New Neighbors

I'm back and felt like I never left.

My new neighbors are nice too. I live in a large apartment where all the 5 rooms are rented out. There is an Italian man, a really nice human. There is a Dominican man. I think he is an artist but I can never understand when he talks. But we say hi and he is also nice. The other room is rented to tourists so the people in this room change often.

The older woman living there is a true Dominican woman. She has taken up the job of housemother. She never leaves the place except to go to the market in the morning. People come and visit her and they sit in her room and chat and watch TV. There is a woman that comes every morning to have coffee with her. Her door is always open so she can see who is coming and going.

When I first hooked up my wash machine (more on my Dominican wash machine) on the patio she came out to instruct me on how to wash. She washes Dominican style. she doesn't trust the washer to really wash the clothes. She does one wash with the machine then she puts the stuff in a wash tub and hand scrubs it. I can't understand this unless the clothes are really dirty and they need a little spot cleaning, but this is how it is done by most Dominicans I have observed. She was telling me how to wash. She even took some of my stuff out and tried to scrub them. Even my panties! When I told her it was OK I could do it, she sort of put her hands up in the air and walked away. Like she was saying "OK, but you are doing it all wrong."

After a few times of her watching me wash she finally said, like she was shocked, "you can wash good". This has always been my goal in life, to wash my clothes well and get approval from the neighbor. LOL!
In the morning as soon as I open the door she yells for me to give her my little coffee pot "Janette, dime su greco". (I don't have gas for my stove yet, so she makes me coffee in the morning). First thing in the morning I hear her yelling for this. Her voice is a bit high and squeeky and, sorry to say, not that pleasant to hear first thing in the morning. But, it is nice of her to make the coffee (more on Dominican coffee and what is a greco) for me so I can deal with this.

She knows when everyone comes and goes and usually asks where we are going and for how long. She is for sure the mother of us all who live there.

The other day I decided to just stay in and watch movies. She came knocking on my door to see if I was sick or something. It was nice she cared but it does take some getting used to.

All in all, my neighbors are very nice. I really couldn't ask for better ones.