Ten Days to Go - and How to Mop (or Not)

There are 10 days to go to election day so by the time I write my next blog I will either be the First Lady of Guayacanes and life will changed dramatically, or I won’t be and life will continue in the mountains.

In the meantime I get on with looking after the animals – we have 10 new baby chicks which I have managed to keep alive so far – and working to try and raise campaign money.

I had a visitor a week or so ago, Heather who I have known for years since she lived near Juan Dolio working in the bateys – the sugar cane areas where the Haitian workers and their families live.

She used to come and see us at the weekends for a hot shower, a swim and an Indian curry. She was back in the DR for a week bringing a group of school children to volunteer in the batey and Danilo took a day off from campaigning to bring her up to me. The only problem was that the house was filthy as I have no time to clean and since the neighbour’s chickens keep flying into our garden only to be terminated by the dogs, it is less stress all round for me not to let the dogs outside – which means more mess.

I happened to mention to a neighbour, Angela, that I needed to clean and she said she would come and help, as only a Dominican would. I still had loads of work to do, so my plan was to get the work finished and then clean, especially as I found out that Danilo would pick Heather up at 10pm rather than the agreed 10am – Domininican time.

Angela arrived at 8.30 and told me to leave her to get on with it and she would start upstairs. She explained she would firstly get rid of the dirt and then mop as the floor had to be clean before you mopped. Whatever – all I know is that Dominican mopping leaves floors pristine clean compared to my English mopping. All you need is a mop and a bucket of water with disinfectant and bleach. No fancy squeezy thingies.

So I just carried on working. An hour or so later I saw water pouring into the dog house, then down all the windows, then down the stairs. I went to investigate and Angela said you got the dirt out with water, not with a brush. You just poured water everywhere then swept it outside. The only problem was that all of our ways outside have steps on them to stop the water coming in, and by the time she had finished upstairs and down, we had around 500 gallons of water in the house on the floor and no way of getting it straight out. She pointed out that that was ridiculous that there was no way of sweeping the water out and how on earth did I mop. I explained I mopped the English way and she pointed out that was why the house was not very clean lol.

I suggested the fire brigade, but she told me they didn’t suck water, they squirted it, and anyway they never had any (we could have filled up the truck), so the final solution was 8 hours of mopping, squeezing and using everything we could to get rid of the bloody water. By the time that Heather arrived at midnight, the house was pristine. She brought Chivirico with her too which was an extra bonus

It was lovely to see her but then back to election fever.

Danilo has meetings all this week and is working non stop talking to people - old and young.

On Saturday 7 (unless moved which would not surprise me), he has his closing event which is really important as it will show how much support he has – he still thinks he is well in the lead as long as we can find enough money to get people to the polls on the Sunday. I remember the one six years ago as if it was yesterday (with my nose making an appearance).

There have been a few election hiccups in that having spent millions on scanning machines so that the ballot papers are scanned and then the results announced automatically, no one believes the machines will work so it has now been agreed that the presidential count will also be done manually. So far the votes for senator, deputies and mayors will rely on the machine which is causing great trepidation. I did suggest to Danilo that the people in the election offices should count the votes as they put them into the machine but apparently that is not allowed - they have to put them in without looking at who was market on the ballot paper - which is adding even more doubt to the process.

Should he win, Danilo has decided my job will be as International Adviser – which is a non paid position lol. I will need to work with foreigners to try and help the municipality but I will be looking for ways for people to help themselves.  He is going to reopen a closed down college and I will be looking for volunteers to come and run programs to help the local people especially the youth, to learn at least the beginnings of a trade such as plumbing, mechanics, electrical, computing, anything technical. The positions will be unpaid (lol) but if anyone wants to come from overseas they can stay free with us with free food. After a short training period I want to see if I can then set up apprenticeships with local businesses so that people get jobs and businesses get help and both with the advantage of first world expert training. Maybe I can also work with the government training college Infotep which has a branch in San Pedro.

It will all be very exciting and I can’t wait to get started – just have to wait 10 days to see and cash to get people to the voting station to raise. Watch this space as they say.

A crisis of conscience

To Dominicans family is very, very important. Children will always support their parents financially in their old age, there are only few occupations with pensions, and would never dream of putting them in an old people’s home. They will move in with the parents or vice versa to ensure they are well looked after.

There are three events when the whole family will pull together: death, jail and hospital. If any member of the family is involved in either of these three, everyone will turn up to visit and give financial assistance even if they have to borrow to do it. When I was shot, Danilo's two sisters came and stayed in the hospital for a few days, washing me and looking after me. There was no questions that they would do this.

Danilo’s parents were both dead when I met him, so we did not have to provide for them. In fact we have been lucky with the rest of his family in that they rarely asked for or needed anything. We gave a small amount of money to his full brother when he was in hospital but only around £100. His sisters have never asked for anything.

His half brother, Antonio had a stroke about 9 months ago and we had to send something, even though we did not have much, he had nothing at all. And this is where my problem starts in that if we are broke why do we have to send money we do not have. To Dominicans there is no question. I know I feel selfish as I begrudge having to send money we could do with, but Dominicans have no selfishness when it comes to supporting the family – it is just something you do. If we don’t send it I feel very guilty so we sent the money.

A few weeks later, Danilo’s aunt died and he announced he had to go to the funeral in Barahona. Not only did we not have the money for the fare but we were also due to go to Barahona anyway the following week. He tried to make me understand that he HAD to go, that is what Dominicans did, but in the end I prevailed and luckily the final day of the wake – the ninth day, was the day we were due to arrive there, so he went then and gave them some money – as you do.

And now there is another issue. The brother who had a stroke has a child who is 8 years old. The mother is a Haitian who dumped the boy on the father when he stopped paying child support. Antonio is Danilo’s half brother and has not been able to work since the stroke – not that he appeared to do much beforehand. Apparently one of Danilo’s sons saw the kid begging on the beach for money which he would take back to his father so he brought the child here to stay with him and a female friend of his. Danilo's son works in the capital, Santo Domingo, so he left the child with his friend and she appears to be looking after him even though she isn't even related. That is what Dominicans do. They all help.

The child, Albert, came here last weekend with Chivirico. There is nothing wrong with him, but I, again selfishly, don’t want him to live with us. He has nowhere else to go. Should I be Dominican and simply take him in as any Dominican would, or do I say he has to find somewhere else and feel guilty about it. I can’t help the way I feel, I don’t want him living with us. Chivirico was not that impressed with him either and was happy when he left yesterday to go back to the woman he is currently living with.

Albert with Chivirico. Both almost the same age

He is only a child. He had no say in his mother, who dumped him, nor his father who is physically unable to look after him. My selfish side says why should I have him, and Danilo’s Dominican side says we have to help this kid.

What do I do? I think I have adapted to the Dominican way of life but when it comes to something like this my British side comes out and I opt for self preservation, not for giving it all up to help the family. But I feel guilty.

New beginnings

Number 2 stepson, Alberto, is 'married ' i.e. living with, which is Dominican married, to Chivirico's aunt Ana. Last Monday she gave birth to a baby girl, Adibel, which makes me a step grandmother.

Here she is just after she was born weighing 7 lbs 7 ounces. She was born by Cesarean section which is how most children are born in the DR. Not because a C section is needed but because the doctors want to make more money which was exactly what happened in this case. The doctor told Ana she would not be strong enough to push the baby out, carried out a C section and charged RD$40,000 which is nearly US$1,000. They have insurance which covers 80% but then had to find RD$8,000 which is more than Alberto's monthly wage and way beyond the reach of the majority of Dominicans. Family and friends usually have to come to the rescue as mother and baby were held hostage by the clinic until the bill was paid. In this case it was my mother and we were all extremely grateful.

Ana is now staying with her mother until she is "out of risk" or "fuera de riesgo". This takes 41 days but I am not sure what she is at risk of. She has cotton wool in her ears and socks on her feet to stop cold air getting into her body and cannot eat eggs or pork. She is not supposed to bathe during her "risk time" but she is doing so.

Chivirico thinks his new cousin is very pretty, but was more than pleased that he has finished school and can come and stay with us for the holidays until August. He wants to stay with us after then and go to school here, so fingers crossed his father and his grandparents will let him.

When I learned that Ana was pregnant I can't say I was over the moon, as I am now so accustomed to first world thinking that you should be financially stable, with good jobs and a nice home before you start a family. Everything is programmed so that it happens at the 'right' time. But as I was looking down at Adibel, laughing at me, just six days old, I remembered that so often I compare the Dominican Republic to the UK in the 1950s.

I was born only just over 10 months after my parents married, and Mum would tell me that women had a child as soon as possible in case anything happened to their husband. My Dad was a navigator in the Air Force and there were conflicts all over the world in the 1950's. Plus the memory of the Second World War was very raw. I was born when my parents were living in a rented room, and then a caravan. Not so very different from the wooden house where Adibel will be brought up.

And another new beginning. I make my living working for various clients, writing, doing marketing, translating and my main client has decided to probably close his business. This will mean a major hole in our income. So it has forced me to get off my backside and launch something I should have done ages ago.

I spend a lot of time answering emails to ladies who want to know if their boyfriend is a sanky panky, or wanting them investigated or people wanting information about the DR. I get asked to translate text messages, asked how to find a job, about schools and accommodation. I receive between 100 and 200 emails a month and have always tried to help free of charge. But now i have decided to make a business out of it - or try to. DR Sisterhood has been launched as a membership service where people can have access to me and other ladies for help and information and to be their eyes and ears in the country. Fingers crossed it works!

In the meantime Chivirico is helping collect the eggs for breakfast!

And as I sit here typing this he is making biscuits to go and sell. The puppies ate my cell phone (and a diary, two books, four CDs, 2 rolls of tape and a cushion) so I nicked his phone and told him I would get him another one. He wants an iPhone so has to make a few thousand pesos first. Methinks will end up with a basic phone again!

Chivirico and the school uniforms - Part 2

We delivered the uniforms on Monday at 8 in the morning and the children were milling around waiting for the Head to arrive.

There were some kids there who don't have a uniform but had tried their best with what they had. These two both received a new uniform so that they could go to school now.

Firstly we had to join in morning prayers, watch the Dominican flag being raised and sing the National Anthem.

Then it was off to each class to hand out the uniforms.

The lady next to me is the head mistress.

All in all a very successful day and 50 children can now attend school, thanks to the generosity of those members of Chivirico's facebook group. The whole event was videoed and shown on local television. I tried to download the video onto my computer but it wouldn't work for some reason so I played it on the television and used the computer webcam to film it and then downloaded it onto You tube. You can see it here although the quality isn't the best! In case it doesn't work on here you can click here and go to You tube.

Chivirico and the school uniforms - Part 1

Some friends came from the USA and Canada and met Chivirico. They very generously gave him some money to buy his school uniform, and off he went to the first day at school. The following weekend I asked him how school was going, and he said fine, but there were only 7 people in his class, as the others did not have the money to buy their uniform. No uniform, no school. I posted thanks to those who had given him the money on his Facebook page – Chivirico the Bodyguard. Suddenly I was overwhelmed with people offering to buy the children uniforms.

So I went to the shop and asked how much a uniform would cost, a pair of trousers, shoes, two shirts and a pair of socks. Total average cost RD$1,200 which is about US$30. I posted the information on his page and the money came flooding in. Some bought one, some two and some more. It was staggering. People forwarded the message to their friends and they offered to help too.

The head mistress provided me with a list of who needed a uniform. She was supposed to put the sizes but mostly it was just the ages. The school is what we call an infant school in English, the first 5 grades plus kindergarten. Some of the kids are 12 or more though as they started school late.

Ana, Chivirico’s aunt, went and visited all of the kids on the original list of around 80 students – half of the school total, and crossed off those who had a uniform but just had not gone to school, and those who did not want to go as they were working instead – usually as shoe shine boys. She then came with me to the shop to help put everything together as she had a better idea of the right sizes for the right kids.

I then went to pick up the money which had come by Xoom to my bank account here, into my British bank and by Western Union. That is when things got a little sticky. I was already wondering what sort of reception Danilo would get in Western Union when he handed over his long list to pick up – they would be bound to think he was a sanky panky, but we used his name as he goes into town every day to University. Well WU has some new rule that you can only pick up two deposits a day, so I had to call the shop and confirm I could have some of the uniforms on credit until we managed to pick up all of the WU money.

Then it was off to Banco Popular to take out the Xoomed money, which was no problem. Then to take out the money from England but they had a new machine in the bank which you have to put your PIN in. It was behind the counter so I couldn’t put my PIN in. I offered to give the number to the bank teller but that is against the rules, so I offered to come behind the counter. That is against the rules too. The only option was to go outside to the cash machine and withdraw 4 times, as there is a maximum of RD$10,000 a time. First withdrawal was fine. Second said go away you fraudulent person, or words like that. So I had to call India. My bank is in the UK but their customer services team is in India, which is useful as I get good curry making tips.

I tried to call but the phone wouldn’t work, even though it had plenty of minutes on it. Off to Claro, the phone company, who told me that I cannot use the minutes I pay for on my contract as they are a different type of minute. If you want to call overseas you have to buy more minutes, which although the same minutes, allows you to call overseas, and India. Bought minutes, called India, said I was me and not a thief, got the money out.

Then it was off to pay for the uniforms. Each one had been carefully put in their own plastic bag and numbered but some were lacking shirts which the owner had been to buy at the warehouse the previous day.

Every bag had to be opened though to see if they had shirts, and all were tightly knotted. The new shirts were put in and every bag tied up again. Then the owner thought he had better check the bill, so every bag was opened again, items called out, added up and the bags tied up again.

We had money left over so I bought notebooks and pencils and at last everything was loaded into the car and we drove home. Then every bag had to be unknotted again and the notebook and pencil put in.

Each bag had a label with the name of the student, who had gifted them the uniform and which country they lived in, and a message from Chivirico telling them to take care of their uniform and study hard.

Tomorrow morning at 8 am we will go to the school and hand them over to the kids. The headmistress is supposed to have told them all, and the TV and press are supposed to be turning up too. I am sure it will be total chaos, but fingers crossed all will go well and 50 kids will now be able to go to school.

What started as a thank you for one child a week ago, has snowballed into a massive thank you with people from all over the world coming together to help a little barrio school. Totally amazing.

Homeless in Hispaniola

As you know I am moving house, and husband is sorting it all so I will not be stressed. The plan was for me to move into a hotel the night before the move and then move into the house. All he had to do was move the furniture, cats and dogs. This will be done Dominican style which I must admit I find a little stressful having nothing to do with packing crates, removal vans and wrapping things in newspaper, so just as well to be out of it.

last time we moved

The day I left, Wednesday, all was quiet in the house and he told stepson Alberto not to start moving anything or cleaning anything so that the cats (7 of them) stayed calm, and he and I drove off in convoy to the hotel, with me in front in my jeep and him behind. I could see he was on the phone all the time, which I always tell him not to do when he is driving. Not that he listens to me.

We arrive at the hotel, and he gets out of the car and announces that he was on the phone as there was an emergency. Alberto decided to totally ignore him, and started clearing stuff out. A cupboard had fallen on his head, splitting it open, he screamed, half of the barrio came running as they love a drama, all the cats had done a runner and Alberto was currently in hospital. Hey ho. Another one who doesn't listen. Luckily he ended up not having a fractured skull and only 6 stitches, and returned back to our cat free house.

As you may realise from the title, it is now Friday and I am still at the hotel. It is supposedly five star but is being used as a training hotel so is an interesting and typically Dominican experience.  I had already seen the rooms which are a reasonable size, with a balcony and big window. I checked in and was taken to my room. It was a cupboard, on top of the disco, with no balcony and no window. I think I am the only guest in the hotel. I announced I wanted a decent room, and the porter called the receptionist and told me that she had said that she didn't know I knew what the other rooms were like so had given me the worst. At the same price. There is logic for you. I moved rooms. There is no shampoo, but the reception gave me body lotion and said that was the same. I decided I needed a tot of rum last night, and rang to order it and asked how big a tot was. They said small, so I said send me two then. They arrived with a litre bottle explaining you could have one tot or a bottle but not two tots.
I have no idea when I am leaving here. Should have been yesterday, might be today, but more likely Saturday as there appear to be a few hitches in the move.

One of the cats, Cojo, which means 'cripple', very non PC I know, is missing. He only has three paws so I doubt he has gone far as he can’t hop very fast. The barrio is hunting for him. He has already had a hard life being born pawless, and a couple of years ago fell off the roof and impaled himself on a spike, so I hope he makes the move.

Cojo is the black one with his brothers

The book, What about your saucepans? is selling well I think and is now available on all of the Amazon websites, both as a paperback and a Kindle version, as well as other on line book stores such as Barnes and Noble. It is getting some great reviews which is very rewarding. Thanks so much to those of you who have bought it.
Next time you hear from me I should be in my new house in the mountains. ‘Should’ being the operative word.

The move begins

It is nearly time to move out of the barrio and into the campo, the countryside. In order to save me being stressed, my husband said that he would be in charge of everything. He is currently doing renovations on the house we are moving to, basic things like building walls, sorting electricity and water, sticking the roof on and planting trees in the garden. He is also slowly moving furniture in there. He has taken control of absolutely everything, including decorating. I had asked him to think carefully about the cats and dogs, to try and make sure they were kept separate.
He told me not to worry as he had installed cat flaps – I was intrigued as I had never seen them on sale here. Here is his cat flap.

As the outside wall is high up, he has built steps for the cats.

Now I know that some people are going to shake their heads at my new cat flap but it really makes me smile, and I know that every morning when I get up and am making the coffee I will laugh at it, starting the day off on the right note.

I asked for a vegetable patch too and was expecting one like England, a sort of square or rectangular area with different veg planted in rows, each seed 4 inches apart, with the seed packet on a little stick at the end. I don't quite have that. I have palm trees with seeds scattered around the bases. Cauliflower, carrots, peppers, chillis and even parsnips.

Cauliflower already growing. You can see the packet stuck in the tree

And a couple of days ago half of our furniture moved into the new house.

Well I should say it left this house. No idea if it all arrived or fell off en route.

Whilst all of this chaos is going on in the campo, life goes on as normal for me in the barrio.

I went with Chivirico to the bank a couple of days ago for him to deposit 147 pesos he had saved up. When I looked at his bank book I saw that he had interest – 5 pesos, so I explained to him that the more money he had in the bank, the more money the bank would give him. Having thanked the cashier for giving him the interest, he went very quiet as we walked home and then disappeared for the rest of the day.

He reappeared in the early evening with a contraption he had made using some part from his Dad’s motorbike as a wheel and informed me that he wanted to make as much money as possible so that the bank would give him more interest. His plan is to buy and deliver 5 gallon water bottles which we all use as drinking water and which are very heavy.

His ‘wheelbarrow’ has been specially designed to carry the 5 gallon bottles of water. He will collect your bottle from the colmado and deliver it to your home for a 5 pesos delivery charge.

No idea what his next money spinning idea will be.

Happy New Year (and more on Dominican Men)

Happy New Year to you all and thanks again for reading. I have just checked the statistics for the last year and this blog has had 33,000 visits from 15,000 people in an amazing 130 countries. People from the USA visit it most, followed by Canada, the Dominican Republic, UK, France, Australia, Netherlands and Spain. We have one reader in Papua and New Guinea, one in Kazakhstan and one in Ethiopia! Amazing really and very rewarding to think that people all over the world are reading about the DR and my life in the barrio.

Those reading the blog last year

Last night was New Years Eve, and my husband cooked our traditional New Years Eve meal, san cocho.

It was just the family, he and I and the two boys, plus Chivirico and his aunt. A great time was had by all, but I must admit I was tucked up and well asleep by midnight.

I hope you all have a great 2013, and to start it off with a smile a little more on the culture of Dominican men.


Standard conversation with English man when I realise the car is missing.

Q: Where is the car?
A: I lent it to Jim as his isn’t working and he needs to pick up his wife.  He will bring it back in an hour.

Same conversation with a Dominican man

Q: Where is the car?
No reply. (The question often needs to be repeated. It has been suggested to me that husband suffers from Attention Deficit Syndrome. Personally I think it is damaged hearing due to years of loud music, or, more probably, Ignore The Question if the Answer is Difficult Syndrome).
Q: Where is the car?
A: Viene pronto. It will be here soon.
Q: I didn’t ask when it would be back, I asked where it was.
A: Casi esta llegando. It is almost here.
Q: Yes but where is it now.
A: No esta lejo. Not far away.
Q: Where exactly?
A: Cerca. Close
Q: Who has the car?
A: Ese viene. It’s coming.
Q: (Shouting by now) Where is the bloody car?

Standard phone call with English man

Q: Hi, where are you?
A: I am at Jim’s house discussing the car. I will be home in 30 minutes.

Same conversation with a Dominican man

Q: Hi, where are you?
A: Aqui. Here.
Q: Where exactly is here?
A: Aqui abajo. Here further down.
Q: What are you doing there?
A: Nada. Nothing.
Q: So why are you there doing nothing?
A: Hablando. Talking.
Q: Who are you talking to?
A: Hablando disparate. Talking rubbish.
Q: Who are you talking rubbish with?
A: Nadie. No one.
Q: When are you coming home?
A: Ahorita. Later
Q: Just so I get this right. You are there,wherever there is, talking rubbish with no one and will be back later.
A: Exactamente.

As you can see, Dominican men are excellent at not answering the question. I used to find it frustrating, now I find it amusing and any conversation asking for information is a challenge. There seems to be a total confusion between where and when. If I ask stepson where his brother is, he always says he will be back soon. Most odd.  I am sure it is not done deliberately, it is just the way it is.

Chivirico's Christmas

Christmas began for Chivirico and his family with ginger tea.  This is a Dominican tradition when you are invited to someone’s house for ‘ginger’.  Basically it is a tea made with ginger and various other herbs and is served with little biscuits. We were invited round to his house on the day before Christmas Eve, and I was fascinated with the stove. I am used to outdoor cooking stoves known as a fogon, but they are usually on a type of concrete table. This one was a metal drum with concrete on the top, holes at the side to push wood in and a hole at the top to put charcoal in. A multi fuel fogon. Amazingly inventive with the tea bubbling away on the top.

Christmas Eve, the family had a fabulous meal of chicken and pork, rice, Russian salad, Christmas bread and pasta salad.

After dinner, Chivirico came round to my house and relieved me of my bottle of rum for Santa, luckily there wasn’t much left in it, and also took a carrot to leave for the reindeer. He was so excited, I have no idea how he slept.

In the morning we awoke early and went to hide Chivirico’s presents in the dog crate at the back of the garden. Half munched carrots laid a trail to the crate. At 7.30 Chivirico arrived to open day 25 on his advent calendar. He said that Santa had been to his house as the bottle of rum was empty and the carrot had gone. He had searched but couldn't find any presents – he thought probably as he didn't have a chimney.  The search began in my house. Not one cupboard was left unchecked, and he searched under every bed ably aided by the dogs who thought it was some sort of new game.

Eventually he spotted the carrots in the garden and discovered the presents. Unbounded joy.

All of the presents were taken out and the names read on each one. They were then put into a sack to be taken to his house to be opened there.

I was surprised that he took his time opening each present and spent several minutes looking at each one before moving onto the next. There were also gifts for each member of his family. One of his favourite gifts was his chef's hat and apron sent from the US.

Plus his Winnie the Pooh cookbook.

Christmas day afternoon he came to my house to help me cook paella for dinner – no turkeys in barrio land so not quite a traditional English Christmas.

A big thank you to everyone who helped this Christmas to be so special for him and his family. Now life gets back to normal, well as normal as it ever is here.

Christmas comes to barrio land

Tangerines for sale at the side of the road

Christmas is coming to barrio land. The first thing you notice is all the fruit for sale, especially tangerines, apples and grapes. The stalls look beautiful all along the side of the road. Unfortunately the apples don’t taste quite the same as those in the UK, and the tangerines are not as sweet nor as juicy, but in my house a net of tangerines only last a few minutes as everyone wolfs them down.

The second sign that Christmas is approaching is that everyone in the barrio is cleaning the streets and painting their houses.  The dustbin men (garbage collectors I think in American) have been round twice a day to pick up all the rubbish and all the trees which have been trimmed.  Pits are being dug in gardens ready to barbecue the pigs and charcoal is being bought.

Due to the generosity of people on Chivirico’s Facebook page,  we had money to go shopping in Santiago to buy the presents on Chivirico’s list to Santa. One crazy city when you are used to barrio life, zipping around in public shared taxis, with six or seven people squished in and all the drivers think they are Michael Schumacher. Still it is the easiest and cheapest way to get around. Once we arrived at the toy shop I was shocked at the prices of toys. I have no idea how the average Dominican family manages at all. Still a fun time was had by all and I can’t wait for Christmas day to come for him.

Husband and I having fun

As well money for the list for Santa, RD$5,000 had been donated to give to his family to buy food for Christmas. That is around US$125. They had had no money for food at all for a couple of days this week, so we decided to give it to them on 19th of this month.  I took Chivirico into the bedroom to watch TV and my husband went outside to make reindeer noises. Suddenly there was this reindeer noise coming through the bedroom window, well a bit of a snort really. I said to Chivirico, “I think I just heard a reindeer passing.” He agreed and luckily there was another snort. He looked at me with a puzzled look on his face and then, whilst he was watching the television an envelope came flying in through the window and landed on the floor in front of him.

It was addressed to his grandmother from Santa Claus so we had to rush round to her house to give her the envelope. On arrival there he insisted on opening it.

I cannot explain the happiness there was in that little kitchen.

One Dominican family are going to have a great Christmas.

Also, the blog won an award for best blog in the Dominican Republic. You can see the award at the top of the page, and clicking on it will take you to the lovely comments made, and also some other great blogs about the DR. Thanks to all of you who voted, and a happy and peaceful Christmas to all readers of this blog and thanks so much for your support.