October 16th-22nd

I'm starting to understand more at church and it makes my Sunday's even better. On Tuesday we had a bug infestation. We were sitting in the room watching a movie when all of the sudden flying bugs started flooding through our window. It was like a horror movie. The Windows don't really seal to they all could get in. I ran to the other room just to find hundreds of more bugs flying around. People were out with the shoes killing them as fast as they could. We turned off all the lights and put candles or other lights outside to get rid of them. It was quite the mess. Dead flying termites everywhere. It was quite the exciting evening, but now we know what to watch for and how to deal with them.
Wednesday I only taught at one school because the other was cancelled, it was really nice to have a break in the middle of the week.
Thursday I overheard a conversation a girl had with her mom, I think she assumed I was sleeping. Anyways I knew she was having a hard time being here and this conversation just proved it more and I knew I had to do something. After school I went to a little store and bought some treats for her and left them on her bed without her knowing who it was from. Later that day she came into the room in tears and just wanted to thank whoever left it for her. I didn't confess to anything, but the feeling of peace and joy I had was overwhelming. I'm so grateful I followed my little thought. It reminds me of how following the little bits of inspiration can make the biggest difference to someone else.
On Fridays we do store with our students. They earn tickets throughout the week for speaking and at the end we add them up and they get prizes. One of the students in my hardest class stopped me after school and gave me a great big hug and said "gracias por el regalo". Which means thank you for the present. He melted my heart that day and made me forget about how hard the class was.
That night we went to a YSA dance. It was definitely different than in the states, but I loved it! We learned bachata and meringue and even some salsa. Most of the girls thought it was awkward and left right after dinner, but a few of us stayed. Victor brought us few girls up to the front at the beginning of many of the songs and basically auctioned us off to dance partners. It was funny. Dominicans really love their dancing!
On Saturday we got up and Papi took us to the mountain to go on the cable car. We got our tickets and a guide took us up the mountain and showed us the statue of Christ. He took many pictures for us but we had to get rid of him before he gilt tripped us into paying him. The statue is quite a sight! It's the sister statue to the one in Brazil. If it wasn't so bright I would have stayed and admired the statue longer. We wandered around the jungle paths to different caves and things. It reminded me of Jurassic park, especially when the fog rolled in. We found the cute restaurant at the top and had lunch. It was really good! Then we headed back down the mountain. With the fog, the cable car disappeared as it went down.
That night Olive and I went over to Papi's house to play dominos. It was honestly one of the best evenings we have had. We learned that Papi cheats at dominos and he son went easy on us, but by the end we were doing pretty good. Papi's family is super sweet. They don't have much, but they are always happy and willing to help us in anyway. They even gave us drinks while we played and fanned the mosquitos away. I am extremely grateful for them.