Settling in, in Hoya del Caimito

We're 11 days into our mission trip in 2009 and are settled back in our old pad. We signed the lease today and paid the phone bill, so it's official. The transition has been much easier this time. Our old house was furnished and waiting for us. (the neighbors had balloons on the front door) We have an additional set of bunk beds in our master bedroom, which we've not yet rearranged, but our air mattress on the floor still provides a good night's sleep. (The street noise and cats howling in heat at night have awakened us several times, but not TOO often.) Our plants are thriving out front. We had a security door installed just before we went home in April. It's a nice addition now. We have a screen in it, so we leave the white door open most of the time. We miss our church family and family group at home, but we went to 5 different churches here in 8 days, plus extra activities, so we're meeting new folks and renewing relationships with folks we met over the last 2 years. We're looking forward to finding our place here. Beginning in February, there are teams here for about 8 straight weeks, so we're preparing for the storm of activity. Speaking of storms, we've had some really hard thunderstorms at night. I hear it's cold back up in the "Old North State". It's a benefit of being on a tropical island. We had to describe to some locals how cold it was back home. They asked if there were heaters in the house! We explained about fire places (which is an alternate cooking method here we've seen and smelled) and about central heating. I'm not sure they grasped it. Here, the houses have neither heating or air conditioning. Seems odd to say, but not odd living here. It seems natural. Power bills are MUCH lower! We hope to have weekly updates once the teams start to come regularly. Thanks for reading! Sincerely, Jorge y Karina