Random Fun

Here are some random pictures from the last week. Last weekend, we made a stop at Plaza de Las Americas in San Juan. It is the biggest mall in the Caribbean and it is huge...3 Floors, lavishly decorated and hundreds of stores. Here are a couple pictures of live models in a store window. I thought it was fun, they probably didn't.

Last Friday, our school sponsored a volleyball tournament. Here, volleyball is a pretty big sport and they have both boys and girls teams. The girls went on to win first place and the boys got second. It was fun to watch them out of the classroom. That is our school's gym.

Last night we were invited over to a teacher's house for dinner. They have an adorable 4 month old baby, Karla. Jon was trying to make her smile, we wasn't impressed. I think she might have been scared because he looked so pale! :)

To Ponce for some dancing

Another video of some native dances in Ponce. Enjoy.

Ponce Video

A video so that you can see the dancing.

Ponce

Last weekend, Mandi's mom and mom's friend were in town. On Friday night we all hopped in our cars and drove to Ponce. (I was keeping an eye out Maria's sister...but didn't see her) We went there to an amphitheater to see the Afropuertoricanos dance. It was a native folk dance that had a lot of African influence. It was nice. We got coco icecream from a vender on the street. Got a great picture of Barb by the "don't piss on grandma" sign (really, "don't walk on the grass" :) But we thought it was a good joke!) There is a great, old, preserved firestation in Ponce. Jon and I just happened to be wearing shirts that matched the backdrop. Cute.

It was a great evening. We had plans to go to the bioluminesant bay in Fajardo the next day, however, at that time "Omar" (who wan't really Omar yet) was in the area and we decided not to go because of the threat of rain.

First Weekend in October

Here are a couple pictures from last weekend. Bev Lindley, the gecko picture is for you. He (as well as MANY other of his friends) lives on our front porch and spends the day lounging on our deck chairs. Here he is posing for the camera. The fierce zoolander pose. :)

Jon and I attended a Catholic mass last Sunday. The church is located in the Guayama plaza. The priest was very radical. Only in Puerto Rico will you see a priest start the congregation clapping and come dancing up the isles. Jon didn't get a whole lot out of the service. He did pick up "palabra del Senor" after both the readings. So that is a start. There are many other churches in town, however, we have heard that the only English speaking service is given at a Baptist church down the road.... We'll see.

Enjoy the long weekend! Puerto Ricans, of course, celebrate Columbus Day!

Happy birthday Shirley and (coming up soon) Jenni, Chanda and Shauna! Happy anniversary to Jon & Katie and Mike & Becky! Happy belated birthday to Clementine and Amanda! Hope you all have wonderful days! :)

It still goes on...

Just in case you didn't believe me from the previous post... this is a continuation of the "parade"... and I have 3 other videos of it too... I'll spare you!

Anything for your vote

It is starting to happen more frequently as election day approaches. Invision...sitting in your living room, watching a nice, quiet episode of "The Biggest Loser", and then you hear it, coming from off in the distance, getting louder and louder. A bird, a plane... nope, the mayor. Or at least someone hoping to be the next mayor. And they sure do announce it, you really can't help but hear it. Truck after truck with people hanging onto the tailgates. Small children sitting on the roofs of minivans with their legs dangling in through the sky-roof waving proudly thier party's flag. And you can't miss the speakers. They are the size of a small house and it doesn't matter the time of night, they are loud. I haven't seen a political add on TV yet, but it is at least once a week that we have a party going on in the street.

This seriously went on for a good 10 mintues.... continuous.