This was the first Sunday we had one of the elders translate Sunday school for us. It was really nice! I'm amazed at how much I understood though without him translating. While we were at church it rained even more, but as soon as church was over there was a breach in the rain long enough for us to walk most of the way home. When we got to our neighborhood it started pouring and our food delivery guy picked us up in his little food truck and took us the rest of the way home. I love how well our neighbors look after us.
Monday morning I woke up really early and was coughing and couldn't find a way to make it stop except by leaving my room. So at about 5am I got up and went in the kitchen area and watched movies on Netflix. It was the first time I have got Netflix to work in this country without buffering every two minutes. It was a blessing for sure. I ended up talking to Amarilis about my room and coughing and we spent a long while cleaning the walls and the fan in my room. It helped so much.
We didn't have school again because of the state of emergency. It happened to be our neighbor's birthday too! They know how to party. We went over and joined the party for hours. We danced in the streets until it started raining then we all crammed into their house and sang happy birthday and danced more. When the rain subsided we moved back to the streets and turned the music up. It was quite the party! They also made this giant pot of soup for everyone to eat. I was so happy and content sitting in their house and feeling like part of the family. The people here are so friendly and inviting. I want to be like them in so many ways. Tuesday we didn't have school again and we thought we were going to lose our minds. So we went out around the neighborhood and took pictures. I took my Polaroid camera out with me and automatically became the most popular teacher. Every kid was begging me for one saying, " teacher me, me teacher" or "I want one". It was crazy, but also adorable. When I would give a kid a picture they always ran and showed it off the everyone they could find. I was stopped by some kids and the
Drug me back down the road saying my uncle my uncle. When I got to the house this man was standing there and asked if I would take a picture of his baby. All he wanted was a picture of his baby. It was so sweet. He sat the baby up on his motorcycle and tried three different positions before he let me take it. He was so happy to have the picture. It really is the little things.
Wednesday and Thursday we had school pretty much as normal, though not all the kids showed up. The Thursday night it began to rain again and we went back to a state of emergency and schools were canceled for Friday classes. We are hoping it all clears up soon so the people can begin to get back to their lives or rebuild what was destroyed. Oh Friday afternoon a few of us walked around the neighborhood and played with kids in the streets. After a little bit Olive and I ended up at our neighbor's house getting our hair braided while they paints their fingernails and such. It was like a little spa day. I loved it!
Saturday, November 19, 2016
November 6-12 Flood week
On Monday we had school as normal. It rained a little but we didn't think much of it because it is the rainy season. On Tuesday it was raining so much they canceled schools and by Wednesday the rain had not ceased. At one point we went out to go down the road for a minute and the streets were up to our knees in water. By midday the water in places was chest deep. So many houses were flooding and the water just kept coming. What struck me though was the attitude of the people. When the rains didn't stop they just went out and played in the streets. They floated boats around and swam in the streets. Even when everything they own is being drenched they found a way to find joy in the situation. My neighbor was telling me that there really is no point in worrying when you can't do anything about it. All we can do is make the most of what we do have. I just kept thinking about what would happen when a neighborhood floods in the States. How many people would you see out smiling and laughing with their families? Probably not many, but here as we walked down the streets we see smile after smile. We could learn a lot from these people. Thursday and Friday we were still in a state of emergency so we didn't have school. We spent the days out playing with the kids in the streets. At this point the water had mostly gone down so it was safe for us to be out in the streets. We found a little bakery in our neighborhood and shared some treats with our neighborhood kids. They love just hanging out with us and walking around the neighborhoods. As we walk more and more kids join us. It is so fun! Friday night we decided to go to the movie theatre. We called a gua gua driver to come get us and we all piled into his little van. As we drove we could hear a terrible rubbing and rattling noise. It was a little freaky. At not point we stopped to look at it and the back tire was rubbing as we drove. The driver rearranged us so the smallest girls were in back and then we kept going. The tire started smoking and the floor was getting really hot, but somehow we made it. We wandered around the mall for a while before our movie. The movie I wanted to see ended up not being in English so we went to see another one. It was a nice break from our normal Friday night movie at our kitchen table. On Saturday we spent a good part of the day watching movies in the kitchen. I get really bored just watching movies so I ended up writing in cursive for a while and the making bracelets and doing other random things.
November 1st-5th
The week pretty much consisted of teaching and cleaning. Jane and I decided to take on the project of cleaning our school supply room. It was more work than I think we anticipated, but after about 30 hours we were finally finished killing ants, sorting supplies, making lists, being eaten by bugs, and going through endless bags of junk. We just hope it stays semi organized because it took us so long. A not of the girls thought we were crazy, but everyone was grateful when it was all said and done.
Saturday the 5th was a crazy long day. It was our trip to Samaná.
It started at 4:45am when we all got up to go out and meet the bus. We all got on and started our journey with a word of prayer. In the prayer she asked multiple times for our safety and for no harm or accident to come upon us. For some reason I felt uneasy after the prayer, but I brushed it aside. The bus ride was about five hours, but we had a party with music on the way there. The speakers at one point started buzzing and we had to pull over and turn off the bus to get it to stop. We made it to the beautiful Samaná bay and climbed on a boat to head out to the Island. The boat ride was really cool and the island was beautiful. The water there is an amazing turquoise blue. While there one of the girls tripped and scraped her leg and another fell and stepped on a sea urchin. The urchin had to be removed by some Dominicans, but the poison from it has caused lots of pain. We left the Island and headed back to the bus. It rained on us a little on the boat, but rained even more when we got back in the bus.
We set off and started heading towards Laguna Dudu. On the way there we had a big dance party in the bus, it was so fun! We got there and it was still raining on us, but we paid to go in and swim anyways. The lagoons were absolutely breathtaking. They have this zip line that drops you from like 50 feet into the water. It was super sketchy. When the first girl went one of the girls, who was standing by videoing her, got her foot caught in the rope and was dragged almost off the cliff. It was so scary! I went down and was taking video of the other girls when our driver, and good friend, went down. He landed on his butt and when he surfaced he wasn't moving. The people there swam out to him so fast and brought him to the side. He was still conscious, but his back was hurt. I watched them all scramble to get him in a comfortable spot. Honestly I don't think they should have moved him much at all, but they did. Miraculously they got him up and helped get him back to our bus. At this point all the girls were back in the bus and everyone was silent. All we could hear was the pouring rain and the five people up front helping David. The silence broke when Kim suggested we say a prayer. Everyone kneeled where they could in the bus and Kim offered an amazing prayer. Amarilis was brought to tears when she realized what we were doing. After the prayer it went back to silence and you could feel the spirit so strongly. That's when Amarilis got up(she is our coordinator, it's her son in law that was hurt) and talked to us. She asked if we truly believed he would be ok and if we believed in miracles. Then she asked if we trusted God and trusted that He can do all things. She called on the Lord for strength and for a miracle. Our miracles came little by little. They helped David into the drivers seat, because he was the only one who could drive the bus, and his pain subsides enough to get us going down the road. Amarilis then asked if we would sing some hymns to give him strength and courage. We started singing, but it was hard to keep everyone together. They asked if I would sing up front with the mic to help lead. We sang for probably two hours as he drove. Standing in front I could hear his grunts and groans every time we went over bumps. I was honestly afraid, but my fears subsided as we sang about Christ.
A little over halfway through the drive another driver met us and we moved David to another seat and continued on in safety. When we got to town the streets were flooding and it was still pouring rain. We met David's father and miraculously David walked by himself out of the bus and to the car. He even from not being able to move much to thanking us for our strength and prayers and walking off the bus. It was a miracle to say the least.
We had to run down flooded streets in the pouring rain to get home, but we all made it. I learned many lessons that day and hope the other girls here did likewise.
Saturday the 5th was a crazy long day. It was our trip to Samaná.
It started at 4:45am when we all got up to go out and meet the bus. We all got on and started our journey with a word of prayer. In the prayer she asked multiple times for our safety and for no harm or accident to come upon us. For some reason I felt uneasy after the prayer, but I brushed it aside. The bus ride was about five hours, but we had a party with music on the way there. The speakers at one point started buzzing and we had to pull over and turn off the bus to get it to stop. We made it to the beautiful Samaná bay and climbed on a boat to head out to the Island. The boat ride was really cool and the island was beautiful. The water there is an amazing turquoise blue. While there one of the girls tripped and scraped her leg and another fell and stepped on a sea urchin. The urchin had to be removed by some Dominicans, but the poison from it has caused lots of pain. We left the Island and headed back to the bus. It rained on us a little on the boat, but rained even more when we got back in the bus.
We set off and started heading towards Laguna Dudu. On the way there we had a big dance party in the bus, it was so fun! We got there and it was still raining on us, but we paid to go in and swim anyways. The lagoons were absolutely breathtaking. They have this zip line that drops you from like 50 feet into the water. It was super sketchy. When the first girl went one of the girls, who was standing by videoing her, got her foot caught in the rope and was dragged almost off the cliff. It was so scary! I went down and was taking video of the other girls when our driver, and good friend, went down. He landed on his butt and when he surfaced he wasn't moving. The people there swam out to him so fast and brought him to the side. He was still conscious, but his back was hurt. I watched them all scramble to get him in a comfortable spot. Honestly I don't think they should have moved him much at all, but they did. Miraculously they got him up and helped get him back to our bus. At this point all the girls were back in the bus and everyone was silent. All we could hear was the pouring rain and the five people up front helping David. The silence broke when Kim suggested we say a prayer. Everyone kneeled where they could in the bus and Kim offered an amazing prayer. Amarilis was brought to tears when she realized what we were doing. After the prayer it went back to silence and you could feel the spirit so strongly. That's when Amarilis got up(she is our coordinator, it's her son in law that was hurt) and talked to us. She asked if we truly believed he would be ok and if we believed in miracles. Then she asked if we trusted God and trusted that He can do all things. She called on the Lord for strength and for a miracle. Our miracles came little by little. They helped David into the drivers seat, because he was the only one who could drive the bus, and his pain subsides enough to get us going down the road. Amarilis then asked if we would sing some hymns to give him strength and courage. We started singing, but it was hard to keep everyone together. They asked if I would sing up front with the mic to help lead. We sang for probably two hours as he drove. Standing in front I could hear his grunts and groans every time we went over bumps. I was honestly afraid, but my fears subsided as we sang about Christ.
A little over halfway through the drive another driver met us and we moved David to another seat and continued on in safety. When we got to town the streets were flooding and it was still pouring rain. We met David's father and miraculously David walked by himself out of the bus and to the car. He even from not being able to move much to thanking us for our strength and prayers and walking off the bus. It was a miracle to say the least.
We had to run down flooded streets in the pouring rain to get home, but we all made it. I learned many lessons that day and hope the other girls here did likewise.
Monday, November 7, 2016
October 23rd-31st
This week was odd for us. Many days felt stressful or just off. Our water has been coming and going and we weren't sure why. It turns out we were just using it faster than it could be pumped to the top. Luckily it has been raining all week so we had water to clean up enough. We would have all been very gross if we couldn't bathe in the rain. I really love rain, but it breaks my heart each time it rains and we see the neighbors sweeping water from their houses. One of the little schools I teach at often gets canceled due to flooding. It is amazing just how much water can come from one storm. Tropical storms are intense.
Wednesday Was a weird day. My kids were crazier than normal and I wasn't on the mood to fight with them. At one point Daniel hit me and then spit in my face and it took a lot to not just break down and cry. Somedays my patience lasts longer than others. By the end of the day I was so ready to sleep and start a new day. Thursday went a little better as far as classes. We learned that out of the blue one of the girls is leaving us and that threw everyone off. Something inside got me to volunteer to take her spot at the other school. It will be crazy getting a whole new set of students, but I'm ready for it! The rest of the day was interesting. There has been some weird roommate and friend drama going on which caused lots of tension in the house. I'm honestly surprised there hasn't been more drama having this many girls living in such close quarters. Nonetheless, I hate contention and would love it to go away. We'll see what happens over the next few days. Maybe it will all just mellow out.
We made it to Friday! This week may have been stressful and odd, but it went by really fast. Time is going by faster than ever and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Our Saturday was spent cleaning and relaxing. We even walked up the road to get piña coladas from the sweet lady. They were amazing!
Sunday was pretty uneventful. We walked to church as usual and just relaxed the rest of the day.
Monday was Halloween! They don't celebrate Halloween down here and actually don't like it because it has to do with evil spirits and stuff. We still kinda celebrated by going to the store, buying a bunch of treats, and having a movie night. Some of the girls carved pinapples and bananas too. It was fun!
Wednesday Was a weird day. My kids were crazier than normal and I wasn't on the mood to fight with them. At one point Daniel hit me and then spit in my face and it took a lot to not just break down and cry. Somedays my patience lasts longer than others. By the end of the day I was so ready to sleep and start a new day. Thursday went a little better as far as classes. We learned that out of the blue one of the girls is leaving us and that threw everyone off. Something inside got me to volunteer to take her spot at the other school. It will be crazy getting a whole new set of students, but I'm ready for it! The rest of the day was interesting. There has been some weird roommate and friend drama going on which caused lots of tension in the house. I'm honestly surprised there hasn't been more drama having this many girls living in such close quarters. Nonetheless, I hate contention and would love it to go away. We'll see what happens over the next few days. Maybe it will all just mellow out.
We made it to Friday! This week may have been stressful and odd, but it went by really fast. Time is going by faster than ever and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Our Saturday was spent cleaning and relaxing. We even walked up the road to get piña coladas from the sweet lady. They were amazing!
Sunday was pretty uneventful. We walked to church as usual and just relaxed the rest of the day.
Monday was Halloween! They don't celebrate Halloween down here and actually don't like it because it has to do with evil spirits and stuff. We still kinda celebrated by going to the store, buying a bunch of treats, and having a movie night. Some of the girls carved pinapples and bananas too. It was fun!
October 16th-22nd
I'm starting to understand more at church and it makes my Sunday's even better. On Tuesday we had a bug infestation. We were sitting in the room watching a movie when all of the sudden flying bugs started flooding through our window. It was like a horror movie. The Windows don't really seal to they all could get in. I ran to the other room just to find hundreds of more bugs flying around. People were out with the shoes killing them as fast as they could. We turned off all the lights and put candles or other lights outside to get rid of them. It was quite the mess. Dead flying termites everywhere. It was quite the exciting evening, but now we know what to watch for and how to deal with them.
Wednesday I only taught at one school because the other was cancelled, it was really nice to have a break in the middle of the week.
Thursday I overheard a conversation a girl had with her mom, I think she assumed I was sleeping. Anyways I knew she was having a hard time being here and this conversation just proved it more and I knew I had to do something. After school I went to a little store and bought some treats for her and left them on her bed without her knowing who it was from. Later that day she came into the room in tears and just wanted to thank whoever left it for her. I didn't confess to anything, but the feeling of peace and joy I had was overwhelming. I'm so grateful I followed my little thought. It reminds me of how following the little bits of inspiration can make the biggest difference to someone else.
On Fridays we do store with our students. They earn tickets throughout the week for speaking and at the end we add them up and they get prizes. One of the students in my hardest class stopped me after school and gave me a great big hug and said "gracias por el regalo". Which means thank you for the present. He melted my heart that day and made me forget about how hard the class was.
That night we went to a YSA dance. It was definitely different than in the states, but I loved it! We learned bachata and meringue and even some salsa. Most of the girls thought it was awkward and left right after dinner, but a few of us stayed. Victor brought us few girls up to the front at the beginning of many of the songs and basically auctioned us off to dance partners. It was funny. Dominicans really love their dancing!
On Saturday we got up and Papi took us to the mountain to go on the cable car. We got our tickets and a guide took us up the mountain and showed us the statue of Christ. He took many pictures for us but we had to get rid of him before he gilt tripped us into paying him. The statue is quite a sight! It's the sister statue to the one in Brazil. If it wasn't so bright I would have stayed and admired the statue longer. We wandered around the jungle paths to different caves and things. It reminded me of Jurassic park, especially when the fog rolled in. We found the cute restaurant at the top and had lunch. It was really good! Then we headed back down the mountain. With the fog, the cable car disappeared as it went down.
That night Olive and I went over to Papi's house to play dominos. It was honestly one of the best evenings we have had. We learned that Papi cheats at dominos and he son went easy on us, but by the end we were doing pretty good. Papi's family is super sweet. They don't have much, but they are always happy and willing to help us in anyway. They even gave us drinks while we played and fanned the mosquitos away. I am extremely grateful for them.
October 8th-15th long vacation
9 day vacation
I have to admit it was not the best time to leave. We got up and still had no water. Outside our neighbors were freaking out and upon investigation we come to find our house is leaking gallons of water into the street. It was coming from our electrical room too so if it rose anymore we would have been in serious trouble. After some chaos the water pressure finally went down. During this whole time we were packing up to head to Santo Domingo. It was a bit of a stressful morning, but we finally headed out to find the bus stop. I ended up running into the guy I had met the other day on the guagua. Small world. The busses are big air conditioned tour busses which made for a great ride. It took about four hours to get there. When we arrived there were tons of taxi drivers trying to get us to go with them and we didn't even know exactly where we were going. This is where the smart phone came in handy. Google maps is a lifesaver, that is when you look at it right.. We may have gone the wrong way for a little while. But after a long walk we made it to our little hotel. It was more like a medieval guest house. After we all treated ourselves to a warm shower we went out to find food. Just down the road we found this super cute contemporary place. The food was good too!
Day 2 Sunday
We got to go to church with the Fullers from Moab. It was so nice to see some familiar faces! They took us about an hour out of town to a little branch they help with in Bani. While there we had the opportunity to help in the primary. It was really fun! After church we went to the Fullers apartment for dinner and ended up hanging out there for the rest of the day. Sara wasn't feeling too well so we didn't do a lot. We had John give her a blessing before we went back to our hotel.
Day 3 Monday
A few blocks from the hotel we stayed there is a street called Gomez. It is a very big and busy street, but there are lots of chain restaurants and other helpful things there. On Monday we slept in and then wandered down to Gomez for lunch. We found a Wendy's and all rejoiced to have some American food. Its a silly thing to rejoice over, I know, but after two months it was a nice little break.
Our next adventure was finding out way to the botanical Gardens. We decided to use the metro system because it was close. Dominicans are usually very friendly and helpful if you ask for help. We asked around and found the closest metro stop to the garden. We ended up having to ask again when we got there where to go. After a ride in a packed guagua and a fairly long walk we made it to the Garden. Oh I forgot to mention the sugar cane we got on the way! It was so refreshing and chewing on it gave us something to do while we walked. The gardens were beautiful! We took a little train ride through the different areas. At times it felt as if we were driving through the deep rainforest. After the drive we explored on a own for a while. We found the butterfly sanctuary which ended up housing more fish than butterflies. Nonetheless it provided about an hour of entertainment for us. Then we started our journey back, hoping to return before dark. The rest of the night was fairly uneventful.
Day 4
Tuesday started really early for us. I woke up at about 1am to Jane calling my name and crying because her head hurt so bad. I gave her some medicine in hopes that it would alleviate some of the pain. I got back in bed but I found myself just watching her to make sure she kept breathing. I know it sounds a little dramatic, but I was honestly worried about her. When the other girls got up around 7 or 8 Jane was still in bad shape. We quickly got some food and tried to get her dressed a bit. The only thing we knew to do was get her to a hospital. We called the taxi and tried to get her down the stairs. With each move though she felt more nauseous and threw up more than once before we made it down the stairs. The taxi was waiting and drove us as fast as he could considering the Santo Domingo traffic. It took a while for them to take her back in the Emergency room, but we finally got her in. The hardest part of the hospital was the language barrier. No one spoke English so we had to make do with the little Spanish we knew. The Fuller's apartment is maybe a block from the hospital, which was a tender mercy for sure. Paula was able to meet us there to check on things and Rosie and I went back to her apartment with her to wait. After a they had some answers and were giving Jane the fluids and other things she needed. She ended up having a bladder infection and being very dehydrated. The dehydration didn't really surprise me. It's really hard to drink enough water here especially when you have to buy drinking water. Anyways, back to Jane. When they were releasing her they told us to go to the lab for some test or something so we went and talked to the lab people. Between the small amount of Spanish Olive and I knew we struggled to understand what the lab wanted. All we got out of it was "wait" so we waited. Just as we were debating what to do a whole group of missionaries walked in. We immediately called them over to help us. Another tender mercy. They helped us sort things out a little and went on their way. The lab test was a waste of time because we wouldn't be in town for the results. I took Jane back to the Fuller's to rest while Rosie and Olive went to search the town for a pharmacy. When we got the the Fuller's apartment building the elevator wasn't working so poor Jane had to climb 7 flights of stairs to get there. Olive and Rosie made it back with the medicine and we had some lunch and the just about everyone took a nap. It was so nice of the Fullers to take such great care of us and let us invade their home for the day. The remainder of the day was spent resting.
Day 5
Jane wasn't feeling up to doing much so we all slept in and then Olive, Rosie, and I went out around lunchtime. Our plan was to head to a mall on the other side of the town and spend a few hours there. Getting there was an issue though.. We took the metro to the closest stop and then started walking to where Google maps said it was. The place marked was not the mall. We found a new map and set off again, frustrated and tired as we were. After walking for a while we decided the best option would be to get a taxi. We caught one on the street just in time too. The moment we got In and told him where to go it started pouring. The traffic was terrible as usual, but we finally made it to the mall. The food court there was amazing. I found it annoying though because there were too many choices. ;) We ate lunch and then had some dulce de leche dessert waffle things that were amazing. After wandering the mall for a couple hours we headed back. Our plan for the evening was to meet the Fullers at the Temple so I could go do baptisms with them. We caught a guagua to the metro station and then had to figure out what stop to get off of to be closest to the temple. As we contemplated it two sister missionaries showed up. It seemed that every time we needed help missionaries showed up. How amazing is that? We made it to the temple faster than we expected so we wandered around the grounds and took pictures. It was a beautiful evening. I was able to go in the temple with the Fullers and do nearly 20 baptisms for their family. It was an amazing experience. They did all the ordinances in Spanish too which made it even cooler. It really felt like we were the only ones there because of how peaceful and quiet it was. I'm extremely grateful for temples and the peace and safety they provide.
Day 6 colonial zone
We left a little earlier than usual and headed out toward el Zona Colonial. The original colonial city of Santo Domingo. After walking for what seemed like forever we got a taxi that drive us to the wrong place.. We had him turn around and take us to the center to the colonial zone only to find out we weren't far from it when we were walking. The center of the zone is independence park. In it we stood at kilometer zero, the exact center of Santo Domingo. There we met this tour guide who offered to show us all around the colonial city for $20. We took him up on the offer because we knew nothing about the town. We walked all around looking at these beautiful sights and historic places. He even too us to some stores and factories. One of the stores was a souvenir shop. It was filled top to bottom with thousands of souvenirs. The store felt as though it went on for miles. I spent a little more money than I should have there, but I was able to cross of a lot from my souvenir list. At the end of the tour our guide took us to a little Dominican restaurant for a late lunch. The food was really good and very inexpensive because it's was the classic Dominican dish. I think I was most adventurous in that meal for trying the fish, but all the food seemed good to me. After we ate we decided to head back to our hotel and take a nap. It was a fiasco trying to get back. We asked a gua gua which route would take us there faster and then taxi drivers were talking to us and other random strangers were helping us. It would have been faster if we had just taken the map I had and followed it walking. We followed this guy who said he could find a gua gua for us, but instead of finding one we walked in a circle and then he lead us down the road towards home. We told him we would be fine the rest of the way and just walked all the way there. We definitely got our exercise in that day. We tested for a bit, not as long as we wanted to, and then we called a taxi to take us to Chili's for a birthday dinner with the Fullers. We gave Paula a magnet and a cute picture frame with a picture in it that we took earlier that day. It was really fun and the food was amazing even though we all weren't too hungry after our other meal. After dinner we made a quick stop by the Fullers office and then headed back to the hotel to watch movies for the rest of the evening.
Day 7
By our 7th day together we could feel ourselves getting tired of one another, but we still made the most of it. We took a taxi to Tres Ojos national park. It is a fairly small park, but it's amazing! We get there and climbed down a large, carved out, rock staircase into a cavern. At the bottom there are four natural lakes. They were beautiful! After hiking around in there for a while we found a little ferry boat that they pull across one of the lakes. We got on the boat and they pulled us into the darkness of the cave. Soon a light could be seen at the other end and as we got closer it opened up and we could see the sky and an amazing lake. It's hard to describe. Someday I will get pictures to post.. Anyways, we explored there a little longer and then decided to head to the aquarium. The security stopped us from leaving without being in a taxi because it's not safe for us to walk, which I totally understand. So we got a taxi to take us. The aquarium is small and a little run down, but for the Dominican Republic it was amazing. We made the lady at the front desk mad because she tried to make us pay extra when we live here and should pay the other price. We argued our point, in Spanish I might add, and got the tickets at discounted price. We wandered around looking at the different tanks and finally came upon the Manatees. It made me so happy! I watched them for a long time, probably too long. We stayed for another hour or so and then headed to find the lighthouse. We found our own taxi for that. Columbus's lighthouse is huge. It's not really a lighthouse in its shape and purpose, but it is really cool and on special occasions they light it up. We left there and again security found a taxi for us and sent us in our way. Back to the hotel we went. For dinner we tried this Dominican buffet place and bakery. The food was good, but I didn't feel full or satisfied after. We bought some cakes though and they were amazing!
Day 8 Time to travel home.
We slept in and had breakfast then packed up all our stuff and headed out. We walked down to Gomez for some lunch at Wendy's again. It was really good. While we were there it started pouring though and out plan was to take the metro and then walk the rest of the way to the bus stop. Instead we ran out into the rain and got a taxi to take us. Every time we went through puddles water came up from the floor onto our feet. I thought we were going to be soaked. We made it just in time to pile on a bus and head home. When we arrived at home the water was back on and there were a surprising amount of girls back from their own vacations.
I have to admit it was not the best time to leave. We got up and still had no water. Outside our neighbors were freaking out and upon investigation we come to find our house is leaking gallons of water into the street. It was coming from our electrical room too so if it rose anymore we would have been in serious trouble. After some chaos the water pressure finally went down. During this whole time we were packing up to head to Santo Domingo. It was a bit of a stressful morning, but we finally headed out to find the bus stop. I ended up running into the guy I had met the other day on the guagua. Small world. The busses are big air conditioned tour busses which made for a great ride. It took about four hours to get there. When we arrived there were tons of taxi drivers trying to get us to go with them and we didn't even know exactly where we were going. This is where the smart phone came in handy. Google maps is a lifesaver, that is when you look at it right.. We may have gone the wrong way for a little while. But after a long walk we made it to our little hotel. It was more like a medieval guest house. After we all treated ourselves to a warm shower we went out to find food. Just down the road we found this super cute contemporary place. The food was good too!
Day 2 Sunday
We got to go to church with the Fullers from Moab. It was so nice to see some familiar faces! They took us about an hour out of town to a little branch they help with in Bani. While there we had the opportunity to help in the primary. It was really fun! After church we went to the Fullers apartment for dinner and ended up hanging out there for the rest of the day. Sara wasn't feeling too well so we didn't do a lot. We had John give her a blessing before we went back to our hotel.
Day 3 Monday
A few blocks from the hotel we stayed there is a street called Gomez. It is a very big and busy street, but there are lots of chain restaurants and other helpful things there. On Monday we slept in and then wandered down to Gomez for lunch. We found a Wendy's and all rejoiced to have some American food. Its a silly thing to rejoice over, I know, but after two months it was a nice little break.
Our next adventure was finding out way to the botanical Gardens. We decided to use the metro system because it was close. Dominicans are usually very friendly and helpful if you ask for help. We asked around and found the closest metro stop to the garden. We ended up having to ask again when we got there where to go. After a ride in a packed guagua and a fairly long walk we made it to the Garden. Oh I forgot to mention the sugar cane we got on the way! It was so refreshing and chewing on it gave us something to do while we walked. The gardens were beautiful! We took a little train ride through the different areas. At times it felt as if we were driving through the deep rainforest. After the drive we explored on a own for a while. We found the butterfly sanctuary which ended up housing more fish than butterflies. Nonetheless it provided about an hour of entertainment for us. Then we started our journey back, hoping to return before dark. The rest of the night was fairly uneventful.
Day 4
Tuesday started really early for us. I woke up at about 1am to Jane calling my name and crying because her head hurt so bad. I gave her some medicine in hopes that it would alleviate some of the pain. I got back in bed but I found myself just watching her to make sure she kept breathing. I know it sounds a little dramatic, but I was honestly worried about her. When the other girls got up around 7 or 8 Jane was still in bad shape. We quickly got some food and tried to get her dressed a bit. The only thing we knew to do was get her to a hospital. We called the taxi and tried to get her down the stairs. With each move though she felt more nauseous and threw up more than once before we made it down the stairs. The taxi was waiting and drove us as fast as he could considering the Santo Domingo traffic. It took a while for them to take her back in the Emergency room, but we finally got her in. The hardest part of the hospital was the language barrier. No one spoke English so we had to make do with the little Spanish we knew. The Fuller's apartment is maybe a block from the hospital, which was a tender mercy for sure. Paula was able to meet us there to check on things and Rosie and I went back to her apartment with her to wait. After a they had some answers and were giving Jane the fluids and other things she needed. She ended up having a bladder infection and being very dehydrated. The dehydration didn't really surprise me. It's really hard to drink enough water here especially when you have to buy drinking water. Anyways, back to Jane. When they were releasing her they told us to go to the lab for some test or something so we went and talked to the lab people. Between the small amount of Spanish Olive and I knew we struggled to understand what the lab wanted. All we got out of it was "wait" so we waited. Just as we were debating what to do a whole group of missionaries walked in. We immediately called them over to help us. Another tender mercy. They helped us sort things out a little and went on their way. The lab test was a waste of time because we wouldn't be in town for the results. I took Jane back to the Fuller's to rest while Rosie and Olive went to search the town for a pharmacy. When we got the the Fuller's apartment building the elevator wasn't working so poor Jane had to climb 7 flights of stairs to get there. Olive and Rosie made it back with the medicine and we had some lunch and the just about everyone took a nap. It was so nice of the Fullers to take such great care of us and let us invade their home for the day. The remainder of the day was spent resting.
Day 5
Jane wasn't feeling up to doing much so we all slept in and then Olive, Rosie, and I went out around lunchtime. Our plan was to head to a mall on the other side of the town and spend a few hours there. Getting there was an issue though.. We took the metro to the closest stop and then started walking to where Google maps said it was. The place marked was not the mall. We found a new map and set off again, frustrated and tired as we were. After walking for a while we decided the best option would be to get a taxi. We caught one on the street just in time too. The moment we got In and told him where to go it started pouring. The traffic was terrible as usual, but we finally made it to the mall. The food court there was amazing. I found it annoying though because there were too many choices. ;) We ate lunch and then had some dulce de leche dessert waffle things that were amazing. After wandering the mall for a couple hours we headed back. Our plan for the evening was to meet the Fullers at the Temple so I could go do baptisms with them. We caught a guagua to the metro station and then had to figure out what stop to get off of to be closest to the temple. As we contemplated it two sister missionaries showed up. It seemed that every time we needed help missionaries showed up. How amazing is that? We made it to the temple faster than we expected so we wandered around the grounds and took pictures. It was a beautiful evening. I was able to go in the temple with the Fullers and do nearly 20 baptisms for their family. It was an amazing experience. They did all the ordinances in Spanish too which made it even cooler. It really felt like we were the only ones there because of how peaceful and quiet it was. I'm extremely grateful for temples and the peace and safety they provide.
Day 6 colonial zone
We left a little earlier than usual and headed out toward el Zona Colonial. The original colonial city of Santo Domingo. After walking for what seemed like forever we got a taxi that drive us to the wrong place.. We had him turn around and take us to the center to the colonial zone only to find out we weren't far from it when we were walking. The center of the zone is independence park. In it we stood at kilometer zero, the exact center of Santo Domingo. There we met this tour guide who offered to show us all around the colonial city for $20. We took him up on the offer because we knew nothing about the town. We walked all around looking at these beautiful sights and historic places. He even too us to some stores and factories. One of the stores was a souvenir shop. It was filled top to bottom with thousands of souvenirs. The store felt as though it went on for miles. I spent a little more money than I should have there, but I was able to cross of a lot from my souvenir list. At the end of the tour our guide took us to a little Dominican restaurant for a late lunch. The food was really good and very inexpensive because it's was the classic Dominican dish. I think I was most adventurous in that meal for trying the fish, but all the food seemed good to me. After we ate we decided to head back to our hotel and take a nap. It was a fiasco trying to get back. We asked a gua gua which route would take us there faster and then taxi drivers were talking to us and other random strangers were helping us. It would have been faster if we had just taken the map I had and followed it walking. We followed this guy who said he could find a gua gua for us, but instead of finding one we walked in a circle and then he lead us down the road towards home. We told him we would be fine the rest of the way and just walked all the way there. We definitely got our exercise in that day. We tested for a bit, not as long as we wanted to, and then we called a taxi to take us to Chili's for a birthday dinner with the Fullers. We gave Paula a magnet and a cute picture frame with a picture in it that we took earlier that day. It was really fun and the food was amazing even though we all weren't too hungry after our other meal. After dinner we made a quick stop by the Fullers office and then headed back to the hotel to watch movies for the rest of the evening.
Day 7
By our 7th day together we could feel ourselves getting tired of one another, but we still made the most of it. We took a taxi to Tres Ojos national park. It is a fairly small park, but it's amazing! We get there and climbed down a large, carved out, rock staircase into a cavern. At the bottom there are four natural lakes. They were beautiful! After hiking around in there for a while we found a little ferry boat that they pull across one of the lakes. We got on the boat and they pulled us into the darkness of the cave. Soon a light could be seen at the other end and as we got closer it opened up and we could see the sky and an amazing lake. It's hard to describe. Someday I will get pictures to post.. Anyways, we explored there a little longer and then decided to head to the aquarium. The security stopped us from leaving without being in a taxi because it's not safe for us to walk, which I totally understand. So we got a taxi to take us. The aquarium is small and a little run down, but for the Dominican Republic it was amazing. We made the lady at the front desk mad because she tried to make us pay extra when we live here and should pay the other price. We argued our point, in Spanish I might add, and got the tickets at discounted price. We wandered around looking at the different tanks and finally came upon the Manatees. It made me so happy! I watched them for a long time, probably too long. We stayed for another hour or so and then headed to find the lighthouse. We found our own taxi for that. Columbus's lighthouse is huge. It's not really a lighthouse in its shape and purpose, but it is really cool and on special occasions they light it up. We left there and again security found a taxi for us and sent us in our way. Back to the hotel we went. For dinner we tried this Dominican buffet place and bakery. The food was good, but I didn't feel full or satisfied after. We bought some cakes though and they were amazing!
Day 8 Time to travel home.
We slept in and had breakfast then packed up all our stuff and headed out. We walked down to Gomez for some lunch at Wendy's again. It was really good. While we were there it started pouring though and out plan was to take the metro and then walk the rest of the way to the bus stop. Instead we ran out into the rain and got a taxi to take us. Every time we went through puddles water came up from the floor onto our feet. I thought we were going to be soaked. We made it just in time to pile on a bus and head home. When we arrived at home the water was back on and there were a surprising amount of girls back from their own vacations.
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