adios santo domingo: on friday, it was our last day of class, so we decided to take a field trip to a place called "tres ojos". basically, it's these three caves with lakes inside them (so it looks like "three eyes"). we had to walk down quite a ways to get into the caves, but once we got down there it was very beautiful. they're very very dark and peaceful. and they are so humid... we all felt like we'd been in a sauna after we got out. but the water inside the caves was perfect. we walked around in the shallow parts and it was beautiful. if i would have had my bathing suit, i would have gone for a swim! after tres ojos we headed to this place where they supposedly have the remains of christopher columbus. now, some of the guide books say it's true, others say it's not. apparently there is this place in spain that also claims to have his remains. well, regardless, they certainly believe they're there because there is this whole monument with armed guards standing around it and a whole museum. it was pretty interesting. and randomly, they have a pope mobile outside. apparently jpII was in the dr at some point! after the adventures it was time to head back to san pedro. i had fun in santo domingo, but i was definitely ready to get back to the orphanage. santo domingo is a crazy city, it is really hot and has tons of traffic. i enjoy life at the orphanage much better.
jumping pictures are universal: saturday was a pretty relaxing day. i just got settled in in the morning and got to play outside with the kids in the afternoon. the kids do chores all morning saturday, but then get free time in the afternoon... which is really fun! there are always a couple soccer and basketball games going on (and usually one of the soccer games is being played on the basketball court, so the basketball games are always interesting). and the rest of the kids basically run around and find interesting ways to entertain themselves. they love the volunteers and always want to be around us and play with us. i had a whole group of little boys following me around all afternoon. i pulled out my camera and that got then really excited... they love to take pictures and be in pictures! apparently we're not supposed to give them our cameras so they don't get broken, but since my camera is shock-proof and water-proof, i decided to let them play. i tried to keep my eyes on them the best i could, but i started giving piggy back rides to some of the others and when i turned back around the boys were taking jumping pictures! it was so funny... i didn't even tell them to. i felt like i was back at home for a minute! so that kept us busy for a while and i think we got some good ones.
creepy new friends: one interesting thing about being here is i've had to learn to become friends with gross bugs and interesting critters. there are tons of flies and ants everywhere... and cockroaches! but they aren't like the arizona cockroaches, they're a little smaller and they fly, and they are everywhere! they are in the house, in the pantry, on the kitchen counter... i spray raid everywhere, but it doesn't seem to help too much. there are also these really big black bugs that you find sometimes. they might be cockroaches too, but they are even bigger than the ones that we have at home. this picture is of the one we killed the other night. they are really gross. apparently there are also tarantulas here, but luckily i haven't encountered any of those yet. the best surprise i had this week was on saturday night when i went to brush my teeth and found a frog on my toothbrush!! it scared me so badly! but, then i calmed down and realized that he was actually pretty cute all nestled in between my toothbrush and toothpaste. however, i still wanted him out of my bathroom, so two of the girls and i spent about 20 minutes trying to capture him in a pot. eventually he jumped behind one of the doors and we lost him. so, i decided to just let it go and pray that i didn't wake up with a frog in my bed.
finally... the beach!: on sunday, all the volunteers go to go to the beach. it was very nice. i have been hearing about the beautiful beaches in the dominican republic, but i've been here for two weeks and have yet to see one, so i was really excited. it was a beach called juan dolio and it was very nice. we had a very nice, relaxing day and i started working on the dominican tan i hope to come home with! the best part was we found this amazing pizza place... it felt so good to eat pizza!! it was thin and crispy and delicious and a was a welcome change from rice and beans! my roomate kelly and i already decided that that place is goig to be our destination of choice on our weekends off! sunday night we had a huge rain storm (which started while kelly and i were walking back from buying a soda at a nearby store, so we got completely drenched!) but, it was a really amazing storm and so great because it cooled everything off!
that's about it for week two. i still miss everyone back home, but i'm having fun. it's been somewhat of a "vacation" up until this point, while i was taking language school and getting settled in, but all that will change next week as i start to get to work in casa san pascual. should be exciting!
"consult not your fear, but your hopes and dreams. think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. concern yourself not with what you have tried and failed in, but wha tis still possible for you to do." - jpII
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