Happy Birthday! Feliz cumpleaños papo! It's weird having to say that through a travel blog comment. Hope you're still observing and enjoying. Miss you!
Heartfelt What a fantastic article! I hope you never get so acclimated to any environment that you loose your extraordinary perspective of life. Keep them coming...I look forward to all your adventures. Be safe and God speed!
If only those morons in our modernity class could hear you now. Alas, they would still be too wrapped up in their graphic novels and japanimation (of course as visual commentary on our most grusome of commercialized worlds...whatever) to even listen to you.
keep writing You make your former English teacher proud! You sense of imagery, the details, it is a though I can see and feel what you are experiencing. Stay healthy and safe, but most importantly - keep writing!
My darling little boy. I enjoy all your messages and interesting pictures. You make me laugh so much, specially with the "Pablito" story and picture. Hope you are feeling well and you have been able to eat something other than chicken.
Love you and be safe
P.S. Your sister won the Championship today for the Region. Next weekend we go to Pensacola to compete for State.
Hola! I can't tell you how much I enjoy reading your blogs. The part about being hit with a pig bladder worries me a bit, but other than that I'm glad that you're enjoying yourself. I miss you a lot and hopefully we can talk soon. Till then I await your next blog. Love you!
Alexis:
You never cease to amaze me! I am so proud of you for doing such a noble thing as living in a hut and wiping your ass with banana leaves. You are truly missed here, especially on Thursdays when there are free drinks at some semi-boring event and on Sundays when my stomach rumbles a little for the all you can eat buffet and champagne, which we certainly got our fill of. I look forward to all your updates when for a few minutes I realize you have it worse than I do...haha! I love you TONS and I miss you like CRAZY!
Maggie´s Questions Hey Mags! Here you go: 1) I am spending 3.5 weeks in the capital, then 5 weeks in El Seibo, a rural cattle town, for technical training; then, upon my return, I´ll recieve my 2 year site assignment.
2) I´m going to work with the Information Technology Education sector. My job will probably consist in teaching youth, various software programs and training others to maintain a community computer center. There´s probably more to it than that; but we haven´t gotten that far into training yet.
3) Electricity is a crazy thing here. Basically, most businesses and anybody above the lowest levels of poverty (which is the case in the capital, especially on account of remitances from los dominicanos en los Estados Unidos) has an inversol, an inverter system, which is basically a set of large batteries that charge up when there happens to be electricity (mostly at night), and then kick in and feed it back to the house when the power goes out. Inversoles are fairly new on the scene and quite the big business; they run the basics, like refridgerators, but also TVs. It all depends on how large they are, how many batteries a family or business has. So I´m using an internet cafe, which no doubt is running on an inversol.
4)Mave is 12 and Lesley is 5.
5) Yes Peace Corps pays them to cover the rent of my room, my food, and weekly laundry.
6) The food is pretty good. I get quite a bit of it. Lots of chicken (I´m dying for a chesseburger), rice and beans, guandules (some kind of sweet little pea) are awesome, platanos of all forms, fresh fruit is quite the treat: mangos, mandarinas, papaya, piña. My doña or the lady who helps her cook and clean, Doña Lourdes are the ones that make me breakfast. And the training center has cooks for our lunch.
7) Clockwise from left: Joe, Chris and Sarah - fellow volunteers.
Um, driving is about 3 times worse than you´d expect, and yes that truck would be awesome here. Too bad Peace Corps prohibits driving.
4)
About the Girlfriends I haven´t seen them again, and don´t even know their names. This is becoming a big problem the more I go out; I have tons of people screaming my name, slapping my hand and hugging me, and I have no idea who they are. There´s some study that showed whenever you´re surrounded by people of another culture they all kind of look the same to you; not to mention I meet these people at night while drinking :)
NENE You're so freaking cool. I wanna ride a gua-gua and have Dominican girlfriends!
The pictures/video are awesome. Keep 'em coming! I take it you've succumbed to the overly-technological camera that you had been resisting. Excellent.
Nene, I miss you!
Andale compadre! I know now why your destiny took you so far away from us...I love your stories and your wit! Thank you for sharing and making me laugh.
I do have a couple of questions that are yet unanswered:
1) when do you get your assignment?
2) what exactly are you there for?
3) where do you go on-line if electricity is scarce?
4) how old are the "sisters?"
5) is there compensation for the family you are staying with?
6) what about the food, i.e., type, who cooks, do you like it?
7) who are the gringo type people in the picture with the permanently open door in the bus?
I bet you could use the old green truck there, huh? OK, that's enough for now.
Love,
MP
love you and be safe As always you make me proud to have given birth to such a wonderful human being with so much desire to help and learn about other cultures. I am so glad you are happy and safe. Hope your experience continues to bring you joy and fulfillment. Be careful with all those girlfriends and protect yourself accordingly. LOL
I love you and as always be safe
MOM
NENE! i love the blog. you are so elequent it makes me want to touch myself. i miss you so so so much already. when i got your first email i cried in class, then promptly texted you 'come back', obviously to no avail. the DR looks absolutely amazing. i will most certainly come visit, even if i have to swim there. im glad you have 3 new girlfriends. dont you dare love them more than you love me, or else ill have to kill them. now its time for my advice and requests: get tan quick so you dont get mugged, make sure that adorable perrito does not get beat up, dont sit next to the open wawa doors, dont give the dominicans reason to chismear about you (this request i expect you to break promptly and then let me know about it..in detail), miss me like i miss you.
stay sexy nene,
all my love
alex
I am so pleased ...to hear that you are enjoying yourself. It's great that you set up this blog, I look forward to all future entries. And you have no idea how those pictures brightened up my day. Seriously bright. You are living the mamis and papis life and it is perfect. Adina and Steph arrive tomorrow in London, think of us -- we'll be doing the same.
MUCH LOVE,
Meg
Crazy! You are the craziest SOB I've had the honor and pleasure of meeting (with the highest respect for your mother)! Kudos to you my young idealist. Best of luck and above all - be careful. Looking forward to living vicariously through your experiences.
With much love,
MP
michael
non-member comment
Happy Birthday!
Feliz cumpleaños papo! It's weird having to say that through a travel blog comment. Hope you're still observing and enjoying. Miss you!