Sunday, April 15, 2007
Showcase on PUNTACANA
Hi everyone! I sent out an email, but I wanted to go ahead and let you know here as well; we are having a "showcase" of our classes and work on Friday 20th at 2:00pm in Torgersan Hall. It is something we're putting together for faculty and friends to present what our 13 weeks in the DR were all about. I hope anyone of you that is interested can make it, but dont feel obligated! Ill see you all in the next week!!!
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Una semana mas!.....One more week!
I can't believe we just have one more week left here in Punta Cana. Like always time has flown and it feels like just yesterday that we arrived here. The anticipation of going home isn't as intense for me as it is for everyone else since I was just in the States last week. (I'm so glad I made it home though!) I am still excited to get back and see all my friends and be in Blacksburg...with NO FINALS to take!!! I'm also looking forward to a BIG FIVE GUYS BURGER (and fries with vinegar), ice cream, and all the chinese,japanese, and thai I can eat!!! What an American, huh?!
Easter Sunday we all went to breakfast at the hotel together in our best pastel outfits. I didnt go to church but most of the rest of the group did. That was a little strange not going to church, but I opted to avoid the hugh crowd, stayed at the Fundacion and read John 20 to make sure I remembered what the day was all about. And NO EASTER BASKET, that was sad! Luckily I had some mini Snickers that I had brought back here from home. I woke my roommate Teddi up, by proclaiming that "The Lord has Risen!" and throwing Snickers at her. That was pretty much how Easter went for us in the DR.
Our professor for our last class left on Sunday and the other professors arent coming until Friday. Our Spanish professor and Jerry are coming down to help us wrap things up here. We have to do a presentation in Spanish for some people here at the Fundacion on Monday to let them know about our overall experience here in the DR. We pretty much have this whole week to finish up any projects and work so we dont have much work to do when we get back to Tech.
I hope you all are doing well! I know its been unusually cold, but hopefully (at least by the time I come home, because I know nothing of cold weather anymore!) it will feel like Spring!
I cant wait to see yall!!!!!
Easter Sunday we all went to breakfast at the hotel together in our best pastel outfits. I didnt go to church but most of the rest of the group did. That was a little strange not going to church, but I opted to avoid the hugh crowd, stayed at the Fundacion and read John 20 to make sure I remembered what the day was all about. And NO EASTER BASKET, that was sad! Luckily I had some mini Snickers that I had brought back here from home. I woke my roommate Teddi up, by proclaiming that "The Lord has Risen!" and throwing Snickers at her. That was pretty much how Easter went for us in the DR.
Our professor for our last class left on Sunday and the other professors arent coming until Friday. Our Spanish professor and Jerry are coming down to help us wrap things up here. We have to do a presentation in Spanish for some people here at the Fundacion on Monday to let them know about our overall experience here in the DR. We pretty much have this whole week to finish up any projects and work so we dont have much work to do when we get back to Tech.
I hope you all are doing well! I know its been unusually cold, but hopefully (at least by the time I come home, because I know nothing of cold weather anymore!) it will feel like Spring!
I cant wait to see yall!!!!!
Friday, March 16, 2007
Buenas Dias Amigos y Familia!
Hi everyone! We only have about a month left here in Punta Cana. I cant believe it! Time has flown by as it always does. We are half way done with Human Geography which we are studying right now and then we have one more class, Working in the Global Community. Human geography has been interesting. The main project for this class is doing a housing census in Veron. We are split into the same groups as we teach with. We have satellite images of the town to find our way around. The same project was done 2 years ago, so we're going around and filling in the buildings that have been built since then and also those under construction. Veron has grown very rapidly. There are new houses and businesses going up everywhere. Some of the town has a grided organization to it, but other parts are just shanty homes, built wherever there is a space. Part of the point of our work is to help the mayor and other officials know where people are living and ways that they can better regulate and organize construction. We have meet and talked with many locals in the process of doing our project. They are all very nice and interested in what we're doing. Only a few people have questioned our motives. For example, one man told another group that he didn't want them taking pictures of the houses because they were only going to take them back and make fun of them and give them to the government to be used against them. My friend Haley tried to explain to them that it was not like that at all that is wasnt for the government, but it was pretty much unsuccessful. As the left they walked away they noticed a large bottle of Brugal sitting next to the man which could explain his frustration and anger towards our group: the gringos. Steven Duke, our director at Virginia Tech, requested that we have escorts with us through Veron This never happened, but even with the cat calls and comments we dont feel unsafe.
Most of our facilites here at the Fundacion havent been in operation lately. Our cable worked for about 2-3 weeks when we got here but hasnt worked again until the beginning of this week. We insisted that it be working for March Madness. Our professor, Korine, emailed the top guys and it started working the next day, leading us to believe it couldve been fixed a long time ago. We've learned that there is a thing called "Dominican Time." You could say it is similar to "Huber Time" times 10. I think anyone looking at this should understand. We also havent had hot water for about two weeks now. We ask our director here, Heyddy everyday about it and everyday she says it should be fixed. Again....it's being fixed on "Dominican Time" Our wireless internet isnt very reliable either. Sometimes it works...sometimes it doesnt. Needless to say, we've learned to be flexible and that we're in la Republica Dominicana and they run on their own time.
My favorite thing we've been doing the last few weeks is going to the school twice a week to teach English. My group is teaching juniors and they're great. I think it's the easiest age to teach. The younger kids don't have as much interest and the older kids dont have as much respect. Our focus in class this week was parts of the body and verbs, along with some vocabulary. We taught them "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and they loved singing it. Teaching for me has been very rewarding especially when you can see the students progress. Some of the students will stay after class also to ask questions.
I hope things are going well in the States. I cant wait to see you all!
Hi everyone! We only have about a month left here in Punta Cana. I cant believe it! Time has flown by as it always does. We are half way done with Human Geography which we are studying right now and then we have one more class, Working in the Global Community. Human geography has been interesting. The main project for this class is doing a housing census in Veron. We are split into the same groups as we teach with. We have satellite images of the town to find our way around. The same project was done 2 years ago, so we're going around and filling in the buildings that have been built since then and also those under construction. Veron has grown very rapidly. There are new houses and businesses going up everywhere. Some of the town has a grided organization to it, but other parts are just shanty homes, built wherever there is a space. Part of the point of our work is to help the mayor and other officials know where people are living and ways that they can better regulate and organize construction. We have meet and talked with many locals in the process of doing our project. They are all very nice and interested in what we're doing. Only a few people have questioned our motives. For example, one man told another group that he didn't want them taking pictures of the houses because they were only going to take them back and make fun of them and give them to the government to be used against them. My friend Haley tried to explain to them that it was not like that at all that is wasnt for the government, but it was pretty much unsuccessful. As the left they walked away they noticed a large bottle of Brugal sitting next to the man which could explain his frustration and anger towards our group: the gringos. Steven Duke, our director at Virginia Tech, requested that we have escorts with us through Veron This never happened, but even with the cat calls and comments we dont feel unsafe.
Most of our facilites here at the Fundacion havent been in operation lately. Our cable worked for about 2-3 weeks when we got here but hasnt worked again until the beginning of this week. We insisted that it be working for March Madness. Our professor, Korine, emailed the top guys and it started working the next day, leading us to believe it couldve been fixed a long time ago. We've learned that there is a thing called "Dominican Time." You could say it is similar to "Huber Time" times 10. I think anyone looking at this should understand. We also havent had hot water for about two weeks now. We ask our director here, Heyddy everyday about it and everyday she says it should be fixed. Again....it's being fixed on "Dominican Time" Our wireless internet isnt very reliable either. Sometimes it works...sometimes it doesnt. Needless to say, we've learned to be flexible and that we're in la Republica Dominicana and they run on their own time.
My favorite thing we've been doing the last few weeks is going to the school twice a week to teach English. My group is teaching juniors and they're great. I think it's the easiest age to teach. The younger kids don't have as much interest and the older kids dont have as much respect. Our focus in class this week was parts of the body and verbs, along with some vocabulary. We taught them "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and they loved singing it. Teaching for me has been very rewarding especially when you can see the students progress. Some of the students will stay after class also to ask questions.
I hope things are going well in the States. I cant wait to see you all!
Most of our facilites here at the Fundacion havent been in operation lately. Our cable worked for about 2-3 weeks when we got here but hasnt worked again until the beginning of this week. We insisted that it be working for March Madness. Our professor, Korine, emailed the top guys and it started working the next day, leading us to believe it couldve been fixed a long time ago. We've learned that there is a thing called "Dominican Time." You could say it is similar to "Huber Time" times 10. I think anyone looking at this should understand. We also havent had hot water for about two weeks now. We ask our director here, Heyddy everyday about it and everyday she says it should be fixed. Again....it's being fixed on "Dominican Time" Our wireless internet isnt very reliable either. Sometimes it works...sometimes it doesnt. Needless to say, we've learned to be flexible and that we're in la Republica Dominicana and they run on their own time.
My favorite thing we've been doing the last few weeks is going to the school twice a week to teach English. My group is teaching juniors and they're great. I think it's the easiest age to teach. The younger kids don't have as much interest and the older kids dont have as much respect. Our focus in class this week was parts of the body and verbs, along with some vocabulary. We taught them "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and they loved singing it. Teaching for me has been very rewarding especially when you can see the students progress. Some of the students will stay after class also to ask questions.
I hope things are going well in the States. I cant wait to see you all!
Hi everyone! We only have about a month left here in Punta Cana. I cant believe it! Time has flown by as it always does. We are half way done with Human Geography which we are studying right now and then we have one more class, Working in the Global Community. Human geography has been interesting. The main project for this class is doing a housing census in Veron. We are split into the same groups as we teach with. We have satellite images of the town to find our way around. The same project was done 2 years ago, so we're going around and filling in the buildings that have been built since then and also those under construction. Veron has grown very rapidly. There are new houses and businesses going up everywhere. Some of the town has a grided organization to it, but other parts are just shanty homes, built wherever there is a space. Part of the point of our work is to help the mayor and other officials know where people are living and ways that they can better regulate and organize construction. We have meet and talked with many locals in the process of doing our project. They are all very nice and interested in what we're doing. Only a few people have questioned our motives. For example, one man told another group that he didn't want them taking pictures of the houses because they were only going to take them back and make fun of them and give them to the government to be used against them. My friend Haley tried to explain to them that it was not like that at all that is wasnt for the government, but it was pretty much unsuccessful. As the left they walked away they noticed a large bottle of Brugal sitting next to the man which could explain his frustration and anger towards our group: the gringos. Steven Duke, our director at Virginia Tech, requested that we have escorts with us through Veron This never happened, but even with the cat calls and comments we dont feel unsafe.
Most of our facilites here at the Fundacion havent been in operation lately. Our cable worked for about 2-3 weeks when we got here but hasnt worked again until the beginning of this week. We insisted that it be working for March Madness. Our professor, Korine, emailed the top guys and it started working the next day, leading us to believe it couldve been fixed a long time ago. We've learned that there is a thing called "Dominican Time." You could say it is similar to "Huber Time" times 10. I think anyone looking at this should understand. We also havent had hot water for about two weeks now. We ask our director here, Heyddy everyday about it and everyday she says it should be fixed. Again....it's being fixed on "Dominican Time" Our wireless internet isnt very reliable either. Sometimes it works...sometimes it doesnt. Needless to say, we've learned to be flexible and that we're in la Republica Dominicana and they run on their own time.
My favorite thing we've been doing the last few weeks is going to the school twice a week to teach English. My group is teaching juniors and they're great. I think it's the easiest age to teach. The younger kids don't have as much interest and the older kids dont have as much respect. Our focus in class this week was parts of the body and verbs, along with some vocabulary. We taught them "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and they loved singing it. Teaching for me has been very rewarding especially when you can see the students progress. Some of the students will stay after class also to ask questions.
I hope things are going well in the States. I cant wait to see you all!
Monday, March 5, 2007
I love birds!
For the past week we've been bird watching (or birding) with Jerry Via and his friend Bill. I love them both! They're both very friendly; they're like the uncles that you love to go visit because he takes you out to do fun things. Jerry always has random presents for us: Tootsie Roll Pops, clown noses, pens....it's fun. Bird watching has been more interesting than I thought it was going to be. We have seen alot of the endemic species to the Dominican Republic right here around the hotel. You don't even realize until you look but there are always birds around you. Peacocks are wild around here. You'll see them on top of cars and you can always here them squawking.
The other day we went on a field trip to a couple lakes to look for birds. We ended up walking through about 1/2 mile of mangroves which is much easier said than done. Some people had flip-flops on and had to turn around. But we got the full effect of what a mangrove is like- very hard to walk through!
My camera is broken so I havent been able to take any pictures. But Jerry, and some others, have taken alot of pictures which I hope I can get sometime to show you some new pics.
My favorite thing we've done this past week is teaching at the school. We are split into three different groups. There's four people in my group and we go every Wed and Fri for three hours total. We are teaching at a private high school in Veron which is about 15 minutes away. We take the public bus to get there and back. Our group is teaching 11th graders. The first couple times we went, it was a little frustrating because the kids werent really paying attention and we werent very well instructed in what they had already learned and what we should be teaching them. Since we werent really prepared, it was hard to keep their attention.
The English teacher at the school right now is from Haiti, SO her first langauge was French and she doesnt really speak English OR Spanish. I feel really bad for her! I cant imagine trying to teaching kids a language that you barely know and on top of that you cant even speak to them in their own langauge. So, the teacher has been very grateful to have us. We were reviewing colors, days of the week, and months the other day and she was taking notes. (meaning she was learning the words too) When I speak to her, Im not sure weather to speak English or Spanish because sometimes I can understand her better in Spanish. Its a very interesting situation and I understand now why not many people her speak English. The education system is not very good.
There is a Dominican student here for two weeks to take Jerry's class with us. Her name is Natalie and her English is perfect. I've talked with her about the education in the DR and she said it's not good. She is a biology major (yay!) and super smart but people think she's crazy here because there isnt much opportunity once you graduate with a bio degree. It's really unfortunate because she is so smart. She would like to do research but she would have to get a masters or PhD which means going somewhere else (another country) and that of course takes money. It makes me realize how fortunate we are in the US to have so much opportunity right at our fingertips. You jus have to take advantage of it.
But that's a little bit about what's been goin on around here. Let me know how things are going for all you guys! I miss you all and cant wait to see everyone!!!!
The other day we went on a field trip to a couple lakes to look for birds. We ended up walking through about 1/2 mile of mangroves which is much easier said than done. Some people had flip-flops on and had to turn around. But we got the full effect of what a mangrove is like- very hard to walk through!
My camera is broken so I havent been able to take any pictures. But Jerry, and some others, have taken alot of pictures which I hope I can get sometime to show you some new pics.
My favorite thing we've done this past week is teaching at the school. We are split into three different groups. There's four people in my group and we go every Wed and Fri for three hours total. We are teaching at a private high school in Veron which is about 15 minutes away. We take the public bus to get there and back. Our group is teaching 11th graders. The first couple times we went, it was a little frustrating because the kids werent really paying attention and we werent very well instructed in what they had already learned and what we should be teaching them. Since we werent really prepared, it was hard to keep their attention.
The English teacher at the school right now is from Haiti, SO her first langauge was French and she doesnt really speak English OR Spanish. I feel really bad for her! I cant imagine trying to teaching kids a language that you barely know and on top of that you cant even speak to them in their own langauge. So, the teacher has been very grateful to have us. We were reviewing colors, days of the week, and months the other day and she was taking notes. (meaning she was learning the words too) When I speak to her, Im not sure weather to speak English or Spanish because sometimes I can understand her better in Spanish. Its a very interesting situation and I understand now why not many people her speak English. The education system is not very good.
There is a Dominican student here for two weeks to take Jerry's class with us. Her name is Natalie and her English is perfect. I've talked with her about the education in the DR and she said it's not good. She is a biology major (yay!) and super smart but people think she's crazy here because there isnt much opportunity once you graduate with a bio degree. It's really unfortunate because she is so smart. She would like to do research but she would have to get a masters or PhD which means going somewhere else (another country) and that of course takes money. It makes me realize how fortunate we are in the US to have so much opportunity right at our fingertips. You jus have to take advantage of it.
But that's a little bit about what's been goin on around here. Let me know how things are going for all you guys! I miss you all and cant wait to see everyone!!!!
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Santo Domingo and Carnaval!
Hey Everyone!
Since I wrote last we've been to Santo Domingo and started our service learning project in Veron. We are teaching English in a private school about 20 minutes away from the Fundacion. But I'll tell you first about our 4 day trip to Santo Domingo. After Lisa Kennedy left and we finished up our Physical Geography class, Antonio Fernandez came to teach our Spanish Culture and Civilization course. We're actually finishing up the course right now. Today we have our last lecture. Most of the material that we are covering, I had already seen in the Spanish Culture and Literature class I took a couple semesters ago with Fernandez. However, the first time I took the course it was all in Spanish and this time it was all in English. I wish I could say I already knew everything that we've been taught the last 11/2 - 2 weeks but to be honest I got alot more out of the class this time in English. But it was nice to at least be familiar with the material; it wasnt completely new. We've had lectures everyday (besides our time in Santo Domingo) in the morning for about an hour before lunch and after the service learning group returns from the school, we have lunch at 12-1, and then continue lecture until 2:30 or 3.
Our time in Santo Domingo was great! We stayed in a very nice hotel called Hotel Europa. We stay pretty much in the Colonial Zone of the city; our hotel was a block up from the house of Diego Colombus, the son of Christopher Colombus. I really felt like I was in Europe rather than the Dominican Republic. Santo Domingo is packed full of historic sites; Diego's estate, the first cathedral and school in the new World, a hospital built for Indians that became sick with diseases from Europeans, the monument that (suppositly) contains the remains of Christopher Colombus (the body was transported between the DR and Spain several times after his death and at some point there was confusion on whether they had the body of Christopher or his son Diego...both places want to claim the have the remains, but there are DNA test currently being done to determine who really has the body of Christopher Colombus...Im just going to pretend like we really saw the box containing the remains of the founder of the New World: Christopher Colombus. Even though, after 500 yrs I dont think anyone can be sure.
While in Santo Domingo we also visited the National Aquarium, Botanical Gardens, and two museums: an art museum and history. The art museum had some really cool pieces and I thought of you all: Dad, Ivan and Katie:) Ill post some pictures.
The other big event on our trip to Santo Domingo was a side excursion to Carnaval. It was CRAZY! We didnt actually go to Carnaval in Santo Domingo because it isnt until a later date but instead we traveled to La Vega (about an hour north of Santo Domingo...i think). We went with a group of people on a charter bus. Some of Heyddy's friends were in the organization that was planning the trip. It was $30 for the bus, drinks, a t-shirt, and lots of fun! :) There were some crazy Dominican girls on the bus with us but they made us feel very welcome. They especially liked the American boys with us. We thought the bus ride there was crazy but once we actually got to Carnaval the bus ride didnt compare. There were so many people, it was almost impossible to walk and the music was so loud my eyeballs were vibrating, seriously! haha it was crazy.
All the different regions dress up in different costumes that they work on all year to think of and creat and parade through the streets and compete for the best costume. They were all handmade and very elaborate. Im going to post some pictures, so you can see for yourself. They also carry around these mallets and hit people. I was lucky enough to not get hit very hard but I did get hit gently and that still hurt. Some of the people we were with got hit hard and it definitely left bruises. The idea is that they're beating the bad spirits out of you. It was a cultural experience to say the least.
Hope everything is going well for everyone!
PS- I forgot...we also went to the Presidential Palace also! I've posted some pics.
Since I wrote last we've been to Santo Domingo and started our service learning project in Veron. We are teaching English in a private school about 20 minutes away from the Fundacion. But I'll tell you first about our 4 day trip to Santo Domingo. After Lisa Kennedy left and we finished up our Physical Geography class, Antonio Fernandez came to teach our Spanish Culture and Civilization course. We're actually finishing up the course right now. Today we have our last lecture. Most of the material that we are covering, I had already seen in the Spanish Culture and Literature class I took a couple semesters ago with Fernandez. However, the first time I took the course it was all in Spanish and this time it was all in English. I wish I could say I already knew everything that we've been taught the last 11/2 - 2 weeks but to be honest I got alot more out of the class this time in English. But it was nice to at least be familiar with the material; it wasnt completely new. We've had lectures everyday (besides our time in Santo Domingo) in the morning for about an hour before lunch and after the service learning group returns from the school, we have lunch at 12-1, and then continue lecture until 2:30 or 3.
Our time in Santo Domingo was great! We stayed in a very nice hotel called Hotel Europa. We stay pretty much in the Colonial Zone of the city; our hotel was a block up from the house of Diego Colombus, the son of Christopher Colombus. I really felt like I was in Europe rather than the Dominican Republic. Santo Domingo is packed full of historic sites; Diego's estate, the first cathedral and school in the new World, a hospital built for Indians that became sick with diseases from Europeans, the monument that (suppositly) contains the remains of Christopher Colombus (the body was transported between the DR and Spain several times after his death and at some point there was confusion on whether they had the body of Christopher or his son Diego...both places want to claim the have the remains, but there are DNA test currently being done to determine who really has the body of Christopher Colombus...Im just going to pretend like we really saw the box containing the remains of the founder of the New World: Christopher Colombus. Even though, after 500 yrs I dont think anyone can be sure.
While in Santo Domingo we also visited the National Aquarium, Botanical Gardens, and two museums: an art museum and history. The art museum had some really cool pieces and I thought of you all: Dad, Ivan and Katie:) Ill post some pictures.
The other big event on our trip to Santo Domingo was a side excursion to Carnaval. It was CRAZY! We didnt actually go to Carnaval in Santo Domingo because it isnt until a later date but instead we traveled to La Vega (about an hour north of Santo Domingo...i think). We went with a group of people on a charter bus. Some of Heyddy's friends were in the organization that was planning the trip. It was $30 for the bus, drinks, a t-shirt, and lots of fun! :) There were some crazy Dominican girls on the bus with us but they made us feel very welcome. They especially liked the American boys with us. We thought the bus ride there was crazy but once we actually got to Carnaval the bus ride didnt compare. There were so many people, it was almost impossible to walk and the music was so loud my eyeballs were vibrating, seriously! haha it was crazy.
All the different regions dress up in different costumes that they work on all year to think of and creat and parade through the streets and compete for the best costume. They were all handmade and very elaborate. Im going to post some pictures, so you can see for yourself. They also carry around these mallets and hit people. I was lucky enough to not get hit very hard but I did get hit gently and that still hurt. Some of the people we were with got hit hard and it definitely left bruises. The idea is that they're beating the bad spirits out of you. It was a cultural experience to say the least.
Hope everything is going well for everyone!
PS- I forgot...we also went to the Presidential Palace also! I've posted some pics.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Back in Punta Cana after 8 days of traveling through the country...
We just got back yesterday from our longest field trip that we'll take this semester. Our professor right now is Lisa Kennedy and the course is Physical Geography. We got to see every type of terrain there is in the DR. We travelled from Punta Cana at about sea level up into the mountains at around 7000 ft above sea level and then back down the other side of the mountains to another coastal region near Haiti. I think I can say those 8 days will be my favorite part of the trip. We just got to see so many things.
We left last Tuesday and travelled along the southern coast through La Romana and Santo Domingo and stopped in La Constanza. On the way we stopped at a market and bought 4, freshly killed chickens to take to the high mountains. We stayed at a hotel there called Rancho Constanza. We took a 14km hike up into the cloud forest areas while we were here. From Constanza we drove up to Valle Nuevo. This is the high, high mountains where we stayed in a cabin.
The bus we took was one from the PuntaCana Resort. It was a nice 30 passenger bus; big enough for 17 people (11 students, 3 grad students that came for this course, along with Lisa, Heyddy and Junior our bus driver) plus all of our food and luggage. I know the people that lived on the roads that we were passing on thought we were crazy trying to take a bus that size up into these mountains...I kinda thought we were too. You have to understand the roads are far, far from paved and not very well maintained. Moreno, who's cabin we stayed at, let Lisa know if there were any really bad spots in the road a couple days before we left. Everything was fine. However, in those couple days there was a small landslide that occurred in one part of the road. We were stuck in the same spot for 3 hours trying to get the bus out of the mud. It was a time to learn patience and teamwork for sure. We were all pushing, taking out rocks and putting rocks back in. It was an adventure to say the least. We finally got it out after a truck came and tied a rope to the bus and pulled it out. I've posted some pictures so you can see what I'm talking about. After that there wasn't too much trouble. We stayed in the mountains for 3 nights. It was cold, but it was nice to have a break from the hot weather for a little while. But 3 nights was just enough, and I was ready to get back to a hot shower and the beach.
We went on the southern coast near Haiti to a resort called Coral Sol and we traveled one day to a region called Cabo Rojo. Everything was beautiful! Cabo Rojo was like paradise, there's no other way to describe it. The water was perfectly clear and warm. It couldn't have gotten any better. We ate at a little bar there. The lady cooked us fresh shrimp, octopus, and conch. It was soo good. They also played "Pasame la Botella" 20 times because we knew the words. It's a popular song around here and it's become our theme song I guess you could say. Again, you can look at the pics, that's better than me trying to describe it.
One thing I've missed alot is ice cream! The food everywhere is very good, but like anywhere other than the US, dessert is not a big deal like it is for a lot of us. But sometimes you can find ice cream in little stores on the street. So, when we were at Coral Sol we walked to the next town to find some ice cream. It was a good walk there, probably about 20 minutes. On the way there we saw probably 5 ice cream wrappers on the ground so we thought that was a good sign. However, when we got there, no one had ice cream. We settled for Cokes and 7-Up's instead, which was fine after walking a mile in that heat. But that's one thing I appreciate more now, because from experience they don't have ice cream everywhere.
We haven't had class per say, because is all the time. For example, when we were on our field trip our assignment was to concentrate on observing things and take pictures of what we saw. For this class we have to make a photo journal of our trip: selecting 40 photos to put into PowerPoint and describe why they're important, basically explaining what we learned.
The experience so far has definitely been one of I guess I would say just that- experiencing. We are learning factual things as we go, but more than that we are seeing things for ourselves. Instead of sitting in a classroom and listening to Lisa tell us that the southwestern part of the country is a desert terrain, we got to go there ourselves, feel the climate, see the plants, and document everything we observed. It was great! See the pics :)
We left last Tuesday and travelled along the southern coast through La Romana and Santo Domingo and stopped in La Constanza. On the way we stopped at a market and bought 4, freshly killed chickens to take to the high mountains. We stayed at a hotel there called Rancho Constanza. We took a 14km hike up into the cloud forest areas while we were here. From Constanza we drove up to Valle Nuevo. This is the high, high mountains where we stayed in a cabin.
The bus we took was one from the PuntaCana Resort. It was a nice 30 passenger bus; big enough for 17 people (11 students, 3 grad students that came for this course, along with Lisa, Heyddy and Junior our bus driver) plus all of our food and luggage. I know the people that lived on the roads that we were passing on thought we were crazy trying to take a bus that size up into these mountains...I kinda thought we were too. You have to understand the roads are far, far from paved and not very well maintained. Moreno, who's cabin we stayed at, let Lisa know if there were any really bad spots in the road a couple days before we left. Everything was fine. However, in those couple days there was a small landslide that occurred in one part of the road. We were stuck in the same spot for 3 hours trying to get the bus out of the mud. It was a time to learn patience and teamwork for sure. We were all pushing, taking out rocks and putting rocks back in. It was an adventure to say the least. We finally got it out after a truck came and tied a rope to the bus and pulled it out. I've posted some pictures so you can see what I'm talking about. After that there wasn't too much trouble. We stayed in the mountains for 3 nights. It was cold, but it was nice to have a break from the hot weather for a little while. But 3 nights was just enough, and I was ready to get back to a hot shower and the beach.
We went on the southern coast near Haiti to a resort called Coral Sol and we traveled one day to a region called Cabo Rojo. Everything was beautiful! Cabo Rojo was like paradise, there's no other way to describe it. The water was perfectly clear and warm. It couldn't have gotten any better. We ate at a little bar there. The lady cooked us fresh shrimp, octopus, and conch. It was soo good. They also played "Pasame la Botella" 20 times because we knew the words. It's a popular song around here and it's become our theme song I guess you could say. Again, you can look at the pics, that's better than me trying to describe it.
One thing I've missed alot is ice cream! The food everywhere is very good, but like anywhere other than the US, dessert is not a big deal like it is for a lot of us. But sometimes you can find ice cream in little stores on the street. So, when we were at Coral Sol we walked to the next town to find some ice cream. It was a good walk there, probably about 20 minutes. On the way there we saw probably 5 ice cream wrappers on the ground so we thought that was a good sign. However, when we got there, no one had ice cream. We settled for Cokes and 7-Up's instead, which was fine after walking a mile in that heat. But that's one thing I appreciate more now, because from experience they don't have ice cream everywhere.
We haven't had class per say, because is all the time. For example, when we were on our field trip our assignment was to concentrate on observing things and take pictures of what we saw. For this class we have to make a photo journal of our trip: selecting 40 photos to put into PowerPoint and describe why they're important, basically explaining what we learned.
The experience so far has definitely been one of I guess I would say just that- experiencing. We are learning factual things as we go, but more than that we are seeing things for ourselves. Instead of sitting in a classroom and listening to Lisa tell us that the southwestern part of the country is a desert terrain, we got to go there ourselves, feel the climate, see the plants, and document everything we observed. It was great! See the pics :)
Saturday, January 27, 2007
One week!
Hola everyone! So, we've been in Punta Cana for a week now. I feels like we've been here a month, because we're never bored. It feels like we've done so much already in just one week. It is hard to remember everything. The highlight of the week was yesterday, going to Higuey and La Romana. We finally got to leave the hotel/resort area and travel to these towns to shop at the markets. I think we all thought we might lose our lives on the way there and back but we are all still here. But the drivers around here are crazy! They always pass each other right when theres another car coming in the other lane, they run people off the road, and there are so many people are motorbikes that will just pass on the other side. It was an adventure to say the least. I felt sorry for Anton, the guy in our group that was sitting in the front seat. But that was half of the adventure yesterday so I had to mention it.
We only stopped in Higuey for probably 20-30 minutes to see the cathedral there. I was beautiful! It was built in 1912, but it was HUGH, with very colorful stained glass windows. The architecture was interesting. There were sections coming out from behind other sections. It is kind of hard to explain, but Dad, Ivan, Katie, you all would've liked it. I posted some pictures that might give you an idea. But as always they dont do the structure justice.
After that, we left for La Romana, it was about an hour drive. This was part of our Spanish class, and the assignment was that you had to buy something. We were supposed to negotiate and use only Spanish. I bought a CD, "Reggaeton Xclusivo 2007"!!! There was no reason for me to negoiate though because it was $3 without negotiation. I felt bad asking any less. Although, when I opened it I found it was a burned CD, but the music was on it. So, I think I got a pretty good deal. We also went to a supermarket. It was called "Jumbo." It was basically a Super Walmart kind of thing, but maybe not as big.
We took a side trip on our way to La Romana and stopped at a university. I think the name of the university was "Altos de Chavon." Because it is way up on a mountain that over looks a river called Chavon. It is a school for interior design, fashion design, graphic design, and maybe a couple other areas of study. It was founded by Oscar de la Renta, the Dominican fashion design. It has an amphitheater that many famous artists have performed at: Frank Sanatra, Sting, The Police, umm...those were just a few that they told us about. I felt like I was in Europe, walking around the campus. Some of the buildings and structures were very old, while other parts had been restored or built to look old.
Getting to ride through the towns was the most eye-opening part of the trip so far. It really wasn't anything I didn't expect, but even if you've seen it 30 times before, the poverty that you see once you leave the glamore of the resort area is heartbreaking. It was alot like Mexico, for those of you that have been. There are people on the side of the roads selling food, phone cards, clothes, and many other things. There are places that obviously don't have running water and sometimes electricity. We ate at Burger King (of all places...haha) but there were little kids outside that we not allowed to come in. So, they would wait outside and open the door for people to come out, hoping to get some food or money. One of the little boys shined our bus drivers shoes while we ate. The boys were probably 10-years-old.
It is amazing, the range of classes in one place. As we drove we also saw some very nice houses and also some that were very modest but the people seemed to be relatively well off. Theres always so many things to think about when you see these types of situations. There is a little community right down the road from the resort about a mile or two, that is very, very poor. We went there because someone told us there was a little store to buy things, so we went. But it is literally a mile outside the gates of the hotel and the people are dirt poor. It's amazing. We are going to address some of these issues in a couple of our other classes later on. I'm excited to hear other peoples perspective about the situation. It is the same way with the employees at the resort. They work in a fancy, ritzy environment, but then go home every 10 days or so to families that are counting on them and the money they're making in order to have food to eat. It's very ironic. However, all the Dominicans we have interviewed (we did this for an assignment in our Spanish class) say they are very glad to have the tourists here because they do bring money and boost the economy of the area. So, it's something to think about.
I guess that's it for now. As always, I hope you all are doing well. I love to hear from you all, so feel free to write:) CIAO!
We only stopped in Higuey for probably 20-30 minutes to see the cathedral there. I was beautiful! It was built in 1912, but it was HUGH, with very colorful stained glass windows. The architecture was interesting. There were sections coming out from behind other sections. It is kind of hard to explain, but Dad, Ivan, Katie, you all would've liked it. I posted some pictures that might give you an idea. But as always they dont do the structure justice.
After that, we left for La Romana, it was about an hour drive. This was part of our Spanish class, and the assignment was that you had to buy something. We were supposed to negotiate and use only Spanish. I bought a CD, "Reggaeton Xclusivo 2007"!!! There was no reason for me to negoiate though because it was $3 without negotiation. I felt bad asking any less. Although, when I opened it I found it was a burned CD, but the music was on it. So, I think I got a pretty good deal. We also went to a supermarket. It was called "Jumbo." It was basically a Super Walmart kind of thing, but maybe not as big.
We took a side trip on our way to La Romana and stopped at a university. I think the name of the university was "Altos de Chavon." Because it is way up on a mountain that over looks a river called Chavon. It is a school for interior design, fashion design, graphic design, and maybe a couple other areas of study. It was founded by Oscar de la Renta, the Dominican fashion design. It has an amphitheater that many famous artists have performed at: Frank Sanatra, Sting, The Police, umm...those were just a few that they told us about. I felt like I was in Europe, walking around the campus. Some of the buildings and structures were very old, while other parts had been restored or built to look old.
Getting to ride through the towns was the most eye-opening part of the trip so far. It really wasn't anything I didn't expect, but even if you've seen it 30 times before, the poverty that you see once you leave the glamore of the resort area is heartbreaking. It was alot like Mexico, for those of you that have been. There are people on the side of the roads selling food, phone cards, clothes, and many other things. There are places that obviously don't have running water and sometimes electricity. We ate at Burger King (of all places...haha) but there were little kids outside that we not allowed to come in. So, they would wait outside and open the door for people to come out, hoping to get some food or money. One of the little boys shined our bus drivers shoes while we ate. The boys were probably 10-years-old.
It is amazing, the range of classes in one place. As we drove we also saw some very nice houses and also some that were very modest but the people seemed to be relatively well off. Theres always so many things to think about when you see these types of situations. There is a little community right down the road from the resort about a mile or two, that is very, very poor. We went there because someone told us there was a little store to buy things, so we went. But it is literally a mile outside the gates of the hotel and the people are dirt poor. It's amazing. We are going to address some of these issues in a couple of our other classes later on. I'm excited to hear other peoples perspective about the situation. It is the same way with the employees at the resort. They work in a fancy, ritzy environment, but then go home every 10 days or so to families that are counting on them and the money they're making in order to have food to eat. It's very ironic. However, all the Dominicans we have interviewed (we did this for an assignment in our Spanish class) say they are very glad to have the tourists here because they do bring money and boost the economy of the area. So, it's something to think about.
I guess that's it for now. As always, I hope you all are doing well. I love to hear from you all, so feel free to write:) CIAO!
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Finally Up
Hey everybody! Sorry it's taken me a minute to get this set up, but thanks to Anne I'm figuring this out!
The Dominican Republic is grrreat!!! The weather is nice, the people are even nicer, and the food is the best! Last night after dinner we were supposed to come back to the Foundation, where we stay, and watch a movie in Spanish as part of our class but ended up all learning the meringue in the lobby of the hotel. Our professor right now, Nancy Lopez, is from Santo Domingo, so she was totally down with skipping the movie and dancing. Dancing is a big part of the Dominican culture; everyone dances and they are all really good at it!!
Today, we took the kayaks out on the water and some people tried windsurfing. We have access to most of the activities at the resort. In class today, a couple other people (Anton and Haley) and I were assigned to go out and interview three Dominican people around our complex and at the hotel. We had a really good time talking to the people. We interview two older men: Miguel, one of the security guards at the foundation and Delacruz another security guard at the gate to the hotel. Then, Jorge who is an employee at the hotel and is 21, which gave us a different perspective. The older men were kind of hard to understand because they spoke really fast and without full pronunciation. We learned that the Dominicans like to leave out letters, so it's kind of difficult to understand sometimes. For example, someone today said "algo" but left out the sound of the "l" so it sounded like "ago." So, it takes sometime to get used the their accents, but everyone is very willing to speak with you and are very patient when we talk for 5 minutes and only actually get out 3 sentences. We help them with their English too. It's a great opportunity for us to learn from each other. Nancy has basically told my group that we need to talk, talk, talk since we already know our grammar and verbs etc. Solomente espanol ahora! (Only Spanish now!)
I was planning on only writing once a week but I feel like there is sooo much to write. But now that I have this somewhat setup I'm going to try to write an update once every day or two and give you the highlights so I don't bore you with all the details!
I miss you all! Espero que TODOS esten aqui!! (I wish you were ALL here!!)
PICTURES: 1. Flying into DR over the mountains
2. the beach!
3. The group in front of the Fundacion Ecológica, where we have stay and have class
4. Luis, me, Jorge, y Anton
5. They have capture 2 baby sea turtles so far this year. Last your they rescued 32. They catch them when they're little to protect them from fish predation and then release them after they're big enough to survive.
6. group at hotel, after meringue-ing
Sorry it's kinda hard to see these pics, Im going to get another program to put more up!
The Dominican Republic is grrreat!!! The weather is nice, the people are even nicer, and the food is the best! Last night after dinner we were supposed to come back to the Foundation, where we stay, and watch a movie in Spanish as part of our class but ended up all learning the meringue in the lobby of the hotel. Our professor right now, Nancy Lopez, is from Santo Domingo, so she was totally down with skipping the movie and dancing. Dancing is a big part of the Dominican culture; everyone dances and they are all really good at it!!
Today, we took the kayaks out on the water and some people tried windsurfing. We have access to most of the activities at the resort. In class today, a couple other people (Anton and Haley) and I were assigned to go out and interview three Dominican people around our complex and at the hotel. We had a really good time talking to the people. We interview two older men: Miguel, one of the security guards at the foundation and Delacruz another security guard at the gate to the hotel. Then, Jorge who is an employee at the hotel and is 21, which gave us a different perspective. The older men were kind of hard to understand because they spoke really fast and without full pronunciation. We learned that the Dominicans like to leave out letters, so it's kind of difficult to understand sometimes. For example, someone today said "algo" but left out the sound of the "l" so it sounded like "ago." So, it takes sometime to get used the their accents, but everyone is very willing to speak with you and are very patient when we talk for 5 minutes and only actually get out 3 sentences. We help them with their English too. It's a great opportunity for us to learn from each other. Nancy has basically told my group that we need to talk, talk, talk since we already know our grammar and verbs etc. Solomente espanol ahora! (Only Spanish now!)
I was planning on only writing once a week but I feel like there is sooo much to write. But now that I have this somewhat setup I'm going to try to write an update once every day or two and give you the highlights so I don't bore you with all the details!
I miss you all! Espero que TODOS esten aqui!! (I wish you were ALL here!!)
PICTURES: 1. Flying into DR over the mountains
2. the beach!
3. The group in front of the Fundacion Ecológica, where we have stay and have class
4. Luis, me, Jorge, y Anton
5. They have capture 2 baby sea turtles so far this year. Last your they rescued 32. They catch them when they're little to protect them from fish predation and then release them after they're big enough to survive.
6. group at hotel, after meringue-ing
Sorry it's kinda hard to see these pics, Im going to get another program to put more up!
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