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Luchando por mi vida!

Sunday, April 29th, 2007

Okay, well I think I was right. Moving out and living on my own was a pivotol moment for me here in the DR. The autonomy of living alone is fabulous and challenging in the kind of way, peace corps volunteers expect to be challenged. However, I must admit, I have it soooo much easier than I ever imagined. My vision of me was in the andes, lugging water to my mud-hut, no electricity…rice, rice and more rice. While, life here is still hard and challenging due to numerous variables….sporadic electricity, no running water, poverty, lack of resources, lack of education, lack of being able to culturally relate…my life is good. I live in the upper part of a cement house( for two months now)…built by a german guy who is friends with the German doctor who brought me into town. I have running water , thanks to the fact that he built and connected a pvc pipe from Blue Moon the tourist retreat in town to the house. I have a big from porch and amazing back balcony that catches this fantastic breeze off the foothills and is a god-sent on a hot caribbean day. Plus, the view rocks. Also, I can access my roof by stairs and watch the sun retrieve each night and gaze at the stars that only an August Montana night can rival.
I am really starting to love and enjoy the people in my community. The work and projects are picking up and so is my Spanish( comparatively). I just started a girls club to empower the females in the area and am very excited about the direction and motivation of this group. English classes are going well and I am getting prepared for 3 months of craziness as 25 American college students willl be in town from May18th- August 10th volunteering their services. I am almost for sure going to get a little boxer pup in the next month. I almost got one in the capital yesterday and a Domican snatched him up, I am very excited for this. I have no real adventures to share that I can think of, just alot of little moments that I have stored up in my treasure box of memories…like when the 3 year old that lives below me began looking through my Rolling Stone magazine that was sent to me, and found a picture of Borat in his infamous yellow uni-swim suit…and she asked me if that was a boy or girl? and why were they wearing that?? stumped. Or when some teenage boys come over to play their Hip-Hop cubano cd they got from god knows where on my computer and I hang out in the dark of my front porch bumping hip-hop cubano swatting cucarachas and cienpies fom my feet with teenage boys. It’s not so bad I tell ya, lonely at times, but not so bad. So here’s to hoping that I’ll survive the heat and the 25 gringos locos this summer! I hope you all are good. Lots of Love and un abrazo fuerte!!!!

Chasing Summer in the DR…

Saturday, February 3rd, 2007

Well, okay I’m definatley not the wrold’s best blogger, I’ll admit it. It’s been almost 4 months…jesus christ, I would ask myself where does the time go? but I know the answer. It’s in a plastic chair on the one road that cruises through my town practicing the Dominican national past time, which one Peace Corps volunteer calls the “Psychology of Sitting”. It’s really an event and activity, rather than “nothing” as most Americans consider it.

Alright, well I’v been in my site a little over two months….La Mina, Republica Dominicana. It’s about 10 minutes inland fromt the North Coast in the foothills of the Cordillera Septrinnial mountain range. It’a about 20 minutes from Cabarete the big, extreme sport capital of the DR, with surfing, kitboarding and windsurfing being very popular! and tourists from around the world visit. The culture in Cabarete, deeply influences my site just 20 minutes away.

My town is tranquilo, very easy-going, quiet, rural, isolated. It took some getting use to as the rest of the country is constantly blaring bachata and merengue, motoconchos zoom by, the noise is so prevelant all day. My family situation has been a nightmare and finally at the end of this month I am able to move out and get my own place!!! such a god sent after 6 months of Dominican Donas telling me what to do, how to do it etc. Whew…I can smell the freedom down the road.

My project is pretty fitting as I am helping out in a Montessori Kindergarten started by a German doctor, Gideon my counterpart and owner of Blue Moon. www.bluemoonretreat.com I have started teaching English classes to the community, will eventually be doing computer classes too ( I know me! ) and the goal is to develop the space of the school into a community center in the afternoon. We will work towards opening an internet center, then there are the volunteer groups that come and stay at Blue Moon through the DREAM Project ( Dominican Republic Education and Mentoring Project), which I will be planning service projects and cultural exchanges with the youth of La Mina with.

December was a tough month as the holidays were very uneventful in my town. The more rural and more poverty the less holidays are acknowledged, thus I was home alone all day x-mas and no one in town mentioned anything. It was strange. I was not having a good month in terms of trying to wrap my mind around the concept of living in this community for two years, still struggling with the language and just all around adjustment. January was better…I felt like I got some of myself back…met more people….began some classes….and then last week the volunteers in the north, had a meeting on the Smana Peninsula, BEAUTIFUL!!! my favorite place so far and we got to go whale-watching as the humpbacks are going through right now. It was great! I saw huge whales breaching about 20 feet away. Then they dropped us off at a tropical island in the bay with the most gorgeous beach I’v seen in the DR and we swam all day and finished it off with a fresh pina colada in a pineapple with some Brugal Rum….everyone’s favorite. So here’s to February!

Next week is a big event in the capital,,the Peace Corps is celebrating the 45th Anniversary of its presence in the country. We are going to the palace to meet the President. MJ is flying in to visit for awhile and my Dad and Denise will be here for the last two weeks as well!!! most importantly, I can’t wait to see some familiar faces. I will be moving out and going it alone!!!! I can’t stress the excitement there. I think it’s going to be a pivotol moment in my experience here in the DR. Other than all those highlights…I’m just living the Caribbean life….showering in the river, swimming in the ocean, killing terrantulas with Machetes, and eating pinas and avocados…..it’s not so bad….I’v been living the longest summer of my life..going on 9 months now. My brother Jamaal proposed to his girlfriend Des and they will be getting married in Yosemite National park on August 12th…so I’ll be making my first trip back to the states in August. Hopefully I’ll get to see alot of you.

Sending warm rays of sunshine!!!
All my Love,
B

Life in the Domincan Republic

Monday, October 16th, 2006
Well, it´s been sooo long since I have written last and I think it´s about time to make an entry. I am here in week 7 of a 12 week Peace Corps training program. My group started out spending the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Monday, October 16th, 2006

Hot August Nights

Monday, August 7th, 2006
Hey Ya'll, I'm done with Visions Service Adventures. We drove back from Mississippi on Thursday, spent the night in Tennessee and arrived in Penn on Friday. Saturday MJ and I drove to DC to visit some AmeriCorps friends ( ... [Continue reading this entry]

Mississippi Livin’

Tuesday, July 18th, 2006
Well, I seriously can't believe that it has been so long! my life in Portland now feels like an eternity away... as all of my energy is consumed daily by kids that need to be asked to sweep, taught how ... [Continue reading this entry]

Paradise in Pennsylvania?

Monday, June 19th, 2006
Today was my last day of a 3-day intensive training for my summer job. It was so many things, but mostly overwhelming...SO many amazing people who are from around the world, been around the world and still believe in a ... [Continue reading this entry]

Big Sky Country

Thursday, June 8th, 2006
Well, Great Falls, Montana has one cool "brewery", Bert and Ernies, even though they don't make any beer, they just sell it from all over, mostly Oregon....hehe Day 6 on the road today. We spent our first night in Couer d' ... [Continue reading this entry]

On the Road Again…

Thursday, May 25th, 2006
Hey Ya'll,  Yep, I have jumped on ... [Continue reading this entry]