Hi everyone!  Thank you for all your kind birthday wishes!

Speaking of birthday, I want to share my birthday experience here in the D.R.  I kind of expected it to be either sad or surprising, and it was both.

I went to morning Mass, and afterwards everyone sang and congratulated me.  Even the people I don´t really know wished me birthday blessings, so it was very touching.

I was going to go to the Nutritional Center to work, but first I needed to go home to get my water bottle and bag.  Eliud jumped out at me from behind a door, tambourine in hand, shouting ¨FELICIDADES!” Totally, completely surprised.  I think I lost a few years in the process.  Supposedly, she had left early for school.  She had made a flower arrangement and a card, both waiting outside my bedroom door, and even the hallway was decorated in balloons and potted plants.  I wonder just how much time she had spent on that.

On the kitchen table, spelled out  with little glass pebbles was my name, along with a heart and a real balloon.  She told me to pop it, and out flew a green bracelet!  The whole time, as she showed me the different things, Eliud was playing on her tambourine and occasionally yelling “Happy birthday!” or “Feliz Cumpleanos!”

Later on, at the Center, I was again surprised.  usually, we eat breakfast, a few at a time, in a small room.  The door is open, the ladies come and go, but this time I was led around the back, and we had to knock first.  They were all inside, singing and playing instruments.  Over the table was a little Feliz Cumpleanos sign and balloons.  Lot of birthday hugs all around, because I think about 20 people work in the Nutritional Center.

In class, after the usual daily lesson, the teacher, Sugey, explained that it was my birthday, so I had one birthday hug from all of the kids.  I couldn´t move!  It was like a dog pile.  Luckily, Sugey took pictures, which was a lot of fun.  The children are fascinated by the camera, so that kept us busy for awhile.  There was the normal prayer and song time, where they again sang a song for me.  I was trying to keep track, because there is more than one birthday song, and I heard many!

All in all, it was a great day, but I was really looking forward to the night time when I could talk with my family.  After a celebratory yucca, plantain, and juice dinner, and the clean up, I finally got on the phone.  But a few minutes later, Eliud knocked on the window.  She told me that the Sisters said we needed to go to Casa Maria because they had let the dogs out unusually early that night.

I am still unsure of the exact number of dogs, but I think that there are around seven, of varying sizes and tolerance levels.  Three are always around during the day, and the others are let out usually later in the night when everyone is inside because they are less tolerant.  They aren´t cute pets, they are for security to assist the night watchmen.  Most of the time they obey the Sisters, but no one else, so if we don´t want to be bitten, we stay inside after 9pm.

After I said goodbye to my family, I had a sneaking suspicion.  “Eliud, you better have been telling me the truth.”  “Yes, that´s what Sister told me.”  Hmmmm.  Well, there were three girls waiting back at Casa Maria!  More songs, games, cake, and a strange green apple soda.  I hadn´t known that they had planned a little party!  Sr. Ana Maria had even gone to the city to buy some treats for us.  It was fun, but at the end of the night, I had to find out.  “You weren´t telling the truth about the dogs, were you, Eliud?”  ¨Maybe.”  She had a huge grin.  For a candidate for the Schoenstatt Sisters, she is uncannily good at fibbing.

So, yes, it was a great birthday.

What more do I have to report?  Oh, yes, I am still studying.  After I return from the Nutritional Center, I usually try to spend time learning Spanish, or reading in Spanish.  I prefer to do so outside, because it is hotter inside, and I like all the green plants and strange flowers.

Well, this particular day, I had just walked to a little corner, sat down, when I heard “Excuse me.”  There aren´t many people who speak English, so I turned around to see who it was.  He introduced himself as Kevin.  Apparently, I look American, and he wanted to practice his English.  

Last year he had spent a summer helping at Schoenstatt here with the Semillas de Esperanza, the Seeds of Hope group from Miami, but grew frustrated at not understanding English.  That summer he began to study, and over the past year, he has kept in touch with the group and continued to study English on his own and with a class.  Learning English is a very useful skill here in the Dominican Republic, one that apparently guarantees a job, so besides being a pastime for him, it is a useful tool.  He is only fourteen years old, but will graduate high school in two years, so he hopes to learn enough English so that he can move to the U.S. and become a pilot.  

He has come many more times to practice.  It is interesting, because he wants to know all about many American things, but insists that I try to tell him in Spanish, while he talks in English.  Then, one of the girls I work with, Yanela, is also studying English, and she asked if she could come and practice too.  

That has kept me very busy, because they are both motivated and want to practice often.  I wish I had brought different books with pictures for them, but for now, talking and sharing different words keeps us all busy.  After we are done for the day, everyone has several pages of new material in his or her notebook.

Because I have the time now, I have been sketching occasionally, and the Sisters found out.  And because sharing talents is a good thing, I now have been commissioned to combine three different designs for vestments.  If all goes well, it should have wheat, grapes, a cross and another symbol for Christ.  Wish me luck, I usually don´t design patterns.

You may have noticed that I haven´t posted for two weeks, and now I am posting double.  Well, that is because electricity and Internet, as well as water, aren´t dependable.  Most of the time we have water, but the other two are pretty spotty.  The Sisters say that the electricity never goes out- it just sometimes comes on. All well and good, but it impedes my attempts at communication.  Sorry.  At any rate, the suspense makes it more interesting.

Those are my recent happenings.  I have one more thing to say.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Mom tomorrow!!!!  I´m glad I am all the way over here, so I can´t hear her semi-scolding me for telling you. :)  

God bless! - Claire