Normal LIfe

When does strange become normal? I mean, how many times can I walk past a group of chickens on the way to school and not think "haha, I just walked past a group of chickens on my way to school".

How many street dogs do you have to see without wrenching at your heart strings?

How many car alarms have to go off at all hours of the day before you don't hear them anymore?

How many skinny, dark-skinned, mothers with their sullen faced babies have to beg as you pass by before you don't notice?

And then there's this...

Will I ever get to the point where I don't do a double take?

moments

December 11 

shorts + t-shirt

doors and windows 

open

crispy warm air

powder blue sky

splattered with white puffs

palm trees swaying 

in the wind

perfect moment

A little dramatic, I know.

Oh - I KNOW - let's build a giant gorilla AND then decorate it with lights for Christmas!

And just when you thought having a dead/fake tree in your house was ridiculous (you were beginning to think that, right) I find a GIANT concrete gorilla completely covered in lights in a small plaza near a big intersection next to a McDonalds and the IKEA in Santo Domingo.

We're talking about a country that has NO access to clean water. All water we consume is from bottled water plants. The water that is piped into our houses is dirty - we did some testing on tap water this week. Fecal bacteria, phosphates, nitrates. So, one of the concerns of the people should be access to clean water, right? I wonder how many government people are on the "what the hell are we going to do about clean water" board, and how many are on the "what kind of ridiculous holiday decorations can we come up with this year" board? 

Christmas trees are a stupid, irresponsible, ecological unfriendly, wasteful tradition

How do I write this post without sounding like a complete grinch?

Christmas trees are ecologically irresponsible and have NO place in the "true" meaning of Christmas, if you actually believe in Jesus. 

How's that? Too harsh? 

Seriously though, WHY do you have a dead tree in your house right now? Ok, you have a fake one, well, WHY do you have a fake, probably imported from China, non-recyclable plastic tree in your house right now? You have had the same tree for years, you say? Ok, well, keeping this tradition creates this drive to make more plastic trees than can possibly be sold, so where do these left over plastic trees go after they have been shipped around trying to be sold? Yes, the dump.

I know I sound like a miserable bitch, but I am teaching AP Environmental Science and I don't think you really understand the mess we've created. Resources are dwindling, clean water, clean air, healthy food, and here we are worried about a TREE - dead or plastic - to put in our house for a few weeks and then forget. Yes, it's tradition, I get it, but it's time to change our traditions. It was once tradition to sacrifice virgins to the gods, but we learned that wasn't very responsible and changed our ways. This is NOT "their" problem, this is YOUR problem. 

And don't get me started on wrapping paper, seriously, you just wrapped a present so that it could be torn open in 3 seconds and trashed...

Caberete, DR

After spending four days for Thanksgiving in Caberete, we decided to head back up this past weekend. The clock's ticking for time left before xmas break and most of us are going home, so we figured we better get in some more beach time before heading to the North American winter. I haven't been home for xmas in a long time, so this will be something different for me.

Caberete is one of those beach places where one wrong move and you could instantly become "lost". It has that party, reckless feel and although I can't compare it to Punta Cana, I am imagining that it is much different. There aren't "resorts" in Cab (that's what the locals call it). The water isn't that crystal clear calm water that you are thinking of, instead the winds and surf bring the kite boarders and surfers out and the town caters to adventure.

I thought I'd try and give surfing a go, but being that I'm not much of a water person it wasn't a thrilling first experience. I'll stick to wandering the beach looking for shells, or in this case, avoiding trash and plastics. We need to have a plastic discussion soon...

At one point I counted 19 kite boarders in my view. In typical tourist fashion some horses came trotting by. The water is clear, but the constant winds cause the crashing waves to stir things up.

You can't do too much without getting heckled. It is no where near as bad as Brazil, but you will get asked about 15 times a day if you want your hair braided, or some fruit, or some crappy jewelry from china.

This weekend I was grateful that although I don't live near the beach that at least I don't live here. There are tons of street dogs for me to befriend, though.