Cabarete--Beach time!

hello again all! It's been a whirlwind of a week, and i know i'm gonna leave stuff out, but there's just too much to tell! it's been amazing and i already feel SO blessed that i'm here and doing what i'm doing. Our first work team from the states came down this week. they arrived sunday night (right as us interns had our first bite of dinner halfway to our mouths....haha) and left yesterday morning. i LOVEd all of them--they were such a blast and i miss them already! they were from Greenville, SC and go to Furman University. we worked super hard all week, building a kitchen (it's not done yet), fixing picnic tables, painting signs, building a wheelchair ramp...we were so exhausted every night and definitely had no problems sleeping.

us interns convinced Roy to take us to the beach this weekend since we had yesterday and today off. the beach town we came to, Cabarete, is so fun and cute. our hotel is cool, with little bungalows surrounding the pool, and only 85 bucks a night, which we split between the 4 of us girls. i took a nap on the beach yesterday (in the shade to avoid a sunburn) then we had dinner at a restaurant on the beach, which was really cool too. it took us a good 2 1/2 or 3 hours to get here from Jarabacoa, but the drive was amazing (besides having 6 of us crammed in the car). i've been taking TONS of pictures, which i'll upload when i get back home. this morning we had breakfast at this little pastry place (yay for having an american breakfast! scrambled eggs, potatoes, bread, OJ, bacon....yummmm) then Lauren and I went with Joey, Sarah, and Risa (joey and sarah's baby girl) to this little surf beach. it was SO cool! surfing kinda sucked, in my opinion, but it was still really fun and Risa is a blast. she's so well behaved and little and just freakin adorable. and her name means laughter or laughing in spanish :o) we're going back to Jarabacoa in about an hour, which i'm kinda glad about. it's great here, but the sun has zapped my energy and i'm ready to get settled back in at camp.

this week is going to be a little crazy...we don't have a work team coming, but it's gonna be a big week anyways. tomorrow we're going to church in the morning then doing a service project there, and monday and tuesday we're going to do community service in Jarabacoa, helping to rebuild this old man's house that burnt down a few months ago. Monday night we're doing a homestay, which will be really cool and i'm super excited for. then Wednesday we're having a day of solitude, and i'm not really totally sure what all that will entail, but i think it's pretty much just a day where we don't really talk to anyone, we just get to be alone with God. i'm excited/nervous for it. i'm sure it will be an eye opener one way or another. Thursday we're having an Adventure Day with Laura, who is in charge of the Adventure program at camp (basically outdoorsy stuff like weekend hikes, etc). I think we're going rapelling/canyoneering. COOL! then friday is a work day, saturday is a free day (probably the next time i'll get to get online) and the next work crew comes in on saturday night. it's a HUGE group (53 people) from 3 different places. i kinda wish it was going to be smaller, but that's alright i guess. I'm going to be leading my own work team because there are so many people coming, instead of getting to work with Joey on the kitchen project.

We got to do laundry for the first time on thursday night, and i can't even begin to tell you how excited i was hahaha. my clothes were so gross and it was DEFINITELY laundry time. can't wait for my package to come in the mail from mom, with more t-shirts and some scrubs! (and candy, of course)

on the one hand, my 9 or so days i've been here have seemed like ages, but at the same time, i feel like the next 5 weeks are gonna just fly by and i'll be going home before i know it. i'll be really excited to come home and see my family and friends and get into a routine of work and working out and church, but i will miss this place so much. it's such an amazing, enchanting, God-filled place, and I think i definitely want to come back at some point or another. I want to try to organize a group of spokane/young life people, probably leaders in the area, to come down for spring break next year as a work team, and/or perhaps come do a summer internship for one summer in the next few years.

I'm losing my train of thought now...i think that's all I have to say today. if you read/made it through this whole thing, you're great! oh, one last thing. if i call you, answer your phone and don't tell me to call you back later! haha, i'm in a foreign country and don't get much phone/internet time. it's not like at home where i have my cell with me constantly! lol :o)

I hope you're all doing well and God is blessing your lives tremendously. i miss and love you all! I would love to hear from people...it's nice to have some email/facebook notes/comments on here when i get online...makes me feel a little closer to home. Have a great week, i'll update again in a week or so!

Dancing in God's grace,
Aly