Julie Hearts Lina

Hello all, this is Julie and E

We’re here on our 2nd day in E’s community and we wanted to write a blog post together with Lina. Lina says hola because she speaks Spanish and not English. ¡Ay ay ay ay ay!
Julie can’t stop laughing.

Julie got in at 1:45 on Sunday and then we went to get a cab to the bus station in Puerto Plata and then took a bus to Santiago. There we stayed at a budget hotel (US$15 a night) and we hung out with some of E’s PCV buddies at the place where the PCVs like to stay in Santiago. Julie liked it; the official language there is English. That night was dinner at an Italian place (delicious) and then talking and singing until 1AM. The next morning we took the time for one last warm shower before leaving for shopping and a very intense few hours en route to the community.

Julie will now describe the shopping trip: It was a store kinda like Target with a grocery store on the main floor and a Kohls on the top floor. We got ramen noodles, mac and cheese, and knock-off cereals. Then we went to get me my very own pair of havaianas in green. Then we went and we left to walk to the hotel bus stop and then E wanted to leave me at the soda bar by myself and I did not want to stay alone so we ditched our groceries, ran to the hotel and grabbed our bags and came back. Then we got hit on by some creeper and I was very happy that I didn’t stay there by myself.

And now E will describe the experience in her own words: So, when you have a 16 year-old sweety coming to visit, you think about all of the best case scenarios possible for a trip. You might also think about the worst. So far, Julie has seen some of the worst, including what she so accurately describes as our run-in with that “creeper.” Biggest ass**** I’ve met in the DR and of course, Julie is there to watch me chew him out. Here’s the play by play:

(Man stares at 2 white girls in a bus station in major metropolitan area of Caribbean. It’s a hot day and the girls are unable to sit in another spot of the bus stop because of the sun.) Girl speaks.
E: What?
Creeper: You’re hot.
E: Leave me alone. (Girl looks away then turns to her companion. Man mumbles something.)
Creeper: What did you say?
E: I said leave me alone.
Creeper: (Something snotty.)
E: I’m not going to talk to you.
Creeper: I’m not talking to you!
E: Good.
Creeper: (Irate) I don’t even like American women. (Pause) I like Dominican women. (Creeper looks around at other chauvinistic Dominican men in area as if to get them to agree with the sentiment. Instead of looking at the man they look at E as if waiting for her head to explode. Head remains intact.)

So that was it. Later, once the creeper had left, the men who were watching the scene were pleasant, offering directions, seats for our wait and asking what E’s companion’s shirt said, showing an interest in English. So… I suppose it could have been worse. Still, I was thrilled to be getting out of there!

(Told from the perspective of both, again.) Then we got on the bus with our smartfood popcorn (which we dropped more on the floor than were able to get into our mouths) and then we took a long bus filled with smelly eggplants and little kids heads sticking through the seat to E’s site. Once we got to our final destination we picked up Lina!!!!!!! (Which E’s companion was looking forward to very much!!!!) Next was a youth group meeting followed by cooking 3 boxes of mac and cheese because the first 2 were discovered to have maggots in them. (Julie discovered it was the water supply. Word to the wise, when storing contaminated water for extended periods of time, put some bleach in it first to kill the potential critters who might want to make it their home.) Sodas and sitting in rockers (as Julie says, “like good-old-fashioned whities,”) was next as well as ample time for Julie to bond with Lina. They are now lovers.

The next day there was some sleeping in followed by cereal consumption with warm milk. A visitor stopped by for a while and we ate cookies. After some reading and naps on the hammock together, the fun was to begin. E was expecting a routine visit from the PC doctor. When the doctor got here, she obliged E in removing Lina’s stitches from her recent spaying. Julie fed Lina peanut butter while E held her upper half and another PCV held the lower half while the doctor went in to remove the stitches. After about 5 minutes, the hot-pink stitches had been removed. Lina seemed more comfortable afterwards. Just as a bunch of random community members were coming for a visit (which is a very rare occurrence) a glass bottle of olive oil fell and shattered leaving a delightful cleanup while trying to ensure Lina was okay and keep the visitors from coming in and prepping for a class set to start in a few minutes and wrap up the visit with the PCV and doctor. E was a bit stressed, but she calmed down. The doctor found, in a hole in wall of a back building of E’s house, a brand-new litter of kittens. One is all white, one is spotted gray and white, and Julie didn’t see the other one.

The class went well, first aid and today’s topic was CPR. Julie sat there while everyone… “no offense E, but none of them did it right.” Then we had some spaghetti and cream sauce and again sat in the rockers like good old-fashioned whities and the power came on. Around this time we saw a large spider. A while later a large flying cockroach entered and went flying all around until E clobbered it with a shoe. (This was after cleaning up hoards of mouse poop that had not been seen before Julie’s visit began.) A few minutes later, Julie spotted a mouse in the corner and we made the decision to get in our bed nets. E would later describe this in a blog as a banner day.