Nine days without Pizza

Marsia's Pizza withdrawl symptoms seemed to have, for the most part, subsided. She chokes up and becomes weepy when we pass the pepperoni section of the super mercados, but all in all she is doing better.

We've had a steady diet of plantains, yucca root, taro root, avocado, rice and guandules. We ate sancocho for the first time yesterday, and Marsia liked it. Sancocho is the opposite of the Atkins diet plan. See a carb, throw it in the stew. Our sancocho had chicken, pork, yucca, plantain, sweet potato, carrot, taro root, squash and of course white rice and avocado. It really is quite yummy.

We went to the market yesterday and there was a mob of people pushing, shoving, yelling.... all trying to get a place in line for their license plate tags. I thought it was a riot at first, but Milvia explained that it was just the last day to purchase their tags. It was crazy. We suggested to Milvia that it may be a good idea to have people purchase their tags on separate days/months... she wasn't certain how that would work.

We've continued our walking in the Parque Italia, nearby. We noticed a large group doing salsa or merengue aerobics.... I suggested to Marsia that we try. Maybe when we've got another week of this regime under our belt, we will. Look for our pics next week doing our thang.

Last night we had movie night with Nassuel and Nasmil, here at the house, while Milvia and Nasu went to church. We made popcorn and had a good time with the kids. Marsia is helping them improve their English, and this really makes Nasu happy.

Today we're going to spend the night with Rosie and Luis and their family. It should be fun. I'm sure we will have some interesting stories for you all tomorrow.

Louie called and said that he is ready to send boxes of items for the Dominican families in need, to Florida for me to pick up when I work there the first week of December. He's trying to keep the wieght and cost down as much as possible. (THANKS ANGEL AND HILLARY FOR HELPING WITH THE PACKING) If any of you would like to help by sponsoring a box please call Louie at 541-601-7441 or send $10-$20 to Louie Ramirez, 48 S. Barneburg Rd Medford, Or. 97504. EVERY bit helps.

Our cell # in the Dominican is: 829-776-9805. Either Marsia or I will answer.. Gotta Run, Jill