Flamingo Tongue

Hey there!

Sorry it has been a while since a little update. There is actually not too much new going on actually. It is very odd to think that I've been in country 1 year coming up early March. In certain respects it feels like a year. In others it seems like a blink.

I managed to make it out to see the Humpback whales in Samana thanks so much to Ben's family! He has the real pics but it looked a little something like this. I have always wanted to see whales breaching and with this trip I did! Thank you to Jeanie and Kathy again!

At the year mark I'm feeling much more of the urge to do some physical project to keep me busy with my community. I've made phone calls to find contacts with some organization to help me out with water filter installations. It's sort of a restless feeling waiting and not hearing back or having something on the horizon to make me feel busy. I was just telling someone that the most frustrating part of the job for me is not feeling productive every day. I like having things to look forward to and the lack of reliable communication to make plans is making it difficult. Waking up with a sense of purpose is key in one's mental sanity and happiness I feel.

My main focus at the moment are the literacy groups. I have about 5-10 dedicated kids that come to my house about 4 times a week and we read a different story out loud, ask comprehension questions, and for the kids that really are struggling we do little excercising with pronunciation. I've also converted this into a little nature appreciation club (the start of brigada verde possibly). I've been painting some of the local birds with the lovely art set my Nana gave me. The kids draw the bird of the day and then we go outside with the Binoculars that mom gave me and they hide their drawings around and have each other find them. Then we do a little talk about how important it is not to kill the birds with gomas (slingshots). I'm hopefully going to have a guy from the University of Vermot come out and do something in my site with respect to the migratory song birds because my site is an ecological corridor between two scientific reserves and there is a potential carbon credit/bird habitat conservation project to be talked about with him. I just hope that it is more than an idea.

My friend Eva and I have also talked a little about doing something for international women's day. She lives right down the road from me so we can collaborate. I'm thinking about doing a carpentry workshop as an activity for the women in our communities - teach them something like how to make photo frames (Eva is going to do an art workshop so that could go hand in hand) while also showing them a bigger project (like a stool or bench). I am teaching several of the adolescent boys in my site how to make benches and spice racks - but it'd be wonderful to get some girls involved so that is my hope. The same idea with guitar lessons - the only people that want to learn to play guitar are the men and it'd be great if some of my girls wanted to join in on the lessons.

I've been cooking a lot! I'm much better at making bread now and my garden just produced it's first ripe tomatos. I have so much basil I don't know what to do with it, although gifting pesto to other volunteer friends is a very fun passtime. It is very nice to make another volunteer smile - the volunteers express appreciation much more than my Donas and it's just nice to see it written on someones face accompanied with words (en vez de - Da me algo Sarah). Dominicans show it in different ways....just harder to see a veces.

Otherwise to fill my time - I just came down to the capital this weekend to get my ReefCheck Dive certification (reefcheck.org). It was basically a fish/invert ID class where you learn what you are actually seeing down during the dives and enables you to participate in these surveys that monitor reef health. We did our first survey this weekend and it was really great to get to go on another dive and get a change of scene from the campo. I am thinking about doing the advanced Dive class when the next one happens (which includes a night dive and a 100 ft dive) because it'd be awesome to have that on my resume (for possible marine research gigs) and also because it's really fun.

By the way - this is a flamingo tongue. We learned this in the ReefCheck course. It is awesome

I am SUPER DOOPER excited for Jenny and Patty to come visit me during my birthday week and the trip is starting to sound ridiculously fun. Ryan is coming out at the end of April and he also is dive certified so we are going to aprovecharlo (take advantage!). YES!

Here is a pic of some of my volunteer friends during the Superbowl. My computer is out of service for the moment and I can't upload some other pics I want.

Hope you are doing very well and update me your adventures soon! A special thank you to those that are writing me! SPECIAL LOVE for June and Michelle for their video they sent. Also Jess Wall for the special cameos. I watch it when I'm missing you guys.

How you can help with Haiti?
(Send by my friend Orville!)

Donors may send checks to the local chapter, designating Haiti Relief to: American Red Cross of San Diego/Imperial Counties, 3950 Calle Fortunada, San Diego, CA 92123, by visiting the website at www.sdarc.org, or by calling 858-309-1200.

Donors may also text "HAITI" to 90999 and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts; the charge will appear on the next cell phone bill. If you would like to volunteer for the American Red Cross for future events, please contact the local chapter at 858-309-1200 to begin your training.




Hope all is well!
Love,
Sarah

7.3 Earthquake hits Haiti

Just a quick blog post to tell everyone that I am fine. A quick refresher - Haiti does border the Dominican Republic and it is a fairly small island. There were a few volunteers I've talked to that felt the earthquake that hit Haiti yesterday but I wasn't one of them. I'm in the capital right now to get my greencard and a group of us came back from dinner to find on the hostel's television the news.

Right now I'm feeling frustrated. I came into this program, into this country, to work - to help people. It sure would make sense if Peace Corps would let us go to Haiti (which we are prohibited to) for a relief effort since the people there really need the help now.

That being said, I am totally fine. Thanks for thinking of me.

Photo: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/01/13/world/20100113-HAITI_2.html

Campo Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
(Termondt Family Pic 2008)














It's been a rollercoaster for the past few weeks. I've been super excited about my parents coming, super busy building the outdoor bathroom and tying up ends, and also unfortunately trying to come to terms with the fact that I won't get the chance to tell Gramps thank you again for the massive loads of chocolate he kept sending me and the advice on resources to tap into for the aqueduct project. He passed away last week unexpectedly and it has been the most difficult thing I've dealt with at my site. I want everyone to know what an incredible guy he was, which you can't accurately put into a little blog post. He was a major influence and inspiration for my doing Peace Corps. I am so lucky to have had him as a grandfather and know that he is proud of me. I'll miss you alot Grandpa.



Here is a quick photo reel of the family up in the campo. We went to a cock fight on Christmas day itself which I wasn't expecting but ended up being quite an event (Roosters don't die and it wasn't as bad as I thought. The most entertaining thing is watching my Dominican guy friends going INSANE.)

Wish I had pics of this too - Mom tried really hard to communicate and got a lesson in Bachata. I love my mom, she's such a gem. We weren't able to make it out to dance but did literally everything else possible in two days. The community LOVED them and I assuredly will come back and be asked for the rest of always 'When is your family coming back Sarah!?' They loved Dad who was handing out cigars as if he'd just had quintuplets.















In the living room with the bearded brother being festive



















Carina! Infront of our 'Usa su propia bulto' 'Don't use plastic bags' poster.
















Bija, Jim, and Dad. That is me talking on the phone in the corner haha.




















Mom, Dad, and Bija infront of the 'Greenhouse'
















Church music on Christmas morning
















Me and Jimmers!
















First SQUASH! SCORE!
















Basil - kicking ass. Tomatos in the background.
















My view with Christmas morning fog



HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AUNT JENNA!

Hope you all are doing well and Happy New Year 2010!
Sooner,
Sarah

Scuba Diving in December

This is a Lionfish. He is an exotic species and can sting you.





Today I was a fish. I am taking a scuba diving class to get my certification! I went to a sunken ship wreck at around 60 ft and we saw a bunch of stuff and it was GREAT! I saw the lion fish and shrimp and damselfish and butterfly fishes. I highly recommend getting certified because you have an entirely different experience from snorkeling when you can really get down there with the fishies. They give a discount to PC Volunteers which is great (only 230 bucks for open water dive to 60 ft), and then we will eventually be able to help out with Reef Check – an organization that has locations all over the country that need help with things like fish counts, buoy cleanings, and coral reef checks. I thought this was an awesome opportunity and therefore am aprovecharing (taking advantage). It is really important to take a class – there are basic things you need to know that are easy but don’t come naturally. The dive instructor told me that I appear very comfortable underwater. I liked that alot :)

My parents are coming really soon now! My whole community is really excited to meet them and I’m really excited to show them stuff. I feel like a 4 year old a little bit. I’m also excited to go to Cabarete to vacation. I’m going to read and sleep and eat good food and dance. I also hope I might be able to go diving. We'll see.

Here is an update of the garden! I've 90% finished it beside the fence around. The tomatos are doing great as are the squash. Basil are taking their time. One carrot bed is up and kicking while the other isn't which was confusing. I couldn't get zuchs or lavender or some of my marigolds to germinate which was weird. My mint also isn't doing great. Yet it is still a lot of fun. This week we learned that you can apply a little wood ashes to tomato plant leaves if you have a problem with flea beetles which I definitely did. The kids went and got the ashes from a neighboring Dona's fogon (Wood cook stove), then we sprayed on my garlic spray and gently applied ashes. They seem to be retaining the info from the gardening classes easily which is cool. They know alot already. The literacy club is also going well. I have abotu 5 really dedicated kids, one of which who can't read at all (9 year old) and they really like the books and participating. I really like the club now too because the kids are sweethearts and it is just really fun playing with them. I did get in an argument with a straggler student who came in and was really...well just not very pleasant to work with - and we argued over the existence of witches. Ben tells me, well Sarah, they might have that here. Ben was not helping that day.

I've got to study for my test! I love you all and hope you have a very Very Merry Holiday. I'll post more pics soon of me scuba diving or making faces.

Love,

Sarah

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).

Cabbage Loopers suck

This is a cabbage looper. He sucks. I think he is the one eating all my sunflowers and basil leaves.


I made an organic pesticide using a recipe PC gave us. Garlic, Vinegar, and Jabon de cuava diluted in a bunch of water. It seems to be working but I am still finding a few and hand picking them.

Any suggestions?


Pics of my hortiliza next time! I am sore from digging raised beds but it's a good sore. The garden is in the shape of a rectangle which I've staked off with the help of some of my kids. The town drunk actually took it upon himself to pick up the earth which is fully of huge rocks, clay and historical relics from the previous Dominican tenants otherwise known as basura. I don't know why, but I like pulling the rocks out. It's hard and a great sense of accomplishment when you get a big one out. Maybe Dentists understand? Haha, I hope not. Half of the rectangle has tomato, basil, carrots, lavender with random pockets of marigolds just in case nematodes make their way in. The other half will be dedicated to zucs, squash, onions, garlic, and I'm thinking pepinos (cukes). Pepino is a cute name for a cat. Everyone gives me crap because I named Bija - Bija - and he's a boy. People are actually asking me daily how Bija is doing. I always tell them fine - and when I'm feeling up to it I say, he's still pissed at me from the whole castration ordeal and the nibbling has improved but it's still an issue.

I really love looking outside my window to the garden - it's a beautiful start to the mornings.

Also - a treat for my parents. In my last cooking class, Nana (Arianny) taught us how to make Orange Wine. I has hesitant being that it is in my nature but once I tried the final product I decided to make some! Home brewin!? Moonshine anyone? Dominicans love it - they buy the stuff like crazy for Christmas.
Here's the recipe (pa' que sepa):

VINO de NARANJA - Orange wine
10-12 Naranjas de Jugo (They have 3 names for oranges and I can't tell the difference from outter appearance for the life of me. These ones those are specifically good for Juice and sweet. Just not tart tart apparently.)
Equal amount of water to juice
2 Tablespoons of levadura (Yeast)
5 cucharons de azucar (equivalent to about 1/2 pound of sugar. Dominicans have no fear of Diabetes. Ie do less sugar....I'd say around 5-8 tbs but just until it's like sweet to you.)

Mix all together. Pour into container and top with cheese cloth and rubber band. Let sit for 15 days and then strain if desired. Then let sit for a month and it's ready to serve.

I put it in 2 wine bottles. Lets see what Mom thinks of it. I think she'll like it emborrachar de una vez. Joking.

Hope all is well
Love,
Sarah

A HUGE THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL BOOKS AND CARE PACKAGES. I immediately started the Story of Sushi Nana and it's great. THANK U MOMMY. Rechargable batteries are incredible. Like incredible. I should start some sort of project with the PC volunteers to get them rechargable batteries and Diva cups - both incredibly environmentally friendly products. The pants are wonderful Jenna! The underwear fit Lea! THANK U!