Day 2.

Today was my first full day in the Dominican Republic and I must say, I think I'm already in love this country. There's something so amazing about seeing beautiful brown people everywhere so vibrant and full of life! People here don't even realize that I'm not Dominican until I open my mouth to speak and they realize that my Spanish is noticeably much slower than their light-of-speed-like vernacular. We haven't learned how to use the public transportation system yet, but imagine how much more in love I'll be with the DR once I've explored farther than my immediate surroundings.

We left the apartment around one o'clock today in search of authentic Dominican cuisine and luckily, one of the drivers at the FundGlobe headquarters offered to drive us to our desired location. However, once we arrived, we found that the spot was closed. (Dominicans definitely observe Sunday as the Sabbath more so than Americans generally do, so many stores and restaurants close early, or like the restaurant we wanted to go to, don't operate at all on Sundays). Since we couldn't go there, the driver offered to drop us off on a main street close to a supermarket to allow us to explore. After about twenty minutes of walking around and asking people where a restaurant that served Dominican food was, we finally found a bar and grill that served sandwiches and other plates. The food that we had was good but I still have yet to come across a place that sells pollo asado, arroz con frijoles, o mofongo! I am dying for some authentic cuisine, so hopefully once orientation begins, the program coordinators can direct us on where to go.

Once we left the restaurant, we walked to a pay phone (YES, a pay phone!) to phone the driver so that he could pick us up since none of us have yet to purchase a local phone. Of course being that none of us have used a pay phone in at least 10 years, we somehow messed up the call and lost the coins that we inserted. Luckily, a couple of police officers walked over to us to make small talk and offered to let us use their phones to phone the driver. He picked us up shortly and once we returned to the apartment, we threw ourselves on the couches and slept under the breeze from the constantly running fans. Dominican heat is another thing! Being outside makes you sticky from the humidity and the heat itself is draining.

In many ways, from what I have seen so far, the Dominican Republic is very similar to the states. Most of the people have cars, young people hang out together, etc., but I have noticed some key differences. For instance, people are more friendly and willing to talk. Walking down the street, more people will speak to you than you would encounter on any given street in the US. This could just be because most people don't seem to walk places so maybe it's rare to see three girls walking leisurely? Who knows. People also tend to hang outside. This means in front of their buildings, on the side of the street, wherever! Shooting the breeze and chatting it up with friends outside just because is something that we definitely don't tend to do as Americans. The biggest difference, though, is definitely the police/security/military patrol over here. It's serious! I've seen so many cops and men in military garb armed with huge war-like rifles (slight exaggeration, but they're seriously a lot bigger than the guns that ordinary cops carry in America) patrolling the streets, weapon in hand. Obviously, cops make rounds in the states, but rarely on foot AND with guns in hand rather than secured in a holster. This may be because it's election season over here or this could be an everyday occurrence. Either way, the people here seem unphased.

Since the first day of orientation for the program is tomorrow, I'll end here but leave you with the view that I wake up to every morning. Ciao =)