MIX CD CONTEST

Tragedy has struck and last week my Ipod broke; however, luckily I still have a way to play cds. Unluckily I only have about 4 cds which is NOT enough to blare out the bachata for the rest of the month. Entonces, I am holding my 1ST ANNUNAL MIX CD CONTEST! dun dunnna dun!
contest is as follows
-cds are to be mailed to my address at the right
-cds will be judged on october 31
-cds should contain at least 12 songs each
-cds must come with thier play list (titles and artists)
feel free to submit as many entries as you'd like (as the colmado wont stop playing the same 5 songs anytime soon and i still have over a year left here).
Top placed cds will recieve AUTHENTIC dominican art, done by my childrens' art group- so send your name and address.
KEEP ME SANE. SAVE ME FROM BACHATA REPETITIVENESS. PARTICIPATE IN THIS CONTEST. SEND ME MIXED CDS.

1 year tribute

Last year's journey, my 1 year in country tribute

I've learned a lot in this country so to celebrate my 1-year in country anniversary I've decided to share a few of these things with a tribute list.

-If you can button your pants they are too big. Go get a smaller size.
-Bathing in the latrine may sound disgusting but really it's incredibly convenient. In fact, don't forget your toothbrush, for added convenience you can also brush your teeth.
-You thought AIDS was an epidemic, you just wait until you hear about the hot/cold disease. Do NOT mix hot and cold things, my friend! The hot/cold disease has been known to cause everything from headaches and colds, to limping and even death! Let’s get scientist studying that one.
-Fried cheese +boiled plantains = balanced breakfast, beans + rice + a lot of vegetable oil + a pinch of sardines (at times)= balanced diet.
-Americans dont speak english they speak Spanish, Dominicans speak Dominican, and Haitians speak Haitian.
-You do not have to be talented to be in a talent show.
-Car washes are meant for drinking and dancing.
-Sunday is the best night to party.
-Rum (sometimes with fish or lemon) cures the flu and the cold.
-There’s no such thing as too loud.
-To be a guitar star in your town all you need is knowledge of 3 chords and an out of tune guitar.
-There is the country of America (everything west of the Mississippi) and there is the country of New York (everything east of the Mississippi). I’m from Kansas City Royals of America… or is that in New York?
-You can’t go to school, work, or activities when it’s raining. Also when you have a scheduled day off of school its best to take the day before off and the rest of the week off as well.
-It’s best to bring god into your daily life and conversations even if you are not religious. Only go to meetings if god wants. It’s best to express thanks to god that people and things are well in conversation. Then when things go sour curse to the devil, saint Mary, and the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes the journey’s tough. Sometimes I don’t have the required patience. Luckily there’s humor to life and people who care about me.

One year down! old journal entry named "si dios quiere"

Ok hurricane Dean update! things were ok. week without power, roads HORRIBLE!, couple trees down. talk to my community- lot of wind strong, lot of rain, LOT of wind. everythings going good. soon i will be off to celebrate one year of peace corps with friends in an all inclusive (yeah we are indulging)! wrote a little something special. will post it later on this week.
currently trying to start up a sexual health promoters group, and a sala de tarea (tutoring). Just moved out but my dona jokes that i still live with her, just sleep somewhere else. will post pictures of it soon also. its beautiful with too much space. working toilet(think im one of the handful of people in my community with one of these), spout overhead for shower.
still take 2 weekly trips to the river with the kids where i practice my kreyol. the batey kids and women want to talk more and more. i should really study up.
heres an old journal entry (to make this update worth it)-

I think I'm begining to understand the depth of 'si dios quiere,' the proper response to just about any question meaning 'if god wills it.'

In the U.S. we strive for power. We strive to control. We live according to science, researching how we can better control the uncontrollable. How we can fix our inconvienences and predict the ever uncontrolable elements of mothernature.

In poverty everything becomes uncontrollable elements that you must adapt to. The water and electricity come and go as they please. Your house will fall over one day and moto will break. You may have food today, you may die today. You may have money today and if you do you enjoy it, it may not be back for a while.

When everything is an uncontrollable element, you must expect anything. You learn not to get to attached to things. You live in the present. God will give and take as she wishes. You learn to accept the bad with a sigh of loss and a shrug of the shoulders, "it was what god wanted." Plans for the future are never set in stone. Meetings will only take place if god allows for the meeting to take place. That is if god allows for those holding the meeting and those who are to attend to actually arrive at the meeting. We are pawns moving according to the whims of god.

Growing up I remember hearing the biblical story of Job. A person who lost it all but continued praising god with each loss. Priests and teachers presented Job as a stoic saint, a martyr. I know the truth. Job was no saint. Job was just a man who adapted quickly to poverty and was smart enough to know that the devil never pays off on promises.

As the things that have been keeping me sane are breaking I am beginging to adapt to poverty on a deeper level. I am beginging to understand the powerlessness involved in all aspects of life and the fatality of circumstance that comes with this. I think the other volunteers in my group are beginging to understand this also. In the climax of frustration my experience with another volunteer Adrienne summed it up best. Walking home from a colmado one night in the capital, after a haitian man poured us a few too many cups of his family's rum, Adrienne turns to me "Becky do you realize we are living in poverty?" This question struck me. Although to outsiders it may seem obvious, we go about our daily lives unaware of the poverty we are living. At this moment, thanks to the bachata music, the company of friends, and of course the haitian rum, we stop dead a street in the colonial zone. Arm in arm Adrienne and I scream into the sleeping city, "WE LIVE IN POVERTY!" The idea seemed so foriegn to our comfortable upper-middle class United States upbringings that all we could do is laugh, shrug our shoulders and walk on.