I set up shop in my new home today: Take a look. 

I´m renting a room from my program director, but I´ve got access to the living room, kitchen, and patio as well. 

Love birds on the patio. I also share the apartment with 2 kitties and a small dog (but they were all camera shy at the moment)

I also met up with Sophia, who is teaching the same Advanced Conversation class as me, to start planning our first day and discuss the curriculum a bit. Being new teachers, we both have a small case of the first day jitters, but it was nice to bounce ideas off each other and iron out a few things. 
After our meeting, Sophia and I were loaded up in a van with several other of the previous CIEE professors who were returning to teach again. We chugged our way up to Camp David Ranch, a hotel and restaurant situated near the peak of a closeby mountain. It was the perfect chance to get to know some of the other teachers and ask questions about all those little teacher-y things that a first-timer needs to know...like which building to go to for the best free coffee on campus, and what cultural differences to expect from Dominican students, and which concho to use to get you closest to the PUCMM.   Never have I felt so immediately welcomed and accepted before, and it was so heartwarming after my relatively solitary state this last week. 
Glasses of wine and tempting appetizers were passed around the table as the sun sank lower in the sky. The views were spectacular (photos really in no way do them justice). The food was divine and the company was excellent. I'm pretty sure I could have sat there all night with the warm breeze and the twinkling lights of Santiago glittering in the background. (Sigh)  If you are trying to make me fall in love with you Santiago, you are off to a good start. 

Sofía and Abigail

So this is what a dictator drives. One of Trujillo's many cars.

More from the Trujillo collection

Thumbs up dude!

The dashing Ryan and Brian

Ceviche Peruano (Peruvian Ceviche)

Beer battered shrimp

Berenjena Parmesana (Eggplant parmesan....the crowd favorite)

Goat Cheese salad. My main course and melt in your mouth delicious. 

Ok so the rest of this food isn't mine, but it looked so gosh-darn scrumptious, I had to snap some quick pics. 

Tonight was actually a blue moon: blue moons are not actually blue (I know, I was wrong too). They are really just the second full moon that occurs in the same month, which is very rare, since moon cycles last around 28 days. So you can see where the phrase, "once in a blue moon" comes from, and what an appropriate way to describe the night. 

So this is what I was given at my professor orientation today. 

That's a pretty hefty stack of papers to sort through just two days before classes start. Preparation time is obviously not a highly esteemed belief in Dominican culture. 
On the plus side, I am teaching 4 classes of Advanced Conversation. So I only have one prep. Score. AND...I don't have classes on Friday (except for the occasional department meeting). DOUBLE SCORE.
In other news, I've seen the rat in my hostel a couple times recently, but I think that she and I have come to an understanding: I wont bother her if she doesn't bother me.  At least I really really hope she's reached that understanding, because it would super suck to wake up to a rat chewing on my face.  Then I can be pretty certain there was a miscommunication (notice I am calling her a "she", that's to make me feel better, because everyone knows girl animals are nicer). 
In any case I won't have to worry about that too much longer because I decided to rent the spare room in my program director's flat. I'll be moving in tomorrow. 
So all in all, a pretty productive day. Now I need to get back to lesson planning, so stop distracting me :)

1. Piropos, although I had thought meant cat-calls earlier, actually means "compliments." I feel much better about this translation. I definitely prefer being complimented rather than cat-called (although, to be sure, many men still use them that way to get your attention)  
2. It was explained to me that for a man not to "tirar un piropo", or throw a compliment at you as you walk by can sometimes be seen as bad manners. This makes old men here seem far less creepy and much more gentlemanly. 
3. I feel like I have not been receiving as many piropos as usual. From this I can draw only 2 conclusions.
                A. I look less like a lost tourist than I did before, so not as many men are trying to get my attention to come buy   
                    something  from them.
                B. I am getting uglier
4. You never realize just how far 1 1/2 miles is until you are caring 15lbs of groceries back to your hostel uphill.
5. Lean to use the concho system, for goodness sake (conchos are like taxis on a bus route). Or find a closer supermercado. 

With all that said, here are some pictures from my day trip yesterday to Santo Domingo. It's about a two hour trip by "guagua" (bus) from here in Santiago. We took a tour through the colonial zone and then also visited  the ruins of "un ingenio azucarero" or sugarcane plantation near Rio Nigua, just outside of town. The word "ingenio" actually refers to being "ingenious", and sugarcane plantations were so named because of the masterful process of extracting sugar from the sugarcane plants that occurred there.  Sidenote: most sugar now comes form sugar beets, not sugarcane, since they can be grown in cold weather and are more easily processed. In fact Michigan is one of the leading producers of sugar beets in the U.S.

El monumento de Crístovol Colón. 
(Christopher Columbus)
P.S. I find it ironic that there is a Taíno indian woman writing his name on his statue, considering half of those people were made into slaves and wiped out by the Spaniards that Columbus lead to the D.R. 

La catedral front view

La catedral side view

Inside a colonial mansion: can´t you just envision pausing at the top of this staircase in your best gown to listen to the  music before sweeping down into the lively ball below. If you can´t, then you must be a guy. Or have no imagination. You should work on that. 

fortress by the sea

Oh hey, there´s me :)

Las ruinas del monasterio
The ruins of the monastery

Interesting story as best as I can recall it: Much like the Supreme Court, the Spanish colonies had a single governing court whose central location was in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The judges on this court had an immense amount of power. A visiting Spaniard, whose name I can't remember, came to the city of Santo Domingo and struck up a conversation with one of these judges. The judge soon began bragging to the man about all of his wealth and power, and eventually, about all of the young virgins he had deflowered who lived in the convent in Santo Domingo. (In this time period, young women from wealthy families were often sent to convents to protect their innocence until a marriage could be arranged for them.) The man was appalled! He began telling the story to other friends and people in positions of power in Santo Domingo. "That judge!" he would say, "Don't you know what he is doing?" and "Isn't it terrible! He shouldn't be allowed his position anymore. We need to stop him." But every time he mentioned it, he was told to keep quiet and forgot about it, because the judge and his family were very powerful and people were afraid. Not finding any success in the Dominican Republic, the man eventually went back to Spain and told his story to the higher authorities there. Still without result. The man became desconsolate that nobody would listen to him. It was about this time in Spain however, that a new kind of novel, a novel telling of adventure and romance, was becoming very popular, lead by the release of the novel Don Quixote. An idea formed in the man's mind, and soon he began writing his own novel about a man who went around deflowering young virgins. His idea was that people would begin to ask him, "Where did you get the idea for this lead character? Who could this monster be?" And he could then begin to tell them of the judge in Santo Domingo, thereby ruining his credibility and exacting his revenge. Just as the man had hoped, his story did become very popular, and today it is called the story of Don Juan, whom I hope you all recognize as an iconic figure idolized for his charm and sex symbol status. Not quite the end result our poor author was hoping for. And sadly, the judge was never removed from power. 

Las ruinas del hospital (a.k.a the pigeon's favorite place to be)

El ingenio. There used to be a giant  wheel down below that was turned by oxen: part of the sugar producing process

That giant mural in the background features a scene in honor of the slave revolt. In fact, it was this very same ingenio from which Toussaint L'Ouverture declared that never again would slavery take place on this island. 

So the power finally came back on, which is a relief because I've been pretty bored. It's been raining a steadily soaking drizzle all day long, which has the added benefit of making it slightly cooler here (not cool enough to make me put on a jacket or jeans though), but at the same time is not very good exploring weather.  I didn't want to stay home with nothing to do and no power though so I made my way to la Sirena. And yes, I actually found it today without a problem! So I was able to get some needed supplies and groceries. I also stopped by the clinic. They seem to think the pup is doing better today, since she stood up on her own. She was having trouble with that yesterday. They asked me if I wanted to name her, and I told them I'd think on it. So I'm taking suggestions. I also made three phone calls about renting apartments. I was kind of nervous to do that since I don't really like making phone calls to strangers (seriously, even having to call to place a pizza order in the U.S. makes me anxious. weird, I know.), and this had the added difficulty level of communicating in Spanish. I figured it was now or never though! That's one of the double edged swords about living here, it forces you to be brave, constantly putting you in uncomfortable situations that you have to work through and learn through.  In any case, none of the "proprietarios" o "dueñas" (landlords or landladies) answered their phones, so I left messages. Cross your fingers that something will turn up for me :)
P.S. It´s raining her now, but lucky you, I took some pictures of flowers while I was getting lost yesterday. Hope they brighten your day!

\So this little guy pretty much sums up my whole day. But let's start from the beginning. I woke up today with the goal in mind of finding my way from my hostel to Pucamaima (Pucamaima is what everybody calls the univeristy, whose abbreviations are PUCMM). It was supposed to be about a mile long walk, but the godforsaken map that I was given was completely inaccurate and didn't include half of the minor roads in the city. After 1 hour and 15 minutes of walking in circles, down dead end streets, and back-tracking, I finally stumbled onto university grounds. I meandered around for a bit and stopped by the Office of International Students to get some housing information and then began my trekk back. I still got lost, but successfully made the trip back in 35 minutes. I'm pretty sure it would only be a 10 minute trip without all of my wrong turns. 2:00 p.m. rolled around and I decided that I should venture out once more to find La Sirena (the closest thing the D.R. has to a Walmart) since I needed a backpack, a flashlight, and a lunchbag. Armed with my not-so-trusty map and a few pesos I set out yet again under the cloudy skies. Now there are 2 different Sirenas in Santiago, and after an hour long search for one of them (lost again!), I decided to give up and search for the other. So I headed back towards the city center. After walking several blocks a small puppy limped toward me and stared at me with irresistible brown eyes. I stopped to look at him for a bit because he was so darn cute and he was obviously lost and alone and hurt. But what was I going to do with an injured pup? I don't even have a permanent place for myself to live, let alone an underfed stray. Plus I was weary from all my walking and I was on a mission. I needed to buy some crucial supplies. I walked on.
But those eyes! I made it another couple blocks when it began to rain lightly, and figuring with my luck today that the light rain would turn into a torrential downpour, I decided to abandon ship on my plans and just head home. Of course this meant walking by the little puppy again who was now lying pitifully on the side of the sidewalk. I couldn't walk by without petting him, the poor little guy was even more lost and unlucky than I was. Some young guys hanging around on the corner told me that they had seen him get hit by a car. I couldn't just leave him! So they gave me a box to put him in and I carried him back to my hostel. The hostel owner, Elaina, who has to be the sweetest person in the world, knew of a veterinary clinic close by I could take him to.  She couldn't show me the way herself because she was preparing for a potluck that she was soon to host, but her 7-year old son Mikai knew the way. So me, Mikai, and our unlucky little pup set off. I already stick out like a sore thumb here, but with an injured pup in a box and 7-year old leading me along, I'm sure we had to be a sight. 
Mikai is perfectly fluent in both Spanish and English and the most talkative little boy you will ever meet. I asked him if he could help me explain what happened when we arrived at the vet and he happily agreed. Once there though, he got gun-shy and I was left trying to explain in my broken Spanish why I was bringing them this injured puppy that wasn't mine. Thankfully, I got my point across and the vet said she would keep him, and if he got better, try to find someone to adopt him. I guess that's all I can hope for. 
As it turns out, after dropping off the pup at the vet, my day got much better. I was invited to the potluck, which was being held at my hostel, for CIEE students in a service-learning program, along with their host families. I got a chance to meet some other Americans, lots of native Santigueros (people from Santiago), practice my Spanish, eat lots of delicious food, and in general, not feel lonely. So i guess, thanks karma. 
P.S. I'll keep you updated on the pup, I can pass by the clinic to see how he's doing anytime since its not far. 

potluck! That yellow casserole dish is called pastelón: its kind of like lasagna made with sweet plantains mashed up instead of noodles. 

Ok so as I´m posting these pics, the power has gone out. Darn it for never making it to La Sirena to get that flashlight!

Ok, so bear with me, because I know I'm talking about history here, and well, every one in history is dead, so how exciting can it really be? But I had an orientation into Dominican culture and history earlier today, and I actually thought it was kind of interesting. So without further ado, here's the breakdown. 
1. The Indians were here first
Taino indians were the firs inhabitants of the island of Hispaniola (now divided into two countries: Haiti and the Dominican Republic). 
2. In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue and the Spaniards took over. 
3. Mid 1600s, French colonists use women prisoners to win over Caribbean pirates and take control of Haiti.
(WHAT?!) Ok let me explain.  The French became jealous of all the Spanish possessions in the  New Word, and sent colonists to settle the nearby island of Tortuga and the northwestern part of Hispaniola (now Haiti), which had been abandoned by the Spanish and was now imfamous for harboring pirates. Its unclear to me whether these areas were abandoned because of the pirates, or if the pirates took over after they were abandoned. In any case, the French supplied the pirates with women prisoners accused of prostitution and thievery in order to domesticate them and win them to their side, thus securing the aforementioned regions for themselves. 
4. 1791 Slaves revolt!
The French, the Spanish, and the Slaves will continue to tussle for control of the island for a while.  
5. 1844 La Republica Dominicana is officially established- its a rough start
A series of really bad military leaders take over and things start going down the drain. 
6. 1916 USA to the rescue!....or not. 
Americans, wanting to expand their influence and power in the booming sugar industry in the D.R., used the First World War as an excuse to bring in U.S. Marines to "protect it" against vulnerability to European countries like big bad Germany. They then proceeded to rule the Dominican for the next 8 years. They also decided to train a new Dominican army, with the end result of shifting power to the military and away from civilians. Great idea U.S.A. Oh, not to mention that the quartermaster of this new American trained army was Rafael Trujillo, who later went on to become one of the most ruthless dictators the world has ever seen. So A+ America for personally training and putting a mass murderer into a position of power. 
7. Trujillo is a really bad guy
Under Trujillos dictatorship, more than 20,000 men, women, and children were slaughtered. Oh and also, he pretty much took over everything so that he could become super rich. Trujillo wasn't alone though, his Vice President and right hand-man Joaquin Balaguer was thought to have been the mastermind behind much of his dictatorship.
8. Socialism! everyone's happy...maybe.
After Trujillos assassination in 1961 a socialist party was elected into control and everyone lived happily ever after. except that they didn't.  Because at the same time this was happening the cold war and communist scare were also taking place. And socialism is close to communism. And well, the U.S.A. couldn't let another country go communist like Cuba, so we decided to intervene.
9. America sure knows how to pick 'em. In 1970 the U.S. helped stage a coup d'ta and rigged an election to put their own "less-socialist" president into power. Guess who we picked? Trujillos criminal mastermind and former vice president Balaguer. Once again, A+ U.S.A.
10. Its just a baby!
Through a series of rigged elections, Balaguar remained mostly in power until 1996, when finally, a fair election was held. The D.R. has been holding free and fair democratic elections ever since then, making it one of the youngest democracies in the world. The current president is Danilo Medina.

My main source of information here was Hispaniola.com, but I put my own spin on it, so if you know anything about Dominican history, forgive me if I misrepresented or miswrote anything. 



You're still here?  Wow, I'm impressed. Here are some more puppy pictures. Surprise!

Don't pretend that's not the real reason you came anyways ;)

The night of the rat that is. I've only seen him twice and both times in the living room. Needless to say I'm keeping my bedroom door shut (not much of a deterrent since he can def fit under the crack) and my luggage zipped up. And when I'm in the living room, I just keep my feet off the floor while I'm sitting on the couch. I hauled all my stuff to another bedroom with a bunk bed so I could sleep up there, which had the added bonus of being farther from the rooster as well, although the mattress was less comfortable. But when all was said in done, I actually had a pretty sound night of sleep. 
I went for another stroll this morning; just trying to get my bearings on this place. If I had to describe it one word, it would be colorful: lush greenery and ruby red flowers sprout from every courtyard, patio, and sidewalk crack; the stores are swathed in shades of purple, pink, and yellow; fruit stands catch your eye at every corner; and the people seem to have a particular affinity for neon fashions. And let's not forget the other senses. Smells range from sweet and fruity, to spicy, to sweaty, to cat piss. And the city itself is pretty much a symphony of horns (although I have to mention that I found out that aside from being used as musical instruments, they are also a way of picking up passengers and letting passersby know that you have seats available), twittering birds, blaring bachata music, and piropos (catcalls).  So pretty much just stepping outside the doorway is sensory overload. And awesome. And terrifying. All at the same time. 
On a completely separate topic, yesterday I learned that there are some key differences in meaning between Dominican Spanish vocabulary, and the rest of the world's Spanish vocabulary. Example A: Bolsa, in the majority of the Spanish language, is regarded as a "purse, bag, or sack",  In the DR, it means "scrotum." Well that explains why the nice Dominican security guard at the airport who was helping me put my luggage on the conveyor belt to be x-rayed blinked twice when I asked him "mi bolsa también?" I had effectively asked him if I should put my scrotum on the conveyer belt to be x-rayed, instead of my purse. 

Calle del Sol...the main shopping street in Santiago

cocos on the corner.

puppies anyone?!

'There appears to be a delusional rooster in the courtyard of the hostel. I met Ziggy, the hostel guard dog, and heard some chickens out there last night, so it isn't completely shocking that a rooster is also on the grounds.  However, I say delusional, because 4:00 a.m. is NOT when the sun comes up, and neither is 4:42, 5:12, or 5:50. The rooster, however, must of thought he glimpsed a ray of light on the horizon because he deemed all of the aforementioned times as appropriate to begin his wake-up call. And by the way  "cock-a-doodle-doo" is not the correct onomatopoeia for a rooster.  I might not have minded being awoken to a sweet sing-songy "cock-a-doodle-doo," but whoever came up with that was giving the rooster far too much credit. It really sounds more like "SQUAWK-a-SQUAWK!" Or perhaps my poor delusional rooster also just fails miserably in the song arena as well. 
In any case, I managed a few more hours of sleep before rolling out of bed at 8:00 a.m. I showered and took a lovely stroll through the streets of Santiago from which I have drawn several conclusions.
1. Honking your horn in the Dominican is used just as much to accompany the music you are listening to as it is for actual traffic purposes. Probably more so. 
2. I should plan on being hot and sticky most of the time.
3. Expect "psssts" and cat-calls when walking. Even from the police (La Policia Nacional), which is super comforting.
4. Selling the most adorable little puppies out of cages on the street corner seems to be common-place.
I was pretty cautious and didn't go far since I don't have a map, or any Dominican money to run errands with. I did buy a mango at the corner store and the lady was happy to accept my American dollar and provide me with some Dominican change. My mango-picking skills need some improvement however, because it was too green to eat. Darn. I don't meet with my program director until 2:20 so I may need to venture out again in search of real food. 
Holy Shit a RAT just sprinted across the floor!

Ok, so i'm adding this picture post-rat traumatization. This is a picture of the rooster in the hostel courtyard (far right corner of the cage), taken from my room. I might add that I will be changing rooms tonight in order to sleep in a bunk bed that will hopefully be harder for a rat to climb...

Welp, I'm here. It's been a long day, but all things considered, it ran pretty smoothly. In fact, the departure from O'Hare at the beginning of the day was most definitely the hardest part. I don't remember goodbye's ever being that difficult before.  After an hour long delay in JFK New York (apparently there was a maintenance issue; whew, glad they caught that one), our pilot must have booked it, because we only arrived 30 minutes late in the Dominican. After navigating my way through the baggage claim and immigration line, I made my way outside to find CIEE's taxi driver, Rafael, all smiles and ready to take me on the final leg of the journey. During the course of our 20 minute drive I learned that he was born and raised in Santiago, likes bachata music, knows an incredible amount about American baseball, and hates the New York Yankees. Spanish skills appear to be in tact. We shortly arrived at The Hub, a humble, two story little hostel owned by a welcoming young couple who use the second story as their permanent home. Thankfully, they speak fluent English, so I could give my travel-worn brain a rest. And the couple was sweet enough to take me upstairs and make me a small meal from their own kitchen, which was fantastic, because I didn't realize how starving I really was. Travel makes one hungry!  On a whole other topic, apparently I am the only guest as of right now. This hostel could probably sleep 15  or more people, but currently, I've got the whole downstairs to myself.....not sure if this is awesome, or eerie....jury's still out on that one. Until then, here are some pics of the place. 

I couldn´t resist a nice areal shot at sunset

my current humble abode

El baño
interesting side note: toilet paper does not go in the toilet. It goes in the trash can because it will clog the Dominican sewage system....

El salón. 

La cocina: rule number 1, don't drink the tap water. 

My first Dominican meal, a good ol' bocadillo....or maybe that's not the Dominican word for sandwich....torta? I'll check up on that. 

Saturday my parents threw a family going-away party for me. Although completely unnecessary, it was nice to see me aunts and uncles and little cousins for the day. Especially since I won't be around to celebrate Thanksgiving and probably Christmas (my semester won't finish until the end of December). And there is nothing like a couple of rounds of backyard wiffle ball to make you feel like a kid again. Of course, the entire party I had to answer the typical questions about when I left and how I was feeling about the advancing departure. And if I'm being honest, it feels surreal. I don't think my mind has quite wrapped itself around this whole adventure yet. And I can' quite believe this is happening to me. I've wanted an opportunity like this for so long, that now that its upon me, it doesn't seem possible. How could I be so lucky? But by the same token, my dumbfounded brain has been so busy dealing with my excitement that it hasn't had time to process any of the other natural emotions that one should probably feel when embarking on a solo journey to a foreign land....let's say for example, panic. And after the party ended and my family departed, that's the feeling that hit me hardest. To be completely true, I've felt this feeling rise up a couple of times over the summer, but each time I've swiftly round-house kicked it to the back of my mind and focused on all the other awesomeness that I will find in the Dominican instead. As the real-ness of my leaving has started to settle in (packing my bags, saying goodbye to my parents, spending one last day with my sister) however, the panic has sneakily ninja-ed its way back into the front of my brain and is having a serious arm-wrestling match with my other emotions for superiority. Mostly I'm worried about my job. I've never taught English before, and I have next to no information on what my classes will be like. I've been teaching mainly at the middle school level, and now I'll be teaching to university students. I know all the handy little tricks for teaching and memorizing tough Spanish grammar concepts, but I don't have anything up my sleeve for English grammar.  And almost all of my co-workers will be native Spanish speakers...what if my Spanish isn't good enough to communicate properly with them? And then I'll have to battle my feelings of inadequacy and the stereotype of stupidity that comes along with not being able to effectively share your thoughts and feelings. Not to mention other minor worries: will I be able to find a good place to stay? will I make friends? will I be able to deal with homesickness? etc. 
Lucky for me, I'm not a worrier by nature. And mostly, I don't have time to. Things will happen, or they won't, and all you can do is make the best of the situation. I fly out tomorrow, so for now its time to focus on the day I have left and making the most of it. 
So without further ado, here are some pictures of me making the most of my day yesterday, with my sister and most adorable friend Michelle. We started off with a little bargain hunting at the Third-Sunday City Market and ended the day with Blue Moon and beach volleyball. Can't get much better than that. 

Hola Lola! (a.k.a. Michelle)

Isn't she gorgeous?

Maggy's spotted something interesting.

Jewelry makes us happy.

The new spoon-pearl bracelet purchase

On to watch some beach volleyball with the sis (in blue) and her hubby (on the far right).