Staging and my first two days in the DR

August 18-19

The going away and sendoffs were plentiful, and I left when I didn´t think I was capable of consuming any more rich brunches, plentiful dinners, nights out and lunches with friends. After a light sushi dinner with my sister, Stefany, and my mom I slept for a good four hours and woke up on August 18th at around 4:30 AM to have breakfast with my dad and stepmom before leaving for the airport. My mom picked me up at 6 AM and we headed to the airport... Good thing I got there early to discover a canceled American Airlines flight due to mechanical errors (fuel leaking or something that would have been, um, totally fine...). So I was rebooked to a flight out of SFO and was transported there to catch a later flight leaving at 12:45 PM to DC, via Dallas. The hauling of my luggage began, but finally by midnight I made it to DC and shuttled over to the Holiday Inn National right next door to the airport for a much needed nights sleep before staging.

I got to my room and met the first volunteer, my roomate who was also a Community Economic Volunteer. We chatted about important things like what we packed. And perhaps more important things, like what we expected, how excited we were, why we joined Peace Corps, etc. The next afternoon staging began (an orientation of sorts) at 1:30 PM. I was surprised to see so many people- 51 volunteers in total in programs of Healthy Communties, Potable water and electricity, Community Youth Development Volunteers, and Community Economic Volunteers. After registering, getting our tickets, reimbursed for everthing and turning in paperwork, we went through some basic get-to-know eachother icebreaking exersizes, found out more info about this rogue assignment in the DR (yes!), especially what to expect in the first few days. Afterwards we went to dinner went back to the hotel since we had to get up at 2 AM the next morning to leave for the airport.

I got around two hours sleep at most, so I was pretty exhausted (as was everyone else, I´m sure). Pandemonium ensued at the airport, there was a group of volunteers heading to Belize that were in line ahead of us, and our big group, plus other travelers who had no idea what they were getting themselves into that morning when they came to the airport. Finally after getting the bags checked I was able to eat, get some coffee and relax a bit before the first flight to Miami. We flew through Miami and onto the the DR-- finally we had arrived by around 2:30 PM on the 19th.

Our Program Director, Romeo Massey, an older an jovial man was there to greet us. We went through customs and walked outside. The moment was almost surreal as we walked out the gate, a group of volunteers currently serving were waiting out the doors to greet us with signs and applause. We walked out to the vans and hopped in our collective buses that would take us to our first night in the DR, at a retreat center 45 minutes outside of Santo Domingo. We got to the retreat center, a convent of sorts and were assigned rooms- 3 to a room. Then we all headed to have a snack for lunch, meet staff, and then have an initial presentation by the training director of Entrena, Jennifer. Entrena is a training company subcontracted by Peace Corps, and we are one of only two countries who subcontracts trainers. We got the first series of Rabies Vaccinations, went through some policy basics, and an outline for training during the first ten weeks of service.

Outline of 10 weks Pre Service Training (PST):
Weeks 0-3.5: Urban setting, live with a family in Pantoja, a city outside of Santo Domingo. Attend training at the Entrena center in Pantoja.
Weeks 3.5-8: Community Based Training. Go to site in the interior with other volunteers of your sector. My group, Communtiy Economic Development will be going near Puerto Plata on the North Coast. It is supposed to be beautiful up there, I´m excited to see more of the country.

Then we come together again back in Santo Domingo, have exams to ensure that we have learned enough to qualify as volunteers. After this the group gets sworn in on October 28th, and we are assigned to our respective assignements, where we will be posted to carry out projects for the next two years.

August 20

The next morning we left the retreat center to head to Entrena for our first full day of training. This place is gorgeous, it is removed from any surrounding, full of lush green trees, grass and plants and is an oasis of sorts. Many countries don´t have this environment for training, they may have training in just a room but we are fortunate to have an entire center, where we eat our meals, have Spanish classes in outdoor bungalos, etc. We went through training, mostly around policy and had an afternoon Spanish class. And that evening, at around 4:30 PM our host families came to meet us.

This was a nerve racking situation almost, with all the volunteers standing outside with their luggage, looking around for their new moms and dads and families, and a large group of Dominican Doñas looking for their new kids. Finally I was united with my new Mama, Doña Isabel. We walked down the long driveway to the street and jumped into a coche compartido (a taxi that incredibly fits seven people in it- including the driver). We hop in and drive a short distance to my new house in Don Gregorio, a neighborhood that is about a fifteen minute walk from the Entrena Center. I walk down the corner past an abandoned building to the back, and walk by the mechanic shop right in front 0of my house, then to my front door. She opens the gate and we walk through with a little puppy and kitten following en suite.

The house has a small porch out front with two rocking chairs, and two bedrooms. There is a living room with a sofa that has about ten pillows lined up across, more for show than congregation. My room is connected to the Doña´s room through the bathroom. The kitchen is in back and then the backyard is shared with her sister, who lives right next door, and her daughter, Melissa (31) who lives right in back. They have chickens and roosters that they raise for meat and cockfighting, a favorite pastime here. Her niece, who lives with her sister next door, has a son named Luigi. Luigi is a quiet, wide eyed and adorable little seven year old who sleeps in the Doña´s room. And the Don of the house, Juan I had seen wandering around throughout that first night, but didn´t actually meet him until the next day. There is also an extremely lively and gregarious ham, cousins with Luigi named Angelo. He is about 8 and is definately quite the entertainer.

That first night I got to know my Doña, Melissa and Luigi. Melissa is very friendly, is studying to be a teacher and has a hair salon in her house out back. She was doing the neighbor´s hair, and I sat out there playing catch with Luigi just hanging out. It turns out that another vounteer, Eva, lives right next door. She came over for a bit and we chatted on the porch. After some fresh fruit for dinner I took a shower, which is a showerhead that runs into a big bucket, then you use a bowl to rinse your self and wash off. First experience with bugs came at this point when I looked down to find a centipede had been in the bucket and was now near the drain. I organized my room a bit, put up my mosquitero (mosquito net) and finally laid down. With the fan on, of course.