First feelings

I slept for 15 hours. I hope I will catch the time zone and I will not suffer so much. I woke up alone in the room, a totally new room for me. I didn't have problems with recognizing the place, like other members from the team did, but it was so weird, because I had no idea what I was suppose to do. And I was still sleepy, but I had to get out of bed.

It is raining like crazy, because apparently it is the hurricane season now. But it's cool that it is raining, because it makes it more bearable. Except the humidity which makes it very difficult to breath, the temperature is ok - 26 degrees. I got out of my room, went downstaris in the office and again I was alone. I managed to find a laptop and connect to the internet, because I wanted so hard to write on the blog about the trip I did.

Later that day, Zakaria, the MCP (Member Committee President), met with a member in the office. The strange thing: after their discussion, Zakaria went to sleep and the girl stayed with me in the office. She said is had homework to do, but later that day; until then, she will sleep a little bit. So she got out of her bag a jacket, put it on the floor (which is made out of sandstone entirely) and she slept right next to my feet, on the floor. She said that's normal for her, that's the way she's sleeping at home, as well. So, if that's normal for her, ok...

We went to eat at a sandwich place, called Emparedado, which was not so cheap, but I was so hungry I didn't care anymore. What I can tell you, from the food perspective, I love their food :) And after we ate, we went to a supermarket, where I had again so many cultural shocks... First of all, imagine the hypermarkets in Romania. Then imagine that the ones here are the same, but they have 2 floors (so they are double, actually). Second, they have so many new brands for me; but, at the crackers section, almost nothing. They had Pringles, some peanuts, popcorn and kinda that's all. I was shocked; the only conclusion I could drew was that Romanians love crackers, while the Dominicans not so much. Oh...and while another shock came, I learned some new words in Spanish, because, again, no traffic rules are respected in the supermarket as well. I learned perdon and permisa, because I had to move quicker in the supermarket than others :)

Other things I learned in my first day: never trust the cars - if you think they will give you priority to cross the street, you might be wrong. You have to put your feet on the ground of the street and wait for the cars to stop and to make you a specific sign, which means that he will let you cross the street. Also, we should never drink water from the sink - some trainees tried it and end up in the hospital with terrible health problems. Also, people here are addicted to ice; if you go into any place with food and you order something to eat, they will give you also drinks, with glasses filled with ice. Tons of ice. Also, in our house, we have a huge can, where we put the ice that we buy for ourselves from the supermarket (huge can that keeps the ice from melting). Oh... and in my first day, I drank my first rum. Local, first class, rum. We drank Cuba Libre, home made, even though we are in the Dominican Republic :)

Right now I'm starting my official work here. Apparently, I'm again in the same situation I was one year ago, in Romania. Nothing was done, I have to create lots of materials and design the entire strategy for external relations, communication and Alumni management. Which is cool and challenging, but I love it already.