Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone! We were blessed to get to spend the holiday season with our (growing!) families in Minnesota, and hence, we fell behind on our blogging. Today we'll make up for it with a photo recap of our snowy, really really cold time in the north land.

We spent our first days in Duluth, with Nathan and Rebekah, who were patiently (it seemed to us, at least) awaiting their first child. We got a tree from the Farmers Market, ate at wonderful restaurants (wild rice burgers--who knew?!) and relaxed together. It was quite a temperature change...we left the Dominican and it was 85 degrees...we arrived in Minnesota and it was 30 below. Whew!
Because we're slightly crazy, we drove from Duluth to New Ulm, MN where we ran a 4-mile fun run with the Lundquist parents. From there, we drove to Gustavus Adolphus to celebrate Zach's football season at the team banquet (and cheered for him as he was voted captain!).

We made it back to Duluth in time to welcome baby Katherine Joy to the world...
I'm quite sure her uncles are head-over-heels with her already.

From Duluth, we headed to Euclid, MN (near Grand Forks), via Pine River, to spend time with Jessi, Brian, and our nephew Cormac. It was a bit of a drive...but this guy is worth it!
We celebrated Zach's 21st birthday with him, and woke up to the Christmas Storm (we heard it referred to as Stormaggedon on the radio). The northern part of the state was hit the least, but we still got over 2 feet of snow. Still, we made it back to Pine River in time for a lovely Christmas breakfast with the Johnsons.
We were snowed-in on Christmas day, so we held the Johnson Game Olympics to keep ourselves entertained. Here, Owen and Christine are in a heated puzzle race.
On the 26th we made it back to Duluth...
And enjoyed an entire day of admiring Kate.
Soon after, we headed back to Pelican Rapids for the Lundquist Christmas-New Year-Extravaganza. We gathered in the new garage/family room and played games...
...and held the annual venison sausage making fest...
...and drank beer as the Germans do...to help Zach acclimate to the culture he was getting ready to experience during his trip to Europe, of course...
...but mostly we enjoyed just relaxing together (and admiring Cormac, too!)...
So, if you feel like this blog was a whirlwind of adventure, then you have gotten a taste of our time in Minnesota. We had a great time and are ever thankful for our awesome families. They put up with our nomad-ness and the fact that we never really "move out" of their homes, just leave a trail of our belongings...
We're so excited to be back in the Dominican, and we've got some big projects that we're working on. Stay tuned for some photos from the inauguration of the new preschool. Meanwhile, we'd better go soak up some of this Caribbean sun...it was a snowy December!

Turkey Day

This year we had a Thanksgiving Dominican-style. Some of our friends who are exchange students at a local university hosted and invited us to a great Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, we did have all the necessary ingredients for Thanksgiving - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc... - there was also a dominican twist - beans and rice, auyama, and yuca.

A look at the spread.

Batata, a sweet potato native to the Dominican Republic, yum!

And we all had just about enough room to sample it all.

They drink ponche (egg nog) for Christmas, and there was no short supply of it (white bottle).

The meal ended with some great pie for dessert.

Kiteboarding Cabarete

I recently got to fulfill a dream of mine. Imagine this: Combine the thrill of wakeboarding with the serenity of sailing... Kiteboarding! Cabarete, a town on the north coast bustling with Europeans and Americans, has become a top destination for this sport. With almost constant wind and a bay protected from waves by a reef, the local beach is one of the best in the world for kiteboarding. In fact, they host the yearly Master of the Ocean competition, which is a ocean sport triathlon including kiteboarding, surfing, and windsurfing. Saturday morning, we headed for Cabarete, where I took a class on how to control the 10 meter kite safely. Here is a look at the craziness of "kitebeach" when the wind is good.

We began with a small kite, just to get the feel of the controls.

Then, after practicing with the larger kite on land, I headed to the water to use the kite's power to drag myself through the water. Here is my instructor describing the fine art of "body-dragging."

After a lunch of 10 gallons of salt-water, we practiced the technique for standing up on the board.

Then it was off to the water.

After a total of 8 hours in the water, I started to feel comfortable getting up and riding the wind.

Heading for the shore, I did the only thing I knew how to do - crashed the kite!

Here, again, settling into the surf.

I haven't, however, perfected the jumps, spins and flips... maybe next time?

La Capital

Some of the best and most interesting things happen in unexpected ways. Take our previous weekend, for example: Rebekah and I had been planning to go to Santo Domingo, the capital of the DR, for quite some time. On the Friday before leaving, I happened to run into an American doctor, Douglas, at the hospital. He just happened to be heading to the capital the next day, and had some extra room in his car. Rebekah and I jumped at the opportunity, and spent the next few days roaming the first city in the New World...

On arriving in the city, we found a place to stay and spent Saturday morning roaming the old city. Many of the old churches, military outposts, and much of the original city wall is still in tact, giving you a small glimpse of the original influences on Hispañola. Embarking on a self-guided walking tour, we started at Parque Independencia, which has a mausoleum holding the remains of some of the countries national heroes. From this park you could get a great view of the Conde, a pedestrian-only street lined by shops, street-food vendors, and all the trinkets you could ever hope to buy.

We continued down beautiful flower-lined streets of colonial and gothic-style architecture.

Stopping for a quick bite to eat on the Malecon, the street bordering the ocean. Here we had our first look at the Caribbean Ocean. Before this trip, we had always stayed on the northern, Atlantic side.

A little friend also taking in the sites on this beautiful day!

We toured Fort Ozoma, the oldest military structure in the new world. We didn't end up staying long as it was getting on noon, the temperature was reaching 95, and we couldn't find any shade (sorry to all of you northerners who would kill for 95 degrees right now!).

Up until recently, the fort was being used as a jail.

Ah, how the times have changed...

The tour ended at Catedral Primada de América (the first cathetral of America) which is now the oldest working church in the hemisphere.

Saturday afternoon, we went with Douglas to a local medical fair. It was in the northern part of the city, in an extremely poor neighborhood. On the way, we passed some slums.

We also found someone else who was looking forward to cooling off!

The health fair was put on by a politician friend of Douglas, and they had two physicians, a small free pharmacy, as well as a group giving out Lions glasses.

Don't ever think that those glasses you drop off with the Lions Club are wasted!

Douglass and I set up shop with the other physicians and started helping. Here we are trying to get a feel for the available medications.

This woman asked for antibiotics for the cold she was coming down with. After spending a few minutes with her explaining why antibiotics weren't necessary, she smiled, said thank you, and headed for home.

Although we helped many people with simple infections, parasites (see below), and cuts/scrapes, afterward I found myself wondering if we'd really done some good. With no follow-up, no privacy, and little organization, it wasn't primary care as I envision it. It was probably better than the health care they would have received otherwise (i.e. nothing), but it certainly wasn't optimal. Imagine a box full of blood pressure medication but no blood pressure cuff to be found...

Sunday, we spent a very relaxing day with a friend, Ingrid. After stopping at a local coffee shop by the coast for breakfast, we headed to the arboretum. It was so nice to get out of the smog-filled city and explore trails winding through forests of lush palms and bamboo.

Our final stop before leaving the arboretum was perhaps the most beautiful Japanese garden I have ever experienced. In a climate where literally anything you stick in the ground grows, the sheer amount of green can be overwhelming.