Saturday, May 26, 2007
Checking Things Off...
With only three free weekends left in our stay here, we decided we needed to check some things off our to-do list. Marte, a teacher at school who has been really friendly with us, has a membership to a club where we've gone a few times. He invited us again a few weeks ago, but it didn't work out. We wanted to make sure we went with him one more time before June 22nd. After school on Friday, we went with him to enjoy the pool, have a snack, and John even got to play a few games of basketball. He took his basketball shoes home when we went to Robby's 
wedding, so he had to play in flip flops, but he was still the best one out there. I cheered for him. The other players wished they had someone to cheer for them, I'm sure.We stayed until about seven, then went home, showered, and went to a dance club called Club 60. It was GREAT!! We didn't take the camera, but John and I danced the night away. We have gotten so good a Meringue and Salsa that we can really hold our own out on the dance floor with people who have been doing this for years. John even danced with the other girls, and they couldn't stop talking about how good he was. We'll probably go back there again before we leave because it was air conditioned and it wasn't at all sleazy. It was a dance club for dancing - not for all the other things that happen at dance clubs (I'd like to remain blissfully unaware).
Today, all the other foreign teachers went to the beach for a day. We decided that we wanted to do our own thing, and that going to the beach the way they were going would be much more of a pain than we wanted. We're going to the beach for the whole weekend in a couple weeks, anyway. So - we decided to go see El Faro a Colon instead.
We started with lunch at our favorite nearby Chinese place where we can get two meals out of one. Jade has been one of the places we've gone frequently, so we thought it worthy of a picture. Then, we called a cab and headed across the whole city to El Faro a Colon, which is a gigantic memorial made to Christopher Columbus. His real name was Cristobal Colon, but for some reason, all the American text books call him Christopher Columbus. This monument is apparently one of the only man made structures that
can be seen from outer space. You see, it's a ten-story building made in the shape of a cross, and there are extremely high powered lights all along the roof. When the lights are on, the cross can be seen shining in 
outer space. They very rarely turn the lights on, though, because it causes power outages all throughout the city whenever they turn them on. Inside the enormous cross-shaped 
building rest (reportedly) the bones of Cristobal Colon. Spain and Italy both claim they have the remains, as well, but no one knows for sure. We paid 100 pesos (about $3) to get in and see the museum inside the cross-shaped monument.
The entrance is at the top of the cross, and in the center, where the four "arms" meet, there is a large marble monument that houses the remains. It is guarded all the time by an armed guard dressed in white.
The bones are in the black box close to the ground in the middle of the monument. I'm standing by it in the picture to the right. In the long hallway that makes the longest part of the cross, there are rooms containing artifacts from the native peoples of countries all over the
world. We weren't supposed to take pictures in these rooms, but we did anyway. There were no lights on in the whole thing, so some of the exhibits were hard to see. We found it ironic that the memorial to Cristobal Colon would contain 
artifacts from native peoples from around the world since one of the things he did first on the island of Hispanola was to completely eliminate the native people who lived here. He eliminated them by working them to death and letting their language and culture fall into obscurity. No one knows what the Taino 
culture was like. He also brought Catholicism. I'm sad that the cross was a symbol of destruction and death to those people. The museum would be really cool if they would turn the lights on in the exhibits. I'm not referring
to the superpower lights on top - I just wanted to see the stuff inside the museum. If there wasn't a window in the room (and most rooms didn't have windows), we couldn't really see anything. It was interesting nonetheless. We can check it off our list. 
After we had finished there, we called another cab and headed to the old Colonial section of the city where we walked around (about 5 miles of walking) to make sure we had seen and taken pictures of everything we want to before we go. Here to the left is on of the first hospitals in the new world. It was built in 1503 and was one of the only buildings in Santo Domingo that survived the raid by the pirate Drake in the 1600s. Now it is inhabited mostly by pigeons, and the roof is no longer there.
We looked at several other old churches (besides the first cathedral in the New World) and some other old buildings. The first monastery was destroyed by Drake the pirate, and rebuilt several times after numerous fires and hurricanes. Then, it became an asylum for the insane. It was all locked up, so we couldn't go inside, but our Lonely Planet Guide to the Dominican Republic said that you can still see the iron chains in the walls that were used to restrain the "patients" in the asylum. YIKES!After a long day of walking (it was cloudy today, otherwise we might not have survived), we were sweaty and tired, so we got some pop and sat down on a bench in the square by the first church to watch people. We saw an extremely conspicuous group of about 40 Americans all in matching T-shirts milling around by the statue of Cristobal Colon. They were acting really annoying in the way Americans act annoying abroad, and John and I were a little embarrassed for them. For a moment, we wished we didn't look so much like Americans.
It has been a great weekend so far. Tomorrow, we might try to go to the national aquarium so we can cross that off our list, too.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
A Weekend Full of Fun (and Sweat)
Kari's twin brother, Jason, came to visit this weekend, so we all tried to show him a good time. It was a busy, sweaty weekend, but it was fun.
We're getting to the point when we want to try to get everything in before we leave. We're counting the days until we get to come home (five weeks!). This has been a great experience, but we can't wait to get away from all the stress and craziness at school and to come back to our comfortable lives that involve all the modern conviences (air conditioning, washers and dryers, etc.) and, more importantly, friends who share our values and lifestyle. We miss our friends and family and the positive
influence they have in our lives. So... here we go with the weekend:
Friday night was our friend Roger's birthday. No one knows exactly how old he is, but we know he's somewhere close to fifty. We took him out for dinner to a place we like called Bob's. It was fun, but we spent so much time sitting around waiting for people to be ready that we didn't get to dinner until about nine pm. Then, when dinner was done, half of us were tired and didn't want to go anywhere else and the other half wanted to go out dancing. People ended up getting upset, and the evening didn't end on a good note. Even though we don't write about it in the blog often, that happens often.
Saturday was Field Day at school. In the USA, Field Day usually means that a school day is devoted to fun and games for the students - sports competitions, prizes, everyone wins, etc. Here, Field Day means that on a Saturday, the school rents out an empty baseball field, fills it with carnival-like games, and requires the teachers to sign up for two hours of service. Students come, eat Dominican carnival food, and play the games. All of the foriegn teachers signed up for the same two hours since we don't have cars and had to take a 
taxi to the location. John and I ended up in charge of the bungee-run game. When we got there at 10 (the whole thing was supposed to start at 9), nothing was ready. So, for the first hour of our time, we sat in the shade and talked. The second hour, we did our duty in the scorching sun. It was so hot that the bungee-run thing got too hot for the kids to touch. We were relieved of our duties a little late, and then we had lunch (Dominican hot dogs and ice cream) and took off for activity #2 of the day. By the way, Dominicans put really weird things on their hot dogs, but it tastes great. From what we can tell, here's a list of the toppings: catchup, mustard, chili, relish (all normal), fake squirtable cheese, marinated cabbage, mayonaise, onions, and little shaved fried potatoes. I'm sure they're terrible for us, but they sure taste good!
Activity #2 for the day (by this time all of us had soaked through our 
clothes with sweat) was to visit some famous caves close to the city called Los Tres Ojos (which means The Three Eyes). We had heard of them before but didn't know exactly where they were or anything, but we decided they were a must-see before we leave the island for good. It was a great experience! Here we are on the left descending into the caves. We thought it 
would be cooler down there, and perhaps it was a few 
degrees cooler, but the humidity was three times as pronounced. Our clothes stayed wet with sweat.
There were three freshwater lakes down in the caves, and we saw fish and turtles swimming around. What a peaceful place! We also saw
some bats flying around. We were thankful for them because we were 
being eaten alive by mosquitoes. For ten pesos (about 3o cents), we took a little raft over to another cave and lake that opened up all the way up to the sky. It was really beautiful.
After we climbed out of the caves, we went for a walk in a pretty
garden area that was above ground right above the caves. John took some nice pictures of flowers, and by the time we got into the taxi, we were all exhausted. It's amazing what heat can do to you. We were all zapped of all energy.
We wish we could have taken our parents to see the caves and garden.
We're getting to the point when we want to try to get everything in before we leave. We're counting the days until we get to come home (five weeks!). This has been a great experience, but we can't wait to get away from all the stress and craziness at school and to come back to our comfortable lives that involve all the modern conviences (air conditioning, washers and dryers, etc.) and, more importantly, friends who share our values and lifestyle. We miss our friends and family and the positive
influence they have in our lives. So... here we go with the weekend:
Friday night was our friend Roger's birthday. No one knows exactly how old he is, but we know he's somewhere close to fifty. We took him out for dinner to a place we like called Bob's. It was fun, but we spent so much time sitting around waiting for people to be ready that we didn't get to dinner until about nine pm. Then, when dinner was done, half of us were tired and didn't want to go anywhere else and the other half wanted to go out dancing. People ended up getting upset, and the evening didn't end on a good note. Even though we don't write about it in the blog often, that happens often.
Saturday was Field Day at school. In the USA, Field Day usually means that a school day is devoted to fun and games for the students - sports competitions, prizes, everyone wins, etc. Here, Field Day means that on a Saturday, the school rents out an empty baseball field, fills it with carnival-like games, and requires the teachers to sign up for two hours of service. Students come, eat Dominican carnival food, and play the games. All of the foriegn teachers signed up for the same two hours since we don't have cars and had to take a 
taxi to the location. John and I ended up in charge of the bungee-run game. When we got there at 10 (the whole thing was supposed to start at 9), nothing was ready. So, for the first hour of our time, we sat in the shade and talked. The second hour, we did our duty in the scorching sun. It was so hot that the bungee-run thing got too hot for the kids to touch. We were relieved of our duties a little late, and then we had lunch (Dominican hot dogs and ice cream) and took off for activity #2 of the day. By the way, Dominicans put really weird things on their hot dogs, but it tastes great. From what we can tell, here's a list of the toppings: catchup, mustard, chili, relish (all normal), fake squirtable cheese, marinated cabbage, mayonaise, onions, and little shaved fried potatoes. I'm sure they're terrible for us, but they sure taste good!
Activity #2 for the day (by this time all of us had soaked through our 
clothes with sweat) was to visit some famous caves close to the city called Los Tres Ojos (which means The Three Eyes). We had heard of them before but didn't know exactly where they were or anything, but we decided they were a must-see before we leave the island for good. It was a great experience! Here we are on the left descending into the caves. We thought it 
would be cooler down there, and perhaps it was a few 
degrees cooler, but the humidity was three times as pronounced. Our clothes stayed wet with sweat. There were three freshwater lakes down in the caves, and we saw fish and turtles swimming around. What a peaceful place! We also saw
some bats flying around. We were thankful for them because we were 
being eaten alive by mosquitoes. For ten pesos (about 3o cents), we took a little raft over to another cave and lake that opened up all the way up to the sky. It was really beautiful.
After we climbed out of the caves, we went for a walk in a pretty
garden area that was above ground right above the caves. John took some nice pictures of flowers, and by the time we got into the taxi, we were all exhausted. It's amazing what heat can do to you. We were all zapped of all energy.
We wish we could have taken our parents to see the caves and garden.
By the time we got home and showered, John and I were both so exhausted that we took a 2
hour nap. It was heavenly after such a long day in the sun and heat. We planned to meet in Kari's apartment for a pre-dinner game of poker. We all put in 10 pesos (about 30 cents), so that the winner of the game would win the tip for the cleaning ladies this next week. We all give about 50 pesos for a tip. We had a fun time playing poker. In the end, it came down to John and Kari, and since it was passed time for dinner (again), John made decisions he would not have usually made so that the game would end. Kari won. 
I stayed in for a long time and won several big hands. Later, John told me he was proud of my poker skills.
I stayed in for a long time and won several big hands. Later, John told me he was proud of my poker skills. We had decided to go to this place called Yatoba for dinner. For months, every time we walk passed it, I say,"I'd really like to go there sometime. It looks so nice!" Last night, my wish came true, and we went to Yatoba. It was my kind of place. I like classy restaraunts where the waitors are good, where the food comes out looking like art, where the table clothes and napkins are soft 
linen... it was wonderful! The amosphere was sophisticated, and my sushi was served to me in a very aesthetically pleasing way. It tasted as good - or better - than it looked. YUM!! Everyone else really enjoyed their meals, too, and here's the bonus: it wasn't even that expensive! We've got to go back sometime in the next five weeks.
linen... it was wonderful! The amosphere was sophisticated, and my sushi was served to me in a very aesthetically pleasing way. It tasted as good - or better - than it looked. YUM!! Everyone else really enjoyed their meals, too, and here's the bonus: it wasn't even that expensive! We've got to go back sometime in the next five weeks.After dinner, we had planned to meet up with the French teacher from school and her husband to go dancing. We ended up at this really seedy disco. It was too dark in there, and who knows what was going on in the middle of the dance floor. It wasn't very fun. The music was so loud that it was painful to my ears. But, we went somewhere new, and now we know not to go back. In the end, John and I went home with Pauline and Leo (the French teacher), and everyone else went to another dance place.
I think Jason ended up having an okay time. John really loved having him around because John has spent the last school year hanging out with only women. He really misses his guy friends, and it was great for him to be able to hang with a guy. He's been such a trooper this year! We can't wait to come home.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Going Dancing!
We've been taking Salsa and Merengue dance lessons for quite some time now. Every Monday and Thursday, we walk about a half mile to Kiko's dance studio to learn how to dance like Dominicans... well, almost like Dominicans. We finally got to put our knowledge to the test on Saturday night when we went out to dinner and out dancing with some Dominican friends. It was a blast! John had more moves that most of the Dominican guys on the dance floor, and we were one of the few couples bold enough to go out on the floor when Salsa was playing. (It's a much more 
difficult dance than Merengue.) The picture on the left is all of us at a place called La Mora. It is a seafood place in a part of town that we usually steer clear of... it's not the most prosperous part of town. Our French friend, Pauline, and her husband and brother took us there. The atmosphere was nothing worth mentioning, but we got an incredible amount of good food for a very small amount of money. For 100 pesos (US $3.00), you get a plate mounded with fresh shrimp with a side of boiled yucca. It was great! (And the extra bonus is that none of us ended up sick.)
After we finished dinner around 9:00 pm or so, we headed to the dancing place. This is a very local and authentic bar/dance club that is frequented only by Dominicans (except for Saturday night when a bunch of foriegners showed up). We danced our hearts out, but neither John nor I have any idea what the name of the place is....
In the pictures, I'm in the blue shirt
dancing with the tall handsome dude in jeans (John), and our friend Kari is wearing the pink and black floral dress. She and the other girls danced with the other men in our group as well as some random Dominicans who had enough guts to ask them. Only one was acting inappropriate.It was a great place, but the music was so loud I could feel my clothing vibrating against my skin with the beat of the music. Needless to say, we didn't enjoy any conversation, stimulating or otherwise, because it was impossible to hear anyone talk even if they were shouting in your ear. It was also hotter than a sauna, which makes an unpleasant (that's an understatement) environment for dancing. John and I were both soaked with sweat. John's favorite phrase sums it up: "My back is a waterfall right now." It was so hot that my hair was soaked with sweat and my shirt was wet.... and when you dance you have to touch other people... gross! It was fun nonetheless.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Claire's Thoughts on the Weekend and Literature Fair Part 1
Claire's Thoughts on the Weekend at Home:
I LOVED being back in familiar territory! What's that saying about a candy store and a kid? Well, that's how I felt in Walmart! So much variety! So many familiar things! Everything in English! It was fabulous. I really loved being back and seeing family and friends. I certainly didn't see much of John, but he got his much needed guy time. My favorite things about being home over the weekend:
1. Love from family and friends
2. Driving a car
3. Coffee that is smooth and tasty (instead of so acidic that it gives me an upset tummy)
4. Hot showers
5. Staying clean after my hot shower
6. Not being sweaty
7. Mom Roth's chicken salad
8. Sleeping under a down comforter
9. Feeling cool breeze on my face
10. Not having to hide from the sun
I could go on, but I think you get the point. I'm ready to move back.
The Literature Fair:
The past three weeks in school have been spent gearing up for today and tomorrow. I'm actually surprised that I'm still alive right now after the day I had (John,too). The Literature Fair at St. Michael's is a great idea, like so many things that happen there, but... well, it never goes quite like it's supposed to.
The premise of the Literature Fair is that every class in the school puts together some presentation having to do anything they've done in Literature or Social Studies class recently. John and I are both doing plays with our students. John's doing a cute play called The Phantom Toll Booth, and I'm doing a patched-together and modernized version of Romeo and Juliet. Unlike Shakespeare's version, mine is a comedy. If Juliet is giggling when she is supposed to be stabbing herself to death, the audience isn't going to be wiping their eyes because of the the tragedy of it all...
I lived through three performances of 9th Grade's Romeo and Juliet the Comedy That's Not Quite Funny Enough to Make You Laugh Out Loud today, and I have to live through three tomorrow. I think I have about a 60% chance of survival (up from my 30% chance this morning). The first one was so bad that I apologized to the audience afterward and thanked them for being polite. The other two were livable, but most definitely not sad or moving in any way. That's not entirely true... I do have two or three students in each class who did some work on their lines and are almost convincing. I was almost convinced, for example, that, for five minutes during the balcony love scene, Romeo and Juliet were actually in love. Everything else is less than mediocre. In fact, once today, Tybalt didn't even attend the Capulet feast, so he had no chance to get angry with Romeo and want to kill him later, which made the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt later in the play a non-sequiter. Oh, dear. Also, during a performance today (the one that the Director and Sub-director decided to attend, of course), the audience could see most of one of Juliet's breasts after she had died because the poor girl's dress was too big on her. Oops. Of course, we never got to practice with costumes before today because on the dress rehearsal day, only four people had costumes.
If you are not in any way acquainted with or interested in the plot and characters of Romeo and Juliet, I heartily apologize for the above paragraph. You only need know that I came home today completely exhausted and discouraged as did John... only he spent the whole day out in the hot sun trying to keep control of his students who weren't acting at the time, trying to tell them when to make their entrances and exits. We'll be happy when 3:00 tomorrow rolls around.
One of the third grades chose to do their performance on Eskimos (yes, I realize that is not the most politically correct word to use, but that's the one they used), and John had the pleasure of taking his class to see it today. When he walked into the room, this is what he saw: "snow" scenery painted all over the room, "snow" flying off the ceiling fan as it whirred above the little Eskimos, all of the little kids dressed from head to toe in winter garb - puffy down-filled coats with hoods up, mittens, snow boots laced up to their knees... and here's the kicker: the air conditioner in that room broke this morning and never got fixed. John spotted a chubby little kid whose limp hair was sticking out from under his tied hood... his hair was dripping sweat, and his round cheeks were red and shiny from the heat. What we wonder is why the Dominican 9-year-olds have such comprehensive winter garb.
We'll update you on the goings on of the second half of the Literature Fair tomorrow (with pictures)... if we survive.
I LOVED being back in familiar territory! What's that saying about a candy store and a kid? Well, that's how I felt in Walmart! So much variety! So many familiar things! Everything in English! It was fabulous. I really loved being back and seeing family and friends. I certainly didn't see much of John, but he got his much needed guy time. My favorite things about being home over the weekend:
1. Love from family and friends
2. Driving a car
3. Coffee that is smooth and tasty (instead of so acidic that it gives me an upset tummy)
4. Hot showers
5. Staying clean after my hot shower
6. Not being sweaty
7. Mom Roth's chicken salad
8. Sleeping under a down comforter
9. Feeling cool breeze on my face
10. Not having to hide from the sun
I could go on, but I think you get the point. I'm ready to move back.
The Literature Fair:
The past three weeks in school have been spent gearing up for today and tomorrow. I'm actually surprised that I'm still alive right now after the day I had (John,too). The Literature Fair at St. Michael's is a great idea, like so many things that happen there, but... well, it never goes quite like it's supposed to.
The premise of the Literature Fair is that every class in the school puts together some presentation having to do anything they've done in Literature or Social Studies class recently. John and I are both doing plays with our students. John's doing a cute play called The Phantom Toll Booth, and I'm doing a patched-together and modernized version of Romeo and Juliet. Unlike Shakespeare's version, mine is a comedy. If Juliet is giggling when she is supposed to be stabbing herself to death, the audience isn't going to be wiping their eyes because of the the tragedy of it all...
I lived through three performances of 9th Grade's Romeo and Juliet the Comedy That's Not Quite Funny Enough to Make You Laugh Out Loud today, and I have to live through three tomorrow. I think I have about a 60% chance of survival (up from my 30% chance this morning). The first one was so bad that I apologized to the audience afterward and thanked them for being polite. The other two were livable, but most definitely not sad or moving in any way. That's not entirely true... I do have two or three students in each class who did some work on their lines and are almost convincing. I was almost convinced, for example, that, for five minutes during the balcony love scene, Romeo and Juliet were actually in love. Everything else is less than mediocre. In fact, once today, Tybalt didn't even attend the Capulet feast, so he had no chance to get angry with Romeo and want to kill him later, which made the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt later in the play a non-sequiter. Oh, dear. Also, during a performance today (the one that the Director and Sub-director decided to attend, of course), the audience could see most of one of Juliet's breasts after she had died because the poor girl's dress was too big on her. Oops. Of course, we never got to practice with costumes before today because on the dress rehearsal day, only four people had costumes.
If you are not in any way acquainted with or interested in the plot and characters of Romeo and Juliet, I heartily apologize for the above paragraph. You only need know that I came home today completely exhausted and discouraged as did John... only he spent the whole day out in the hot sun trying to keep control of his students who weren't acting at the time, trying to tell them when to make their entrances and exits. We'll be happy when 3:00 tomorrow rolls around.
One of the third grades chose to do their performance on Eskimos (yes, I realize that is not the most politically correct word to use, but that's the one they used), and John had the pleasure of taking his class to see it today. When he walked into the room, this is what he saw: "snow" scenery painted all over the room, "snow" flying off the ceiling fan as it whirred above the little Eskimos, all of the little kids dressed from head to toe in winter garb - puffy down-filled coats with hoods up, mittens, snow boots laced up to their knees... and here's the kicker: the air conditioner in that room broke this morning and never got fixed. John spotted a chubby little kid whose limp hair was sticking out from under his tied hood... his hair was dripping sweat, and his round cheeks were red and shiny from the heat. What we wonder is why the Dominican 9-year-olds have such comprehensive winter garb.
We'll update you on the goings on of the second half of the Literature Fair tomorrow (with pictures)... if we survive.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
A Weekend Wedding Visit
As I mentioned in the last post we got back to the city on Monday night from the resort only to have a two day work week before it was time to start thinking about the weekend. This wasn't just any normal weekend trip however; we were heading home. We had half of our bags packed well before it was time to go. Our plan was to take a bunch of thingsthat we aren't going to need anymore home making our trip in June a lighter one. On Wednesday night we finished packing and then had the luxury of sleeping in a little Thursday morning before heading to the airport around 9:30. We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare and after a small snag of being dropped off at the wrong airline counter, we found our way through the security check and onto the plane.
We got to the Detroit airport around 11:30 pm and found my parent and all our suitcases. The final leg of the trip was a two and a half hour car ride that took us to my parents house. Even though we were exhausted, it was nice to spend the time visiting with mom and dad.
The rehearsal was much like every other rehearsal I had ever been to. You meet the other half of the wedding party, you practice standing while the pastor goes over the ceremony, and then you walk up and down the isle a few times so you know where you are supposed to go. From here we all headed over to the dinner. Robby's parents own a Conney Island restaurant in Angola so we used that dinning space for the meal. It was at the meal that I got the chance to see and talk with the rest of my friends, Cole, and Jason. Robby passed out his gifts to his 
groomsmen, a few inside jokes type items, and Kristen gave her bridesmaid their gifts. Then it was our turn to give an early present to the bride and groom. We had all pitched in to get them one of those new Nintendo Wii game consoles. More than the fact we wanted to watch them open it was the fact that we, the guys, had intended on going back to an apartment later that night and we all wanted to give the new game a try.
After the dinner we met up at the apartment where the fun really began. Living here in the Dominican Republic, not only am I surrounded by women working in an elementary school, but every 
other foreign teacher that I hang out with is also female. Don't get me wrong, I like each one of them and I am glad we all get along as well as we do, but there is so much finger nail painting, salad eating, chick flick watching, and birth control 
conversations a guy can have before he needs a break.
We were up at 10 ready for breakfast, showers, and a few more frames of bowling before heading to the church for pictures. We all got ready at the church around 2 before the it was our turn for pictures. The wedding was nice and went off without a hitch. A few little confusions by the wedding party on where we needed to go at certain times before and after the ceremony, but nothing that we all didn't figure out on our own. 
From there we took a few more pictures and 
then all headed to the reception which was in a pavilion at the nearby 4H fairground. It was decorated very nicely and the food wasn't bad either. The rest of the time was spent talking to people I hadn't seen in a year if not longer and some dancing. We said our goodbyes to the people at the reception somewhere around 9:30 and by the time we got back to my parents house and pack our things we were in bed by 11.
This time we decided to fly into an airport other than Miami. We have flown through there every time we have gone back and forth now, and we have never been impressed (in fact, it's been quite unpleasant). So we decided to try Newark airport instead. It was interesting when we boarded because a Dominican family (mom, dad, grandma, and three teenage children) were sitting next to us, and they had obviously never been on an airplane before that day. As we were coming into the airport we began to hit some turbulence that we didn't think much of. Both Claire and I have flown countless times, and neither of us has ever gotten sick on a plane. We didn't realize how bad it was until we noticed the daughter of the Dominican family with her head in a bag. Then just as we were a few hundred feet from the ground, the plane took back off again to circle the airport. The pilot said "busy runway", I say rookie pilot who wasn't quite sure of himself. While we were circling the airport for a half hour or so other people started getting sick as well. The flight attendants were tending to a passenger sitting a few seats ahead of us. He really wasn't doing very well. It is a good thing we had headphones and books to read to keep our minds off of what was going on around us. After finally landing we enjoyed the Borders that was inside the airport and all the English version textbooks that were inside before heading to Detroit to meet my parents.
We got to the Detroit airport around 11:30 pm and found my parent and all our suitcases. The final leg of the trip was a two and a half hour car ride that took us to my parents house. Even though we were exhausted, it was nice to spend the time visiting with mom and dad. The next day, Friday, we woke up and all headed to Bob Evans for breakfast. Claire has had a craving for a Belgian waffle with raspberries for about a month and since there really is no good place to go for breakfast here in the city we took advantage of the situation. At breakfast we met up with Joe, Narissa and Jamie. We had a good time catching up on things, and Claire and I had a great time enjoying our breakfast choices.
After breakfast I met up with a friend of mine, Josh, to go pick up our tuxedos while Claire went with my mom and Jamie to pick out some fun snacks at Wal Mart. I wasn't able to be around my family much for the r
est of the weekend. I didn't plan to be around considering I was in the wedding and we had a lot to do in the next couple days.
est of the weekend. I didn't plan to be around considering I was in the wedding and we had a lot to do in the next couple days.Josh, Brooks, another friend, and I went and got our tuxedos before heading to where Robby works to say hi to him. We made a day of it hanging out in Ft. Wayne before heading back to the rehearsal.
The rehearsal was much like every other rehearsal I had ever been to. You meet the other half of the wedding party, you practice standing while the pastor goes over the ceremony, and then you walk up and down the isle a few times so you know where you are supposed to go. From here we all headed over to the dinner. Robby's parents own a Conney Island restaurant in Angola so we used that dinning space for the meal. It was at the meal that I got the chance to see and talk with the rest of my friends, Cole, and Jason. Robby passed out his gifts to his 
groomsmen, a few inside jokes type items, and Kristen gave her bridesmaid their gifts. Then it was our turn to give an early present to the bride and groom. We had all pitched in to get them one of those new Nintendo Wii game consoles. More than the fact we wanted to watch them open it was the fact that we, the guys, had intended on going back to an apartment later that night and we all wanted to give the new game a try.
After the dinner we met up at the apartment where the fun really began. Living here in the Dominican Republic, not only am I surrounded by women working in an elementary school, but every 
other foreign teacher that I hang out with is also female. Don't get me wrong, I like each one of them and I am glad we all get along as well as we do, but there is so much finger nail painting, salad eating, chick flick watching, and birth control 
conversations a guy can have before he needs a break.For those of you that have never heard of a Nintendo Wii or have never seen how one is played let me explain it to you or the pictures are going to look totally bizarre. To control your player in each game you must act out the motions you want your character to do. So you 
are given a controler that is similar to the remote you use for a T.V. which gives off a signal to a sensor located on the console the picks up your movement. The Wii system comes with a game that includes a variety of sports such as 
baseball, bowling, boxing, tennis, and golf. We had a blast trying all these different sports out and competing against each other. As you can see by the pictures, watching a person play the game is just as entertaining as playing the game itself. The first picture that I have included on the left is of me, Cole (far right) and Mike playing tennis. Then just below that is Josh showing off some of his bowling skills with Robby doing the same below him. Then on the right side is Jason showing us his perfect strike while Cole and Josh are taking each other on in the ring for a boxing match. This party lasted until 5 in the morning before we decided that it might be best to get a few hours of sleep so we wouldn't be sleeping in front of the wedding guest later that next day. 
are given a controler that is similar to the remote you use for a T.V. which gives off a signal to a sensor located on the console the picks up your movement. The Wii system comes with a game that includes a variety of sports such as 
baseball, bowling, boxing, tennis, and golf. We had a blast trying all these different sports out and competing against each other. As you can see by the pictures, watching a person play the game is just as entertaining as playing the game itself. The first picture that I have included on the left is of me, Cole (far right) and Mike playing tennis. Then just below that is Josh showing off some of his bowling skills with Robby doing the same below him. Then on the right side is Jason showing us his perfect strike while Cole and Josh are taking each other on in the ring for a boxing match. This party lasted until 5 in the morning before we decided that it might be best to get a few hours of sleep so we wouldn't be sleeping in front of the wedding guest later that next day. 
We were up at 10 ready for breakfast, showers, and a few more frames of bowling before heading to the church for pictures. We all got ready at the church around 2 before the it was our turn for pictures. The wedding was nice and went off without a hitch. A few little confusions by the wedding party on where we needed to go at certain times before and after the ceremony, but nothing that we all didn't figure out on our own. 
From there we took a few more pictures and 
then all headed to the reception which was in a pavilion at the nearby 4H fairground. It was decorated very nicely and the food wasn't bad either. The rest of the time was spent talking to people I hadn't seen in a year if not longer and some dancing. We said our goodbyes to the people at the reception somewhere around 9:30 and by the time we got back to my parents house and pack our things we were in bed by 11.The alarm unfortunately went off at 2 am because we need to get back to Detroit
by 5 to catch our early morning flight. If you haven't been keeping up that is 6 hours of sleep the first night, 5 the second, and 3 the third for me. We were both zombies the entire trip home. The good news is we did make it back to Santo Domingo around 3 where we pretty much relaxed for the rest of the day.
by 5 to catch our early morning flight. If you haven't been keeping up that is 6 hours of sleep the first night, 5 the second, and 3 the third for me. We were both zombies the entire trip home. The good news is we did make it back to Santo Domingo around 3 where we pretty much relaxed for the rest of the day.We had a fantastic time, even though it was so rushed. While I was out visiting with the guys Claire's mom and Jamie, along with my parents, were able to spend time with Claire. We both feel that this trip, with as little sleep as we got, recharged our batteries and gave us what we needed to make it through this last month and a half on the island.
