Bienvenidos a la republica dominicana

I have now been in the Dominican Republic for 5 days, and it has rained all 5 of those days. My doña can look outside and she knows when a storm will arrive and how much rain we will get. Santo Domingo is crazy, and I have so much time here just watching everything around me. It´s overwhelming, but good, very good. From the moment I stepped off the plane in this country, I have felt that I am where I am supposed to be.

In order to make reading this blog I little easier, this entry will be a glossary of terms that I have learned since living in the DR.

Doña- This is my host mother. I live with her, her husband and their son who is in his forties. The doñas are very protective of their peace corps volunteers. Mine has informed that I am not allowed to leave the house unless with a group. This means that I cannot even go meet a friend who lives down the street. The friend comes to me, and then we leave together. Doñas are also very talkative. She talks and talks, and I just respond with ¨si, si.¨

Bucket bath- My house does not have running water, so this is how I take a shower. There is a huge bucket inside the bathtub and a small pitcher next to it. I use the pitcher to scoop out the water. Dominicans are very clean, and they usually take 2 or 3 baths per day. I do not. It is such a hassle, especially to wash my hair but I´m better at it than I am at ¨flushing¨ the toilet. In order to flush, there is a small bucket next to the toilet. I have to take the bucket and force the water down the toilet, thus pushing everything through the pipes. If I do not throw enough water or do not use enough force, then nothing happens and that water was just wasted. The water situation is really the hardest thing I´ve had to deal with, so in the grand scheme of things, that´s not too bad. We have electricity, although it goes out a couple of times each night for a few hours at the time. And I have my own bedroom with a double bed and dressers and two mirrors.

El mosquitero- the mosquito net. Remember how when you were a kid and you made a fort by draping a sheet over four chairs- well, that is essentially what this is draped over my bed, except it is olive green, smells like bug spray and is itchy. But it keeps out the mosquitoes and that is what´s important. Mosquitoes that carry malaria only come out at night, and we´re taking medicine to prevent malaria as well so I´m pretty sure that´s not an issue. However, the mosquitoes that come out during the day carry dengue fever, and the only precaution against that is bug spray. About 50% of the peace corps volunteers last year got dengue.

La telenovela- These are tv shows that are like soap operas with ten times the drama. My family loves them. Our television set -- and only our television set -- is hooked up to a generator, so when the power goes out, we are still able to watch the novelas. Their favorite show is called ¨The Mark of Desire.¨ They also like American movies dubbed in Spanish. We watched Dukes of Hazzard this morning, and my doña thought it was the funniest thing ever.

El barrio- the neighborhood. There are six volunteers (including me) that live in my barrio. It is pretty much the ghetto of Santo Domingo, and I think it is the poorest of all the barrios that volunteers live in. But all of us volunteers live about 2 blocks from each other, so it´s nice to be close to them. The barrio consists of houses and tiny stores, mainly bars, clothing shops and hair salons. There are mangy stray dogs running throughout the streets, eating the trash that is everywhere. People are so careless with their things, and if they finish drinking their coffee outside, they just toss the styrofoam cup into the street without thinking twice. Also the barrio is very loud. Every house has music playing, and each one wants their music to be the loudest. Going to sleep at night is nearly impossible.

El chisme- the national ¨sport¨of the Dominican Republic -- gossip. People love to just sit outside and talk about what is going on in the barrio. My house is on the second story of a building (my doña´s store is on the first floor), and I love sitting in one of the rocking chairs on the balcony and watching the street below. I told my doña that it is my favorite place here in the DR, and she said ¨yes, the entire world passes through.¨

El tiguere- This literally means tiger, but it´s used to describe boys who catcall at girls and who are just generally obnoxious. I find that most tigures are usually around 15 years old. There is one who works at the farmacy across the street, and he is constantly hissing at me, whistling, blowing kisses and asking me to ride his moped. I just laugh and say no. It´s a part of the culture here and 3 american girls always attract attention, but it really doesn´t bother me.

Los motoconchos- These are technically mopeds, but they´re not the wimpy little things you see around the U.S. They go as fast as motorcycles. They are a form of public transportation, and about 40% of the volunteers here must use one to go to their volunteer site. The DR is the only country that allows its volunteers to ride them. And just because they are only big enough to hold the driver and the passenger does not mean that that is how it works. There is usually 4 or 5 people on one, and the most that has been recorded is 7 people on the same moto. Also traffic in Santo Domingo is ridiculous. On a two-lane highway, there will be four lanes of cars, all honking and randomly stopping to drop and pick up passengers. Other forms of public transportation are publicos carros, which is a car meant for 5 that usually carries about 7 or 8, and a guagua, which is a large minivan.

El peso- One US dollar is worth about 35 pesos. I´m at an Internet cafe now and it costs 25 pesos per hour (so less than $1). Public transportation, which costs pretty much the same no matter how far you go in Santo Domingo, costs 20 pesos. Beer at a bar is relatively expensive- it costs about 40 pesos.