Updated Pictures

They've finally updated the picture site. Check it out!!

http://www.pixagogo.com/4224145145

HOME!!!!

Thursday night was our Farewell dinner. It was really nice. It was in this patio area with a bunch of tables and decorations. There was a nice covered dance floor. It started around 8 and we mingled and talked and hung out with our families until dinner at 10. Dinner was delicious!! Mom asked me what we had and I tried to explain it, didn't really work out. Rice, chicken, beef, salad, cheese potatoes, and rolls doesn't really begin to cover the delicatessen we were served. After dinner we had a sort of Secret Santa/White Elephant kind of gift time. They call it "angelitos" (little angels in Spanish). The students knew which family name they had drawn, but the families didn't draw names until we got there. Each person was to buy a small present less than $5. The students were told cookies or candy or something along those lines while the families were told something typical, souvenir type gift. I bought "my" family flowers (they were really filler, white, daisy looking things, but hey, it's the thought that counts, right?). The family that drew my name gave me a pretty bracelet, very typical for the Dominican. When each person got up to give their present they were asked to say something about their experience either with their student or their family. It was SO hard for me to get up there and talk, I was so choked up. I had to quit before I'd really said what I wanted to say because I was crying. When Mami got up, it was waterworks all over again. I'm really going to miss them. Afterwards, we took some pictures and went home. We stayed up for a while talking, as usual. None of us really slept that night, too many emotions on top of a very late night (we didn't get home until after midnight) and Tiffany was worried about her test the next morning.

Friday was rough and kind of dragged on. I got up at my usual time and Tiffany was already off to take her test. I just moped around the house and tried to come up with things to occupy myself. I wound up laying in bed feeling sorry for myself and being sleepy for a good part of the morning. After lunch we took our last nap in the DR (I sure am going to miss those). Then we hopped into the car to run some errands--I really do like doing that. We went to the store to buy a few things for that evening and Mami picked up some Smirnoffs for us to drink and enjoy. Rough translation: "Since we're all going to have trouble sleeping and none of us slept last night, we'll drink these before bed and get some sleep!" She's so cute. Then we were off to get gas for the van. We passed two or three perfectly good gas stations and I asked her if there was some place in particular she was going to get gas. She told me she had had the van converted over to the gas you use to cook with. We were going somewhere to fill up with natural gas. I thought that was SOO cool. She said with $200 pesos (about $6.75) she could either get 2 gallons of gasoline or 8 gallons of natural gas, and that one gallon of natural gas goes farther than a gallon of gasoline. Funny, a undeveloped country has made that form of fuel available to their citizens while a developed country where everyone drives EVERYWHERE hasn't put forth the effort to make this more enviro friendly option available. Hmmmm....

Then we went to the market. Tiffany still needed some gifts for her family. On our way, we stopped and got some Coconut milk. The guy just chopped off the top of a coconut, put some ice and sugar in a cup, poured out the coconut and mixed....right there in the middle of the street. It was really cool to watch. I wasn't really a big fan of the drink. It had a sweet but salty flavor. It reminded me of drinking my own sweat. I felt really bad that Mami bought it for me then I didn't like it, but she wasn't offended. I had tried it and taken several sips to try to get accustomed, but it just didn't work. We tried to stop in and visit her daughter, the dentist, in her office, but she wasn't there. So Mami gave the rest of the coco milk to her secretary then decided the pictures were all hung in the wrong places and needed to be arranged. Five minutes later we were back on the street. It was so funny.

Then it was time to go home to help Ivonne set up for her dinner party. She and 15 other young adults have been planning a week long summer camp for late-teenagers up in the mountains. They're finally done with the planning and getting ready to start, so this was a nice dinner to relax and take pictures and just have fun after so much work. Mami, Tiffany, and I stayed out of the way and just hung out. We started drinking the Smirnoffs and before too long we were all giggly and happy and trying to forget that we'd have to say good-bye in a few short hours. We had such a good night!! Around 2 am we finally decided we'd had enough and tried to go to bed. I had to be up at 6 the next day, anyway.

Saturday was DEFINITELY hard. I got up and got ready ahead of time (who can sleep with so much going on in your mind). So I changed my sheets and set the bed up like it was set for me when I got there. Then I woke up Mami (upon her request) and finished getting ready and taking my stuff downstairs and all of that. Mami was mad at me for not waking her up in time to make me pancakes like she'd promised, but I just couldn't wake her up to make me food when I know she didn't go to sleep until after 2 (there were still people at our house until after 2 and I'm sure she didn't go to bed until everyone was gone and the house quiet). So we loaded the car and we were off to drop me off at the office (where we were meeting to have the program take us to the airport). When we got there Mami dug $5 American dollars out of her purse and shoved it into my backpack and told me to buy myself something to eat for breakfast. It was so cute. Once out of the car, we waited for everyone else that was going to the airport on that run. Neither one of us would look at the other, it was just too hard. Then everyone got there and we had to say our tearful goodbyes.

The airport was just like any other airport experience. It was hard saying goodbye to the people who weren't on my flight and I was grateful that there were several others from the program flying out with me, including one of the directors.

Then it was time to finally GO HOME!!!! It was so nice to finally see Mommy again! We hopped in the car and started our 4 hour drive back to Tampa (from Miami), chit chatting and catching up the whole way. There are so many stories to tell!! We talked all the way home and all evening. One houred my pics and we went through them and all my souvenirs.

It's so nice to be home, although I know I will miss my family in the DR terribly. I had such a wonderful experience! I can't tell you all how much your comments and encouragements helped me while I was so far away from everything "normal." One last thank you and I love you. YAY! I'm finally home!

Pop-Final Exam

So, I just took a pop final exam in my literature class. We watched a movie in class yesterday that embodied the characteristics of the romantic period of literature. We get to class today and he tells us that our final exam is going to be on the movie. After rambling about nothing for awhile, he reads off these extremely hard questions then says we can use this pack of papers he gave us which basically spelled out the answers. It was rather interesting. I think I did okay, though. I hope. So far I've done fairly well in his class (my lowest grade is an A-) so I think I'll be okay.

Tiffany, Latosha, and Mami are going to the salon to get their nails done. I'm going to watch. Mami got onto me about being more feminine and taking care of my appearance more today. Funny, I can't get away from that here either. Well, I'd better be off, I need to change before we go, my pants are soaked from the lastest downpour.

One down, one to go

This week is getting longer and shorter all at the same time. I finished my first paper, took my first final, one class over. The paper went okay, I think. The assignment was 2-4 pages on any Dominican subject. I wrote 3.5 pages on the Mirabal sisters and their contribution to the country. Then I had my oral final exam this morning. I had to talk about why the Dominicans are "closer" to Puerto Rico and New York than to Cuba. I talked about the opportunities and the networks that the United States has to offer verses the poverty and hardships Cuba has to offer. Then we talked for a bit about the Cubans in Florida. I talked about the differences between the Cubans in Tampa and the Cubans in Miami. Then he asked me about the class and all that. I turned the question around on him and asked him about my performance in his class. He said that it was obvious that I was interested and had a lot to say. He only wishes that I would have spoken up more often and said what I was thinking. It would have made the class more interesting and it was clear that I did have something to say that I was holding back. Funny, I spent the entire time keeping my mouth shut because the students complained that I was annoying and said too much in class. hmmmmm...Guess I shouldn't have listened to everyone else and just stuck with my gut. Next time.

I'm off to start writing my other paper. Not much time left. Oy!

Good morning!

Today's a sleepy day filled with the increasing dread of finals and leaving. The bittersweet anxiety/excitement of going home is becoming unbearable. At this point all I want to do is go home. But at the same time, I never want to leave. It's a really interesting oxymoron. I have to get through the next few days of papers and exams, then the farewell dinner. Friday I have the day free and hopefully Mami and I can do something fun together in the morning. I have to do homework at lunch today, write a paper tonight, prepare for my final oral exam tomorrow morning, write another paper tomorrow night, and then prepare for my final exam Thursday afternoon. Thursday evening is our farewell dinner. Friday Tiffany has exams in the morning, but the rest of the day will be free. Friday night our host sister is having a dinner party for a bunch of people from church (they've been working on putting together a summer camp or something since I've been here). Then, I'm off early Saturday morning. I'll have to figure out how I'm going to pack everything. I really didn't think I'd bought that much, but now I realize I got more than I thought I did. Maybe that's why I'm almost out of cash.....nah, can't be.

I find it interesting that as any large event with large amounts of people comes to an end, everyone gets grumpy and starts fighting and complaining more than ever. It's happened several times (graduating from high school for example) and I have yet to be amused by it. It seems that people just start pushing everyone and everything away to prevent getting hurt when they leave. Just a theory, maybe I'll explore it more as I get more into my psychology stuff.

Oh, last night we had cornbread for dinner again. This time it was actually made with corn meal and tasted so good. She made one with sugar and one without. It was like Grandma Tanis meets Grandma Perry. It's funny that I'm satisfied with a piece or two of cornbread and a cup of hot chocolate for dinner. We'll see how long it takes me to get back to my nothing lunches and gargantuous dinners again.

That's about it for now. Nothing new is really happening since we're winding down. Love you, miss you, mean it!

PARTY!!!!

So this weekend was terrific. We stayed at a 3.5 star all-inclusive resort. It was pretty nice. We left early Friday morning. But, before we went to the hotel, we stopped in a neighbor hood that's a little less privileged than ours. It was originally created back in the day when the entire island was covered in sugar fields, but slavery was outlawed. Since they couldn't have slaves, and sugar production requires a large amount of labor for only a few months a year, they decided to created these neighborhoods owned by the sugar plantations for the workers to live year-round. Basically, it was a more modern twist on slavery. To say the least, these people lived in blatent poverty. Now, this particular neighborhood isn't related to sugar, but still to various agricultural products. The people live in house literally made out of old tin cans. You can still read the labels of the products they once contained. I wanted to take pictures, and I forced myself to take a couple before we left, but I just felt so guilty whipping out my relatively cheap camera that cost more than their monthly salary and taking advantage of their poverty for the sake of my scrapbook. I didn't talk to anyone while we were there, no one in my group. I just couldn't. I definitely don't have the heart of the missionary. I just drew in and tried to understand what I was seeing. One little girl who was about 3 years old grabbed a hold of my leg. I honestly didn't know what to do. A lot of the other students were playing with the kids and whatnot, but I just froze. Odd, since I love children. It was a really hard experience and I really just shut down. I couldn't bring myself to pull my headphones back out on the way to the hotel.

A few hours later we got to the hotel and by that time I was so horribly car sick from driving through the mountains and hungry since it was after 2 and we hadn't eaten yet, that I put the morning excursion out of my mind. The hotel was nice. The food reminded me of the good ole HC dining hall, but, eh, there's got to be some down side. The rooms were ice cold, almost too cold, but the AC was nice for a change. The beach was beautiful. Brown sand but NO shells. I didn't realize it the time before when we went to the beach, but there are no shells or worry stones or anything on the beaches here, not even seaweed. It's so odd!!! Friday we chilled in the pools and hot tub. There is a regular swimming pool and two "relaxing" pools. The relaxing pools were various shapes with boulders and waterfalls and all of that.

Saturday, we took advantage of the beautiful sun. I woke up early and went down to breakfast. Then I took a long walk on the beach. I'm pretty sure God was speaking English Saturday morning; at least I'm pretty sure he was listening in English. I walked for a long time and took in the sand and ocean and unfortunately the sun. Then I went back, changed and headed for the beach again, this time in my swim suit and headed straight for the water. We were seriously in the water for a few hours, talking and hanging out. (When I say we, I mean me and at least one other person from our group...numbers and people vary on just about every occasion). Then I hit up the pools for a bit before lunch. After lunch I changed my suit and hit the pools again. This time I tried to stay as far hidden in the shade as possible, I could already feel the suffering I was going to deal with later. By late afternoon, I was done. The sun had beaten me to a pulp! After dinner everyone was planning on going out. I got dressed and planned to join them, but the sun had really just killed me and I was getting grumpy, I decided to call it a night.

Sunday I hit up the pool and the ocean a bit before lunch. We had to check out at noon, but we were staying until 4. Along with some other students, we found a really nice shaded area with some comfy chairs. We relaxed and enjoyed the few hours left in relative coolness.

Last night it was so nice to come home to Mami. She was waiting for us and wanted to hear all about our weekend. When we told her the food was terrible, she fixed us a nice dinner. The house was noticeably quieter. We realized that Moises, our 8 year old brother was MIA. We asked Mami and she said he went to the south part of the country to spend a week with his uncle down there. He won't be back before we leave. I was so sad. I have pictures of him, but now he won't be at the farewell dinner or in any family shots. :'(

Today we watched a movie in class. It got rather comical when the power went out for the third time. The power here is never very reliable. It goes out randomly and for untold lengths of times. Where we are, everyone has generators that charge when the power is on. So, it wasn't that big of a deal, but everytime the main power goes, it takes a few seconds for the backup to come back on (the reverse transition is smooth). It went out a few times last night, too. The fans struggle a bit more when they're running on the generator, so I woke up when I heard the motor straining. Just another part of the culture.

Okay, rice and beans are screaming my name. Hope everyone had a terrific weekend back home!!! Love you all, and see most of you soon (that's so bittersweet).

The Market

Okay, so I found out what the markets used to be like. Markets, as in all the food you'd never want to eat on display, on the ground, in piles, EVERYWHERE. It was a fun experience, though. Walking on beds of rotten lettuce and rotten mangos is definitely something I've never done in the states. Along side all the places to buy food were this little shops that sold religious items. Not really sure how it works, but there's catholic stuff, Voo Doo stuff, and Santaria stuff (a religion that mixes Catholicism with original African religions). Somehow that just doesn't compute in my mind. I bought a Voo Doo Doll for Kelly Miller, if you don't know her, don't ask, if you do, you don't have to. She's my odd friend that ate 5 year old peanut butter then couldn't figure out why she got sick. While there I also bought Miss Cathy (uber catholic friend of the family) a picture of the virgin Mary....Go Figure!

When I got home, I seriously smelled like I'd bathed in garbage water. I have gone 25 days with showering and worn dirty clothes for almost as long (on Outward Bound) and never in my life have I had the same desire to shower for hours on end and burn my clothing. It was pretty skank. I was really glad our housekeeper was doing laundry; didn't have to have those nasty clothes in my room, YES!!

We had our "midterm" exam in my lit class today. It's nice that we had it today, after 4 weeks of our 5 week term. The multiple choice questions were so absurdly worded that everyone complained. I mean how many times have you seen a multiple choice answer start with "although" or "but"...I mean seriously!! The essay part wasn't that bad though. We haven't gotten any of our work back so I'm really not sure what to expect from his grading....so I can't really say if I think I did well or not. Hopefully so!

I guess that's about it for now. We're off for the weekend to chill in an all inclusive resort. It's like a cruise that doesn't leave shore, nor is in a boat. But you get the idea. We're all looking forward to some sun, fun, and relaxation (provided Emily doesn't decide to crash the part, but at this point we're looking okay). Hope everyone has a terrific weekend. One more week and I'll be back in the good ol' US of A! Peace Out!

New Quote

We went over this quote in class and I thought it was very fitting for my situation. It comes from a poem that's a parable about an eagle and a spider. The spider is trying to capture the eagle in it's web of lies.

Contra el verdadero mérito y la
buena opinión que con él se gana,
nada pueden las calumnias de la
envidia

My Translation: Against the true merits and the good opinion of he who wins, noone can create lies with envy

My translation is pretty rough, but it gives you the idea.

No news

There's nothing really new happening today. The hurricane track is looking better and better. Now the cone isn't even going to touch the island. Maybe our weekend trip won't be completely ruined.

Last night Mami made corn bread for dinner. That's all we had for dinner. She didn't use corn meal, instead she mashed fresh corn or something. It didn't taste all that bad, but the texture was making Tiffany and I gag. I felt really bad because she was so proud of it and we just couldn't eat too much of it.

Finally got some sleep last night, but I'm still really tired. We watched another depressing Latin American movie (this time about Cuba) in class today. You know, I swear that they don't make happy movies about LA. Maybe because there's nothing happy to film about. Uff.

Hope Steve has fun in Spain...does he need a translator, I'd be happy to accompany him if so!!

Okay, I'm off, maybe I'll take my nap before lunch today. Good night, all!