Day 9: Mofongo, Mo Fun

Last night the five of us went out to dinner. We walked down to the Caribbean Sea to a restaurant we had passed on Saturday. Sarah, Kristin and I tried a mystery item on the menu: “mofongo.” The best I can describe it is that it was kind of like stuffing, with meat and gravy on top. The stuffing included plantains, yucca (maybe), and something like pork rinds. It was pretty good, but in general, I wish Dominican food were spicier.

Mofongo y un Presidente

I’m getting increasingly comfortable listening to Spanish in conversation, but I have a long way to go, and it also depends on who’s talking. Padre Servio is especially good at speaking slowly and clearly, so when I sit in on his classes, I can be pretty sure I’ll understand a good chunk of what’s going on. This morning he taught a class on hermeneutics. We looked at several Bible passages and discussed them from a theological perspective.

Vanel causing me to pull up my old Church History
notes on Erasmus of Rotterdam

In the next class, on Christian education, student Vanel took the floor to present his research on the history of the church in the medieval and early Renaissance eras. The assignment was that he was learning how to do Christian education by taking the role of the teacher.

My Spanish assignment for tomorrow is to interview somebody by asking five questions, and then record the answers—all in Spanish. I’m going to ask one of the Dominican seminarians to be interviewed, and maybe eventually I’ll interview all of them for the sake of my learning. These are my five questions:

1)         ¿Qué es tu cosa favorite de tu tiempo en el seminario?

2)         ¿Qué es una cosa que piensas que debemos hacer diferente en el seminario?

3)         ¿Qué es el trabajo mas importante para un sacerdote en la Republica Dominicana, y por qué?

4)         ¿Qué, con respect de ser un sacerdote, te asusta más?

5)         ¿Cual es la cosa major que Dios ha hecho para ti?

All you readers get bonus points if you can translate these! Or just copy them into Google Translate, which may not be perfectly accurate, but sure is handy.

Today Charlie took us back to the cathedral, which Catherine had not seen yet, and this time we paid 70 pesos ($1.75) to go inside and explore. The cathedral was built very gradually, but it does go all the way back to Christopher Columbus’s time.

And tonight we took the Dominican seminarians out to eat. We had a fabulous dinner. I understood some of the conversation, didn't understand other parts, sometimes asked for help, and sometimes just enjoyed the general atmosphere of seminarians from two very different worlds becoming friends. Much laughter was shared!

Kristin rolling her eyes at something Luis said