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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------{ April 22, 2008 }
Here comes the rain
Rainy season is just starting. The past three days have seen heavy afternoon showers so I will be taking my umbrella around with me everywhere. Last year it rained nearly every day in May so this year I am prepared. When Im in my house I love hearing the rain pound the tin roof. It completely drowns out any other noise and gives a great feeling of solitude. Also, now that some very generous people (my parents) donated a laptop to the association I will actually be able to get work done during rainy season if I am stuck at my house and cant go anywhere.
The Association is still heavy into the harvest and we have been very busy getting coffee prepared for our exporting contracts. The first shipping container is supposed to go out by the end of this month and the second in May. It has been hard getting all of the coffee dried because of the rain starting up but we are getting there. There is so much involved in the process of exporting and we are working hard and crossing our fingers that there are no major problems. So far just the rain, but our drying tunnels have plastic over them to prevent the coffee from getting wet. Obviously it wont dry as fast in the rain as it does in the sun but at least the workers dont have to run out and cover up the coffee every time it looks like it will rain. The second Quality Coffee Competition is coming up as well so our farmers are getting their coffee ready for that. We got a filing cabinet donated also and I have been wanting to close the office for a day just to organize the immense amount of paper that is in our small office but it has been hard to arrange it because of all the farmers that come in during harvest time.
I was playing in a volleyball tournament. My team lost but I enjoyed playing a sport again as it had been quite a while since I had played one. They get really into it…Ive only ever played backyard volleyball after barbeques or at the beach so Im not that good but I was getting better. The tournament is still going on and some of us will probably get together and play some when it is over.
Mom and dad came to visit last week and it was a nice visit, although short. We came to Juncalito and they met Alberto (my boyfriend) which was interesting. We had a sancocho (Dominican stew) dinner with a bunch of friends of mine. It was fun but my throat was dry by the end of the night from all the translating as my friends dont speak English and my parents dont speak Spanish. Mom understands more than she lets on though; I am convinced. Everyone remarked on how young my parents are and enjoyed either meeting them for the first time or seeing them again, as it was a year since the last time they were here. After Juncalito we went to the beach in Cabarete and Sosua with Cat, another volunteer. When we went to the beach at Cabarete, we went into a bar for happy hour just in time as it poured buckets about 10 minutes after we sat down. Fortunately we had cards, dominoes and free refill beer for happy hour. What more can you ask for on vacation? We also went to the Centro Leon, which is a museum in Santiago. There was a really well put together exhibit about baseball in the Dominican Republic that had the history of the sport in the country, how to play, information about Dominican street baseball and also about all of the players that have gone and played in the States.
Posted by katie at 06:16 PM | Permalink
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