a day in the life
Hello, the Internet! Here is a Day in the Life photo set. The day in question was: February 26, 2010.
Starting Friday, February 26! Feb 27 is the Dominican Independence Day, so I had the day off and got to sleep in.
I started the day by confronting my bathoom, which frequently floods overnight. My landlord claims that to fix the problem, he would have to "remove the wall" and "redo every pipe." I kind of think he just doesn't want to fix it, but whatevs.
I haven't put away my clean laundry since picking it up a few days ago, so it's still in my awesome Jonas Brothers bag.
Making some coffee in my greca! For some reason the flash cancelled out the gas flame in the photo every time I tried to take a photo. Whatev, you all don't need to see how my stove works.
By the way, the power was out this morning and my cavelike apartment has no easily-opened windows, so I navigated through my morning by one LED worklight and a flashlight. It ocurred to me that I haven't seen my useful headlamp in quite some time, so I decided to check to see if Duarte maybe dragged it under the bed. No luck, but I did find some other things...
Breakfast! Sabaneta yogurt is made in the next town over from me, and it's awesome.
Duarte wants to eat my yogurt but all he gets is a squirt in the face.
FYI Peace Corps gives prenatal vitamins to the vegetarians. They say it's for the extra iron but I think it's because vegetarians are so hott we're likely to get impregnated at any moment.
Every morning Duarte makes a run for it as I leave my house. There is like a one foot wide strip of grass surrounded by barbed wire on the side of my house, and that's where he hangs out. (Duarts isn't allowed outside because he is a baby and doesn't have all his shots yet, and also because sometimes people leave poisoned meat outside to kill stray dogs.)
This is the view of my street as I leave my apartment. Note the enormous puddles and contemplate how gross my feet get when I walk back home in the dark.
This is the corner of my street and the main street of the neighborhood. Motoconchos--motorcycle taxis--hang out here, waiting to take me anywhere I want to go for 20 pesos (~75 cents).
Here's the community center I work at! It's under construction. We got funding to add three new classrooms!
~*Living the DREAM*~
As I walk up to school, a motoconchista hands me a stack of copies. We get them made in town and then delivered by motorcycle. Sweet. (If you look closely, you can learn some Spanish computer vocabulary here!)
Because of the construction, we now have to enter the school via this scary tunnel.
It is held up by 2x4s and shit!
Here's the computer lab where I work.
We got sweet iMacs donated! Also please note the classroom decorations I made.
Zoom in on my personal favorite of the class decs. Keep on truckin'.
Someone donated these HSM mini chalkboards and I try to incorporate them into class as often as possible. We used to have Hello Kitty mini whiteboards but I think someone stole them.
Soo we got these little netbooks subsidized and we're giving them to some local teachers. But first somone, AKA the Peace Corps volunteeer, AKA me, has to set them up and everything. While doing so, I play Lady Gaga (what else) on my own laptop. Rad.
Workshop in progress.
We distributed the laptops and everyone was mad pumped!
Dominican lunch: moro (seasoned rice & beans) and salad.
After the workshop and lunch, I had the afternoon off! I went back to my still-dark apartment to settle in with a book and some Oreos I’d been hoarding, which were delicious.
Duarte was very interested in my flashlight.
Duarte was also very interested in my book-or at least interested in preventing me from reading it.
After reading and snacking, I headed off for the fancy grocery store!
It’s the weekend! That means wine and Sun Chips!
I headed over to visit friends staying at a condo in the next tourist town over. Look at this neighborhood! So fancy!
Duarte would have so much fun in a yard like that!
Here are my friends and fellow Peace Corps volunteers Pete and Michal enjoying wireless Internet and cable TV!
Here is the view from the balcony of this sweet condo.
Cheers to the weekend and to the condo! (Aka the Condor.)
Michal and Pete start making dinner while I take photos and feign interest in helping.
Mmm, homemade sauce.
Straining the pasta in the bathroom-it’s a nice condo, but we are still in the DR after all.
We got SO INTO this curling match, you don't even know. After reading the Wikipedia page about curling we were practically Canadian.
I got home late at night (should have taken photos of my late night moto ride, but oh well) and realized I hadn’t taken any pictures of myself all day. So, here I am.
And now, to sleep! With my baby lavender pillow spray because I am a fussy sleeper.
Starting Friday, February 26! Feb 27 is the Dominican Independence Day, so I had the day off and got to sleep in.
I started the day by confronting my bathoom, which frequently floods overnight. My landlord claims that to fix the problem, he would have to "remove the wall" and "redo every pipe." I kind of think he just doesn't want to fix it, but whatevs.
I haven't put away my clean laundry since picking it up a few days ago, so it's still in my awesome Jonas Brothers bag.
Making some coffee in my greca! For some reason the flash cancelled out the gas flame in the photo every time I tried to take a photo. Whatev, you all don't need to see how my stove works.
By the way, the power was out this morning and my cavelike apartment has no easily-opened windows, so I navigated through my morning by one LED worklight and a flashlight. It ocurred to me that I haven't seen my useful headlamp in quite some time, so I decided to check to see if Duarte maybe dragged it under the bed. No luck, but I did find some other things...
Breakfast! Sabaneta yogurt is made in the next town over from me, and it's awesome.
Duarte wants to eat my yogurt but all he gets is a squirt in the face.
FYI Peace Corps gives prenatal vitamins to the vegetarians. They say it's for the extra iron but I think it's because vegetarians are so hott we're likely to get impregnated at any moment.
Every morning Duarte makes a run for it as I leave my house. There is like a one foot wide strip of grass surrounded by barbed wire on the side of my house, and that's where he hangs out. (Duarts isn't allowed outside because he is a baby and doesn't have all his shots yet, and also because sometimes people leave poisoned meat outside to kill stray dogs.)
This is the view of my street as I leave my apartment. Note the enormous puddles and contemplate how gross my feet get when I walk back home in the dark.
This is the corner of my street and the main street of the neighborhood. Motoconchos--motorcycle taxis--hang out here, waiting to take me anywhere I want to go for 20 pesos (~75 cents).
Here's the community center I work at! It's under construction. We got funding to add three new classrooms!
~*Living the DREAM*~
As I walk up to school, a motoconchista hands me a stack of copies. We get them made in town and then delivered by motorcycle. Sweet. (If you look closely, you can learn some Spanish computer vocabulary here!)
Because of the construction, we now have to enter the school via this scary tunnel.
It is held up by 2x4s and shit!
Here's the computer lab where I work.
We got sweet iMacs donated! Also please note the classroom decorations I made.
Zoom in on my personal favorite of the class decs. Keep on truckin'.
Someone donated these HSM mini chalkboards and I try to incorporate them into class as often as possible. We used to have Hello Kitty mini whiteboards but I think someone stole them.
Soo we got these little netbooks subsidized and we're giving them to some local teachers. But first somone, AKA the Peace Corps volunteeer, AKA me, has to set them up and everything. While doing so, I play Lady Gaga (what else) on my own laptop. Rad.
Workshop in progress.
We distributed the laptops and everyone was mad pumped!
Dominican lunch: moro (seasoned rice & beans) and salad.
After the workshop and lunch, I had the afternoon off! I went back to my still-dark apartment to settle in with a book and some Oreos I’d been hoarding, which were delicious.
Duarte was very interested in my flashlight.
Duarte was also very interested in my book-or at least interested in preventing me from reading it.
After reading and snacking, I headed off for the fancy grocery store!
It’s the weekend! That means wine and Sun Chips!
I headed over to visit friends staying at a condo in the next tourist town over. Look at this neighborhood! So fancy!
Duarte would have so much fun in a yard like that!
Here are my friends and fellow Peace Corps volunteers Pete and Michal enjoying wireless Internet and cable TV!
Here is the view from the balcony of this sweet condo.
Cheers to the weekend and to the condo! (Aka the Condor.)
Michal and Pete start making dinner while I take photos and feign interest in helping.
Mmm, homemade sauce.
Straining the pasta in the bathroom-it’s a nice condo, but we are still in the DR after all.
We got SO INTO this curling match, you don't even know. After reading the Wikipedia page about curling we were practically Canadian.
I got home late at night (should have taken photos of my late night moto ride, but oh well) and realized I hadn’t taken any pictures of myself all day. So, here I am.
And now, to sleep! With my baby lavender pillow spray because I am a fussy sleeper.