Fish Out of Water

Bienvenidos de la Republica Dominicana!

                Well, por fin, I’m here. I arrived late Sunday night, around 10:45 Dominican time.  I was pretty tired, scared, sad, and overwhelmed at this point, but also excited to meet my family.  Like the title says, so far I have been feeling like a "fish out of water".  So much is happening... culture shock maybe? Haha we had a talk about that today... and they said it'll go away with time. ALready I can tell I am getting acclimated... but it's gonna still take some time.

               When I arrived, only my “younger sister”, Maite, y my “mom”, Bienvenida, were home.  Maite is about 15 and reminds me a lot of Abby.  We have watched Disney channel together a couple of times and it’s interesting to see that Hannah Montana still gets the best of both worlds in the DR. “El mejoooor de ambos mundos”.  Turns out my family also has WIFI, which was a surprise for me, a pleasant surprise.  However, it’s also somewhat tough because my connections with the US almost make it harder for me sometimes.  I’ve definitely been on an emotional roller coaster here. The first day, yesterday, I slept in, then had a nice breakfast of fresh squeezed juice (so good) and a breakfast sandwich type of thing.  Some ladies from the church came over then and had coffee with me, Bienvenida, and Luis- my “father”. My family also consists of an older brother, Luicito- he is actually Luis Jr., but they call him Luicito (little Luis) to distinguish between the papi- and there is an older sister who lives in Tampa with her husband.  I can’t remember her name… My family also has a small chiuaua (?) named Coco.  He is pretty cute and very playful.  He plays with a Styrofoam ball and dances around on his hind legs when you hold it up. Yesterday I also met two girls who are here for the entire year, thus they have been here for abou4 ½ months so far.  They spoke English with me, which I was sooo happy to do, and they gave me the low down on the ISA program, classes, Santiago the city, the excursions, and just life in general.  I also had an orientation yesterday where we learned that we could take a “concho” (a small bus) to the beach, which is about an hour away, for 100 DR pesos, which is equivalent to about 3 dollars. Needless to say, I’m ready to go!! It’s weird here because my family is currently still on their break so Maite and Luicito usually are just lounging watching TV or on their computers, and I’m ready to explore the city and enjoy the sun! I am going to Puerto Plata- a beach- on Saturday though with the ISA group, so I’m looking forward to that. 

                Other than the two other girls from my neighborhood, there are about 10 other ISA students here who I have been getting to know. Everyone seems nice. I still cannot believe I will be here for an entire 4 months… Last night I freaked out after going to the “farmacia” (pharmacy) with Nea and Rose, the two girls who live nearby, because when I was there, I couldn’t understand anything. It was very crowded, they had everything from Barbies to purses to dandruff shampoo.  And all of this was in probably a 15x 15 ft. room.  When I brought my purchases to the counter, the cashier was yelling at me in very fast Spanish that I couldn’t understand.  Turns out he was saying “cash or credit!” but it could have easily been “you are stupid!” and I wouldn’t have known the difference. Luckily I was with Nea and Rose because they told me to give 700 pesos and that was that.  Stil… how am I supposed to live here if I cant even go to the store? Ugh… well hopefully it only can get better! I’m going to take eat now so nos vemos!