aren´t you lucky

one week later and another update- arent you all lucky!
So here it goes in Batey 3. slow slow slow... i´ve finished two novels in the past week! But in the mean time im learning creole (bonjour, bonsua, bom glo, merci, bom nuet, mue nom Rebeka- at least i think these are correct...), and how to sell items in my family owned colmado- insert photo of my sister selling items in my colmado attached to my house here-
Shes 22, only a little older than me! and my mom here is only 2 months younger than my real mom.

heres a triumphant story of me at my site.
so during my site visit a week before we moved in my overly excited project partner (the one who solicited to have a volunteer in the community and therefore takes on the responciblity of me) was taking me around the batey so i could ¨see the poverty of thier lives¨. well it became a little too real for me. these people are poor. really poor. women would see me and light up with happiness. They would welcome me into their one room wooden houses where 10plus people live and sleep on the dirt floor. theyd tell me how they needed clothes and food to eat. Then they´d hold out their hands for money... heres the thing- this is not exactly along the peace corps philosophy of development, nor do they give us the funding for hand outs. id then say that i do not have money. thats when some would become upset. i understand that in the past to many of them seeing a foreigner in a batey means ´hand oút´since that is how development had been done in the past. so point of story i was kicked out of some houses and one woman spat at my feet as i was leaving.
this made me really upset and i had problems dealing with this when i went back to the capital for swearing in (which was a fabulous week of fun and activities by the way).
Well they other day, im back at my site and im looking for big paper for an activitiy i had planned for my youth group. my 15 yr old friend rosa (who looks more like 12) was taking me around to the different colmados only to find ount noone sells big paper. well then she starts leading me into the part of the batey i had been avoiding. the part where i was not well recieved. i was followed by stares of course but was not my usual happy self greeting them. when we got to the colmado the man behind the counter Roberto, was very friendly heres how our convo went.
R- the whole world is pleased you are here
Me- you know who i am?
R- the whole world knows you
Me, doubtful he knows me- I am Rebecca. I am a peace corps volunteer, I am here to work with the youth. I live here for 2 years.
R- Yes I know. I am grateful. I am at your order. If you need anything ask. Everyone is at your order.

I was so shocked. This was the side that i had been afraid of! Ive been getting that ´at your order´think alot. oh and my youth group meeting went really well. so more photos of my site.