Adios Republica Dominicana...

So, today is my last day in the Dominican Republic...and I have NO idea how I feel!! For the past few weeks, I will be honest...I have been saying "Get me out of this country!!" It has been literally the hottest and most humid week since we have been here and the men seem to be in rare form as my hair becomes blonder with every passing hour I spend in the sun...Therefore, the declarations of "RUBIA, quiero mi visa!!" seem to be more and more frequent, and thus, more and more annoying!

All week the days have seemed to move so slowly...until yesterday. Last night, my mama and hermana made me a beautiful going away dinner (during which, the lights went out...again! My goodbye wouldn't have been complete without this ;) ) and after, my family and I sat on the front porch and just spent time together...We also exchanged gifts, at the end of which, we were all crying messes! Later, I  laid down in my now empty room (not a fun sight!) and attempted to sleep, but I just tossed and turned...that was until mi hermana, Aibid, snuck in in the middle of the night and crawled into bed next to me, and then I seemed to sleep absolutely perfectly :)

I now sit in my kitchen as mi mama prepares my final lunch, and I cannot help but feel this lump rise in my throat....It is the strangest feeling because one part of my heart is so stinkin excited to come home!!!! While the other part is breaking because I am leaving my new family that I have come to love so very much... But this is in no way the end...this is the beginning of relationships I will have and cherish for the rest of my life!

This summer I think I learned what I was capable of...or rather what God is capable of when I just let Him do His work...I have learned to cherish and suck in every single moment, and be so grateful for each and every one of them...I have learned that "just being" is okay, and so very necessary...This summer has changed my life...I have grown and been stretched a whole lot more than I think I wanted to be, but isn't that how God works? He never gives us what we expect, but He gives us absolutely everything we need! This summer I became part of an incredible family and entered into a completely different culture...This summer I became Dominican :)

El Ultimo Domingo!

Today is my last Sunday here...which means I have less than a week until I come home now!! It is a very bitter sweet feeling...on the one hand, I am so very ecstatic to finally be back in the States with the people I miss. But, on the other hand, I am realizing that I am leaving my new family who I will dearly miss.

Last night I got home at around 10pm after a day that started at 3:30am!! We had to wake up that early because we had to start our 6 hour drive to La Romana early enough to actually be able to spend the day there. La Romana is a city on the east of the island with quite a bit to offer! We went to La Cueva de las Maravillas (The Cave of Miracles...for you non-Spanish speakers ;) ), which are caves that are 25 meters underground with stalagmites and stalactites which were absolutely incredible!! (You should look up pictures if you get a chance! Our God is so creative!) We went from there to a town that was modeled exactly after a 16th Century Grecian town and was actually built by a man in 1979 as a birthday present to his daughter!! Quite a present, if I do say so myself! Following that, we went to a beach called Bayahibe that was so incredibly stereotypically Caribbean...with the practically white sand, clear light-blue water, and palm trees covering the beach...It was beautiful! 

We left there and then made our 6 hour bus ride back home...the entire way back, we did what most do on long trips to occupy the time...WE ATE! We ate crackers and cookies and peanuts and granola and ice cream...I don't say this just to make your mouth water (although mine is!) I say this to make you aware of the volume of food we ate. As a result, everyone was saying that they hoped their families didn't make them dinner...everyone, that is, except for me! I may be a little tired of things like rice and beans, mashed platanos, yucca and fried cheese and salami, but I now constantly say to mi familia here that they have made me into a Dominicana...in that I want to eat...ALL THE TIME! I always eat breakfast now, usually get a midmorning snack at school, a pretty big lunch, dinner, then a second dinner usually after church! So...that long tangent to say that when I got home last night, my mama had quite a bit of food waiting for me, as I had hoped! 

As I sat there eating, she casually let me know that she and my papa won't be going away this coming weekend...A bit of history here, months ago, my church planned to attend a marriage conference where they have all the couples in the church staying at a resort and attending workshops run by an American pastor couple...it's the first marriage retreat our church has ever been a part of and they have these pastors being flown in from the States to do it, so it's a pretty big deal...and it happens to be during the same weekend that I am leaving. My mama didn't even realize until half way through my trip here that they would be gone when I left, and when she found out, she was so upset, but we had resigned ourselves to the fact that we would just have to say goodbye two days earlier than expected. Well apparently, that was not good enough for mis padres! When I asked mi mama why they weren't going and that if they were staying here for me, they shouldn't, she just said, "You are my daughter and you are worth so much more than this conference. Your papa and I discussed it, and there is no way we could not be here to say goodbye to our daughter!" At this point, I just started crying at the kitchen table, and my mama followed suit. It was a very precious moment that I will forever be etched in my memory!

Needless to say, although I expect this to be an extremely exciting week (I actually had trouble falling asleep the other night because I started thinking about how excited I was to be going home so soon!) I also expect it to be an extremely emotional week (I cried through  a lot of church today, realizing all of the things I would miss about our Sunday morning service)... This trip and these people have been such an extreme blessing in my life...saying goodbye should be interesting...

Love you all and will be seeing you in LESS THAN A WEEK NOW!!!

Not so Buenas Noches...

There is no way I can go to sleep without sharing this with someone!

I was just in the bathroom right before bed and some sort of creature ran OVER my foot (well, it ran into then over my foot). It went so fast that I wouldn't have known what it was, but then it somehow began to wiggle it's body under the closed door of the bathroom, which took a little while, so I got a good look at it's legs flailing about... They were most definitely the legs of a MOUSE!! I didn't scream...or even stop my nightly routine of washing my face, but now I'm thinking of the fact that there is a mouse loose in my house. I could just shut my door and feel safe, but: 

A) It could have run into my room while I was finishing my face washing

B) I have seen this mouse in action and know that it is a crazy contortionist mouse that can squeeze it's body under doors (including my shut bedroom door)

Really though, if I'm being honest with myself...I am a little too tired to care and these little occurrences luckily don't stick with me for too long, so I have a feeling that I am going to turn off the computer and fall into bed without a second thought...hopefully ;)

P.S. This finally explains the creature that jumped out of my closet and ran  across my foot my first week here! The little bugger got away so fast that I never really figured out what it was...now I know!

Buenas Noches!!

Cervesas and Guaguas and Playas...Oh My!!

This was definitely a fun-filled...and interesting weekend!

On Friday, we had a free day, so 5 of us decided to hop on a guagua and take the two and a half hour trip to a beach called Cabarete. We got there, and the beach was beautiful! We all haven't been to the beach in a while, so we were slowly but surely losing our golden, Dominican tans (okay, maybe not golden...but I am working on not glowing white!) So, our main objective for the day was to soak up some rays...the only problem was that there was rain in the forecast, which usually doesn't mean much because the weather is rather fickle and ever-changing here! We layed out on the beach right away, and within 20 minutes, rather ominous looking clouds started rolling in. We didn't make a move though because, like I said, we were desperate for sun! It stared to lightly sprinkle, but what does a little rain hurt? Really, it just served to cool us off nicely :) We stuck it out for a little while until it started pouring, at which point we took shelter in a restaurant set on the beach where we got drinks and an awesome pizza! As we were sitting in the restaurant looking out at the ocean, I was feeling a little sad about missing out on the beach when we were so dang close. So I decided to do the one thing I knew could fix our dilemma....I ran out of the restaurant, down the beach, and jumped in the ocen! We all had a blast swimming in the rain!!
Right after that, we made our way to the street to get on a guagua to come back home, and that was an adventure in and of itself! The guagua we got into had at least 25 people packed into a van that is only supposed to hold 14...needless to say, our little group of five was packed quite tightly together and the ridiculousness of it got me laughing. Anyone who knows me well knows that I do not have the most inconspicuos laugh...there is my snort and then there is the deep wheeze that occurs when I can't breathe, but I desperately gasp for air. I started laughing so hard that I definitely started wheezing! All of a sudden, we hear someone behind us with a thick British accent say, "What on earth is that noise??" (Simultaneously, we were asking ourselves the same question because it is not everyday that you hear a British accent in the middle of the Dominican Republic). It was then that we turned around and met Steve Martin (no, not the Father of the Bride, but rather a man from London who moved to the DR seven years ago to retire). He was a lovely man and he let us all know the benefits of retiring and moving someplace where the cost of living is dirt cheap :) We also met a man on the guagua who told me that he was crazy for me and would like to marry me...But that is a whole other story!

It's funny because that day we spent more time on the guaguas getting to and from our destination than we did at the actual destination, but that just goes to show you that your joy really should be found in the journey!

The next day, Saleena and I were invited to go with her papa and his co-workers on a company trip to a beach called Ensenada. We jumped at the chance to go to a beach without the APU group because we need to practice our Spanish every chance we can get! We got on the bus to head out to the beach at 9 that morning, and the first order of business was to open up the cooler at the front of the bus and pass out beers to all of the employees... and that continued to be the theme for the rest of the day! I rarely saw someone without a Presidente in their hand! Saleena and I definitely got the sun we were looking for the day before...we both got rather burnt. But, we also got the Spanish practice we were looking for! It's funny because a lot of people here like when they meet Americans because they want the chance to practice their English, but we have to explain that we came here to learn and study Spanish, so they need to help us practice our Spanish. Sometimes I will have conversations where the person I am talking to will speak in English and I will speak in Spanish so we can both practice! I had some of those kinds of conversations at the beach that day, but after awhile when someone would speak to me in English I would say "No entiendo. Yo solo entiendo espanol!" That ended up working because a lot of the people really appreciate that we so badly want to learn their language. On the bus ride home Saleena and I were really tired so we tried to sleep, seeing as it was a three hour bus ride! This goal quickly proved to be impossible though because the men on the bus were still having their fill of beer, thus the noise level on the bus rose dramatically. It didn't help when a man from teh back of the bus came up and sat on the cooler in front of our seats telling us that we were not, in fact, allowed to be tired and that we needed to talk to him! All of my desire to sleep completely left me when I saw the bus driver with the steering wheel in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other!! Things are so very different here!! Now don't worry too much... because as you can tell, I made it home safely :)

On Sunday we had our three hour long church service (it is crazy to me that three hours of church no longer feels like a long time!), went back to my tia's house and ate lunch, then headed to Mao, which is a town in a more rural area about an hour away from Santiago where mi abuelo lives. We sat on the porch and drank the best lemonade I have ever tasted and ate green bananas. You may be thinking, "Why did you eat bananas that weren't ripe?" But here, they have bananas where they do nothing to speed up the ripening process, so they are completely natural and they stay green...yummy! After, we went to the river right near my abuelo's house to go for a swim...or rather, a sit :) I have gotten very good at just sitting while I have been here! Dominicans will be the first to admit that they are not the most active people, so it is completely natural to go to the river, find yourself a spot to dig in and resist the current, then just sit there and let the water hit you...While we did relax, we also found time to get in a big splashing fight with my entire family too, which was quite a sight to behold! The family decided to change before we got back in the car to leave, which meant creating makeshift dressing rooms out of towels we all switched off holding up for one another. Normally, not a big deal...I did that all growing up when my family would go to the beach... However, as a small, white girl in California I did not create quite as much of a stir as a now tall, white girl in the Dominican! As I have said before, Americans here often become the spectacle, and it was no different on Sunday. As Saleena and I changed behind the saftey of the towels held up by our families, we gained a bit of an audience with some boys who made it no mystery that they were hoping the towels would mysteriously fall or fly away. Luckily, our families were quite vigilant in keeping us safe from the prying eyes, but that didn't keep them from laughing at us for the scene we had created!

We drove back to Santiago the long way so our families could show us all of the different products grown throughout the countryside...I love how here, going the "long way" or stopping on the side of the road to pick up pinecones (yes, we have done this!) or spending an extra 45 minutes after church to take everyone home or being late to work to have an important conversation with someone aren't even second thoughts here. Here, time almost doesn't exist because the importance is found in the event itself...not what time it was supposed to start or what time it should be done so you can move onto the next thing...I'm convinced that if someone took all of the clocks out of Santiago, no one here would put up much of a fight ;)

Kisses and hugs!! (I'm so excited that I will be able to start giving these in person so very soon!! Only 2 weeks and 3 days left!!)

27 days and counting!!

I have definitely loved my experience here and I know I still have lots more to learn, but the countdown has definitely started! I feel like everyone in the group is in a very similar place right now...we have all loved it here, but we're feeling a little homesick! I think it is the realization that the end is so close, and yet in some ways still so far away...
I think it doesn't help that this is one of the hottest months of the year, all of our tummies are not extremely happy with the food right now, and my parents being here from the US definitely reminded everyone of home!

The rest of my parent's trip here was great! We got to spend time at the pool (a very hot commodity here, seeing as the only other time I have had access to a pool here was at the resort I went to), we went out to dinner with everyone from the APU group, we had some awesome conversations, I got to sleep in their AIR CONDITIONED hotel room, and we got to have a goodbye dinner with mis padres and go to see my church afterward. I was just so thrilled taht my parents got to see all of the things here that are completely impossible to describe with words... All in all, an incredible time! But, I realized at the end that before they were here, I had definitely done a good job of compartmentalizing them and pushing them to the back of my mind...But them being here obviously made them jump right back to the front of my mind again!

For some reason, I think that my parents coming signaled the end of the trip for me, but I have another month left! This is where my lessons on "just being" come in, and I need to just jump right back into life here and take in every single moment, appreciating the beauty of what I have here because it really is going to be done before I know it! I try to take snapshots in my mind of everything here that is so wonderful and so dear to my heart like mis padres standing and worshipping together in church, or the silly look mi hermana gets on her face after she's told me how to say a bad word in Spanish (hehe), or how much I revel in the idea of a cold shower at the end of a day, or how ridiculous it is when we are able to squish 16 people in our 6-seater car after church because we need to make sure that everyone has a ride home, or how, when the power goes out right before bed, my entire family will lay on the tile floor of the front porch because that is the coolest part of the house...

I love my life here...sometimes I just need to remind myself of the moments that I will miss when I get back to the United States because, although I get tired sometimes and just want to be home, I am so blessed to be having this experience that will forever be a milestone that I look back on with great joy!

Things that make you go hmmm...

So, here in the DR, there are things almost daily that perplex and puzzle me...and generally just make me laugh out loud :) I will share some with you:

-Sometimes it is a little disconcerting when you walk into a nice restraunt and they have a sign on the door specifying that you cannot in fact bring your firearm in with you...

-More disconcerting when entering the mall and not only is there a sign saying you can't bring in your firearm, but also that you can't bring your machete in with you either...

-Even more disconcerting when the officer on the street with his large gun (which he is allowed to have because he is neither in the nice restaurant or the mall) feels that it is okay to whistle and me and try to get my attention...I am sorry sir, but you have a very large gun which I feel you should be paying more attention to than me!

-The sign in the corner store that says you are not allowed to drink alcoholic beverages in the store before you have purchased them...as I stand behind two men in line enjoying their Presidente cervesas :)

- The concho driver giving me 25 pesos so I can fully extend my arm to try and reach across to another concho driver to make change while we sit at a stoplight (good thing I have monkey arms!)

...as of now I can remember nothing else, though I promise these perplexing moments occur mutiple times daily!!

On another note... MY PARENTS ARE HERE!!! I was a very happy girl yesterday when I got to go to meet my parents at their hotel, get a drink with them and share how life is here, have a wonderful cuddle time with my mommy, then take them (in a concho! Mom did not like the experience so much...she made me promise we'll take a taxi from now on while they're here :) ) to mi casa where they got to meet my incredible familia and have dinner all together! Seriously one of my best nights here...having my two sets of parents who I love so incredibly much finally in the same room together getting to meet the people I talk so much about was so....I don't even know how to describe it...but it was wonderful!

Love to you all :)

All. Inclusive.

I never fully realized the beauty of those two relatively simple words until this weekend. When mi familia told me that we were going to stay in a hotel in Puerto Plata for the weekend as a church trip and that it would cost $55 per night, I was honestly a little shocked at the price. You might be saying to yourself, "Fifty five dollars for a hotel room is a pretty dang cheap price!! Why were you shocked, Bri??" But you must remember that I am now a Dominican, so my economy is much different...When I can buy a cell phone for $13 and go to the movies for less than $3, I find $55 a night for a hotel a wee bit steep...This was until I found out that the hotel was an all-inclusive resort with direct beach access, three different restaurants that were open at practically all hours, two bars (one at the pool and one on the beach) where you could get any fun tropical-y drink you could want, and fun activities like pool aerobics, kayaks, and shows every night! Needless to say, I was completely fine with the cost after I found all of this out!!

The first thing we did when we got there was eat, of course (I have decided that is the favorite Dominican past-time) I was so excited because the buffet had...vegetables!! Yes, vegetables! Here, vegetables aren't necessarily a favorite food, and when they are served they are always, without fail, drenched in vinegar! I don't think I have ever been so excited to be eating garden salad and steamed broccoli as I was that day at lunch. After lunch, Josh and I got to enjoy a piña colada by the pool before making our way to the beach where we proceeded to eat another food I miss quite terribly...Chips and pico de gallo. I think that everyone assumes that if a country is Spanish-speaking they will have lots and lots of Mexican food...that is most definitely an incorrect assumption!! We all played in the pool for awhile and then we got ready for dinner, but the getting ready part was even wonderful because I got to take a shower with running HOT water!! It was incredible :) We went to the buffet again for our first dinner and then about 2 hours later, we went to the resort's Mediterranean restaurant set on the beach for our second dinner! After dinner we caught the end of the show, and then spent time walking on the beach and hanging around the pool area...Josh and I also started working on saying goodbye for the next month-and-a-half :/

The next morning at 6am, mi papa and I took Josh back to Santiago so he could catch his flight back to the US...I will admit that there were a few tears on my part, but I have a feeling the second half of my trip will fly by faster than I expect! When we got back to the resort, I was greeted by my extremely loving family who all wanted to see how I was doing and who also wasted no time at all getting me to do a water aerobics class with them where I think I got more exercise just from all the laughing I was doing :) We also did a lot more eating, sunbathing (a little to much...I'm now a teensy bit crispy...But mi familia continues to say that being burnt is a good thing because now I look more like them...hehe!), sleeping, and just spending time together! I again had two dinners....one at the buffet, and the second at an Oriental restaurant-- I am thinking that this weekend I may have gained back the weight I lost when I got sick!! Woohoo!

The last day (which was yesterday), we had a mini-church service in the hotel's little outdoor theater, and it was awesome! I feel like God is really trying to make me aware of the fact that He works in my life and speaks to me...He may not always speak to me about the things I think I need answers to right now, but I think He wants to make sure that I realize that He is an active part of my life and I can trust Him to speak to me clearly about everything in HIS timing, not mine! The day before, I had been reading Luke 11:9-13 where Jesus says that if you ask, it will be given to you and if you knock, the door will be opened...and how earthly fathers, even though they are sinful, give their children what they ask for, so how much more will the heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to those who ask.  It was awesome, because that same passage (from Matthew 7:7) was used in our church service, and it was just so incredible to me that God would be so intentional with me...to ensure that I am paying attention to the words that He's giving me, and that I realize that He is speaking to me. I really want to learn (and I think I am learning) what it means to really seek God and be persistent and perseverant in seeking Him even when you don't necessarily "feel" what you think you should. I really want to figure out what being filled with the Holy Spirit looks like, because I want Him to be living out of me...I'm tired of being the one living this life of mine! A bit of a tangent, but I figured it is important to let you all know how I am developing spiritually, so you can continue to pray for me as I try to work all of this out!

After our church service, we spent more time in the pool, eating, and on the beach...When we were at the beach, my brother-in-law, Audi, asked if I wanted to go kayaking with him, and I was all about it! So we started out going straight out against the waves...We got quite a rhythm down, so we were super far from the shore in no time. He kept asking if I wanted to go further and every time I said, "Por supuesto!!" (Of course!!) Finally, Audi decided that he wanted to start going parallel to the shore, so we could explore another part of the beach...Bad decision!! Going against the waves is one thing, but when you decided to place your long kayak parallel with them, they have a habit of knocking you over! The second we turned, the kayak flipped...most would expect that this would be the point that little Bri Bri would start crying, but instead, I started to laugh hysterically! I thought that the ridiculousness of our situation was absolutely hilarious! The laughing continued when every time we tried to get back on, we would flip all over again...we didn't realize until later, but apparently our kayak was missing a plug that it needed, so it was filling with water, making it harder and harder to flip back over, and also making it impossible to keep balanced once we tried to jump back on. Luckily, a motorboat full of people saw us, and the driver said he would take the cumbersome kayak and oars off of our hands and back to shore. You may be thinking that this still left us in the middle of the ocean quite far from shore, which is the correct assumption! Luckily, a little sailboat saw the predicament we were in, so they came by and picked us up to take us back to shore! There was an English woman on board who had paid to rent the boat and have the guide, and we just got to join for free!! Definitely an incredible memory, and it just goes to show you that the unplanned-for mishaps can be the most fun :)

Yesterday, we made the 2 hour ride back with 4 sunburnt people jammed in the backseat, but all was well because we had an awesome weekend! 

Lots of kisses and hugs to all!! 

Rain, Rain DON'T Go Away!!

As you can see, I have put a little twist on the good ol' children's song "Rain, rain go away!" That is because here in the Dominican, rain is a blessed event! It has been raining pretty heavily off and on for the past three days, and I am LOVING it!! It has rained here before, but this is the first time that the rain has actually made the weather feel cooler....by cooler, I in no way mean jeans and sweatshirt weather (it is currently pouring buckets and I am wearing a sundress and flip-flops, feeling quite comfortable!), but I definitely don't feel like I am dying of heat stroke just by walking down the street!

Along with the rain, another blessed event has occurred here in the DR, and that is the arrival of Mister Joshua Prince!! He got here last Wednesday, and it has been so much fun to show him where I'm living, what I am eating, how I get around everyday, and of course having him get to know my wonderful family here! Mi familia loves "Josue" (that's how you say Joshua in Spanish...Mi mama attempted saying "Josh" the first day he was here, but the attempts proved to be futile ;) ) He comes and sits in my classes everyday with me and gets to go to my family's daycare with me after school for lunch and after we usually tool around town or go back to my house and sit on the front porch (seeing as that is the coolest place in my house!) I think Josh may be seeing that his girlfriend is a little tougher than everyone may think ;) He has gotten to brave the elements with me, experience the common occurence of sickness here (we both have colds right now :/), eat the sometimes questionable food (we had sweet mashed platanos with ground beef the other night!), and the plentiful bugs (one kept Josh up the second night he was here...hehe!)

This past Saturday we went to the prettiest beach I have been to since we've gotten here!! It is called Playa Grande, and it was a three hour bus ride away, but the drive was definitely worth it! The sand was beautiful and soft, the waves at the beach were actually substantial (unlike all of the others so far), and the water was cool enough to be really refreshing! We also decided to be adventurers and made our way out to these sharp rock formations where we had to go through little rock tunnels that filled with water when the waves came in and climb onto rocks that were entirely too sharp and had sea urchins hiding in the most clever places! Looking back on it, it probably wasn't the most intelligent decision I have ever made, but it was SO MUCH FUN!! It just goes to show you, sometimes a little risk is a good thing :)

We also got to go to a Dominican wedding on Saturday night, and it was another interesting experience! The culture is so different here, so why wouldn't the weddings be radically different too?? I just feel as though not as much pressure is put on the event itself here, so it is completely fine to show up over an hour late (as we did) because it is safe to say that the ceremony probably won't start until two hours after it is scheduled to start. No worries if you do happen to show up while the ceremony is actually starting because you can just walk down the aisle as the bridesmaids do to get to your seat (yes, that actually happened!)When the ceremony finally does start, because it is held in the same place the reception is, they decide to cut the work in half and just have everyone sit at round tables to watch the ceremony. Round tables are much more conducive to socializing, so it is not uncommon to hear people making polite conversation DURING the ceremony. Although a little unorthodox to me, the weddings here most definitely follow the laid back Dominican style of things!!

So, I am definitely enjoying the time that I get to spend here with Josh, but I will admit that the days are seeming to move quite a bit more quickly while he's here, which I am not a huge fan of :/ But once he leaves, I will be over half-way done with my stay here!! Can you believe it?? I sure can't!

Mi Semana!!

This past week has been so full, so as to not give you all a novel to read, I'm going to list the things that made this past week wonderful!

- The government finally decided that picking up the trash would be a good idea, so after three weeks of trash piling up, my street is finally clean again :) Which means the streams of black ickyness on the sidewalk are also gone!!

-The APU group has made its way to Tony Roma's (yes, there is one at one of the shopping centers here!) at least three times this week after school because they have a big screen where they are playing the World Cup! (I am apparently now a futbol fan as well..who knew?)

-I made friends!! Last week I played with all of kids on my street for about three hours...they loved playing with me because I have "brazos largos" (long arms!) so I can throw the ball really far (yes, these children are small, so their version of far may be a wee bit exaggerated) Anyway, now whenever I walk down the street, I hear "Amiga! Amiga!" and then little kids come running out of who-knows-where to come give me hugs :)

- On Friday night I went with mi hermana and my friend Saleena to watch Prince of Persia (still so interesting to me that we go to movies here that are in English with Spanish subtitles!) and then we went to get Yaroa, which is an extremely popular street food in Santiago...it consists of french fries, layered with a mixture of beef and chicken and onions, followed by a slice of melted white cheese, followed by ketchup, mayonnaise, and more cheese...I know, the epitome of healthy! And written down, it actually sounds pretty gross...but it was SO good! My stomach didn't really appreciate it the next day, but it was worth it ;)

-On Saturday, our group got to go out on our own for the first time, and I am so very glad we did! We took a guagua (a big bus stuffed with people) out toward Puerto Plata and stopped at a place called 27 Charcos, which is twenty-seven waterfalls that you get life-jackets, helmets, and two guides in order to climb up and then either jump of or slide down!   I wish I could explain the beauty of this place...we only did the first seven waterfalls, and just those were absolutely breathtaking, and so much fun! We would walk through the water with huge rock walls rising high above us on either side, and then be pulled, pushed, or climb up through these relatively small, yet incredible waterfalls...such a great experience!!

-When we left the Charcos, we were standing on the side of the road waiting in the BLAZING sun for a guagua, and there was NOTHING! Luckily, there was a big red truck that the 11 of us were able to jump on the back of, and he actually caught up with a guagua, so we could jump on and make our way to the beach for the rest of the day :)

-Here in the DR they have something called "Dia de Los Maestros" (Teacher's Day)...it is at the end of the year, and teachers all receive gifts from their students...and when I say gifts, I mean gifts!! Mi mama is a teacher, and her bed was filled with clothes, jewelry, bath sets, and stuff for her house...it looked like Christmas! The next day, mi mama came in my room and said she had something for me...She then proceeded to give me this beautiful little pearl bracelet she had gotten. I asked her if she had gotten it from one of her students and when she said yes, I told her that she should keep it for herself, which she responded to by saying that the bracelet looked liked me and that she loves sharing with her daughters...I almost cried! I found out that every time mi mama gets gifts like that, she makes sure to let mis hermanas and her friends look to see if they like anything so they can have it!!

-On Sunday, one of the APU girls saw a group of white people in her church, which is pretty out of the ordinary here, so she went over and introduced herself. They ended up being a group of graduating high school seniors who came for a week to visit with their Spanish teacher who has family here...True to the Dominican spirit, they invited all of the APU group over that night for fried platanos and salami, and we ended up staying for hours just talking about everything we have experienced so far :)

-Last night, mis hermanas, mi cuñado (brother in law), and I got home before mi mama and papa... that of course meant that it was our duty to put on bachata and merengue music...this led to my older sister and her husband teaching me how to dance the bachata...which of course led to my two hermanas and I dancing in the kitchen for hours while making dinner, dripping sweat (because between the already hot Caribbean air and the two burners on the stove going, we had created a sauna in the kitchen!) Honestly, one of my best nights here so far, and one I will never forget :)

This week makes exactly a month that I have been here in the Dominican, and, needless to say, this has been quite a week!! And I am bound to have another wonderful week ahead of me, seeing as Josh is coming to visit TOMORROW!!! YAY!

All my love from here in Santiago :)

Random...

I have no actual point in mind while writing this, but I don't want to forget all of the random things I see and experience everyday, so I shall enumerate them here:

- I can safely say that I have never seen a man walking through a school campus with two chickens under his arm...until today!!

- What are the odds of getting into a concho next to the same man that had given you his number a week prior?? Awkward!!

-Have you ever been barked at by a dog...staring down at you from the roof of its house?

-I didn't know that they had tornadoes here in the Dominican Republic, but apparently one decided to knock out a main power line yesterday, and we were without power for 10 hours!

-The sides of our street are currently piled with everyone's household trash because apparently after the elections the syndicate decided that public trash pick-up would no longer be on the docket of "priorities"...

-I now am a mosquito killing master! The little buggers don't stand a chance with me...unless I'm sleeping...then they get me back by attacking my legs... 

 

-As I was walking home from school, I got tickled by the fact that a chicken and rooster were just hanging out on my street!

-Now that the guagua has officially stopped functioning, I get so touched by the fact that my papa walks to the daycare my mama works at everyday so he can walk her home.

That's all I have for now...I know there are so many more things I see everyday that shock me, surprise me, make me laugh, and touch me more than you could know....but as of now, that is all I can remember!!

Love you all...xoxox

Ahorita!!

If you were to look up the word "ahorita" in the dictionary it would say something along the lines of "right away; at this very moment". In the Dominican Republic, they definitely do not use this definition!! Here, "ahorita" literally means anywhere from a half hour to about two hours...You can imagine my shock the first day when my papa told me we were leaving "ahorita". I grabbed my stuff and started to get my shoes and he just looked at me rather perplexed. I have definitely learned my lesson!

As I have mentioned before, time is very different here than it is at home. Here, the focus is much more on the event itself as opposed to the exact time it begins or ends. When my papa tells me that we are leaving for church exactly at 9, I know that we will be leaving at 9:30 at the earliest (it takes time to finish eating the breakfast that is made every morning, get the car to actually start, and lock the three different gates/doors leading into our house!)

This past Wednesday I went to my first Dominican wedding (I say first because I have two more that I am going to get to go to!) The wedding I went to was scheduled to start at 3...We left our house for the wedding at 3:40...At first I was nervous that we would be late , and then I realized the ridiculousness of my nervousness! The wedding didn't end up starting until 5:15!! No one waiting for the wedding to start acted as if the waiting were anything out of the ordinary. When it did start, it was quite an event, with an entire sermon embedded in the ceremony! The reception consisted of dinner and cake (no dancing :/ because here, it is very embedded in the culture that Christians don't dance) Even with the simplicity of the reception, we didn't end up getting home until around 10pm!! 

Time definitely is not in any way the focus here, which takes some getting used to, but it is also teaching me the beauty of not really needing to run life by the hands of a clock :)

Don't Drink The Water!!

I think every single person hears this when going out of the country into a developing nation...it is like the number one rule in any savvy traveler's guide! One may think "Anyone dumb enough to drink the water after they have been told explicitly not to deserves to be sick!" To that I reply, "Well, what if the person drank the water on accident??"

This past Sunday was "El Dia de Las Madres" in the Dominican, so once more, to all you mother's in my life...Happy Mother's Day!!!! (again!) Needless to say, Dominicans are big on friends, family, and food! So, we had a bunch of people over to our house to have a big lunch after church. One big difference between here and home is that on Mother's Day at home, mom's are not supposed to lift a finger...they are to be served and taken care of! Here, every single one of the mom's was in the kitchen working on something for the day's meal. That meant that someone other than my mama made the drinks for lunch. I'm guessing that this woman had never gotten the memo that in our house we take all water and boil it before we put it in a pitcher in the fridge to drink it. This woman decided that she would make things easier by skipping the middle man and putting the water straight from the sink into the pitchers of tea and water! That leads me to my current dilemma...I thought it tasted sorta strange on Sunday and on Monday and Tuesday when I was drinking the same leftover tea and water, I had a nagging suspicion that something was amiss...today, I am paying for it!!

Moral of the story: When the collective "they" tell you not to drink the water...DON'T DO IT!! 

And we walk!!

Here in the DR, a family is very lucky to have one car. My family is one of those lucky families!! As a result, we often go and pick up my tia, cousins, family friends, and anyone else who needs a ride whenever we go to school, church, the grocery store...any outing really! If you can't tell, a car (known as a guagua here) is quite a precious commodity! Unfortunately, last week the guagua started giving my papa problems...He would be ready for work, dressed in his suit and tie, and the car would just not start. Instead of getting upset or cursing the car for not working, he would simply go to a neighbor's house with a huge smile on his face and ask for a jump...Eventually, this plan failed him because on Sunday the car refused to function any longer. Mind you, my papa is the pastor of the church...instead of kicking at the car or complaining about being late, he calmly called a taxi and on our way to church found (or rather made) the opportunity to talk to the cab driver about Jesus. My papa is honestly one of the most joyful and patient people I have ever met and he always gives all the glory to Jesus for his demeanor. Whenever I ask him if he's okay about this whole car situation, he always says "All of my problems are in God's hands. Why would I be upset?" (in Spanish, of course ;)  And whenever I praise him for being so joyful he says, "It is our job to be joyful at all times!" My family and life in general here are sure teaching me a lot!

 

Because of this car situation, I have taken quite an affinity to walking...EVERYWHERE!! My friend here and I needed to go to a certain store to get her phone fixed and to get calling cards, so we walked...5 MILES round trip!! So, needless to say, I better have toned legs by the end of this trip! Honestly though, I am finding such an appreciation for the things I take for granted at home all the  time...like having a car so I can go wherever I want whenever I want (you think through "little outings" a bit more when you know you'll be walking the whole way!)

Luckily, my papa took the guagua to the mechanic today, so I think we'll have a working car tomorrow!

Back Home!!

You may be thinking...what on earth?? She's only been gone two weeks and she's heading back home already??No, I'm not back home in the United States... sorry if I got any of your hopes up! Hehe :) 

I actually just got back to my Dominican home today from a little trip to visit the capital of the Dominican Republic (which is Santo Domingo, for those who don't know...don't worry, I didn't know before either!) Anyway, it was nice to get away for a little while with the APU group and go exploring because Santo Domingo is a bit of a busier, more centralized city than Santiago. I also just loved having full days!!

When drove down on Thursday morning at 6am, fitting the total 14 people into two mid-sized cars...we have definitely gotten close (and by that I mean physically close!!) on this trip!! (luckily, the ride was only 3 hours long ;)  ) Anyway, we got into Santo Domingo and we went straight to a church where a nursing mission team from APU had set up a mini clinic where people from the city could come and tell the nursing students about their ailments, then get medication that the mission team had brought with them. I actually got to work at the table where they were giving out medicine, translating for the people, telling them the directions for when and how to take the medication!! It was the coolest feeling to actually be able to do something helpful with my language acquisition! I also got to play with and talk with a ton of the BEAUTIFUL children that were there, and that obviously put such a huge smile on my face :)

That night we stayed at a cheap hotel near to the beach, and I have never been so thrilled with my accommodations before!! I got to take a shower with RUNNING, HOT water...ahhhh!! AND the room had a wall unit air conditioner!! Oh, the simple pleasures in life :)

The next day, we went to a beach called Boca Chica that had the gorgeous, white sand and bright blue, crystal clear water...the fun part about this beach too is that there was quite an adventure to be had! About a quarter-mile from the beach (in the ocean) was a grove of trees/mini island that you could swim out to...I was feeling adventurous, so that is exactly what I did with a small group of people. We got out there, and I wish I could explain to you what it was like! There was shallow water we could stand in and fish would just come up an nibble at my toes, and on the forest/island there were parts of the ground that looked like they were moving, and when you looked more closely, you realized that there were actually a bunch of little crabs running across the ground (one of which I actually got the courage to let run around on my hand!) There were also lizards...and a rat, which was maybe not the most pleasant thing to see :/ (how it even got there beats me!) Along with the adventure of being out the island, we ended up meeting a 22 year-old guy named Peety who actually is from Port Au Prince, Haiti and came to the Dominican to finish studying after the earthquake...Not only are there no schools for him to study in right now, but his house was also flattened...while his father was inside. So this boy lost any current prospect for a job there, his home, and his father...yet he was smiling and laughing and showing us around this island! I was blown away not only by God's hand in nature but also at the resiliency he can create in the human spirit (We found out that Peety is a Christian and he kept saying "Gracias a Dios" for the fact that he was in the Dominican and able to study...it was incredible!)

That night, our group went to this boardwalk area by the beach with food places and some live music...and although going to the discotecas here is against the rules because of school policy, we just decided to create our own in the middle of the sidewalk!! We had so much fun dancing with one another...laughing hysterically an drawing far too much attention to ourselves :) It started to downpour (because that's what it does here...randomly and out of the blue!) and I just stood in the rain, loving where I was at in that very moment!

This morning we went to a museum that I think is just dedicated to artifacts from different countries all throughout the Americas (sometimes it is quite difficult to decipher these museum tours when they are conducted in Spanish!!) Afterward, we went to this national park called Tres Ojos (The Three Eyes), and I was again blown away by God's handiwork!! It was this collection of three partially underground lakes that were surrounded by trees and vines and cave walls/ stalagmites...I again wish I could explain it better, but no words could describe the beauty of this place!

Then we started back on our 3 hour ride back home in our overstuffed cars...When I got back, mi mama was sitting on the front porch with mi tia and some family friends...She jumped up when I walked up and started telling me how much she missed me (for the 3 days that I was gone!) I walked in my room, and she had put a brand new, beautiful comforter and pillow on my bed...I went out and told her how much I loved it and she just told me that it had been done "con mucho amor" and that she was hoping I would like it. Then she heated up a dinner she had made for me...It was nice to come home :)  (Mommy at home, don't worry!! 502 Oak Knoll will always be my home, but it is so nice to actually be settling into this second home of mine in the Dominican!)

While I have been having such a nice weekend, God is still hard at work in me!! It's funny because he is having to work so hard to get this mentality of "working" out of me! When I was surrounded by the beauty of what he had created, I started getting discouraged about the fact that there is no way I could possibly say the right words to him or approach these works of his hand with enough reverence... But I think that is what he is trying to teach me... "Just being" and appreciating his creation for what it is and him for he is is enough. I will never in this lifetime be able to fully comprehend the greatness and majesty of God, nor will I be able to ever "do" enough to express the proper amount of awe or gratefulness... But that is okay! I need to look around, be grateful, thank my God, and then...JUST BE! While I would like to have all of these lessons he is trying to teach me "down pat" by now, I have to realize that I must be patient with this learning process...and it has only been two weeks!! I think I have a bit more time to let God work in me what he so desires to...

Well, I think I will stop now that I have given you all a novel to read!! Again, I so appreciate the comments of encouragement I get from you, and the prayers you all have been sending up are more appreciated than you know...God is doing a mighty work, and I have all of you to thank for helping me through this process!

Mucho amor to you all...xoxoxoxo

Estoy Cansada!!

So, I am very tired!! But that is SUCH a good thing because it means that I am starting to actually use a bit more of my time here!! Lots of walking has happened, a tiny bit of studying, and a WHOLE LOT of learning already!! This is going to be a short post because my eyes are trying harder than they should be to stay open...but I wanted to keep you all updated and theank you so much for your prayer and support! I have felt so loved and embraced by my friends and family even though I am thousands of miles away....God is definitely hearing all of you because he has felt so present, and he has definitely been my strength when I have felt weak!

I am starting to get used to the extreme heat and humidity here...I love my cold bucket shower (it has become quite a refreshing ritual!!)...my family here is still just as incredible and I am getting closer with them everyday...I'm starting to get my bearings when it comes to all of the crazy streets and directions...I'm really starting to love the food and my tummy is starting to love it too :)...and I'm feeling pretty dang comfortable with the language! I am also having a blast with the group here from APU! We laugh and goof around a lot, which is a great relief from the pressure sometimes! We actually went to a TGI Fridays tonight for one of the girl's birthday and it was nice to feel like we were back in the States for a couple of hours :)

I'll give more details later, but I wanted everyone to know that I'm doing really well!!

The Newest Attraction

Here in the Dominican, when it comes to nationality, I stick out...well, like a gringa!! It is so strange being a foreigner here because there is no possible way that I can deny that I am not from around here...as a result, us Americanas have become the newest attraction ;)

When I go with my family to the grocery store, or when I am walking with a friend on the street, people cannot seem to help but stare. We are most definitely the foreigners, and we most definitely do not fit the part of a Dominican!!

Here, it is very culturally acceptable for men to whistle and catcall when women walk by... The women don't really take offense, they just ignore the men and keep walking... At our pre-departure meeting we were instructed to do the same...Little did I know how often I would be using this advice!! 

Literally every time we are on the street, every passing car feels the need to honk their horn, or yell something sweet out the window, or blow kisses to us as we walk! Our university also has an elementary/high school within its campus as a part of its ministry within the community, so we are going to school on the same campus as a bunch of Dominican boys...everyday, as we walk by the classroom windows, even though the teachers are in the middle of teaching, the boys yell out "Wow! Gringas!" or "Ven aqui!" or (my favorite) "You are beautiful Americana!"  They also have a habit of hissing in a way...it sort of sounds like when you are trying to get someone's attention to tell them a secret-- "Psst psst!" That is quite popular here, so even if a class isn't completely interrupted by our arrival on campus, we can hear the "Psst-ing" as we pass by each and every classroom window (they must have lots of secrets to tell us! hehe!)

Anyway, I think a lot of the girls were offended at first, but as we have been here, we have realized what it means for things to be culturally acceptable one place, yet not in another. Here, we have to remind ourselves that we are becoming a part of their culture, and when the men call out or try to get our attention, they are not trying to be rude or threatening...that is just what is culturally acceptable! I think my epiphany came when I was in the hall and a boy that looked to be about 7 years old looked at me and gave me a whistle! He obviously wasn't trying to be malicious or inappropriate...that is just what his culture has told him is acceptable!

So often, I think we go to the default of thinking that our own culture is the "right way of doing things", but who is to say? Neither one is right or wrong...they are just different! If that means for three months we will be getting a bit more attention than we are used to, then so be it! (It usually gives me a good laugh!) Besides, after awhile a new attraction isn't so new anymore, right??

And the time moves a little slowly...

Today was a bit difficult...I'm trying hard to keep my head in the here and now, but here everything seems to move so slowly (including the hands on the clock!) so my mind likes to wander! And then things like missing home happen...Luckily I was able to talk with people from home today, and that most definitely makes me smile :)

My family here makes me smile a lot too!! I am already able to joke around with mi papa in Spanish, which is quite exciting! And whenever they see that things are a little difficult for me, they are so patient and loving and understanding toward me...I am so blessed by the family I was placed with! They are a daily answer to prayer!!

Today was not all difficult though...I got to have my first adventure in a "concho"!! Conchos are the mode of public transportation in Santiago. They are actually just cars, but the cars have stickers on the front window with a letter, and the letter tells you what route they are taking. The cars make loops around the city all day on the same route and you can get on and off wherever you need to! Here's the catch...Dominicans are very communal and practical people, so a car that is made to carry 4 passengers can carry quite a few more here in Santiago! The driver will take two people in the passenger seat, and today we had 5 people in the backseat!! So you have strangers sitting on each other's laps just to get where they need to be! When we got in the car I was smooshed into a man that was already in the concho...I looked at him and said "Lo siento" with a "sorry I can't do anything about this situation" look...he looked at me for a moment, gave me a wink, and said "Esta bien" with a "I don't really mind this situation at all" look...hahaha!! Who knew public transportation could be so interesting??

Hace Calor!!

It's almost midnight here, and I am sweating profusely!! It is probably in the mid eighties about 50 or 60 percent humidity...Aye aye aye!! I'm doing well...It's taking a bit of time to become accustomed to the different food (like mashed plantains with sliced cheese on top and a lot of fruits and vegetables I have never had before, and I normally can't pronounce ;)  ) But I am finally settling into the fact that I am going to be here for a while...I think. I think it's really important that I take my time here step by step instead of trying  to swallow the idea of three months all at once! The cool thing is that even in this short amount of time, my Spanish and my ability to communicate and express myself is greatly improving everyday! I am also learning cultural things like slowing...my days aren't very full and busy like they are in the United States, which makes me want to rip my hair out sometimes, but it is also giving me the opportunity to really read the Bible (in both English AND Spanish) and spend time with God. We will do things like going  to the park with everyone in the family just to watch some boys from the church play basketball, or we will sit around the table after lunch for 2 hours just talking about politics or religion or the differences between here ad back home...We go pretty much everywhere as una familia and we sure do bring a lot of people with us!! Dominicans are a very communal people, so we will fill our 6 seater car with 16 people after church just so we can drop everyone off at their different houses. Or we will be on our way home from somewhere with a car full of people, and we will stop and the three different families that are represented by the people in the car will do their grocery shopping together. Mi papa is never in a hurry, so we will be thirty minutes late to church because I am having an important conversation with him, or he runs into someone on the street that he knows and actually stops for a considerable time to talk to them...It is truly another world here!

I absolutely love and feel so very blessed by the family I am staying with and I know that soon this will be routine for me and something that I am used to, but for right now I am trying to give myself permission to take time to get used to all of this, so please keep me in your prayers!

Buenas noches a todos!!!

Hola de La Republica Dominicana!!

So I am finally here...and I finally figured out the internet (which was quite a feat!!) I live with a pastor/ professor at the university, his sweet wife, and his daughter who is turning 21 in two weeks! It's weird because I am actually a part of their family...I eat with them, go everywhere they go and do everything they do. I am now going to have the experience of being a PK because my family is at church...A LOT!! It's crazy to sit though a church service and understand about half of what they are saying. Also, I am getting used to not having comforts I am used to...no air conditioning in about the mid eighties with about 60% humidity, food I'm not quite used to, and (my favorite) taking a shower with a bucket of cold water!! Also, last night in the bathroom a cockroach that was longer than my thumb (and I have long thumbs!) decided it wanted to be my friend when I went to get ready for bed I am definitely being challenged but I am so very blessed by mi familia here. They are loving ad kind and generous and they really want me to be a part of things! So, as much as I don't want to have to think so hard for every conversation or really work to spit out a few sentences, involved is what I will be!! Please be praying that I let God live through me instead of my flesh...I want to become more like Jesus through this trip, and I think God may have the same idea in mind :) I will try to keep you all as updated as possible as I make my way through this new life of mine!! Love and miss you all!!

The Big Day!

So, today is my last day in the States...Geez Louise! What on earth am I getting myself into?!? 24 hours from now, I will be on a plane on the way to my new home for the next 3 months! I think the worst, yet also the best part is the not knowing. I have no idea where I'm living or what the family is like or what my classes are going to be like...some of that creates a bit of fear in me, but at the same time, that doesn't leave much room for expectations, which always end up being wrong anyway! So here I go...plunging head-first into completely unknown waters...what an adventure!!