So grateful for this opportunity

Everything is going by way to fast and I just want to stay here for a long time. Yes it may be scorching hot and thunderstorm most nights but the people here are extremely caring and I’m treated like part of the family everywhere. Never before have I experienced a different culture and am extremely thankful that I have been able to. It’s very eye opening to see how a different part of the world lives and what they cherish and find important compared to what we, in the states, find important. 

Along with the culture of the Dominicans, this past weekend I was able to experience the Haitian culture. It is extremely different there. I traveled with a small group and we hit a small problem when we came up to the border. The price of crossing over into Haiti was 800 pesos 5 days before we had gone over but when we got there they had changed the price to 2500 pesos. Crossing the border on foot was a first time experience for me because before my trip to Haiti I had only ventured to different countries by plane. Our first experience in Haiti was climbing up to the citadel. It was this old building that was used for protection. When we visited we were able to see all of the old cannons and explore the ginormous stature of the building. Once we got back down to the bus we headed to lunch. We were served plates pilled with food. What was on the plates? oh just the normal serving of goat. It was a little hard for me to eat because I was thinking of how we had seen so many goats throughout the streets that day and it wasn't sitting well with me. The next day we journeyed off to a beautiful beach. Had a whole fish for lunch there, head and all. Our last day in Haiti we visited a museum and a Haitian market where I picked up a few christmas presents. 

We also stopped by a monument on monday, our last day. It was of a couple men two women and a horse. We all walked up there and were taking pictures intertwined with the monument. Then a man started yelling, in creole, so only our guid could understand what he was saying. The only part I understood was when the f bomb was thrown out there. We then left the monument the opposite direction to get out of the mans way. Back on the bus I asked what that was all about. The man was yelling because he wanted money from us. There is much more behind it that though. Many people in Haiti, and other parts of the world, believe that U.S. Americans have everything. We have money and jobs and food and houses so that means we have the ability to share. A huge part of the culture in Haiti and in the DR is that everyone helps everyone when they can. So when we aren’t sharing and they think we have the ability to then there must be something wrong with us. There are many people in Haiti that cant afford to think long term about food or anything else and they only can think about what they need right now. Which goes to show that us U.S. Americans aren’t actually helping by just giving a shirt that will last for 2 years or a bag of rice that will last for a couple months. What we really need to do is give them our time and teach them how to be sustainable and give them the education that will lead in to jobs and the ability to know how to plan into the future. As we traveled around I was able to see many big bags of rice with the american flag plastered on them. We gave Haiti food aid with all of this free rice we handed over and yes it’s nice to help them eat but it took all the rice farmers out of business. The people were getting all this free rice so why would they go and buy some. This led into the rice farmers not being able to sell any rice so they had no source of income. It also added to the fact of short term help, rice isn't going to last forever so eventually, yes, they will be hungry again and have nowhere to turn.

Being able to venture to different countries such as the DR and Haiti has really opened my eyes. I have never traveled and been immersed into a new culture before and am so glad I was given the opportunity to do so. Now I know more than what I’m surrounded by in the U.S. Every day I see people begging on the street and vendors making a living off of what items they are able to sell on the sidewalks. Theres more to life than people that can make a living easily and have no problems except for the fact that they cant get the next best phone. Of course I knew that around the world there was many needy people but it didn’t actually sink in until I was emerged into a country that showed it to me first hand. 

On a lighter side a couple more cultural differences have popped into my head and I’ve had the ability to jot them down before they depart from my memory. One difference between the DR and all of the places I have visited in the states is that the red lights here are long enough for the driver to take a nap. Some of the lights here have count downs on them and the longest time for a red light I’ve seen is about 150 seconds. It may not seem that long, only about 2 1/2 minutes, but sitting there in traffic when you're trying to get some place quickly makes it a little difficult to be on time. Not being on time here is okay though, we call it “Dominican time”. Here in the DR people find it more important to stop and talk to friends and other people than to be on time. Along with the long red lights another traffic difference is that pedestrians don't have the right away. Crossing the road here scares me a bit but you just have to wait for red lights when the cars have stopped or make a speedy jolt across the road when you don’t see any cars coming your way. Also one last one for this blog, lunches here are big and later on dinners are very small. It's like lunch and dinner are switched compared to in the states. Its like that in many places around the world and is much healthier for you. The only problem with this is that I'm always hungry after dinner because they are usually a simple sandwich or a bowl of cereal. Maybe next blog ill capture a few more differences but thats all for this blog update.

November 5 was my younger sister 15 birthday. My host family had some of their family come over and we sat in the living room, talked and devoured cake and ice cream. It was great to meat more of the family and chat some more with my host family. I bought my sister two pairs of studs and made her a little card which she loved. I might have missed my real mom, dad and bothers birthdays but here I experienced my host mom and sisters birthday and my others sisters birthday is soon to come on the 25. 

Last weekend was our long weekend so some of the kids parents came up for a visit. It was great to meet them and they were so wonderful in helping getting our visa process for Spain ready. Its all so confusing and I don’t understand a lot of it but hopefully Ill end up in Spain this January. On friday we were running around, printing out things, signing papers, and trying to figure out how to fill out the application. I tried to fill it all out but gave up and just sent home my signature so hopefully my lovely mother can figure it out for me:)

Our last excursion in spanish class was to el mercado pueblo nuevo. To me it looked like a HUGE year sale. They have it every thursday and its a place where there are tons of people selling tons of different things at very low prices. There was all types of clothes, cell phones, underwear, nail polish, makeup, food, shoes and so much more. The whole market is huge and packed with so many people. All the vendors are yelling prices and using whistles to get your attention. Also its so big, I have no idea how big it actually is but it seemed as big as the town of Boothbay. It may have been a mad house but I would love to go back and buy some cloths there because thats the cheapest you'll find.

I am so excited to come home and see all of the faces I have missed so much but it kills me that I’m going to have to leave the place I have come to love. The thought of only 35 more days here makes me so sad. I’ve come to love the family I’m staying with, love the warm water, love my little darlings at the orphanage, love the Dominican food, love the friendly atmosphere, love my teachers, love learning spanish and there’s so much more that I love here and will miss so much. Don’t get me wrong I already miss my home town and my great family and can’t wait to see them again. When I come home I’m going to take a bunch of weird habits with me that I have picked up here. I’ll probably cross the road a little more dangerously, want to eat a lot of rice, talk in spanish on accident, always look for the fan to turn on, always ask for when I want hot water, only drink “safe” water and never drink out of the tap, and wariest one, I’ll probably still throw all my toilet paper into the trash instead of the toilet. 

I’m excited to come home for a bit and can’t wait to explore Spain but the cold is going to be a strong slap in the face. Also one of the boys from Hyde, that graduated two years ago passed away on sunday. He was a great guy, always putting a smile on everyones face, being the constant jokester, lightening each day, reaching out to everyone, being so kind, never taking a day for granted and always being a very dear friend. He didn’t deserve this and he will be greatly missed by all of the hearts that he touched with so much love. I may not have been Bens closest friend but his warm attitude was one that engulfed me and I still can’t comprehend that he is no longer here with us to make each day one of laughter and love. This incident makes me want to come and give everyone I care about the longest, biggest, bear hug and let them know how much I care about them because honestly, we never know when someones going to be taken from us. My accident made me think of this as well, we need to live each day like it really is our last and treat everyone we know like it is the last day we will be able to show them our love. I am so grateful that I was given a second chance after my brain injury and it kills me that Ben passed away because of brain trauma. Love you Ben Burlock, you touched so many hearts and will never be forgotten. Rest in peace Ben, my prayers are with you, all of your family members and all of your close friends <3 I know you're the life of the party up there in heaven right now.

Where has the time gone

For Jacobs birthday I tried to be a good sister and send a little card. It didn't go threw so well because he didn't receive the letter until a month after his birthday. My favorite part was when he told me he loved the envelop the card was in so much he hung it up on his wall. Don’t worry Jacob I’ll bring you home a little bit better of a gift than that. I have missed the birthdays of every member in my family  but will try and make it up when I come home. I’ve started collecting little gifts for everyone so it can be a christmas/something from far away present.

I am a bit convinced my Spanish hasn't gotten as good as it should have by now. I think I need to put in more work on my skills but the one positive is my host dad did tell me I was speaking more fluently. My spanish may not be coming along as well as I hoped but my knowledge of this country is coming along great. I learn a great deal from our director Lynn during our culture class along with day to day activities. From Lynn I have taken in a lot about the the history between the Haitians and Spaniards and all the conflicts that went on between all of the different groups. From my day to day activities I take in my surroundings and discover all the little differences between the environment here and in the United States. An easy thing to pick up on here is that every street you walk down you wont be surprised to see so many strays wandering around. I hate it so much, it makes me sad and want to take them all home with me. Another little difference is that the gas stations here are actually only gas, they don't have a little market full of foods, drinks, and other items. Colmados are used for that here, they are commonly scattered throughout each area filled with snacks, drinks and other little commodities. Then there is one last thing I can think of right now and it is a bit dangerous. Only the person driving the car is required to wear a seatbelt. I can’t remember one time I wore a seatbelt here. Most of the time people are squeezing as many people as they can into the car without the worry of getting pulled over or having to use seat belts. It sounds bad enough but with the type of driving around here its even worse. I don’t think I would ever be able to or even want to drive around here. So much honking and close calls of collisions and it’s not nearly like driving any where in the States. The worst personal difference here is that I’m not able to wear perfume because ill get even more bug bites than I do now, I have to drench myself in wonderful smelling bug spray every day and the heat makes me drip in sweat. I’ve always had a fear of smelling bad and usually drench myself in perfume not bug spray so that part is not my favorite and is a bit f a struggle.

The weekend before this one for our culture class we took a weekend long trip to Santo Domingo. The son of the driver that takes us around was in a sever motorcycle accident, but Rafael, our driver still ventured to Santo Domingo with us so that he could have the money that he needed. One time during our trip I was telling him how sorry I was and how I had gone through a car accident as well. He went on to say how it was so hard for him in his heart and I responded with saying how much harder my accident was for my mom than me. When we entered Santo Domingo we stayed in a very clean, nice Hostel. Our first lunch there was at this very nice restaurant, where you sat outside over looking the ocean. The owner was a man that had started it all with a little cart on the side of the road. I hear he made the best sandwiches and always had many people coming to grab a bite of his masterpieces. A rich man once stopped by for a sandwich and raved about how he should open a restaurant. The man made it clear he didn’t have money for that and was rewarded with financial help from the man that suggested it. I had a great burger and an amazing glass of the juice of a bunch of different fruits mixed together. The trip went on and we visited a chocolate factory with delectable treats, a market where we could bargain for what we wanted to take home with us and an old sugar cane factory. We had little bits of history thrown in every where we went during that weekend. The sugar can factories were very historical and interesting. I would never have wanted to slave over that process like the slaves of that time were forced to. We also visited a place called tres ojos, which was a collapsed cave. There were three little lake areas inside, one was blue another was green and the last one was teal. The last day on the way home we visited this very important church of the virgin in white. It was a place up a mountain and there is a certain day where catholics will ask for something they need. In return for what they ask for they they climb up the mountain, on their knees and reach the top dripping in blood. We also got to take strolls around along the water and we could see the trash strewn throughout the water and along the beach. Lynn told us how the west side was good for going for a swim and the east side was where you would want to stay away from.  

This past weekend there was a trip to a destination named Los Charcos de Los Indinos. This place takes a little hiking to get to and is commonly unknown to the people of the Dominican Republic. When we got there we had a lunch of the food we carried in with us. I chowed down on some backed chicken and fried plantains. We then went for a little dip in the cold water, that looked very dirty. I plunged in because Lynn said it only looked dirty because of the rain we've had lately but it usually was crystal clear. By the water when you looked up you would see a huge face in a towering rock. It was the face of the god that the Haitians believed helped them when they took a hallucinogenic at certain time throughout their life. It was a great history story and a refreshing plunge into chilly water. 

Yesterday was Halloween, which is not celebrated here so I just sat in the living room watching baseball with my dad and sister. Tonight me and the other Gap year kids were invited to our teachers halloween party. Nikki and I will be going to that. I never thought that I would be venturing to my teachers house for a party, but hey she’s only 21 and like a friend.