JP Moved Out Yesterday

So yesterday in school my first two hours were hideous, and then my third hour came in super prepared, they all had their materials, and they got right to work. They made my morning. I gave them all a present of a homework pass. 

After school I came home for awhile, chatted with Alex, and JP gathered his stuff to move out (worst). So when we were ready we got a cab to Ciudad Nueva (close to Zona Colonial) and unloaded a backpack and a suitcase and moved JP into a little apartment there. It's a studio, and it's a lot more like what I imagined living conditions would be in the Dominican Republic. It is clean, and it has everything he needs (water, light, refrigerator, tv, fans) but it is a little bit dingy. The refrigerator is kind of rusty and there is a plug in stove-top to cook food on, there is no hot water, and the bathroom doesn't have a door, so it's definitely a little more rustic than the apartment that I am staying in, but I actually really like it there. It feels so much more Dominican to me (not because it's dingy). 

There is a lot more going on on the street, and yesterday we walked up and were next to the motorcycle that was bringing the water we had just bought from the colmado, and as we were unloading it this guy I have seen around there a couple of times just walks up and starts helping us get things off the motorcycle to take in. So far, that has been how people are here. When we bought the water we asked a guy on the street if they sold the big bottles of water in the colmado behind him. He not only answered our question, but went inside, checked, and then ordered the bottle for us. He didn't work there he was just sitting outside reading the newspaper. So far the people that I have met really go out of their way to do nice things for others, even if they don't know them. It is really refreshing. Like Stacy, for example, lost her luggage on the way here, and two separate people at school brought her bags of their own clothes to school the next day so she would have something to wear. It's so ridiculously nice. 

Anyway, I really like JP's new apartment, and I think I will be spending a lot of time there. It feels more real there if that makes any sense, where I am living I feel like I'm living in a bank or a mall or something, it's kind of a sterile neighborhood. Well, as sterile as a neighborhood with dead dogs and begging children on the street could be. I'll try to remember to take pictures of the apartment and my classroom and post them so you guys can see. Love you all!