20 Febrero – 8 Marzo
Aaand fail. Sorry for the ridiculous almost month long delay.. I finally actually made friends and school picked up so my amount of free time went way down. Anyways, ultimate ramble session GO.

Friday we went out with Diego and Ben, two Dominican engineers who the kids met out at a bar one night. We were all just hanging out at fogon and I mentioned that my dad worked at IBM just because I assume most engineers will know that and Diego literally flipped out and asked if my dad would give a conference or a presentation when he came to visit. I assumed he was kidding but he’s definitely called me and came across campus to seek me out at school to get information and is 100% serious. I’m glad I make friends because my dad is so cool.. good job Krista. We went to this dance club after and even though there weren’t that many people we got to go practice our meringue and bachata so that was fun. They were both really nice and Ben is from La Vega so he said he’d take us all to Carnival on Sunday in his car so that was cool.

Saturday there was a Haitian roof party so we decided to make it a dress theme night, our favorite. We all went to Franks (bar/liquor store that’s pretty close to all of our houses) and just hung out there for a few hours. Oh and legitimately the most giant human beings I’ve ever seen in my life came into the bar.. they were a Puerto Rican basketball team who was here playing in a tournament and they literally put man baby to shame and were terrifying but fun to talk to. They were going to come to the party with us later but ended up not going but still fun. The party was on the roof of an apartment building and they brought DJs and speakers and a bar up there and everyone just hangs out and dances. You could see the monument and like the whole city so that was awesome. It started raining after awhile though so the party ended pretty quick but still a sweet night.

Sunday Ben took us to La Vega for round two. It was cool that he has a car but he has literally the smallest toy car I’ve ever seen and six of us packed in there for the half an hour car ride. Ben usually is in Carnival and dresses up in the masks and the costumes and stuff so we were going to go meet his friends but they had already started in the parade by the time we got there but we still got to meet them as they came past and I got to try on one of the masks.. extremely sweaty but I felt like a badass. It was the last Sunday of carnival so it was pretty nuts there but I got hit a lot less so that was much better. And when the parade ended they just cranked the music up and it was a giant dance party in the street, what could be better. We ate terrible cheap pizza for dinner and then went to his friend Iverson’s house before going out to the clubs (even though it was a Sunday people go out after the parade for the month of February). As we were walking we saw that Omega, our favorite street meringue singer was performing at a concert in La Vega (there’s one song that they literally play everywhere, there’s no way I’ve gone a day since I’ve been here without hearing it at least twice so its become our song) so we went to go see him. We didn’t get to hear him play our song but it was still sweet and just like a big outdoor concert so that was cool. We went to a club after that was super packed even though it was like 8:00 on a Sunday but really fun and we all danced and hung out there until we came back to Santiago at like midnight. Going with someone who knows what he was doing and where to go was so much fun because we felt more like a part of it rather than just American tourists who were way out of place.

25 Febrero
Although Monday and Tuesday of this week took forever, PAIGE GOT HERE ON WEDNESDAYYYYYYYYY! Her week here was the most fun I’ve had so far and I’m so excited she got to come down. She got in at like 10 at night so when she got to my house she met my family just for a few minutes because it was so late. Her three years of high school Spanish were a little rusty so it was funny to watch her try to talk to my parents, I mostly just translated but she learned really quick and by the end of the week could understand a lot. Thursday we laid out on our roof (I forgot how pale people are from Minnesota in the winter haha) and had lunch with my family which she absolutely loved. Coming from eating popcorn and cereal all the time to having an extreme meal made for you everyday was great for her and my mom is just such a good cook and I’m glad she got to experience it so she knows just how good I was talking about. She came to my dance class to watch (laughed at me a little which was expected but I’m one of the best ones in the class, which doesn’t take much in a group of uncoordinated Americans). I showed her around campus and we had Bon (the major ice cream place here, so good). That was where she finally understood how much we get stared/whistled/hissed/etc at.. there was a pickup truck full of probably 15 guys who all just yelled at us and people who kept driving by just whistling or honking or staring.. she said she believed that people did that but didn’t really believe my descriptions until she got here. That night we went over to JB, Carlille, and Steeve’s apartment so she could meet them and Dimitri. She was surprised at just how nice and welcoming they were and just fun to hang out with. We went to a Haitian party at a club and she was way pumped about that because it felt like a club club like the movies and she’s only been to the Roscoes and bars in Rochester so she was really excited and got to dance with cool Haitian boys and was pumped about it.

Friday we went to Cabarete, a beach town on the North shore, to spend the night there and go out because it’s where the best clubs are by us. Ben and Iverson were going with us and were going to drive us and I had talked to them right before I went to bed and they said they were going to meet us at 9:00. Paige got her first experience of Dominican time: they finally came at 10:45. Ridiculous but we had McD’s bfast which was great and we still got to the beach by around 1:00 so that wasn’t too bad. We spent the whole day on the beach and it was an absolutely perfect day so I’m really glad Paige got such a great weekend there. Ha but just due to Minnesota winter she was pale as a dove and some guy who came up to talk to her told her she was the whitest girl on the beach. Hilarious but she got a solid tan by the end of the trip. Cabarete is really windy so it’s where they do a lot of windsurfing and kite surfing. We didn’t try it but it was really cool to watch because there were tons of people doing it and learning how to do it. We had some Dominican food for dinner and went to get ready for the night. We actually ended up getting a really nice hotel for $15 per person with four in one room and six in the other and it wasn’t extreme cousin style like Sosua. Ha I tried to explain the concept of cousin style to Ben but I don’t think that’s something that translates. Some friends of Randi and Charlotte (aka their mom’s brothers who happen to be 20 and gorgeous.. sometimes you date your host uncles?) came to hang out and they didn’t speak any English so Paige had a good Spanish lesson and was surprised at all the random words she remembered. We pregamed at the hotel and then went out to the clubs which are all right on the beach, like you walk through the sand by the ocean to get from club to club: awesome. There were tons of people out and tons of different clubs with different kinds of music and it was just an absolute blast being that close to the ocean and with that environment. After the bars we decided we wanted to swim in the ocean, which we found out pretty quick was illegal when the police came and told us to get out.. oops. But it started pouring so we went back to our hotel to sleep and get rested for the next day at the beach.

Saturday we shopped in the morning and had breakfast at a restaurant on the beach and just spent the whole day at the beach. It was another absolutely gorgeous day so that was phenomenal. We walked farther down the beach to some of the giant waves and Joe, Brie, Paige and I played in them for a long time until we were completely full of salt water and had to rest so we could see. We had some Dominican food for lunch and then decided to buy cigars to smoke on the beach. I’ve never smoked a cigar and probably won’t again because it was gross and I didn’t really get the point but I still felt like a badass so not bad. When we were kind of getting ready to go we found out that Ben and Iverson had drank three bottles of rum and were drunk and planned to stay Saturday night too but didn’t tell us.. Dominican planning is amazing. Luckily we caught the last bus back so nothing was a problem. That night we went to Fogon to celebrate my birthday and when we got there we found out that you can buy a wristband for 100 pesos (about $3) and you can drink as much as you want so Paige and I got those and sucked down vodka cranberries from 11-12 until my birthday so that was fun (don’t worry mom, I wasn’t even real drunk on my 21st bday so nothing to worry about). Two guys who I met the first weekend I was here were there and wanted to talk to Paige but spoke absolutely no english so I translated for all of them for like an hour, it was actually really fun and Paige was surprised that I could actually do it and say everything we wanted to.

Sunday was my real birthday day so when Paige and I went down for lunch my family surprised me and had decorated with balloons and streamers and nice plates and they had champagne and everything and the girls even got to have coca cola in their wine classes so that was so much fun. They sang ‘feliz cumpleanos’ and everything, adorable. My family is so nice I can’t even handle it. That afternoon I gave Paige a tour of Santiago. We went to the monument and walked around on Calle del Sol and sat in a park for awhile and then got yogen fruz which is literally the most amazing thing I’ve ever had. It’s a part of the ice cream place Bon and the use literal yogurt that’s frozen and you pick three fresh fruits to put in and they mix it all up and it was like heaven in a cup. We just kept walking around and ended up at the river as the sun was setting, so gorgeous with the mountains in the background. 100% fake life. Rosie had been staying with her parents in Puerto Plata since Wednesday so I was going through withdrawal and she finally got home Sunday night so we went back to hang out with her. Mama brought a cute tray of whiskey on the rocks in to Rosie’s room for us to drink.. It was absolutely terrible but so fun that she did it so we choked it down. Rosie ordered me pizza for my present (phenomenal present) but there was a problem with the credit card machine and they never called her to tell her and she had to call back twice to figure it out and the pizza came like two and a half hours late but she managed to argue a 50% discount all in Spanish, I was so proud of her skills because talking on the phone is extremely difficult. My parents also had bought a Bon ice cream cake (fun fact: you make a wish when you cut the cake instead of blow out the candles here) and got me a necklace and earrings that are beautiful, they’re way way too nice and amazing. That night we went to the monument to hang out and ended up meeting Alex and Rafael and hung out with them there for awhile then went to their friend’s liquor store that was actually closed but since their friend owned it we just drank in there at like 1 in the morning on a Sunday? A little sketch but it was fun. We went back to the monument and hung out there until like 3:30 and I had to get up at 8 to go volunteer so we went to bed and crashed.

Monday Paige slept in and I went to go teach my kiddies. On my way there the girl who I do it with called me and told me she wasn’t coming and neither was the other girl who goes with us and when I got there I found out the fourth girl dropped the class so I was on my own with the kids but it actually went really well. We played “Krista says” (like simon says) and telephone and they really seemed to like it and paid attention to me and learned stuff for two full hours, it was so fun and I could finally tell that they had warmed up to me and were really excited for me to come. That afternoon I watched the movie “Blowup” in my lit class and since it was in English Paige came but it was a really weird movie so Paige said that was the worst part of the trip haha. After class Paige, Rosie, and I went and got yaroa which is like a heart attack in a box: French fries with meat, cheese, and mayo on it. It was gross and amazing at the same time. That night Paige wanted to go out again because everything was so exciting for her but I was absolutely exhausted because I’ve never gone out four days in a row and still gotten up at 8 multiple days in my life so we just watched The Office and went to bed.

Tuesday we had planned to go to Puerto Plata to go to the beach but when we woke up it was rainy and the weather said it was suppose to rain all day so that was a big let down. But we jut watched more of The Office and hung out during the day and she went to my dance class again and after class we went to Fogon and got tostones (fried platanos that taste like French fries and are awesome) and a Presidente at 4:00 haha. That night everyone went back to Fogon for Paige’s last night and Ben and a few of the guys who Paige had met came to hang out with her. Paige went up and ordered her own beer and she was pumped to legally buy a beer. There weren’t that many people out but it was still fun just to chill with everyone. We went home pretty early because we had to get up at 7 to get Paige to the airport.

Wednesday morning Paige had to leave, very sad day. But mama got her a necklace and earrings kind of like mine for staying with us, broken record but literally she’s just so so nice. Paige got on her plane and got home safe but I was sad for her to go, the week literally went so fast. Everything started going crazy fast about the week before she got here and have not slowed down, I’m going to have to go home before I know it. Crazy.

Thursday night I went to Changeling with Ben which was actually a really good but super intense movie. Iverson and Angelica were at Fogon so we went to go see them after and Joe, Charlotte, and Randi ended up being there too so we hung out with them and even though we were just going to say “hi” I ended up getting home at 2.. poor choice because Friday morning at 6am we were leaving for our excursion to Samana. Three hours of sleep was def not enough but I just slept on the bus. We got to Samana late in the morning and took a boat for about an hour out to a national park (all very Pirates of the Caribbean looking, ballin) First we saw Bird Island which is like a big rock island that has lots of trees on it where there are just tons and tons of birds flying around. The fisherman on the shore give them their left over fish and they all keep having babies there and live there all the time so that was cool. Next we went to a cave that was really awesome and not as big as the first caves we went to but still huge and they gave us giant flashlights that were just really cool. We had lunch on the boat and after swimming in the ocean for a little bit we got to go kayaking! It was completely calm water haha but we got to go into all of the mangroves where there are just tons of giant trees that grow in the water and it was so peaceful and green and lush and just like a rainforest movie and I can’t even describe it. Trena and Brie tried to Xgames kayak and ended up having to lift their kayak over a giant fallen log and in the process Trena had two crabs on her back and a sting ray swam right by them. Agoooo yuck. Still, one of the coolest things I’ve done since I’ve been here. We took the boat ride back and then drove an hour to Las Terrenas which is a different coast town. It was starting to rain so that was kind of a let down but our hotel had a pool and we hadn’t been able to swim without salt water so we just sucked it up and swam there. It was an all inclusive resort (awesome) so it was a tonnn of old Americans and Europeans but we still had a good time. We got cocktails and drank them in the pool and then had a phenomenal dinner. After we ate we went to go explore the town; no one ever goes out until for sure 11:30 but it was fun to just walk around and see the different bars and restaurants. We went back to the hotel for our free cocktails and just hung out by the pool and played dominoes and just chatted. Some people were going out but Randi, Brie, Rosie and I decided to go skinny dipping in the ocean, group bonding. It was so so much fun and a better choice than going to the bars and finding out there were mostly just prostitutes. Sorry guys.

Saturday morning was supposed to be our beach time but it was cloudy and rainy which was lame but we just hung out at the beach anyway and did fake jazzercise/kickboxing exercises and everyone else looked at us funny but it was really fun. In the afternoon we drove back to Samana to go to a lecture of the descendants of ex-slaves from Philadelphia. They were brought down in the 1800s and kept up their traditions since then even though Trujillo (even dictator in the early 1900s who tried to get rid of all the black people in the Dominican Republic by shipping them to Haiti or killing them) tried to prohibit their English speaking and their traditions and stuff. They gave us ginger beer (not for me) and these really good break cake things. Then we made the four hour trip back to Santiago. That night we went to Fogon for the wristband special and pregamed there until we went to a Haitian party. This one was in like a big rented building thing that you could use for a reception or something. A lot of the study abroad kids from other programs were there too so we hung out with them and with our Haitian friends so that was fun.

Sunday I was way tired in the morning just from not catching up on sleep in the last two weeks but after lunch Angelica came to my door and said that her, Iverson, Ben and I were going to this lake river thing so I had to get my stuff ready really quick even though I looked like death and went with them. We went to Bonao which was like half an hour away from Santiago and it was just a river that ran through the hills and stuff and people and families just go there to hang out and swim. It was absolutely gorgeous because it was like a river/waterfall with all the rocks and stuff so we spent the day there just hanging out. The guys are from La Vega so they took us to their favorite sandwich place then we headed home. Overall a very awesome weekend, A+ for the nature in the DR. I’ll try to do better at keeping up and I’ll write soon, I promise. I miss everyone so much but everything is going ridiculously fast so I’ll be back in no time. LES AMO!