Daily Life

What’s it like here? Well, this changes depending on what stage I’m in. Training in Santo Domingo was different than in CBT; my first month here, before my diagnostic, was different than now; right after my IST in February will be different from now as well as different from whatever routine I might settle into as my work and projects get underway. However, since you asked…

I usually wake up around 630 or 7 to a racket, and then doze until 8 or so if I can tune out the banging and shouting and rearranging of furniture that defines campo mornings. Then I usually lay around until about 830 before getting out of bed. Sometimes I go to the Fundelosa office in the mornings, but since I don’t really do anything there yet I get bored quickly. Sometimes I wander around the community in the morning visiting people or doing various errand-y tasks. Sometimes I stay at home, drink a coffee, tidy up my room, do laundry, take a shower, read/write, etc.

Either way, lunch is at noon and I usually eat at 1230. Camp life stops from 12-2, so sometimes after lunch I take a siesta (two things on this: 1) They don’t use siesta here. They say echar una pavita, which roughly translated means “To throw a little turkey,” but echar is a verb that doesn’t translate well and has many meanings. 2) Contrary to popular belief, my experience has been that Dominicans don’t nap and they find me peculiar for doing so.)

Usually I work on my surveys (at this writing, 70 out of 100 are completed) from 2-5ish, and then I meander back up home. Dinner is usually around 630 and then I hang around until 830 or 9 when I go to my room for the night. Sometimes I go right to sleep, but usually I read or write for a while.

It’s not that I have anything against hanging out with the family, but the TV they watch bores me to tears (and the chairs are really uncomfortable, and they change the channel constantly), and if it’s not TV it’s some mundane conversation entirely void of details that I can’t follow. So I get bored and go to my own thing.

Sometimes I have to go the pueblo and that eats at least half a day. More if I am accompanying a Dominican.

Here are some examples of meals here:

Breakfast:

Either fresh-squeezed juice or a hot drink made from pureed and strained oatmeal (rather tasty but I’d rather have a bowl of oatmeal AND either two pieces of bread (like a dinner roll) or a pack of saltine crackers roughly the quantity of three graham crackers, sometimes with squeaky cheese. I also usually make myself a coffee.

Lunch:

Salad (shredded cabbage, sometimes with shredded carrots or a cucumber or beets) with oil, vinegar and salt. Meat, usually pork or chicken. Rice (white, seasoned or with beans/lentils). If the rice doesn’t have beans/lentils, sometimes there are habichuelas (red beans in a yummy sauce). Sometimes there is a scary looking but tasty eggplant dish or yummy potato salad instead of rice. But that’s pretty much the extent of the variety for lunch.

Dinner:

Two piece of bread (same as breakfast) with the hot oatmeal drink again; cream of wheat (except its made with corn); or fried ham or salami and tostones or other root vegetable.

Yep. That’s a pretty thorough summary of my diet here. Notice the 3 square meals and 6 servings of fruit and vegetables. Maybe when I’m on my own. To be fair, though, having talked to several people from my training group this week, my situation in general with my host family is relatively good in comparison. It will still be a challenge to stay until May when I can move into my own place, but at least I know it could be worse.