Shannon in the Dominican

Good afternoon. I have asked a few of you to contribute in-depth posts concerning life, work, or vacation etc. and Shannon was the first one to kindly respond. I asked her to tell us about life in the Dominican and her adventures in Cabarete. Here we go...
Thanks Shannon! This is very cool!

Okay, TK, here goes: !Hola, todos! Sorry for all the emails I haven't sent. Life here is amazing. I love it! If I weren't in school, I would not be coming back in September, I can guarantee you that.

It's hard to even describe why I don't want to leave - sure there's a beach that I can go to every day, and the weather's awesome, and the island's beautiful. But that's not it. Plus, there are cockroaches all over my little apartment, snakes (not inside, thank god), I have mosquito bites galore, there are really big spiders, tarantulas even, I cannot stand the chick who lives in the apartment adjacent to mine (I actually prefer our third roommate, the giant rat that lives in the rafters). And it's noisy ALL the time - cars and motoconchos honking, loud music everywhere, roosters, dogs, crickets, toads... It's dirty, my clothes are getting ruined at the rate of about a piece per week. (From bleach, from red wine, from the llavanderia's washing machine). But I hardly think about any of that. Let me tell you about the things that I love...

I start my day either at Jessie and Will's restuarant, where I work on the weekend, or at the panadaria, Dick. The food is by far better at Jessie and Will's, but Dick has them beat on the coffee. After breakfast I study Spanish a bit and sometimes wander in to the Internet cafe. Two days a week I have a private Spanish lesson. Around noon or so it's time to head to the beach for a kitesurfing lesson if the wind is good. My kite insturctor is a girl, totally beautiful, that calls herself Coco Angel. For real. She even has a website, Coco-angel.com. (It is not a porn site.) Or maybe, instead of kiting, I'll take a bikeride with Open-shirt Mike, who some of you may know of from Trent's stories as Pumphouse Mike. (By the way, I am still going by Shannon, inspite of the name-changing trend!) Mike knows some of the best spots on the island to bike to, and always takes the beautiful, quiet back roads. There are usually Cuba Libres waiting for us at our destination or somewhere along the way.

On the days that I have to work up at Blue Moon (usually 3-4 a week), I catch a guagua or a carro publico from Cabarete to Sabaneta around 3:30. This costs 25cents and involves being squished into a moving vehicle with a lot of other hot, sweaty, dirty people. In Sabaneta, the next town up the coast (about 15 mintues, depending on how many stops we make) I get out and catch a motoconcho to Blue Moon, which is inland about 15 minutes, up in the hills. It is a beautiful ride.

Other days I hang on the beach into the evening. I wander back to Smittzerland around dusk, and sometimes sit with my neighbor Ines and have coffee with her on her porch. We speak in Spanish, and sometimes I help her with her English homework (she is studying English with the same teacher that teaches me spanish). I go home, shower and then figure out where to eat dinner. Our favorite places are: Fat Chicken, El Tigre, and Restaurante Chino (LiLi's). All of them are cheap, around $4.50 for a good dinner and drinks. After dinner, if I'm up for more, I will head to the beach to party. There are so many people in Cabarete, and most everyone is young and either on vacation or on permanent vacation. Okay, I don't want to be indoors any more!! I will write again soon!
xxoxoxoxoo, Shannon

We will post a couple of pics soon. Feel free to post comments for Shannon on the blog site as I know she has access to it. I am hoping next to hear about a day in the life of a fire fighter and the ins and outs of being a race horse trainer/owner. I will post soon!
Also, did Shannon really say she rides a motoconcho? She is a changed woman! We will call her 'Miss Adventure' from now on.