In which Tim tells you about his house...

I live in a medium sized, single story orange house in the suburbs of the capital. The head of the house hold, or Dona, has two grown children who live in the USA. She is pretty much my Dominican mother, giving me more food than I could possibly eat, laughing when I put up my mosquito net wrong, and always checking on where I am going and when I will be back. Speaking Spanish has turned out to be a lot easier for me than I thought it would (it HAS been six years, after all), so communication has been really easy. I feel like this lady is the godmother of the neigborhood. She speaks with a commanding voice, immediately capturing all attention when she is in the room. She really rules the roost. The whole neigborhood knows her, and I am beginning to think that the whole neigborhood is related to her in one way or another. She never calls me by my name, but always by "mi amor" ("my love").

Also living here is Carlos, a cousin of the Dona's. From what I can tell, he owns a farm in the country side but likes to come into the city for extended visits. He and I have bonded over a mutual appreciation of the Boston Redsox. Maria is another person in the house. I am not sure if she's a friend, or a relative, but she has certainly been around for a while. I think she might be in her eighties or nineties. She is very small, and sort of reminds me of the pictures of Mother Teresa. She spends all day in the kitchen, cooking and cleaning, talking to her pet parrot, singing, and even dancing on occasion. Every time I enter the room she gives me a big hug and tells me she loves me. It's easy to feel welcome when I am being shown such affection all the time.

I live on a street that is usually sleepy and quiet. The silence is broken when a truck comes by that is completely loaded up with speakers blairing Salsa or Meringue music. It happened three times yesterday afternoon. I haven't figured out yet whether or not these trucks are trying to advertise something. Carlos told me that the music is so that people can stop whatever they are doing and dance in the streets. I am definitely not in Kansas anymore.