Snorkel with the Fishies!!

Happy December, everybody! Here is my attempt to catch up with my ever-so-behind poor, dejected blog. Bear with me.

So on November 12, we had a trip to Playa Ensenada. Playa Ensenada is a beach in the Dominican Republic that, as far as I can tell, is not a huge tourist destination, and the beach is not the best beach I have visited in this country, but you can take a boat to this sandbar that is about a 10 minute boat ride away from the beach, where you can snorkel with all of the little fishies in the deep blue sea! We left early in the morning, and drove a couple of hours to Playa Ensenada. We spent the morning on the beach, swimming and sunbathing, and then everyone who wanted to went on the boat to the sandbar, and we all snorkeled to our hearts content. It was a lot of fun, and since the sandbar is next to a coral reef, there were tons of beautiful fish! Then we all piled back in the car, and drove back to Santiago. It was a long day, but totally worth it!

Fishies!!!

The coral reef next to the sandbar

The sandbar!

On the way back from the sandbar!

The next day, I just lounged around Santiago, and that evening I went to see "Eat, Pray, Love" with some friends of mine from the program. I had fun, although that is not really my type of movie. The next day was devoted to homework, as most Sundays, unfortunately, are, although I made time to go and see "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps." I really enjoyed that! It made me wish I had the economic skills and prowess of Gordon Gekko!

The next weekend, November 19-21, we had our last excursion to Samaná! Samaná is a beach town in the Dominican Republic, and a lot of tourists go there. It was a 5 hour bus ride to Samaná, which is a LONG time to spend in a crowded bus! Part of the reason it was so long was because on the way, we had to stop and wait for a truck that had 540 wheels on it to go by. And you may think I am exaggerating, because I thought the workers who told us the truck with 540 wheels was coming was exaggerating, but after seeing it, I honestly believe it had 540 wheels. It was RIDICULOUS!!! I wish I had taken a picture!

After we finally made it to Samaná, we had lunch and then I went to this native English speaking community in Samaná. This native English speaking community exists because back in the early 1800s, when Haiti and the Dominican Republic were one country, the president, who was Haitian, told free slaves in the US that if they came to the island, they would get large amounts of land per person. The reason he wanted free US slaves is because the free slaves were the same skin color as the Haitian people, and since the president was Haitian, he wanted to outnumber the Dominicans on the island. This community was very isolated for a long time, and until the early 20th century, the people in this community had virtually no contact with the Dominican or Haitian people. They even sent their children to the US for college instead of sending them to college on the island. We had a lady talk to us for a while about the history of the community and what it was like living in the community. Now, a lot of the people there do not speak English because they want to blend in to the Dominicans living in Samaná, but she told us that she did not speak a word of Spanish until she started kindergarten. Also, the food they make is not Dominican food, but Southern food, such as grits. It was really interesting to listen to her.

The woman who spoke to us

The food she served us

That evening, we had a delicious dinner that started out on the beach, but then it started raining, so we had to run inside and eat under a roof, unfortunately. It was still a lot of fun, and the food was fabulous! After, I went and chilled with some of my friends, listening to music before I went to sleep.

The next day was a very busy one. It started with a wonderful breakfast of bread, jam, fruit, and Frosted Mini Wheats (yay!). Then we piled in the bus to go to the Parque Nacional de los Haities, which is a place with a lot of birds and other animals and is only accessible by boat. The boat trip out was a lot of fun, and I got to sit in the front of the boat, and then on the second level, where the driver was. And I love being on a boat in the middle of open water, so I had a great time!

Me and the ocean!

Parque Nacional de los Haities

When we got to the national park, we anchored the boat, and broke up into two groups. My group started out kayaking! I had been looking forward to the kayaking for weeks, and was super excited, and it did not disappoint! We went kayaking through the mangroves, which was amazing and beautiful. There were all these little crabs on the mangroves, and they went scurrying whenever the kayaks went by. I shared a kayak with my friend Carina, and she had never been kayaking before, but by the end, we were world class kayakers. I think we earned a gold medal in kayaking, if there is such a thing. After the kayaking, we ate lunch on the boat, and then I went swimming off of the side of the boat. After my swim, the two groups switched activities, and it was our turn to go explore the cave! The cave was enormous, and I had such a good time. And we only had to crawl through one tight spot! I even found a fossilized shell in the cave, which I brought home as a souvenir. Then we went back to the boat, and sadly it was time to go back to the hotel.

World class kayakers

The cave!

That night, we once again went to eat on the beach, and once again it started raining and we had to run for cover! However, this night the power was also out. I had ordered pasta, and so I had to eat it without seeing what I was looking at. But the pasta was DELICIOUS!! And about halfway through the meal, the lights turned back on, but by that time, I was mostly done eating. It felt like a game show: Eating in the Dark! After dinner, I was really tired (hey, it had been a really long day. See above) so I went back to my room, and started watching "Prince Caspian." It's cool, I know you're jealous. Anyway, three of my awesome friends came and joined me, and we all curled up on the bed to watch Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian. It was a lot of fun! And it got me in the mood for "Voyage of the Dawn Treader," which opens Thursday here, and Friday back in the good 'ole USA.

My delicious pasta

The next day was our last day, sadly, in Samaná. I once again had a delicious breakfast that included Frosted Mini Wheats. I had some homework to do, but I decided to go downtown for about an hour to look around and see if I saw any good souvenirs. Unfortunately, it started to rain as soon as we got downtown, so we spent most of the hour running from store to store, avoiding the rain. But it was still a lot of fun. And, in keeping with Murphy's Law, as soon as we returned back to the hotel, the rain stopped. I then had a homework party with some of my friends (hey, it can't all be fun), but after about an hour, we decided it was time to take a walk on the beach and eat lunch. I had a cheese sandwich with amazing chinola, or passion fruit, juice. That is one thing I am definitely going to miss once I go back home: fresh chinola juice! After lunch, we all piled back into the bus for the 4 hour drive back to Santiago. All in all, a fantastic weekend!

Now, I know this has nothing to do with my weekend, but it is something that is very important in my life here. As you may or may not know, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" opened in the US (and most everywhere in the world) on November 19. But that movie has STILL not made it to la República Dominicana. However, next week "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" opens in both the US AND the DR. Someone needs to explain this to me. Why does the newest Narnia movie open the same day here, but Harry Potter opens way later?? Because Harry Potter isn't opening here next weekend, either. I think this means that I need to go convert the people of the Dominican Republic into fanatic Harry Potter fans.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader: Beating Harry Potter in the Caribbean

Aooh, Werewolves of London!

First of all, 20 cool points to whoever knew where the title of this blog post came from, without using Google!

Once again, I have fallen behind on my blog posts. I know, shocker! So here it is, my first November blog.

On Saturday, October 30, I went with CIEE to Los Charcos de los Indios. A charco is a natural swimming pool, and this one was used by the Tainos. They carved a giant face in the rock, and it is right above the swimming pools. Half of the face has collapsed, in various earthquakes over the years, and personally, I had trouble making out the face, but the before picture is pretty impressive! We hiked a short way to the charcos, and swam and jumped into them for a while, before eating lunch. The place was beautiful and peaceful and paradise-like. It was really nice to relax in such a gorgeous place!

What the face used to look like. And some random Dominican

Me jumping into one of the charcos

CIEE students on the face. See the eye?

After our visit to the charcos, we journeyed to this place near there where there are 50 million-year-old clam fossils, and went looking for fossils of our own. It was easy to find the clams, they were everywhere! Everyone found at least one, and some even found awesome shells. We got to take home our finds, and I am proud to say that I came away with my very own 50 million-year-old clam fossil. Then we went to the house of a friend of Lynne's. The friend makes this type of yuca bread, and we learned how that is made. It was very interesting, because the type of yuca they use is poisonous, so they have to soak it in water to remove the toxins, and then dry it completely to make sure all of the now-toxic water is gone. The bread was delicious!

 We finally made it back to Santiago after a long day, but as it was the Saturday before Halloween, I wanted to do something that night! My friend Kim and I decided to go to TGI Friday's, and ended up meeting up with one of the Estudiantes de Apoyo. We ate a delicious Halloween brownie. TGI Friday's was all decorated up for Halloween, and the waiters and waitresses were in costume. Our's was some sort of zombie creature. Also, one of the TGI Friday's Halloween decorations was a Richard Nixon bobble-head.  Then we went to H2O, another hot spot in Santiago, and saw some crazy costumes. All in all, it was a fun Halloween adventure!

TGI Friday's delicious brownie!!

The next day was actually Halloween, but as it was Sunday, I spent it mostly doing homework. However, I ended my Halloween by watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" and eating tons of Sour Patch Kids, so I consider it a win.

My Halloween-ified room

My pretty Halloween toes!

Another tasty Halloween treat! Look, it's a pumpkin!

Last weekend we were supposed to go to Playa Ensenada, but unfortunately Hurricane Tómas had to come and ruin our plans, so I stayed in Santiago. Friday I had a lazy day, and then Friday night I went out with Kim to see a movie. We saw "Easy A," and if you haven't seen it, you should. Because it rocked my socks. And made me reminisce about those good 'ole John Hughes movies. Saturday and Sunday were pretty boring, with group projects and homework taking up most of my time, but on Sunday evening I went to a baseball game!

Me at the Águilas game, showing my spirit!

The Santiago team is called Los Águilas Cibeañas, or the Eagles from the Cibao. Baseball is very big here, and I was excited to get to see the game! At the game, everyone gets free bam-bams, or those plastic tubes filled with air that people hit together to make noise, and horns and whistles are sold, so the games are crazy loud. And food is sold, which is to be expected, but the food sold here is very cheap, such as 50 pesos for a slice of really good pizza or 30 pesos for a bag of popped microwave popcorn, and some of the food is a little strange, such as blocks of cheese and salted meat. The game was good, although sadly we lost. But the game was close, 6-5. I bought myself an Águila shirt, so I guess that makes me a true fan!

One of my little chickadees!! Cute, no?

On Wednesday, I decided to bring a camera and take pictures of my little chickadees. They are so cute, and try to play the violin so hard. Some of them concentrate more than I thought 7 year-olds could! I also took a couple of videos. Enjoy! Also, I found out that three of my little chickadees go to Adventurers after the lesson every week, which reminded me of my childhood!! Adorableness!

Here is the link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hgBCAKV3mk

Parents! Parents! Parents!

My parents came to visit! It was super exciting, and I was glad that I had a chance to hang out with someone I knew before I came here. It was a nice chance to relax and take a break from my everyday life here. Unfortunately, they got to go back to the US, and I would love to have gone with them. But just for a couple of days, and then I would come back.

The first day my parents got here, I met them for breakfast at a restaurant across the street from PUCMM, where I spend a good chunk of my free time between classes. While we were eating, there was some excitement! This girl and her boyfriend got in a fight in the parking lot, and when he came in to buy coffee, she took his car and drove it into a pole and a sign! Everyone was ok, but it was pretty jarring first thing in the morning! Then we went across the street, and my parents joined me on a CIEE outing to a batey. A batey is a community of Haitian workers, so bateys are very poor. Most of them grow sugar, although the batey we went to, Batey Libertad, grows rice. All of the kids at the batey knew that Americans would give them attention, so as soon as we arrived, they glued themselves to us! This one little girl ran up to me like she knew me, and wouldn't let me put her down the entire time we were there! It was really cute.

After the batey, my parents came over to my host family's house so they could meet. My host mom doesn't speak any English, and my parents don't speak any Spanish, so I had to be a translator, which was a crazy experience.  But I think both sets of parents liked the other, and my dad took a picture of me with Melissa and my host mom, so now I can finally show you all what they look like!

After that we went to Jarabacoa for the weekend. Jarabacoa is in the mountains, although not as high as Constanza. It is quite a bit cooler than Santiago, and we took advantage of that. On Saturday, we rode horses to a waterfall, and on Sunday we hiked to a different waterfall. And we basically relaxed for the weekend. We went to this amazing restaurant that was on the mountain overlooking Jarabacoa, and the view was fantastic! The food was really good, too.

Mom needed a small boy named Ali to guide her horse

Dad and I are both old enough to have our own horses.

Look at that view! The view from the restaurant in Jarabacoa

My parents brought me all kinds of American food, including Sour Patch Kids and pretzels, so I think they are trying to fatten me up. I'm glad they brought the food, though, because it reminds me of home. During the week, I had classes and my parents went to explore the country. They had some interesting adventures, including being pulled over by a policeman and having to bribe him in order to escape a ticket, but hey, you can't say they missed a true Dominican experience! They came back to Santiago on Wednesday night, so on Thursday, after my class ended, I showed them around PUCMM and we went to Chili's to eat. What can I say, I was craving a good American meal! That afternoon we went to the mall and La Sirena, and then went to Pizza Hut for dinner. Now, before you judge our place of dinner, here Pizza Hut is a nice, sit down restaurant with non-paper plates and laminated menus! We had a waitress and everything! And the food was good, too. It was the first pizza I had eaten since I went to the Jardin de los Niños. This morning, my parents left the country, and are, as I type, journeying back to the city of the sun. Although I am sad that they are gone, I'm glad they came!

Me at PUCMM

This weekend is Halloween, and I am very excited. Hopefully, my next post will be all about my Halloween adventures in la Republica Dominicana!!

Also, this is my fourth, yes, fourth post of the day. So keep reading to hear about my previous adventures!!

And now it's time for Silly Songs with Larry. The part of the show where Larry comes out and sings a Silly Song

Well, it happened. I have reached the middle of my time here, so I thought I might list some of the things that have happened here that I never expected to. So here goes...

I never thought I would:
-ride on the back of a motoconcho
-jump off of a 20 foot waterfall
-eat avocados at almost every meal
-be able to sing along to many popular Dominican songs
-prefer to ride a concho than walk to the store
-decide air conditioning really isn't the best option in the Caribbean
-be told that since I don't sound like a Dominican, I must be from Spain
-get completely used to people walking around with machetes and big guns
-not mind piropos
-rather eat mangu than mashed potatoes
-have a burning desire to eat Chipotle, Jamba Juice, and a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
-be sad that I only have 2 more months here

There is more, but this is what comes to the top of my mind. This doesn't include things I thought would happen, such as feeling much more confident with my Spanish, missing things that are happening at LC, eating a plethora of delicious Dominican food, improving my ping-pong abilities, make friends, go to the beach, and adjust to the crazy heat and humidity.

So there you have it. This has been Silly Songs with Larry. Tune in next time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZjhjvLO4f4

Off to Explore a Cave!

So the next week was full of more homework and projects and group presentations, as, unfortunately, usual. But that weekend, I went with Lynne, the director of our program, to her cave, which is a few miles outside of Santo Domingo, although it takes about an hour to get from Santo Domingo to the cave and her house next to the cave, due to the stereotypically bad Dominican roads. Lynne's cave is in Las Piedras, which is in the campo and is a very poor area of the Dominican Republic. Her house at the cave is next door to Leidy's family. Leidy also works for CIEE, is a student at PUCMM, and she and her son live with Lynne in Santiago. The first night we got there, Lynne and I went over to Leidy's sister's house for dinner, and I met some of the kids that live there. They are some of the cutest kids I have ever seen! One girl, Cristina, decided to fix my hair for me, so she gave me many braids, similar to how many Dominican children wear their hair.

Attractive, no? That night, I also played games with the boys, including a Dominican version of "Down By the Banks", which is called Mickey Mouse. Unfortunately, I taught them the English version, and they kept asking me to sing it all night long! The only part of the song they picked up on was "hanky panky," so they kept walking around singing that. It was adorable!

The next day, we went exploring in Lynne's cave. The cave is enormous, with 17 rooms that we know of, although there are branches that have not been explored yet. There are also Taino pictographs in the cave, which is pretty awesome! One of the rooms has a lake in it, and you can swim, although we didn't this trip. But the entire CIEE group is going back in December, so hopefully we will swim then! The cave is gorgeous, and I had a lot of fun exploring it. There were bats in the cave, which I thought was pretty exciting!

(This is where I gave up posting photos. It was taking AGES and I got bored. My apologies)

The next day, we took the kids to the beach! It was a lot of fun to go to the beach, and I never turn down a chance to swim in those warm Caribbean waves! There was a jetty that people were jumping off of into the ocean, so of course I had to get in on that. It was so much fun!! Unfortunately, after the beach we had to head back to Santiago and the real world. But it was a great weekend full of fun, games, and caves! I am so excited to go back in December!!!

Waterfalling

I know I'm really behind, so I'm going to try and marathon a couple of posts to catch up.

So last I blogged, I had just been to Constanza. Well, the next weekend we had a co-pay trip to the 27 Charcos de Damajagua. A co-pay trip, in case you are wondering, is where CIEE pays for transportation, and we pay for everything else. A really good deal, since most of the trips go to places we would have trouble getting transportation to! Anyway, 27 Charcos is a series of 27 natural waterfalls that people hike up and then jump/slide down. So anyway, I got on the bus at 8 in the morning, ready for an exhilarating day of jumping and sliding down waterfalls, and I was not disappointed. However, I did not realize that these waterfalls I would be jumping off of into the water below were as tall as 20 ft. We all had to wear life jackets and helmets, but that is still high, especially since I do not enjoy jumping off of the high diving board! So that was a bit of a shock, but I am proud to say that I bravely jumped off every single waterfall, and slide down them as well. All in all, it was a fun day!

The rest of my weekend was spent doing homework (fun, right?), and the week was likewise full of projects, papers, and presentations, oh my! And although I complain about the workload here, it is considerably smaller than it would be back in the states. And even though I have been here for over two months, it still feels like I'm not actually in school, which makes the motivation for work nonexistent. 

I took a waterproof disposable camera with me to the 27 Charcos, but at the moment the pictures are being developed, so instead, here is a video of other people at the 27 Charcos. Enjoy!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POH35drrmuY&feature=player_embedded

Constanza!!

So I haven't written in a week, but, as usual, a lot has happened. I don't think I am going to get an uneventful week until I am back in the states. Even then, probably not...

Anyway, so last Wednesday after I blogged, I went to La Escuela de Bellas Artes in Santiago to see about helping them teach violin lessons. And they really wanted me to help! I am working with Alberto, who is actually in charge of the lessons, and we have 12 7-8 year olds who have never played the violin before. It's so much fun, but it's exhausting at the same time! And Alberto has never done this before and doesn't really know how to keep the kids attention for the full 3 hours (Can I just say, who in their right minds makes a kid's violin class 3 hours?!?!?!) but we are both getting better. I now know the parts of the violin in Spanish, as well as the notes on a do-re-mi type scale. Yes, I do go around singing that song. The first week, we just went over the notes and the parts of a violin, and I tuned all of the violins. For some reason, these makers of little kid violins decided that it was a good idea to not have fine tuners. Makes life fun. Yesterday, the kids started playing their very first song! They are learning "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and some of them are naturals! But they are all very cute, and try really hard during class to get it right.

Last Thursday, I went a Dominican movie theater for the first time. And while it was a lot like American movie theaters, it was still different. First of all, they don't have Junior Mints. I know, I'm shocked too. Second of all, the trailers and the commercials are interspersed. But the movie, "Dinner for Schmucks," was in English with Spanish subtitles, and the theater gave us free posters, so it was a big win in my book! The movie was crazy, and Jemaine from "Flight of the Conchords" had possibly the best part ever.

Last weekend, my whole group went to Constanza. It is up in the mountains, and has the highest elevation in the Caribbean. Also, it is the coldest spot on the island, which means that at night, I had to wear a sweater. The first day, I went with a group of people to tour a flower factory. Basically, they grow all of the flowers that are sold in bouquets. It was really interesting, but unfortunately our tour got cut short because it started raining. So then Lynne, our fearless leader, said we should go check out this old hotel called Nueva Suiza. It was a hotel during the reign of Trujillo that was for the upper echelon of society, but is now in ruins. So it's raining, and we pull up in our bus to this locked fence and all get out, and then watch in shock as Lynne crawls through a hole in the fence. Someone said, "Are we allowed to be here?" and Lynne replied, "Nope. Come on!" It was such a creepy-cool experience. It reminded me so much of Scooby-Doo!! Plus, what I think is the super-creepy part is that Trujillo's room is locked and no one can get in. Personally, I think his ghost is haunting that room.

The next day, we all woke up and piled into these safari-like jeeps and rode up to a waterfall. It was a two hour journey in the jeeps, and so much fun! It was like a real-life Indiana Jones ride, without the poison arrows and snakes. When we got to the waterfall, we had the choice to swim in the water at the base of the falls, so of course I jumped right in! The water was freezing. I seriously don't think I have been in colder water. It was crazy cold, and I'm surprised that it wasn't frozen! It was funny, because we all jumped in off of a rock, and no one was expecting it to be as cold as it was, so everyone was screaming when they came back up in the water. It was a lot of fun, and I am really glad I went swimming. But since I had forgotten my swim suit, I went in a sports bra and shorts, which meant that I had nothing to change into afterward. I was FREEZING the entire way back to the hotel, which is crazy to think since normally in the DR I am sweating my butt off. That afternoon we had free time, so three of my friends and I went on the zip line at the hotel. It was fun, but it was pretty tame compared to other zip lines I have done in my life. However, I was the only one who had done a zip line before, so the others thought it was terrifying. It was still fun, though! That night, we had a barbeque and an impromptu dance party, which was great. The food was wonderful, and a nice change from the usual Dominican mangu (mashed plantains) and rice and beans, and everyone joined in the dance party. I know many of the popular Dominican songs now! One of them is called "I want an American so I can get a visa." That one I'm not to crazy about, since people sing it to me on the street when they see me. But I like most of the other songs I have heard! All of the music here is so happy and it is hard not to dance when you hear it!

On Sunday, we went to downtown Constanza for about an hour, which was a great experience. There was a church parade, which included a church ambulance! Here, most of the hospitals and ambulances are privately owned, and they wanted to show the town of Constanza that they had an ambulance. It is used to encourage people to join the church, or at least hear what the church has to say. While I was downtown, I bought a box of strawberries! They were really good, and I realized how much I miss a lot of the fruit that I eat in the US. Here, most of my fruit is avocados, tomatoes, and juices. I know that I am getting enough fruit, but it is still nice to be able to eat berries! Then we went back home to Santiago, and I spent the remainder of my Sunday doing homework. Super exciting, I know!

Another post is coming either later today or tomorrow, I promise! Sorry about my slacking with the blog!!

Hurricane Gaston: Every last inch of him's covered in hair!

Oh boy do I have a lot to catch up on! Basically, the last I told you all about was the Jardín de los Niños and the tarantula in my closet. Luckily, there has not been a tarantula relative seeking revenge.

So two weeks ago, my CIEE group and I went to the Mirabel Sisters museum. Here is the story of the Mirabel sisters. From 1930-1960, the Dominican Republic was under the control of a dictator named Rafael Trujillo. He did a lot of bad things, including killing 18,000 Haitians and Haitian descendants living in the Dominican Republic, and then giving Haiti money so that the country would not look into it. Basically, he was super corrupt. And the problem was that very few people in the country knew it, because Trujillo often had his enemies killed in a way that looked like an accident. Even enemies who had fled to different countries, including the US. The Mirabel sisters were four sisters who started to publicly talk about the corruption of Trujillo. They are responsible for the spread of knowledge about Trujillo's corruption in the Dominican Republic. Well, this, as you can probably guess, did not make Trujillo happy. Two of the Mirabel sisters had husbands that were in jail, and they had a lot of trouble getting permission to visit them. One day, they were informed that they could visit their husbands, so three of the sisters, including the two who had husbands in jail, went to go visit them. On the way, their car was stopped, and they were strangled and beaten to death. Then they were put back in the car, which was driven off of a cliff, in order to make it look like an accident. However, the truth about Trujillo was widely known, and when the bodies were found, it was obvious that more than just driving off a cliff had killed them. They became symbols against Trujillo, and a little while later Trujillo was assassinated (supposedly). The fourth sister is still alive today, and we actually got to meet her when we went to the museum! The museum is the house where the four sisters lived for about 10 months, until three of them were killed. It was amazing to get to see a living legend, and hear the story of her sisters straight from her mouth! After the museum, we went to the house of the fourth sister, which is the house that all four of the sisters grew up in. There is a giant monument across the street dedicated to the sisters, as well as the chassis of the car that was driven off of the cliff. It was a fantastic opportunity, and a real chance to learn about the history of this amazing country. The Mirabel sisters are considered national heroines, and are now symbols for ending violence against women.

The next day, I went with some of my group to Sosua for the day. The day had a lot of false starts, though. First, three of us were not able to get on the 8:00 bus and had to wait and take the 9:00 bus. So we are sitting, waiting for the bus, and Brittany, one of the three of us, decided to buy Pringles. Well, the Pringles ended up being mostly crumbs, and were crazy smashed. We finally got on the bus, and after an hour (it takes 2 hours to get to Sosua from Santiago), the bus stopped. We looked out the window, and there was traffic as far as we could see! Basically, there was a protest at a university near there, and the students had filled the street and were refusing to leave until someone from the government came to talk to them about building a crosswalk. But finally we made it to Sosua, and the beach was fantastic! Although the waves were a lot more intense because there were two hurricanes in the Caribbean, it was still a lot of fun to play in the waves.

Then came the week, with crazy amounts of presentations and homework. By the time the weekend came around, I was exhausted, so I decided to just spend the weekend with my family at home. I got a lot of rest, which was ridiculously nice. On Saturday, I had an audition for a musical group on campus. The best I can describe it is a Dominican jazz band/Glee club combination. There are approximated 20 singers, plus about 10 people playing instruments. But the audition process was one of the most intimidating things I have ever done! So I'm in this room with 30 members of the band, the professor, and about 10 other people that were auditioning. And the professor points to me, says "Violin, you're up." I had to play my piece in front of a bunch of Dominicans, and I was the only American there. Plus, I had to go first. But I guess it went pretty well, because although I don't know whether or not I am in the band (Dominicans don't always give you details like that), I was told to come back on Thursday to meet with the professor and another violinist, and possibly other members of the band. I take that as a good sign!

Today, I am going to Bellas Artes in Santiago, to see about helping teach violin lessons. If it all pans out, I would be doing this every Wednesday from 2-5, but today I am just meeting with the person in charge and I'm not exactly sure what is going to happen. I'm excited, though.

This weekend I am going with CIEE to Constanza, where it is as cold as 50 degrees in the evening!!! Finally a break from this heat! Although I am starting to get used to it. Still, it will be nice to not be sweating at all hours of the day. Constanza is the location of Pico Duarte, the highest mountain in the Caribbean. I'm excited to see the mountains, and possibly hike. Maybe. Don't get your hopes up! Tune in soon to hear about Constanza.

On a final note, I found out today that the "G" hurricane of this hurricane season is named Gaston. Really? Whose idea was it to name a hurricane after a Disney villain? I hope that it goes after the beast and falls off of the West Wing. It's only fair...

Happy Banned Books Week!!

Sorry about the delay between posts, but I promise another one this week as this is just a quick post to let you know I'm alive.

Happy Banned Books Week everyone! For those of you who are unaware, Banned Books Week has been the last week in September since 1982. It was started by the American Library Association to celebrate the freedom we have in the US. It also helps to shed light on the types of books most often challenged. Some of the most challenged books of 2009 include:

So go to your local library and see what events they are offering, spread the word about Banned Books Week, or just read a banned book! As I said at the beginning, a real post is coming later this week, I promise. But for now I will end with everyone's favorite reading dog.

Cohabitating with a tarantula

Hey! So it's been a little while since I have last blogged, and there is a lot to catch up on! First of all, although this has nothing to do with my trip in the Dominican Republic, I officially have a new baby cousin!!! All the papers finally came through at the Embassy, and now my cousins Shelley and Craig have her for good! Now she just needs to come home, which should happen this weekend! So everybody, meet baby Naomi!!!!

Isn't she the cutest baby in the world??? I am so excited to meet her, and for that reason December can't come fast enough! However, I don't want to think about leaving the DR just yet...

Anyway, this past weekend I went to the Jardín de los Niños, or the Garden of the Children. The story behind it is this: This French Canadian woman visited the Dominican Republic in the late 70s/early 80s, and loved it so much that she moved here for good. Soon after she was in the DR, a lady asked her to watch her daughter for the weekend while she went to find work. Basically, the lady never came back, and Paulina adopted the girl. She has since adopted about 20 children, and they live up in the mountains in this awesome area that can only be described as Swiss Family Robinson-like. It has got to be an amazing place to grow up. There are trees everywhere, they raise chickens and pigs, and there is a river at the edge of the property. There is also a schoolhouse there, where Paulina has a free school for both her children and the other children that live near. Basically, it was how I always imagined Neverland to be. It has got to be an amazing place to grow up.

We arrived on Friday afternoon, and met the kids and went to the river. These kids love to play baseball, and they play with a stick as a baseball bat and a tennis ball as a baseball. We broke up into teams and started playing with them, and I would just like to say that I scored several runs over the course of the weekend. Impressive, considering the last time I played baseball was back in my Pathfinder days. We also played dominoes and cards with them later that night, and ate delicious food. I know that I normally steer clear of any food containing baked fruit, but Paulina made this apple strudel-like thing (that was mostly bread and little apple, which was ok by me!) and it was delicious! The next day, we started work. Some people went up a mountain to pick avocados and oranges, some people painted a mural in one of the classrooms, and some people painted the bathroom and the bars on the windows of the school. I was one of the lucky ones who painted the bathroom and the bars, and, surprise surprise, got paint all over me. We ate a delicious lunch, and then played with the kids some more. I jumped rope, played Frisbee, and played volleyball, and then we all went swimming in the river. The river has these rocks that the kids like to jump off of, not very high, only about five feet or so, and I joined them in jumping off the rocks! And then I got into a water fight with one of the boys that live there. Since I am taller and bigger than him, I had a bit of an advantage. My favorite move was when he would grab me around my waist, so I would just fall on top of him, taking him down. That night, we made a GIANT bonfire, and ate a dinner consisting of only fried foods: fried eggplant, fried plantains (my new obsession), and fried cheese (my newest and unhealthiest obsession). It was DELICIOUS!! We had coconuts and sugar cane for dessert, yum. And then it started to rain. I have never before stood under an umbrella in front of a fire, so I can check that one off my list! 

The next morning, after a lovely breakfast of coffee and bread with some sort of jelly, I helped make pizza. I kneaded the dough, spread it out in a pizza shape, and put sauce, cheese, and pepperoni on it. Basically, my sweat and blood went into that pizza. And I don't know how Paulina made the dough, but it was like eating a pizza on a biscuit. It was amazing. Also, some sort of animal fat was used to grease the pan (I have stopped asking questions and just eating) and it made all the difference. Then we, unfortunately, had to leave. Even though we were only there for a couple of days, it was so sad leaving! They are the sweetest kids ever, and I had a great time! Plus I got to know people in the CIEE group better.

Yesterday, I went on a field trip with my spanish class to the Museo Folklórico, or the Folklore Museum. It was really awesome. It is basically a museum about Santiago and the Cibao, the region of the Dominican Republic Santiago is located in. There was information about the Tainos, or the native people who originally lived in the DR, as well as these crazy giant masks that are used during Carnaval. Carnaval is basically like Marti Gras. In Santiago, people wear these pig masks, which are used to represent devils, and just run around acting crazy. And unlike Marti Gras, Carnaval lasts pretty much the entire month of February. I'm a little bummed to be missing out on the amazingness that is Carnaval, but alas, at some point I need to get back to my math-fueled life.

Now on to the tarantula. I got back home on Sunday, and there was a tarantula in my closet. A legit tarantula. A live one. At first I thought it was dead. It was in the corner of my closet, and I may not have noticed it before, so I decided to give it a night. I woke up Monday morning, and it had moved to the other side of my closet. Unfortunately, my mom was at her mom's house, and there was no way I was going to deal with the tarantula on my own. So I come home at lunch, and the tarantula has moved. Now  it is in my shoe. I told my mom, and she showed up with a mop. She hit it with the mop, and it ran across the room quickly, so of course I screamed and jumped on my bed (quite a feat when you have a mosquito net over your bed). My mom laughed, and chased it outside, and then the tarantula crawled up the handle. So my mom decided to kill the tarantula. It is dead, I feel safe, and my windows are shut. I am not opening them again. Even though my room is like a sauna with the windows open...

Anyway, that's all for now! This weekend I am going to the Mirabel sisters museum, and possibly to another beach. Keep you posted!

The part of the story where I flee to the beach

This weekend, I made my first journey to a Dominican beach. And I am including a picture so you can jealous that you missed it. On Friday, eight of my fellow exchange students and myself went to Sosua to spend a couple of days at the beach. We took a guagua, also known as a bus, from Santiago, and two hours later we were in Sosua. During my time at the beach, I went to three different beaches: Chiquita, Alicia, and one whose name I never learned. It was a lot of fun, and I got to swim in the ocean to my heart’s content. It was nice and sunny during the day, and although it rained on Friday night, it felt good in the heat. The Caribbean ocean, at least where I was swimming, was warm. Like Arizona-pool-at-noon-in-July warm! I don’t think I have ever been in an ocean that warm! But it wasn’t uncomfortably warm. Just warm enough that, for the first time in my life, I didn’t leave the ocean because I was freezing. Also, the water is crazy clear and blue. All in all, it was a good time.

After the beach, we went decided to go out to eat, and this guy came up to us on the street, showed us a menu, and asked us to follow him. For some reason, most of our group followed, although he was taking us away from the crowds at night, and I was getting worried that he was setting us up. I was also glad that I hadn’t taken any of my cards with me. But we ended up at this super nice restaurant that, I think, had just opened. The food was delicious! I had passion fruit chicken, which was crazy tasty. We spent the night on Friday, and then went to the beach again on Saturday before leaving at about 2. All in all, a very fun trip.

Sosua, apparently, is a huge sex tourism city in the Dominican Republic, which I did not know until I got there. It’s not really a problem for the casual beach-goer, as we all were, but during the night there were hookers everywhere. It was kind of funny, because normally us girls are stared at as we walk down the street, but here everyone stared at the boys. They got to experience what we feel every day in Santiago!

Today I ventured yet again to find La Sirena, and yet again I failed. I have no idea what I am doing wrong, but I vow to find it tomorrow! I need hangers still!!!! Plus, my watch broke while I was at the beach, and I feel naked without one. It’s so pathetic, I keep looking at my wrist to see what time it is, and there is nothing there. I’m even afraid my watch tan will fade! But although I failed to find La Sirena, I successfully made it to Plaza Internacional, which is a Dominican mall. This was kind of a bittersweet victory, because I went for school supplies and the school supply store was closed. Then I made my way to Square One, which is a café across the street from PUCMM where they have internet. It is a really nice place, and I can see me spending way too much time there. Although my family is currently in the process of getting wifi!

Tomorrow marks week 3 technically, week 2 actually, of classes at PUCMM. I’m just started to get in the swing of things. It’s still overwhelming, but not nearly as bad as it was when I first started. Although I still haven’t had a real ping-pong class yet because last week none of us were dressed properly. I know, I don’t understand either. Oh well.

I love watching things that I watch in English on TV in Spanish. For example, at the moment I am watching “The Princess Diaries” in Spanish. It works really well, since I already know all of the lines. Execept for some reason the middle third of the movie was skipped. There was no “outing” of her, and no Baker Beach Party. And now the final scene was just skipped. It went from Mia running away to them all dancing! I’m really confused, and babbling a little because I’m so confused. So far, I have watched “Up”, part of “LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring”, and a couple of episodes of “Friends” and “Big Bang Theory” in Spanish. As well as a lot of MTV, but that is in English with Spanish subtitles.

My mom has decided that shrimp cocktail sauce is the same thing as salsa in the US, so she keeps putting it on my sandwiches and tacos. I don’t know why, because I don’t put salsa on my sandwiches back home. She asked me if I liked “picante” and I said yes, and then she brought me out cocktail sauce and now puts it on everything. I had never had cocktail sauce before, and I can say that I will not miss it back in the states.

Anyway, hopefully this week goes smoothly as I continue to get used to life in the Dominican Republic and slowly but surely learn my way around Santiago. Who knows what this week will hold!

Columbus was a Ginger?

So, as always, I feel I have so much to talk about since I last “blogged” (I don’t think this counts as a word). So lets start with Saturday! We had a buscador de tesoro! That’s a scavenger hunt (or treasure hunt) for all of you non-Spanish speakers. I rode a concho for the first time, which was both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. It’s crazy crowded, the concho driver turns the radio up super loud, and, of course, the drivers of Santiago don’t seem to have any rules of the road. First rule of the road that I learned: Pedestrians do not have the right of way. My team and I successfully navigated ourselves around the city, finding the post office, the bus station, and the cultural center. In fact, we were so successful we won the scavenger hunt! Unfortunately, there was no prize, and even the lottery ticket we bought as part of the scavenger hunt ended up being a dud.

That afternoon, we had a dance class with los estudiantes de apollo. I now know how to dance the bachata, the salsa, and the meringue. We had to dance, first in a line, and then in partners to make sure we knew the dance. There were just two problems with this: first of all, I am not at all coordinated and can’t dance. And second, I am about half a foot taller than every estudiante de apollo and pretty much every boy in the country of the Dominican Republic. Although I made a fool of myself, I had a good time.

On Sunday, we went to Santo Domingo. Santo Domingo is the capital of the Dominican Republic, and it is also the oldest city in the Americas. It is where Columbus first landed, where the Spanish first colonized, and has a Hard Rock Café. I heard many stories, especially one about an orangutan and a baby, all of them dealing with historic places and famous people. We walked on the first paved road in the Caribbean, saw the first monastery in the Americas, and the ruins of the first European-style hospital in the Americas. I also saw my first Dominican ocean and beach, which was beautiful!!!! So so gorgeous!

Later that day, we went to the ruins of a sugar plantation that was the site of a slave revolution back in the day. It was cool because the owners had kept half of the ruins, and restored the other half, so the main building is half ruins and half restored. It lets you see what the plantation really looked like when it was running.

Today, I had more classes, and tomorrow, surprise surprise, more classes. But I am going to try to venture to the shopping mall, called Plaza Internacional, and the Dominican version of a K-Mart, called La Sirena. Sirena means mermaid in Spanish, and the logo and the S of La Sirena is a mermaid tail. I will have to take a picture and post it! And the movie “The Little Mermaid” is called “La Sirenita” in Spanish. I’m trying and trying to find my way around the city, and will hopefully be going to the discoteca on Wednesday for ladies night.

Albendazole=NASTY

Hi everyone! First of all, can I just say that I just realized today that people are actually following this blog? Exciting! I’m glad you are interested in my journeys! And if you have any specific questions, just ask!  Today was my first day of classes, and boy was that exciting! I only had one class today, because one of my Thursday classes doesn’t start until next week. So today I had “Historia del Caribe” which means, for all of you non-Spanish speakers out there, history of the Caribbean. It is a class through the Spanish for Foreigners program, but it is also open to Dominican students. Because of this, I walked into a classroom full of Dominicans who all stopped talking when the blonde gringa walked into the room. I was certain I had the wrong class! But nope, I am in history of the Caribbean with two other Americans, who are with a different group than me, and between 15-20 Dominicans. But they are all really nice, and my professor said that if any of us Americans needs help, she will be glad to help. I hope it will be a really interesting class!

However, I’m not positive which classes I am taking. I am definitely taking Spanish and a Procesos class, which is basically like culture. Those are both required. I need to take two more classes, so I am going to go to at least one class of 5 different classes. They include: History of the Caribbean, Society and Culture in the Dominican Republic, Cinema and Society in Latin America, Dominican-Haitian relations, and Jesus: The Person. The last class is the only one that isn’t through Spanish for Foreigners, and is with only Dominicans. But it sounds interesting! One last class that I am definitely taking is, wait for it, ping-pong.  Yes, that is a real class. Not only is it a real class, but it meets for 2 hours a week! And it has a final! But basically I get to play ping-pong for 2 hours a week and get credit for it. Legand-wait for it-dary!

Today, my friend Shana and I explored our neighborhood. We live in the same neighborhood and walk to school together. The path we take to school is really weird, because it turns into this canyon that totally caught me off-guard the first time I walked there. I will take pictures, because it’s super hard to describe unless you have walked it. But you can’t walk it when it is raining, because it gets super muddy. So Shana and I decided to figure out where to catch a concho. A concho is basically a small sedan that acts like a bus. It costs 15 pesos (or about 50 cents) to take, and it follows a set route. But unlike a bus, you can get on and off wherever you want along the route. The crazy thing about conchos is that, when full, there is a driver, two people in the front seat, and four people in the back seat. I haven’t ridden one yet, but I am definitely riding in one on Saturday when we have a scavenger hunt around Santiago.

Also today, me and three of my friends decided to take Albendazole, which is an anti-parasite medicine. We went to the on-campus pharmacy and got it, but they only had it in liquid form. It is about the size of a Kool-Aid packet, but full of this gel stuff that tastes like cough syrup. It was NASTY!!! And the way you take Albendazole is that you take one, and then you take another 15 days later. Then you are good for about a year or so. So we have to take this nasty stuff again! But it beats getting a parasite, that’s for sure!

Anyway, it’s getting late here and I have to be at PUCMM at 9 tomorrow, so I will end it here. And our trip to Santo Domingo is Sunday! I’m excited!!! You will definitely be able to read all about it!

First official day at PUCMM!!

I have officially signed up for classes, I have a Dominican cell phone, and I am being eaten alive by mosquitoes. So basically, I’m really here. I still can’t wrap my head around that!  But a quick recap on my last couple of days, since my last entry was crazy rushed, and I was attempting to play cards while I was writing.

I have officially moved into my house, which is nice. I like it. I don’t have wireless, which some host families have, but it’s probably good that I don’t. It makes me turn off my computer and go socialize with my family. Speaking of family, I apparently have a huge host family, and they all live within a block of one another. I have met so many family members it’s crazy, and I don’t remember the names of most of them! My other problem is that my older brother’s name is Carlos, and my sister’s boyfriend’s name is Carlos, so I never know which Carlos is coming until they arrive. They don’t say “My brother is coming!” or “Melissa’s boyfriend is stopping by,” no, they just say “Carlos is coming over.” And then one of them arrives.

Yesterday we were given a tour of Santiago by los estudiantes de apollo. They are students who are actual students at PUCMM, the university I am studying at, who want to interact with international students. It’s like a volunteer position, and we will work with them throughout the semester. They are really nice, and have a lot of patience with us trying to speak Spanish, probably because they are used to it semester after semester.

Today I got a mosquito net, which is a fantastic thing because, as I said earlier, I am being eaten alive. No exaggeration. And I have been bathing in bug spray!! Earlier today, my host mom thought that I was wearing gross perfume, but no, it was just bug spray. Yet the mosquitoes seem to love me. According to Lynne, the person in charge of my program, they like “la sangre nueva,” or new blood. Apparently after about the first month, the mosquitoes will stop wanting to drink my blood, which is good news I guess. I just want this first month to have already happened. After a month, Dominican life is supposed to start making sense, and right now it seems crazy and I feel a little stupid. As someone said today, “We are like retarded kindergarteners!” But I am still having a good time.

I think my host mom wants me to leave 20-30 pounds heavier. She keeps feeding me fried plantains, which are delicious! And whenever I come home from orientation, she has some sort of cold blended drink ready for me, like a frozen lemonade or a non-alcoholic piña colada. Delicious! And unhealthy. But you can’t tell her no. I say I don’t want it, and she asks if I like it, and since I do I say I like it. Then she says, “Then you want one.” And gives it to me. But all of the food here is really good so far, and I’m pretty sure I could live off of fried plantains if I had to. Yum!!!!

Tomorrow we have a tour of PUCMM, which is just in time because classes start on Thursday! So hopefully by this time tomorrow, I will know which building is which. Wish me luck!!

La Republica Dominicana!!

I am, officially, in the Dominican Republic! Well, I have been for a couple of days now, but this is the first time I have had internet since Miami. And a LOT has happened since then. First of all, I met my host family. They are really nice. I have a mom, Josefina, a brother, Carlos, and two sisters, Carolina and Melissa. Carlos and Carolina are both married and don't live at home, but Melissa is 19 and still lives there. She likes to watch E! and MTV on the television, so I think we are going to get along great. Yesterday, we had our first day of orientation, and we went to this place outside of Santiago called Casa Club, and it was gorgeous! It was in the mountains, so we had this view of a valley that was so green and full of trees, it was amazing. We learned so much information, and I probably only remember about a third of it, but we got to swim after. Casa Club is an all-inclusive resort, and we used the conference room.

Today, I just took my Spanish placement text (yikes), and this afternoon we are getting a tour of Santiago from students at the university here. And I will hopefully (fingers crossed) be getting a cell phone! And tomorrow I get to choose my classes.

I have discovered that I love love LOOOVE Dominican coffee, but unfortunately it is more caffeinated than US coffee. Which I found out after drinking a cup and a half. But it was delicious and worth it! My host mom seems to think that if I eat something, that's the only thing I like, so she keeps serving me the same foods. But more later!

On my way!

So I am now officially halfway to the Dominican Republic. After flying all night, I have made it to Miami. Fun stuff, I know! But right now, it's about 6 in the morning in Phoenix, and I only slept a couple of hours on the flight, so I am tired and ready to go to bed. Unfortunately, that probably won't be happening for a while now, although I'm not sure what the schedule is for when I arrive in the Dominican Republic. Hopefully there is a lot of time for SLEEP! But the good news is that the movie for the next leg of my journey is "How to Train Your Dragon." I'm crazy excited, and will probably have to stay awake and watch it. But it's an awesome movie, so oh well.

I have never been to the Miami airport before, and I must say that from what I have experienced, the people aren't the nicest and the airport is pretty low on my list of airports. I was trying to sleep a while ago, but I couldn't because they had the televisions turned on too loud. Did not make me happy!

Anyway, moving on from my problems with the Miami airport, the next time you hear from me, I will be knee deep in Spanish, I will have met my host family, and, fingers crossed, will have both of my suitcases in my possession once again. But for now, I am watching TV online and frantically reading up about the Dominican Republic. Sounds like a solid plan to me!

Hey look, a blog!

So this is going to be an interesting experiment. Can I keep a blog going the entire time I am in la República Dominicana, or will this, like many of my journal attempts, last about a week? Only time will tell.

But the facts are these: In just a few short days, I will be on a plane, on my way to spend four months in the  Caribbean country known as the Dominican Republic. I will be living with a host family in a city called Santiago de los Caballeros, taking classes at PUCMM, and attempting to communicate using Spanish skills. But for now, I am just furiously packing, trying not to forget anything and wondering about my future host family, the others attending the trip, and life in the DR in general. And to keep you all informed, I will (possibly) be updating this, making sure everyone that wants to hears my adventures and journeys can hear them. What will this semester have in store? No freaking idea. Be sure to tune in!