Saludos!

Saludos! So, it’s been about a year since my last blog post. Before you judge, let me explain! So the laptop that I came into country with is no longer in existence. Well, it is but it’s of no use- a big power surge came through and blew out both my surge protector AND my laptop right around the time of my last blog post. I was pretty devastated when I went to go turn it on and it was completely fried. So for a while I was laptop-less. Then, a couple months later around January I got a new one, yay! But then I found myself way too poor to put Microsoft Word on it. But now, a whole year later, I am equipped with a working laptop and Microsoft Office! Woah! No excuses now. I even have a camera now to entertain you beautiful people with some pictures, if you’re lucky. Time for some updatez:

August 21^st was my official one year of living abroad! It seemed so surreal when the day rolled around, I did a lot of reflecting on what I’ve been through the past year. Even just thinking about it now kind of overwhelms me, so much happened! The evolution of my Spanish speaking skills, acclimating to my permanent host family and community, living in 3^rd world poverty, integrating into Dominican customs and culture, maintaining youth groups and projects, dealing with loneliness and relationships with Dominicans, becoming close to my Peace Corps volunteer friends, etc. It has been an absolute amazing year of a lot of ups and a lot of downs, but one thing is for sure- I have changed in an inexplicable way, as I was told I would. Even if I were to leave and return back to the states tomorrow, I wouldn’t be the same. The patience, humbleness and gratitude I have developed will stay with me for as long as I live. And I can’t wait to see what Peace Corps year 2 brings me!

What I have been doing in my community: the first 3 months from November to February was doing a community diagnostic, which consists of going around my community and conducting interviews asking questions about education, health, programs, religion, jobs, etc. In that time I also taught a youth and adult English class and started a girls’ volleyball team. I still have the volleyball team to this day, going strong! In the first week of February we had a 3 day conference where we had to present our findings for about 30 minutes in front of everyone—in Spanish. I would have been nervous to present to a whole room of people in English, never mind Spanish. The day was quite nerve racking but I got through it and actually did well! From February to July I did a slew of things. I went to camps with Dominicans where we were trained on how to carry out specific programs, then started and maintained them. I had a Chicas Brillantes group and two Deportes para la Vida groups, while continuing with my girls’ volleyball team. My Chicas group focuses of female growth and empowerment and the DPV group focuses of HIV awareness and sexual health. I graduated all these groups right before I left for America in July! Right now I am having a Chicos group (same as chicas but with boys) and I will be starting a Somos Familia group next week, along with another secondary project. Exciting stuff, more on them as they progress!

Ahhh Estados Unidos, my trip to America. It was definitely interesting. I think I ate everything while I was there. You people have no idea the caliber of food you have available to you! And the water….it’s cold when you want to drink it and it’s hot when you want to bathe in it. Not the other way around. And it like…..comes from the wall. It’s clean and you don’t have to wait in line and carry it in buckets to and from your house. What is this?! And it’s so quiet there, I slept without earplugs! This thing called internet is available 24/7, which is weird and was kind of annoying when my friend’s faces were buried in their iPhone when we talked or when they were driving. I mean, come on. But enough about that stuff, you all know those things. The most interesting thing was seeing how my relationships with people evolved and how I viewed my friends through my new eyes. Mostly everything was fine (aside from some 1^st world complaining) but the thing that bothered me most was when people I considered my good friends didn’t ask me one question about my life in Peace Corps. We would go to dinner and talk about old times, relationships with boys, their jobs—but not one question about the weird, abnormal life I lead. Not even about what kind of volunteer I am! Not to toot my own horn, but if one of my friends lived overseas in a 3^rd world country for the past year, I would want to pick their brain. And don’t get me wrong, A LOT of people that I loved and cared about did, and I was so SO happy to appease their curiosity and answer every single question they had (Meghan Duncan J) but it was disappointing sometimes when some people I’ve been friends with for years didn’t ask me one thing. I was told by older volunteers that would happen before I left, so I guess it’s not uncommon. Aside from that, it was so amazing to see everyone, enjoy amenities and speak some English. When I got back, it was a bit of a rough readjustment period. The first couple days I just kept saying to myself, “How do people live like this?! Better question, how have I been living like this for a year??!” It also didn’t help that a tropical storm hit the weekend I got back and the electricity and water was out for almost a month! It took a couple weeks but I am back to being a badass, used to everything again J but I do still yearn for those hot showers. October 2015, I’ll be waiting for you!

I won’t write a novel right now so you guys stay interested for the next post, I promise they will become a regular thing! Thanks for reading!