So much to say. . .

Wow. I can't belive it's only been 3 days since I left. So everything is fine, there may be difficulties that I didn't anticipate in the cleanliness area and choosing what to eat but I'm having a good time.
To start with at the airport as soon as I got in line, a man started talking to me about universal religion- because I had a Y shirt on. Not only did he want to talk in line, he wanted me to meet him at the gate and continue our conversation! But he ended up being a nice guy, I thought he was misguided, he thinks I am but we agreed to disagree. . . or I stopped talking and maybe he thought he'd given me something to think about. He also did me the favor of finding Antonio- my Y leader. So, the dynamic of a flight in the middle of winter to Miami- want to take a guess of the median age?
So arrival in the Dominican Republic was very welcoming, Andres is the director of the DR YMCA and also the leader of the Carribean Alliance of YMCA's. We met up with him and his son, and Ray, a gentleman from Kentucky who used to live in Hait and is our Haiti expert. They took me out to a beautiful restaurant on the beach with multi levels and colors and I tried Mofundo, or something like that, plantains mixed with some meat and tropical fruit juice. It was good. Probably the most cultural food I have had so far. It was a great introduction to the country. I was warned not to expect that every night.
The hotel. So that first night, I had a room alone. And I know I thought to myself, I haven't done this for awhile. . . and it's almost panic when you realize how far you are out of your comfort zone. And I'm still only in the DR. When we came to my hotel room, the refridge had been left open and leaked all over the floor. . . and some of you know the problem I have with wet floors. Someone was supposed to clean it up while we were gone and didn't. Then, the shower didn't work. I got all ready for my nice hot shower after a day of travel and then a trickle of cold came out. It was about 12:15 a.m. and I had to get up at 6:30 a.m. Uh oh. So you deal with it. I imagine it's going to get a lot worse. Sleeping in bug repellent. Man.
And I'm thinking, how did I get here?
And I think back to a night where I was sitting in the pool office catching up on my reading because there weren't enough lifeguards and I read a Y Discovery Magazine about these ILI experiences and I thought, I'd like to do that someday. . . and then at a training this fall I heard about this opportunity again and I made it one of my short term goals. . . and I've wanted to come to the Dominican Republic for a few years because I have a sponsored child through Children International that I wanted to meet. Kimberlyn. And then I just happen to notice on our national Y website this ILI opportunity in the Dominican Republic (and Haiti) and I thought. . . well maybe I'll apply for that, just a few days before it was due. And I got in. So there you go, I'm here.
So after a breakfast of scrambled eggs and what I found out today is SPAM I headed out to meet Kimberlyn. . . which was amazing. Honestly. Not only is she real, she's really sweet and mature, and tall and gets along with her sisters and is considerate. But I should probably get off this computer now, so I'll have to tell you about Kim and the amazing work of the DR YMCA later. I've been drinking beer.