We had a great weekend!! Friday Kymberlee and I had dinner with Maria and then walked downtown...in the rain...and discovered that "this country does not breathe when it rains" hahha that was how Kymberlee described it, and it seriously is true!!! We had a great time though!!! After our long walk we went to a friend's house and watched a movie!
Saturday I went up to camp (where I worked this summer) to see everyone again and it was so wonderful! I was SO HAPPY to see everyone, and Julia and Ramon were there from Santiago as well, so it was great:) We hung out for a while and then I took Kymberlee to see the waterfalls, and we hung out there for the afternoon!
Sunday we went to church...I think my most favorite thing in this country!! i LOVE IT! It last about 2 and a half hours and everyone sings and dances...so fun! After church I went back up to camp and helped Roy lead the work team on a waterfall hike (LOVE the waterfalls) BUT halfway there it started to downpour, and got freeeeeezing, and then when we got back to camp, Tati's (who works at camp) husband drove me home on his moto, which was even more freezing in wet clothes! It was all worth it though to spend time up there, I think I am going to make that an every-weekend thing! When I got home we went to dinner with some friends and then our friend Daniel Ayra took us home on his TINY vespa (me, him and Kymberlee) and it was hilarious!! I was like hanging off the back and we got soaked going through all kinds of puddles, but it was quite the adventure!
Sad/crazy thing: My friend Daiana that I worked with in the kitchen this past summer lives in a house right next to camp in a makeshift house, and the mayor of Jarabacoa told her family that they would give them money to rebuild their house, so they tore it down, and they were given like 100 bricks (which obviously won't rebuild their house) and had to move in with their cousins. Thankfully, camp is going to make that a work team job this summer, but isn't that crazy?! That is how things work here and it is terrible!
Today at school our class had a pretty bad day, and one of the boys, Christian, had to stay after school to write sentences because he was disrespectful to the teacher. He would not write them so I tried to talk to him about how he feels and how to react about things, and I said "does your dad let you talk to him like that at home?" which SHOULD HAVE KNOWN is not a good thing to say here, and he replied with "i don't have a dad..." and I was just fighting tears and felt so bad! After that I kept talking to him about it...but lesson learned do NOT assume anyone has parents at home! I think we ended up having a good discussion in the end though, and even were able to weave in our Bible lesson about walking and loving like Jesus did!
So even though there are really sad situations and lots of hard days, I really feel like just being able to be an extra positive figure/friend/someone to respect is huge for these kids!
Tonight I am going to start helping with Young Life at Tati's house!!!!
Prayer requests: WHAT TO DO WITH MY LIFE!!!! Wisdom with how to deal with issues with the kids, and major patience with them!
Miss you and love you!!!
Dios te Bendiga!! (God bless)
Monday, February 22, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Feb 19
Wow, week 1 and I am already really bad at updating my blog!! I'll try to do a quick overview of the week...
Living with Maria is so much fun! My house is 2 miles from school (so much for a quick walk) but it is a nice walk home from school, and usually one of the teachers picks us up halfway on our way to school. Maria's grandaughters, Deni and Mariella always want to play, yesterday I danced with them to Spanish music for like an hour after school! haha! There are ALWAYS random people/extended family over which is fun! Maria is so sweet, she is always making sure things are okay and really takes care of us--she wont even let us put our own dishes in the sink after dinner! My roommates are really fun too! Weird thing-I almost stepped on a mouse in the hallway walking to my room yesterday!!!
School is really fun, I took some good pictures of the kids so I will upload those soon! I have seriously the WORST behaved class in the school. Yesterday there was a parent meeting just for our class during lunch that the kids, parents, school psych and principal all came to to discuss how to make things better in our class! It was interesting, but I think it will help! Even though they misbehave sometimes, the kids are seriously all so sweet and I love them! I have played with them a lot at recess (they think i am good at volleyball.....haha not really but its fun!) and they are all really great! Funny thing--on Tuesday a random dog ran into our classroom and one of the boys had to take it back outside! Our classroom is on the 2nd floor!! haha!
What else...I got invited to join a Wednesday night Bible study with some of the teachers from Doulos, Young Life, and Kids Alive ministries, and it was wonderful! It was such an awesome time of fellowship with girls who are all passionate about the same thing, and it was so encouraging! I am also going to start doing a Monday night Bible study with some of the girls that did Vida Joven this past summer, and Tati (who I worked in the kitchen with) is holding it at her house so I am suprising her on Monday!! Last night I rode my first moto conch (moto taxi) and it was really fun! Other than that........I don't know what else to say now except I am having a WONDERFUL time and am already wanting to stay!! SO prayers for guidance would be wonderful!! To teach here you have to fundraise your salary, and that is really scary for me....but we will see where God is leading!!! Thanks for reading:)
Living with Maria is so much fun! My house is 2 miles from school (so much for a quick walk) but it is a nice walk home from school, and usually one of the teachers picks us up halfway on our way to school. Maria's grandaughters, Deni and Mariella always want to play, yesterday I danced with them to Spanish music for like an hour after school! haha! There are ALWAYS random people/extended family over which is fun! Maria is so sweet, she is always making sure things are okay and really takes care of us--she wont even let us put our own dishes in the sink after dinner! My roommates are really fun too! Weird thing-I almost stepped on a mouse in the hallway walking to my room yesterday!!!
School is really fun, I took some good pictures of the kids so I will upload those soon! I have seriously the WORST behaved class in the school. Yesterday there was a parent meeting just for our class during lunch that the kids, parents, school psych and principal all came to to discuss how to make things better in our class! It was interesting, but I think it will help! Even though they misbehave sometimes, the kids are seriously all so sweet and I love them! I have played with them a lot at recess (they think i am good at volleyball.....haha not really but its fun!) and they are all really great! Funny thing--on Tuesday a random dog ran into our classroom and one of the boys had to take it back outside! Our classroom is on the 2nd floor!! haha!
What else...I got invited to join a Wednesday night Bible study with some of the teachers from Doulos, Young Life, and Kids Alive ministries, and it was wonderful! It was such an awesome time of fellowship with girls who are all passionate about the same thing, and it was so encouraging! I am also going to start doing a Monday night Bible study with some of the girls that did Vida Joven this past summer, and Tati (who I worked in the kitchen with) is holding it at her house so I am suprising her on Monday!! Last night I rode my first moto conch (moto taxi) and it was really fun! Other than that........I don't know what else to say now except I am having a WONDERFUL time and am already wanting to stay!! SO prayers for guidance would be wonderful!! To teach here you have to fundraise your salary, and that is really scary for me....but we will see where God is leading!!! Thanks for reading:)
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Feb 16
Soooo i figured I should start this now before I get too far behind!
Being back in the DR is awesome!! I got here and stayed with a couple that teaches at the school, but yesterday I went to my host mom's (Maria) house to meet her, and she was so nice! When I walked in she gave me a great big hug and said "Ayy mi otra hija!!!" (my other daughter) I love her!!! She is like 75 and SO CUTE! Currently her daughter and 2 grandaughters (who are 5 and 10) are living with us as well, and I have 2 American roommates, Maddie and Kimberly! So we have a full house, but it is fun! Yesterday after school I went running down to the river with Maddie (my roommate) and another teacher, Amanda..which was really fun and pretty, but FYI running in 85 degree weather is not the best idea!! SO I don't really want to make that a habit...but it was still really fun! We went back to Maria's for dinner and she made us tostones (fried plantanes) which I LOVE and something made with spaghetti noodles...haha the girls said she made a special meal since it was my first night, so i am anxious to see how other days are!!
Being able to start full time at school today was good...I was getting antsy just hanging out! My cooperating teacher, Ciara, is really great! We have a CRAZY class...9 out of 19 are being referred for special ed, which is crazy, but good for me I guess!! They will be really fun though. All of the 5th grade girls made me eat lunch with them....and then the boys wanted me to play soccer with them at recess!! haha--not the prettiest picture, but it was fun!
I think that is all I have for today, I have some major lesson planning to do!!!
I will get pictures up soon!
Being back in the DR is awesome!! I got here and stayed with a couple that teaches at the school, but yesterday I went to my host mom's (Maria) house to meet her, and she was so nice! When I walked in she gave me a great big hug and said "Ayy mi otra hija!!!" (my other daughter) I love her!!! She is like 75 and SO CUTE! Currently her daughter and 2 grandaughters (who are 5 and 10) are living with us as well, and I have 2 American roommates, Maddie and Kimberly! So we have a full house, but it is fun! Yesterday after school I went running down to the river with Maddie (my roommate) and another teacher, Amanda..which was really fun and pretty, but FYI running in 85 degree weather is not the best idea!! SO I don't really want to make that a habit...but it was still really fun! We went back to Maria's for dinner and she made us tostones (fried plantanes) which I LOVE and something made with spaghetti noodles...haha the girls said she made a special meal since it was my first night, so i am anxious to see how other days are!!
Being able to start full time at school today was good...I was getting antsy just hanging out! My cooperating teacher, Ciara, is really great! We have a CRAZY class...9 out of 19 are being referred for special ed, which is crazy, but good for me I guess!! They will be really fun though. All of the 5th grade girls made me eat lunch with them....and then the boys wanted me to play soccer with them at recess!! haha--not the prettiest picture, but it was fun!
I think that is all I have for today, I have some major lesson planning to do!!!
I will get pictures up soon!
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