to those i love.....

happy valentine´s day. i hope this finds you all well and filled with love for yourself, as well as love for others and by others. it doesn´t need to be the love of one special person today, but simply love. here they sometimes call it the day of love.....so, express your love for life today. and be happy with what you have.

don´t worry about me, as i have the love from an admirerer. the man, hipolito, who sits outside of my school watching the cars that come into his ¨jurisdiction¨and protects their windshields with cardboard from the sun, has expressed his emotions for me. i can tell you that he has a very sweet face, and a very gentle spirit....and he works! what more can a girl ask for?

here is a brief look into a moment in dominican life....yesterday i tried to go to the university area for a cultural dance show. my dance teacher is the director of one of the groups. he told me it began around 6pm. it was to be a free show outside of the new university library. my teacher and i headed over there. at 7pm...still nothing happening. at 7:15 a band showed up and began to set up. it took them a while to set up and a while for a sound check. the sound man was having some serious feedback and electrical problems. by 8:00 pm...still nothing! we left. tired and hungry.

dominicans will in line at the local cafeteria for 45 minutes to get lunch. they will wait 2 hours for a dance show, but the minute the light turns green at a stoplight they lay on their horns and or try and race threw the light. go figure.

today my dance teacher canceled my class. so, here i sit writing this earlier than usual. but i am going to get cleaned up and go to the art gallery i mentioned yesterday to meet with them. i am also going to make some calls regarding the services at the synagogue, as well as josefina from the congos. there was a great article written about them in today´s paper, about their selling art t-shirts to help support their cause for passing on their musical heritage to the next generations.

i hope you are staying physically warm and that your heart is also filled with warmth and overflowing with love.

a