tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28426427615926399412024-02-07T02:05:23.985-08:00Excursión DominicanaScott and Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07972449592912694895noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842642761592639941.post-41661397528922435842012-03-21T07:18:00.000-07:002012-03-21T07:18:08.315-07:00Puppy!I forgot to mention in our last post that Scott and I now have a puppy! Her name is Peachy. Sometimes we call her Princess Peach when she's being a brat. But usually she is the nicest and cutest puppy you can imagine. We got her from one of our neighbors whose dog had a litter of tiny puppies. We started taking care of her at 4 or 5 weeks, so now she's just at 2 months. She's grown a lot in that time. She was about the size of Scott's foot when we got her. Now she's almost 3 times that size and growing more every day. Life is never boring with her around. As you can imagine, she loves to follow us around the house all day and play.<br />
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Pictures of Peachy:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv13UFlBQ1PRv1nJYuqyaLA3bvAKF1H2ZZML-g_kN8UPsBhDjjQ3peXUrStVUZkey_cH8PMTXfQcGDs6W_WIhcqGkJ3NFOdZbmy3cgzZWpPWMPm0nuy6sDnBC7wv2jDh84YrNBdUo9dPg/s1600/peachy_backpack.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv13UFlBQ1PRv1nJYuqyaLA3bvAKF1H2ZZML-g_kN8UPsBhDjjQ3peXUrStVUZkey_cH8PMTXfQcGDs6W_WIhcqGkJ3NFOdZbmy3cgzZWpPWMPm0nuy6sDnBC7wv2jDh84YrNBdUo9dPg/s320/peachy_backpack.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She loves to sleep on top of backpacks.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjihrwHnaMD8IttOiqE9WVXkc5mLPLXX-Ywr28JXmI-uHeeW1linv7AFQxSg3IOzvzdtI8watG26NoeYyRqJ43rEczPB6iXnNzxSJ2xRIiKp-e58P9iSQZ0QFAnl_I1GYN7bpqh0bAolOM/s1600/peachy_beg.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjihrwHnaMD8IttOiqE9WVXkc5mLPLXX-Ywr28JXmI-uHeeW1linv7AFQxSg3IOzvzdtI8watG26NoeYyRqJ43rEczPB6iXnNzxSJ2xRIiKp-e58P9iSQZ0QFAnl_I1GYN7bpqh0bAolOM/s320/peachy_beg.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Always begging for food</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIWOwtGUL1LEN9Bje_cIiZJJvxiNdR6oqN1v9RKK9lfKdr3KCD6R95lQwLrWAZ9O-uA4m-tPqQe-aA7IpxtAS0HIRRLU_bXgaSKEz4UQ5hD_gfkdsFHU4y6jQfzAHJGjvi_ASV5wBDwA4/s1600/peachy_bowl.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIWOwtGUL1LEN9Bje_cIiZJJvxiNdR6oqN1v9RKK9lfKdr3KCD6R95lQwLrWAZ9O-uA4m-tPqQe-aA7IpxtAS0HIRRLU_bXgaSKEz4UQ5hD_gfkdsFHU4y6jQfzAHJGjvi_ASV5wBDwA4/s320/peachy_bowl.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When we first got her, she could fit into this tiny bowl!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjupeRaQKakbawL-QlAsv6NXszedW8o7cEyhGAeNodalUfkTEnO08hRQglkMWfbH_yhpLcuPNq9s3W5o5nDxlRohh-bYBITJ7-ysZejsYP5ukmqHmXpW6GD2KHbbM5Tf1ugmQtDDEqexA4/s1600/peachy_laundry.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjupeRaQKakbawL-QlAsv6NXszedW8o7cEyhGAeNodalUfkTEnO08hRQglkMWfbH_yhpLcuPNq9s3W5o5nDxlRohh-bYBITJ7-ysZejsYP5ukmqHmXpW6GD2KHbbM5Tf1ugmQtDDEqexA4/s320/peachy_laundry.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jackpot! Dirty laundry!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeRMiFMnEPj_YbevoYkSGgohWuYM7CPRFpY20oBKRe8_D_jMXKMqCoN0zDiuQra5VLH9HLWLN3-Eam2EYRw44E_xtXu-w9wHB6jsuX05YvNpVtIwz_WlMC-zxvEpPt8Wca3H47R9yZxrU/s1600/peachy_new.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeRMiFMnEPj_YbevoYkSGgohWuYM7CPRFpY20oBKRe8_D_jMXKMqCoN0zDiuQra5VLH9HLWLN3-Eam2EYRw44E_xtXu-w9wHB6jsuX05YvNpVtIwz_WlMC-zxvEpPt8Wca3H47R9yZxrU/s320/peachy_new.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When we first got her - how tiny!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhJfAqutAq5-wxh_nAexSRy3PHIzlrZeGRst3gXPvF5ScwRyDa04B_Qq6MvAfgKISLNnAM3FnoK78XiCM4h-vDXgvkfadIQzyoG_BDzc4zWS-XQBlHjNagDxWs1uBNmNlNn2OpjfjkxEs/s1600/peachy_sock.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhJfAqutAq5-wxh_nAexSRy3PHIzlrZeGRst3gXPvF5ScwRyDa04B_Qq6MvAfgKISLNnAM3FnoK78XiCM4h-vDXgvkfadIQzyoG_BDzc4zWS-XQBlHjNagDxWs1uBNmNlNn2OpjfjkxEs/s320/peachy_sock.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Her favorite sock</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHjMWY_ErIodBjZaAJJcYLRX7oRRM6x5wrm5v7MnuAasKiN85o4AJZa67MwTGtj-mDdgOge2Bp7WK2HHCx1OEYP0Zg2UPzXglybkQchdtPpqnyppn1YDfkc_Fzp3Su93hSTIeJfFyaFi8/s1600/peachy_trojan-horse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHjMWY_ErIodBjZaAJJcYLRX7oRRM6x5wrm5v7MnuAasKiN85o4AJZa67MwTGtj-mDdgOge2Bp7WK2HHCx1OEYP0Zg2UPzXglybkQchdtPpqnyppn1YDfkc_Fzp3Su93hSTIeJfFyaFi8/s320/peachy_trojan-horse.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stretched out in her "bed" - a plastic bowl</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Scott and Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07972449592912694895noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842642761592639941.post-23247348342377775432012-03-14T06:08:00.003-07:002012-03-21T07:07:00.600-07:00March Photos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnuYXTF0X32-aXH_i-16dVkW2tl9ud-vg_KUB7nnOIEXc65fPXninZLbZC-mNqLDN_xcUPeMqLaqomEZBGa9joeoepgxsXR99SFF6sn4lu5R2PLS-3k0TsllPACVhueHUq96jLttWJNqs/s1600/cool_worm.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnuYXTF0X32-aXH_i-16dVkW2tl9ud-vg_KUB7nnOIEXc65fPXninZLbZC-mNqLDN_xcUPeMqLaqomEZBGa9joeoepgxsXR99SFF6sn4lu5R2PLS-3k0TsllPACVhueHUq96jLttWJNqs/s320/cool_worm.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Really cool looking caterpillar at our neighbor's house</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpO56JrfftjhOyyZMyRwy-72s8aPrQ5fuf_2BE9Isf5eYKDrYDeoY5awi6YqwiqYt57Q1r4giI-Auo_D-nlrQ2QJIJeJaKKHBx5edqlXSY_5dSkcEWqK2vxNxTNXD1sTXwB2JOnPebIx8/s1600/house_constr-ciro.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpO56JrfftjhOyyZMyRwy-72s8aPrQ5fuf_2BE9Isf5eYKDrYDeoY5awi6YqwiqYt57Q1r4giI-Auo_D-nlrQ2QJIJeJaKKHBx5edqlXSY_5dSkcEWqK2vxNxTNXD1sTXwB2JOnPebIx8/s320/house_constr-ciro.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The community carpenter building our house!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZjQJtumTWRfOFoRuuN61cTP3TilFdTgR24yTR2GJR79-GlanUw1FFiHVmD9q49JjubR4tiKvkcTnTNzn4qEa8BHGXXCvSBZ0Gar4sWRQC88geu1YbXvRE2PIxF-OhrmM_hMsTgAuRX6A/s1600/house_constr-frame.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZjQJtumTWRfOFoRuuN61cTP3TilFdTgR24yTR2GJR79-GlanUw1FFiHVmD9q49JjubR4tiKvkcTnTNzn4qEa8BHGXXCvSBZ0Gar4sWRQC88geu1YbXvRE2PIxF-OhrmM_hMsTgAuRX6A/s320/house_constr-frame.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beginning stages of construction</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKxZw-YxmbgUEaddWDMX9i5rJYZPVsGjYjAzxO-MXMm9WSF6M68PbaBdk4o1M4o03Fs01dLYAaVHIhRCHEeWTce08H6CCLhCzqDUqIyjZoK290jBvRV2ZPqv2-ZI7zmNFtYopOoGRvA_s/s1600/house_constr-roof.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKxZw-YxmbgUEaddWDMX9i5rJYZPVsGjYjAzxO-MXMm9WSF6M68PbaBdk4o1M4o03Fs01dLYAaVHIhRCHEeWTce08H6CCLhCzqDUqIyjZoK290jBvRV2ZPqv2-ZI7zmNFtYopOoGRvA_s/s320/house_constr-roof.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">House with zinc roof and posts</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh8PEyQHfIoyI5ytz74Hy1kwiKhyphenhyphenLZlHoqf5L4NRXGu23KgZo8126iP494BBTcG97kNJXKyYCcT8f0V4-SvOabO_ykfYPoo5RSVoraA8ZjK95bo2m7V-d_UVKHYjSDMBGDye2MGNBRIA8/s1600/house_kitchen-view.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh8PEyQHfIoyI5ytz74Hy1kwiKhyphenhyphenLZlHoqf5L4NRXGu23KgZo8126iP494BBTcG97kNJXKyYCcT8f0V4-SvOabO_ykfYPoo5RSVoraA8ZjK95bo2m7V-d_UVKHYjSDMBGDye2MGNBRIA8/s320/house_kitchen-view.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from our kitchen window - beautiful!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9uH0MHxVIQZdSjlQFRykN6qYKuS7rEtK367rEBa167RvnipHRN2-wvBPxZmN9E-ZwsTmBKAoIIwd03qoJR8oypZb-LD-2bU5O6VzML_R3mk5MOMzgUovLhl_vJcbFxUn9wS5_5C2QT_E/s1600/house_kitchen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9uH0MHxVIQZdSjlQFRykN6qYKuS7rEtK367rEBa167RvnipHRN2-wvBPxZmN9E-ZwsTmBKAoIIwd03qoJR8oypZb-LD-2bU5O6VzML_R3mk5MOMzgUovLhl_vJcbFxUn9wS5_5C2QT_E/s320/house_kitchen.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our new kitchen</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqvnIHOaeUuAy1ZQFAgB_43uwo1fBOqi8D-06JM2V-rx9x7Af80QHVO9hTU9XgdjzOQpc6OdlFAzCp0cPq2Mib2kCHiwrGTeVcd7E_yOb4xQKqWKGwMWmvyBoYQRVGwitEOL9rbflbkfg/s1600/house_living-room-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqvnIHOaeUuAy1ZQFAgB_43uwo1fBOqi8D-06JM2V-rx9x7Af80QHVO9hTU9XgdjzOQpc6OdlFAzCp0cPq2Mib2kCHiwrGTeVcd7E_yOb4xQKqWKGwMWmvyBoYQRVGwitEOL9rbflbkfg/s320/house_living-room-2.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our living room</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqu5bQ_kMmfwimMvNWMAE7B7Hc5u86S3-SR1wlCkDC3lDr0BwPD0W39ROSvwnDWmwYcaaHzTOFaqS0bl4GYGWBBxQ8itnkHpTA3imHbJrmSfSEYDkXF4ET6uXM5WBfvP3YFt4-OcrfUgc/s1600/house_porch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqu5bQ_kMmfwimMvNWMAE7B7Hc5u86S3-SR1wlCkDC3lDr0BwPD0W39ROSvwnDWmwYcaaHzTOFaqS0bl4GYGWBBxQ8itnkHpTA3imHbJrmSfSEYDkXF4ET6uXM5WBfvP3YFt4-OcrfUgc/s320/house_porch.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from our front house - you can see our neighbors house (they were the ones who built our house)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmPKdb1wBbJ1JfF7pNrYAqpZO_s9F2tNIoK1jW0cZCUuf7jSDaTH43geP-7wZLOMsoCsXHc20dzqr91_1-YN7ESsNrHOQYTSXcbisAWCXuhy3EsTRXzhBnhdT7Cs62zgUhN4iTy2sWTNM/s1600/nutrition_class-eating.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmPKdb1wBbJ1JfF7pNrYAqpZO_s9F2tNIoK1jW0cZCUuf7jSDaTH43geP-7wZLOMsoCsXHc20dzqr91_1-YN7ESsNrHOQYTSXcbisAWCXuhy3EsTRXzhBnhdT7Cs62zgUhN4iTy2sWTNM/s320/nutrition_class-eating.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Party at the end of our nutrition course</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All of the wonderful, healthy food that our women made!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Women of the nutrition course explaining how the meals they made incorporate food from 3 important food groups</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Graduates of the nutrition course</td></tr>
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</div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976263527126182259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842642761592639941.post-83164847678223579852012-03-14T06:08:00.002-07:002012-03-21T07:00:18.107-07:00March 11, 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We’ve had a very busy couple of months here which is why this is our first blog post in quite a while. We spent the latter end of January finishing up our community diagnostic and preparing for our 3-month in-service training conference (where we presented the results of our diagnostic). Then we spent most of February working on getting moved into our new house and planning out our work for the next year. Only now have things started to calm down a bit in the sense that we have time to focus on other things.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So, we are very happy to announce that we are FINALLY moved in to our new house. We made an agreement with one of our community members a couple of months ago that if he built us a house, we would rent it for the 20 or so months we have left of our service. It seemed like a great plan until the costs of building the house became more expensive week after week and the people building the house continued to push back the deadline. In the end, we had to pay over twice the amount we expected to pay to build the house in the form of an advance on our rent, and we had to wait 2 weeks later than we expected to move in. The good news is that now we have a nice new house and don’t have to worry about paying rent! The house is certainly a lot nicer than we thought we would have in the Peace Corps.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In terms of our work, we’ve started our health groups – one for adults and one for the youth. We are having a lot of fun with both of them. The women are very interested and motivated to learn about how they can improve their health and that of their families. We have a good group of youth too who have a lot of fun participating in our class activities. Hopefully we will be able to get a good amount of promoters from both of these groups.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Now that our health groups are off the ground, we’ve started working on some other potential projects as well. We had a meeting with the community several weeks ago in which we asked them to list and then prioritize their top desired projects for the community. Of course, they chose a paved road first, which unfortunately is not something we will be able to do in our time here. But another high priority they listed is the building of a clinic, which makes a lot of sense for a community with two Peace Corps health volunteers. And luckily for us, we already have a head start. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">About ten years ago, one of the political parties started construction of a clinic in our campo. But after losing the national elections they left the clinic unfinished. So we basically have the unfinished structure of a clinic with just walls and a roof. We had a civil engineer come out to check the building a few days ago and not surprisingly, he said it had some structural problems. So it looks like we will have to do some repairs on the structure that we already have. The good news though is that it is still safe enough to use as the frame for building the new clinic. This will definitely save us some time and money.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So this will probably be the focus of our work in the coming months. We are also contemplating starting some small income generation projects and business skills workshops with the women’s group here but that will depend on our time and resources.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We know this blog post is already very long but we also wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who has been sending us packages. We can’t tell you how nice it is to receive gifts and news from home! Those small gifts help us make it through the day sometimes. So thank you and keep them coming! </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">J</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Until our next blog post!<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
</div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976263527126182259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842642761592639941.post-17892618436483578052012-01-11T07:27:00.001-08:002012-01-18T05:44:13.922-08:00Rain Rain Go Away<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">January 11, 2012</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rain, rain, rain. That’s about all we’ve seen here for the past week. Which means that we have plenty of time to blog but very little in the way of updates to blog about. So instead of telling you all the boring details of our week, I chose to take this opportunity to talk a little bit about the daily routine of our family.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As we may have already explained, our host family is composed of 6 people, not including us. First, there’s the mother and father, D</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">oña</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Ena and Don Patricio. Then there are the two daughters and one son – Paula, Yubrelis, and Carlito. They also have a grandson living with them named Manuel, and occasionally their older son Bienvenido (literally meaning “welcome”) stays the night with the family.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Like most of the women in our community, our doña is the “ama de la casa,” or a housewife. Here that basically means she works harder than anyone else around here and doesn’t get much appreciation for it. Doña Ena is usually the first or second person to wake up for the day. Sometimes Patricio gets up first to go to the fields to work with the crops. The first thing our host mother does is make coffee, usually in time for the men to drink a bit before heading off to the fields. After that, she sweeps the whole yard with a broom to move the trash away from the living areas (imagine someone sweeping dirt around the yard and you’ve got the picture). That might sound strange but people here do not use trash cans, and therefore just throw their trash on the ground when they’re done with it. After that Doña Ena starts to make breakfast for the day – usually hot chocolate with bread. After that she starts on the real chores of the day, which can range from sweeping and mopping the house, doing the laundry by hand (this takes most of the day), or going to the fields to harvest guandules (a type of bean that has to be shelled after harvesting – it kind of looks like peas). She starts to make lunch at about 12 o’clock and usually finishes by 2 pm. Then, if she doesn’t have any major chores left to do, she usually has a little bit of time to rest. Some of the other chores that she works on daily include: feeding the pigs, shelling the guandules, working in the garden, collecting and chopping firewood, and taking food to the fields for the men. At night she usually makes something small for dinner and lights the fire. We all end up sitting around a campfire for an hour or two before turning in to bed.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While D</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">oña</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Ena is working at the house, Don Patricio spends his morning working in the fields. He does all of the regular things you would imagine a farmer doing – planting, weeding, and harvesting. The usual crops he works with are yucca, rice, auyama, batata, and sugar cane. He grows other starchy vegetable crops as well. As Don Patricio is a little bit on in years, he has to hire help (usually from one of the Haitian families that live here and don’t own land) to work with him in the fields. While Patricio sometimes spends all day working in the fields, he usually comes home at about 12 or 1 o’clock in the afternoon and is then free to hang around for most of the rest of the day. Sometimes he does other chores in the afternoon like drying and pounding the rice and fixing tools. Around evening time, Patricio usually leaves the house and visits the nearby colmados to hang out with his friends and relax. He then comes back at night and spends some time with the family around the fire before going to bed.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Like their parents, our host sisters also work very hard. When they are not in school, they usually spend most of the day helping D</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">oña</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Ena with the chores. This includes sweeping and mopping the house, cooking the meals, washing the clothes, and doing any of the other numerous things that need doing. Even when they do go to school, they usually leave at about 7 in the morning and come home at about 12 in the afternoon, so they spend the rest of their day helping with chores. They often leave around evening time like their father to spend some time with other teenagers in the campo and come home a bit later.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As for Carlito, our host brother, he is actually quite lucky in that he is one of the few people in the campo to have a full-time job. From 9 to 4 Monday to Friday he works for a government organization called Brigada Verde that works on reforestation projects in campos like ours. Therefore he spends all of his morning and afternoon planting pine trees in various locations in our campo. He often comes home to eat lunch with us but besides that we don’t get to see him that often.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And what does Manuel do then? Well, he spends his day terrorizing the chickens and generally being a nuisance to everyone around him. He’s really not that bad, he just has a bad case of ADD. He does actually help a bit too. He runs to the colmado occasionally to buy food or sometimes he even works with Patricio in the fields.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2842642761592639941&postID=1789261843648357805" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While this is a typical day in the life of our host family, rest assured that none of this has been going on for the past week. Unfortunately we’ve all been cooped up in our rooms hoping that the rain ends soon and the sun comes out.</span></span></div></div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976263527126182259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842642761592639941.post-88187921863317244572012-01-07T10:51:00.001-08:002012-01-07T11:03:55.200-08:00Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">January 3, 2012</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Rather than travel elsewhere within the country for Christmas, we decided to stay with our host family and experience a Campo Christmas. This was good in that we got to spend time with much of the extended family and meet a lot of people. It was, however, challenging in that we had to spend time with much of the extended family and meet a lot of people.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Many people come to visit the families in our campo for Christmas and New Year’s. This is because many of the people who grow up here eventually leave to attend school or find work. Frequently they get married to someone outside of the campo and start a family in the city. It would seem that all of them return for Christmas, and I would venture to say that the population of the campo doubles. We had 15 people living in our house for the Christmas holidays, which extend to about a week and a half or two weeks here. As I mentioned previously, it was very nice to meet all of the relatives and spend time with our host family. However, that many people living in one house for such a long time can make you go crazy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Additionally, it turned out that our house was a top visiting spot for everyone in the campo. I would say that there were two main reasons for this. One, we have two teenage girls in the house who are a magnet to young bachelors from all over the region. Two, our family has two Americans staying with them that apparently are remarkably entertaining. I’m not sure why, but it is a rare occasion when visitors from outside the campo want to talk to us. They would much rather stand right in front of us and talk about us with other people. This can be frustrating because they do this even after they find out that we speak decent(ish) Spanish. I think this is partly because they just don’t know what to make of two Americans living and working in the campo. Anyway, the large groups of gawkers that we encountered did little to make us feel comfortable.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Christmas Day did not feel very much like Christmas, but it was still a good enough day. There were no decorations, presents, nor carols, but we did have a nice meal with pork, rice, and beans. We were a bit spoiled with meat during Christmas as it is generally a once-per-week occasion. On Christmas day, we went to a Palos party that was pretty neat. Palos are sort of like large African drums and people dance to the playing and singing of some of the community men. The dance itself is not very complex and I would describe it as fancy shuffling. Everybody wanted to see us shuffle, though, as we were constantly encouraged to dance more. I believe that while this may be for the pleasant intention of them wanting to us to share in their culture, it’s more likely that they find our dancing to be extraordinarily entertaining. We had some very tasty refreshments at the party as well, including an orange-flavored juice and the stale hamburger bread biscuits. We would regret the juice around midnight as it turned out to have been made from unpurified water and we spent the rest of the night clearing our systems. Yay!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We did not stay up for New Years. We did go to a New Year’s party at the brand-new colmado recently opened by our project partner. We did not stay long though as people were mostly sitting around and talking amongst each other. And, if you recall that people in groups prefer to talk about us rather that to us, that wasn’t very exciting. We went home and watched the Lord of the Rings on our laptop with Spanish subtitles. I probably didn’t learn much Spanish, at least not useful Spanish. You rarely get the opportunity to say things like ''Find the halflings!''</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Right now we are getting ready for our courses and writing up our diagnostic report. It’s a bit quiet but we are pressing forward. We are also excited that it looks like the foundation will be poured soon for our house! As much as we love our host family, it will be good to have some space and privacy* to ourselves. Here’s to the start of a new and exciting year!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">*on privacy: It is unlikely that the word “privacy” has a direct translation to Dominican Spanish, because it does not exist here.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2842642761592639941" name="_GoBack"></a></span></div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976263527126182259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842642761592639941.post-35102420640333516542012-01-07T10:46:00.000-08:002012-01-07T11:24:51.131-08:00December Pictures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmSKPcAuckzG504fHCqgwOVtlCggTTs0twUIDnq7oZvr8LJJxjYfK7fbDbf6eyCj8PB41jLitX5RQ31N5hy5iNyKkCBzqsIUCX_4yRK4gRGqT36pQmZl9OnBU5POlXib-ryOdai3ghxG8/s1600/big_auyama_patricio_and_dori.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmSKPcAuckzG504fHCqgwOVtlCggTTs0twUIDnq7oZvr8LJJxjYfK7fbDbf6eyCj8PB41jLitX5RQ31N5hy5iNyKkCBzqsIUCX_4yRK4gRGqT36pQmZl9OnBU5POlXib-ryOdai3ghxG8/s320/big_auyama_patricio_and_dori.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Host father proudly sporting a huge Auyama (starchy vegetable that we eat a LOT of here)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA3UuLA505kJwPKu-4vQ7zXw9s34jZj5ly4FVW-AJymbjH0gkDXhi91auLH9DI7iOdfl5OI8XiTJm27tIXYceNQ1MfonXSsJSJjec-slEs98-4GSPecIJQe_qskDp0PDlIgsOxyHnu4Ns/s1600/baseball1_with_bottle.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA3UuLA505kJwPKu-4vQ7zXw9s34jZj5ly4FVW-AJymbjH0gkDXhi91auLH9DI7iOdfl5OI8XiTJm27tIXYceNQ1MfonXSsJSJjec-slEs98-4GSPecIJQe_qskDp0PDlIgsOxyHnu4Ns/s320/baseball1_with_bottle.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Scott playing with our host brother Manuel</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrNKggAPdZYq0fNqmwT-OVK8zVrc6-DnsSiL8gIr8QFgVKuVDrmf7tTZBH5E2AtSX4CeBsoQotFlNHoToMp7m3aCMtiCofAzABzUUxE33fZVkMadYauf0FSQPON3D72GfT69Fs1LvVuJc/s1600/christmas_palos_salanda.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrNKggAPdZYq0fNqmwT-OVK8zVrc6-DnsSiL8gIr8QFgVKuVDrmf7tTZBH5E2AtSX4CeBsoQotFlNHoToMp7m3aCMtiCofAzABzUUxE33fZVkMadYauf0FSQPON3D72GfT69Fs1LvVuJc/s320/christmas_palos_salanda.JPG" width="239" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Meg and one of our pals from the community</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ9g0why4pVDOKQCkY3qPSohD0UIkWCOwincJSmSsI6erHGFidHHwhbLBFVBFyvChu7J-sPQcWSnMXYwl41ArYtRJv57j_Z42awZYNRWc-6vuWHyeiT7Vgar3lXQgM4ceTslE7QTGz1r0/s1600/christmas_palos_yomaili.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ9g0why4pVDOKQCkY3qPSohD0UIkWCOwincJSmSsI6erHGFidHHwhbLBFVBFyvChu7J-sPQcWSnMXYwl41ArYtRJv57j_Z42awZYNRWc-6vuWHyeiT7Vgar3lXQgM4ceTslE7QTGz1r0/s320/christmas_palos_yomaili.JPG" width="239" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Baby!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdzYSMUSVira6gJF03CzseRcR2PBL0HIP5w9BUe9YeqyOdSkTBcCsQ9ljKMzGulweiXHwB_AOVxtqVjcxAh6Xna0zZRmzQjZVFHvpRaMYedKe0zHL03RCK5hxrWktswTbef6ZU8IEeaXM/s1600/cute_chick.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdzYSMUSVira6gJF03CzseRcR2PBL0HIP5w9BUe9YeqyOdSkTBcCsQ9ljKMzGulweiXHwB_AOVxtqVjcxAh6Xna0zZRmzQjZVFHvpRaMYedKe0zHL03RCK5hxrWktswTbef6ZU8IEeaXM/s320/cute_chick.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Baby of a different sort!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNq5i5baIHUNQvqAOEgMfbVjAKNQjdo_KPcgwzz0tsG5fapZjFbuZxrj4BcVExbt7YbM-PZLU8I0aPT8C7PPHfcZs3y_Bn43FKa2gbYu9de1kw2x4ePZ2iQLcRvKAj4HNmtJOc3k280qc/s1600/los_aguacates_river1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNq5i5baIHUNQvqAOEgMfbVjAKNQjdo_KPcgwzz0tsG5fapZjFbuZxrj4BcVExbt7YbM-PZLU8I0aPT8C7PPHfcZs3y_Bn43FKa2gbYu9de1kw2x4ePZ2iQLcRvKAj4HNmtJOc3k280qc/s320/los_aguacates_river1.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the streams we have to cross to get to one of our communities</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiUx4_69in1zo7ycBwOVqP9_Dxr7rNomnvxVSMMPP1JrxCRijr1rdCBotOBILvcaoQJ7pypj-KgR76eBq7eULYPU66IpdInrzaxqu_9iYnUiVzfkdRC8sYINTV3Y8-MIT-Ax8uu1JkdQo/s1600/christmas_palos_drummers.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiUx4_69in1zo7ycBwOVqP9_Dxr7rNomnvxVSMMPP1JrxCRijr1rdCBotOBILvcaoQJ7pypj-KgR76eBq7eULYPU66IpdInrzaxqu_9iYnUiVzfkdRC8sYINTV3Y8-MIT-Ax8uu1JkdQo/s320/christmas_palos_drummers.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More dancing at the Palos Festival</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXxMS1TWD_y9zYg3QJ3qj-mi4DpeSmBJCtiBBeP9iXmTBZTg2GMwdFrloaGxF19L_GWmbfdZIvkfTRAADfoYIsaOODdyxclfRPEdlBhzDnHtvJ2aDfuJmApbaxNbVXLIBCp8ZYs1MRn0/s1600/meg_working.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXxMS1TWD_y9zYg3QJ3qj-mi4DpeSmBJCtiBBeP9iXmTBZTg2GMwdFrloaGxF19L_GWmbfdZIvkfTRAADfoYIsaOODdyxclfRPEdlBhzDnHtvJ2aDfuJmApbaxNbVXLIBCp8ZYs1MRn0/s320/meg_working.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meg working on the health diagnostic</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976263527126182259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842642761592639941.post-56198923431271860722012-01-07T10:35:00.000-08:002012-01-07T10:35:47.805-08:00Pictures - Garden and Host Family<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq2XOU7oW4gmzwWWzx3qGZUyqhRNqaD19w_emCCILe9jyVQrlxLr7kj-BEPX3jp8wtkN1WrU_5wkELhNxFvjm5uWMGFOGktnvWZkObuOpmZpLpi4e6k6Juu-zOmTC4UjARJJKYywfK-Cg/s1600/tejada_family_ena-and-milagro.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq2XOU7oW4gmzwWWzx3qGZUyqhRNqaD19w_emCCILe9jyVQrlxLr7kj-BEPX3jp8wtkN1WrU_5wkELhNxFvjm5uWMGFOGktnvWZkObuOpmZpLpi4e6k6Juu-zOmTC4UjARJJKYywfK-Cg/s320/tejada_family_ena-and-milagro.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyejrttpSvR1ZsAS_vhbTZ3O52lf-KOjy7OYKYRR0LB-mr5hBeESEM46VLZqA-O70T9OwsJSeIRG7DLAhCC0sjROqCpDdGX17hgUIbnuLQ_Ac8Th0sbKHgsirGD9CDmVg27gBCJhSP7rM/s1600/tejada_family.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyejrttpSvR1ZsAS_vhbTZ3O52lf-KOjy7OYKYRR0LB-mr5hBeESEM46VLZqA-O70T9OwsJSeIRG7DLAhCC0sjROqCpDdGX17hgUIbnuLQ_Ac8Th0sbKHgsirGD9CDmVg27gBCJhSP7rM/s320/tejada_family.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976263527126182259noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842642761592639941.post-36148254677846682132011-12-28T06:31:00.000-08:002011-12-28T06:38:42.512-08:00Finally...pictures!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWwyP6iXFS8QoYDkH50G3cVTtkS5ZXYW8xKOPIvDuQryPJXW1lvIgjtnvCBbEtZRKnoRvBcCAqacDYEHOJXbR7ZF1m2nxqdyjgm_Z-Bt2Qv_xqY1AZJxlg3_OcexpwyUc6UcoW4up5CSc/s1600/DR+Aug-Dec+2011+Mountain+View.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWwyP6iXFS8QoYDkH50G3cVTtkS5ZXYW8xKOPIvDuQryPJXW1lvIgjtnvCBbEtZRKnoRvBcCAqacDYEHOJXbR7ZF1m2nxqdyjgm_Z-Bt2Qv_xqY1AZJxlg3_OcexpwyUc6UcoW4up5CSc/s320/DR+Aug-Dec+2011+Mountain+View.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0fMNnrwlJvMYEPeq7e1DZRN2A6ZZ_bed7eeYdguuZVVgu4pMKkQQllqr7lXLaHrkwLod4rIZM7IJfu4RiWTNFJNgcQ-sj1crIB8yZ3fzab6MBjgDDro2uV9zBzLJZo5_VrD7OUX3vMlE/s1600/View+of+Caimani.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0fMNnrwlJvMYEPeq7e1DZRN2A6ZZ_bed7eeYdguuZVVgu4pMKkQQllqr7lXLaHrkwLod4rIZM7IJfu4RiWTNFJNgcQ-sj1crIB8yZ3fzab6MBjgDDro2uV9zBzLJZo5_VrD7OUX3vMlE/s320/View+of+Caimani.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Views of mountains from our campo</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW-lSQ0V-_bsTrcfVzAQAKA54VmNzNnFKR7eNtUhpdzdhme1j6bT8_GS2EGxyDQgqWcZud3u8SYA-Tf8GXER91miyNa6dZBH3ZxEcLcblsff_n2TdNcHXFmKSXzihQyoS51pnhDsjvKZ8/s1600/Haitian+house+on+mountainside.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW-lSQ0V-_bsTrcfVzAQAKA54VmNzNnFKR7eNtUhpdzdhme1j6bT8_GS2EGxyDQgqWcZud3u8SYA-Tf8GXER91miyNa6dZBH3ZxEcLcblsff_n2TdNcHXFmKSXzihQyoS51pnhDsjvKZ8/s320/Haitian+house+on+mountainside.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">View of house on mountainside</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh83wJ-2g2cYBzftGE8hQFZkNrm_6Uag4QBpg51BPKJbOXrl1hQd-ssxMWDSocunciiqbCcdFN13FxtEZdT6z1USYHq2f1W6ydgzF5x8uSLojEyxdQEGYhRqTxM_C7d-xaU3eP0qVVF-kU/s1600/Hen+with+black+chicks.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh83wJ-2g2cYBzftGE8hQFZkNrm_6Uag4QBpg51BPKJbOXrl1hQd-ssxMWDSocunciiqbCcdFN13FxtEZdT6z1USYHq2f1W6ydgzF5x8uSLojEyxdQEGYhRqTxM_C7d-xaU3eP0qVVF-kU/s320/Hen+with+black+chicks.JPG" width="320" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mama hen with chicks. Isn't the yellow chick adorable?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmOxMGPhyphenhyphen2rFN5ZvviytDqxuBpznR9h5CC0OBsu_k4O8gwKDF1eFVDghYc1dln0_41w2D7TYxnEjkySO2Nu7cMUCnHBPOlGFlEXBOb-gnPraTemf4qCWyWXDgI7H-QFXmj7tJEo7WAbzY/s1600/fogon.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmOxMGPhyphenhyphen2rFN5ZvviytDqxuBpznR9h5CC0OBsu_k4O8gwKDF1eFVDghYc1dln0_41w2D7TYxnEjkySO2Nu7cMUCnHBPOlGFlEXBOb-gnPraTemf4qCWyWXDgI7H-QFXmj7tJEo7WAbzY/s320/fogon.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">A fogon! Pretty much what everyone uses to cook here. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqaGLLnia2a1BmrhkDQ2PeA5sZFLZW0ysgy0HvdBzYxyafQpUyA_oz-vGyq5gWA-v2ujjrQf5gIZEvX4YIXI5B55u5mb_qBeKl-bJ9VR9lp_JF2-9xrmPO0zLeSOQXulJ6CAQmyUsULbU/s1600/taliban+the+dog.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqaGLLnia2a1BmrhkDQ2PeA5sZFLZW0ysgy0HvdBzYxyafQpUyA_oz-vGyq5gWA-v2ujjrQf5gIZEvX4YIXI5B55u5mb_qBeKl-bJ9VR9lp_JF2-9xrmPO0zLeSOQXulJ6CAQmyUsULbU/s320/taliban+the+dog.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our family's beloved dog, Taliban. Yes, that's correct, Taliban. We're still not sure why they named him that. Poor doggie, it's not his fault.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHG8V1xq9MDpRVyvl4Su0UXj-G6SIO0FHNugweZc8BHMA8GWxpTYinX4072IGsVMD0MsWuz14gp8q-vrtW2Erg4DACzkQQ9o4b-AfX0e0SH6_QVVa2G_AteEzvbX780kEs3dWl_pzHVKE/s1600/View+of+Clu.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHG8V1xq9MDpRVyvl4Su0UXj-G6SIO0FHNugweZc8BHMA8GWxpTYinX4072IGsVMD0MsWuz14gp8q-vrtW2Erg4DACzkQQ9o4b-AfX0e0SH6_QVVa2G_AteEzvbX780kEs3dWl_pzHVKE/s320/View+of+Clu.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">View of the community center from our bedroom door.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6cletmW4x9ckib0B5OrsmWbp_luhzbcMiA3Gq4egs2bmKmqo2k7J9wcxwTXduNiMzmRJIC1pdFXIMkwvnVt3Mg90GuutlJI_S7O7c-3lrhjR3jL4VigJ07zhTUUbnWgZZODhphJuHQ8A/s1600/DR+Aug-Dec+2011+Enas+House.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6cletmW4x9ckib0B5OrsmWbp_luhzbcMiA3Gq4egs2bmKmqo2k7J9wcxwTXduNiMzmRJIC1pdFXIMkwvnVt3Mg90GuutlJI_S7O7c-3lrhjR3jL4VigJ07zhTUUbnWgZZODhphJuHQ8A/s320/DR+Aug-Dec+2011+Enas+House.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our host family's house.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">We'll post more pictures soon! </span></div>Scott and Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07972449592912694895noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842642761592639941.post-17509786148848460542011-12-28T06:25:00.000-08:002011-12-28T06:25:47.467-08:00Entertainment in the Campo<style type="text/css">
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<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span><u style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">December 20, 2011 </u></span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>As Scott and I are in the planning stages of the health classes that we want to start in February, I have often found myself wondering if anyone will actually show up to our courses. The style of teaching for our courses is a combination of discussion and fun activities that engage the audience. These activities might remind of you of those you would see in a kid’s camp (Boom-Chicka-Boom, anyone?). I can understand why kids would like these kinds of activities, but I still have trouble believing that adults would be interested in this sort of thing. And besides, don’t they have better things to do than attend a health class with two Americans who can’t even speak their language properly?</span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Well, the truth is that they don’t. There just aren’t that many things to do around here. When they aren’t working, the people here spend a lot of time sitting around on their porches gossiping with neighbors. There is also the occasional dominoes game or cock fight. Here are some other forms of entertainment that we have observed:</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>1. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Painting things with makeup: One day Scott and I saw one of our host sisters painting a piece of old cardboard with eye shadow. The next day we discovered that she had painted the side of the kitchen table with red lipstick. Sadly, we only discovered this after getting thick red lipstick lines on our pants.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>2. Throwing rocks at chickens</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>3. Sitting on motorcycles: Whether your an adult or a kid, this seems to be pretty fun around here. Our host brother Manual loves to sit on his uncle's motorcycle making vroom-vroom noises. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>4. I don't even know how to label this: There is one kid in the neighborhood who enjoys running around naked in the street making farting noises. We have observed this behavoir on numerous occasions and for various durations of times (once for forty minutes). He's working hard on being nick-named </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span>“fart-face”.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>5. Standing around in the colmado watching other people dance. Even better, watching the Americans try to dance. Sometimes dancing yourself.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Needless to say, Scott and I are having a lot of fun thinking of creative ways to engage people around here. We are hoping to have a sports day for the younger kids in January and maybe even a talent show for the adolescents. We also picked up some coloring books and crayons when we were visiting the capital last week, which I think will be a big hit among the younger kids. </span></span></div><br />
</div>Scott and Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07972449592912694895noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842642761592639941.post-66678688974164185882011-12-28T06:05:00.000-08:002011-12-28T06:27:01.207-08:00Thoughts about Education<style type="text/css">
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<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><span style="font-size: small;">December 17, 2011</span></u><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">We find that every day that we spend here we discover something new to be thankful about. A few weeks ago we were talking to our host sister, Paula, who is in her sophomore year of high school and at the time was studying for her December finals. It is really pretty impressive that she is still attending school at all, considering that a lot of girls her age are already married with children. It is even more impressive when you consider that she has to travel 40 minutes every day by motorcycle to get to school. That might not sound like that much, but consider that it costs her family over $100 pesos a day for the gas money to send her to school. That's equivalent to a day or two of food for the family. Then consider what happens if something goes wrong with their motorcycle, as happened last week. In that case, Paula has to get up an hour earlier than usual to stand at the entrance of our campo hoping that she can catch a free ride with someone else to school. Or if that fails, then she has to walk an hour and half to get there (including crossing a river). </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">On top of this, the school system here is atrocious. What we think of as learning is a totally foreign concept here. From what we have gathered so far, it seems that the students spend their day in school writing down notes verbatim from the chalkboard. There isn’t any discussion or activity about the lesson, so essentially the students don’t learn anything about what they’ve written down. When a test rolls around, the students then have to memorize their notes and regurgitate them verbatim for the test. Unfortunately, this means that the students never actually learn the material. If you happen to ask a student to explain their school lesson to you, they can only read to you from their notes. This also means that the youth here don't really have any critical thinking skills and do not understand the concept of creativity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"> When you consider all this, you realize that we really have a lot to be thankful about. Unlike a lot of the people here, we actually have the opportunity to attend good schools in our country, learn, and hopefully move on to good careers and make something of ourselves. Unfortunately for the people here, schooling usually ends at high school if they are lucky enough to get that far and does not often lead to other opportunities like going to a university or pursuing a career. </span></div>Scott and Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07972449592912694895noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842642761592639941.post-31782210881345030122011-12-14T06:46:00.000-08:002011-12-28T06:10:01.892-08:00Welcome to the new blog!<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: small;">After many technical difficulties, we have finally managed to start a new blog. Let's hope this one works better than the last!</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: small;">It’s hard to believe that we have been in the Dominican Republic for almost four months now. For the last month we have been working on the diagnostic portion of our service - conducting interviews with the 90-or-so families living in our campo, socializing with people in general, and basically trying to learn as much as we can about our new community. We are also starting to plan ahead for the health classes we will start teaching in January and February. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">We live in a campo called El Dajao that is locatedin the northwest of the country in the province of Santiago Rodriguez. El Dajao is located an hour away from the closest town on a dirt road that winds up the mountains. The only way to get in or out of our campo is by motorcycle, although there is also a truck that comes in on Wednesday mornings to bring people to the market in town. El Dajao covers about ninety families that live in four separate communities that are spread across the mountains. The campo doesn’t have electricity, but luckily an aqueduct was installed a few years ago so everyone has running water. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Most of the people in El Dajao make a living working in agriculture. They usually plant starchy crops such as rice, yucca, batata, yautia, banana, platanos, corn, ñame, and many, many more. For that reason the local diet is pretty high in carbohydrates but low in proteins and vitamins and minerals. Many of the families here also own a lot of animals, including chickens (they’re everywhere!), turkeys, goats, pigs, cows, and horses. Speaking of animals, we’ve made the pleasant discovery that roosters begin crowing at 2 am in the morning, and not at daybreak, as is commonly believed.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">We are currently living with a host family. There are six people in our host family, including two parents, three kids, and one grandson that is currently living with them. With us included it gets pretty crowded around here! We enjoy their company a lot but are looking forward to February when we will be able to move out and live on our own. We haven’t had control of our own diet for four months now and are ready to cook some good American food again. Our meals here usually consist of boiled yucca, boiled banana/platano, rice, beans, and noodles. For breakfast we have been consistently getting hot chocolate and bread. And I don’t mean nice bread. I mean the type of old hot-dog roll bread that you get from the bargain bin in K-Mart. In fact, I think that bread tastes better.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">On a bright note, we are having a lot of fun introducing our host family to American foods. Yesterday we pulled out some marshmallows (or “cotton” as they call them because they look like cotton balls) for them to try and showed them how to roast them over the fire. They had never had them roasted before and really enjoyed them. They almost died laughing every time someone’s marshmallow caught on fire.</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Until our next post! </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2842642761592639941&postID=3178221088134503012" name="_GoBack"></a></span></div>Scott and Meghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07972449592912694895noreply@blogger.com0