Day four living in the DR.

August 24, 2009-- 10:10pm

Day four in the Dominican Republic. Check.

Apartment. Check.

Power & lights. Check, check.

Pest control. Check.

So here I lay in bed in our bedroom, which might I add is the only room in our apartment that has a/c, and I listen to the neighbors’ blast some array of reggae and Spanish ensemble. Life is definitely different here and it is going to take quite the adjustment for us to begin to feel like this is home.

Yesterday was sort of dramatic concerning our condo. First, we found out that we had no hot water and then the electricity/lights went out. We naively thought that it was our entire street doing without, however the Power Company came to our apartment during the night and took our meter! Haha! Not only did they just turn off our power but they took our meter! Hilarious ☺ The sweet man we are working with down here called us in the middle of the night and we told him we were without power. His wife and him rushed over to try and help us. When in doubt with the power, go straight to the power plant! And that’s what we did… we drove out in the middle of nowhere to the electric power plant to inquire! Everything seemed so surreal and like we were on some reality TV show.

We accidentally ended up signing a year contract in the wrong apartment complex. Dump international mistake number one, haha. But, after a minor hassle we were able to weasel our way out of it, kinda. As long as the cockroaches and frogs stay away this place won’t be bad at all! I just can’t wait to move into the apartments that we were shown today, they were beautiful!

Today we drove with Doreen to Higuey, a town about 45 minutes away. We filled up with gas for $4.44 and made our way through the country. As you approach the town you see beautiful mountains in the distance and then mass chaos of local Dominicans throughout the town. We passed numerous people on mopeds, bicycles, or merely hanging out of the street (mostly the latter). There were little ‘mercados’ that had hanging meats on the outside. I think I might become a vegetarian, haha! We finally made our way to the grocery store and it looked like a Spanish wal-mart. If it weren’t for Doreen we would have been in big trouble. EVERYTHING is in Spanish and not many people speak English. She’s like our own personal translator and the biggest blessing! We bought the necessities and headed home. We had to stop at the dentist because Doreen had an appointmet. While I was waiting for her a middle aged and young Dominican man/boy were asking me while I was there. I vaguely explained and they seemed blown away that we would willingly move to the DR. The young man even said “It’s so weird seeing you here!”. So there it was, my first experience as an absolutely minority. For Higuey is a city of locals only. Tourists never venture off to this area, hence the oddness of them seeing a blonde hair, blue eyed, white girl!

Haha. So the adventure begins! We still have LOTS to figure out and at times we seem overwhelmed with anxiety about how the Lord will provide. But, all we can do it sit and wait. We could use your prayers!

Love y’all!