The adventure is here!

Hola Todos!

When I signed up with NPH, it seemed the time for my adventure in the DR would never come, it was like a distant dream, never to become reality. But now I can say that the 'dream' is here, and it IS reality. I live in the Dominican Republic... though right now it mostly seems like a vacation. For now, I am in the capital, Santo Domingo, taking an intensive spanish class to brush up on the bit of spanish I do know in hopes for easier learning when I arrive at the orphanage. Staying at a small Aparta-hotel (a hotel with apartment style rooms, so I have an absolutely tiny kitchen area, and some other things a hotel room wouldn't) and have quite a bit of free time!

I arrived yesterday, and just after landing the skies errupted in what I would consider torrential downpour (though someone today told me that was pretty normal for mid-August). My drive from the airrport to my hotel consisted mostly of the driver trying to avoid really deep areas and sticking to where there was only an inch or so of water on the roads!! Mucho Agua!!!! Notable moment of the drive was when we decided to stop for a beer (or 'una fria' as it is known here), and when I started to get ready to get out of the car into the downpour, he said in spanish "no no, you wait here." I was a little confused, but a few minutes later, he appeared with a pint-sized bottle of Presidente (the national beer, as I am told) already opened and 2 small cups. We shared the beer throughout the rest of the drive. Completely normal in the dominican he told me... though it sure seemed strange!

Today, I had classes all morning and for a little while in the afteroon. The school is pretty small, and all of the people there are super nice. As traveling alone is a little strange to me, it will be nice to see the same people every day there! There are only 3 students in my class and the teacher is wonderful, always telling us little side notes about dominican life and how the language is different here.

This afternoon I decided it would be best to do a little exploring on my own. It was wonderful to be able to move at my own pace and not feel rushed when I wanted to stop and play taking photos along the way! I walked to the Zona Colonial, the very first colonial settlement in the Americas (the DR is the very first place that Christopher Colombus stopped). All of the buildings were hundreds of years old, and the atmosphere very calm. I wandered around not knowing exactly what everything was for a while, but stopping at the national cathedral (the first cathedral in the americas), a few parks, and a fort! Before long, I stumbled upon the national 'cemetary.' It was inside of an old building that orriginally was a church, and here I found a nice man who led me around the rest of the places of interest in the colonial area, telling me about each place we went. Best of all, he did it all in slow, simple spanish giving me a great chance to practice! We saw lots of things such as the palace where Colombus's brother lived, the house of Hernando Cortez, the ruins of a monastary and a hospital, the oldest street in the Americas (photo above), and much much more! Not long after this, it started raining as I began my walk home. Knowing a little about the system of transportation here, I hitched a ride in a 'guagua' which is a taxi type car that drives up and down any given street, with the driver waving his hand out the window, honking, and slowing a bit for anyone on the side of the street who looks like they need a ride. you just hop in, tell him the street you want to get off at, and for only 50 centsish you get to where you need to go! It was so easy!

I walked a few blocks home as my street becomes one way just before my hotel, and bought a pineapple along the way from the back of a truck! The man selling them was sitting inside and had me stand with my umbrella covering him while he cut it up for my with a machete! it is so delicious and so cheap compared to at home.

life is good :) the people here are so nice, it feels very safe, and I cannot wait to get more off the beaten path and to the orphanage! More at the end of the week