the mother maria.

i've been so busy with work and work... and some projects i've been working on, that it's been hard to get out with the kids and just spend some time together. i mean, we spend time together, but at home or close to it.
and i really hate running errands with both of them. i know that sounds like bad-mommy-syndrome, but public transportation here is crazy and nothing is really family friendly.

but, i packed these beauties up last weekend and headed to run around. bank, tailors, supermarket, copy-shop. we left a bit too early and were stuck wandering the streets of santiago when we came across this jem - a park dedicated to christopher columbus, complete with iron-worked replicas of the three ships.
we bought some orange slices and an apple and ran around the park for awhile. we talked about columbus and talked to some blind people who were meeting in the park that morning. he proudly told them the names of columbus' ships - the nina, pinta and santa maria. of course they were impressed with these small children who knew the names of columbus' ships, and even more impressed by amely's sharing nature (she gave away most of her candy... mostly because she will not take no for an answer)

i was proud just because they're such good kids. and samil is sucking up information like a sponge.

in fact, just yesterday samil asked me if i remembered going to see the pipa, inta and the mother maria!

footloose.

these kids are dancing maniacs.

samil's got the b-boy moves going on - he's not even scared of the ceramic floors, trying out headstands and flip moves (while i yell at him to be careful, that's amely's head!)

amely cannot hear music without wiggling her hips. if there are dancers on tv, she stops, observes and then imitates. out.of.control.

i took this video a few weeks ago, their moves have improved immensely since then, but it'll probably make you smile.

thankful.

formal thanksgiving is not typically celebrated in the dominican republic. of course, there is an understanding of the holiday, and there are even people who eat turkey. but, as far as thanksgiving thanksgiving, it's not there. well, here.

for the past few years, i've organized and planned a thanksgiving turkey dinner for friends. it's always got a dominican flare, but it's something that makes me feel warm, to share this beautiful part of the american culture with my friends and family. so often i hear negative things about the northamerican lifestyle, that i want to show peopel that it's not true - we do love our families, and we do share with our grandparents and aunts and uncles. we don't just eat mcdonald's or pizza.

this year, i've got a real job and so thanksgiving on thanksgiving is difficult. so, our small american community - professors from the uni and people i've picked up on the internet - have planned our turkey celebration for saturday, complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie! (i hate pumpkin pie, but... tradition is tradition!)

i'm so thankful for so many things this year, and hoping for so many more wonderful things in this year to come. blessings and peace to you all on this holiday! be safe.

living here.

when people ask me what it is like to live here... it throws me off. like i've been here so long, that i've forgotten how different life is.

taking cold showers during hours-long power outages doesn't faze me. we take our propane tank to the gas station on the back of a motorcycle to fill it up when it's empty. and every morning i shove myself into a 1980 toyota corolla with 7 other public transit riders.

i forget sometimes about real cold, and wrap myself in a sweatshirt because it's only 65 degrees and a little misty. sometimes i avoid leaving the house at noon because the sun is so hot and even, i'm sorry to admit, carry an umbrella to stay cool.

my kids play baseball with the caps of 5-gallon jugs and broom handles and dance to reggaeton. they collect "tazos" from the bags of potato chips and drink coca-cola from glass bottles. when it's time to hang the clothes on the line, they're the first out the door to help, and the firsts to laugh when it starts to rain.

my husband teaches in a dilapidated old factory building, with floors caving in and the occasional ceiling fan that loses its arm. his students have never used a white board, had a computer class or watched a class movie. they do with what they have and the occasional extra - a science fair with cardboard posters and arts and crafts made from recycled boxes.

i teach in a university that has no admission standards. those who can pay, study. despite the high cost, we use chalk boards. the students commute. there are no dorms. and once i had a mom come to complain about her kid's grade and was not at all surprised by it.

so is it different, living here? sure. but it's not something to dwell on.

it's not for comparing or contrasting, for better or for worse. this is life.

coffee IV

i've reached the point where i think i'm going to buy some works and hook myself up permanently to the coffee urn.

it's not that the coffee here is delicious (it is), it's that i'm so sleep deprived that some days i don't think i'll survive without passing out while crossing the street.

super busy? big plans? people to see, parties to plan?

no. no. friends.

i've got a two year old who refuses to sleep in her own bed.
or even in her own room. or a mattress on the floor.
she needs. (yes, needs) to be between mami and papi on the bed. left foot shoved under mami's belly and right foot under papi. spread eagled.

taking up the most precious bed real estate.

i'm at wits end. i don't know what to do. we've tried locking the door, carrying her back every time and even promising her things.

nothing.

the worst part is that no matter what, we're out sleep. precious, precious sleep. if i have to carry her back and forth, i lose. but if i leave her with us, i lose it.

suggestions?

what's this about lesson plans?

i sat down the other day, pulled out all of my books and tried to get to work. i've got planning upon planning... and then some more planning to get done.

i'm not real good at planning.

i've been teaching long enough that if i've got the basic idea of what needs to happen, i can fly by the seat of my pants and make it work. not the best approach, i know, but it works most of the time.

but. i'm the last teacher in the world who doesn't at least want to use technology. who doesn't carry a radio or even know how to connect the projector to the computer. and forget about asking me to carry a computer to school. it's too heavy.

and now. my students demand it. we want more listening, more videos, more... of someone other than you talking to us. different accents so we can understand more people, different contexts so we can learn...

learn?

yes. so there. i need to plan. at least i need to try.
and while i'm planning for the university, i need to get on the boat and start mapping some things out for my own kids - like everything that is missing in samil's "formal" education and getting a pencil in amely's hand and out of her mouth. maybe teach her some colors other than blue and make sure samil understand that blanco and black are not the same thing.

so, i sat down and tried to plan. i had every intention in the world to get a few days banged out and written down.

but then i fell asleep.

helluva.

it's been something these past two weeks.

the kids have been sick. you know, that annoying coughing and runny nose sick that kids get and dominicans refer to as gripe. i avoid the doctors at all costs, mostly because i can't handle the stupidity of it all, but when samil's fever just wouldn't go down, amalio packed him up and took him to the emergency room.

chest x-ray, blood draw and pee in a cup all to find the norm. and by norm, i mean nothing. nada. medicine on top of medicine and no school for two days.

and just after school on the first day back, poor samil busted his chin open... and three stitches and a nasty tetanus shot later, we're on the way back to normal.

sometimes this kind of week overwhelms me. puts me out, makes me crazy. la loca who yells a lot, but this week it wasn't so bad. i'm still remembering that life is good and we have been blessed. this could be la colera or dengue fever or something other nasty caribe disease.