Saludos desde mi barrio nuevo!

Hello everyone! I am writing to you all from an internet cafe which is literally like a 5minute walk from my new home! It is my third day here in my new barrio right outside of Santo Domingo and I love love love it! The barrio where I live is relatively big and there are a lot of stray dogs around. They seem sick whenever I pass by and don´t bother anyone. Almost everyone rides un motoconcho and there tons of colmados on the streets. There are also two panaderias in the barrio, in fact, one of them is right across the street from this internet cafe. The other one is right around ¨El Parque de Toronja¨. I live with a wonderful woman named Dona Diga and her granddaughter Lorena who is right around my age. I live right across the street from 4 other girls so we pretty much go everywhere together. The other girl´s host mom´s and my host mom are all related so the families are all very close. I lost count of how many primos, tias, tios, and hermanas I have met. And the children....they are wonderful! Dona Digna says ¨que le cai muy bien a todos¨ so I am pretty happy about that. Yesterday me and the other girls were playing futbol with them, singing to them, and even did some dancing! The kids love to listen to me sing in English. I sang some Chris Brown, Ciara, and even some Michael Jackson. haha.
Dona Digna is really sweet and a great cook. And get this, the four trainees that she housed before me were all vegetarians as well so she is a pro in vegetarian meals. My first dinner consisted of yucca topped with onions, berenjena, cheese slices, and a side of tomatos, mangos, and a banana!
Yesterday me and the other girls rode the carro publicos for the first time. Carro publicos are like taxi cabs but are less expensive and follow SOMEWHAT of a designated route. I still haven´t ridden the gua gua or motoconcho but I look forward to both!
Today Lorena, Gitana, Andrea, and I went to La Sirena, which is equivalent to a Walmart of Target in the states. I bought some post cards, some instant oatmeal, and candies for los ninos.

I am really enjoying my time here so far and I feel lucky to have been placed with such a nice family. I have already become a pro at taking bucket baths! You will be amazed at how clean you can get with minimal water. The people around my barrio are all really social and endearing. In the evenings everyone goes outside to talk, listen to music, and just try to keep cool! It has been raining on and off today and the weather was the same yesterday. Still, it is always humid, humid, humid. But I don´t mind it that much at all. I think living in Miami for three years helped prepare me for this weather. It might also have been my own little summer pre Peace Corps training where I slept without any AC! My family thought I was crazy for doing so, but it is paying off now =) I am off now, but I will try to write once a week while I am here so keep a look out for new posts. I will try to post some photos tomorrow when I ask to borrow a fellow trainee´s laptop at ENTRENA. By the way, our group is awsome. There are about 53 of us, 30 something females and 19 males and hopefully that number stays the same! Ahora si que me voy!
PS' If you wish to send me mail (PLEASE DO)
The address is the following. There was a mistake in the address I posted before.

My name, PCT
Cuerpo De Paz
Apartado 1412
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

I love and miss you all very much