Movin on out for real

Life is moving along as swiftly as the hot and steady Caribbean sun permits here. The season is changing -- noticeable only by the later sunrise and earlier sunset. Now one has to be home by 7:15 instead of the deep-summer-almost-8:00 nightfall. Also mangoes have stopped dropping on all but the late season trees; avacados are still going strong, though, and the sweet, juicy oranges and lemons are just beginning to ripen. Life is good here in the Cibao, the breadbasket of the country, where there are so many edible roots, fruits, and veggies that the pigs are fattened with the tons of avacados past their peak.

Changes have been rolling through my life as well. More than a week ago I moved out of the host family house and into my new house to live along. Everything was ready but the stove and gas tank, which we still need to fix/hunt down. For the time being I am still eating at my host family house at lunch, giving us an excuse to see each other often. I was surprisingly sad to leave them, even though I only moved about a mile away. My doña still gets teary every time I leave her now. The second day in my house I brought home Cajuil (Cashew), my baby kitty. I think she is about 2 months old. After a day or two of fearing me, she started to enjoy being pet by me and now climbs all over me. This morning I was getting dressed and the next thing I know she was on my shoulder. She is still little and the other day tried to nurse in my armpit. She was not getting anything from there!

I was afraid that after 7 months of living with host families and having everything done for me that I had forgotten how to cook, clean, and do laundry. Still am unsure about the first category but have reaffirmed my ability to do everything else. Laundry here is different from in the states, but thankfully (thanks to my neighbors who let me use their machine) is not hand-washing. It involves an interesting little washing machine that you can only use when there is power. In fact, I was in the middle of my last load when the power went the other day. You haul water to fill up the machine as high as it should go, add your detergent and clothes, and start the 15 minute cycle that agitates the clothes. After a couple rounds of that, you rinse the clothes in a series of buckets. Then you put the clothes in the other opening in the machine to do a sort of spin cycle to wring the water out, and hang the clothes up to dry.

Things are rolling along in work as well. This week was inscriptions for the computer classes I will be giving for the next few months, and almost every slot is taken. Since we are only able to use 10 computers at a time with our solo inversor, classes fill fast. The center bought a new CD burner with our funds and have our opening on Monday. Everyone is very excited for this new development in the community, including the priest who wants to become proficient in computers. We shall see if that miracle comes to pass.