In the Capital

Hey, that's funny. I've already used this title before.

So I've been out of my site since Tuesday early and it is now Friday almost lunchtime. First I was in Santiago for a regional meeting, and Wednesday I came into the capital with my "neighbor" Rob. It wasn't totally a lazy few days, since I did take care of some administrative stuff (replace lost debit card, have business cards printed, pick up packages, talk to APCD), but also we have definitley gotten in some good internet time, watched a couple of DVDs, ate snacks, went out to eat, rested. It was lovely.

I need to get back to my site, and continue working on my diagnostic (surveys, etc) but it has been nice and refreshing to be out. Other times that I've been out of my site I always felt a little stressed and anxious for some reason, but I have felt a lot better this trip.

Once I get back to site, I need to continue working on my diagnostic and stuff. I got the information from my APCD (peace corps boss) so now I have the guidelines and stuff for the report and presentation, and that will be a pretty extenstive thing to write up once I finish collecting all the information. Once I have everything done maybe I'll email stuff to those who are interested.

So interesting things that are coming up in the world of Peace Corps... The first weekend in February is "Committee Weekend" when all the various extracurricular committees have their quarterly meetings. I think I'm going to go to the Gender & Development and Celebrando Cibao (a regional conference on diversity issues) and then also participate in the Gringo Grita (the un-official PCDR magazine). That will be a day or two. Then Feb 13 for a week is my 3-month In Service training in La Vega, where I'll present my diagnostic stuff and do my work plan for my first year of service. I got invited to be on the gringa this cycle, but their production week is exactly during my IST and i HAVE to go to IST, so I think I'm going to start working with the magazine the next time it gets to publishing time.

Anyhow, I might be away from internet for a while but next time I hit a WiFi zone, I'll be in touch. Thanks again for everything, and keep me posted on developments at home!!!

Hasta Luego!
Kira