como te va?

So, had an amazing vacation. I’m really blessed that I was able to go on this vacation… I don’t take it for granted at all. I really feel that through these experiences, God shapes me in the way he wants me to be and the direction he wants me to go… I’ll get to that later.

So, for the simple, fun and superficial stuff. I had SO much fun. This is a fantastic country to visit. It’s beautiful the people are beautiful, the food is spectacular… even though I really can’t say I LOVE plantains. They were in a lot of things. Basically, at dinner when there was a buffet… and you saw a food you didn’t know, it was plantains. For those of you who don’t know what a plantain is, its a kind of banana… you know those bananas you saw at the store as a kid and thought they were rotten because they were so brown? Yeah… plantains. Brown bananas. Cooked, they are quite bland.

I learned to surf!!! Yes, next Roxy star…. holla. Watch out San Diego. I am planning on going back for surf camp Yes, surf camp. Its cheap and fun, so if you are interested, adventurous and travel easily… let me know because I’m looking for someone to go with. Surfing really isn’t that difficult, in all honesty. I mean, at least catching the little waves and the getting up on the board part wasn’t that hard…  My instructors were a trio of beautiful Dominican Men. They were oh so fun, and kept me entertained and laughed at me when I messed up… one of the guys was like “Hablas como una nina…” translation: “You talk like a little girl…”. I don’t know what that means, but… I was just shy.

The Dominican people were fantastic. Always willing to talk and always asking questions, especially being Argentinean. They love Argentineans there. The men are, forward, as usual. It was common to walk past guys and hear them say “Hola, Preciosa…” . But sometimes it was actually a little more charming and a little more sincere than some I’ve experienced. There was ONE time I did cheat, and didn’t give them my real name… heck, they couldn’t see my face because it was during the night. I told them my name was Josefina. I know, random…. but I didn’t want to tell them my  name.

Life is simple there. Something I always always always miss. It’s a country where people don’t die at Walmart because of greedy shoppers on Black Friday (SUCH an awesome thing to hear when coming back from a tropical vacation…) . One day, I woke up and looked outside my window and there were two older men playing catch with some random ball they found. They were having such a great time! I mean, maybe I’m not painting the picture as it should be, but the moral of the story is that they were pleased with something so little.

Electricity is expensive there. Something that was interesting was that we had to flip this little switch 10 minutes prior to our shower to get hot water. I think it was just a switch to the water heater… but showers were very short because the hot water never lasted as long as you hoped. Which was OK because I just hurried up and didn’t waste water.

The power went out a lot.  For only like, 5 minutes each time.. or even less. Maybe 2 minutes or 30 seconds. That always was a great time to look at the stars…

I miss the beach a lot. I mean it… theres something so freaking addicting, captivating, amazing, beautiful about the ocean and the beach I was at. You can even tell that the locals can’t even get enough of their beach front… It’s a magical place where sand gets into everything, but you stop caring because you love the reason sand is in your scalp, in between your toes, in your chapstick, in your food… Basically, I found God… and he’s sitting on a beach in the Dominican Republic.

The people are always open to chat, we had a slightly awkward experience with one folk… but I’ll forget about him. I could live on the beach if I wanted… even the stray dogs there are so happy and relaxed. They would just come over and lay next to you, so happy… They get all the love in the world.

Sometimes I wish I could just not live in reality. So badly. I wish I could just ditch Seattle right now and fly back to the Dominican Republic and go surfing with all the people I met. Forget about school, work, life… I would fly back in an instant…

On that deeper note, I’m starting to cherish this nomadic college life I, and probably you, lead. I mean, we don’t really have a HOME right now. We all life in a house, apartment, dorm, sorority, fraternity… but we’ll probably move from there in the next couple of months… Our parent’s house isn’t a place we can call a permanent residence because after we’re done with college, we are going to find our place in the world.

I hated that for a while, but I’ve learned to embrace it because there are SO many possibilities within that! Because I know that after I graduate I can run off and do whatever I want because I won’t have kids, and probably won’t be married. How awesome is that? With that said, I think, hope and pray  my purpose is abroad. It’s scary… but when I’m outside of the country, I feel slightly freer and I think I can breathe easier. And in all honesty, I’m built for it… I speak a couple different languages, have a good traveling record, I could pass as being 10 different ethnicities ( I got Colombian! HA!)…. And changing my major to Sociology and a minor in International Studies was NO mistake. Most definitely. I think God just KINDA knows what he’s doing.

God just kinda showed me WHY I am the way I am right now through this vacation. It was refreshing. And I realized I need to stop finding who the crap I am through my own observations of myself and what other people think, and just listen to what GOD has to say about who I am. I’m a totally different person than I was three years ago, and a its a little weird figuring yourself out after a change like that. And a little frustrating and difficult…

Anyways. Life is good. Who know where I’ll be next… well, I might know… Mozambique next summer? We’ll see Thats something to pray about.

Btw. PLEASE, if you do anything tonight let it be this one thing: Go listen to the album “bring me your love” by “city & colour” on itunes… or anywhere. It’s SO good… and reminds me of the beach in the Dominican Republic <3

xo
<3 marsha