Waaaaayyyy over due.

I truly do apologize to my 2 readers for not having written anything in the past month.  I would have to say the biggest reason I haven't been writing is that there has just been so much going on, that it is hard to choose what to include, how to portray it, and how to find the time.  Also, emotions have been a bit scattered as we have been settling in and leaving the vacation phase, and recognizing that this is our actual life for the next few years. I would have hated to have written at a low moment and left you all thinking we are constantly gloomy, and yet it also doesn't seem quite right to let you think  its all palm trees and mangoes either. 

We have done some really fun things this last month.  Patrick's parents came down for a quick weekend trip, and we got to do some our first sight seeing.  We drove around the island's largest lake, which takes us very close to the Haitian border.  The lake and surrounding areas are beautiful, there are some Indian cliff drawings along the way, and some very cute little towns to pass through.  We also spent a little time in Santo Domingo, and particularly enjoyed the colonial zone, where Christopher Columbus first established a colony.  There are 16th century churches and parks and palaces, well kept gardens and streets, and a safe, lively scene all day.  It reminds of Sevilla, Spain, which makes sense seeing as how ol Chris was sent from Sevilla by Isabel and Ferdinand to take the very trip that landed him on our island.  It was great to get out of our little towns where we know everybody's problems and hardships, and just appreciate the beauty of the country.

We have also settled into our jobs quite nicely.  Patrick saved Bombita after finding out that they didn't water or electricity for a week, made some headway on his deaf school project, and gained respect from the communities and our co-workers.  He enjoys his job immensely, and now that I have seen him in this role, I really can't picture him in any other type of job.  I have also been enjoying my job.  Since the regular school year is over, I have planned and begun a few new programs for the summer.  We are having tutoring for remedial students for the first time and it is going very well.  The students come to class on time, and seem to be gaining a lot of confidence from the one on one setting.  We are also hosting a drama club in Bombita, and will be preforming the Wizard of Oz in just a few weeks.  The kids LOVE having something to do, and they take pride in their roles.  We are also painting a new mural in Bombita, as the old one did not represent the community very well and needed some serious touching up anyway.  Even with all that going on, I still have two afternoons a week which are pretty much empty!  Communication has been hard for me, not the Spanish, but just that people DO NOT communicate well.  It makes it very hard to make plans, get something approved, and feel confident in my job.  But we just do the best we can, and be confident in that.

We love all the time we get to spend together, especially at lunch.  Everyday we get a two hour lunch break, and 3 out of 5 days we spend it together.  We also get to spend most evening together as well as work together some of the time.  The hard part is we miss having a social life.  Or better to say, we miss our social life.  As you know, Patrick and I are not party animals, but we do like to go out with friends and have a beer, play some pool, maybe dance, have another beer, etc... Because we work for a Christian organization, and Christians here do none of the above, WE are not allowed to do any of the above.  There is nothing to do in La Hoya but got to bars, or go to church.  And there is church every night of the week for those who choose to go.  We do go on Sunday mornings, but we just do not want to be in church with the same people, doing the same thing, every freakin night.  On top of that, there are some other social "weirdnesses"like if someone comes to your house, it is incredibly rude to say "oh, we are cleaning the house" "we are talking to our families" "I am washing my hair" or any other excuse that lets them know you can't or don't want to hang out.  And once you have someone in your house once, they come EVERY day!  MULTIPLE times a day!  And if they come at meal time, you absolutely HAVE to offer them some of your lunch or dinner, even if there really is only enough for two, and they ALWAYS accept!  And its also rude to ask them to leave when you are ready for bed, or have to go back to work.  People's feelings get hurt, and grudges last.  It just leaves us feeling bored, and like we constantly have to be checking in to make sure we haven't offended somebody.  And sometimes we have to lock ourselves up in the house to have some uninterrupted alone time.  We miss our friends.

BUT!  then we have a day like yesterday, spent at a new beach, playing in the ocean, listening to music, cooling off in a mountain stream that meets up with the sea, seeing gorgeous flowers, stopping at quaint little roadside stands for fruit and chicken and empenadas,   and come home to our little house surrounded by palmtrees, sugar cane and chirping birds to sleep under a mosquito net as a quiet thunder storm roles by.  And it is so worth it.