So It has been way to long since I last updated my blog. Yes I am still alive and doing okay, no I have not contracted any tropical diseases as of yet. (I am still waiting for that to happen). Things in the site are still slow, though they are starting to pick up a bit. I have been teaching english the past few weeks to a small group a few times a week. I am not sure how great of a teacher I am, but they seem to be learning at least a little bit and i enjoy the group. They probably help me as much with my spanish as i help them with their english so it is great. Though I do wish more people were coming to my class, it does feel good to be doing something. I am also starting with a basic businesss course designed for youth. i find it somewhat ironic that i, someone who has never had much of an interest in business, is going to be teaching it in a language that i am still learning. It should be an interesting experience, though thankfully the manuals with the lesson plans are already prepared so I just got to make sure I understand them myself.


My family came down a few weeks ago. It was an absolutely fabulous time. They got to spend a full day in my site to see how i live. It was really cool to see how all the campesinos took to them, especially mom. The next day we drove to this beach Baha de Los Aguilas. This is a completely undeveloped remote beach in the southwest of the island. It was absolutely gorgeous...for sure a picture perfect tropical paradise. Afterwards we went to an all inclusive resort in the east for five days of good food, hot water showeres, and full time electricity. It was great except for the fact that I got bronchitis and lost my voice. This was especially unfortunate as no one else in my family really speaks spanish so i had to speak twice as much since i was translating. My mom did her best to speak the language...it was cute watching her try to master the word "fork" and "knife" in spanish. got to give her a lot of credit for genuinely trying to learn. Saying goodbye to them was pretty hard and no doubt it took me a few days to adjust back to the campo life.

The past couple weeks i have been traveling to the capital and back quite a bit for conferences and what not. It is a great chance to see other volunteers and learn how everyone is doing in their sites. I can't wait to start visiting other volunteers, haven't had a chance to yet.
Things are going okay down here, my spanish has improved and i am starting to feel more comfortable, though i certainly still have my wtf am i doing here moments. Ill be heading back to the states in may for a few days, a weekend in philadelpha then six days in california may 18th-24...if anyone is going to be around let me know. If not...until next time.

hey all, hope that things are going well for everyone back in the states. Life here in the DR is going well. I have started with some english classes in my campo. It does feel good to actually have some sort of tangible program to do. My class is about 8 students ages 16 and up...its a good group and i actually enjoy doing it. Though how good of a teacher I am remains to be seen. Aside from that life in the campo is pretty slow. There isn't really a whole lot going on day to day in my site which can be relaxing but after a while it starts to drive you nuts. i am looking to start other projects in the next month or so... we shall see how it all works out. The rent's are coming down in two weeks for a few days. i am very pumped to show them my site and then head out to the resorts. One whole week of hot water! It should be quite a bit of fun.

just want to let everyone know i am alive. Things at my site are progressing slowly but i think there are potentail projects that i will get started on in the next few weeks. this week was interservice training...while it was a bit long most of the sessions were very helpful and i look forward to bringing some of the ideas i now have to my community. in other news my parents are coming in 1 month... i am incredibly excited for this. i cannot wait to show them what my life is like down here and then go spend some time at one of the resorts with the whole fam with hot showers, running water and the like. life at my site continues to have its ups and downs which is normal. my spanish is progressing but there is still quite a bit that i don't understand which can frustrate me quite a lot. The mail service sucks here... i have been waiting for christmas gifts since december and they still haven't arrived. Oh the small trials and tribulations of a developing country. Otherwise though things are going okay. Its nice seeing the other volunteers and catching up with them. Life is okay right now, i am keepking my head up and trying to maintain a healthy perspective on things. hope everything in the states is going well for people. if you need to contact me my new cell is 8094672787. love to all my peeps back home

so i haven't been able to update my blog recently... access to internet is lacking unfortunately. Life here has its ups and downs. It can be quite frustrating battling cultural misunderstandings. For example in the DR it is generally accepted that older males would pursue relationships with young girls, some as young as 13 or fourteen. even the women here generally accept that and sometimes encourage it. I have had a number of exchanges where certian community members have tried to pressure me into some relationship or something of the sort. When I explain to them that no i can't because i have different rules they really don't understand. Some of them even call me gay if i refuse a girl, no matter what her age. I have also come to the realization that the community group that requested me does absolutely nothing. This means that i have very little leadership in my community and find myself spinning my wheels a bit. kind of frustrating...
not every thing is bad though, the people here are genuinely friendly and really try to look out for me. I am constantly invited into peoples homes, some of whom i really haven't talked to that much to share a meal or just sit and talk. this is something that you won't find in our culture which is quite sad.
I am also no more then an hour away from a beautiful caribbean coastline which i have visited a few times so life isn't all bad. anyways i have posted a few new pictures on my blog and will post more on my snapfish account if you are interested. all and all i am doing well

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. All the volunteers got together in the capital for a big celebration that was quite a lot of fun. I got to do a little beat boxing for the talent show, seemed like it was a big hit. Unfortunately a bunch of people from our group have had to leave for various reasons. This is always sad to hear and puts a damper on things. I am starting to get settled into my site making some new friends and improving my spanish, though i still have a long ways to go. My site is pretty disorganized, I can tell that getting people together to move forward on projects is going to be a big challenge, hopefully I am up to the task.
Life here isn't all rough, but its not all fun and games either. The community I work in is extremely poor, there isn't much in the way jobs. People pretty much live off what they grow in the farm. That being said, everyone is very happy and friendly, even though they don't have the material comforts that we have, they certianly enjoy life. I hope everyone back home is doing well, I miss everyone a lot. Send me updates even if i don't get back to you. Its nice to hear from the outside world

So I have been in my campo a bit over three weeks I guess. Everything here is going fairly well, if a bit slow. The people here are absolutely wonderful, they have greeted me with open arms everywhere I turn. I spend most of my days taking pictures of the people here. They get really excited to have someone come and take their picture, especially the children. I get asked fifteen, twenty times a day where’s my camera, take my picture, ectera…It’s great because it provides me with a way to enter their homes and gain their confidence. My Spanish is coming along slowly but surely, more slowly then anything else. It is definitely frustrating to have so much you need to communicate, but be completely unable too. I find myself in plenty of awkward situations because of my limited understanding. I know that in time this will stop as my Spanish improves but it does get to you sometimes. I need to get started on my community diagnostic, as much as I enjoy just sitting around, the boredom is definitely starting to get to me and I need to do something. Tomorrow we have a meeting in barohona with all the other volunteers in my region. I am looking forward to going as this will be my first time in barohona, and my first time seeing the other volunteers in a few weeks. It should be a good change of pace getting out of here.

I have come to realize I am in love with mangos, there is nothing like eating fresh mangos off the tree to make you feel better. My community is mostly agricultural, and thankfully mangos is one of the fruits they produce here. I think I ate about five of them today, man it was great. Besides eating mangos I have come face to face with real poverty for probably the very first time in my life. Some of the homes here are nothing more then wooden shacks with a little bit of electricity every one in a while. Today one of my friends was asking me to taking him with me when I leave for the United States. I was trying to explain that this wasn’t possible but I couldn’t. They don’t have to much here and as bad as the economic situation is in the states, things are a lot worse here. A few days ago one of the older people in the campo asked me to give him money to help support his sick son. I felt bad but I had to explain to him that I couldn’t give him any money, as volunteers that’s that something that we are really not supposed to do, and as a volunteer I didn’t have to much. Still I couldn’t help but realize the fact that as I was saying this my 250$ camera was hanging by around my neck. That’s more then most people make in a month here. Its frustrating that at this point I can’t do more. I hope that in the future my efforts will make an impact here but we shall see. anyways
I love hearing from home, please keep in touch.
So I have been in my campo a bit over three weeks I guess. Everything here is going fairly well, if a bit slow. The people here are absolutely wonderful, they have greeted me with open arms everywhere I turn. I spend most of my days taking pictures of the people here. They get really excited to have someone come and take their picture, especially the children. I get asked fifteen, twenty times a day where’s my camera, take my picture, ectera…It’s great because it provides me with a way to enter their homes and gain their confidence. My Spanish is coming along slowly but surely, more slowly then anything else. It is definitely frustrating to have so much you need to communicate, but be completely unable too. I find myself in plenty of awkward situations because of my limited understanding. I know that in time this will stop as my Spanish improves but it does get to you sometimes. I need to get started on my community diagnostic, as much as I enjoy just sitting around, the boredom is definitely starting to get to me and I need to do something. Tomorrow we have a meeting in barohona with all the other volunteers in my region. I am looking forward to going as this will be my first time in barohona, and my first time seeing the other volunteers in a few weeks. It should be a good change of pace getting out of here.

I have come to realize I am in love with mangos, there is nothing like eating fresh mangos off the tree to make you feel better. My community is mostly agricultural, and thankfully mangos is one of the fruits they produce here. I think I ate about five of them today, man it was great. Besides eating mangos I have come face to face with real poverty for probably the very first time in my life. Some of the homes here are nothing more then wooden shacks with a little bit of electricity every one in a while. Today one of my friends was asking me to taking him with me when I leave for the United States. I was trying to explain that this wasn’t possible but I couldn’t. They don’t have to much here and as bad as the economic situation is in the states, things are a lot worse here. A few days ago one of the older people in the campo asked me to give him money to help support his sick son. I felt bad but I had to explain to him that I couldn’t give him any money, as volunteers that’s that something that we are really not supposed to do, and as a volunteer I didn’t have to much. Still I couldn’t help but realize the fact that as I was saying this my 250$ camera was hanging by around my neck. That’s more then most people make in a month here. Its frustrating that at this point I can’t do more. I hope that in the future my efforts will make an impact here but we shall see. anyways
I love hearing from home, please keep in touch.

So we have officially sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers. I have seen my site and it is pretty sweet. There is quite a lot that could be done there. i am in a campo, its pretty small, around 300 people, and its very poor but the people are awesome and so welcoming. There are a ton of mosquitoes and it is pretty hot, but the area is gorgeous, there are mountains surrounding me on all sides and a river right next to my house. I will be doing quite a few things at my site, working with the agriculture group, organizing youth activities, teaching english, teaching health, learning spanish, learning how to dance, and anything else that they throw at me. It is a bit intimidating, but I am looking forward to the challenge. Unfortunately there is no internet cafe in my site and the closest one is six miles away apparently so updating the blog might be hard. The good news is i get cellphone service pretty consistently so people can call me anytime. ]
anyways, life is good i am enjoying it here and am looking forward to whatever happens next