Nothing New

So I feel like I'm starting every blog entry with a sorry for not having blogged in so long. This one is no different. My days are just all pretty much the same and there's nothing really that exciting to blog about. So, sorry. I'm still looking for funding for the aqueduct (come on you guys...I'm counting on you!)

I actually do have one thing to blog about, and I'm not sure why exactly I haven't until now. I guess in the post-visitor depression I just didn't feel that motivated to write anything. The post-visitor depression wasn't too bad though because I'm coming back to the states pretty soon for a visit, so I knew that I would be seeing them all again fairly soon. 51 days from now to be exact. So now to the story about our nice, week-long gringo vacation.

My mom, dad, my sister Lisa and her boyfriend, my brother, my cousin cheryl, my friend Julie and family friends Cathy and Ed all came to the Dominican Republic to visit me for my 24th birthday. We decided it would be best to stay at an all-inclusive resort since there were so many people coming.

First and foremost, I had to decide whether I would go straight to the hotel where we would be staying or to the airport. I decided on the airport, because that way I would be able to spend an extra hour or so with everyone. I didn't know exactly how I was going to get to the airport (or to Punta Cana for that matter) and my family was a little worried. I told them not to be as I often go to places that I don't know how to get to, yet on the majority of occasions I end up where I need to be, and on time as well. My luck didn't run out that day either, and I arrived there an hour early, and sat like a bum with all my bags waiting for them to arrive. I looked like a bum because the grand majority of the people flying into the Punta Cana airport are all-inclusive travelers, who immediately after landing go right to the air-conditioned bus and get swept away to the hotel. After many emotional hugs and greetings, we went to our bus and were on our way to the hotel.

On the way to the hotel I shared some mandarin oranges (freshly picked the day before) with my family and the tour guide lady. She told us it was the first time that she had ever eaten on a bus bringing people from the airport.

We arrived at the hotel, began check-in, ate lunch, and at 3 pm our rooms were finally ready. I had shared a mandarin orange with our check-in lady, and I'm pretty sure she took that into account when assigning our rooms. It turned out that my brother and I were given a suite with a living room and everything, and my sister and her boyfriend even got a suite with a hot tub and ocean view. Unfortunately, before going to our rooms we did not know anything about the suites, and David and I gave our room to Cheryl and Julie so they could be closer to Lisa and Pat. So now, Cheryl and Julie had the suite and Dave and I were stuck in a regular room. Oh well...'tis life. I'm sure Julie and Cheryl enjoyed the room more than Dave and I would have. The suite also only had 1 king size bed, and I've shared a bed with my brother before, and I would really rather not do that again. Ok...enough of that. Oh yeah...my parents and their friends got stuck in some rooms super far away from us on the top floor. The rooms were more recently constructed though so they were a little nicer.

Now on to some funny things that happened during the week. I probably only can remember a few now since they're the ones that stick out the most, but if you guys remember anything else, please let me know and I'll post it here, or you can post it in the comments yourself.

1. My sister getting pooped on by a bird. We were sitting out in the wide open, not even under any trees or anything. Had that bird decided to poop a few milliseconds later, instead of the poop landing on her chest, it would have landed on her face or head...now that would have been funny.

2. My brother and cousin getting pooped on by a peacock. We were sitting at lunch, and little did we know that there was a peacock up above us in the rafters. All of a sudden we heard a big splash, and the poop splashed up and landed on my brother and cousin. Haha.

3. Bowel issues. I won't mention any names, but I'm pretty sure that our of the 10 people there, only 2 or 3 did not have any loose stools. This made for some funny moments throughout the week, including but not limited to sharts and frantic runs to the bathroom. For one of us, the sharts were the souvenir that kept on giving and followed them back to the states.

4. Again, not mentioning any names, but one of us negotiated a Dominican hooker for a French tourist. It doesn't sound funny right now, but if you knew the whole story you'd definitely be laughing.

5. Zip-lining, and Julie getting stuck in the middle on the first one. Also, the Dominican guide who said, "Don't open your legs or you'll be on our face." Sadly, the entire group started laughing and the Dominican did not understand why. I have unfortunately been on the receiving end of those laughs way to many times as a result of not knowing the language intricacies.

6. Getting beach chairs in *&%^#-City. You can imagine what word is blurred out if you just know that a lot of the tourists at the resort are European, and what the sunbathing and swimming habits are of those Europeans.

I know there were a lot more funny things as we spent the whole week laughing, but I just can't think of them right now. I'll update if I think of more.

Also, many thanks to my friends and family who went out of their way to come visit me for my birthday, and also to those who spent all their money on supporting the poor Peace Corps Volunteer for the week. Thanks, you know who you are!!!

That's it for now...see you all in 50 days.