I’m in a new town with a new family. El Seibo is pretty darn nice. 24-hour luz, no roosters outside my window (at least I haven’t heard any yet), no colmado across the street… tranquilo. And thank God for that, cause the lack of sleep was starting to catch up with me.
Despite that, it was pretty sad to leave host family numero uno this morning. My brothers both had la gripe (ie. a cold) and sat on the couch watching me get myself together, coughing a lot, and saying “No te vayas.” Very sweet, in a pathetic sneezing kind of way. Last night Katy, Lili and I played our last card games and drank our last habichuela con dulce together (ie. Beans + lots of sugar + blender = dessert. Looks gross, but is surprisingly delicious). And when I say “last,” I mean until the end of April when I go back to this family for a week… so really they should stop being so dramatic about it.
Also, to conclude that whole “you would look good in this dress” story: I got back from visiting Bani (a small city in the south, only about an hour from Santo Domingo) last Sunday, conveniently too late to go shopping with mami. She sadly told me that she had looked for the dress and couldn’t find it, buuut... She did get me a bright blue tank-top that says “Baby” across the front in gold sequined script and is way too tight. SO DOMINICAN. I haven’t convinced myself to wear it in public yet, but I’m sure that day will come. Love it.
Back to the present: I am in El Seibo, under my mosquitero… with wi-fi.
You might wonder why Peace Corps has placed me in a house that has wireless internet. Personally, I wonder why a house that has wireless internet doesn’t also have water coming through the pipes. But such is the Dominican Republic. I will master the art of the bucket bath in no time. Flushing the toilet is a different story.
Anyway, we are in this nice, calm town with 24-hour luz (this literally means “light,” but that’s what they call electricity here) for training because we can’t sit around all day waiting for the luz to come back when we have limited time to learn what we need for our jobs… Which I realize I have not even mentioned since starting this blog.
MY JOB: I am here as an ICT (Information/Communication Technologies) Volunteer. That’s what it says on all my papers anyway. In actuality, I will be focusing more on adult literacy, which I am really excited about. ICT volunteers are supposed to work in basic computer education/projects, largely with youth but also with other demographics. But they are starting to just call my sector “Education” because that is the overarching theme, and adult literacy is emerging as a big project for the sector. I don’t know exactly what this will look like yet, but I’ll generally be developing literacy programs, working with teachers, teaching some stuff myself… maybe building libraries… Vamos a ver. I could also very easily be working with computers and youth as well. I hope I can do it all actually – youth are fun. But I won’t know the details until I am holding my site placement and project details in my hands, which won’t happen until the end of training… so check back in May to find out where I’ll be living and what I’ll really be doing for the next two years!
To put this all in perspective – despite the fact that I have internet, and am in a country that half of you have probably been to for vacation, the Dominican Republic ranks 129 of 133 countries in education. So… every country that you think has a horrible or non-existent public education system? The DR is worse. (Except for those last 4 countries, obviously. I have yet to find out what they are.) Many, many people reach adulthood (which could be as young as 15, if you happen to be a girl who gets pregnant and can’t go to school anymore) without learning how to read. And if you can’t read in your own language, who cares about using a computer or learning English?
In short, I am excited to work on literacy because it is the most basic of all education needs. If I can develop a sustainable literacy program somewhere (by working with teachers, not just teaching classes myself), I will have accomplished something real in this country, even if it is only for a small group of people. So, that’s my hope for now.
And I think I’m going to have a pleasant 5 weeks in this town.
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