First day of work first day of work!

I was at work for nine hours today, and the main thing I accomplished was to realize that Dominican Spanish is very different from the Spanish I'm used to...  it's very fast and very slurred, and a lot of letters just don't get pronounced. So I felt a tad clueless for most of the day, that's for sure.

I'm working in the office of Save the Children Dominicana, an international NGO that promotes children's rights.  It looks like I'm going to be working in the office mostly, which I'm a bit bummed about, but some days (like tomorrow!) I can go out to the field and see the programs they're working on. So hopefully I'll get to see some sights and hang out with some kids tomorrow :]

The executive director and founder of the Dominican branch of Save the Children is an Aggie! Class of '73 I believe, and his name is Horacio.  He came up to talk to me about A&M, he asked if the Corps still wore boots, and later brought me his yearbook from 1970 :]  He seems very nice--my supervisor told me that he "es un amor."

There was another intern who started working today... and she's from Germany.  Never before had I heard Spanish spoken with a German accent--it took some getting used to!  She's been working in the DR since last September and will stay three more months, so she gets more important jobs that me because she knows what's going on and will be here and all... qué pena :[

After work I split a mango with Aaron and Ryan on Olga's front porch, and now am at my home. I found the fire escape and climbed up to the roof to take some pictures... it was a bit cloudy but I loved seeing the neighborhood!

Hasta mañana,
Abby