Saturday, January 20, 2007

"me" time

the sunlight hits my pillow and despite the fact that i live in the hotest part of the country, i'm a little chilly. look at the clock (7:15). stomach rumbles- its gonna be another one of those days. peel back my mosquito net and pull on my k-state hoodie as i roll out of bed. A trip to the latrine and i put on some coffee. noone else is awake.
i love this time. i know for the next hour i will be alone. i will sit on my porch (off of the main street) with my coffee and my ipod and watch the batey wake up.
the sunlight is soft and i watch the pigs and goats search for food. next comes a sugarcane worker on horseback with his machete. later the donas wake up and brave the cold to do the mornining chores: empty the chamberpots and sweep the dirt around their houses. the kids then start waking up and heading to the sugarcane for the same reason i made my early latrine trip. they stop by for a little chat and to tell me that i drink too much coffee- as a full mug is way too much here. soon the bar next door will be blaring the latest bachata for everyone in the batey to here, the sun will be strong and bleach everything in its path except my skin which it will turn bright red, the batey will be so hot, my colmodo in my house will have customers, the street will be crowded, and i will (after a cold bucket bath) have visitors but for now i am alone with my music in english and coffee.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Photos

So ive changed my photo link to the right and have actually uploaded photos of my training and site- how crazy i know! so you can now click on it and see way more of my life than the little ive been giving you on my blog.
thanks dad for the flickr acount.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

My encounter with a milipede

so ive gotten a little to friendly with a lot of gross animals here *tranatulas, cockroaches big enough to put a leash on and take for a walk, dominican bread rabid street dog* but this encounter takes the cake.
Setting- the final day of new years vacation in cabarate, a beautiful resort town on the northern coast. total tourist town (think of breakenridge carribean style with awesome surf). my friends and i stay in the most beautiful set of bungalows surrounding an awsome pool and bar.
The encounter- im finally trying to catch up on my sleep after several days of celebration- dancing into the wee hours and waking up rediculously early. Sleeping in a bed with a friend emily when all of a sudden 5:30 am. drowsy me is disturbed from slumber. feel a little something round my face do the slight brush. feel a little poke on my neck, more awake alert me sees a hair clip in the bed and thinks that thats what poked me and throws it to the night stand when all of a sudden- NEEDLE JABING into my neck. I jump out of bed and watch a black thing slither down the side of the bed and stop. i think im half imagining things. at this point ive woken up my friend jill in the fellow bed and scream for her to give me her cellphone with a light on it. i shine the light and watch a large milipede slide under the covers. I scream, wake everyone up. emily hops out of bed- jill flicks on the light and emily shakes out the covers where we discover not one but 2 milipedes that had been keeping us warm durning the evening.

Ahora-
kinda creeped out but whatever i survived. my neck is sore but that might be from a number of things- swimmin, dancing a ton, not getting much sleep, beach volleyball, trying my first cuban cigar, drinking amazing mixed drinks, eating amazing irish pub food, laughing to much, lying on a beautiful beach- (not to make you jealous or anything. ok whatever i was). felt american, 22 years old, and on vacation in the caribean with friends for the first time in a long time.
they say the 1st month at site is the toughest and its all uphill from there. my first month had some definate challenges and this vacation was needed.