The national language of the country is Spanish, so I spend the majority of my days speaking Spanish unless I'm talking to friends and family back home. There is also a large Haitian population in the country, so many people speak Haitian Creole. Many of my students are Haitian and therefore have trouble with their Spanish literacy, since it's not taught at home. That's where I come in to help out!
The currency here in the DR is DOP (Dominican pesos). Every $60 DOP is about $1 USD. When I first got here, I was flabbergasted when I would order a sandwich, for example, and be charged $200. It took a while to get used to the seemingly larger bills, but I have adjusted.
One bottle of water in my community is about $30 DOP, which is about $0.50 USD.
My best meal this week was a lunch that my host mom, who I called Doña, made me. It was coconut curried fish, guandules (pigeon peas), rice, and a beet salad. She makes me the yummiest meals.
