It is never what you expect

This country never ceases to fascinate and amaze me. I wake up each day with some idea of what I might be doing that day. However, each day is far more unexpected or interesting than I could ever imagine. Sunday was a full day.

I went to the Baptist church for the 8:30 service. It was really good to chat with a few people about the beach camp that I went on with the youth from the church. After that I went to a different church. The family I live with go to a different church so I went to see what their church was like. It was a constant joke throughout the day of how spiritual I was, going to 2 services! We then ended up having nice meal of pork, potatoes, mote, salad and a whole load of other stuff that was yummy. When I say pork, I 100% knew it was pork (sometimes you are never sure what meat it is, or what part of the animal it is, but you eat it anyway). I know this because very often they take a whole pig and cook it on the side of the road. The lady then cuts off some of the best bits for you. Delicious!

So following this I visited my boss to make she was ok as she had hurt her back. We ended up chatting the whole afternoon which was really nice. I returned home to find the girls in the family heading out for a walk and so I joined them. We got no further than the entrance to the community we live in, and then it started raining. When it rains in Santo Domingo you have to find shelter immediately or you get soaked. We waited for the rain to pass, in a closed restaurant that belongs to their friends.

We then set off on this walk to visit some “sick people”. Who knows what that meant but I presumed we would visit a family friend in their home. We walked for miles and eventually got to a clinic in the middle of town. As we went up to the waiting room we were greeted by loads of people who were also visiting. It is very much part of the culture here to visit the sick. The more the merrier! As I went in to the clinic room there were 2 guys there, in their twenties. One with a broken arm, the other with a broken leg, both with neck braces and drips in their arms. I knew one of the boys from when we went to the swimming pool for Carnival. They had had a really serious car crash, totally wrecking their new car. After they had had their accident and were rushed to hospital they realised that all of their identifications, mobile phones and money had been stolen from the car. Apparently when people find out there has been a crash, people go to see what they can steal. Shocking. From the photo of the car, they were very fortunate to be alive.

So I returned home physically and emotionally tired. It had been a good day. It had been a very unexpected day. I continually learn new things here. I love the unexpectedness of each day here. I wonder what tomorrow will bring!?