Thursday, February 16, 2012

Aniversario, Carnaval and Volunteer of the Month

I almost don't even want to touch on the subject of my negligence of this blog.  6 months passed by as if they were a few fleeting moments--but they were packed with plenty of action.  I was home in Houston for the holidays for the first time since I've been in service.  My 16 days at home were much needed--I hung out with my family over coffee, homemade meals and wine and got to see the extended family at a bridal shower thrown by my sister/maid of honor. 

As is always the case, after vacation, normal life begins again at an excelerated speed.  January and February have been full of work.  At Caminante we are in the final push to finish the study that has been in the works for the last seven months.  As a result, I've been working long hours, and sometimes weekends to get the final data necessary and being to analyze it. 

February is the season of Carnaval, my second in country.  Latin America's Mardi Gras, this four weekend long celebration is a big deal here in the DR.  This February we also celebrated the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic.  We were lucky enough to have Aaron Williams, the Director of Peace Corps (in Washington) in attendence since he is a returned Peace Corps volunteer from the DR!  He came with his wife of many years, Rosa from La Vega, whom he met during his Peace Corps service.  I had the opportunity to market Caminante at the artisan fair which was held during the celebration and we sold some of the jewelry and other goods made at our technical school. 

Since I've been so out of touch---I'd like to include the link to a write-up that was done on me in January which includes most of the projects I've been working on.