Sunday, May 9 - Friday, May 14, 2010

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

So I'm safely cruisin' at 29,000 feet on American Airlines flight #592 from MPLS to Chicago. It was supposed to take 57 minutes to get there but it's early. The pilot even came on the intercom and said we would be arriving soon to sunny Chicago! It took about 45 minutes to get there. I found my next gate with my carry-ons and I found a parfait place. Vanilla yogurt, strawberries, raspberries, and granola. No blueberries! I guess that's alright since those aren't my favorite anyway. Oh well.



Heading to Miami, traveling over 200 mph, I am above the cloud. Way up high there are some clouds, but not enough so I can't see. This should be about 2 and a half hours. Turns out it's EARLY! Lucky me! All my flights were early.

I am finally in Santiago, Dominican Republic. It's raining. Woo hoo... I was told that the host family I will be staying with will speak some English. Nope. They lied. Right through their teeth. Ana and her husband (I never knew his name), Ana's brother (again with the name...), and Joan, Ana's son, didn't speak ANY English. Joan is 10 and he spoke more English than the rest of them combined. He was so cute! I roomed with another girl from Oklahoma. She likes the was I say certain words. Like "bag." I don't know why... Then we got to go to school for 4 days. Monday through Thursday. I actually learned quite a bit, but it was mostly a refresher of the Spanish I learned in high school. The ride to school was the best... A 1970 Toyota car of some sort. I couldn't really make it out. We had 7 people in it. 3 in the front and 4 in the back. Crazy swerving, honking, yelling. On top of that, I realized no one believes in air conditioning. I guess I have it good in the Minnesota summer. For lunch we walked from the school to a local diner type deal and I had pasta that looked like alfredo (not sure), chunks of pork (I think) and some salad. I knew it was salad for sure. I tried papaya and I gave that away after one bite. No thanks. "Not my favorite." We ended up with 2 hours because Dominicans have siesta from noon to 2 pm. To finish off the first full day in the city of Santiago, DR, we went sight seeing. So gorgeous. Absolutely breathtaking. We went to the center of town where there is a monument the old dictator named after himself. The Trujillo Monument. Most people were afraid of him. Everyone always followed his rules and laws. Most were afraid of straying from the pack. CRAZY! He was eventually assassinated and the monument was renamed the Monumento a los Heroes de la Restauracion. That's the Monument to the Heroes of the Restoration. It's located in the very center of town and everything is around it. The restaurants, bars, clubs, stores, and churches. Once you get outside of that ring, there are houses, apartment buildings, and parks.



The thing took forever to get to the top. 9,000,000 steps later, this is what I see.



The next day in class we learned a few more things but the best part was the dance lessons. We learned the Bachata. It's a 1-2-3-step sort of dance. I don't like the counting so it wasn't my favorite. But it was easy to keep the rhythm then. :) My absolute favorite was the Merengue. Soooooooooo much fun. Move your knees forward but keep your feet and heels on the floor. Swing your hips and you got it! Ah I loved it! It's very Latin too. Then we went out that night to a local bar called El Jarro and guess who got asked to dance by strange Dominican men who knew absolutely NO ENGLISH?!?! That's right. Me. I danced with 2 guys and they said "Muy bien" to me after. I was so happy to hear that I did very well at their dance. Then I danced with Berman the rest of the night. He was my host mom's neighbor/friend. He is only 18 though, but he knew a tiny bit of English. With my broken Spanish, we could communicate just fine.



Real. Authentic. Pina Colada. Delicioso y muy fuerte. Esta bien. It was strong but still good to drink.

We learned how to make plantains in class too. You cut them up in slices like a banana and fry them in boiling oil. When the seeds get dark you take them out, smash them in a smasher thing, and fry again for 10 seconds or so. They are like squished french fries. Then you add fried cheese to the mix and you have pure awesomeness.



Eventually my group found the ice cream. Bon was the name of the shop. Helado is how you say ice cream in Spanish (the h is silent like in the word herb) and it was amazing. I don't know what I said to the lady but she said it was a good flavor. I got chocolate/vanilla/carmel all in one. You could taste it in every bite. Not one bite of chocolate, then one vanilla, and one carmel. No it was all at once. Amazing.



Now it's my final day here in Santiago. I'm sad to leave, but I know what's to come. I am excited to teach and build stuff and do what I can. If I can see the poverty level in the middle of the city... Just wait for the outskirts of the middle of nowhere. Eeeeks... The bus was delayed a few hours because it broke down. Then it broke down again so it was delayed about 4 hours. We finally arrived at Rancho Campeche where there is 18 more girls joining my group and lots of planning to do for these children. I can't wait! Time for the weekend. Planning here I come!!!



WELCOME TO MY BUNK!

:)