11/7 - SoMe InDePenDeNcE + a hint of guidance = A lot of awsomeness

Today was a good day. Paul and I went to visit a fellow volunteer in a campo about 30minutes from us. We attended Joanna’s community center inauguration reception, which was absolutely amazing. It was so inspiring and motivating to see the fruits of her two year long labor. It was also heart warming to see her interact with her community. It was apparent how close they have grown and how well she integrated over the course of two years. It is hard to imagine that one day, two years from now, I will be in a similar situation. I just hope my community grows to love and adore me as much as Loma Verde loves Joanna!
Today was the first day since I have been at my site that I have felt free and independent. As silly as that sounds when I say it aloud, its true. Since I’ve been here, I have constantly been surrounded by a neighbor, a host family member, a kid, a friend of a neighbor, a family member of a host family member, a friend of a neighbor, etc. I have been walked or driven everywhere and have been accompanied at home any time that I have been perceived me to be lonely. Its been a great experience because I have met tons of people that way, but it has also made me appreciate the little things that I have done for myself for so long like: go to the store, prepare a meal, or just go for a walk.
But today was different. Paul and I walked down the road until we found a shady spot to wait for our camioneta or gua gua, and just waited…and waited…and waited. We actually waited 2 hours until our camioneta passed by. It was great. We hopped on the back of the pick- up truck and joined the 6 passengers that were already seated. One of them immediately knew where we were going. “Vas a donde Joa verdad,? Ella es amiga mia.” It is amazing how the people of the community get to know us and look out for us. Once we made it to our stop, Paul and I decided that we would opt out of the motor ride and walk the loma verde instead. The hill that everyone warned would be way too long to walk turned out to be a serene 15 minute walk. Once we made it to the community, before we got a chance to realize that we couldn’t find Joa’s house, a man standing outside his colmado walked us right to her doorstep. Paul and I had made it! On our own - with a little guidance from our Dominican friends of course – but overall, on our own.

*a week-in review*
It’s crazy to think that I have been at my site for a week now. So many different emotions have circulated through my inner being in the past 7 days, whenever I stop and try to make sense of it, it just gets more confusing. The emotional rollercoaster has been quite a ride, but I am thankful for every dip because it makes the high points that much more meaningful. Even though I have learned and grown so much since I arrived, I feel like this past week has been a special growing period in my life. My mental and emotional states have been challenged and pushed to greater heights. It’s a great feeling to be able to surpass those challenges and look down at them from the top. It is also reassuring because it gives me the confidence to know that despite any challenges that may arise, in the end, I will make it through.

And then there were FOUR

Written on 11.6
And then there were 4
Today I rode a moto with three other people. That’s right, not 1,not 2, but 3! Its actually pretty normal here.Nairobi (host sister’s bf), me, Nicol (9 yr old from the community and drawing buddy), and Michel (host sister) fit perfectly on Nairobi’s motor. According to everyone, its totally normal for 5 people to be on all at once! Even though I am not a fan of the motor, I strapped on my helmet, sucked it up, and took the ride as an adventurous journey!

Times in the campo 11/5/09

Written on November 5, 2009

I know that it has been a lifetime since I have written and so much has happened since Times in Constanza. I am finally at my site. I have been here for not even a full week yet. My campo is really beautiful and everyone is really supportive and hospitable. I have already met tons of people and youth and I meet more every day. But before I get into that, just a quick recap of the last 5 weeks of my life.

My time spent in Constanza was great. The night before it was time for us to go, we had a despedida where the volunteers and the community gathered together for a farewell party. It was a really fun night with food, music, and tears! I am really going to miss my host family there and allof the amazing people that I met. But I also know that I am going to visit them whenver possible so that makes me feel a bit better. Swearing in was the next big event before finally moving into our sites. It was a really nice ceremony which in a way, made all of this real. It marked the beginning of another step in our peace corps lives. We are no longer trainees. We are no longer following a structured schedule, and we are no longer all together. Everyone is at their site, marching to the beat of their own drum. This still doesn’t feel quite real to me. Once again I am in twilight zone mode where it has yet to occur to me that I am going to be living and working in this community for the next two years. The same thing happened to me when I got to constanza. It wasn’t until half way through week 2 that I realized the reality of this all. I’ll admit, it was quite a scary realization. But somewhere between swearing in and now, I have falllen back into that surreal life mode. I expect that sometime next week, reality will strike again.

So now I am sure you are all curious about my campo. Well, it is about 30minutes away from Santo Domingo (by car), 2 hours away by public transportation. It Is really green with lots of fruit trees and greenery everywhere. Every house has a nice back yard with avocado, coconut, cherry, platano, mango, and orange trees. It really is pretty amazing. Some people have entire land plots (un parcel) where they grow just about every fruit or vegetable you could think of. Walking by the house one would never imagine that behind it, there is land that stretches out hundreds of square feet. There is one main road in my community which is mainly occupied by motoconchos. I am close to a river, although right now it is just emptiness. It fills up during the heavy rainy season and becomes really dangerous because it interferes with the road that people take to enter/exit the community. There is a cancha (basketball court) for the kids to play, but other than that there is no other recreational outlet for the youth. But hopefully that will change soon.

The youth of my campo are all really excited and motivated to get projects started. They are all really excited to learn english especially. The girls are also enthusiastic about forming a volleyball team. I already got a solid 10 girls that want to play so Volleyball should begin in 1-2 weeks, si dios quiere, as they say here in the DR.

My main focus/purpose these first three months however is just to get to know my community and integrate as much as possible. I am responsible for conducting an assessment of the community to identify its priorities, strengths, and needs. It will also help me get better acquainted to the people and will serve as my baseline to identify future project areas. Once I have completed my diagnostic, I will have a much better understanding of the communities needs and priorities, which will allow me to work alongside them effectively.

There is so much work to be done and so many people are depending on me. Sometimes it is a bit overwhelming. On top of that, trying to adjust to a totally new and different environment with new people and customs, is no easy task. Luckily, everyone has been super supportive of me. But still, even with that, its just hard sometimes. Life for me right now really is a rollercoaster. Even though I expected this to be difficult at times, I guess I really didn’t know what to expect or just how difficult it would be. Just being around my host family is bittersweet. On one hand its great because they’re great and do everything to make sure that I feel comfortable and like part of the family. But on the other hand, I sit outside the house with my host mom, my host sister, and my other host sister who has a 7month old daughter and talk and listen as they drink coffee, eat crackers, and look over store magazines for specials and it makes me think of my own family back in the states and how much I miss everyone. I am really grateful Peace Corps gives us cell phones and that I have a powerful signal where I am so that I can talk to my family everyday.

As for everyone else who perhaps didn’t know that I I have a cell phone, now you do so I hope that everyone will get a calling card and call ! I even have texting.

My schedule here is so different than our schedule at technical training. Every day I wake up about 9am to 2 little girls who just wait for me so that I can play with them. Nicol and Nicauri are 7 and 9 but they are two main reasons why I wake up and my day starts off so well every morning. Seeing their smiling faces and the excitement in their eyes when they see me just makes my day. I always bring out some markers and paper and we draw together usually for 2 hours until it is time for them to go to school. Then I usually eat lunch, talk with the host family a bit, and then walk over to one of the neighboring houses to talk to people who I havent met yet. After that I will come back home, sleep for an hour, read over some diagnostic materials, and then visit some more houses and just chit chat for 2, sometimes 3 hours at a time. Then I return home again, read a book ( currently reading “Como agua para chocolate,”), or write in my journal. Sometimes some girls will stop by and we’ll sit in the galeria and talk or walk around the community. Everyone is so sweet here. I never leave someones home without them giving me a bag of fruit or some sort. Today I received “jagua.” Yesterday it was bananas . I wonder what tomorrow will be.

Well that’s a recap of how life in the campo has been. Today has been a pretty good day so far. Although Nicol and Nicauri are in the mist of an argument so I didn’t get my double dose of happiness this morning. Hopefully tomorrow things will be back to normal. Also, tomorrow my host sister and I are going to do some exercise. We are supposed to leave at 7:30am. We’ll see how that goes! I hope everyone is doing great and that life is treating you all swell! I really do miss you all!

Love Valerie

MORE PHOTOS! :) Kind of out of order ... :)

Eating at a local place at EL Conde in Santo Dom. (Kind of a throw back picture now)

My Constanza host family!

Crossing the teenie tiny bridge...

Times in Constanza

About half of the group. The other half was resting after the 300 steps (not an exaggeration!!) we had to climb. This photo makes me realize how small I really am.

Me, Spring, and Gitana!

Donny with his host brother and my host sister, Gali

I cannot believe that I have been in Constanza for a week already! Constanza is everything that people said it would be. In the early morning hours and late at night temperatures drop to as low as 30 and 40 degrees. During the day, there is a constant cool breeze, which I absolutely love. The people here are also really sweet and and endearing. My host family here is really sweet. I have 2 host sisters (one is 13 and the other is 16). We get along really well and often have talent shows and sing along to Selena and Michael Jackson. Yesterday some volunteers and I went to the basketball courts to play basketball with one of the youth groups. Jenny and I were the only females playing so we were representing the ladies!

Last week my group and I presented our community diagnostic. I thought it went really well and it got me excited for the weeks to come. My group and I will be working with an eco-club for the duration of the time that we will be in Costanza. The group, though really small, (only 3 members) is really .

Last week, a bunch of us went to La Presa ( a river).We had to cross over tons of rocks and a really sketchy bridge to get there, but it was lots of fun. The water was freezing cold, but the spot was really beautiful and not to mention really really clean.

The river was surrounded by moutains and tons of green which just made it somewhere to relax and enjoy nature!

Here are some photos of the river trip !

Here are some photos of my volunteer visit to the Batey. Enjoy!

the kids and I in front of Alison´s home

Me and Olgah, Alison´s project partner.

Off to Constanza

Today marked the end of CORE training for our group of 48 aspiring PCV´s. Tomorrow we will begin CBT where we will spend the next 5 weeks with other members of our program (in my case YOUTH). I am really excited about living in Constanza for 5 weeks because I have heard nothing but wonderful things about it. Mountains, cooler climate, fresh fruits, waterfalls, etc. Finally, after hearing so much about it, myself along with the other 15 youth development promoters will finally be in Constanza. We will be introduced to our new host families, meet our youth groups, and begin working more specifically in terms of youth and community development. Not to mention, we will get a break from this HEAT! I have been told that the barrio we will be living in will have internet accessibility to I will definitely update you all once I am there!