Volunteering in the DR

Chisme. I need to back track a couple of months on my chisme.....I did find a place to live, and so my new two bedroom house and indoor bathroom is about a 10-15 walk outside of the middle of town, but I love my barrio. Not many people do – when I tell them where I live they look at me as if I am crazy. Why would you want to live there? So many tigueres. So far away from town? And by yourself? But i am not alone, I have my crazy dog that loves to run away from my house but always comes back randomly for meals, and some pretty dynamic neighbors and tend to look out for me. My one complaint to my new place? I seemed to have chosen the only street in my barrio where the water does not reach. I had running water for the first two weeks, where I could easily fill my tinaco when they sent the water. Now the pipes are clogged (from rain in early June) and no water makes it to my house. I was pretty upset to say the least. Then I discovered, a few blocks from my house, a hose that is always running. I managed to fill my buckets with my neighbors help a few times, and learned how to collect rainwater from the gutters. Pretty neat handy white pvc pipe that collects the water from my tin roof and deposits it into my little bucket so I can then fill my large bucket. I learned this through one of my friends, because being the spoiled person that I am, I didn’t know the pipe was there to collect rainwater. I just left my bucket out in the rain to collect water but kept feeling disappointed when I hardly collected any. At that point, I was water-less, lonely and nearly in tears. My friends laughed at me when I told them, called me a dummy and kindly pointed out the pipe. The next time it rained, I carefully placed my bucket by the pipe and it magically filled up much more quickly than with the random drops. Now you’re dominican they tell me. I love it when it rains (rain on my tin roof is so loud, but calming, in a strange way). Then my other friend introduced me to the ultimate water-truck-man, thank you very much. This man collects water from the rivers and drives around town selling water. A bit on the expensive side, but it is totally worth every peso. I still collect rainwater, and am super conservative/frugal with the water I do have, but at least now I know that if I am totally desperate and super dirty, I can call the water-truck-man. Two months since we last received water, but it is now the beginning of a beautiful friendship, between the water-truck-man and myself. Living alone, as a woman, can definitely be a cause for intrigue and chisme. Either I work out of my house (which I do, but not in that way) or I am rich and living the life, willing to support anyone that comes my way, basically a visa. I have heard several chisme about me. First one is that I am dating one of my good friends, or basically any male that is allowed into my house, (which is why I always keep the door and windows open so that people can clearly see inside to the little red plastic table that sits in my living room). They call me his visa. Not true. The other one was started by another friend that I supposedly have two husbands, and so there is always a man in my house. This is to keep the tigueres away. I don’t mind that one, whatever works. The latest is that I bought my friend a motorcyle. I thought that was funny, because why would I buy him a motorcycle and not myself – especially when they see me walking, sweating in the hot carribean sun while he rides up and down town? Oh right, machismo. That chisme, by the way, is not true either. I am sure there are others out there, but I have yet to hear them. I don’t get as much chisme as when I was living in my host family’s house. That was chisme central. Instead, I tend to sit in my matching red plastic chair working on my computer, with all four globe locks on my doors. So no one just magically invites themselves in. I have been warned many times to keep the locks on because people will just come in, which is true. I hate the idea of closing myself off to my community, but I have found myself in the kitchen only to turn around and find my teen neighbor right behind me. Pretty creepy, and so now I keep the locks on. Plus all my windows (including the bathroom) have bars on them, so I do feel safe. There is a swampy area behind my house, and so my house is pretty popular with the mosquitos. Just ask Becky, who loved it. I find lizards on my walls, and the occasional frogs. Those are fun to chase out of my house. I am afraid they are going to jump into my face. Thankfully no tarantulas (they tend to hang out in the banana / plantain trees), just the other large spiders that jump. But they eat mosquitos so I leave them be. A couple of weeks ago I discovered the killing the spot for the pigs and cows. Now I know why I hear the moo-ing from my house without ever seeing any cows. My barrio is pretty quiet, very different from my old house. Sometimes all I can hear is the frogs at night.