My family came to visit!

After many hours of travel, my family arrived in the DR around noon on New Year's Day. The following week-long visit was wonderful, and certainly a new experience for me in travel, translating, and cooking. In short, I think the week can be summed up in these terms: adventures with seafood, beautiful sites, and public transport. Here's a brief photo-journal of some of our activities:
On the first full day, my mother insisted on buying these live crabs from a man off the side of the highway. The next day, my Dominican sister Jayza reported having heard screams from the conference center where we were staying the night before. I told her not to worry, it was my sisters and me wrestling twelve feisty Dominican crabs into a pot to rinse, two other pots to sit, and then into boiling water (believe me, they didn't like that). Simply terrifying and hysterical. Let me just put it this way: Dreams of crab pinchers creeping over pot-rims and pots rocking on the counter of their own accord haunted me for days.

We took a day to visit the Colonial City that Christopher Columbus built upon his arrival here. This is a view of one of the defense forts used to protect the mouth of the river.

This is the oldest cathedral still in use in the New World.
(By the way, this square is one of my favorite places in the country.)

Inside

During a day at the beach:
My mother proudly cradles the eight-pound fish she just bought off a fisherman in the bay

Later, the fish makes another appearance

We opted to spend our last day together back at the beach, looking for sea urchins.

It was wonderful to have my family here, and I invite them to share some memories in the comments section of this entry! Some of the highlights for me include backrubs from my mom, sharing lime slushies with my sisters, seeing my dad ride the little public van/buses, introducing my family to my friends and co-workers, and meanwhile watching everyone try to speak Spanish. What a great time!

Now, I'm about to move to a nearby town to help out in a nursing home there. Though I don't know what internet access will be like there, I'll do my best to keep all of you updated!

Happy New Year!!