[Exhausting work]
I am dog tired with only two half-days of rest in the last two weeks.
Those two weeks have been full of a combination of data collection and last-minute preparations for data collection. In days between surveying, I have been traveling to surveying communities to characterize them: talking with local authorities to figure out where the barrios of interest are, their relative composition of Dominicans and Haitians, devising plans for sampling in these barrios, etc. Days later, we travel to these communities to actually execute the data collection. I have my last couple of community visits today, and we'll finish out over the weekend.
This has been a great push to get this work done, and after Sunday, I'll be relieved to have some more rest and time to spend a couple days out of the city. The constant noise of the city is wearing on me, and I'm really looking forward to vacating to do something fun for a short time.
We're reaching an inflection point in the project. As we're finishing with the surveys, we're ramping up for the qualitative aspects of the projects. Trying to plan ways to make contacts with people in the communities where we've surveyed to coordinate in-depth interviews and recruit people for focus groups. It should be really interesting to see what comes out of these conversations - deeper, more detailed accounts of people's experiences. It will be information that transcends what we're able to gather through the more concrete survey format.
And for me, I'll be spending more and more time in front of the computer, entering data: the stacks of surveys are piling up and will be very time consuming to go through.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
A Slice of Life
Casa // House
I've had trouble sleeping in on my days off, because if I sleep past 8am, I wake up burning hot without fail. Today I realized why: the roof is made of zinc and heats up the entire room like an oven when the sun is up. An interesting circumstances that will force me to keep a regular sleep schedule.
There is a fan in every room of the house. The most powerful one doesn't start on its own (i.e. you need to spin the blades to get it up to full speed), and as a result the front cage is never on. The thing scared the bejeezus out of me at first, but now I'm pretty used to it.
We have a family of chihuahuas in the house: a mom (Samantha), a dad (Cuco) and a baby (a female, still to be named). They sleep in the backyard, but are allowed in the house during the day. Like most animals here they are obviously not spayed/neutered, but otherwise well taken care of. Everyday they are fed leftover rice, beans and meat. Samantha is a very sweet and affectionate animal, but receives none from the humans of the house.
Comida // Food
My host mom is always asking what I want to eat, and she serves me salads (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, sometimes with avocado) at lunch with my rice/beans/meat. When I arrived, she served a lot of (overcooked) boiled vegetables that I had to struggle to choke down. We asked if she'd serve us those vegetables (broccoli, carrots, green beans) raw, and apparently that's not a thing here, even if you do wash them in good water. She has stopped serving them, and has been serving salad instead.
Breakfast is usually some combination of two or three of the following: eggs, bread, mango, pineapple, cheese, salami.
Dinners are sometimes random. Last night, for example, was mashed potatoes and cheese with fried onions. But more often than not its pretty typical: rice, beans, meat, vegetables, fried plantains (maduros which are a good dessert or tostones which remind me of french fries)
Fresh juice is served at every meal. We've been drinking chinola (passionfruit) mostly, but have also had tamarindo. Dominicans sweeten all their drinks, almost too much. Batidos (smoothies) are the same way - fruit and ice blended with sweetened condensed milk. Half of one does me in - its so so so sweet.
Mangú is another interesting Dominican dish. Its like mashed potatoes but with plantain instead of potatoes.
A friend from the hospital threw a major party on Friday to cook sancocho for us. Sancocho is a rich stew with meat (usually pork), yucca, potato, carrots, etc. It was one of those events that we thought would be pretty low key, just us gathered around the table with a couple others. However, they pulled out all the stops with a big crowd on the roof of her apartment building; the rum/coke was flowing; the music was playing and the actually dinner didn't happen until 9pm. It was a blast.
Familia // Family
My host mom has two boys (one 6 years, the other 15), but only the youngest one stays with her. He is rambunctious and often runs down the street in his underwear. The older one lives with his father and is an aspiring baseballer. He visits on Thursdays. One of her nieces has also been staying with her since I arrived. It sounds like she will return home when school starts next month.
There are always people visiting the house, and they often come and go without notice. I have trouble keeping all the relations straight but the words tia (aunt) and sobrino/a (niece/nephew) are used often. It seems that these familiar terms are used relatively loosely, but who knows maybe all the neighbors are actually blood relations.
A señor (older man) that lives alone down the street because his wife and kids are in the states. He often comes to sit on our patio for some company, and my host mom often cooks extra food to bring over to him.
Transporte // Transportation
Its not always easy to get around in this town, but there are some cheap options.
Carros públicos (public cars) are essentially taxis that run up and down the main drag. You pay RD$20 (US$0.50) per person to ride, and as many people as fit will pile into the car. Carritos, as they call them, because they run up and down the Avenida, can only get you so far.
Motoconchos (motorcycle taxis) are another cheap (but demonstrably dangerous) option that will pick you up at home and take you where you need to go for RD$50 (US$1.30). There are also regular taxis available, but are significantly more expensive: usually about RD$200 (US$5.25) to get you somewhere in town.
Guaguas are buses that run a particular route and are pretty cheap, but similar to carritos, will pile in as many people as can fit. The routes and stops aren't marked, so you just kind of have to get to know the system of routes and wait until one comes.
What's most commonly seen on the roads is throwback models (mostly Toyotas) from the mid-1980s. Just like my childhood, but tripped out with subwoofers, etc.
Música // Music
It is everywhere here. Even when the electricity is out (which is at least a couple times a day), music is always audible in the street. There are certain songs that seem to crop up everywhere that I want to share. [Let me know if any of the links don't work; I know there may be videos here that may not be visible in the States and viceversa]
Pa'lante by El Chuape : I hear this song at least a couple times a day. Represents a Dominican style called Dembow, akin to reggaeton, but somehow uniquely Dominican. The song sounds raunchy (and it is), but its so catchy.
Desesperado by Zacarías Ferreira : This bachatero played a concert nearby SFM last Saturday. A few of us went and saw part of it (more on that later), and todo el mundo sings along at the top of their lungs to everything he sings, including this song with which he opened the concert.
Promise by Romeo Santos feat. Usher: Another good bachata jam that we hear all the time here. This song is pretty popular in the States right now, too.
Vocabulario // Vocabular
I've had trouble sleeping in on my days off, because if I sleep past 8am, I wake up burning hot without fail. Today I realized why: the roof is made of zinc and heats up the entire room like an oven when the sun is up. An interesting circumstances that will force me to keep a regular sleep schedule.
There is a fan in every room of the house. The most powerful one doesn't start on its own (i.e. you need to spin the blades to get it up to full speed), and as a result the front cage is never on. The thing scared the bejeezus out of me at first, but now I'm pretty used to it.
We have a family of chihuahuas in the house: a mom (Samantha), a dad (Cuco) and a baby (a female, still to be named). They sleep in the backyard, but are allowed in the house during the day. Like most animals here they are obviously not spayed/neutered, but otherwise well taken care of. Everyday they are fed leftover rice, beans and meat. Samantha is a very sweet and affectionate animal, but receives none from the humans of the house.
Comida // Food
My host mom is always asking what I want to eat, and she serves me salads (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, sometimes with avocado) at lunch with my rice/beans/meat. When I arrived, she served a lot of (overcooked) boiled vegetables that I had to struggle to choke down. We asked if she'd serve us those vegetables (broccoli, carrots, green beans) raw, and apparently that's not a thing here, even if you do wash them in good water. She has stopped serving them, and has been serving salad instead.
Breakfast is usually some combination of two or three of the following: eggs, bread, mango, pineapple, cheese, salami.
Dinners are sometimes random. Last night, for example, was mashed potatoes and cheese with fried onions. But more often than not its pretty typical: rice, beans, meat, vegetables, fried plantains (maduros which are a good dessert or tostones which remind me of french fries)
Fresh juice is served at every meal. We've been drinking chinola (passionfruit) mostly, but have also had tamarindo. Dominicans sweeten all their drinks, almost too much. Batidos (smoothies) are the same way - fruit and ice blended with sweetened condensed milk. Half of one does me in - its so so so sweet.
Mangú is another interesting Dominican dish. Its like mashed potatoes but with plantain instead of potatoes.
A friend from the hospital threw a major party on Friday to cook sancocho for us. Sancocho is a rich stew with meat (usually pork), yucca, potato, carrots, etc. It was one of those events that we thought would be pretty low key, just us gathered around the table with a couple others. However, they pulled out all the stops with a big crowd on the roof of her apartment building; the rum/coke was flowing; the music was playing and the actually dinner didn't happen until 9pm. It was a blast.
Familia // Family
My host mom has two boys (one 6 years, the other 15), but only the youngest one stays with her. He is rambunctious and often runs down the street in his underwear. The older one lives with his father and is an aspiring baseballer. He visits on Thursdays. One of her nieces has also been staying with her since I arrived. It sounds like she will return home when school starts next month.
There are always people visiting the house, and they often come and go without notice. I have trouble keeping all the relations straight but the words tia (aunt) and sobrino/a (niece/nephew) are used often. It seems that these familiar terms are used relatively loosely, but who knows maybe all the neighbors are actually blood relations.
A señor (older man) that lives alone down the street because his wife and kids are in the states. He often comes to sit on our patio for some company, and my host mom often cooks extra food to bring over to him.
Transporte // Transportation
Its not always easy to get around in this town, but there are some cheap options.
Carros públicos (public cars) are essentially taxis that run up and down the main drag. You pay RD$20 (US$0.50) per person to ride, and as many people as fit will pile into the car. Carritos, as they call them, because they run up and down the Avenida, can only get you so far.
Motoconchos (motorcycle taxis) are another cheap (but demonstrably dangerous) option that will pick you up at home and take you where you need to go for RD$50 (US$1.30). There are also regular taxis available, but are significantly more expensive: usually about RD$200 (US$5.25) to get you somewhere in town.
Guaguas are buses that run a particular route and are pretty cheap, but similar to carritos, will pile in as many people as can fit. The routes and stops aren't marked, so you just kind of have to get to know the system of routes and wait until one comes.
What's most commonly seen on the roads is throwback models (mostly Toyotas) from the mid-1980s. Just like my childhood, but tripped out with subwoofers, etc.
Música // Music
It is everywhere here. Even when the electricity is out (which is at least a couple times a day), music is always audible in the street. There are certain songs that seem to crop up everywhere that I want to share. [Let me know if any of the links don't work; I know there may be videos here that may not be visible in the States and viceversa]
Pa'lante by El Chuape : I hear this song at least a couple times a day. Represents a Dominican style called Dembow, akin to reggaeton, but somehow uniquely Dominican. The song sounds raunchy (and it is), but its so catchy.
Desesperado by Zacarías Ferreira : This bachatero played a concert nearby SFM last Saturday. A few of us went and saw part of it (more on that later), and todo el mundo sings along at the top of their lungs to everything he sings, including this song with which he opened the concert.
Promise by Romeo Santos feat. Usher: Another good bachata jam that we hear all the time here. This song is pretty popular in the States right now, too.
Vocabulario // Vocabular
- Un chín de [lo que sea] // A little bit of [whatever]
- Ese chivo // That guy (literal translation: that goat; an expression meant to talk about someone in their presence without them knowing, derived from the days of Trujillo, who was known as El Chivo)
- Que lo que // What's going on?
- Heavy // Cool
- ¿Novedad? // Right? (a Dominicanization of ¿No es verdad?)
- No es fácil // It's not easy. Used in reference to just about everything!
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
¡Adelante!
We've finished training research assistants and piloted the survey in the field over the weekend.
The pilot was an opportunity to make sure the research assistants were understanding the survey contents, administering it correctly and recording answers clearly. After spending the last six months putting this survey together, all the questions seem blatantly obvious to me, but even after going over it in the classroom during training, there were still parts that required clarification for the RAs.
The pilot also gave us a chance to see if there were any problematic spots in the survey: flow, comprehension, translation, clarity, etc. Issues definitely emerged, and sitting down with the research assistants to discuss the problems they encountered was really helpful in ironing out these issues in the next (and hopefully last) set of revisions.
For our next steps, we're hoping to actually start collecting data on Saturday, and in the meantime, we face the task of figuring out exactly how we will select houses in the different communities. A matter that has significantly complicated this task is the difficulty we've had finding Haitian households. Doing a purely random sample in the community may miss the Haitian demographic entirely, as they live in places that wouldn't necessarily be considered a house in a regular household survey protocol. Since Haitians are a major focus of our research (and half of our research assistant team is Haitian), its necessarily we find them but in a systematic way so that statistically, we can make comparisons between the two groups during our analysis.
We've got our work cut out for us and its exciting to be moving forwared. ¡Adelante!
The pilot was an opportunity to make sure the research assistants were understanding the survey contents, administering it correctly and recording answers clearly. After spending the last six months putting this survey together, all the questions seem blatantly obvious to me, but even after going over it in the classroom during training, there were still parts that required clarification for the RAs.
The pilot also gave us a chance to see if there were any problematic spots in the survey: flow, comprehension, translation, clarity, etc. Issues definitely emerged, and sitting down with the research assistants to discuss the problems they encountered was really helpful in ironing out these issues in the next (and hopefully last) set of revisions.
For our next steps, we're hoping to actually start collecting data on Saturday, and in the meantime, we face the task of figuring out exactly how we will select houses in the different communities. A matter that has significantly complicated this task is the difficulty we've had finding Haitian households. Doing a purely random sample in the community may miss the Haitian demographic entirely, as they live in places that wouldn't necessarily be considered a house in a regular household survey protocol. Since Haitians are a major focus of our research (and half of our research assistant team is Haitian), its necessarily we find them but in a systematic way so that statistically, we can make comparisons between the two groups during our analysis.
We've got our work cut out for us and its exciting to be moving forwared. ¡Adelante!
Friday, June 29, 2012
Horsing Around
A true Dominican cowboy experience. On Sunday, some hospital contacts invited us out to the country for a holiday celebrating San Juan, some community's patron saint. We had no idea what the experience would involve when we arrived. We were only told that we'd go horseback riding to celebrate some saint, but really it was quite the affair.
Thousands and thousands of people from regional horse associations rode on horseback all day from one town to another, pretty much taking over the entire roadway through the beautiful Cibao countryside. After sharing a bottle of rum and a bottle of coke at the colmado across the street, we piled nearly ten people into an SUV to find the horses. We hadn't finished are drinks, but that was evidently not a problem. The drinks came into the car with us, and they continued to be refilled as needed. Lesson learned: open container laws aren't really a concern here.
We caught up with the horse parade, and followed in the car for a while. We were questioning whether or not "horseback riding" implied actually riding horses or just watching them from the car, but eventually we parked, got out of the car and were soon hopping onto horses with random Dominicans. People were carrying bottles of rum in their side saddles and downing it like it was water.
Around 6pm, we all arrived at the colmado where we had started earlier that day and a ton of people were gathered to celebrate. At this point, they let us each get on our own horse, which was so exciting. And we went cantering down a beautiful country road during magic hour. It was beautiful.
Thousands and thousands of people from regional horse associations rode on horseback all day from one town to another, pretty much taking over the entire roadway through the beautiful Cibao countryside. After sharing a bottle of rum and a bottle of coke at the colmado across the street, we piled nearly ten people into an SUV to find the horses. We hadn't finished are drinks, but that was evidently not a problem. The drinks came into the car with us, and they continued to be refilled as needed. Lesson learned: open container laws aren't really a concern here.
We caught up with the horse parade, and followed in the car for a while. We were questioning whether or not "horseback riding" implied actually riding horses or just watching them from the car, but eventually we parked, got out of the car and were soon hopping onto horses with random Dominicans. People were carrying bottles of rum in their side saddles and downing it like it was water.
Around 6pm, we all arrived at the colmado where we had started earlier that day and a ton of people were gathered to celebrate. At this point, they let us each get on our own horse, which was so exciting. And we went cantering down a beautiful country road during magic hour. It was beautiful.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Scouting the Field
We struck out with a Haitian friend this morning to do some reconnaissance of Haitian communities in San Francisco. Hoping to establish some initial contacts and get a sense when people may be in their homes and available to be surveyed, we first walked through the public market where people sell various things on the street, and then caught a guagua (Dominican for "bus") out to the neighborhood where our friend said a lot of Haitians work.
What was peculiar about this experience was that we got off the bus in an area that was really quite affluent, with lots of new development, both retail and residential. This was not a mistake. We were in the right place, and proceeded to a construction site for a major new apartment complex, with a sign near the sales office outlining a rather extensive list of amenities. The three of us walked around the complex with another Haitian man we crossed paths with, who seemed to be a foreman of sorts for the construction site. A few of the buildings looked finished, but others were merely concrete skeletons in progress. According to those we encountered, the people who worked at the site (as well as their families) were essentially squatting in the structures they were working on. Behind the complex we also came across several shanties full of people, including small children. The juxtaposition of this incredible wealth with such tremendous poverty was maddening.
I didn't understand much of the conversation that occurred in Creole, but most of the people we spoke to did not have any documents, were miserable in their current circumstances and were skeptical of our project, asking what direct, concrete benefit they would receive from us. Explaining our desire to understand their plight provides an abstract benefit at best. We hope that the findings from our project may help leaders and service providers in San Francisco how to best reach this vulnerable population, but that's a ways down the road, and implies a lot of suffering on their part between now and then. Even then, maybe our findings will do very little to help them at all. Tough pill to swallow for sure.
In the process, we met some leaders in the Haitian faith community, and will return to introduce ourselves and our project at two of tomorrow morning's church services, hoping to forge a more trusting relationship.
What was peculiar about this experience was that we got off the bus in an area that was really quite affluent, with lots of new development, both retail and residential. This was not a mistake. We were in the right place, and proceeded to a construction site for a major new apartment complex, with a sign near the sales office outlining a rather extensive list of amenities. The three of us walked around the complex with another Haitian man we crossed paths with, who seemed to be a foreman of sorts for the construction site. A few of the buildings looked finished, but others were merely concrete skeletons in progress. According to those we encountered, the people who worked at the site (as well as their families) were essentially squatting in the structures they were working on. Behind the complex we also came across several shanties full of people, including small children. The juxtaposition of this incredible wealth with such tremendous poverty was maddening.
I didn't understand much of the conversation that occurred in Creole, but most of the people we spoke to did not have any documents, were miserable in their current circumstances and were skeptical of our project, asking what direct, concrete benefit they would receive from us. Explaining our desire to understand their plight provides an abstract benefit at best. We hope that the findings from our project may help leaders and service providers in San Francisco how to best reach this vulnerable population, but that's a ways down the road, and implies a lot of suffering on their part between now and then. Even then, maybe our findings will do very little to help them at all. Tough pill to swallow for sure.
In the process, we met some leaders in the Haitian faith community, and will return to introduce ourselves and our project at two of tomorrow morning's church services, hoping to forge a more trusting relationship.
de fiesta
Finally got some dancing in last night! We went to a party to bid farewell to the Emory nursing students that had been working in the regional hospital for the last two weeks. The CEO of the hospital and her husband opened up their house (which was like shangri la, Dominican-style) to like thirty people, including hospital personnel, leaders at the university, and a whole bunch of us gringos. The affair involved two substantial meals, but one was just a 'snack'. There was plenty of bachata and merengue and it didn't take long for dancing to ensue (por fin!). However, there was never a moment when everyone was dancing, so anyone who was shaking it (especially the gringos) was the center of attention. The Dominicans were surprised and impressed at the gringos who were able to hold their own in el baile. It was super fun way to kick off our time here now that we're more or less settled as well as to celebrate before our nursing friends left.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
La Planificación y el hospedaje
It's been a looooong week already, and its only Wednesday. Week One has been so much more than cultural and linguistic adaptation. We have done so much leg work for our project this week. Working with the budget to figure out how many research assistants we can afford to hire, how we can manage transportation to far-off field sites logistically and financially. We have been meeting with people at the university, the local ministry of health office. Formulating our project summary to communicate it the 'Dominican way' has taken up the better part of the last couple days.
Next steps in la planificación involve meeting the Haitian and Dominican research assistant candidates, spelling out our expectations in contracts for them to sign, training them in our research protocol, involving them in the translation of our survey materials and piloting surveys, interviews, etc. in communities similar to the ones in which we'll actually collect data.
Beyond work, there hasn't been much. We're planning to go out on the town on Friday to despedir (say farewell) to the Emory nursing students that have been here for the last two weeks. Hearing bachata blasting from all the colmados (corner stores) and restaurants has made me so antsy to dance, and busting a move in the middle of the street would definitely draw more stares than I'm already getting here as a rubia with ojos azules. My blue eyes seem to be quite the novelty here. Dancing on Friday por fin. Excited to learn from some of the best dancers in the world.
Home stay accommodations are pretty basic, but good. Its a crapshoot whether water is running in the house. If the toilet doesn't flush, just pour some water in it. If water doesn't come out of the sink, fill up a glass of drinking water from the botellón (the big bottle) and brush your teeth and wash your face. I have so far had luck with the shower, so I don't yet know how to shower when the water isn't running, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
My host mom is really sweet. She was very reserved at first, but has warmed much in the last couple days. I'm sharing a room with another American student (E) who is doing a nursing internship at the local hospital. We went out for a beer last night, and our host mom (A) came into our room, took one look at my roommate's outfit and said 'No. Espérate' (No. Wait.), and ran into the other room to grab more tight-fitting shirts for E to try on. A also went through all of E's clothes to see if she had brought anything appropriate for going out and proceeded to brush her hair as she dressed herself. It was pretty funny.
My initial impression of the house (the water situation, the size of the house, etc.) made me think that the family was of pretty limited means, but today I learned that my host mom sends both of her kids to private school. My naïvete, I guess. Wealth is all relative, really, and I get the sense that the use of bottled water (as well as the unreliability of piped water and electricity) is pretty pervasive here. There's a truck that goes by everyday, blasting some crazy song about agua, with a bed full of bottles, delivering them to houses and taking empty ones away.
In summary, I'm doing well, acostumbrándome, and excited to dig deeper into our research as well as Dominican culture. Operating in Spanish gets easier with each passing day, and its thrilling to be learning and improving again. We'll see how long it takes for me to consistently start dropping my S's (an important aspect of the Dominican accent) and pick up the local vocabulary. It's all very thrilling and exciting!
Next steps in la planificación involve meeting the Haitian and Dominican research assistant candidates, spelling out our expectations in contracts for them to sign, training them in our research protocol, involving them in the translation of our survey materials and piloting surveys, interviews, etc. in communities similar to the ones in which we'll actually collect data.
Beyond work, there hasn't been much. We're planning to go out on the town on Friday to despedir (say farewell) to the Emory nursing students that have been here for the last two weeks. Hearing bachata blasting from all the colmados (corner stores) and restaurants has made me so antsy to dance, and busting a move in the middle of the street would definitely draw more stares than I'm already getting here as a rubia with ojos azules. My blue eyes seem to be quite the novelty here. Dancing on Friday por fin. Excited to learn from some of the best dancers in the world.
Home stay accommodations are pretty basic, but good. Its a crapshoot whether water is running in the house. If the toilet doesn't flush, just pour some water in it. If water doesn't come out of the sink, fill up a glass of drinking water from the botellón (the big bottle) and brush your teeth and wash your face. I have so far had luck with the shower, so I don't yet know how to shower when the water isn't running, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
My host mom is really sweet. She was very reserved at first, but has warmed much in the last couple days. I'm sharing a room with another American student (E) who is doing a nursing internship at the local hospital. We went out for a beer last night, and our host mom (A) came into our room, took one look at my roommate's outfit and said 'No. Espérate' (No. Wait.), and ran into the other room to grab more tight-fitting shirts for E to try on. A also went through all of E's clothes to see if she had brought anything appropriate for going out and proceeded to brush her hair as she dressed herself. It was pretty funny.
My initial impression of the house (the water situation, the size of the house, etc.) made me think that the family was of pretty limited means, but today I learned that my host mom sends both of her kids to private school. My naïvete, I guess. Wealth is all relative, really, and I get the sense that the use of bottled water (as well as the unreliability of piped water and electricity) is pretty pervasive here. There's a truck that goes by everyday, blasting some crazy song about agua, with a bed full of bottles, delivering them to houses and taking empty ones away.
In summary, I'm doing well, acostumbrándome, and excited to dig deeper into our research as well as Dominican culture. Operating in Spanish gets easier with each passing day, and its thrilling to be learning and improving again. We'll see how long it takes for me to consistently start dropping my S's (an important aspect of the Dominican accent) and pick up the local vocabulary. It's all very thrilling and exciting!
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