This Week

There is no such thing as a ho-hum routine week for me in the D.R. In the past week the following has happened:

Dominican Wives Only an Email Away!

• I went kayaking in the ocean at a friend's site - my life here is sooo tough.
• I saw a 10 year-old students run naked in front of his house - not the first time I have seen him do this.
• A Dominican friend asked for my opinion on a job offer she received to become a mail order bride in Europe. I told her that the type of men who need to buy a wife are typically not the kind you want to marry.
• My power went out, outside of its normal schedule, leaving me in the dark for a few days. I also got to see sparks fly out of the transformer in front of my house, and learn new vocabulary: candela - spark, prestando - flickering, as in the lights are flickering.
• A teacher painted my fingernails...during class.
• A boy climbed up a coconut tree and shared the coconuts he knocked down with me, other volunteers, and a security guard who left his rifle lying in the sand while he ate with us.

  

  Climbing for Coconuts

• I saw an ostrich while at a teacher training conference at a one room school house. The ostrich is a pet. It is the second pet ostrich I have seen in as many months. You can also buy peacocks from a guy in town.
• My girls youth group has decided that they want to go to the national book fair in the capital. So far this week they have held a raffle for a gallon of oil, and sold habichuelas con dulce (sweet beans) on the side of the road, just like kids in the States sell lemonade.
• It didn't happen this week but, while I was traveling the outside of my house was painted!

  

  Romeo Guarding Our Newly Painted Home