thirteen.

so i can't sleep. i think i had my second malaria pill nightmare tonight, and it was crazy. while most of my friends here have deep troubling metaphorical imagery, i got shocked out of sleep and now can't bring myself to get back to it. in fact, its hard to describe, because what occured felt as though it was happening in a completely awakened state, which made it even more intense. i dreamt, or at least that's the only way to describe it, that an insect, kinda like a centipede but bigger, with less legs, and much larger frontal claw things, was crawling in my bed. what made me freak out even more, is when i awoke from that image, i saw the creature crawl under my pillow. so i dove out of bed, flicked on the lights, and proceeded to search every inch of my bed for remnants of said monstrocity. and guess what, well, of course, there was nothing there. except now, my skin is crawling with imaginary critters, and the only thing i can do is lie still and hope that my mind shuts off at one point. i hope its not like this for two years. i am definitely going to have to learn to control these phenomena, learn to react properly. cuz if i freak every time, i'll loose my sleep, my mind, and my usefulness as a volunteer. how can a person help their community if they can't even help themselves through a little sleep. hey, at least i'm in miami, in a sweet hotel, until the gov't decides to finally send us to honduras. here, i can tell myself it was all a dream. had this happened in the campo, i would spend all night hunting through my hut, knife in my teeth, flashlight in my hand, searching for the mysterious night monster. oh well, just thought i should share with you guys. i'll try to sleep for now, and if something else comes to me in my sleep, i'll share it too.

twelve.

so, jewish luck strikes again. kind of. our plans today included a lay over in miami, which was supposed to be only an hour and a half, and is now turning into...well, an overnighter. however, this will give us an opportunity to get a hot shower, some american food, and a chance to call home and whatnot. i don't have my cellphone any longer, so i will try to make calls from a friend's cell, or the hotel's room phone. but it's all up in the air for now. it seems as though some higher power is trying to prevent our departure for honduras. regardless, it is only becoming more of a rediculous experience for all of us. many of the volunteers have been stricken by a misterious stomach related illness, and hopefully we won't all end up hospitalized, but anything is possible with our run of mala suerte. i guess one can look at it from a different perspective, but for now, with no sleep and aggravation in the eyes of everyone, I'll keep my optimism to myself. will write more when more is to be written.

eleven.

alright, for those of you who are actually reading this thing religiously, i have some bad news. i will be out of interwebs reach for possibly some time, and will try my best to write. however, on wed, i will be flying to honduras, and my schedule will include a lot of remote places and moving around. first, we will be in zarabanda, a rural community outside of tegucigalpa. then we will move in 1 week to a technical training site for PAM (protected areas management) site, which will be a 7 week experience. there, we will def not have internet, and i will attempt to travel to the nearest internet cafe once a week. but no promises. finally, at the end of september, we will be sent to our final sites, 60% of which have no electricity. basically, i may be out of reach for some time. i will be getting a cell phone on thurs, but i have no idea how it will work. so if i call you, count it luck, and if i dont, dont take it personally. anyway, otherwise there hasnt been much news. training has been the same as usual. if i have any crazy experiences, i will write them as soon as i can. until then. love.

p.s. my friend jessie made a video, of our training days. i dance in it. you may want to watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnnGN9tDKTg

ten.

Part 2.

Alright, well, due to technical difficulties, i wish to add to this entry prior to going to a cafe, as more has happened today, that should be written, discussed etc. this morning we went to a current volunteer's site, and spent the day with her. she is also an environmental project volunteer, although here, in DR, its not called Protected Areas Management. and she is a perfect example of a great volunteer. she is loved by her community, her host country counterpart, and she is very successful in the projects that she has undertaken. her work currently involves improving the cooking stoves, or fugones, of the community in which she lives. so far, a large proportion of the village of only 250 people have constructed and learned how to use the estufas mejoradas, or improved stoves, which greatly reduced the amount of smoke which the women have to breathe, as well as reducing cooking time, increasing quality, etc. basically, this project not only improves the quality of life, but reduces environmental and health impacts of daily activity. its amazing. she has managed to gain the trust of everyone in her community, working with the whole village to complete this difficult project. she even received monetary support from US organizations, friends, and family. and, now as she completes this stage of her service, she has already begun a nursery, and a latrine project. basically, she is the model to which we all should aspire. regardless, today was awesome. much of it was spent riding in a bus, which gave us some time to see the dominican countryside, which reflected greatly the current status of life in the campo here. the majority of people live in small poorly-constructed shacks, which provide adequate protection, however frequently collapse or fall into nearby ravines. but at the same time, people seem comfortable, which does not surprise me. as long as they're not starving, have their family close, and get a chance to drink a beer and play dominos, they're happy. maybe that's what life is all about.

Part 1.

So, three things have happened in the last 24 hours that are worth mentioning to you guys. First and foremost, our group of PCT's is going to Honduras. At first, the was some doubt regarding our situation, especially with the violence that occured in the capital when Mel Zelaya tried to return, but today Washington approved our departure on Tuesday. We are finally going to start our technical training, and soon, if all goes well, begin our service as Honduran PCV's. Of course, this will require some work on our parts, but I'm not worried. In fact, I think that we have an excellent batch of people. The majority of us are ecstatic about the news, and those that are currently suffering from malaise, depression, or disease, will probably be much happier once their conditions pass. I had my bout, a couple of days ago, and now, I am back to high spirits and high hopes. I feel awesome. Anyway, so that's news number one. Two. What was two again? Oh right, my family named a kitten after me. Yeah that's right. There's now a little Dima running around here, somewhere, squealing at the top of his lungs. He's adorable, and if you look at my web album, you should see the pictures of him with his little brother. The other one was given to my host aunt, who lives next door, but Dima belongs to my family, and as long as he's around, they may think of me once in a while. I think in fact that things are going wonderfully. I get along great with the "mom", my host sisters love me, and the little kids who run around here are in awe of us volunteers, so they're easy to please. My new friend here is Johandy, who is a brilliant hard working kid, who seems to get life pretty well. I hope one day he does something amazing, in fact I know he will, just with the right motivation and pressure. And since all of the children in the family are either done with, or working on, advanced degrees, I think he will be just fine. Maybe, I will have some impact on him as well, although I doubt it, since I'll only have been here for three weeks when I leave. But yeah, anyway, so kitten = Dima. More awesome. And finally, the third thing, is I finally did some manual labor. So there's this building being constructed in front of my "mom's" house, or well, in front isnt exactly the best explanation. Picture walking out of your door, and 6-10 feet in front of you, starts another building. Anyway, so the guys building it, dumped a bunch of dirt and trash in the space between the building and the house. Well, I, along with Johandy and Carlito, removed all the construction debris, dug out a lot of the dirt, and leveled the whole area, so now my "mom" has something that resembles a small patio. Maybe, the construction guys will be nice enough to pave the whole thing, and then it will be nice digs all around. What's funny about the whole thing, is that all of the trash we collected, was later dumped down the street, into a ravine with a small river below it. When I saw what was at the bottom, I almost cried, as it seems that the area has become a local garbage dump. But then, I realized, that the people of this part of Don Gregorio, have no other options. Noone comes to pick up their trash, and either they burn it in their yards, or they dump it down the street. What else can they do. Maybe, if they had a PCV living here, they could start some sort of trash collection, recycling program, but I doubt it would catch on here. Regardless, it still sucks. But, for now, I'm gonna let it go, and go back to reading George R.R. Martin. If you haven't read his Song of Ice and Fire series, check it out. Alright, for now that's it. Hope all is well with all of you. Write me.

update.

alright, so the whole photo thing is sorted out. i hope google doesnt one day decide to steal all of the materials of its users, and their souls, as i have now placed more of myself in their care. anyway, here it is, the link to my pictures on picasa. enjoy guys. i will upload when i have time.

picasaweb.google.com/dgersh