~Patronales~

Today marks the completion of our second week in Constanza—only three more to go!  I have thoroughly enjoyed training here since we are getting into the specifics all of the youth initiatives we may be working on during our service.  We find out our placements in exactly a week!!!! This has been the constant topic of conversation lately considering that everyone is extremely anxious to know where they will be spending the next two years of their lives.  Luckily this weekend there will be plenty to distract us from the seeming eternity of a week of waiting—Patronales!  “Patronales” refers to the celebrations around a pueblo’s patron saint.  I still remember the jubilant fiestas I attended in my little village in Oaxaca (can it be?) TEN years ago when I was volunteering with Amigos de las Americas.  Here in Constanza there is a week-long church celebration with nightly masses followed by a secular town celebration that lasts through the weekend.  There will be a horse parade, live music, dancing and general merriment in the town's central plaza.

 

To assure that I don’t paint the Peace Corps as a simple walk in the park (I tend to focus on the positives), I’ll share a few challenges I’ve experienced thus far.  Though I consider myself very fortunate in terms of cuisine by comparison to many PC countries, relinquishing complete control of your diet after having prepared your own food for so long definitely gets frustrating.  My body has not responded kindly to the vast amounts of white bread and starches I’ve been feeding it instead of my usual grains and veggies. My biggest challenge though, for those of you who know my coffee habits, has been the abrupt drop-off of daily caffeine intake.  I didn’t really internalize that a grande Starbucks (or CCs or PJs) is equivalent to 4-5 cups coffee until I started being served an actual metric cup of coffee in the mornings which, to put it mildly, has left me wanting more.  While coffee is quite commonplace, people usually only drink it in their homes.  The coffee shop phenomenon is non-existent as is coffee in any mobile form.  I’m also adjusting to life without hot showers and flushing toilets and with constant critters and roosters outside my window that, contrary to popular belief, do NOT only crow at sunrise.  All in all, small sacrifices for what I’m sure I will regard as one of the formative experiences of my life. 

Dominican phrase of the week “Si Dios quiere”  Literally translated to “If God wants”, this phrase is the habitual response to any reference to the future, most especially to transfer responsibility for some action from oneself to God.  Example:  I ask Dona Maria—will she be able to come to our charla (chat—typically of an educational nature) tomorrow afternoon?  Dona Maria responds “Si Dios quiere” which translates to—anyone’s guess!  I am no surer of whether the Dona will make it to our meeting then I was before I asked.