my world

I live in a dream world, maybe a cartoon. It's so rich, so bright, so full, so big that it's hard to document.

I saw a duck beating up on a dog a few weeks ago.

I worked with folks to host a fishermen's exchange-- bringing together fishermen from other parts of the Caribeean to meet the guys I work with. My guys had never met other fishermen. I had yet to recognize how much of the world my newly-aquired (aquiring) Spanish opens to me.

I was a superhero. I helped with a coral gardening project. A successful attempt to keep an endagered coral alive. I felt like a superhero- fighting against the current to plant little coral cuttings into the dead reef.

My hammock is used often.

My house is always filled with small children bringing me gifts of plants for my backyard, a sour orange to eat or juice their mom made.

Somehow I am gaining professional experience here too. Between the hammock & the beach, I write grants and help negotiate between a fishers community and a multi-billion dollar company.

I share my day-to-day with my best friend and love of my life. We learn Spanish together, pop homemade popcorn, cook banana pancakes, explore and recall what life was like with a 40 hour work week.

I paint murals. I dug deep and found my inner artist. Ok, actually, I coordinate. The community paints. But I still had to overcome a crazy fear of art and paint.

A grocery store line can take 30 minutes because for fun, the cashier examines everything.

I deal in a currency (pesos) that I'm still not used to. I flip out at a $1000 grocery bill (USD$30)

My friends are named Chito and Reyito. Chito looks a lot like a street thug ... bling'd out and pants low with a cool motorcycle, but he's my best Dominican friend.

Avocadoes are the size of ... I don't know ... they're huge. And cheap. And I eat them a lot.

Ya.

my fav DR pix thus far

halloween fun

Thanks to my friend Judy's birthday, we had an excuse to throw a PCV Halloween Party in StoDgo. Although I had other plans for a costume, learning that Judy was going to be a bee and then finding some fabulous carbdoard trash on the side of the road, led me to become a honeycomb for the event. Two pieces of string, some cutting and a headband, and whaaalah! Instant costume!

Travis sported his "Nurse Shark" digs quite well.

On Halloween evening I realized I had done nothing at home to celebrate, so using the basin we normally use for dish washing, I created a jack-o-lantern. Recycled trash bags become a spider, and my mosquitero was my green blob costume that I used (with sound effects and lights off) to greet an unexpecting Trav when he arrived home.

I also used Halloween as an excuse to buy one of our favorite colmado treats--MasMas. A MasMas is 12 pesos of milk chocolate and usually a raisin or 2-- and sometimes even a peanut.

My muchachos were disappointed that the spider wasn't a pinata, but otherwise it was a great time.

Mural Painting

In Peace Corps training we were taught how to direct the painting of a mural. If you look back on my older posts, you'll see a picture of a water cycle mural that I did with another volunteer. After that experience of teaching kids how to use a paint brush, cleaning spilled paint, and dealing with general chaos, I swore to never do another. Never say never.

When I began brainstorming with folks from the UM project that I help with on ideas for environmental education in the schools related to coastal ecosystems, it seemed perfect to suggest a mural. Then somehow I took responsibility for it. And then somehow 20' x 8' sounded like a good idea, instead of the 4' x 4' murals we did in training.

Fearful and with a brush & pencil in hand, I pieced together drawings and pictures, and with the help of local artists, 2 murals have been created thus far, and more to come.

Each mural takes about a week. They were painted almost entirely by school kids.

This experience has been incredibly rewarding---it's fun to give kids an opportunity to do something they've never done before, it's something that will last for years, and it's a chance to teach about each thing we're painting. As you see from the 2 murals below, the idea was to teach about how coastal ecosystems are interrelated--hence the mangroves, sea grasses, beach and coral reef.

I love that together, we've created something beautiful (& educational) that will last. I'm also proud because I've conquered my fear of paint & artistic projects. No, I can't draw and paint an entire mural, but I can organize people to!

(will post a completed pix one of this ASAP)

Super Mario Kart

Alright, so I realize that there are MUCH greater priorities in development that I could focus on here, but sometimes those weigh me down a bit. So here's how you can help: some muchachos that I live and work near have a Nintendo 64 and Super Mario Kart (beepbeep!). We thoroughly enjoy it, but there's only one problem--there are only 2 controllers and both and on the edge of breaking. Soooo... here's the all call: Anybody have any old N64 controllers you could send my way? 1, 2, 3 , or 4 would be appreciated and used more than you can imagine.

Beep!beep!

PIX UPDATE

go to the link on the right side of this blog. new albums have been added. enjoy. (and gimme a comment or something people...)

God, Jesus, Yogurt and Care Packages

So the latest rumor regarding the mail system is that due to the highly religious nature of this society, drawing crosses and writing phrases such as "Dios te Bendiga" (God Bless You) or "Jesus Te Ama" (Jesus Loves You) on care packages often ensures their eventual delivery -- and sometimes even quicker delivery! So there ya go, even more incentive to send packages of love.
Just a reminder, use the address on the right side of this web page, send only padded envelopes or letter (not boxes) and always mark the value under $20.
What's that? A wishlist ... sure!
dark chocolates-- individually wrapped
twizzlers
kashi granola bars
seasoning mixes for thai, indian, and other fun foods
dehydrated miso soup
pictures
tootsie roll pops
holiday decor
recipes
newspaper and magazine articles of interest
music and movies
surprises :)
I mentioned God, Jesus, and Care Packages, but still haven't written about the promised "Yogurt". What's yogurt got to do with the aforementioned? A lot actually. There is a brand of yogurt here that has a picture of Jesus on the front and a friendly "Jesus Te Ama". So the question I have is this: How great of a marketing tool is it to put Jesus's face on a bottle of well... anything ... in a culture that has quite an affinity for Jesus? I wonder what would happen if you put the face of Jesus on a care package?