Hola from the Dominican Republic

Well, it's been 3 months since we arrived in the DR and we're loving every minute of it. We are settling into our home and liking it more and more every day. Steve likes to work in the yard and our neighbor Tony has given us some nice tropical plants to plant. Many times we can buy what we need right out of the back of a truck that is going up and down our road. Here is our neighbor buying some bananas in front of our house.

Events continue to crack us up as they happen here. For instance, today we stopped at the market in town and we were looking at used clothing. The market is outside on the sidewalk every Tuesday and Friday morning. I wanted to try a couple things on so I asked if there was somewhere I could do that. The 2 guys went to their truck, grabbed a tarp and threw it up over a small, outside concrete enclosure that was right next to us. There was garbage on the floor and no ceiling but it had 3 walls. There you go.....a dressing room. Just do what needs to be done to make something work. That's the way things are here! I love it!!!

Another funny example is this. We got our 2nd electric bill the other day. As you know, there is no postal service here so you never know how you're going to receive any correspondence. I was on our deck hanging up clothes to dry and I looked down and saw a small, folded up piece of paper. I picked it up and opened it and it was our electric bill. They had folded it up into a small square and then thrown it up on our balcony for us to find. I guess that's one way to deliver the mail. Good thing I found it. Here's a picture of it.

Also, here's a picture of the ice cream man zooming down the road looking for his next stop. It's such a crack up!!

Our cats are all settling in very nicely. It took little Penny this long to get used to all the new noises but she's doing much better now. We sleep under a mosquito net at night so the cats can't sleep as close to us as they used to in the states but they can still sleep on the bed with us which is nice.

Panda is doing great too. She loves to swim in the ocean at Playa Diamante. It has a nice gradual slope into the ocean and no big waves and Panda can wade out and swim and swim. It's so fun to see her enjoying it. The Dominicans are amazed at Panda. First off, because she's so big and striking looking. (Most of the Dominican dogs are much smaller than Panda). And also because she rides around town in our car and the people see her everywhere we go. Many people in town know her name and call out to her when we drive by. It's so great. We love it!

The first week of April I spent 6 days in Las Vegas to attend the Animal Care Expo put on by the Humane Society of the United States. HSUS had given me a partial grant to attend. It was very weird to be back in the US so soon after moving to the DR. At first I was very concerned about going. The move to the DR was a very big move for me and adjusting to life in the DR was very emotional. I wasn't sure I was ready to go back to the states so soon. But, I knew it would be a good conference to attend and that it was important that I go. It ended up being a good decision and a great conference. I attended all the international seminars and made some great new networking contacts. I had a roomate from Puerto Rico named Marilia while in Vegas. She is a beautiful person and works very hard for the animals in Puerto Rico. It was a treat to room with her.

My sister Peggy flew to Las Vegas to spend a few days with me. It was so great to see Peggy and spend time with her. She brought me some goodies that my sister Cathy had shopped for from a list we had given her. Things that we just can't get down here. Mostly it was things for Panda and the cats but important things nonetheless. I also took the city bus to Target while in Vegas to get some more things that we needed. I had come to the US with 2 big empty suitcases so that I could fill them up and return to the DR with them. It was so fun. It was like Christmas. The cats were so excited to get scratching pads and new beds and best of all......CATNIP!!!! They are in heaven now!

Steve picked me up at the airport when I returned to the DR. With my flight schedule and with the conference I ended up being gone 6 days so it was a long trip. When we got in the car and headed for home, I realized that the trip to the states was good for me because I was glad to be back in the DR! It reassured me of our move and helped me realize that we ARE in the right place. We are where we're supposed to be. I needed that. It felt good.

I was totally pooped after the trip to Vegas. Conferences are tiring and all that travel had caught up with me. Also, since arriving in the Dr things had happened non-stop. The 2 week spay/neuter campaign right after we arrived. Then a 4 day trip to Santo Domingo for my HSUS project. Then off to Vegas for 6 days. I was emotionally and physically drained. So, I decided to take a week off and relax. It was great and it was exactly what I needed. We went to the beach alot that week. Three different days to 3 different beaches. (Here's a picture of Dave and Dodie and Steve at Playa Calaton)

During that week our friend Dodie had her birthday so her and Dave went to the beach with us and we swam and relaxed. There were many local kids at the beach that day and they visited with us and swam with us. I taught them how to blow bubbles under water and how to walk on their hands in the water. It was adorable. Here are some pictures of them. They like to pose like models. We had a great time with them. (I know....kids....not like me, eh???)

Every week we are feeling more a part of the community here. We are participating in more events all the time. On Saturday, April 18th, the International School had a dog show and Steve and I were asked to help out. It was hilarious. They had different categories like best dressed dog, best kisser, dog that looked most like their guardian, etc.... We had such a fun time. There were 3 judges and all the kids got prizes. Here's a picture of the winner of the 'best kisser' category.

On Earth Day we joined the kids from the International School by picking up garbage around town. We did that for a couple hours and then our friend Monica gave the kids a talk about why it's important to pick up the garbage and to not litter. Most of the garbage here ends up in the ocean so Monica talked about how it harms the sea life and pollutes the water. She also asked the kids to bring their own bags to the store with them when they shop instead of getting plastic bags all the time. They go through soooooo many plastic bags here. It's awful. They are littered everywhere. We bring our own bags to the store now and we are hoping that it helps the locals think about doing the same.

After picking up garbage that day we stopped into a salon in town to ask how much it cost to get a haircut. I was in bad need of a haircut. (Not Steve tho, he's letting his hair grow. He's working on a pony tail and his beard is looking great! :-) The name of the salon was Salon de Belleza Doris. My mom's name is Doris so I figured it must be the perfect place for me to get my first Dominican haircut. She asked me how I wanted it cut and I said "Soprende mi." which means 'surprise me'. Yep, brave eh??? I was a little nervous but went for it. Doris ended up doing a great job and it only cost me 150 pesos - a little over $4. Here's a picture of me and Doris and her friend Carmen in front of her salon.

At the dog show on Saturday we heard about some puppies that lived at an automobile repair shop behind the school. We were told there were 2 mamas and 19 puppies. We heard that one of the puppies was very thin and small and not doing very well. We went over to the repair shop to check it out. We saw the puppies and 2 mamas. There was one puppy that was extremely thin and small. I took it home to take care of it but it died that night. Here's Panda trying to help the little guy.

So, we were hoping there was something we could do to help get the puppies adopted out.

Some friends, who are teachers at the school, decided to have a dog wash for the puppies to get them all cleaned up and deflead so they could take pictures of them and have the kids make a slide show of them to show at Parent's Day on Friday and hopefully get some of them adopted out.

So, on Thursday we joined the kids at the school to help bathe the puppies. It was a great experience for the kids and they loved it. Then, pictures were taken of all the pups. The kids put together posters of all the puppies and made a Power Point presentation of the bathing process. On Friday, at Parent's Day, we brought the puppies to the school and showed the slide show. Luckily we were able to get them all adopted out. It was so rewarding.

The 2 mama dogs were very thin and both looked like they had had multiple litters. Dr. Medina agreed to spay them for us so on Saturday Emma and I helped Dr. Medina and a veterinary friend of his spay the 2 mama dogs on Emma's dining room table. Here are some photos of the surgery. After 5 days of antibiotic injections and TLC in Emma's carport, they are back at the auto shop and doing fine. No more puppies for them! Yeah!

As you can imagine, there are always dogs needing rescued here. Here's a picture of Princessa. She was living in a very small, dark shed. She was chained up 24/7. We were able to get permission from her guardian to find her a home. She now lives with our neighbor Tony's mother.


We had 2 puppies at our house last week that were left in Emma's driveway in a box. Emma was out of town so of course we took them in. They just both got new homes Friday. (Pictured at left)

Now we have 3 more puppies at our house that we rescued from the malecon. (That is the walk that goes along the cliffs by the ocean in front of town.) We walk Panda there almost every night. We'd always see a mama dog in front of what appeared to be an abandoned house on our walks.
It looked like she had pups but we could never find the pups. Just about 3 days ago we finally saw the puppies. There were 3 of them and they were extremely thin.

Luckily, we ran into the guardian who said there used to be 9 puppies. (Who knows what happened to the rest of them.) He said they were 4 weeks old but I could tell they were much older than that....about 7 weeks. He said the mama was still nursing the pups but I observed her and noticed she wasn't letting them nurse at all. I'm sure it hurt her because of their teeth. These puppies were not getting fed. You could see their skeletal outline and one of them was extremely thin. They were literally starving to death.

After talking with the guardian, we decided to take the puppies home and nurse them back to health. They are doing much better. The very thin one had an infection so I took him to Dr. Medina who gave me medicine for him. One of them got adopted out today and the other 2 will go when they are well enough. Dr. Medina has agreed to spay the mama dog so we'll do that as soon as all the pups are adopted. I'm sure this will be the way things go here. You just can't turn your back on them though.
We're still taking Spanish classes twice a week. We love our Spanish teacher Luis. We are just getting started on tenses (past, future, etc...) It won't be long now and we'll be fluent! (ha, ha) Luis said he is very excited about me wanting to start a Humane Education course in the schools and he said he would arrange a meeting with the principal for us and that he would go with us to the meeting. He feels it is very needed here. In fact, every person that I've mentioned the idea of starting a Humane Education course here has loved the idea. I think once I can get it going it will be a big success. I just have to finish my project with HSUS first.

We finally got a secure internet connection last week so now I should be able to do more regular postings. I hope you enjoy them. It's really hard to put these experiences into words. Every day is an adventure.

Here's Steve practicing his reading skills. He's getting really good at it. REALLY, REALLY GOOD.

That's all for now. Muchos abrazos mis amigas! Connie

P.S. If there are things you'd especially like to hear about and/or pictures of things you'd like to see, please post a comment and let me know and I'll try to post those things for you.

Here's Panda with the little neighbor dog named Koala. It's hilarious to see them together. Koala has a sausage body and is so little and Panda is so big. You should see them play! :-)