I really want to buy a coat.

A really long one.  With buttons.  And I want to wear a scarf and mittens with it. 

Awesome.

Too bad it's more like beach weather.

Things I hate about the Dominican Republic

• Everything is disorganized
• No one follows traffic laws
• Police don't follow traffic laws
• It takes forever to get anywhere
• People speak Spanish and I sometimes can't understand them
• Trying to speak/understand Spanish gives me a headache
• Some of my teachers won't speak English during class
• Boys speaking in Spanish next to me and I think they are saying bad things about me although I can't be sure
• Having to be around rich Dominicans during school
• My hair is always frizzy and/or puffy
• Men always wolf whistling and/or checking me out when I am being innocent and minding my own business
• Drunk people
• People on the street begging me for money while I sit in my big fancy car eating pizza hut
• I can't go out of my house by myself
• It's always hot, never cold
• It's always humid
• I have to wear a uniform to school
• Stupid rich Dominicans who think they are better than everyone else
• Rich Dominicans who have never had to work a day in their life
• Poor Dominicans who make me feel like I am selfish and rich
• This country is very dirty
• Beer bottles all over the streets
• It feels like I am just sitting here in this country, waiting to go back to the U.S. so that my real life can start again

Things I love about the Dominican Republic

• People kiss each other on the cheek when they greet each other.  It's very warm and inviting
• It's always hot, never very cold
• Dominicans are very friendly
• I have to wear a uniform to school.  Makes getting ready so much easier
• I speak Spanish
• My sister is my best friend
• My skin is never dry
• The American Embassy-if it wasn't for them I would have no friends
• The other countries' embassies too- they also have some pretty decent kids
• I am taller than everyone
• I get to be on the school's varsity basketball team even though I have zero basketball skills

Creepers

I was on my way home, sitting at a stoplight, when we were double-teamed by two street people.  One of them washed the windshield, ignoring our protests, and the other wrote "te amo"  and drew a heart with an arrow through it in the dust on the back window.  He then winked at me.

Creeped out.  But it was also pretty funny.

The Spirit of Christmas

So the Christmas season starts in September here.

Not joking.

Businesses have had their lights and decorations up for more than a month.  The men on the street are selling glittery manger scenes and mini fake pine trees.  Yesterday I saw a man selling a Santa hat with a blinking light on the end. 

Every holiday season La Sirena has a Christmas festival in their smaller parking lot.  There you can find christmas delights such as blow up slides,  rock climbing, ice skating on plastic, and shooting Frosty the Snowman with a paintball gun. 

It was a ton of fun. 

We headed right to the plastic skating rink.  It was actually pretty close to real ice skating.  they had greased up the plastic really well so you could slide all over it.  We wore roller blades with ice skating blades on the bottom and skated all over the rink.  I was going much faster than all of the other people in the rink and was beginning to feel really proud of myself when I remembered that they were all Dominicans.  They had probably never been roller blading before, let alone ice skating. 

As we left, I saw a big sign advertising the Christmas Festival.  It said," Find the real meaning of Christmas with La Sirena's Christmas Festival!" 

I learned something.  The real meaning of Christmas is skating on greasy plastic, shooting a snowman with a paintball gun, and going down plastic blow up slides.

Camping

On friday night I went "camping" in Bonao.

It was disgusting.

The showers were in the same stalls as the toilets were, so the toilet paper and the toilets themselves were soaked. 

The sheep stalls that we slept in were infested with cockroaches and had lizards running all over the walls. 

This is the second time I have gone camping here.  Maybe some day I will learn. 

But there was a dog at the camp whom my sister and I named Roxy.
We were the only ones that would pay attention to her.  By the end of the first day she had learned her name and would come when we called. 

She came with us on a hike up the mountain.  The top had a gorgeous view.  We could see miles around.  The majestic green-covered mountains reached towards heaven. 

That isn't something you can see in Utah.