¡¡Feliz Año Nuevo!! and the in betweenz...

Happy New Years and all that jazz and i hope you've made your New Years Resoulutions or as i like to say- your New Years Revolutions- cuz i've made mine. Private thoughts of course (4now) but this seems to be a big year, one of the biggest, for a lot of us.
I was thinking about you the other day...Yeah YOU, the one reading this...... been missing our daily conversations and such about so & so. Can't wait to stop by soon. Well make sure to tell your family i said wassup and Happy New One as well.
Oh yeah tell your Momz my recipe for stewed chicken is THERE now ... lol

..Ok dipping back into sanity- i believe i left off at my late night convo. After returning from San Fran i basically cruised thru that week as normal. School in the morns, errands and cooking in the afternoon, and studying at night, followed by either sleeping (dreaming about dancing), or dancing (thinking about sleeping). No let me stop lol- not so routine but that really is the long and short of it. It beautiful here, but the type of place you want to spend all your time out lamping around. I'm actually getting a good dose of responsibility out here, moreso than ever because its just me this time. But er.. i'm flying, not falling. No really :-D

That same week i had a dream i was back in Static's Martial Arts class.- which is strange because i dream everynight but never about that era. Since he passed maybe 2 times in the 3 years. So there i was- 20 years old again- and standing in the back row. He was explaining the best way to cover great distance with a particular type of kick, but in his true fashion, the question also had some life significance. I said one answer, and the kid next to me, Donald said another. He said we were both right, and that we should listen to the other's answer for the complete truth. The funny(read: sad) part is i only remember the reply i said. So all my former Static-ites please do hit me up and help me drum up that other answer. The dream skipped and i was sitting, still in back. He was in front, in our 1st school, not the newer one. But as he spoke to us all- he was only looking at me. His eyes seemed to zoom the length of the room and be right there, very serious but peaceful. He said said things that made so much sense to me i was actually there in the moment thinking "Yo! don't wake up! This is sounding more intelligent than anything you'll dream up"!!
Honestly i don't care if it sounds crazy but the vividness of that moment he me feeling like he actually stepped into my head that night to give me the advice i needed at the right time. Things left undone in NY and in general were beginning to stress me. Partly from all this quiet time mixed with my over-active mind. The prison effect i would say LOL but i woke up that morning feeling oddly refreshed, and more focused than ever.

.........................
That was until the end of the next week- Christmas. I'd realized that the day would mark my one month anniversary of being here, but i had nobody to celebrate it with (at least no one i wanted to) and i'´m not too keen on partying with stangers so far from my headslaughterz. It would be the first time i wasn´t with my fam and my Dominican family had to be in Santiago that weekend- no room for me to sleep. But as it turned out- Xmas was excellent.

My teacher invited me to his house in Monte Llano (Mon-teh Jah-no) that friday and then again for Christmas cena (dinner) the following evening. That dinner was delicious and i was glad to be around a large family- even if not my own. We laughed and drank, and played Dominos. I brought some Ponche de Creme(Punch-a-Cream you blasted Trini's and islanders) as its the perfect time of year for that. I left around 11pm with a great buzz and a better stomach. Hopped the Publico taxi for 25 pesos back to Sosua. Mind you i had to set him correct on the proce- he tried to say 75 pesos. What! No precios para una turista please.
Got home and my neighbors we home from Jairabacoa. The wife's sister and hubby were in from Canada and we all danced to Merengue and Salsa. It was hilarious because the 2 were new learners so you and i know how that goes. Well i do LOL. After more dominos and more drinking, i and Chris Kringle called it a (very hot) Winter night, and slept beautifully...

The next week i went back to San Francisco for the New Yizzy...

Midnight here (11pm in NYC) brought the expected gun salutes in the distance (Wow- its not only in New York!!) but also another element i failed to mention all December- FIREWORKS. and PLENTY. I mean this is the JULY 4th of the Dominican Republic!
What was once one or 12 every few nights this month, became Normandy and Bombs over Baghdad from about 12am to 12:15am. All types of dangerous ones, 180´s, bottle rockets, pure sticks of dynamite (OK, no on that last one lol :-p)And then after that the colorful ones were sprouting into the air. And this was el campo (the country)- i can´t imagine what the big cities were like. Reminded me of New York before Guiliani made fireworks illegal (per se ...lol), but surround by the silhoutte of tall mountains 360 degrees.

I wish i could show them those new fireworks boxes i saw somewhere far this past July. The ones that have like 10 different types and once you light it it goes on for like 10 minutes literally. Those are a lot safer as far as getting your hands blown off and have good variety i think.


But something else blew up that night. My maldita (damn) brain. I could´nt speak a lick of spanish. At a roof top party with Hiro my sentences were falling apart, and i wasnt even drinking. I felt like a big bag of blah blah.The next day the fam and i went to attend a luch, or so i thought. i guess i missed it in Spanish that it was a prayer service for the recently deceased. Sadly, the prior week, an older gentlemen that i may have met in NYC had passed on. His lovely wife had spent the week praying and mourning, and Sunday would be no exception.
I felt so avergonzado (embarrased) because i´d worn such a cusaul outfit and if i´d heard correctly i´d had thrown a nicer camisa on. But i had shoes on so it wasnt so bad. Papa Leen flew in from Queens with his esposa and she and him also brought along a nephew. Papa Lin was the greatest the last time i was here and i wanted to cheer him up. But my damn spanish... good thing he speaks english pretty well.

During the prayer that night many people showed up, and we sat sang. It was basically everything Biblical you hear in English, just in Spanish. I struggled through that but 2 hrs later it was finished. I was greatful to speak with the widow and listen to her wiser words. She seemed strong at this time, and in the New Year.
The next day i went home, and thats when i came up with the subject of my next blog:

Observations...