Integration.

Dear everybody,

I’m pretty much a Dominican now. Just wanted to let you know. Below are the reasons that lead me to this conclusion. I send my sympathy to all the other volunteers who are not yet COMPLETELY integrated. That must be hard.

1) Today I “enjoyed the bone”. That is what it is called when you eat all the meat off the bone (this was of a beef barbeque) and then proceed to chew on the bone and suck the marrow out of the middle and then spit the remains on the ground. (Emily Clanahan- I did not do this solely to prove to you that I’m an adventurous eater but that definitely came to mind as I was chewing up an enormous bone.)

2) I don’t stare when I see a pick-up truck full of 7 or 8 Chinese guys in neon orange vests driving down the road. (China donated a road improvement project to Dominica so all throughout the western side of the island there are huge groups of Chinese men doing construction which at first is disconcerting to see in a country that is 95.7% African descendents.)

3) No one asked me if I was enjoying my cruise today.

4) I found a bus driver that I like and I know when I need to stand by the side of the road to get in his bus (which is named “Only he can Judge- Take the Wheel!”)

5) I finally pronounce the name of my town, Salisbury, the local way, Salsbree.

6) I used the word “vex” in a sentence today without trying really hard. I was on the bus and told them woman next to me that I was vexed about the terrible smell.

7) I ironed my clothes everyday this week without being prompted by my host mom. Last night I even got home from school, picked my clothes out, ironed them and hung them in the closet to be prepared for the morning.

8) I pour hot cocoa tea (essentially hot chocolate) over my corn flakes for breakfast and pretty much enjoy it.

Bon apwe midi!

P.S. The bumper sticker of the week is “Invite Jesus; he’ll always show up”

Week 3

Hi everybody!

Real Peace Corps-y stuff is starting! (See half way through the very long entry for answers to FAQ’s.)

I started visiting (I’m just observing for the first few weeks until I figure out what I want to do exactly within the school) the local Primary school this week, which keeps me smiling all day long. It’s K- 6 and there are about 100 students, each of whom is more adorable than the next. Some of my favorite things thus far:

The classes have “sports” on different days and instead of their uniforms they can wear a “sports” uniform which is a white tennis skirt/white tennis shorts and brightly colored t-shirts. The juxtaposition of them running around the rural streets in a farming community of a developing nation in such preppy outfits is hysterical to me.

The island is very religious and the students say the “Our Father” before leaving for lunch with the Dominican accent it sounds like “hallowed be die name, die kingdom come, die will be done”.

The literacy teacher corrected my name- she informed the children that my accent made my name sound like “Air-on” but it’s really “Air-een” so all of the kids in Grade 1 call me “Miss Air-een”.

I was visiting a Grade 1 class and the students were learning about writing letters by writing letters about me to their mothers. One of the boys asked if I was a tourist or an immigrant, which was an incredibly insightful question for a 6 year old. The best one was an adorable child named Jere-my who asked if I brush my teeth everyday.

A fun cultural note is that Dominicans use “okay, okay” and “that’s nice” a lot. But not in the American way when they are pretty much used to blow things off, instead “okay, okay” is used as goodbye, yes, good, etc. And “nice” really means pleasant or when describing food delicious. It’s important for me to remember this as I use nice means to me: I don’t want to say something bad but there is nothing good to say.

I thought I’d share some information about my Peace Corps program and Dominica to clear up some questions!

Dominica is located between Martinique and Guadalupe (two islands that are still under French control) in the West Indies. It is the poorest of the Caribbean nations with the fewest tourists annually and no large resorts. It has very few sandy beaches but a plethora of rivers, waterfalls and gorgeous flora.

According to government statistics there are approximately 70,000 people living in Dominica but many of the locals claim that it is closer to 55,000. There is a census coming up in May so soon there should be better numbers. To put 70,000 in perspective though there are 78,000 people in the Town of Tonawanda (not even including Kenmore- which is the small suburb I grew up in), 24,000 people employed by Google, and 285,124 people who took the time to like "Never apologize for what you feel. It's like saying sorry for being real." on facebook. As you can imagine everyone on the island knows each other. To find my home stay when I first arrived (there are no house numbers or street names) we drove around until we saw someone outside in the town I’m living in and asked where my home stay mom lived.

Dominica has a mountain range through the center of the island (and the tallest peak in the Caribbean, Morne Diablotins) so most of the population is spread along the exterior of the island. There are only a few roads that pass from East to West so it is difficult to get across the island but there is a main road that links all the cities on the West coast, where I am, which makes traveling along the West much easier.

The Eastern Caribbean Peace Corps program is different that most programs because it acts as one country but over 6 independent island nations, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. All of the trainees (what we are called until we swear in as volunteers at the end of training) started in Miami for a night to get our Peace Corps passports, plane tickets and finish any paperwork the PC needs. Then we flew to St. Lucia together to spend the first week of training where we mainly covered PC policies and medical stuffs. At the end of the first week the 44 of us broke into 4 island groups and flew to our respective islands to move in with our host families and begin training on island. That is the phase I’m in right now. I live with a host family in the village, Salisbury or Bawi in Kweyol, I will be staying in for the next two years. I go into the capital, Roseau, 3 days a week for training with the other 9 members of my training class. In training we learn about youth development, the Dominican school system, Participatory Analysis for Community Action (I have no idea who thought this was a good name), Dominican culture, and Kweyol- the creole dialect spoken here. The other two days a week we go to the local elementary school or the organization we will be working with. My organization is a small community-organizing group with no full time staff and no office, as of yet, so right now I’m going to the school both days.

We have 6 more weeks of training and on April 2^nd I will move into my own apartment in the community. On April 6^th I will swear in as a Peace Corps volunteer and on April 7^th we are celebrating the Peace Corps 50^th Anniversary!

Week 2

Bear with me team- this entry is going to be like a really rough game- not even when the Bills lose in the last minute- but when they pretty much just don't even show up. It's going to be full of emo-kid descriptions, terrible analogies, maybe some 3rd person references and general angst. You really won't get anything out of finishing except the ability to describe yourself as "not a fair-weather fan" (of Erin's Peace Corps experience).

This week has been fairly monumental- both in my life back in the states and my adjustment to Dominican life. During this first full week in my village I have met about 50 people, all of whom have names I’ve never heard before, learned to take the rather terrifying bus on my own, and eaten both chicken and fish off the bone- just putting the whole thing in my mouth and chewing the meat off. (I’m sure not all of you are aware but I have a terrible aversion to meat on the bone- except for steak- I like my chicken skinless and boneless and my fish to have no fishy remnants.) Some days I feel constantly exhausted about having to be "on" all the time. I hadn't realized how comfortable I was in SF and Buffalo where I rarely thought about what I said or did (which is probably good to be rectifying now).

I feel like both my stomach and I have gone through an enormous range of emotions this week. My stomach goes through horrible pains, weird bubbly feelings, and normalcy pretty much on the hour. It’s a little awkward living with other people while my stomach’s feelings are SO out of control.

Each day feels incredibly long too. It feels like I’ve been here for much closer to a month than a week. I feel like I constantly oscillate between wondering why I’m here and being amazed that I’m sitting in a house in rural Dominica (a country I had no idea existed until mid-December) talking to my host sisters and their mom and dad about what is happening in Egypt, health care reform, and how Subway 5 dollar footlongs really cost 5 dollars in America (they cost about $18EC).

In this week’s highlights: going to an awesome Fort and meeting the leading (and only, I think) Dominican historian, the opening of Carnival parade (see pictures below) that featured extravagant adult beverage costumes and floats and a group dressed up as Michael Jackson paying tribute to him who painted their faces white, a beach festival Carnival fundraiser hosted by the group I’ll be working with that had awesome chicken and music, and riding in the back of a pick-up truck into town (about a 40 minute ride) passing a bus of tourists which made me feel super legitimate as a Dominican.

This week’s lowlights: the passing of my grandfather (I know that made it take a real serious tone but it seems terrible to not mention when discussing the week), getting wireless at my home stay house for 30 minutes one morning and then never again giving me tons of false hope, and my stomach.

I promise that this will be my last feelings entry for a while.

Better than beating a leprechaun

On Sunday I literally saw the end of a rainbow. In amazing Caribbean style there was no pot-o-gold at the end but instead the Macoucherie rum factory! Surprise! Welcome to Dominica!

It's my third full day in Dominica and I'm already quite in love with the island. I'm living with a fantastic family- I have a host mom and three host sisters who are wonderful. My host mom works at a bakery and previously worked at a catering company and is, as you would imagine, an amazing cook. I can not eat all the food she puts in front of me each day but I'm working quite hard to try!

The village is a farming town and has the most amazing tomatoes, dasheen, watermelons and mangoes. The house I'm staying in has a gorgeous view of the Caribbean sea from the road (I know, I know other trainees that are reading this- you can see the sea while eating breakfast or sleeping, etc...) and the home I will probably be moving into has a view of the Caribbean from the porch and is above a store!

Last night I met the people who run the organization I'll be working with. All three that I met are really fun and excited. I'll be helping to plan a reunion for the community this summer which sounds awesome. I'll tell you more about it as I find out!

My host sister took me to the Peace Corps office in Roseau for my first day of training today and then came to pick me up at the end of the day. With out a cell phone or any knowledge of the area it's kind of like being a small child all over again. At one point she pulled me out of the street (the drive on the left side here) to show me how to cross the street.

It is amazing how worthless most of the living skills I've acquired being on my own the last few years are. The village I'm in is quite small and the roads don't have streets or numbers so maps are rendered quite useless. I didn't know how to turn on the hot water this morning (there's a separate switch for that). I wore a raincoat when I left this morning which provided pretty useless cover in the warm, on again off again rain but luckily my host sister had foreseen this and packed an umbrella.

I miss you all though- quite dearly. Many times a day I look for my phone to send a text about something funny...

P.S. One of the people I'm working with totes knew about the Buffalo Bills and asked about T.O.'s show. The Peace Corps gods have truly blessed me.

Next time gumshoes!

Mid-week update!

Hey y'all!

A couple things I wanted to let you all know- I found out where on Dominica I'm going to be living today- it's a town of about 2,000 people called Salisbury (or Bawi in Creole) on the western edge of the island. It began as a banana port! I'll be moving there with a host family on Saturday.

AND we started learning Kwéyòl (which is what Creole is called in the Caribbean) today. I'm going to be taking language classes twice a week until April when I swear in. We learned an awesome song about the parts of the body in Kwéyòl that I can't wait to sing for all of you- maybe I'll make a video!

Ok, babay! (that means Ok, goodbye!)