I just received my first visitor since coming to the Dominican Republic almost eight months ago! Mom decided that she just couldn’t take it anymore. She had to come see me! And it was pretty great to have my mom here, to show her my town and see how everyone reacted to her. The general reaction: “Ay, pero tu mama es jovencita! Podia ser tu hermana! Es tan bonita! Ella es mas bonita que Laura!” Oh, but your mom is so young! She could be your sister! She’s so pretty! She’s prettier than Laura! (My host dad repeated that last one a lot… thanks Papo.) In short, they all loved her. When she met Victoria, my host mom, they both teared up and hugged each other… and I realized that my moms from completely different worlds are really very similar. At one point Victoria asked, “How did you let your daughter go away for so long?” And mom just gave her a look like, “If it were up to me…” Then Victoria said I should stay here for Christmas and mom gave her a death stare and they both laughed. Much interpreting was needed, but some things are universal.
Victoria also cooked several meals for us so mom could try some Dominican staples (viveres, salami, rice and beans, tostones, cheesy spaghetti), and she liked it all! And everyone (friends, acquaintances, the motoconcho guys on the highway) made a point of telling her that they love me and are taking good care of me. That was really nice. I hope all this made her worry about me less, but maybe nothing will make you worry less about your child living in a developing country for two years.
So we spent two days in the Capital and three days in Tabara, which was a perfect amount of time for mom to walk all over the place and meet more people than she could ever remember, and for me to become exhausted from translating. And more people keep asking me why I didn’t introduce them to my mother! Ay, Dios. You can’t make everyone happy. But they do all tell me that they saw us walking around and that my mother is very beautiful and that they hope she will come back and stay for two months next time. My Dominican family sent her off with six avocados, two pieces of yucca, and a bag of fresh picked coffee from the loma… Gotta bring a little bit of Tabara home to the rest of the family!
Also, Mom took lots of pictures! Here are a few:
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| My moms! |
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Mom and some of my Dominican family!
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| With my neighbor Lou, my most frequent visitor (she checks in about every 10 minutes). |
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| Cooking with Sami and Victoria |
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| Cousins |
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| Papo and his rooster, so proud |
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| Sisters |
So exciting! It must have been so hard to say goodbye. You look beautiful and so happy :) The DR is doin you goooood. Miss and love you!
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