THREE WEEKS!

Yes, it's sad and happy at the same time, but it's true. I'm leaving the DR in 3 weeks to go back to the Best Coast. I'm having mixed feelings, and by mixed I mean a true mezcla. I'm excited, sad, ready, not ready, stressed about packing, overwhelmed by that stuff that has to get done, etc.

We have 2 weeks of school left, although the last week is half days, so I'm counting on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to do the teaching on one of those days.

We're right in the middle of a collection of birthdays! Laura turned 26 on Friday, Fisk will be 27 tomorrow, and Brewer is 24 on Wednesday. (Coincidentally she and Jose share a birthday! Also the one year anniversary of my Lasik surgery :).) So we're having fun making their days special.

Topping that off, Tobi, a high school sophomore at the other American school in town, had a birthda party last night. We've gotten to know Tobi through Young Life and she is a lot of fun. Her parents have a beautiful house in the mountains, so last night they threw her a Sweet Sixteen party. I was appalled to be in the older set of guests, but that's how it goes I guess. Unbeknown to us, her parents and older siblings set up a Scavenger hunt all over their housing community. It was a long affair so I won't get into details, but rest assured that it had been raining and I face planted and slipped in the mud several times. At one point I was knee deep in what I was certain was sewage, but now I think it was just smelly mud. That's what I'm going with. Today I have minuscule thorns stuck in my hands, probably from diving several times into plant life to avoid the "policia" aka Tobi's brother and brother in law driving around on four wheelers. It was a pretty fun Sweet Sixteen party.

We have a vistor! Messiah sends down teams of workers during the summer for a week to help at Students International, another organization here in Jarabacoa. One of the juniors is staying to volunteer at school for a week. It's so great to have another Messiah student here! I like using words that only we know :)

well its getting close to dinner time...I am having trouble convincing my body that I need to move...all the running and hiding last night has me a little sore.

21 days!

Jose!

For awhile I've been meaning to post some of Jose's art. Jose is a special little angel in my class with diabetes. Before you feel too sorry for him, please know that he has more energy than I have in my small toe, and he never stays in his seat. He's also very small.

Most of our art projects involve cutting out and gluing paper to make animals. For some reason, Jose likes to add special extras to his projects. I have three of them here, and I'm just sorry I didn't think to photograph the duck he did before I sent it home.

I made sure to include one of the other animals in each picture so that you can see what a normal one looks like.

First, his ladybug:

I don't really know if it's an angry ladybug with propellers or what, but you can see my point.

Now, his bird:

You're probably thinking that one doesn't look so bad. Which is why I saved his turtle for last:

It's up for debate whether it's a dragon turtle or just a turtle with machine guns. I myself go back and forth daily...

stuck

Well, my computer cord broke again. And that new one I had broke too. So now I have two broken cords, and a new one on the way...but the DR customs rules just changed, so all our mail that was supposed to be here on Tuesday will be here May 25th.

That being the case, I'm probably going to cancel my affiliation with the mail service after May. So feel free to send me cards until the end of the month :)

It's another glorious three day weekend that we're about to head into, due to the elections. Elections here are different; everything is CRAZY. There are mile long parades with flags of the political parties colors weaving through town. Last night there was a concert hosted by the red (not communist related) party's congressman candidate and mayor candidate. My plan is to stay inside this weekend as much as possible to stay away from the craziness. They say there will probably be lots of recounts and possible burning of tires by the losers in protest of the winners. Sounds like a good time.

We're also having this crazy weather where it will suddenly and without warning downpour for 10 minutes, then lessen and stop. About 20-30 minutes later the whole thing starts over.

Looks like it's about time to go pick up my kids. just 2.5 more hours!

Happy Birthday little brother!

3 Day weekend!

Sort of. I'll explain:

Today is Dominican Labor Day, which you would think schools would get off for, and you'd be right EXCEPT for when the Secretary of Education decides the week before that everyone needs to go to school. So we had about 2 hours of "school in session" i.e. we went to school and sat in our rooms and organized our iTunes folders. At least that's what I did.

Then we/I went home to eat lunch, and watched a washcloth light on fire on the gas stove while Cecilia was cooking. So, send care packages with washcloths, but not really, because DR customs decided sometime last week that they need to tax all incoming packages to non-profits, regardless of price. (I think there was a big meeting with all important Dominican personnel where they sat around looking blankly at one another, until finally someone got uncomfortable with the silence and proposed random, last minute changes to crucial things like calendars and incoming mail.)

Aside from that, it was a low key weekend: some swimming and eating. Oh, Saturday we hiked from the Lower Jimenoa waterfall to the Upper Jimenoa (the giant waterfall in most of my pictures). It was pretty fantastic. We did get bitten by some serious insects though, and I have been liberally applying the Hydro-cortisone.

Now for the photos!

This, my friends, is a real live STICK BUG!!! I had never seen one!!

This is a view of the Upper Jimenoa from the path!