Additional News!! 1/30/2007

Additional News!!

Ok, I have this awesome friend Molly and together we duke it out against McGonagal/Umbridge. The reason for writing about this is to tell you about her Doña (a general name for the woman of the house). Her mom is so crazy that she gives her ONE roll of toilet paper per every 8 days, which she has to guard in her room. Molly has fire red hair, is short like me, and she’s hilarious. A saving grace in the middle of all the crazy Dominicans. When Dominicans call at her, she says, “hello” in a voice dripping with sarcasm, she makes me laugh.

Another friend, Doron, decided he loved Dominican food so much that he was going to try corn from a roadside stand. BAD IDEA. He got sick. He proceeded to throw up so violently that his retainers flew out of his mouth and he lost them for good. Just goes to show you they know what they’re talking about when they say don’t take chances with roadside food!

And, today, the driver of my public car tried to cheat me on my change. I was in a particularly good mood and ready to test out my Spanish for the day. I loudly told him that I have paid the same amount for 4 weeks and that he needed to give me my change. HA, I got it. That one was for Molly, she gets cheated almost everyday.

I LOVE IT HERE!! I’m listening to Disney music in our computer lab at school and sitting next to hilarious Molly. Life is great. Simple pleasures. I’ve got my Language and Culture class and then Linguistics with M/U lady. Did I mention there are only 4 students total in the class? Bring it on.

Random fact of the day:

Speed bumps are called “sleeping policemen” in Spanish.

Weekly Update 1/30/07

Wow, I’ve been here for 4 weeks now. And I’m finally getting the hang of it. Just think, this is the point at which you get used to the language, culture, country, and lifestyle, and this is when I left Mexico. I’m glad I’m here to stay, because the hardest part is over.

It’s been an emotional rollercoaster despite the fact I usually just put up funny stories here. But my previous experiences have prepared me for it, or else I wouldn't be here. Knowing that helps me deal with the crazy Dominicans that whistle and call at me in the streets. Which by the way, depending on my mood, I usually laugh or smile at them now instead of giving them death stares.

So, yes, I’m loving it. I’ve got the Annie song in my head, “I think I’m gonna like it here.” I love the heat, the public car adventure everyday, the lizards all over the place, the music, everything. It’s so much fun. This weekend I went out dancing two nights and had a great time. My classes are going well, and the score in McGonagal/Umbridge’s class is her-20, me-2. At least I’ve got two!! I’m not scared of her, and I won’t let her get to me!!

A few funny anecdotes:

-Although I do laugh when I get called at in the street, I still ignore them. So one day I was walking with a friend and a man said this (in perfect English):

“Hey, hey, are you from Canada? America? What, you don’t speak English? How, blonde hair, blue eyes, and you don’t understand me?”

Yayadada…he kept going and we laughed. My friend Amy actually had someone say in English, why are you ignoring me? She couldn’t believe it!

-We took a taxi one night in which the driver could have battled with Robin Williams for funniness. He was great, I told him he should be an actor and he said he was. Well, that solved that mystery!

-One day I took a public car with a friend and the driver tried to charge her extra and she really didn’t understand that well and I pretended that I didn’t, so she didn’t get charged extra. Then she got out and I kept riding to my house. He turned around and asked me if I understood Spanish really well, to which I said yes. (ps-unless I write otherwise, all of my stories are in Spanish). Ok, so he paused as if he was thinking how to ask a question.

Then he said, “You’re not from around here are you?” (That’s the nicest way I’ve had it put, usually everyone just assumes I’m American.)

“No.”

“Where are you from?”

“United States.”

-pause-

“Could you tell me why is it that foreigners always slam the door of my car?”

-I had to pause to laugh because I had indeed slammed the door when my friend got out.-

“Well, to tell you the truth, your car is pretty new compared to all of the other ones we take daily. You have to slam the other doors to get them to shut.”

“ohhh, yes, I was thinking that, but thanks for clearing that one up.”

-Another routine adventure for me is a public bus ride. Imagine Papito’s bus, but sooooo much worse. He’s is amazing compared to most that I’ve seen. So you get on, and try to find a seat (they shove you in like there’s no tomorrow). One day the bus was completely full and someone yelled, “Let the gringa sit down.” And I got a seat! People here are really nice. So then you pass up your money, and watch for your stop. When you see it coming you have to scream, “Let me off!!” And for the most part, your cry goes unheard. But there’s usually someone around you who then screams, “Let her off!!!!” And then the bus stops and you’re on your way to your next big adventure of the day!

I’m sure there are so many other funny things that happened, but the most important thing is that I’m happy now. I’ve found my heart song as Chris says. So thank you for all of your prayers and love, because I can’t and couldn’t have done it without you.

Ps-If anyone wants to talk for free online, real voices, download “Skype.” I just got it, and my name is “odderbrooke.” It seems really cool, go check it out!

Beach and Dunes

News from the DR!

Trips

Friday I went with a friend, Janelle, to the biggest mall in the country and we saw Happy Feet in Spanish! It was so great! Someone that has seen it in English needs to write and tell me if the little posse of penguins that followed him around had Mexican accents in the English version. Because in the version I saw they were apparently Cuban, and everyone in the theater was laughing hysterically. It was really fun. This city is so huge that it took me an hour and a half to get there. And these weren’t even extremes of the city. I took a taxi back though and it was 50 minutes I think. So either the city is huge, or the public transportation sucks like woh. I think it’s both.

Yesterday I went on a trip with my group to the Dunes of Baní. It was SO cool! It was just dunes and dunes and dunes. I got some amazing shots. And we hiked a secluded beach that we got to by climbing up this monstrous dune that would put the sledding hills of Jvill to shame. It was awesome!

I thought I didn’t like the beaches here because I always go in the summer and it’s so hot and you go in the water and it just seems hotter in there. But, they’re nice in January! But my heart will still always be at Dewey Beach, DE. Love it there. Anyway, the beach we went to had smooth polished rocks all along the shores, and they were beautiful, the kind they sell in stores.

Language

As frustrated as I’ve been with the language at times, I took a step back the other day and realized how far I’ve come. It’s neat because I can compare how much I’ve learned on a yearly basis because we come every summer. I went to church on Thursday night and understood everything. And I understand the songs on my rides to and from school and in the public cars. All the stuff that used to be noise I can now understand! Now I’ve gotta work on making some noise myself. Which, by the way, is getting great (well relative to me a week ago). I’m talking more, and it’s pretty enjoyable. Like Arial when she finds her voice.

Public Cars

Ok, so I know I’ve explained them before, but they just keep getting worse. I asked one driver how old his car was, to which he proudly replied, 27 years old! Oh my gosh. By the way, before I go on, we drove my a junk yard yesterday. Completely different from an American junk yard. They actually still have junk. The ones here are the bare scraps of what used to be a car. Like an empty box of metal. You know were all the parts are? Still in use-keeping the public cars running. So, back to my story. In the past four days I’ve laughed a little harder every time I get into the car. I may have written before about a strap going through the middle of the car from side to side to hold up the two front seats. Ok, so one day it was a strap. The next a pipe. The next a chain. I commented on this to a friend. I said, what’s it gonna be tomorrow? I got my answer yesterday. It was an electric cord. I wonder if all possiblities have been exhausted or if there are still more to come?...

Side note

I’m at the house alone for the first time since I’ve been here. Aníbel went to Brazil for business and Alex and Mabel went out driving. When they left they told me not to answer the door for anyone, because I don’t know anyone and can’t tell if they’re a friend or not. But, I’m here and two men have been knocking on the gate for about 10 minutes now. So, I’ll just keep writing and hope they go away!

Lot's of little stories

Sorry it's been so long, but now all you avid readers have a lot to catch up on!

Wednesday January 17, 2007

Current thoughts:

Every time I get into a car, I swear it’s the oldest car I’ve ever seen. But they just keep getting older! I think to myself, no way. Can they get any worse? Can we shove anymore people in here? My car today on the way to school had a strap from one side to the other through the middle to hold up the two front seats. Good thing I’m not scared, sometimes blind trust is a good thing.

My “Big Daddy” sunglasses (that allowed me to think I was invisible when I wore them) broke, so I’m not invisible anymore L But, I’m sick of walking around the city with a bad attitude because I don’t like people staring at me. I have to constantly remind myself that I wanted to come here, and why I’m here. And not let city life get me down.

But, gosh do I hate the pollution. I wince every time I get into a car, because the windows are always down and the crap in the air coming out of every car just bombards your face. So, from the combination of pollution, my lack of sunglasses, and the crap that flies into my eyes because of that, I think I have a permanent wince/scrunched up face while traveling.

Amy has had a bad cough ever since our “pollution walk” when we walked too far looking for the wrong street (I wrote about it before).

Code

Life’s good here. I went to my internship for the first time today. It always sucks at the beginning of a conversation when I’m trying to get used to a new person’s accent and they talk too fast because they assume I’m fluent I guess? So once they realize I’m not understanding they do one of two things. A: they turn to their friend and start talking about me and how “she doesn’t understand.” Which, obviously I understand if I’m writing it here. And by that point I’ve got them figured out and can understand! But they’ve already given up on me. Or, B: They are very kind, slow down their rate of speech, and I get along just fine! I prefer B, obviously, and absolutely despise when people automatically assume I won’t understand, and refuse to slow down their speaking-it’s so frustrating.

On that note, it’s like understanding a new code every time I meet someone new. Everyone has a different way of speaking, and it’s like a jumble of stuff is coming at you that makes no sense for at least a few sentences, until you can decode it. Like, picture any video game or space movie when you’re going head first into stars and meteors and all the space junk. And you just get bombarded until you get the hang of it and then you can use your super lasers or something like that to break up the stuff in your way, before it hits you. That’s what it’s like. But there’s a lag in the beginning where you start to sink, until you catch up and realize that the person is still talking to you and you need to figure out what’s going on.

Blind Trust-Trip to San Pedro

San Pedro-the city 1 hour east of Santo Domingo (where I’m living) where we go every summer and all of my friends from the summer trips live.
Henry-the leader of the trip this summer
Yasmín-my friend
Yaquelín-her mom, Henry’s sister, she’s our amazing cook on the trips

I’ve had so many experiences where I’ve had to rely on blind trust, and I mean really trust. For example, I went to San Pedro last weekend. I asked my host mom how to get there before leaving for school that day, and she gave me an idea. From there I got to school and realized I didn’t really know how to get there, so I asked someone else. He gave me more of a clue. Then I asked the driver of the car I caught to a park. He told me I needed to catch a car to this other place. I got in that car, and sat next to a kind lady (I feel like all of my stories are starting to end with that line) who told me when to get out for the bus station to San Pedro. Then, I got to the bus, sat next to another kind old lady (!!), and rode to San Pedro. Where, might I add, I had no idea where to get off. But she got off, and told me out of the blue that I was the next stop.
So, I can’t count how many busses and cars, and people that was, but I trusted and got to San Pedro. And for those of you parents out there wincing and hoping I’m safe, I am. There’s really no other way to do what I did. There’s no direct route anywhere. I don’t like NYC, but being here is making me wish I was there. It takes FOREVER to get anywhere in this city, the transportation is ridiculous. But, I’m starting to see through the haphazardness and see the order to it I guess.
Anyway, back to San Pedro. I got out, on the old lady’s command and had no idea what to do. I was supposed to wait there for Yaquelín, Yasmín’s mom (I was going to visit them). I called her a few times and her phone didn’t work. Then I finally got through and she said she was on her way and to just wait. Ok, so I sat on a stool, braced myself for the stares that were bound to come, and I waited. She came, and it scared me so bad. You think you’re fine and at ease, at least that’s what you tell yourself, until someone comes up behind you and you freak out and realize how much you had your guard up!
So, then we went to her house. I had fun there. They gave me a tour of the town (it’s called Quisqueya) on a little motorbike. That’s been my dream for 4 years now, to get to ride on the crappy motorcycles people drive everywhere, and I got to! Dominican style-with three people shoved on one. That was awesome.
I didn’t get to see Papito or Pastora Mercedes yet, but I saw Henry. The green house looks good. Montana’s still there guarding it, there’s a new fridge (so the old one won’t make a river every time the power goes out), and Steve-the toilet upstairs flushed!!! The stars must be aligned!! Haha
Notes on Quisqueya:
-The power goes out every night. And then people just sit in front of their houses and spend time together, greet the passerbys, and talk. And the stars are amazingly bright, despite the pollution. I think it’s because power at night around there is so scarce. And it’s not near any big cities. It’s really neat.
-When it “get’s cold” here (I’m talking like 75-80 degrees) people think they’re going to freeze to death. I kid you not, one of Yasmín’s friends had on a huge black down jacket on night.
-Imagine living in a place where you can count the nice cars. One guy was telling me that one guy in the town, a famous baseball player who grew up there and moved back I guess, owns an H2. And two people have a Cadillac. That’s it. I never thought I’d see one of those cars there period.
-We went to a house one night of a friend whose dad had died. The friend was a jokester and came over to me and started telling me stories. He said he used to have eyes the color of mine. But when he was a baby his mom bathed him in hot water and the color left his eyes and turned the water blue. And to punish him she put him out in the sun where his eyes turned brown and his skin too.

More thoughts:
My cell phone broke somehow on Saturday, so if you have tried to call, I’m sorry and it will work by tomorrow. (I hope).

Funny Words

OHH!! This is great! Ok, so bouncers here, the guy outside the bar, is called a “watchiman.” My mom here was telling me this whole long story which included a tangent about a bar and she said the word “watchiman” and I couldn’t believe it. It’s hysterical to me. Try saying it out loud to yourself in a Spanish accent. No, better yet, do it with a crazy Asian accent. That’s what it sounds like.

It’s crazy, words borrowed from English here. And you can’t say them like you normally do. No one will understand. You’ve gotta put a crazy Spanish spin on them to be understood. For example, there are many streets with famous dudes’ names. Like Winston Churchill, Ab Lincoln, etc. And you can’t say it like you have your whole life. You’ve gotta change it. It’s strange to get used to. And SUVs are called “jeepetas” I think, like from our word “jeep.” And folder, they say folder (but again with the accent). But it throws me off when I hear an English word because it’s so distorted that it’s almost a different word.

Getting Robbed

Yesterday I got pickpocketed. And had no idea. Not just one pocket, but both. And no one in my group believed me. They were like, did you drop it, or move your money or something? NO! Well, didn’t you feel them putting their hands in your pockets? NO! You dummies, if I felt it, pickpockets wouldn’t have a job. That’s what they’re good at. I can’t believe that my group couldn’t understand that yes, someone took my money. And no, it wasn’t a huge deal because I only keep a little in my pockets for transportation and had the rest (again, not very much) in my bag, in a safe place.

My Grammar Professor

Ok, for those Harry Potter fans out there, imagine a combination of McGonagal and Umbridge. Scary. Yep, that’s the teacher I have for TWO classes. It’s safe to say I’m currently giving her the benefit of doubt and trying to give her a chance, but it’s really hard to warm up to her. She corrects what you’re saying AS you say it. Everyone’s scared to talk. I refuse to let her get to me and just sing “I have confidence” to myself in my head.

Pictures

I've been taking some pictures and plan to get them up soon! Oh, and ps-I have no classes on Fridays!! First time in my life, and my earliest class starts at 11:30!!

Host Family

Their names, in case you wanted to know:
Mother-Mabel
Father-Aníbal
Brother-Alex
Other brother who lives in Canada currently-Joel

And no pets. I was informed yesterday that there used to me a lot of cats in the neighborhood but the all crapped in the back patio of our house. So, what'd Mabel do? She put out poison and killed them all! Yeah, so, needlesstosay, there are no pets in the neighborhood anymore. Or at least no one lets them out. Except there's a dog next door with a purple tongue and orange teeth. No joke. Things are strange in this country.

Love you all!! Thanks for reading!

1-10-2007 Long Update

Ok, so it’s been a while since I’ve given an update. Sorry it's long. Don’t worry, assume no news is good news bc I’m so busy doing stuff that I don’t have time to write.

So, last week we were in orientation everyday, which kinda sucked because they spoke in Spanish the whole day, no English, it was important, and I didn’t understand most of it! But, then every day we had the adventure of taking the public transportation home to break up the monotony.

There are 4 places we can take classes, but I’m only taking them at two, and four of my classes start next week and one some time in feb, so I had a free week this week. We visited sites to see where we wanted to do our internship and I found one that I love!! It’s with boys from 7-12 years old who work on the streets shining shoes, selling stuff, stealing stuff, or do whatever they can to make a living. The program gets them off the streets and gives them a safe place to be. They come to the place during the day and still live with their families at night. The place provides classes, I think food, sports, art class, and fun stuff for them. As far as I know, I can choose any aspect of working with them. And as of now, I have mornings free and that’s when the ONLY teacher needs a lot of help bc he/she is alone. So I’d be tutoring/helping out with class, which is completely perfect. I’m really excited.

Next, my classes: I passed the diagnostic grammar exam but I still have to take another grammar class at PSU, so I’ll be taking it here and put it to good use while I’m speaking. So that’s the internship, grammar, DR culture and language, some ethnocultural class? (I don’t know what that means), and human sexuality. Sounds like an interesting schedule to mee! Much better than organic chemistry, bio, and animal science!

So, for some funny updates….

-I will be completely honest and say that I have gotten lost twice. I knew where I was, but was not where I meant to be. It’s been really comical trying to figure out the public transportation here. That phrase means, put some car or extended minivan into service that looks like it was previously in a demolition derby. It’s hysterical, I need to take some discreet pictures to show you all what I’m talking about. But imagine getting into a little tiny Corrolla or something like it, that looks like it’s 50 years old, and then shoving 7 people in it! Or, an extended minivan (called little busses here) with, I counted, almost 30 people. Now, mind you, this does not mean seated comfortably and relaxed. This means there were at least 3 people hanging out the side door (but there is no door ever) with a chair too!, me on someone’s lap (a friend thank God), and countless other things… There’s never a dull moment around here. It’s the Dominican way.

-One morning my friend Amy and I were walking to FLACSO (our home base for the program) and as if it wasn’t obvious enough that we’re not from around here, one guy yelled, “Welcome to Santo Domingo!” We laughed, that follows every story I will write.

-Yesterday, we tried to figure out to get back home from one of the places to take class by ourselves. We took a bus to a street near our house? And decided to walk up this giant hill to get to the next street to take the next public car to our street. We were still ½ from home. Well, apparently all of the streets change names at different places and why would you put something like that on a map? So, we just kept walking and walking up this hill, a few miles I think, in the pollution, starving, and getting stared at and sssstttsssed at (the Dominican version of a whistle). The pollution was so nasty yesterday that if you looked to the horizon, you saw brown until you looked up higher to the white clouds. Gross. So, anyway, Amy just kept saying, maybe it’s a little further, it’ll be the next street. I was finally like, I’m sick of this, and I pulled out my map. We walked so far past it, it wasn’t even funny, because the street had a different name where we were than what the map said. I laughed so hard I cried. We finally made it home. Fun stuff.

-Crazy: I was in a little bus (guaguita) and this lady was holding her baby and singing really loud, just started nursing the baby right in the middle of the bus, and kept singing.

Also, apparently my host brother has been teaching me bad words bc I said something to the effect of “I’m fed up with this” when my host dad asked if I wanted some juice after dinner. My host brother, Alex, says it jokingly to say “I’m full,” as I did too, but I got a sit down with my host dad about being vulgar. He wanted to explain the difference btwn words for the street and words for everyday use. It was kind of funny. So now, whatever I learn from my bro and mother, I only say in front of them, they teach me stuff and tell me not to tell my dad.

So, there’s all kinds of things to write about, but the most important is that I’m doing great, and loving it. I’m still in somewhat of a silent world. I’m understanding most everything, but it all comes in and nothing comes out. Meaning, I don’t talk too much. But it gets better everyday. Take each day as it comes, or when you’re lost, each street, and each minute. And boy do you discover the value of laughter to lift your spirits. I get slap happy just about every afternoon when I get fed up with trying to understand Spanish, and all I can do is laugh. But then I feel better!

Thanks for all of your e-mails and replies!

PS to DR folk:

-My mom here is a retired dentist and wants to volunteer her time with a church or something doing dentistry for free a few mornings. Sounds like something we could use! And, she loves what we do every summer and goes off about how all churches in Santo Domingo do is ask for money and do nothing for their people.

-Víctor told me Henry fired Papito, if that’s true I’m pissed. I’m going to call Yasmín and find out, and I’ll keep you updated.

The Plague

Two funny things:

1. Last night, I got the plague. If any DR folk remember the year Joel’s forehead got bitten, that happened to my arms last night! I have crazy red spots all over my arms that look like the plague, but don’t itch or anything!

2. They told us about these mosquitos that carry dengue and what they look like. Well they told us this in span, and I honestly thought “dengue” was pronounced “deng” in English. So, I told my friends in our group that I say some “deng” mosquitos in my house, and that those “deng” mosquitos bit me. (play on the word dang if you didn’t get it). We have fun!!

Funny story for people from Mexico

The first morning I woke up here, in the house of my fam (too strange, I´m writing in eng with spanish grammer) I was like, great, here comes the Spanish again... And my mom here said, goodmorning Allyson! Do you like papaya? But it´s different word. I stood in the doorway thinking, I probably looked like Reid when you wake him up, until i realized what was going on. and I thought for a minute and it clicked, and I so NOOO!! I HATE papaya, tastes like barf to me, sorry for the lang. Oh well.

AND unlike my Mexican fam who served me a mountain of food for every meal, this one gives me plates of it to serve myself. And I have never heard the phrase that still haunts my nightmares since Mexico...."Come Allyson, Come." (EAT Allyson, EAT) I can acutally get hungry here, instead of feeling like I cannot move after every meal. Wow.

So, thanks to God, this family is perfect for me and completely amazing.

Friday jan 5

I´m here, everything´s going well. My family is amazing! I gave them my twin maples leaf picture last night and they loved it. Then I showed them all my other pictures and they loved them so much. I love it here. Yesterday in class it was so hard. We´re in orientation all day, them just talking in spanish and I want to understand everything but cant and it gets really frustrating. My friend Amy here is having severe culture shock and I feel bad bc there´s really´nothing I can do except be there and speak eng with her bc shes so sick of spanish right now.

Last night we played dominios and I kept winning and my family is awesome1!! Cant say it enough how great they are, I feel so at home. When I showed they pictures of our family g-ma was in one and I said she´s a little crazy and the dad said, Alzhiemers? And he pulled out some herbal supplement from Utah that strenghthens and repair nerve connections in the brain. He has lots of herbal supps and its really cool bc that´s the stuff Cathy uses also. We all have a lot in common.

Today we had to take public transportation (Amy and I live very close to eachother) with the mom from my house. We caught a public car, don´t worry its safe, and it took us almost all the way and then cut diagonally across the road almost into a huge bus. Nothing really phases me here, so I was just like ok, but it turns out we had a flat on a front tire. So we got out and he flagged down a friend who took us. And when we got in he looked at me with blonde hair and Amy w red and said, Blondies-reds, i said in english to Amy, GREEEAT. At that point she was so sick of the whole thing she didn´t even care.

We get so dragged down that our only defense is to be slap happy and laugh. The classroom part of the day was pretty draining yesterday but then we left and I could understand everything and talk a lot, so what´s the deal? No se.

We live half an hour from FLACSO, the main place but there are about 4 universities that we´re supposed to choose classes from. A little overwhelming. And we´re supposed to sign up for 10 and go to them all to see if we like them bc you can drop, but not add. So you have to travel to a million schools and 10 classes for like the first month and navigate your way, and freakin try to understand everyone!! I was a little upset yesterday after sitting in that stupid classroom ALL DAY and not picking any of that up. Then I told Arianna, one of the leaders, that I needed help choosing my classes and Amy started crying, so Arinna ended up just talking to us for half hour to calm us down, and told us all that was covered throughout the day. Mind you, she spoke spanish the whole time too, I just understand everything she says and not anything the other lady says. But everyone is so nice, it´s just getting used to the accents of every different person that is the challenge.

I haven´t gotten a cell phone yet bc the stores close at 5 and we are in orientation until then.
So Chris, i keep remembering your advice and i´m not stressing about the classes part bc i have no idea what they are, so i´m not even looking at the list until someone helps me. And I just keep reminding myself that I´m here because I love the people and want to learn. I remember all these thoughts, and all of your love. Country song: I´m carrying your love with with me.

I appologize for the grammer and spellings and weird characters that might pop up. It´s more important that I get everything down and you guys know how its going than i write well...!