3 months!

Update:

• Tropical Storm Noel - I'm alive, it was horrible, my floor was full of water and my latrine flooded, the water group had to be evacuated by helicopter (I'm so J)
• I fell in love with my host family at CBT..Nina and Welman. ....Nina stepped on a nail and had to get stitches, that's the background of the story. Anyway, Kim and I were doing the usual, sitting with the family in plastic chairs listening to Es tan difficil, pretending to know spanish and them pretending like they know what we're saying-looking at each other---when a cockoroach runs by, well Nina gets all excited, not scared excited but happy excited and had Welman catch the cockaroach and then he preceeded to put it into a plastic baggy full of other cockaroaches--- turns out after much confusionon my part as to why she's collecting and buscando for cockaroaches- turns out that she uses their guts as a home remedy to extract the tetanus from her wound, so there ya go.
• I graduated Peace Corps training and am now an official volunteer!
• I love the kids in my site- so much so that I actually played soccer with them- and then I fell and bruised my knee- but I redeemed myself by teaching the boys cheerleading and yoga, and they actually really love it.
• My site- In the hills of the northwest, yup I live in the hills, although I can pretty much say that it's nothing like the hills of hollywood- unless rollers and hairnets are in fashion now and I missed it. But the lastest gossip is that the price of cheese has increased, which has pretty much resulted on screaming matched in the street and chairs thrown...yes actual chairs thrown. I guess people like their cheese even more than I like cheese, and I like cheese.
• And the hills are not alive with the sound of music, but full of the sound of cows, and the people in the site think I am weird that I don't eat them..or pork or goat. And they just think I'm weird in general because I told them I slept with my dogs back home and every time I see a puppy I have to play with it..also because I've taken up running, for exercise but mostly so I don't have to take a cold bucket bath.
• My Dona looks for guys under my bed every night.
• Tropical Storm Olga occurred, and all volunteers had to be consolidated to a hotel.
• I'm learning to live without Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks and malls...and at first I thought..."How sad, I'm losing a part of myself" things that would literally make me happy and get me through the day. But then I thought of what I do besides drink coffee and shop that makes me happy and gets me through the day- and I thought of playing dominoes with the muchachos, helping Caco learn to read, or dancing with lil' Robinson, and maybe living without a latte or appletini isn't that bad, and what really counts is the time I spend with these kids and the people I'm fortunute to know and that finally I don't think of this as "getting through the day" but as things I look forward to. I feel like I'm letting go of so much but gaining something completely different. (ok I promise that is the last sappy thing I am saying for now except I miss you guys like whoa!)

Oh and please send me stuff...especially for my kids, like markers, coloring books, Uno, a kite, anything really.

Tired but leaving tomorrow and won´t be on internet for a while

It´s been a while... I´m tired but need to write because I´m leaving to my site tomorrow and will not have access to a computer for a while...just an fyi.



1. The phone number I had is no longer...my host mom in Santo Domingo dropped my phone in her hot chocolate...but I have a new one but can of course not access my voicemails since I do not have the pin code. awesome.



2. I´ve been to my site, leaving to live there tomorrow. It´s nice, lots of cows and cheese. No toilet, bucket baths, but the kids are great there.



3. I want to write more but I´m tired so you´re going to have to call me, which reminds me, my phone charger from my US phone died so I have no one´s number, please send them to me. Gracias!!!

x x x

Pictures of my Site

Site Placement

Ok so here is my ¨tentative¨ site placement...well the region anyway because I can´t say the exact site for security reasons, but it looks like I´ll be in the northwest of the country, which is closer to the Haitan border. They showed us our placments on the map before we were assigned a site...and there was one site that we called the ¨dot¨ because it was pretty far away from other volunteers...and it´s me! I´ll be in a small campo and I´m pretty excited that I will be be closer to Haiti. I´m hoping to have a donkey, but we´ll see.

For ALL of you (and I´m hoping ALL of you) who visit, the nearest airport is Santiago.

Update

So I safely arrived, it´s been a month, and I´ve already:

-had gripe (Dominican word for the flu/cold)
-met some cool people
-watched The Office and Will and Grace in English (Emily´s casa is the best!)
-sweated more than I ever had in my whole life (great, I can cross that off my list of things to do)
-taken numerous bucket-baths by candlelight (very romantic all by myself)
-packed myself into the back of a pick-up truck with chickens - where I was hit on the head by a bag of Cheetos (or the Dominican equivalent) then one of the chickens decided to lay an egg right by my feet
-have seen traffic stop for cows and goats
-been accidentally fed salami
-used/using a latrina, which is quite treacherous at 4 in the morning, I have a war with the cockroaches and giant spiders in there every night...so far me and my flashlight have won
-been to the beach!
-drank a jumbo presidente...yup no more cocktails for me, apparently at the local colmado (decorated with the latest and greatest plastic chairs) they do not serve appletini´s
-lived/living with 2 really great host families, my host family now has family in Boston whom I´ve talked on the phone with
-learned bachata and merengue
-have done some really impressive work with my mosquito net (patched wholes with elastic and have hung it from some really strange places)
-had chickens in my house..just chilling
-had a 40 minute motoconcho ride through mountains, sheep, goats, horses, cows and pigs, it was actually pretty awesome

I´m working on:
-not looking like I have leprosy from my numerous mosquito bites
-not looking like an idiot when I speak spanish, which I feel may be awhile
-planning a trip to climb Pico Duarte
-loving rice and beans every day

That´s about it, I have to attend a meeting tonight..and the next night and the night, because my Doña tells me I have to (....and I want to of course)

I miss everyone, I´m already looking forward to my hot shower in March when I see Jessica´s baby, although I kind of prefer bucket baths now, they are quite efficient.

xoxoxox
Yennifer (apparently my new name)

Quick note

Hey everyone!

Just a quick note...I made it. I can´t believe it´s been a month!! Things are going really well. My spanish is improving...slowly, but improving non-the-less. I miss everyone a ton! I´m near the south for four more weeks, learning spanish and having technical training then back to the capitol and on to my site for 2 years. Every day of the week is really busy, like today...so next time I promise to give a more descript update.

x x x x

Road Trip

We made it to California! The road trip was long but fun! First stop was New Orleans where Tammy played black jack at Harrah's casino with some guys money and won $100. We got drinks "to go" and walked around Bourban St. Very fun.

Next we stopped in San Antonio and went into the city, saw the Alamo and walked the River Walk. There, while walking down a side street, I saw a little dog behind a dumpster and I could not leave her there! So we called the number on the tag (it was an Animal Hospital), called the owner who didn't pick up (we got the number from the hospital), then we drove the doggy to the animal shelter. The owner eventually called us, turns out she was out of town and the dog was supposed to be with her niece...poor baby. But it had a happy ending so that's all that matters.

Then we made it to Las Cruces, New Mexico where I think I've stayed in the second nastiest motel I've ever been in. The last stop before California was Arizona...where we stayed in a really small town, with tumbleweed and everything but the scenery was beautiful!

Finally, we are in L.A. and just got back from Long Beach where we ate on the beach and had cocktails.... after driving just about all over the city. Good times!

Then I leave on Monday...CRAZY!


New Orleans.

19 Days to go!

Update-
Yay...19 days to go! I received my staging kit and found out that staging is in DC. I booked my flight from LAX today, and I get to DC a day early, which is fine by me. Why LAX you ask? Well it looks like I am taking that road-trip trip to CA after all...I'm so excited! Both Tammy and I have quit our jobs and have no apartments... we are out!

I also have instructions from the Peace Corps for family and friends about sending packages and such:

Jennifer Goode
Cuerpo de Paz
Avenida Bolivar 451, Gazcue
Apartado 1412
Santa Domingo
Dominican Republic

Visiting me:

I want people to visit me! But you can't in the first three months of training, so any time after December would be fabulous.

Me leaving:
I can't for 6 months (3 months of training and 3 months of service)...just in time to see Jessica's baby!

So that's that, and that's it for now.

Goodbye Boston...

I'm leaving Boston, for a week in Georgia with the fam, then Orlando and Tampa...and possibly a road trip to Cali. Then it's the Dominican Republic! It looks as if this week is super busy but I want to try to see everyone before I leave, so if you want to get together let me know asap.

I can't believe I applied to the Peace Corps over a year ago and now I only have one month left until I leave...crazy!

Why Blog?

I'm starting this blog to keep up-t0-date with my family and friends for when I'll be in the Peace Corps Dominican Republic for 27 months...yay! I've never really "blogged" before so this might take some getting used to.

Anyway my ASSIGNMENT is:

Program: Healthy Families

Job Title: Community Health/Health Nutrition Extensionist

Dates of Service: Nov. 20, 2007-Nov. 19, 2009
Orientation/Training: Sept. 11, 2007-Nov. 20, 2007

More to come soon.....