Byen Vini an Dominik

so i arrived in dominica on monday afternoon. it's a beautiful island with green everywhere with help from the many rivers and constant rain. i arrived at my host family's that evening - hermina and franco and then next door is evo, bernie, and ethan. everyone has been very welcoming and nice. i am their fifth PCV, so they are understanding about where i'm coming from and what i'm going through. hermina cooks and is teaching me about much of the preparation as we go along so hopefully by the end of the 7 weeks i will be able to feed myself sufficiently. we have a mango and 2 coconut trees in our yard as well as some root vegetables. it's pretty cool. my favorite food so far is probably the cocoa tea. i'm not sure what's in it besides the cocoa (maybe some nutmeg and bay leaves) but it's really great. i also made bakes w/ hermina which are basically fried biscuts. also great.

the house itself is quite nice, nicer than i was expecting. i have my own room. at night i fall asleep listening to the sounds of the rainforest and in the morning i wake up to the neighbor's roosters, who begin crowing way too early for me.

in the evening, i've been watching discovery channel, especially cash cab. it's on right before the dominican news at 8, so it coincides nicely. hermina makes ginger or cinnamon tea after the news. it's delicious.

my village is residental. i live near a playing field where a football academy practices. they are sponsored by someone in england who helps supply equipment etc.

i pass by the chinese-built cricket stadium on my way to town (the capital) every day. people here seem to be big fans of the chinese and the venezuelan governments as they have provided much financial assistance recently.

all the roads are under construction. the prime minister started this initiative. in the short term, this makes the roads more difficult to pass, but in the long run will be incredibly helpful. my first taxi driver said he has his phd in driving, both in that you need to be an expert to drive here and as an acronym for pot hole driving. very true, i'm finding.

the buses are usually very crowded. i am still learning how to go about telling the drivers when to stop for me, etc. yesterday two young girls (like 12 or so) were very interested in me on the bus and kept touching my skin. they were also talking about me in creole though of course i'm not sure what was said.

we have creole lessons a few times a week. i've learned a few phrases so far and franco is big on speaking to me in creole. i have some trouble understanding people when they are speaking english let alone creole but i will get there eventually.

the next 7 weeks will be a mix of training, shadowing important community leaders, school visits, and work site visits. right now i am at my work site. i met with the director, lennox, this morning. we talked about my job assignments and what they expect of me. i will be doing individual and group therapy with the kids who live here (ages 9-17). i will also set up a parent group and teach basic math and reading to two of the children who are developmentally behind. i got here at 9 this morning because that's what time my PC director told me to arrive, but the children are all at school till 2, so i have a lot of time to kill. i don't have internet in my homestay, so i am taking advantage of it here while i can. i suppose my schedule will change a bit and i will come in later in the future.