Day to Day

Life in the D.R. has taken on a routine, after the novelty and busyness of the first few weeks. We still so appreciate the warmth and brightness of the climate as well as the friends we have made in this area. The everday housekeeping has more challenges without a few of the conveniences of home, but mostly we are still so blessed with everything needed and more. It is good for us to live in a setting where the majority of people we interact with have little more than the basics day to day and are grateful for what they have. So many things we take for granted at home such as access to medical care, having the resources for vision and dental care, at least one vehicle, a roof that does not leak when it rains, parents caring for their own children, even electricity.
We realize how quickly one becomes accustomed to seeing need all around, as Mark mentioned when he was out "I'm surprised you have anything left for yourselves at all, with all this need". But then, certain circumstances tug at your heart, like when a group of 5 or 6 young Haitian shoeshine boys in the street took a break mid afternoon to play marbles in the shade on the sidewalk near our condo. Even little boys walk around long hours trying to find shoes that may need touching up, and seeing mostly tourists in sandals! We were on our way to the Supermarket and Larry insisted on picking up a special package of cookies for them to give them on our return. (One fellow stopped us at our gate the next day to give me a single pretty flower not wanting payment, just a smile. Probably was picked off the neighbour's shrubs).

This morning we were able to make connections to visit a friend from church by hopping on a motor bike taxi(motor concho). Larry, being the third person on, had to hold onto me as we bumped along the highway and had to make several stops for traffic. I saw later he was seated on a metal bar behind the padded seat. It was a worthwhile excursion as our friend needed to talk about her situation and we were able to see where she lives. Again, typically, she had an open door policy and she had her own 3 children there, was babysitting her little toddler nephew, and then we lost count of the number of neighbourhood kids that wandered in & out. Unfortunately, we had not aniticpated this outing when we left home and were not prepared with goodies for the kids.

This afternoon we will need to walk to the Supermarket to pick up a few items for supper, maybe for some meat to eat with our rice. As we do not have a vehicle, we walk most places and the days we took the pedometer we logged about 5 miles a day. This means I have shed about 5 to 7 seven pounds in our 2 months here and it feels good. Even as we appreciate what is a healthy lifestyle, we realize so many here do not have the options for healthy nutritional choices, so therein lies the constant tension of gratitude vs we can never share too much.