Vainas

Over two years ago I unsuccessfully started a blog in the hopes that my beloved family and friends could keep in touch with me while I left on my grand Peace Corps adventure. The hope was that I would be able to post on the blog and not have to personally send everyone e-mail updates about that various vainas in my life. The reality is that I posted 4 times and never e-mailed anyone. So that plan failed...

Sometimes things get in the way; things like, womens groups, campo gossip, rice and beans, playing with my dog, falling in love, killing tarantulas, going to the beach, community meetings, making friends, traveling, fighting with a motorcycle taxi over the price (ok, that just happened today. Too soon), etc. These are the vainas (things) of everyday life here that stop me from posting on my blog, but I'm willing to try again.

The name of the blog comes from one of my favorite all-purpose words in Dominicano (let's face it there's nothing Spanish about it), vaina. Basically the word means "thing," but is so versatile that it can actually be the only noun in an entire sentence. Example: Hand me that vaina, no the other vaina, the one that's on top of the vaina that you use to cut vainas. Another clever use is in a phrase such as "Que vaina mi vida;" Very similar to the English phrase FML (if you know, you know).

I want to use this to keep everyone informed about what and how Kelvin, Lula, Baby and I are doing. I know that inquiring minds want to know. So in summary, I will continue not e-mailing anyone, but hopefully my new turned-over leaf and new highspeed internet will motivate me to post here.

Here's a picture from Gramma Ginny in the Colonial Zone in Santo Domingo a few days before the wedding.