Finally out of Santo Domingo

We have left Santo Domingo behind, along with the initial core training section of Entrena, and have moved onto the CBT training session.  CBT will focus on the technical side of our training: farming, stove building, plant recognition and all sorts of other fun environment related things.  The CBT training will take place in the mountains just north of Santiago in a grouping of four small mountain pueblos.  Our actual classes will be taking place in a a building that was originally built to be Trujillo's summer home, and local legend says that the mansion is also the real scene of the murder of the Mirabel sisters, who opposed Trujillo's dictatorship.  Today, we were in Monte Cristi, a small town on the North Coast with a distinctly French feel within eyesight of Haiti.  It has been a breath of fresh air to escape the cluster, congestion and pollution of the capital.  I am looking forward to the next five weeks of CBT training with high expectations.

Week One... First Post

Well do to the slow internet at Entrena, my training site, and the lack of reliable internet in my barrio this is my first update from the DR.  I am currently in Pantoja, a barrio just outside of Santo Domingo, and I have been kept extremely busy by the packed training schedule.  Everyday we have at least 2 hours of Spanish training to go along with culture training and simply surviving daily lifew here in the DR.  Despite speaking only rudimentary Spanish I have so far managed to get by and am improving my language every day.  I have made a few trips into Santo Domingo, public transportation here is very chaotic, and our group will be going in again on Sunday to tour La Zona Colonial.  The other big news of the week is that we will all be going to visit volunteers next Thursday and staying with them through Sunday.  I am very excited about my trip as I will be visiting Santiago, the DRs second city.  It is in the heart of el Valle Ciabao and is supposed to be very relaxed and beautiful.  For now, however, I must say adios because I am on public internet and it costs.  Hopefully before I leave for Santiago I will have the opportunity to put up a few pictures and show everyone around Santo Domingo a little bit.  Until then, adios y vaya con dios.

I had a blast in DC, we are heading down to Santo Domingo in the morning bright and early.  The 3:45 check out time is going to come very fast, and it is going to be a long day of travel, but I am excited and ready to get started on this whole Peace Corps thing.

Hanging in DC....