Blue package..red alert! Blue package has arrived!

On April 20, 2012 I was finishing the last bit of an online course. My recruiter had notified me that my invitation would take about 7 to 10 business days to arrive in the mail as of the 13th of April. So when Friday afternoon came, I thought..DANG IT! "business mail" definitely wont be showing up until Monday. It was around 6pm when...a big oh so beautiful brown UPS truck stopped in front of the house. I thought oh it must be a package for my dad. NOPEEEE!! WRONG WRONG WRONG! I about jumped on the UPS dude "YES, oh my gosh! its here." Poor guy! He asked something along the lines of  "are you ok, is this the correct address." I rambled "its for the Peace Corps, grabbed the package and hopped, skipped, wiggled back inside." I was shaking! I felt like I got proposed too or a feeling of that magnitude haha. I opened the packaged slowly!! BOOM! I didn't even read the opening, the paragraphs in between, the closing, or even recognize the emblem of peace corps. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC! You will be serving as a health extensionist in the DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Chaaaaahuuuuuu!!! I about went bonkers! Called all my close friends, blew up my parents phone, until finnnnaaallllyyy someone answered! I'm going to the Dominican! La Republica Dominica.

"Ay que bueno ("oh good")! your set! ay diosito ("Oh God")is so good..you are already  use to Honduran beans, and platanos fritos ("fried plantains"), ayy que bueno, the food is similar" Was what my mom said immediately after Congratulations.  Im glad she is relieved that I wont be starving, eating possum soup or something extremely "different" hahah. Everyone else had such a great and supportive reaction. Thank you.

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 Sooo two months later and officially a college graduate I am beyond excited for August to come around. My departure date from California will be the 20/21st and from the USA to the DR 22nd. It is an overwhelming feeling. Excited, nervous, more excited, more nervous, and the pattern continues. But more excited then nervous :) . Since then Ive been doing a hell of a lot of research: history, gastronomy, culture, Ive even YouTubed how Dominicans speak. Ive heard through various people and sources that the Spanish there is very different. Dominicans have there own lingo and speak very fast. If you dont speak Spanish, this might be a little hard to get the gist of what they are saying and if you do! buahahah tu sabeeee!! es cosa seria :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdnkx3VnmAs

My mom warns me " no vengas gritando" ("don't come back yelling".)  Its almost like English. There are different accents: country, British, Australian, Boston, each have there own tone and little corks to them. I'm stoked to just be speaking Spanish for 2 years straight!