A Sweet Reunion

After 7 long months apart, I was reunited with the lovely girls of Santa Ana once again and the entire NPH family in the Dominican Republic, for what was, hands down, the best week EVA. I also got to spend the entire week with Avriel (yep, we were inseparable) and I got to see Madelon as much as possible too! 

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After spending a night in the Newark airport, I arrived to Santo Domingo around noon on Saturday. I was so anxious and nervous and excited that I hadn't eaten anything or slept a wink...it felt like getting my suitcase and going through immigration was taking forever. But FINALLY, I had everything and was able to go out into the airport where I barely got out the door and literally Avriel, Madelon and Wilson were on top of me as my suitcases knocked to the ground and we got lots of weird looks...it was AWESOME. 

Las tres locas reunited!!! (And all with super long hair, I might add...)

Arriving to NPH was another sweet moment...as soon as the guagua got through the front doors, I jumped out of the door to the girls awaiting me and was greeted by tons of hugs. I was sooooo contenta. The girls rushed me up to Santa Ana where the greetings continued all afternoon as I got the chance to hear how everyone's doing and what's new. Let me tell ya, catching up with 250 people takes some time. So these greetings pretty much continued until Tuesday or so, at which point, I think I saw about everyone. I spent the next 8 hours or so just hanging out with the kids, it was the BEST.

We had so much to catch up on!! MISSED her and so proud of her!

Sunday was a "normal" weekend day at NPH, which was awesome. The day started off with misa, then a baseball game down at the play, a trip to the batey with San Pascual, and tons of catching up!

One of my goddaughters from confirmation--she was pretty much glued at my side throughout the trip! 

Didn't take long for the girls to get ahold of my hair...they still remember how to do the "cola de pez" or fishtail braid that my sisters taught them almost 2 years ago now!

Also glued to my side! 

Feeling the love at the baseball game!

On Monday, I got down to business and started working on about 4 different visa projects that are happening in the upcoming months. Needless to say, I didn't quite finish these projects in the week I was there, but progress was definitely made! I also got to see some of the Monday-Friday workers for the first time on Monday and I spent a lot of time with them--especially drinking coffee and gossiping with some of the tias :)

Hanging out in Santa Lucia--the baby house!

Long story short: I sent down a bunch of dresses to the girls last fall, including my prom dress from junior year. They're using them for graduation and Quinces. They had me put on my old dress just for the heck of it! 

Trying on a dress that Abby sent!

Trying on a dress Rachel Ward sent!

She's so grown up--straightening her hair now!

Tuesday included some more office work, a trip to San Pedro during the morning, and a special outing with one of my godchildren in the afternoon. The day ended with the lovely new-to-NPH meal of chicken liver and hearts. Needless to say, I "wasn't very hungry" that night. We also had a Saint Patrick's day party at Kieran's and Susana's!

Taking a moment to slow down and reminisce with my goddaughter! 

Hanging!

Doing hair! (Yes, they finally let me do theirs despite the fact that I'm so bad at it!)

Wednesday was another full day of work followed by misa at 5:00pm, a sizing session with the upcoming Quince girls (in November) and a birthday party for Josefina!

Post-misa pics!

Quince 2014 girls strutting their stuff!

I think her bunny face is so funny!

Siblings!

Hanging out in the park!

Besties!

Thursday marked a turn of events as we decided to go to the beach and then the capital for the night to hang out with Madelon! We rushed through some work in the morning and then around 11:00am took motos into town. That moto experience was a bit more stressful than expected for some people (Avriel) but I was totally fine (the tire just popped!) We got pizza at our favorite pizzeria in Boca Chica for lunch and then met Guillermo (ex-volunteer from Spain) on the beach! We ended the night by taking the guagua to the capital and going out dancing with the girls!

Friday was a chill day...spent the morning at Mad's apartment, got some lunch with some friends in the capital and then headed back to NPH for the rest of the day. On Saturday morning, I got the chance to go to Daniela's house--she was the Dominican I worked with and shared an office with in sponsorship. She made breakfast for me (including cherry juice...yum!!) and we spent some time catching up and looking at photos. It was a blast!! I returned to NPH just in time to catch lunch in the new special needs house with my parents godson. And then I took the Santa Ana girls to the batey in the afternoon. It was a super full, super fun day!! The only thing that could have made it better was if I didn't have to leave the next day...

Mellizas!!! Avriel and me :)

LOVE this family!

Lunch at the special needs house and playing with this massive tennis ball!

More quality time in San Marcos!

I'll always remember this girl...she was the first one to give me a hug on my very first day in the country in January 2012! 

At the batey...sisters!!

Chilling in the shade!

Photo shoot time!

She was super contenta to see some of her family!

Walk back to NPH! 

Me and the girls :)

Overall, the week went by WAY too fast, but regardless, it was AMAZING! As me and another volunteer from Spain were just saying the other day, sometimes it's really tough to have your heart in two places that are so far apart, but we wouldn't change it for the world! Hasta la proxima, mis amores...las quiero pilas!