Cabarete

A national holiday, El Día de Juan Pablo Duarte, was originially scheduled for Tuesday, February 26th. But the Dominican Republic loves to celebrate holidays so much that the government moved the holiday back to Monday so that the entire nation could really celebrate...with a 3 day weekend! Some friends and I had Thursday and Friday off as well so we decided to travel to Cabarete, a world famous kite surfing town to the north of the Dominican Republic. We surfed, swam, and worked on our tans. On Saturday, we went through Puerto Plata to the famous 27 waterfalls, where guides literally throw you up waterfalls and then you jump or slide down them. It was definitely one of the coolest things I've ever done, and it only cost $9. Everyone in Cabarete is really friendly and eager to get to know you. People from all over the world come there to surf and most of them have amazing stories. My Spanish is getting better and I'm having a lot of fun talking to people. Over breakfast one morning, I became friends with a guy who turned out to be the most recent world champion kite surfer. He introduced us to his friends and they showed us the nightlife in Cabarete.

Now I am back in Santo Domingo, where the Haitian students in my university aren't coming to class anymore because they are in Haiti either visiting or searching for their families. I hope they will be back safe soon.

Earthquake

I was videochatting with my mom on Tuesday around 5 pm when I felt the chair that I was sitting in start to move. I suddenly felt very dizzy and thought I must have been going crazy, but the sensation continued for about 2 minutes. I didn't think anything of it until I went back inside and students from my program informed me that there had been an earthquake. Fortunately, Santo Domingo did not experience any physical damage from the shock, and some of my friends said they didn't even feel anything at all. Haiti is about 8 hours away from Santo Domingo, however, and by now everyone has heard about the earthquake's effect on Port-au-Prince.

It is so sad to think of all the lives lost. Several Haitians in my classes at Bonó still have not heard from their families, and many are leaving for Haiti to search for their loved ones themselves. I cannot even imagine. On Thursday, classes at Bonó ended early in order to have a university-wide meeting regarding the situation in Haiti and what students can do to help. Jesuit Refugee Services has taken over the entire bottom floor of Bonó to organize a drive for food, water, and medicines. I spent Thursday afternoon helping pack boxes to send to Port-au-Prince. It was incredible to see my classmates and teachers who are normally so easygoing working as quickly as possible, passing giant containers of bottled water, rice, and antibiotics down long lines of people to board buses that then drove straight to Haiti.

I am writing this post to let you all know that I am okay and also to ask that you donate to earthquake relief. Disasters like this typically stay on front page headlines for an average of 6 days before being forgotten, but I have met so many people down here who are directly affected by the earthquake that it's going to be impossible to forget about it. Here are some links for relief if you haven't already donated:

Partners in Health (Starting with donations of $10)
http://www.facebook.com/l/2e4ae;https://pih.org

Clinton Foundation (Starting with donations of $25)http://www.facebook.com/l/2e4ae;https://re.clintonfoundation.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=3869

Georgetown Center for Social Justice http://socialjustice.georgetown.edu/86785.html for direct donations to Save the Children, Jesuit Refugee Services and the Partners in Health.

January 11th, 2010

I have been in Santo Domingo for a week and have officially adjusted to the Latin American lifestyle! I am living in a house with Doña Altagracia and her daughter in "La Zona Colonial", a cute, historic part of the city. My house is exactly 2 blocks away from the ocean and the weather here is hot and humid--I love it. I have spent the week exploring the city by walking, taking buses, taxis, and public cars--sedans that squeeze in about 8 people, have set routes, and cost about 50 cents each. Santo Domingo is beautiful, but you have to be careful in parts of it. A few days ago, one of the girls in my program got her earrings stolen right off of her ears! I will be taking 5 classes at 4 different universities all over the city. One of my classes at Bonó begins tomorrow, but others do not start until much later--classes at la OASD (Universidad Autónima de Santo Domingo) were scheduled to begin this past Monday, but the locals tell us that they will not actually begin for a couple of weeks. (It is a Dominican custom to be fashionably late and to take one's time, even when it comes to academics.) Much more later -- for now I have to go enjoy the sun!