April 14, 2007

OK, apologies to everyone who has been checking this page without response. I have been too busy to do anything. Let me give an example of my life here, in which I fly by the seat of my pants.

I’m usually a very diligent student, badly enough that I do projects or papers when they’re assigned and have to look at a calendar to put the right date on the heading for the day it’s due. I do things that far ahead of time. Not here, nope. I realized how bad it had gotten yesterday. I sat down at 4 o’clock to write a paper due at 6 at a school at least a half an hour away. No big deal, lol. In the states I probably would have been freaking out, but here, I just kind of laughed. It’s not that I’ve become a procrastinator, I just don’t have time, and I’ve adjusted all too well to the lifestyle here. So, I laughed really hard when I went to put the date on my paper, and instead of grabbing my calendar, I grabbed my cell phone with the current date. Wrote it down, printed the paper without editing, and ran off to class.

So, that’s just to show what life’s like here, and give some meager excuse as to why it seems like I’ve dropped off the face of the earth.

I have 2 weeks of class left. I literally have done nothing in my classes all semester, I think honestly I have taken 4 exams all semester which I can’t believe, seeing as I have 6 classes. The schooling here is ridiculous and really ineffective even at the university level. Whatever stereotype you have of schools in Asia that turn out geniuses, imagine the other extreme and you’ve got the lovely country of the Dominican Republic. BUT, to redeem a semester of doing nothing, apparently in every class the teachers decide you need to write a final paper anywhere between 5-15 pages and take a final exam. About what, I have no idea.

So, for the next two weeks I’m swamped with work, and will not have time to blog (at least it doesn’t seem so at this point). Then I have 2 weeks to chill till I come home, unless I decide to change my ticket, because I’m definitely ready to come home. So, you all may see me before May 14 as originally planned.

Spanish is coming really fluently, I’m feeling great about that, and cranking out these papers will sure put the finishing touches on everything I’ve learned.

I’m ready to see you all, miss you much, and send a great big hug. Sadly, I wouldn’t expect another blog for a while, but if I can, I will. And I always write and write after really intense trips in my life, so just because I’m home won’t mean that the blogs stop. I gotta let you know how re-entry goes.

Ps-I forgot to write what made me think to write a blog (it’s always a random little thing that I want to share that makes me sit down and write for a little while). It’s so hot here that I have lotion sitting near the window (NOT in the sun) with a pump dispenser. I looked at it this afternoon and saw that it had leaked out lotion through the pumper. Do you know why? Because it’s so freaking hot that the lotion expanded, had no where to go, and squished its way out.
Also, I didn’t know it was possible, but I think the heat got to my Planters cashews too. I didn’t think they could go stale, but they did, in a week. I gotta get out of here.

I don’t even want to think about what the heat’s doing to the eggs that perpetually remain on the TOP of the fridge (not inside). The box milk’s ok, it could survive a nuclear winter in its spot in the cabinet along with the flying roaches that like to land on me at 11 pm when all I want is a snack and to go to bed and dream about America and a normal life. I’m so ready to come home, jeesh, everything I write makes it even more clear.

I’m ready for pasta with real sauce, not just noodles with red coloring and some funky flavor. A BAGEL. A real toaster, the one here is a waffle maker without the waffly texture, it pretty much heats the bread and flattens it. It sucks. As does my pillow. I don’t know why I haven’t written about it before, but I definitely documented it with pictures. Lets just say if you had back problems and had this pillow, you would die. A dryer. We’re all familiar with the normal phases that jeans go through. You wear them for way too long because they just always seem to pass the smell check. So, finally you finally decide to wash them, and in America you dry them too. Then you try to put them on. If you are a girl, do not deny this process, my roommate in particular. The jumping around as you try to pull them up, the sucking in to zip, which may even be achieved by laying down on the bed!! But, after a day they’re back to normal and you don’t wash them for the next couple weeks (remember, we’re in college). But no, not here. They never get uncomfortably shrunk by the dryer. Result? The pants that my mom lovingly hemmed that used to fit perfectly now need to be rolled up at least THREE inches until I can walk. What’s the deal???