Dominican House Cleaning 101

I recently made the decision to move out of my current house and move into another house with two of my friends here, Amy Green and Amy Babb. After a long search we found the house we wanted and sealed the deal. Yesterday my friend and house cleaner, Nina, and I cleaned the house from top to bottom. I learned a few lessons about the proper way to clean a Dominican house.

Materials needed:
Hose
Bucket with soapy water
broom

Procedure:
Scrub every surface, cealing to floor with broom and soapy water. Rinse with hose. Sweep out excess water.

Conclusion:
A very effective way to clean a house, and actually quite fun to be spraying a hose inside the house. All the houses here are made out of concrete brick with tile floors, and any wood surface is highly varnished to protect it from the humidity and bugs, so the houses are literally water proof. Except for the electrical sockes in the walls, which I tried not to think about as I was spraying the wall with the hose....

So, today is moving day! I am very excited. I'll post some pictures of the new house soon.

another try

So, I've realized that I am kind of a terrible blogger. Sometimes it is hard for me to believe that people actually read the things that I write on this blog, so sometimes I don't put the effort into it that I should. But after being home for a few weeks, I had many people tell me how much they enjoyed reading my blog. SO thank you! I will try to be more consistent in posting in this coming year.

This week it was back to the school. Not for classes yet, but for a week of cleaning and preparation. Today I cleaned my classroom to get it ready for painting tomorrow. The old, ugly light blue color will soon be covered with a cheery light yellow. I'll post pictures when it is all finished. This week we also have a day of vacation and I am hoping to make it to the beach one more time before classes start again on Monday.

On a plane, again...

I feel like I am always on the road. These past three weeks of vacation have been jam packed with lots of traveling. I started out my time in San Francisco, from there spent a week or so in Mariposa, then traveled to Atascadero, down to Aneheim, back up to San Luis Obispo, and then back to Mariposa again to do laundry and set out again. Today I'll travel to San Francisco to board a plane to head back to the Dominican Republic.

Although I've done a lot of traveling these three weeks, I feel strangely relaxed and ready for another go at it. I feel so blessed to have been able to spend great quality time with several very important people in my life. As I am getting older and more distant from my college years (I know, I'm still very young, but bear with me) I am realizing more and more how precious long lasting friendships really are. In college, I felt like I always had friends around me and there was always some sort of social activity available. Now that I am not in that environment, and I have been hear and there for the past few years, I don't feel like I have a huge circle of friends anymore. And that's okay, because I am realizing that the ones that last are truly precious. These past three weeks I have been blessed with spending time with a few of those lasting friends. Whether it was sitting on the beach with David, trying on wedding dresses with Marissa, or eating Sushi with DeeDee, I was often reminded and overwhelmed by the fact that I have truly been blessed with amazing friends.

Allow me to quote a great movie, "Moulin Rouge", that says "The greatest thing in all the world is just to love and be loved in return."

So simple, yet so true. Whether it is the precious, steadfast love of family and friends, or the sweet, never ending love of our Savior, it truly is the greatest thing. It is love that compels me. It is love that sustains me.