New York New York

The adventures continue...with a very different flavor.  My most recent adventures have taken me to New York City!  I've been taking trips up to the city to audition about once a week lately.  What started out as big and intimidating has become somewhat routine.  I've grown very accustomed to running from studio to studio, signing up for auditions, timing it out to try to make it back to each one in time for my number to be called, and taking the subway (which I was really liking until I saw a rat on the tracks the other day -- ewww).
I had a very successful trip up a couple weeks ago:  Day One I managed to be seen at 4 vocal auditions and had a dance callback.  At two of the four vocal auditions they asked me to attend a callback the next day.  When they asked I smiled and said "I'd love to."  Then walked out of the room and thought to myself, "Oh shoot, I have no idea where I'm going to stay tonight!"  I had planned on making the three hour trip home that evening and had made no arrangements to stay in the city overnight.  I quickly texted some friends to see if anyone had a couch I could crash on...only one of them got back to me quickly and she was in Boston!  So, for the first time (and probably not the last), I spent the night in a hostel.  The hostel was on 103rd and Amsterdam.  It was huge -- four floors worth of rooms!  It was clean and felt very safe.  Overall it was a great experience and I would definitely do it again.  The Hostel had a pub crawl organized for that night and I would have loved to make some new friends but my first callback was at 9am so I decided to head to bed early.  You know, be a responsible grown-up. It wasn't my best night's sleep ever...a girl came into the room at 12:30am, flipped all the lights on and rummaged around for about 20mins...ugh.  Other than that it was great!  I had been so exhausted from my day of auditions that I crash hard and fast.  The callbacks went well making for a very productive couple of days.
On another recent trip I got to hang out with my cousin Ryan.  He works as the amenities manager for a 76 story residential skyscraper in Manhattan.  So I got to tour the facilities, take in a great view of the city skyline and spend time with my cousin.  It was a great evening after a long day of auditions.
I went up for a day this past week as well.  This time I stayed with my former roomie who now lives on the Upper East Side.  The weather was gorgeous (aaah how I love springtime)!  We sat out and had drinks on a rooftop bar and caught up on each other's lives while enjoying a beautiful birdseye view of the city at night!  Perfect evening!
Auditioning is hard and it's draining!  There is so much competition and rejection to deal with.  However, I just feel so blessed!  I've been given the ability lately to just be grateful that I'm getting to pursue what I've always wanted to do -- what a gift -- to have the means and ability to pursue my dreams!  I am so thankful!  I also feel honored to be part of this amazing industry -- I've met some incredible people in audition holding rooms!  I am so honored to share this profession with such talented and determined individuals!  So blessed!

Home Sweet Home

It is good to be back on US soil...and it was quite an adventure getting back!  I traveled home on Thursday, February 28th.  The first leg of the journey went off without a hitch.  First flight went fine.  Going through customs and immigration in Miami was a long process but went just fine...fortunately I had ample time in my layover.  It was looking to be a pretty uneventful day of travel.  Then there was the flight from Miami to Philly.  We all boarded the plane, taxied to the runway, and started down the runway gaining speed, all was normal.  Then, just when I thought we were about to take off, we slowed down and came to a halt.  The passengers all looked around at each other wondering what was going on.  It turns out one of our breaks was dragging.  So the pilot started taxiing us back to the gate to get it checked out.  On the way back to the gate our automatic steering also stopped working.  Not good.  So they had to stop short of the gate and have a maintenance crew tow us the rest of the way in. After a bit of a wait they determined that the plane was not suitable to fly.  So we all disembarked from the plane and waited at the gate while they check to see if they had an available, non-broken plane for us.  Thankfully, they did!  We all headed to our new gate, waited for a while there and eventually boarded our healthy plane.  By the time it was all said and done I didn't land in Philly until almost 3:30am!  Which meant that I was back at my apartment around 5:30!  All in all, I'm glad to be home and very thankful that they caught the plane's issues before we took off!
It is good to be home.  I am filled with gratitude for things that I took very much for granted:  being able to flush my toilet paper, for example (in the DR you can't because it would clog the toilet...I won't go into any further detail...you get it).  This trip, particularly the time spent at the refugee camp, has put a lot into perspective for me.  The things that caused me stress before I left are still present (my burdens are still my burdens, my life is still my life) but nothing sizes things up quite like spending time with hungry children.  My "problems" are so trivial compared to so much of the world.  I am so full of gratitude for the life that I have been given!  I am still trying to process what all of this means for how I live the rest of my life...there's almost a sense of guilt when I sit down to a good meal and can't even finish all of it...knowing that there are so many out there who don't know where their next meal is coming from.  But I know guilt doesn't solve anything.  Now that I am back it is easy to feel so removed from all of that.  Sometimes the problems just seem so big and the gap between our worlds so wide that it becomes overwhelming.  So I am searching for wisdom.  I am looking for smart and sustainable ways to help...I have some things in the works...so keep tuned!  My realization and my confession to come out of all of this is that I am selfish.  I'm really selfish.  We live in a culture that is very isolated and results-focused and has a mentality that encourages self-centeredness.  I don't want to be selfish anymore.  I want to live my life with a constant cycle of being filled with love and pouring it back out again.  I would certainly covet your prayers during this time of growth and refocusing!  I love you all!

Cheers!

Prayer for CURE Hospital 2/28

Here are today's most urgent prayer requests for CURE Hospital Dominicana:

1)  They are still without water!!  All surgeries are still happening but this is making things very difficult!

2)  One of the hospital's drivers, Ramon, was robbed last night.  He was walking near his home, he was hit in the head and his wallet was taken.  He is okay and is at work today but please keep him in your prayers.

3)  Health and stamina for the doctors and nurses.  They have been working long hours all week and working on complicated cases.  The American doctors are also not used to the food here.

4)  Finally, continue to lift up the surgeries, the children being operated on and their families!

Thank you for standing in prayer with us!  Much love!

Tres Ojos and Faro a Colon

Tuesday I did my final sight-seeing trip with Aunt Lori, Micah and Isaiah.  First we went to Tres Ojos (literally translated Three Eyes) a system of caves and lakes underneath a park here in Santo Domingo. There are four lakes all together, three of them inside the caves (these three are "The Three Eyes") and a fourth one just outside of the cave.  They were beautiful!  The water was so clear that sometimes it was hard to tell whether the rock formations were a reflexion or on the bottom of the lake!  The water in some of the lakes looked green.  We had a great time exploring the caves.  There was a small boat that we got to ride across the third lake to get to the fourth.  There were bats in the cave above the third lake...we could hear them during the boat ride.  I think the fourth lake was my favorite.  It's the one outside of the caves...we stood in the mouth of the cave and got to gaze out at the lake (with vegetation all around it), the sky and beautiful rock formations.  There were also a bunch of fish in this lake.  Micah and Isaiah discovered that if the put their hand or foot in the lake and held it very still the tiny fish would come nibble at it.  I put my hand in for a minute too...it felt so weird!  One of the men who works there came over and let us feed the fish.  He talked with us for a while and told us all about the lakes and how they got their names (I'm so glad we didn't pay for a guide!).  He also explained that they used to be one big lake but an earthquake had caused parts of the cave to collapse creating smaller lakes.
After Tres Ojos we took a cab to Faro a Colon, a massive light house built as a memorial to Christopher Columbus.  Columbus' bones may or may not be buried there.  The Dominican Republic claims that they are but Spain also claims that they have them.  Guess I'll have to go to Spain to know for sure that I've visited the site of his remains.  Faro a Colon is huge and impressive.  It is built in the shape of a cross.  At it's center is a gorgeous marble and gold monument with a box supposedly containing Columbus' bones.  The longest hallway has displays about many countries and their cultures.  There is also a collection of replicas of important documents from the 1500 and 1600s, including the the marriage license of Ferdinand and Isabella and treaties for the New World.
We had a bit of a scary moment on our way into Faro a Colon.  There was a long walkway leading to the building with a wall along it.  Isaiah, being an 11 year old boy, of course, climbed up on to the wall and sat on it.  A security guard came running down the steps and started yelling at him.  We kept on telling her that none of us spoke Spanish.  She didn't seem to believe that Isaiah didn't speak Spanish (she must have thought he was Dominican).  She kept on yelling at him in Spanish, pointing at her badge and grabbing his arm like she was going to escort him away.  Aunt Lori kept saying "mi nino, mi nino"  to explain that he was her son.  Finally, Aunt Lori decided to take the boys outside and told me to go ahead and go in.  They started walking away...I guess the woman finally got it then because she sent a man after them to tell them they could go in.  Crazy!
We got to see some great sights but we were all very relieved to be safely back at the apartment that afternoon!

Continued Prayer for CURE Hospital Dominicana

Aunt Lori and I went to CURE again today to pray.  We would love to have you continue to join with us in prayer this week.  Specific requests today:

1)  The building has been without water today.  This makes it very difficult for the doctor to scrub in for surgery.  Please pray that it would be turned back on.  Pray that this problem would be resolved quickly and completely.

2)  The head nurse is under a lot of stress and was having blood pressure issues today.  Please pray for her health.

3)  It is Independence Day here and all the stores are closed.  It has been hard to track down last minute supplies they have needed today.  Please pray for provision.

4)  Finally please continue to pray for the doctors, the many surgeries this week and for God to work in the lives of the patients.

Thank you!  Blessings!

Juan Dolio Beach!

Over the weekend we went to the beautiful Juan Dolio Beach!  We were all starting to go crazy here in the apartment without power so we packed up and escaped for a couple days.  We stayed at a hotel right on the beach!  It was a lot of fun and so relaxing.  I got to soak in some sunshine.  I got a little bit of a tan (and am still one of the whitest people I know).  One of the highlights there for me was that the hotel provided dance instruction!  So I got to learn the Merengue and the Bachata (the national dance here).  The dance instructor's name was Melvin.  He was so helpful and enjoyed teaching me because I'm dancer.

The internet at the hotel wasn't working for most of our first day there.  That was a huge disappointment since one of the reasons we had gone to the hotel was to be able to contact our families and let them know we were okay.  Thankfully it started working again and we were able to get in touch with everyone later that night.  

That evening Aunt Lori and I also went to the show at the hotel's theatre.  It was...not great.  Most of the show featured three singers.  We spent a lot of the show laughing because one of the singers lit up every time she had solo and every time someone else was featured she looked bored and miserable while doing her dance steps and back up vocals.  After that the "dancers" came up on stage.  The highlight of their part of the show was that a man from the audience decided to jump up on stage with them and was doing all the dance steps with them a beat behind but with a lot of gusto.  Toward the end he even started inviting his friends up on stage too!

The next day we spent more time on the beach.  The boys rented snorkel gear and got to do some exploring.  I went for a swim with Aunt Lori and Isaiah.  The water temperature was perfect.  Isaiah found an orange floating in the water.  We played catch with it for a while.  Isaiah tasted it and said it was gross.  We had so much fun! 

The beaches here are so beautiful!  The sand is white, the water is clear and when you lookout over the water it's a gorgeous aqua color!  There are palm trees everywhere and the weather was perfect!  I took a few walks up and down the beach searching for shells and enjoying the view.  Ever since I was a little girl I have loved the ocean.  I love standing next to something so much bigger than me, feeling so small but unafraid.  I feel the same way in the presence of God and the ocean has always had a way of building my faith.  I love letting the water wash over my feet and feeling amazed that something as big and powerful as the sea can be so gentle.  May you all be washed over today with powerful but gentle presence of God.  

Our Days Without Power

I will never again take for granted the ability to flip a light switch and fill a room with light!  We spent about three days in our apartment without power last week.  It felt much longer than that!  I think the toughest thing was dealing with mealtime.  We had to throw out a lot of the food in our fridge.  Aunt Lori and I walked to the grocery store before almost every meal and tried to buy just enough food for that meal.   They have a gas stove so we were able to use the stovetop but when we did cook we had to either eat everything or throw food away because we had nowhere to store leftovers.  I spent one day waiting for the plumber (who never came) while Aunt Lori went to the electric company to settle things (unsuccessfully).  That morning I labeled a lot of the items in the apartment with their Spanish names on post-it notes to help the family with their vocabulary.
One of our days without power Aunt Lori and I walked to the Plaza de la Cultura.  A plaza here in the city that is surrounded by museums.  We went to the modern art museum first.  I have always had mixed feelings about modern art.  Some pieces are beautiful and inspiring and others I just look at and think, "I don't get it" or "I could do that."  Aunt Lori and I had fun walking through.  Of course, all the plaques describing the paintings were in Spanish and our vocabulary is limited.  So we started "translating" the plaques and naming some of the painting ourselves.
Next we went to The Museum of the Dominican Man.  Speaking of the Dominican Man...the catcalling here is out of control!  It is constant!  So as we walked into the museum Aunt Lori said, "Oh good, maybe this will help us understand why they have to do that all the time!"  It didn't.  The museum exhibit is about the Taino people, the native people of the Dominican Republic.  When we walked in we thought it was closed at first because it was dark.  We asked the woman at the front desk, who clearly hated her job, and she said it was open.  So we bought our tickets and she gave us headsets which thankfully had an English option.  She pointed us toward the first room so we walked in and started our tour.  After we finished that room it was very unclear as to where we were supposed to go next.  We started walking back out into the lobby thinking that might connect us to the next room.  The front desk lady pointed us toward a very scary elevator.  The look of it and the noises it was making left us praying that we wouldn't plummet to our death.  We got in with no instructions as to which floor to go to so we took a guess and pressed 2.  When the doors opened we peaked onto the second floor and had obviously stubbled into some kind of meeting going on in the room.  So we closed the doors and tried 3.  Bingo!  We walked through the rest of the exhibit...which was really interesting at first and then turned out to be room after room of artifacts that all look the same.  So to sum up...we found The Museum of the Dominican Museum to be confusing and hard to understand (appropriate maybe?  given our struggles with the language barrier).
So that pretty much sums up our days without power here at the apartment.  Every time we came home from somewhere we would hold our breaths and flip a light switch hoping that it was turned back on.  While we were without power we were also without our long distance phone and without internet (so we had no way to contact our families back at home).  By the time the weekend hit we were all going a little crazy.  So we packed up and went to the beach for the weekend!  Blog post to come...

Cheers!