One Year in Country

No... I didn't forget that I have a blog... it's just that everytime I think about sitting down to write I always think of something more "interesting" to do.  Things that I've found more interesting include playing tons of Soduku (which I am now an expert at..), looking up random info online, sitting with Dominicans (this is pretty fun, and reminds me of my grandpa wayne and how when he would visit we would all sit in lawn chairs in front of the house for hours), and playing with my dog.  

Well here is the update. 

March marked my one year anniversary of being in this country.  I have to say that while it's been the longest, hardest year of my life, I've also learned more in the past year than I could have imagined.  I basically relearned how to live (which makes me wonder what it'll be like going home).  It took me a while to integrate into my community but I do feel like this is my home (not my forever home because it faults so many crucial people).  Also we went to los Patos (The ducks) for our one year celebration and it was great.  It was the first ever beach of peables that I have seen (which I was told by scot is not that rare and has something to do with underwater currents).  It was rare for me and awesome!  Also on this trip I started to really enjoy dominican music, and I admit that it took me a long time to do that... But sometimes you need to be away from the normal surroundings and with people you are completely comfortable to enjoy dancing and listening so something.  Maybe that's just me...

My dog is huge and apparently very malcreado (he does't have good dominican manners).  I love him anyways.  In March he inspired me to start running (mostly to tire him out and also because now he's big enough that I feel safe running by myself) and I signed up for my first 10K.  I ran the entire 10K, which for me is a big deal, and at the end I decided that 'maybe' next year I need to do the half marathon.  I still have no intention of ever running a whole marathon in my life, because I can't really imagine how running that much at one time is good for somebody.  On the same trip as the 10K I managed to get myself a muffler burn from a motorcycle, and it was a rookie mistake because I got it mounting the bike... (shows how often I ride motorcycles in this country). The burn has prevented me from running much in the past week and a half because it just won't scab over :(  

However the past few weeks have been pretty good... My women's group is making progress with the their art and I think the ones that are progressing are beginning to get more serious about the project.  The government organization that works with aquaducts came to visit last week, so it looks like we are going to be moving forward with my solicitude for a response water volunteer (fingerscrossed).  And I had a fun visitor, who gave me good music, and explored parts of the town I've yet to have seen :). 

 

I'm very excited for the next year and I've decided that August is going to be my perfect month.... I picked august because it is the hottest most uncomfortable month of the year, so I have to make it my perfect month or it's going to just be the worst month.  My goal is to make a list of all the things that I've wanted to do in my life while I'm here like get up early to run (instead of running in the afternoon when it's mad hot), or make tortillas every week, and meditate and force myself to try harder to do it, if only for the month. I'll be making the list for the next few months and I'll try to remember to post it before the time.  

Also to any peeps back home that don't already know... I'm coming home for a visit in late June :) plan to make plans to see me, because I'm cool... and you know you miss me.