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!

Pictures!

Ok, some pictures are up, more to come ... http://picasaweb.google.com/colleengatliff

Enjoy!

the dengue fever

So I've been MIA with my postings, but I have a good excuse: A day and a half after our lovely swearing-in ceremony, the event that made me an official PCV, I woke up feeling achy and feverish. After two days of this fever and pain, a Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO) called me in for a blood test. That particular blood test was #1 of 8 (yes, EIGHT) that I would have in 7 days. Although the test did not show it for several days, they were certain that I had dengue fever. For the first time in my life I was hospitalized and given an IV. I stayed in the hospital for 5 long, feverish days where I spent most of the time sleeping and the rest of the time trying to use my faulty nurse call button because my IV was beeping. I remember one particular night of fever when I played with the nurse call button for close to an hour and a half!
The dengue caused my liver to swell, so I had a sonogram (also a first, though fairly uneventful). Somehow the swelling liver made my appetite obsolete, so I hardly ate all week (again, a first for me!). The IV kept me alive and hydrated, but also made me pee alot, and thanks to my weakened state, (again a first!) I had to use a bed pan, assisted by a nurse. I was woken up every morning at 5:30 on the dot for a blood test, and then spent my days trying to doze.
When the fever finally subsided I was greeted with a lovely full body rash that itches like crazy. At this point, the rash is settling down a bit and my energy is slowly coming back. I am staying at the Pension, a guest house in the Capital, and should be able to head to my site tomorrow... only a week and a half late! I was told to expect about a month of feeling tired. Good fun with tropical illness!
FAQs about dengue:
How'd you get it? From some tiny little mosquito during the day (dengue mosquitos are day feeders, malaria mosquitos feed only at night)
Why didn't Peace Corps vaccinate you? There is no vaccination for dengue
Now do you have dengue forever or are you immune, like chicken pox? nope, I could get it again tomorrow.
Is it contagious? It's spread only by mosquitos
What about other PCVs? I think that last year about 30 PCVs in the DR got it. It's just the thing to do I suppose!
Anyway, I survived. I am so grateful to the excellent PCMOs that provided great physical and moral support.... and thank you to all of you for your emails, text messages and phone calls. They were a huge morale booster.