Well, after much too long, I’m finally going to post about the past month! Despite the fact that I’m mostly going to write about the past four weekends, don’t be deceived that all I’m doing is traveling, relaxing, etc. Actually, I do work a lot. But, it’s much more fun to share about exploring than work. J
Before I get into the weekends, a little about work:
I like my job here and am learning many things. It is quite different from teaching in the US, but there are similarities at the same time. Kids will be kids, anywhere you go. Children love to laugh and play all around the world, and the students will always be one of the perks of teaching. One of the biggest adjustments for me is that this is my first time working in a private school. Another difference I have 30 students in a class without any assistance at any time (no ta, no exceptional education teachers, no literacy teachers, etc) We recently submitted grades for the first marking period. Again, it was different than the system I’ve known but another opportunity for me to see a different way of doing something. God is teaching me a lot of patience, which can never hurt.
Sept. 23-25
I stayed in Santo Domingo this weekend. It was a super fun-filled weekend. My friends and I went to an Akon concert on Saturday night. The concert was outside right beside the Caribbean Sea! It began at 9:00 and ended at 3:30am…concerts are not short events here! Luckily, I had learned from my other concert experience and went prepared this time with enough sleep and food to make it through a 7 hour concert…
On Sunday, we went to Hemingway beach again. This is one of the beaches that is only 45 minutes from Santo Domingo. Sunday evening I learned to play Dominoes. You can’t walk down the street on any weekend night and not see Dominicans playing dominoes. I had been seeing them play and wanted to learn. I finally got my chance and loved it! The best way I know to describe the domino game here is that it’s a mix of the dominoes game my family plays and spades. You play in teams of two like spades. Either due to the expertise of the my Dominican partner or beginner’s luck, my team won J
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| friends before the concert |
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| Akon came out into the crowd in a gerbil ball and on his guards' shoulders...very dangerous among screaming fans |
Sept. 30- Oct. 2
Matt came to visit! We were very busy and he claims we walked at least 10 miles one day lol We toured the historical Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo. Christopher Columbus first landing was the Americas was here on the island of Hispanola. Most everything is known as the “first in the Americas”. For example, Santo Domingo has the first church in the new world, the first hospital, etc. Christopher did not live in Santo Domingo because he continued exploring. His son, Diego, was the governor of the city and lived here. We walked the cobblestone streets and toured the Museum of the Royal Homes, the Larimar museum (a precious stone that is found nowhere else in the world besides the DR), the burial site of famous Dominicans, and more.
For Saturday night dinner we went to a restaurant that it is in a real cave (walking distance from my house!) I was skeptical of the restaurant until we went. It was a real cave, and it was beautiful! My camera doesn’t work well in caves, but you can check on the website: http://www.elmesondelacava.com/ Click “tour virtual” at the bottom right.
On Sunday, we went on a day trip with a local tour company to Enriquillo Lake. This lake is located in the west and is the biggest lake in the country. The climate there is unlike anywhere else on the island. Two mountain ranges block the lake from either side. Therefore, it has an extremely dry, desert-like climate. We took a boat to Cabritos Island in the middle of the lake. The island is filled with cacti and is consistently recorded as the hottest place on the island (I’m sure you can imagine Matt’s enthusiasm about walking and listening to an educational tour…in a desert…in 96 degrees on the second day of October.) The iguanas were plentiful and huge. The water is also filled with crocodiles. The tour guides drove the boat like a crocodile hunter to help us see the creatures. (no worries…the crocodiles are not hunted here) After the lake, the tour took us to a lady’s home where she served us La Bandera for lunch (chicken, rice, beans, salad, plantains). Our next stop was a balneario (swimming pool created by a natural spring). A natural spring of extremely cold water coming from the mountains supplies the pool. The water continues to flow on down the mountain but there are man-made walls that help create a swimming pool –like structure. The balneario was full of Dominicans swimming and bathing. We braved the freezing cold water and found it amusing that we had been both extremely hot and extremely cold just 30 minutes down the road. Our last stop of the trip was to see Caritas (cave carvings) from the Taino Indians. I was shocked at how clear the images still are.
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| Tour Guide Matt in front of the fort |
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| Iguanas! |
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| cave writings |
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| natural pool |
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| The water continues to flow on down the mountain. |
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| La Bandera |
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| Lago Enriquillo |
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| Cacti |
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| Cave Carvings |
Oct. 7-8
Ethan and Dustin came to visit! The three of us also toured the Colonial Zone. We saw many of the same things except we took the audio tour of Christopher Columbus’s son’s house instead of the Museo de Casas Reales.
We had many traditional Dominican foods including tostones, mofongo, sandwiches, juices, and mangu.
Our day trip to the 27 charcos (waterfalls) was one my favorite things I’ve done in the DR so far. We took an early morning bus to the north of the island. We hiked up a mountain and returned down the mountain by either jumping or sliding down waterfalls. It was amazing!!!!! Unfortunately, I couldn’t take my camera with me. And the website pictures just don’t do it justice. It was exciting because we never knew what was coming next. Sometimes we did a simple cannon ball off a 10 foot waterfall into a pool below and sometimes we did a pencil jump off a 30 foot waterfall. Some of the waterfalls were like slides that twisted and turned as you went down.
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| Diego Columbus's House |
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| Traditional Dominican Breakfast (eggs, bacon, fried cheese, and mangu) |
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| 27 Waterfalls Group |
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| Ethan and Dustin in front of a painting of Christopher and Diego Columbus |
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| I finally got a picture of a carro publico (the public transportation car) Notice the windshield and roof. |
Oct. 14-16
I went to Cabarete again (the beach where I surfed and wind surfed in August). We stayed at a neighboring beach called Kite Beach (famous for kite boarding). I went "surfing" one day and just relaxed on the beach the other day. We ate fresh seafood, steak, and freshly squeezed juices. Great weekend once again.
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| Hotel Extreme |
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| The view from my balcony |
