he's back!: this was a crazy busy week, but i had a lot of opportunities to eat good food (well good for here), so that was good. first of all, our good friend mario (the baker from italy who came in september) came back for a visit. he's such a sweet little old man and makes life so interesting when he’s here. he still continues to speak to all of us in italian, even though we have no idea what he’s saying… but it doesn’t seem to bother him and we usually find a way to communicate… and he’s picking up on some spanish and i’ve learned a few italian words. he made us delicious bread all week and one of the volunteers had their birthday, so he made us this amazing onion pizza and focaccia bread. grazie mario!
a dominican thanksgiving: i was a little nervous for thanksgiving this year because i've never spent thanksgiving away from my family and it was really sad thinking about how i wouldn’t be there to watch planes, trains and automobiles, watch tyler and drew’s home videos and eat cindy rolls (and all the other delicious food made by mom, gramz and crew)… but after it was all said and done, it ended up being a pretty good thanksgiving. there are three americans that live here, myself, kelly (my roommate), and marijo (who has worked with nph for over 30 years). we sat down a few weeks ago and worked out a list of people to invite, which ended up being about 30 people, then we got to work. well, i think i was being paid back for all the years of sitting back and watching while my mom and grandma made all the food, because i was so stressed all day! it’s not a holiday here so we still had to work and then cook and have everything ready by 7:00. so we were all running around like crazy all day, but some how it all came together and ended up being a great dinner. as we all gathered around the table to pray, we pointed out that we had 8 different countries present (usa, germany, haiti, dominican republic, holland, austria, france, columbia), so that was pretty cool. we wanted to be able to invite all the kids, but it was just impossible, so we decided to invite the high school kids (there are only 9). i think they had a good time and it was fun to get to share with them one of our traditions, even though they were a little surprised when they found out there was no rice on the menu or bachata music and dancing. overall though, i had my turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy and got to eat it all in a way that i'll probably never get to do again… so it was a good day.
quinceaños: to end the week of parties we celebrated the quinceaños of three of the girls here. in latin american culture, when a girl turns 15 it a very big birthday… it is their transition from a girl to a woman. they get really dressed up and the tradition is that they come in their flat shoes and then they sit down and their father (in this case, the director of the house played the role of the father) changes them for high heels… to signify them transitioning into adulthood. then there is food and music and dancing. it was a good party and it’s cool that these kids still get to do things like this… for kids who have lost so much and experienced so much pain in their short lives, it’s good that they can come here and feel like they have a family and experience some of the “normal” things of life."when we trust profoundly that today is the day of the Lord and that tomorrow is safely hidden in God's love, our faces can relax and we can smile back at the one who smiles at us." - henri nouwen
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