Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Here are some pictures of my garden. It is basically my most favorite thing. I've been showing kids the plants and people walking by ask about the raised beds and I talk to them about the organic pesticides we can use to deal with local pests. Therefore it is a little project in itself. Dominicans though have told me that they (ie their neighbors) are too lazy to do their own hortilizas like mine. I'm hoping at least the organic pesticides could catch on a little. People don't spray so much in my community because it is Organic Cacao but I've still seen some of these backpack pesticide cases and the masks. It's a dirty business. I overheard some other volunteers near Pico Duarte talking about how they lost a community member to spraying chemicals without using shoes or a mask and having direct contact.

I've also built some Bird houses recently and I'm hoping to get a bird appreciation aspect going in my site. They kill the birds with sling shots and I think it is actually due to a lack of other things to hunt (no real game besides gallos). There was a meeting given around Nagua regarding Carbon credits, paying Dominicans, and protecting natural habitat for migratory birds. I hope a project can develop from that. I'm in the office right now and am looking for a bird call CD.

I went with the other volunteers to the Thanksgiving celebration which was hosted in a country club in Santo Domingo. It was actually really nice. I got to swim and play soccer and see lots of people. It was sort of bittersweet though because being around Americans always sort of makes me miss my friends and my family. Other volunteers say it makes them less homesick but I've got pretty cool friends and family so it's hard to compete :)

Check out this centipede. Bija is my little hunter. Speaking of which I miss him like a ridiculous cat person. I am thinking of spending the night again in the Capital so I can play music with Mica and Claire (i got to play piano for the first time in country yesterday and it was so nice).