Birthdays and Basketball

Greetings!

Thank you all for the birthday wishes, messages, calls and packages! 23 started off great. Actually it started off with waking up at 6, Dona made me avena (oatmeal) y café and I packed a little for the weekend while waiting for a friend to arrive. Then I walked to the training site and got 2 vaccinations and while doing so someone said Happy Birthday and that started a chain reaction and even the little nurse, Borianna, she gave me a besito (little kiss) on my forehead! She’s my favorite doctor. Then Juana, my twinkly eyed 35 year old Spanish teacher who tends to dance with every step, grabbed both my hands and told me how wonderful it was that it was my birthday and how excited I must be for life (I think…Spanish is definitely still being learned). She is wonderful though and luckily she is coming with us for our community based training. Then I went upstairs to find Jean and she handed me a humongous card that she drew and had everyone sign. I am really going to miss Jean. I think Mark is right – we do share a few key brain waves and therefore I think she should switch to the environment group and we’d both be better off. She is in the Information Communications Technology group and that group (15 of the trainees) left for their community based training today which is in a different city than the medioambiente kids. It was sad saying goodbye – there are some really great people in that group, but I look forward to their stories and seeing them again during week nine and then afterwards. I also told Jean that we are going to visit Mica and have a Patty Griffin weekend some point during the next two years. That’d be stellar.
Then we met with our tech trainer Tim to plan for this weekend and the Brigada Verde Youth Conference in San Cristobal. I am going to be introducing our group in Spanish and then we are all helping out in a youth obstacle course (giving instructions in Spanish and engaging the kids). The conference is for older teens to help teach them how to run environmentally themed summer camps. It should be fun. Afterwards we leave for Community Based training which is like technical skill training working with all sorts of different stuff (how to build efficient cook stoves, gardening techniques, composting, plant and animal ID, and teaching how to teach along with Spanish classes from what I’ve read so far). It is in the North in La Cumbre and it is campo setting meaning that we will be living with much more modest families….ie probably won’t have electricity/internet like I had at the training station. My apologies for the delay in my responses! My address is still the same (actually it will be for the next two years unless I update it more specifically). Some volunteers have had trouble with FedEx and boxes so again the best bet for me to receive something would be to put it in a padded envelope and ship it to:
Sarah Termondt, PCT
Cuerpo de Paz
Avenida Bolivar 451, Gazcue
Apartado 1412
Santo Domingo
Dominican Republic
(Sorry I know I’ve given that enough times but just in case)

We did have some bad news the other day – one of the trainees decided that the Peace Corps wasn’t right for him and decided to end his service. All of us were really surprised and confused – we still don’t really know why he left and had no indication he was thinking about it. I just hope he’s doing ok and that nothing happened specifically to bring him home.
I played basketball with the guys today. Well actually Yenny and I played two Dominicans while our gringos (Jared nicknamed Bigfoot and Mark nicknamed the Easterbunny by Dominicans) had a full on game on the other side of the court which we didn’t want to interrupt. It was great though and besides a bashed up fingernail I laid down the verguenza on the guy that was trying to cover me. I don’t think any of the Dominicans had seen a woman score before because they really freaked out. They were really good though – they beat us but we put up a good fight. Until next time.

I came back home and told Dona Roma I was going to shower and then walked into my room to find a little package with a red bow on it and Dona was peering thru the curtain to see if I’d found it. It was really cute. She gave me a big necklace with shells and beads. She’s a keeper – I for sure got the best Dona.

Ok I should run. Check out my photos – they are actually updated now, Picassa or my blog was acting funny before. ALSO Send me any new music that you’d think I’d like to my email address – I’m running low. Take care.

Sooner,
Sarah

P.S. Mom tried to put Chester on the phone tonight and then told me tonight that Henry is now singing the words to Maddie’s song (my baby cousins – but if you don’t know this then you basically don’t know me). You could pinpoint the exact second that my heart melted when I heard that. Jenna - I’m working on one for Henry. I miss you guys!

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

Dark Chocolate?

Hi!

So I just finished my 2nd to last dark chocolate bar and am realizing how silly it was to bring so many clothes/1st aid supplies instead of 80 lbs of chocolate because it is a much more vital item in my life. That and tea, specifically Yerba Mate tea. I was talking to some of my trainee friends about how wonderful Trader Joe’s is. If I could choose one store to have a shopping spree at -Trader Joe’s currently tops the list.
I have been teaching my homestay sister Laura how to play guitar and am starting to become more frustrated with my limited Spanish vocabulary when I am trying to get her to understand a few more specific things with where to move her fingers and how to form her hand etc. The trainees definitely get together and speak English – and I know I do because you just get frustrated with taking so long to say one sentence. I anticipated this would happen to me so I’m not upset – I’d say more annoyed with myself. I am learning though – albeit very slowly.
I showed my friends a Vegetarian Restaurant that Ben and I came across when we were looking for guitars yesterday in Santo Domingo. I started eating red meat again and there have been several meals offered to me that I didn’t have to turn down but overall so far I could have kept up a completely vegetarian lifestyle if I really wanted. I will go back to not eating red meat and also fish once I am out of the homestays. Besides the major environmental impacts I also have a health concern being the fish here as in many other places is most likely contaminated because of how much pollution goes into the ocean. It is a lot – I was fairly surprised to see how bad the problem is. I was also really impressed by two of the girls on my program – Jean who was a vegetarian for the past 13 years and Jazzmin who was a lifelong vegetarian! They both started eating meat right before they came. That is dedication to the program. I really like Jean (25 from Philadelphia), she is the type of person that makes you feel like she’s really interested in what you are saying and we seem to have a lot in common (she even likes Patty Griffin!). I also really like Jazzmin (22 from Wash who looks remarkably like Erika to me)– we started talking about the Animal Vegetable Miracle by Kingsolver and basically it was nice talking to think someone is on the same page. We have also been doing Yoga classes with another Trainee named Helen who I find to be very peaceful and it has basically been wonderful. About 6 of us took our mats and laid them out under the trees in a school park area and a big group of Dominican kids came up to us and started doing Yoga with us. It was really fun.
I made a duct tape purse (I hope Emily reads this!) for my friend Alanna because she said she didn’t have a bag today. It only took me about 2 hours to do it and Laura helped me make the trenza (braid) that serves as the strap. I think it turned out ok. Maybe I can make it into a project for the kids around my future barrio. They are waterproof durable little products so maybe?
We went to the Peace Corps office in Santo Domingo last Weds and it was really neat. They have a big library that Volunteers can check out resources from (I got a flowering tree guide there and it’s really useful). They have wifi there so I can always just take a break from my project and go to Santo Domingo and stay there for 2 days to get internet research done.
Dad and Mom called me tonight and it was lovely to hear from them and tell them what I’ve been up to. I played with a tiny cat the other day named Mussie and I missed Chester. Chester is like a giant beaver compared to this kitten.
I’m heading to Santiago on Thursday to visit with a real live Volunteer named Mica to see what her life is like and how her project is going and basically ask her any and all questions I have. I’m excited about this – specifically because I get to see more of the interior of the country and apparently go thru a lot of sugar cane fields.

I’m healthy and safe and happy! I’d definitely appreciate any dark chocolate, tea, cookies, photos, notes, my cat Chester, threadless t-shirts, or anything involving peanut butter if you want to send me something in a padded envelope :)

Hope all is well with you – Thanks for reading
Love,
Sarah

I'm here!

Hiya!

Ok – so I’m here and safe and everything is going great. The training portion of the program is very organized and I am really looking forward to the activities we have lined up for Community Environmental Development. We do have limited internet access at the station and I’m really glad I brought my little laptop.

So we left Miami, 36 of us (about ½ girls and ½ guys all working in Environmental Development or IT education) and arrived in Santo Domingo last Thursday. The plane ride was really exciting and everything at the airport went smoothly besides one poor girl who accidentally left her bag on the plane. I’ve met everyone on my program and everyone is really nice and interesting – everyone is in their 20’s but their backgrounds range quite a bit and people are from all over the U.S.

We got to the Training center which is called Entrena and were shown around and did initial language placement testing – where I placed as an Intermediate speaker! I was really happy about this because I placed into the level that volunteers are required to meet in order to serve. I can understand much more of the Dominican Spanish than I thought I would…but I’m definitely still learning a lot everyday. I have a notepad that I carry with me for all the new words and phrases I hear. I am living with a Dominican abuelita named Dona Roma and she’s wonderfully warm and a great teacher. She lives with her son who works all day in the city. Her other son she doesn’t like much because he has got a big afro of hair haha. I met him and he does seem to be a bit of a trouble maker but he lives in the city and isn’t here often. Dona’s granddaughter is named Laura (8 years old) and she also spends a lot of time at the house – we are friends and I’m teaching her guitar. She’s mega stoked on that. I’m mega stoked to be here. The plants in the training center alone are beautiful. There are orchids stretching down the tree and zinzerbaceae on the sidewalk. I recognize a lot of the tropical plants because of my time in Costa Rica, but they all seem to have different common names of course. My host family took me to the national botanical gardens already (jealous Lea?) and it was phenomenal. I just wish I could have spent a little more time there.

I do sleep with a mosquitero – A mosquito net because they do have mosquitos w/ disease but the Peace Corps gives out a lot of stuff to protect you. I also do bathe with a cold water bucket bath – there is no reliable running water (it comes out of a faucet only at certain times of the week) and therefore water here is very precious. I feel guilty when I think of how much I wasted at home when the people here need to buy potable water to avoid dehydration. We also don’t waste food because there are kids far worse off in Africa. It was really amazing to hear my Dona say that. I’ve spent a bit of time talking to her trying to improve my Spanish.

Apparently D.R. is also the 2nd loudest country and I have to say that might be true because right outside my window are the noises of the night (past 11:00) – blaring salsa/merengue music, people talking and roosters. I am currently still orienting myself but we made it into Santo Domingo using public transportation and I also discovered a little cake shop with Laura when we were walking around. Two other volunteers, Mark and Jean, live about 3 minutes away from me and tomorrow we are going to walk to the center together in the morning.

That’s the update for now! Also – please send email to stermondt@gmail.com because I think something is up with my yahoo account. I can check email somewhat frequently during training but also – send letters if you like! I’ll definitely appreciate them.
Here are some new photos of my time so far!

Best,
Sarah

Miami Staging

Hi everyone!

Thank you so much for your warm goodbye notes and phone calls. It makes me feel really loved.

So I got into Miami last night after a long smooth flight. I got to watch Slumdog millionaire on the plane and was excited about that. No luggage was lost but it was probably quite entertaining watching me drag four bags around (internal frame backpack, large duffel, small backpack, and tiny guitar case gig bag). I jumped on the hotel shuttle and a girl got on right after me that had the Peace Corp look about her and her luggage so I took a minute but finally asked her - Peace Corps Dom Rep and she said yeah and that she had seen me in the Airport in LAX and had wondered the same thing haha. Her name is Woodley, she is 29 and also in Environmental Development - and was really quite extroverted and friendly.

We had lunch today where I met many new volunteers - most are around 22-24. It was really exciting to see everyone and it makes you feel better to think you aren't going into this completely alone. The staging orientation lasted a few hours and then everyone went to Dinner - we each got an ATM with 120 dollars (and the machine broke on me! The hotel still gave me my money though so I was fine) and that will cover the next few days worth of costs.

I am horribly excited at the moment. I need to stop making comparisons to Costa Rica but it is hard to do so since the Staging event also had 35 people around my age all of whom seem very friendly and interesting.

That's all for now. Hope all is well! It might be a while until my next post but feel free to email me and send me letters. (stermondt@gmail.com)

Take Care - Abrazos fuertes,
Sarah Termondt

Using the Blog

Hi!

Ok so I've had a few requests to explain how to use this little site. Hopefully this answers any questions:

Posting a comment
To post a comment just click where it says # Comments at the end of my post. Then you write your message in the white box and when finished click the button next to Comment As - then choose Anonymous. Then you can click post comment and you will be set.

To view Photos
You can simply click on the photos that are playing in a slideshow fashion. Once you do, you will be directed to my photo website where you can see pictures on a larger scale

I also just uploaded a gadget that allows you to see the time and the weather in the Dominican Republic.
Here is a delightful photo of my kitty cat - Chester Harrison. He does not like playing dress up. He does enjoy peaceful solitude and pondering the meaning of life.



Love,
Sarah!

How do I send mail to Sarah?

Great question! Please send me notes and tell me what is going on in your life - it is very good for my spirit.

This is what PC tells me

For REGULAR mail while I am a trainee (until the end of May):
Sarah Termondt, PCT
Cuerpo de Paz
Av Bolivar 451, Gazcue
Apartado Postal 1412
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

For EXPEDITED mail (FedEx, DHL) you have to provide them with the street address and phone number:
Sarah Termondt, PCT
Cuerpo de Paz
451 Avenida Bolivar
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Telephone:809-685-4102

Mail is slow but you can bet I'm trying to respond if I hear from you. I loaded up with stationary so I'm ready.

There are apparently lots of taxes on packages and a good chance that they might get "lost" if they look too appealing, so the Peace Corps recommends only sending items that fit into padded envelopes. This address is apparently good for the entire service but once I am assigned a site I might update the address so anything can get to me more directly.


Here is a link for other common questions related to Peace Corp Service in the Dominican Republic

I just got my stuff insured (my little travel laptop and camera are the most valuable items I'm bringing) and I'm almost finished with my last unit of Rosetta Stone. I'm missing my brimmed Costa Rica adventure hat, I wonder where it could be...probably on an adventure. The fact that I am leaving in a week now is really odd, somewhat surreal. I am currently excited with a pretty good splash of nervous. Dad sent me a link today that told me there is Sushi in Santo Domingo, a Sarah luxury I thought I might have to do without for 2 years. Gracias a Dios.

Abrazos,
Sarah