A trip, a loss, and a game of kickball.

Well, it's official. Kind of sad, but official.

As of Saturday, I've been to the capitol city of 6 countries in the world...but never the capitol of my own country!! But - shhhh. Don't tell anyone. I mean, I'm a teacher for crying out loud!

On our "day off" we (the interns, the Woods' family, and myself) took a day trip to Santo Domingo. Having only been in Monte Cristi while being here, it was a fun change of pace. The first thing we did - oh, how exciting it was - was eat lunch at a Pizza Hut!! Who knew that it just takes a little cheesy goodness and a few bread sticks to make a girl happy? I might go as far as saying that it was the best pizza I've ever had. But that's probably just my growing weariness for rice talking...



I wasn't the only one who was excited, though. I think it might have been the highlight for everyone - besides the McDonald's we ate on the way home. I don't even like McDonald's and I still enjoyed my double cheese burger!!


Of course, I want to be very careful to not misguide you. I eat very well at the orphanage. The women that cook for us do a great job! I have not gone hungry, by any means. But, it was fun to have a little taste of home, if just for a day!


Besides eating, we also had a chance to walk around town. I bought a few small things, took a lot of fun pictures, got caught in the rain, ate REALLY GOOD ice cream (I guess that counts as eating...), and overall had a good day.



Then, yesterday, I did something really dumb. I left my purse in the park on the way home from VBS. I didn't have anything of much worth in there - except the cell phone I was given to use while I'm down here! Yikes! They actually gave me something to be responsible for, and I totally left it in a park. As a general cultural "rule", Domincans tend to see unattended things as fair game. I mean, if you're dumb enough set something down, it must not be very important, right? They're not crooks, they just take care of their stuff - and expect others to do the same. Needless to say, when we returned to the park an hour later, my purse was gone. :(

But then....we got a phone call! Someone found the purse, recognized the name of our country director in my phone, and decided to return it - purse and all!! As another general cultural "rule", it pays to know people. Dominicans are very social and rely heavily on personal connections. Good thing I know the right people! :) So, all is well. Purse is back. I'm all the wiser, and all the more thankful for it.


And finally, today, I played a game of kickball. Yep. Kickball. During the recreation block of VBS, I decided to join a game that some of our interns had coordinated. And, you know what? I had a lot of fun. Seems simple enough, right? It was just kickball. Some people might not have even called it that. We didn't have any bases, so we used pieces of cardboard we found in a trash pile. We didn't have a "kick ball" so we used an old, foam soccer ball. Most of the kids weren't wearing shoes. Most of the interns don't speak Spanish. It was quite a sight, I'm sure. But we had fun. I haven't laughed like that in a long time.

It occurred to me, as I was waving Maria to home base for our game-winning run, that this is what life is suppose to be. Impromptu kickball games with neighborhood kids in the middle of the summer. Boys versus girls. Makeshift equipment. No words, no worries.

This is it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Even Pizza Hut can't trump this experience. I'm so thankful. For life. For this experience. For God's goodness. For simplicity. And although I don't know what tomorrow brings, I'm here. Today. And if that's all I know, I know enough.