Beach and Dunes

News from the DR!

Trips

Friday I went with a friend, Janelle, to the biggest mall in the country and we saw Happy Feet in Spanish! It was so great! Someone that has seen it in English needs to write and tell me if the little posse of penguins that followed him around had Mexican accents in the English version. Because in the version I saw they were apparently Cuban, and everyone in the theater was laughing hysterically. It was really fun. This city is so huge that it took me an hour and a half to get there. And these weren’t even extremes of the city. I took a taxi back though and it was 50 minutes I think. So either the city is huge, or the public transportation sucks like woh. I think it’s both.

Yesterday I went on a trip with my group to the Dunes of Baní. It was SO cool! It was just dunes and dunes and dunes. I got some amazing shots. And we hiked a secluded beach that we got to by climbing up this monstrous dune that would put the sledding hills of Jvill to shame. It was awesome!

I thought I didn’t like the beaches here because I always go in the summer and it’s so hot and you go in the water and it just seems hotter in there. But, they’re nice in January! But my heart will still always be at Dewey Beach, DE. Love it there. Anyway, the beach we went to had smooth polished rocks all along the shores, and they were beautiful, the kind they sell in stores.

Language

As frustrated as I’ve been with the language at times, I took a step back the other day and realized how far I’ve come. It’s neat because I can compare how much I’ve learned on a yearly basis because we come every summer. I went to church on Thursday night and understood everything. And I understand the songs on my rides to and from school and in the public cars. All the stuff that used to be noise I can now understand! Now I’ve gotta work on making some noise myself. Which, by the way, is getting great (well relative to me a week ago). I’m talking more, and it’s pretty enjoyable. Like Arial when she finds her voice.

Public Cars

Ok, so I know I’ve explained them before, but they just keep getting worse. I asked one driver how old his car was, to which he proudly replied, 27 years old! Oh my gosh. By the way, before I go on, we drove my a junk yard yesterday. Completely different from an American junk yard. They actually still have junk. The ones here are the bare scraps of what used to be a car. Like an empty box of metal. You know were all the parts are? Still in use-keeping the public cars running. So, back to my story. In the past four days I’ve laughed a little harder every time I get into the car. I may have written before about a strap going through the middle of the car from side to side to hold up the two front seats. Ok, so one day it was a strap. The next a pipe. The next a chain. I commented on this to a friend. I said, what’s it gonna be tomorrow? I got my answer yesterday. It was an electric cord. I wonder if all possiblities have been exhausted or if there are still more to come?...

Side note

I’m at the house alone for the first time since I’ve been here. Aníbel went to Brazil for business and Alex and Mabel went out driving. When they left they told me not to answer the door for anyone, because I don’t know anyone and can’t tell if they’re a friend or not. But, I’m here and two men have been knocking on the gate for about 10 minutes now. So, I’ll just keep writing and hope they go away!