A Dominican Baseball Game and Waterfalls

Hmmmm… what do those two things have in common? I’m not quite sure.

On Friday night we attended a Dominican Baseball (beisbol) game in Santiago. The Santiago team (Aguilas- Eagles) played another team (I’m not quite sure of the name). It was quite a cultural experience. We went with Steve (Erin and baby Ryan were still in the states), a couple our age, and Dylan (our neighbor’s son). First, we went to the Pasta House. It was yummy. We even ate mushrooms. Mmmmm…..mushrooms… Sorry, getting off track. Then we stopped briefly at Nacional (a real, big grocery store!), and then headed for the game. We bought our tickets and proceeded inside where we were all given a bag of two orange thunder/noise sticks to inflate. Then we found our seats (they were pretty low and had a good view). Apparently some major league U.S. players play in the Dominican league to keep in shape during the off season, so Miguel Tejada, and some other American players were on the Santiago team. It was nice to go some where in the D.R. and actually know what was going on! (Since baseball is baseball) (Daniel says “That’s deep.”) The cultural part came with the atmosphere. The music was, of course, Latin. There were “cheerleader” type girls who danced to Meringue with their pompoms. The place was pretty empty but it was LOUD! Between the music, cheering, and plastic horns that people were selling, we had to yell to each other to hear. In addition to this, TONS of people walked by selling things (way more than in the states). Food items, of course, were sold, such as hot dogs, pizza, pastalitos (sp?), fresh fruit, coffee, cheese and salami on toothpicks (big pieces!), etc. Phone cards, flashlights, lottery tickets, and the usual paraphernalia. All in all, we had a great time.

On Saturday we hiked down to the bamboo hole with 4 other teachers from our school (Regan, Katie, Renee, and Jen). We had a great time. We played, went down a natural water slide, and enjoyed the beautiful, summer-like weather. We even admired millions of wasps (from afar). Supposedly this waterfall and others near by were used in shots from Jurassic Park.

As for other news: this week is final exam week. Yay! We get to be on the other end and give the exams, which of course means grading. Ah well, the students have half days so we get plenty of time to do so. Another interesting piece of news is that we took Chai into the vet to get spayed. Poor Chai. L We won’t get her back until Thursday. An interesting thing is that I just read Ashley’s blog about supporting getting animals spayed and neutered. The Dominican Republic needs that badly!!! Especially for dogs, as stray dogs wander the streets constantly. And that is why we keep Chai in doors. Anyway, I don’t think we have anything else interesting to say, so I’ll close. Unless Daniel wants to add anything. Daniel?

Hi

Wow, that was insightful. Thank you Daniel.

God bless!