The journey begins!

So, here I am, back in the Dominican Republic.

Who knew i would be back here so soon? As we were getting off the airplane i was talking with this little 4 year-old girl. She stood up on her sit and said, "i'm a grown up now", so, i said, " yea you shot up". She received this as "yea you shut up", and she just gave me the meanest stare and said you don't say that! That's a bad word? The whole back of the plane thinks i told a little girl to shut up. Why would i use an expression like shot up with Dominicans that don't speak great English? Why am i so awkward around children? All these things ran through my mind as the redness in my cheeks started to fade. I apologized, but then she said, "I almost called the police!". Let it go girl! I explained myself to her and her mother, and everything was cool. We even ended up standing next to each other in the customs line and chatted about normal stuff. Hatchet buried! Welcome to the Dominican Republic!

I arrived at the HUB (our little house church/hostal) and went to bed right after i could not figure my blackberry out. I woke abruptly at 4am to a......rooster crowing......during my dreams I must have forgotten where I was. Better get used to that again. As I stepped out of bed I began to sweat...oh yea I'm in the DR. Then we had church, which was great. A lot of people showed up and we had a breakfast of chocolate covered donuts! Afterwards I went to my old village and hung with Francisco, Cha cha, Francesca, Anabel, Natalie (aka cutest baby ever), and many of my old neighbors. I played a few hands of Dominoes and realized i really need to practice. It was so nice to be back in my old stomping grounds. Everything just kind of came back; my Spanish came back naturally, friendships never skipped a beat and not much had changed. I was so happy as i walked out of El Asfalto and back to the HUB, because it was then that I finally realized I had a family for life here. Not a bad first day.

I will be in this country for 18 more months. I will be setting up a medical assistance program in a rural village through a program called the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children. I will be purchasing a motorcycle soon. I hope to keep up with this blog more. I have a ton of new experiences heading my way, and i feel super blessed to be here!!

Stay tuned for more boring entries