Hispaniola Hotel And Casino Santo Domingo

... home visits.  There are so many children in need here.  I'm consistently seeing diagnoses here, that if caught early (which they aren't) can be helped, cured, or at least addressed.  It's frustrating, and I have shed many tears over the fact that health care here is a luxury, and often a novelty.
As you can imagine, I'm getting more and more homesick.  Definitely counting the days.  I'm looking forward to being with my own family-
Hope you are all well.  
Love,
Lani
 

... to the cement floor, as we arrived ! Oh, it was primitive - especially coming straight from Lloret de Mar. But we had a great time there, though; what beats lying in the hammock at night with a freshly opened coconut drink, watching the stars to the sound of thunder and lightning (and the buzz of that last mosquito !), with a candle light and burning coconut leaves (to chase away that damned mosquito !), while chatting and being served great, fresh (it ...

Hola! Everyone The conference opened this morning with the Country Direstor speaking about the children's work in DR. The highlight for me was when he introduced us to the 1400th child sponsored in the DR. There was also a formerly sponsored child who had been sponsored through University to do both a Bachelor's and a Master's degree. She was who there with her own little girl. In the afternoon we visited ...

... popular tourist site , it is home of Christopher Columbus son.Built by Christopher Columbus's son between 1510 and 1514, this restored building was one of the first structures built in the oldest remaining European city in the Americas. Since Alcazar de Colon is a little out of the ...

So... we arrive in Santo Domingo and the first thought... WOW - I'm in the Caribbean!!!! ... Ok.. I really don't realise it... but... that's the fact... and ... omg.. it's hot! Definitely! Over 30° C! So we take our baggage and leave the airport. There are 2 people from our company which pick us up. We drive into the Capital City Santo Domingo. Our hotel is in the colonial ...

... all of you who are buying the lovely and stylish rice sack purses! The doñas have been cranking them out and I have to say, they just keep getting better and better. I told them how many of my friends and family want to buy them and they were so happy and I think amazed. Even the modest amount of their contribution for the water filters and stoves ($500 dominican pesos, or about $15 US dollars) is a large amount to these ...

... the other day(I love siestas here!), and I wake up to the frickin' rooster crowing. This is not unusual by any means, but I open my eyes and see that the bird is on my nightstand about a foot from my face. So I wasn't really expecting this and proceeded to freak out, run into my bathroom, the rooster starts freaking out cause he didn't know why the crazy gringa was screaming, my family comes running in all worried about me, and once they realize what happened ...

Ok, we are at our Community Based Training(CBT), and our special ed group is in Sabana de la Mar. It is a pueblo of about 8000 people, and for me it has been so great because I love the smaller towns and not so much the big cities. We are right on the ocean, so it´s beautiful, and there is a national park close by, which is suppose to be great, so we are excited to go check out the sites. My new host family is great, which I was a little nervous about ...

... that it wouldnt be killed in front of my presence, which I am happy about because I do not think that I would be able to eat it otherwise. I cannot believe that christmas is only 4 days away. It does not feel like christmas at all. Especially with the 80 degree weather and sunshine. Plus the poor cannot afford to buy chirstmas trees and decorations, so the chirstmas spirit isnt as obviously present. Well, I hope all of you have a very Merry Chirstmas and a Happy New Year!!

Well, I decided to buy an hour of internet, so hopefully I will have more time to write you all! I´m sure you are wondering how life in the DR is like. Well, right now we have training 5 days a week with 4 hours of spanish each day, and then we have lectures on the culture and about all the medical illnesses we are likely to get. The spanish class is really boring, as are the lectures, but they are necessary. I just feel like I am back in college again! All the classes are held outside ...