Day 3 in a Foreign Land

These last three days have been possibly the longest in my life. Partly because I have done so much in those days that it seems impossible, and then mostly because a four-hour meeting solely in Spanish is never-ending. I’m not complaining, more just shocked. That thing called culture shock is real. No amount of reading about the Dominican Republic or overcoming my fear of bugs could have prepared me. Now the strangest things that are familiar remind me of home. Yesterday Kayla and I decided that we like flies. At least we’ve seen them before. Here is a list of things I found different:

• Breakfast this morning was mashed, boiled bananas with onion on top and a hot drink made of powdered milk. Bananas and Onions are eaten at every meal and they are always boiled. Everything for a meal is combined to be eaten together.

• The shower is cold (actually amazing) but the shower head is opening about the size of a toothbrush and drips straight down. To make a shower more effective there is a large bowl in the bottom of the tub to catch the water and another cup to dump it over your head. The first bucket of water is always surprising in contrast with the temperature outside. By the end of the shower, the water in the bucket is pretty sudsy. I still haven’t figured out exactly how to get all of the soap out of my hair.

• The bugs are different and everywhere. My first night when I arrived there was a spider the size of a tarantula right above our bed. Our “father” swept it off the wall with a broom and stomped on it repeatedly until he gave up and drug it out of room still partly alive. There are also cockroaches. Yesterday we emptied all of the cupboards in the kitchen so that we could smoke bomb the house. I did enjoy the fireflies flying around in our room the last two nights. I’ve always wanted to see one.

• They don’t sleep very much. When we manage to escape at night for bed around 11, everyone is still socializing, and when we wake up in the morning, it is too loud singing around 6:30.

• I don’t speak their language. My vocab is small, my grammar bad, and my pronunciation even worse. I am trying to soak everyone word in but they speak very fast and the accent is just different enough that I am getting good at smiling and nodding. For worship last night, my second day here, they had me pray in Spanish and read the worship out of the Bible. My prayer went something like this – “Father, Thank you for a good day. Keep us tonight. Help me to learn more Spanish. Thank you. Amen.” They just smile and tell me I’ll learn but it couldn’t be soon enough.

• They are definitely on island time here. I rarely see watches and I haven’t found a clock. My teacher’s meeting was at 8 this morning, but people were still arriving at 8:15 and it hadn’t started.

• They are always together and talking. It makes my silence even more obvious. Everyone is always participating as well. I’ve never heard such loud singing in a church. It would be very rude here not to be singing even if I can’t keep up with the words.

• Lunch is a 3 hour affair.

• Driving is very dangerous. I haven’t been brave enough to look at the speedometer when in the car, but on a road that would be 30 mph in the US, I think we are going 50. I will limit my trips into town, but keep me in your prayers.

Overall, I’ve had a successful last two days. I’ve managed to eat at all of the meals. I don’t find myself constantly scanning the walls for bugs. And I am prepared to make a fool of myself in my broken Spanglish. I am so thankful to have had 4 safe flights on the way here and to have arrived safely at the orphanage. Please keep me in your prayers but know that I am doing well. :-) God Bless