Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The Things I Like

The holidays here have felt far from typical. In fact, there was almost a total lack of the consumer craziness that has come to define Christmas in the states and a complete absence of cookies and sweaters. Right now, the big difference in Pedro Santana from any other time of the year has been the amount of people and cars here to visit their hometown and families. I don’t know the population right now but I can tell you it is far above the usual thousand. It has been fun for me because there are loads of people my age who have left town after high school for school and jobs in the capital. They come bumping in SUVs or Toyota Corollas, a Dominican favorite, with capital goods like boxes of cereal and sunglasses.

Their presence is like a little piece of home and makes apparent the things I don’t even notice are missing. I saw a baby being pushed in a stroller and had a moment of confusion, a lot like when you wake up and, just for a second, you don’t know where you are. Strollers are not necessary here and would surely turn into potentially dangerous toys for older siblings and I, therefore, totally support their absence. Less mesmerizing but surprising all the same, dog leashes, braces, and swimsuits have been popping into sight. Although I am admittedly enjoying all the material crap that reminds me of home and my new lively social life, I have realized what I really do like here that we don’t have in the states.

I like the apparent quality of resources. I had never paid much attention to where housing utilities come from or questioned their presence. Here, we have power for about half the time. When it’s on, the refrigerator gets cold, you can charge your phone and music is blasted through loudspeakers throughout town. When it’s off, life is a little more peaceful especially at night when candles light the house and the vivid stars give you that camping feel. Water, oh water. Apparently we are on to better water days but for now, it is pumped every second or third day from the river and runs through the aqueduct to arrive in faucets, dirty or clean. I have resorted to bathing in the river with natural soap because it’s refreshing and saves water at the house. The only other utility that I can think of is the propane for our stoves. I have a ten gallon tank and there is no way of knowing when I have used up the gas until it’s gone. I have asked a few people because I should be nearing the end but one day, surely in some horrible culinary moment, it will just run out without warning. I will have to wait and pay to send it on a truck to be filled an hour away. Maybe I’m not shedding the best light on this aspect of life here but I do like it because it isn’t confusing and I am forced to appreciate things that I only pretended to appreciate at home.

I also like aspects of family life here. Specifically, I think I can learn from the generosity without question that is illustrated in so many houses. One indicator is the food being sent to and fro to poorer grandparents, nephews and friends. More common questions than ‘where to you live’ are ‘where do you sleep’ and ‘where do you eat’. ‘Oh, I sleep with my cousin at my grandma’s house and I eat at my house, the neighbor cooks because my mom works.’ Another is the many hijos de crianza meaning children of belief. Many children are raised by relatives, godparents, or even seemingly unrelated community members. Because of our position on the border, there are Dominican families with Haitian children who have been raised since infancy and therefore speak only Spanish and are quick to correct their nationality as Dominican. Hijos de crianza, in my mind, demonstrate how much simpler and nicer things can be here. The messy yet supportive families here make development look like a monster that brings the difficult and messier foster care systems, adoption processes and custody battles.

Another cultural difference that I respect but I don’t see myself ever fully embracing is the bluntness of lifestyle and speech. You go girl, you wear those rollers in public! Put on pants so tight the fly won’t zip and let your love handles shine as your shirt is really a bathing suit and your bra is sticking out the top. There seems to be little problem with weight issues as I haven’t heard about eating disorders nor is there much of an obesity problem. Plus, in case you haven’t noticed, a little flub is attractive! Other aspects of the lucidity here are health and aging. Everyone’s health problems are chatted about and shown openly. Things like cataracts and missing teeth are left as is for the world to see. I honestly didn’t know so many people have these conditions because they are fixed or covered up. We are exposed to people getting older honestly without the means to worry about vanity and hide the signs of aging. Vocabulary here is also a lot clearer than what I am used to. Many nicknames are allusions to their appearance, blacky, whitey, little, fatty. It makes for embarrassing introductions as calling someone blacky is far from my comfort zone. I can’t count the amount of times I have asked who we are talking about to get an answer like, ‘You know, the ugly’, or ‘The fatty teacher with the red motorcycle’, or ‘Wait, are you talking about my black brother or my chubby brother’. I have gotten all sorts of questions and comments about my own appearance and so I learned how to say ‘That hurts my feelings’. I rarely use it because I am usually more amused than offended and as long as I’m not referred to as just plain ugly, I feel pretty lucky.

There are other things I like here and many I don’t like, that’s life. Also, most of these positive cultural qualities could never be translated literally in the states. I promise when I go back home I won’t turn off my power box, try to raise other people’s kids or refer to someone as the little fatty. I do hope, however, to take the idea of resource consciousness, generosity, and honesty that comes so natural to the Dominican lifestyle. Plus, maybe I’ll wear tighter clothes and be a little crass just for fun.

Happy New Year!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Just Changing My Glasses

Life is always full of mountains and valleys wherever you are. It also always seems like events or conditions that alter your situation come in little bundles. You achieve some accomplishment, you get a message from a long lost friend and the weather turns fabulous all at the same time. The same goes for the valleys. Your car needs work, some social drama makes your stomach churn and then a bird poops on your head. These things seem to come in groups partly by coincidence and partly because you are wearing sunglasses, either rose colored or crap brown. Right now, I have to admit, I am in a bit of a valley and I am trying hard to change my lenses.

I came home from Thanksgiving with a detour including a lot of sitting at deserted intersections, an overheated bus engine, and a jerky driver who took my money and then left me short of my destination at a military checkpoint with no cell signal. I thought my foul mood could be washed off with a cold bucket bath and some juice when I got some unfortunate news. Over Thanksgiving weekend, there has been a group of criminals attacking people who are walking and riding motorcycles in the rural areas. They beat a teacher who lives near me almost to death with rocks and tried to suffocate him with tape. There have been three other attacks in which two died and some sightings of masked people with rocks. Maybe it is because of the masks, the difficult roads or because we have no police force but not one criminal has been caught. Everyone is instructed to be on guard and not to travel alone, “That means you can’t walk like you do, no. You hear me Jazmín?”

As a Peace Corps volunteer, we theoretically have project partners or a supportive group that we are working within. In reality, every situation is different and I have no official project partner or amazingly helpful group. I work in a little rural school doing environmental and art activities that I will start doing in the bigger town school in January. I am working with the school director to propose and implement a literacy promotion project to get these kids reading. I am also working with youth to reduce waste and collect plastic bottles for a water project in Haiti. While some of this is in the pueblo, my favorite days are going up to the rural school, an hour and a half walk from town.

Hiking and running in the area also keeps me going, a must that I can’t imagine forgoing. Being told that I can’t walk alone is like telling someone who has a car that they are not allowed to use it. It is not a perfect analogy because at least you might have other transportation options. I often have little other than my feet to get me around and I don’t see how my life is going to function for the next year and a half if I really cannot travel solo. I realize that it is petty to complain about not being able to walk or hike alone while people have lost their family members and I don’t want to disrespect the weight of the crime here. It is truly tragic. Such brutal beatings for motorcycles and pocket money are a disgusting manifestation of poverty and greed that I will never understand.

I guess this negative entry should not continue for long so I will finish with my bundle of events that define my current slump. While I was gone, someone stole my bananas and plantains off of my trees in my fenced yard. I have an eye infection that I can’t seem to get rid of after purchasing two very expensive medicated drops. I am continually avoided by a water engineer who should be responsible for a broken aqueduct in a community I am trying to work with, vehicle troubles, my ass! It is also apparently ant season which means that ants march into my house through the windows like a parade and find their home under things like my shortwave radio. I am letting them control my life by my avoiding cooking or dishwashing inside and even having trouble in the bathroom with toothpaste and other toiletries. I planted some basil that sprouted and then was promptly eaten by chickens. I am afraid to ask my landlord if I can make a vegetable garden and compost and even more afraid of the quantity of chicken wire I will have to buy to protect them.

And now I take off my shitty sunglasses and say some nice things. I am swimming in the river and doing a lot of art in my free time with and without kids. Christmas lights are popping up in town, hoo hoo. Red Cross is working on our town aqueduct which means that maybe starting in January, water will come everyday or almost everyday, yeah baby! (There may be a period in December with no water as they are making the switch and I have a secret plan to flee to the capital.) See, my rose colored lenses are coming right on! I hope everyone is doing well and that December brings lots of cookies and family fun!