Thursday, March 25, 2010

Comida

 

Food. Mostly, it’s fried. Salt is the only known spice, and it is applied with gusto.  Coffee is simply a carrier for sugar; the first day, I watched my dona shovel 5 spoonfuls of it into a very tiny cup of coffee. I felt like a coked up hummingbird the rest of the morning, before coming down and swearing it off.

For breakfast, my dona usually gives me papaya or pineapple, two grilled cheese sandwiches (known as “dona sandwiches”), and orange tang. I often take the sandwiches to go, and either forget about them in my bag, or eat one when I’m about to fall asleep in training.  “Special” breakfasts may consist of chicken soup, fried fried salami sandwiches, or a plate of french fries, and a glass of soda to wash it down.

We eat lunch at the training center, and it usually consists of rice, beans, chicken, and shredded lettuce (a meal known as la bandera, the flag).

Dinner is with the dona, and can get about as interesting as breakfast.  Tonight, for example, I had fried plantains with fried salami and a fried egg on top, and a big glass of orange soda.  Other times, you may get a giant plate of extremely boiled noodles and orange “tomato sauce,” with fried salami on top.  Mangu is a favorite—mushed yuca or plantains with tons of butter and salt and onions, and maybe a fried egg on top. Beans, rice, and chicken are a sure bet. On one wonderful night, I got a big plate of sliced tomato, avocado, onions, and boiled yuca.  I ate it all, and made a big deal about how amazing it was.  The next night, I got fried salami and rice.

Motoconchos, evangelicos, & CBT

The DR is one of the few PC countries that allows trainees/volunteers to ride on the back of motorcycles. Many sites are only accessible via motoconcho (motorcycle taxi), and while the PC equips us with helmets and a short training session, those things don’t really mitigate becoming half of a human projectile. 

The DR is extremely Catholic, but it also has “evangelicos.”  More specifically, Pentecostals. Some Koreans opened a new church DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET from my host family’s house, and when I got home today, they were blaring easy-listening jesus tunes from big speakers pointed at the house. My host mom, a devout Catholic who holds bible studies in the house at least 4x a week, was not pleased. You can hear these churches almost every night from anywhere (they’re fking LOUD), but I had never quite experienced the personal hell of laying in bed in the dark, with sweat-soaked clothes, no power or water, and 10,000 watts of the holy spirit washing over me. 

On Thursday, we leave for Community-Based Training (CBT).  Our big family of 39 trainees gets split into two groups: Captain Planet’s Planeteers, and the Technogeeks (Community Environmental Development and Information & Communication Technology Education).  This is where we dig in and get all the technical training that should help us be successful on site—although we won’t know our sites for another few weeks. They tapped me to lead a tech session, which should be pretty fun. 

Working in UNC’s IT department for the last 6 years has definitely prepared me well for a lot of the work I hope to do here. Customer service and tech support actually lend well to IT developmental work, and I am grateful for both the exposure and support that I got from the University and my colleagues.

When I took over managing ITS Labs’ student staff, I required all Lab Attendants to do capacity-building projects twice a year.  I enjoyed working with the students to develop these projects, and a few of them turned out really well.  I hope to replicate a lot of these types of small, community-based programs both in CBT and at my final site.

So, the future looks bright.  I have a lot of ideas, and am surrounded by some pretty great likeminded people.  In closing, here are some pictures from the beach!

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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Salud

Or, Rabies and spiders and worms.

“Don’t mess with the water.  Lettuce, cabbage—don’t even think about it.” So said our Canadian nurse, and after 2 hours of some of the most horrendous mental images of throwing up worms and life-long intermittent diarrhea, I was convinced.  Besides the tarantulas that can jump 6 feet, worms and life-long intermittent diarrhea are probably now my biggest fear on this island.  There are no poisonous spiders or snakes, but worms—oh, and rabies.  Rabies is freaking scary.  Worse than malaria, typhoid, and TB. Also, thousands of mosquitoes can explode from a discarded plastic bottle with just a bit of water in it.

If you have more to fear from water than from violence or theft, something is up.

So, after all that, they told us that we’ll probably be fine, just never imbibe the water, and for the love of jebes, sleep with your mosquito net. 

Luckily, my dona blesses me every morning, which is up there with heavy doses of antimalarial drugs and deet in mosquito deterrence.  There may be a saint for diarrhea, I’ll have to ask.

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Al fin, here is a random picture of me on a peatonal bridge.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Aplauso para Eedin

We had a tour of the Zona Colonial at 9am on Sunday, which I think was as much a test of our proficiency in using public transit as it was an opportunity to learn more about the DR’s place in American (the two continents) history.  This touristy area, of course, is very far away from the barrios where trainees live.  I met one of my trainee friends on the street at 7am, and we caught a guagua into the city.  We were supposed to stop along the way and pick up one of the language teachers, who knew how to get where we were going, but we didn’t see him on the side of the street, and the guagua didn’t stop.  So, I managed to get us to the Peace Corps office, and we walked for about a half hour to the colonial district. 

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The tour was actually pretty interesting.  The guide described how seemingly small players based in Santo Domingo influenced huge events in the region and the world, and it was sort of eerie to stand in the gateway where all the conquistadores disembarked.

There were parts that were preserved very well, but I never got the sensation of the city fading away. The grime and noise—and heat—were overpowering.

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We got back to the barrio after a long stop at the frozen yogurt shop, and played a few rounds of Bananagrams and cards with the little girl that is somehow related to my doña.  Later in the evening, my doña put out a fleet of little plates piled with food, covered with bigger plates to keep the bugs off.  The portion was significantly smaller than usual (but still huuuge), and I managed to eat almost all of it.  Upon seeing this, she laughed, clapped her hands, and shouted “aplauso para Eedin, comio toda la cena!” (applause for Aidan, he finished his dinner!)

Monday, March 8, 2010

Week 1

I'm in the DR!  Everything is going well so far, and I am settling in with my host family.  I have eaten a few pounds of beans and rice so far, and a ton of avocado. Breakfast is usually this melon-like thing that is bright red and tastes like strawberries, and a grilled cheese.  The fruits are amazing, and my dona gives me heaping piles of everything.  My host sister decided that my name is too difficult to say, so she renamed me Adan (Adam).  Or Alan. The training center misspelled it, and for them I'm Aidam.  I'm also el americano, el flaco, and el sueco (the swede, who knows).

My family has internet in the house, but their computer is broken.  I offered to take a look, but they didn't believe me when I said I knew how those things work.  Electricity and running water are usually out, and I'm glad I brought a crank flashlight. I always liked it when the power went out at home growing up, and the family sort of congregates here in the same manner.  I have broken out the cards and Uno a few times, and I am attempting to introduce my familia to Bananagrams.  A bunch of trainees threw down in the airports for some hardcore bananagramming, so you can tell that the company is good.

I really like the training group.  Everyone seems really cool and excited about what we'll eventually be doing, and share my fear of public transportation (guaguas, carros publicos).

I haven't taken any pictures so far... I will have to work on that.