Hurricanes, mud, and madness..and a little morning blues

So I was going to start this off with a story but I have been distracted the last forty-five minutes but this worker right out the window that I am sitting in front of, working on building the new house next door. Let me see if i can describe this to you. First of all I am in hysterics. This man proabaly in his early thirties, Atlanta Braves hat on, spray paint can and measuring tape in hand. He is the only one on the roof, he obviously has a job to do, he has pulled the measuring tape out a thousand of times only to let it drop to the floor and retract it again, he has shaken the paint can a million times and even taken the top off ...but just to put it back on, he has talked to every passer by and checked his cell phone twenty times, and I thought I was slow in the mornings, he has done some stretches and ended up laying down...until he saw that I was watching :) and now you should see how hard he's working!... There has been a hurricane passing through the Island, they have had to evacuate many people and there has been some disater in the southern part of the country...not like there is a big distance between the northern edge of the island and the southern coast. Here in Santiago we have has some heavy rains but have been safe from the floods and strong winds, Praise the Lord. Yesterday there was a dance class held by some of the students at school and so of course we had to go...the best part is that from my palace its only a fifteen minute walk to school, the walk starts out in the neighborhood and is quite pleasnt, it ends abrupty, and turns down and grassy now muddy little path to the river and then over this little bridge and thru this little community of shack houses that make up for their lack of appropriate building materieals by their bright blue, green, and orange colors, i LOVE it!, on our way there are the ocassional calls about the Gringas, my favorite came from this little naked boy who was maybe five years old, he yells "ay gringas bonitas ven a besar me!" in other words, "hey beautiful girls come and kiss me!" Its just the little things that will keep you amused through out the day! ( update: our little friend working on the roof ..still hasnt done a thing!) My classes start today and i simply just cant wait!! I am just so overwhelmed by this amazing oppertunity to learn and be a part of this rich culture!
~"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the Desires of your heart."~

For those of you who enjoy learning fun little words (april!)... here in the Dominican to say "a little bit" they use the word "Chin" like "i only want a chin more" or "chin a chin im learning spanish" (bit by bit im learning..)

Here I am in Santiago!!!

Hello Family Friends and Everyone! This Bloggie thing has spell check for all of those of you who got frustrated at my Mexico emails(cough cough DAD!) hehehe!
I was thinking the other night Wow how do i even tell everyone I love about all the incredible things that have happened to me ALREADY in the first week!...(i will be using lots of descriptive words like incredible and amazing ect. get used to it! OK here i go! I am walking out of the airport and my first thought is BEAUTIFUL! every inch of this country has beauty everything is green and leafy or crystal clear blue or orange like the houses! I love bright houses! My house is a Palace I mean I have my own room my own private bathroom a double bed a huge closet and mosquito net :) we have a cool roof where we can basically see the whole town of Santiago and always hear music! in the back garden there is an array of fruit trees, lime avocado, cherry, mandarin orange...and there might be something else I don't know what it is :)...the funniest part is that this house is so nice but also in the backyard we have ..ok ready?..we have a huge white bunny, a roster that wakes me up EVERY stinkin morning, two chickens, some pigeons, and four little rainbow birdies! hehehe needless to say its not quiet at any point of the day....or night! actually after further thought this whole culture is LOUD..there is ALWAYS music BLAAAAARING from somewhere, even in the buses, pharmacies, and wherever theres a plug basically..and I love it! I also enjoy watching some random kid run up the street bareback on a horse, MY family is also amazing! My mami makes us toast and an assortment of fruit with delicious coffee with cinnamon for breakfast ...lunch is this buffet of amazing food with rice beans a different kind of meat salad fried plantains fresh lime juice ...and this is every day we sit down to eat the whole family even the Dad comes home from work to eat! Great family, we have a great group of friends and now were getting out and getting to know some of the Dominicans..theres this street corner little store thing where everyone hangs out in plastic chairs and drinks Presidente( the local beer) and dances merengue and bachata and just tells stories and chats...ITS GREAT! WE don't blend in but we have a great time trying! this weekend we went to a beach called Sosua that was only a noisy bus ride away, the water was indescribable it was perfect you could see the bottom no matter how deep it was , it was just the right temperature, we ate fried fish and rice and later that night we danced with little old men who sat at the corner store that was blaring bachata and good times....local flavor is what we live off of and its delicious and so rich ...there is so much to be learned and I cant wait to absorb it ALL!!