I just remembered that it is the tenth anniversary of my study abroad in the Dominican Republic. I was kind of horrified when I realized that my passport had expired and that I had obtained it as an adult. I lost the previous one in London and they still let me back into the United States without it (1999). I've written about the D.R. before, so hopefully this is not too repetitive.
Highlights
* I lived with an alcohol/drug abusing family that didn't give me any food on the weekends when the maid went back to the countryside. I kind of wish that it would happen again, because it was better than Weight Watchers. Once they pressured me into eating liver, because they wanted to enjoy the face of revulsion that I would inevitably make. They kept joyfully exclaiming, "Gringos hate liver!" I also recall several incidents of the dad prancing around the house in tighty whities. Worst host family ever!
* Everyone who went to the salon got the Rachel. Somehow, I decided that it was appropriate to wear the same shades of eyeshadow as the locals, who may or may not have been of a slightly darker skin tone. When I returned, my brothers kept calling me Mimi until I learned my lesson.
* My professor's son fell asleep on the bus and I succeeded in applying a full face of makeup before he woke up.
* Somehow I collected this rank posse of street dogs that followed me to school every day. It expanded even more when one of the dogs randomly dropped a litter. I wish this wasn't before digital cameras, because the pics of it are hilarious.
* Getting into Havana at night and thinking that it was really swanky, then waking up to see peeling paint and a general state of disrepair.
* When I depanced another girl at the airport. Mixed reactions from locals.
* Always wanting to try the bidet in the bathroom, but always succumbing to the fear that I would break it.
* Swimming at a local luxury hotel because the owners thought that it looked posh to have Americans in their pool.
* In Cuba, a guy screamed, "Too much McDonalds!" at a group of us. For days, everyone nervously wondered who he was referring to and how he knew about McDonalds.
* My host mother's 19 inch waist and 57 inch booty.
* One of my neighbors was this massive adolescent everyone called "La Grandota." The kid at my house told me that she came from New York after 9-11 and didn't even know the days of the week in Spanish, so I went to investigate. Somehow this scenario ended up with us giving La Grandota a makeover in my bedroom.
* Our tour guide was a chain smoker named Oscar who told us that there was a city where girls turned into boys (or something like that???). He took some pictures of the group and somehow most of them had a panoramic view of a girl's butt (I will keep her identity secret as she is now a mild mannered housewife).
* NUDE EUROS EVERYWHERE
* Holy War over going out to eat on Sunday in San Juan.
* A group I dubbed, "The girls who talk about love," because they always sat around saying dreamy stuff like, "It's all about the way he treats you... " sigh
* The night when we had a private island and people started skinny dipping while our professor peacefully slumbered. The next day was the only time that I did not take a shower, ever.
* Everyone who was getting it on with Dominicans, Cubans or Colombians. I wish that I had had the foresight to do some discreet camera work, because I'm pretty sure that I could have become a millionaire off "Girls Gone Wild: BYU Study Abroad."
* I have a distant memory of leading games of truth or dare, but I am having a difficult time remembering. Maybe someone can help me out.
* Pretending to be communists in a hotel in Havana.
* Eating Cheetoes, just like I ate french fries in Honduras. I never eat either of those foods in the U.S., but for some reason I get hit by culinary homesickness.
* A lady b-slapping my friend in Haiti when she refused to buy cans of American aid food.
* The fact that I am still friends with a majority of the people in my group. Let's face it, you have to be kind of off to pick that study abroad option in the first place.
I have really fond memories of that period of my life, because I was still really idealistic. I had no reason not to be. I'm not sure which person I would rather be, but I suppose that you can't get away with depancing someone at age 30.
What about when you did makeovers on Smead's (the visiting professor) teenager while they were sleeping on the bus.
ReplyDeleteAnd I seem to remember you credit carding Smead!!!!!!
Beth, reading comprehension quiz. And everyone knows that Checketts credit carded Smead.
ReplyDelete*Bathing in a river and then everybody getting a parasite.
ReplyDelete*Jeremias announcing to the class that you two were an item.
*Student answering her cell phones mid-comment in class and then picking up where she left off when she was done with her cell phone convo.
*Learning how to make a "fast and easy" Dominican cake, only to discover it involved a cake mix.
*Being told at a fireside that we would meet our future spouses that night and then all the Americans being set up on creepy speed dating style dates with strangers.
*Developing an OCD about carrying toilet paper and hand sanitizer at all times since no bathrooms in the country had soap or TP.
I'm sure there are others but that's what I can come up with off the top of my head. Happy Anniversary!
Andrea
Drea, you failed to mention that we were not actually an item, and the whole class started chanting "Beso!"
ReplyDeleteI thought that went without saying. If you had really been an item it wouldn't have been nearly as funny. I forgot about the chanting.
ReplyDeleteOne other item that I'm not sure how I forgot is the rat infested cabin that we stayed in on the trip to "El Sur". Highlight- jumbo rat walking on my legs at 5:30 am.
explain, explain... so you were on exchange to the DR but travelled to Haiti and Cuba too? Can I ask the "how do American's get to travel to Cuba?" question? What did you do in Haiti?
DeleteJacey
Yes, we lived in DR, but went to Haiti, Cuba and Puerto RIco while we were there. All you have to do is get on a plane from somewhere else. The Cubans don't care if we go there and just look at our passports without stamping them.
DeleteWe just crossed the border into Haiti, went to a market and turned back.
*Jeremias dancing with the cheerleader girls at a baseball game and someone seeing him later on cable.
ReplyDelete*The beach trip with church friends on the mini gua-gua listening to Machucalo Machucalo over and over again full blast for 2+ hours.
*Smead greeting los Clayton getting on the bus.
*I think I still have a some questions to a games show Jill made about everyone floating around.
*Nicknames for the whole group and their dominican lovers (ie chocolate).
*Eating whole pans of brownies and rice krispie squares (let's just say while Jill was starving I was eating enough for me and her, sorry jill). Clearly it was a noticeable gain, because when I got off the plane coming home, it was that attribute my mother noticed first and I did have a killer tan:).
I am commenting too much on this post. Haha Kirsten, the "church friends" were listening to this dirty Shaggy song because they didn't know English. You lost that weight in like five minutes
DeleteI think the game was called "truth or dare TRUTH." That was a good time. Let's do it again. - Jacki
ReplyDeleteWhat about the Communist raids in Puerto Rico where we stole all of the stuff from the guys room and the manager came up to tell us to put it back (even though they GAVE us the key) before they called the cops?
ReplyDeleteAlso when Jen P was out until the wee hours of the morning with the random guy in Havana.
In the interest of full disclosure: Someone, who shall remain nameless, had a not so great encounter with some spiny sea creatures and others in the group were generous enough to pull countless spines from a region that should never have seen the light of day.
Also, don't we have pictures of Bethany Cole wearing nothing but a Cuban flag?