Life in the D.R.

As you all now know, my girlfriend is living in the Dominican Republic for a while to learn (aprender) espanol. Does anyone know how to make the cool squiggly line over the "n" in espanol? So I'm stuck at home with all the time in the world, trying not to worry about her.

The first news I heard was that they (her and a friend who is also studying in the D.R., but at a different city and program) had arrived safely, but that Anna (the friend) didn't have her luggage. Also that every guy was hitting on them. Needless to say, I was comforted and worry-free with this news. Dud. I felt so helpless. It sucks. But they really were okay. I'm sure like any country, there are plenty of beautiful things there... but unfortunately the city they are in is not one of them. I guess it was really dirty, and their hotel had bugs in it, and hair in the showers and stuff. Ah, the things we take for granted.

Then there's the whole guys hitting on them thing. I'm glad she grew up in my neighborhood, where it's common for an attractive girl (or anything that has two of something resembling a breast) to be ogled at by men (or anyone standing within ten miles of the local Village Pantry). So she's used to having guys yell at her or whatever. Here's what she said in an email:

"we are OUTCASTS!!!...this morning we just walked around the
streets by our hotel for two hours and i'm not
kidding, AT LEAST every other guy said something to
us, yells, hisses at us, honks, everything@!!!!"

So once again, I was comforted to hear how well things were going. She also said that the Dominican Spanish dialect removes the "s" from words. So they would pronounce "gracias," as "gracia." That's weird, and I guess it's hard for her to get used to.

It's hard for me to get used to people hissing at my girlfriend. Seriously, who hisses? She said it happens a lot. I guess they feel deprived from not being able to say "s" in their words, so they bottled it all up and it finally explodes in a series of hisses. Whatever. I'm glad I'm American. And a guy. I've never heard of a girl hissing at a guy. I think I would freak out.

--I found this cool Spanish/English dictionary site--