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Guagua Guau Guau Guau

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Déjame aquí. If you plan on riding in a carro public or a guagua at any time while in the Dominican Republic, these words will be your saving grace in getting off at your desired stop (not an official stop, hence the importance of yelling with confidence LEAVE ME HERE). You may now have a slew of questions: What is a carro público? How do you pronounce guagua? What is a bola? First off, I must say that public transportation is both widespread and affordable in the Dominican Republic and is used by hundreds of thousands of people everyday. It is useful to have a few phrases handy in Spanish, and to have a general idea of the cost of fares so as not to pay extra pesos than necessary. I should also include that the city of Santo Domingo does have formal public transportation such as the city bus system and the metro, though other forms of less “formal” transportation such as the carro public and the guagua have more extensive ranges and much more regular availability. So continuing w...
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Take Me Home, Campo Roads

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Two words: Dejame aquí. If you plan on riding in a carro público or a guagua at any time while in the Dominican Republic, these words will be your saving grace in getting off at your desired stop (not an official stop, hence the importance of yelling with confidence LEAVE ME HERE). You may now have a slew of questions: What is a carro público? How do you pronounce guagua? How would I rate Caribe Tours? First off, I must say that public transportation is both widespread and affordable in the Dominican Republic and is used by hundreds of thousands of people everyday. It is useful to have a few phrases handy in Spanish, and to have a general idea of the cost of fares so as not to pay extra pesos than necessary. I should also include that the city of Santo Domingo does have formal public transportation such as the city bus system and the metro, though other forms of less “formal” transportation, such as the carro público and the guagua, have more extensive ranges and much more regular ava...
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Víveres

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What is a vívere? SO HAPPY that you asked. After much investigation and confusion, I can now confidently say that víveres are the class of vegetables here in the Dominican Republic that are staples in most meals. They MUST be cooked before eating, and a short list of the ones I am most frequently eating (as a full list includes many others) includes plátanos (both verde and maduro), guineo verde, batata, papa, and yucca (green plantains, yellow plantains, green bananas, sweet potato, potato, and yucca). What a short list, you might scoff. But wait – there is an incredible number of ways that these items can be prepared! Víveres are integral to the Dominican diet and are grown throughout the country.  Within my site, agriculture is generally limited to personal gardens and fruit trees, though there are several decently sized plátano plots throughout the community. Once leaving the pueblo, you will quickly find fields and fields of plátanos and guineos, as well as rice paddies, which...
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Site Site Site

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            Given that I’ve been in country for nearly five months, and have still yet to provide anything aside from a few photos to prove that I am actually in the Dominican Republic, I thought this blog could be a nice side project (third goal, ya tú sabes). Additionally, I’ve received a few subtle hints about how I should really get a blog together (hi, fam), AND school is not back in session until August. However, in my defense, I have been journaling in some medium every day since I have arrived in country, though I realize that does not help my cause in terms of sharing anything about my experience. Now that we are on Blog Post número dos, I hope this is demonstrating some of my commitment to the cause.             As I have previously provided a bit of background on what my first few months in country were like, I’ve decided to now talk about my site! PCDR (Peace Corps Dominican Republ...
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Staging and Training

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Though I am writing this post several months after both Staging and Training have concluded, I’m going to try and maintain some sense of chronological order (i.e. I’m reading back through my journals right now to do a bit of catching up). I’ll first begin with a brief description of my job here and the primary goals of the Peace Corps on a wider scale. The three goals of Peace Corps are to provide countries interested in specific sector assistance with trained individuals, to promote a better understanding of Americans, and to promote a better understanding of the people from the countries volunteers are serving in (cultural exchange is SUPER important). I am serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Education Sector, specifically as a Primary Literacy Promoter. Essentially, my fellow EDU volunteers and I are working with teachers, students, and communities to promote literacy and educational development through the Spanish language. Additionally, Peace Corps encourages each voluntee...
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