A Little Overwhelmed!

I really hope that the leak in the dining room ceiling gets fixed soon, I am really tired of holding my breath just waiting for the ceiling to open up and water just start raining down on the marble floor. Its hard because Tomas is at work and he has given the workers detailed instructions about what he wants done, and he has passed these instructions on to me but I am not that handy and I don't know how to tell the workers what I want and when I ask if they have done such and such a thing they say "Si". My tutoring session went well yesterday and I was excited with the amount of Spanish I knew, but I was discouraged by how much I had forgotten. I can't remember almost any of the verbs and I know that when I am talking to the workers I am making huge mistakes. For example I told them that the bathroom in my bed was working fine. The bathroom in my BED?! Goodness what they must have been thinking, at least I got a smile out of them. Of course they were kind enough to correct me. So long complaint short- I am discouraged with my lack communication skills and what is more annoying, I know the language for the most part! Its in my brain, I studied for 5 years and its just coming back to me more slowly than I had hoped. Also, I am bummed about my ceiling with its pretty crown molding getting messed up!

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, so we are gonna have a blast at the embassy so I'm will post more!

Em

6 weeks into our new life!

I has been a whirlwind of activity since moving to the Dominican Republic! I turned 26 and Tomas and Yesenia threw me a surprise birthday party at a beautiful restaurant on the water. I love living here so much and we have only just begun to explore all that the D.R. has to offer. We have made some really great friends already and have gone to wonderful parties. For the first month we lived in temporary housing, the house that we lived in temporarily was HUGE, way too big for us, although I miss the walk in closets a little...Our new and permanent house is equally amazing. It is a lot bigger than our house back home, but not as big as the one that we were staying in here. It is just right for us, and we absolutely love it! Tomas is working really hard and I am enjoying being a stay at home wife. I am thinking of starting my own tutoring service for embassy children, that way I can work from home and make my own hours and get a little spending money. Bailey loves living down here, her hair has gotten shorter and thinner which is great for me because she isn't shedding anymore. She also chases lizards now, Tomas says that she caught one the other day but it got away. I have started working out three times a week with a personal trainer and my lovely friend Yesenia and I am also starting to take Spanish lessons with a tutor and my other lovely friend Gosia. I was told today by the A.C. guys that my Spanish isn't that bad, but I am not ready to go have any deep conversations or anything.

I really miss my family and friends back home, but there is so much to do here it is really easy to not focus on missing people and so I haven't been totally homesick. I have told all of my friends and family that as soon as our house is unpacked we will welcome anyone who wants to come visit. I hate unpacking, Tomas is much faster at it than I am, I prefer the decorating!

Thats all for now, I have more contractors coming and I need to make sure that I keep an ear out for them since they don't ring the doorbell all the time!

Em