March on through...

Time is starting to pick up. It's already edging toward the end of March, which means April is almost here, which means May is almost here, which then means I not only have a year and a couple months in country, but also a year in my site. There's a quote in a song I really like- something like, "If I can just get through January, February I'll March on through April and May." There is serious truth to that.

Last weekend I had a new Peace Corps Volunteer come visit me in my site, to see "how I live." I did the same thing last year at this time while I was in training, and my volunteer visit over a year ago was enlightening in numerous ways. It showed me that I could have an independent life on this island and that public transportation did not mean I was going to be involved in a drive-by shooting (which actually realistically still could happen, I'll keep you posted). It also showed me, that with time (a year) I could be confident and living a happy life here in the DR.

I wanted my new volunteer (Channler, 22, from Wisconsin) to have similar feelings when he left La Caya and headed back to training in Santo Domingo. I did my best to show him my town (which of course, took about an hour), introduce him to people, take him to my center, sit in on my English class, tell him realistically what he can expect from working with Dominicans, the best treats to buy at colmados (small grocery-like stores that are everywhere in the DR) and how wonderful it is to heat up water on the stove to take a hot bucket bath.

We also went into Santiago and met Karina, another PCV who closes her service (COS) in May. She also had a new volunteer visiting, and we took them around Santiago to the touristy spots and the not so touristy spots. We took them to Sushi for lunch, which I think at first they were nervous, but turned out to be a great treat (as it always is for us PCVs). We went to a real grocery store, which is a must-do in my opinion (PS, grocery stores are amazing, and truly show America's wealth. All that food in one place and every decent sized city in America has at least 10-15 in ONE city. Blows my mind). We bought food to make tacos that night, and by the end of our city visit, Channler told me he is going to ask that his site be close to Santiago.

It was a good weekend, and it helped me to reflect about everything I've been through this last year, everything I have accomplished and everything I have yet to do. I felt like my site was on the boring side for Channler, but that's also my life here. I work at my center everyday, but there is a lot of downtime. To pass this downtime, I will go sit in a plastic chair in front of the biggest colmado in town and watch people walk or drive by. It's what everyone else does, and Peace Corps preaches at us to "integrate." And let me tell you, that is integrating.

This week my center decided that we need to start six youth groups. I've been talking about youth groups since September, but now the government affiliate (the office of the First Lady) has mandated that each center starts at least six youth clubs. These clubs include: Chess, Health, Environment, Reading, Theater and Science. I have been put in charge of the Environment, Health and Science clubs. I'm a little nervous about starting all of these clubs at one time, but if my team is finally motivated to do it, I'm not going to oppose it.

A strange cultural difference is how formal the DR can be. For example, when we decided to start these youth groups, I had a vision of us going to the school and announcing the clubs to the kids and telling them to come to the center and sign up for which ones they were interested in. However, as I have learned, that is not how it's done here. Yesterday, myself and the people at my center sat around and hand-picked kids from the community to be in each club. For me, this was difficult, because Dominican names are crazy and although I do know a lot of the kids here, I will admit that I am not the best with their names. So I had kids in mind, and instead of using their names, it turned more into, "you know, the kid who lives around the corner over there. He has the thing on his head? You know, that kid."

Another culture difference, Dominicans are NOT shy about using physical descriptions openly to define someone. Although me saying "the thing on his head," would not be politically correct in America, here it just describes someone, so there is no offense taken. Another example, people in my town will tell me I'm getting fatter all the time. They don't mean it to be mean, and many times when they tell me I'm fatter they are actually complimenting me, because I must be eating well in their country. Still, my American upbringing can't help but feel slightly offended when these comments are made. I'm getting more used to it though, of course as time goes on.

Anyway, we hand-picked these kids to join the club, and now hopefully they will actually show up and we can START these clubs. I am most excited about the Health club, as I want to use it mostly to talk about sexuality and sexual decisions. No one here ever talks about this with the youth, but then 13-year-old girls in my community run off to get "married." Hopefully we can educate the kids about the environment along with trash clean-ups every week. As far as the science club goes, I'm hoping to do basic experiments like alka seltzer and diet coke. Any ideas for any of these clubs? Please don't hesitate to share!

The bosses from the First Lady's Office also came out to my site to check in on how things were running. I got in a fight with them about painting a map mural of the DR on the wall. They said all the centers were "institutionalized" and need to look the same. My mouth got the best of me and I told them that all the centers look boring, and if this is supposed to be a place of education, how does a map hurt that image? At this point, I don't even care. Once my grant money comes through, I'm buying paint and painting a map of the DR on the wall. They can blame it on the American if they really get angry.

In other news, my friend Kerrie from Los Estados Unidos is coming here TOMORROW! She'll be here for the week and I am so excited. We're going to spend a few days in my site, and then head up to the North Coast and enjoy the perks of living on an island... a.k.a the beach!

Yes, things seem to be picking up. And just as the song said, I got through January, February and now I'll March on through April and May.