Well, hurricane season is starting up again with Ana, Bill, and Claudette partying in the Caribbean. Right now Tropical Depression Ana is causing a gentle rain to fall upon Cabarete. (Yesterday it was Tropical Storm but it's already been downgraded.) Bill and Claudette aren't even supposed to affect the DR. (Southeastern Americans, though, watch out!) Anyway, just a reminder that Peace Corps DR has an excellent storm warning system and I'd already gotten two emails, a text, and three phone calls about Ana before it even started raining here.
This weekend I failed to round up a group to go to Santiago to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Harry Potter y el Misterio del Principe--Harry Potter and the Mystery of the Prince, not quite the same) but I'm going to try again this weekend. Unless we get put on Standfast--Peace Corps code for "it's raining, or might rain, so everyone stay home." But si Dios quiere, I'll get my British wizard fix soon.
This weekend I did go to Sosua with my friends Asahi and Nate, which was remarkable for two reasons:
1. I ate some really greasy French fries and got spectacularly sick. (I'm fine now.)
2. I got one of the more hilarious pickup lines I've received in this country. Let me recreate the scene:
Asahi and I are walking back from the beach. We weren't swimming, so we're wearing normal clothes. The street to the beach is lined with small stores, all selling the same touristy crap. Asahi and I are talking to each other and trying to avoid eye contact with the sellers.
Che Guevara T-shirt wearing seller (in English): Excuse me.
Me (avoiding eye contact): No, gracias.
Che guy: Please, I do not want to sell anything to you. I just want to ask one question.
Me: ... okay.
Che guy: Where are you from? Are you from Canada?
Me: ... I'm from the United States.
Che guy: I'm from Haiti.
Me: Hm. (Tries to walk away)
Che guy: Wait, wait! I saw you before when you were walking to the beach, but I didn't call out to you because I thought, they are going to the beach. But I like the way you carry yourself.
Me: Um, thanks.
Che guy: I want to see you again.
Me: ....
Che guy: I want to see you again every day for the rest of my life.
Me: .... (Trying not to laugh)
Che guy: Let me get something for you. (Reaches out and wipes sweat off my cheek.)
Me: UM, GOODBYE. (Walks away and cracks up)
I think I might be leaving out a few pieces of the conversation, but I definitely remembered all the best lines. I want to see you again every day for the rest of my life. Nice one, Che guy. Nice one.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
the pit of despair and other landmarks
Hi guys! So, not that much is new with me since the last update. I’ve been settling in at the DREAM Center, working on updating the manual for computer classes and a grant application. I now have some pretty bourgeoisie problems to deal with: my manual is for PCs and we have Macs! The lab doesn’t have air conditioning! But these are both kind of important, since Macs are different enough from PCs that the manual needs a lot of work to be comprehensible for beginner computer students. And without air conditioning these new computers are going to get super effed-up by the heat here. (That is not the exact phrasing I am using in my grant application, but you get the gist..)
I’ve also been getting to know my new fellow volunteers. It is funny: we go out to Happy Hour after work, like we are in America or something! Better than America, even, since Happy Hour is on the beach. Uh, where even am I? Am I still in the Peace Corps?
Perhaps most excitingly, I have been walking home from work. This is exciting because the last few days my street has been ripped up by a big earthmover. Apparently they are fixing some pipes down there or something, which is good since our water situation has been dire lately. (Like, half an hour of running water a day, which I have to obsessively monitor and then fill buckets when it comes.) But now, since the entire street has become a Pit of Despair, I have to scramble home over a very narrow strip of sand. Although “strip” sounds misleadingly flat—it is a narrow series of piles. Of sand. That I scramble over in flip-flops. Meanwhile, neighbors helpfully call out “Cuidado!” (“Careful!”), as if I am not already painfully aware that one misstep will send me straight down into the Pit of Despair. (OK, it is like five feet deep and I probably wouldn’t die. I could probably climb back out again. But it would be so awkward.)
Also, I have prepared for you all a small photo tour of my new barrio and apartment, including the Pit of Despair! Enjoy.
Here is the earthmover responsible for the Pit of Despair.
I am not sure if you can accurately detect the depth of the Pit here. Oh, it is deep.
This child is far better at navigating the edge of the Pit than I.
After successfully crossing the Pit, you arrive at my apartment! Not pictured: my apartment extends for about three inches past the door on the other side, but I couldn't get it all in the frame.
Here is my kitchen area! I put the cutting board on the stove to make a counter. One day I will probably melt my cutting board.
I thought about cleaning up before doing the photo tour, but then I thought no, you should see how I live! Thus, here is my bed/couch/table/nest, unmade. But the table is set for lunch, which inquiring mothers will be happy to note includes a fruit AND a vegetable. (Perhaps this is only detectable in the large version: it's pineapple, carrots, and a falafel wrap that I made myself because I am awesome.)
The front half (third, really) of the apartment. The TV doesn't work, but the ceiling fan does.
Here is the DREAM center! Perhaps it is not that exciting to look at. Dreams are invisible.
Oh hey, here's Playa Cabarete. I can walk there in about fifteen minutes. Just sayin'.
There are some more pictures at my Flickr. My dad particularly will be interested in the additional shots available of the Pit of Despair and related equipment.
I’ve also been getting to know my new fellow volunteers. It is funny: we go out to Happy Hour after work, like we are in America or something! Better than America, even, since Happy Hour is on the beach. Uh, where even am I? Am I still in the Peace Corps?
Perhaps most excitingly, I have been walking home from work. This is exciting because the last few days my street has been ripped up by a big earthmover. Apparently they are fixing some pipes down there or something, which is good since our water situation has been dire lately. (Like, half an hour of running water a day, which I have to obsessively monitor and then fill buckets when it comes.) But now, since the entire street has become a Pit of Despair, I have to scramble home over a very narrow strip of sand. Although “strip” sounds misleadingly flat—it is a narrow series of piles. Of sand. That I scramble over in flip-flops. Meanwhile, neighbors helpfully call out “Cuidado!” (“Careful!”), as if I am not already painfully aware that one misstep will send me straight down into the Pit of Despair. (OK, it is like five feet deep and I probably wouldn’t die. I could probably climb back out again. But it would be so awkward.)
Also, I have prepared for you all a small photo tour of my new barrio and apartment, including the Pit of Despair! Enjoy.
Here is the earthmover responsible for the Pit of Despair.
I am not sure if you can accurately detect the depth of the Pit here. Oh, it is deep.
This child is far better at navigating the edge of the Pit than I.
After successfully crossing the Pit, you arrive at my apartment! Not pictured: my apartment extends for about three inches past the door on the other side, but I couldn't get it all in the frame.
Here is my kitchen area! I put the cutting board on the stove to make a counter. One day I will probably melt my cutting board.
I thought about cleaning up before doing the photo tour, but then I thought no, you should see how I live! Thus, here is my bed/couch/table/nest, unmade. But the table is set for lunch, which inquiring mothers will be happy to note includes a fruit AND a vegetable. (Perhaps this is only detectable in the large version: it's pineapple, carrots, and a falafel wrap that I made myself because I am awesome.)
The front half (third, really) of the apartment. The TV doesn't work, but the ceiling fan does.
Here is the DREAM center! Perhaps it is not that exciting to look at. Dreams are invisible.
Oh hey, here's Playa Cabarete. I can walk there in about fifteen minutes. Just sayin'.
There are some more pictures at my Flickr. My dad particularly will be interested in the additional shots available of the Pit of Despair and related equipment.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
roughly 7000 words
Hey, gang! I survived my trip to the capital and I'm back at the DREAM Center now. (I love that my place of work is called the DREAM Center. It sounds like I should be in an office full of Care Bears.)
Anyway, I uploaded a new batch of photos to my Flickr. Here are a few favorites:
One of the hikes we took with the Constanza youth camp. I held up the back of the line.
A muchacho with a hilarious attitude.
Chris, me, Malia, and Kathy on the top of a mountain called La Ochenta. (The 80. The name is unclear to me; it is more than 80 feet tall but less than 80 miles. Whatever.)
One of the views from the top of La Ochenta.
Julie's body art in progress at the DREAM art show fundraiser, which featured face/body painting.
A couple kids rocking their face paint.
One of the pieces of art for sale at the DREAM event.
Anyway, I uploaded a new batch of photos to my Flickr. Here are a few favorites:
One of the hikes we took with the Constanza youth camp. I held up the back of the line.
A muchacho with a hilarious attitude.
Chris, me, Malia, and Kathy on the top of a mountain called La Ochenta. (The 80. The name is unclear to me; it is more than 80 feet tall but less than 80 miles. Whatever.)
One of the views from the top of La Ochenta.
Julie's body art in progress at the DREAM art show fundraiser, which featured face/body painting.
A couple kids rocking their face paint.
One of the pieces of art for sale at the DREAM event.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
what i blog about when i blog about blogging
Keane: I don't really get all these volunteers who have blogs. I mean, my life is not that interesting. I don't know what I'd blog about.
Me: Yeah, once in awhile I actually have something interesting to post on my blog. The rest of the time I just put stuff about, like...
Keane: That Japanese cat blog you're into?
Me: YES.
Keane: Haha.
Me: No seriously, I wrote like a paragraph about it last week.
(God, it's still the cutest blog ever, though.)
Anyway. Right now I am at Keane's site kind of helping him fix a computer. Also kind of blogging and making fun of other volunteers' blogs. (JUST KIDDING ABOUT THAT LAST PART, OTHER VOLUNTEERS.)
Yesterday I went to an Art Night at a hostel in Santiago. It was a lot of fun to connect with other volunteers and hear their music and poetry. Plus, Keane and Shilpa made Indian food and it was amazing. I brought a new friend from DREAM with me and I think she had a good time. We had previously bonded with each other over the fact that everyone else at DREAM has already bonded over the summer. But now, the two of us have an Art Night bond!! Hooray, friends. (Please imagine those last few sentences being spoken by Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama if you are familiar with that show. If you are not familiar with Futurama, just know that I do realize I'm being a little pathetic. Friends are fun!!)
Anyway. I am extremely excited that tomorrow I get to pick up my new glasses! (You may recall the broken glasses saga of two weeks ago. I have been wearing my old backup pair since them. They are almost the right prescription, but a little too weak, so I've been getting some headaches and eyestrain after I look at too many things. Tragically, nearly all of my job assignments and hobbies require looking at things. It is also making me really appreciate proper optometry! I know for a fact that when we gave out free glasses at the med mission I did a few months ago it was really hit or miss; we just gave each person the closest glasses we could find to the prescription the person actually needed. I am sure many of those people are having these kind of problems all the time. And I'm sure they are excited to have imperfect glasses, which are surely better than no glasses. And all you lucky chumps with perfect vision should take a moment right now to appreciate it.)
Now that I've finished reminding you decadent First Worlders of how good you have it, I'm going to go back to trying to fix this computer. (We've just made the executive decision that we need to open it up and swap out the sound card. This requires us to literally break a seal that the Despacho de la Primera Dama has placed on the back of the computer to prevent a person from opening it. Breaking the seal on a Despacho computer offers an IT Volunteer the same kind of mild illicit thrill as ripping off a strongly-worded mattress tag.)
Me: Yeah, once in awhile I actually have something interesting to post on my blog. The rest of the time I just put stuff about, like...
Keane: That Japanese cat blog you're into?
Me: YES.
Keane: Haha.
Me: No seriously, I wrote like a paragraph about it last week.
(God, it's still the cutest blog ever, though.)
Anyway. Right now I am at Keane's site kind of helping him fix a computer. Also kind of blogging and making fun of other volunteers' blogs. (JUST KIDDING ABOUT THAT LAST PART, OTHER VOLUNTEERS.)
Yesterday I went to an Art Night at a hostel in Santiago. It was a lot of fun to connect with other volunteers and hear their music and poetry. Plus, Keane and Shilpa made Indian food and it was amazing. I brought a new friend from DREAM with me and I think she had a good time. We had previously bonded with each other over the fact that everyone else at DREAM has already bonded over the summer. But now, the two of us have an Art Night bond!! Hooray, friends. (Please imagine those last few sentences being spoken by Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama if you are familiar with that show. If you are not familiar with Futurama, just know that I do realize I'm being a little pathetic. Friends are fun!!)
Anyway. I am extremely excited that tomorrow I get to pick up my new glasses! (You may recall the broken glasses saga of two weeks ago. I have been wearing my old backup pair since them. They are almost the right prescription, but a little too weak, so I've been getting some headaches and eyestrain after I look at too many things. Tragically, nearly all of my job assignments and hobbies require looking at things. It is also making me really appreciate proper optometry! I know for a fact that when we gave out free glasses at the med mission I did a few months ago it was really hit or miss; we just gave each person the closest glasses we could find to the prescription the person actually needed. I am sure many of those people are having these kind of problems all the time. And I'm sure they are excited to have imperfect glasses, which are surely better than no glasses. And all you lucky chumps with perfect vision should take a moment right now to appreciate it.)
Now that I've finished reminding you decadent First Worlders of how good you have it, I'm going to go back to trying to fix this computer. (We've just made the executive decision that we need to open it up and swap out the sound card. This requires us to literally break a seal that the Despacho de la Primera Dama has placed on the back of the computer to prevent a person from opening it. Breaking the seal on a Despacho computer offers an IT Volunteer the same kind of mild illicit thrill as ripping off a strongly-worded mattress tag.)
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
what have i been up to
Ohhhh all kinds of things. Here is a recent article (in English) about my new partner NGO, DREAM Project. It is slightly factually incorrect in parts (for example, it claims that Google is one of our sponsors, which it is not. But if anyone reading this works for Google, please feel free to become one of our sponsors!!)
Basically I am working a lot, like nine hour days. This is compared to my old site where I pretty much worked a 9-hour week. Maybe. It feels good, though.
Also I am spending a lot of time reading this blog about a Japanese cat named Maru. IT IS AMAZING, please cease reading my blog immediately and read about Maru instead. I assure you it will be more fulfilling.
Basically I am working a lot, like nine hour days. This is compared to my old site where I pretty much worked a 9-hour week. Maybe. It feels good, though.
Also I am spending a lot of time reading this blog about a Japanese cat named Maru. IT IS AMAZING, please cease reading my blog immediately and read about Maru instead. I assure you it will be more fulfilling.
Friday, July 17, 2009
greetings from cabarete!
HEY BLOG. How have you been? I've had an eventful week, I suppose! I went up a mountain to Constanza, where I helped my friends Chris, Kathy, and Malia run a youth day camp. It was nice: the air is cooler up the mountain, and I got to go on some fun hikes and get a free snack every day. It wasn't all sunshine and unicorns, however:
Basically I had a lot of maladies an average elementary school student might sustain. Hilarious.
Now I am up in Cabarete, a nice beach town on the North Coast. It seems I will be moving here next week! I will be working with the DREAM project and it seems like it will be awesome. I looked at some housing options today and hopefully I will hear back about prices by the end of the day and move in somewhere on Tuesday! Goodbye, stupid old town. Hello, beach!
Oh also I will get new glasses on Monday, which I am really looking forward to because this tape job keeps coming undone, causing my glasses to fall off my face at inopportune times. Actually there are never really any opportune times for glasses to fall off one's face.
- I got enormous (egg sized in surface diameter, though not in depth) bug bites from evil insects known as magi.
- I got hit in the face with a baseball and had a sore nose.
- I had the sniffles all week.
- I scratched my arms on thorn bushes.
- I fell on a rock and skinned my knee REAL BAD.
- I broke my glasses across the nose and had to tape them together.
Basically I had a lot of maladies an average elementary school student might sustain. Hilarious.
Now I am up in Cabarete, a nice beach town on the North Coast. It seems I will be moving here next week! I will be working with the DREAM project and it seems like it will be awesome. I looked at some housing options today and hopefully I will hear back about prices by the end of the day and move in somewhere on Tuesday! Goodbye, stupid old town. Hello, beach!
Oh also I will get new glasses on Monday, which I am really looking forward to because this tape job keeps coming undone, causing my glasses to fall off my face at inopportune times. Actually there are never really any opportune times for glasses to fall off one's face.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
current weather: raining
Current status: sitting in the Peace Corps computer lab uploading pictures of my cats to the Internet and drinking coffee out of a Thomas Kinkaide-printed paper cup that someone's mom sent in a care package.
Current mood: pretty alriiiight.
I still don't have tooo much more information about my site change, although it sounds likely that I will be placed with that NGO I linked to before. On Friday I'm going up to visit and meet with them. I hope they like me! (And vice versa.)
In the interim I'm basically hanging out. Last night Justin and I went to see Transformers 2, which was, perhaps, the absolutely most on-target bullseye to the lowest common denominator film I've ever seen. We had a great time. Tonight we are planning to have an Arnold Schwartzenegger festival, featuring Kindergarten Cop and Last Action Hero.
Tomorrow I am going up north to help my friend Kathy with her youth camp until Friday, when, as I mentioned, I'll be going to visit with my potential new site.
Right now, here are a few pictures from my last batch of at-home photos.
Kitty Barack and Kitty Magneto! THEY ARE SO CUTE.
Me with Tyrone, the most BA of all cats.
Mom & I at BURGER BARGE
Dad & I, also at Burger Barge. I mean, BURGER BARGE.
Current mood: pretty alriiiight.
I still don't have tooo much more information about my site change, although it sounds likely that I will be placed with that NGO I linked to before. On Friday I'm going up to visit and meet with them. I hope they like me! (And vice versa.)
In the interim I'm basically hanging out. Last night Justin and I went to see Transformers 2, which was, perhaps, the absolutely most on-target bullseye to the lowest common denominator film I've ever seen. We had a great time. Tonight we are planning to have an Arnold Schwartzenegger festival, featuring Kindergarten Cop and Last Action Hero.
Tomorrow I am going up north to help my friend Kathy with her youth camp until Friday, when, as I mentioned, I'll be going to visit with my potential new site.
Right now, here are a few pictures from my last batch of at-home photos.
Kitty Barack and Kitty Magneto! THEY ARE SO CUTE.
Me with Tyrone, the most BA of all cats.
Mom & I at BURGER BARGE
Dad & I, also at Burger Barge. I mean, BURGER BARGE.
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