Letter to grandma

The following is an email I sent to my grandma some time ago. I liked it and didn't want to write more, so I thought I would share it. I don't  think she'll mind.

Hi Grandma,

 

I realized that I haven’t sent you a letter or postcard yet, perhaps in February!  Anyways, I’m going to try to call you today but am not sure if it will work. Hope that you got to try the hot chocolate and coffee I sent.  I’m not sure if the coffee will be all that great.  – It is certainly a very very dark roast. Sometimes it’s really good here and other times I think it’s only enjoyable because they put SO much sugar in it.  Reminds me of Nick and his tea cups, except these are grown adults and Nick’s tea would be considered lacking sugar – or even ‘bitter’.

 

Nina mentioned to me the other day that all I ever write about in my blog is food – at least it’s always mentioned.  But I sort of have to, life is very simple here in that way (which I like). There isn’t a whole lot to think about here besides the heat, the cold, the rain, the mud, and the fruits.  Some volunteers suspect that this is why so many Dominicans spend a good part of their day and pocketbook on lottery tickets. Each day they wait around for signs telling them which numbers to play – it’s simultaneously amusing and sickening to a cheap but romantic guy like me.  Just now I’m watching some lizards make love – they aren’t nearly as funny to watch as the ducks.  We recently finished some rainy cold weather, which reminded me of a rainy day in the summer in the trailer in Paradise. The ducks, which live nowhere near any pond or other body of water really liked it, but I had a constant longing for the ‘walk like an Egyptian’ song, sandy carpeting, ritz crackers, and ‘The Gods must be crazy’.

 

Movies and reading are fun here.  I’ve begun reading at night.  I generally am avoiding reading since it’s probably the most common way for volunteers to avoid their work.  By work I mean sitting around and chilling with the gente (people).  If you can imagine, Dominicans don’t sit around in their living room quietly each reading their own novel.  However, we did sit in the living room this morning watching RAMBO, now that’s America! So anyways, Rambo and Jackie Chan by day, and at night I fall asleep reading about some guy’s adventures in Austrailia living with Aboriginees. It’s really nothing like Crocodile Dundee, a bit like The God’s must be Crazy, and has interesting parallels to my experiences here.

 

            I’ll close with more mention of food. The day before yesterday we picked a couple grapefruit while collecting firewood. I had a desire to eat them as I would at home – cut in half and with a serrated grapefruit spoon.  WE do not have grapefruit spoons here. So I was a bit worried. As the dishes were dirty I couldn’t even find a decent sized regular teaspoon.  I ended up applying the Dominican method for eating an orange (maybe I’ll send pictures later).  After perhaps six months here, my life is changed forever, I will never have to search for a grapefruit spoon again.  I can now enjoy delicious grapefruit with no more than a knife or machete and my own face.

 

However silly, I thought this was a good example of how the Peace Corps is a unique and life changing experience.  There are so many things big and small, good and bad that I will learn here about life, people, grapefruit, and myself that I never could have imagined or planned for.

 

Love,

 

Ryan