Karin came to visit me last weekend and it was great fun. I have some pictures up on my facebook account, but I don´t have the link to it at this second. I´ll put it down below. Here are two highlights.
We went to Haiti! It wasn´t really a big deal because it involved only walking over the bridge and standing by a building and being told that we were in a different country, but honestly that was enough for me! It was market day, which means that the Dominican government opens up the border for Haitians to cross into Dajabón and buy Dominican products. It was so interesting to see because the two countries are terribly un-fond-of each other, especially in the case of the DR disliking Haiti. The border is only open until 1:00, and at 1:00, any Haitian in the DR is in serious trouble. The border only opens for the Haitians into the DR so that the money from Haiti comes into the DR. On the highway on the way back to Santiago, we were stopped many times by military men making sure we weren´t taking Haitians into the DR.
The other favorite thing that happened while Karin was here happened on Sunday, on which way too many crazy things happened. Basically, we were taking a 3rd class bus from Puerto Plata to Sosúa, which is my favorite beach in the area. We got put in the front seat because we´re gringos, and we got ready to pay. The driver didn´t seem to want to tell me how much it cost to ride to Sosúa, but I heard someone say it was 30 pesos. So I had my 100 peso bill out ready to pay for our rides. We pull up to a gas station, and the driver reaches over and grabs my RD$100 out of my hand. I ask him for the change and he smirks at me. Later, I ask the money collector who rides in the back for change, and he tells me he doesn´t have any (note: since the gas station, several people have gotten on and paid in small change. LIAR.) A few minutes later, I get out my sunscreen to put it on my arm, which is sticking out of the window and burning. The driver reaches over to grab it. I´m of course shocked at his forwardness and pull it away. He makes a sad face and gestures to his arm and tells me it´s burning and grabs for it again. I tell him it´ll cost him RD$40 (what we need for change.) He laughs as if it´s a cute little joke and reaches for it yet again. I´m frustrated with him at this point, remind him of the RD$40, he shakes his head and I put the sunscreen away. He whines. We ignore him. Before you get upset that we were ripped off, understand that it was all for about US$1. And gas costs a lot and these drivers don´t actually make that much money after they have to pay for gas.
So. Today I´ve been sooo hot all day. In my dance class we started learning the Salsa the other day, and that involves a ton of movement, especially when you´re already super hot. And then I went to the cafeteria, bought an iced cream cone, and the iced cream fell off. Not good.
And tomorrow. The day I´ve been dreading for weeks. The bus will be by my house at 3:08 in the morning on the way to the Southwest region of the country. Apparently there are pretty beaches and some national parks. The definite down side: 8 hours each way in a very small, very cramped bus. This down side is enough to deter me from even going, but I was convinced that I should just suck it up and go. So we´ll see. Hopefully it´ll be less painful than I´m anticipating. =) I´ll let you know.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2061429&l=6089f&id=15300570
again, you´ll have to wade through pictures you might have seen already. And there are only 13 or so new pictures. I´ll probably put up more soon. Like, after this weekend´s trip.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
As promised, here´s what happened on the family reunion to Ojo de Agua. Um, it was awesome. I wish I would have been able to speak more Spanish there, but I was focusing so hard on understanding everything that I didn´t have time to formulate my own thoughts most of the time. I guess that´ll come later, right? =) We left Santiago a little after 8 Sunday morning and drove the hour to Ojo de Agua. The actual event was a joint graduation party for two cousins who were both really nice. There was quite a bit of family there, and people trickled in and out all day.
One of my host sisters named the farm ´Animalandia´ with very very good reason. We´re talking love birds, cockateels, guinea hens, chickens, 17 turtles, 3 pigs and 13 piglets, a couple of goats, and hundreds of roosters. Why roosters? you might ask. Well that´s mostly due to the ´national sport´ (besides baseball) of cockfighting. So all over the property are single rooster wire cages, most of them with a rooster inside. The noise at that place! I´ll tell you what. More quiquiriquis (how you cock a doodle doo in Spanish) than I´ve ever heard in one place. My host sisters´ uncle is into cockfighting and from what I gathered has his own ring. This is something that repulses and fascinates me at the same time. Of course, it´s a huge waste of roosters that could be used for meat or eggs. But it´s possible that the roosters can sometimes be eaten after they die in the fight, in which case it wouldn´t be as terrible. I tried to figure this out, but no one I asked knew the answer to the question. I´m still not a fan. But I´m debating going to a cockfight, just to do what the locals do.
Anyway, the best part of the day was definitely the fact that Doña Dedé showed up, stayed for several hours, and talked almost exclusively to my host family and me. It was interesting to talk with her about things that weren´t directly connected to what everyone talks to her about, namely the killings of her sisters and what´s happened to her since then. But I got the picture to forever display in my future Spanish classrooms. She´s 83, but you´d never guess it by talking to her. I could write more, but I feel like it´s sort os a topic that either you care about or don´t, so if you are interested in this, we´ll talk later. =)
But yes. Overall it was a great experience. I´d do it again. Except my host sisters aren´t really what you´d call good drivers, and I had pretty decent stomach aches going both ways from their puslating of the go pedal and their frequent abrupt stops for pot holes. Oh, shoot, and while I´m going at it, they always put the radio on scan and leave it there for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. So I´m going crazy int he backseat listening to 10 second clips of music. Yeah, but if that was the worst part, I do suppose it does show that I am bad at predictions. Just like I predicted in Saturday´s post. =)
And since I realized I haven´t posted many pictures on here, and I haven´t shown anyone my host family at all , you get a bonus picture. Here I am yesterday in Ojo de Agua with my host sisters. Angelica is on the left and Carmen in the middle. They´re both going to New York on Saturday for 2 and a half weeks. Not so happy about this, haha. They´re fun.
One of my host sisters named the farm ´Animalandia´ with very very good reason. We´re talking love birds, cockateels, guinea hens, chickens, 17 turtles, 3 pigs and 13 piglets, a couple of goats, and hundreds of roosters. Why roosters? you might ask. Well that´s mostly due to the ´national sport´ (besides baseball) of cockfighting. So all over the property are single rooster wire cages, most of them with a rooster inside. The noise at that place! I´ll tell you what. More quiquiriquis (how you cock a doodle doo in Spanish) than I´ve ever heard in one place. My host sisters´ uncle is into cockfighting and from what I gathered has his own ring. This is something that repulses and fascinates me at the same time. Of course, it´s a huge waste of roosters that could be used for meat or eggs. But it´s possible that the roosters can sometimes be eaten after they die in the fight, in which case it wouldn´t be as terrible. I tried to figure this out, but no one I asked knew the answer to the question. I´m still not a fan. But I´m debating going to a cockfight, just to do what the locals do.
Anyway, the best part of the day was definitely the fact that Doña Dedé showed up, stayed for several hours, and talked almost exclusively to my host family and me. It was interesting to talk with her about things that weren´t directly connected to what everyone talks to her about, namely the killings of her sisters and what´s happened to her since then. But I got the picture to forever display in my future Spanish classrooms. She´s 83, but you´d never guess it by talking to her. I could write more, but I feel like it´s sort os a topic that either you care about or don´t, so if you are interested in this, we´ll talk later. =)
But yes. Overall it was a great experience. I´d do it again. Except my host sisters aren´t really what you´d call good drivers, and I had pretty decent stomach aches going both ways from their puslating of the go pedal and their frequent abrupt stops for pot holes. Oh, shoot, and while I´m going at it, they always put the radio on scan and leave it there for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. So I´m going crazy int he backseat listening to 10 second clips of music. Yeah, but if that was the worst part, I do suppose it does show that I am bad at predictions. Just like I predicted in Saturday´s post. =)
And since I realized I haven´t posted many pictures on here, and I haven´t shown anyone my host family at all , you get a bonus picture. Here I am yesterday in Ojo de Agua with my host sisters. Angelica is on the left and Carmen in the middle. They´re both going to New York on Saturday for 2 and a half weeks. Not so happy about this, haha. They´re fun.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
So I thought I´d try something new so that you could get an idea of how wrong (or right) I can be sometimes when predicting what something is going to be like. I´m going to give my prediction about what I¨m doing tomorrow, and then after I´ve gone, I´ll tell you what really happened.
So, there´s a big graduation party tomorrow in Ojo de Agua for my host family´s cousins. I am going along, and it should last all day. Plus side: there will be amazing food. But this is what I think it´ll be like: embarazoso. That means awkward. Now, let me explain. My host sisters are both in their 30´s. We get along great, we talk a ton, it´s fun. They´re both more social than I am, especially when I´m self conscious about not knowing the language perfectly. My family will know everyone. I know no one. So we´re going to throw all of these elements together and predict that I´m going to be by the punch bowl. It should be fun, I´m just a bit worried about initiating conversation with Dominicans who talk millions of miles a second and don´t pronounce all their letters. (Dominican Spanish tends to drop the endings of words or random syllabols within words. I´m getting used to it, but it´s definitely a part of rural Dominican Spanish that makes it much harder to understand than city Dominican Spanish.)
Another point that might make it embarazoso is that today at lunch I was told to bring my camera because Doña Dedé of the Mirabal sisters (see previous post or look here) will probably be there. She´s their neighbor and the boss of one of the cousin-graduates at a health clinic. So now we have an image of Kristin going, hanging out by a punch bowl, and paparazzi-style taking pictures of a surviving Dominican heroine. Qué bueno. If I were in the states, I would need at LEAST a venti iced americano in order to feel confident going into this experience. Probably two.
Stay tuned for what actually goes down. =)
So, there´s a big graduation party tomorrow in Ojo de Agua for my host family´s cousins. I am going along, and it should last all day. Plus side: there will be amazing food. But this is what I think it´ll be like: embarazoso. That means awkward. Now, let me explain. My host sisters are both in their 30´s. We get along great, we talk a ton, it´s fun. They´re both more social than I am, especially when I´m self conscious about not knowing the language perfectly. My family will know everyone. I know no one. So we´re going to throw all of these elements together and predict that I´m going to be by the punch bowl. It should be fun, I´m just a bit worried about initiating conversation with Dominicans who talk millions of miles a second and don´t pronounce all their letters. (Dominican Spanish tends to drop the endings of words or random syllabols within words. I´m getting used to it, but it´s definitely a part of rural Dominican Spanish that makes it much harder to understand than city Dominican Spanish.)
Another point that might make it embarazoso is that today at lunch I was told to bring my camera because Doña Dedé of the Mirabal sisters (see previous post or look here) will probably be there. She´s their neighbor and the boss of one of the cousin-graduates at a health clinic. So now we have an image of Kristin going, hanging out by a punch bowl, and paparazzi-style taking pictures of a surviving Dominican heroine. Qué bueno. If I were in the states, I would need at LEAST a venti iced americano in order to feel confident going into this experience. Probably two.
Stay tuned for what actually goes down. =)
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Hello again. I feel like the only thing I write about is what I did recently, but I guess that´s to be expected? If you have any questions, please post them in the comments part and I´ll use that to write about instead. =) If not, I´ll just keep writing about what I know. Right now, for example, I´ll write about my very fun weekend.
On Friday we went to Salcedo and Ojo de Agua which are the two cities associated with the Mirabel sisters. ´In the Time of the Butterflies´ by Julia Álvarez is a popular book that I read in high school that tells a mostly true version of their stories. They´re heroines who basically were the last straw in the beginning of Trujillo´s downfall. Three of the four sisters were killed in November of 1960 (Trujillo was killed in May, 1961), and the fourth sister still lives in Ojo de Agua. Unfortunately she wasn´t in town when we went to visit or apparently she would´ve talked to us. A few friends and I decided to go back to talk with Dedé because we´re so interested in meeting with her, and we know someone who knows her. There was a museum dedicated to them in Salcedo which is the house they lived in when they were killed. Their clothes were in the closets, the table was set, their books were out on their desks, and it was sort of like they would come back at any moment. It was really neat to see, but it was fairly eerie also. If you ever come to the Dominican Republic, you should read the book I mentioned above. Or there´s a movie if you´re not into reading. =)
On Saturday night I went out with my host sisters and I had an incredible time. They took me to a Mexican restaurant which was DELICIOUS for a change. To compare the two food styles, picture Dominican food often as almost Mexican food, but rather than salsa, ALWAYS substitute it for ketchup. Yeah. Gross. But there is other Dominican food that is good that isn´t full of ketchup or mayonnaise. =) After the food we rode around town in their car and they showed me more places that I hadn´t seen yet. I´m looking forward to going out with them more as it´s a great change from doing things with other Americans. I´m moderately angry, though, because they told me that they´re both going to New York for a two week vacation in the middle of October. Which leaves me with the at times (and usually) awkward host mom. But we´ll deal with that when it happens. Next Sunday I´m going to the campo (rural village) with the family. Their relatives (the mom´s family) live in Ojo de Agua apparently right next door to Dedé of the Mirabel sisters, which is where both families grew up. Small world, eh?
In a few weeks Karin is coming to visit me, which I probably couldn´t be more excited about if I tried. So we´re all busy planning things to do and what not. So if you want to send me thousands of dollars, for example, you could always try to send it to her before she left. But she might spend it. Umm.
Speaking of thousands of dollars, I was awesome this past weekend and left y ATM card somewhere, probably in the ATM after I grabbed my money. At least I didn´t leave the money in there... no, but I´m happy for modern technologies that suck the card in and eat it up.
So I´m already in the middle of another week here. I think we´re getting close to midterms because the workload is growing a little. I´m trying to upload pictures to facebook but I´m not being successful. I´ll add the link when and if I win the battle with the computer. =)
yep, here it is: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2061429&l=6089f&id=15300570
On Friday we went to Salcedo and Ojo de Agua which are the two cities associated with the Mirabel sisters. ´In the Time of the Butterflies´ by Julia Álvarez is a popular book that I read in high school that tells a mostly true version of their stories. They´re heroines who basically were the last straw in the beginning of Trujillo´s downfall. Three of the four sisters were killed in November of 1960 (Trujillo was killed in May, 1961), and the fourth sister still lives in Ojo de Agua. Unfortunately she wasn´t in town when we went to visit or apparently she would´ve talked to us. A few friends and I decided to go back to talk with Dedé because we´re so interested in meeting with her, and we know someone who knows her. There was a museum dedicated to them in Salcedo which is the house they lived in when they were killed. Their clothes were in the closets, the table was set, their books were out on their desks, and it was sort of like they would come back at any moment. It was really neat to see, but it was fairly eerie also. If you ever come to the Dominican Republic, you should read the book I mentioned above. Or there´s a movie if you´re not into reading. =)
On Saturday night I went out with my host sisters and I had an incredible time. They took me to a Mexican restaurant which was DELICIOUS for a change. To compare the two food styles, picture Dominican food often as almost Mexican food, but rather than salsa, ALWAYS substitute it for ketchup. Yeah. Gross. But there is other Dominican food that is good that isn´t full of ketchup or mayonnaise. =) After the food we rode around town in their car and they showed me more places that I hadn´t seen yet. I´m looking forward to going out with them more as it´s a great change from doing things with other Americans. I´m moderately angry, though, because they told me that they´re both going to New York for a two week vacation in the middle of October. Which leaves me with the at times (and usually) awkward host mom. But we´ll deal with that when it happens. Next Sunday I´m going to the campo (rural village) with the family. Their relatives (the mom´s family) live in Ojo de Agua apparently right next door to Dedé of the Mirabel sisters, which is where both families grew up. Small world, eh?
In a few weeks Karin is coming to visit me, which I probably couldn´t be more excited about if I tried. So we´re all busy planning things to do and what not. So if you want to send me thousands of dollars, for example, you could always try to send it to her before she left. But she might spend it. Umm.
Speaking of thousands of dollars, I was awesome this past weekend and left y ATM card somewhere, probably in the ATM after I grabbed my money. At least I didn´t leave the money in there... no, but I´m happy for modern technologies that suck the card in and eat it up.
So I´m already in the middle of another week here. I think we´re getting close to midterms because the workload is growing a little. I´m trying to upload pictures to facebook but I´m not being successful. I´ll add the link when and if I win the battle with the computer. =)
yep, here it is: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2061429&l=6089f&id=15300570
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