Right now, I am reading a fat blue book with an earth on it by Bill Bryson called A Short History of Nearly Everything and a novel by Anna Quindlen called Rise and Shine. I joke that I have to read a pink book at the same time I read a non-fiction to have a little mental relief. A lot of times novels meant for female readers have pink somewhere on the cover whether the whole book is fuscia, the text is rose colored or the publisher’s emblem is a light ballet hue. The pink is like a little subliminal signal that the book has some sisters, cell phone conversations about relationships and pregnancy inside.
I have acquired the love for reading that I have always wanted but never had. It is how I feel about art I am working on and others feel about playing music, baking, or sports. You genuinely want to do it to do it not because you feel like you should. I have always trudged through books about homelessness, development efforts, fallen addict to a few novels and taken to my text books seriously with a highlighter. Through my Peace Corps experience, I can honestly say that I love to read and admit to loving novels way more than science books and memoirs with happy endings worlds more than true tragedies.
Bryson’s A Short History is reminding me of all of those things that I have found interesting about geologic history and biology but haven´t thought about for at least two years. It makes me feel good but I have to force myself to crack it and read for hours at a time so that I will finish in a timely manner and can move on to the next thick one. I read Anna Quindlen when my project partner doesn’t show up for a meeting yet again, when I eat my breakfast eggs and tea, or ride to wear I am today four across in the broken truck. I have to tear myself away from the lives of the elaborate charachters. I have to start another one before I finish to avoid that really sad feeling. He’s a bit of a job and she’s the reward.
You can see all the books I’ve read so far on the side but I have categorized them in case you feel the need to read! Please read with a bran muffin and a hot drink, apple pie or a smoothie... it will make it so much better... ooh, dark chocolate.
General Non Fiction:
• Animal Vegetable Mineral, Barbara Kinsolver- Good one about food!
• Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert
• Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich- Interesting about low income US.
• The Things They Carried, Tim O´Brien
• Pledged, Alexandra Robbins- very quick read about sororities, loved it.
• Marley and Me, John Grogan
• Genome, Matt Ridley- Read it in two days because it was so fascinating.
• Jesus Land, Julia Scheeres
• The New New Thing, Michael Lewis
• The 100-Mile Diet, Alisa Smith, J B MacKinnon- Made me homesick.
• Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey
• Essentials of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Manya Magnus
• The Color of Water, James McBride- Very well written and inspiring.
About development:
• Mountains Beyond Mountains, Paul Farmer- Highly recommend.
• Why the Cocks Fight, Michele Wucker
• Eyes of the Heart, Jean Bertrand Aristide
• Nine Hills to Nambakaha, Sarah Erdman
• In the River They Swim, Michael Fairbanks...- This took me forever to read.
• On That Day, Everybody Ate, Margaret Trost
• Banker to the Poor, Muhammad Yunus- Really informative about micro-finance.
• Kabul Beauty School, Deborah Rodriguez
• Dead Aid, Dambisa Moyo and Niall Ferguson
Notable novels:
• Little Earthquakes, Jennifer Weiner- Pink book that I couldn't put down.
• The Friday Night Knitting Club, Kate Jacobs
• Prep, Curtis Sittenfeld- I couldn´t believe this wasn´t non fiction.
• Garden Spells, Sarah Addison Allen- Set in Washington.
• Belong to Me, Marisa de los Santos- So well written, I cried when I was done.
• Best Friends, Martha Moody- Awesome but a pink book for sure.
• The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri- Recommend it to anyone.
• A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini- I haven't read the Kite Runner yet.
Take care and comment on my blog!
Friday, August 20, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
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!
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!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Summer Days
I am becoming accustomed to summer and rainy season. We are beginning latrine construction which has only meant frustrating trips to the bank and hardware store an hour away, a meeting with the beneficiaries, a lot of rain and no actual construction. My water filter project hit a catastrophic low point in which 13 out of 25 of the cement filters broke irreparably on the bad road to my community. I will try to salvage the project and offer a talk about hygiene and sickness prevention and present solar disinfection (SODIS). This was already going to be a component of both the latrine and filter projects but will become the beef of a redesigned ¨Safe Water¨ project. My apprehensions are as always, in avoiding being the Foreigner Santa Claus Wise One. Instead of being Santa bringing gifts of stuff and wisdom, I spend most of my time scheming how to get myself out of the spotlight. I have written grants with community members entirely in Spanish that I then rewrite in English. I have asked the clinic workers to present the hygiene talk giving them main points be covered and crossing my fingers.
These projects take about a half hour of my time a day. I used to be a champ at filling time with internet, exercising, driving, buying stuff, eating, TV, a plethora of miscellaneous activities and options. My life here is different and certainly slower. I start my morning with a walk or run with my stick and immediately take my cold bucket bath outside in my underwear with a bar of soap. I make a cup of tea with sugar and powdered milk and successfully avoid dirtying dishes to be washed. While I am a little afraid my drab personality is really shining through this blog, it’s important to shed light on the inherent bore that is the Peace Corps.
From eight to noon and two to six, when I don’t give art camp or English classes, I am trying to be moderately productive. I have two sitting places outside of my house; one is a big shared office space complete with drinking water and no flush toilets, the other the church salon cold water and a dirty latrine. Reading is my favorite activity but English books, however good quality are not productive to my service, so I make myself work for it and employ a schedule much like rotating subjects when doing homework in college.
For art camp, I will make confetti from shiny cracker packets and cut thousands of stars out of magazine paper for gaudy, yet very stylish reuse crowns. Then, I fill out one lesson of my Creole workbook and write the rough draft of the English final, call my project partner about cutting wood for the latrines or money earning myself an article from the National Geographic or a chapter in my book. At noon, I am tormented by what to make for lunch. I have been recovering from a stomach bug that makes me only want to eat white things. Shall it be eggs and bread or milk and crackers? I always try to avoid making too many dishes and eat fast because I don´t have running water and lunch is the time for kids to color at my house. At two, the sitting spots open and I continue until in either rains, when I position buckets to be filled and go on another run/walk, or threatens rain in which I follow my schedule and take another bucket bath. Sprinkle in craving the internet when we have electricity, a little bit of visiting and cheek kissing and there is my weekday.
Lately, nights have been dark, without power, which makes me more social. Sitting in my house with my headlamp and candles is less appealing than hanging with families and chatting. Sometimes I walk around and worry about falling or stepping in something gross to visit my old host mom or buy eggs in the corner store. Other times, I sit in my house and make tea from mint on my patio or more powdered milk and talk on the phone. My favorite Peace Corps present is free minutes between volunteers. It is a lifesaver that allows us to make friends with people we only get to see in person every so often.
I have written a whole entry about global poverty that I won´t post. Through this comparatively slow lifestyle there is certainly no shortage of time to think. I don´t have music blaring in my ears or celebrity lives to follow. I don´t ever think about TV and I don´t even get very much news. I never drive. With no ability to drown out reality, I have no choice but to try to understand what surrounds me and the state of the world. I have read and seen a lot and figured out little. I hope to live conscientiously through the rest of my service but I know it will be so much harder when I go back to still care about people who don´t have access to water. I won´t feel the least bit responsible for people who have to ration food for their kids. I know I am going to want to eat frozen yogurt and watch Friends but hopefully I can use my rotating device. Read one chapter of Depressing Poverty Book, watch one episode of Friends, something like that.
These projects take about a half hour of my time a day. I used to be a champ at filling time with internet, exercising, driving, buying stuff, eating, TV, a plethora of miscellaneous activities and options. My life here is different and certainly slower. I start my morning with a walk or run with my stick and immediately take my cold bucket bath outside in my underwear with a bar of soap. I make a cup of tea with sugar and powdered milk and successfully avoid dirtying dishes to be washed. While I am a little afraid my drab personality is really shining through this blog, it’s important to shed light on the inherent bore that is the Peace Corps.
From eight to noon and two to six, when I don’t give art camp or English classes, I am trying to be moderately productive. I have two sitting places outside of my house; one is a big shared office space complete with drinking water and no flush toilets, the other the church salon cold water and a dirty latrine. Reading is my favorite activity but English books, however good quality are not productive to my service, so I make myself work for it and employ a schedule much like rotating subjects when doing homework in college.
For art camp, I will make confetti from shiny cracker packets and cut thousands of stars out of magazine paper for gaudy, yet very stylish reuse crowns. Then, I fill out one lesson of my Creole workbook and write the rough draft of the English final, call my project partner about cutting wood for the latrines or money earning myself an article from the National Geographic or a chapter in my book. At noon, I am tormented by what to make for lunch. I have been recovering from a stomach bug that makes me only want to eat white things. Shall it be eggs and bread or milk and crackers? I always try to avoid making too many dishes and eat fast because I don´t have running water and lunch is the time for kids to color at my house. At two, the sitting spots open and I continue until in either rains, when I position buckets to be filled and go on another run/walk, or threatens rain in which I follow my schedule and take another bucket bath. Sprinkle in craving the internet when we have electricity, a little bit of visiting and cheek kissing and there is my weekday.
Lately, nights have been dark, without power, which makes me more social. Sitting in my house with my headlamp and candles is less appealing than hanging with families and chatting. Sometimes I walk around and worry about falling or stepping in something gross to visit my old host mom or buy eggs in the corner store. Other times, I sit in my house and make tea from mint on my patio or more powdered milk and talk on the phone. My favorite Peace Corps present is free minutes between volunteers. It is a lifesaver that allows us to make friends with people we only get to see in person every so often.
I have written a whole entry about global poverty that I won´t post. Through this comparatively slow lifestyle there is certainly no shortage of time to think. I don´t have music blaring in my ears or celebrity lives to follow. I don´t ever think about TV and I don´t even get very much news. I never drive. With no ability to drown out reality, I have no choice but to try to understand what surrounds me and the state of the world. I have read and seen a lot and figured out little. I hope to live conscientiously through the rest of my service but I know it will be so much harder when I go back to still care about people who don´t have access to water. I won´t feel the least bit responsible for people who have to ration food for their kids. I know I am going to want to eat frozen yogurt and watch Friends but hopefully I can use my rotating device. Read one chapter of Depressing Poverty Book, watch one episode of Friends, something like that.
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