*Aguinaldos + Hospital Visits + Public Transportation = (OnE LoNg DaY!*)

Here in the campos of the Dominican Republic, during Christmas time, it is common practice for Catholics to take part in Aguinaldos. This is an event that takes place each morning during the week before Christmas. A group of about 40-50 adults and children gather together their tamboras and guidos (Native instruments)and make their way to a pre chosen household to honor the inhabitants with songs, orations, prayers, and lots of hugs and smiles! Each visit usually follows a theme. For example, according to the scripture, on the 23rd of the month, the church is to dedicate an aguinaldo to a foreigner visiting the country or a pregnant woman. So yesterday at about 3p.m. a young boy came by the house to let my host family and I know that at 5 am the next morning the aguinaldo was going to be held at our house! We were going to host the aguinaldo! Yup,thats right, the aguinaldo was going to be in my honor! And what an honor it was!

Later that night I helped my host mom and sister make the te de jengibere (ginger tea)that we would brindar (offer) to the group at the end of the aguinaldo. By helped, I mean I watched, asked questions, and took photos ! I learned that at every aguinaldo,it is tradition to compartir (share) ginger tea (with chocolate mixed in! yum!) and crackers. Ginger tea is very common here, especially during December because it helps alleviate people from being cold. I watched as my host mom filled the giant pot with water, limoncillo leaves, orange tree leaves, and ginger. She then put it over the stove to boil and later added the chocolate. By the time we went to bed, it was 11:30pm. I put my alarm clock for 4:30am to make sure I didnt miss the big event. My host family assured me that I would hear the tamboras and guidos from far and would surely wake up in time. They were right. At exactly 5am the group was outside our door singing, playing..clapping, waiting for our invitation to come inside. My host dad let me do the honors of opening the door to our guests. One by one they walked in. Some sat down and the rest stood. The event last almost two full hours. The group sang many songs, read scriptures from the bible, and did special prayers in my and Paul's honor. Toward the end, we were even asked to share some Christmas songs from our country. Paul and I sang Jingle Bells and We wish you a Merry Christmas. They were both crowd pleasers :) As the group left the house, they took a cup of te de jenjibere and crackers and went along their merry way. I am glad that I got to experience an Aguinaldo and was extremely honored to have it dedicated to me. It was a really heart warming ceremony that really made me feel welcomed and gave the home that holiday feeling. It was really nice to witness such community solidarity and even more so, it was a honor to be a part of it all...

CLICK ON THE TAB ON THE TOP RIGHT ("The Journey Starts Here") to see photos from the Aguinaldo and some other fun stuff ! :)


Hospital Visits & Public Transportation
Later today I met up with Julia (a fellow volunteer from Germany)in the pueblo of San Cristobal for brunch. As we ate our grilled cheese sandwiches and sipped on our coffee and hot chocolate, I got a call from another volunteer who wanted to know if I would like to join her to Santo Domingo to pay a visit to the families we stayed with during our first month in country. I thought it would be a great idea and I would also take advantage of the trip to visit PCV Miguel at the clinic, who has been sick with pnemounia since Monday. Poor guy will be spending Christmas Eve in the hospital :( After my hospital visit, Gitana and I made our way over to our old barrio in Santo Domingo and spend the later evening there. At 5pm we made our way back to SAn Cristobal so that we would make it before nightfall. To save time, instead of going all the way to the peace corps office and taking the bus to san cristobal from there, we followed the instructions that our family in the barrio gave us which would be more convenient from our location. Two carro publicos later we ended up at Pintura, a bus stop where every bus passed by except the one we wanted! After waiting a bit and asking around, we learned that Bus Ruta A San Cristobal does not stop there. There were other buses that head to San Cristobal, but not to the part of town that i needed to get to. Finally a bus stopped with a sign that read "RA San Cristobal." It didnt say the usual Expresso Ruta A San Cristobal that we are used to, but it was close enough! Before hopping on the bus Gitana and I asked the cobrador if the route stopped at her stop and later mine. "Para en el PArque de San Cristobal?" I asked. The cobrador said yes and Gigi and I hopped on. About 5 minutes later...the entire front half of the bus started arguing with the cobrador for telling me that the bus stopped there when that route in fact did not stop at the park of San Cristobal. At this point I had about 5 Dominicans telling me alternate routes to take in order to get to the park, and though perhaps at some other point in my life I would have panicked right at that moment, after being here for 4 months I have just learned to flow with the waves...because everything always works out...one way or another. The Dominicans were genuinely more worried for me than I was. Thank you, you caring souls! In his defense, the cobrador wasnt completely flawed. The bus did stop at Gitanas stop. So after she got off, it was just me, my Dominican bus companions, and the lying cobrador. By this time it was about 6:15pm and it was getting dark. I'll admit the approachind nightfall made me a bit nervous since i had no idea where this bus would acutally leave me in relation to where i actually needed to be, but I just left it "en las manos de dios" (in gods hands) and listned as 3 Dominicans continued to bad mouth the cobrador for lying to me and trying to figure out the easist way for me to get where i needed to go. Finally, we came to a stop at the side of the highway. Outside was a line of 3 motos. The cobrador told me to take one of the motos to the park and I would get there within 5 minutes. As I walked off the bus, a young woman got off with me and told me that it wasnt a good idea to take the moto there and told me that she and her husband would drive me to wherever i needed to go........ Holy angels, they do exist! At this point I was both thankful and a bit apprehensive and even a bit confused by this woman's kind gesture. She had clearly been going home from a day at work, she didnt know me and driving me to my stop was clearly out of her and her husbands way, but still, she was doing me that favor. She and I talked a bit as we made our way to her apartment. She explained to her husband what happend and how the mean cobrador lied to me and my other american friend so that we would get on the bus and now i was far away of where i actually needed to be. And then with no questions asked he grabbed his keys and we headed toward the car. Pretty much The car ride i expressed my thanks and told them how they really were two angels. My this time it was almost 7pm and I was just hoping that there would still be carro publicos going toward my campo at that time. I have never taken a carro public past 5:30pm so this was risking it. When the nice couple dropped me off at the stop, there it was, a carro publico just waiting for one more passenger before it drove off. I thanked the nice couple again and got on my carro publico. I made it home safe and sound by 7pm. So even though I took the wrong bus and was lied to by a corrupted cobrador, I did learn an alternate way to make it to San Cristobal and I was filled with joy to be in a country where there are caring people with pure intentions looking out for me. You see...didn't I say everything always works out in the end? ;)

More Photos ! !

Hi there! These photos document my initial site visit to my campo in San Cristobal, Swearing In, and me just out and about at the campo! Enjoy! Peace

PC DR I'm A Real Volunteer Now! Site Visit, Swearing In, My time at my site!

Essence

Here she is!

Happy December!

Written 11.25.2009
Thanksgiving…new puppies…and experiences…
I have been looking forward to Thanksgiving week for 21 days and it is finally here! Though it did not start off as I had anticipated, that doesn’t mean it isn’t going to be a great 4 days. Indeed I lost my Peace Corps best friend to the states and it will be hard adjusting to not having that one person to talk to every night that can understand and relate to everything that I am feeling and saying. Still, somehow I know that I will learn and grow from this and add it to the long list of Peace Corps- DR experiences that have and continue to challenge me, and essentially, at the end of the day, help me become just a little bit stronger… wiser…
Which brings me to Essence! My new puppy! This morning while I was taking care of some errands at the PC office, a fellow PCV came in with a cage full of puppies that she brought from her site to save them from being someone’s campo dinner. In the midst of puppy cage havoc full of varying volumes of barking and aimless attempts to escape from the cage, one puppy abstained from this behavior. Not only was she the smallest of the bunch, but as the rest of them barked and moved around in all sorts of directions, in the background laid a teeny tiny honey colored pup, tranquil as can be.
I took her out of the cage and held her in my arms. Something just felt right about this. Even though I wanted to tell Kaitlin at that instant that she had one less puppy to find an owner for, I withdrew from my impulse and told her that I would let her know by the afternoon. As I made my way to the computer lab upstairs my mind was already thinking of possible names for her. Only one name really came to mind – ESSENCE – the very soul, spirit, and fundamental nature of someone; or something. Most of us spend our entire lives trying to figure out and solve…to really understand why something is the way it is.
Reaching that moment of “Ah” – and successfully breaking down the subject matter, whatever it may be (love, life, yourself, calculus problem, etc) down to its core – is rewarding. Challenging?
Yes…impossible? No such thing
So, my mission here for the next two years (for the rest of my life really) is to search inward, outward, and all around to reach the essence of everything that I will do here. I will do so openly and humbly.
Essence came into my life at a very crucial point in my service. Sometimes I think that I may need her more than she needs me. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!



Happy December
Written December 1 2009
Whoa… I have been at my site for one month now! Its December! just yesterday it was Thanksgiving. Time…you just fly by! Two days ago I went to La Sirena to get Essence her bed and some shampoo. She is so smart. She goes straight to her bed whenever shes tired or is going to sleep. I am trying to train her not to bite my toes (she really likes to do that!) and that she can’t sleep with me on my bed. This morning she barked and scratched so that I would pick her up and have her lay with me. I didn’t let her and now I think she is upset with me. I opened the door this morning and she refused to leave the room. Every time I’d walk into the room shed get up from her bed and her body away from me. I hope she doesn’t stay upset too long.
Today I am working on my seasonal calendar and community map with the help from my community partners. Yesterday was such a weird day. I didn’t want to do anything. I didn’t want to see or speak to anyone here. I just wanted to be alone…with Essence of course! It’s crazy how one day can be so low and the next day can be great. Today I am feeling a lot better. I feel good, motivated, and ready to work. I will admit, it has been a little rough getting used to my site again after being in the capital for 4 days. Everything was so comfortable there. Being with all of the other volunteers just made me feel at home. When I arrived back to my campo on Saturday, it was almost like starting anew again. Which let me just say, is not a good feeling. But I am glad to say that I am getting back into the groove of things again.
I am really just trying to change my outlook on this experience. All along I haven’t been looking at this as my job. I’ve been so busy just trying to adjust and get by without totally stressing out that I have lost sight of my purpose here. I am here to help the community by creating sustainable development through English/arts/etc classes, presentations on health issues (and other issues), sports clubs, and other educational and social activities. I am here not only to teach people, but to learn from them. I am here to listen to what they need to make their community better and do everything in my power to help make that happen. My community wants English classes, a youth center, arts classes, help with documentation, a sala de tarea, a girl’s group, an Escojo group, a reading club, and oh yea, they want to build a community center! I am excited that they are so motivated to help with the progress of their community but sometimes it just feels like they forget that I am just one person and that development is a time consuming process, which doesn’t happen overnight. Sometimes I have to remind myself of all of this as well. Today, I see clearly. I feel good, I feel comfortable with why I am here, and optimistic about all I will do. I’ll just end with saying that Peace Corps wasn’t lying when they said this would be the hardest job we’ll ever love.