First Time at the Beach

Today we went house hunting and then went to the Aura Beach House in Juan Dolio. Scott drove us! I put an exclamation mark b/c driving in the DR is a crazy experience. When the locals found out that we gringos drove ourselves they were very surprised :)

You might be a Dominican if you drive on the dotted white line instead of choosing a lane...or you just create a third lane when there's only 2.

Juan Dolio is about 45min away. Here is a site with really good pictures of the place. http://dr1.com/forums/south-coast/36626-aura-beach-house-juan-dolio-very-nice.html

The afternoon was cloudy and brought rain and lightning before we were there even 30minutes, but we enjoyed ourselves in the covered area as well. The waiter who helped us the most asked for a ride home back to Santo Domingo. Sure enough he has lived in and has family now in Cotui! To put the cherry on the cake he is a Protestant Christian as well. I think that we will contact him if we decide to make the move to Cotui.

We hope to take Andrew and Stephanie to Aura when they come for Thanksgiving - maybe even forgo the traditional meal for a beach day.

You must be a Dominican if....

You expect a meal at a restaurant to take a minimum of 2 hours.
You expect the news editors to NOT remove mutilated/burned/dimembered bodies in the news.
You throw your used toilet paper in the trash instead of the toilet.
You put a machette in your jean pocket while driving your motorbike. (this is a serious pocket knife)
You ride in the trunk of the car (rear on bumper and legs in the trunk) if there's too many people already in the cab.

Adeline misses Darrin

Wednesday and our DR Friends

Scotty is home for the evening so I'm able to update our blog! He was suppose to leave the mine at 4p and get here at 5:30p but he called at 4:45p to tell me that there was a red alert (lightning warning) and no one was allowed outdoors until the alert was removed. He also said that no one is allowed off of the mine after 6p so he only had an hour or so for the alert to be removed....YEAH for us it was!

Today we went to our friends' house - Denny & Cynthia and their daughter Liah. Denny is teaching Adeline to say "Tio Denny" (Uncle Denny). They are a treasure to us during this transition period.

How we spend our days in the hotel

Pic 1: Adeline playing cars on the hotel porch.

Pic 2: Mommy's reading corner w/her cafe con leche

Pic 3: View from the porch

Pic 4: Adeline swinging

Pic 5: Our bootleg stoller getup. WARNING: Must always strap child into a bootleg stoller.

Pic 1: Dominican "Walmart"

Pic 2: She thought that the crawfish was hiliarious! Daddy thought it was yummy!

Pic 3: Adeline has never been a big green bean eater until she took a look at our dinner Sunday night!

We've Arrived!

We made it to the Dominican uneventfully...thank goodness. We've gotten setup in the hotel and Scotty has gone to the mine today and we hope to get to see him on Wednesday evening. We went to church on Sunday, but between the feedings, crying, and dirty diapers I didn't get to participate much in the worship service. This season of life won't last long though.

It's sunny in the mornings and usually rains off and on in the evenings. There is a playground that we ventured out to this afternoon after naptime. I'm reading a good book about 4 Dominican sisters murdered by the DR Dictator Trujillo while the kids take naps.

So far I either eat here at the hotel or at a Italian restaurant just a few steps away. I'm still a little too nervous to go any farther when I'm without a stroller and have a 2yr old that is in the 1st stages of wearing panties all the time and seems to always need to use the bano when Darton is crying and we're sitting down to eat. This too shall pass...I laugh on the inside though as I write this and think of the servers thinking "that poor woman" :).

We are currently sitting in the business center and I'm typing furiously before my time runs out on the computer...but more so becuase this isn't the best place for kids.

I hope to have time this weekend on Scott's computer to dwnload pictures and tell you more about life here in the DR. Until then....

Our sweet baby boy

The Geer 2nd Cousins

Scotty getting settled in the DR

Scott made it safely to the DR in spite of Hanna's weather which caused the plane to land in Santiago and then he took a 3hr bus ride to Santo Domingo. On Thursday he looked at houses and apartments and the realtor found a house in the neighborhood we want to live in but it is $500 out of our price range. We'll see if the owner comes down on the price.

On Friday he went to immigration and while there he called me to let me know how "bootleg" the system was....he said you sit in a chair with 3-legs that's in front of a peice of plywood painted white while a man takes your picture. Of course the experience would have been so much funnier had I been there to witness it, but we will have our turn soon.

On Friday afternoon he met up with a realtor that he found out is a Christian and has a 2yr old daughter. It's amazing to see God orchestrate a Christian network for us in the DR. Scott ended up having dinner with the realtor's family and then went to check out the man's church, which is the one we might try to go to since it has English translators. While at church Scott was able to listen to the choir practice for their 30yr anniversary party this Saturday. Scott called to let me hear the power of probably over 100 voices singing praises to our God. I could tell he was very impressed and wished that we were there to witness it with him.

Last night he had dinner with our Christian friends Denny and Cynthia and Edwin and Ana Maria. He said his boss called to invite him to dinner and was suprised to find out Scott already had plans :)

We wouldn't think much of being able to find Christian friends except that another US Christian couple has been there a year and hasn't found their niche within the DR Christian brotherhood. So this is when I sit back and praise our God Almighty!

Here on the homefront...we left the house with Adeline wearing panties yesterday! It is so wonderful having a mom to help!!