will you be my mother?

sunburned

We took Ian to Chichigua today. He was a big hit, and was not fussy in the least bit which was wonderful. We did have to walk quite a bit though since we coulden't take a motoconcho. (motercycle plus baby equals very bad idea). Needless to say, Alexia and I were a little more pink as well as tired today.

soy americana

It is funny how much Alexia and I stand out in this country. Whenever we go somewhere, we inevitably here the word americanas. Yesterday, a man tried to charge us 100 pesos to go to the village. He went down to 50 as I continued to say no, and we eventually walked away. I'm pretty sure that he was driving a tourbus as opposed to a guagua, and thought he would give some American girls a lift and charge them a little bit for it. When we did finally get on a guagua to head towards the village, an advantage attempt was tried again. I gave the man 100 pesos for the two of us expecting 60 back in change. When our stop came, I had to ask for the change that we had not yet been given. The driver gave me a 50. I stood there and said, "10 mas." With no hesitation he gave me another 10, granted we are talking about a dfference of about 30 cents, but still. We felt pretty good about ourselves as we walked away from the guagua. Yeah we're american, but we know whats up!

rain

I realized that in a couple of days I will have been here for one month, crazy to believe! The weather here has been beautiful, though there have been quite a few days of rain. It's funny because t will rain some, and then later that day it is back to being gorgeous again. There have been times of thunder and lightning as well. Board member Kate told us that in her 9 years living here, she only saw thunder and lightening twice. I looked at cnn.com for the first time today and realized that there is a hurricane brewing west of us in the Caribbean. That I guess explains the weather. But no worries, all we ever see here is rain and it never lasts long.

immunizations

On Thursday, Alexia and I took Ian on an adventure. We took a taxi to the grocery store, and then walked to the Verizon store (yes, you have to go in person to pay bills). From there, we walked to the hospital to get the rest of Ian's immunizations. The two of us stand out quite a bit here, especially when they see us carrying a black baby. It's ok though because they all are drawn to Ian's quirky sounds and gestures and it makes them laugh.

Anyway, once at the hospital (which is not air-conditioned), I realized that I had forgotten his immunization form at the house. Ahh! It's kind of a big deal to go and leave the house, because everything takes so long and Ian takes naps throughout the day. So, my forgetting the one form that we really needed for these errands was no good. I tried talking the woman to letting him get his shot regardless, but she wouldn't budge.

Another woman that was there inquired about Ian; I told her how he had been abandoned and was malnurished and that we were trying to find a family to adopt him. Her eyes lit up because friends of hers wanted to do just that thing.

I tried talking in the best Spanish that I could to tell her that I was not over the responsibilities of finding a family for him and how there has already been interest amoung other families, as she continued to talk about this couple. We ended up talking for a while, and since we had to go back there the next day since we were not able to get the immunizations then, she said she would be there with the couple to see him. This was not really a problem at all, it is just humorous how forward Dominicans can be.

So the next day we ventured out again after Ian's afternoon nap, immunization form in hand, to the hospital. Though we were early, we were greeted by the couple, the wife's mother, and the friend we had spoken with the day before. Ian was anything but friendly to them, which was envoked by his shot in the leg.

They insisted that we go to their house so he (and we) could see the atmosphere there. We agreed. They are a really nice couple and farely well off. The husband in originally from West Africa and now does business in Italy. They have been married for nearly 30 years and have no children. Ian opened up some to them and they were greatful. You could see how excited they were to have a baby in the house. We stayed longer than we had planned or wanted, and eventually left when Ian was fussy.

I don't see this being a family that we would pursue for Ian for certain reasons, but we sure did have a big adventure those past couple of days!

la casa

here are a few things about the makarios house that ive learned in being here that i feel obligated to inform you of:

you can see the ocean in the distance
the sun wakes you up each morning between 6:30-7am
the houses are so close together that it feels as though the neighbors are having a conversation from inside our house
sugar ants are ready to take charge of the place within 10 seconds of food being on the floor or counter, no joke, they seem to come from thin air
the rooftop is a great place to go at night and sunset, and i am sure the morning as well
the streets are so bad in this neighborhood that you never go above 10 mph to get in or out, seriously it is ridiculous you never get out of 1st gear

all of these make for great stories that are soon to come!

trenzas

alexia and i spent the past week in santiago at the White's house. On Saturday, I spent some of the extra spending money I brought and got my hair braided like the women do here. weave and all! It has been great having my hair in braids (trenzas), because I don't have to do anything to it! Although, I must say, it was definitely up there on the things that cause excruciating pain. I sat in a chair for over 5 hours, as a woman pulled my head back and forth. I realize this entry really has no importance in the overall scheme of things, but just wanted to let y'all know. I tried reading a book I borrowed from the HUB called The Farming of Bones (which is set in the 1930's during a time when Trujillo massacred over 20, 000 Haitians), but it was hardly successful. The book has opened my eyes to a lot of things that have happened to Haitians in this country. I would suggest it, just be sure to read it when your head is not being pulled on.

On another note, since we've been back at the house, Alexia and I have done some major cleaning and organizing. We still have a couple weeks before classes start and our third roommate Jennie moves in, so this week is looking like a lot of preparations. Next week each day, we are going to go to the villages to hang out with kids and get to know some of them before school starts up.