FACT: Dominicans L-O-V-E Shakira’s “Waka Waka”

I was warned before I came down to the DR by friends that men will whistle at women if they find them attractive. I was also warned that they would hiss at them as well, if they found them attractive. While I have only heard the hissing twice, I am used to whistling now. We hear it all of the time because there are eleven girls in our group, but also because we are Gringos and Americanos. Gringos are white/non-indigenous people and Americanos are Americans. Everyone here believe that white people are Americans and they think that if they speak Spanish, then we have no idea what they are saying. But, little do they know, that we know that they are talking about us when we hear them say Americanos or Gringos. At least kids have the guts to say it straight to our faces and not whisper it while sitting next to us in the guaguas. By the way, I LOVE GUAGUAS. I honestly wish that they existed in the US. It is so easy to just hop on one and tell them where you need to go. No stress, other than having to make sure that you get the correct change back. I have even gotten used to the heat and constantly being sweaty. I am actually shocked when I walk into a building with air conditioning because the ILAC Center does not have air conditioning, so I am used to just air circulating from the fans.

The one thing I am not used to are the mosquitoes. Those silly little bloodsuckers are just awful! I thought I was good to go because the first few days I had zero bites and now I have about 10 bites on my feet and legs. The thing about the mosquitoes is that you can’t feel them biting you, so you won’t know that you have been bitten until later when red bumps start popping up. My Cortizone and Neosporin have definitely become my best friends so far and they will stay that way.

On Friday night, my group, our Residence Director, Karie, and our Program Director and teacher, Mary all went out to dinner at a restaurant near the monument called La Brasa. I had tacos and they were delicious! But, they had a sweet type of ketchup on top, which actually made the tacos even better! I am realizing that everything here is really cheap! My 3 tacos were about $2.50 and a fifteen-minute taxi ride is about $2 to $4 a person, depending on how many people are in the car.

After dinner we all hung out at a couple of bars and clubs since the drinking age is 18 here in the Dominican Republic. Went to a bar that had music videos and sport games on the TVs and it is just a nice place to hang out when it is too early for the clubs. We then ventured over to a discoteca and also just a small bar like the previous one. It was a great first night out on the town!



Saturday we went to a beach for the first time! We went to Playa Grande, which is a small, secluded beach about two hours away. It was gorgeous and blue and just what one would expect a beach to be like in the caribbean! There were not too many people there and the weather was perfect and the water was amazing! A few of us even explored the forests around the area and found little creeks and other little beaches and coves. I thankfully left the beach with only a minor sunburn, which is pretty good since the sun is definitely stronger here than in Omaha.



The most exciting, yet completely nerve-wracking thing that I am dealing with is my Internship. I was originally supposed to work at the ILAC Center Clinic where many of the people speak English and I do not have to include any transportation time into my day. But, things change as they always do and I now have the amazing opportunity to work in the big hospital in Santiago. I basically had an interview on the spot, without any warning with an epidemiologist and another hospital employee. I was told that it was a simply meet and greet, but little did I know, I would be learning about the job and getting tested on my Spanish and what my expectations are. In the end, I apparently did well enough with my Spanish that they want me to start on Wednesday! I will be presented to many of the doctors and personnel in the hospital. I will get a more in depth training session on what I am allowed to do, not to do, what not to eat, where to go, who to come in contact with and which parts of the hospital to avoid. I will be working with a neurosurgeon who is also an administrator for the hospital. I seriously feel as though I am being presented into society. I will be meeting all sorts of people and telling them about myself, what I want to do while I am working and answer any questions. Thankfully I have had confidence boosts from the director here and my Spanish teacher about my Spanish skills, though there is a good chance I will be asking the workers to repeat their questions or I will need to pause and process what was just said to me before answering.

Yesterday we went to La Sirena after our scavenger hunt around Santiago. La Sirena is a Walmart/Target superstore. They have everything from clothes to food to toiletries. After getting notebooks, food and some toiletries, I made my way upstairs to find clothes for my job. When I was packing, I was planning on working at the ILAC Center, where the dress code is pretty relaxed, but since I will be working at a hospital I decided that I should wear something other than khakis everyday. I decided to get black slacks and some black shoes (think of those white nurse’s shoes) since most of the hospital employees wear darker colors and all I had were white shoes and opened toed shoes. This is a prime example of items down here being a lot cheaper. My pants and shoes equaled a total of $25. It was AWESOME and it felt awesome to spend only $50 at the store on the journals, toiletries and clothes.

P.S. Today I went to hospicio (hospice) and attempted to talk and hang out with the men and women there and on the way there, we fit 30 people in the guagua. I just love them so much!

Hasta Luego!