Daily schedule

My daily schedule is kind of perfect. The only downside to it is that I have to wake up at 8:00, but I manage. I first wake up and go to breakfast. It's fun to see everyone and talk because there's a random mixture of people studying at the school. Everyone's from different areas of the world ages 18-grandparent. After breakfast I have classes with Rafael. He's a jokester and loves to talk about all kinds of subjects. I've learned vocab words ranging from economics to hardcore drugs. He's very laid back and funny and acts like a typical Dominican.

After classes I come back to my apartment, make myself a sandwich and head off to the beach. I literally just nap for hours, right on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. A lot of times I can hear Bachata music in the background or a band will be walking around trying to get tips.

Once I'm tired of the beach, or it isn't sunny anymore, I've got some free time on my hands. Sometimes I'll run to the grocery store and get bottled water (since I can't drink the water here), while other times I just walk around and look in the shops. The area where I am is very safe during the day. As long as I stay within the touristy part of Sosua, I'm fine.

I've been taking a lot of naps so before dinner I nap, and then I either go out for dinner or make myself something here. I've been getting a lot of reading in and watching a lot of Spanish TV as well.

At night I go out. Sosua at night is VERY different from the day. Prostitution is HUGE here, and there are tons of middle to senior aged men sitting at tables waiting for a Prostitute to talk to them. Their eyes are so sad and desperate and nervous. It disgusts me, but it's also really interesting to watch. A girl will walk up to a man with skimpy clothes and say "Hey baby" and sit down. All over town there are men with their "women" dancing and drinking and walking. The people at the school have made it a game to see who can spot the most prostitutes in a night. It's something that I don't see in my small sheltered town back in the United States, so I could literally just sit and people watch all night long. Because all of this is going on, Sosúa is relatively safe at night. All the creepy men go after the prostitutes. Obviously it wouldn't be safe for me to go out alone, but with a group of people I always feel very safe. We go to discotecas and dance bachata and merengue. Last night I even went to a casino (sorry dad but it's legal here). I got coins for 100 pesos, which is almost 3 dollars. I went to a slot machine and on my third coin I won a lot of money. I stopped at that very moment and ended up with 150 pesos. I knew I wasn't going to win any more so I stopped. Meanwhile the people I was with lost everything. I don't think I'll spend much time at the Casino, but it's fun to say that I came out ahead! After that I usually come home and go to bed and start it all over again the next day. I have a few excursions this week, so as long as my computer's working I should have some good stories and pictures coming soon! If you couldn't tell already, I'm LOVING it here!