This month has been going by way to fast. I finally have a place for my community service. Since I haven't been working in it for the first half of the semester, I am there everyday. I am working in a pre-school of sorts, with children that are 2-5 years old. They are adorable but they can be a pain. I now know that I am not called to work with kids of this age as a full time job.
My english free Lent wasnt too bad. It helped me out a lot more than I realized. I am alot more comfortable speaking Spanish now and there are certain phrases that are second nature to say, which is good.
Over the past month and a half I have seen 2 cock fights, 3 whales, and been to 5 beaches. Lets just say I have been busy. I am now towards the end of my semester. Honestly I am ready to come home but at the same time not ready to leave. Many of my friends, from the program, are leaving a week and a half before I do. Once they leave I am touring the country with some Dominican friends. There is a ton of things I still want to do and see.
I hope this blog reaches you all well. Enjoy the beautiful scenery of Spring.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Catch Up
Ok so let me fill you in on the last few weeks here. I have now been in the Dominican Republic for a month and doesn't feel like it. In the past three weeks I have been to 2 different beaches, have been sick 2 times, met a legend, saw flamingo dancers and much more. I will begin where I left off.
Three Saturdays ago, we went to Santiago. On the way we stopped in Saulcedo to see the Mirabel sister's house. The Mirabel sisters, are three sister that were in the resistence against the dictator Trujillo in the 1940s. They died "accidently" in a car crash. Their faces are on the 200 peso bill. Everyone knows their story here. I highly suggest watching the movie about them, "In the Time of the Butterflies" or reading the book. The fourth sister is still alive and living on the same property that their old house is on. When we arrived we quickly found out that she was there and would love to talk with us. So we took the tour of the house and got to talk to a living legend. She told many stories of her sisters and having to live beyond their days. Sadly she doesn't know much English so i didn't understand everything that was said. After the Mirabel house we went to a museum in Santiago and then to a water park.
Being sick in another country is not what I like to call fun. I had a cold one week and a stomach virus the next. The stomach virus was the worst. I slept all day my host mom yelled at me (in Spanish) for not eating lunch until she realized that I was really really sick. Then she gave me the cure all for illnesses which is aparently hot lemon tea. I drank some form of lemon juice all day for the three days that I was sick. Needless to say I am sick of lemon juice, in any variety.
There is a restuarant in the Colonial Zone that has Flamingo dancers every Thursday and Sunday night. I have wanted to see it since the first friday that I have been here. Finally I got a couple of people to join me. When we got there they were not preforming yet so we decided to sit at the restuarant that had a tv and was showing the Superbowl. This was probably the most random Superbowl viewing of my life. We sat outside playing cards, listening to jazz, and watching the game in the midsts of tourist and Dominicans. Around ten o'clock the flamingo dancers began to dance, so ofcourse we left the game and watched the dancers. What a great night!
Last weekend Harriet, Karlyn and I decided to get out of the city for a couple of days. Two weeks ago the group went to Jarabacoa to go whitewater rafting. I still was not feeling well so I missed out on the trip. On the trip Harriet met some Americans that were teaching in the town. They told her that we could come and stay with them anytime, so we did just that. We made it to the town around lunch time. This town is called the "Garden of Eden" of the Dominican Republic and rightfully so. It is so beautiful there. The opening seen to Jurasic park was shot at the waterfall outside of the town...gorgeous. Unfortunately we did not make it there this trip. We did however go to the river, where Harriet and Karlyne rode horses. When we got back to our friends house they had a few Domincan friends over, that ended up teaching us how to dance. The rest of the time we just hung out and practiced our Spanish. The entire weekend was very relaxed so much different from our lives in the city.
I do not feel as if I am learning enough Spanish. This is partly due to the fact that when I am not in class, I am talking to my American friends in the program. Most of our Dominican friends are fluent in English so they always want to practice their English with us, which does not help me either. To solve my dilema I have decided to give up English for Lent. This is probably going to be the most frustrating forty days of my life. Luckily I have roped in a few of my friends in the program and ofcourse I do have a few exceptions to the rule. For instance I am allowed to speak English to friends and family back in the states and when I am in my English speaking class. Honestly I am not ready to do this but this is probably the best way for me to learn. Now I just have to find a small enough dictionary to fit in my purse.
I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Fat Tuesday!
Three Saturdays ago, we went to Santiago. On the way we stopped in Saulcedo to see the Mirabel sister's house. The Mirabel sisters, are three sister that were in the resistence against the dictator Trujillo in the 1940s. They died "accidently" in a car crash. Their faces are on the 200 peso bill. Everyone knows their story here. I highly suggest watching the movie about them, "In the Time of the Butterflies" or reading the book. The fourth sister is still alive and living on the same property that their old house is on. When we arrived we quickly found out that she was there and would love to talk with us. So we took the tour of the house and got to talk to a living legend. She told many stories of her sisters and having to live beyond their days. Sadly she doesn't know much English so i didn't understand everything that was said. After the Mirabel house we went to a museum in Santiago and then to a water park.
Being sick in another country is not what I like to call fun. I had a cold one week and a stomach virus the next. The stomach virus was the worst. I slept all day my host mom yelled at me (in Spanish) for not eating lunch until she realized that I was really really sick. Then she gave me the cure all for illnesses which is aparently hot lemon tea. I drank some form of lemon juice all day for the three days that I was sick. Needless to say I am sick of lemon juice, in any variety.
There is a restuarant in the Colonial Zone that has Flamingo dancers every Thursday and Sunday night. I have wanted to see it since the first friday that I have been here. Finally I got a couple of people to join me. When we got there they were not preforming yet so we decided to sit at the restuarant that had a tv and was showing the Superbowl. This was probably the most random Superbowl viewing of my life. We sat outside playing cards, listening to jazz, and watching the game in the midsts of tourist and Dominicans. Around ten o'clock the flamingo dancers began to dance, so ofcourse we left the game and watched the dancers. What a great night!
Last weekend Harriet, Karlyn and I decided to get out of the city for a couple of days. Two weeks ago the group went to Jarabacoa to go whitewater rafting. I still was not feeling well so I missed out on the trip. On the trip Harriet met some Americans that were teaching in the town. They told her that we could come and stay with them anytime, so we did just that. We made it to the town around lunch time. This town is called the "Garden of Eden" of the Dominican Republic and rightfully so. It is so beautiful there. The opening seen to Jurasic park was shot at the waterfall outside of the town...gorgeous. Unfortunately we did not make it there this trip. We did however go to the river, where Harriet and Karlyne rode horses. When we got back to our friends house they had a few Domincan friends over, that ended up teaching us how to dance. The rest of the time we just hung out and practiced our Spanish. The entire weekend was very relaxed so much different from our lives in the city.
I do not feel as if I am learning enough Spanish. This is partly due to the fact that when I am not in class, I am talking to my American friends in the program. Most of our Dominican friends are fluent in English so they always want to practice their English with us, which does not help me either. To solve my dilema I have decided to give up English for Lent. This is probably going to be the most frustrating forty days of my life. Luckily I have roped in a few of my friends in the program and ofcourse I do have a few exceptions to the rule. For instance I am allowed to speak English to friends and family back in the states and when I am in my English speaking class. Honestly I am not ready to do this but this is probably the best way for me to learn. Now I just have to find a small enough dictionary to fit in my purse.
I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Fat Tuesday!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Cuidado
So I learned a few things this weekend. First, when walking and talking with a group of people always watch where you are going. Twice I ran into objects. The first time I walked right into a light post, which produced a knot on my forehead. The second time I walked into a tree branch. The Second thing I learned was that when taking a public car (concha) always try to go with someone you know. In these public cars they tend to pile as many people in them as possible. So knowing someone in the car is helpful when you have to sit on a lap. The third is when taking a taxi on a Sunday always have the exact amount of change. My taxi driver had to stop at 3 different places to get change for the money I gave him. Sadly since it was a sunday not many places were open or could change it. Those are my lessons from this weekend.
On Saturday Karlyn, Pommela and I met up with Tanner and our Dominican friend Jayles to play tennis. When we got there, it was raining so the tennis match has been potponed. Instead we explored the city a bit and worked on our Spanish. Jayles wont allow us to talk to him in English even though he knows it pretty well. This actually helps us a lot. He taught us a lot of slang. The Spanish here is a little different than the Spanish that I am normally around. They drop the letter 's' all the time. Instead of saying gracias they say gracia or instead of 'como estas tu' they say 'como ta tu'. They also drop the last sylabal of words. It is a little difficult to understand sometimes. Oh and they speak super fast.
While exploring on Saturday I got to ride in my very first public car (which is how I learned about taking it with someone you know). This was definitley an experience. Not really something I want to take everyday but it is very cheap so who knows. I made it to church Sunday. I met every American that attends the church. That afternoon while hanging out with friends I met a photographer that graduated from Texas A&M...random. He is going to Haiti to take photographs. Hopefully we are going to meet up with him when he gets back.
Yesterday Lisa found out that there was a baseball game that night. So a few of our group and some of our Dominican friends went. It was sooo much fun. I haven't been to a game in the states in a long time but I don't think that they are anything like this. Baseball in the DR is very very popular. When we got to the stadium the parking lot was packed. We got there after the game had started but there were still others coming in. I can't even begin to discribe the amount of excitement. The team I cheared for, Gigantes(by the way they won), had a fan band. I say band but it was more like a group of drummers...awesome. The other team had some dancers that looked somewhat like the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. The game was insane. Afterwrds we ended up bowling. Bowling here is not like the states either. The alley that we went to was very very very nice. It was a bar&lounge mixed with bowling alley...different and yet very nice. They also had pool tables uptairs and an arcade. Bowling is not very popular here so there were not many people in the alley. We got there pretty late so we couldn't play long. Overall one of the most fun nights I have had here.
Tomorrow is the day of the Virgen de la Altagracia which is a national holiday here so we have no school. We have made plans to go to one of the beaches about 40 minutes from here. This Saturday we are making a trip to Santiago, which is the next largest city in the DR. We are touring many of the muesems there and I believe we are ending the day at a water park.
Please continue to keep the island of Hispaniola in your thoughts and prayers. I hope all is well at home. This week say hi to someone you don't know because you never know know who you will meet.
Peace
Katie
On Saturday Karlyn, Pommela and I met up with Tanner and our Dominican friend Jayles to play tennis. When we got there, it was raining so the tennis match has been potponed. Instead we explored the city a bit and worked on our Spanish. Jayles wont allow us to talk to him in English even though he knows it pretty well. This actually helps us a lot. He taught us a lot of slang. The Spanish here is a little different than the Spanish that I am normally around. They drop the letter 's' all the time. Instead of saying gracias they say gracia or instead of 'como estas tu' they say 'como ta tu'. They also drop the last sylabal of words. It is a little difficult to understand sometimes. Oh and they speak super fast.
While exploring on Saturday I got to ride in my very first public car (which is how I learned about taking it with someone you know). This was definitley an experience. Not really something I want to take everyday but it is very cheap so who knows. I made it to church Sunday. I met every American that attends the church. That afternoon while hanging out with friends I met a photographer that graduated from Texas A&M...random. He is going to Haiti to take photographs. Hopefully we are going to meet up with him when he gets back.
Yesterday Lisa found out that there was a baseball game that night. So a few of our group and some of our Dominican friends went. It was sooo much fun. I haven't been to a game in the states in a long time but I don't think that they are anything like this. Baseball in the DR is very very popular. When we got to the stadium the parking lot was packed. We got there after the game had started but there were still others coming in. I can't even begin to discribe the amount of excitement. The team I cheared for, Gigantes(by the way they won), had a fan band. I say band but it was more like a group of drummers...awesome. The other team had some dancers that looked somewhat like the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. The game was insane. Afterwrds we ended up bowling. Bowling here is not like the states either. The alley that we went to was very very very nice. It was a bar&lounge mixed with bowling alley...different and yet very nice. They also had pool tables uptairs and an arcade. Bowling is not very popular here so there were not many people in the alley. We got there pretty late so we couldn't play long. Overall one of the most fun nights I have had here.
Tomorrow is the day of the Virgen de la Altagracia which is a national holiday here so we have no school. We have made plans to go to one of the beaches about 40 minutes from here. This Saturday we are making a trip to Santiago, which is the next largest city in the DR. We are touring many of the muesems there and I believe we are ending the day at a water park.
Please continue to keep the island of Hispaniola in your thoughts and prayers. I hope all is well at home. This week say hi to someone you don't know because you never know know who you will meet.
Peace
Katie
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