Agua?

Day 2

September 6, 2010

After I posted my first entry, I realized that I never explained what I am doing here. So here is the introduction I forgot to post yesterday:

I am living in Santo Domingo for three months. I will be working and living with the country Director of Project HOPE, Teresa. Project HOPE is an NGO that provides low cost or free healthcare to people living in DR. Note: I do not like the abbreviation DR because it looks like Doctor and that is just confusing but Dominican Republic is a long word. Teresa oversees two clinics in the Dominican Republic and projects in Haiti as well. I am basically trying to learn everything about clinics and health care in DR. My aunt and uncle helped me secure this great opportunity and I am so thankful for their help and guidance. Zoe aka Susi aka mi tia aka my aunt (yes I have used all of those names to talk about her here), did an evaluation of the clinics here and that is how she knows Teresa. That was a short introduction but I will add more fun facts as I go on.

Today I woke up early with the family to get ready for a busy day of work and school. We dropped the kids off at school and that was an experience. The weekday morning traffic is crazy! Scooters pop out of everywhere and small children ride with a parent all packed on one scooter. The traffic near the school was actually very well organized. A few of the school employees help direct traffic and they have cones set up for dropping off the children. After that we went to get gas for the car. Yes, I am telling you that we got gas because there was actually an interesting event. A little boy came to Teresa’s car window and was asking for money. He was a cute little boy who couldn’t have been older than seven. His voice was soft and innocent sounding. Teresa did not give him money but did give him a very good lecture. In a firm, yet loving tone, she spoke to him about going to school and getting an education so that he could get job and earn more money than he could earn from begging. She kept asking why he wasn’t in school and why he was on the streets and he didn’t give a straight answer but stated that his mom was in jail and he lived with his grandmother. Teresa told him he should be in school or at home reading a book. She spoke to him for at least 5 minutes and he seemed to listen very carefully and hopefully we do not see him out begging again.

My first day at the office was great. I met everyone in the office (5 people) and prepared my Scope of Work to submit to Project Hope. During this time I had an internet connection and it was great. That greatness was short lived. Eventually it stopped working. More about that later. Anyway, I think that I will now be the resident editor (English documents only of course) for the office. I was working with an employee named Carter to edit an article he was writing. I think Spanish is his second language and maybe English is his third? Either way, he speaks English very well and he actually helped translate a lot of stuff in Spanish to English for me during the day. I am guessing that his first language is French, but I could be wrong. I really like editing documents. I used to help friends do that in school and now I get to do it again!

We left the office around 3:15 to pick up the kids from school. The children’s nanny prepared a great lunch for us when we got home. It was similar to the lunch I had the day before but with different spices. It was chicken, rice and vegetables that you put together on a plate. Quite tasty. I didn’t go back to work with Teresa but stayed and hung out with Cynthia. We went to an internet café in this very new building near their house. However, when we left it was dark out and scary. I didn’t say anything but Cynthia was the one who actually said she was scared to be out when it was so dark. It was probably around 8:00pm but Santo Domingo is not the safest place. We only had a 3 minute walk but it was a bit scary. We probably won’t do that again. Sorry Mom, I didn’t realize it was going to get dark so quickly! (it also was just around the corner)

I finally had skype success with my mom. Well actually, I paid a few dollars to use skype to call a land line and that was great. I was using Teresa’s computer and internet connection so no, I still do not have internet. Annoying. After my call success Teresa, Juan Carlos, Cynthia and I sat around chatting for about an hour. We were exchanging photos and language lessons. The first thing Teresa said to me when she saw me at the airport was that they would be my second family and it really feels that way.

Fun Facts

-I was debating when I should take a shower, tonight or in the morning and during that mental debate the water stopped working again. Cynthia said it has something to with rain but Teresa said something else so I am not sure

-When Teresa returned to work after our lunch, she stayed there until close to 9:00pm I think. Cynthia said it is dangerous for her to do that and everyone tells her not to. She is a hard worker!

-I really wish I could attend Juan Carlos and Cynthia’s school. It is a bilingual school so they have some subjects in Spanish and some subjects in English. (oops, was that obvious?) The building is really neat and everyone there is so nice! I went with Teresa in the morning to leave money for the kids for lunch and I met so many nice people. All of the employees spoke English of course so that was cool too.

-I had liquid yogurt for breakfast. I guess it is more like a smoothie but hey, that is pretty cool.

-They keep the windows open at night but I closed one of mine because I am afraid of mosquitoes and their dengue fever. They do not have air conditioning in the apartment but there is a powerful fan above my bed.

-Mosquito bite count: 3

Peace,
The dirty one- Jaclyn