Already August

There are generally only two reasons I go a long period without writing on my blog. One is that I find myself in a bad place, a slump of sorts, and don’t want to be that girl complaining about doing something hard that she chose to do. In these times it is much better to keep quiet until I actually feel strong than fake resilience. The other reason I don’t write is that I am actually busy. Thank goodness this has been the case!

I graduated my art camp and my English class with tests, certificates, treats just in time for July 4th. I celebrated our Independence Day with Peace Corps volunteers on a beautiful peninsula in the north east. We rented apartments, ate, swam and had a little fun at night too. My volunteer friends have been an amazing part of my service. We come from all over the place with totally different reasons for being here. We bond during training, talk on the phone in our sites and ultimately form an invaluable network of support. While Dominican friends can give me hugs and my family at home can listen to me cry, my fellow volunteers are the only people who truly understand what I am talking about. Instead of pity, we give each other the, “Ugh, I know” that somehow makes you feel better. Needless to say, our weekend together was great.

I then had a week in my site to organize latrine material snafus and was off for another vacation. Two college friends, Tess and Kristin, came for a week and we went to the northern beach town of Cabarete. We caught up on our year apart, lounged on the sand and saw some impressive kite boarding and wind surfing action. We jumped the famous 27 waterfalls and didn’t injure ourselves. Mostly, it just felt healthy for the soul to hang out with old friends, laugh, and chat about things. There was a little hurricane scare for the last couple of days which had us wet and sometimes a little stuck. It’s just that time of year!

Now I am home sweet home. I have been constructing latrines with the best construction worker I have encountered here. We work in the blistering heat, shoveling cement, sawing wood and hammering nails. I am something in between a laborer and an accessory but it feels good to get my hands dirty… and then hit them with a hammer. Sometimes we just have to accept that we are not naturals with some tasks. I am not a pretty sight with zinc, nails and wood but each latrine has me looking a little better. The long construction days have also been essential to get to know the beneficiary families. We have had meetings and will be doing a hygiene course but the days of sweating, giggling about going to the bathroom and eating lunch in the shade are more influential in truly meeting those involved in the project.

And now I have to look into the future. The exposure I have had to poverty has led me to know I want to always work with underprivileged populations both in the states and abroad. I hope to use my biology degree and the perspectives I have gained from volunteering to do something. I have nine months left and have to start my application processes if I hope to enter grad school next fall. I will be applying to masters in public health programs in epidemiology. Although I have no idea what will happen (such as whether I will be accepted), I would love to do infectious disease research. I think that everyone should have the right to be healthy and know that disease prevention and control are integral parts of that goal. There is no reason why parasites and dengue fever should be common, while hand washing, water filters and window screens are not.

As I look at great programs and draft my statement of purpose in this internet center, I am paying a dollar an hour, Dominican music blasts in my ear and a little boy emphatically narrates the computer game he is playing. I guess this is what they call facing adversity!