My Little Green House

The day that I came home from 3 month IST (the training in February) I moved into my new little green house. Having a strange housing situation where I slept in one town with a host family and had to take a motorcycle ride up to the next town to work every day and then return in the evening back to where I slept was stressful. I was able to network with people in the town over and get a break from my site and my project partner counterparts, but not being the biggest fan of motorcycle rides and having to cut meetings short or travel later than wanted did not make my situation any more enjoyable. Luckily I loved my host family and the family that I spent my days with.

Despite, my love of spending time with both of my families and the benefits my host families had on my integration in my community, I was frantically searching for a house that I could move into at the end of my first 3 months. I did not want to take a moto ride every day; I wanted to be able to make my own food; I wanted to listen to my music without headphones; I wanted to have a minute of privacy; I wanted to be able to take showers and use the bathroom when I wanted to; I just wanted all of the many freedoms I had become accustomed to in the States.

It seemed like a miracle when a professor that works in the city and owns a two-roomed green house said we could talk about me renting from him. Talking to the owner, who is nearly fluent in English as he is the English professor at the city’s university and is very understanding and kind, we discussed the price of my rent and when I could move in. Eventually we settled on a price of 1,700 pesos monthly to rent this house (about US $38/ month). I also have to pay for electricity separately, which for the first month came out to a whooping 94 pesos (about $2). When agreements were all squared away, papers were signed, and security checks made by administration in Peace Corps, I was able to move in! First I traveled to a local market on the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic to buy nearly all my dishes, pots and pans, sheets, and some food where I can buy these things extremely cheap, because they are imported from Haiti to be sold in the DR. I then bought my twin sized bed, my four-burner stove, and my gas tank in the nearby city and I was ready to move in!

Since I have moved into my house I have been making improvements, tried to make a table, filled my house with my new best friend, Lollipop (my rabbit), bought food, organized and decorated with pictures and notes on the walls, weeded, swept up, fumigated ants and tarantulas, and fixed up the fence surrounding my property so the goats can’t continue sneaking in and head butting all of my baby trees. This house was a great location, in my site where I work and not too far down the lane from my host family. This house is far from the well where I have to carry my water every day, but other than that, it is perfect. My little green house has two small rooms and the only indoor bathroom that I know of in my entire community. A toilet seat has never been so appreciated.

For 15 days of the month I do not have electricity at night and so I have been getting good use out of my flashlights and candles. I also have no running water in my house or outside of it for that matter. Daily I walk to the nearest wells, approximately a 10 minute walk down the road where I fill up old shampoo galloon jugs of water and carry them back to my house to cook, clean, brush my teeth, or flush my toilet. I have a tank in my house where I can collect more water than I need that day and store it for a day that I do not have time to walk to the well. I take bucket showers still, but in a real, indoor and spacious bathroom, which is infinitely better than before.

All in all I love my house and feel so lucky to have the opportunity to live on my own. I hope that soon I can have other volunteers come visit and friends and family from the states as well. Until then, Lollipop and I will be getting comfy in our new home.