Dear Readers
I have now been in Monte Plata for nearly two weeks, as of tomorrow morning. I don't want to leave. I love my host family, I have befriended Swiss people and get to speak in German, and there is a totally amazing baseball field where I can go walking or running at leisure. The barrio in Santo Domingo felt like a prison, this pueblo feels like paradise.
I've even befriended a group of motorcycle drivers based on my stunning blonde looks. It's rather an amusing story. There's a pack of them under some trees about a block from my house. I imagine it is rather boring sitting there under that tree day after day, waiting for a fare, and at first, I provided a source of amusement--an Americana walking by. Whoo hoo! AMERICANA!!!
Then, last Thursday, I proved to be more than just a bit of rubia, I came up to them and announced that I was going to Merino, (my school here) while holding a motorcycle helmet. I have often wondered just what I looked like to them, because there was a second or two when they all just stared, before one came forward to claim me for a passenger. I doubt there was any confusion on my accent because I'd rehearsed that phrase over and over before stating it aloud.
Today, I walked past, and one driver pointed me out to the one who'd driven me on Thursday and he was ready to take me wherever I wished to go. Of course, I was on my way home and did not have my helmet so I had to disappoint him, but told them that I was going to need a ride on Tuesday and Thursday. Word is already spreading, I heard him repeating it to the others as soon as I walked away. I was trying not to laugh because the ways of the moto drivers are a very useful thing to learn. There seem to be two things which truly interest them--a 25 peso fare, or something diverting, but the fare is the most important.
In other words, be nice to the blonde women who pay you.
In a month and a day, I swear in as a Peace Corps volunteer, and I will head off to a site, where I will build on all the things I have learned here and live with the results for two years. So I am glad to be doing so well on the mere practice, but it is strange, because we are practicing building the groundwork for two years worth of networking when we are only here for five weeks. In some regards, I don't care. If I am in the vicinity of Monte Plata, ever, I am calling up my family here and visiting them.
My Spanish is still progressing. I feel I have advanced more than half a level in the past five weeks, but my tester felt otherwise, so I am only at at 4.5 and need to reach a 5 by the end of training. Rather frustrating since by a more lenient standard of testing I could have been graded at a 6 (I misconjugated a few irregular preterit verbs and might have used the wrong form of the past tense once or twice, so really, that took me from a 6 to a 4.5??????) but oh well. I am simply trying harder. I have decided, since my host dad always greets me with a dime (DeeMay/Talk to me), I am simply going to take him literally once in awhile and describe my morning using the preterit and imperfect forms of the past tense, in addition to as much daily practice as I can squeeze in elsewhere. So ha, Spanish, I am totally going to rock you in five more weeks. Not to mention I am totally going to master those crazy indirect object pronouns. I've been inserting them deliberately into sentences all weekend. Rather fun, and it does make me sound more Dominican, since Dominican Spanish is all about keeping it short. Give it to me. DaMeLa!
=D
Roman Wolf
I have now been in Monte Plata for nearly two weeks, as of tomorrow morning. I don't want to leave. I love my host family, I have befriended Swiss people and get to speak in German, and there is a totally amazing baseball field where I can go walking or running at leisure. The barrio in Santo Domingo felt like a prison, this pueblo feels like paradise.
I've even befriended a group of motorcycle drivers based on my stunning blonde looks. It's rather an amusing story. There's a pack of them under some trees about a block from my house. I imagine it is rather boring sitting there under that tree day after day, waiting for a fare, and at first, I provided a source of amusement--an Americana walking by. Whoo hoo! AMERICANA!!!
Then, last Thursday, I proved to be more than just a bit of rubia, I came up to them and announced that I was going to Merino, (my school here) while holding a motorcycle helmet. I have often wondered just what I looked like to them, because there was a second or two when they all just stared, before one came forward to claim me for a passenger. I doubt there was any confusion on my accent because I'd rehearsed that phrase over and over before stating it aloud.
Today, I walked past, and one driver pointed me out to the one who'd driven me on Thursday and he was ready to take me wherever I wished to go. Of course, I was on my way home and did not have my helmet so I had to disappoint him, but told them that I was going to need a ride on Tuesday and Thursday. Word is already spreading, I heard him repeating it to the others as soon as I walked away. I was trying not to laugh because the ways of the moto drivers are a very useful thing to learn. There seem to be two things which truly interest them--a 25 peso fare, or something diverting, but the fare is the most important.
In other words, be nice to the blonde women who pay you.
In a month and a day, I swear in as a Peace Corps volunteer, and I will head off to a site, where I will build on all the things I have learned here and live with the results for two years. So I am glad to be doing so well on the mere practice, but it is strange, because we are practicing building the groundwork for two years worth of networking when we are only here for five weeks. In some regards, I don't care. If I am in the vicinity of Monte Plata, ever, I am calling up my family here and visiting them.
My Spanish is still progressing. I feel I have advanced more than half a level in the past five weeks, but my tester felt otherwise, so I am only at at 4.5 and need to reach a 5 by the end of training. Rather frustrating since by a more lenient standard of testing I could have been graded at a 6 (I misconjugated a few irregular preterit verbs and might have used the wrong form of the past tense once or twice, so really, that took me from a 6 to a 4.5??????) but oh well. I am simply trying harder. I have decided, since my host dad always greets me with a dime (DeeMay/Talk to me), I am simply going to take him literally once in awhile and describe my morning using the preterit and imperfect forms of the past tense, in addition to as much daily practice as I can squeeze in elsewhere. So ha, Spanish, I am totally going to rock you in five more weeks. Not to mention I am totally going to master those crazy indirect object pronouns. I've been inserting them deliberately into sentences all weekend. Rather fun, and it does make me sound more Dominican, since Dominican Spanish is all about keeping it short. Give it to me. DaMeLa!
=D
Roman Wolf
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