A day in the life of a Corps (PCT)
PCT, by the way, is Peace Corps training.
I rise a little before 7am, bathe a bit if I didn't the night before (it really depends on anything from whether or not we have water in the giant tub bucket to if I fall asleep before I manage to feel like washing) and then my Dona (she's awesome) feeds me breakfast. Usually breakfast is a heaping pile of root vegetables, combined with either queso (cheese) or sausages, and sometimes two boiled eggs, with a side of banana. Some days the root vegetables are replaced by four bananas, of which I can eat two.
Apparently it's a common competition among the Donas to see whose volunteer gets the fattest, or so the rumor goes. Because I am so thin, I am a prime opportunity for my Dona to win and she genuinely wants to see me gain weight. Reminds of me of my own Mom back home. Love you too Mom!
Anyway, after breakfast, I brush my teeth and hope that the water is running in the sink. Usually it is but for the last two mornings I have had to improvise with the shower bucket. Nobody should ever join the PC unless they are prepared to be totally flexible on their water situation. If you cannot be flexible in your water situation, find some other way to make a difference in the world. But really, it's less bad than the stereotype goes, and most of the people on Earth live this way, not the American way.
Then I gather up my bag, tell everyone hasta luega, and go to the Peace Corps Pantoja training center. I am very lucky because it is very close to my house. I literally just walk past my local comodo (corner store) through a group of school children dressed in blue and tan uniforms, and on the other side of the school is the training center. I greet our guards with a buen dia, and start my day.
We have morning training sessions, which can be language but more often are related to Peace Corps, Sector training, or Medical Information. My sector is Education. I'll be working on literacy in Spanish, but during my technical interview this afternoon I basically learned it is a lot like the earliest Reading Corps work, except I have to make Spanish sounds, not English sounds. Compared to holding a conversation with my host family or the Primo (cousin) who works at the pizza place next door, it is muy facil. (easy).
Then we have lunch (usually rice and a meat dish) and after lunch is usually three hours or so of Spanish training. We both study Spanish and learn about Dominican culture in Spanish. All the classes are held in gazebos outside, so sometimes we feel a cool breeze but just as often we are stifling in what my teacher assures me is the cool of a Dominican winter. All I can say there is that I prefer the cool of a Dominican winter to the deep chill of a Minnesotan one, but I can hardly wait to find out just what a hot Dominican summer entails if 80-90 degrees is the cold season.
After classes esta terminando a la 4:30 (finish at 4:30) I usually hang out with the other boluntarios (trainees/volunteers) until 6:30 and just have to be home before dark, which is around 7:00. We visit comodos and play cards, or dominos, or just hang and enjoy our last bit of Spanglish conversation before going home and speaking nothing but Spanish until bed.
When I get home, my younger host brother, who is four, throws his arms around my legs and hugs me and I call hallo to everyone and explain how my day went in Spanish. Ever since I bought a guitar yesterday the next thing that happens is my older host brother begs me to get out my guitar so we can play. He is eight. I spend some time with the family until I am fed supper, which is usually more rice and meat and root vegetables, then I spend more time with my Dominican family, and do homework, and journal. I am keeping a paper journal documenting my time here. I also have a private journal, a notebook if I feel like writing stories, email my family back home, blog, and post to facebook, then I go to bed by 10:30 when I can no longer keep my eyes open. Once in awhile I try talking to my family later in the night but usually by a little after nine-thirty I no longer have the mental or physical energy to handle Spanish, so I just retreat to my room for a little r & r in ingles. (English).
Then I wake the next morning and it all starts again.
So yeah, just wanted to post this so you can have an idea of what things are really like, on those days I feel like bragging. I'm mostly just bragging because all this hard work has to have rewards, or I'd never be able to endure the grind.
Lobolius
The Dominican Wolf
PCT, by the way, is Peace Corps training.
I rise a little before 7am, bathe a bit if I didn't the night before (it really depends on anything from whether or not we have water in the giant tub bucket to if I fall asleep before I manage to feel like washing) and then my Dona (she's awesome) feeds me breakfast. Usually breakfast is a heaping pile of root vegetables, combined with either queso (cheese) or sausages, and sometimes two boiled eggs, with a side of banana. Some days the root vegetables are replaced by four bananas, of which I can eat two.
Apparently it's a common competition among the Donas to see whose volunteer gets the fattest, or so the rumor goes. Because I am so thin, I am a prime opportunity for my Dona to win and she genuinely wants to see me gain weight. Reminds of me of my own Mom back home. Love you too Mom!
Anyway, after breakfast, I brush my teeth and hope that the water is running in the sink. Usually it is but for the last two mornings I have had to improvise with the shower bucket. Nobody should ever join the PC unless they are prepared to be totally flexible on their water situation. If you cannot be flexible in your water situation, find some other way to make a difference in the world. But really, it's less bad than the stereotype goes, and most of the people on Earth live this way, not the American way.
Then I gather up my bag, tell everyone hasta luega, and go to the Peace Corps Pantoja training center. I am very lucky because it is very close to my house. I literally just walk past my local comodo (corner store) through a group of school children dressed in blue and tan uniforms, and on the other side of the school is the training center. I greet our guards with a buen dia, and start my day.
We have morning training sessions, which can be language but more often are related to Peace Corps, Sector training, or Medical Information. My sector is Education. I'll be working on literacy in Spanish, but during my technical interview this afternoon I basically learned it is a lot like the earliest Reading Corps work, except I have to make Spanish sounds, not English sounds. Compared to holding a conversation with my host family or the Primo (cousin) who works at the pizza place next door, it is muy facil. (easy).
Then we have lunch (usually rice and a meat dish) and after lunch is usually three hours or so of Spanish training. We both study Spanish and learn about Dominican culture in Spanish. All the classes are held in gazebos outside, so sometimes we feel a cool breeze but just as often we are stifling in what my teacher assures me is the cool of a Dominican winter. All I can say there is that I prefer the cool of a Dominican winter to the deep chill of a Minnesotan one, but I can hardly wait to find out just what a hot Dominican summer entails if 80-90 degrees is the cold season.
After classes esta terminando a la 4:30 (finish at 4:30) I usually hang out with the other boluntarios (trainees/volunteers) until 6:30 and just have to be home before dark, which is around 7:00. We visit comodos and play cards, or dominos, or just hang and enjoy our last bit of Spanglish conversation before going home and speaking nothing but Spanish until bed.
When I get home, my younger host brother, who is four, throws his arms around my legs and hugs me and I call hallo to everyone and explain how my day went in Spanish. Ever since I bought a guitar yesterday the next thing that happens is my older host brother begs me to get out my guitar so we can play. He is eight. I spend some time with the family until I am fed supper, which is usually more rice and meat and root vegetables, then I spend more time with my Dominican family, and do homework, and journal. I am keeping a paper journal documenting my time here. I also have a private journal, a notebook if I feel like writing stories, email my family back home, blog, and post to facebook, then I go to bed by 10:30 when I can no longer keep my eyes open. Once in awhile I try talking to my family later in the night but usually by a little after nine-thirty I no longer have the mental or physical energy to handle Spanish, so I just retreat to my room for a little r & r in ingles. (English).
Then I wake the next morning and it all starts again.
So yeah, just wanted to post this so you can have an idea of what things are really like, on those days I feel like bragging. I'm mostly just bragging because all this hard work has to have rewards, or I'd never be able to endure the grind.
Lobolius
The Dominican Wolf
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