when it rains. it pours. literally.

there was just a torrential downpour.
there was also one the other day. unfortunately that day i was wearing a white shirt and had to walk home from school. awkward.
other than that. nothing much is going.
we had our final dinner with the group last night. it was super good and fun.
and then later that night i said my first goodbyes. insane in the membrane.
tomorrow i am heading to santo domingo to spend time with good friends there and say goodbye. which will be really sad. but thats okay.
my departure is 8 days away. a lot of me can't wait.
so basically i probably won't have much communication for like the next 5 days slash until i get home. but know that i love you a lot and cant wait to see your face.
thanks for being my friend.
paz y amor,
salpal

class=no more.

i just, literally 2 minutes ago, finished my last exam in the dominican republic. it feels real good. and insane. this adventure is on its way to the end. so this past weekend was so great and involved lots of fun in santo domingo. the lord gave me a new joy in being here which was needed as i continue to get more excited about coming home. so i headed there on saturday afternoon for a baby shower for my dear friend lindsay drake who is living there right now. after getting there, i once again was surprised by the amount of effort dominicans put into decorations especially for parties. we blew up a zillion balloons and they had a huge like waterfall,fountain,net thing that they made a huge flower arrangement around. i will put up a picture soon to give you a better image of what it was like. basically that was fun and i sweated more than i have in a while. i am not really sure because it wasn't that terribly hot. but whatever its the dr. so then the baby shower came and it was so fun to see and meet lindsay and elliots american friends here and also dominican friends here. love it. there were also lots of baby onesies which are my fave. so then i stayed with the de la cruz family which consists of four daughters who are all great and hilarious. it was so so fun to spend time with them and get to know them better. then of course i got to spend time with friends in cielo. always good. oh another thing that will probably never happen again was that i was there for part of the mens trip that goes down to work with mission emanuel. they were all like hi, so who are you and why are you here. but whatev. they were very nice and on sunday they showed a movie at the church about marriage called fireproof that was really good. so then, i got my haircut by a friend. and then styled majorly dominican style. hilar and not exactly my style. ha. but whatev. its kinda short. but the good thing is that hair grows. so whats the big hoot and holler. then on tues i came back to santiago and had a great dinner with brie and her sister and eduardo and daysi and then now here i am, finished with school. its pouring outside. but i love it because it hasnt rained in a good while. sometimes though you forget your rain gear. and your galoshes. dang. so i will be coming home in exactly a week and one half. next sunday. woooooooo. cant wait although i will be sad to leave friends in santo domingo especially. and eduardo and daysi. but eduardo said he would come to me and bries weddings. as long as he can take a boat because he has a serious fear of planes. well see about that.
things i will miss:
1. yogen fruz
2. eduardo and daysi
3. fresh air all the time
4. stumbling through spanish
5. riding with seven people in a small compact car
6. plantains and yucca (potato like things)
7. daddy yankee constantly playing everywhere around me
8. cheapy cheap things
9. fluorescent lighting. that is a lie.
10.being two hours away from my fave place ever.

love you,
sal

18 days. mas o menos.

so according to my math. i have 18 more days left here. insane in the membrane is what that is. sometimes time just blows my mind. this is one of those times. but i am thankful for that in some ways. it has been the greatest to be here and i am excited to see what the lord has to teach me during my last few days here but i cannot waitttt to hop on my plane. mainly because i want to see you. i cant wait to give you a big hug. whoever you are. unless you are covered in asparagas. then i wont. well maybe. okay sorry i am ridiculous. but anyways, not much to tell. tomorrow is my last day of class. so i should be finishing final work, etc but whatev. today i had my last gym classes. it was quite fun and ridiculous. basically we played duck duck goose for like forev. always good. until the ducks go nutso. which makes it interesting. heres a pic of them being crazy. this ended in a dog pile.


this may give you an idea of the dog pile...


k i need to do my homework. love you muchisimo. (for the non spanish speakers that translates to i love you a lot a lot)

your amiga,
salpal

cornflakes. flames. campo. dominican easter. cornflakes.

so i start this with cornflakes because i ate a lot of cornflakes and ham and cheese sandwiches. you may ask why? well i was without host parents for all day friday and saturday morning. which now that i say it isnt that much time. but basically it was me fixing my own food. which was kind of nice for a change and i really enjoy cornflakes since being here. anyways, none of that is important. so friday my friend trena and i went with clarisa, a 15year old girl who lives at her house and helps clean a little, to meet and visit her family in a town about 20 minutes from here. it was real fun and so great to meet her fam. plus our guagua (van) on the way back was quite the party guagua and included loud blasting music. anyways...this is a pic of her and some of her cute fam...


so then saturday, i woke up to my host mom daisy calling to tell me that my ride to meet them in the campo was coming ahora (which is a very vague word here meaning soon or 2 hours). so i jumped up and got ready and then waited for maybe an hour. but it was nice to rest on the couch while waiting. so then i went to the campo and spent lots of time sitting trying to understand all the family members speaking spanish. my spanish was pretty crappy but i felt a little better about my understanding. who knows. maybe one day i will learn spanish. on saturday i went with daisy and her sister in law to mass which ended up starting at 9:30. there were a cazillion people there. after receiving instructions everyone got up and flooded out into the street where we lit candles and walked up the street. imagine a huge crowd of people walking with flames in their hands and not really being careful with it. i seriously was so thankful nothing, especially my hair, was burned. so then we went back into the church and had a two hour church service until 12:30 in the morning. it was a cool experience. but unfortunately it triple confirmed that i am not a night person and prefer going to sleep close to 10 or 11. whatevs. okay so then i slept there very soundly and woke up to people yelling 'jesus has risen' really loud. which was great. now i am back at my last week of school. 3 weeks from yesterday i will be coming home. i cant wait. if you happen to see robin eggs on sale somewhere feel free to buy them and i will pay you back. anyways, know today that jesus has risen and loves you very much. we have been redeemed. praise god.
love you a lot.

i went to haiti. technically.

soooo if you are my mom, you are probably like whatttt?!?! no way did you go to haiti. not to fear anyone who worries about that side of the island. i only went about 5 feet into haiti. but technically i have been there now i guess. woo woo. first of all, now that that is cleared up, i need to go a little bit further 'back in time'. so a lot of last week i was left without a housemate because brie's parents were here. that was sad but flew by like time always does here. it was so great to meet them and they are reallly nice and her mom even left us some easter candy which was/is delish. they came for dinner on thursday and it was hilar and fun translating with brie and just hanging out with them. heres our new fam pic that we took that night...


so then friday i went on my class field trip to the dominican haitian border which was sooo sweet slash sad at times. i have been taking a dominican haitian relations class this semester and we have learned a lot about the history of this island and what has led up to the racism/segregated situation we have today in the dr. so we went to the border on friday because on fridays and mondays they open the border for haitians to cross over and sell or buy whatever in a town called dajabon where it ends up being a humongous market with clothes, shoes, toiletries, fruit and anything else you could need. it was so crazy. so so so many people just rushing back and forth. and while there was this one level in my mind focusing on getting where i needed to go and maneuvering through the crowds, there was a much deeper level of desperation that i could feel in that place. those people were moving fast and pushing the stuff they were selling in my face at times because they need to eat. like they have no choice but to carry a million coconuts in a wheelbarrow in the blazing sun. and that's something i still think i need to process for a while. here are some pics of the border and a woman carrying like an amazing amount of styrofoam plates...



this is haiti...




so that was really cool.
then on the way back to santiago we went to a beach in monte cristi which was probs my fave yet because it was like rocky and kind of isolated.
this is a pic of it...


okay well there is more to tell but my comp is about to die. so i will finish later.
love you all and miss you.
see you in less than a monthhhh.
wooooooo.

quaker oats.

speaking of quaker oats. i experienced my first earthquake today. i didn't really know it, it wasn't a big one i don't think. but i was sitting on my stool this morning with my earphones in and then felt my stool move. it was the weirdest thing. i looked to see if someone had come in to get my attention and then i literally picked up my stool and looked under it to see if a cat had climbed in it or something. i didn't find one so i just moved on in life and thought i was insane. what do i find out later? there was a small earthquake at the same time that happened. should have known. i guess. anyways, neat-o.
thought i would update you.
mucho amor coming your way right about nowzers.
~salpal

wowzerrrz.

it is hot as a mug. literally. a mug of boiling hot chocolate. or coffee. but i prefer hot chocolate. anything boiling. just wanted to update you on that.
and heres a pic to dwell on.



love him.
and love you.
see you in like 1 month and 2 days.