Mas vocabulario

Ok, I've learned some more vocab. words that I think are necessary for you all to know:

Gripe (pronounced gree-pay): I unfortunately have the gripe. It's a combination of flu/cold that is hitting all of us youth volunteers. I believe 14 out of the 16 have had the gripe within the past 2 weeks. The reason why we all get the gripe is this: We are constantly playing with grubby little kids. These grubby little kids do not have constant access to water therefore handwashing is not common practice. And to top it all off, the customary Dominican greeting is to kiss each other's cheeks, so germs are spreading like wildfire here.

Patronales: Wooo! It's patronales time! This is a 9 week party in honor of the patron saint of the country. And luckily for us, it also falls on Constanza's 101 anniversary. So for the past week there has been live concerts in the park at night. I've gone every night but one, and I have a great time. And it's a lot easier to go now that my "parents" just give me the key to the house and let me come home whenever. Mom and Dad, they're almost stricter than you guys with the curfew rules.

Bachata and Merengue: I mentioned lots of dancing at patronales. Well these are the two most popular dances with salsa being a close third. I absolutely love dancing. And what's great about this country is that the guys here love dancing too, especially with an american. At patronales, we usually meet up with some kids in our youth group and just spend the entire time dancing with them. It is so much fun, and I advise all of you who plan on visiting to start working on those bachata and merengue skills because I guarantee that we will go out dancing. (Liz, this means you!)

Campo: This may be the most important word in my life right now. On Wednesday, I find out exactly where my site will be for the next two years. However, I talked to the Youth Volunteer Director, and she let it slip that I will be in a campo. A campo is an extremely small, rural town. My director guessed that my campo will have about 200-300 people in it, which probably means about 50 houses total. And the positive of this, is that whenever you come visit just find your way to the town and ask where the American lives. I guarantee they will know exactly who I am and what I am doing at that precise moment.

Pastoral Juvenil

In order to get more experience working with youth groups in the Dominican Republic, three other volunteers and I have been assigned to help a local group here plan some type of activity by the end of the five weeks. This activity can be pretty much anything -- a community service project to clean up trash or plant trees, a sports tournament, or an arts project.

Our group is the Pastoral Juvenil en the barrio of Las Flores. This group is Catholic, and working with them has been extremely interesting. They told us that there are about 30 members in the group, including 10 girls; However, at the meetings there are usually only about 10 members and they are all guys. Also the ages of the guys in this "youth" group range from about 14 to 28 years old.

The group is extremely religious. We go to their meetings (there is one every night of the week, but we only go to about 2 per week) so that we can plan service projects, yet every meeting we have gone to is only a worship service. This is great because the guys conduct their own service by playing the guitar and drums, singing songs, reading from the Bible and then giving testimonies on the passages read. I really enjoy the services because the songs are pretty and the services are interactive, however there is no group planning, and us Peace Corps volunteers just want to do our job and plan some sort of activity.

Last Sunday we went to our scheduled meeting at 4:30, and surprise! It was a funeral. The four of us were sitting on the front pew when all of a sudden four men walk into the church carrying a casket. We were shocked, and tried to slyly move to a pew that was farther back in the church so that we wouldn't look as out of place as we felt. I'm sure everyone was wondering why four gringas were sitting in on that funeral.

Yesterday we were finally able to plan something: a movie night to raise funds for some other event that we have yet to plan. They want to show a movie on a projector for all of the kids in the community and charge them 20 pesos to see the movie and then more more for snacks and drinks. I'm hesitant to say that our group is going to follow through on the plan, but maybe these boys will surprise me.

Observations

As part of my job here, I am here to observe the Dominican culture without judging. This is a lot easier said than done. The following are a few things that I have observed. These are generalizations, as there may be exceptions to the rule, but I have found them to be pretty much the norm.

• Kids here, especially in the campos (rural areas) get married and start families at a young age. The 14 year old neighbor is married to a 24 year old. He also has a 5 year old daughter from a previous relationship, so now this 14 year old is a stepmom. Another girl is 12 years old and pregnant.
• Children go to school here for about 2 hours a day, and that it is when there is no rain. One classroom can have up to 60 kids in it. And the reason why the kids are in school for so few hours a day is because they are so overcrowded that they need to go in shifts. So three different groups of students use the same school building throughout the day.
• Also, in order to attend public school children must be able to afford the mandatory school uniforms. And their parents must have all of the correct legal papers. One of my host sisters, who is 14, is not allowed to go to school because her mom does not have all of those papers. So her day consists of waking up at 10 a.m. and watching telenovelas until the rest of the neighborhood kids come home and then playing with them.

With that said, I love Constanza. The kids here are great, and there are so many of them! I have a 13 year old sister who lives with me, and other siblings who live in the house down the street. Almost every house in our barrio has about 3 kids living in it. Everyday I end up playing tag or hide and go seek outside in the dark (no street lights), card games (I taught them Go Fish, which they all absolutely love), dominoes or volleyball. The first Saturday we were in Constanza, about 20 kids ages 6 to 13 led us hiking up one of the mountains, and they were so proud that they were able to lead the gringos.

I brought my digital camera to the Dominican Republic, but I did not bring my cord to upload the pictures to my computer. Once Dad sends me that cord, I will gladly post pictures!

Constanza

Tomorrow, all 17 of the youth development volunteers will pack up our bags and leave the big city of Santo Domingo for the smaller mountain town of Constanza. We will be in Constanza for about 5 weeks, where we will work directly with youth organizations. I am so ready for this! I'm ready to start working with the kids so that this trip will stop feeling like a fun summer abroad, and more like that of a Peace Corps volunteer. In Constanza, I'll stay with another host family...hopefully one that is as good as the one here in Santo Domingo. After the 5 weeks are over, I'll come back to the city for about a week before I find out my site for the next two years.

Constanza is supposed to be BEAUTIFUL! A lot of flowers that the Dominican Republic exports are grown in this region, and it is known for its large harvests of strawberries. It's in the mountains, so it will be cooler (thank goodness!), and it should have a lot of hiking trails to keep us busy on the weekends. I know we're going to go on a 5 hour walk through a rain forest during one weekend, so I cannot wait for that!

Top 5...

This post, entitled "Top 5 reasons Jordan should live in the Dominican Republic," is dedicated to my lovely sister. Those of you who know Jordan well know that she loves to eat. This is why she would fit in perfectly here in the DR.

5. Breakfast is a huge meal here. Jordan likes breakfast, I however, do not. Usually I get 2 grilled salami and cheese sandwiches; mango; apple; bowl of cornflakes; and scrambled eggs. The sandwich is called "pan," which really just means bread. So at first whenever my doña asked me if I wanted pan for breakfast, I said yes because I thought it would just be toast. It is not. Apparently pan can be anything, as long as it is accompanied by bread. ** It should be noted this category could also fall under the title of why Pete and Thomas would like to live in the Dominican Republic. When I texted them about the salami and cheese sandwiches for breakfast, both boys eagerly responded with "YUM!" **

4. Also, with breakfast I get coffee. With sugar, but no milk. I probably drink coffee 5 times a day, and it is too hot for that kind of beverage! My doña gives me coffee with every meal, whenever I am sitting on the front porch, and before bed. Jordan loves coffee (even though it's slightly different than Starbucks), and thus she would appreciate this aspect of the Dominican culture.

3. My doña also makes homemade fruit juices, which are actually more like smoothies. They are delicious, and I have now had one with about every type of fruit found in this country. Over the summer, Jordan used to make a smoothie every morning for breakfast, so that's one more reason she should come here.

2. Ice cream trucks are so common in the barrios here. One drives past my street every 5 minutes, and the most expensive item is 20 pesos. Back on Sims Road, Jordan used to moan and groan about how ice cream trucks would never come to our neighborhood, so she would LOVE this.

1. And most importantly.... whenever we are sitting in traffic, men walk around the cars and sell snacks - potato chips, candy bars, popsicles - all for about 5 pesos. It is the perfect way to break up the monotony of traffic. And although I have yet to buy anything, I have a feeling that Jordan would not exhibit the same self-control.