Holy Buckets!!!

Saturday:  I can hear the bachata in the barrio behind my window and some kid cracking a whip.   It whistles really hard through the air and it IS a pretty cool thing to see=....ya know...playing with whips and all.   I saw some other kids walking on stilts in the street last night.   It's a trip noticing what is considered entertainment or toys for kids here....stilts...whips...garbage bags and sticks refashioned as kites.   This week a girl brought her baby to the clinic and I noticed her baby was carrying around pieces of a broken glass bottle TO PLAY WITH.   I encouraged the mother to throw it away.....reminding her that shards of glass can like...CUT people.  Sheesh.   I like seeing the street ball that the kids play..... mop or broom handles for bats and bottle/milk container caps for balls.   There's a name for that kind of street ball but I can't remember it right now.

So I can shower in cold water without blinking and I can wait to drink until after I eat and I can pee in the most ungainly locals and places;   I can understand a lot of conversations and I can almost rap to some dembow if you catch me in the right mood.    I can play dominos, albeit poorly...and I made rice TWICE this week.   So, am I Dominican yet?   Yeahhhhhh well not quite, although I WAS diagnosed with parasites on Monday.  Yay for ascaris.   Turns out that all that talking I did in the barrios about washing my hands, wearing my shoes, and eating cooked food came right back to get me.   However, I am fully recovered and shameless about promoting ways to avoid parasites.

Great surgical team this past week- yay for Spartanburg.  And arriving tonight is the second half of Spartanburg.   It's always fun having folks arrive that you remember from last year so I'm looking forward to hanging out with a great crew again.  And of course in-between the surgeries are precious moments.... holding sweet babies,  catching up with returning patients in the waiting room,   laughing with Dr. Sandy and the Dominican nurses,  hanging out with Nef and our other wonderful translators.

Last Sunday was J's birthday.  So Chino and I dropped off some birthday cake on the way home from church.    I wonder if anyone else knew..or remembered.  I just know there was a big fat grin on his face when we pulled up.  17 years old.  Wow.    I'm hoping he can come with us to church tomorrow too.  We love this church.   It feels like everyone there just LOVES each other.  We sing and then between some songs we walk around and HUG each other (like EVERYBODY does!)  or shake hands or just say DIOS TE BENDIGA.  And I feel loved there.   And there are always a bunch of neighborhood kids running around sometimes misbehaving and they are so wonderfully loved and hugged and encouraged there.  Of course it helps that Nef can translate everything for me.  Ohhhh to understand!   It's a beautiful thing.   So I'm hoping that J will go with Chino and me tomorrow and I can sit proudly with my two Dominican hijos.   And then my dear friend Cathy is arriving with the group!  Oh to see the wonderful faces from home!  I just can't wait!   It's going to be a great week!

Yesterday I went running at the track.  Running is always a strong word for what I do but anyway- it's the effort that counts.  And I ran with Monchi.  Who is a REAL runner.  We went to the track via moto, cruising the back roads.   We ran side by side, with one of my ear plugs in my ear and the other in his- the Dominican rap blasting.   And we chatted up his friends there.  And some 7 year old kid held his keys and my phone in the middle of the field while we ran.   And I looked around at the big and serious baseball players who were strutting around, stretching and working out.  And the families who were laughing together as they walked around the track.  And the runners, the SERIOUS runners there who seemingly go forEVER who lapped us like a million times.   And everyone else who just seemed to be having a great time- the trainers- the 9 years olds who still have their baseball uniforms on and are headed home- the teenage girls eyeing up the fellas- just everyone.  And me and Monchi.   Me plodding on and him slowing down for me, saying "vamamos Nicol..vamamos!  Let's Go!".  Uffff.  I'm part of this.  And it's thrilling.   It's still thrilling, driving home on a moto with the sweat drying off of me, my hair all KINDA crazy, the music still thumping (one in my ear and one in his!),  the endorphins jumping, feeling SO much better than I did a couple hours ago.   Glad that I'm here.  Glad I've got sweet friends who love me and push me an extra lap or so.   Glad I'm headed home and I'll eat some rice (that I made) and crack up with my pals a couple more times, howling with Dan over funny sitcoms, giving my poor frente high blood pressure when I screw up AGAIN on my domino play, doing our thing.

And tomorrow it begins again.  New team.  New folks.  And some familiar faces too.  Here we go!