Cultura, sociedad, Oreo pie, and Ke$ha

The first day of my Culture & Society class (which is half Americans, half Dominicans), my professor told us that we were all going to have a party sometime during the semester. At first I just thought he meant that one day, we'd bring in candy and soda into class, because that's usually what a class party is in the states. If there's a professor present.

However, as the term went on, he kept bringing up this party, and we figured out that this was going to be more than a little shindig on campus with Kola Real and some [terrible] Dominican chocolate. A girl in our class offered up her house, and a few weeks ago we all spent an entire class period deciding what to bring. Most of the Dominicans were going to bring traditional Dominican food, and us Americans planned on opening up the culinary pallets of the Dominicans to wonders such as S'mores, double chocolate cookies, and cupcakes.

This was also unlike a normal class party because we had two people sign up to bring rum and beer. Profe warned us though, that none of us were going to emborracharnos. Claro.

With my lack of oven (so sad) I decided to go with a no-bake triple layer Oreo pie. Finding the ingredients and actually making this pie is another saga for another time, but here's the recipe. I unfortunately did not get a photo of mine.

The party was last night, and it was a lot of fun! Us Americans arrived in three groups... and all of us were there before even the first Dominican arrived. Not surprising. We were outside, for the most part, which is also very unlike any party thrown in the states in late October (I have heard, however, that at least Pittsburgh has been getting some nice warm weather lately? way to go guys. Enjoy it while you can).

We had three rounds of food- appetizers, the main course, and dessert! I don't remember exactly what all of the Dominican dishes were called... okay I don't remember any... but they were good! There was like a corn ball soup and some beans (of course) and chicken and fried stuff. Profe made... something that involved frying corn tortillas and then putting ground beef on them. They weren't tacos though, because the tortillas hardened and weren't shell-like.


David, Profe, and tortillas


Main course.

There was also music and dancing inside the house. I, and most of the Americans, shied away from dancing to the Latin music... however, the second Ke$ha came on, all of us were on the makeshift dance floor. Corny moment: all of us Americans come from completely different parts of the country, and none of us really knew each other before this trip. Some of us didn't even know each other before this party, because we come from different study abroad groups (ISA, CIEE, CIC). Howeverrr... it's hard not to bond with someone when you and everyone around you is screaming "NOW THE PARTY DON'T START TILL I WALK IN." Don't deny it. Even some Dominicans got in on the Ke$ha action.

It was a great time, and I was really glad to spend some more time with the Dominicans in my class. Now today... in about 30 minutes, actually, ISA is throwing us a Halloween party. Still not sure what my costume is going to be...

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Love/hate you, France

A few people have asked if I accomplished anything re my maldita French visa while I was in nyc. Answer: no.

I did, however, receive my "official" acceptance into CIEE's Rennes program a few days ago, by email. And now... empieza el infierno.

Okay I don't really even wanna get into it that much, because I know that even writing about it is going to make me frustrated.

Here is an image of the nice flowchart that CIEE sent to me about the multiple steps of this visa process.

They also said that this whole process takes 8-10 weeks, so we need to start asap! Okay, well... the program starts in 12 weeks. And I can't even officially start yet, because I need to wait on some official letters from France to be FedEx'd to my house. THEN I need to do CampusFrance (which I looked at over the summer, and is confusing as all hell, in both languages) THEN I need to wait some more THEN I need to fill out some forms THEN I need to fill out some more forms THEN, after getting back into the states on Dec. 15th, I'll cancel my second flight (from JFK -> home) and instead just stay in nyc (with my sister, fyi Coll, didn't know if Mom told you) so that on Dec. 17th I can go to my visa appointment and everything MIGHT work out. However, with just one sheet filled out incorrectly or if I'm missing just one form, I won't be able to get another appointment and I won't be going to France.


The elusive Schengen Visa

However, si Dios quiere and everything goes fine, all I've gotta do is wait anxiously anxiously anxiously over the holidays until I receive my visa in the mail. I won't be buying my plane tickets until the visa comes, so I'll probably be buying them at the last minute. So I may not know until a week before my program starts if I'm going to France, or if I'm going to Pittsburgh. Two completely different outcomes. Then, of course, if something goes wrong and I do end up in Pittsburgh, I won't have anywhere to live. AWESOME.

I am signing up for classes though, por si acaso.

/END ANGRY BLOG. So much for "not getting into it."

PS- It's not that I'm hating on CIEE, I understand that they're probably doing all that they can, as fast as they can. I blame France. Love/hate you.

PPS- I love everyone who has helped me/is helping me/will be helping me with this process. BESITOS.

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La Gran Manzana

I’m currently 36702 feet in the air, somewhere east of Florida and north of Cuba. I’m pretty sure that my right shoulder is getting sunburned, sitting next to a window for 3 ½ hours, and I’m even more sure that I’m the only white person on the flight. Again.

The person on the loudspeaker (or whatever it’s called) has had to remind everyone on board at least three times that they cannot ask for more drinks or snacks until they’ve gone through the whole cabin and everyone has gotten some first. Is this an airplane, or elementary school? Kidding. I can’t blame them though. The mini chocolate chip cookies are good.

ANYWAY, clearly, I’m writing neither from campus nor from the Shell station (excuse the awkward formal language there), because I am quite sure that neither of those places could be found 36702 feet above sea level.

I went to La Grand Manzana this weekend. I’m not sure if they actually call it that- I’ll have to check and get back to you- but anyway, it means “The Big Apple”. It was Parent’s Weekend at my sister’s school, so my parents decided to drive down and see her for the weekend. Then they decided to fly me up for the weekend. And claro, I wasn’t about to say no to a weekend of seeing my family, food that I didn’t need to pay for, free texting, water pressure, witnessing fall, and good ol’ Americana.

Side note: I’m listening to the 90’s station on Jet Blue’s XM radio station, and Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody” just came on. Blast from the past much?

Anyway, I left the DR and got on a flight to JFK Thursday afternoon. I got in at around 5ish, did the whole customs thing (I really enjoyed the video of traditional American scenes- a guy sitting on his truck on a farm, the Vegas Strip, fall colors, Times Square, happy children, etc etc etc while I was waiting in line to go through customs. We ♥ America, so should you! Oh, wait, it’s practically impossible to get a visa? Hmm…), and hopped on the air train to someplace. Then I took the longestttttt subway ride to Penn Station.

I came out of the subway terminal and the first thing I saw was the Empire State Building. Now, please don’t get me wrong, I really do not identify myself as a tourist in the traditional sense when I’m talking about New York City. While I’ve never lived there, I’ve been there at least 15 times and usually don’t do the stop-in-the-middle-of-the-sidewalk-and-take-photos thing. However, this time was different. I propped my suitcase up on a street corner, sat on it, and took multiple photos of the Empire State Building. Which I’ve already been up in twice… so it really wasn’t that necessary… but it just felt important to me, at the time.

I met up with my sister and headed back to her dorm. We got dinner at her dining hall (I love going to dining halls at other schools- no matter how crappy the food actually is, everything seems wonderful in comparison to the dining hall at my school. Which, in reality I guess… isn’t that bad) and headed out to explore the city.

One of my goals for this weekend was to eat as many baked goods as humanly (and physically) possible. This started on the subway, when my sister gave me a cupcake from Crumbs that she’d bought earlier that day. This continued when we went into a mini market or grocery store or whatEVER and bought a slice of candy bar cake. Yeah, candy bar cake. This cake was not only covered with candy bars on top, but also had candy bars baked into it. Mmmm…

We then headed downtown and explored a bit around NYU. We got lost a bit, but eventually found some really good falafel. You can find anything in that city.

The next day we met up with my parents and did some Parent’s Weekend stuff. We then did a lot of shopping and baked-goods eating. Another cupcake from Crumbs. It was a Blackbottom Cheesecake Cupcake. "Brownie cake with cheesecake baked in topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting covered with brownie chunks and vanilla cream cheese drizzle." We also went to Lincoln Center, which I’d never been to before. The fountain was awesome, and reminded me of the water shows at Kahunaville back in the day. Expect about a hundred times better.

Saturday we hit up Walmart, and I bought multiple jumbo bags of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Like, 5 of them. They’re not exactly impossible to find in the Dominican Republic, just pretty difficult and pricey. A few of my friends in the DR asked me to bring some back, plus I brought some back for a Halloween party that ISA is having on Friday. I also need a costume… I’ll figure that out later.

We got lunch at a restaurant called Community with my sister’s roommate and her family, and then just kind of explored for the rest of the day. We walked halfway across the Brooklyn Bridge (I’m normally not so cliché touristy, I swear) and got dinner at this place called 7A in the East Village.

This morning we dropped my sister back off at her university and my parents drove me to JFK. I miss cars. Okay, I mean, they do have cars in the Dominican Republic, claro, but I miss cars that have A) Working seatbelts, B) Working speedometers C) Are driven by people who drive better than I do (something that’s very easy to find in the States, but seemingly difficult in the DR). Okay, maybe when I say “I miss cars” I mean “I miss going places in cars that aren’t conchos.”

So yeah! That was my quick-soak-in-as-much-Americana-as-possible trip. It wasn’t absolutely necessary for my sanity, but it was nice. I’ll probably post this blog in a few days, because I can’t get wifi from the plane, claro….

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Sporcle!

Does everyone know what Sporcle is? Sporcle is an amazing way to procrastinate and actually learn at the same time.

This is what Wikipedia says about it, which can define it better than I could: "Sporcle is a trivia quiz website launched in July 2007, on which users have a set time limit within which to name all of the items within a given subject, such as Presidents of the USA or Countries of Europe. According to the website's founder Matt Ramme, the name Sporcle is inspired by the word 'oracle'.
The website was founded in response to Ramme's own desire to learn trivia, and his accompanying frustration that there was no existing website suitable for his needs.
Sporcle's mission statement is "We actively and methodically search out new and innovative ways to prevent our users from getting any work done whatsoever."

Over the summer, my sister, my mom and I had a contest to see who could memorize the most countries of the world. Coll won by a landslide, but by the end of the summer I was doing a lot better than I had been at the beginning.

Anyway, so why is Sporcle relevant to the DR?

During my layover in JFK two months (exactly two months) ago, I remember frantically doing Spanish exercises on Sporcle, knowing that once I got to the DR I was going to need to take a Spanish placement test which I reallllllly didn't feel prepared for.

Because I am a frequent Sporcle-er, I got an account so that all of my scores are saved. I logged on today to do some Spanish stuff for fun, and I saw that when I took a certain Spanish verb test in JFK, my best grade was a 75/100. I just took it again, and got a 94.

Can you name the 100 Spanish Verbs?

I only missed establecer (to establish), devolver (to give back), charlar (to chat), fijar (to fix), merecer (to deserve), and quejar (to complain). Not badddd. I think.

So here is some concrete evidence that my Spanish is getting better. I kind of want to do a mid-point recap, but I'm in a café next to a row of tables where there's this great big group of 25 screaming Dominicans and I'm getting a headache.

But before I go, some of my favorite Sporcle quizzes for your procrastinating pleasure:

Countries of the World (the infamous)

Countries of Europe (a good warmup to Countries of the World)

US States (if you didn't pass 5th grade)

Pokémon Characters (pro.)

Harry Potter Top 200 (amazing.)

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27 Charcos Photos

I wasn't able to bring my camera with me to 27 Charcos because it's not waterproof, but another kid in my group, Aaron, did have a waterproof camera and served as our photographer.


The group before we left. Most of my ISA group went, as well as 3 "estudiantes de apoyo"- students at my university that assist foreign students.


Nice helmets.


Jumping. This was one of the shorter cliffs.

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27 Charcos

Yesterday, my group took a trip to 27 Charcos, which is described as the "best adventure tourism site in the Dominican Republic!" on their website It was an optional excursion and it set us back 1400 pesos ($37.58) each, so I was really hoping that it'd be worth it. And yessssssss it was.

Like, I cannot even describe how awesome this place was. I've traveled a decent amount in my 20 years... the Grand Canyon, the Vegas Strip, Versailles, Niagara Falls (overrated.), the Eiffel Tower, Neuschwanstein Castle, New York City, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Catacombs of Paris, Disney World, LA, blah blah blah. But I've never, ever seen anything as cool as this.

How to describe 27 Charcos? Well, okay, to start off... "charco" means pool, or puddle. But these charcos were definitely not puddles. And there were 27 of them.

27 Charcos is on the way to Puerta Plata, and is about an hour north of Santiago. We got out of the bus and headed over to rent shoes. For 50 pesos, you could rent a pair of nasty, probably fungus filled Keds for the afternoon. I did it, because you weren't allowed to wear flipflops and I didn't want to ruin my running sneakers or Converse. My Keds had holes. I think it gave them character. Anyway, we were also told that we had to leave everything in the bus- weren't allowed to bring anything with us to the Charcos. "Even sunscreen?" "Even sunscreen." "But I'm going to burnnnnn." "No sunscreen."

We were given helmets and lifevests, then were lead by our two guides into the woods. We walked for about 15 minutes through a few creeks and some forest before arriving at the first charco. Helmets went on, and we headed in the water.


The first charco

So just imagine that... times 27.

Pool after pool after pool. This one had a latter, but a lot of them involved being pulled up a cliff by a guide, or having to pull yourself up with a rope, or both. In between charcos there were often large/deep canyons that you needed to swim through to get to the next one.


Tunnel/canyon thing

And some of them were connected by shallow creeks, so a lot of careful walking on mossy rocks was involved. It reminded me a lot of when I would play in the creek/woods by my house with some of the neighborhood kids and my sister. Coll, if you're reading this- when I was here, I just kept thinking how much you would absolutely love this place. When/if you come to visit, we're going.

And just to be clear- these charcos weren't just all next to each other in a line. No. We were hiking up a mountain, mostly through a river. Para que sepas.

Have I mentioned yet that there were 27 of them? This was quite a workout. After about 2 hours we got to the top of the mountain. But then how do you get down? You jump, slide, or you cop out and climb down a ladder. Needless to say, most of us jumped or slid. Each charco is a different height, but the tallest one was about 30 feet high. So it's pretty much cliff jumping on steroids, because you do it 27 times in a row.

I can't really explain it any more that how I already have- you really just need to go to experience it. None of these photos are mine- they're from online- but here's a video from the website that has some footage of the charcos.



And here's a small review of the experience from Wish You Were Here:
"If one waterfall is awesome, then what do you call a couple dozen of them? In a row?
In Puerto Plata, the Damajagua river flows down to the ocean through a network of 27 waterfalls no more than about 30 feet high.
Stop by a hut in a sugarcane field for gear (lifejacket, helmet) and a human guide (or two), and hike up to where the first of the falls begins, passing plenty of gorgeous scenery en route.
And begin your day of gliding down limestone slides, cannonballing into turquoise water, bobbing in cool whirlpools, and floating along until the sound of rushing water tips you off to the next waterfall.
Note: It's worth investing in some sort of waterproof camera before hitting the 27 Charcos. Just saying."

Annnnnnd I guess that's all I can say! It was just such an awesome, sometimes painful, but always exciting experience. Good luck finding something like this anywhere else in the world.

PS We didn't even have to sign a waiver. I couldn't help but think that if we were in the states, we would've had to sign about thirty.

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Natación + Lessons in Interpreting Dominican Sarcasm

The only class that I'm taking here that's with alllll Dominicans is mi clase de natación. My swim class. I received (and still do receive) odd looks from people, both here and in the states, when I tell them that I'm taking swimming. I don't know, I like to swim, okay?

Class is for two hours, once a week. Before we were even allowed to swim, we all needed to have a physical and a blood test to be tested for God knows what. There are three pools in the complex- one is Olympic-sized, one is about 15m squared and pretty deep, and the last once is a normal lap lane pool.


Olympic-sized pool at PUCMM

The first difference that I'd like to highlight between my swim class here and the swim class I took at my university last term is this: we are swimming outside. At first, I liked this. Nothing is better on a 90 degree day in the middle of fall than a nice dip in the pool. And I suppose I still do feel that way- it definitely is relaxing. However, especially recently, this whole swimming-outside-for-two-hours-in-the-middle-of-the-day thing has also caused me some problems. Well, mainly one problem. Unavoidable sunburns.

I swear, I'll be rocking the one-piece Speedo swimsuit "burn line" wayyyy into February. No matter how much waterproof sunscreen I put on, nothing lasts for the whole two hours. The other day was exceptionally bad, because I spent about 20 minutes outside of the water listening to my teacher talk about the midterm. Anddddd the next day I had some nice swim goggle burn lines on my forehead. As in, there were two white ovals in the middle of my forehead, and the rest was red. I looked like such a tool. Thank God for full coverage concealer.

I was talking to my friend Rose, another ISA student who has been cursed with this immense lack of melanin in her system, and it was agreed that people like us should be given a warming before attempting any outdoor activities in the Caribbean. And it's true.

Whatever, whatever, enough with the complaining. Sunburns aside, I really do enjoy my swim class. There are 10 of us in the class, and everyone is so nice. Seriously. Maybe it's because they're all freshman and are still in that I'm-going-to-be-nice-to-everyone stage, but I doubt it. They're really cool people.

Example: I'm the only one who walks to class. The pool is about 20 minutes from my apartment, so whenever I show up to class, it looks like I just ran a marathon (DR heat + 20 minute walk). However, the past couple of weeks I've been stopped on my way to class by other kids in my class driving by, and they'll give me a ride. Same goes for the way home. Since the first day, there's been this one girl who has given me a ride home every week.
The first day of class it rained, and everyone ran from the complex to their cars to avoid getting soaked. I had contemplated taking a taxi, but I then just decided to suck it up and walk through campus with no umbrella. I was leaving the pool area and had started walking towards the university (for some reason, the pool isn’t attached to the university. In order to get there from my apartment, I need to enter the university, walk all the way through, leave, and walk another 5 minutes down the road to get to the pool) when this girl waved me down and told me to hop in. I definitely owe her a candy bar. Or a soda.

Another thing I like about the class is just how easy it is. When I took a swim class last term, we spent most of the 50-minute period doing set after set after set, and most of them were timed. Our instructor would give each lane (we were divided by skill) a certain time for each part, and we had to stick to it, or it’d throw off everyone else in our lane. A common set would be something along the lines of 1 x 200, 2 x 100, 4 x 50, 4 x 50, 2 x 100, 1 x 200. Nothing as rigorous as what you’d find during a practice for a swim team, but it was still pretty intense.
Here however, we aren’t timed. Our sets are 400m, at the longest. Our instructor also makes it clear that it’s totally acceptable, and even encouraged, to rest after every 100 or 200, if we’re tired. Our midterm? A 50m swim across the pool. He critiqued/graded us on our technique. Yes, I agree, technique is important… but I swear, the next time I try to sprint, it’s going to be pathetic. I wasn’t very fast in the first place, but especially after 4 months of summer and 2 months of a very, very lax swim class, my times are going to suck.

Sorry, I always end up complaining. Let me reiterate, I really do like the class. I know it sounds like I’m trying to convince myself more than I’m trying to convince you all, but it’s really the truth. The instructor is really nice, and we have a very similar sense of humor. Aka 90% sarcastic. Which is often difficult to translate. Very difficult. So he’ll say something to me, and he’s saying it sarcastically, but I won’t pick up on it, because his humor is so dry. So I’ll just smile and nod, then he’ll be like “Es un chiste, Katherine” (“It’s a joke”), and then I’ll get all awkward and start nervous laughing “Oh… lo siento… no entendí…” then he’ll try to explain it and I still won’t get it, then other people will try and explain it, and then I’ll get it, but this all happens about 5 minutes after the sarcastic remark was uttered, so all is lost.

I am getting better with it though. The other day I tried [and completely failed] to do a successful backstroke start. Like, when you grip onto the railing under the platform, and then lift yourself up and let go and push off once you hear the whistle and go into a streamline for backstroke. Horrible explanation. Anyway, anyway, I failed at it, and ended up inhaling a decent amount of water. When I came up for water, my instructor was there. I told him that I tried, but I ended up drinking water. “Yeah, but it was free, right?” And it took me a second. But then I started to put the pieces together. Let’s see… I drank water… free water… water in the Dominican Republic is rarely free… so even though it was bad that I drank it, it was still good because it was free… oh, so this is a joke. Ish. “Sí, el agua fue gratis!” He seemed relieved that I finally, finally understood one of his random side remarks, and that this time, I didn’t look at him as if he had suddenly sprouted a extra eye, or had just lost a limb, or… something.

Okay, it was funnier at the time. But you get the point. Swim class = bad sunburns, nice kids, mad easy workouts, and lessons in interpreting Dominican sarcasm.

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