1/7

First things first: I am offering a prize to whoever can think of a better title for my blog. A good, creative, un-cliche title. The prize may include but is not limited to the following: a high five, a ride on my new bike, a complimentary coffee drink, a half-burnt candle, and a pat on the back. Come to think of it, I need prize ideas too. I just need ideas.

I am sorry that my blog is so uninspired. The heat here scrambles my head and for some reason I can't think straight to ever write anything that would be entertaining to read. I will work on this.

On Thursday morning Thomas came to the house to pick me up and said that Brent was sick. He had eaten some raw salad (bad idea) and got an amoeba from it. I named the amoeba Phil. Poor Brent was vomiting and having dihurrea all day long and the boys assigned me to stay home and be his nurse. I had mixed feelings about staying back with him. First of all, I didn't know how I would be able to help him. I also knew I would be bored out of my mind with nothing but a book and Dominican TV all day. However, I was glad to have a day off from painting. It turned out to be really nice to have a day to unwind, and I brought Brent water, made him soup (which he promptly threw up), cleaned up said throw up, and tried to encourage him while he moaned on the couch. It was nice.

Friday Brent wrestled with Phil at home without me, and I went out with Thomas and Melqui (our World Servants slave driver) to finish painting the 2nd clinic. This was one of the most intense days of physical labor I have ever experienced. When we broke for lunch, Melqui dropped us back off at the clinic while he ran to get paint, and Thomas and I couldn't figure out how to get back into the clinic. We had the keys but they would not work and I recruited basically the entire village to help us figure it out. There were about 30 kids all gathered around watching and laughing as the stupid Gringos strugged with the door for about 45 minutes. We finally got it unlocked and Melqui returned with more paint about five minutes later wondering why we hadn't gotten any work done--this place keeps us humble!

This weekend we had training for the entire World Servants summer staff (translators, cooks, interns, bus drivers, etc.). It was really fun to meet everybody! We stayed the weekend at a camp in La Romana and had training in this little hut with a grass roof. Mostly everything was in Spanish and I bravely turned down a translator but after a whole day of only Spanish I could feel my heartbeat in my brain. We went swimming last night and he staff managed to build a standing pyramid of 10 people--pretty good teamwork huh??

At training this weekend I got to meet Laura, a girl who is teaching English in a village called Consuelo. She is there all alone for 7 weeks and we both were loving having another American woman to talk to. We have so much in common. She is a 20 year old poli sci major with an international focus, ran xc and track in high school, is 5'4" with blonde hair and green eyes, loves coffee, introverted--it was like meeting my twin. On my week off I am going to go visit her for a few nights in Consuelo. I was so blessed to meet a friend, but the weekend went so fast and now its just me and the boys again...

Don't get me wrong. I love the boys, I really do.

Anyway, tomorrow we are going to finish paining the 2nd clinic. The work should go fast since Brent is now healed and will be there to help Thomas and Melqui and I.

HIGHLIGHT: At the camp we stayed at, the owner has a pet goose. The goose's name is Tito, and he walks a few paces behind the owner everywhere he goes.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
1. I only poop about 3 times a week here. Darn rice.
2. Its hard to be the only girl. Sometimes I get really lonely because I feel like I don't really have anyone to relate to.
3. This week has been s.l.ow. I can't believe I have 6 weeks left here. I miss home a lot and will need a lot of grace to make it until August.

That's all for now! Everybody go sit in the 70 degree weather for me okay?

A Little More Stupid

We painted again all day today, and finished painting the whole clinic in the town of Guaricanos (technically part of Santo Domingo). We took a break and I fell asleep sitting up, I am so so tired! We go all day and don't get back until around 11 at night. This week we are just getting ready for the teams to come. Our first team is getting here Friday and we will be in La Represa working with them for a week. I am kind of excited to get into the rythym (sp?) of having the teams here, but I know it will probably be harder compared to this week. I have already learned more Spanish in four days than in 6 years of classes, and I'm surprised at how well I'm doing with it. I don't have a lot more to say, maybe if I can get some rest sometime I'll be able to write something of worth here :) Hasta luego...

Bienvenidos al CARIBE!

Oh man I love it I love it. I am here and I am well. Saturday night we got here and crashed. I am staying with a family and they are so wonderful, they help me with my Spanish and I am rooming with their 14 year old daughter Melissa (Mellie) and she is HILARIOUS! She is totally prissy and last night we were standing outside and it had rained and some water dripped from a tree onto her hair and she absolutely freaked out. In about 1/2 an hour I am going to her graduacion from primary school. First I have to shower though...the water pipe to their house broke and we painted all day and I'm gross, so they are rigging a hose through the window so I can shower! They have like 5 guys working on it and I told them not to worry about it, but my "Dad" looked me up and down and said, "No Amy, necesitas ducharte." (No Amy, you need to shower--haha) Anyway, the other two interns (Brent and Thomas) and I get along really well, this is going to be an awesome two months! Sunday, our first real day here, we just relaxed and got oriented and went to the beach since they don't work on Sundays anyway. I got royally sunburned despite my 85 SPF...the sun here is brutal. Anyway the hose is working I will write more later-gotta run! Te Amo.

Leaving TOMORROW!

So tomorrow I leave around 6:30 am, fly to Puerto Rico (random?) to eventually end up in Santo Domingo, where the pastor of a local church is picking me up. I am all packed, and the fear is starting to creep into me. Please pray that I get there safely, stay healthy, form awesome relationships, and roll with the punches. I'll update again when I'm there!

I'm Blogging?

Um, so blogging seems like the cool thing to do when you are traveling a lot. The idea being, I guess, that you definitely do not have time to individually update all the thousands of people who are interested in what you do from day to day, so they can update themselves by reading your blog. This all seems a little bit narcissistic to me. Yeah. Anyway, I am going away for a little bit. I'm coming back August 8. Until then I will try to keep you posted via this weird public thing. That's all for now.