Oh no…my LAST Saturday here in the Dominican and it’s lined
up to a memorable one. Got up early at 7
AM since breakfast was served promptly for 8 AM. This morning, probably has been one of the
most appetizing breakfasts thus far, bread, ham, hard boiled eggs, melon and
coffee! Yeah, one hearty meal for us, since it was going to be a FUN and
EXCITING Day!
After we were well-fed, we had to prep our CAP groups since
we had to go to exchange money. Interesting
yet sad experience at the money exchange place, since I had two people beg for
money, one telling me she was short 20 pesos to buy medicine and another person
asking me if I speak English and then asking for 50 pesos. I unfortunately, had to tell them that the
money I had was not mine, which wasn’t a
lie but it was just an experience that one hardly can forget.
Once we were done exchanging money, we went shopping as a
group for our materials for our CAP project, the main reason we bought everything
a day before was because most shops are closed on Sundays here in the DR, but
there are a few exceptions. We went to
the hardware store and went to town purchasing stuff…I think what made this a
memorable experience is that I was seriously helping out the groups not
haggling or negotiating but more like a overseer of what was going on, and of
course speaking with the workers that were helping us just so they know. I must say that they must love us, because we
definitely cam e in under budget even after we had priced checked everything
before. Maybe getting mistaken for a
Dominican or Puerto Rican has its advantages…LOL!
Once we got our supplies it became an interesting feat to
bring that stuff back to the hotel, but with 10 people we were able to manage. Once everything was put away in my room we
had to wait until the other CAP group made it back to the hotel so we could go
to our field to the MAYOR’S HOUSE! Yeah, you read that right. Our delegation got a personal invitation to
spend some time and lunch with the mayor and her family. The walk there was pleasant, but what was an
eye sore was her house. I have not seen
a house like that ever…it was grandiose and elegant. The fact that she is an architect and we
later found out that she designed it herself…truly means a lot. Her backyard was awesome, with a Flinstone’s
theme pool we definitely had a blast…playing in the pool, learning how to play
Carivana, playing dominos and talking with her family was truly a surreal
experience. Lunch again, was to die for…literally
she cooked the appetizers we ate, but of course ordered the food from a local
restaurant, but nonetheless the food was finger lickin’ good….HAHAHA!
Of course all good things must come to an end and we made
our way back to the hotel for some downtime and more shopping time for materials. My group has been so efficient that we were
done in two hours, but had an adventure since it started to down pour and we
had to walk through the streets with cardboard boxes on our heads so we wouldn’t
get drenched…yes we looked ridiculous and people were laughing at us, but it
was priceless. Especially, when you have
your students saying, “This is an experience of a lifetime” or “I’m having the
time of my life.” We made it back and
literally just chilled at the hotel until dinner. Yeah, you know what that means…more SLEEP
TIME!
At 8 PM, we headed out to dinner, where I lost 3 times in a
row in speed…which is completely abnormal…but I am sure I’ll bring my “A” game
tomorrow! After dinner made it back to the hotel for our regularly nightly
meeting and finished writing both blogs.
I even managed to have a late night snack, thanks to a student. Now need to go to bed, since we have to
implement our CAP tomorrow!
Can’t believe it’s my last Saturday here in the DR!?!?!
Buenas noches!
No comments:
Post a Comment