DR, Santo Domingo- Round Two!

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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 because when I travel in the south it is easier to communicate and I visited Santiago the other weekend, people were still difficult to understand. I don’t know why this is, but I certainly am not complaining! Also the ocean is about 10 minutes walking from my apartment so I LOVE that. The ocean here, lining the city is certainly not swimable but is perfect for taking a walk or going for a run which I am happy to say that I have been doing atleast twice a week; this is amazing for me.

My new host family. I live with a divorced woman in her late forties named Alba. To help describe her personality; she told me the night I moved in that she lost a baby right before she got divorced. Obviously, I was rather caught off guard by this but she had no problem telling me this after about thirty minutes of knowing one another. But I have come to realize that this is just part of the culture. She is sort of overbearing and very chatty which is completely understandable living by herself; if she isn’t talking to me she is on the phone. I have never a person who likes the phone as much as her. She constantly asks if I have eaten, or what I am going to eat and why I didn’t eat more and why I didn’t eat the dish with this type of other food and how it would be a better idea to prepare the food in such a way and how come I am not eating a sandwich for breakfast or eggs for dinner or why didn’t I eat more of the food from today even though I already ate the food from yesterday. She kind of worries about what I eat.


She has four nieces that visit once a week. Their attitudes are sort of “don’t know what to do with me” or maybe are just fed up with their aunt’s host students. They are Vanessa, 15, Reina, 17, Mari, 19 and Giselle, 22 and all look no older than about 14. They are all tiny and have very youthful faces. The youngest is the by far the most outgoing and loves to chat but the other three are not very enthusiastic about anything. She, Vanessa is currently in beauty school and is learning how to do manicures. Apparently we are supposed to be going to the beauty school to get manicures for the equivalent of about seventy cents. Should be an experience!

My study abroad group. Hmmm, well not as lively and compatible as last semester but there are some characters. The majority are from ivy-league schools which could be a reason that most are more studious and well, don’t want to say it but, just plain boring!

My classes. I like them all thus far, I am taking Spanish, a Caribbean identify class, and very broad class called History, Culture and Civilizations, a sociology class and an internship class. I am working at an organization that works with former prostitutes who are trying to turn their lives around and find alternative forms of employment. I have yet to start the project but Im sure I will have much to write about once it actually starts. All are good so far, I am actually taking them all in three different universities so I have a different commute daily. It’s a good way to learn how to use the public transportation and to see the city I wouldn’t normally see.

Activities thus far. I went whale- watching last weekend; that was very cool but we really only saw their humps- they were hump back whales. We also saw dolphins for a brief moment. The boat was quite the experience, I felt like I was on the reality show “Deadliest Catch” or something with the waves crashing against the boat and splashing across everyone. The boat all stayed stayed sea-sick free with the exception of two; one right next to my side. Fortunately nothing came up….

Carnaval. Wow, what an experience. Carnaval is festival celebrated all over the world but is especially huge in Latin America; especially Brazil. The tradition started religiously, huge celebrations before lent but each country has their own special infusions that defines them regionally and culturally and the religious element has virtually been lost, atleast in the Dominican Republic. Most other celebrating countries have preserved atleast some type of piece of the church. From my experience it is a drawn out party throughout the month February. It can easily be compare to Mardi Gras. We went on a tour of Carnaval; it was actually ridiculous. We started off the morning by riding a bus to a store but the entire time on the bus we were singing, dancing and blowing horns. We got to the store which was really just like a big parking lot and then danced sang and blew horns some more. There was a band that played drums and chanted. Finally we got to the site and we danced and sang some more just incase you hadn’t gotten enough already. There were 3 concerts, we ate lunch and finally to the actual “ Carnaval” in a town called La Vega. When we got there and there were hundreds of people in the streets and “diablos” chasing people. These are the devils that run around in the street hitting people with hollowed out, hardened animal bladders. They are on strings and are pretty much used as whips. It was one of the scariest things I have participated in in a long time. I was hit twice extremely hard in my rear and I actually cried! This is how hard they will beat you, if you make it the sidewalk they can’t technically get you but once you are walking in the street anything is fair game. This is something I will only do once in my life! Quite the experience though.

I think that is all I have for you folks, I will try to get another up in the next couple weeks. Hope all is well with todo el mundo!!!

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