August 21, 2008 - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

The last few days have been quite busy for me. When I arrived on Sunday I was very warmly welcomed and greeted at the airport by some fellow Bahais. We proceeded to take the well-worn (in the sense that is is very well used, yet in very good condition) road into the city of Santo Domingo. We all agreed that hunger had set in, so we set off in pursuit of sustenance. After satisfying our appetites with some wonderfully greasy, yet delicious fast food, we made our way to my temporary place of residence. Once my bags were set down in my room and I had made the required salutations, I flopped down on my bed and was out like a light during a black out. My light remained out and the black out persisted for a good 19 hours. When I finally came to, it was early afternoon on Monday. I drifted into the kitchen to find a most wonderful sight: a large prepared Dominican lunch, fully equipped with rice, beans, platano, salsa, fried fish, and of course avocado. It truly was a sight for sore eyes, especially as the amazingly delicious Dominican food had been my downfall when I lived in the country previously, causing me to gain over 20 pounds. Once I had consumed as much delectible food as I possibly could, I set out to meet a Dominican girl who could potentially be my room mate for the duration of my stay in the country. Having spoken to her previously online, meeting her in person was quite easy and her apartment was everything I was looking for. Once the meet and greet had come to an end, I made my way to a bank to open an account. The bank had unfortunately run out of the paperwork required to do this, so I proceeded to 2 other banks, both of which informed me that I would need 2 or 3 letters of recommendation, 1 of which had to be from my bank in the U.S. Feeling fully worn out from this long ordeal, I went in pursuit of a cell phone. Without a bank account, however, this was a pursuit in vain. I went on my way back to the house on foot, not realizing just how far of a walk it would turn out to be. After meandering past about 15 long city blocks on one of the major city roads, I turned up onto another road in search of the house where I was staying. Finding the house turned into quite the wild goose chase, as I had forgotten the name of the street. I walked around the neighborhood for over half an hour, up one street, down another, more or less going in circles. Finally, on the brink of collapsing and completely drowning in sweat, I found the house. The next morning I had orientation and a Spanish placement exam for my university program. I was a bit wary, as I had no idea how many students there would be. Upon meeting the director and the students, however, all my reservations disappeared and I felt very comfortable. After class finished, I continued on my journey to find a cell phone, accompanied by a fellow student. After over 2 hours at the cell phone store (it took much longer than was necessary due to computer problems one after another), we each emerged with phones in hand. I then treated my fellow student to his first taste of public transportation in Santo Domingo, which, unfortunately, proved to be quite an unpleasant experience for him, as his other phone (a brand new Blackberry Pearl) and the 2000 pesos in cash (about 60 US dollars) in his pocket were stolen. With this news in mind I made my way to the house as quickly as possible, trembling ever so slightly for fear of being robbed myself. When I arrived home I showered and changed as quickly as possible and went to the 19 Day Feast at the Bahai Center downtown. It felt quite strange to be back there for Feast after being away for over 2 years, but it was very nice to see everyone again and to see that nothing had really changed. The next morning I started class, getting there via public transportation. After class I went with some classmates to one of the nearby local beaches, accompanied by family members of one of the girls in my class. The weather was perfect, the water was warm and clear, and the company was great! We rode on a banana boat around the beach, getting thrown off 1 or 2 times. When the sun began to droop down below the horizon, we loaded up the car and headed back into the city. Returning home, I bathed and changed and those of us that went to the beach met up at a bar/lounge relatively close to my house. The music was loud and the dancing was very fun, although it seemed as though we were some of the only people making use of the dance floor. I returned home that night triply exhausted, from the beach, the dancing and the hour.