Still in disbelief

After being here in the Dominican Republic for almost my complete 4 months (I go home in just a week and a half now), I am still constantly in disbelief at my experiences here. I am amazed by how independently I functioned living in a big city for the first time, amazed that I was actually able to interact and get by speaking my Spanish here, and just when I thought I was getting used to the gorgeous ocean views, I was absolutely stunned by the pristine beauty of Isla Saona. I can't believe my time here is almost up, and as many days as I was just frustrated at so many of the cultural differences and the problems encountered in a third world country, the thought of leaving here is making me appreciate everything this country has to offer a lot more. While I am still very much ready to head back to the comforts of home and my beloved Wofford, I will always look back on my experiences with great appreciation for the people here who took me in and the beauty I was able to experience. Here are a couple pictures from my great trip to Bayahibe and one of me with my classmates:

Here I am with some of my classmates from Centro Bono, a Jesuit school that trains priests and religious workers. Can you pick me out in this picture? I know it was a tough one to find me! Being the only girl and a clear minority in this class, I felt very aware of how different I was, but I never felt unwelcomed. At the beginning I was absolutely mortified- these guys were nothing like I was expecting. Being told I'd be taking classes at a Jesuit school, I imagined more mature and solemn types, but these guys are just loads of fun and love cracking immature jokes wherever possible. Being a foreigner and not knowing what's going on half the time, and not knowing why it's going on the other half of the time, these guys really looked out for me. Francis for example, dreams of being able to speak English perfectly and was always trying out new words of me, while Ruben would always listen understandingly to my complaints about the majority of Dominican men and their unwanted attention before leaving class halfway through because he found it so boring. On top of adjusting to the Spanish in the classroom, I also found myself adjusting to aspects of Haitian culture, as about half my classmates were Haitian and would speak Creole among themselves. They made me feel a lot better about my horrible Spanish though, as for many of them Spanish was not their strongest language.

While I have seen a lot of beautiful places here in the DR, my daytrip out to Isla Saona was by far the most beautiful. My friend Ellie from Georgetown and I headed to Bayahibe for the weekend and boarded a large Catamaran sailboat early in the morning to head out to the island off the southeast coast.

Here's the view from the beach of Island Saona. I was in shock the whole day and must have said a thousand times, "I can't believe I'm here" or "This place is so beautiful I can't believe it's even real." The island is pretty deserted except for the tourists who head there for day trips. It's the most isolated beach with the clearest water I've seen here.

This was one of the coolest parts of the trip. The boats took us out to the "Piscina Natural" which is a natural pool in the middle of the ocean. The water is only about waist deep, perfectly still and crystal clear. There are starfish in this area, but you have to be careful because holding them out of the water for more than just a few seconds can kill them, and the tourism industry has already started to take its toll on the population. I was surprised though by how spiky and heavy the starfish was. It was incredibly gorgeous though and one of my most prized pics so far.