Life gave me lemonade

So I'd like to take a moment to recognize the good things in life right now that have recently improved. By no means does this mean I am not looking forward to coming home in two weeks. Cause I can't wait. But to get the most out of life now and stay positive...

My lemonade:

• The weather has been REALLY hot here recently. The weather report says high of 90 with 81% humidity. I have no air conditioning and the fan doesn't do a whole lot to change the temperature, though the breeze makes it more bearable. However, I am thankful for the heat cause its a great exercise motivator. Afterall, if I am gonna sweat 24/7, I'd rather do it outside in the breeze.
• La bombilla that was broken somehow got fixed. Which means that I can sometimes switch from buckets to a little trickle of water from the pipe above. Since the water from the bombilla comes from the roof (I guess), the water gets heated up by the sun and comes out luke-warm or even warm. Of course, ironically, I am now usually ready for a cold shower, but the ability to switch between cold buckets and warm trickles is heavenly.
• I still don't have a friend all my own here. The closest thing is my brother and co-worker David who actually takes time to talk to me. Other than that I often feel like a little duck just following the family or employees around. And if I stray from the path, they freak out. The lemonade? Lindsay Garber. American friend and adventure partner. You just can't ride back from the beach in a huge truck with 30 Red Cross volunteers with anyone else. So weekends are always fun, which provides an amazing incentive to keep going through the week.
• Work picked up. I actually had enough to do for 8 hours of the day. (Pray for more cause I just finished it all, lol. I guess the Dominicans just can't keep up with me, even when I feel like I only work half the day.)
• An American came yesterday! I got to eat lunch with him and learn about his family company and just enjoy speaking english while meeting someone new. What a blessing!

The lemons I'm still trying to squeeze into lemonade:

• I am getting really tired of living with 8+ people, especially since there are only 4 who technically live in the house. Example: Before my walk yesterday, I had to wait to use our one bathroom cause my brother Fran (who lives elsewhere), was showering. When I came back, I couldn't take a shower cause my sister Chris (who lives elsewhere) was showering. Then to take a shower, I had to fill up the bucket, carting water in from outside. And of course, my nephews (who live elsewhere) were running around and crying and screaming and I had to dodge them to get the bucket into the bathroom. Then I couldn't watch t.v. cause my brother-in-law Robert (who lives elsewhere) was watching t.v. Get the picture?
• Boredom and loneliness. I am surrounded by people, but that mainly just means I get about 15 "how are yous" everyday. Books are not enticing, tv is lame and you can't walk past 8pm cause it gets dark.
• People here seem to have a lot of fears, which wouldn't really bother me except that they transfer all their fears into protection of me. My mom told me right when we were about to leave for the beach on Saturday morning that we couldn't go alone cause there were drugs in Miches and an American was killed there once (though she knew of our plan to leave last Wednesday and didn't think of it until Saturday is beyond me). So then I had to go talk to David, who said "What? It's not too dangerous!" Luckily he agreed to vouch for us so we could escape the oppression. Marina (mom) is also scared of holes in the sidewalk and always yells at me to watch out. I went to a church event with her and found this one guy Wilkens who is the closest thing to an independent friend although I only ever see him at church, and we sat off on the side with some other young teenage girls. And Marina sent Chris to find me. The 19-year-old pregnant girl was sent to find me! The one that cracks me up the most: today I woke up from a nap and walked out to go to work and Marina yells "Careful. Wait a couple minutes so your eyes can adjust and you can loose the heat from the bed." Luckily Chris was there to vouch that I had been awake for more than a minute and could actually walk on my own two feet the 3 blocks to work. Unbelievable. I'm surprised they don't have me chained to their house. How did I ever live the past 4 years on my own?!?!?!