Visiting Mica!

Hello!

So it is currently night-time, I just finished studying for the test we have coming up on Weds, I’m a bit tired and scratching my magi bites - and I’m still beaming from how great this last weekend was. They told us some trainees come back from this weekend wanting to leave the Peace Corps when they see how it actually is – and others basically come back like me, yes beaming. We got to go out to visit a Volunteer in their site and learn about what they do on a day to day basis, see their living conditions, and ask them questions. I was paired up with a girl named Mica from Tennessee who also in Community Environment Development and is a year into her service. She lives in Puerto Plata which is at the north of the country and I traveled on 3 very tightly packed carro publicos, 2 buses and a motorcycle ride (they give you a helmet) to get there. I got to see her house which is a really cute small wood cabin that reminded me of Doug and Angie’s place in Colorado. What I didn’t realize, maybe the government did, is that Mica and I basically have the same music tastes (more so than anyone I’ve ever met I think). She also has a beautiful voice and sings like a lovely little bird and plays guitar! I immediately felt like she was an old friend and it was just wonderful to have someone who I could so quickly connect to and really sing and play with like that. I think I was most definitely the luckiest trainee.
I went to her Brigada Verde youth group where she taught kids about recycling materials and we made pulsas (bracelets) out of plastic bags. The youth group meets in the little chocolate factory that they have in the town. There were about 12 kids that showed up and Mica wanted me to play my Chico song for them so I got 3 kids to dance it out – check out the pictures. We also went to another volunteer’s site (Rob) where I met a handful of older Water Volunteers who were working on building an aqueduct with a group of American High school students. We got to see the faucet ceremony also – it was one of the first times their village had seen a faucet with running water. One of the Dominican men got choked up and the volunteer commented that he had never seen any of these men cry about anything. That was really moving to see – I think the water projects are really incredible because you can see the impact you are having right up front. Talking with the volunteers was really interesting. I got to hear their viewpoints on whether their work is appreciated and what they think about people coming in and just giving stuff away – how it makes their lives sometimes harder. I ate pork that night for the first time and finally got a little sick and learned a lot about latrines and how they are made since I spent a chunk of time in Rob’s haha.
Mica told me about the ceramic cook stove project she’s getting started and how to start a mural project. She talked to me about the difficulty she’s experienced with a composting project and trash programs. Mica and I spent time visiting members of her community and I met a lot of kids who just wandered into her house and she was so funny with the comments she made about them. She cooked really well also – I’m excited to get practice with that again and I’m glad I brought my moosewood cookbook. She made veg chili, tuna cakes, Dal, pancakes, eggs, orange juice, and god bless her for all the tea she gave me. I’m thinking if I can I’m going to get a little stove and fridge because you can eat healthier if you have them. It was really nice to get to chill out too – I spent time drawing, reading, juggling, and showing Mica origami and card tricks. I spent the night time telling stories with her and Casey (another volunteer who lived a motoconcho ride up the road), playing wonderful music with Chinola the kitty cat on my lap, and looking out Mica’s front door to see fireflies dancing around. It was very peaceful.
It rained a bit and I unfortunately couldn’t go to the Charcos during the trip – which is a series of 27 waterfalls that you hike up, but I obviously will do this the next chance I get. I’ll post photos and then you’ll want to visit them I bet.
I should sleep soon – the light in my room escapes into the rest of the house because the walls don’t go all the way up. I uploaded some new photos if you want to see a bit more of what I’ve been up to. We leave for the Brigada Verde Enviro Youth conference right after my birthday so I think that is a pretty neat to do for the day! Then we leave for Community based training next Monday and that will be in La Cumbre which I believe is in the north – it is apparently a lot of fun from what the other volunteers have told me. Nos vemos pronto. Hope you are well and thanks for reading and writing to me.
Love,
Sarah