Llego Papa

I'm here! Not only did we decide on a site, I mover there! Big stuff happening. 

So, I arrived yesterday around 5pm. It took me 5 hours to get here in, of course, the pouring rain. Why is it always raining! Before we left, I gave Rosy a good tuning up, and by me I mean I went to a mechanic and he did it. She got new all-terrain tires, oil-changed, gears/chains tightened and greased up good to go!

I got here and my landlord and key project partner (if you will) Frank was putting the finishing touches on the house, things like water and electricity: 

I bet you're thinking, "wow, that's nicer than I imagined". You probably thought I was going to live in a shanty, half underground and eat dirt, worms and bathe myself in reclaimed pig urine.....well, me too.

Seriously, its a very comfortable 3 bedroom block structure with "constant" water and electricity every now and then. I feel very fortunate to be here. Restauracion is a very cool town. To re-iterate, Restauracion is a semi-developed town (paved streets, mostly block homes, small stores, etc) and is surrounded by 7 villages (the opposite of the town). Our work will primarily be in those villages and Haiti. I chose to live in the town because I believe I can still be an effective development worker and not have to bathe myself in reclaimed pig  urine :) . Having Rosalia with me makes getting to those villages easier.

Anyways! Today was my first full day, so I spent the morning outside reading and catching up on some work in hopes that I could meet some people as they walked by. I was reading my bible a little and praying for some encouragement (its lonely sometimes guys) and almost immediately a group of Jehovas Witnesses comes to my patio an starts chatting me up. Gods sense of humor? Super nice group of people, and not even 20 minutes after they leave another pair of Witnesses comes up and talks with me. Apparently, 25% of Restauracion are JW's, ha. Interesting tidbit for ya. It was great to meet them and boosted my confidence. 

Shortly after, the Peace Corps volunteer that lives here (yup there is one here, Garrett) came by and he showed me around the community a little bit, and we got to meet a few people he knows/has worked with, which was great! At this point in the project (first day) I am trying to feel out who the leaders are and who are the people with influence/are willing to learn and better the community. This involves a lot of small talk, which i'm not super good at, but trying hard. 

I feel like I have had a pretty productive first day in terms of meeting people and getting my life organized and ready to go. I have a lot of great leads on potential project partners and people who would be interested in volunteering for the foundation. Tomorrow I hope to take Rosy out to the villages and see what they are all about. Also, I have a Pica Pollo (fried chicken) guy now. Great chicken. 

It feels a lot like i'm doing PC all over again, but this time I know exactly how to get started instead of stumbling through the first 9 months, ha. Not to mention, I know a scoche more Spanish. I know I am still on a learning curve because this is a new community, but I'm excited to get started! 

Adios!