Surviving

Hola Todos,
Well I've officially been here for 3 weeks. Some days I love it here, some days I hate it here. Last week, some girls and I went to Caberete to the beach for the weekend. It was fun. The bars and discotecs are right on the sand. I got to play beach volleyball and kicked butt actually! it was so much fun. I was playing with two argentinians, and 3 dominicans, and one italian I think. For all those who know what my favorite thing to do on the beach at night, i was able to do it: run while looking up and never looking down. It was so beautiful. How can someone not believe in a God that is so creative and beautiful when looking at such beautiful hand-crafted creation!?!

A friend and I were able to play basketball today. I feel pretty rusty from H.S. but it was fun none the less. I even beat him the first game...unfortunately I lost the next two. I think I'm going to go more often. Playing sports is such an outlet for me when I'm stressed or simply want to lose myself and not think about anything.

This same friend, Lentz (pronounced Lance) is an R & B singer and he's really good too. He gave me his lyrics today and he's going to give me my own autographed copy of a cd of his soon. I actually get to be his special guest on Feb 2nd at his performance. VIP baby!! it should be fun. and for all of you who are already thinking this, NO he's only a friend. lol.

Here's some of the differences between the States and the D.R.:
1. in the states at night it's quiet. here, there's no quiet rules and so music is BLASTED until 4am most nights.
2. you put toilet paper in the waste basket, not in the toilet. weird, huh?!
3. at the dinner table, people just get up and get what they want (at least at my house). they don't ever pass things around for everyone to take things
4. people can ride, stand, or even dance around in the back of a truck while people are driving. Heck, you can do whatever you want while driving. I've NEVER seen a car pulled over here. if there's nobody coming while you're sitting at a red light, you go. nobody cares.
5. one word: CONCHOS. they're taxis that fit 8 people in a 5 person car. They're sort of like public transportation. they only cost 12 pesos which equals about 30 cents. sometimes (usually) you're squished next to lots of people, even if you've never met them before.
6. pedestrians DO NOT have the right away. there's no such thing as cross walks here.
7. people never recycle, which drives me nuts! there is so much trash on the sides of the road and everywhere but people don't even double take it.

I'm starting to get a tan now. my sunburn finally went away. A couple of you have been telling me it's snowing in oregon. how weird!?! i wish i would've worn shorts today because it's about 85 degrees. it's starting to get warmer. you can always tell who is dominican. they're always wearing pants.

Good news! I went to visit the orphanage that I'll be volunteering at. The kids are so adorable! there's girls and boys from ages 4-12. It reminds me a lot of my park at Montavilla. I got to play basketball with them and we all did kart-wheels together. They're much better than I am. They also did a dance for us and sang a song. I'm going to have them teach it to me. So, I'll be going in with my friend Claudia (another girl from the program) every mon and wed from 10-12am to help them with homework, play with them, and do whatever. I've already memorized a couple of names (it's my first goal in order to get to know them better): Adriana, Joelie, Joannie, Katie, Estephanie (that was the first one i remembered...;) ) Jaime, and I don't remember the others. Hey, that's at least better than nothing.

Thanks for all your guys' comments. it's comforting to hear (read) comments from friends and family. it makes me think of home. thanks for calling me ash the other day. it helped hearing your voice :). thanks also for all the prayers. i can definitely see God working, even if it's hard sometimes.

Ciao! -nat

Prayer Requests:
1. boy drama. i would like God's wisdom to know how to act and what to say while i'm having to make some tough decisions.
2. i would continue to stand for what i believe and stay close to God when i feel surrounded in total darkness and pleasure island.
3. i would be able to pour into the lives of the orphans i'll be working with.