Volunteer Visit

I am so ready to be a volunteer. After 4 days of staying in the campo with a current volunteer, I cannot wait to have my own place, with my own food and my own time schedule. I learned a lot, got a more realistic view of what life will be like as a Peace Corps Volunteer and, most importantly, had some fun.

I visited a small campo of about 1,500 people that is centrally located between the cities of Santiago, Moca and La Vega. The town was about the exact size I wish to be placed in. Small enough to know most everybody and build great confianza while large enough to have occasional electricity and running water.

I had the opportunity to visit my first Dominican beach during my trip. On Friday, a small group of current and future volunteers made the trip to the northern beach town of Sosua. I got to swim, snorkel and burn crispy over the course of the day. The Caribbean sun is not going to be my best friend in the 2 years to come. The beach was beautiful and not full of tourists, which is batting 2 for 2. And in the Dominican, batting average is of the utmost importance.

I got to experience the slow-paced life to come and see where I stand with my language skills as compared to current volunteers. I also got to hear some of the inside stories shared amongst volunteers that we are not privy to at the training center. After getting to meet a number of volunteers and get a small glimpse into the life of a volunteer, I am most definitely ready to start my service.

In the days to come it is back to being over-fed and overprotected by Donas and long days of language and technical training in the barrios of Santo Domingo. While it is hard not to love the Donas and our training center, I'm ready for a change of pace and a change of scenery.

This coming Thursday we will be leaving the Capital once again, this time for 5 weeks. After a few short days of training we will be breaking up by job sector to begin our Community-Based Training. It will be sad to leave the entire group of people that we are still getting to know, but good to get some practice in the work we will be doing come November. I have heard nothing but great things about the city of Constanza where my training will take place and am ready to head to the mountains for some cooler weather and outdoor activities. Anywhere with less heat, humidity and mosquitoes is most welcome by me.

On a less exciting note, our group of 51 became a group of 49 today. Two trainees decided after their Volunteer Visit that this was not for them. It was strange to watch the first people go and disappointing to realize that this will happen time and again throughout the next 27 months. Every group hopes to pass everyone through, but that's not entirely realistic. Seeing them leave really reinforced the difficult challenges ahead and proves that this is not for everyone.