Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

We arrived safely in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday. We spent that night in a Catholic retreat center that was large, but also somewhat reminiscent of the fellowship halls of many Catholic churches we´ve known in the States. Early Thursday we were bussed to a Peace Corps training center where we´ve been spending our days since. The grounds are beautiful with many mango, banana, and papaya trees. The classrooms are all ramadas located out on the grounds. We´re now living in a home not far from there with a family. They have been extremely hospitable and our living arrangements are very comfortable.

We have had two days of orientation and Spanish classes. Our teachers are very energetic and experienced and we think we can already notice some improvement in our Spanish. We´ll have a shorter day of classes on Saturday and then Sunday will be free time.

Everything is going well and we will try to post pictures before too long.

Change of plans

Due to the unsettled situation in Honduras, we are now going to the Dominican Republic for the first part of our training. We will be flying to Santo Domingo Wednesday morning and going to a training center near there. On Thursday, we will move in with our host family and will begin our intensive Spanish classes. Assuming that things stabilize in Honduras, we may be headed on to Honduras by the last week in July.

Our group looks about like what we had expected -- a lot of bright, attractive young people and three of us with gray hair. Our first day of orientation was well organized and overall it seems like a group that we will feel proud to be a part of.

We'll give you an update from the Dominican as soon as we have a chance.