so independence season is officially over.  it's a little sad to return to a normal routine after all the fun.  summary of activities:

- creole in the park was great.  it is a daily afternoon event (mon-thurs) in the gardens with food, drinks, vendors, bouncy castles, and a big stage where local artists perform.  the vibe reminds me of the lawn at pnc bank arts center for the nj readers.  really fun scene.

- friday of that week was creole day.  everyone makes local food and dresses in traditional madras (plaid).  i went to the primary school for their celebration.  the kids looked adorable (will post pictures soon, i'm not at home writing this).  the menu included codfish (something that i've grown to love here, in small doses) with bread, local grapefruit and passionfruit juice, and calalloo soup made from the leaves of dasheen (potato-like root).  i love this soup.  it can be made with crab or smoked pork.  the crab is delicious but way too much work since the land crabs here have legs no wider than a few centimeters.  and don't think you get to use crackers.  just your teeth.  so you are eating soup out of a styrofoam bowl with a plastic spoon in your nice outfit trying to crack crab legs with your teeth.  it's not easy.

- creole fest.  this is a larger concert held in the stadium with big name international artists as well as some local artists.  my friends and i were planning on going saturday night, but hurricane tomas had different plans.  though we didn't get hit directly, we got some heavy rain and strong winds.  the stage and equipment weren't safe and the show was canceled.  some of us were staying in town at a hotel for the weekend, so we avoided some problems in the villages like falling trees and roofing flying off in the wind.  i was glad to be in town.  we sat on the balcony watching the caribbean sea pound against the dock, tearing off the boards.  most of you know i love storms, so i enjoyed this.  we went out to a bar nearby and had some drinks by candlelight (power was out almost everywhere).  the bar closed early because of the weather and we all ran the few blocks back.  i couldn't stop laughing.  anyway, the show was combined with sunday's show and we went to that.  enjoyed the concert very much.  the big artist was jah cure (reggae) from jamaica.  it was really fun.

- then, the next wednesday was actually independence day.  32 years.  nothing happens on this day, except that i wrote a draft of all my personal statements.

- the day after independence is always community day of service.  dominicans' favorite service projects are beautification, which mainly involves cutting grass and planting branches in rubber tires along the road.  in trafalgar, there were boys with swipers cutting the grass all along the road.  we also cleaned up the basketball court.  i was one of only two women who assisted.  since i don't have a cutlass, i had to weed with my hands.  after a few hours of doing this in the rain, my hands being extremely sore and, worse, i was uncontrollably itchy from picking up and throwing all the cut grass over the fence.  eventually i couldn't take it and had to go bathe.  that night, there was a street jam in town, which consisted of huge trucks driving slowly through the streets with bands on board and the crowd jumping up dancing behind them as they move.  it was a fun time, though i'd venture to say that most people in the crowd didn't do much work to deserve this reward.

- the end.