We're not in Kansas anymore

Well, I have made it to the Dominican Republic and finished one full week of training! Things have been incredibly busy, our schedule is laid out for us and has been jam-packed every day. The staging sessions in Miami were a lot of fun and it was great to meet all of the new faces I will surely get to know too well. To the left is a picture of me with Christina from Seattle in the Miami airport.

Lacking sleep from having to get up at 4:00am for my initial flight and never getting the chance to sleep in caught up to me very quickly, and by the time we arrived in the DR I was exhausted. I had a hard time keeping up with the rest of our busy week! Emotions have been up and down since, but I think that just comes with the territory.

We started in a retreat center in Santo Domingo, where we had some medical and program briefings. This was the day we first received our mosquito nets and malaria medications, two un-fun essentials. Here is Emily (from Massachusetts) attempting to mount our mosquito nets for the first time. We had our first taste of Dominican food here as well. Some people love it, I think its OK but I worry about getting sick of rice and beans every day for two years!

After our initial retreat we headed to the training center, where we will spend our first month and last two weeks of training. It is a nice compound on the outskirts of Santo Domingo, fitted with fruit trees of all types and cute little lizards running around everywhere. I was lucky to be placed with a family who lives pretty close to the center, I have a short 10 minute walk each morning and afternoon.

I live with a great family. There is the mother, or "Dona" of the house, father (of the younger daughter) "Don" Antonio, 17 year old daughter Ray, and a six year old girl named Lizbeth. They are very nice and treat me special in their house. At dinner, I sit at the head of the table and have the biggest plate. They also give me the most food, though I can't always eat it!

The house it quite different from what I am used to in many ways. Electricity is out half of the time, it usually comes on around 8:00 or 9:00 in the evening and goes on in the morning. This is fine, as it keep the fan on during the night! (The title "The Muggy Years" is more than accurate, the heat and humidity have been almost unbearable!) Water is also not always reliable, it has been off a couple of times. There is no shower or bath, instead we have a bucket of water and a smaller container that we use to scoop the water and pour it over us. The water is cold, but it is so hot here that I really need it to cool down my body temperature. Here are pictures of my host mother and sister at the training center the day we met, a "classroom" at the training center, my little sister Lizbeth (she's all over me all the time!), and my bedroom with my mosquito net:

There are also some obvious differences between my new neighborhood and life back home. First, there is noise ALL of the time. Latin music is always blaring from stores, homes, or car windows. A common form of transportation is the "carro publico", which is like a taxi. My first experience with one was quite interesting - my host mother met me at the school to take me home to her house. A taxi pulled up, but it was already full. No matter! Four people in the back and two in the passengers seat is the norm here. Here is Iosefa, another trainee, stacked in the back seat of a taxi as we had our first transportation lesson (an actual part of the class!).

There is so much to tell, but its hard to put it all into a nice neat message! I hope you enjoy reading, now that I know how to access the Internet I'll be keeping up with my posts!

Hasta la proxima - Until next time

Joan (Juanita - people seem to like that better than Juana. And Lord knows they can't pronounce my real name!)