Residencia Abdimar

Residencia Abdimar, our new home, is a beautiful condo. It is only 8 months old and so everything is new and clean. It is a 6 floor condo community with about 36 condo units. Almost all of the condos are owned by people who live in the capital, Santo Domingo. When we arrived I only noticed one other person living in the building, however, once the weekend came around the pool and beach was full of people. Residencia Abdimar is a weekend getaway for most of the owners. I have come to love the quiet of the week and having all of the facilities all to ourselves, yet look forward to the commotion of the weekend full of families, loud music, LOTS of Presidente (the local beer) and barbeques.
Besides the one full time resident, the only other people here during the week is the armed guard (often times with no bullets), the building administrator-Elizabeth, and the maintenance crew-Paublo, Flaco, Orlando, and Juanito. The maintenance crew takes care of the grounds and also acts like a concierge service. They will run to the market for you, take your trash, help with unloading the groceries, set up the beach chairs and umbrella on the beach, chase after a certain little someone who likes to run around the pool and most importantly they will store your Presidente in the freezer by the pool and keep your cup full. Everyone is most helpful and friendly.
We settled quickly into our home away from home and tried to learn as much about our surroundings as possible. Across the street is a little market that carries most of the essentials, including the 5 gallon water bottles that we have to use for all of our drinking and cooking needs, as the tap water is not safe for consumption. We did a lot walking up and down the main street just checking out what our new town has to offer. There is a lot of construction with new condo buildings going up and lots of little shops selling artwork, cigars and other type of souvenirs. We do a lot of walking. Senora X and Miss O take a walk each morning while I have school with the girls.
Since Miss M and Miss P would be missing school for a few months, I made sure to meet with their teachers before we left to gather as much educational materials as possible. The teachers set me up with plenty to do with them. Since Baby R sleeps the longest in the morning, we decided that I would hold class each morning. I work with Miss M and Miss P for a few hours. I have discovered that teaching your own children is much more difficult than teaching a classroom of 30. It is hard to keep them focused, but we do manage to get things done after I start telling them that we can’t go swimming until they finish their work. Once finished, we put our suits on and head down to the pool and beach.
After several hours outside, we usually come in for a nap. It doesn’t take long for everyone to fall asleep, including myself and Baby R. After a few hours of shuteye, we either head back to the pool or set off for a walk. Our days are pretty stress free and slow paced with only the occasional temper tantrum and lots of diaper changing. In addition to school and swimming, the girls do a lot of coloring, art projects, sea shell collecting, mosquito killing, eating, buying popsicles and running around the grounds. They also have their DS game system and their cartoons in espanol to enjoy. There is only 1 clock in the house and most of the day I have no idea what time it is, rather I just run through our routine and before I know it, it is time for bed.
Some days we head into the nearest town of San Pedro to eat pastelles (kinda like tamales) and to go to the grocery store called Jumbo. Just getting to San Pedro is always an adventure. It requires us to catch a bus from the main road, go about 15 minutes to the town and then catch another bus to the market. Since there are 7 of us with 4 being children it is not exactly easy when you mix in lots of fast driving cars and motorcycles, heat and humidity, overcrowded transportation, super loud music on the bus and at least one child upset about something. There is certainly never a dull moment on our outings.
I have found 2 churches; one is real close to us and is an outdoor church, the other one is a beautiful cathedral in San Pedro. The outdoor church has a really special mass. There is something pretty awesome about being outside during mass that I really enjoyed, but the heat was just too much for my kids. The cathedral has no AC, but lots of fans that make it comfortable. Since traveling with everyone is quite a job, I usually just take Baby R and 1 of the older girls when I do go to San Pedro for mass.
I am certainly getting the hang of how to get around, and would say that I do a so-so job of communicating with people in Spanish. Most of the places we go and the people we see live in poverty; many of the places are dirty with trash all over. We see lots of children without shoes and young children on the hustle trying to shine your shoes or braid your hair. There are also many old men pushing heavy carts selling fruit and vegetables. By American standards we would be quick to feel sorry for them and think that life must be miserable here, as was my first feelings, but as you start to look deeper into Dominican life you notice that for most people here, they are quite happy. There is a lot of laughter in the children, people are courteous and quick with a smile, the old men are singing as they push their carts and the even older men playing their dominoes under a tree seem the happiest of all. Maybe it is all they know, or maybe they make do with what they have, I am not really sure but what I do know, is that there is something profound to be said that less may actually be more.