Our New Year's Eve in the Caribbean

Hola amigos, Marissa here again!

Today was a great day. It all started with waking up at the crack of dawn, as usual, thanks to the best roomies ever, Theresa and Linda, for it was time to eat breakfast. We sat down to a lovely meal of eggs, croissants, and once again, bacon and sausage for the meat-eating humans.
Oh, and who could forget the amazing orange juice??

After breakfast, we got our stuff ready, for today was a day of adventure. Ketly and Theresa went to go exchange our dollars for pesos. When they came back, we hopped into a crowded van, and we spent about an hour in there enjoying conversation, exotic sights, and ...I only fell halfway asleep once or twice.

We drove all the way to Santo Domingo, and it was interesting. The streets were really narrow, there were colonial buildings, and there were really bad drivers everywhere. Theresa, Linda, Don, Susie, Ketly, and I went into the markets while Mary and Bob went on a small historical tour for their love of history and photography. However, I didn't exchange my dollars to pesos for nothing!

Shopping there was QUITE the experience. Here are some things I learned about shoppers based off my observations:

• If you look at something for more than three seconds, you REALLY want to buy it. "Good price!" "40% off!"
• If you express your desire to buy something at ALL, it's necessary for the vendor to grab one or two more things for you to go with it, because you clearly want ALL that you can't afford!
• Even if you look in the general DIRECTION of an item, you want to buy it!
• English is clearly not an important language to know if you're a vendor.
• Etc.

So yeah, I also felt proud of myself for talking someone down in price. That felt awesome. I'd never bartered before.

After an hour and a half, we piled back into the van, and it was off to lunch for us. YAY, FOOD! We arrived at a place called Garden Cafe, and we sat in an outdoor patio. It was SO loud because of the music coming from out front! Also ordering food was a mess, and then we found out AFTER the food came out that they'd run out of fish. Aw, nuts. I really wanted fish, but it's okay, there was still chicken. And of course...beans and rice! (They're a STAPLE of the diet here.)

After lunch, we piled on into the van again, and drove about 45 minutes to the beach. I think I fell asleep again on the way there, but am not sure. THE BEACH WAS AMAZING.

We were sat down at a table, and it was so beautiful there. The weather was warm, and so was the water. Theresa, Linda, and I all went into the ocean. I literally stayed in there for like half an hour. I haven't been to the beach in like 3.5 years. AND I WAS IN THE CARIBBEAN?? I couldn't BELIEVE IT!

And the best part was that I bought ICE CREAM!!!! It was sooo good.

We left the beach after about two hours of heaven.

And I fell asleep on the way back, too. Kind of.

We chilled for a couple hours, ate dinner, and got ready for the evening service at church. There were so many amazing songs and singers. The Holy Spirit filled that room despite our language barrier. We were dancing, clapping along, and just worshiping with them. It felt great, and is something we'll never forget.

Anyway, it's now the New Year. It's past midnight here. Outside my window I hear the worship songs from the church across the street...after a bunch of maniacal yelling--I mean, preaching--from the pastor just prior to the songs. Feels different... definitely like no other New Year's Day or eve I've ever had before. Here's to a great start to 2017! Praying for God's blessing on the rest of our trip, that His holy spirit would work in us, the teachers we've trained, and the children at VBS.

Happy 2017 to each and every one of you.

Marissa