Oct. 29
So its official. I have applied to the History of Science in Europe: Language, Art and Science in Paris Summer 2010 program. I've been talking to a lot of people about it, I asked my friends back home, my parents, my host parents here and my program director. They all told me Paris would be the best one. See, I was considering two other programs; Community Service and Engagement in Peru, or Globalization and Politics in Argentina. The Peru program was the only one I was seriously considered however, I wouldn't get any credit for it for my degree program. This way, I can get credit for graduation and also learn french! I also talked to one of my good friends, Christine and found out she also is going! You don't understand, we had a class together and always had a blast, just imagining us in France...oh man, soooooooo awesomeeeeeee. Anyways, we're both happy we know other people in the program. Also we've been discussing traveling around Europe as well. Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany, any others...but in all reality it'll be fewer countries but we'll see! So attention all my friends back at MSU, you'll have to teach me french, so I can hopefully study at Sorbonne (elementary french, I just wanna test into that class). I'm really excited, hopefully I get accepted and can study in Paris next summer! Yay! That's all. Hope all is well!
jueves, 29 de octubre de 2009
lunes, 26 de octubre de 2009
Samaná
Oct. 23-Friday
Hey guys, just wanted to tell you about an amazing weekend I’m having.
Friday we embarked on our trip to Samaná. Samaná is a peninsula in the north-eastern part of DR. It took a 4.5 hour drive, not so bad, compared to the south. So what we decided to do was to rent a house for all us. Its been really cool, just living all together, cooking for each other, living like a family. Only our program could have done it, knowing the other two groups there would be a lot more conflicts. I digress, before we arrived at the house here in Las Terrenas (a city an hour away from Samaná-the city, it’s a province) we went to a cascade named the Salto de Limón. First to get there, the fast way was on horseback. Now normally I don’t like horses, but after this experience I felt more comfortable controlling and riding the horse. Mom and Dad will be proud! :) Anyways, once we arrived at the Salto, it was breathe-taking. The biggest waterfall in DR. Really, but what was cooler is that you could swim in the water. So we did, or most of us, it was really cool experience. The water was so cold though, you wouldn’t believe it. It was still enjoyable exploring the area, and taking pictures. I highly recommend it if you are down here in DR. Anyways, afterwards we rode back, had lunch and was off to the house.
The house here is incredible. I can’t even begin to describe how awesome it is. We are a 2 minute walk away from the beach, a basically private beach that is just incredible. The house here has a gazebo which is just nice to wake up and walk out and enjoy the view of the ocean. Anyways once we arrived we decided to unpack and then go the beach before we made dinner. So we went to the beach 2 minutes from the house and swam, just enjoying the water and relaxing after the adventure at the waterfall. We get to the do the same on Sunday. After an hour swimming, clouds started to form, and we thought it was gonna rain, so we decided to head back and play some board games. So we did for awhile, then people decided they were hungry and we started to cook. However when we started to get all the things together we discovered at the supermarket we forgot to buy items that we already organized! Oh no! It was suppose to be fajitas night, but we didn’t have nothing, no peppers, no tortillas, nothing. So I went with our guagua driver Miguel Angel to look for a place to buy tortillas, peppers or even nachos chips. Nothing, I had only one choice; bread. So that’s what we did. I made chicken, chorizo, onion, and some peppers (hot) for spice. It was ok, but people told me it was too hot. Oh well. Guess I just like me my spice food! :) Hehehe. Worked out ok I suppose. Afterwards, Jenny and I played dominoes against Laura (professor from Spain) and Ana (our professor from DR). We lost, but it was still fun. And that ended out night. Good day.
Oct. 24-Saturday
Today was a blast. Today we went to one of the coolest places I have ever been to; Los Haitises. It is just one of the coolest things guys. This is a must, if you have the opportunity. It’s across from Samaná. Meaning we had to take a boat from Samaná to see the islands. It’s just incredible, no technology or truly developed society has inhabited it. The Taíno only came to the Haitises for rituals, they didn’t live there, because they knew this land was precious and should be respected. The word Haitises has a derivation from a work that means beautiful land that the Taínos used back in the day. Let me tell you, its just pure nature. Really beautiful. It really made me love this country even more, just seeing that DR as this kind of beauty close by. I have a lot of pics, and I’ll put them up when I have time. Been a busy busy boy. Anyways also, we stopped a beach and had lunch and was able to swim. The swimming was great, really calm and just enjoyable again. Sun was strong though, definitely got burnt. Ah, no me gusta. Pero eh, whatever.
Afterwords we went to a house of an Afro-woman who had ancestors from the US. She liked to speak English with us, cause she likes to be proud of her ancestors and speak English, but it was kinda still hard to understand her. But no worries. It was interesting to hear that ex-slaves were invited to live in DR after they were freed. Some stayed, others left. I wanna research more about that, but intriguing. The food she made for us though was worth talking about sooooooo good. Coco bread and drink I can’t really describe. Just awesome though.
Later that night, we had to cook dinner again. So what we did was two pastas; one penne with tomato sauce, and a pesto spaghetti with chicken, gilled with tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers and lemon with garlic bread. I made the pesto spaghetti and one portion of the chicken. It was really good. I was proud! :) However we did have one adventure that was pretty scary. All the ovens are gas ovens down here, and when we tried to incite it well….BOOM! Oh man, I was right next to oven too, I was on the stove cooking the chicken, I don’t know how nobody got hurt, but it was just crazy. Oh man, just insane. Everyone survived and we made the garlic bread in the panni-machine instead and it came out just as good. It was a good night, besides that. David and I bought some cigars before we left, got a beer, and went to our “private” beach, and just enjoyed the stars and had a “profound” conversation as we usual do when smoking a cigar. At least with me I like to have intelligent deep conversations with cigars. But we enjoyed the beach and just had a relaxed night. Or so I thought. What happened was we tried to go out to Las Terrenas to dance, but what happened was, they wouldn’t let some two of the girls in our group cause they looked too young. So we tried 2 places and still had problems. Whatever, we back to the house and went back to the beach and just enjoyed the stars. It was just incredible.
Oct. 25-Sunday
Sunday was just a relaxed day. We got up in the morning and Jenny, Stacy and Mollie cooked breakfast for all of us. It was great, omelets with whatever you wanted. Really great way to start the morning. Afterwords I decided to go the beach and walk around for a while and really see the area. It was great, I got a lot of cool pics, I’ll try and put them up when I can. Oh also, we got free coconuts by some of the guys who work in the area of where our house was. Drank the water inside and ate the fruit. It was really sweet. Otherwise it was just a relaxed day on the beach and just enjoying our last day in Las Terrenas. Can’t really explain it that well, you just had to be there. The water was perfect, temperature-wise, color, and calm. Really enjoyable, I definitely want to come back with my family to see it. It was my favorite part so far of DR. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a nice vacation spot away from the city. Well that’s all I got. Thanks for reading and I hope to hear from you guys soon! Email me if you have a question or a comment. I’d love to hear it. Hope all is well!
Hey guys, just wanted to tell you about an amazing weekend I’m having.
Friday we embarked on our trip to Samaná. Samaná is a peninsula in the north-eastern part of DR. It took a 4.5 hour drive, not so bad, compared to the south. So what we decided to do was to rent a house for all us. Its been really cool, just living all together, cooking for each other, living like a family. Only our program could have done it, knowing the other two groups there would be a lot more conflicts. I digress, before we arrived at the house here in Las Terrenas (a city an hour away from Samaná-the city, it’s a province) we went to a cascade named the Salto de Limón. First to get there, the fast way was on horseback. Now normally I don’t like horses, but after this experience I felt more comfortable controlling and riding the horse. Mom and Dad will be proud! :) Anyways, once we arrived at the Salto, it was breathe-taking. The biggest waterfall in DR. Really, but what was cooler is that you could swim in the water. So we did, or most of us, it was really cool experience. The water was so cold though, you wouldn’t believe it. It was still enjoyable exploring the area, and taking pictures. I highly recommend it if you are down here in DR. Anyways, afterwards we rode back, had lunch and was off to the house.
The house here is incredible. I can’t even begin to describe how awesome it is. We are a 2 minute walk away from the beach, a basically private beach that is just incredible. The house here has a gazebo which is just nice to wake up and walk out and enjoy the view of the ocean. Anyways once we arrived we decided to unpack and then go the beach before we made dinner. So we went to the beach 2 minutes from the house and swam, just enjoying the water and relaxing after the adventure at the waterfall. We get to the do the same on Sunday. After an hour swimming, clouds started to form, and we thought it was gonna rain, so we decided to head back and play some board games. So we did for awhile, then people decided they were hungry and we started to cook. However when we started to get all the things together we discovered at the supermarket we forgot to buy items that we already organized! Oh no! It was suppose to be fajitas night, but we didn’t have nothing, no peppers, no tortillas, nothing. So I went with our guagua driver Miguel Angel to look for a place to buy tortillas, peppers or even nachos chips. Nothing, I had only one choice; bread. So that’s what we did. I made chicken, chorizo, onion, and some peppers (hot) for spice. It was ok, but people told me it was too hot. Oh well. Guess I just like me my spice food! :) Hehehe. Worked out ok I suppose. Afterwards, Jenny and I played dominoes against Laura (professor from Spain) and Ana (our professor from DR). We lost, but it was still fun. And that ended out night. Good day.
Oct. 24-Saturday
Today was a blast. Today we went to one of the coolest places I have ever been to; Los Haitises. It is just one of the coolest things guys. This is a must, if you have the opportunity. It’s across from Samaná. Meaning we had to take a boat from Samaná to see the islands. It’s just incredible, no technology or truly developed society has inhabited it. The Taíno only came to the Haitises for rituals, they didn’t live there, because they knew this land was precious and should be respected. The word Haitises has a derivation from a work that means beautiful land that the Taínos used back in the day. Let me tell you, its just pure nature. Really beautiful. It really made me love this country even more, just seeing that DR as this kind of beauty close by. I have a lot of pics, and I’ll put them up when I have time. Been a busy busy boy. Anyways also, we stopped a beach and had lunch and was able to swim. The swimming was great, really calm and just enjoyable again. Sun was strong though, definitely got burnt. Ah, no me gusta. Pero eh, whatever.
Afterwords we went to a house of an Afro-woman who had ancestors from the US. She liked to speak English with us, cause she likes to be proud of her ancestors and speak English, but it was kinda still hard to understand her. But no worries. It was interesting to hear that ex-slaves were invited to live in DR after they were freed. Some stayed, others left. I wanna research more about that, but intriguing. The food she made for us though was worth talking about sooooooo good. Coco bread and drink I can’t really describe. Just awesome though.
Later that night, we had to cook dinner again. So what we did was two pastas; one penne with tomato sauce, and a pesto spaghetti with chicken, gilled with tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers and lemon with garlic bread. I made the pesto spaghetti and one portion of the chicken. It was really good. I was proud! :) However we did have one adventure that was pretty scary. All the ovens are gas ovens down here, and when we tried to incite it well….BOOM! Oh man, I was right next to oven too, I was on the stove cooking the chicken, I don’t know how nobody got hurt, but it was just crazy. Oh man, just insane. Everyone survived and we made the garlic bread in the panni-machine instead and it came out just as good. It was a good night, besides that. David and I bought some cigars before we left, got a beer, and went to our “private” beach, and just enjoyed the stars and had a “profound” conversation as we usual do when smoking a cigar. At least with me I like to have intelligent deep conversations with cigars. But we enjoyed the beach and just had a relaxed night. Or so I thought. What happened was we tried to go out to Las Terrenas to dance, but what happened was, they wouldn’t let some two of the girls in our group cause they looked too young. So we tried 2 places and still had problems. Whatever, we back to the house and went back to the beach and just enjoyed the stars. It was just incredible.
Oct. 25-Sunday
Sunday was just a relaxed day. We got up in the morning and Jenny, Stacy and Mollie cooked breakfast for all of us. It was great, omelets with whatever you wanted. Really great way to start the morning. Afterwords I decided to go the beach and walk around for a while and really see the area. It was great, I got a lot of cool pics, I’ll try and put them up when I can. Oh also, we got free coconuts by some of the guys who work in the area of where our house was. Drank the water inside and ate the fruit. It was really sweet. Otherwise it was just a relaxed day on the beach and just enjoying our last day in Las Terrenas. Can’t really explain it that well, you just had to be there. The water was perfect, temperature-wise, color, and calm. Really enjoyable, I definitely want to come back with my family to see it. It was my favorite part so far of DR. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a nice vacation spot away from the city. Well that’s all I got. Thanks for reading and I hope to hear from you guys soon! Email me if you have a question or a comment. I’d love to hear it. Hope all is well!
jueves, 22 de octubre de 2009
Law Classes and Children Shelter
Oct. 22
Hey guys! Just have some things I wanna write down. Yesterday I spent the 3 hours at a public hospital named Hospital Cabral, and we got a tour from a medical student of all the different wards. It was really cool, I was with David, Jenn, and Kelly. We got to go to internal medicine, neurology and others. We got to read the charts and ask questions if we wanted to, to the doctor and the patient. We actually got to meet a patient with Lupus. That was really cool, I've always heard of Lupus in House, but never got to see it. That was really cool to see. The tour was just really interesting cause we got to see how health care works in DR. 4 people to a room, no air conditioning, and families are always with the patient. Just really incredible to see. Once I have my permission from my professor I'm going to start my investigations for my independent study. But next week we get to go again and see more of the hospital. I'll let you know how that goes!
Afterwords I had dance class, and then I was going to meet a dominican friend of mine to join her in her law classes. To say the least, they argue a LOT down here in the classes. Just back and forth, back and forth all the time. It was really hard to me to understand cause the professor kinda just mediated the class, and let the students talk, and the students well talk way too fast for me sometimes. But it was interesting to see the difference between their classes and our classes back home. The second class was easier to understand, just sooooooo boring. It was the Law of Work. Man, just about salaries, vacation time, and other boring topics. However, it was really interesting to hear that farm workers only get paid 175 pesos a day. FOR 10 HOURS! That's 4.86 dollars. A lot of the students in the class said thats an abuse! I was happy to hear that the future lawyers of the DR were appalled by this, but makes me wonder too if once they're in power they'll do anything to change that. The corruption here is disheartening, my program director says she's scared of the situation sometimes, and really hopes something is done to fight corruption, otherwise she said she'll move. We'll see, I have faith my friend Geraldine. She really seems set on changing the situation as much as she can down here. After the classes, she invited to me to a Cirulo, which was a event where people give testimonies of a near death experience and how God and their faith saved them. Another interesting thing, religion is very important down here to the people. Very interesting to observe.
Today we were able to visit a Children Shelter outside of Santiago today, and it was cool. Two nuns run the place and teach the kids good morals, songs, and, of course, religion. They do great work, the kids were very polite, nice and hard working. A lot of us were able to play with the kids, and get to know what their living situations are like. Hopefully sometime again, we'll have the opportunity to work there again. The situation was not as bad as I thought it would be, but they still need help. Hopefully once I figure out what I want to do with my career I can help out these shelters and make sure health services can reach everyone. Its a long shot, but aiming for high hopes keeps you motivated. Hopefully it has and still does motivate you guys in your lives. I sure hope so. Hope all is well back home. Thanks for reading. Best regards!
Hey guys! Just have some things I wanna write down. Yesterday I spent the 3 hours at a public hospital named Hospital Cabral, and we got a tour from a medical student of all the different wards. It was really cool, I was with David, Jenn, and Kelly. We got to go to internal medicine, neurology and others. We got to read the charts and ask questions if we wanted to, to the doctor and the patient. We actually got to meet a patient with Lupus. That was really cool, I've always heard of Lupus in House, but never got to see it. That was really cool to see. The tour was just really interesting cause we got to see how health care works in DR. 4 people to a room, no air conditioning, and families are always with the patient. Just really incredible to see. Once I have my permission from my professor I'm going to start my investigations for my independent study. But next week we get to go again and see more of the hospital. I'll let you know how that goes!
Afterwords I had dance class, and then I was going to meet a dominican friend of mine to join her in her law classes. To say the least, they argue a LOT down here in the classes. Just back and forth, back and forth all the time. It was really hard to me to understand cause the professor kinda just mediated the class, and let the students talk, and the students well talk way too fast for me sometimes. But it was interesting to see the difference between their classes and our classes back home. The second class was easier to understand, just sooooooo boring. It was the Law of Work. Man, just about salaries, vacation time, and other boring topics. However, it was really interesting to hear that farm workers only get paid 175 pesos a day. FOR 10 HOURS! That's 4.86 dollars. A lot of the students in the class said thats an abuse! I was happy to hear that the future lawyers of the DR were appalled by this, but makes me wonder too if once they're in power they'll do anything to change that. The corruption here is disheartening, my program director says she's scared of the situation sometimes, and really hopes something is done to fight corruption, otherwise she said she'll move. We'll see, I have faith my friend Geraldine. She really seems set on changing the situation as much as she can down here. After the classes, she invited to me to a Cirulo, which was a event where people give testimonies of a near death experience and how God and their faith saved them. Another interesting thing, religion is very important down here to the people. Very interesting to observe.
Today we were able to visit a Children Shelter outside of Santiago today, and it was cool. Two nuns run the place and teach the kids good morals, songs, and, of course, religion. They do great work, the kids were very polite, nice and hard working. A lot of us were able to play with the kids, and get to know what their living situations are like. Hopefully sometime again, we'll have the opportunity to work there again. The situation was not as bad as I thought it would be, but they still need help. Hopefully once I figure out what I want to do with my career I can help out these shelters and make sure health services can reach everyone. Its a long shot, but aiming for high hopes keeps you motivated. Hopefully it has and still does motivate you guys in your lives. I sure hope so. Hope all is well back home. Thanks for reading. Best regards!
martes, 20 de octubre de 2009
Thought Provoking Day
Oct. 20
Hey guys, I know its been a lot time, but just had some things I wanted to just write down. I spent all of today working at the clinic Pequeno Pasitos (run by the Mother's Wish Organization-http://www.amotherswish.org/index.htm) and just had a lot of thoughts today about health care here in DR. I worked with the nurse all day and observed what she does in the clinic. Very general things as in the US, and that made me think wouldn't her talents be put to better use in other situations? Anyway, afterwords we talked with the founders of the Mother's Wish Foundation and found out they just had a received a donation of $100,000 dollars to keep running their clinic, which just made me feel so relieved. Just knowing that people in this world are capable of such generosity keeps me motivated to want to work in the Public Health sector in Latin America. But we also discussed with Diego and Rita (the founders) how they were planning on allocating the funds to keep the place in business; because right now they want to open a pre-school as well as keep the clinic running, however the clinic itself is losing money with adult patients. See, at the clinic, children and pregnant women are seen first then at the end adults are seen last. This makes them mad, but the point of the clinic was to help the children and pregnancies. It costs a lot of money to pay for medicine for adults as well as the children especially the people with chronic diseases. So Diego and Rita asked Mollie and I what we thought would be the best method to revise the health care system here there at the clinic to save money and the doctors and nurses could work most efficiently and stop from just seeing people who have a cold and just come for the free medicine, and kinda waste the doctors and nurses times. Mollie had a good suggestion, of a Colmado (store on basically every corner of every street) motoconcho message system. People all congregate at Colmados to buy food, supplies, or socialize, and from there if someone in their family is sick and needs a consult, the doctor or nurse can come out there and provide a service, or prescribe medicine rather then just waste the doctors time at the clinic when the doctor needs to face the more important cases. This does however leave people out. This could and in all likelihood will cause problems, because people don't have much education about health, and how to really take care of themselves. People just self-medicate a lot and sometimes only go to the doctor if their condition is truly severe, yet at the same time how will these people be able to stay healthy? The education there is barely more than middle school for all of us back home. How can people educated at a middle school level take care of themselves, let alone their children!??! I go to this clinic and visit the cities and the people are happy; they don't have much money, education, or hope to leave but at the same time they're happy. It makes me just feel so lucky, in all reality I could have been more to a family like that, yet I was born into a such a better off family, and completely different society and culture. Why? Some of these people have never been to the beach, seen the ocean! They live on an island, and some of them have never seen the ocean because they don't have enough money! I remember in Santo Domingo we were at one of the museums and a family couldn't get in because they didn't know it cost money to get in, so my program director Lilly (being the most incredible person I know here in DR) paid for them to get in. There's so much inequality here its just something I can't really describe, you just need to see it for yourself down here. Anyways, I got sidetracked, being in I really would appreciate it if somebody would give me some suggestions or ideas of how to reform the health care system here, I'm coming up with some ideas too, but I'd like to hear from you, my educated readers. A lot of you I look up too, and I would love to hear from you. I hope all is well back home with you guys!
PS Its reallyyyyyy hott down here! :-D Hehehe, sorry guys, I'll be back in Dec, and just as upset as you guys! Boooooooo
Hey guys, I know its been a lot time, but just had some things I wanted to just write down. I spent all of today working at the clinic Pequeno Pasitos (run by the Mother's Wish Organization-http://www.amotherswish.org/index.htm) and just had a lot of thoughts today about health care here in DR. I worked with the nurse all day and observed what she does in the clinic. Very general things as in the US, and that made me think wouldn't her talents be put to better use in other situations? Anyway, afterwords we talked with the founders of the Mother's Wish Foundation and found out they just had a received a donation of $100,000 dollars to keep running their clinic, which just made me feel so relieved. Just knowing that people in this world are capable of such generosity keeps me motivated to want to work in the Public Health sector in Latin America. But we also discussed with Diego and Rita (the founders) how they were planning on allocating the funds to keep the place in business; because right now they want to open a pre-school as well as keep the clinic running, however the clinic itself is losing money with adult patients. See, at the clinic, children and pregnant women are seen first then at the end adults are seen last. This makes them mad, but the point of the clinic was to help the children and pregnancies. It costs a lot of money to pay for medicine for adults as well as the children especially the people with chronic diseases. So Diego and Rita asked Mollie and I what we thought would be the best method to revise the health care system here there at the clinic to save money and the doctors and nurses could work most efficiently and stop from just seeing people who have a cold and just come for the free medicine, and kinda waste the doctors and nurses times. Mollie had a good suggestion, of a Colmado (store on basically every corner of every street) motoconcho message system. People all congregate at Colmados to buy food, supplies, or socialize, and from there if someone in their family is sick and needs a consult, the doctor or nurse can come out there and provide a service, or prescribe medicine rather then just waste the doctors time at the clinic when the doctor needs to face the more important cases. This does however leave people out. This could and in all likelihood will cause problems, because people don't have much education about health, and how to really take care of themselves. People just self-medicate a lot and sometimes only go to the doctor if their condition is truly severe, yet at the same time how will these people be able to stay healthy? The education there is barely more than middle school for all of us back home. How can people educated at a middle school level take care of themselves, let alone their children!??! I go to this clinic and visit the cities and the people are happy; they don't have much money, education, or hope to leave but at the same time they're happy. It makes me just feel so lucky, in all reality I could have been more to a family like that, yet I was born into a such a better off family, and completely different society and culture. Why? Some of these people have never been to the beach, seen the ocean! They live on an island, and some of them have never seen the ocean because they don't have enough money! I remember in Santo Domingo we were at one of the museums and a family couldn't get in because they didn't know it cost money to get in, so my program director Lilly (being the most incredible person I know here in DR) paid for them to get in. There's so much inequality here its just something I can't really describe, you just need to see it for yourself down here. Anyways, I got sidetracked, being in I really would appreciate it if somebody would give me some suggestions or ideas of how to reform the health care system here, I'm coming up with some ideas too, but I'd like to hear from you, my educated readers. A lot of you I look up too, and I would love to hear from you. I hope all is well back home with you guys!
PS Its reallyyyyyy hott down here! :-D Hehehe, sorry guys, I'll be back in Dec, and just as upset as you guys! Boooooooo
domingo, 4 de octubre de 2009
Santo Domingo
Oct. 4
Hey guys, I know I haven’t updated the blog lately, but there hasn’t been too much to stay till this past weekend, since we spent it Santo Domingo, the capital of Dominican Republic. Just for a heads up if something doesn’t makes sense or doesn’t sound right grammatically, etc etc just know that I’m running on only like 7 hours of sleep in the past 2 days, meaning I only slept 3.5 hours last night and Friday night. So I’m a wee bit tired, but I have things to say. So, on Saturday we left at 7am and had like a 2 hour and 15 minute drive to Santo Domingo. It was fun, and a definite experience. Once we arrived in Santo Domingo, first we went to the botanical gardens, and that was just really cool, just seeing this nature-y part of the Santo Domingo was cool. The trees, flowers and fountains were just really nice to see and a nice change of pace in comparison to the city of Santiago. After that we tried to the Anthropological museum, but unfortunately they had no electricity and thus the exhibits were closed. It was a bummer, but we had more time to see others things. After checking out the closed museums we went to eat lunch, and afterwards went to Tres Ojos (Three Eyes). It was one of the coolest things I’ve seen. The three eyes are 3 lakes in a cave-like area beneath Santo Domingo. One of the coolest things, the water is a certain blue color similar to Window Washer fluid and there were bats, turtles and fish all in the lakes. Laura (Lilly, our program director’s daughter) told us that there use to a be a Alligator in one of the lakes we visited. We didn’t see it, so it was kinda of a let down. But no worries. Afterwards we went to our hostels, and for me, this was the first time for me staying at a hostel. But I was surprised it was pretty nice. I’ve heard bad things or just that they’re cheap and not the best places, but I liked where we stayed. Pretty nice bed, David and I had to share again, but we were cool with that. Nice shower, air conditioning and everything. We ended up showering before the concert and since the girls take more time to get ready, David and I ended up exploring the neighborhood and found a cigar shop. We talked to the guys in the shop and they ended up being really nice and helped us pick out a good cigar. We decided to smoke ones that had just been prepared that day by the guy in the back with his desk. We took them back to our hostel and smoked them on the patio and had an ice cold Presidente. It was, for David and me, a perfect way to start for the concert.
So we ended up buying tickets for a concert of merguenue, bachata, and reggaeton there in Santo Domingo at the Olympic Stadium. They only people though we all really wanted to see were Don Omar and Daddy Yankee. So this was the experience I think I’m never going to forget, ever. People here, in the Dominican Republic, at this type of concert, are crazy. Just absolutely insane. We got there at 5pm, right? The concert was suppose to start at 6pm and they first musician (there were 5 of them) didn’t start singing until 7:30pm. It was ridiculous too, how many people were there. This was the biggest concert I have ever been to in my life. A lot of cool things are happening down here for me, just have all these new experiences and such. Anyways, what ended up happening was being stuck in a huge crowd for about 3 hours standing the entire time. The people were crazy too, they broke the barrier in between the stage and ground area and basically stamped to the front of the stage. It was ridiculous. People were drunk too, so that made things just so much worse. After a while, I had to leave the group cause, I was just feeling too claustrophobic, if you didn’t know that about me now you do, I kinda have claustrophobia of large groups. But it was kinda justified, cause I kid you not, these people just acted so primitively. At one point, there was a fight with throwing water bottles back and forth through the crowds, we had to run to the center to avoid getting hit, but still we close to people who got hit. I even saw a poor woman got hit with a glass bottle, it was just really saddening. Even when things calmed down every 15 minutes or so people were running from some kind of fight making me feel even more nervous about shit that could happen. Oh, another thing that was just so different from any other concert I’ve been too, garbage was EVERYWHERE. They had no garbage cans, and people just throw they’re trash on the floor, which truth be told doesn’t help when people end up stampeding at points in the concerts. It was just so unorganized and kinda just insane. I don’t regret not going, cause it was an experience, I just wish they made it safer, cause there were little kids at the concerts, and I was worried for them, cause the people just go insane for the music. Just pure insanity. Anyways, finally at the end Don Omar and Daddy Yankee played, but the concert didn’t end until 3. And I didn’t get to sleep till 4 last night, so I’m still pretty tired.
Anyways, today was much more relaxed, we just toured around Santo Domingo’s colonial zone, which I really liked. To me it reminded me of Europe, like Spain or Italy. Makes sense though, since that was the first city of the Americas! Just for you information! Santo Domingo was founded in 1498. It was really cool to just walk around and see the ruins and old cathedrals. We went to the market too which was really cool, really similar to markets I’ve been too in Texas, Mexico and Israel. People just striving for your attention and such. In English too for the girls (and David), but lately they’ve been only speaking to me in Spanish. Maybe I’m looking more foreign lately. Ah, but I digress. After the Mercado we went to had a guide who took us all around the colonial zone and just really made me feel in Europe. You guys should check it out if you ever come down here, its really cool. If you like Europe you’d like that area of Santo Domingo. Where was I? After the tour we ate in the center of the Colonial zone at Parque Colón. (After Christopher Colombus) Had a nice sandwich and was able to tour the center of the colonial zone, specifically the art. It was really impressive to see the artists working and to see what they can do. Otherwise that’s all we did today. So that’s it, I hope all is going well back home! Oh, can somebody tell me who won the UofM v MSU game? I am totally disconnected from football down here. But feel free to send me an email or message with questions or comments, I’d love to discuss it with you, my loveable fans (haha, no just you guys, my friends and family) any topic I’ve written about. Miss you guys! Talk to you guys later!
Hey guys, I know I haven’t updated the blog lately, but there hasn’t been too much to stay till this past weekend, since we spent it Santo Domingo, the capital of Dominican Republic. Just for a heads up if something doesn’t makes sense or doesn’t sound right grammatically, etc etc just know that I’m running on only like 7 hours of sleep in the past 2 days, meaning I only slept 3.5 hours last night and Friday night. So I’m a wee bit tired, but I have things to say. So, on Saturday we left at 7am and had like a 2 hour and 15 minute drive to Santo Domingo. It was fun, and a definite experience. Once we arrived in Santo Domingo, first we went to the botanical gardens, and that was just really cool, just seeing this nature-y part of the Santo Domingo was cool. The trees, flowers and fountains were just really nice to see and a nice change of pace in comparison to the city of Santiago. After that we tried to the Anthropological museum, but unfortunately they had no electricity and thus the exhibits were closed. It was a bummer, but we had more time to see others things. After checking out the closed museums we went to eat lunch, and afterwards went to Tres Ojos (Three Eyes). It was one of the coolest things I’ve seen. The three eyes are 3 lakes in a cave-like area beneath Santo Domingo. One of the coolest things, the water is a certain blue color similar to Window Washer fluid and there were bats, turtles and fish all in the lakes. Laura (Lilly, our program director’s daughter) told us that there use to a be a Alligator in one of the lakes we visited. We didn’t see it, so it was kinda of a let down. But no worries. Afterwards we went to our hostels, and for me, this was the first time for me staying at a hostel. But I was surprised it was pretty nice. I’ve heard bad things or just that they’re cheap and not the best places, but I liked where we stayed. Pretty nice bed, David and I had to share again, but we were cool with that. Nice shower, air conditioning and everything. We ended up showering before the concert and since the girls take more time to get ready, David and I ended up exploring the neighborhood and found a cigar shop. We talked to the guys in the shop and they ended up being really nice and helped us pick out a good cigar. We decided to smoke ones that had just been prepared that day by the guy in the back with his desk. We took them back to our hostel and smoked them on the patio and had an ice cold Presidente. It was, for David and me, a perfect way to start for the concert.
So we ended up buying tickets for a concert of merguenue, bachata, and reggaeton there in Santo Domingo at the Olympic Stadium. They only people though we all really wanted to see were Don Omar and Daddy Yankee. So this was the experience I think I’m never going to forget, ever. People here, in the Dominican Republic, at this type of concert, are crazy. Just absolutely insane. We got there at 5pm, right? The concert was suppose to start at 6pm and they first musician (there were 5 of them) didn’t start singing until 7:30pm. It was ridiculous too, how many people were there. This was the biggest concert I have ever been to in my life. A lot of cool things are happening down here for me, just have all these new experiences and such. Anyways, what ended up happening was being stuck in a huge crowd for about 3 hours standing the entire time. The people were crazy too, they broke the barrier in between the stage and ground area and basically stamped to the front of the stage. It was ridiculous. People were drunk too, so that made things just so much worse. After a while, I had to leave the group cause, I was just feeling too claustrophobic, if you didn’t know that about me now you do, I kinda have claustrophobia of large groups. But it was kinda justified, cause I kid you not, these people just acted so primitively. At one point, there was a fight with throwing water bottles back and forth through the crowds, we had to run to the center to avoid getting hit, but still we close to people who got hit. I even saw a poor woman got hit with a glass bottle, it was just really saddening. Even when things calmed down every 15 minutes or so people were running from some kind of fight making me feel even more nervous about shit that could happen. Oh, another thing that was just so different from any other concert I’ve been too, garbage was EVERYWHERE. They had no garbage cans, and people just throw they’re trash on the floor, which truth be told doesn’t help when people end up stampeding at points in the concerts. It was just so unorganized and kinda just insane. I don’t regret not going, cause it was an experience, I just wish they made it safer, cause there were little kids at the concerts, and I was worried for them, cause the people just go insane for the music. Just pure insanity. Anyways, finally at the end Don Omar and Daddy Yankee played, but the concert didn’t end until 3. And I didn’t get to sleep till 4 last night, so I’m still pretty tired.
Anyways, today was much more relaxed, we just toured around Santo Domingo’s colonial zone, which I really liked. To me it reminded me of Europe, like Spain or Italy. Makes sense though, since that was the first city of the Americas! Just for you information! Santo Domingo was founded in 1498. It was really cool to just walk around and see the ruins and old cathedrals. We went to the market too which was really cool, really similar to markets I’ve been too in Texas, Mexico and Israel. People just striving for your attention and such. In English too for the girls (and David), but lately they’ve been only speaking to me in Spanish. Maybe I’m looking more foreign lately. Ah, but I digress. After the Mercado we went to had a guide who took us all around the colonial zone and just really made me feel in Europe. You guys should check it out if you ever come down here, its really cool. If you like Europe you’d like that area of Santo Domingo. Where was I? After the tour we ate in the center of the Colonial zone at Parque Colón. (After Christopher Colombus) Had a nice sandwich and was able to tour the center of the colonial zone, specifically the art. It was really impressive to see the artists working and to see what they can do. Otherwise that’s all we did today. So that’s it, I hope all is going well back home! Oh, can somebody tell me who won the UofM v MSU game? I am totally disconnected from football down here. But feel free to send me an email or message with questions or comments, I’d love to discuss it with you, my loveable fans (haha, no just you guys, my friends and family) any topic I’ve written about. Miss you guys! Talk to you guys later!
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