Last week was our 3 month IST (In-Service-Training). Each member of my training group (19 in total) took our project partners to a city outside of the capital, where we presented our sites and our plans for the next year. The first two days, our project partners (PP’s) stayed and after presenting our sites and projects, we were required to sit down with our PP’s and actually write our plans for the next year. I found it to be tiresome (mostly because the day seemed to never end), but helpful. Together with my PP we began to organize ourselves for the next year, including the classes that will be taught, the training that will be done and the youth groups that will be formed.
Our PP’s left on Wednesday morning and the rest of the week was dedicated to us Peace Corps Volunteers, with more training and different sessions on everything from making a website to teaching English. It was a good and productive week and the last training we will have as a collective group until our one year IST next May.
We ended on Friday and all of us took advantage of being close to the capital to spend the weekend there, using the amenities of the Peace Corps office (like free Wi-Fi, free American style washer and dryer, air conditioning and other Peace Corps kids to talk with). Friday night we went to a real restaurant… Italian, with real pasta, pizza and salad. It was delicious and it felt like such a treat to be in a real restaurant again (sometimes I feel like such a spoiled American, but not being able to eat at a restaurant whenever you feel, definitely makes you appreciate the times when you can).
Saturday morning we went swimming at the US embassy (a regular pastime for Peace Corps Volunteers hanging out in Santo Domingo). The US embassy is pretty sweet, complete with hot showers and signs in the bathroom that read, “Please do not throw your toilet paper in the trash, flush it down the toilet!” Because here in the DR, toilet cannot be flushed down the toilets, most toilets don’t even flush regularly as it is, so trying to flush toilet paper is not going to happen.
Anyway, after hanging out at the pool (what, I’m in the Peace Corps?) I took the afternoon bus back to my site where ALL of my Dona’s family was there having a family reunion.
Now let me explain a few things… my Dona is one of 20. Her father fathered 20 children between two women. A good majority of the family, the kids, kids of kids, aunts, uncles, cousins live in the states (An aside, my Dona was actually the first one out of all of them to go to the states. She left in the 70s and eventually started bringing all of her brothers and sisters over, including their families. At one point, all of her immediate brothers and sisters, there are 13, were in the US at the same time). In past years my Dona’s family has had a family reunion every year, but people get busy and you know. Long story short, this was the first family reunion in over 10 years and there were over 300 people there from the DR, the US and even some flew in from Spain.
As previously mentioned, my Dona’s half brother lives in La Caya as well, and he is the Don Juan of the town. He is the same person, if you remember my blog from Mother’s Day, who gave away a truck full of goods to the Moms of La Caya. So yes, he has torn apart a hillside in La Caya and is building himself a fortress. Literally, there is a huge gate that keeps intruders out and an arm guard in full uniform walking around with a shotgun day and night (a repeating pattern here in La Caya). He hasn’t even started the actual house yet, but he has finished the outside patio (which is, I don’t know, 40 feet by 40 feet majestic covered patio with probably a 30 foot vaulted ceiling, complete with three oversized hanging chandeliers). There is also an infinity pool (yes an infinity pool overlooking the farmland of La Caya), two bars, a full kitchen, two bathrooms, a laundry room, a garage and recently added- an outdoor fireplace for grilling. Seriously, just in kitchen appliances, his compound rivals any hotel/resort here in the DR.
So I pulled up to my house as passenger on my motorcycle taxi and once again had to remind myself I’m in the Peace Corps. The party was pretty unbelievable, with food, endless drinks, a live band and of course, the compound itself. My Dona had also done a TON of work to her house getting it ready for the party, including painting the inside and outside, cementing her outdoor covered patio, fixing the electricity and the water (which was greatly needed and greatly appreciated by yours truly), refurnishing all of her furniture. And as she told me the whole month of July, “Mucho trabajo, poco dinero,” or basically “A lot of work and no money.”
All-in-all, this last week and a half has been pretty random and exciting. From planning the next year of my life with classes and youth groups and figuring out my center is going to fundraise money for the next year to keep projects running, to swimming at the US embassy, to enjoying unnecessary luxuries of life at my Dona’s brother’s house… there are days when I wonder if I joined the Peace Corps or signed up for an unpredictable two year adventure where anything can happen. Both I suppose. In any case, as great as last week was and as great as an infinity pool can be, my focus is here at my center trying to classes organized, my employees trained and the whole world speaking English.
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