A great weekend in the community.

We had a really great time this weekend.  A little bit of hanging out at the hacienda and also out and about around the community.  One of the reasons we chose this little town is because of the sense of community -- and the variety.  This weekend was the Etno-Mix festival.  For Edmontonians you will know this as a much smaller version of Heritage Days, where every cultural group has a booth with food and other cultural representations.

Along with the Dominicans, there are also French, German, Swiss, British, Mexican, Italian, American and a small group of Canadians too.  So we spent part of the afternoon and evening on the beach eating great food and meeting great people.  The kids had a great time as some of their friends from school were around -- so the ran, played, climbed trees ... At events like this in Canada we are often conscious (if not worried) about where they are, but here it is a much smaller community and we felt good about letting them have more autonomy.  There was, in many ways, much less to worry about.

Sunday we went to a birthday party for a boy Chase's age.  His considerable number of Dominican relatives were at the party along with a number of foreign families.  It was a great day at the beach and a really laid back time to mingle and play with all the kids.

There is so much caring and love for children that is evident here.  For example, we went to a beach restaurant a few weeks ago and one of the owners came over.  This was the first time we had met and as we chatted with him, he was absentmindedly and gently touching Chase's hair -- just like any member of our family or friends might do.  Many people here are so natural and friendly, especially with the kids. 


I think it has something to do with the size of the town, but also to do with the diversity and acceptance of people from all over that makes this a great community.

Pictures, pictures, pictures.

Here are some pics in the pool and at the beach. The later ones are from our Thanksgiving trip to Puerto Plata.

September 2011

A post from Carmen

Carmen wrote this in an email to some friends while I was back in Canada last week ...

First off, I miss all of you and I can't believe that it's almost October.  I have to start thinking about Thanksgiving and what that's going to look like here.  And do they celebrate Halloween here?  I don't know, I'll keep you posted.  Thank you for all of your lovely emails and I've never had so much time to read my e-mail so keep them coming.

People keep saying that they can't believe the craziness and trust me, things have been a little bit crazy here, and my life seems unbelievable even to me at times.  There are times when I think about what I am doing and I think "am I really doing this?" or "is this really my life?", and it's certainly not about fun things like sitting on a beach or drinking a pina colada.  It's about digging the sausage sized dead caterpillars out of pool in the morning or shooing the frogs out of my kitchen after a hard rain.  Or, killing the three cockroaches that I found this morning :|)  It really is surreal at times.  Like Colin says in the blog, there are just some things that you take for granted in Canada.  And it's more than just clean water, it's just having things clean.  No bugs, animals, mosquitoes, opening your cupboard doors without a fear of what you are going to find.

But, despite all of this, I am not ready to pack it in and come home.  There were moments at the beginning particularly after the bad night with the mosquitoes that it had crossed my mind and then I pictured what that would look like.  I.e. Colin and I working non-stop, rushing around in the mornings, dropping the kids off at the babysitters, driving them to all of their lessons and activities, facing the dreary winter etc.,  and I just couldn't imagine going back to all of that right now.

So here we are.  Things have changed in the last few weeks.  I faced off with a cockroach the other day, I went in to the laundry room and saw him on the shelf and I just thought "you stay over there, and I'll stay over here and we'll all be alright"  (and then I left and then called Colin to come and get him:).  But a month ago I would have been totally freaked out.  Colin's in Edmonton this week and I had to laugh when I went back into my bedroom this morning and I saw the state of my bed.  I took a picture for my memory book.  Here's a list of the things that I slept with in my bed last night, of course all underneath the mosquito net:

1. my earplugs
2. my e-book
3. my cellphone
4. my ipod
5. a tube of "afterbite"
6. a can of "Raid"

This was another one of those surreal moments in my life.  Who sleeps with a can of Raid? I do, to spray at the mosquitos that are hanging onto mosquito net waiting for any chance at getting inside.

Chase has now had two, yep TWO cry free mornings this week.  Can I say that that's "on a roll"?  well, he did tell me that after I left yesterday he went into the bathroom and cried for "just a little bit" but when he came out he was ok.  What a heart-breaker. [Update:  Most mornings have been 'cry-free'.  WooHoo!)

Cohen's handwriting has improved a lot.  Once a week the class goes to another teacher for English and Cohen's teacher keeps him back to work on his handwriting.  He was very proud to show me how good it's getting yesterday.  

Cadence is still loving her school.  I have agreed to come and do some musical stuff with the kids a few times a week starting next week.  And then yesterday the teacher mentions that there is a big multicultural festival (like heritage days) in two weeks and would I be able to teach them a few songs to perform?  Of course I agreed, but this is now starting to sound like work. I'm going to pretend that it's not.

Colin comes back on Saturday (yay!) and we have high hopes for things starting to become more normal in October.  I'm ready to leave behind the moving and unsettled-ness and craziness of September and start living in October.  I tell people that I'm done moving, I'm ready to start living.  The kids are in a running club on Tuesday afternoons, I have registered for Aquafit two times a week and Colin and I have got a family membership for the sailing club down the street.  We plan on signing up for Spanish lessons and Colin wants to start working on his dive certification.  

So many things to do and the time is ticking away.  Right now I am o.k with time moving on.  I have crossed off September and counted 8 more months to go.  I miss my friends and family and my life in Canada and I look forward to next summer when I get to see everyone again.  But right now, I'm looking forward to the next 8 months and seeing what they will bring.  (no more bugs or critters please!), and hopefully some visitors to fill up our guesthouse ;)

Love and miss you all!

A bientot!, Hasta Luego!

Carmen