BIENVENIDOS a Jarabacoa

whoa.
good morning!

i can say that this morning i woke up in my new home for the next 10 months. first to pre-dawn roosters crowing. yes, that is not a joke...probably like 4:30 am-ish? then at 8am I woke up to Dominicans next door speaking in Spanish. I thought they were in my house, though, when I first woke up and freaked out a bit. But really, they're next door. hahahaha it's the whole no windows thing that threw me off, i think.

let me give you a rundown of yesterday, my crazy long day. woke up at 3:30 am. no biggie. except it was EXTREMELY early. Got to Indy airport at like 4:10. waited for silly people to check me in until 4:40. Flight left at 6am. arrived in Chi at 6am. hmmmm...seems irrational, eh? chilled in the Chi airport, texted (my last times before I left!!) :( and watched Stomp the Yard on my iPod. left Chi at 9:50. slept and lesson planned all the way to Miami. (SIDENOTE: AMY! they played HIMYM on the PLANE!!! AHHH I LOVED MY LIFE!!!) got to Miami at 1:45. grabbed a $6 sandwich cause I was hungry, and sat and watched Cheaper by the Dozen after a few last phone calls to some awesome blossom friends. my flight to the DR got delayed about a half an hour (no big deal) and I'm fairly certain I was the only native English speaker on that plane...I cried when I got on the plane. haha lame. but this Dominican man (he was probably in his 40's) decided to talk to me. He told me that crying made me weak, and he chose to leave the Dominican when he was younger and never regretted the decision, and that if I ever needed anything, to let him know. Yeah, I got his number. The rest of the flight was fairly uneventful and finally arrived in Santiago, DR at 8 pm. (AMY! HIMYM AGAIN!!! ROBIN SPARKLES episode)
moral of the story: it was a long day. and only getting longer...

so I got here, was like "ummmm...how am I gonna know who is picking me up?" so I was just awkwardly smiling at anyone who would make eye contact with me. haha you know it.

so then I see this sign: Nathalie Brewer JCS and I thought "eh. close enough." quick smile and heading towards this guy. His name is Tony. He's AWESOME. His daughter's name is Kaylee (and is in my class!!) super sweet. although I look AWFUL and hate this first impression I'm making on my student. oh well. we started our dark journey to Jarabacoa. It was fun to just see the landscapes. well, what I could see of it in the dark. TONS of roadside stands, way too many people on way too few scooters, and tons of people just chilling outside, shooting the breeze. LOVED it. I got here to my house in Jarabacoa and all I wanted to do was pass out. Although I knew I should be friendly and chat with B-rooke. (we're roomies.) She was nice, kinda weirded out by the fact I was here (as am I...) and we just shot the breeze for a bit. I met my two other roommates, although my sleepy state has prevented me from remembering their names...Christy and Anna maybe? haha I'm a dork.

AND finally, I think I kinda just need to chill today though and adjust. I may just sit outside and enjoy the HOT beautful Dominican countryside.

today on the agenda:
1. unpack
2. pack up the stuff that is going to my classroom.
3. set up wireless
4. walk to school and then start in making my classroom 'my own'
5. eat.
6. scope out the local mountains. yes. I'm climbing many mountains.

alrightie. in the words of Flobots: "Look at me, Look at me. Just called to say that it's good to be ALIVE in such a small world..."


also. funny. when I open Google to find something, it's now in Spanish. hahaha awesome.


love from the DR.