Days #12-15

Days #12-15

I think I forgot to add the second day, so I’m off count. I’ve been here for 15 days, not 14. I had to fix it, because you all know those kind of things drive me up the wall!! Anyways…THE WEEKEND~! It was a FANTASTIC time.
Thursday was such a long day. Wednesday night Karaoke is fun, but I can’t stay out that late and have an 8am class. My class was supposed to last for 2 hours, but the next class came in at 9am and said they had the room. Since there were no other classrooms available in the building, we got out early (thank goodness). The community service class was boring on the first day. I am in the education sector, but I think I may want to change to health. I was thinking either working with newborns in the maternity ward of the hospital or in the children’s burn ward (sad, but they need support more than anyone). After class, I went home for lunch and a nap! In the night, Sarah, Mary, Stacey, Erin, and I went out to dinner (for the first time since I got here). Stacey, Sarah, and I went to see “Over My Dead Body,” with Eva Longoria at the theatre. They conveniently renamed it in Spanish, but the translation was something like…’Above My Dead Corpse’ (cadaver). Haha. We thought it would be in Spanish, but it was in English with Spanish subtitles. Nice relaxing evening.
Friday I got to sleep in finally, although I was wide awake at 7. It was pouring down rain all day, I loved it!! I stayed in the house all day watching movies and a failed attempt to start homework. Friday night, Sarah, Vankat (his first name is John, but Sarah and I prefer to drop the first name), and I went to eat pizza at a little Italian place. When we got home, I played the board game, Life in Spanish with Melina and Annette. Annette won. Later, I went out with a group of about 8 Americans to a bar called “One Way.” We danced some merengue, and met a bunch of people. We went to a different club/bar after that called, “Privilege,” but the girls in our group that are darker in color weren’t allowed in so we left. The last bar we went to was a smaller place, and we were pretty much the only ones there. So that was Friday night.
Saturday, I was wide-awake at 7:30. Around 10, I went with Sarah to the salon to get her eyebrows waxed. It was interesting to go to the salon on a Saturday. All the women go and spend hours there getting their hair straightened and nails done. Later, we went to Calle del Sol (popular street with everything you could ever imagine). The views between the buildings are filled with the mountains…SO PRETTY!! We ate lunch on Calle del Sol, did some shopping (no purchases though), and bought a new cell phone. My cell phone worked in the morning, then decided not to work later. I could answer calls, but my keypad wasn’t working. It was cheaper to buy a new phone than to get the old one repaired. It cost me about $25 USD to buy the new one. FYI: I have the same number. After that, I relaxed for a bit. Around eight, Sarah and I went to grab a beer at the university bar. We were sitting on the second level (all outdoors), when a cute boy, named Manuel sent tequila shots up to us. I didn’t take it…I hate tequila!! Around 10, all of our groups of friends all showed up at the same time. It was a bit overwhelming but really fun. My friend Max, from Bonao, came into town to visit me and brought 3 of his friends (I already knew 2 of them). It was probably the best night here, yet. We didn’t get home until after 3am, so I slept in late today (I was happy that my internal clock didn’t wake me this morning).
Today was another awesome day. After I woke up, I skyped a little (with Elle & Hannah, then my grandparents). After that, the woman that lives with us, Pura, invited me to her mother’s house, which is on the 3rd floor of our building. I had already met her mother and her niece, but she wanted me to meet her daughters (who live there). So I went up there to have some pizza and meet everyone. She has 19-year-old twins, who are really nice and know some English. Also living there is the 18-year-old niece, 23-year-old nephew, and 2 dogs. We all exchanged numbers, but it was nice to meet people who are Dominican and my age. They are all students at PUCMM (so it will be nice to ride home with them from campus, doesn’t hurt that the nephew is really cute either, haha). After lunch, I had to go work on a group project for my English-spoken class. We had to go to this park, take pictures, and observe things that we interpreted to be either obvious or curious. I felt like a complete gringa/tourist.
Well that was my awesome weekend~! Recap: fun bars, get to know the city better and better each day, rainy/movie day, theaters, out to dinner, cute boys, friends in town, Spanish is easier every day, had a dream in Spanish…
Now I have to do homework☹