Arrival

I'm sitting here in Grace's apartment in Puerto Plato, Dominican Republic.

It's lovely, Mom - but there's no air conditioning. When Sra. asked if that was going to be a problem I told her that Louisiana hurricane season has toughened me up and I'd be just fine.

While we were waiting for our connecting flight in Miami, I overheard a few kids speaking to each other in Spanish and English so I asked if I could practice my Spanish with them. After about 10 minutes,I'd gotten the attention of every bilingual passenger in gate C33 and found myself in the center of group gathered around to give me speaking advice - to laugh at my mistakes and to, most importantly, allow me to practice. Sra found this very amusing.

One of my impromptu tutors turned out to be my seat-mate. His name is Nelson and he's from the Dominican Republic and he wants to be a fashion designer. Upon leaving the flight he gave me a personalized drawing with a sweet message on the back. But Nelson almost was not my seat-mate because when I sat down in my chair I realized that my arm-rest was broken. The maintenance man came and upgraded me to first class. Not wanting to leave Sra (i feel like a two year old- being so attached to her and stuff) I asked if I could trade the seat for some free food during the flight (American Airlines charges $3 for your standard bag of peanuts) and so he struck a deal with me. So the flight was wonderful. Then there comes arrival-

So we arrived here in the D.R. totally VIP.

Upon exiting the plane, we were met by Padre Nelson and Grace. They led us to a VIP waiting room (which was super swanky, you know) and we were offered drinks and snacks while we waited for someone to go and retrieve our luggage. We did not have to go through customs at all. We just sat comfortably in a waiting room. crazy. Sra. also said that I shouldn't get used to this type of arrival because it was very special and most unusual.

Our bags were taken to the car and Padre y Grace took us to dinner at this incredible restraunt right on the beach. Everything here seems to be along the boardwalk. After dinner, Padre drove us back to Grace's and now Sra and I are chillaxin' for a bit. Which brings me to the present moment in which i'm updating this blog entry.

Mom, I tried to call you but you didn't answer your phone.

Dad, I love you sooo much! It was great talking to you.

Love you!

-tori