Ever been to the Dominican?

Mark has, and Vicki said it was ok to post his first letter home...

Hi Mom,

Just got back from dinner and thought I would write. Wow, this place is something else. Nothing like I expected, at all. I expected I have some pretty good living and baseball conditions amongst a lot of poverty and lower class. What I'm getting is living conditions much better than what the locals have, but nothing close to what I thought. The hotel is probably one of the nicest in the city, but if it were in the States, I probably would have checked out and looked for another place by now. Nothing works perfectly (air condition, TV) and the building looks like it is quite old, but since it is what I will call home for a couple months, am forced to accept it.

I've already begun to change the way I look at things. The locker room at the stadium is old, dirty, and subpar. Vegas was about ten times better, and I talked about how I didn't like Vegas. But if I put everything in perspective with the surroundings, it is high class. They treat us very good, offering to do anything we need, so I know that what we are getting in the hotel and stadium are the best the city and team can offer.

We practice about 45 minutes away in Baseball City. The Cubs, Reds, Diamondbacks, and someone else have facilities there. We practice there because they are finishing up some work on our stadium right now.

The other players have been welcoming. Henry Owens (American guy) has been down here for a week and he came by last night to answer questions and give me some advice. Him and I are going to be the two guys at the back end of the bullpen (set-up and closer), so we will be spending a lot of time together. He also speaks perfect Spanish so it will be good to have him around to help out. Our trainer is also American, and he took me to get my money exchanged and to the supermarket this afternoon. They have everything here I need. Peanut Butter Crunch, Colgate, etc. It's all a little pricey, but they have it. The three of us went to dinner at Outback tonight.

Everyone else so far is Dominican. Most everyone speaks a little English, so combine that with my little Spanish and I'm able to carry conversations with everyone. It's amazing how much I've remembered in just 24 hours. I usually ask the guy his name in Spanish and a few easy questions. If I don't know something I'll say it in English and they understand. I did have a little 10 year old kid come up and sit next to me after practice. He didn't speak any English, but we were able to talk for about 10 minutes. I was very suprised I was able to do that. He probably made fun of me afterwards with his buddies, but I thought it was pretty cool to sit down with someone who knows no English and be able to understand most of what he said and have him understand me.

Don't worry about safety too much. Chris, the trainer, said this is a very poor area, but it is generally safe. We don't have to worry during the day, and everything we need to get to (gym, supermarket, eating places) are very close. And the majority of the time we can walk through the mall adjacent to our hotel to get to the places. At night though, we have to be more careful, but it seems safer than I thought.

As for ball, I through a bullpen today. It was a mess, but it was to be expected since I hadn't thrown for a week. I still have plenty of time, so I'm not worried. From the sounds of things though, I will probably throw another pen in a couple days, then face hitters once or twice before games start.

I've got more to tell, a lot more, but I don't really feel like typing much more right now. Tell Elizabeth and Dad hi, and I'll talk to you soon.

Mark