Arrival and Settling In

I made it!  I arrived safely in the DR 2 days ago and am (very slowly) getting my cultural legs under me and learning the ropes of COPA.

My Dad flew down with me to help me move in, and is staying for a week to help out around COPA, so it’s been wonderful to have him around.  

Here we are on the plane flying first class!  We found tickets that only cost an extra $35 (one way) to upgrade to first class and decided to go for it.  We flew from Portland, through Salt Lake, then Atlanta, and finally Santo Domingo, the capital of the DR. After leaving at 6:30pm West Coast time, we arrived at 1:30 pm DR time the next day.  They’re 3 hours ahead, so only 16 hours travel time - from airport to airport, that is.

In Santo Domingo airport

In the airport we met Aluet, who will be working with me as a COPA assistant for the next two years.  We’ll have to figure out how to split the job duties between us.  We also met Johan, whose wife, Tiffany, has been doing my job for the last two years.  He helped us find a taxi to the center of Santo Domingo, where we then caught a bus for Barahona, the city nearest to where I’ll be living.  

The view from our taxi, driving in to Santo Domingo.

Three 1/2 hours later, the bus dropped us off on the side of the road next to Bombita.

Do you think Aluet and I brought enough things? She's on the left, and you can see the back of Johan's head on the right.

Tiffany came and picked us up, and took us to the compound where Aluet and I will be living for the next 2 years. She showed us our houses and gave us a half hour to settle in, and then it was off to tour the school at Bombita.  

The compound in Bombita, where I will be living. Aluet's house is on the left.  Mine is on the right, behind the gazebo.

Aluet and I will be living in Bombita, but we work at both the Bombita and La Hoya schools, so next we went over to La Hoya, which is another village about 15 minutes down the road.  We saw the school there, as well as met the Project Director, Candy, and a few of Tiffany’s friends who live in the village.

It was now maybe 8:00pm, but we needed food for the next few days, so we drove in to Barahona (the city is another 15 minutes down the road) and went to the supermercado, or supermarket.  Despite Tiffany warning us that it wasn’t nearly as nice as supermarkets in the US, I was still pleasantly surprised with how big it was, maybe a third the size of a Safeway. The produce section was pretty abysmal, but we planned to go to the street market the next day, which has much better fruits and veggies.  I stocked up on basics (cleaning supplies, oil, rice and beans) and a few other things, but was much too tired to make more thoughtful decisions about what to cook.  It turns out that’s been fine because, other than breakfasts, and one lunch today, we haven’t had to cook for ourselves yet.

It wasn’t time to head home yet, however.  Next we went to dinner at a pizza restaurant at the gas station.  There were several restaurants in a little strip there, as well as an outdoor bar, and it was quite the place to hangout, with loud music pumping and many people around.  

That evening we didn’t get to bed until 11pm, so the next day we didn’t start work until about 9am.  In the morning Aluet, Tiffany and I worked on preparing the art classroom. We arranged the desks and stapled up borders on bulletin boards - it made me feel right at home!  We also went over some of the other job responsibilities that we will have, and how things work around COPA.

I'm an expert at stapling up borders!

That afternoon, we went in to Barahona to buy supplies and get our cell phones set up.  Dad found the hardware store interesting, since many things are behind the counter and you have to ask for them, then give them your name so that you can pay for things in the front of the store.

We also went to the market to get some fresh fruits and veggies.  We not only bought mangos and pineapples that are 50 times better than anything you can get in the northwest US, we also got to eat a coconut right there on the street. The vendor used a machete to chop off the top of the coconut, and we drank the liquid inside.  Then, he chopped it in half, and cut a small chunk off of the side to use as a spoon to scoop out the interior.

For dinner that night a friend from Bombita had invited us to dinner.  She said to show up at 6:30, but in what I’m guessing is typical Dominican style, when we showed up at 6:45 she still needed to go buy the spaghetti.  We helped her cook (Tiffany said this is normal) spaghetti, tostones, and fresh cherry juice.  Tostones are unripe plantains, cut into thick disks and deep fried, then smashed flat and fried again.

A view over the rooftops of Bombita

On our third day, we’ve learned more about responsibilities and started to clean out the library.  Dad repaired the ripped mosquito nets on the doors.  (Yay for safety from their numerous attacks, at least while I’m inside!) Dad and I also cooked our first meal (fried “salami,” which is really bologna), bread and the most delicious mangos and pineapple..  

Thank you for all your prayers for safe travel - despite the long travel time, it couldn’t have gone more smoothly, and I’m very thankful. Please be praying for my ability to understand what I’ll need to do as an Education Advisor, and wisdom for Tiffany to remember to tell us all the things that we need to know.  Also be praying for good relationship building with the right people in the communities of Bombita and La Hoya.