dame un chin

Alright, I am going to have to do this whole blog thing in little bits and pieces. Just like with my journal, I have to write at different times throughout the day, because to come to that blank page at the end of the day is overwhelming. There is just no possible way to transfer the experiences of an entire day here onto a little two-dimensional space with only pen and paper.


Our Dominican mom does a great job of slowing things down and annunciating for Jen and I to be able to understand her better. And talking is slow going for sure, but I can already tell that I can form sentences a little more easily than when I left. BUT, when all of our cousins and siblings and aunts and uncles are hanging out on the porch talking to each other...they could say whatever they want about me, because I can only understand a phrase about every 72nd sentence. That will take the longest to learn.


Last night before bed, Jen and I had a slightly awkward, but hilarious talk with our mom about 'the birds and the bees.' But, this wasn't really a big deal, because as soon as we got there she already had our legs propped up in her lap, rubbing Vicks Vaporub on our mosquito bites. She is so precious and overprotective of us. All the meals so far have been absolutely wonderful. For example, lunch today was chicken and rice and vegetables with some fresh avocado and pineapple. De. Li. Cious. Ness. And, she even warmed up our water for our bucket baths for us and walked us to our first day of classes today.


Now, we just finished with our first day of classes. Both of my professors are really great, (only surpassed by you Daddy ;) they speak fast, but slower than at the house and I can keep up even though my brain has been in overload mode ever since we moved in with our families.


But, even though I'm in a constant state of exhaustion currently, everyone here is patient and understanding and I will never ever get tired of waking up and seeing the mountain outside my window. And I appreciate prayer for those moments of extreme exhaustion. I miss you all tons!!  (Hopefully I'll have time to post some pictures next time)