fin de semanas... por fin

Hola! I´m back in the telecentro (Internet cafe) with Karina. I have my thumbdrive and am trying to upload some photos, but the Internet connection keeps timing out, so we´ll see if I have any success or not.

This week has been eventful... we´ve been practicing public transportation a lot and I feel a lot more comfortable with the guaguas and carro publicos. Tomorrow we have to get to downtown Santo Domingo on our own (well, without PC staff help). We´re going on a tour of the Ciudad Colonial (Colonial City) led by a noted professor of Dominican history. I´m looking forward to it!

This afternoon, we practiced getting to a bus station to travel outside of the city, because on Thursday we´re all leaving to visit different volunteers in the field. I really appreciate that they have us interact so much with experienced volunteers during training; it´s very hopeful. If they can get this far in 6 months, there´s hope for me too!

I also feel like in a week I´ve made a lot of progress with the language. I definitely still have trouble communicating, but it´s easier for me to understand the Dominican accent and I´ve picked up a lot of useful vocab. Por ejemplo, "puente," bridge--los puentes are good landmarks for knowing (and being able to describe) where to get off the bus. Also, "galletas de saltina," or saltine crackers, as in, "Every day my dona gives me galletas de saltina with breakfast."

Well, I think Karina and I are about ready to leave to visit some other PCTs para una cerveza at the colmado! I hope everyone else is having as pleasant of a Friday afternoon as I am!