Happy Halloween!

I got so caught up in things I didn't realize that I had been forgetting to blog! Opps! I'll try to catch you up on life real quick.

Last Saturday morning I woke up and jumped on a motorcycle at 5:15 am to get to the school bus to meet the volleyball team where we made the 2 hour drive to the capital (Santa Domingo). We played at the most prestigious English Academic School in the DR (we are runner up to this school). It was an all day tournament and our girl’s team received second place and our boy’s team took home first place. This tournament is the highlight of the season; it's the only thing that really "counts" all year. I was stretched a lot as I had to try to communicate with the referees in Spanish. Most of the time my players translated for me , a little embarrassing, but it got the job done. It was a great day, but unfortunately I got a bit sick toward the end of the day and missed the guy’s championship game :( We made the long bus ride home and I made it back to my apartment at 9:30pm and zonked out.



Tuesday night I finally had the chance to experience my first Dominican baseball game. One of my Dominican friends has season tickets and took me to the Aguila’s game. I was impressed by the size and quality of the stadium. Baseball is a huge thing here - they even have cheerleaders!! It was fun and entertaining to watch and we won the game. Now that the World Series is done all the pro's will be coming over to play so I will get to watch them at the future games! I didn't get back to my apartment until 12:30 am, but it was well worth it.



Wednesday after school I went to volunteer and help at a girl’s shelter/orphanage. This was an incredible experience! We took some nail polish, make-up and string to make bracelets and had quite the party. The girls LOVED it! Every girl had a make-over and a manicure. They all started making bracelets (I got stuck finishing them). Then, they decided to give us makeovers..this was the scary part..but so much fun. I had a 9 year old girl named Caroline who gave me a makeover and she is bound to become a makeup artist someday. I learned a lot of new Spanish vocabulary during our visit because they don't speak ANY English. Caroline was teaching me all the words for each makeup item. When I was done being made over I looked like a clown, but she loved it. I did too :) It was difficult to leave Caroline after making a connection with her, but I plan to go back every other week to hang out with the girls at the orphanage. It was a great opportunity to love and witness to these girls.

Tomorrow is Halloween, it's not a holiday celebrated here in the DR. I think a bunch of the Americans are going to try to do something fall festive to celebrate the season.

This week my students had to do their final bible project. They were assigned to do a TV show or talk show of their assigned bible story. They presented this week and the results were AWESOME. I wish you all could have seen them. I taped one - but it's difficult to hear. I am going to post it and if you want to watch it you can. It's the Oprah show with Adam and Eve. At the end Adam keeps telling Eve he wants his rib back (the kids have a great sense of humor).

Pray for our health here, a large amount of the teachers and staff at the school have been sick. In fact, they took my roommate to the hospital tonight because she's been sick all week and not getting any better. Pray for God’s healing and protection among all of us!

Have a great weekend!

20 Conferences...DONE!

What a week! Monday we had an away volleyball game at another private school here in town. I had a sub teach my class because I got out of school an hour early to take the team. I'm still trying to grasp the concept of athletics here. The lack of competitiveness drives me nuts but it's still fun. Teams don’t keep a win-loss record here in the DR because there is no reason to. You have no season, postseason, or even a schedule. Our games are scheduled the day before we play. Unfortunately our girl’s team lost Monday, but the guys team won! This Saturday we are leaving at 5:30am to take the team to the Capital (Santa Domingo) for a tournament. It's the #1 academic school in the country (they even have air conditioning!!!) It will be a long day, we play several games and we are not expected to return until 8 or 10pm but it will provide a great opportunity to get to spend some time hanging out with the high schoolers.



Tuesday night I went out to eat at a Vegetarian restaurant with the Young Life leader who was my sister’s college friend. It was delicious and nice to get out into town and experience something new.

As I was walking to the store on Tuesday I noticed something I had not seen here yet. There was a chicken on a leash. Let me paint the picture for you since it's not safe to have my camera. There was a chicken who had a black leash tied around his ankle and he was tied to a big rock. I was laughing so hard to myself. I called my dad and told him he would not believe it and he said it was probably someone's dinner...but then this morning the same chicken was on the same leash on my way to school. I made a comment to the people I was with and they said he's probably a fighter that makes money in cock fights. Wow - so I have a money making chicken that lives down the street from me..I think I might name him soon, I’ll keep you updated!

If you think Christmas starts early in the states than come visit the DR! My neighbors have X-mas lights up already, and my roommate apparently caught the bug because she went out and bought a X-mas tree. They do not celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving here, so Christmas is the next holiday they have to look forward to. The stores have all X-mas items out and it's not even Halloween yet.



Last night at Young Life and we had Halloween night! I dressed up as a Hershey Kiss! I will leave some humiliating pictures as evidence. The club went great and it was fun to see the students dressed up.



Today was a long day. We had 1/2 day with the students and then we had parent/teacher conferences. I spoke with 20 parents. I only had two parents who were unable to make it. It was draining, not only the conferences, but the Spanglish I spoke most the afternoon. I had a translator when I really needed it, but in this culture it’s a different atmosphere when meeting with parents. I finished my day and made it to my apartment around 7:30pm! I'm grading and have a full day of classes tomorrow, TGIF!
I hope all is well. I've heard from many people that the weather is starting to get cooler in Indiana. I'm not sure if I consider myself lucky yet or not because I am still melting in the 90 degree days of hot sun and humidity! I might start bragging soon – but I’ll wait until we both cool down a bit 

The End of the First Quarter!

Thursday was one of my roommates birthdays so we walked to a fancy restaurant not too far away and had a nice dinner with some friends. The food was great and it was nice to be able to celebrate.

Unfortunately, I woke up sick to my stomach and with a migraine headache Friday morning so I had to get a sub for school. The students only had a half-day because it was the last day of the grading period so the teachers spent the second half of the day doing grades. I spent most my morning in bed and then they needed me to come in to get me grades done. I took a taxi to school and it ended up being a bit of a process (as usual). The first taxi I called I spent about ten minutes trying to explain to him where I live (here in the DR there is no such thing as "logical" directions, sometimes you say take a left at that tree and a right at this restaurant..etc) but after the taxi driver could not figure out he hung up on me. Then I called another taxi and they came on a motorcycle when I had asked for a car, this option would not work with the skirt I was wearing and the teaching bag I was carrying. So, I tried once more and after about ten more minutes I got a taxi that took me to the school. Doing the grades, the comments, and the report cards was a long and draining process but I am finished!! I went home after school and crashed for a few hours.


Then, Friday night I was invited to another birthday party of one of my students. I got ready to go and once again called the taxi. They finally came to get me 40 minutes later and then could not find the party. We spent about 20 minutes driving around looking and with my limited Spanish I was not much help. I finally told him just to take me back, but he was determined to get me there so he opened the car windows and was listening for music. What a sweet man, he was incredible because sure enough we pulled into a BEAUTIFUL house and he told me that was it. I got out and was so happy to have all my kids running at me telling me they missed me at school and wondering where I had been. Even though I was really late to the party I had a great time. It was another dance party so the students danced the night away and I spent most of my time talking with the moms. I love getting to know them better. It’s great spending time with the students outside of school, they are lots of fun.
Here are some pictures of the b-day party and the house there were at..it had a sweet pool!





This morning I woke up early before the heat and rode with one of our directors to the university and ran (this is the ONE place it is safe to run). Then I tried to get some work done before I went with some friends to go watch a championship soccer game in the middle of nowhere. It was a club team and the team I was cheering for lost to the Haitian team, but it was a good game to watch.



After that we had “American Game Night” at the pastor’s house of one of the many churches I have attended. It was a blast. We had a cook-out with great food and then we played Apples to Apples and Outburst. I just got back and I am worn out and ready to go to bed!

Thanks for your support and encouragement. It's been awesome hearing from soooo many people. I love getting updates on your lives. Carve a pumpkin and drink some apple cider for me! Love you all :)

Sushi in the DR!

Yesterday one of my Puerto Rican friends that lives here in the DR returned from a short trip to the states so group of us went out to celebrate. We went to the cutest and tastiest sushi joint I have ever been to. I loved it :) Who would think a place like that would be in the DR?!?!?

Today I experienced my first dental service of the Dominican Republic. After school I waited at the dentist for a few hours (they are so timely here) to get my first dental cleaning. It was interesting to experience this in a different country. Luckily, my dentist spoke some English, but I decided to have him talk Spanish the entire time to practice my Spanish. It worked out pretty well and I learned a lot but at times we spoke more Spanglish than anything.

The dentist was similar to the U.S. I went to one of the nicer ones here to get a good quality - but it's still not the quality of the states. Hopefully it will keep me out of trouble until I can get a more thorough cleaning later :)

My students at school have been a HANDFUL this week. OK, that is an understatement. I have had some major discipline problems and it makes teaching a difficult thing to enjoy. It's frustrating because so much happens behind my back in the Spanish language that I am not aware of. The students are not allowed to speak Spanish in class or they are disciplined, but somehow things always get said and there are words that I am not familiar with yet..Not good.

I hope tomorrow will be a better day after several kids spent time in lunch detention and many parents were called. I hate doing that, so do the students.

One exciting thing about the class today is we are starting Pen Pal's with my sister's 4th grade class. I gave each of my students a name and they wrote a rough draft letter today. They are all so excited and the letters they wrote were wonderful. I can't wait to start the exchange! The students were all thrilled as well.
I posted a picture of my surfing adventure above..I had my friend finally e-mail it to me. It's the only one I have because I could not take my camera to the beach or it would have got stolen. I think I may have found a friend who is looking to get rid of a surf board too, so I might begin my training 

Pray for me this week to be patient with my class and remember above all I am here to love on the students and share God’s love with them. As frustrated as they may make me, I need to look at the big picture and not lose sight of it. Also, as I continue working towards my master’s class in the evenings and the workload it brings pray for me to manage my time wisely. Finally, there have been complications with a water bill for my apartment and they have not been able to resolve it since the beginning of the year. If my landlord will not comprise to fix this in the next week or two then the school has told me that I will be moving (the last thing I want to do right now) so pray that things can get resolved so I don’t have to go apartment shopping here because it could potentially leave me hopping around to different teacher’s apartment s until I have my own place again. With the pace life is here – that could be a LONG time.
ONE MORE THING..(Always got to save the best for the last). Tomorrow, October 15th, is my sister’s birthday! I hate not being able to physically be there for it. If money grew on trees I would fly home just to say happy b-day and give her a big hug..but I can't - so if you see her around please give her a hug and tell her HAPPY BIRHTDAY! She ROCKS. She’s one of the best teachers ever and I’m blessed to have her advice, encouragement and support during my time here!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPH!!
(The picture below is Steph, her husband Kyle, and dog Lilly)

Surf's Up

Another successful week has passed during my life in the Dominican Republic..let me fill you in:

Last Sunday night I had the opportunity to attend a church that works with the GO Ministries missionaries. This is the church and organization my friends from Pathway Community Church (in Fort Wayne, IN) went to stay this past summer for a mission trip. My friends connected me with some people they met who have been living here and it was nice to FINALLY be able to meet those people in person. The service was nice and the people were friendly. I enjoyed meeting some of the other American's too. In fact, one of the couples I met was from Indiana and prior to moving here three years ago he was the assistant basketball coach at Indiana Weslyan University. Now he is doing work with the sports ministry missions.

Wednesday we had our Young Life club as always, but, it was different because this week I was leading it. I was nervous and a little worked up about it at the beginning of the week, but it went well. The theme of the night was "Battle of the Sexes". It was a night full of girl’s vs. guys activities such as timing to see how many kids can cram into a car, duct taping someone to a wall to see who would stick the longest (we discovered duct tape is $8 per small roll in the DR, but money well spent) spelling out words with bodies as a team, and gender trivia. The night went great and the students had fun, at the end one of the other leaders shared his testimony. It's a joy to minister to these students.

My class at school has been wearing me out lately. They never run out of energy or get tired of talking! Pray for me as I continue to have patience with the students. Friday night I had plans to go see the school drama, but I got home from school late and was wiped out that I never made it back out for the evening!

Saturday I left early in the morning for the beach. I went with a few of my friends to celebrate someone's birthday. We got someone to drive us so we didn't have to take the bus. YES! It was a tight squeeze for 10 people in one vehicle, but we made it there in one piece. We stayed at a nice hotel that had a penthouse to sleep 7 of us. It was nice and the bedrooms had air-conditioning (FINALLY!) We went out for a nice dinner on the beach Saturday night and had a great time. Then, we went back to our hotel and sat in the hot tub which was overlooking the Ocean (yeah it was pretty amazing).

This morning we woke up and walked to a cute German bakery for breakfast and spent some quality time at the pool. In the afternoon, I had the opportunity to learn a new sport..SURFING!

It was amazing, my friend’s friend, Victor, who happens to be the 2nd best surfer in the Dominican Republic and competes in California and Florida was bored and called us up and wanted to know what we were doing. He invited us out to his place and he gave us private surf lessons for quite the deal! It was awesome, only four of us actually did it but I loved it. He spent about 3 hours working with me and teaching me how to surf. He's my age and he taught himself to surf when he was 14. He spoke great English but his friends that were helping spoke Spanish so I learned some Spanish surfing words in the process! It was incredible when we left he said he'd help us out again if we come back and he's around.

I had a lot of fun but now I'm tired, burnt, and full of gallons of salt water..but it was WELL worth it :)I told mom and dad, I'm done with teaching; my new dream in life is to become a professional surfer! Haha- just kidding but it is awesome!

Keep in touch!

Dancing at the Disco!

Last weekend my trip to the beach was an adventure as everything is here! It was my first time taking the bus and I went with a group of seven girls. We woke up early in the morning and took a taxi to the bus station where we discovered that we didn't get there in time to get a ticket :( We waited two hours to get on the next bus. We finally got on the 11 o'clock bus. After the 2 1/2 hour bus ride (we were informed it was only about an hour) we arrived at the beach! The weather was great and we enjoyed the water. There were some people from France there that we met and played a game of beach volleyball with. Then, we had to leave the beach by 5pm in order to catch the last bus back to our city. Altogether we had about 3 hours at the beach, 5 hours on the bus, and a 10 hour day. That's alright because it was well worth it!

Tuesday I helped throw a surprise birthday party for one of the the teachers at the school that drives me around a lot (he is one of a few that has a car) it was fun and we had about 30 people in a small apartment! Then, Wednesday, one of my students invited me over to his house for dinner. They cooked me a delicious Dominican meal and we hung out and talked for a while. It's a family from Holland and I have enjoyed getting to know them. The mom has been a great friend to me. I love the relationships I am making with the families and the students. What amazing people!
My Spanish speaking has been stretched this week as I have been thrown into a taxi alone a few times and expected to give the taxi driver directions to the place I am trying to go...it's always interesting – I’ve learned that taxi's cost a lot more when you get lost!

Friday was a teacher in-service day so we didn't have students and it was a nice day to catch up and get some things done in my room.

This weekend I had the honor of being invited to my student's 12th birthday party. The party was last night. Birthday parties for the students that attend the school are a BIG thing. Parent's go ALL OUT. My student's party was a disco party. They had the house decorated and the party was catered. There was a DJ, a huge cake, and the invitations were fancy. I was nervous going because I didn't know what to expect. I was told the students love when the teacher's show up. So, I went and it was awesome! It was neat to see the student’s house and all of my students dressed up for a party. There was a dance floor and it was all decked out..way more than what I ever had for a party. By the end of the night my students had me out on the dance floor with them and I was having the time of my life! I was shocked when the song “Soldier Boy” came on and all the students lined up and did the dance in unison as if it were the electric slide (For you OLD PEOPLE this is a rap song that has a unique rap dance). That reminds me, Dominicans know how to dance..wow…It was crazy!

After I left the b-day party I went to meet up with some of my friends and we went to go see a movie. IT was a good night. I hope you are having a great weekend!
I'm posting a few pictures from the disco birthday party!
Love ya all :)