Smore time

Me, my host siblings, and some neighbors on the top of a nearby hill with a gorgeous view!
^^This is the view

So one of my exciting moments was when I was in Spanish class and I received 2 packages from home! It would double exciting because I was actually the only one that had a delivery, so I felt extra special. Anyways, the good news is that the packages come through! (use an envelope, not a box). They actually still haven’t given us our letters, which is slightly ridiculous, but I’m hoping when we are back in the capital that we’ll get everything then. It was crazy how connected to home I felt just from a few packages, but they definitely gave me the warm fuzzies =P. Also on a side note, to the amazing 5th graders at St. Martins, everyone was super jealous of all your notes and my letter will be in the mail in a few days when I have access to sending mail again =D but thank you so much I really appreciated all the time and effort and plan to have them up on my wall once I get settled in!
Training is literally flashing by, and in less than a week I will be on my own in my site. This will be my first time on my own and I’ll be seeing my project and meeting my community that I’ll be staying with for the next 2 years, so needless to say I’m slightly anxious, but it’s also coming so quickly that I don’t have much time to think about it.

Fun fact, I found my favorite rooster ever visiting my host aunts farm, here is a picture, look how pretty he is! And so colorful!
and here I am holding my new best friend, they wanted me to take him, but i don't think he would enjoy the trip back to the capital

One of my favorite weekends thus far we spent in the capital at a youth business plan competition. I actually worked with a similar project doing an internship in San Diego at City Heights, and it’s the same concept but applied to the Dominican Republic. It’s mainly Peace Corps but anyone can apply and participate. Basically the Volunteers teach a class on how to prepare a business plan, and if afterwards the class is motivated enough, they create their own, for whatever product they think will be a success. There was a pretty big variety like bamboo workers, fruit and smoothie stands, cheese makers, a homemade gym, and internet cafes. Then the top twenty plans are invited to participate in this competition where they present to the judges and the top 3 win the money to complete their project. It was great to see how well they knew their plan, and also just how excited they were for it. Definitely one of the projects I hope to join while I am here, and hopefully we can continue to expand it. It really does a good job at motivating them, and also just teachers them so much about the business world that they hadn’t considered before. Anyways, I got really excited about it after seeing it in action. I also did an hour and a half presentation about what is microfinance and how we will be utilizing it to my group that weekend, so it was very busy.
We also looked at ecotourism last week and took a trip to a place called 27 waterfalls. We climbed up and then proceeded to jump down or slide all 27 for a morning with 3 guides who each had the strength of superman. There were a few were they would literally just grab our hands and pull us up, and were our safety net when we would slip (which of course I never did…). It was incredible to do, not only to do these huge jumps but also just passing through all the rock formations and really just enjoying the river, it was awesome. Not to mention good to be with the group and just have some fun = D
I’ve also become really close to my host family and community here. It’s interesting to this about I’ve only been here for 5 weeks but I know so many people here and have some great memories with them. It will be strange to leave on Saturday and not be able to go to their baseball game, or get the 50 hugs I get a day from all the kids running around. But I feel blessed to have been able to integrate as much as I have, especially considering how many other Americanos are around. Also, we taught them a few recipes and visa versa, we’ve made them hummus, pizza, rice krispie treats, and a Dominicanized version of pumpkin pie to name a few. Which that alone has been great, and also very relaxing to just be able to hang out and cook for an evening. Oh we also taught them the art of making a delicious smore for my host brother’s birthday, which was a big hit. It was funny the first time we walked them through the steps, because holding a marshmallow on a fork in the fire does not look promising, but it was a success!

And here I am with my host family celebrating my host brother's birthday, I know, we are adorable =D


Also, everyone knows me for my love of the giants (VAMOS GIGANTES!) so I have been able to watch some games, assuming there is electricity and the game doesn't start at 10pm over here, and they cheer for my team with me which is exciting, although pretty much everyone here is a Yankees fan. But it is nice to have that instant connection through baseball for sure.

So I will be leaving on Saturday to head back to the capital and meet with the big group, and then on Tuesday I am off and will learn about my site!