Day #2- Mi Familia

As you may have figured out, I haven’t had internet so my blogs weren’t posted when I actually wrote them. I’m 2 for 2 on keeping up with them. I think most nights, if I make habit of it, I can write a quick blog before bed and post it in the morning when I have internet. I will try my best to retain all the information that I think your all wondering about.
So today was a LONG day. I feel like I’ve been here for a few days, and I just got here yesterday. Orientation started at 8am, with a nice breakfast (toast, fruit, eggs w/salsa…mmmm!), then the meetings. There are 4 program directors, 2 americans (1 from CU and the other from somewhere else) and 2 Dominicans. Orientation is supposed to be in English, however the Dominicans only speak Spanish, which then has a chain reaction before we convert back to English. The orientation covered information about EVERYTHING…food, family, sickness/injury, town, school, taxis, culture, your experience/comfort zone, a little history of the country, apogones (blackouts), cell phones, people, etc. After 4 hours of that, we had a great lunch. We had more salad, pasta salad, rice, fruit, and some other things like eggplant and chicken (I think). After that we had more orientation, packed our bags, and then met another guy that works at the office of international education. His name is Marco. He told us the do’s and don’ts for host family life. Some examples are: if you want to have a friend over for dinner you must ask first, don’t use the house phone too long because it’s rude (by the way, I can’t call anything other than house phones from my house phone, but incoming calls from you all are okay…but they are also free on the cell phone for incoming calls), let them know if you aren’t coming to a meal, let them know if you will be gone for the night, etc. Pretty basic common courtesy. Then we got a sheet to fill out saying specific things we like or dislike. Ex: do you like coffee with milk, no milk, or none. What kind of milk…regular, skim, or lactose free. He also told us what the host families are required to do and have in the house. They are supposed to have at least a full size bed, closet that locks, desk and chair, a lamp, sheets, comforter, and towels. Then lastly, we found out who our family was!!! My family is made up of a 68 year old woman, Sidenia, and a 45 year old lady, Pura (she's a relative). They said on the sheet we were given that she likes to watch tv, sew, music, church,etc.
After that, we left Camp David to go to PUCMM (my school, pronounced puca-mai-ma). The campus looks pretty. We finally meet our families. My mom was old and cute, como una abuela. She talked a lot to me, but I didn’t get half of what she was saying. She is very hard to understand, but she still sits and will tell me a 2 minute long conversation:)
After a quick few words from the directions, we were on our way to our new home with our new family. Sidenia drives a cute old lady car, its an old red Toyota. She also drives very slow and once mistook the bright lights for a turn signal all within a 4 minute drive. We live in an apartment in an area of town called La Esmeralda. It's pretty close to campus, and there are 2 girls that live about 3 streets away. I have a full sized bed, a dresser, a closet thats huge, a night stand, 2 desks, 2 chairs, and a lamp...very spacious! I share a bathroom with Pura, who I haven't met yet. She went to the beach for the weekend, since tomorrow is a holiday here. Things are great, but there are a few things I will have to get used to, like turning on the water heater 15 minutes prior to showering (if you want a warm one) and the apagones (which are blackouts that occur in town...I need to invest in a flashlight).
Last night a friend of Sidenia, Cruz, came over to watch the local baseball team on tv. They are in the playoffs. I think Cruz was saying that it is her son that works for the team, actually for ESPN deportes. Pretty cool. During the game, I gave them their gifts. The picture frame broke, so I didn't want to give it to her like that. They loved the candles and the twizzlers, which they call in spanish, 'braids.' Then, I showed them pictures of everyone! Afterwards, Sidenia and I talked for a bit about politics of the DR, Dominican time, and other random things. She told me her job is sewing. That was about it for the night. I went to bed pretty early.