Long time....

So, yeah. It's been a while. And a lot has happened, so I'm going to divide up the blog by subject so you can skim it if you want! The topics are as follows: School, Christmas Break, Pets, Earthquakes, Church, Misc. Personal Stuff, and Parting Words. Enjoy!

School
I ended the semester well, getting good grades in most of my classes (Dominican Social History excluded). It felt really good to be done with the semester and progressing forward. This semester is going to be really hard. Not because my classes are hard, but because of the amount of busywork every class requires. I have nine classes and each one requires weekly assignments and most of them have presentations.

An example of one of my classes is called Man, the Environment, and Resources (stimulating title, I know). Every week, we have roughly 25 questions that we have to answer as homework, as well as three research projects for the semester, three tests, and a presentation. And that's just one of nine. I am doing so much more homework this semester than I did last semester.

I have much better teachers this semester. I think there is only one of nine that I don't like, which is an improvement of one of nine that I actually liked last semester.

Christmas Break
I was in the States over Christmas. It was really great to see the people that I did. I would like to apologize to those I didn't get to see. It was a misappropriation of time on my part. I kept thinking "I have time" and then when my last couple days were approaching, I realized that I didn't do or see have of the things or people I wanted to.

I spent the majority of time in Ashland with my parents and family. I was really nice to spend quality time with them. I love my family and it is hard to live so far from them. But being in the States made me realize how much I love living in the Dominican Republic. I was pretty homesick the entire time. I think things might have been a bit different if I had come during the summer!

What was the best thing about being in the States? Besides seeing friends and family, I would have to say either traffic laws or Arby's Jalepeño Poppers. I also did quite a bit of shopping. It's amazing how cheap some stuff is in the States compared to here and what you can find. One of the things I did forget was a rolling pin, so the first person to come visit can bring me a rolling pin! But I stocked up on Neutella and some other essentials, like really good flavored tea.

Pets
Last week we had to say goodbye to Felipe. He started to reach maturity and then started peeing on the furniture. He was insistent in doing so, so he went to a new home. At first I thought I was going to have to put him down because I couldn't fine anyone who wanted a cat and I knew that if I put him back on the streets he would either become food or die of starvation. I felt that putting him to sleep was the best option. When the vet came, he said that he could not in good conscience put him down, so he took him to find him a home. When we went to the vet on Monday for the rest of Libby's shots, he had already found him a home!

We miss Felipe a lot, but hopefully it is for the best.

Libby is growing like a weed. We are still working on potty training as everything she had learned before Christmas evaporated. It is going okay. It is a little bit harder because since she is older, she can hold her bladder for a really long time so it is often hard to predict when she is going to need to go. But it's going.

Libby went to the beach for the first time on Saturday. After barking at the waves for a while trying to play with them, she finally went into the water. She loved it. She is still a bit afraid of the waves, but she will jump into the water up to her chest. She loves digging in the sand and running around in the water. In fact, she made herself a "den" under a fallen down tree yesterday and took a nap.

Earthquakes

I used to always say that I sleep so hard that I could sleep through an earthquake.  This has now been verified. Since January 1st, the DR has had 10 earthquakes and counting. I guess it's normal for this time of year with the temperature drop (and yes, it gets cold here). But I have slept through all of them. Here is the break down: 1/27 (4.1), 1/25 (3.7), 1/24 (4.2, 4.6, 4.5), 1/23 (5.1), 1/20 (3.4), 1/19 (5.0), 1/5 (4.6, 5.5).

I've heard a variety of "reasons" for the earthquake including: it is 2012, so it signals the end of the world and it is God's judgement for the sins of the Dominican Republic. My personal feeling is, we live on a fault line. Simple!

Church

I started a 16 week class called Escula de Obreros, which means School of Workers. It is basically a class that expounds on the basics of church theology and the fundamentals of Christianity. This month we are discussing praise and worship, why we need the Old Testament, listening to God's voice, and anointing. We also have homework in this class! We do papers once a month and then a oral presentation at the end. So far it's been really good. 

Misc. Personal Stuff

Things I am very excited about:

1. Brining my car here from the States!
2. My parents and sister coming for a visit in March!
3. Anika Anderson (friend from Mason, WI) moving here and only living about an hour from me!
4. Getting an 81 point word in Words by Post only using four letters!
5. Sleeping under a blanket at night!
6. HAVING A REFRIGERATOR after 5 months without!
7. Nuetella!

I went to the beach yesterday with Libby because I didn't have class. I was sitting one the sand, looking out at the waves crashing on the reef, in the shade of a palm tree and thought to myself, "I live in paradise." Moving anywhere after here is going to be hard, unless it is equally as Utopic (made up that word, but it fits). And then I remembered that it is January, and I was wearing a swim suit outdoors, and it made it all the more surreal.

Parting Words

I will try to be more diligent with keeping this updated. We'll see how well that goes! I am off to mop. They are burning the sugar cane and the smoke comes into the house and makes the floors really gross, so I am going to go clean them!

Caio.