Boda

Andre and Yohana got married on Saturday, August 16. The wedding was held near La Romana (where Yohana is from) at a beautiful Christian retreat center. The ceremony started at 9 p.m. and was very short. It was followed by a dinner and picture taking near the pool.

Andre and Yohana will be living in La Medina, a neighborhood close to the downtown of Jarabacoa. Andre is expecting to be back to work in September.

party

I had an agreement with the club that if they picked up and put away all their tools for six consecutive weeks they'd win a party at my house (Nate and Maggie's house, really) in town. it took about four months, but they eventually did pick up their tools for six week straight.

They came over on Thursday. We had games planned, which most of the kids thought were dumb and refused to play. But they did go nuts when I brought out my huge blue exercise ball and when I let Cloe (the dog) out. And we had lots of good food- hot water cake, grilled hotdogs, potato salad, yellow rice, popcorn.

And at the end we had a door prize, a fig tree, which Elvis won.

It turns out that I only got pictures of food related things- the top picture is Daury eating a whole potato that accidently didn't get cut up in the potato salad (and which we decorated like a pig using toothpicks and sprinkles). The bottom picture is Cristian grilling the hotdogs. He eagerly wore that apron.

turnips

Some kids planted turnips in the garden, believing that they were radish seeds. So, they dug them out the other day and were asking me what to do with them. (I have no idea what to do with turnips). They asked me what they are called, but I don't know the Spanish name, so I told them in English. Randy ran and told the other kids, "They are tour-neep."

La casa de Elvis

The constuction for Elvis' house has taken off since they received a donation to help complete it. Here is a picture taken on Thursday. They are ready to pour the floor, and I believe the SI's construction ministry will come next week to help with that. Then all they will have left is to put up doors and windows (which they lack a bit of wood for) and hopefully paint (again, if they have enough money in the end).

The picture below shows Elvis pounding the dirt floor to prepare to pour the concrete floor.

I asked where they are sleeping while they finish the house. Elvis' mom replied that they are sleeping in the house as it is, they just haul the beds outside when they are working on the house and bring them back in at night.

atardecer

I don't know if I've ever really mentioned on the blog that Los Higos is beautiful. I know that anyone who has ever visited knows that. I'm putting up a picture of an incredible sunset, as seen from the yard of the family that I'm staying with. The picture really doesn't do things justice.

jugar 'americano'

I wish I had a picture, but I'll just have to tell the story...

After lunch, a bunch of the grandkids of the family I live with in Los Higos were at the house. And one of the girls started to get impatient, saying to the rest of the kids, "Come on, let's go play 'americano'."

I asked, "You play 'americano'?"

"Yes."

"How do you play?"

"Well, one of us is Arlene, and one of us is Andre and another is Sandra... [and she kept listing different Americans that have come to Los Higos]."

"And what do you do?"

"We all have water bottles," she said as she and another girl hold up used pop bottles filled with water.

After laughing that off, I asked, "What else do you do?"

"Sometimes we speak English without knowing what we're saying."

ha, ha.

An eye doctor from Ohio came on this outreach and has been going from community to community to do eye exams. He came to Los Higos yesterday, along with Dr. Fernando, and they did a joint medical/ optical outreach. A lot of people in Los Higos were able to take advantage of the low cost eye exams and practially free glasses and here are some pictures of people sporting their lenses.

Ramon with bifocals which he says are only for reading:

Josefina with reading glasses:

La Negra with glasses to be used all the time (in one eye she couldn't see anything, now she says she sees something, and the other eye sees better, too):