And so it is...

The range and intensity of emotion this past week has been extreme, preparing for an entirely new life while clinging desperately onto that which is comfortable and familiar. We got back from our site visits a little shaken and overwhelmed. Reality was hitting us and it was a little hard to take it all in at once. It was refreshing to know that most of the other trainees were having the same feelings that I was, uncertain of everything, not being able to comprehend the two full years that lay before us.

The first few days back in the capital were a venting session for all of us, letting out our fears and frustrations and talking it through to mentally prepare ourselves for the day we would leave to begin our service. After a few more nuts-and-bolts sessions with training, we were finished. We made it through three months of training. My spanish is at about an intermediate-advanced level now, and I know a whole lot more about working with youth and groups.

It was time to swear in, to take the official oath to serve my country, the same oath that all government employees take, military, etc. I have agreed to defend my country against all enemies, so watch out Michael Moore! (Just kidding, you know I love you ; ) Here we are taking the oath:

The rest of the week was our last chance to have fun and spend time with friends before we were off on our own to go to our sites. It was really hard to go from having friends around every day and always someone to turn to if you needed to talk, to think about being on your own, with friends spread out across the country in remote places far away, most without easy access to communication, not knowing if you'd even see them again. Of course, we won't be "alone" in our sites, there will be locals around, but its not the same. They don't understand us or know what we're going through, and I'm just not advanced enough to talk about my feelings in Spanish. The first month will probably be the hardest as we figure things out, then it should start picking up from there.

Meanwhile, it really started to hit us after swearing in that we were seeing our friends for the last time in a long time. I just wanted to hold on to them and not let go, I really was afraid to be by myself! We kept our schedules packed to avoid thinking about leaving, and doing as much as we could together. There was a fun party at our trainer Laura's house after swearing in, and events each day and night until we were scheduled to leave on Sunday.

Of course, this past Thursday was Thanksgiving Day. Luckily it was not a sad day for me, as its hard to accept the fact that its Thanksgiving when the weather still feels like summer and there are no cardboard Turkey's or gourds decorating front doors. If I didn't have a calendar I would have had no idea what day it was. The Peace Corps organized a party for all of the volunteers, a full day filled with sports, food, and lots of dancing. I made it to second or third rounds of the Merengue and Bachata dancing contests, but didn't win. (Its hard to compete against those who have had a year or two more of practice!) However, our youth training group choreographed a dance for the talent show that evening, and I must say we tore the roof off. I was one of the organizers of the dance group, entitled "Sparkle Motion", which we arranged to the 80's classic "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood ("Frankie says RELAX!"). It was a huge hit, here we are in action:

Yes, John Travolta floor and all. The cheesier the better. A visit to the Hard Rock Cafe that night was a welcome relief from typical Dominican fare and scenery. Friday was an all volunteer conference, meeting more volunteers, including those that live in my region. That night I went to a local baseball game, a Santo Domingo team vs. my team in the north, or Cibao region, called the Aguilas, or eagles. My team won, of course. It was a lot of fun, cheap seats and crazy fans the whole time. Remember, this is where the US teams get some of their best players!

That night was a club night, too packed and loud but got to see many people for the last time. Saturday a bunch of us were paniced at being on our own so we met up in the city, went to a Middle eastern restaurant and stayed at a hotel. The anticipation was worse than the event itself, Sunday came and I came to my site, and though still a bit nervous I'm getting to work and settling in. Plus, we have things to look forward to, like Christmas and New Years parties, so it is not solitary confinement by any means.

So, here I am! Its nice to actually get started working. Wish me luck, I wish you all the best.
Joan

My first days not speaking English

This is it - the beginning of the end of my good English. Even after only speaking Spanish for part of each day over the last three months, it has already become so much worse. And as of yesterday, I have yet to speak English! (except to the dog.) This is the week we are making our official visits to our sites. We are assigned project partners, who came to meet us in Santo Domingo this past Tuesday and brought us to our new homes. Its been a stressful time, making first impressions with the people I will be working and living with for the next two years. I've got a lot of pressure, as my site has hosted trainees over the past three years, which introduced them to a lot of great volunteers, so I've got a lot to live up to. There is a big long list of things they want me to do throughout my service, its a bit daunting to see it all there written out like that, but I'll do what I can. The first three months will be spent doing a diagnostic of the community, to get to know more about it and its people, and to help determine which projects are the top priorities. During that time I'll be living with a host family. I'm staying with them now and have already decorated my room! Its nice to have pictures of home up on the walls. Here is my new family, I can't call them host "parents" because I'm six months older than the "mom", so I'll say my host brother and sister Julio and Jenny, with their new dog Toby:

Here is Jenny with her adorable son, Jose Miguel:
...and their home (my room is at the front, behind the white windows):

The living room - a couch!

Its a nice quiet neighborhood and comfortable town. It is small enough to walk around the main area in 20 minutes, but big enough to have around 15,000 people! (many of whom live in small communities outside the main center.) Its hard to believe there are so many people here because it really has that small-town feel. Though, if I need anything like Internet, a grocery store, etc, I can just come here to Nagua, a short ten-minute ride on a moto.

After a long night of packing that last night in Santo Domingo, I got up early the next day to move my luggage and meet my new partners in the capital's center. We had some meetings and information sessions, then took a long, uncomfortable ride in a pick up truck back to where I will be living. The trip from the capital to my site took about 5 hours, and by the time we arrived I just wanted to go to bed. But no! Not only was I meeting my new host family, but they had a big welcoming party there waiting for me. Everyone was really excited to meet me, it was really sweet, but it took a lot out of me to keep the energy up for that long! I've been catching up from it since then and now I'm worried that my family thinks I'm lazy because I sleep too much. Oh well, what can you do. They'll get to know me eventually.

So, this is it, I head back to the capital Sunday for my last week of training! We have three more days of information, then our "swearing-in" ceremony on Wednesday night, where we are officially welcomed as volunteers for the Peace Corps. After that its Thanksgiving (my first away from home : ( They do a special dinner and party for all of the volunteers in country), and an all-volunteer conference that Friday. On that weekend we move in officially! Its life as a Dominican now, no more American friends to run to, we're on our own from here on out. Scary! Wish me luck.

Joan

The Eye of the Tiger

I'd like to share with you a part of dominican culture which I experience throughout every day - TIGRES. "Tigers" in english, pronounced "TEE-ge-rays" in spanish, are the bain of my exsistence. As an american I stand out as being an outsider as soon as I leave my house. A walk down the street creates stares and reactions from most whom I pass. However, it is the official responsibility of these tigres to comment, whistle, or hiss at you as you pass.

A tigre is any man who makes it a point to know that he notices you. They give you that look like they are picturing you naked, which sends uncomfortable chills up your spine. Many of these tigres hang out on street corners such as these men pictured here, just waiting for an innocent victim to walk by.

Hissing is a common way to try to get someone's attention here. Sometimes the hissing sounds like the common, "PSSSSSSST", when other times it is more like the way my parent´s described kids in their Catholic school upbringing, trying to get the teacher´s attention – "SSSSSST! SSSSSST!" Either way its irritating and I try to ignore it, though they actually think that I want their attention. If you were walking with a Dominican woman and a guy was hissing at you, she´d give you a nudge-nudge and a wink-wink and say, "Wow, you are one lucky girl!" In reality the guys are the lucky ones, lucky that I don´t bash them over the head with my water bottle!

Alas, we´re in a pretty busy area right now, so the tigre attention is much more than in smaller areas. From what I hear about my site, it is very small and everyone knows you, so they will not cat call or hiss at you in the street. Until then, here are some common calls I get from tigres in the streets:

"Hey Rubia!" = Hey Blondie
"Hola Americana!" = American girl
"I love jew!" = lame attempt at "I love you"
"Mi Amor!" = My love

I've even had a marriage proposal. Usually I just ignore it and it rolls off my back, but sometimes I'm just not in the mood and it really gets on my nerves. When I can control my reaction I might come back with something like, "But I don't love you!". You'd think this was mainly the young 20-somethings doing the calling, but it is all men, young and old. Sometimes a little boy will say something and all I can respond with is, "you're 12!" There are also dads with their young daughters who will stop to comment, so you can see how the girls learn that this behavior is OK. The creme of the crop was when I was walking by a group of guys, one of them sitting with a girl in his lap. This guy actually called to me while I passed, and I just pointed to the girl and said, "You can't be serious, you already have a girl in your lap!" They just laughed. (I didn't actually know the word for "lap", but it was close enough.)

Do what you can to avoid them, it doesn't matter. They'll still call, and they'll still whistle, whether you ignore them, smile politely, or try to come back with a clever remark. Nothing will stop them from doing it the next time. For example, Dominican men think that American women are cold, and by ignoring them in the street we are just proving to them that we are cold and we need their dominican lovin' to warm us back up. There's no escape.

Alas, we can laugh at it. They are truly harmless, they just want your attention.

Halloween, Dominican Style

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! Halloween here is not as it is in the states. Some people kind-of know what it is, and they might use the excuse to have a party, but they aren´t really sure what to do. My host brothers have heard of it but also didn´t know why we dress up, etc., so I tried to explain it to them as best I could, plugging Salem and Danvers references whenever possible.

However, we are Americans down here and we know damn well that Halloween is a fun time, and we weren´t going to be jipped of our special day! We decided to get together this past Saturday in honor of Halloween. I ended up being the only one in costume: what I did was hilarious (to us), though its pretty exclusive to Peace Corps Dominican Republic humor. I have to explain, and when you know you have to explain a joke it can´t be that funny. Anyway...

1. In this country a main form of public transportation is the ¨motoconcho¨, or a motorbike ride. As Peace Corps volunteers we are required to wear helmets any time we use a motoconcho, which for me is usually a couple of times per week.
2. Women in this country are always working on their hair, trying their darndest to keep it as straight as possible. To do this, they often put their hair in rollers, and are seen everywhere walking around in public with large rollers on their heads.

So, I wore my helmet with rollers and a hair net. That´s the joke. Doesn´t quite have the same effect when I write it out like this, but here are the pictures, see for yourself:

I walked around Nagua like it was nothing, like I often walk around wearing my helmet covered in rollers. People stared and laughed as I passed, and I tried my hardest not to crack a smile. I was the ONLY ONE dressed up in the entire city. I even danced in club with the helmet, my friends were mortified.

The thing is, here, I am always weird, because I´m american and hence different from the norm here in the DR. I stick out like a sore thumb with my glowing white skin and increasingly blonde hair. It doesn´t really matter what I do when I am in public, because all they really see is the skin and hair. I´ve gotten in the habit of walking around in socks and sandals, and even tight-rolled my pants the other day (to keep them from dragging on the dirty ground), but it doesn´t matter because I´m always different so no one cares. I feel FREE in a way, I can do any silly thing I want and I´ll still get catcalls in the street! More on that later...

We also had to do something for Halloween night itself, so we found a TV and DVD player, and with a little luck the lights stayed on and we watched Donnie Darko, an appropriate movie for the evening. Those that had seen it loved it and the others were just confused.

Coming soon: ¨Tigres, not just an animal in Asia¨; and, ¨My life with bugs¨