updated tps report

Greetings, all!

First, a clarification about my address: still the same ´ol Santo Domingo address, and will be for the duration. My town doesn´t have a post office, so I can´t get mail here; I´ll just have to pick it up whenever I go back to the capital. (And, unfortunately, it´s going to be a pain to send mail to you guys. Sorry! I´ll do my best.) You can, however, put PCV after my name instead of PCT, since I officially passed training. I´ll also take this opportunity to subtly remind you that I have slightly updated my care package wish list and that my birthday is less than a month away. Just sayin´!

Anyway, life here continues on. I´ve been installing some new programs on computers in the lab and attempting to update anti-virus software. Also, yesterday I spent most of my morning calling every PCV I could think of to track down the Peace Corps´s Windows key, when it turned it that I actually already had it on one of my CDs. My job is kind of Office Space-esque, to be honest. I´ve also attempted to form a committee for my community diagnostic. So far I have two teenage girls, both of whom think I am pretty dumb. Whatever, muchachas, just because I tried to schedule a meeting for June ¨Ten and four¨ instead of ¨Fourteen¨ doesn´t mean I don´t know how to do a community diagnostic. Actually I don´t really know how to do a community diagnostic, but neither do they, and I have some handouts.

On Sunday I attended Catholic mass with the nuns, to the general approval of many old Catholic ladies. On Sunday I also tripped over a rock on the sidewalk and fell literally facefirst, scraping my forehead a little bit and my knee a lot. This frightened the nuns, who thought I had fainted. I didn´t know the Spanish word for clumsy so I had to explain, ¨No, I didn´t faint, I´m just not very graceful.¨

In my free time I´ve been doing a lot more yoga (despite my skinned knee, possibly the most severely painful yet lame-sounding injury there is), reading a lot, getting really good at Race 21 (the card game installed on my cell phone), and walking around—when the temperature dips below 90, anyway. Tomorrow is another Dominican holiday so I´ll be doing a whole lot of those things.

On Friday, I´m heading into Santiago for the first time. One of the other volunteers is having a big meeting with his Escojo group (Escojo is short for Escojo Mi Vida, I Choose My Life. It´s a Peace Corps initiated youth group based on teaching youth how to make healthy decisions, particularly regarding sexual health) and a bunch of us are coming to observe. Also, word on the street is that Santiago has a really awesome hostel that often has hot running water and also has a lending library. Plus, it´ll be great to see other PCVs again.

Hope all is well with all of you!