Bienvenido a Santo Domingo

A new country, a new adventure, and a new blog.

I've started over with this attempt at public journaling, for various unexciting reasons, but I plan to eventually upload the old posts to an archive....for your reading pleasure, I'm sure.

So, here I am, 2 weeks in to my life in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. So far, so good. Actually, I immediately felt rather comfortable here...there are enough of those odd similarities with the other places I've lived, I guess. The crazy traffic, street vendors, a slower pace at the same time that everything seems to be moving faster around you. Why I can be so easily at home in chaos is beyond me...

In typical Liz fashion, I wasted no time in diving into work and into 'trouble'. (I use that term lightly, of course.) In two weeks I've already helped with at least 2 urgent taskers from DC, and I've been on 2 site visits. I also worked as a greeter for the embassy 4th of July event. - that's the work side. And for the trouble...well, I've already nearly been stranded by torrential downpours, flooded my laundry room in a novice attempt to re-acquaint myself with owning a washer and dryer, lost power for 24hrs (only one in the building), and had a dengue/malaria scare (according to the Doc, it's just a cold...) So, yeah, I'm off to a good start.

Writing all of that down reminds me of my conversation this morning with my new co-workers. They organized a welcome breakfast for me (such a great team!) and as we munched they asked me to tell a little bit about myself. I went over a quick timeline, starting with Argentina...and glossing quickly over most things. They stopped me somewhere between the Orange Revolution and San Fermin to exclaim that I am like Forrest Gump. he he. And I didn't even get to the riot story or the penguins!....They wonder what stories I might have by the time I leave here in two years. I wonder the same thing.

So, anyway, I am here in sunny Santo Domingo, settling into a new life. I'll do my best to tell as many of those stories as I can...and to provide some photographic evidence whenever possible.

But for right now, this is good night. This girl's gotta scuba diving lesson tomorrow