Happy Independence Day!

So, only two weeks before I can move into my house! I am very excited, and I think that Geronimo and I are going to get some cats to live with to scare the mice away from his dog food. There are just so many bugs where I live, it is oppressive. Cockroaches, flies, mosquitos, ants, mice, lizards- you name it, it tries to eat everything I own. And the whole in my favorite skirt cant have tasted that great. To be fair, Geronimo is trying to keep up his end of the bargain by chewing up all of my shoes, but at least he doesnt have as many diseases as the rats.

In the next two weeks I will be working very hard on my diagnostic presentation that I have to give on July 25-27, so I will be at my site drinking a lot of coffee for the most part. I am just finishing up with a nice 4th of July vacation with a bunch of other volunteers though, so hopefully that will hold me through. We went to a beach on the Haitian border called Bahia de las Aguilas, which is one of the only preserved natural beaches left on the island. There was nothing there, either. We took a boat to the beach, camped in the sand, and roasted chickens over a bonfire. It was really far away, but it was definitely worth it. There were about 50 other volunteers there too, so it was really good to meet some of the older ones. I always love going to Haiti too. There was a market on the border that sold everything under the sun, and of course, I went a little crazy. Allison is coming to visit right after the meeting too, which is going to be really exciting. I dont know what we are going to do yet, but I am hoping that purchasing a gas stove for my house will be on the top of the list. She will be my first visitor, which I am so happy about. I have been gone for 5 months now, can you believe it? So officially, this is the longest I have been away from my family in my whole life. And we still have 22 months left to go! Anyway, sorry that this entry is going to be so short, but I have to get back to my site! I will give you more information later.

Oh, also, I posted more photos, so if you want to see them, click here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50079515@N00/