Double check

Every year we do child updates for the sponsors of our kids at the Care Center. The teachers are given a sheet about the child to fill out and then we take that to make a history about how the child is doing in school, socially, physically, etc. I've spoken Spanish for awhile now and feel that I can hold my own with the language. It happens everyday though that I learn new words.

Well, as I was doing the child update, I came across a word I didn't know, but knew it was something related to the government. As it was referring to the child's father, I thought it meant he was working with the government. Just in case though, I grabbed my dictionary, and oops, he was actually in trouble with the government, not working for them. It's good to make sure...no more assumptions!

Santiago date

I had a meeting in faraway Jarabacoa (2.5 hours) the other day, so Ariel and I met in the middle (Santiago, an hour and a bit away) after he finished work. We ate lovely Taco Bell and went to the monument for sunset. The monument is set high on a hill so you can look out onto the whole city, and it was beautiful. It's great being in new places and getting to know more cities, although Taco Bell seems to be the constant for me in Santiago!

Meeting the family

Ariel's brother, Alex, has been living in Norway with his wife, Marianne. They have a little baby girl, Alida Louisa, and everyone came to visit! It's been fun having them here and getting to know our little neice and sister-in-law. Alida has done so well with the time change and all the travels and is happy and smiling...way better than I do with all the distance! I have to say too, that it's nice having another "gringa" in the family!

A day at theriver

We celebrated the ending of Semana Santa on Saturday by going with a group to the river in a Safari truck we rented. We carried all our goods (including food) across the river after the 1+hour drive there, but it was worth it. We played in the water, had lunch together, talked and just spent time and caught up on each other's lives. I'm glad I can add "Safari driver" to my resume now...it is always an adventure!

So I got referred to Swag Bucks and think everyone now should be on it. I get points if you sign up and search through it, and then you're going to refer friends and also get points. Basically you do what you're already doing...searching, but you do it through their website and then they give you points which you then redeem for giftcards and other stuff. Click here to get started and you'll see how great it is!!

Sweet Beans!

So every year during Holy Week, it's a Dominican tradition to make sweet beans. It's quite a process and definitely an aquired taste, but on my 3rd year here now, I can actually say that I like them! It's basically red beans boiled until soft, then liquified and all the hard parts sifted out. Then it's mixed together with sugar and cinnamon, cloves and evaporated milk and boiled for a long time. Apparently it's also better when cooked over a fire, which we did, but I can't tell the difference yet...maybe by year 4! When they're almost ready to be served, come cookies and raisins are added to the mix. The kids each got a big cup of sweet beans as they were headed out the door this week. We are now on Holy Week break/Spring Break for the upcoming week. Happy Easter!

Juice

When my family asked me to describe Ariel, one of the first things I told them was that he loves to make juice. He's like a professional juicer, this man is! We have passion fruit, cherry, orange, pineapple, mango...whatever fruit is in season. Tonight he brought home oranges so it looks like we will be having orange juice for a few days. And let me tell you, the juice is AMAZING. No sugar and no questions about what else is in it. Come down and have some with us!

Princesa

I thought it might be time for another Princesa update. She is 2 years old now!! Time has gone by so fast, I can't believe it. She is a smart little girl and talking like crazy. She stayed with me the other evening and we painted nails and talked and had crackers, definitely bonding! She comes to visit at school sometimes which is always fun. can't wait until she's old enough to be in class and I get to see her everyday!