Post 3

So I didnt blog 2 days ago because we had no internet (but we did finally have running water!!! YAYYYYYY I LOVE TO SHOWER!) then yesterday I didnt blog because I didnt want to. Anyways, still having a great time here, although its A LOT of work. 2 days ago we went non-stop from 7am until 7:30 pm but we did get to go to their world famous cigar factory (Aurora Cigar Factory) and watch cigars get rolled which was pretty cool and then we went to a museum(Centro Leon) which was pretty cool but we werent allowed to take any pictures. By the time we got home we were EXHAUSTED and just went to bed early. So that about sums up 2 days ago. Yesterday was better... we went to the elementary school from 7:30-12:30 and then got a 2 hour lunch break at home and got to take a little power nap. At 2:30 we went up to the university, had a class then spanish class and then our second class until 7:30 and then got to go home. My friend Randall had to do his first lecture yesterday to a bunch of 8th graders about sex ed and drug ed. haha I got to watch, it was funny but he did a really good job. My room assignment isnt exactly a room assignment like most of the students have. I am with this teacher named Katherine, shes american and really cool. But she has 9th, 10th, and 11th graders in english, health, and govt. so I float around all day with her. It's pretty cool. I dont really know why I got such an older age group other than the fact that noone really wanted any grade above 3rd and I said I didnt mind where they put me so thats what I got. I like having the older grades though, they are fun and you can joke around with them. When I had to introduce myself to one of the classes I asked if they had any questions and one of the boys goes "yea... can i get your number?" haha Too bad he was only in 9th grade (Bryce, you wouldnt mind me dating someone your age would ya? haha ew.) Our schedule that we initially had for this 2 weeks here got completely changed yesterday because Tech's spring semester ended a week later and the school we are at ends a week earlier so everything is screwy because the teachers are getting the students ready for final testing this week and next week they have their testing starting on wednesday, so for today, monday and tuesday instead from going from 7:30-12:30 we are going to be here 7:30-2, have a 30 min break between 2-2:30, then have class, then spanish, then class again until 7:30 and finally get to go home after. It sorta sucks but whatever. Tomorrow we are at the school from 7:30-11:30 and then are driving to Santo Domingo for the day and get to visit the Palacio Nacional (basically their white house) and spend the day down there and then drive back in the evening for dinner with our families. Saturday morning we leave for Puerto Plata and get to stay in an all inclusive resort Sat. night and all day Sunday and beach it up. I'm REALLY excited about that! But then next weekend instead of getting to go to Rancho Bayguate and horseback ride to the Baygaute waterfall we get to have a pool party at the stupid hotel our teachers are staying at here in Santiago (which I really could care less about, I can go to the Leisure pool at tech if i want to hang out at a pool). Anyways, still having a great time, my family here is great but I gotta run now I just got told I will be giving a drug/alcohol ed lecture at noon i have to prepare for.

post 2

so our first full day here was a success. after lunch we went to get our nails, toes, and hair done. haha it was quite the experience! We took a concha (kinda like a taxi but NOT at all) into "town" to the nail place but first i had to trade out my american dollars for pesos and it def. looked like a drug deal. Some random guy walks up and pulls out this THICK stack of U.S. dollars and pesos and trades me. Then we go to the nail place..... let me tell you about this place, 1) no air conditioning 2) no comfy seats with bubble baths to put your feet in.... we def put our feet in a bowl and our hands in winnie the pooh bowls (o ya cant leave out the hair that was in it!)haha o ya... and cant forget that they not only did the sand paper exfoliant thing on the bottoms of our feet but the tops as well and our hands! haha i was trying so hard to not crack up during all of this. so needless to say Erin and I came home and washed our hands and feet in rubbing alcohol so hopefully we wont get any infections. so then we get our hair washed... with freezing cold water that felt AMAZING because i havent felt air conditioning since i left miami airport. then they blowed out our hair and it acutally looks really really good and thank goodness we did that because we def dont have running water to shower right now because the plumbing is messed up. ughhh so we get home, eat dinner, and then get picked up to go listen to Jazz at this bar which was actually really fun and we got to drink (mommy you know how i just NEEDDDDD my alcohol... or so you think). After the Jazz bar we got back home (still no running water) and Erin and I def. "washed" with wipee's and those germ x wipes you gave me mommy (ps... could u ship a full container of those babies over here haha). so now i'm sitting in bed, sweating my ass off, wanting nothing more than a shower, typing to yall. I'm talking to Sarah (the girl I met through Michael) and she said it pretty much sounds like deployment so apparently I'm ready for the air force! haha anyways, hope everyone has a great night, I have to get to sleep because we have to be ready to go by 7:30 tomorrow morn (not that I'm going to wake up early for a shower since we have no water). Even with Obama as Pres. I must say America is still better than here, at least you can flush your toilet paper down the toilet haha.

night/day 1

This is my first blog. I HATE blogging! I was never the kid to have a diary or anything growing up so this is wierd to me, but I'm doing this so Franny can stay updated and anyone else if they want to also so I'm not annoyed to all get out having to give a play by play of my time here when I get back. Anyways, we got to our host house around 10 lastnight and met our mom (Rosa) and her 2 daughters Yammi and Kathy. Yammi is around our age and Kathy is a little older and they are both doctors (I guess their med. school is shorter than in the U.S. haha). Erin and I both SUCK at Spanish so it has been pretty hard communicating but they are all so sweet and Yammi can speak some English so she helps a lot. So when we got to the house last night we put our stuff away, had dinner (baked ham slices, pinapple, and mashed potatoes) and then just went to bed. We got to sleep in this morning since 15 of our group (including both professors) didn't make it to the Dominican because their plane broke down in Dallas. They should get in around 2:30 today and then its an hour and a half drive from the airport they had to wind up flying into. The 8 of us who did make it into the D.R. lastnight wanted to go out but everything is closed for some election. Anyways, so today we woke up around 9:00 and had breakfast, washed up, and then met with our friends Laura and Natalie, and their mom took the four of us and Yammi to the market called La Serena and we got some Dominican Coffee (bringing it back for ya daddy, I heard its REALLY good) and pure Vanilla instead of vanilla extract and some other things. I'm getting some Dominican Rum before I leave here too, maybe I'll share it with yall. After shopping at La Serena we came back to the house and ate lunch. Mommy the pineapple is sooo good here! My tongue already hurts from eating so much. Erin, Yammi and I are going to go get mani, pedis, and our hair done in a little bit. I can't wait! Anyways, having a great time so far, just trying to get around this language barrier. o and by the way, Rosa and Yammi are already trying to hook me up with their cousin... I just love being the pittied single girl. haha