Saludos!

Finally, a computer. This is my third full day in Santo Domingo and I´m exhausted but having a lot of fun. It´s true what they say, that trying to live your life in a language other than your native language is really tiring for the first couple of weeks.

This first week is orientation so we´re doing lots of tours, which have been really interesting. The Dominican Republic has a really cool, rich history, not least because Santo Domingo is the oldest city in the New World. We took a tour of the Zona Colonial (on Tuesday=, where all the old government buildings and old church buildings are.

Tuesday I also moved in my host family and so far, so good yay! I´ve heard horror stories and I really lucked out. I live with Doña Josefina and her two daughters, Gabby, 18 and Ligia, 20. Doña Josefina is really, really nice and this morning she gave me a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice without any pulp which meant a lot to me because 1) making fresh juice is work and 2) I hate pulp and I didn´t even have to say anything! Both the daughters are really nice, but Ligia is the most friendly. She seems genuinely interested in me. She studies psychology and her sister studies interior design. They live in a cute neighborhood, next door to a tiny pharmacy.

On my first night with them, Ligia invited me to go to the movies with her friends and we saw Madagascar 2. Here, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are really big nights for the movies because it´s only 5 pesos for a ticket (Note: There are about 35 pesos to one American dollar).

More orientation things to do but please, email me!

Word/Fact of the Day
piropo: catcall. Very, very common in the Dominican Republic and they range from harmless and a little funny to really crude. Yesterday, I was walking home with Doña Josefina and a guy asked her if he could be her son so he could be close to me. I thought it was pretty funny.