The month is about over and we are preparing to move on to our next country. I must say that being in the Dominican Republic hasn´t been much of a challenge. We still have a lot of our American comforts like Pringles and Oreos everyday with our PB and J sandwiches for lunch. We´ve made most of our dinners, eating things like spaghetti and tacos. We have had running water and a house to sleep in. And, although it may be cold bucket showers…we have had the opportunity to shower everyday.
There have been a few things that I don´t experience everyday in America. The walk to the farm everyday consisted of walking through some pretty odorous and sometimes burning trash heaps. It seems to be a norm in this country to throw trash on the ground, pretty much wherever you want to. (By the way, litter is one of my biggest pet peeves!) Men and children seem to stop to pee wherever they want to as well. In the river, on the side of the road, on the side of the building…I´ve had to turn my head away quickly, several times!
The people at the farm have also given me the opportunity to eat some food I probably would have rather not. Yucca…which is a root similiar to potatoes…and most of you know how I feel about potatoes! Yuck!! Beans…and lots of them, or peas which here are similar to the beans. I feel about the same way about beans as I do about potatoes. But the woman would give us no choice in whether we wanted to eat them or not. They would not take no for an answer! We also got to try fresh coconut right off the tree. As much as I love sweetened, packaged coconut…the fresh stuff is quite a disappointment. And I couldn´t stand the milk! But I did enjoy immensely the freshly brewed Espresso shots we got out on the farm! Delicious!Next month in Haiti will be quite a different story I am afraid. My group and Luminous, will be working together in a community doing disaster relief ministry. We will be roughing it. Living in tents, probably using the bathroom outside, and having to worry about finding clean water…or have to boil the local water. We will also probably have to rely on the locals to make and prepare our food for us since we won´t be near a market. Pray that we all stay healthy!
Unfortunately, do to our location next month we also won´t be able to get to the internet. So please bare with me and pray for me this upcoming month. I will get back in touch with you all as soon as possible. I send love and prayers to you all!
