Catching up

Leticia Hinojosa, PCV
Cuerpo de PazAvenida Bolivar 451, Gazcue
Apartado Postal 1412
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Christmas is over, but I don't feel like it happened this year. Christmas in the DR was a big kick in the ass. It was very hard being away from my family for the holidays. Christmas Eve was nice because I spent it in church (I know, me in church crazy huh) and then had 2 dinners, one with my host family and the other with my project partner and her family. Christmas day was the big kick. I spent most of the day sitting around and playing cards. My family was very nice and tried to make me happy but it just wasn't working. It just wasn't the same. Instead of spending time with family people go out dancing and drinking. Sounds fun but it just wasn't Christmas.
News Years on the other hand was awesome. I spend it with many other volunteers on the beaches of Cabarete. It was great waiting for the new year on the beach. 2 days of laying out on the beach was like paradise. I was ready to get back to my site on the 2nd day though.

For the last 2 weeks I have been working on a community diagnostic. My life consists of going house to house and asking questions pertaining to what the community needs and what types of jobs are available to the people in my site. I am also attending every single neighborhood, youth and women's goup meeting as well as going to church. It is a great way to get a feel of what already exists in the community and what it needs. In mid February I will need to present this infront of other volunteers. It's interseting to see how people react to me, some will talk a lot while others have no idea what the community needs. I have realized that I actually enjoy aqward conversations. On Friday I woke up with a really bad sore throat, fever, chills and body aches. Ohh and a little diarhea. Hey this is my blog alright. I had a pretty rough week. I decided to come into the Capitol on Monday to see what was up. Not sure yet but I am on penecilin and am still feeling sick. I'm still here because it has actually turned out to be a nice get away even though i'm still sick. This in a nut shell is what has happened lately.