This week has been much better than last week. I am starting to sleep better, and I am not feeling as sick. It has been sunny and hot, instead of cool and rainy. Thursday was a holiday and Monday is a holiday, so I am in the middle of a long weekend, which has been great.
On Thursday, the praise team came over for the day. They started with a meeting, then we had a very traditional Dominican lunch, and then we played Wii for a little while before they left to go practice. Most of the people on the praise team also work at the school, so they are the people that I see the most and have started to build relationships with. It is when I am with them that I really wish that I spoke Spanish and could communicate with them without a translator.
Shelley's friend Tammi works with "Hands of Grace" and has lived down here for a few years. She had a girl, Kelly, staying with her for a few weeks. Tammi had to leave yesterday morning to go to the states but Kelly wasn't leaving util today, so yesterday I went to Tammi's and hung out with her and stayed over there so that she wouldn't be by herself for two days. It was the first person that I met that spoke English, so I was pretty excited just because I could actually communicate with her. Last night we walked over to Allison's apartment. She graduated from Illiana with me and works as a teacher at Santiago Christian School (SCS). We went to have a burger and fries down the street with her and a couple other people that live in her building. It was pretty good, and it was nice to get to meet a few other Americans that live down here and also work at a mision school.
Today, we were bringing Kelly to the airport and the van overheated and broke down. Luckily, we were at a stoplight at an intersection where there were several guys selling different things on the road, so they pushed us to the side and were trying to help us until Guille got there. That is when I received my first marriage proposal. Because I don't speak any Spanish, Shelley was trying to communicate to him that I was more focused on doing God's work and that I wasn't looking for a husband, but it didn't really work, because he kept coming over to me and asking me for my phone number and bringing me pieces of candy and water. When Guille arrived, Shelley took the truck to bring Kelly to the airport and I stayed with the van and Guille because there was not extra room in the truck. That is when I recieved my second marriage proposal. He mimed it to me. He would point to himself and then to me and then point to his ring finger and then point up to the sky. When that didn't work he started talking to Guille about it. Guille didnt tell me everything he said, just that he wanted to marry me. At that point, I hid in the van, even though it was really hot. I had to have the window open so several guys came up to me several times to talk to me through the window. Guille thought it was hilarious. He said that this is how they always get around Americans. When they see an American they lose their mind a little and don't know what to do.
We are at home now and I am going to be staying here with the kids tonight and relax a little and maybe do some planning. Tomorrow we have church and then I am going to Allison's again to hang out for the rest of the day. I'm hoping to get to meet some of the other SCS teachers that live in her building as well.
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