hoppy easter

a very happy easter to all, belated.  today was my first day back to work since thursday.  like i said, dominicans love their holiday time.  i was a little worried about the long weekend as it meant a lot of down time, a lot of time to think about things that i didn't necessarily need to think about (over-analyze to death) anymore.  luckily, on saturday,  my friend and i realized we were in the same boat, so we spur of the moment decided to hang out all weekend.  we hung out with some of the boys in my village saturday night playing apples to apples and again after church on sunday at the river.  it was a new spot for me and it was just beautiful.  there was a deep part (perfect for jumping into from rocks above) that was just this perfect emerald, bluish color.  there were waterfalls  above and below the pool.  it was cold of course, so michelle and i didn't last too long, but it was a nice sunday at the river.  ma franco also had us over for a fabulous easter lunch, so family members do not worry, we were well taken care of on the holiday!  monday we went to a hotel pool (have to sneak in...shhh..) and had a nice lunch.  very low key and relaxing - just what we needed.

today, back at work, i was bored all day.  there was absolutely nothing to do.  the internet was down, the cook didn't need any help, someone blocked my little library for the kids with big storage containers that i definitely cannot move, and all the kids were playing cricket - the basics of which i still struggle to understand, plus hand-eye coordination sports were never my thing.  luckily i had a book.  just started in defense of food by michael pollan, sent to me courtesy of anne.  it's a follow up to another book, the omnivore's dilemma, which i absolutely loved.

tomorrow, going to get ice cream in town for michelle's birthday!  the real celebration will be friday when we go to the beach and make mexican food and sangria...!

today there was another brush fire.  even though we've been getting some rain, so much of the land is still so dry from this drought.  we could see the fire from work, on the other side of the mountain across the river from us.  the air was heavy with rain, like it wanted to just let go, but all it did by us (by the fire) was drizzle.  meanwhile, we could hear the river rushing, getting big, nearby from rain up in the mountains.  you could see the rain falling up the road in the mountains just a few miles away, but where we were, dry brush fire.