So I was reading my good friend Fran's blog, which you all should be doing too. She moved to Spain in November and is chronicling her life there, which I must say is quite interesting and entertaining (and I'm not just saying this because she gave me a shout out on her blog.) Anytime I go to use the internet I make it a point to read her blog.
So anyways, she has a post about her favorite expression in Spain, and while I posted my favorite Spanish word, I thought I would take this time to post some expressions which I believe have no basis as actual words in Spanish, but nonetheless are quite entertaining when I hear them.
Phrase number one, which I heard for the first time a while back, and which I mistook as not just an expression, but as something I thought someone was actually saying, and as a result I spent a few minutes actually perusing my dictionary trying to find out what it meant. This would be the equivalent of looking up something like "geez" in an English dictionary (Yes, I'm that oblivious.) So the expression is, "Ay, pipa!" This phrase is encountered most frequently whilst watching telenovelas with my Doña. For example, if something like this happened in the episode: "You mean to say that Maria is sleeping with Juana's ex-boyfriend even though she just had sex with the lifeguard at the pool, and just had a baby fathered by her boss...", my Doña's response would be, "AY, PIPA!" It always puts a smile on my face, and is probably the only way that I'm am able to live through watching these shows.
I have 3 more expressions that I can think of right now, and oh how I would love to share them all with you right now, but I believe I have already posted demasiado (too much) for one day, which should provide you with enough reading material until I get to post next time. It will hopefully also leave you waiting at the edge of your seat until the next time I post. (But in all reality it's getting late here and if I didn't go to bed right now I would probably not wake up in time in order to get to the internet to post this all for you guys.)
Something else to keep you at the edge of your seat...I'm going whale watching this weekend...stay tuned.
And finally, I'm not usually not one for all the celebrity gossip and what not, but for some reason since I've been in the DR I've actually enjoyed it, probably because it is something that reminds me of the US:
R.I.P Heath Ledger :(
Thursday, January 24, 2008
What Does a Rooster Say?
This should be under one of the book reviews for David Sedaris, but I thought this story warranted it's own post. It was in Dress You Family in Corduroy and Denim, where Mr. Sedaris talks about how if he is in a new country, in order to start a conversation with a cab driver or whoever he meets, he usually asks them what sound a rooster makes in this country. He goes on to say that for instance in Germany they say, "kik-a-riki," and in Greek they go, "kiri-a-kee," and that in France they crow, "coco-rico."
This got me laughing really hard because I had this conversation in one of my Spanish classes during training. In case you were wondering, Dominican roosters crow, "rik-i-dik-i-dik," or something to that effect. David Sedaris also goes on to say that when he tells someone that an American rooster says, "cock-a-doodle-doo," and I'm quoting directly from the book here, "my hosts look at me with disbelief and pity." I got that exact same reaction out of my Spanish teacher when we told her that's what American roosters say. I remember her face at that moment, like it just happened yesterday, and disbelief and pity are the two exact words I would use to describe it.
Now, it is everyone's job to find out what roosters say in different places. This would be especially easy if you are already living overseas (hmmhmm...Fran...hmmhmm), but also if you have other friends or relatives, would you be so kind as to inquire and then let me know. I find it interesting.
This got me laughing really hard because I had this conversation in one of my Spanish classes during training. In case you were wondering, Dominican roosters crow, "rik-i-dik-i-dik," or something to that effect. David Sedaris also goes on to say that when he tells someone that an American rooster says, "cock-a-doodle-doo," and I'm quoting directly from the book here, "my hosts look at me with disbelief and pity." I got that exact same reaction out of my Spanish teacher when we told her that's what American roosters say. I remember her face at that moment, like it just happened yesterday, and disbelief and pity are the two exact words I would use to describe it.
Now, it is everyone's job to find out what roosters say in different places. This would be especially easy if you are already living overseas (hmmhmm...Fran...hmmhmm), but also if you have other friends or relatives, would you be so kind as to inquire and then let me know. I find it interesting.
The "Naked" Post
So yeah, last time I posted I had the entry titled, "Naked," but I accidently posted the entry for my book review a second time. Well not to worry, I've fixed this error and the correct entry is now posted. Don't get your hopes up though, it's not as exciting as the title sounds.
On Wednesday, Jesús said, "Let there be light..." and there was.
In order to solve the problem of the electricity always going out, people here in the DR buy inversores (I think in English it is called an inverter.) Basically, what this is, is a couple of batteries, usually at least two, which get charged when there is electricity, and when the lights go out, the inversor switches to battery power, and with this, you can run a few lightbulbs and televisions, and my computer, gracias a diós.
Last weekend my family bought one, which they should probably thank me for because I'm providing them with some pretty good extra income. Only the people here who have pretty good money are able to afford them as the one my family bought cost $17000 RD, or $515 US, which is pretty steep for Dominican standards.
Well, it sat around all weekend, and Monday too because it was a holiday, and I'm not sure why the installer guy didn't come on Tuesday, but yesterday, Wednesday, he finally came to install it. It was installed without any problems and now we have light 24/7. Woohoo! I'm very tempted to stay with this family now, if only there wasn't an annoying little 5 year old I would be set.
So, the first time that the power went out I really wanted to ask my host dad, Jesús, to be the first one to flick the light switch, but before doing so to say, "Let there be light!" They probably would not have understood my humor, but I would have really got a kick out of it. Oh well, I'm still smiling just thinking about how it would have played out had I asked him. Maybe when the aqueduct is completed I'll have more courage to ask him to say, "Let there be water!"
Last weekend my family bought one, which they should probably thank me for because I'm providing them with some pretty good extra income. Only the people here who have pretty good money are able to afford them as the one my family bought cost $17000 RD, or $515 US, which is pretty steep for Dominican standards.
Well, it sat around all weekend, and Monday too because it was a holiday, and I'm not sure why the installer guy didn't come on Tuesday, but yesterday, Wednesday, he finally came to install it. It was installed without any problems and now we have light 24/7. Woohoo! I'm very tempted to stay with this family now, if only there wasn't an annoying little 5 year old I would be set.
So, the first time that the power went out I really wanted to ask my host dad, Jesús, to be the first one to flick the light switch, but before doing so to say, "Let there be light!" They probably would not have understood my humor, but I would have really got a kick out of it. Oh well, I'm still smiling just thinking about how it would have played out had I asked him. Maybe when the aqueduct is completed I'll have more courage to ask him to say, "Let there be water!"
Virgen de Altagracia
So yesterday, Monday the 21st of January, while you were celebrating the death of Martin Luther King Jr. I was celebrating the feast day of the Virgen de Altagracia. It is a big holiday here, with tons of people making a pilgrimage to the Cathedral in the eastern part of the country honoring her. On a previous trip to Punta Cana we passed by the Cathedral and here is a picture of it.
As usual, I was kind of left in the dark as to what we were doing to celebrate it. On Sunday my project partner asked me if I was going to go to church at around 3:30. For once I was actually happy that they told me the plans before hand. So, Monday comes around, and I figured I had the whole morning to relax, but it turns out that at around 11 my project partner comes to get me and tells me there is a vela, which is the word they use for what we call a wake, but it also means just a vigil as well. As always, I was not bathed at this point, but I told just to wait a few minutes for me to get ready, because I thought I would end the streak of always showing up to places all dirty. He ended up going without me, but my host brother waited for me. I've become pretty fast at taking bucket baths. In the beginning they would take forever, but now just a few strategic pours and I'm out of there. I actually find the cold water quite refreshing, but that first pour is always a little shocking.
We went up to where they were holding the vigil, and there were probably at least 75 people there, probably more, but my crowd estimating skills are a little shabby. It was just sort of a big family/neighborhood party where everyone makes their appearance, says hi to everyone, does a little small talk and then leaves. My project partner introduced me to one of the people who used to live in our town, moved to the U.S. for about 15 years, and now lives in Santiago. He spoke English pretty well and he is a pretty good contact to have, as he told us he would definitely help us out with the project.
As usual, Dominicans love to feed people, so I ended up having two lunches that day, along with a snack of crackers and juice. As 3:30 was coming around I was wondering if we were going to go to church, but it never happened. So now, people are starting to tell me what the plans are, but they're incorrect. At least we're making a small step forward. So I got out of having to go to church, which I was relieved, although I know it's probably inevitable.
As usual, I was kind of left in the dark as to what we were doing to celebrate it. On Sunday my project partner asked me if I was going to go to church at around 3:30. For once I was actually happy that they told me the plans before hand. So, Monday comes around, and I figured I had the whole morning to relax, but it turns out that at around 11 my project partner comes to get me and tells me there is a vela, which is the word they use for what we call a wake, but it also means just a vigil as well. As always, I was not bathed at this point, but I told just to wait a few minutes for me to get ready, because I thought I would end the streak of always showing up to places all dirty. He ended up going without me, but my host brother waited for me. I've become pretty fast at taking bucket baths. In the beginning they would take forever, but now just a few strategic pours and I'm out of there. I actually find the cold water quite refreshing, but that first pour is always a little shocking.
We went up to where they were holding the vigil, and there were probably at least 75 people there, probably more, but my crowd estimating skills are a little shabby. It was just sort of a big family/neighborhood party where everyone makes their appearance, says hi to everyone, does a little small talk and then leaves. My project partner introduced me to one of the people who used to live in our town, moved to the U.S. for about 15 years, and now lives in Santiago. He spoke English pretty well and he is a pretty good contact to have, as he told us he would definitely help us out with the project.
As usual, Dominicans love to feed people, so I ended up having two lunches that day, along with a snack of crackers and juice. As 3:30 was coming around I was wondering if we were going to go to church, but it never happened. So now, people are starting to tell me what the plans are, but they're incorrect. At least we're making a small step forward. So I got out of having to go to church, which I was relieved, although I know it's probably inevitable.
Two More Books
So I finished reading two more of David Sedaris's books, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and Me Talk Pretty One Day. I found both of them excellent, reading them each in about a day. I'm not going to do a full review because they're the same style and format as Naked.
I found these books at a hostel I stayed at in Santiago. They had just been recently donated so I really lucked out. Now hopefully next time I go to the Peace Corps Office I could find Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice.
When I was in Santiago there was a Borders-like store, so I figured I would go and try and find a book that had originally been written in Spanish that looked readable at my level. I also wanted to find one that wasn't too expensive, as books here are pretty expensive for some reason. I found a book by the Chilean author Isabel Allende, of whom I've heard good things. The price tag said $520, but when it rang up as $420, or $13 US, which is pretty reasonable for a book here. The book I picked up is called El plan infinito (or The Infinite Plan). I almost picked up one of her books in English awhile back, but for some reason I didn't. I was successfully able to read the synopsis on the back of the book, so I figured I was good to go. I started reading the first couple pages, and it's not as easy as the back of the book, but I figured I'm going to trudge through it anyways. Hopefully it will build my vocabulary and overall help me with Spanish. Sure, this means that whenever I want to read this book that I'm going to have to lug around a dictionary with me also, but I'm sure it will be worth it.
I found these books at a hostel I stayed at in Santiago. They had just been recently donated so I really lucked out. Now hopefully next time I go to the Peace Corps Office I could find Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice.
When I was in Santiago there was a Borders-like store, so I figured I would go and try and find a book that had originally been written in Spanish that looked readable at my level. I also wanted to find one that wasn't too expensive, as books here are pretty expensive for some reason. I found a book by the Chilean author Isabel Allende, of whom I've heard good things. The price tag said $520, but when it rang up as $420, or $13 US, which is pretty reasonable for a book here. The book I picked up is called El plan infinito (or The Infinite Plan). I almost picked up one of her books in English awhile back, but for some reason I didn't. I was successfully able to read the synopsis on the back of the book, so I figured I was good to go. I started reading the first couple pages, and it's not as easy as the back of the book, but I figured I'm going to trudge through it anyways. Hopefully it will build my vocabulary and overall help me with Spanish. Sure, this means that whenever I want to read this book that I'm going to have to lug around a dictionary with me also, but I'm sure it will be worth it.
Interview with a Dominican
So I've done 20 interviews at the time of writing this, on Saturday, January 19th.
I was supposed to start last Thursday, the day after I got back from Santiago, but due to some confusion which should not have been, since I specifically told them that I would be coming back Wednesday, we didn't start the interviews until Friday.
We started the interviews on time, at right about 2, which was surprising. I walked around to the houses in the part of town where I live. Telma, a member of our water committee accompanied me, and in all we did 13 interviews in about 3 hours. After doing the first couple you kind of get an idea of what all the answers will be for the ones who follow. This is because almost everyone where I live buys there water from a truck. Almost everyone will not admit to ever being sick. Although there are the occasional few who will tell you everything in detail, down to when they stubbed their toe (OK, I'm actually making that one up). I'm not a big fan of the whole health aspect of my project, as I have no background in health beyond knowing nursing terms which I learned from my sister (but I doubt that knowing if someone is A&O x 1-3, tachacardic or diaphretic is really going to help me out much here). Sure they should be washing their hands after the browns go to the superbowl (or I guess you could say super "hole" in my case). But, something like hand washing is something that has pretty much already been set in stone, and even if I was a good little volunteer leading by example washing my hands after every time I touched something, it would still have little effect on their hand washing habits.
The interviewing at times is monotonous, but it is refreshing to see just how friendly and caring these people are. Almost every house that I go to offers me something, whether it be coffee or juice, some fruit, or my favorite which was completely unexpected and I only received it at one house: hershey kisses. Those people must have been ballin' because those things aren't cheap here.
So, after we finished around 5pm, Telma told me, if I wanted, that we could start again tomorrow (a Saturday!) at 9am, to finish the couple of houses we didn't get to do around me, and then we would go down to Los Rincones and continue interviewing there. Since I was a little early the previous day and Telma wasn't ready, I figured I would give her a few extra minutes. So I read another chapter in my book, and at 9:30 I went by Telma's house so we could start. So it turned out that Telma had left earlier in the day to go to town, and had left a message with her daughter saying that there would be another Doña waiting for me to help me with the interviews, not giving me a name of who it would be or anything. Now at this point, I probably could have just went back to my house and continued reading and called it a day, but being the proactive person that I'm not, I decided to go down alone to Los Rincones and see if I could figure this out. On my way down some kids that live by me came by on a Donkey, on their way to get water, and they told me they would help me find who I needed. Luckily everyone talks to everyone about everything here. I asked the first people I ran into if there was a woman down here that I was supposed to be interviewing with, and sure enough they told me who she was and where to find her.
The kids on the donkey were passing by her house on the way to get the water, so they kindly showed me where she lived. Surprisingly (in a sarcastic tone), she was not there. So, I decided to just go with the kids to where they get the water. They get it from a little spring on the other side of the river, but fortunately, somebody already built a little system so they don't have to cross the river. Unfortunately, this spring is below all the houses in the community and I can't use it in my project. A few years back, an engineer came in and built a pump system for some of the houses, so there are a lot of people in the lower community who already have running water, but the deal with the pump is that when the electricity is out, there is no water, which is quite frequently. Also, pumps break a lot and they are expensive to fix. So, most of the people who have water from the pump system still want a tapstand with this new gravity-fed aqueduct because water will be available 24 hours a day.
So the kids finished getting the water, and on the way back the woman was there waiting for me. I guess the people that I asked went and found her for me. So a little after 10am we started doing the interviews. I got 7 completed, for a total of 20 so far. Only about 45 or so more to go. On my way back, I passed this woman's house (her nickname is Blanca, or white lady, and I'm not sure why because she's not white, but that's the case with most of the nicknames here) and every time I pass it she always yells, "Entre, entre!," which means enter, or come in. All the previous times I had been working so I was beat and just wanted to get home. This time I figured why not, so I walked up to her house and we had a little conversation with her and her husband. Her husband was a huge motor mouth. I'm pretty sure he probably only took one pause for a breath during the 20 minutes I was there. It was one of those things where I really wanted to leave and I was waiting for a lull in the conversation so that I could politely excuse myself, but unfortunately there were no lulls. So instead of leaving during a lull, I left at the change of topic, which was hard for me to pick up in Spanish. We said our goodbyes, and Blanca seemed especially happy that the white boy came to talk to her. They told me to come back again, and I told them I would be passing by everyday next week. They told me they would be saving some fruit for me to give me when I pass by. Lovely. It's a good thing I'm still living with a family otherwise all this fruit would be going to waste. With all the fruit I've gotten since I've been here I probably could have started a small produce market.
So that was that, this upcoming week I only have 3 days of interviews, since Monday is a Dominican holiday, and Friday I'm going to visit a friend on the Samana Peninsula to do some whale watching.
I was supposed to start last Thursday, the day after I got back from Santiago, but due to some confusion which should not have been, since I specifically told them that I would be coming back Wednesday, we didn't start the interviews until Friday.
We started the interviews on time, at right about 2, which was surprising. I walked around to the houses in the part of town where I live. Telma, a member of our water committee accompanied me, and in all we did 13 interviews in about 3 hours. After doing the first couple you kind of get an idea of what all the answers will be for the ones who follow. This is because almost everyone where I live buys there water from a truck. Almost everyone will not admit to ever being sick. Although there are the occasional few who will tell you everything in detail, down to when they stubbed their toe (OK, I'm actually making that one up). I'm not a big fan of the whole health aspect of my project, as I have no background in health beyond knowing nursing terms which I learned from my sister (but I doubt that knowing if someone is A&O x 1-3, tachacardic or diaphretic is really going to help me out much here). Sure they should be washing their hands after the browns go to the superbowl (or I guess you could say super "hole" in my case). But, something like hand washing is something that has pretty much already been set in stone, and even if I was a good little volunteer leading by example washing my hands after every time I touched something, it would still have little effect on their hand washing habits.
The interviewing at times is monotonous, but it is refreshing to see just how friendly and caring these people are. Almost every house that I go to offers me something, whether it be coffee or juice, some fruit, or my favorite which was completely unexpected and I only received it at one house: hershey kisses. Those people must have been ballin' because those things aren't cheap here.
So, after we finished around 5pm, Telma told me, if I wanted, that we could start again tomorrow (a Saturday!) at 9am, to finish the couple of houses we didn't get to do around me, and then we would go down to Los Rincones and continue interviewing there. Since I was a little early the previous day and Telma wasn't ready, I figured I would give her a few extra minutes. So I read another chapter in my book, and at 9:30 I went by Telma's house so we could start. So it turned out that Telma had left earlier in the day to go to town, and had left a message with her daughter saying that there would be another Doña waiting for me to help me with the interviews, not giving me a name of who it would be or anything. Now at this point, I probably could have just went back to my house and continued reading and called it a day, but being the proactive person that I'm not, I decided to go down alone to Los Rincones and see if I could figure this out. On my way down some kids that live by me came by on a Donkey, on their way to get water, and they told me they would help me find who I needed. Luckily everyone talks to everyone about everything here. I asked the first people I ran into if there was a woman down here that I was supposed to be interviewing with, and sure enough they told me who she was and where to find her.
The kids on the donkey were passing by her house on the way to get the water, so they kindly showed me where she lived. Surprisingly (in a sarcastic tone), she was not there. So, I decided to just go with the kids to where they get the water. They get it from a little spring on the other side of the river, but fortunately, somebody already built a little system so they don't have to cross the river. Unfortunately, this spring is below all the houses in the community and I can't use it in my project. A few years back, an engineer came in and built a pump system for some of the houses, so there are a lot of people in the lower community who already have running water, but the deal with the pump is that when the electricity is out, there is no water, which is quite frequently. Also, pumps break a lot and they are expensive to fix. So, most of the people who have water from the pump system still want a tapstand with this new gravity-fed aqueduct because water will be available 24 hours a day.
So the kids finished getting the water, and on the way back the woman was there waiting for me. I guess the people that I asked went and found her for me. So a little after 10am we started doing the interviews. I got 7 completed, for a total of 20 so far. Only about 45 or so more to go. On my way back, I passed this woman's house (her nickname is Blanca, or white lady, and I'm not sure why because she's not white, but that's the case with most of the nicknames here) and every time I pass it she always yells, "Entre, entre!," which means enter, or come in. All the previous times I had been working so I was beat and just wanted to get home. This time I figured why not, so I walked up to her house and we had a little conversation with her and her husband. Her husband was a huge motor mouth. I'm pretty sure he probably only took one pause for a breath during the 20 minutes I was there. It was one of those things where I really wanted to leave and I was waiting for a lull in the conversation so that I could politely excuse myself, but unfortunately there were no lulls. So instead of leaving during a lull, I left at the change of topic, which was hard for me to pick up in Spanish. We said our goodbyes, and Blanca seemed especially happy that the white boy came to talk to her. They told me to come back again, and I told them I would be passing by everyday next week. They told me they would be saving some fruit for me to give me when I pass by. Lovely. It's a good thing I'm still living with a family otherwise all this fruit would be going to waste. With all the fruit I've gotten since I've been here I probably could have started a small produce market.
So that was that, this upcoming week I only have 3 days of interviews, since Monday is a Dominican holiday, and Friday I'm going to visit a friend on the Samana Peninsula to do some whale watching.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
One of My Favorite Words in Spanish
I thought I would take the time to tell everyone about one of my favorite words in Spanish. I have many favorites, just as I do in English, but I think this even tops any English word.
The word is: aprovechar
Aprovechar means to take advantage of something. It just has such a better ring to it, rather than having to say "I'm taking advantage of that," I only have to say, "Yo aprovecho."
So next time you're missing me, just aprovechar something, whether it be the fact that you have electricity 24/7, taking a hot shower, or flushing your toilet paper down a toilet.
There are an endless amount of things that you can aprovechar!
The word is: aprovechar
Aprovechar means to take advantage of something. It just has such a better ring to it, rather than having to say "I'm taking advantage of that," I only have to say, "Yo aprovecho."
So next time you're missing me, just aprovechar something, whether it be the fact that you have electricity 24/7, taking a hot shower, or flushing your toilet paper down a toilet.
There are an endless amount of things that you can aprovechar!
Naked
No, unfortunately this post is not about my naked antics here in the DR, but rather another book review, that of Naked by David Sedaris.
I had always heard about David Sedaris as being a really hilarious writer, but had never gotten a chance to read any of his literature. I heard him several times on This American Life on National Public Radio, but beyond that I only knew that which my friends talked about.
I'm finally glad that I got a chance to read something by him, because he is hilarious. This book is basically a memoir/essays about interesting things that happened in his life. It's not really a story about his life, rather just little tidbits. The stories are hilarious, and I often literally found myself laughing out loud, and then trying to explain to my family in Spanish why I was laughing. They already probably think I'm weird enough, now add this to it and I'm sure they have their minds set.
Hopefully I can find more of his books in the Peace Corps office, otherwise some of you will be bringing them down here when you visit.
I had always heard about David Sedaris as being a really hilarious writer, but had never gotten a chance to read any of his literature. I heard him several times on This American Life on National Public Radio, but beyond that I only knew that which my friends talked about.
I'm finally glad that I got a chance to read something by him, because he is hilarious. This book is basically a memoir/essays about interesting things that happened in his life. It's not really a story about his life, rather just little tidbits. The stories are hilarious, and I often literally found myself laughing out loud, and then trying to explain to my family in Spanish why I was laughing. They already probably think I'm weird enough, now add this to it and I'm sure they have their minds set.
Hopefully I can find more of his books in the Peace Corps office, otherwise some of you will be bringing them down here when you visit.
The Worst Hard Time
So I finished up The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan. It was an excellent look into the huge drought during the 1930's in the upper midwest; the area known as the Dust Bowl during that period. I liked this book, because unlike John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, it tells the true story of the people that stayed during that period, unlike Steinbeck's work of fiction that tells the story of those who fled.
I think anyone interested in history, especially American history, should pick up this book. I'm not a big history person, and for me at times it was a little bit hard to follow as there are several different families that the author tells the story of at the same time.
Overall though I thought it was a pretty good read, and it goes into great detail on the huge dust storms of that era which were rated by meteorologists as the greatest or most unusual weather phenomenon of the century...maybe even millennium (I don't remember.) The worst of these was called Black Sunday where so much dust was lifted off the ground that during the middle of the day, you could barely see your hand in front of your face. There were a few storms that even carried so much land that dust fell on the East Coast of the U.S. It also goes into the sicknesses that arose from inhaling all the dust, with the most prominent illness being called dust pneumonia, something which doctors had never really encountered before, except with people who worked in coal mines and such, but never with the general public.
Most interesting though is what caused the huge dust storms to take place. You'll have to read to find out.
I think anyone interested in history, especially American history, should pick up this book. I'm not a big history person, and for me at times it was a little bit hard to follow as there are several different families that the author tells the story of at the same time.
Overall though I thought it was a pretty good read, and it goes into great detail on the huge dust storms of that era which were rated by meteorologists as the greatest or most unusual weather phenomenon of the century...maybe even millennium (I don't remember.) The worst of these was called Black Sunday where so much dust was lifted off the ground that during the middle of the day, you could barely see your hand in front of your face. There were a few storms that even carried so much land that dust fell on the East Coast of the U.S. It also goes into the sicknesses that arose from inhaling all the dust, with the most prominent illness being called dust pneumonia, something which doctors had never really encountered before, except with people who worked in coal mines and such, but never with the general public.
Most interesting though is what caused the huge dust storms to take place. You'll have to read to find out.
Rob's Topography
So I was just going to add to the last post, but I figured that the past two days warranted a post for itself.
So Friday was the day that we decided we would do the topographic survey of Rob's site. Now Rob is way more out in the boondocks than John, so I figured it would be a little interesting going there. John and I decided we would meet at the intersection on the highway, near where I live, as that is the beginning of the route to get to Rob's site. We scheduled to meet at 8:30, so we could meet up with Rob by 9 at the river, but I'm still getting the whole hang of Dominican time, and John didn't get by me until 9:15. It was good though, I was just able to sit and chill and watch the cars go by for 45 minutes. A nice relaxing start to what would end up being a long day.
After John arrived we got some motos and after the 20 minute or so drive through the mountains we met up with Rob at the Boca del Rio Grande, or the mouth or Rio Grande, where Rio Grande feeds into another larger river that runs along and below Rob's site. Luckily for us, Rob found a couple of kids in his community to bring down two mules for us, to make the trip up to his site a bit easier. John and I were on one mule. John was in the back, not on the saddle, and I was in front. Rob and one of the kids from his community were on the other. Immediately at the start of the trip there was already one river that we would need to cross. The mule handled it well and we continued on our way. In all I think we crossed the river 3 or 4 times. At one point the mule started galloping, which under normal conditions would be fine, but on Dominican saddles, it does not feel good on the nether regions, and I can only imagine poor John in the back who wasn't even on the saddle. At another point I nearly fell off, and I have no idea how exactly John and I both stayed on, because I was basically on my side just hanging on, but thankfully one of the kids that was walking along with us sort of caught us.
We finally arrive at Rob's site, maybe around 10 or 10:15, I don't really know though because I don't really wear a watch anymore since time doesn't really matter. It was really funny, when John was dismounting from the mule, he completely fell off and landed right on his rear end. All the people who were watching found it pretty funny. My dismount was not much more graceful, but I didn't completely fall. This was only the second time I have ridden a mule in this country, and I have yet to get the hang of it.
Before we started work we were treated to a glorious ham sandwich (on regular square bread which is a rarity here) because the day before Rob and the colmado owner went to Santiago, and they picked it up while they were there. It was a little stale, but it was a delight nonetheless. We made them Dominican style, with butter on the outside, ketchup, mayo, ham and cheese on the inside (with a little hot sauce added, which is not Dominican) and then pressed and grilled it in what looked like a waffle maker. With the sandwiches we also had a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.
After our bellies were full we gathered all the workers and we were off. It was pretty much the same job as we had done at John's site, but Rob's was a little more complicated as we had to survey several routes, since his spring that he was planning on using is below 11 of the houses in his community, and therefore water cannot be brought by gravity to those houses. So we had to survey from a little stream further away that is higher up. During the afternoon the work was a lot more tedious since there was a lot more ground cover and it was a lot harder to site the other pole with the abney level.
Since Rob is way out in the middle of nowhere it is a little more difficult to leave his site and acquire transportation, so at 4:15, I had to decide whether I was going to leave, or help them finish up the survey and stay the night. Even though I had not come prepared (which I should really know to do by now) I decided I would stay, and we finished up the work a little after 5 or so.
After we got back, we hiked down to the river, where we swam for a little bit and also bathed. We hiked back up, and then Rob lent me some clothes to wear since what I was wearing during the day was all muddy and wet from me sweating. I swear, Dominican are the nicest people. The family who owns the store there basically gave John and I their house for the night. There are four people who live there, with 3 beds. John and I only needed two of the beds, and we told them that they could use the other bed, but they would not listen to us, and so I don't even know where all of them went and slept. There is one room in the little store they own, but I don't know how four people could have slept there. Also, they turned on their diesel generator for us so that we could enter some of the data into excel on Rob's computer.
I didn't sleep very well at night, because usually when I'm staying somewhere different for the first time I have a little trouble sleeping, but I got enough shuteye, and I woke up around 8:30. Rob's family then gave us some breakfast, and us three were off to visit another volunteer, Kira, who lives in a community only about a 10 minute or so detour on our trip down. We took a different path down this time, since Rob said it was a little quicker to arrive at Kira's site. We had to cross the river 4 times on this trip. And this time we did not have the lovely help of mules, it was all on foot. The first 3 rivers I crossed uneventfully.
We arrived at the 4th crossing, and it was definitely the widest and there was someone crossing it when we got there, and it came up to a little bit below his waist. (Normally this river is easily crossable, but with the amount of rain in the past week the rivers are a bit swollen.) So, I tightened the straps on my backpack and sandals, and grabbed a hold of my moto helmet, because it was hanging a little bit below my backpack, and I began to cross the river. There were tons of rocks of all different sizes, so I was pretty much just stumbling my way there, hoping that I wouldn't fall. I got to about mid river, and lost my balance a little and pretty much got soaked up to my neck. I'm not exactly sure how, but my backpack remained mostly dry, but the same cannot be said about my helmet.
So now here I am, soaking wet continuing the hike to Kira's house. We made it there around 11am, but alas, Kira had went to town that morning and would be returning in about an hour. We decided we'd stick it out and walk around her town a little bit, as it was John and I's first time there. Also, John wanted to get a pair of sandals as he had been walking around in rubber boots the whole day, that were now filled with water, and he needed a new pair anyways since he had lost one of his the other day. So we walked around for a little while, got John's sandals (I was very tempted to buy a pair of LA Gear flip flops for $75 RD, or about $2.50 US...I don't know why I didn't, but I think that next time I'm at Kira's site I'm returning to the store to get them...they're way to classic to pass up), and then got back to Kira's house at 12:40 and she had still not returned. While we were waiting we were treated to some delicious papaya, and Kira ended up coming around 1 pm. We talked, played dominos, at lunch, and then we were off to get back to our sites around 3 o'clockish.
John and I were super lucky, because while were were waiting to get motos, we ended up getting a bola (basically a free ride by hitchiking.) We hopped into the back of the truck, saving each of us $50 pesos, and I wouldn't have to wear my helmet which had not yet completely dried even though I put it in the sun for a couple hours during the hottest part of the day (yes it was that wet.) To top things off, about halfway through the trip we passed an ice cream truck and the driver stopped to buy some ice cream. I figured that I could use one too, to cool down from the sun beating down on me in the back of the truck, so I decided on my favorite one, the choco choco, which is chocolate ice cream covered in a chocolate shell. They're oh so good, and only $15 pesos, but, being the nice driver that he was, he also treated me to ice cream. A free ride, and free ice cream, I could not have asked for anything better. (One time I got a bola in the back of the actual ice cream truck, but I still had to pay for my ice cream that time.)
John and I hopped off at the intersection on the highway near my town. John would have to get back to his site, which takes at least a half an hour, and I just had to walk the ten minutes to my house.
So that's what happened the past two days. A little spontaneous adventure, and a lot of fun.
So Friday was the day that we decided we would do the topographic survey of Rob's site. Now Rob is way more out in the boondocks than John, so I figured it would be a little interesting going there. John and I decided we would meet at the intersection on the highway, near where I live, as that is the beginning of the route to get to Rob's site. We scheduled to meet at 8:30, so we could meet up with Rob by 9 at the river, but I'm still getting the whole hang of Dominican time, and John didn't get by me until 9:15. It was good though, I was just able to sit and chill and watch the cars go by for 45 minutes. A nice relaxing start to what would end up being a long day.
After John arrived we got some motos and after the 20 minute or so drive through the mountains we met up with Rob at the Boca del Rio Grande, or the mouth or Rio Grande, where Rio Grande feeds into another larger river that runs along and below Rob's site. Luckily for us, Rob found a couple of kids in his community to bring down two mules for us, to make the trip up to his site a bit easier. John and I were on one mule. John was in the back, not on the saddle, and I was in front. Rob and one of the kids from his community were on the other. Immediately at the start of the trip there was already one river that we would need to cross. The mule handled it well and we continued on our way. In all I think we crossed the river 3 or 4 times. At one point the mule started galloping, which under normal conditions would be fine, but on Dominican saddles, it does not feel good on the nether regions, and I can only imagine poor John in the back who wasn't even on the saddle. At another point I nearly fell off, and I have no idea how exactly John and I both stayed on, because I was basically on my side just hanging on, but thankfully one of the kids that was walking along with us sort of caught us.
We finally arrive at Rob's site, maybe around 10 or 10:15, I don't really know though because I don't really wear a watch anymore since time doesn't really matter. It was really funny, when John was dismounting from the mule, he completely fell off and landed right on his rear end. All the people who were watching found it pretty funny. My dismount was not much more graceful, but I didn't completely fall. This was only the second time I have ridden a mule in this country, and I have yet to get the hang of it.
Before we started work we were treated to a glorious ham sandwich (on regular square bread which is a rarity here) because the day before Rob and the colmado owner went to Santiago, and they picked it up while they were there. It was a little stale, but it was a delight nonetheless. We made them Dominican style, with butter on the outside, ketchup, mayo, ham and cheese on the inside (with a little hot sauce added, which is not Dominican) and then pressed and grilled it in what looked like a waffle maker. With the sandwiches we also had a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.
After our bellies were full we gathered all the workers and we were off. It was pretty much the same job as we had done at John's site, but Rob's was a little more complicated as we had to survey several routes, since his spring that he was planning on using is below 11 of the houses in his community, and therefore water cannot be brought by gravity to those houses. So we had to survey from a little stream further away that is higher up. During the afternoon the work was a lot more tedious since there was a lot more ground cover and it was a lot harder to site the other pole with the abney level.
Since Rob is way out in the middle of nowhere it is a little more difficult to leave his site and acquire transportation, so at 4:15, I had to decide whether I was going to leave, or help them finish up the survey and stay the night. Even though I had not come prepared (which I should really know to do by now) I decided I would stay, and we finished up the work a little after 5 or so.
After we got back, we hiked down to the river, where we swam for a little bit and also bathed. We hiked back up, and then Rob lent me some clothes to wear since what I was wearing during the day was all muddy and wet from me sweating. I swear, Dominican are the nicest people. The family who owns the store there basically gave John and I their house for the night. There are four people who live there, with 3 beds. John and I only needed two of the beds, and we told them that they could use the other bed, but they would not listen to us, and so I don't even know where all of them went and slept. There is one room in the little store they own, but I don't know how four people could have slept there. Also, they turned on their diesel generator for us so that we could enter some of the data into excel on Rob's computer.
I didn't sleep very well at night, because usually when I'm staying somewhere different for the first time I have a little trouble sleeping, but I got enough shuteye, and I woke up around 8:30. Rob's family then gave us some breakfast, and us three were off to visit another volunteer, Kira, who lives in a community only about a 10 minute or so detour on our trip down. We took a different path down this time, since Rob said it was a little quicker to arrive at Kira's site. We had to cross the river 4 times on this trip. And this time we did not have the lovely help of mules, it was all on foot. The first 3 rivers I crossed uneventfully.
We arrived at the 4th crossing, and it was definitely the widest and there was someone crossing it when we got there, and it came up to a little bit below his waist. (Normally this river is easily crossable, but with the amount of rain in the past week the rivers are a bit swollen.) So, I tightened the straps on my backpack and sandals, and grabbed a hold of my moto helmet, because it was hanging a little bit below my backpack, and I began to cross the river. There were tons of rocks of all different sizes, so I was pretty much just stumbling my way there, hoping that I wouldn't fall. I got to about mid river, and lost my balance a little and pretty much got soaked up to my neck. I'm not exactly sure how, but my backpack remained mostly dry, but the same cannot be said about my helmet.
So now here I am, soaking wet continuing the hike to Kira's house. We made it there around 11am, but alas, Kira had went to town that morning and would be returning in about an hour. We decided we'd stick it out and walk around her town a little bit, as it was John and I's first time there. Also, John wanted to get a pair of sandals as he had been walking around in rubber boots the whole day, that were now filled with water, and he needed a new pair anyways since he had lost one of his the other day. So we walked around for a little while, got John's sandals (I was very tempted to buy a pair of LA Gear flip flops for $75 RD, or about $2.50 US...I don't know why I didn't, but I think that next time I'm at Kira's site I'm returning to the store to get them...they're way to classic to pass up), and then got back to Kira's house at 12:40 and she had still not returned. While we were waiting we were treated to some delicious papaya, and Kira ended up coming around 1 pm. We talked, played dominos, at lunch, and then we were off to get back to our sites around 3 o'clockish.
John and I were super lucky, because while were were waiting to get motos, we ended up getting a bola (basically a free ride by hitchiking.) We hopped into the back of the truck, saving each of us $50 pesos, and I wouldn't have to wear my helmet which had not yet completely dried even though I put it in the sun for a couple hours during the hottest part of the day (yes it was that wet.) To top things off, about halfway through the trip we passed an ice cream truck and the driver stopped to buy some ice cream. I figured that I could use one too, to cool down from the sun beating down on me in the back of the truck, so I decided on my favorite one, the choco choco, which is chocolate ice cream covered in a chocolate shell. They're oh so good, and only $15 pesos, but, being the nice driver that he was, he also treated me to ice cream. A free ride, and free ice cream, I could not have asked for anything better. (One time I got a bola in the back of the actual ice cream truck, but I still had to pay for my ice cream that time.)
John and I hopped off at the intersection on the highway near my town. John would have to get back to his site, which takes at least a half an hour, and I just had to walk the ten minutes to my house.
So that's what happened the past two days. A little spontaneous adventure, and a lot of fun.
John's Topographic Survey
So today it really felt like I was in the Peace Corps. I went over to John's site to help him with his topographic survey, since we are all helping each other out to have some English speakers around because it makes it a little easier. I woke up a little late, a little before 8 o'clock (I was supposed to be at the highway by 8:15 am. Anyways I got to the highway, picked up a carro publico (a little less safe, since they cram four in the backseat and two in the front...but I ended up riding solo in the front seat), since it came before the Javilla Tours bus (the nice buses that run along the highway with great frequency), then got on a moto (motorcycle) in Altamira and off I was to John's site. When we were about halfway there it started raining, and the moto pulled over so that we weren't driving in the rain. After it calmed down a little bit we continued on our way and I got to John's a little after 9 am, so practically right on time in Dominican terms. Rob on the other hand is completely Dominicanized and arrived at 10 am. After that we had to cross a river to get into John's site, and since it has been raining like crazy here the river is a bit swollen. Mind you, I had my computer in my backpack. We crossed uneventfully and continued to John's house where we had a breakfast of boiled plantains and coffee. This was actually my second breakfast. My first breakfast at 8 was hot chocolate and some bread, one of my favorite breakfasts actually, on a nice crisp winter morning.
After that we gathered everyone up and we hiked up to the source where John's aqueduct will be getting water from. It was probably about a half hour or forty-five minute hike, sometimes on a path, and other times through thick brush. The views at his site are spectacular, so there was never a dull moment on the hike up. We got to the source, talked a little bit about his plan for the obra de toma (intake works) and then we started doing the survey.
I'm going to get into the technical stuff a little bit here, so if you don't want to get bored, you might want to skip this paragraph. Doing the topographic survey consists of using an Abney level, which is used to measure the angle between points, and a long tape measure (100ft), obviously to measure the distance. Knowing the distance and angle, you can figure out the difference in height between the points by multiplying the distance by the sine of the angle (in degrees) (I know all you guys remember your trigonometry). In doing this along the entire route (from the source to the last house that needs water) we get a accurate enough survey to design an aqueduct.
The hike on the way back obviously went a lot slower since we had to stop every 50 ft or so. At times were on extremely steep inclines that were completely muddy since it had been raining. And actually, for a good chunk of time it was a nice downpour and we got soaking wet. Let me tell you in case you wanted to know, that old Abney levels do not work to well under wet conditions. Water leaks into them and fogs up the lenses. So every couple points we had to ask this 80 year old dude if we could use his shirt to clean it off, because he was wearing a jacket which kept his undershirt dry.
As we got nearer to the houses, some of the workers kept dropping one by one, since it was now later in the afternoon, and no one had eaten lunch. After a long and grueling hike back, we were treated to a nice lunch of chicken and moro (rice cooked with the beans). Rob ate everything in his bowl, which was quite a feat to accomplish. He said that he had never been so full since he arrived in the country. It was now about 5 o'clock and Rob and I were both needing to get back to our sites.
John accompanied us out, and when he was crossing the river, it was deeper than he expected (since we crossed at a different point on the way in) and he tripped a little and lost one of his sandals. On the other side of the river was a moto waiting to take me and Rob back to our sites. Yes, three grown men rode on one moto. I have actually only done this once before (but the third person that time was a little old lady whose moto she was riding had broken down), but I guess Rob has done it a lot, so I took the middle, as I really didn't want to fall off the back. It's really not as dangerous as it sounds, and Rob didn't fall off the back. Our moto driver was pretty cautious too, driving at speeds which even I thought were a bit slow for around here. This would also be my first time riding a moto on the highway, as usually I just take the moto to the highway and then get on a bus from there. But this was easier, and I was tired, and I didn't feel as though it was my day to die.
On my way back into my site I stopped at the little supermarket to buy a bottle of hot sauce, since I figured it's about time I spiced up some of the blander food. It was really funny when I brought it out for dinner and the little kid in my house asked me if he could try some. Now most Dominicans are not accustomed to spicy things, my little host brother included. When he put a drop of it on his tongue he just about fainted. It was hilarious. Also at the supermarket I bought my favorite chocolate candy bar, a Crachi (pronounced Crotchy in Spanish). I think I'll post about my obsession with Crachi another day. And yes, in case you were wondering, I did share my Crachi with my host family. They licked it, munched on it a little, and overall, my Crachi was a big hit.
So there you have it, more proof that I actually do work here. By the time I post this, if it is not raining like cats and dogs, we'll have done the topographic survey of Rob's site as well. If anything eventful happens during that, I'll be sure to post it.
After that we gathered everyone up and we hiked up to the source where John's aqueduct will be getting water from. It was probably about a half hour or forty-five minute hike, sometimes on a path, and other times through thick brush. The views at his site are spectacular, so there was never a dull moment on the hike up. We got to the source, talked a little bit about his plan for the obra de toma (intake works) and then we started doing the survey.
I'm going to get into the technical stuff a little bit here, so if you don't want to get bored, you might want to skip this paragraph. Doing the topographic survey consists of using an Abney level, which is used to measure the angle between points, and a long tape measure (100ft), obviously to measure the distance. Knowing the distance and angle, you can figure out the difference in height between the points by multiplying the distance by the sine of the angle (in degrees) (I know all you guys remember your trigonometry). In doing this along the entire route (from the source to the last house that needs water) we get a accurate enough survey to design an aqueduct.
The hike on the way back obviously went a lot slower since we had to stop every 50 ft or so. At times were on extremely steep inclines that were completely muddy since it had been raining. And actually, for a good chunk of time it was a nice downpour and we got soaking wet. Let me tell you in case you wanted to know, that old Abney levels do not work to well under wet conditions. Water leaks into them and fogs up the lenses. So every couple points we had to ask this 80 year old dude if we could use his shirt to clean it off, because he was wearing a jacket which kept his undershirt dry.
As we got nearer to the houses, some of the workers kept dropping one by one, since it was now later in the afternoon, and no one had eaten lunch. After a long and grueling hike back, we were treated to a nice lunch of chicken and moro (rice cooked with the beans). Rob ate everything in his bowl, which was quite a feat to accomplish. He said that he had never been so full since he arrived in the country. It was now about 5 o'clock and Rob and I were both needing to get back to our sites.
John accompanied us out, and when he was crossing the river, it was deeper than he expected (since we crossed at a different point on the way in) and he tripped a little and lost one of his sandals. On the other side of the river was a moto waiting to take me and Rob back to our sites. Yes, three grown men rode on one moto. I have actually only done this once before (but the third person that time was a little old lady whose moto she was riding had broken down), but I guess Rob has done it a lot, so I took the middle, as I really didn't want to fall off the back. It's really not as dangerous as it sounds, and Rob didn't fall off the back. Our moto driver was pretty cautious too, driving at speeds which even I thought were a bit slow for around here. This would also be my first time riding a moto on the highway, as usually I just take the moto to the highway and then get on a bus from there. But this was easier, and I was tired, and I didn't feel as though it was my day to die.
On my way back into my site I stopped at the little supermarket to buy a bottle of hot sauce, since I figured it's about time I spiced up some of the blander food. It was really funny when I brought it out for dinner and the little kid in my house asked me if he could try some. Now most Dominicans are not accustomed to spicy things, my little host brother included. When he put a drop of it on his tongue he just about fainted. It was hilarious. Also at the supermarket I bought my favorite chocolate candy bar, a Crachi (pronounced Crotchy in Spanish). I think I'll post about my obsession with Crachi another day. And yes, in case you were wondering, I did share my Crachi with my host family. They licked it, munched on it a little, and overall, my Crachi was a big hit.
So there you have it, more proof that I actually do work here. By the time I post this, if it is not raining like cats and dogs, we'll have done the topographic survey of Rob's site as well. If anything eventful happens during that, I'll be sure to post it.
Thinking in Spanish
So after I posted last time, I was on my way back to my site and I noticed something interesting happening. I was thinking in Spanish! It is so weird this transition from thinking in English to Spanish. I never really believed that it would happen, despite what people had told me, but alas it has. I don't think in Spanish all the time, but I have been noticing myself doing it more frequently lately. I most often realize that it is happening at night when I'm falling asleep. You know that time of day when you're going over things in your head about what happened during the day, what you have to do tomorrow, and things like that. It's still the strangest thing to me that I'm now doing that stuff in Spanish. I've even had a few dreams in Spanish. Nothing super vivid yet, and I'm pretty sure that every time I've spoken Spanish in my dreams, it has been with people who also know Spanish. Although, supposedly the time will come when all my dreams are in Spanish and people who don't even know it are speaking it as well. Weird.
When I was on the internet last time I downloaded California Dreamin' by the Mamas and the Papas. I don't know what made me think of it, but I went to play it on my computer the other day and I didn't have it. I thought for sure I had it, but I didn't. So that's what I'm listening to now. I think it's something about that pan flute solo in the middle of the song. Too bad it's less than 3 minutes long.
When I was on the internet last time I downloaded California Dreamin' by the Mamas and the Papas. I don't know what made me think of it, but I went to play it on my computer the other day and I didn't have it. I thought for sure I had it, but I didn't. So that's what I'm listening to now. I think it's something about that pan flute solo in the middle of the song. Too bad it's less than 3 minutes long.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Kevin's Book Club
Since I love Oprah so much (sticking finger down my throat), I decided to start my own book club. Since I've been here I've read a few books and I figured I'd give a little review/synopsis of each, and you guys can decide if you want to read them or not. There are two which I highly recommend, the others you could skip, although if you have the time they are still pretty good.
The Unheard by Josh (I don't remember his last name)
This book is about a deaf Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Zambia in Africa. If you decide to read this one, just remember that my service does not even compare to what he went through. From what I gathered, it seemed like he was always worried about his safety and constantly on edge, and he was deaf. I can't even think of one time that I felt like I was in danger. This is a good read, highly recommended, although I may be partial since I am a Peace Corps Volunteer.
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Believe it or not, but I actually think this one was an Oprah book club selection. I remember a friend reading it it high school and he was always talking about it saying that it was awesome. I never got a chance to read it back then, and when I saw it on the shelf at the Peace Corps office I decided to pick it up and give it a shot. It's pretty good if you're into mindless fiction, just in it for the story kind of book. Sometimes that's what I need down here just to escape and not have to think. It's about this messed-up, dysfunctional family and the problems and consequences they have to endure.
The Alchemist by Paul Coelho
A friend picked this one out for me to read. It's basically about this guy who goes on this long journey to discovery himself and what life is really about. There's a lot of references to higher powers, which I'm not a big fan of. Also it deals with the concept of fate a lot , which I'm not very fond of either. I just don't understand how that no matter what path we take, or what actions we perform, the same result ensues. Despite all that, the book still had a good message and I really liked the ending. Mom, I recommend picking this one up, you'll really like it. Also, it's a very short book, readable in a day or so.
Mountains beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
This is non-fiction, about Dr. Paul Farmer who started a clinic in Haiti and how he has basically made a huge difference there, and in the entire world. It is an excellent book that makes you realize what potential each and every one of us has inside ourselves. I wish I still had the book so that I could type up the back of it, because my review here is not doing it the slightest bit of justice. Of all the books I'm writing about here, this one comes in an extremely close 2nd place, practically tied with my number 1 pick.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
This one was a struggle to get through, not because of content, but because of length. It was well over a thousand pages, with teeny-tiny print. From the beginning I was immediately drawn in and could not put it down. If you're familiar with Ayn Rand you'll know all about her objectivism and her egoism. She's very into herself and thinks that everyone else should be as well. This is basically her philosophy and if you know me well enough you'd know why I enjoyed this book. Ok, this is coming straight from the back of the book, "The astounding story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world-and did. Tremendous in scope, breathtaking in suspense, Atlas Shrugged is unlike any other book you have ever read. It is a mystery story, not about the murder of a man's body, but about the murder-and rebirth-of a man's spirit." If you have got the time on your hands, pick this one up.
Night by Elie Wiesel
This is my top recommendation for all of you. It is extremely readable (I read it in less than a day.) It's only about 100 pages. It is a work of non-fiction. The author received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1985 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. It is a memoir of the time he spent in the concentration camps during World War II. Now you might be thinking, "oh geez, another book about the Nazis and Jews," but of everything I've read on this topic, this book tops them all. It's so very short and sweet, depicting the horror and misery like nothing else I've read (or even watched for that matter.) How something like that could have happened a little over half a century ago, a little over a decade ago in Rwanda, and is now going on in Sudan, is beyond me.
I also finished up the final book in the Harry Potter series. I left home with about 2-300 pages left. It was hell to leave it back at home, but due to luggage restrictions I had to. Well I got my hands on a copy and let me tell you it was good. I'm not going to do a review of it because if you wanted to read it you would have done so by now.
Alright, now if you're only going to pick up one of these books make it be Night. But, I really think you should go pick up two, and make the second one be Mountains beyond Mountains.
That's it for now, I'm just about to start reading The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan, "The untold story of those who survived the great American dust bowl." Stay tuned for a review.
If you've read any books lately that you'd like to recommend to me, please go ahead and leave a comment or email me, and I'll see if I could pick it up in the Peace Corps office.
The Unheard by Josh (I don't remember his last name)
This book is about a deaf Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Zambia in Africa. If you decide to read this one, just remember that my service does not even compare to what he went through. From what I gathered, it seemed like he was always worried about his safety and constantly on edge, and he was deaf. I can't even think of one time that I felt like I was in danger. This is a good read, highly recommended, although I may be partial since I am a Peace Corps Volunteer.
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Believe it or not, but I actually think this one was an Oprah book club selection. I remember a friend reading it it high school and he was always talking about it saying that it was awesome. I never got a chance to read it back then, and when I saw it on the shelf at the Peace Corps office I decided to pick it up and give it a shot. It's pretty good if you're into mindless fiction, just in it for the story kind of book. Sometimes that's what I need down here just to escape and not have to think. It's about this messed-up, dysfunctional family and the problems and consequences they have to endure.
The Alchemist by Paul Coelho
A friend picked this one out for me to read. It's basically about this guy who goes on this long journey to discovery himself and what life is really about. There's a lot of references to higher powers, which I'm not a big fan of. Also it deals with the concept of fate a lot , which I'm not very fond of either. I just don't understand how that no matter what path we take, or what actions we perform, the same result ensues. Despite all that, the book still had a good message and I really liked the ending. Mom, I recommend picking this one up, you'll really like it. Also, it's a very short book, readable in a day or so.
Mountains beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
This is non-fiction, about Dr. Paul Farmer who started a clinic in Haiti and how he has basically made a huge difference there, and in the entire world. It is an excellent book that makes you realize what potential each and every one of us has inside ourselves. I wish I still had the book so that I could type up the back of it, because my review here is not doing it the slightest bit of justice. Of all the books I'm writing about here, this one comes in an extremely close 2nd place, practically tied with my number 1 pick.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
This one was a struggle to get through, not because of content, but because of length. It was well over a thousand pages, with teeny-tiny print. From the beginning I was immediately drawn in and could not put it down. If you're familiar with Ayn Rand you'll know all about her objectivism and her egoism. She's very into herself and thinks that everyone else should be as well. This is basically her philosophy and if you know me well enough you'd know why I enjoyed this book. Ok, this is coming straight from the back of the book, "The astounding story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world-and did. Tremendous in scope, breathtaking in suspense, Atlas Shrugged is unlike any other book you have ever read. It is a mystery story, not about the murder of a man's body, but about the murder-and rebirth-of a man's spirit." If you have got the time on your hands, pick this one up.
Night by Elie Wiesel
This is my top recommendation for all of you. It is extremely readable (I read it in less than a day.) It's only about 100 pages. It is a work of non-fiction. The author received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1985 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. It is a memoir of the time he spent in the concentration camps during World War II. Now you might be thinking, "oh geez, another book about the Nazis and Jews," but of everything I've read on this topic, this book tops them all. It's so very short and sweet, depicting the horror and misery like nothing else I've read (or even watched for that matter.) How something like that could have happened a little over half a century ago, a little over a decade ago in Rwanda, and is now going on in Sudan, is beyond me.
I also finished up the final book in the Harry Potter series. I left home with about 2-300 pages left. It was hell to leave it back at home, but due to luggage restrictions I had to. Well I got my hands on a copy and let me tell you it was good. I'm not going to do a review of it because if you wanted to read it you would have done so by now.
Alright, now if you're only going to pick up one of these books make it be Night. But, I really think you should go pick up two, and make the second one be Mountains beyond Mountains.
That's it for now, I'm just about to start reading The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan, "The untold story of those who survived the great American dust bowl." Stay tuned for a review.
If you've read any books lately that you'd like to recommend to me, please go ahead and leave a comment or email me, and I'll see if I could pick it up in the Peace Corps office.
Random Thoughts
This was written Saturday, January 5th
So I'm sitting here typing this in my room and it has been raining since Thursday night (it's now Saturday afternoon.) There was a few moments of sunshine at noon today, but that didn't last long. Today I was supposed to go to Santiago in the morning to make copies of my community diagnostic so I could get going on that, and I was going to go to the mall there that has free wireless internet (yes...I really am in the Peace Corps.) But I guess I'm becoming too Dominican because when it's raining I don't do anything. It's not like I don't have an umbrella or anything, it's just that I don't feel like leaving the house. The road out of my town is all muddy and I really didn't feel like getting muddy today.
We were also supposed to have a water committee meeting today at 2pm, but alas that got cancelled as well since nobody does anything when it's raining. Since I knew I wasn't going to be doing anything today I didn't wake up until 10. I then had breakfast of bread and juice and coffee. I'm now getting my coffee black, the way I like it. I didn't have the heart to tell them that I like it that way, as it is considered very weird, but I told them that when I was in Cabarete I tried it that way and it was my favorite. They still thought it was pretty weird, but whatever because now I get a lovely glass of black coffee every morning, and usually at night too. I then watched TV until 12, when I had lunch. I then took a bucket bath and have been on my computer ever since. (It's now 4pm.) In that time I have written these lovely blog entries for you all, made updates to my community map, community diagnostic, wrote a rather lengthy email to my sister about places to stay when my family visits in March. I have a countdown calendar on my computer...it's only 82 days until they come. I'm sure that is going to fly by.
I would like to congratulate (that word does not look right) my friend on her recent (oh look...here come more sunshine) getting of internet in her place (you know who you are.) Now I get to receive text messages from her all the time...woohoo! Oh yeah...and all of you people better get moving on sending text messages with that website below. And don't use the excuse that the webpage is in Spanish. There is a big picture of a phone...if you can't figure it out I probably don't want text messages from you anyways.
I want to talk a little bit more about my rad visit to Cabarete last week. I had a bottle of one of my two favorite beers, Duvel, complete with Duvel glass and everything. It cost $290 DR, which is about $9 US, but it was well worth it. Sadly they did not have Tripel Karmeliet. Also, I got to have a video conference with my family through Skype. It was really nice to see all their lovely faces.
Words cannot even describe how excellent sour patch kids and dark chocolate peanut M&Ms are. Thanks to my fam who sent them to me for Christmas. What a lovely Christmas present. Who would have ever thought that such a simple Christmas gift could go so far. Also, thanks to my bro for sending my my computer and the lovely new case he bought for it. Yeah, if you feel like sending any care packages definitely put those things in it.
Ok...that's it for now, sorry for all the parentheses and my random babbling thoughts, but that's how it goes sometimes.
Now it's Sunday, I was going to go to Santiago today, but it's still raining on and off, and I found out yesterday that nothing is open on Sundays, so I'm going to try and make it there tomorrow (Monday).
So I'm sitting here typing this in my room and it has been raining since Thursday night (it's now Saturday afternoon.) There was a few moments of sunshine at noon today, but that didn't last long. Today I was supposed to go to Santiago in the morning to make copies of my community diagnostic so I could get going on that, and I was going to go to the mall there that has free wireless internet (yes...I really am in the Peace Corps.) But I guess I'm becoming too Dominican because when it's raining I don't do anything. It's not like I don't have an umbrella or anything, it's just that I don't feel like leaving the house. The road out of my town is all muddy and I really didn't feel like getting muddy today.
We were also supposed to have a water committee meeting today at 2pm, but alas that got cancelled as well since nobody does anything when it's raining. Since I knew I wasn't going to be doing anything today I didn't wake up until 10. I then had breakfast of bread and juice and coffee. I'm now getting my coffee black, the way I like it. I didn't have the heart to tell them that I like it that way, as it is considered very weird, but I told them that when I was in Cabarete I tried it that way and it was my favorite. They still thought it was pretty weird, but whatever because now I get a lovely glass of black coffee every morning, and usually at night too. I then watched TV until 12, when I had lunch. I then took a bucket bath and have been on my computer ever since. (It's now 4pm.) In that time I have written these lovely blog entries for you all, made updates to my community map, community diagnostic, wrote a rather lengthy email to my sister about places to stay when my family visits in March. I have a countdown calendar on my computer...it's only 82 days until they come. I'm sure that is going to fly by.
I would like to congratulate (that word does not look right) my friend on her recent (oh look...here come more sunshine) getting of internet in her place (you know who you are.) Now I get to receive text messages from her all the time...woohoo! Oh yeah...and all of you people better get moving on sending text messages with that website below. And don't use the excuse that the webpage is in Spanish. There is a big picture of a phone...if you can't figure it out I probably don't want text messages from you anyways.
I want to talk a little bit more about my rad visit to Cabarete last week. I had a bottle of one of my two favorite beers, Duvel, complete with Duvel glass and everything. It cost $290 DR, which is about $9 US, but it was well worth it. Sadly they did not have Tripel Karmeliet. Also, I got to have a video conference with my family through Skype. It was really nice to see all their lovely faces.
Words cannot even describe how excellent sour patch kids and dark chocolate peanut M&Ms are. Thanks to my fam who sent them to me for Christmas. What a lovely Christmas present. Who would have ever thought that such a simple Christmas gift could go so far. Also, thanks to my bro for sending my my computer and the lovely new case he bought for it. Yeah, if you feel like sending any care packages definitely put those things in it.
Ok...that's it for now, sorry for all the parentheses and my random babbling thoughts, but that's how it goes sometimes.
Now it's Sunday, I was going to go to Santiago today, but it's still raining on and off, and I found out yesterday that nothing is open on Sundays, so I'm going to try and make it there tomorrow (Monday).
My Work
So yeah...I actually have been working down here, although I'm sure to most people it seems that I'm just sort of on a vacation, which I guess at times it pretty much feels like I am, because I love what I'm doing here. Anyways, I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before or not, but I did the topographic survey of where we are going to be laying the pipeline with another volunteer a little over 2 weeks ago. There are a few hurdles I am going to need to engineer out of the way, but overall I was happy with the results I got from the topography. I'm going to try and see if I can get the excel spreadsheet up here so you guys can see the lay of the land. I also made a digital copy of my community map which I'll try and get up here too.
In these last few weeks of January, and maybe the first couple weeks of February, I have to make a visit to each house in the community for an little interview about their water usage and health problems. The interviews will be conducted with the Doñas (or woman of the house) of the houses, as they are the ones who are home during the day and they are the ones who give the most reliable answers. Here are all the questions I will be asking:
General Questions
1. What's your complete name, including any nicknames. (Most people here never go by their real name, they only go by their nicknames...for example, my host mom's real name is Máxima, but everyone calls her Maritza. I think maybe only one time I've heard her called Máxima. Also my project partner is called Zenón, but everone calls him Papi.)
2. How many people sleep here and what are their names, ages, and sex? (In order to get a more accurate population estimate we ask how many people sleep there as opposed to how many people live there. This gets away some of the confusion of "living" as many people will consider themselves as living somewhere even though they don't sleep there.)
Finances
3. What is your family's occupation, or how do you earn a living? (The majority of people in my community are farmers, with a few teacher and other odd jobs. There are a few people who receive money from people living in the states. Believe it or not this is actually one of the top three sources of income in the DR.)
4. If you are a farmer what do you grow? (The people in my community are very big Cacao farmers, where chocolate comes from)
5. Do you have any other sources of income?
Health
6. Who has been sick in the last 3 months? (Instead of asking, "Has anyone been sick in the last 3 months?" we ask "who" has been sick, because if we asked it the other way they would automatically just say no. It's still very likely that they will say no one has been sick because they don't want to look bad in front of you."
7. What have they been sick with? (If they do admit to anything, they will say Gripe, which can range from a cough/cold to the flu.)
8. Has any child 5 or younger had the cold or diarrhea in the pas 15 days. (This question is targeted at children 5 and under, as this is the crucial age range where serious health problems occur and is where we are trying to get the most improvement.)
Environment and Sanitation
9. Where does the water that you use in your house come from? (A lot of people get their water from the nearby river, others buy it from a truck that they call)
10. If it comes from a truck, how much do you pay per month? (Since a lot of people pay for the water I added this question to find out how much money they would be saving once the aqueduct is built)
11. How many hours do you take each day to get water?
12. How much water do you carry in one trip?
13. Is the water that you drink different from the water that you go and find? (I added this one in there because a lot of people in my community buy bottled water for drinking.)
14. Do you purify the water before you drink it? (This is for people who don't buy bottle water.)
15. What method do you use to purify it? (Common methods are adding bleach, boiling it, and more rarely, filtering.)
16. What do you do with your garbage? (Most people just throw it out their backdoor, others burn it. There are some communities that a truck comes around, but I have yet to see one in mine. This is something that still really bothers me and is going to be the hardest to change. People here just don't see the impact that littering and polluting has.)
17. How often do you wash your hands? (Most people will attest that they are always washing they're hands since they do dishes and laundry, but through observation, rarely do people wash their hands after going to the bathroom and before eating.)
18. Do you have a latrine? (It seems as though most people in my community have latrines, some even have bathrooms in their house)
19. Is it in good or bad condition? (This is so I can get a rough estimate of how many latrine I may or may not need to build in the future.)
20. In your opinion, what are the basic problems related to health and sanitation in the community? (This should be the most interesting since it is very open-ended.)
Observations
21. Is the floor made of dirt, cement or something else? (From my few visits so far, it seems that most people have cement floors.)
22. Is the roof made of concrete, zinc or wood? (I would say the majority here have zinc, with concrete coming in second, and wood being third. We'll see if I'm right.)
23. Is the kitchen in the house or separate? (From what I've seen so far the majority of people have kitchens in their houses, although there are still plenty that cook on a fire outside their house.)
24. How many rooms are there for sleeping? (This is to get an idea of how crowded the living situation is.)
Ok...well there you have it, I actually do work here! Stay tuned for the results of the community diagnostic, in a few months or so.
My Community Map
My Topography
Yeah and that was done old school with an abney level...we don't have GPS or lovely digital instruments here.
And the elevations on the topography more or less coincide with the distance on the community map.
Next I get to design the aqueduct, which should be interesting.
In these last few weeks of January, and maybe the first couple weeks of February, I have to make a visit to each house in the community for an little interview about their water usage and health problems. The interviews will be conducted with the Doñas (or woman of the house) of the houses, as they are the ones who are home during the day and they are the ones who give the most reliable answers. Here are all the questions I will be asking:
General Questions
1. What's your complete name, including any nicknames. (Most people here never go by their real name, they only go by their nicknames...for example, my host mom's real name is Máxima, but everyone calls her Maritza. I think maybe only one time I've heard her called Máxima. Also my project partner is called Zenón, but everone calls him Papi.)
2. How many people sleep here and what are their names, ages, and sex? (In order to get a more accurate population estimate we ask how many people sleep there as opposed to how many people live there. This gets away some of the confusion of "living" as many people will consider themselves as living somewhere even though they don't sleep there.)
Finances
3. What is your family's occupation, or how do you earn a living? (The majority of people in my community are farmers, with a few teacher and other odd jobs. There are a few people who receive money from people living in the states. Believe it or not this is actually one of the top three sources of income in the DR.)
4. If you are a farmer what do you grow? (The people in my community are very big Cacao farmers, where chocolate comes from)
5. Do you have any other sources of income?
Health
6. Who has been sick in the last 3 months? (Instead of asking, "Has anyone been sick in the last 3 months?" we ask "who" has been sick, because if we asked it the other way they would automatically just say no. It's still very likely that they will say no one has been sick because they don't want to look bad in front of you."
7. What have they been sick with? (If they do admit to anything, they will say Gripe, which can range from a cough/cold to the flu.)
8. Has any child 5 or younger had the cold or diarrhea in the pas 15 days. (This question is targeted at children 5 and under, as this is the crucial age range where serious health problems occur and is where we are trying to get the most improvement.)
Environment and Sanitation
9. Where does the water that you use in your house come from? (A lot of people get their water from the nearby river, others buy it from a truck that they call)
10. If it comes from a truck, how much do you pay per month? (Since a lot of people pay for the water I added this question to find out how much money they would be saving once the aqueduct is built)
11. How many hours do you take each day to get water?
12. How much water do you carry in one trip?
13. Is the water that you drink different from the water that you go and find? (I added this one in there because a lot of people in my community buy bottled water for drinking.)
14. Do you purify the water before you drink it? (This is for people who don't buy bottle water.)
15. What method do you use to purify it? (Common methods are adding bleach, boiling it, and more rarely, filtering.)
16. What do you do with your garbage? (Most people just throw it out their backdoor, others burn it. There are some communities that a truck comes around, but I have yet to see one in mine. This is something that still really bothers me and is going to be the hardest to change. People here just don't see the impact that littering and polluting has.)
17. How often do you wash your hands? (Most people will attest that they are always washing they're hands since they do dishes and laundry, but through observation, rarely do people wash their hands after going to the bathroom and before eating.)
18. Do you have a latrine? (It seems as though most people in my community have latrines, some even have bathrooms in their house)
19. Is it in good or bad condition? (This is so I can get a rough estimate of how many latrine I may or may not need to build in the future.)
20. In your opinion, what are the basic problems related to health and sanitation in the community? (This should be the most interesting since it is very open-ended.)
Observations
21. Is the floor made of dirt, cement or something else? (From my few visits so far, it seems that most people have cement floors.)
22. Is the roof made of concrete, zinc or wood? (I would say the majority here have zinc, with concrete coming in second, and wood being third. We'll see if I'm right.)
23. Is the kitchen in the house or separate? (From what I've seen so far the majority of people have kitchens in their houses, although there are still plenty that cook on a fire outside their house.)
24. How many rooms are there for sleeping? (This is to get an idea of how crowded the living situation is.)
Ok...well there you have it, I actually do work here! Stay tuned for the results of the community diagnostic, in a few months or so.
My Community Map
My Topography
Yeah and that was done old school with an abney level...we don't have GPS or lovely digital instruments here.
And the elevations on the topography more or less coincide with the distance on the community map.
Next I get to design the aqueduct, which should be interesting.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Send Me Text Messages for Free
OK...so I found out that everyone can send me text messages for free from my cell phone company's website.
The website is: www.claro.com.do
The page is in Spanish but it's pretty much self explanatory...if you can't figure it out have google translate the page for you or go find someone that speaks Spanish.
I'm expecting messages from everyone, so start sending away. Make sure you put your name at the end, because otherwise I have no way of knowing who sent it. I'll try to respond to as many as I can but I only get 20 free texts a month.
If you want my phone number, email me or talk to someone who knows it, because I don't want to post it online.
The website is: www.claro.com.do
The page is in Spanish but it's pretty much self explanatory...if you can't figure it out have google translate the page for you or go find someone that speaks Spanish.
I'm expecting messages from everyone, so start sending away. Make sure you put your name at the end, because otherwise I have no way of knowing who sent it. I'll try to respond to as many as I can but I only get 20 free texts a month.
If you want my phone number, email me or talk to someone who knows it, because I don't want to post it online.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy New Year
So I have had a wonderful little New Year's vacation here in the DR. Since Sunday I have been staying at a condo that 5 other volunteers and I rented for 4 days/3 nights. It's super awesome...flat screen TVs and wireless internet...and it was cheap too...only like $70 US per person. So yeah...I have been living it up here on the beach. We're at a little tourist town on the north coast called Cabarete. It's pretty much a very active place known for it's windsurfing and kiteboarding...so all you adventure seekers coming to visit me put that on your list of things to do.
We rang in the New Year at midnight by taking a dip in the ocean. It was a lot of fun. Hope you guys had an awesome New Year's Eve. I'll be updating in the next couple weeks with some details about my project, because I'm pretty sure that no one believes that I actually do work down here...but alas I do.
We rang in the New Year at midnight by taking a dip in the ocean. It was a lot of fun. Hope you guys had an awesome New Year's Eve. I'll be updating in the next couple weeks with some details about my project, because I'm pretty sure that no one believes that I actually do work down here...but alas I do.
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