Aqui!

Hola!

So I´ve been here for a week now and it feels like much longer. My host family is very nice, my Dona cooks for me often and my 15 year old host brother Eton is very polite and patient with my broken Spanish. My barrio is GREAT. There is always music blasting, maringue and raggaeton. And if the music doesn´t keep you awake, the chickens and dogs sure will! There´s this awesome call and response thing that the chickens have going on. They will talk to each other from across the town.

It is really great here. I have a huge group of 59 volunteers, and everyone is really cool. We have a great training center in the city with lots of trees and open space. Our spanish classes are very small. I´m in a group with only 2 other volunteers. We were tested on our spanish and rated on a scale of 1 to 10. 0 is you know how to say ´hola´ and 10 is native speaker. I´m ion the 4 group, which I´m really happy with. At the end of training, you have to test at a 5 to be sworn in, so that shouldn´t be a problem, especially considering how much spanish I get everyday.

The hospitality here is really incredible. Whenever I visit the other volunteers in my barrio, their Donas always bring out coffee, which is out of this world by the way, or jugo de limon, or a fruit salad with sugar on it! I´ve played some dominoes and some Dominican card games, and I was even invited to a birthday party this weekend. How exciting!

I´m becoming a pro at bucket showers, and even bucket showers with a headlamp, when the electricity goes out, which is often. I´m at an internet cafe on my street right now, and I´ll try to post as often as possible. Probably about once a week because we are super busy at training. Adios for now!

Staging tomorrow!

So it's my last day at home! I have to be in Georgetown at noon tomorrow for staging. I'm so excited about meeting everyone in my group. I think I'm one of only 2 people that aren't flying in to DC from around the US- I'm lucky staging is so close to me! I'm not exactly sure what to expect of staging, but I think it's mostly a broad orientation, getting my passport, etc. And then we leave for Miami (leaving for the airport at 3:00 am for a 7:00 am flight... ) before heading to Santo Domingo.

So I have to leave my house tomorrow morning at around 11:00, so I'm getting some last minute stuff done now.... and I'm sure I'll forget to do something important. My next post will be in the DR! So exciteddddddddddddd

1.5 weeks and counting...

So it's time to pack... I have a steadily-growing pile in the corner of my room which I should probably start organizing. Went shopping yesterday to get some adventure basics- head lamp, pocket knife, etc. And my sleeping bag, duffel, and keen shoes just came in the mail. So it looks like I pretty much have everything I need. The problem is that I'm packing based on the assumption that every day will be 80 degrees, but I could very well be placed near the mountains, which is cooler. Oh well, que sera sera.