Well hello to everyone! I am sorry for being such a stranger latley..however, as most of you know..I finally had my first visitor last week, Jess! We had, what I believe to be an amazing week- wonderful weather (thank you mother nature), wonderful food (thank you to my students for the following: spaghetti, sancocho, y mangu), a great time at the resort (thank you D.R.), and just an amazing time in general ( A BIG thanks for my wonderful, really funny friend, Jess).
I will try not to make this post too long- just want to fill you in on a bit of what we did/what is going on around here. ... She got here on Saturday the 6th. She flew into Santo Domingo so I rode the bus there on Friday night to spend the evening with Victor. Saturday we picked her up from the airport and went out and about that night. Sunday we took her around to the touristy parts of the city and Victor being the smart little tourguide that he is- gave her all the history of the country/the city...he gave me some information too! Sunday afternoon her and I came back here to San Rafael and just hung out/had dinner with a student and called it a night.
The rest of the week her and I laid out on my roof in the mornings- she went to class with me in the afternoon- we went to a student's for dinner and then we went out at night. We had a typical Dominican week. We took off on Thursday for Bayahibe to stay in an all inclusive resort which was everything I hoped it would be and more!
But before I get into the details of the weekend I will tell you about our adventure getting there. We had to take a bus from my town to almost there, but the bus doesn't go into the town. So then we were supposed to catch another bus. So the first bus drops us off on the side of the road at about 6:15 pm, outside of a gas station. So I told Jess that I would look for someone who looked nice and I would ask them where we needed to catch the bus/when it would be coming. About that time I looked over and saw someone I had recognized- some random man who lives here in San Rafael who I met during the festival. ... he asked me to dance one night. (Good thing I was nice to him)....So I asked him what to do and he informed me that there were no more buses that night so we had no choice but to take motoconchos.... they only charged us 100 pesos per person but I was terrifed... becuase it was about a 20 minute ride..Jess with her suitcase, and me with my 2 bags..Her on one and me on the other. Before we got on I told them that we had to stay together, which they did, more or less.... But I had a few fears going through my mind, as di
d Jess...but we made it there safe and sound!
d Jess...but we made it there safe and sound! Anyway...we got there, ate and drank and partied, and danced, and got a tan, and all of the above! It was so wonderful! We were the only 2 Americans there so we got all of the attention that we needed/wanted. Everyone was super nice and we could not have asked for a better place! We took some dance lessons, practiced dancing in the discos later during the nights, became friends with the person who works at the receptoin desk at night- he fed us when we came back from the disco..It was great! :)
Now is when things get interesting...we decided to leave on Saturday at 5:00 because Jess was leaving on Sunday morning from Santo Domingo at 11:30 a.m. We were standing outside of the hotel waiting for a public bus (which is 50 pesos..a little over 1 american dollar)...Anyway these two taxi drivers saw 2 American girls standing there and thought they could rip us off...They came over to offer us the generous price of 35 american dollars- 1200 pesos..I said to the man, in Spanish. I am not a tourist. I live here. I am not stupid. That is very expensive and we are waiting for the bus. We ended up getting him talked down to 300 pesos (9 dollars) but we still said no and we waited..for about 45 minutes for freakin bus. (But who is proud of me for acutally bargaining?!?) Keep in mind while I tell you this story, I had planned to be in Santo Domingo by 7:00 and at this point it was arlight nearly 6. So we catch the bus and he takes us into La Romana to the park where we were to wait for another bus to take us to the bus station for Santo Domingo (yes..its a bit complicated and a lot of switching buses). Anyway we got onto the bus after waiting for like 15 minutes. I had to go to the back because there was no room in the front but Jess had to sit in the front because her suit case was too big to take to the back...Somehow in the mix of everything she got kicked out of the front and some Dominican woman kept telling everyone in the bus to "shut up" in English...It was kind of funny/annoying/ I don't even know.
Anyway... so the bus driver is taking us to where I thought I knew...but all of a sudden we are in a dark alley and he tells everyone on the bus to close the curtains (at this point I was annoyed and getting a little nervous). I am still not sure why he told us to do that..anyway then he explained like 50 things and all I got out of it was that we had to getoff the bus and go somewhere else if we were going to Santo Domingo... so we got off the bus and I had no freaking clue where to go and some man heard me say "I am confused"so he pointed which way I needed to go...So we started walking there (keep in mind..in the dark) all of a sudden I step in something and fall down...it was a huge thing of mud (which I was nervous was wet cement at first). So now- I am embarrased because some Domincan man in front of me grabbed me to try to catch my fall- I have a hand covered in mud, a foot/flip flop covered in mud and I have no clue where the F I am going. Anyway some guy asked us if we were going to Santo Domingo- we said yes and he grabbed Jess's suit case and we were on our way. We got onto another bus (not the one I normally take) so I wasn't exactly sure where it was going...so I freaking asked the bus driver ( donde esta la ultima parada-where is the last stop?) to which he said (la parque enrequillo) which is where I always getoff at and where Victor picks me up....So we were riding on the bus (which didn't leave until like 6:58-and I was planning on being back at 7). All of a sudden we get into Santo Domingo and made a few stops..All of a sudden we make another stop and the driver says something to the effect of (if you are going to la parque enrequillo and he named a bunch of other places get off here) I thought that was odd so I asked a lady sitting near me if I had to get off and she said yes...so we got off...on some random corner on the city, in the dark..I had no clue! I knew we were near the park but I didn't know how far or which way. This area of the city just happens to be very dangerous as well...
So we get off and I am about to start crying, we have like 5 men yelling at us if we want taxis and I finally just started being mean and just saying "no." I told jess that we needed to find a store and go inside and ask where the park was to see if we could walk. At this point some other man walks up to us and before he could speak I was already thinking about punching him in the face because I was so annoyed ( If I want a freaking taxi I will come to you- get off my back people)...Well good thing I didn't punch him because he was really nice and told me that this area is very danergous- asked me where we were going- I told him and asked how far it was to which he said it was like 5 blocks and it was too dangerous to walk in the dark- He ended up being a taxi driver and only charged us 150 pesos to take us there. He asked if someone was meeeting us and I told him my boyfriend was. He said that he would wait with us until he got there because it was too dangerous for us to be alone. It was very very nice of him....well Victor was going to be about 5 minutes late and when I told the driver that he didn't seem like he wanted to wait that long so he ended up taking us to a well lit area and told us to wait there...He was very nice and acutally kind of made my night!
After all of this I was about ready to scream and cry and punch someone in the face. Victor finally showed up and I told him about everything that happened and how I was on the verge of tears....but after I got it all out I realized that it didn't maybe seem like it was all that big of a deal and I was maybe being a bit of a drama queen...but I was going on a solid 3 hours of sleep from the night before and I was in no mood to deal with the Dominican way of life at that moment in time. Regardlesss...We got there...we had an adventure, like always..but it was all worth it and a wonderful time!
After Jess left on Sunday I stayed with Victor and just hung out for the day/night. We were sitting there watching TV on Sunday night and I just started crying...For no good reason at all except that I am a big fat baby! Since then it has been very difficult to keep from crying...I think partly because Jess left and having her here made me realize how alone I am here. Partly because it is the holiday season and I am not with my friends and family, and partly because I think I a really am just home sick. Victor kept saying "cassie...only 4 weeks" to which I responded..."yes..but it's still 4 weeks." Don't get me wrong I am still loving life here but I am just ready for a break from "paradise" and ready to come home, eat what I want, laugh, wear sweats, be cold, be with my family, play with the kiddos, do everything that I want to do- for me.
Anyway....what's up next? School this week... celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend with the other 2 American teachers (we don't know what we will cook yet beecause they do not have an oven...any stove top ideas...shoot them my way)... School next week, meeting Victors dad next weekend (any pointers? :) ) School the following week, one free weekend, schoool the following week and then my family finally comes!!!
Anyway... Sorry this got so long! I will try to keep up better this week and next! I hope everyone has a wonderful week and try to keep warm!
Ps...just a random thought...while Jess was here we also got to see my student milk a cow--- really cool but totally disgusting... Who would have thought- 1 girl from Iowa and 1 from Nebraska have to come all the way to the DR to see someone milk a cow?!
Love you!
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