el fin (finally)

Our group arrived in the DR at 3pm on Thursday. I found out there is a time difference after all! We are one hour ahead because the DR does not use daylight savings, duh! Romeo, our country director for the Peace Corps (PC) meet us at the gate and lead us through customs, all that was easy and not much to say but that the airport was nice! On our way out of customs there was a group of current volunteers (mostly people who have extended their service and are on their 3rd year) to greet us and help us put our luggage into a big truck. From there we pilled into some vans and headed 45 minutes west to the retreat center. It was a compound type of place that had the bay on one side. You’ll have to see the pictures! We got lots of information, a vaccination, and dinner. My brain hurts too much to go into detail about the people in my group but they are all nice. A few of them I haven’t even talked to because there just hasn’t been any charisma to pull us into a conversation, but most of the people I have befriended.
This brings me to today (or yesterday for you)! So because of my crazy dreams and the abnormally cool weather I didn’t have a solid night of sleep. When my alarm went off an hour before we were supposed to be down for breakfast I turned it off (well there’s no snooze) and fell back asleep. I woke up just in time to not miss the bus to our training center! Luckily things move just a little bit slower and there was no true hurry. We get to the center and meet the Spanish teachers and have even more broad lectures about what to expect, how things work, expectations, rules ect. La Entrena (the training center) is again, like a compound – meaning that thick fences or walls surround the land and the two entrances are guarded (pretty sure they don’t carry guns). Needless to say we feel safe and the grounds are gorgeous. Trees, flowers, grass and a few small outside and two large classrooms fill the property. I heard some people at lunch say they saw an avocado, banana, and mango tree, I hope they fruit while were in training. Lunch was a typical meal of rice beans, chicken, a cooked salad (yucca, carrots, potatoes and hard boiled egg) and fruit (papaya, pineapple, watermelon). Yummy! I watched my portions cause I can see now why there is a weight gain for us gals! Lots of heavy foods and bread.
After lunch I rush up to get on my computer cause there’s wifi! And I wanted to get on before everyone else did so I could send emails. But turns out I needed to have my gmail set to basic html for emails to send and then everyone was on and my computer was about to die (I think I might need another powerbook battery before too long). After we had more “class” and I found out that packages (Fedex / DHL/ postal service) take about 2 – 7 months to get here and large envelopes take 1-2 months, so if you planned on surprising me with something I’d send it now! Also letters take 2-6 weeks. As Romeo put it today – “ Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore”. We also had our first Spanish class today. It was a general “how to introduce ourselves” class and during it we were pulled out for an interview that would place us in a class at our own level and we’ll start that on Monday. Then it was time for our family to pick us up and take us home!
We were given an information sheet before they came but I felt as though it didn’t make a difference. So I grabbed my stuff and headed to the “big” outside classroom and Rosa (the host family coordinator) saw me and said “Que es la mama de Bebe?”
Mayra stood up with her two kids and cheered, as did I! I’m not going to lie it was a nice feeling to be claimed even by someone you didn’t know. Turns out Mayra is just one of three daughters to Adelaida, my real Dona. I am here in the Los Alcarrizos barrio of Santo Domingo. My house is off a busy road where you can hear most radios going by and a dog barking right next to my window. Don’t worry I have the earplugs. I also think my trip to Miami might have prepared me for this, (thanks Ayers and Cecily) So back to the family, Adelaida is in her mid 70s and her daughters are 40 some things, there is a 9 year old, 6 year old one dog and two cats in the house. Behind her house is another house with her other daughter who has her children in there of whom has one toddler and a 1 year old or something small. When I walked in I noticed the kitten right away because it has a broken (they say fractured) front paw. The nurse told me that we couldn’t touch any animals until our 2nd rabies shot so I have to wait until Sunday to play with the pets. But it’s a sad sight anyway. Of course my Spanish impressed them all but then I had to admit that what they hear is about as much as I know so far. They were very encouraging and kept up the conversation for just a little bit. I was given my dinner a little bit later and shared the table with Mayra and here kids. She commented that her son Ricky, the 9 yr. old, usually doesn’t eat cauliflower but that he must be eating it to impress me. How sweet and awkward for me. I have to get used to the awkward silence I think.
After dinner I came into my room to unpack my stuff into my six drawers and dozen hangers. Finally it was time to I put up my mosquito net and then went out to the family area one more time to see what was going on – which was not much. The lights/power were out and the room was lit by one candle. I believe I had used up all my Spanish so I just sat there listening and occasionally repeating some phrases. Once the tiredness kicked in I was off to do some paper work and write this blog post before bed. Again the night was chilly, but I survived and made it through just fine. Today we had some medical information and another set of vaccinations!!! It’s a good thing I don’t mind getting shots. For now we are all on the computer getting ready for our host families to pick us up for the weekend (or what’s left of it). Until lunes mi amigos!