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).