Semana Santa and Pascua!

What a few days it has been! So I spent pretty much all of last week out of commission thank so this wonderful new “tattoo” (i.e. burn) from the moto that I got two weeks ago. It got all gross and infected and I had to stay off of my leg for a couple days to get things to heal up. So while the kids were out of school on vacations last week playing, I was basically stuck inside taking it easy. One thing I have sure realized though is that I have some amazing volunteer friends here. They made me go to the clinic (when I was rather opposed to the idea), accompanied me in to see the doctor (actually he was a surgeon which scared me when I first heard that) and then took care of me by cleaning the darn thing out (not pretty on the eyes) and getting me anything I needed while I was laid up. Avriel, Pili, Nelly, and Madelon…you guys are SERIOUSLY the best!

So once I did get back on my feet (literally, haha) it was a pretty rockin’ Easter! On Friday morning, things started off at 7:00am with Stations of the Cross. Us volunteers hosted Station number two at our house. Then we spent that entire day in contemplation which meant no bikes, no skates, no games, etc. I don’t think the nuns realized how difficult that would be for 225 kids for a full 24 hours, but the kids behaved amazingly well. The best part of the day was for sure the habichuela con dulce that was served mid-afternoon. This is a typical Dominican Holy Friday dish…each Dominican makes it their own way, but the version Tia Elena made included mashed up black beans, condensed milk, raisins, cinnamon, and sweet potato. The kids are CRAZY for it!

Saturday morning started out with rosary in the park at 7:00am (my house had to do it again that night since they were talking throughout it…real shocker for twenty 13-year old girls, haha!) Following that, we went to a Holy Saturday workshop at a church in San Pedro. Now, that was when the girls’ behavior was way less than satisfactory. But they got through it and for those that behaved well, we painted eggs that evening. I decided to pull out the brillo (glitter) for a twist on egg-decorating and it was QUITE the hit!

 

16 eggs which ALL had brillo by the time we were done!

Sunday morning, bright and early, I got to Santa Ana a little before 6:00am to hide all of the eggs in the backyard before the girls woke up and it got light outside. Naturally, Santa Clara, next door was already awake and couldn’t help but scream out ‘AY KRISTEN, ARE YOU HIDING EGGS??’ but fortunately, only one of my girls woke up to that. The girls slowly started getting up and by 7:00am, they were running around the backyard like crazy looking for the eggs. They were so adorable. While we were waiting for everyone to get up and shower, the girls couldn’t help but be peeking out through the windows into the backyard attempting to locate the eggs while they waited. Their inner ‘little girls’ really came out especially as they finally went dashing around the yard frantically searching. Apparently, I made it ‘too easy’ because they all found their eggs within 5 or 10 minutes, haha! After that, we had breakfast together (bread, hot chocolate, and eggs) and then got ready for mass which was at 11:00am.

Yacqueline with her egg!

The backyard with all the eggs hidden as the sun was rising!

Kristal and Eridania...Eridania's egg turned out to be pretty Christmas-y!

Anita with some eggs!

Franchesca with what she thought was her egg...later, she found her actual one! (This is what happens when 6 girls paint their egg the same way!)

Running around!

Belkis, Maria del Carmen, and Yacqueline!

Maria del Carmen, Yacqueline, and Carmencita!

Yummy breakfast!

Eat em up!

I couldn't believe it! Maria del Carmen gave me her egg to eat since I didn't have one and she wouldn't take no for an answer...what a sweetheart!

Later that afternoon, the real fun began! I had some foam egg cut-outs (thanks again Jackie Northard) that I brought to the house with some decorating supplies (this, of course, included glitter, which three days later is still everywhere). The girls went crazy each creating their own masterpiece. Once the girls were done with that and it stopped drizzling outside, sixteen of the girls and I went out on the back patio and formed two teams. Then while one team went back inside, the other team hit their eggs throughout the backyard. On the count of three, the team came running out of the house searching for the eggs. We did this for both teams and timed them. Of course this time there weren’t amateurs like me hiding the eggs, so it was much more difficult. Before long, we had a winning team and some very happy girls once they all got candy at the end! That evening, all of us volunteers were invited over to Vern and Mary Sue’s house for an Easter meal. It was DELICIOUS! They gave us volunteers a very sincere thanks for what we do here which was very nice. And the food was like a taste of home right here in the middle of our sugar cane field in the DR. So all in all, it was a great Easter week! 

Decorating the eggs!

Erika hard at work!

Katerin attacking the glitter!

Maria del Carmen creating her masterpiece!

Finished products!

Here we are!

I think this one wins for most glitter!

Now the kids are back in school and life continues as ‘normal’. Avriel’s mom and brother were here this weekend and are around this week, so it’s been fun having them! Milena leaves this coming week on Tuesday after 20 months here, so we are not looking forward to that AT ALL. Here are a couple more photos!

John and I working hard in the office!

Josi styled my hair!

A photo with my stylist!