Well, here I am. The lone traveler has landed in her homeland. Excited? Yes. Distressed? Absolutely. Confused? Without a doubt. These feelings are something I knew would be inevitable upon my arrival to my home state. The things I saw and experienced will never be forgotten or disregarded; I intend to use what I have learned to expand my horizon through a refreshed state of mind. I know my life will be forever changed whether I chose to acknowledge these changes or not. Now, going through my daily tasks sometimes seem simple and meaningless. For example, when I go to the [View Full Entry]

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Hey one and all, Just thought Id update you all on a few things. Not too much to update actually. All has been well with my classes, they are hard to take seriously sometimes but I am trying. So I think that taking classes with Dominicans has been quite the experience, I like having the opportunity to talk with the locales, and not make such a fool out of myself because I actually have a reason to do so. I made one friend in particular that will not speak to me in spanish because he thinks that he has to speak [View Full Entry]

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DR ROUND 2!!!!!!!! Well here I am again, attempting to continue this not so successful blog but I thought I should let you all know how round two is going! First and foremost, the city of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. I love it! So much more fast and bustling and so much more too see and experience. Also the people are much easier to understand for some reason, it is probably a combination of the fact that I have already been here for four months but I know the Southern part is much easier to grasp [View Full Entry]

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Haiti, where do I begin. Immediately after crossing the border one could feel the difference between the two sides of the island. The people, the animals, the buildings, the air- everything felt quite unique. One part of the experience that stuck out to me the most was the fact that we, being tourists, mostly white tourists, did not receive attention like we did in the Dominican Republic. In the Dominican Republic, the constant cat calls, remarks, shouting and what not is all the rage in the DR. Very obvious, very "rude" by N. American standards. But, in Haiti the gawking really [View Full Entry]

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Okay I am going to try to wrap up the last leg of my trip in one sitting. So bare with me! Yes so we went to the unamazingly untraveled Southwest area of the country, it is a lot of desert, and feels unusually dry. The first day we went to a beautiful lake that this largest lake on the island. But I am forgetting the name at the moment. Before we went to the boat we entered an iguana ranch where I fed iguana fruit loops! They really enjoyed them and before I knew it, I had the entire ranch [View Full Entry]

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I just want to say that I will be adding more photos and text very soon! i know i have been such a slacker with this whole blog thing but like i have said, internet is rather tight in this country! I have many stories and pictures!, stay posted! [View Full Entry]

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So yes back to my trip to Samaná, this place was about tour hours away from Santiago where I currently live and was absolutely breathtaking. The water was aqua blue and the sand was incredibly white. And, the part I liked the most was that there weren’t any vendors walking down the beach trying to sell me necklaces, fruit and odd-looking shrimp. It was the epitome of a Caribbean beach. Samaná was a lovely little town, the type of town a North American couple might retire in. Truly tranquil and serene. The next week, I made a trip to the [View Full Entry]

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Hello One and All! I am so sorry this has been so long but the past couple weeks have been quite hectic, and without internet readily available for use, it makes it much harder. I also want to say that fotos will be up in due time, I have so many to show!! So I think that last time I wrote was mostly about my dona, which I have a new lil story about her. She asked me about a week ago if I could do her eyebrows and of course I enthusiastically agreed. So finally I had a spare hour [View Full Entry]

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This past weekend was quite uneventful, did some exploration of the city and tried a vegetarian restaurant, but it was disgusting. One fourth of the way through my ventures here, I can say I am almost completely comfortable, most of the time. Walking through the busy streets of Santiago; cars honking, people yelling and busily chatting I think I have come to a point of contentment. I love that I can walk down the street and say hello to everyone and they will not give me weird look. I like that everyone says good morning or good evening, its truly refreshing. [View Full Entry]

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Today signifies the end of the first week of my stay in the DR. After orientation week I feel that my feet are starting to sink into this part of the world. There are people, places and things that I have not seen until this week and for that I am grateful. I would like to formally introduce the journal of me, Miss Natalie Moses to all of you; my family and friends. Here is a just a small window into the world I will be enduring for the next four months! This week started off late, as we departed the [View Full Entry]

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