A Poor American in Foreign Land

I felt as though I was in Santo Domingo before I left New York City. I felt the Dominican "heat" and sabor dominicana as I stood on line to check my bags onto Delta flight number 207. Everyone spoke in Spanish around me, as they waited with huge bags, probably full of "American" goodies. When I arrived to Santo Domingo, we all rushed to pick up bags from belt 3. A man next to me played salsa from his mini boom box. I felt my body moving to the rhythm on its own. My body wanted to break out in dance, but I had to control myself. I was a foreigner in a strange land. So far, everything has been great. I am living with a host mother and her two daughters thanks to Maria Filomena of the CIEE program who found me a host family. She has also allowed me to use FLASCO resources like the Internet and computers! The biggest problem that I am having is that I cannot withdraw money from any of the ATMs here, so, yes, I am poor. My host mother had to lend me money. I am hoping that problem will resolve soon, but for now, I am a poor American. Other than that, I will be working at a public hospital with teenage mothers who have HIV. I am really excited about my work. I am also hoping to volunteer at Batey Relief Alliance.Well, I have so much more to say but I have to limit my blog entries since I do not have too much access to FLASCO computers. I send much love.