Heat and School Days

It’s school time in the Dominican Republic! A few weeks ago the secretary of ed announced that school this year was going to start August 20, even though it always begins in September. That being said, today is August 29, and the streets are still full of kids playing, the classrooms are empty, and the elementary school is being painted. Parents are indignant that anyone would even suggest going back early… and I agree: no justification was given for the early start to classes, even if one exists. Looks like summer will last just a little longer for us in the land of perpetual summer.

The other day before my run I went to put on my running shorts that were hanging up, dry from the sweaty run a couple days before. I was about to put my first foot in when out falls a scorpion on the ground. I only screamed a little then stomped the poor thing out into oblivion before it bit me. RIP running-partner-that-never-was scorpion.

Cajuíl my kitty recovered well from my trip home (I think because the 8-year-old neighbor taking care of her poured LOTS of food into her dish each day – thanks Eddy) but now is behaving a little scandalously. Yesterday morning she did not wake me up crying outside my bedroom door; instead she slunk in late at 7:30, creeping in quietly. I asked her where she’d spent the night, and then saw her boyfriend behind her, following from a distance. A big ugly white cat: what bad taste has my Cajuíl. At least he was walking her home, I suppose. Needless to say, Cajuíl and I had a little talk afterwards about her bad behavior, and how much the neighbors are going to talk. I think it was to little avail, however, because she invited the novio (boyfriend) over to my house last night. Lesson learned: have the doctor fix your cat properly to not only not have kittens, but to also NOT go through heat! I could have used that advice last November.

Are clowns more fun in the DR?

Here we are in our consolidation points, awaiting Hurricane Dean to come hit the southern part of the island. Supposedly up here where I am they are only expecting rain and wind. I think they wanted to consolidate my region because it includes so much coastal area, and they probably wanted to get everyone away from the ocean... I am just hoping that it doesn't cause too much damage to the southern part of the country, which is the poorest of the poor areas here, and am keeping Jamaica in my prayers since it looks like Dean is just going to blast right over their island.

Now for camp news. Our camp in La Joya (Campamento Aventura) went wonderfully, and the best part of the week were a couple visitors. Angela, another volunteer, came to teach swing dance, which was a huge hit. Possibly almost as big as when we did the Macarena 5 times in a row on the last day of camp because of how much everyone loved the classic we revisited that day. And the clown did come from the capital to do all of his clowning around, which the kids absolutely loved. I think it was probably the first time in all of their lives they'd ever seen a clown or people walking on stilts. I think I was the luckiest, because after camp that Tuesday in my house, I got to use the stilts and learned a bit how to walk on them. The clown even offered to make me a pair of my own, and I'm very tempted to take him up on that.

We just finished the diversity camp for our region as well that I took 3 kids from my campo to, and thanks to all who donated to make that camp possible! It was a huge hit that included all sorts of speakers (from Hatians to Japanese who did judo to Hare Krishnas who sang and played their instruments to a group doing a traditional and very risqué dance that we all learned afterwards), icebreakers and games, and the fun nighttime activities (that was what I was in charge of).

I'm off to practice swing dancing a stilt walking. Who knows what may come next with a past month like this.