The Past Week

So I am working on sharing what my days actually look like here in the D.R. I just posted some photos on facebook too so check those out.

Last week, I headed down to the capital because the tendonitis in my hand started swelling up again. Once again I must say that the med staff of PCDR is amazing, they truly look out for me. I was able to see a specialist and have a treatment all in the same day. I am not supposed to wear my cast for the next week so hopefully when I try to write (aka study Spanish) I will experience no pain!

I live pretty far up north and while I'm def around some amazing people, all of my girls live around the capital so I def tried to take advantage of being down there. So I was able to eat lunch with my girls (and despite all the chicken and rice I get in my site, I still ordered fried chicken and rice smh) catch up on life in their sites and express some of my thoughts and feelings about some upcoming projects. This Peace Corps experience is so much more gratifying and rewarding knowing that I have the support of amazing people who are going through the same emotions as me.

This past weekend there was a huge celebration (of the patronales) in Monte Plata where youth volunteers had CBT. Of course, I loved my host family so it was only right to head back to Monte Plata for the celebrations and spend a little quality time with the fam. It was absolutely everything I could have hoped for. The first day that I arrived, we had a huge spread of my favorite foods and they have Gatorade uva and peanut butter waiting for me. (my peanut butter cravings in this country are starting to get out of hand). I got to catch up with my family; sit, reflect, and unwind on my favorite porch in the D.R.; and spend time with my abuela (who lost her mother in December) so it was nice to just hug her and listen to her because she is still dealing with her loss.

In the afternoon, we headed to the park to check out the horse races. While I'm not sure if there was ever supposed to be a horse race, we did see a presidential candidate ride by in a carriage several times. It was fun to see my brother and sister, as well as other youth we worked with in Monte Plata riding horses and enjoying the day. Maybe next year I will actually ride a horse, I couldn't work up the nerve this time around.

The next day Danny, Malika, Hillary and me walked around to visit all of our youth group's doñas so that everyone felt the love. Making rounds in this country is long and tiring but always well worth it. Also, my favorite Peace Corps employee ever, Veronica, came in the afternoon and it was great to catch up with her.

We left Monte Plata and headed over to Sabana Grande de Boya to check out Kali and Dustin's site. The ride from Monte Plata to their site was breathtaking. Beautiful valleys and mountains literally untouched and very clean! It only inspired me to make sure to visit as many volunteer sites as possible. It was wonderful to see them in their element and share their world. We got to check out some of the baseball leagues, we walked around their entire pueblo, checked out Dustin's new home, and had a huge feast at Kali's house compliments of Doña Lydia. It was great!

Another plus to checking out my friends' sites is that it is a good tool for me to continue to gain confidence in my Spanish is to continue to travel and talk to people in different regions as they all have different accents and lingo so I'm excited for the upcoming opportunities.

We have our 3 month in site training at the end of January. At this training, we have to bring a project partner, present the results of our 3 month community and institutional diagnostics, and learn more about DR youth projects and grant opportunities through various presentations. After this training, we are like officially official volunteers and can jump into any projects we want to start in our respective communities.  After that I am helping out with the Peace Corps D.R. 50th Anny and then taking 2 of my girls to the Northern Chicas Brillantes Regional Conference. I am really blessed to have the opportunity to be at the 50th Anny and I am so excited to take some of my girls to a conference because neither of them have done a lot of travelling. So the next 3 weeks will be extremely busy, exciting and rewarding, I'll be sure to take pictures so that you can experience it all with me.