January brings holidays!

Though I was worried a bit that January would be rough, after having just spent 2 1/2 glorious weeks soaking up the sun and doing nothing but reading and relaxing, I needn't have been concerned. This month we have a couple holidays and yesterday we took advantage of the time off to go white water rafting in nearby mountain town Jarabacoa!
We got there early and stuffed ourselves with some good ol' Dominican mangu (smashed plantains) before wetsuiting up to brave the rapids. Our group was 10 strong, so we split into 2 boats. The first part was Class III rapids, and definitely came with its share of terrors. I was personally not a fan of the part where I fell out of the boat and bruised my body tumbling over pointy rocks, though I guess I should count myself lucky that I wasn't in the other boat that went headfirst into a cliff wall. Good times good times
It's the only place in the country where you can white water raft, and the river wound in and out of green scenic rolling mountains and sleepy barrios. Quite picturesque when you weren't cringing at the trash littered all along the side. The adventure company supplied you with (somewhat ill-fitting) helmets and life vests-about the safest I've ever felt down here in the DR! True our guides didn't speak much English aside from "Get down get down!" but that's really all you need to know, right??

My teacher assistant's birthday was last Friday and for that I had the class throw a little "surprise" celebration for her (though since I let both classes do it the emphasis was less on the "surprise" part for the 2nd group in the afternoon). We had confetti and kazoos and a princess crown ready for her to wear. Judging by their level of excitement and lack of attention span the rest of the day, I would venture a guess that it was the first time any of them had ever seen confetti. They seemed to really like rolling around on the floor in it. Cheap entertainment

My favorite student journal entry so far this year:
"What are you going to do this weekend?"
I gif Teacher Lesa uf cis.

Another holiday coming up on Monday...working 4 days off 3? Really not such a bad life :)