My New But Not Completely Strange Necessities of Life

May 13, 2013. Woo! I got breakfast! Never thought I would miss my cheese and jamón sandwich in the morning :). Today was a ping pong game of me freaking out and then yelling at myself for freaking out. So many things went through my head as we walked around and learned about the other PC sectors here in the DR and how we can tap into them for secondary projects. Super cool but super overwhelming. Do I start these things now? How do I do them? Wait, what about my diagnostic? Shit, how do I even do that? Who am I going to do that with? Etc... Then I'd talk to an experienced PCV and they all said the same thing, slow your roll. Every volunteer comes in and expects to do crazy things right out of the gate and it just doesn't happen. Even if they do, they regret it and wish they had just relaxed in the first three months and got to know people. Then I'd go off and think, but I don't have the Spanish. How am I supposed to even do these things I want to do in the future? And they'd tell me to chill, it'll come, and your projects will come into view too. I won't have to look far and people will come to me with things they'd like to see or change. And the Spanish will come. I just don't understand it. How does it come when you have no one to explain what someone says as you stare at them blankly after getting not a single word they just said... But I guess that's how we learned English right? We went from nothing when we're born to talking fluently by young ages just by listening... Before you even go to school... I just don't get it. But I have to remember that I will.

I also had my interview with Ann and she made me feel so much better. After leaving my site I realized I was super confused about my purpose there when so many other volunteers seem to already have a grasp. Apparently AMCHAM DR has a focus in 9 schools and 2 of them are the ones I'll be working in. And they haven't been seeing the results they want to see. I'm there as the "on the grounds" person to see to it that changes are made. The director of the other school is apparently going to be rough to work with. But Ann is going to come to my community the first Tuesday I get back and have a meeting with everyone and explain my purpose, my first three months, and so on. This is wonderful since I don't think anyone in my community knows and I can't quite explain it. She also said that if she had had more time to plan this, I wouldn't have gone there because the schools are so early in the development stage and they need a lot of help. But, I'm there and she's excited for me. This was two-fold for me because that's exactly what I wanted, a challenge and high-needs area. But seeing it in real life and briefly seeing the lack of motivation or care in the teachers? Woo. I asked for a lot lol. Hopefully after two years though I can say, "You did it." To some extent since the PC has a goal of 6-8 year projects in these same areas. So when my 2 years are up, another education volunteer will swing in and continue the work, and another after that. Ad since I'm the first in my community, it's gonna be a lot of base work and maybe not as many results. But we'll see.

After that and lunch and a few more technical things, I had my final Spanish interview. I'm not quite sure how it went but I did the best I could... I was nervous not because of what my level is at for them, the PC, but for me. I know they're not going to send me home and tell me I can't do my job so that's not the issue. I just want to be further than I am. So I was nervous and frustrated walking into it. I'll find out my level Wednesday. 

Once I was done, a bunch of us headed to La Sirena for all my new necessities of life. I needed shampoo, face wash, deodorant, and a few other things and I ended up spending way too much lol. But I think we get more money soon? I hope :P. I also got hangers (definitely needed those), clothespins (for clothes or a literacy game), pencil sharpener and eraser, more tape and that awesome tissue paper I love (! I'm such a teacher...), a small plastic thingy to carry my shower stuff in and out of the bathroom (cuz having it all in a bag sucks), hand sanitizer (for the 100s of times there's no water or soap), and more... Also, there was a ton of talk about getting Internet and a lot of people got their Internet sticks. I can't do that with my iPad so I need to look into getting wifi with a hot box or something. I'm gonna talk to Amber and hopefully she'll help! So this week at some point I'll go from not thinking I was going to have Internet at all in my site, to having it! ¡Vamos a ver! That's also going to be an expense... But worth it :). 

Tonight was also a mini birthday party for Susan. I bought her M&Ms at La Sirena since she's allergic to gluten and that's all I could think of lol. It was chill and a good time to relax after my mentally hectic day. After, I got to talk to my man and that was wonderful too. I miss him.

And now, I must sleep since I have to leave a bit earlier tomorrow. We're gonna learn about banking and how we get paid (yesssss) at the PC Office in the capital. Buenas noches.