Happy Easter! Feliz Pascua de Resurrecion!

As Easter approached in a largely Catholic country (approximately 95%), so did Semana Santa –literally translated as Saint’s Week. Along with the rest of the DR we had a long weekend to relax and celebrate with our families. From what I understand most Dominican families either go to church or to the beach, a huge majority the latter, as it is also the time when it’s starting to get really hot in the city…as if it weren’t already above 80 degrees at mid day everyday. Semana Santa is also characterized by the consumption of habichuelas con dulce – literally beans with sweet – a drink about the consistency of hot cocoa, made of kidney beans, sugar, vanilla, raisins and probably some other things, but you get the general idea. It’s pretty delicious, but like most everything in this country would be better with about one tenth the amount of sugar, or less! They even put sugar in their fresh fruit juices and I can’t even buy cheerios without sugar in them!

Aside from drinking more than an appropriate amount of this mystery drink, I reflected on the reason for the season by watching the hour long crucifixion scene in The Passion of Christ, which was not only appropriate for the holiday but also the Spanish subtitles were good practice. Needless to say the crucifixion is extremely intense but it is touching and I highly recommend it, regardless of religion.

For Easter Sunday, Cecelia and I scoured the supermarket for something with which to pintar nuestros huevos -paint our eggs. Deciding that they sell neither egg dye nor food coloring in this country, as neither dying eggs nor having a giant bunny leave treats in your house are customs here, I remembered how well Kool-Aid stained my finger tips when we ate it out of the package with sugar as kids. Just as expected the eggs came out fantastic, there were no weird chemicals involved, the eggs didn’t smell like vinegar and some of them even tasted a bit fruity! Eat your heart out Martha! After dying eggs with our hermanitas – little sisters – Cecelia, our friend Amanda and I created an egg hunt for them. All parties involved in the first ever Dominican Easter-Egg Hunt had an awesome time, our sisters, my host mom and grandma ran around the house giggling and afterwards we feasted on the 17 eggs! And you thought I wasn’t going to get enough protein in the DR!

A weekend in and around La Capital - Santo Domingo

On a Saturday a couple weeks ago the Peace Corps arranged a tour for us of la Zona Colonial -the Colonial Zone- of the city. A really interesting woman and historian – originally from Sterling Heights, Michigan! – led us around the areas of Santo Domingo that were occupied by Columbus and the Spanish when they arrived here in the Western Hemisphere. The first European city in this hemisphere is called La Isabela and is on the Northern coast of the Dominican Republic, but when that colony failed they came Southeast to a place they eventually called Santo Domingo – which was fine with the Columbus brothers as Domingo was their father’s name. In two hours we walked the first “paved” street in the city, Calle de Damas -Women’s street- paved so that the elite women in their heels could stroll out on a walk every once in while. We also passed through the Puerto del Conde, the gate to the city from the port where Christopher and Diego Columbus, Cortez, Pizaro and so many others came. Below is a picture of La Casa de Colon –the Columbus House- where Diego Columbus lived when he came to Santo Domingo to be governor many years after his brother was gone. He didn’t get the job because his brother was Christopher, but because he married a woman from a prominent Spanish family. He and his wife raised 12 children and ran the government from this house! It was completely restored and filled with antique Spanish furniture before it was almost completely destroyed during one of the American occupations of this country (1916 and 1965). It has obviously been restored once again and is a museum filled with beautiful things. This part of the city has amazing buildings and ruins from every part of Santo Domingo’s history but some beautiful ones are below.

One of the first European Cathedrals in this hemisphere. The building behind this hat stand is now the French Embassy, the building where Hernan Cortez rented a flat when he lived here! My best friends and training group, 36 of us in all!

After the tour, a group of friends and I went to the botanical gardens, a gorgeous serene oasis in this crowded, bustling city! The plant below is an agave, most popularly known as the pant used to make tequila.

We do love Santo Domingo and have a great time here but most of us also could not wait to get out into the campo (countryside) and see the rest of the country when we get our permanent placements.

Sunday took a number of us to Boca Chica for some fun in the sun! This was my view as I sat in the white sand cutting my first fresh mango that I bought for 15 pesos (roughly 50 cents)! …And of course had a cold Dominican brewed El Presidente to wash it down. Unfortunately, El Presidente (and every other beer on this island) is a Budweiser-type beer, and if you want anything darker there’s either Ron Brugal rum, or this interesting malted barley soda that almost tastes a good beer…almost. It’s all part of the experience, I guess I can suffer through! Seriously though, life is not all roses here...right now I'm living in the middle of nowhere in the mountains with no phone or internet - I'll write more as soon as I can!

Estoy Aqui!

I am here! It wasn’t a long trip from Washington D.C. to Santo Domingo, though it seemed that way as 36 of us rose to meet an exciting day at 3am! As a team leader I was in charge of making sure that myself and 8 of my teammates arrived at each location; the bus, the Washington airport, the Miami airport, and finally Santo Domingo, la capital de la Republica Dominicana!

As we stepped into what seemed like 90 degree heat and humidity in our business casual attire, we were all beaming with excitement. We packed into vans and thus began the job of a lifetime!

For the next two weeks we will be in classes here at the oasis of a training center near Santo Domingo. We have class from 8am – 5pm six days a week, including Spanish, Safety, Health, Transportation and Culture. After the two weeks we will begin the technical training in our specific fields of work, either Computer Information Technology, Special Education or Community Environmental Development.

Each of us is living with our own host family, who either doesn’t speak English or is instructed not to with us. My family is wonderful! My Senor and Senora are surprisingly young and are always watching out for me and feeding me lots of delicious things! Here is a picture of my standard breakfast. There is at least one plate of fresh tropical fruit with all of my meals and I get a smoothie or fresh made juice with breakfast too (though I must say that not all volunteers have it quite so good)!

The standard diet here consists of lot of rice and beans, eggs and chicken, as far as I can tell. I tell my Senora that she is the best cook in the city, she loves to cook and I have eaten some excellent eggplant, tomatoes every day and more melon, papaya (lechosa) and bananas than I have ever eaten in my life!

In addition to my Senora and Senor I have two sisters, ages 3 and 13 who are both a ton of fun! The younger one is exactly like my cousin Jada – but dubbed in Spanish! She loves to dance and has quite the attitude! The older one and I talk about our classes a lot and we have been helping each other learn our new languages (as she is currently learning English). I have a lot of trouble understanding them all so it is difficult to spend every evening here (and by every evening I mean the six days I have been here, though it seems like an eternity when you can’t communicate well!).

Fortunately, the 35 young Americans I’m sharing this experience with are some of the most kind and interesting people I have ever met. We range in age from about 22 – 35, with all different interests and skills, but I have enjoyed absolutely every minute I have spent with them, each and every one! I could not have hand picked a better group of people to share this time with.

I have also been extremely fortunate to be one of the two volunteers who shares a house with another! My friend Cecelia lives downstairs with the grandmother of my family and we couldn’t be more happy! She is such a fabulous person and we never go anywhere without each other – which is fun and safe! Here is a picture of my patio, our absolute favorite place to talk, study and have coffee.

The seven of us share a fairly large house, about the size of two small apartments, which is pretty nice for the area. Below is a picture of my room complete with my mosquitero. (The mosquito net I sleep under as a precaution against malaria and dengue fever...though we have been vaccinated quite a few times already for various things and there are more to come!) Anyway, we don’t have running water in our house but it really hasn’t been unpleasant except when I have to dump a bucket of cold water over my head in order to shower! Even in this wonderfully warm climate this is quite a task – like jumping into a cold pool on a hot day…every day! Fortunately, we have electricity for most hours of the day, but what is worse than no longer being able to watch your favorite shows (House, MD and The Simpsons in my case)??? Having to watch them in a language you don’t know, completely dubbed over in Spanish! No!!!!! As me and Cecelia say, “Guelga me!” (Hang me!) My Senora says it’s good for me.

Ms. Hunt goes to Washington (to visit Mr. Smith)

I took the fact that my Peace Corps staging event was in Washington D.C. as an opportunity to go early and see the sights! My friend Mr. Smith (and his housemates) were gracious enough to let me crash at their place for nearly a week and so I spent the days visiting monuments that are important to me, taking advantage of the (free) museums that my tax money supports and dropping in on one of my Senators – just to make sure she was voting in line with my beliefs…really, I just wanted to get my picture taken with her!

My favorite place was the Senate. I was so excited to be sitting in the gallery watching the Senators debate war funding that I was nearly late for my first Peace Corps event! I saw Joe Lieberman, Barbara Boxer, Harry Reid and John Kerry in the hour that I sat there enthralled. I’ll be back in two years or so! Hopefully a certain someone will be in the Whitehouse instead of on the Senate floor by then…I saw his desk too!

While in the D.C. area I also went to Baltimore to visit my good friend, Kate, who just took a job out there! Baltimore was a ton of fun…I highly recommend Brick Oven Pizza at Fell’s Point. I’ve eaten a lot of pizza in this world but this is certainly in the top 5!

Hola y Bienvenidos! Hello and Welcome! As you must already know, I have been chosen to serve for the United States Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic!

This means that I will spend 27 months in the DR promoting environmental development, becoming fluent in Español, learning Dominican culture, sharing a bit of my culture and so much more! I also plan on dancing Merengue and taking in the sweet natural environment in what little free time I will be allotted.

I will spend the next 6 weeks seeing friends and family (you!), ridding myself of as many of my possessions as possible and reading a ton! Stay tuned to hear of my woes and celebrations as I give all of myself in the name of serving others in my human family and challenging myself to do the things that are hard.