"Flying" into the New Year

One of the traditions in the winter season of Dominican Republic is kite-flying. There is a strong breeze that we enjoy from November to March. During this season, you will see 20 kites or so flying in the sky from mid-afternoon till early evening. The children make kites out of sticks and plastic bags. Euddy made one for Brandon and Doug helped the children get it into the air yesterday afternoon. Brandon was so excited. We all sat on the flat roof and watched with anticipation. Finally the kite rose into the diamond blue sky. Brandon enjoyed it so much he said, "I could just sit here and watch my new kite." Regina also tried her hand at flying the kite. It was a big event in the Hoffman household.

As for New Year’s day, today is just like a normal Saturday for us. The holidays are rather lonely and we commonly find ourselves drifting into our normal work routine for lack of anything else to do. Perhaps we would go visit a friend, but to avoid theft, we have a policy that we do not let the house alone. It doesn’t seem fair to ask anyone else to come and guard the place since it is a holiday. If we were in PA, we would probably get together with family or friends for some sort of meal or playing games. Instead we enjoyed the evening together with our own little family - flying kites again and making homemade pizza.

For the Dominicans, they have the custom of having a new outfit for New Year’s Day. Many people in the street today were dressed in their new outfit. Children were even in the streets begging earlier this week for money to buy a new outfit for New Year’s day.

We can now say we’re going to the States next month!