And on the 7th(8th) day she did laundry...

September 11, 2010

Day 7

My first weekend in Santo Domingo and I have one word to describe it: relaxing. On Saturday the kids had piano and guitar lessons in the morning. Teresa gave me a Spanish lesson while the kids had their music lessons. She taught me all about the accents for speaking and writing in Spanish. There were all of these categories and rules that I never learned in any Spanish class. It was a bit hard at first but I am starting to understand it now. After the kids were done with their lessons we had a belated birthday Skype surprise for my grandma. The teacher played the piano and everyone sang happy birthday and a couple of other songs (in English and in Spanish) for my Grandma.  I was so proud that my mom figured out how to use Skype all by herself! The teacher is a very talented musician and Teresa found him because he plays at one of the churches she goes to. I heard he even plays on the Christian music stations here.

After the music festivities we had a wonderful lunch that Teresa prepared. She wanted to try out a new, extremely simple recipe for salmon that someone told her was always a crowd pleaser. (Literally, there is a story about a potluck dinner where there were four different salmon dishes and this one was the most popular.) Well sure enough, it was so delicious. Unfortunately the kids do not like salmon. Or is it fortunately? As a wise man used to always say “More for me!” The rest of the day was relaxing and uneventful.


September 12, 2010
Day 8

I can’t believe I have been here for a full week already! I actually feel like I have been ever even longer, so yeah, I guess I can believe it. Today was another relaxing weekend day. We were planning to go to a nearby hotel to go swimming (well I wanted to see if they had a gym to use) but we didn’t end up doing that. I was kind of looking forward to it because I really need to run. Running is good for my body but even better for my brain. I make all of my big decisions and life plans when I am running. My mom suggested that I run in place. No thanks. Later in the afternoon we were going to go to the park and I was going to run and Cynthia was going to ride her bike but after I got dressed it started raining again. Bummer.

So about the laundry…The machine is really rough so I was only able to wash some clothes that weren’t too delicate. I had to wash the other stuff by hand which isn’t too big of a problem. The problem was getting enough water out of them so they could actually dry because they do not have a dryer. Yes mom, I washed clothes in a bucket. There were thunderstorms all day and that also caused another problem with the laundry. Teresa told me that it will be hard for my stuff to dry now and they might start to smell. Awesome.

At night we went to a different church. It was similar to the other church we went to last week but at the end everything changed. They turned off the lights and this lady came up and took the microphone and started doing some sort of spiritual guidance and everyone was saying prayers and other things out loud, but not in unison. The woman began to speak in tongues. Yes, this is actually true and it wasn’t just that I couldn’t understand her rapid Spanish. Teresa confirmed that fact for me after the mass. It was something entirely different than I had ever seen in my life. It was mystical and a little scary for me too. Everyone seemed really moved by the whole thing so I guess I was just the odd man (woman) out tonight.

I am looking forward to another week of work with Project Hope. I have so many things I would like to research tomorrow and I can’t wait to get started. The research is neccesary so that I can begin to understand all of the components of Project Hope, Santo Domingo, healthcare, etc. that will help me be more prepared for the tasks I want to complete. Now for some fun (and not so fun) facts.

1. Cockroaches and rain go together. Insecticide does a good job killing them but they are still scary!

2. Cynthia and now Teresa are both experts in string bracelet making. I taught Cynthia and she taught her mom.

3. In order to do laundry here you must have electricity and water and it is hard to have both of those at the same time.

4. Book recommendation: I just finished reading the book Sotah by Naomi Ragen and I loved it.

5. I am already missing NFL season. Football on Sundays was one of my favorite parts on Sundays.

6. I am also missing college football season too. I guess I should keep up with these things on the internet but that takes more effort than just changing the television channel.

7. I feel like I am being more eco-friendly while I am here. I use so much less water, electricity and paper products. Although, I do believe an efficient washing machine and dishwasher would save more water than doing it by hand.

The music teacher peforming for my Grandma via skype (and his cute son!)

The music teacher helping Juan Carlos learn a new song.  They are learning their instruments without sheet music which seems so difficult to me.  What do you think, Aunt Julie?

Live shot of me taking out one of Cynthia's knots in her strong.  This has been common lately but I actually enjoy doing it.