We're Here!

Well we’ve been in the Dominican for right at two weeks now and this is the first of the promised blog posts. So for anyone who was still wondering, we are alive and well. We met all of our study abroad students and the other Program Assistant in the Miami Airport last Tuesday and flew into Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. We stayed in a hotel in Downtown for the first couple of days while we did the student orientation, and then we drove to Jarabacoa on Thursday to meet our new host families.

For those of you who aren’t exactly sure what we’re doing here in the Dominican Republic let me give a brief explanation of my job here. I am one of two Program Assistant’s for a Health and Environmental Research Based Study Abroad Program. There are 20 students in the program who are living with Dominican families while studying Spanish and conducting a research project on Health, Nutrition, or Environmental Issues in this developing nation. My job up to this point has included everything from walking home lost students after their first night in Jarabacoa to giving an hour-long lecture on health disparities. Some of you may be laughing because you know that I can’t stay awake through an hour-long lecture, let alone give one. It has been a bit challenging but a lot of fun. I really can’t believe that we are being paid to be here.

Lindsey got hit with our first real sickness today (Sunday). I say first because experiencing some sort of illness is kind of a given when visiting the Dominican Republic for an extended period of time. That’s actually why I (Justin) am writing the first post. Right now she is where she has spent half of the day, passed out in the bed going back and forth between shivering and sweating. It started Saturday night around 3am with a stomachache and body ache. She has had a lot of ups and downs today but right now she is on a down. Please pray that she would get better soon. My life is a lot better when she’s healthy.

That’s all for now. Sorry for the delay. I’m sure my lovely wife will write more as soon as she starts feeling better.