The confused rooster/ El gallo confundido

From Phoebe aKa Girasol
My birthday…Happy birthday as well to all of the fall babies, I am sending you greetings right now: Bets, Zeni, Gregory, Nathan, Margot, LB and Grandma Wright…

All day, everyday, I find myself laughing uncontrollably, chuckling, grimacing and sometimes on the verge of sobbing due to all of the culture shock. Maybe I should get into the habit of carrying a small notebook to record this incredible experience, as if I were a news reporter. There are several moments a day where I ponder and think to myself, “Gosh, I am not in the US anymore…this is definitely the Dominican Republic.” An example occurred this morning when I was greeted by my host mom, “Happy Baby!” I found myself smiling in her emotional attempt at the English language. Missing all of my family and friends and thinking about the many birthdays we have had in the past I decided to lock myself in my room for a few and blog…a blog that may take a week to have internet access to post.

Our life has transitioned quite a bit in the last three months…not only the element which you are all aware of; here we are in the Peace Corps, but also the reality of the lifestyle, environment, and cultural changes which are entrapped in this transition.

Dan and I are living with a host-family in a Batey in the East of the Dominican Republic. Our host family includes; a wee little Dona (Mrs.) that yells and curses like a sailor, appears to lie to her children, and has a different idea about the elements of child rearing, (we might call it abuse in the states) and ironically is so very sweet to both of us; a smoker (which is rare in the DR) Don (Mister) who likes to hang out in his underwear in the middle of the night, whom also works like a dog in a machine shop and mumbles to himself on regular basis; a child of confianza (similar to a foster child in the states but more along the lines of whomever can take the little guy, no background check of the parents with this one) who is 7 years old we believe; and a 23 year old daughter whom acts closer to a 13 year old socially and works as a secretary in the city, every day. Geez, most important the very nice, reserved and very respectful baseball star of the family who will be going to Arizona on contract in the spring, “Si Dios quiere (God willing).” Included in the family unit but living in proximity to our house are three host daughters/sisters, they each have three children and are married, all three of the women in the family are between the ages of 30 and 40 and they have no higher then an 8th grade graduation which makes for interesting conversation and creates mountains of superstitions and funny confusing conversations including a gossip circle which you can hardly imagine. A new undertaking everyday…

We live in a block and wood house and we have a bathroom, yahoo! There are around 250 too 300 houses in the Batey and only about 50 have a bathroom in the home. We share a bedroom no larger then my parent’s office, and the rest of the family shares two other bedrooms. We have an ample living room, dining room, and kitchen that includes a couch where most of the family spends there time watching Telenovelas (Soap-operas) on a 10” screen. The house has a cement floor, and a solid aluminum roof. The walls do not reach to the ceiling, which makes privacy interesting, second hand smoke evident, and creates a lovely array of insects outside of our mosquito net at night. No cockroaches to be seen in the house yet and only one TARANTULA, hurray!

My days are usually spent visiting house to house in the neighborhood and completing a Community Diagnostic (similar to what we might call a census but more personal) though informal conversation. I specifically ask people about the population growth, ethnicity, work habits, education, family dynamics, and problems facing the youth in the community. I also ask community members what ideas or suggestions they might have in how to resolve these problems. Sometimes I am provided with positive sustainable ideas and other times the blame is displaced on the government, school system or other elements out of my control. I have found that the people here are exceptionally hospitable, friendly and welcoming. After a visit or two most community members are more then willing to share about their experiences, and personal details about their family. Through the process of my community diagnostic visits, I have had several cups of coffee, a few strange foods I have never seen before, lots of soda and fresh juices.

The community members are always more then willing to share, and sometimes, I get a chance to share things about where I am coming from and my culture. In all of the struggle with the host family right now and all of the successes with integrating into the community, I have to remind myself that; this service is in essence, not about me providing something for the people, it is more about exchanging the knowledge of our cultures, how we are different and how we are similar. One culture is neither right or wrong, one family is neither right or wrong, we are different and come from a different set of morals and values. Somethings are truly out of my control, I need to remember this when the confused rooster who is always free to roam around the neighborhood crows during the full moon on hour intervals.
in Paz, Phoebe