¡Feliz Navidad!

Our last day of school was Wednesday and boy does it feel good to be done for a while!

It was a crazy week-we exchanged the 3rd and final present of our Angelitos de Navidad (Secret Santas) at a party at the directors house. I had previously gotten coffee, chocolates, and cookies and for the last gift was given a nice bottle of perfume. I think I did pretty good, especially considering some of the other things people got (A trophy whose plaque reads "drama queen"? No thank you!).

On Wednesday we had a half day and the kids all brought in food for our classroom Christmas party-pastelitos, grapes, gummy candy, quipes, pizzitas, soda, cake, and cookies. After reading that list of goodies we ate at 9 in the morning, you shouldn't be surprised to know that yes, one kid did throw up. Right before he remembered he hadn't passed out his cookies yet, which got him excited alllll over again (I asked him, "Seriously?! But you just threw up!"). A bunch of my students brought in presents for me, and it was so touching to see how excited they were to give me something nice as their way of saying "I love you". And the chocolates and eggnog and jewelry and clothes were exciting in their own right. ;)

Then on Thursday the entire staff boarded 2 buses to go to Santo Domingo for the day for our school-wide Christmas party where there was a Brugal TRUCK parked outside. Free drinks, baskets of goodies placed on every table, catered lunch and dessert, live band and dancing. And the best part of all: the raffle. WHERE I WON A DVD PLAYER! The irony in that prize being that I don't actually have a TV in my apartment...So in a way it's going to end up actually being quite an expensive give-away for me.

And the most exciting part of it all: my sister comes today! And my parents come next week! With my sister we'll be going to the beaches up North (fingers crossed for no rain) to go horseback riding, shopping, swimming, boating, etc etc. We'll get our nails and hair done, go to a baseball game, see the Dominican nightlife. It's a packed itinerary, let me tell you.
And then next week we'll meet up with our parents in Santo Domingo where we will then travel to Bayahibe to spend a week at a resort. And they fly out New Years Eve.
I cannot WAIT to see them!

That makes this my last blog for 2008. See you in the new year! :D