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Thanks, Hilda

by dave on February 22, 2012 in Blog, Photos with No comments
FOTW

I haven’t been posting lately about what I’ve eaten, but don’t worry! Still getting my three squares a day.

On Monday afternoon my host mom told me she wasn’t cooking lunch and I’d have to fend for myself. Being a day or so away from getting paid means things sometimes are pretty tight and subsequently I couldn’t go buy lunch at the place I usually frequent and last night’s leftovers weren’t looking too hot. So as I climbed the stairs to my apartment the smell of my neighbor Hilda’s cooking hit me and I thought to myself, “Wow, it would be great if I got brindar’d (gifted) lunch today.” I had low expectations of it actually happening though, but I kept my door open just in case she wanted to reciprocate for the banana bread I brindar’d her last week and tried to send her take David some lunch today vibes.

As I sat there studying my little green flash cards she comes out of her apartment and turns my way with two huge plates of food. Two types of salad! And then she goes back and gets another little plate of yucca! You can clearly tell by the picture that it was delicious and much appreciated also!

A short list of things with one ear

by dave on February 20, 2012 in Blog, Photos with No comments

I took this picture of a one-eared horse and its family way back in March of last year and came across it going through some old photos. I remember how proud the dad was to show off his horse; he had me take pictures from different angles and with his daughter on and off. In the Dominican Republic no matter how poor someone is or what have to offer they’re proud to show off what they have and what they can share with you.

My good friend Dory, who I’ve mentioned here, sadly lost her original dog a few months ago and recently came into possession of this more or less cute little guy and he only has one ear also.

Dory wrote a really great story about how she came to have, and eventually lose Luna here (scroll to the last story on the right):

When I moved out of my host family’s house, Luna came with me, ever the companion. At night she slept under the table while I watched movies on my laptop, and during the day she followed me everywhere– once, into the principal’s office of the El Valle elementary school, which caused a minor scandal. Children would call Luna’s name before they’d call mine.

Much like the horse above, the little guy manages to be really cute, even though they both only have one ear.

Production shot from filming

by dave on February 2, 2012 in Blog, Photos with No comments

We filmed all day Sunday in a really nice house in Janico that let a 20+ person team take over their house setting up lights, reflectors, microphones, make up and prop stations, & craft services.

Here’s a shot of the team getting a shot just right at the dining room table. We were lucky enough to bring in a sound consultant a few days before he headed off to Spain and he really helped improve our sound quality. Thanks, Jake!

Here’s to looking at you

by dave on February 1, 2012 in Blog, Photos with No comments

Pet hawk at filming location

 

This past weekend we spent four long days shooting the next two episodes of Me Toca A Mi (which the Peace Corps highlighted here and the US Mission in the Dominican Republic highlighted in spanish here). After all the work organizing the nearly twenty PCVs that came to my site for almost a week I’m taking a few days of R&R and heading back to where I lived during training in the east of the country.

There’s a post in the future updating on the telenovela and some of the great things that have happened with that. For now though here’s a picture of a hawk that was the pet a family that graciously let us film in their house for an afternoon.

Way back in 2011

by dave on January 24, 2012 in Blog, Photos with No comments
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I’ve neglected the blog lately, but now I’m back!

A lot has happened in the past two months – Thanksgiving, friends came to visit, I wrapped up my first English class, went home to America for almost three weeks, and came back to the DR. I’m going to break this down over the next few days so stay tuned.

Let’s start by going all the way back to Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving in Peace Corps DR is probably the one event a year where almost all the Volunteers get together at the same time. The day starts with a Turkey Trot at 7am, there are games all morning, swimming, the big Thanksgiving dinner, a talent show, and a party later in the night.

This year I was chosen as the head of a baking committee and got to stay at our Country Director and his wife’s beautiful apartment that has amazing views of the ocean and the capital, Santo Domingo. We stayed there for three days before Thanksgiving charged with making 20 apple pies and enough stuffing to feed a small (peaceful) army of PCVs.

Elisa was in charge of final pie construction.Peeling peeling peelingWhen you emptied this bin it would just magically get refilled.Cooling piesThe view from the apartment.So much stuffing.Mary Fran, myself, Elisa, Art, Aidan, and Becca - clearly the best of the baking teams.

They were extremely gracious hosts and getting to escape for a few days to hot water, wireless internet, and Mary Fran’s delicious cooking made it well worth all the chopping, peeling, and toasting loaves and loaves of bread for stuffing. Getting to talk to them and hear their stories of living and working abroad for the majority of their lives was really interesting.

Each year, Volunteers are required to fill out a survey on their experiences with Peace Corps. Suffice it to say, getting everyone to fill out the survey is a huge chore that no one really likes doing. To entice Volunteers, the first sector to get 100% completion would get a pizza party the night before Thanksgiving on the roof of the CD’s apartment. Obviously Education, my sector, won and the party was a really fun time.

The roof of the hotel where Thanksgiving dinner was held.Andy, one of the awesome hosts of the talent show.The bar had some interesting pillows and crowns lying around.Pies! Apple, pecan, pumpkin

Before Thanksgiving dinner, we had drink specials and time to relax at the rooftop pool of the hotel where the festivities were held. It was fun to hangout with PCVs you don’t normally get a chance to see and everyone seemed to have a really good time.

The talent show was one of the highlights of the entire day and the Volunteers that hosted it did a really good job. I didn’t participate this year, but have some ideas for next year. One of the sectors choreographed and put together an entire Bollywood dance routine.

After taking the afternoon to relax, the Volunteers went to a bar they rented out and continued enjoying the party all night. Suffice it to say, stories from the party aren’t going to make it to the blog. But when Volunteers living around the country get to come together and relax with other Americans it’s really fun.

This year, by some stroke of luck, the Chairs of the event got to stay, and even eat dinner, with the Ambassador and his family in the US Embassy. One even got to stay in the same bedroom Secretary of State Hillary Clinton slept in when she visited recently. Next year I’ll be one of the Chairs of the Committee and I’m excited to see what Thanksgiving has in store.

Visiting Banica

by dave on December 10, 2011 in Blog, Photos with No comments
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This past week I visited my friend Keeton at her site in Banica, located on the Dominican / Haitian border. She has a great site, except it takes over five hours to get there. I went to her childhood literacy classes and the following day we left at seven in the morning to go out to the campo and work with kids at schools there.

At the first school we visited, Keeton and her youth group from Banica facilitated a bunch of dinamicas (ice-breaker like games) and then had a sports day with the girls playing kickball and the boys playing baseball in the field in front of the school. Afterwards, we went to another much poorer school where kids from the morning and afternoon were waiting for us. I ended up with the littlest kids teaching them what crayons were and how to use them.

Keeton’s Project Partner is an American priest at the church in her site and so we had sheets of paper with the nativity scene that the kids could color. The little kids didn’t know it was the nativity and a girl asked me, “Ella es una bruja?” pointing to Mary holding baby Jesus. She asked, “Is she a witch?” One of Keeton’s youth was working with me and the little kids and she looked pretty worried, probably for the little girl’s soul not knowing it was Mary and all, but I thought it was pretty funny.

The visit was really fun getting to see the successful projects of another volunteer and I’m just glad that I wasn’t the PCV who got thrown up on in the back of a truck at 7:15!

*Click on one of the photos to watch them in a slide show*

Keeton, the rock star volunteer I went to visit

One of the little girls I spent time with at the second school

I was surprised these kids had never played with crayons before, but they took to it and had a lot of fun even though they don't look like it in this picture.

Showing little kids that you should play with crayons and not just be scared of them!

 

Keeton with one of her reading groups playing a game.

 

It was this little girl's birthday and the teachers wanted to make sure I got a picture of her.

 

Dominican Music

by dave on December 9, 2011 in Blog with 1 Comment

My apartment sits above a barbershop and at 8:30 every morning, without fail, the bachata starts blaring. They don’t care if you were having a nice dream or were really tired. This is one of the most popular songs here right now that they play over and over and over again:

Cuentame is popular, but when I first arrived here this song was playing everywhere constantly for months:

Me Toca A Mi featured by Peace Corps for World Aids Day

by dave on December 8, 2011 in Blog with No comments
Dora and Sabrina set up a shot outside of the high school with the principal actor

World Aids Day is celebrated on December 1st around the world and here in the Dominican Republic a lot of Volunteers held events in their towns and with their groups to raise awareness and educate their communities on HIV/AIDS and what they can do to protect themselves.

Since my project focuses on HIV/AIDS awareness we were lucky enough to be featured by the Peace Corps on World Aids Day. Here’s the text of the press release Peace Corps released:

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 1, 2011 – The Peace Corps joins communities around the world in commemorating World AIDS Day 2011. Nearly 40 percent of Peace Corps volunteers conduct HIV-related activities as part of their primary or secondary project work.

“As Peace Corps commemorates its 50th anniversary and we think back to 30 years ago since the announcement of the AIDS epidemic, we reflect on how Peace Corps’ history is closely intertwined with the epidemic that has claimed tens of millions of lives,” said Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams (Dominican Republic, 19¬67-1970). “Peace Corps volunteers continue to work at the grassroots level to raise awareness about HIV and support communities and families in prevention efforts around the world.”

To commemorate World AIDS Day 2011, the Peace Corps hosted an event at the Washington, D.C. headquarters with Sandra Thurman, former director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy from 1997 to2000 and the first Presidential Envoy for Global AIDS.

Peace Corps volunteers work with communities affected by HIV/AIDS by teaching nutrition, prevention techniques and educating at-risk populations. Volunteers also work with community and nongovernmental organizations to create and develop grassroots prevention and awareness campaigns. Much of Peace Corps’ response to HIV is made possible by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a program that provides assistance to countries most affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Following are examples of HIV/AIDS education and prevention projects by Peace Corps volunteers:

Mi Toca A Mi” production team poses after a day of shooting.DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Peace Corps/Dominican Republic volunteers Dave Richie of Bethel Park, Pa., Elisa Paltenghe of Spirit Lake, Idaho, and Jean Erickson of Wallingford, Pa., are helping write and produce “Mi Toca A Mi,” a 10-episode soap opera style television show designed to educate young people about HIV/AIDS prevention and promote positive self-esteem and healthy life choices. Sixteen Peace Corps volunteers and more than 25 students participated in the filming of the first three episodes in October. Volunteers are currently editing the footage and plan to film the next three episodes in January 2012.

THE GAMBIA
Peace Corps volunteer Devin Wilcox-McCombs of Taylorsville, Calif., organized a regional soccer tournament for 120 men in July. Before the tournament, Wilcox-McCombs facilitated a half-day training on HIV prevention for the players and coaches and encouraged them to get tested for HIV. The events were funded through a PEPFAR grant.

KENYA
Peace Corps volunteers Whitney Parsons of Tulsa, Okla., Lorenzo Nava of Albuquerque, N.M., Rohan Agarwal of Clarksburg, Md., and Christine Boyer of Salem, Ore., helped organize and lead GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) Camps to promote leadership skills and empower young women, including those who are deaf. During the two GLOW Camps held in Kilifi and Kisumu earlier this year, more than 130 Kenyan girls learned about HIV/AIDS prevention, sexual and reproductive health, and gender equity. The girls also learned about career development from professional women who shared their personal stories and encouraged them to pursue higher education and further their careers.

In October 2011, the GLOW Camps receive a second place Millennium Development Goals Award for its effort to combat AIDS in Kenya. The award is sponsored by the United Nations Department Programme in Kenya, Ministry of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030, Millennium Development Goals Trust Fund and the Government of Finland.

Very exciting! To learn more about the project visit here to read about our most recent filming session.

If you would like to see more photos from the project and stay updated with Me Toca A Mi like us on facebook by clicking below!

 

 

Bugs!

by dave on November 22, 2011 in Blog, Photos with 2 Comments

One thing you have to get used to about living on a tropical island is the bugs. There are cockroaches, huge moths, small spiders with giant legs, beetles, tiny ants with big bites, big ants with tiny bites, of course mosquitoes in a variety of shapes and sizes, and so many other varieties in between. Many of the bugs I’ve seen before are similar to what’re in the states, but they can get way bigger! This (not so little) guy I found sitting on the sidewalk at the highschool in my town flailing his legs around trying to get back upright.

Before I flipped him over and sent him on his way though I took a picture with my cell phone for scale. He’s half the size of my phone! Cool to find on the sidewalk, would not want to open a cabinet and have him fly out though.

 

 

 

 

Peace Corps Postcards

by dave on November 19, 2011 in Blog, video with No comments

Links to this site have been making their way around the internet for a while, but it’s not too often I get a connection that is fast enough to stream videos so I just recently got to watch some of these videos.

Aaron Williams, the current Director of the Peace Corps is a RPCV from the Dominican Republic and so is Senator Chris Dodd.  Senator Dodd is featured talking about his service in one of the videos.

 

Check out peacecorpspostcards.com! And here’s my own mini PC postcard that I made when I first got to site. It’s a little outdated now that I’ve been here for a while (6.5 months in site!), but you get the idea.

 

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