Marilyn's birthday

August 28, 2008
Well pre-service training in the DR sure makes the time past bye fast. I heard that once we are at our sites, our concept of time will be sooo much slower. `Earlier this week we were hit with another hurricane which meant rain, rain, and more rain. What does that mean for me? Strep throat. So soon in the DR and I am already sick; apparently germs like dampness and since I have weak tonsils, I am more susceptible to certain sicknesses. I am taking antibiotics, so no worries. On another note, today was the first day I took a carro publico sola. I was too lazy to walk all the way to Entrena (about a 15 minute walk especially since I decided to fix my hair) so I took a chance with the public transportation. All in all, it was not bad; I arrived in three minutes and only had to pay about 15 pesos, which is equivalent to about 40 cents.
Yesterday we went to downtown Santo Domingo to visit Peace Corps headquarters, clinica abreu, a pension, and some historical sites. The Peace Corps center has WIFI, which is always a plus con aire conditionar and the Clinica Abreu is the richest clinic in Santo Domingo. In fact we are not allowed to go to any other clinic because it is not equipped with such advanced doctors. Now if I had an emergency and my site is 4 hours away, I must take a taxi straight to this clinic unless I am bleeding to death or I am not breathing. Now that’s some scary stuff.
We meet at Entrena before heading out and ended up all being on the same guagua. The chofer blasted reggaeton for us (since we were the only ones on) and some of the gringas began to dance. I wonder how hilarious it must have been to see a guagua full of dancing Americans.
So far my day consists of Peace Corps training from 8 until 5, I talk to David for about an hour at the internet center using Skype, and playing Uno with my nine year old host brother, Waldid. Sometimes I stay from that agenda to include walking around, the casual movie, and some shopping. I figured once I am in my established site, I will be able to ubicarme un poco major. Well I am going to take this time to make a shoutout to my sister Marilyn for her 25th birthday, Happy Birthday!