10/24

I just returned from my 5 day site visit.  Riding into my campo for the first time was absolutely breath taking.  I hope I can paint somewhat of a picture for you through my words.  So I get off the guagua in the middle of nowhere, with literally all of my belongings in tow…80 plus pounds worth of my life stuffed into two bags.  My moto driver throws my giant duffle over his handle bars, as I hop on the back with my hiking backpack.  We take off down the dirt road, flying by sugar cane, fields of cows, men on horses, rolling hills, palm trees, and brightly painted beautiful wood houses.  Of course everyone is out in their front yards, staring as the gringa with blonde hair flying wildly out of her awkwardly oversized motorcycle helmet, rolls into town for the very first time.

The family that I will be living with for the first three months is great.  My dona (Maria) is probably 70 and absolutely adorable.  Her daughter (Lolita) and granddaughter (Leslie) also live in the house.  It is a really nice house; I will without a doubt be down-grading when I have to find my own place.  Lolita taught me how to cook some Dominican food one afternoon and also showed me around some of the places in the community.  She is great, and she is planning on being involved with my health promoter group in the future!

The first night that I arrived, I was led to my project partner’s house…where the local youth group (Escojo Mi Vida – “I choose my life”) had set up a surprise party for me!  They even jumped out from behind a welcome sign and all that jazz.  We danced the night away (I’m going to be one hell of a dancer when I come home – not that I wasn’t already).  Working with the Escojo initiative is within my job description.  I’ll explain more about that once I actually start that work in February.

Over the next few days, I was busy busy busy.  I visited the school, where I got awkwardly dragged into each classroom and introduced.  Visited the clinic, and the next town over (about a 30 minute walk).  Went to several meetings.  Oh and did I mention, I live right next to a river!  We went swimming one day, too.  Well…I went swimming.  The whole day, everyone was asking if I knew how to swim.  When I said ‘yes,’ they were impressed.  When I told them I was on a swim team when I was kid, they were astonished.  It’s incredible that we’re on an island, and most people don’t know how to swim….perhaps I just discovered a secondary project.

One day, I went to Jabonico, which is about an hour moto ride away.   I claim to love motos, and I do for about the first 15 minutes, after that it’s a pain in the ass (literally).  Anyways, I visited two current volunteers that are COS’ing (close of service).  They had a graduation for a group of health promoters that they had trained over the past year.  I will be continuing with this group of promoters, as well as training a second group closer to my community.  With this part of my service, I will be working in conjunction with a local NGO called Fusabi.

Now for the most awkward 2.5 hours of my life.  I apologize if this is offensive; I do recognize that I probably shouldn’t write about this, but when has that ever even come close to stopping me…

My last night in my site, people kept asking me if I wanted to go to the youth night at the church.  We all know church isn’t my first option for a Saturday night (sorry mom and dad), but I said yes, thinking it was some sort of youth group, that I should make an appearance/get involved, and was secretly hoping that there would be snacks.  Boy was I off.  I accidentally ended up at an evangelical service.  The kids were running it that night.  As if I didn’t stick out enough just being the only rubia within a 20 miles radius, but here I am sitting silently, surrounded by people screaming, crying, clapping, dancing, etc.  At one point, a lady grabbed me, pulled me out of my chair, started jumping around and screaming prayers in Spanish so hard that she was spitting on me (here comes the Cholera).  I was essentially crying on the inside for these 2.5 hours…yep 2.5 hours.  And there weren’t even snacks.  As crazy as it was, it was at this point that I realized how truly different (and at times, very very awkward) my life is now.  I started thinking…I wonder what my friends back home are doing right now at 9pm on a Saturday night…definitely not this, that’s for sure…

Oh well, one and only appearance made in the evangelical church at my site.  Complete.

Overall, I loved my site.  I can’t wait to get back there on Friday for good!  I’m excited to finally be able to unpack and to start getting to know everyone!