Safe in the Dominican Republic

Last night I arrived safe in the DR. I was fortunate, but my luggage did not recieve the luck I did. Hopefully it will find it's way here soon :) I got to my apartment with my roomates around 10:30 pm and since we had been traveling since 6am we were dead! We were be blessed to be greeted by two of the male teachers at the school who made us cookies and brought us water. They were also generous and took us to their place and let us hang out. I was so excited because I had a chance to watch some of the olympics..something I did not expect. They also gave us sheets, towels and pillows so we could sleep.

Our apartment is nice considering we are not living in the U.S. I have my own room and bathroom (I got lucky with that one!) Apparently we are living large because we have ceiling fans (there is no A/C). I will have to get used to no hot water as well, it was a little different in my shower today.

I fell fast asleep last night despite learning the new sounds of my surroundings (the chickens and roosters senerade me all hours). This morning we recieved a tour of the school and met our host families. Our families will be taking us to church tomorrow and then to their house for a homecooked Dominican meal. We also went to the "Wal-mart" of the DR to shop for way too long..but we bought a lot (I want to start shopping like they do too - lots of them rollerblade in the stores). The apartment came empty, all we have are matresses, a fridge and stove. We are working on trying to find some furniture, tables, dishes, silverware, cooking utensils, shelves, etc. Most of all, we really have to invest in a washing machine. After the long day some Young Life staff, and a friend of my sister's from Hope College took us out to a cute Hamburger place to eat. The company was great. We just got back. I'm so tired and I smell because I still don't have any clothes!

The picture above is of one of the girls I live with, Corrie, and the big back to school pencil that was walking around the store for the back to school sale!

Things are going great and I am loving it. The people are awesome and I'm happy. God is Good.
Thanks for all your support and prayers :0