Hola!

I guess you can say I've failed. I promised a few weeks ago that I would keep everyone on top of what is going on in my life, but I haven't. I'm nearly three weeks into my 3.5 week stay in the Dominican Republic and I have yet to update my blog and let everyone know how my trip is going. I apologize.

I arrived here what seems like just yesterday. I have to say I enjoy this country much more than Ecuador. The people are, in my opinion, much nicer. I've been trying to think of the best way to do this post, so I think I'll divide it up into different aspects of my life here.

Where I live: I live in a home with around 20 other guys, and one lady. It is one of the two homes that make up Villa Bendicion, an orphanage in the city of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Here at this home, the guys range in age from 12-25 or so. At the other home lives all the girls, and the younger boys. I share a room with two more awesome volunteers from Oklahoma, and one of the guys who live here. We have a bathroom which we share with Karen, the lady I would refer to as the house mom. On the toilet, there is no seat so I have become a pro at balancing myself on the rim of the commode while attempting to use the bathroom. There is no shower head, so water spurts from a hole in the wall. And, there is no hot water. It may sound rough, but it actually is not. It is part of life here. Even though there are these issues, the bathroom is kept extremely clean, which is awesome. We have wireless internet here, which was a big suprise to me. It is pretty awesome because there is an office with three computers so all of the guys here have access to the internet and stuff.

La Ciudad de Santo Domingo (the city of Santo Domingo): the city is great. The driving...not so great. I have begun to get a thrill out of running across the road and trying not to get hit by cars. The streets are dirty, but what can you expect in a city? There is a mixture of people. I can't really describe a Dominican person. Many are of African descent, while many others are Latino or Latina. The city is located right on the Caribbean Ocean. One of the routes we take to the other home each day is a sidewalk that runs along the coast. It is great to feel the ocean spray as we walk.

What I do each day: The first week or so varied. We spent those days cooking lunch for all the kids at the other home, which is where we do all of our work. We would leave here around 8 each morning, walk for 30 minutes (about 2 miles) to get to the other home, and then cook until around 1. After lunch, we would just spend time with the kids. Their school ended on June 3rd so since then we have been conducting a summer camp. Now I wake up around 8 and we leave here around 9 or 9:15. We get there and break up into our groups. I am a group leader for the youngest of the kids (2 years to 7 or 8). It is great. We do group activities (read a story out of a Spanish kids bible, dance, sing, etc.) then of the evenings we usually do a group activity. This past week we watched three movies and two days we had a water day which included water hoses, water balloons, and lots of getting wet.

Weather: it is in the low to mid 90s here each day. The humidity is insane. I sweat all the time. Not joking, I think I've lost anywhere between 15-20 pounds since I've been here. I drink a lot of water, but I don't pee hardly at all because I sweat out all of the water I take in. It rains once every two or so days. Sometimes it comes rather intense thunderstorms. The power goes out regularly (once every day or so.)

Non-categorized stuff:
-The theater here costs 50 pesos (around $1.25) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so we go to the movies really often.
-I get angry when taxi drivers assume I want a taxi because I'm American.
-My Spanish is improving. I can actually have somewhat of a conversation with some of the kids.
-I like the people I work with.
-I like ice cream.
-We go to church on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. The church services last anywhere from 2.5 to 4 hours. They are quite exhausting, but fun. I enjoy the music, but I can't understand any of what the preachers have to say.

Now that I've gotten this long post out of the way, maybe a few more will follow. Sorry there are not any pictures up, but the internet here is not fast enough to upload pictures. I will do so as soon as I get to California. I leave here at 7:15 on the morning of June 19th (a week from today)! I fly from here to Miami, where I have a stupid 5 hour layover, then I have a 6 hour flight from Miami to San Francisco. I am spending the night in San Jose, CA, on the night of the 19th, and meeting up with the CTY folks on the afternoon of the 20th. As you all know, spending my summers at the camp in California has become one of my favorite things to do, so I am really excited about that.

Until then, Zach will leave it at that.