my new life

“…people in Western civilization no longer have time for each other, they have no time together, they do not share the experience of time. This explains why westerners are incapable of understanding the psychology of sitting. In villages all over the world, sitting is an important social activity. Sitting is not a ‘waste of time’ nor is it a manifestation of laziness. Sitting is having time together, time to cultivate social relations.” –Andreas Fuglesang

So the simple fact that it has taken so long to create something to post on this blog serves as excellent evidence of this new life I have embarked upon. Almost a year ago I filled out a Peace Corps application and wrote a moving aspiration statement about an “intercambio” of cultures and how I wanted to listen to people and help them organize themselves. I endured months of waiting, interviews, a medical clearance, goodbye parties and packing, and then I arrived. My first few months were filled with so many new things—yuca, merengue, guaguas for public transportation, plus Spanish, that my mind remained constantly occupied. Training afforded plenty of opportunities to hang out with other volunteers and direction—a schedule of where to go and when, even if it was just four planned hours in a day.
That, my friends, is what I am without now.
I am in my site--Veron, Republica Dominicana—and this is my home for the next 2 years. Yikes. Every PCV I spoke with before getting here made it clear that getting to your site can be, well, weird and overwhelming.
I have 24 hours a day to occupy myself, get to know my community, and find out where I’ll fit in and how I can help. I spend hours on porches drinking cafecitos (espresso and a lot of sugar), sit in area schools for a few hours at a time, hang out in the public clinic and help where I can, follow around community leaders, go for long walks, and read. It’s such a challenge to drop my expectations of meeting on time and wanting my project partners to sit down with me and create a plan. I’m here, so I have to play Dominican, not American.
My area that I am working is quite large. Look on a map if you can—I work as far south as Juanillo and as far north as Bavaro. So there ya go, my new life. It’s just so bizarre, and right now, sometimes scary and overwhelming. So different than anything I have ever known, and I know that in the long run, that’s a good thing. I am learning, growing and stretching a whole lot. For every frustration around here, there’s an amazingly rich moment. Here are a few excerpts from my crazy new life:
Cow feet & pig fat: on Saturday at my house they made a Sancocho—a favorite Dominican dish that’s a stew of root vegetables and meat. This time the meat was cow feet & pig fat. Seriously.
Cualquier cosa: As I’m introduced to people, so so many of them say to me “cualquier cosa tu necesitas, me llama” – anything you need, you call me, then they make sure I realize that they mean it.
Chinola & Avena: While visiting a neighborhood with a community leader, a friend of hers made us sit and she served us each a glass of juice—chinola (passionfruit) and avena (oatmeal). Delicious.
Shoe-swatting: I went to the local evangelical church on Sunday night and during a passionate part of the service a kid was acting up, so the woman I was with (who was not a relative) took off her sandal to swat him. No
one batted an eye.
14 year-old amigo: My 14 year-old neighbor who lives in a tiny wooden house without a bathroom does all the cooking for his family and has the coolest cell phone I’ve ever seen—complete with mp3 player and camera. He’s my buddy. I hang out at his house in the evenings sometimes, and not because he has a cool phone. Because he’s friendly and talkative.
Not so domestic: I wash my own clothes now. We have a machine that does a spin cycle, so we fill it and add soap. There was a bag near the washer that looked like detergent, so I used it. After about 15 minutes, a friend of the family realized that it wasn’t soap—it was concrete. That was fun.
Yuca: I love it now. Like look forward to it love it. I couldn’t eat it the first time it was served to me. Woo!