The adventures are never ending

I am so in love with helping out at the orphanage. The kids there will always run over to the gate to let me in each one will come say hi and give me a hug and I love being able to sit and talk with them. Well at least I try and talk to them, my spanish still isn't that great. Part of the time I’ll sit with some of the girls that are between 10-20 years old and talk with them, let them play with my hair, and relax a little. One time when I went a girl even came over to paint my nails, it may have been bright green but I left it on for as long as it would last. Other parts of my visit I will have some fun with all the younger kids. I’ll play with them on the swing set, they love getting pushed and going really high. We play going down the slide and the girls love taking photo shoots up on the top of the swing set. Along with the orphanage I help out with an after school program once a week. All the kids will first have to do their homework, which I help with. They always refer to me as teacher and I like it because it makes me feel all grown up:). After they do all their homework they hangout in side in the lounge area or go play games out side. They love futbol (soccer), passing the ball back and forth, 4square a bunch more.

Classes are still going very well for me. I don't really think that my spanish is immensely improving but I think it may be a tiny bit better than when I got here. When I think really hard of what I want to say I can make a little sense but when the Dominicans talk I never understand it. There was one time though I was telling this girl about what this food was and I was trying to say french fries and could only think of the word papas fritas, which is french fries in spanish. With class we've gone on a bunch of little excursions lately to places like the Hospedaje, which is a huge very un-clean out door market, the fire station, and the grocery store. Visiting the Hospedaje made me went to be a vegetarian and I have a hard time eating any meet now. While there we watched a man, whiteout gloves or a hairnet or a clean space, slit a chickens throat and toss him into boiling water to rid him of his feathers. He was then thrown in the grinder, taken out and cut into pieces. The scariest part is thats what could be in the supermarket as well.

This saturday night was the first time I went to church here. My mom came to tell me they were going and I jumped at the chance to ask if I could come. We got there took a seat and church soon started up. It was a little longer than I was used to about an hour and a half but it was so nice to be able to experience church here. I may not of understood what the gospel was about that night but everything besides the language was the same as church in  Boothbay. 

This past weekend on sunday I met up with Laura, our family friend, Evelyn’s, niece. She came by my house and picked me up with her mom and three of her friends. We took a trip down to the town Jarabacoa and had a lot of fun. When we first got there we all went to church, this was my second day in a row going to church which I didn't mind at all. After church we took a little hike down to a waterfall that was right behind the church. This was the first freezing water I have been in here in the DR. It was so much fun playing around in the water in the middle of this beautiful location. We then left and stopped by a resort area where we got to go for a swim in their pools. The water was just as cold there too, but cold water here is always a godsend in the heat here. We were all getting a little hungry and headed to this little place to eat on the street. I had rice, chicken, a fried plantain, and some potato salad, it was all delicious. Our last stop was at a little hangout spot they owned. Im not sure exactly what it was called but they had a big speaker for music and some outdoor stairs up to a little out door loft with a pool table. We hung out there for a little bit playing pool and dominos. After that they brought me home. I had such a great day. Laura and her mom were very loving and extremely friendly, her friends were extremely friendly as well. I had been talking to Laura ever since I had gotten to the DR and it was so great to finally meet her! I can’t wait for the next time I get to see her. 

For the past week it has rained everyday sometime after 3. No just a little drizzle but the loudest thunder storms I've ever heard. Theres always crazy amounts of crashing thunder that are so loud it makes me jump a little. There was recently a hurricane in Puerto Rico so we are getting a little of the after math from that storm. I don’t mind it though I've always loved thunder storms and they do make it a tiny bit cooler at night. 

Next weekend we will be taking a trip down to Santo Domingo for the weekend and exploring everything down there and it will be considered our culture class of the week. 

Time Is Flying By

Wow at the beginning of my trip the homesickness hit me pretty hard and I would always count the number of days until I would get to go home. Now when I count the days I cant believe how fast so many of them have flown by. As of today I only have 67 days left. Yes it seems like a lot of time but times seems to be speed up here. Now instead of wanting the days to pass by quickly I want them to slow down. I can’t imagine going home and not drinking juice that was freshly, hand squeezed the day before, not eating fried plantain chips, not eating rice everyday, not going on the amazing adventures to beaches, waterfalls and mountains, and not being in 90 degree weather everyday. I am looking forward to going home and seeing all my family and friends again but when I think about what ill be leaving behind it makes me want to stay. My family can just come to the Dominican Repubic for christmas instead of me coming home.

Last weekend was pretty amazing. Saturday I left for the Presidente festival at 2 pm. Me and a bunch of the other CIEE kids took a tour bus down to Santo Domingo where the festival would be. We got there around 6, the time it was starting. I have never been somewhere where they check your ticket so many times, at this place it must have been at least 5. It was worth it though we got in there, grabbed some fro yo and enjoyed the music. Mostly the entire night it was just songs in spanish, which I loved even though I didn't understand much. There were two I knew of, Daddy Yankee and Prince Royce. Then at about 11:30 Bruno Mars came on stage. I’m not the biggest fan of Bruno Mars but it was really awesome to see him in person and our tickets to this with the bus included were only about $67. Crazy, I know! The bus left about 2:30am and I was finally in bed ready to pass out at about 5 in the morning. 

Spanish class has been going well. I may not be very good at spanish but I really hope i’m getting better. Iv’e been here for a little over a month but I can’t tell how my spanish is coming along. Starting last week in spanish class we started getting essays assigned to us. Not my favourite but they are helping my spanish writing and my knowledge of the history here. 

Yesterday, Friday the CIEE kids that chose to took a trip to 27 charcos. Also known as 27 waterfalls. It was so amazing to be able to be apart of that trip. We took a good hike up to where we would find the waterfalls on a path of never ending stairs. By the time we were about to slide down the first water fall I was so ready to be fully emerged in the refreshing water. I was terrified at the first waterfall. I slid down and plunged into the water. I had this thrill and was all jittery from what I had just donw. We slid down or jumped off of 8 waterfalls. It was so amazing, I only got water up my nose about three times, no big deal it was definitely worth it. The  second to last one was the biggest one and we got to slide down once then climb back up to jump off. It was such rush, I can’t even explain how incredible it was. We hiked back and had a great Dominican lunch and got on the bus to head back. 

Us Gap year students then had a double session of culture class with Lynn our director. I did bring a set of dry clothes to wear but I did not remember that I would need some dry shoes as well. Sopping wet sneakers were what got me threw our entire afternoon of class. For part of our class we ventured to a museum of a lot of the history and it was great. We were assigned some homework on culture and have to watch a Ted video which made me think of Mr. Grant and my AP environmental science class because we would watch Ted talks so often in his class, which I loved! 

Compared to last weekend this one base been very relaxing. No more 5am bed times. It feels like I’ll be home tomorrow they way time flies here. There are so many adventures ahead of me and I’m excited to come home to share more about them.