It’s been a while. At some point all of the bizarre things
that happen on a daily basis don’t seem that bizarre anymore which makes it
much harder to write a blog. Also Chee Chee is back in jail.
What is constantly interesting to me is how Dominicans view
Peace Corps volunteers. Many Dominicans seem to like us. Some don’t- one lady
told me I was going to be hung. Most are just confused.
Two weeks ago a man who was raised in England but is
Dominican by heritage and now lives here sat next to me at a reading
competition. “Erin, I was watching something about the CIA last night on the
telly,” he whispered to me in his thick British accent, “and I was thinking,
how many of you Peace Corps are CIA?”
I looked up from my book and paused. What a difficult
decision. For men who are hitting on me or smoking drugs in front of me I
always respond that I do in fact work for the “government” sometimes
elaborating to say, “I cannot tell you anymore about it.” For people who ask
politely I try to explain that the Peace Corps does not report to the CIA. Now
this gentleman frustrates me in general and he had interrupted my reading which
I wasn’t thrilled about BUT he also has his own show on the new tv station in
Dominica, Collywood. Weighing my options I went with the only reasonable decision;
I gave him a little smile, winked and said “I have no idea what you are talking
about.”
To be honest though sometimes I’m a little flattered they
think I’m in the CIA. It’s a step up from all the people who believe that I am here
to act as a personal assistant to the general public. Last week a stay-at-home
mom asked me if we were having summer school. I informed her that we were but
her daughter, who is 3 years old, is too young to attend. In return she asked
me if I could help her out by babysitting a couple days a week then as I didn’t
arrange a summer program for toddlers.
Some of the other more interesting requests I’ve received
are: to edit the Dominica Green Party manifesto, revise a thesis on the state
of credit unions, ask my mom to ship three 64 oz. containers of peanut butter
down, put together 150 wedding invitations to a wedding I was not invited and
then design a card to be enclosed that reminded guests to only give money,
create a website for a gentleman without a computer to start a business of
illegally shipping liquor to the US, be a godparent, teach a catechism class
and be a Heineken girl (which entails wearing a skimpy green outfit and
sparkles and trying to get men to buy Heineken).
If anyone can correctly guess which two of these activities
I assisted with I’ll send you a delicious Dominican treat in the mail.
Dominican phrase book:
How to order booze:
-a step-up is a shot of rum topped off with ginger wine, a
sweet beverage that is 13% alcohol
-local rum is rum you can breathe fire with
-spice, pueve, noni are all local rums that have been soaked
in various herbs for anywhere from 1 day to 1 month
-these are typically chased with a small glass of water
-wine will be sweet wine- manischewitz is a crowd favorite
-the kind of wine that you want is unsweetened wine
-both wines will be served with ice
-if you are a lady your beer will include a straw, don’t use
it at your own risk, also beers are approx. 9 oz.
more to come next time!
