se FUE la luz

hola a todos

HI EVERYONE! i am here in the hot hot heat of the dominican republic. all is well over here...my host family is awesome, and i have made some good friends in our training class. of course i miss you all, but at the same time i am savoring every moment here. i can´t explain to you just how crazy everything is. the public transportation is hilarious, there are guaguas (buses) and carro publicos (shared taxis). they both are so jam packed with people you would not believe it. the carros publicos fit 4, sometimes 5, people in the backseat plus 2 in the passenger seat plus the driver. people hang out of the side of the guagua, because its the only way they can really get to work or school and the like. there are also motoconchos, which are motorcycle taxis but we arent allowed to ride those in the city as they are pretty dangerous. however, we have a SITE VISIT with an actual volunteer coming up in about a week and when we go for those visits in other parts of the country we are allowed to go on motoconchos. in fact, i will be headed to the puerto plata area (read: beach) and will get to go on one! in other news, i take por lo menos 2 bucket baths per day. we do have a shower in my house but the water never comes out of it so we fill these paint buckets with water and use that to quote unquote shower. the baths are absolutely necessary because it is seeriously hot here. imagine baltimore in august, all the time, without the thunderstorms to ever cool things off. i carry around a bandana to wipe the sweat off my face. gross, but true. one of the funnier things that i have had to get used to is the unpredictability of the electricity. for you non spanish speakers, the title of this entry means the light is gone. this happens at least 2 or 3 times a day, you will just be sitting around and oh, se fue la luz. its not so bad except for when you really want the fan to cool you off as you lie on your bed in the hot hot heat. i can´t think of too much else to tell you about for now. training is going well ,we have spanish classes, core peace corps training, and more technical training as well. in about 1.5 weeks we are going to move our training out of the city and all of us youth volunteers will do 3 weeks of training in the mountains (so excited!!!). i will update this again soon, don´t worry. please feel free to mail me letters to this address. i wouldn´t be mad at all and might even write you back!

lily mendelson, pct
cuerpo de paz
avenida bolivar 451, gazcue
apartado 1412
santo domingo, dominican republic