I've been here in the Dominican Republic for over a week now, and I like it a lot. There's a bit to get used to, of course, but for the most part, it's great.

I met my host family the second day we were here, and I love them. There is an older lady, Dona Carmen, and her two daughters, Carmen and Angelica who are both in their late twenties/early thirties. The house is very nice, and I'm very comfortable here. I've been trying to take a few pictures to show people back home what it's like, but I feel like a creeper taking pictures of their house when they're home, and, well, they're always home. I have a couple pics already, and I'll try to get a few more.


We had to do a scavenger hunt through Santiago using the conchos, which are the fixed-route taxis. Our group decided that slow and steady wins the race and decided to eat popsicles rather than sprint through the city on a 95 degree day. =)


Here's a part of my path to school. Although now that it's raining all the time, we've had to take public transportation to school to avoid sliding down the muddy hill. A lot of Santiago looks like this; there are a lot of green areas.


Here's a view of Santiago from a monument in the center of town. I live down in those houses somewhere. =)

Santiago has been a great city so far. It's fairly safe, and fairly navigable thanks to a large monument downtown that is also very close to my house. Public transportation is somewhat convenient, with small cars dedicated to certain fixed routes. These cars can fit up to seven people, so there's a fair amount of squeezing people in that goes on. =) The heat is remarkable and unrelenting, although within the past few days of Hurricane (?) Gustavo, it's much cooler with all of the rain. Apparently there's another hurricane creeping on up through Puerto Rico. We've been told that since Santiago is in a valley between mountains, more often the severe weather is in the form of tornados caused by air pressure changes, and Haiti generally receives the brunt of hurricanes on this island.

Classes start today, and I'm ready for a predictable schedule to my days. I'm hoping to stay busy, and that shouldn't be much of a problem. There are a lot of volunteer activities, and I think I'll do what I can to see what I can. I'm taking a class about teaching ESL, which will let me teach English at the college, which I'm very excited about. There are volunteer/internship opportunities around the city as well, and I'm interested in a few that involve either Special Education or general Education. There are also language partner opportunities that involve partnering with a Dominican or Haitian student. Oh, and there's always the ever-terrible beach-going. We went to a beach about an hour and a half away on Saturday, and it was probably the prettiest beach I've been to, and that's not even the best of the beaches. =) The pictures don't do it justice, but here's a beach in Sosua. The water was ridiculously clear, and I saw a ton of sweet blue fish:

So that's about it for now. My only complaint is a difficulty getting internet access, but that's maybe a good thing, after all. =) Facebook is blocked by my college, which is a pain, because that's the only place I get internet as of now. But I'll try to bring my computer with me to school at least a couple of days a week. Ok, hasta luego!