Chugging

(Written March 23, not posted due to technical difficulties)

I know, I know…I said I would be better at writing but then all my projects started rolling and I just haven’t had the time to just sit down and lay out all my thoughts. I also just got over being sick for a week-have a new appreciation for all the American comfort foods like warm soups of all different kinds (Panera, grocery fresh soup bar and Thai Pho). No fun being sick all alone, although my host family did make sure I was okay. With that said, I am just going to get to it.

Yesterday I cruised with my host dad on his motorcycle to some of the poorest little isolated villages in our region. Some Italians had donated money to give some less fortunate families cement flooring. I spent most of the day traveling to these remote sites-so far out there that the children have to walk 10 km to school every day. It made me realize how fortunate I am in my community and at the same time how I want to find a way to reach some of the communities outside my own. Whether it is by choosing a few families to be part of my latrine project or raising more money to put down flooring for some families who literally sleep in the dirt (COST), hopefully I can spread myself a little more toward the more isolated communities that really lack bare necessities. When I first got to my site, I was a little disappointed because I felt like Peace Corps doesn’t send people to places that have the most need. However, I learned that it is hard to be placed in the poorest areas because of the lack of structure and resources in the communities along with the lack of motivation amongst community members. If members of neighboring communities, like my own, are able to educate these communities, that is where they need to start so that they are able to move forward and develop themselves.

So about my community. Some of my projects are getting going, but others are a little frozen. Fishermen project is off to a slow start as many fishermen have been busy with side jobs and out of town on fishing trips. Other projects are keeping me busy including a project plan for a community park, day trips for medical missions in other parts of the country, and getting prepared to teach a business course. I am enjoying my new found freedom of living alone. Everyone here tells me “how sad, you can’t live alone.” I was thinking the same thing (the how sad part that is, there is no way I would move in with someone here). I always lived with a lot of people-family of 5 at home, never had my own room after I moved out-needless to say, there was always somebody around. Now I come home at night and it is very quiet. Sometimes too quiet, but my new puppy Habichuela (Bean) has made the house feel less empty. But I am learning to live solo, and I actually like it. I like me time. I like that after a long day, I can come home and choose what I want to do and I don’t have to compromise that, or listen to the noise of my host family, and live in tight quarters-Life really does get a whole lot better once you move out. And one of the best parts is that I get to have visitors and I love to host people. Some volunteers have passed through and my sister and Sergio. Great times, fun memories. Would be nice if I had less meetings lately so that I could be a better host, but hopefully after I get done getting some of these projects organized, life will slow down.

I have been in country now eight months (can you believe it). Although I have kept some of my American ways, I have in other ways been ‘dominicanized.’- I yell for people to get their attention, I am as negro (dark) as some dominicans, I eat whole fish head and all, I am so good at scaling fish a gringo asked me for help, I can make a mean sason (seasoning), my guandule (pea) peeling skills are exceptional, I have mastered riding a motorcycle and bucket bathing, and learned to be fashionably late to meetings. I have also learned to just take it easy (cogelo suave) and enjoy sitting outside passing time doing not so much (when I have time for that).

Mango season is approaching. There are so many outside that I have to be careful crossing under the trees as I might get pelted by mangoes. My grandfather keeps telling me I will grow tired of mangoes, but I have a bet going that after bags of mangoes, I will keep eating them. Really glad sister brought me a blender. Fresh mango smoothies, yes please. I feel like I have been in a constant summer since August. We have some ‘cooler’ days, but for the most part, the sun has stayed strong. I will be going home in April and I am excited for some chilly days where I can throw on a sweater and wear sneakers. Never did I think I would miss that. Yes, I am going home. Just thinking about it I get overwhelmed with my food options-what will I eat first! But before thinking about home, I have a Shakira concert I must attend (would I really miss Shakira performing in a Latin American country?) and my best girlfriends coming to visit. April is sure to be an exciting month.

I think I am going to end it here for today. I am at a neighbor’s house and the smoke from burning trash is getting to me. No matter how much they cough, they still burn their trash AND they have trash pick up. Don’t quite understand their reasoning of inhaling toxic fumes from burning plastic. Some people think I am crazy when I tell them that you really shouldn’t burn the plastics.

O forgot to update on my International Women’s Day Event. Great turnout for my first big community event-65ish girls. All went well, minus the fact that it got a little too competitive for my liking, but that is always an issue when it comes to sporting events.

Paso a Paso (Step by Step)

I know, it has been a while. A long while. Now I have to play catch up. So what have I been doing? Well, I presented all my findings from the community at Peace Corps three month In Service Training. All business volunteers came to the capital with their project partner for a weekend of presentations and strength building workshops. It allowed us to prioritize projects in my site and see the need of the community. Did you know...

49% of my community never finished primary school

Unemployment rate is at 52% with only 15% of the population having a stable job

The median income is $188.00 U.S. Dollars

15% of the community do not have a latrine or a bathroom

This is some of the information that I collected from my first three months. It is very helpful in shaping my projects and what I will focus on in the next two years.

After returning from the conference, I thought that things would speed up-I was going to be moving into my new home all on my own, starting up some of my projects. Just the opposite happened. It has been very difficult to find motivated people to work with. It has been even harder to have the community decide on a project to work with. Some days I think they are confused as to why I am there. At our development association meeting I finally stood up and said something. I told them that we must meet more than once a month to accomplish anything and that I am here as a resource and that they reallllly need to use me. I talked about forming committees so we can have a strong group working on projects, having a vision for the year with long and short term goals. I think I got to them, but like I said, things are slow.

My fishermen are continuing to surprise me. They are motivated to work and I have taken them on as one of my main projects. A lot is going on in the country about developing code of conducts for fishing, trying to promote sustainable fishing practices, etc. They are going to see a big change in the next year or so as the government is taking more of a stand with the fishermen. For us, this is great. We want to do conservation projects and we are hoping that organizations in country will support us. I started to write a grant for lobster houses and FADs (Fishing Aggragative Devices) with the hope of repopulating the lobster species and taking pressure off the reefs from being fished.

O, forgot...started two English courses. I have 100 students. Yes, one-hundred. It is too much, but I am surviving. The little kids are tough. I am currently recruiting a classroom mom for help control the rascals. My older group is doing great. They are learning little by little and it makes me proud (even though I am not too keen about being an English teacher).

My first big event is coming up in March-I will be hosting a Peninsula wide International Women's Day event. Over sixty girls from the Peninsula will be attending. The day will be filled with activities including a Volleyball tournament, sex and gender dramas, career planning and self-esteem talks, a professional volleyball player will be attending to mentor the girls, we will be having lunch and at the end of the day we will be parading through the community showing everyone how strong we really are. I am very excited. Hoping that the girls in my community come through to help me. Lets just say at our first meeting, only two girls showed up, an hour late. But that is how things are here and you have to learn to roll with the punches.

I am living on my own now. My host family doesn't understand that they don't have to prepare food for me anymore. They also get very upset when I don't show up at night to watch soap operas with them. Some things will never change. The independence is glorious. I get lots of visitors. My neighbors are great. It is a little loud (the owner of all the 4x4s lives right next to me and he stores the vehicles there at night, so at 7:30 am his workers are revving the engines getting them ready for excursions). But I am used to it. The roosters usually wake me up before the 4 wheelers.

My sister came and visited. She just left Monday. It was incredible. We relaxed, enjoyed sister time, saw whales, went to all the beautiful beaches. I was able to show her some of my work too. I think she has a better understanding of what I am doing here. Maybe a little bit more appreciation. She experienced living without water for three days...let's just say I don't think she will be joining Peace Corps.

Today I am in the capital at the office awaiting another visitor. I had some time to speak to one of my bosses. Although lately I feel like I haven't made any progress, she gave me the assurance that I am actually picking up speed and doing a lot. Some days I just need to hear it. Since I don't physically see anything changing, sometimes I get down in the dumps, thinking that I am making no progress. It was a pick me up that I really needed.

So I have a lot on my plate right now. English classes, volleyball team, fishermen, starting a latrine project, maybe constructing a park, learning to live on my own. At this point I take day by day. You can't think so far ahead because things change and everyday brings something new to the table. It's slow, but I am still chugging.

Some fun from sissy's trip...

La Cascada en El Limon
view from El Cabito
Humpback whale season!

Is This Really My Life?

It is almost 11pm, I am sitting at the edge of my bed, about to fall off because my mosquito net is taking over. Reflecting on today I can't help but think that this is my life. I woke up today at 7am. Spent the day on the water deep sea fishing with one of my uncles and his ten year old son for mahi mahi. Sat in awe at the amazing coastline that consists of untouched land, cliffs with such dramatic drops that make you think that there really has to be some higher power that constructed this world because they are breathe taking. You feel consumed by the coast looking up at these cliffs with such powerful waves crashing into them-words can't even describe. The water is bluer than any blue you can imagine. Then there is us on our little wooden boat, cruising along in the open water, miles from the coast. The water is rough. We tilt side to side and the boat jumps over the waves as we try to get further and further from shore, heading towards the birds in the open water. They too are out there to hunt and we use them to guide us towards the fish. We fish using line, but not with fishing poles. The line is wrapped around their hands. When there is a tug, watch out- a fish is on the line and if you are not careful and the fish is very big, you can be pulled off the boat, or worse, have the line slice through your hand.

Today I was taken by my surroundings-by nature. It was so powerful. Surreal. Being out on the water is a whole other world. A world that many people here know very well. A place where some spend more time in than in their own homes-one that I am developing a relationship with. The water, just like any of us, has a mind of its own-it has good days where the water is calm and shares it's treasures with it's visitors. Other days where is breathes heavy and can eat you alive, crashing sporadically with a natural force that is more powerful than two cars colliding. Unlike us, it has no restrictions and doesn't have to play by any rules.

I am learning so much about something that I knew absolutely nothing about. How to sail a boat, fish in different ways, fishing terminology, how to cut and prepare fish, etc. etc... Anything and everything about what is out there in the open water. Might have been easier if I studied Marine Biology, but never too late to learn.

After a day out at sea, my friend's father who is in town and is a fishing expert in the states (works for Santa Monica Seafood Company) came and spoke with my fishermen about sustainable fishing. He goes around the world seeing how other cultures fish, trying to promote sustainable fishing-something I am working on. It was sad to hear stories about fishing communities who have exhausted and cleaned out their waters. A sad reality for too many places around the world, including the United States. Some of his stories were so moving that it brought tears to my eyes thinking that in ten, fifteen years from now my new home could be living in a place completely depleted from what they survive on. We talked about conserving not only the bay and the life in it, but also the livelihood of the community. Will they be able to get the joy of seeing their children take on the family business in the future if they don't change their ways? Will their children even have that opportunity or will they have to move to the capital to find work elsewhere because the fish will be no more? The answer is as clear as the waters-which right now, is pretty crystal clear. If they don't take it upon themselves to change, then they will have nothing left. They must be the example, they must set the foundation and create a code of conduct and not wait until the government decides to put their foot down and step in. If they don't stop killing lobster that are pregnant and fish that are as big as their pinky that have no meat, the water will cease to provide, the reefs will die and as a community we will lose our most precious resource.

My fishermen know the dangers, they understand what is happening. They are already feeling the consequences as the ocean is going through an ecological meltdown. They say it is hard to change what you depend on for survival with no resources for change. This is true, but they must set themselves apart from the others or else it is one deadly cycle. If we (and I say we because as a human race, we are all contributors, we share this responsibility) continue to point fingers and blame others for what is the reality, no one will ever be able to restore the sea's bounty. Just thinking about it gets me upset. Especially when I am out on the water and I think that my children might never have the opportunity to see anything like this. We will be left with ghost habitats, reef-less waters, and poisoned seas. Hopefully, we will be able to determine the worth of our waters before the well is dry.

Days like these remind me why I am here. There is so much to do. So much to share. So much to learn. The fishermen here have a great deal of knowledge, lack all financial resources for change, but at the end of the day, have the motivation and a passion for fishing that I (positive thinking) feel will spark change. In my opinion, we have accomplished one of the hardest things and that is admitting that there is a problem and obtaining the knowledge to know how to fix the situation. We will work from here. It is a long process, but as I remind them at the end of all our meetings, as long as we stay strong, podemos lograr cualquier cosa (we can accomplish anything).

I guess I should stop here for today. These entries sometimes go on forever. It is hard to stay on topic when I am constantly experiencing new and incredible things. Never would I have thought that I would be making fishing contraptions, learning local lingo for all four types of tuna, scaling and preparing fresh fish [ate a grilled (don't worry, fully grown) red snapper for dinner tonight and yellowfin sashimi yesterday. Life is rough]. But as I am learning, life is just full of unpredictability. Just like the sea, life can change directions unexpectedly.

Inspirational Words To Bring In The New Year

An Inspirational Short Story
I Wanted To Change The World
By Unknown Monk, 1100 A.D.

When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.

I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.

When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town.

I couldn't change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.

Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world."

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

...when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse." Whoever wrote that never experienced a Christmas on this island. It is always loud here. Remember, I live in the second loudest country in the world. My Night before Christmas played out a little different than Mr. Moore and Livingstons traditional story.

Holidays here came and are going fast. Didn’t feel too much like the holidays, although we did get a couple days of “chilly weather.” By their standards-high 60s, and they think that they are experiencing the cold winter of Nueva Yol (New York, as my doña calls it). When I try to explain that it is as cold in New York as sticking yourself in our freezer, which doesn’t get too cold, I get a blank stare. She thinks I am lying. Lost cause. I have to simply assure her that “burr, yes it is cold here.” She smiles, excited to be able to experience the cold that she thinks she can relate to the Big Apple, the city of all cities for them- the city where all Americans live, because all other forty-nine states don’t exist. Except maybe Florida because Miami is where the other Americans live who don’t live in New York City. And although they know I am from California, to them, it is all part of New York. Needless to say, I can’t wait until sister comes with a world map. Geography 101.

Back to Christmas. Christmas Eve consisted of a hodge podge of all the ingredients one can possibly find in our town, which don’t get too excited, it isn’t much. It is the only day of the year that families use their oven to cook chicken and pork instead of as a shed to store dishes (reason: gas is $$). Our dinner table consisted of an array of chicken and pork, rice, Russian potato salad (I have yet to find out what is Russian about it), spaghetti, cabbage salad, bread, apples, almonds, raisins and grapes (the four traditional Christmas treats-they only appear at Christmas), what I call my cookie attempt (the oven just doesn’t work properly and killed my snickerdoodles) and an equivalent to a pumpkin pie that I made that was very successful. The family prepared a plate of food for the neighbors so that they could have a taste. We ate together around the table after giving away half of the feast and talked. My sister snickered at my pie, smelled it and refused to eat it. I wanted to reach across the table grab her head and stick it in the not-so- Russian salad. I gave her a smirk when everyone told me how delicious it was. I even prepared one for my fishermen at our meeting on Christmas Day-definite win. Some people here are just so opposed to trying anything new. Some are too set in their ways, never divvying from what they know. It is a whole other story that their minds in school are never worked to be creative and think outside of the box and do something different than the rest of the group. Don’t even get me started.

So my first Dominican Christmas… I survived the mockery of my cooking, what else can I say…The holidays here can’t compare to the States. Dinner was nice, but that was it, nothing else. O wait, forgot to mention one thing. Remember I live in an evangelical community? Well, they have a tradition that the week leading up to Christmas they go caroling. Real cute right. O, just wait. They “carol” more like sing loud somewhat angry sounding church songs from 2am until 6am going through the streets to people’s homes to “save” (convert) people. I think I prefer some good old fashioned Jingle Bells.

2011 is right around the corner. My community is basically paralyzed until after the 6th of January when they will celebrate Three Kings Day. I asked what they customarily do, but I was told nothing. Apparently, a good excuse to extend the holidays and relax. I’ll take it. It is nice to be able to take a few days to myself, put work aside and just talk to people (which is basically what I have been doing anyways), enjoy the beach, clear my mind and find a place to live (cross your fingers things work out). My dad even pulled out some machines that the artisans use and showed me how to make some coconut jewelry. Final product still in the making.

I am excited to start the New Year. Pretty symbolic in the sense that I am going to really begin my projects here. I will be proposing a lot of New Year’s resolutions to my fishermen, which include hopefully constructing and opening our cooperative this coming year. Who knows what this year has in store, but I know I am in for a wild ride.

Wishing everyone a healthy and happy New Year. Let this one be sweeter than the last.

You Don't Say

Written: December 21

I was interviewing one of my favorite doñas in the community the other day. My interviews never consist of just going through a survey. That would freak them out. Too official for them and let’s be real-you can’t really get to know people by doing that anyways. It is all about conversating, drinking coffee, burping babies, sometimes helping peel fresh peas that they are working on for dinner. You get my drift. So, we are “conversating.” She is explaining to me why her grandson lives with her. His mother left him when he was a baby. Why? She didn’t like to cook. I hope that is what they told their grandson. Apparently an aversion for cooking is fair game for leaving your family. It does take up a lot of time, but really?

They say when you can cook, you better find yourself a man if you haven’t already because you are ready to get married. It appears that when you are sick of it, you are also ready for a divorce.

Blast into the Past

Rainy day. Stuck inside unless I want to drown in puddles and slip and slide on our muddy dirt road. I must say, these days are really nice. The air is even a little chilly today. That’s a first.

I’ve had a lot of time during my diagnostic and interviewing time to really observe the people in my community. I’ve developed strong relationships with certain people in the community. One person that I want to share with you worth mentioning is my 76 year old grandfather. This man works like a caballo-it is written all over his sun kissed wrinkled skin. Three times a day he walks to and from his farm where he grows all the food that the family eats. He also walks his five massive cows (yes with a leash made of rope) around the community to bring them to the places where they feed on the land. I went with him one day to see part of the land that he farms. We walked over tons of plants and bushes. Thinking that we were just crossing through overgrown weeds, he explained to me that each plant actually was a crop. Great, I am stepping all over the family’s food. No te preocupes (don’t worry)-they all run over their crops apparently. Most of his crops are viveres, or starchy vegetables like potatoes, what is equivalent to sweet potato, pumpkin, and yucca. I would’ve never known that these plants actually bear food or that each one was a different type of plant as most of them looked the same.

There is something that draws me to my abuelito. Maybe it is his knowledge of the land, knowing every leaf to pick from our yard that can be used to make tea, using the direction of the sun to tell what time it is, his ability to trek up a mountain faster than me, how he walks through the streets with his machete in hand- I don’t know. There is a sense of peace that shines from him that must come from living his simple, stress free, yet laborious life. And although he is an elder in the community who is still really living by our times, in like the early 1900s or something (and not the city in the early 1900s, think middle of Kansas), he just understands me. When my uncles are around asking me questions about life in the states and they just refuse to believe certain things I say, like how when a man marries a woman, it is not socially acceptable for that man to be with other women, my abuelo will speak up “Things are different there, it isn’t like here. Men and women are faithful right?” He just genuinely understands. And by understand, by no means can he comprehend the life of someone who lives in the States, who drives to the grocery store to choose from an entire aisle what type of cereal they want for breakfast (“cereal for breakfast, what’s that?” he would say). But there is something about him that I just connect with. We are opposites -black and white, but there is some gray where we have come to develop a relationship different from anything I have ever had. I sit for hours with him underneath the big mango tree talking about everything from how the house I live in here used to be fields to grow tobacco or explaining that in California it is really four hours earlier than it is here, learning how he could never eat the cows that he raises, how he is convinced I will be sick of mangos during mango season, together trying to explain anything at all to my very senile grandmother... And sometimes we just sit in silence. But that is okay here. You don’t need to fill silence with conversation. There is no “awkward silence” and I am getting used to this. When I just don’t have anything to say, it’s nice to know that I don’t need to say anything at all.

So I hope you feel like you got a snapshot of Abuelito. He is an intelligent man- not from a University education (he cannot read or write, there was no school here when he was young)- but smart nonetheless. A University education is not the type of intelligence he can use in his daily life. It is his experience and understanding of his surroundings that is his survival kit. Intelligence isn’t necessarily packaged in the form of a book or a classroom education where I live-it is all relative.

But there is something about my abuelito. I wish I could explain in words, but I think you just need to sit with him under the mango tree to really understand.

-picture coming soon. (I know you are intrigued, don't lie) My hand held digital camera broke and with it went the photo of abuelo-