economic Advisor. (And if anyone can translate what exactly that means I will be doing, you would have my eternal gratitude!) Once I have completed my training (which naturally involves language training, cultural training, and job training), I will be off to my site, which will be my new home for the next 2 years. As daunting as all this sounds, I am finally getting excited. The whole process (application, interview, medical clearance, and more!) has taken an entire year... and I can't believe it's finally here! So, here's to friends and family that will accompany me electronically for the next 2+ years! PLEASE email and keep in touch! In the meantime, I will continue to dream of coffee and hope for the best!

My mailing info (at least thru Nov):
Jessica Stearns, PCV
Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado 1412
Santo Domingo
Dominican Republic

Email (for as often as I can find internet cafes!):
jstearns @ westmont.edu

Blogs (yes, I have two... I'm still deciding!):
stearns003.blogspot.com
spaces.msn.com/members/stearns003

Cheers and blessings to you all!

Travel/PC Links

2005-08-29T03:00:00.000-04:00

DR Travel Health Info - CDC
Travel Warnings - Haiti - US Dept of State
Travel Registration - US Dept of State
DR Embassy - US Embassy in DR
DR Facts - CIA World Fact Book
DR Consular Info Sheet - US Dept of State
DR Info - US Dept of State
Microenterprise Development - USAID
FrontLines - International Development (June 2000) - USAID
DR PC Info - Peace Corps
DR Returned PCVs Newsletter - Friends of the Dominican Republic (FDR)
DR Travel Guide - Fodor's Travel Guide
DR Travel Guide - Lonely Planet
DR News & Travel Info - DR1.com
DR Facts - Encarta
Dominican Food - Aunt Clara's Kitchen

Peace Corps Books

2005-08-29T02:00:00.000-04:00

A PEACE CORPS PROFILE: Kirk A. Hackenberg
DEAR EXILE: THE TRUE STORY OF TWO FRIENDS SEPARATED (FOR A YEAR) BY AN OCEAN: Hilary Liftin, Kate Montgomery - Best friends' letters between Kenya & NY
FROM THE CENTER OF THE EARTH: STORIES OUT OF PEACE CORPS: Geraldine Kennedy (editor) - Short stories compilation
IN SEARCH OF THE ELUSIVE PEACE CORPS MOMENT: Douglas Wells
LIVING ON THE EDGE: FICTION BY PEACE CORPS WRITERS: John Coyne (editor) - Short stories compilation
LIVING POOR: A PEACE CORPS CHRONICLE: Moritz Thomsen - 1960's Ecuador PC experience
MANGO ELEPHANTS IN THE SUN: HOW LIFE IN AN AFRICAN VILLAGE LET ME BE IN MY SKIN: Susana Herrera - PC experience in Cameroon, Africa
PEACE CORPS - THE GREAT ADVENTURE: VOLUNTEER STORIES OF LIFE OVERSEAS: Peace Corps (editor) - Great opening taste of PC life; available free at PC recruiting events
PUBLICATIONS INDEX: Peace Corps Online Library
SO YOU WANT TO JOIN THE PEACE CORPS: WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO: Dillon Banerjee - A must for PC applicants!

DR Books

2005-08-29T01:00:00.000-04:00

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC & HAITI: Lonely Planet - Travel guide
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (THE): Rough Guides - Travel guide
FARMING OF BONES, THE: Edwidge Danticat - 1937: Haitian laborers in Dominican Republic during the nationalist period
QUISQUEYA LA BELLA: THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC IN HISTORICAL & CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE: Alan Cambeira