I have past my 3-month point in my site and am now well into my 4th. This means the end of my “diagnostic” period, so my report on my project is all typed up and presented and I’m officially in my project phase of my work as a volunteer. Reaching the 3-month point also included an in-service training for 4 days, half of which was with a project partner we brought from our site. I ended up bringing a 19 year old from my community, she is quite involved in the tour, and doesn’t have a farm or house to look after, so she could easily be gone for a few days. It ended up going very well; we created a plan for the next few months for steps to take with the tour, and also talked about starting a youth group, and other potential projects in the community. It was interesting to see her reaction to being around the other 18 volunteers that we did training with (the other business volunteers). She hasn’t been around many Americans, and she would comment all the time about our habits that she found so surprising. For example, her jaw literally dropped when a friend of mine filled up a travel mug with coffee, she asked me why my friend would drink so much coffee at once (commenting, but it is coffee, not juice!).

It is interesting to see how stunned people are in my community when talking about differences in the states and here in the DR. There are some, like that most people in the states are not white, that they have really never heard before. I feel really grateful to have grown up in the bay area and to have such a diverse group of friends, and have been using the pictures I have from home to show that not everyone is light skinned. I have also had people in my community ask me if it is true that nobody in the states is poor. Needless to say there are many assumptions made about life in the states and the people that live there. It isn’t surprising to me that the American Dream is so strong in the DR and I’m sure it will continue to be the dream of many as the prices continue to rise and the economy struggles. Hopefully I can continue to show a different side of American culture and share my experiences of what life is like in the states.

Since I haven’t written an entry in so long, I also wanted to share about another aspect of my life here. It is interesting how much of an impact and daily issue water is for the community. For the 86 households that are in the community, there are 4 or 5 different water sources, all of which have varying levels of functionality. Some always provide water, others every few days, and about half the community always have to carry water to their house. Various organizations have come in and built water systems, but most of them no longer work. That means that families (and more often then not the kids) spend a big chunk of time looking for water for their family to do the daily chores of washing, mopping, and bathing. Even in the house of my host family, they have a pump that their son installed for them from a well down the hill, but it doesn’t always work and they end up looking for water every few weeks. It leads you to really appreciate having any water, using it much more sparsely, and also just thinking about your water access all the time. Not a day goes by that people aren’t making what seems like countless trips to bring water to the house. And it is worse in a lot of other communities. I have friends (many in bateyes) that don’t have the option to walk down the road for water, many wait for days until the water truck passes and have to pay drivers if they want water jugs in their house.

This also makes rain valuable not only for the crops, but also to fill up the barrels that everyone has to catch the water falling from the roof, so that they have some water stored at their house. This means for a few days the kids can play a bit more because they don’t have to make those trips to carry jugs back and forth. Living here I have not only become much more aware of water’s importance in my life, but also no longer take it for granted, valuing those days when I don’t have to worry about how to have access. I am about to move into my own house, and still am not really sure how I will get water to my house since I don’t have a faucet, so I’m sure water will continue to make an impact on my daily routine for the rest of my 2 years.