The last month in recap (stories/thoughts are not in any particular order):
- There is only one word for butterfly and moth: mariposa. It is much more inclusive.
- I went to a basketball game between the young men of Antonci and those of La Mina (the next town over). I know I can trust the guys in my town because they try to protect me from getting hit on by men not from Antonci by saying that “if she is going to date anyone, he will be from Antonci.” Well it was a nice thinking that they wanted to look out for their Americana and not just keep it ‘in the family.’
- Some kid in our community sells Betta fish, and pretty much every young boy has one to fight. It is a step down from cock fighting. So I guess it is not as bad. The thing is that they boys shake the bottles that hold their fish and watch them float in the current they have just created…Isn’t that the first thing that you learn when you take home your 10 cent goldfish from Meijer? Don’t shake the bag.
- There is a 76 year old man with 1.5 arms who has lived through Trujillo time. He tells me that I am going to be his next wife. One day he read my palm…though I don’t know if he was actually reading it or not. Then another day he gave me a lollipop and later that night I came down with the gripe (a cold) – I thought it was a voodoo curse, but then everyone got sick too (yey for seasonal weather changes!).
- It is no wonder that the kids here are afraid of dogs, cats, horses and pretty much every other animal there is because they throw rocks, sticks and chase the animals whenever they see one. It is just simple fight or flight. Once said animals get fed up or have no place to run they will fight back.
- I have never seen so many kids cry over nothing. And they don’t know the word “no.” It will be a long 2 years.
- Some of my boys killed a song bird with a slingshot, then my host sister brought it home, cleaned it and cooked the meat…It doesn’t quite taste like chicken.
- So my 13-15 year old boys on my baseball team were hitting on me relentlessly one day, which forced me to explain to them that I am like their family and they can’t do that. This explanation eventually lead to Heidi = mom. So now a have a lot of little sons…
- The secret to playing baseball really well is to learn how to hit a bottle cap with a stick, instead of having real balls or bats. That way when you get the real deal you can hit anything well.
- We had a couple more baseball games. Won a few lost a few. Organization is hell.
- Shout out to George/Jorge from the Mission group that came!
- I have realized how much fun it is to be the older sibling. Meaning I can pick on little kids, flail their arms around, make them do things for me, etc and they love it! I missed out on all of this due to the lack of younger children in my family. So I have 23 years worth of bugging to make up for.
- Christmas in the Capital: I got whisked away to the Capital for Christmas to visit my host mom’s sister and her family. It was almost like I was back in MI because we all sat around ate a lot of food, watched more cable channels that I can count and used the internet. Christmas Eve is the big day here, so there is a large dinner and then everyone stays up late dancing and drinking (me being on campo time – I couldn’t stay up later than midnight). Then on Christmas everyone wears new clothes. It was a great little holiday out of the Batey and great people. I didn’t want to leave to go back to my site. When I got back to Antonci, I went to a Christmas dinner for the old people in the community and then a few of them danced salsa, bachata and meringue. Too cute!
- Yesterday, one of the neighbor girls came over and asked me what is in this can she was holding. I told her it was pumpkin pie filling. She asked if we could eat it, and i said 'yes of course, in a pie.' So we gathered ingredients and made a campo pumpkin pie over charcoals. It got a little burnt, but it tasted like a pumpkin pie. (pictures will be on Facebook).
- This morning I was getting on the moto to head to Yamasa to catch the GuaGua to the capital when a truck pulled up next to me and the people inside asked me where I was going. It was my friend Maria. She said that she would be heading to the Capital in a little bit if i wanted to a free ride down there. Of course i said yes, in true Peace Corps style (you never pass up a free ride). So about an hour and 2 breakfasts later, i was on my way to the capital. Then Maria informed me that I will be staying the night with her and her husband, Pedro (Peter, who is from Seattle - really cool guy). Ok, so my few hour trip to the PC office has turned into an overnight trip. So is my life.
- I will be spending New Years in Antonci, dancing and being made pretty by the girls.
- PeteyWatch: He took to wandering around the community every night, so we had to lock him up for a bit. He is staying close to home now. And he got a bath the other day - he thought he was going to die.
- Yogurt is amazing. So is Pita Bread. And Chocolate.
