NPH Idol!

Stanky leg...somehow, this is my signature move here...

I’m getting to this a little late this week, but better later than never! It has, of course, been crazy busy with all sorts of stuff going on with the kids and tons of visitors on site. Here’s a recap of the past 10 days or so!

Last Wednesday, February 27^th, was Independence Day here in the Dominican Republic! The kids did a little march on site to celebrate it and talked about the history of the day. Other than that, it was a day off school and work in the office. So we basically just spent the day hanging out. My girls have a new obsession, the game Farkle. And yes, we did have a tournament and no, I did not win! Thanks, Jackie Northard, for sending that game along with me when I came back here after Thanksgiving!

Marching around the grounds!

Happy Independence Day!

Looking good, Belkis!

Ivelisse and Carmencita with me!

Marching on the basketball court!

Wilson and I!

Farkle and the reigning champ: Katerin!

On Thursday, us volunteers went on a retreat, so we got away for a night and just spent some time together bonding. It was also a great chance to plan our volunteer dance for the talent show that took place Friday night. Pili, Avriel, Milena, and I busted out some crazy dance moves that night to the song ‘Feo de Dia, Lindo de Noche.’ It was quite the hit! It was also fun, as always, to see how much talent our kids have! Afterwards, we all watched the movie “Mrs. Doubtfire’’ outside on the basketball court, one of my personal favorites.

'Feo de dia.../Ugly by day...'

'Lindo de noche.../Beautiful by night...'

On the topic of talent, as I’ve mentioned before, our kids are in the midst of auditions for the chance to go on a trip to MN this coming fall. Well now that trip includes a visit to Boston as well and six kids instead of four will get to go, which is quite exciting! Our first round of auditions was this past Monday, and it was the ‘artistic round.’ There were kids dancing, singing, lip-syncing, rapping, playing the flute, being clowns, you name it. Like I mentioned, our kid shave a LOT of talent. From that group of 27 that tried out, our judges narrowed it down to 15. This coming Monday, those kids will compete for the six spots by giving their ‘testimonies’ in English. May the best kids win!

Working on Bethania's English testimony with her!

Other than all that, I had the opportunity to go to a nearby batey on Monday to help out with a free medical operation that was happening there during the day. A couple of the Canadians staying here this week are doctors so they wanted to help out and I went along to interpret. I absolutely love doing that kind of thing! It’s so fun to get into the communities plus I love the opportunity to practice my medical vocab in Spanish! In other news, we’ve had some ex-volunteers return to visit which has been kind of fun! Marta, a Spanish volunteer who worked in the clinic this past summer, is here for the week. And Julie and Janine have both been around as well! We’ve also had a couple sponsors coming in and out throughout the past week, which keeps me on my feet. Well, that’s all for this now. Next week, I’ll be able to announce which kids made the cut and will be traveling to the US this fall!