toilet paper in the trash. obvi.

so heyyyy mis amigos. as i said before, i did make it to the beautiful country of la republica dominicana. and it is sooo pretty right now. the weather has been really great so thats good. i am living with a couple that are about 60 years old, daysi and eduardo. they are so so cool. they are just really caring and eduardo is pretty animated and likes to talk about random things in the dr and just life in general. when i got the description of them, it had said that they went to church "frequently". so i figured like on sundays or something. but no, they go every morning for mass at 6:30 am. which is amazing to me. oh and the food is really deliciosa. lots of potato-y like things that are all muy bueno. my room is totes cool. literally. i have a fan and usually keep my windows open. i love it that there is no air conditioning because its just good ole fresh dominican air. here are some pics...sorry but i dont feel like rotating that pic and then downloading it again.

yeah so thats the bed where i am lulled to sleep by the sweet beats of reggaeton many nights.

unfortunately there is one mosquito in my room that has been sucking my blood like its his job. but who can blame him. i may have killed him earlier. one can only hope.

okay anyway, so yeah my housemate is really cool too which i am very thankful for.
in general, there are some really great people in the program with me. some of them are hilarious which is always bueno.
yesterday i got my classes and a phone and some pesos which made me feel a lot more able to live on my own. then today we went on a tour with dominican students in order to learn how to use public transportation. which is the bomb dig. its like really cheapy cheap and often involves putting like 7 people in a small compact car. we got to see downtown and just figure out how to navigate the city better which is good because before i had no idea where i was.
one interesting fact about this country is that they dont flush their toilet paper. i have never known that in the past so i have probably clogged about 20 toilets in past trips but whatevs. now i know although i have had to fish out my paper a few times because i forget.
another thing is that there are stray dogs here in santiago just like in santo domingo. in fact there is one right beside me sitting. kinda cute. at a distance at least. finally, i will just say that when we went downtown today i was definitely a little overwhelmed at the poverty that you can see everywhere. you are reminded of it every time some little boy asks to shine your shoes and everytime you see random shacks made of odds and ends on the outskirts of roads. its crazy. it has become very clear to me today how easy it is to avoid that. in my neighborhood, there arent many very poor areas and its easier to live comfortably without seeing people who dont have what they really need. yet, i definitely believe that life is not about comfort. nothing will change if we don't face the pain and poverty in this world. plus the people in those places have a whole new kind of wisdom and just as much right to freedom and food and all things good. so yeah i am just praying for courage for myself in that and for you also. if you arent sure, just go ahead and go to the hard places.
okay well thats all. i love you all. unless you are like someone creepy that i dont know. although i guess then i do love you in a purely plutonic kind of way.
talk to you soon hopefully. i am leaving for the beach tomorrow morning. we are going 6 hours away for an overnight. its a little strange to me but whatevs.
byeeeeeee.