Recap

Sorry, I haven't exactly been keeping up to date with the blog. Busy weekend followed by entirely too much drama yesterday has kept me away.

Friday I ran errands with Mami. I love doing stuff like that. It was just to two of us and we went all over getting souvenirs for people, stuff for the house, and Mami bought me a present to remember her by. It's a Giraffe that converts from an odd shaped animal to a pillow (almohada). It's really cute and a nice snuggle buddy since I don't have my purring furball to sleep with here. I think because it's just me and Mom at home and days like that are nice for catching up, I really appreciate the time out, time to talk about things without having to wonder who might be listening. She agreed that she enjoyed doing things like that. She said running errands with me reminds her of running errands with her daughter who now lives in Columbus (small world huh?), that I kind of fill that void. I was really touched.

The afternoon we had a dance class. FOUR hours with less than 10 minutes of rest. It was hard core, but UBER fun. We leared the Merengue and Bachata; two dance forms that originated here and are characteristic of La Republica. We came home COVERED head to toe with sweat (there are places on my body that I now know can sweat). But, it was worth the $3.00 and we really did have fun. When we got home Tiffany and I were sitting in my room chatting and trying to stop sweating before fighting for the shower. Mami came up with some Smirnoff Ices for the three of us, and we're pretty sure she'd already had something. She sat on my dresser as we all talked and drank. It was so different. Mom would NEVER have done something like that. Good times, good times. Friday night Tiffany and I went to a bar with another friend George. It was okay, but just not my scene.

Saturday I read. ALL DAY!!! I was kind of behind and it takes me SOOO much longer to read in Spanish. It's rather frustrating actually because I want the book to move faster, and it would if I was reading in English, but I just can't comprehend as fast in Spanish. Oh well. In the after noon we made "rounds." We stopped at a friends house for a few minutes, coffee and conversation. Then we went to Mami's husband's mother's house--not that he was with us, heaven forbid he visit his mother. She is at least mid-80's but I don't remember exactly how old. Time has taken it's toll on her, and it appeared a stroke had helped it along. She didn't have her teeth in when we were there. It was an interesting visit. You know you're finally getting the language when you can kind of sort of understand someone without their teeth in. Mami wasn't even catching everything. She was a really sweet lady and I felt so sorry that her kids never come to visit her. But we did and had a nice visit.

Sunday was nice and slow. In the morning I just relaxed and ate breakfast and chilled. Then it was time for church, again. This time was a little better, I'm getting the pattern down, sort of. I even kind of sang along with one of the songs they always sing. I still didn't really understand the lesson, but oh well. It's rather interesting to feel God's presence in a different language. After church, Mami didn't want to cook, so we went to McDonald's. She loves the fact the one of my travel IDs gets a discount there. Back home it was nap time and homework time. I read some of the driest material on Cuba. When my migraine started to kick in I gave up, took a vicidin, and went downstairs to see what was going on. We left shortly there after to help a friend move into her GIGANTIC house. This place was big enough for the entire Tanis clan. I didn't really do too much since I felt icky, but I tried and made sure they knew I wasn't feeling well and not that I didn't want to work. We hung around for awhile talking. I love how everyone talks all the time. By then it was getting late, so we went home for dinner.

Yesterday we didn't have class in the morning because our professor's dad finally passed away. It was sad, I think everyone was a little relieved that we didn't have to go to class, we were all tired from the weekend. On our way out on of the other girls on the trip confronted with with things I supposedly said and blah blah blah. I'd rather not get into it, the details really aren't that important. I just seriously want to know when I'm going to have to stop dealing with high school shenanigans.

Tropical Storm Emily is heading our way. Luckily the path has changed quite a bit and we might just be in for some icky rain. Still doesn't do much for our weekend at the beach, but as one of the directors pointed out, it is an all inclusive hotel, so even if it's nasty outside, hopefully there will be fun stuff to keep us busy inside.

I'm off to get a quick tutoring lesson. It's funny, before I came here I was fine using the three or four verb tenses that I knew best. Now I know there's other tenses and more correct ways of expressing myself, but I can't remember the grammar I learned over a year ago...oops! So, one of the directors is going to give me a quick refresher and hopefully I can master a few more tenses before I leave. Hope everyone is doing well!! Have fun with the last effects of Dennis in Ohio!! Take care all, Love you!!