News Actual

Here are some of my recent activities:

We are working on a mural, a world map, in the school. We are still in the drawing phase, and it's going really well. I never really paid attention to how many little islands and jagged coastlines there are. It's quite a geography lesson.

Morning and afternoon walks to search for fruit! We always come back with handfulls of mangos, or chinolas or papayas or whatever else we come across along the way.

English classes are progressing. Everyone wants to learn english here, in part because the better jobs--those in tourism and hotels--are competetive and pretty much require at least some facility with english. French and German are also in high demand.

These are the filters that Matt has been working on. I helped him one day. They are concrete blocks, filled with 2 types of gravel and 2 types of sand. Completely natural, economical and a great solution for the people here--who have to either buy filtered water or get sick from drinking the river and rain water.

This is my friend Anthia and I at the mother's day festivities. Mother's day here is the last sunday in May.

This is my latrine/bathhouse and my bedroom, just for reference.

Week 2

The summer heat is starting! As are the rains. This is looking out from my front porch during the torrents las Sunday. It rained so much a water pipe broke and a some power lines were down so we were without water and electricity for about 4 days. The elec. I didn't mind, but the water is a little more uncomfortable. But we have the river so close, everyone just goes there to bathe.

I've been exploring some more of the countryside, these are a few of the vistas. Note the papaya tree, me with my own papaya, and the lovely hills in the background.

Citizen at last

So this is what my new home looks like. There are about 5,000 people, with one main road and barrios that branch off. It's nestled in the hills of the Cordillera Oriental, the northeastern mountain range in the province of El Seibo. They say it's pretty dry, but it looks green and lush to me, so I guess it's dry for Caribbean standards. There is some agriculture, but mostly for food and living purposes. People raise cattle, pigs, chickens (lots and lots of chickens...they are everywhere). Goats, horses, donkeys abound as well. We have 4 churches I think, one school, and various other businesses.

Here you can see one of the rivers, the baseball field (called a "play"), my house and grandmother named Domingita, the school, the center where I'll work (CTC, Centro Tecnologico Comunitario), the main drag, and the hills in the background.

I'm excited to explore the many trails, caves and the waterfall. And to enjoy the local fresh fruit--mangos, pineapple, oranges, lemons, chinola, just to start. Anyone ready to visit me?

This is photo of the cloud of kids that went for a "run" with me...they absolutely love having their pictures taken, and of course we mostly ate mangos!