Well my community weathered the storm pretty well in comparison to a lot of other communities. The river rose about 20 feet, but we were lucky that no one lived close enough to get swept away. Our problems were the houses with no floors, or whose houses were poorly made. They spent the whole week wet and now a lot of people are sick. It has continued to rain a lot since Noel, and all the rain is great for mosquitos...which has created a dengue epidemic. And a lot of animals have gotten sick and are now spreading a new virus that is vaguely like meningitis. Some people are now dying from that. It seems like the problems of this country are never ending.
As for me, I am doing okay. I got a puppy this last week. She's pretty adorable and she protects me at night time. I feel a lot safer now with her around. I also found my first tarantula in my house on Monday. (Again its all the rain) But I ran out to my host dad and made him come and kill it. I am really hoping that the rain settles down a little, cause I dont want to find any more tarantulas in my house. One of my friends, he didnt tuck his mosquito net in all the way and a tarantula crawled into bed with him and bit him. Then on his jump out of the bed to grab his camera cause he didnt think anyone would believe him another tarantula bit him. He handled it a lot better than I would have, so I really hope that the tarantulas stay away from me. And my mosquito net is always tucked in tight. I'm not taking any chances.
I am in the capital right now for Thanksgiving. We are all going to a country club and celebrating together with an american style Thanksgiving. I'm excited, and it makes missing Thanksgiving with the family a little more reasonable.
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tropical Storm Noel
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) -- Tropical Storm Noel's center spun slowly across Cuba as the tropical system's outer bands dumped heavy rains on island of Hispaniola, prompting thousands to flee their homes to escape rushing floodwaters and mudslides.
Hardest-hit by the sluggish storm were the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which share Hispaniola, where emergency officials on Tuesday reported between 22 and 36 people dead. Death figures varied because of the difficulty of reaching remote parts of the island.
Noel's outer bands were still pounding Hispaniola Tuesday evening even as the storm chugged away from the island, which is made vulnerable to flash floods by its many denuded hillsides.
In the Dominican Republic, almost 12,000 people were driven from their homes and nearly 3,000 homes were destroyed, while collapsed bridges and swollen rivers have isolated 36 towns, said Dominican emergency services spokesman Luis Luna Paulino.
Late Tuesday, Luna raised the Dominican death toll upward to at least 30 from 16, did not release specifics of the deaths. Earlier in the day he acknowledged miscalculating a previous toll.
"The rains continue to fall and we fear for several families," said Sergio Vargas, a merengue star and Dominican congressman who represents Villa Altagracia, a small town north of the capital, Santo Domingo.
This Tropical Storm hit at a terrible time. My parents were visiting and they had planned on going to my site in the north of the capital. But...it was not safe to travel so they left today without ever having seen my house:( I am a little concerned when it is finally safe enough to leave in what I am going to find. Wish me and the Dominican Republic luck, we are going to need it.
Hardest-hit by the sluggish storm were the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which share Hispaniola, where emergency officials on Tuesday reported between 22 and 36 people dead. Death figures varied because of the difficulty of reaching remote parts of the island.
Noel's outer bands were still pounding Hispaniola Tuesday evening even as the storm chugged away from the island, which is made vulnerable to flash floods by its many denuded hillsides.
In the Dominican Republic, almost 12,000 people were driven from their homes and nearly 3,000 homes were destroyed, while collapsed bridges and swollen rivers have isolated 36 towns, said Dominican emergency services spokesman Luis Luna Paulino.
Late Tuesday, Luna raised the Dominican death toll upward to at least 30 from 16, did not release specifics of the deaths. Earlier in the day he acknowledged miscalculating a previous toll.
"The rains continue to fall and we fear for several families," said Sergio Vargas, a merengue star and Dominican congressman who represents Villa Altagracia, a small town north of the capital, Santo Domingo.
This Tropical Storm hit at a terrible time. My parents were visiting and they had planned on going to my site in the north of the capital. But...it was not safe to travel so they left today without ever having seen my house:( I am a little concerned when it is finally safe enough to leave in what I am going to find. Wish me and the Dominican Republic luck, we are going to need it.
Monday, October 22, 2007
2 Month Countdown
Yes it is only 2 months until I come home for Christmas! Of course I'll have to come back here in January, but still very exciting. 2 weeks in the states will be wonderfull. As for the past month, Greg came and visited me for a week. He stayed at my site for a few days and likened it to camping. I can see the comparison as well. Then we went to a resort in Punta Cana and I lived it up for 5 days. I got to take as many hot showers as I wanted and the food was amazing. I even had a massage while I was there. Going back to my site was a little rough once Greg left, especially since somewhere along the way I picked up soemthing that made me violently ill. But, I am feeling so much better now, and today is a very exciting day because my family comes! YEah! I have been counting down to this for quite a while. We will also go to a resort in Punta Cana (soneday I'll have to check out the other beaches in this country). Hopefully all goes well for us! As for those of you who have noticed I am not good with keeping this updated...I am very good at writing back to emails. So if anyone would like more immediate responses/updates ~email me.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
I know I am in the Peace Corps DR When...
This was written up in our volunteer quarterly magazine and I enjoyed it so I thought I would share. It might be one of those things that you have to be there....but I thought I would give it a try. Of course with some additions I made to personalize it.
1. It rains in my bathroom (well since my letrine isn't actually done yet...I wouldn't know. But I do have two tiny leaks in the tin roof of my house)
2. I spent an hour cleaning ants out of my cereal and then thoroughly enjoyed a bowl. (How about crackers and peanut butter? Who knew that ants could get into a tightly closed peanut butter jar?)
3. Beer isnt considered alcohol-it's more like expensive juice (and you have more of a chance finding cold beer anywhere than you would of finding water. These Dominican's sure know their priorities).
4. The only time all year round I need my jacket is on the super air conditioned bus.
5. People don't know how to draw-not even a stick figure, or a star, or a heart.
6. A mail system is just a convenient system for thiefs to hand select their goods. (There most have been some good stuff in some of those packages, but I wouldnt know since I never got them).
7. Roots are considered "yummy"-and there are lots of types.
8. Elementary school kids go on strike for more desks.
9. The schools are have barbed wire, chain link fences, if you arrive late you have to bribe the gatekeeper to let you in.
10. Traffic laws are more like vague guidelines.
11. Traffic signals are unfortunate in a country with unreliable electricity.
12. Even the poorest of the poor are obsessively hospitable.
13. 7 -year old boys run all my errands for me (and 10 year old girls mop my floors and help me hand wash all my clothes).
14. It only cost 75 bucks to completly rewire my house.
15. I get in trouble when visiting people for not having visited more often.
16. They hang the head of the animal slaughtered at the butcher as a guarentee (hopefully this explains to you all why I don't ever eat meat here-I can't stand to look at the head of the pig that I am going to eat. Or even worse have them ask me which chicken it is that I want to eat for dinner as they run around the yard-yuck).
17. If a kid is only wearing a shirt, beware: they are not potty trained (and if they are visiting your house with parents or siblings make sure that the mop and fabuloso are handy for any accidents).
18. Music can never be too loud.
19. Nobody pays electric bills because they dont recieve good service and they dont recieve good service because nobody pays.
20. Their is nothing wierd about a stranger resting their hand on your knee or shoulder.
21. The United States is referred to as "Nueva Yol" (and in my experience that is only if they have actually put together that New York is part of the US and not its own country).
1. It rains in my bathroom (well since my letrine isn't actually done yet...I wouldn't know. But I do have two tiny leaks in the tin roof of my house)
2. I spent an hour cleaning ants out of my cereal and then thoroughly enjoyed a bowl. (How about crackers and peanut butter? Who knew that ants could get into a tightly closed peanut butter jar?)
3. Beer isnt considered alcohol-it's more like expensive juice (and you have more of a chance finding cold beer anywhere than you would of finding water. These Dominican's sure know their priorities).
4. The only time all year round I need my jacket is on the super air conditioned bus.
5. People don't know how to draw-not even a stick figure, or a star, or a heart.
6. A mail system is just a convenient system for thiefs to hand select their goods. (There most have been some good stuff in some of those packages, but I wouldnt know since I never got them).
7. Roots are considered "yummy"-and there are lots of types.
8. Elementary school kids go on strike for more desks.
9. The schools are have barbed wire, chain link fences, if you arrive late you have to bribe the gatekeeper to let you in.
10. Traffic laws are more like vague guidelines.
11. Traffic signals are unfortunate in a country with unreliable electricity.
12. Even the poorest of the poor are obsessively hospitable.
13. 7 -year old boys run all my errands for me (and 10 year old girls mop my floors and help me hand wash all my clothes).
14. It only cost 75 bucks to completly rewire my house.
15. I get in trouble when visiting people for not having visited more often.
16. They hang the head of the animal slaughtered at the butcher as a guarentee (hopefully this explains to you all why I don't ever eat meat here-I can't stand to look at the head of the pig that I am going to eat. Or even worse have them ask me which chicken it is that I want to eat for dinner as they run around the yard-yuck).
17. If a kid is only wearing a shirt, beware: they are not potty trained (and if they are visiting your house with parents or siblings make sure that the mop and fabuloso are handy for any accidents).
18. Music can never be too loud.
19. Nobody pays electric bills because they dont recieve good service and they dont recieve good service because nobody pays.
20. Their is nothing wierd about a stranger resting their hand on your knee or shoulder.
21. The United States is referred to as "Nueva Yol" (and in my experience that is only if they have actually put together that New York is part of the US and not its own country).
Monday, August 20, 2007
Update
For all of you that actually check my blog I am terribly sorry that I havn't written sooner. A lot has been going on here, which is why I havn't had a lot of time to use the internet. I came back from my three month training and my host family had finished my house! So the next day I went out and for 500 American dollars I managed to get a bed(not the most comfortable one mind you, but I have convinced myself that a bed is a bed...and maybe they have such thing as foam pads in this country:) a table with chairs, an oven, a fridge and a propane gas tank. I think it was a steal. Although they probably think that I am a sucker. So I moved in, and learned a few lessons about electricity in the process. All my outlets are two prong and the holes are the same size. Well my fridge is a three prong. As I looked on in dread, my host dad tried to convince me that the third prong really isnt necessary and proceeded to cut it off. Amazingly enough he was right and the fridge still works. Who would have thought? Then, some of my chargers have the prongs that are two different sizes. Which obviously dont fit in the holes. After being told several times that I was just not pushing hard enough, and that maybe I just didnt understand how to plug something in, my host dad wised up and bought me an extension cord...with the two different size prongs. Again, my doubt kicked in. But he just filed down the edges of the larger prong and voila-it works! I am not sure how safe my house is electricty wise now, but at least it works.
The other big thing that happened was Hurricane Dean...or I guess I could say not so big thing;) We got called in on Friday and had to be in the capital by 6:00 that night. It was a category 4 by the time it reached here, and it was said that although it was 100 miles south of us, that the arms of the storm were reaching out over 200 miles. Obviously there was a little bit of concern. So they put all the volunteers from this side of the island in the Barcelo hotel in Santo Domingo. Which has a pool, air conditioning, a casino, gym, three meals a day and most importantly hot showers. It was not a hardship. Although Peace Corps kept apologizing that we couldnt leave the hotel and that is was such an inconvience for us. I was just thinking-oh my god, how long do you think I can stay. When they kicked us out yesterday at 3 I was a little devastated (apparently there is such a thing as a dry hurricane and it barely even rained here). I wasnt ready yet to go back to the campo. So I checked myself into a hostal here. I decided that I am easing myslefy back into the campo life since the hostal doesnt have hot water or air conditioning. Hopefully now it wont be such a big shock going back today.
The other big thing that happened was Hurricane Dean...or I guess I could say not so big thing;) We got called in on Friday and had to be in the capital by 6:00 that night. It was a category 4 by the time it reached here, and it was said that although it was 100 miles south of us, that the arms of the storm were reaching out over 200 miles. Obviously there was a little bit of concern. So they put all the volunteers from this side of the island in the Barcelo hotel in Santo Domingo. Which has a pool, air conditioning, a casino, gym, three meals a day and most importantly hot showers. It was not a hardship. Although Peace Corps kept apologizing that we couldnt leave the hotel and that is was such an inconvience for us. I was just thinking-oh my god, how long do you think I can stay. When they kicked us out yesterday at 3 I was a little devastated (apparently there is such a thing as a dry hurricane and it barely even rained here). I wasnt ready yet to go back to the campo. So I checked myself into a hostal here. I decided that I am easing myslefy back into the campo life since the hostal doesnt have hot water or air conditioning. Hopefully now it wont be such a big shock going back today.
Photos
The pool, and thats the humidity foggy up the photo. 
Pool bar during a bout of rainpoor.
The casino at the hotel-a little small. Only had Blackjack, poker, roulette and slots:( But I really shouldn't complain
Hanging out at the Barcelo pool:)
Joe, Stephanie me and Kevin at Pizza Hut
My new house, this is my study.
And my kitchen. Anyone who has a blog have any idea how to turn the photos around? I havnt quite figured that out yet. Sorry
This is the ceramic cook stove that we all built during our three month In- Service -Training. It's supposed to cook cleaner and use less wood. But it also takes about 2 and a half days to build and is a little complicated. I'm thinking I might research the easier to make, and cheaper solar stoves.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
More drama occured over this past two weeks...the police came. And I was unlucky enough to be visiting the house they went to. I was visiting this little girl, Dulce, and they came searching for her brother and some of his friends with their big shot guns and pistols. Of course, her mother wasn't there nor was the brother and I was the oldest one. So I just kept telling them "I don't live here and I don't know where he is!" They ended up arresting about 4 people. For robbery, drug dealing and one for murder. Made me feel really safe finding that out. Apparently this guy (not the brother of Dulce) was robbing someone in Villa Mella-nearest big city to me-when something went wrong and someone died. Someone who was related to a police officer. So off he went (the murderer) to the campo-Buenos Aires- to his grandmother's house with the police chasing after him. They got him, which is good for me but bad for him. Cause apparently when the police are pissed here...nobody thinks he will make it a very long time in prison.
What else has happened~I have finally motivated this group of about 5 kids to work for the enviornment. We went collecting trash along the river this past Thursday (and then burned it, but I am thinking one battle at a time:) And of course we had to collect Chinola along the way to make juice, and then it was really hot so we had to jump in. Really I think we all had a great time, and I am hoping they will go with me again this Thursday.
I have also been doing a lot of visiting of the families. Yesterday I visited the Haitian. It was interesting because he will intermix Kreyole and French with his spanish. So basically he talks for awhile and I say si, and then I talk for awhile and then he tells me si. But really I dont think either one of us understands the other. I cant even get the hang of his name, but hey we had a good time. We ate some sugar cane, then he gave me some mangos to eat and he picked me some fruit bread to boil. Don't really know what this fruit bread is, but I am always up for trying new things...as long as it doesnt look to scary and this looks relatively harmless.
Oh, and of course, the really good news is that the concrete floor was poured for my house! Now it only needs paint (pink of course...and I didn't even pick the color) two doors, and electricity. And ya~ all ready to move in! I am thinking right now that it looks like the begining of August. Very exciting!
What else has happened~I have finally motivated this group of about 5 kids to work for the enviornment. We went collecting trash along the river this past Thursday (and then burned it, but I am thinking one battle at a time:) And of course we had to collect Chinola along the way to make juice, and then it was really hot so we had to jump in. Really I think we all had a great time, and I am hoping they will go with me again this Thursday.
I have also been doing a lot of visiting of the families. Yesterday I visited the Haitian. It was interesting because he will intermix Kreyole and French with his spanish. So basically he talks for awhile and I say si, and then I talk for awhile and then he tells me si. But really I dont think either one of us understands the other. I cant even get the hang of his name, but hey we had a good time. We ate some sugar cane, then he gave me some mangos to eat and he picked me some fruit bread to boil. Don't really know what this fruit bread is, but I am always up for trying new things...as long as it doesnt look to scary and this looks relatively harmless.
Oh, and of course, the really good news is that the concrete floor was poured for my house! Now it only needs paint (pink of course...and I didn't even pick the color) two doors, and electricity. And ya~ all ready to move in! I am thinking right now that it looks like the begining of August. Very exciting!
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