Day 3

We went to the beach today!!! I'll have to write down which one, exactly, but suffice it to say that it was the most beautiful beach I have ever been to!!!! (note: I haven't been to any beaches outside the USA haha). We took a 2 hour bus there which was comfortable, but freeeeeeeeeezing!! I took Boliver with me. On the way there we saw some real poverty - no electricity or running water, the bare necessities of life, thatched roofs, houses without doors. It truly felt like the 3rd world country that it is and Im grateful that I got to see a lifestyle outside of the lavish one of my host family. The interesting thing about virtually all parts of the Dominican Republic is that there will be flourishing businesses and nice homes one after another and then all of the sudden there will be empty, dirty, trashy yards or homes that look like they've been abandoned. There seems to be no consistency in that respect.

There are dogs everywhere here!! They travel in packs and most of them are strays. There are also a lot of motorbikes - everyone drives them! A lot of them are used as taxis. I'll have to hitch a ride one day. Although driving in the Dominican is slightly frightening. There appear to be very few laws.

I'm becoming very aware of the ways in which I retain information. I notice that I forget virtually every word that my host family teaches me - probably because I am simply repeating it and not visualizing it with something or using it. Right now, I can remember words that I've only seen once, words that have appeared on street signs and whatnot, words that I barely have any use for. I guess I am more of a visual learner so I'll have to do a better job of trying to associate words with pictures. This is probably an important revelation for my life in general.

I got my whole head braided at the beach!!! It's funny how my hairstyle tends to always change depending on the context I am in. I got it done by a sweet, Christian, Haitian woman who said that her husband had abandoned her and her 4 children. She had a gentle, nurturing touch and I was happy that I got to speak some french with her although she spoke Creole and my French is very different. When she had finished my hair, she blessed my friends and I and told us to remember that God had blessed us with good fortune and the opportunity to get an education. That was nice =)

The waves at the beach were monstrous!!!!!!! They knocked me down a bunch of times and I felt like I was in the middle of the ocean while I was trying to tread water. Lots of debris in the water, which was a  wonderfully light shade of blue. The beach wasn't shelly or rocky and it didn't feel like that therapeutic kind of sand that you rub all over your body to feel good. The little stores and bars and restaurants that lined the beach reminded me of what NYC might look like if it were near the beach. There were many of the same products that I've seen in NYC and the peddlers tried to manipulate you into buying stuff just like they would back home. There were men walking around the whole time with baskets selling things like coconut candies and bananas and coconuts and exotic fruits and candied apples.

I bought a coconut and drank the milk!! It was phenomenal.

For lunch I had my coconut and a plate of fried platanos that I ate with ketchup - Boliver called them fries. My professor came to the beach with us and we chatted a bit about culture and globalization and modernity and linguistics and whatnot. Linguistics is so interesting! I am so fascinated by language and I hope to learn arabic, spanish, and (more) french before I die!

At home I ate dinner with my hot parents outside in the backyard with  cool breeze and christmas lights and spanish music playing inside - paradise! She made me fish and potatoes. Later on, a few of her spanish friends came over ad I got to sit and listen to them chat again. I wonder what they are saying? I wonder what their perception of me is? I hope that my frequent "gracias's" sound genuine because they truly are. I feel so blessed to be living in these conditions having seen the other side of the Dominican Republic.

Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor... Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.