My friends

Part of being in the Peace Corps is creating wonderful relationships with other Peace Corps Volunteers. This weekend I have had the pleasure of meeting up with many of those friends. I was missing one very important Julianna, but for the most part, the ones who have walked along side me through this Peace Corps life were in the capital and in my life this weekend.

It started when the first of my friends had a visitor from AMERICA then it ended with the first of my friends to go to AMERICA!

Courtney's wonderful sister Jordan was in town and their adorable mother paid for us to sleep in a suite for two nights. It was a lot of fun and a generally enjoyable experience. I liked that so many people came because it took the pressure off of me when it came time to go out waaaay past my bedtime. We ate at nice restaurants. I had a "Sex on the Beach", and I am pretty sure that was the first time I tried that little concoction. We were in the Zona Colonial, which means we were outside in the Dominican Republic which means it was really loud, but I was still able to (sort of) find a quiet place to take a phone call that I've been waiting for from AMERICA! (Really, I miss you. If i haven't said it enough.)

Sara was there as well. She is the adorable little thing at the top of my blog in the cute (pink, salmon, red, orange) dress. She had her reasons for wanting to stay behind the first night, so I had a good excuse not to go out. The boys (John, the boy not wearing sunglasses at the top of this blog), and James (Not pictured, but wonderful friend who was in my original Spanish class) went out with the sisters and they all had a great time. I was able to pretend I was there when they told the stories later and I had a good night with Sara back at the hotel, falling asleep to a movie. One of my favorite pass times.

The next day I hit the beach with Jordan and Courtney. I should remember the name of the beach, because it had a name and people know beaches by names, but I don't care about the beach so I don't remember the name. It was Juan D-something, and it was in Santo Domingo, but I don't even care enough to look it up. The beach is the beach is the beach, but this beach did have ice cream sundaes.

That night we walked looking for a place to stay and ran into a sports bar a la AMERICA and ran into our boss. I split a burger and wings with John. Shared un chin de cerveza with my friends and was able to hit up the hotel with John while everybody else went out. Score 2 for Amanda. Nice bed. Air conditioning. Two people who love the internet playing on their phones and only talking when something really good happens.

The next day was possibly even better. Well, equally good. I made my way a little away from the capitol and spent time with my good friend Lobo who had just come back from AMERICA. I was able to hear about the wonderland and pick up my mud wash. It came at the perfect time, because I used the last of mine as I left the campo in hopes that the order made it to New York. I have to say thank you to my mom for order and paying for mud to be sent to Lobo and to Lobo, thank you for taking my letter and not throwing out my mud.

We were able to chat and catch up and I met his host family and we watched the Simpsons in Spanish and we talked about grammar and we (again) got lost on a guagua and I beat him at Blokus and he beat me at Blokus and I made pancakes and I burned coffee and he watched coffee burn and I was jealous of his apartment and we had a great time catching up. When I left i was able to get a helmet and catch a ride out of his site after standing in the sun for a million years.

I met up with John for a final shebang (Read: trip to the chemical store) and I walked to Caribe tours for a walk back into 100% Peace Corps life.


(Sort of: I went to Santiago next, which is how i have internet, so it's not really the campo, but I did speak Spanish and buy things for my apartment. That's something.)

I just have to say, at the end of the day, I appreciate the friends Peace Corps has given me more than I ever thought I would need to.