September 24, 2007

what a weekend...

here are some more details about my life in the DR, for those of you who are interested. It´s definitely a whole new world.

Tropical fruits I have eaten.
-carambola (starfruit)
-chinola (passionfruit)
-guayaba (i think guava)
-limoncillo (not sure if theres an english word)
-guineo (banana)
-piña (pineapple)
-lechoso (papaya)
-zapote (dont know if it even exists outside this country)

Creepy things i have seen.
-giant furry brown tarantula
-2 incredibly large centipedes
-tons of roaches
-mosquitoes that carry dengue
-mosquitoes that carry malaria
-dominican men who find it necessary to talk to every american that walks by. it´s completely harmless, but sometimes i just don´t want to hear "hola americana i love you!" for the 23rd time in one day

Things that happened in the past week or so.
-i´ve eaten about 7.4 pounds of plantains... boiled, fried, mashed, you get the picture
-i got a letter from aubrey, so the mail system does work, just not in any predictable way
-i went to a dominican synagogue for yom kippur in the presence of probably the entire jewish population of the DR, no more than 120 people
-i went to the jardin botanico, a really beautiful green space in the city. but...
- i got robbed in the jardin botanico. it was really scary, but i am fine. i lost my camera and watch (sucks) and also my hacky sack, water bottle, leatherman, sunglasses, and the only purse i brought with me (sucks more). i´m mourning the loss of those things more for their sentimental value than monetary value, but in the end everyone is safe and healthy so it will all be okay.
- i taught my 13year old host brother how to play Uno and now he loves it
- i lost miserably at scrabble... some of the other volunteers are serious scrabble fiends.

well, i think that´s about it for me. if i havent responded to your emails yet, its only because internet costs $ and i don´t have a ton of disposable income. please email me your addresses and phone numbers though and i will definitely contact you in one way or another! i hope all is well with everyone back in the estados unidos, and i will talk to you soon

1 comment:

Caitlin said...

mosquitoes that carry dengue...

what might dengue be?
i'm guessing its an awful disease?