Project 365: End of October (13/10/2010 – 04/11/2010)

What hurricane?: 10/13/2010 - 11/04/2010

Sooooo I haven’t been taking a lot of photos lately, mainly because I’ve been SO SO BUSY these past few weeks that I’ve forgotten to take photos. I left my site last Tuesday to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new volunteers and also attend homecoming (Peace Corps: Just Like High School) and also to take lil’ Tanooks to the vet in Santo Domingo. So of course as I am on the guagua to Santo Domingo I get a call that we are being consolidated that Friday to la capital for a training on cholera. So, I have to stay one day longer than I originally intended to, okay, I can handle that. Get there, get the puppers dewormed and her first rabies shot and attend homecoming which was just like high school only it was in a bar and they played American music and at one point I was in a junked car that they had placed in the plaza inside, yay!

Thursday was a despedida (Dominican for “GOING AWAY FIESTA” and you know what fiesta means!) so of course we end up at a bar with the people who just finished their 2 years of service and then eventually we head over to a Casino nearby where we get free drinks and food and I play blackjack for a while, yes blackjack, even though I have never gambled in my life except for those 2 dollars I spent on the slots in the middle of nowhere Iowa and maybe 3 bucks on the Oregon coast. By the time I’m up 600 pesos (a little over 15 dollars) I look at my stack of chips, think about how much money I made, and immediately announce “OKAY! I’m leaving now!” and get up and cash out. The house always wins, and I do not want to test that little theory out while I’m so broke.

Next day is cholera training, which is terrifying because it’s like I’m on the Oregon trail now, only I have a cell phone and it’s MY LIFE for the next 19 months. I thought I had to be careful with the water before, but now it looks like I have to be super duper extra special careful unless I want to be vomiting and shitting out 10 liters of water and face the risk of immediate, crippling dehydration and the possibility of a swift death. Bueno.

Friday night we decide to go out to the gay clubs but get thwarted so instead we end up at some regular clubs and dance dance dance. I end up dead-legging some folks (my favorite ninja pastime) and everyone deadlegs me, which leaves me with a leg that is more or less useless for a few days, just get me my walker and I’ll be fine, harhar. Decide to stay till Monday so I can pick up some meds and then as I’m trying to leave Monday we get word that we’re probably going to be consolidated, which is fancy Peace Corps language for “LET’S PUT 60 OF YOU IN A HOTEL SO YOU DON’T DIE FROM THE HURRICANE BUT INSTEAD KILL EACH OTHER THROUGH CABIN FEVER.” So here I am, in a swanky hotel in Santiago, with nothing to do and nowhere to go and no money to spend except to wait for the delicious meals we get in the hotel restaurant. Oh and download things. And watch TV shows. The good part is that I can finally sleep in because roosters, ducks, dogs, and motos aren’t waking me at 6am every morning, but the bad part is that all this luxury is somewhat hard to deal with… where do i put my time?! watching cable tv or surfing the internet?! human interaction, what’s that!? Thank god I got about 1,000 books from friends back home so at least I can learn lots while I am here. Or something.

Since I haven’t posted a lot of photos, and since most of them are really of my dog being cute, I’ll just post some random photos here:

Me cat, you dog: 10/13/2010 - 11/04/2010

Shared a room with my friend Sarah and her cat, Max, who ate my dogs food and then taught my dog how to use the litterbox. They were friends… except when Max tried to bite off Tanuki’s ears.

You may want to re-think this, Tanuki: 10/13/2010 - 11/04/2010

Apparently when Tanuki has no worms she has TONS of energy, almost like she wasn’t a malnourished flea-covered worm-filled verge-of-death dog like when I got her. Here she is attempting to use another dogs hind legs as a teething toy. Thank god that dog didn’t mind so much, because Tanuki is about 3 pounds to that dog’s 30.

CABINNN FEVVEERRR: 10/13/2010 - 11/04/2010

A group meeting for those of us consolidated to Santiago.

Peace Corps in action: 10/13/2010 - 11/04/2010

Some of the volunteers playing Settlers of Cattan in their room. Waiting. Always waiting. So bored.