my parents arrived on saturday night. we unpacked bags and quickly re-packed them. it's spring break everywhere except at the university. seriously. so samil and amely went to an all-inclusive resort with grandmom and grandpop for a few days - leaving me with work and meetings and a husband hell-bent on "fixing" the backyard.
on sunday we drove them to the resort, stopping in maimon - the best fried fish town in the republic. no lie. it was even better than in the past as the restaurant we usually go to now lets you choose the fish you want to fry up. my dad and i chose tilapia and amalio had a fried-parrot fish. the kids and my mom, who don't eat fish, ate some rice and fried batatas, white sweet potatoes. don't feel bad for them, i'm sure they're eating plenty of pizza and french fries at the beach. cost for the fresh-fish-fry, rice, beans, batatas and a beer? about 20 bucks. ah-may-zing.
on monday i made a quick trip to school to pay our staff, picked up some stuff and ran to a meeting for midwives for the dominican republic. we talked about some fundraising ideas and a little about our new pre-natal curriculum. i'm super excited about the new curriculum - and soon i'll be asking my blog readers and supporters for a little bit of help (keep an eye out for that!)
by the time i got to the university, i was in some intense pain. i've been putting off a dental visit for quite some time now - i lost the filling over a root canal i had done about a year ago. i've been popping ibuprofen like candy and smearing my gums with ambesol to keep the pain at bay until i had time to make it to the dentist (please don't judge me, i hate the dentist). i had an appointment for tuesday morning, but i got desperate and called an ex-student to see if she could take me. luckily, she was taking emergencies and could do it right after my classes. apparently the nerve was crazy inflamed, and no one could believe i had a) not developed an abscess the size of my head and b) that i was teaching with that pain. i was impressed by the quality of care in the university teaching clinic - and while i know some of it was because one of my "dentists" was an ex-student and the other a possible future student, i could see that the patients were treated with dignity and respect. they opened up the tooth and filled it up temporarily until i can get in to get a crown put on it. i don't have enough tooth left for anything else. all in all, the visit cost me six us dollars. SIX DOLLARS people!
on tuesday, i interviewed a few people for summer volunteer and school year internship positions. after messing with the skype and ultimately giving up and using the phone, i had some nice conversations with some pretty neat people. i also went with jewel to have lunch with angela, a super nice exchange student/missionary/awesome girl at one of my favorite lunch spots (naturalis te for you santiagueros). i'm teaching a writing class this semester and i absolutely adore my students. i knew that i would like teaching the class, but i didn't think that i'd come to really enjoy my students so much. we hiked across campus and sat by the chapel to discuss all of the deep issues of life (to tattoo a chinese symbol on my butt or not?)
wednesday was slow - and after a brief hostile exchange at the bus station, i headed to school to have a speed dating session with another class. too bad we called it dating and none of the guys wanted to choose other guys as their partners because "teacher, it's a date!"
thursday i picked up the kids and then we hung out with my parents, took it easy and tried to maintain some semblance of order in the house. it didn't work.
today, friday, i've been cleaning up and trying to get my house in order - you know, just what i was supposed to be doing all week while the kids were gone! it's been rainy and gross and we're just going to take it easy all weekend.
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