We got rain today! It actually just started coming down as we were
leaving the river and its vista behind. We saw the water droplets on the
water’s surface before we felt them. I like El Seibo so much more than
Santo Domingo. It really is a world of difference. The pueblo is more or
less contained within two main streets that are kept relatively (and I
underscore ‘relatively’) clean. The river was a five-minute car ride
away through sugar cane fields and savannah-like expanse of land. From a
distance, it seemed untouched. When we got to the water’s edge and saw a
car and a slew of motoconchos just hangin out in the water, I was a bit
reluctant to partake in the swimming of the river. There were at least
30 people in one area of the river, so we made our way further up stream
of the masses and the autos, our guides (my host brother and his
friend) not really understanding why.
I’ve settled in with my new host family which is a lot more tranquilo
than my other one. Instead of nine kids, my doña has five, but only two
live here. The daughter is 32 and has a two year old son who is the
sweetest thing. This family actually does instill manners in their
children. Her son is twenty and a bit of a tiguere, but not in the worst
way – he’s actually sitting next to me now, doesn’t really understand
the concept of private time. But then again, not many Dominicans do. Her
husband is nice and not as antisocial as most other dons, or so I hear.
The doña herself, Ana Celia, works for the Primera Dama and is much
calmer than my other doña who stressed me simply with the volume of her
voice and high-strung-ed-ness. The best part is that they don’t serve
the same food for every meal every day.
My room is clean, which is such a relief, and I have a real shower.
What’s more, is that I can stand under the un-heated running water. I
still haven’t figured out how to use the toilet yet, as it’s connected
to a tank whose water source has to be turned on and off. So that’s been
interesting. It’s not as hot here as it was in Santo Domingo, but for
some reason my room seems to always be quite warm. And lucky me, the
rooster coop is right below my window. P.S> earplugs do nothing in
the way of blocking out rooster noise. I might not even mind eating
them… as long as I don’t see them butchered.
We finally graduated sex ed today. It’s amazing how much time they
spent on the topic. That and alcohol moderation. And you’d be surprised
how many people weren’t well informed. There were tons of people who
didn’t know about rip tides either. It’s so hard for me to imagine not
knowing, but I guess not everyone lives by the ocean. Apparently there
was a PCV whose brother drowned in a rip current because he didn’t know
what the hell he was doing. It makes me wonder what I don’t know that’s
common knowledge to others. I think Peace Corps has done a pretty good
job of telling us what’s culturally acceptable here and how to protect
ourselves and so on – but no one can prepare you for everything.
The twenty-two of us ICTers are getting to know each other much more
now that we’ve come to El Seibo. The ones I liked, I like even more,
and the ones I haven’t liked, I’m learning to tolerate. We start our lab
training on Monday, which means we start memorizing a million technical
terms in Spanish. As if I wasn’t having enough trouble with simple
words like toilet and floor. But it’s great, because with every step we
take in the direction of actual Peace Corps service, things just get
better. We’re all antsy to get a move on and do away with all this
practicing-giving-surveys thing, but I like having English speakers
around. It’ll definitely be a whole ‘nother story when I’m alone in a
campo somewhere, unable to communicate with any sort of eloquence. Pero,
soy de aquerdo que that’s when you learn the most español.
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