- 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 :)
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