Melissa Rossiter: The Dominican Republic Service Project and Justin Bieber Concert

Ryan and I were fortunate enough to go with "Culture Crew" to the Dominican Republic to do a water service project. We had about 2 months to get our passports and get everything ready to leave the country. We had driven all the way to San Diego to go to the passport office there since there were no appointments in the time frame that we needed at the Los Angeles passport office. And since we have kids in school, we couldn't show up at 7 am in downtown LA to wait in line with all the non-appointment standyers. I know that's not a word, but you get what I mean. On about the fifth call to the passport hot line, the attendant asked if we had access to go to the San Diego office because they had a ton of appointment openings So lucky for us we had already planned to be in San Clemente for spring break, so I made our appointments for the time we'd be there, and drove with our kids to San Diego and made a day out of it. The young man that helped us at the window noticed our home address and said that we had driven a long way to get the passports, and that if we had come a long distance, then he can offer us same day pick up. WHAT?! Um, yes. We had already planned to pay the extra fee to expedite our passports, hoping they would get to us on time. But if we could hang around San Diego and show up later in the day to pick them up, then so be it. So we did. And we had our passports by 4 pm that day.

The flight over the islands as we neared the southern and Caribbean isles was pretty amazing.

Ryan was signing all the necessary paperwork to enter the Dominican Republic.

See, I told you the view was pretty amazing. We were so lucky that the skies were clear.

The welcome band. And the drive leaving the airpot

The first grocery store Ryan and I went to to buy drinking water and some food.

Here is a little tour of our time share that we stayed in. Pretty nice for just 2 people the first day, and then Carson Kofford joined us the 2nd day.

Day 2 Picking up Carson from the airport.

It was pouring rain so Ryan and I first stopped at "Jumbo" to buy to umbrellas. It wasn't supposed to rain the rest of our trip, but seriously it was pouring so hard that we didn't care if we bought them to use for one day.

It may have poured, but the double rainbow made up for the sloshing around in a foreign land.

Day 3 Beach Day!

It's always gorgeous after the rain. We went down to the beach designated for our time share hotel. Every where you go there are armed guards that have to let you through to any condo, complex, or beach.

Ryan, Carson and I met up with the rest of our cousins and their friends at Huracan Cafe. After parking on the street, we walked down this alley to the street entrance to the cafe. It was a trendy restaurant that most certainly turns into a swanky night club after dark.

We all sat at tables that faced the ocean. The view wasn't too shabby. This is definitely the party side of the Dominican Republic.

Heather Georgiana was a fun familiar companion in the group. She and James decided to come 2 days before everyone left for this trip. And we were all so grateful James was there because he became to designated interpreter. He was the only one out of the 18 people we were with that spoke fluent Spanish. He served a mission in Chile and said the spanish was slightly different, but it was better than the rest of us who were dear in headlights trying to communicate with the Dominicans.

Right next to where we sat on the beach, a night time circus tent was being set up. We missed the circus, but watching the men climb all over the metal bars and try to keep the white tarp from flying off in the wind was enough comedy.

Ryan, I, Carson, Heather and James left out group to do a little souvenir shopping. However we felt there wasn't much a difference in dominican souvenirs than mexico souvenirs. So we didn't buy much. Just enjoyed the markets.

Jumbo was a southern islands treat. We couldn't figure out why this section of the grocery store smelled so bad, till we noticed the pig legs hanging here. I love Carson's reaction.

Day 4 Carson's Birthday

The big service day also happened to be Carson's 20th birthday. So Ryan found a cheesy song to play for him before we left our apartment to meet up with the rest of the group.

After driving for miles and miles, thank heavens James Georgiana was with us because he was the only fluent Spanish speaker who jumped out of the van every time we needed to stop to ask for directions to the school we were told needed the water filters. These two men told James that there was a small housing group that could use the filters, so we ventured to find them first. And we did.

Dinner

When in the Dominican... We had to see Justin Bieber. I can't believe all the die hard fans. At the end of the show there were girls leaning over the tables to get the last of the merchandise sold inside the outdoor venue.

Getting into Santo Domingo

Walking the mile to get Sushi. I had to document that my hair was quite tame, but still blowing everywhere. You'll see what I mean if you keep reading.

Just some hotel atmosphere photos

The second to last day we rented a car so we could drive around the whole island.

So basically the whole trip my hair has had a mind of its own. It has been frizzy and blown every direction it can, especially in my face. most days I tried to braid it or put it up in a bun just to keep it from doing the second picture below.