Sunday, February 19, 2012
New Year
We decided to go shooting on New Year's this year. I invited Kylie and Emily since they hadn't ever been before. Weston's brother in law and friend, Mom, Dad, Trent and Marisa came with us too.
Christmas 2011
This year we had to split our time between our families because they both don't go out of town for Christmas. Weston's parents always have steak and shrimp for Christmas Eve dinner so decided to go there first. We went to my family after for dessert and to hear pop read The Night Before Christmas and the Luke verses of Jesus' birth. Matthew's kids acted it out with Mom, Kylie and Emily. Since we are living at Mom and Pop's now in Emily's room, we decided to sleep at the Milne's so Emily would have a bed to sleep in. Christmas morning we had omelets and opened our presents at the Milne house. Then we went to my parent's ward for the Christmas program. We opened presents at Mom and Pop's when everyone got there after church and ate our traditional Hogi sandwiches. Weston and I decided to limit ourselves on presents this year because the trip to the DR was pretty much our present to each other. We had a wonderful Christmas and tried to focus on Christ and not all the presents we got. We are grateful for the Saviors birth and atoning sacrifice.
Saludos de Republica Dominicana!!!
This is going to be more of a journal entry blog so it will be really long.
Weston and I have been talking about going to the Dominican Republic since before we got married. We knew that we wanted to travel a lot the first couple of years of our marriage and the DR was the best place to go since Weston was itching to go back. He told me about how his sister Rachel and her husband Devan have a savings account specifically for vacations. We decided to do the same and save up for vacations by putting away a little bit of money with each paycheck. Our friend, Sammy, told Weston when we were in the singles ward that the airline he works for flies to the Dominican Republic and offered to give him some buddy passes if he ever wanted to go back. Well we took him up on that offer for our outbound flight. We didn't want to take the chance of not making a flight home right before Christmas, so we bought our inbound flights.
Thursday, December 15, we went to the airport at 8pm to go standby for our flight to New York. We were lucky and got on the flight to New York and landed at 5:30 in the morning.
Friday, December 16, we had to wait until 8am for the flight to the Dominican Republic. Well we missed the flight because we learned we were on the bottom of the list. When you are a friend buddy pass, you go below employees and significant others using buddy passes as well. The next flight was at 11am so we decided to watch a movie on our portable DVD player and pray we make the next flight. We were the 3rd and 4th person from the top of the list for the 11am flight when the lady checking people in said the captain was not taking anyone else. We were getting really frustrated because even if there are available seats on the plan, the captain can decide not to take anyone on if people brought too much weight in checked on bags. We were tempted to just buy tickets, but decided to wait for the 4pm flight to see if we would make it on. I fell asleep on the floor and Weston watched a movie. Before boarding started I asked the guy checking people in if he could tell me what number we were on the list since we had missed the previous 2 flights and we were like 11 and 12. After they boarded the plane we were literally the next two to get on and they were not going to let anyone else on. I think the check in guy felt bad for us and actually went into the plane to ask the captain if he could take two more people on. After a long wait to find out if we made it, he ran up and told us he could let us on! I was so relieved because I thought we were going to be in that airport forever! Our flight left New York like half an hour after it was supposed to take off so we landed in Santo Domingo at 9:30pm. When we walked off the plane I could feel the humidity! The first place we saw to exchange money when we got off the plane had an exchange rate of 32 pesos to a dollar. Weston thought that was really low because he remembered it being like 39 pesos. We exchanged our money anyway and as we walked past the baggage claim we saw two other exchange booths that had 37 and 38 pesos to a dollar! We lost like 35 dollars exchanging at the first booth, but we learned for next time I guess. Weston's friend Hopperdin and his friend Michael picked us up from the airport and drove us to the CCM (the MTC in Santo Domingo). We dropped our things off at 11pm and went to McDonald's since we were starving. Weston said McDonald's is a nice place to go in the DR. It was actually pretty expensive for what we got. The CCM is guard gated in an area right across from the Temple. The missionaries live on the 4th floor and our room was on the 2nd floor. It had two bunk beds and a connecting door to the room next to us. It was pretty nice for only being 8 dollars a night! There is a condition for staying there for so little and it is that you have to do temple work for every day you stay there that the temple is open. On the inside of our door it even said that if we stay there without doing temple work we are stealing from the Lord!
Saturday, December 17, we woke up late because we were exhausted from all the traveling. We decided to try to make it to the 11am session so we got ready by 10 and went down the street to a farmacia for some breakfast. They didn't really have much so we bought some cookies and hurried back so we could make the session. There were a lot of people at the temple that morning and Weston said it was because a stake from the North had come down to do work in the temple that day. I couldn't really understand anyone in the dressing room and noticed two girls that looked American not understanding either. I found out both of them were from Utah. The first girl's husband had gone to the West mission in the DR and the second girl and her husband came with them for fun. I went and got Weston from the dressing room and found out they split the 11am session into two since there were so many people so we had to wait until noon. We realized we probably wouldn't be able to go to the first area Weston wanted to visit that day since we would be getting out of the session later than we hoped. Weston saw like 4 of his missionary companions when we were in the temple. I met another girl from Canada in our session that had met a guy online from the DR and flew out there for 3 weeks to spend time with him. I couldn't believe she did that, but I hope it works out for her. Weston said guys and girls in the DR love to marry people that can get them a green card, so I just hope that guy had good intentions. We changed after our session and found out one of the couples wanted to go souvenir shopping and they had a car so Weston offered to show them where to go if we could ride with them. We parked in the mission home parking lot and walked about 6 blocks to El Conde, which is where all the souvenir shops are. We ate at a Pica Pollo for lunch. It's kind of a fast food, everything fried type of place. I tried Bolle de Yucca and it was amazing! Yucca is basically the Dominican potato. A Bolle de Yucca is like mashed yucca with cheese in the middle then fried. It was amazing, but my stomach didn't really like it. We walked around the Conde and bought a bunch of souvenirs then we had to leave to get ready for dinner with Brother and Sister Eickbush. We took a junky beat up car to the corner by the temple and got ready for dinner. The Eickbushes picked us up and took us to a traditional Dominican Restaurant called Adrian Tropical which was right above the beach. I got spaghetti with white sauce and it was delicious. We also tried mufunga which is a bunch of stuff mashed with fried plantains. Sister Eickbush needed to do some grocery shopping so they took us to La Sirena. It was a huge 2 story grocery/shopping center with a parking garage. We got some snacks and bought Weston a tie, then the Eickbushes bought us ice cream. It was so nice spending time with them and feeling comfortable in a different country because they were there in case we needed anything. Sister Eickbush reminded me so much of Grandma Dougherty. We are so grateful for them and feel like they are family now. They dropped us off at the CCM and we watched a movie before we went to bed.
Sunday, December 18, we got up pretty early to make church at 9am in Luperon. Weston served for 9 months of his mission in Luperon, so he figured it was the perfect area to go to church because he would see a lot of the members he taught there. We walked about 5 min from the CCM to the Metro which is the subway that goes South to North. We walked past the cemetery that Weston got held at gunpoint to get to the church building. Even though it was light outside it still made me nervous. We walked in right as church was starting and a lot of the people starting smiling when they saw Weston. During both of the talks a truck stopped right outside the church blasting bachata music. It was so hard to hear and to feel the spirit. Weston said that was one of the hardest things about bringing investigators to church was when trucks would blast their music outside. We tried closing the windows, which helped some, but it still was so hard to concentrate. After sacrament we talked to a bunch of the members and gave some of the kids the little green CTR rings that we brought. We decided not to go to relief society and priesthood since I wouldn't understand anything that was being taught. My Spanish understanding got better being there with Weston, but not well enough that I wanted to sit through a whole lesson. We changed and met Weston's friend Hopi so we would have a guide to get to people's houses. When everyone was done with church we took pictures and visited a little bit more. We went to Hopi's house first and met his Dad and brothers and sisters. His sister is 16 and already has two kids. She is a member and got pregnant at 14, then got pregnant again and had the baby about a month before we got there. Weston said that is how it is out in the DR. Girls get pregnant really young and the guys leave them most of the time. Hopi's family lives in a two story concrete house that is probably 20x20 ft. They wanted to feed us something so I told them Weston was looking forward to fried salami since he ate that so much while he was there. They made us fried salami and fried plantains. It was really good, but I think that was the start of my stomach not liking the fried Dominican food very much. They also made us lechoso which is like a papaya smoothie made with condensed milk. They put our food on their nicest dishes and I felt so bad because Hopi's brothers were just watching us eat. I couldn't finish all of mine so I gave them the rest of it. I had my first experience with going to the bathroom at Hopi's house. It is basically a toilet with a bucket of water and a cup next to it. There was a curtain as a door and I couldn't pee because Hopi's sister was standing right outside the bathroom. When I finally went, I forgot Weston told me to put the toilet paper in the trash can and not in the toilet. I didn't know how to flush so Hopi's sister showed me you use the cup to scoop up water and then dump it in the toilet to make it go down the drain. Apparently that is why they don't put toilet paper in there because it makes it harder to flush. We left Hopi's house and visited Hermano Ceballos from the ward that sells Uvis ice cream. I got cake batter and Weston got chocolate. We visited a lady named Ana Deisy and all her daughters. They gave us orange juice and we sat on the porch in rocking chairs and talked for awhile. It started raining then it would stop and feel really humid. Every house we went to the people would shout "Elder Milne! Estas Gordo!" I guess he has gained weight since being there, but they all said it was a good thing and he was too skinny before :) He just told them I cook good food for him. We walked to another house, but no one was home. We wanted to visit another member, Estefanie, that is Weston's age and he was friends with on his mission. She wasn't at church since she had to work that day so we went to her house and talked to her sister. She told us to come back when Stefanie was home from work. We went down to a Pica Pollo to get some drinks and wait for a little while. She still wasn't home by the time it started getting dark so we decided to head back to the CCM. Hopi came with us on the Metro to make sure we made it back safely then he walked home.
Monday, December 19, I woke up with tons of huge bug bites on my legs and arms. I got eaten probably while we were visiting with Ana Deisy. We went to Los Guaricanos in the morning. We took the Metro and then had to take a junky car (like a taxi) to the area where Weston lived. This area was kind of scary so we didn't take anything valuable with us, but the camera, and put money in our shoes. The first house we went to was a member Weston taught, but he no longer lived at the house we went to. That was one of the problems we found was not everyone Weston wanted to visit lived in the same house anymore. The second house we went to was a couple Weston taught, Ulysses and Bellanira,but only the wife was there. The husband had been in the United States working and trying to bring his family over there. We visited for a while then headed back out to the main road to catch a car back to the Metro. Before we left, Weston remembered a lady that lived right on the main road that he wanted to visit. He said she was very poor and worked as a maid during the day. Her house is a tiny pink shack on the side of the road. She wasn't home and Weston figured she was probably at work. We caught a bus back to where the Metro is, then took a little van to a bus stop. The van was so packed I was literally sitting on Weston's lap with my head hanging out the window. They dropped us off near the Conde where we caught a bus that took us to the bus stop. Then we got on another bus to take us to Boca Chica. It was about a 30 minute ride to the stop we got off on and I fell asleep. When we got there Weston called a guy named Julio from the ward there to meet us at the church building. This little area had dirt roads with tons of pot holes in them. Julio met us and took us back to his house on a moped/motorcycle. Weston almost fell off a couple of times. We visited with Julio and his family and took pictures with them. They live in a 20x20 cinder block house with a tin roof. It was very humbling to see house these people live and they are so happy. A lot of Dominicans also are just happy to have a roof over their heads then spend their money on other things. Julio told me that he used to called Weston his son and they he was his Dominican father. He also told us that his house is our house and we can visit anytime. Julio had an empanada stand when Weston served in that area and Weston would go there every morning for breakfast. Julio said he hadn't been selling them because it wasn't a good season for it, but offered to make them for us. We walked to another member's house, Renee and Belin, to visit and make the empanadas there. Renee was working, so we visited with his wife Belin and their three kids. By this time I was picking up on more Spanish so it wasn't as hard for me to sit through another round of Weston telling people what was going on in our lives. We told Julio we wanted to be back to the bus stop before dark because it gets dangerous at night, but he kept saying we could stay at his house for the night or he would drive us to the bus stop. He made us ham and cheese empanadas and squirted mayo and ketchup on top. They were really good and I am sure Weston was glad we were able to have them while we were there. It was really dark out when we decided it was time to go and Julio loaded us both on his motorcycle to drive us to the bus stop. We thought the bus would take us back to the corner next to the Conde was so we could catch a car back to the temple, but as we got nearer Weston asked the driver and he said they don't go that far since they are the last bus of the night. We got off in the middle of a scary part of town. There were cars driving everywhere and people packing up the things they sell. I was really nervous because I felt like we stood out like we didn't know where we were. I finally told Weston to just find us a car or taxi to take us to the temple. We decided to take a taxi, which is more expensive, right to the front of the temple. We made it back safe and sound. That was probably the only night I was really scared, but I still knew I would be fine because I had Weston with me. We went to bed as soon as we got back because we had just had a long day and had another long day ahead of us.
Tuesday, December 20, Brother Eickbush was nice enough to take us to the Santo Domingo airport, around 9 am, so we could rent a car. We got a Honda Fit to drive to El Seibo, which was Weston's last area he served in. It was going to be about an hour and half drive so we decided it would be best if I drive so Weston could read directions for me. Driving in the DR is a little different than in the states. We heard a lot of stories about crooked cops that pull over tourists and try to get them to pay them an amount for a "ticket" when really they are just pocketing the money. Brother Eickbush gave us the name of a member who is a General in the police force in case we got into any trouble. There are a lot of pot holes in the road and people don't always drive on the correct side of the road. I think I did pretty well on the way to El Seibo though. We went to Esaul's house first. He is Weston's age and they new each other while Weston served there. His mother gave us rice and chicken for lunch, which was delicious. We visited for awhile then told him we would be back to have him show us where some members lived how. The first family we visited were the Tapias. The wife was at work, but we were able to visit with the dad and kids. I had another experience with a Dominican bathroom, but this time I remember to put my toilet paper in the trash. Then we went to the Lugo family's house. Their mom was at work too and they wanted us to come back later after we visited with them to see her, but we didn't have time. They were a fun family to talk to and we gave away some more CTR rings. We then went to the Carela family's house. Both parents were home and we visited for awhile on their porch. Both parents are not working, but they want to try to get to the United States like every other Dominican. Sister Carela's mother already lives in Salk Lake City and told us to contact her if we ever go through there. We went back to Esaul's so he could show us where Nelson and his wife live since they had moved since Weston had been there. Weston told Nelson he was coming to the DR, but Nelson was in the country that day so we weren't able to see him. We went to the bishop's house last to visit with him, but he was at work. I think Weston had more people he wanted to visit, but it was getting late so we decided to make one last stop and then head to Punta Cana. We went to a pharmacy on the main road where Lady, a girl from the ward Weston served in, was working. She is going to school right now and hopes to go to Law school when she is finished. We left El Seibo mid afternoon so we wouldn't get to our resort too late or not be able to find it. The road from El Seibo to Punta Cana was even worse. There were tons of pot holes and speed bumps. Every so often we would pass through a small town with 4 speed bumps in the center of it. I would forget and just speed right over them sometimes. I think Weston was a little worried what the damage would be once we got to the resort. It was dark by the time we got to Punta Cana and we got lost a couple of times before we found Ocean Blue and Sand. It was the farthest resort we could have picked, but it was really beautiful. When Weston made the reservation over the phone the woman told him it would be a certain price. He specifically asked if it would be that price for both of us. Once we got there we found out that was the price for one so we paid double what we thought we would have it. It was worth it to relax and feel pampered for a couple days though. We had someone take our bags to the room and got settled. The room had a king size bed, a balcony, and a jacuzzi bath tub. We were really hungry so we went to buffet. It was really good and they even had some traditional Domincan food. We walked around the resort a little bit, then headed back to our room to sleep.
Wednesday, December 21, we went to the buffet for breakfast. I wanted to lay at the beach all day and relax. My stomach was still not doing well with the food, but I wanted to go to the beach anyway. We changed into our swim suits and tried to lay out, but it was so windy on the beach. My legs were getting covered in sand and it hurt so we decided to go back up to the pool. The pool was freezing, but the weather was perfect so we laid our for awhile. We went to the buffet for lunch, then back to our room to take a nap. Either the sun or the traveling was wearing us out. Every time we came back to our room the sheets felt wet and I realized it was because of how humid it was. We woke up and got ready for dinner at the Italian restaurant. The food wasn't that great, but people told us to expect that. We went to the bowling alley to play a game. While we waited for a lane to open Weston taught me how to play dominoes. We watched some tv back at our room then went to bed.
Thursday. December 22, we decided since we were on vacation we wanted to get a massage the spa. We went to breakfast at the buffet again then went over to the spa. We chose the couples massage which included the sauna and jacuzzi. We were excited about the jacuzzi because they didn't has any at the pool area. The massages were pretty relaxing, then we sat in the sauna for a little while. We went to the jacuzzi and it was luke warm. Weston said he didn't think they really had jacuzzis out there. We figured at least we kind of had one in our room anyway. We changed into our swim suits and laid out at the pool and drink virgin pina coladas til lunch time. We ate lunch at a different buffet then got ready for the day. I wanted to buy some more souvenirs so we went into town to go to some shops. We both disliked shopping because the owners of the shops would come at you so fast to get into their store then try to charge you so much for their souvenirs. We were pretty good haggling though. The owners would try to haggle with me in English and I would tell Weston to tell them no in Spanish and give them a different price. It was fun and we got some pretty good souvenirs. We went back to the resort and relaxed in the room for awhile. We wanted to go to the steak house for dinner, but it was one of the restaurants we had to have reservations for and it was all filled. We decided on the Mexican restaurant so Weston could get the rice pudding for dessert. The food was alright, but the bread pudding was actually really good. There were a bunch of people trying to sell souvenirs outside the restaurants so we decided to buy some more paintings. The guy trying to sell them to us, we think, was used to rich tourists willing to shell out money on his paintings. We just bought some paintings earlier that day and knew they weren't as expensive as he wanted to sell them for. We haggled him down to almost half what he wanted for them at first. The resort had a theater with the employees performing in so we went to watch for awhile. It was really cheesy, but funny so we stayed for a while. We rode on the trolley to the beach and got out to see it at night. When we got back to the main square we got hot chocolate at the cafe then walked over to the lobby area where a band was playing. We relaxed on the couches and listened to the music for awhile then took the trolley back to our room and took a bath in the jacuzzi tub.
Friday, December 23, we laid out at the pool some more and walked down the beach. There were a bunch of souvenir shops along the beach and we could see another resort. We walked back to our room and got ready to leave. We took our bags to the front and checked out. We drove to the Punta Cana airport and turned our rental car back in. The Punta Cana airport was much smaller than the one in Santo Domingo. We walked right up to the plane and climbed stairs up to the doors. It was so much nicer having a set flight home than just hoping we would catch a flight. We landed in Atlanta and had a couple hours before our flight home. I was upset because it took forever to get through customs and the airline broke the handle on Weston's suitcase. We ate at TGI Fridays and our waitress was so friendly and upbeat. She put me in such a better mood. We watched a movie on our DVD player before the flight. We got back to Las Vegas about 10pm.
We were so grateful to be able to go to the Dominican Republic and visit so many people. We hope next time we can spend more time visiting and relaxing at the beach!
Weston and I have been talking about going to the Dominican Republic since before we got married. We knew that we wanted to travel a lot the first couple of years of our marriage and the DR was the best place to go since Weston was itching to go back. He told me about how his sister Rachel and her husband Devan have a savings account specifically for vacations. We decided to do the same and save up for vacations by putting away a little bit of money with each paycheck. Our friend, Sammy, told Weston when we were in the singles ward that the airline he works for flies to the Dominican Republic and offered to give him some buddy passes if he ever wanted to go back. Well we took him up on that offer for our outbound flight. We didn't want to take the chance of not making a flight home right before Christmas, so we bought our inbound flights.
Thursday, December 15, we went to the airport at 8pm to go standby for our flight to New York. We were lucky and got on the flight to New York and landed at 5:30 in the morning.
Friday, December 16, we had to wait until 8am for the flight to the Dominican Republic. Well we missed the flight because we learned we were on the bottom of the list. When you are a friend buddy pass, you go below employees and significant others using buddy passes as well. The next flight was at 11am so we decided to watch a movie on our portable DVD player and pray we make the next flight. We were the 3rd and 4th person from the top of the list for the 11am flight when the lady checking people in said the captain was not taking anyone else. We were getting really frustrated because even if there are available seats on the plan, the captain can decide not to take anyone on if people brought too much weight in checked on bags. We were tempted to just buy tickets, but decided to wait for the 4pm flight to see if we would make it on. I fell asleep on the floor and Weston watched a movie. Before boarding started I asked the guy checking people in if he could tell me what number we were on the list since we had missed the previous 2 flights and we were like 11 and 12. After they boarded the plane we were literally the next two to get on and they were not going to let anyone else on. I think the check in guy felt bad for us and actually went into the plane to ask the captain if he could take two more people on. After a long wait to find out if we made it, he ran up and told us he could let us on! I was so relieved because I thought we were going to be in that airport forever! Our flight left New York like half an hour after it was supposed to take off so we landed in Santo Domingo at 9:30pm. When we walked off the plane I could feel the humidity! The first place we saw to exchange money when we got off the plane had an exchange rate of 32 pesos to a dollar. Weston thought that was really low because he remembered it being like 39 pesos. We exchanged our money anyway and as we walked past the baggage claim we saw two other exchange booths that had 37 and 38 pesos to a dollar! We lost like 35 dollars exchanging at the first booth, but we learned for next time I guess. Weston's friend Hopperdin and his friend Michael picked us up from the airport and drove us to the CCM (the MTC in Santo Domingo). We dropped our things off at 11pm and went to McDonald's since we were starving. Weston said McDonald's is a nice place to go in the DR. It was actually pretty expensive for what we got. The CCM is guard gated in an area right across from the Temple. The missionaries live on the 4th floor and our room was on the 2nd floor. It had two bunk beds and a connecting door to the room next to us. It was pretty nice for only being 8 dollars a night! There is a condition for staying there for so little and it is that you have to do temple work for every day you stay there that the temple is open. On the inside of our door it even said that if we stay there without doing temple work we are stealing from the Lord!
Saturday, December 17, we woke up late because we were exhausted from all the traveling. We decided to try to make it to the 11am session so we got ready by 10 and went down the street to a farmacia for some breakfast. They didn't really have much so we bought some cookies and hurried back so we could make the session. There were a lot of people at the temple that morning and Weston said it was because a stake from the North had come down to do work in the temple that day. I couldn't really understand anyone in the dressing room and noticed two girls that looked American not understanding either. I found out both of them were from Utah. The first girl's husband had gone to the West mission in the DR and the second girl and her husband came with them for fun. I went and got Weston from the dressing room and found out they split the 11am session into two since there were so many people so we had to wait until noon. We realized we probably wouldn't be able to go to the first area Weston wanted to visit that day since we would be getting out of the session later than we hoped. Weston saw like 4 of his missionary companions when we were in the temple. I met another girl from Canada in our session that had met a guy online from the DR and flew out there for 3 weeks to spend time with him. I couldn't believe she did that, but I hope it works out for her. Weston said guys and girls in the DR love to marry people that can get them a green card, so I just hope that guy had good intentions. We changed after our session and found out one of the couples wanted to go souvenir shopping and they had a car so Weston offered to show them where to go if we could ride with them. We parked in the mission home parking lot and walked about 6 blocks to El Conde, which is where all the souvenir shops are. We ate at a Pica Pollo for lunch. It's kind of a fast food, everything fried type of place. I tried Bolle de Yucca and it was amazing! Yucca is basically the Dominican potato. A Bolle de Yucca is like mashed yucca with cheese in the middle then fried. It was amazing, but my stomach didn't really like it. We walked around the Conde and bought a bunch of souvenirs then we had to leave to get ready for dinner with Brother and Sister Eickbush. We took a junky beat up car to the corner by the temple and got ready for dinner. The Eickbushes picked us up and took us to a traditional Dominican Restaurant called Adrian Tropical which was right above the beach. I got spaghetti with white sauce and it was delicious. We also tried mufunga which is a bunch of stuff mashed with fried plantains. Sister Eickbush needed to do some grocery shopping so they took us to La Sirena. It was a huge 2 story grocery/shopping center with a parking garage. We got some snacks and bought Weston a tie, then the Eickbushes bought us ice cream. It was so nice spending time with them and feeling comfortable in a different country because they were there in case we needed anything. Sister Eickbush reminded me so much of Grandma Dougherty. We are so grateful for them and feel like they are family now. They dropped us off at the CCM and we watched a movie before we went to bed.
Sunday, December 18, we got up pretty early to make church at 9am in Luperon. Weston served for 9 months of his mission in Luperon, so he figured it was the perfect area to go to church because he would see a lot of the members he taught there. We walked about 5 min from the CCM to the Metro which is the subway that goes South to North. We walked past the cemetery that Weston got held at gunpoint to get to the church building. Even though it was light outside it still made me nervous. We walked in right as church was starting and a lot of the people starting smiling when they saw Weston. During both of the talks a truck stopped right outside the church blasting bachata music. It was so hard to hear and to feel the spirit. Weston said that was one of the hardest things about bringing investigators to church was when trucks would blast their music outside. We tried closing the windows, which helped some, but it still was so hard to concentrate. After sacrament we talked to a bunch of the members and gave some of the kids the little green CTR rings that we brought. We decided not to go to relief society and priesthood since I wouldn't understand anything that was being taught. My Spanish understanding got better being there with Weston, but not well enough that I wanted to sit through a whole lesson. We changed and met Weston's friend Hopi so we would have a guide to get to people's houses. When everyone was done with church we took pictures and visited a little bit more. We went to Hopi's house first and met his Dad and brothers and sisters. His sister is 16 and already has two kids. She is a member and got pregnant at 14, then got pregnant again and had the baby about a month before we got there. Weston said that is how it is out in the DR. Girls get pregnant really young and the guys leave them most of the time. Hopi's family lives in a two story concrete house that is probably 20x20 ft. They wanted to feed us something so I told them Weston was looking forward to fried salami since he ate that so much while he was there. They made us fried salami and fried plantains. It was really good, but I think that was the start of my stomach not liking the fried Dominican food very much. They also made us lechoso which is like a papaya smoothie made with condensed milk. They put our food on their nicest dishes and I felt so bad because Hopi's brothers were just watching us eat. I couldn't finish all of mine so I gave them the rest of it. I had my first experience with going to the bathroom at Hopi's house. It is basically a toilet with a bucket of water and a cup next to it. There was a curtain as a door and I couldn't pee because Hopi's sister was standing right outside the bathroom. When I finally went, I forgot Weston told me to put the toilet paper in the trash can and not in the toilet. I didn't know how to flush so Hopi's sister showed me you use the cup to scoop up water and then dump it in the toilet to make it go down the drain. Apparently that is why they don't put toilet paper in there because it makes it harder to flush. We left Hopi's house and visited Hermano Ceballos from the ward that sells Uvis ice cream. I got cake batter and Weston got chocolate. We visited a lady named Ana Deisy and all her daughters. They gave us orange juice and we sat on the porch in rocking chairs and talked for awhile. It started raining then it would stop and feel really humid. Every house we went to the people would shout "Elder Milne! Estas Gordo!" I guess he has gained weight since being there, but they all said it was a good thing and he was too skinny before :) He just told them I cook good food for him. We walked to another house, but no one was home. We wanted to visit another member, Estefanie, that is Weston's age and he was friends with on his mission. She wasn't at church since she had to work that day so we went to her house and talked to her sister. She told us to come back when Stefanie was home from work. We went down to a Pica Pollo to get some drinks and wait for a little while. She still wasn't home by the time it started getting dark so we decided to head back to the CCM. Hopi came with us on the Metro to make sure we made it back safely then he walked home.
Monday, December 19, I woke up with tons of huge bug bites on my legs and arms. I got eaten probably while we were visiting with Ana Deisy. We went to Los Guaricanos in the morning. We took the Metro and then had to take a junky car (like a taxi) to the area where Weston lived. This area was kind of scary so we didn't take anything valuable with us, but the camera, and put money in our shoes. The first house we went to was a member Weston taught, but he no longer lived at the house we went to. That was one of the problems we found was not everyone Weston wanted to visit lived in the same house anymore. The second house we went to was a couple Weston taught, Ulysses and Bellanira,but only the wife was there. The husband had been in the United States working and trying to bring his family over there. We visited for a while then headed back out to the main road to catch a car back to the Metro. Before we left, Weston remembered a lady that lived right on the main road that he wanted to visit. He said she was very poor and worked as a maid during the day. Her house is a tiny pink shack on the side of the road. She wasn't home and Weston figured she was probably at work. We caught a bus back to where the Metro is, then took a little van to a bus stop. The van was so packed I was literally sitting on Weston's lap with my head hanging out the window. They dropped us off near the Conde where we caught a bus that took us to the bus stop. Then we got on another bus to take us to Boca Chica. It was about a 30 minute ride to the stop we got off on and I fell asleep. When we got there Weston called a guy named Julio from the ward there to meet us at the church building. This little area had dirt roads with tons of pot holes in them. Julio met us and took us back to his house on a moped/motorcycle. Weston almost fell off a couple of times. We visited with Julio and his family and took pictures with them. They live in a 20x20 cinder block house with a tin roof. It was very humbling to see house these people live and they are so happy. A lot of Dominicans also are just happy to have a roof over their heads then spend their money on other things. Julio told me that he used to called Weston his son and they he was his Dominican father. He also told us that his house is our house and we can visit anytime. Julio had an empanada stand when Weston served in that area and Weston would go there every morning for breakfast. Julio said he hadn't been selling them because it wasn't a good season for it, but offered to make them for us. We walked to another member's house, Renee and Belin, to visit and make the empanadas there. Renee was working, so we visited with his wife Belin and their three kids. By this time I was picking up on more Spanish so it wasn't as hard for me to sit through another round of Weston telling people what was going on in our lives. We told Julio we wanted to be back to the bus stop before dark because it gets dangerous at night, but he kept saying we could stay at his house for the night or he would drive us to the bus stop. He made us ham and cheese empanadas and squirted mayo and ketchup on top. They were really good and I am sure Weston was glad we were able to have them while we were there. It was really dark out when we decided it was time to go and Julio loaded us both on his motorcycle to drive us to the bus stop. We thought the bus would take us back to the corner next to the Conde was so we could catch a car back to the temple, but as we got nearer Weston asked the driver and he said they don't go that far since they are the last bus of the night. We got off in the middle of a scary part of town. There were cars driving everywhere and people packing up the things they sell. I was really nervous because I felt like we stood out like we didn't know where we were. I finally told Weston to just find us a car or taxi to take us to the temple. We decided to take a taxi, which is more expensive, right to the front of the temple. We made it back safe and sound. That was probably the only night I was really scared, but I still knew I would be fine because I had Weston with me. We went to bed as soon as we got back because we had just had a long day and had another long day ahead of us.
Tuesday, December 20, Brother Eickbush was nice enough to take us to the Santo Domingo airport, around 9 am, so we could rent a car. We got a Honda Fit to drive to El Seibo, which was Weston's last area he served in. It was going to be about an hour and half drive so we decided it would be best if I drive so Weston could read directions for me. Driving in the DR is a little different than in the states. We heard a lot of stories about crooked cops that pull over tourists and try to get them to pay them an amount for a "ticket" when really they are just pocketing the money. Brother Eickbush gave us the name of a member who is a General in the police force in case we got into any trouble. There are a lot of pot holes in the road and people don't always drive on the correct side of the road. I think I did pretty well on the way to El Seibo though. We went to Esaul's house first. He is Weston's age and they new each other while Weston served there. His mother gave us rice and chicken for lunch, which was delicious. We visited for awhile then told him we would be back to have him show us where some members lived how. The first family we visited were the Tapias. The wife was at work, but we were able to visit with the dad and kids. I had another experience with a Dominican bathroom, but this time I remember to put my toilet paper in the trash. Then we went to the Lugo family's house. Their mom was at work too and they wanted us to come back later after we visited with them to see her, but we didn't have time. They were a fun family to talk to and we gave away some more CTR rings. We then went to the Carela family's house. Both parents were home and we visited for awhile on their porch. Both parents are not working, but they want to try to get to the United States like every other Dominican. Sister Carela's mother already lives in Salk Lake City and told us to contact her if we ever go through there. We went back to Esaul's so he could show us where Nelson and his wife live since they had moved since Weston had been there. Weston told Nelson he was coming to the DR, but Nelson was in the country that day so we weren't able to see him. We went to the bishop's house last to visit with him, but he was at work. I think Weston had more people he wanted to visit, but it was getting late so we decided to make one last stop and then head to Punta Cana. We went to a pharmacy on the main road where Lady, a girl from the ward Weston served in, was working. She is going to school right now and hopes to go to Law school when she is finished. We left El Seibo mid afternoon so we wouldn't get to our resort too late or not be able to find it. The road from El Seibo to Punta Cana was even worse. There were tons of pot holes and speed bumps. Every so often we would pass through a small town with 4 speed bumps in the center of it. I would forget and just speed right over them sometimes. I think Weston was a little worried what the damage would be once we got to the resort. It was dark by the time we got to Punta Cana and we got lost a couple of times before we found Ocean Blue and Sand. It was the farthest resort we could have picked, but it was really beautiful. When Weston made the reservation over the phone the woman told him it would be a certain price. He specifically asked if it would be that price for both of us. Once we got there we found out that was the price for one so we paid double what we thought we would have it. It was worth it to relax and feel pampered for a couple days though. We had someone take our bags to the room and got settled. The room had a king size bed, a balcony, and a jacuzzi bath tub. We were really hungry so we went to buffet. It was really good and they even had some traditional Domincan food. We walked around the resort a little bit, then headed back to our room to sleep.
Wednesday, December 21, we went to the buffet for breakfast. I wanted to lay at the beach all day and relax. My stomach was still not doing well with the food, but I wanted to go to the beach anyway. We changed into our swim suits and tried to lay out, but it was so windy on the beach. My legs were getting covered in sand and it hurt so we decided to go back up to the pool. The pool was freezing, but the weather was perfect so we laid our for awhile. We went to the buffet for lunch, then back to our room to take a nap. Either the sun or the traveling was wearing us out. Every time we came back to our room the sheets felt wet and I realized it was because of how humid it was. We woke up and got ready for dinner at the Italian restaurant. The food wasn't that great, but people told us to expect that. We went to the bowling alley to play a game. While we waited for a lane to open Weston taught me how to play dominoes. We watched some tv back at our room then went to bed.
Thursday. December 22, we decided since we were on vacation we wanted to get a massage the spa. We went to breakfast at the buffet again then went over to the spa. We chose the couples massage which included the sauna and jacuzzi. We were excited about the jacuzzi because they didn't has any at the pool area. The massages were pretty relaxing, then we sat in the sauna for a little while. We went to the jacuzzi and it was luke warm. Weston said he didn't think they really had jacuzzis out there. We figured at least we kind of had one in our room anyway. We changed into our swim suits and laid out at the pool and drink virgin pina coladas til lunch time. We ate lunch at a different buffet then got ready for the day. I wanted to buy some more souvenirs so we went into town to go to some shops. We both disliked shopping because the owners of the shops would come at you so fast to get into their store then try to charge you so much for their souvenirs. We were pretty good haggling though. The owners would try to haggle with me in English and I would tell Weston to tell them no in Spanish and give them a different price. It was fun and we got some pretty good souvenirs. We went back to the resort and relaxed in the room for awhile. We wanted to go to the steak house for dinner, but it was one of the restaurants we had to have reservations for and it was all filled. We decided on the Mexican restaurant so Weston could get the rice pudding for dessert. The food was alright, but the bread pudding was actually really good. There were a bunch of people trying to sell souvenirs outside the restaurants so we decided to buy some more paintings. The guy trying to sell them to us, we think, was used to rich tourists willing to shell out money on his paintings. We just bought some paintings earlier that day and knew they weren't as expensive as he wanted to sell them for. We haggled him down to almost half what he wanted for them at first. The resort had a theater with the employees performing in so we went to watch for awhile. It was really cheesy, but funny so we stayed for a while. We rode on the trolley to the beach and got out to see it at night. When we got back to the main square we got hot chocolate at the cafe then walked over to the lobby area where a band was playing. We relaxed on the couches and listened to the music for awhile then took the trolley back to our room and took a bath in the jacuzzi tub.
Friday, December 23, we laid out at the pool some more and walked down the beach. There were a bunch of souvenir shops along the beach and we could see another resort. We walked back to our room and got ready to leave. We took our bags to the front and checked out. We drove to the Punta Cana airport and turned our rental car back in. The Punta Cana airport was much smaller than the one in Santo Domingo. We walked right up to the plane and climbed stairs up to the doors. It was so much nicer having a set flight home than just hoping we would catch a flight. We landed in Atlanta and had a couple hours before our flight home. I was upset because it took forever to get through customs and the airline broke the handle on Weston's suitcase. We ate at TGI Fridays and our waitress was so friendly and upbeat. She put me in such a better mood. We watched a movie on our DVD player before the flight. We got back to Las Vegas about 10pm.
We were so grateful to be able to go to the Dominican Republic and visit so many people. We hope next time we can spend more time visiting and relaxing at the beach!
Monday, November 21, 2011
Our Life Lately
Prom pose :)
August:
We celebrated Weston's birthday and he started a new semester of school. Just work, work, work for me.
September:
We celebrated my birthday. Weston surprised me with couple's massages and taking me to pick out a new purse. We ate dinner at the Orleans, went bowling, and then since that wasn't enough, decided to see a movie because we weren't ready to go home.
October:
We went up to Utah for General Conference and Weston's mission reunion. We celebrated Grandma's 80th birthday and Hannah's birthday. The weekend after we drove down to Huntington Beach to watch the AVP volleyball championships. It actually wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it would be, but we had fun playing on the beach and road tripping together. We found a house that we both agreed on and decided was a great starter house. Unfortunately, it is a short sale so we hurry up and wait as our agent always says.
November:
We celebrated our 6 month anniversary by going out to eat and playing volleyball. The townhouse we are living in has sold and we will have to move by the end of the month. We decided to move back in with Mom and Pop until we hear about the house we put an offer on. Hopefully, it won't be more than a couple months, but we are grateful we have a place to live and that we have been able to stay in this townhouse for so cheap the first 7 months of our marriage.
Next month we are going to the Dominican Republic and I am getting nervous. This is my first trip out of the country, but I am excited to be in New York on our way there so we can see the big Christmas tree. We are staying at the temple the first couple of days while we visit the different areas Weston served in and then off to a resort in Punta Cana! Hopefully it doesn't rain and we get to enjoy the nice weather. I am still working and grateful to have a job that provides us with so much so early on in our marriage. We both realize how lucky we are to not have the struggle of money the first year of our marriage. Weston is still working as a dental assistant at a pediatric office and loves it. He works just enough to keep up his skills and we like it that way. He is doing really well in his classes this semester and amazes me every time he gets an A on a test in Physics (I hated that class and was just glad I passed with a C- in part 1 and 2) People always ask if I am still in love and how I like marriage.Of course we are still in love! Adjusting to marriage has not been difficult for us and I fall more in love with Weston every day. I feel so blessed to be married to my best friend and I know I found him, in the most part, because of Mom and Pop's diligent, loving prayers.
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