New post!

NEW POST on A Different Sort of Adventure that has nothing (mostly) to do with what I'm eating! (Only my mental consumption...)

posting...

I really need to start working...this is what I did for three hours last week: http://www.ADifferentSortOfAdventure.blogspot.com

new blog...

Well everyone, I want to thank you for following my journey this year. Since I'm no longer "traveling" per se, I think I will keep tiertravels on the backburner until I go somewhere else. But fear not! You can find my new adventures in the treacherous suburbs of Baltimore at ADifferentSortOfAdventure.blogspot.com. Follow me!

Home Sweet (sometimes) Home

Well, seeing as I've been home for 2 (is it 3?) weeks now, I guess I should update...I'm back! The first day was bizarre, but then I was fine. I miss my friends so much, but it's great to be back in America. I'm attempting to move back into my tiny room at home and find gainful employment. I'm also super excited to be starting a Masters program in Baltimore for secondary education in September!

It's hard to be here and know that my roots are here for at least two years, but I know that this is what I'm supposed to be doing.

It was a great year...thanks everyone for the prayers and cards!! I hope to see you all soon if I haven't already.

I haven't yet decided whether I'll keep up the blog or not...we'll see how it goes!

36 hours left in the DR

I don't really know how this happened; all of a sudden it's almost time to go! I went to the east shore this past Tuesday-Thursday with Holly, Brewer, and Karyn, and it was lovely. Now I have to get packing and cleaning!! It's very difficult to completely clear out of a house like this. It's a sad and exciting time...so I'm just taking it little by little. In honor of a great year, and in the spirit of Stuff White People Like and Stuff Christians Like, a few of us have tried to compile an accurate list of our own. If you haven't read either of the above blogs, they are intended to be both humorous and accurate. (That's my disclaimer for any Dominicans reading this who get offended.) So without further ado,

Stuff Dominicans Like

Sweeping water
Sheer shirts
Patterned bras
Riding motorcycles with umbrellas
Dancing at every event
Hair nets
the Reggaeton bass line
Not working
Cement buildings
Arriving 2 hours late
Daddy Yankee
Skinny jeans
Drinking alcohol
Cramming multiple people in/on vehicles
Rice and beans
Hard bread
Eating at midnight
Imported American clothes
New York
Spoon feeding children until age 10
Halls menthols as candy
Improper clothing for outdoor excursions
Avoiding rain
Heels
Pronouncing English words in Hispanic accents
Birthday parties
Loud music
Speakers on the back of trucks
Hair salons
Political caravans
Excuses
Plantains
Miami
Machetes
Roosters
Straightened hair
Getting nails done
Colmados
Dressing up
Dominoes
Hot dogs on sticks
Baseball
Accessories
Winter clothes in non-winter weather
Paying later
Horses
Sitting on porches
Break time
Mannequins with large body parts
Bachata music
Gold jewelry

Motos carrying large objects...

Dominicans like to carry large and improbably objects on their motorcycles. I have developed the skill of reaching into my purse, getting my camera out, turning it on, and taking a picture all while maintaining the speed of my motorcycle. Don't tell my mom. Anyway, carrying gas tanks is fairly common, as you can see:

Strangely enough, carrying a washer or dryer is also common; this is not the first one I've seen on the road.

School's Out!

Wow, I can't believe today was the last day of school... mind blown. It was a great day. Chaotic, but still great. I took the above video when alot of the classes were outside just relaxing... doing water balloons, throwing water at each other, just being joyous. Then the firefighters came and sprayed water over the entire basketball court (hence the photo the right) and it was just fabulous.
Hopefully I will still get to see some of my students on Monday night when I give out report cards. I'm really going to miss the little munchkins!

Video time!

A short documentary on my favorite thing in the DR.

Birthday Season...

We've just emerged from a huge amount of birthdays...Laura turned 26 on May 28, Fisk turned 27 on May 31, and Brewer turned 24 on June 2. Here are the photos celebrated these occasions!

To the right, you see Brewer and little Jose. They share a birthday! Jose's mom brought him that stellar hat and some great cake. The picture of all of us together is also Brewer's birthday; we got together for cheesecake!!


Yes, you see this one right...Miss Fisk is a little obsessed with Robert Pattinson and Twilight, so we made her an awesome card with Rob P as the centerfold. That sounds awkward, but you know what I mean.

Trash Talk

So, this is our trash. Please note the plant in the top trash can, the cinder block, and the rope lashing the whole pyramid to our windows. Some of you have caught on: dogs. I believe it was Thursday or Friday that we somehow got some visitors overnight. There are two street dogs that are getting into our backyard (despite the fence) and walking around to our carport and utterly tearing the crap out of our trash bags. We have had to pick up alot of trash lately. EXCEPT this morning. This is actually model #2; model #1 involved the three cans just being roped to the window so they couldn't be knocked over. Of course, this did not prevent the vermin from pulling things out of the cans. Our new and improved plan, as you can see, is more more effective: cinder block on Can 1, blocking access; Can 3 on Can 2; and a heavy plant in Can 3. Voila, success!

Regalo

I got my first teacher gift on Friday...this awesome towel with my name cross stitched on it!! Haha. I'm aware that it looks a little old ladyish, but I love it!! Brewer had Dariel's brother Dalbert last year, so she also has a personalized towel, although they spelled her name Nately. Note to the fam, this is MINE. It has my name on it!

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!

perro

Literally almost adopted a dog about 3 hours ago. No lie; please don't tell my mom. A small, whimpering puppy showed up on our lawn trying to hide from the random cat that likes to peruse our trash. I have no pictures, but trust me, it was one of the cutest dogs I've ever seen. Fortunately for my roommates and my family a neighbor decided to take it when I walked around looking for a home for it.

And that's Wednesday.

Lots of Tiers...

Well, for the first time in 3 weeks, I am visitorless! Three weeks ago I picked up Ryan, who was still here the following Friday (April 9) when my whole family flew down!!. They left last Sunday, but Kels got to stay until yesterday, when she flew home. So I'm pretty much just decompressing in my room all day. I had a great time with all of them here. We did some great waterfall adventuring! On the first Saturday they were here we hiked the Upper Jimenoa: Tim and Laura took us rock climbing around that area, and a week later we were at 27 Waterfalls near Puerto Plata:My dad had alot of fun resurrecting his rusty Spanish skills. My mom just enjoyed relaxing and not having to worry about cooking.

On Monday they came to my class, and all the boys loved my brother and my dad. The 4th graders required a "conferencia" with them, during which I think most of the girls acquired a crush on Jordan. Please note Smirna's story for the day:
By the time she left yesterday, two of my girls had attached themselves to Kels, and they made her a lot of cute cards.

So, now I am alone for the remaining 7 or however many weeks are left. That's ok; I've got plenty to keep me busy! Maybe now I'll start blogging with some regularity...

Playa

No matter what my post says, it's about 9:45 am on a Thursday, and right about now somewhere inland, my kids are going outside for their morning break. I, on the other hand, have just woken up, and in my peripheral vision I can see my brother on his iPod, and my sister standing at the gate across the yard that separates us from the beach. Still watching creepily...she appears to be contemplating whether to walk down there or not.

It's a little disheartening to realize that my brother will head back to the States on Sunday. We've been having a wonderful time in Jarabacoa and again here at the beach. I will miss them when they leave, but it suddenly hits me that I'm five days away from having only two months left in this country. Two months! Where has the time gone?? Better question, what on earth will I do back in the States? Live with air conditioning and power 24/7? I might have to just turn everything off in the house once or twice to make it feel right.

I'm also happy to remember that I have ALL of the two months left! That can be a long time if I want it to. Thank goodness, because I'm not quite done with the waterfalls yet. There are still places to ride my bike, still some mountains that need climbing.
This is SUCH a beautiful country! If somehow I could have a tunnel from here to Baldimore, I would be set. I do like to have my cake, with sprinkles, and eat it too. With ice cream. Speaking of which, it's time for breakfast!

Hiatus

Ok I'm going to need some forgiveness on infrequent posting! A little over a week ago on Saturday, Jenny and I headed down to Santo Domingo to pick up my good friend Ryan. He's been working in Haiti for 4 weeks, and we managed to arrange him coming up to visit me in Jarabacoa for a week! So he and I have been busy visiting waterfalls and getting ready for last Friday...when I got some special visitors!! I am currently sleeping in the same room as my sister, which is FANTASTIC! So, I'll have to update on that later. Here is a photo of Ryan and I at something called the Confluencia, which is where two rivers (the Yaque and the Jimenoa) meet together!

Kels and I are packing for the beach right now...hopefully (don't hold me to it) I'll update when we return!!

a (w)Holy week off!

Greetings from the last day of spring break aka Semana Santa aka Holy Week! Since today is Good friday, this week preceding it is Semana Santa, and thus, no class for me! It has been a blissful if not rapid week.

I should probably wrap last week up. I am in a happy no-students fog, so the only significant events I can recall from last week are A) Angel stabbing Brian in the face with scissors and getting suspended, and B) First Grade Store.
I should probably specify so it sounds less dramatic: Angel didn't really "stab" Brian in the face; APPARENTLY Brian was in Angel's way, so he brandished his scissors as a way to get through and they just so happened to graze Brian's face about 3/4 of an inch from his eye and left a mark. That's all.

Next, the wonderful Neal parents from Texas brought some great toys for First Grade Store, which is a once-monthly event. The cherubs start out with 5 First Grade Dollars every two weeks, and at the end of the month, if they haven't lost them due to bad behavior (like stabbing someone in the face with scissors), they get to spend them. Some of them bought fun sunglasses:


I am pretty excited about the upcoming week! My friend Ryan has been working with Food for the Hungry in Haiti, and he's going to end his time on Hispaniola in the mountains with us! It will be a fun week. FRIDAY my siblings are coming to visit and I CANNOT WAIT!!! Good times about to ensue!

Again thanks to people writing me letters...mail makes my day every other Tuesday!! I always tape the cards to my wall and I feel warm inside when I look around and see how loved I am!

fixed!

This has absolutely nothing to do with anything dominican, but I'm pretty excited because I partially fixed my laptop cord! After discussing via email with my dad the issue, i cut away the black plastic covering so the cable looked like this:


Since my dad is awesome, he sent me this diagram of how to fix the cable. At Lost night on Wednesday, one of the guys made an attempt, but it didn't work. I peeled back the electrical tape and saw some of the "blue" wires (from below) touching the red wire, and I knew that wasn't supposed to happen. Long story short, I fixed the problem, and I'm probably more excited about it than anyone else, but I'm ok with that. I felt very McGuyver.

Next week is our SPRING BREAK, so that means no school!! I am elated. I plan to read, sleep, and stand as little as possible. Not to mention be in the sun!

2 weeks til my family visits!!

Absence...

As I'm getting ready to tally up the absences for the quarter, I think it's far to give you a warning that I could potentially be absent online for a little while. On tuesday my laptop cord decided to bite it, so thusly I cannot turn on my laptop. I ordered a new one and I'm hoping it makes it on Tuesday's mail delivery! We will see!

Tomorrow is our last day before spring break, and praise the LORD it is a half day!! And then a whole week off :) I plan to read alot and sit by the pool. Double the emphasis on reading if my laptop doesn't work by then!

It's about 2 weeks til my family comes...so excited!

Of Mice and Men...

Kermes

I really don't know what the literal translation of "Kermes" is, but for us it means something like "a long day in the sun running a school fundraiser fair." Connotations include donuts, sunburns, and small children. We met at school at 8:30 and were just about all cleaned up by 4:15. I did some face painting, some game officiating, and some food selling. Holly and Laura did some excellent (if not meticulous) work hanging the signs.


Alicia (who lived upstairs until today), got married about 500 yards from the school at a hostal, so I crept away for 10 minutes to creepily take pictures from the fence.
My paparazzi-ing was preceded by a drive by by Brewer and I. Yes, this photo taken while moving!

Sun and more visitors...

Good week! On Wednesday Holly, Brooke, and I went to Karen's house for a SUPERB dinner and dessert! I had a good time playing with Anthony, her 3 year old:

Visitor from the North!

I've been MIA for a few days because my close friend Krysten came to visit for a few days! She is joining a medical missions team from Penn State this week in Santo Domingo. She flew to Santiago on Wednesday to spend a few days up here with me. Unfortunately for her (and us), the weather has been abominable. It is freezing cold, about 68 degrees or so. we took a delightful motorcycle ride...until it started raining. We ended up soaking wet and shivering. We did have a good time playing Apples to Apples at the Stanleys and getting our nails done.

Because of the frigid temperatures we didn't get a picture of us riding my motorcycle, so we had to settle for one taken in the house, where I keep it.

My sister is 21 today!!!

In honor of my sister's 21st birthday that I am MISSING, here is yet another video!!

Chapter 1.5

Second video! Get excited:

The video blog, Chapter 1

I don't think words would do justice to our past few days, so Holls and I made 2 videos to describe it. They are short, no worries.

Sans water

Well, Day 2 without water is off to a good start. The pump decided to stop working sometime prior to Saturday morning, and once the Tinacum (essentially a plastic well on the roof) drains, there is no water being pumped through the pipes. So no showers, no dishes, no flushing. Fortunately, we have a random spigot in our overgrown yard that does have water. We have been filling pots and pans with water to do dishes and flush the toilet when necessary. Our friends are providing us with showers.

We're hoping it will get fixed tomorrow. Holls and Brooke ran out of gas for their stove on Friday, and the Stanley's ran out today...so hopefully ours will last!! Otherwise, we'll be out of water and cooking fuel...and if the power goes out after that, we could be in some trouble. :) My life is an adventure!

Spirit Week

It was school spirit week at JCS!! That means no uniforms...which I highly support! First up, Monday was crazy day. I had a very confusing facebook chat conversation with one of my students' mothers. I'm about 100% certain she was using an online translation site:
Mom: Tomorrow bunion must go madman's garment
Me: que??
Mom: Or with the uniform it(he,she) is that not entidi only a mad hairdo or the gown also
Mom: If but the debit to go with mad gown or only the hairdo
[This is where I realized she must be talking about crazy day]

It turned out ok though, check him out!:
Tuesday was JCS colors day, and Wednesday was Accident Day. Darwin and I were apparently twins! (He's in my second grade reading class.):


This weekend should be interesting, since our pump has decided not to work and thus we have no running water. Could get a little smelly around here...

Weekend!

For the second Saturday in a row, we went to the Upper Jimenoa waterfall. Fortunately nothing was broken or taken when we got back this week. Jenny's mom and aunt are in town and it's fun to have some new people to show around.

This is us last Saturday, armed with a myriad of weapons for any more uninvited house guests: Jenny with mace, I have a machete, Holly with tabasco sauce, and Brooke with a rolling pin.

I've been spending today as a quiet and uneventful Sunday catching up on some sleep. Weekend's are too short; I am not ready to teach again tomorrow! Time is flying.

Safety!

We have a gate on our door!! (see above) Our landlord has really come around and delivered for us. I feel alot safer. Tomorrow he's going to seal our kitchen door and put some locks on the back doors. The girls upstairs have bars on their windows now!! Look:


I think we will all sleep better now. I know I will!

The bars and door involved alot of metal cutting, which occurred on our front porch without safety goggles. Naturally. Now, you may imagine this welder requires some power. And this is how they hooked up their extension cord:

Yes, those are live wires. I love this place.

water and thieves

Well, I think it's safe to say that this weekend is all over the place. On Friday night I finally got to watch The Blind Side, and it was fantastic!!! It's a great movie even if you're NOT from Baltimore, but since I am, I felt especially proud.

Yesterday morning, my two roommates went out for their usual Saturday morning activities (hair appointment and Awana), and I went with Holly, Brooke, the Stanley's and Mr. Stanley Sr. (visiting from MN) to a little something called the Upper Jimenoa. Which is a HUGE, gorgeous waterfall. The hike down was great; the hike back up is a little rough. But either way, the waterfall is amazing.

We were all set to get home and nap or eat, but about a minute after I went into my house, Holly and Brooke came down in near tears because their house had been broken into while we were gone. Their laptops have been stolen as well as money and their American cell phones. The laptops are the biggest loss though, since we use them to stay in touch with people at home. Whoever it was came in through a window and then used a rolling pin to bust off the door knobs on their bedroom doors (which were locked). It was a crazy afternoon with police reports (written in what appears to be a composition notebook...very official), stress, and trepidation.

We had a large sleepover in their living room last night complete with machete and mace, just in case. It resulted in not alot of concrete rest for me, so a nap is sounding pretty good right now. If anyone hears of or knows someone that would want to donate a used laptop, let me know! :)

Ironic thought for the night:

I'm currently writing an email to a close friend from college, who I lived next to Sophomore year. This reminded me to blog about something I have remembered before but kept forgetting to post. During my spring semester of that year, I took a Caribbean culture and society class. I was extremely frustrated with the grading system - about 5 multiple choice tests. (I am more of a paper writer. In terms of tests, I am more of an essay test taker). I was complaining to this friend and her roommate, and on more than one occasion I specifically remember bemoaning about the preciseness of the questions:
"Honestly, when am I EVER going to need to know what side of the road people drive on in the Dominican Republic??!!"

Too tempting of a question, it would appear. God has a sense of humor...

Happy .5!!

This is probably the most promptly that I've ever reported anything, but I am very excited about this one! Tonight my family down here threw me a surprise half birthday party! (Technically my half birthday is tomorrow, but Holly and I will be at Young Life, so they threw it tonight!) I was completely surprised and it was wonderful. I have a superb crown made by Karyn, and Brewer distracted me while everyone went to Holly's. Then we ate Chinese. It may be the first half birthday party I've ever had, but I think there's a good chance it will always be the best, too. Thanks to my wonderful amigas for all the love!

As Angelica would say, "Bomb-iting"

I feel like I can't be the only one in existence who has hung their head over a trashcan in a third world country wondering why. As I recall during my 24 bodily rejection of fluids and nutrients in Shanghai, through the haze of illness I pondered what in that communist country could I have consumed to make so ill. Today I had my first Dominican stomach revolt, and I'm happy to say it appears to be short lived. I'm still confused as to what prompted my sickness in the morning (not to be confused with morning sickness), but I'm just going to take it easy and not eat anything for a little bit. I'm hoping this won't permanently ruin bananas and peanut butter (today's breakfast item) permanently for me.

Somewhere in York, PA, my sister is dying a little inside as she reads this...

Off topic, rumor on the streets is that the Brewer/Staats/Fisk house has had 3 mice in a week. I am feeling blessed that nothing else has shown up in my room.

Also, in the Top Ten Things You Don't Want to See On the Side of the Road list, new entry: dead kitten. Just trust me, it's pretty sad.

Since lunch supervision is in about 5 minutes, here is a picture of the river from a spot we like to ride to on our motorcycles! The camera doesn't do it justice.

Christmas!

My mom sent me some small things for my kids for Christmas...and they loved it! Here are two short videos:

Haiti stories

I know you barely have to move your small toe to hear the stories out of Haiti, but I think these are two of the important ones that need to be mentioned.

The first is by Missionary Flights International, the guys that bring us our mail bi-weekly. I hope you watch the video!
http://www.missionaryflights.org/field-reports/148-we-are-bringing-our-babies-home

The second is about a Towson student and Baltimore resident...
http://www.explorebaltimorecounty.com/news/104051/haiti-with-love-hope/

downside of the tropics...

5 inch lizard in my BEDROOM. Picture forthcoming. Thank God for Natalia, catcher of all creepy crawlies in my room.

I am reminded that Cecilia once told me I was the man in the apartment. I believe that excludes situations with creatures.

A way to help the Haitians

I just wanted to let everyone know about a unique, and in my opinion, extremely effective way to help Haiti. There is an American family in my town that distributes water purifiers here in the DR. The company is FilterPureFilters.org, and they make these water filters in needy countries (e.g. Africa, here, Haiti, etc.) that can be given to the Haitians so that they have a renewable source of drinking water, instead of relying on bottled water from relief teams.

To me, this makes more sense than sending bottled water that will, obviously, be used up.

Some people have been asking if I will be going down to help in the relief efforts. Some of us have definitely expressed interest, since we are here on the island already, but right now it's not feasible for a few reasons. The most important one is that it's extremely unsafe in Haiti right now due to the disorganization. The second is that most of the Haitians have no place to go because their shelter has been destroyed, so we would just be a few more bodies needing a place to stay. I think if we were to go it would be more likely in a few months, when things are less chaotic and people know exactly what needs to be done.

I'm trying to upload some videos of my kids, but thus far I am unsuccessful. Try again later!

Second foreign earthquake survived

Hello all, this is just a quick note to let anyone who may be concerned that I am perfectly fine; I didn't feel the earthquake at all. According to my father (I personally haven't looked at a map...), I am about 100 miles from Port-au-Prince. The majority of my students felt the earthquake, as did some of the other teachers. Cecilia was walking in town and saw some of the buildings shaking at the time. Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out how I end up in these countries with pretty severe earthquakes and don't notice anything. I feel somewhat gypped.

In the meantime, please keep the people of Haiti in your prayers. It is one of, if not the, poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Haitians have next to nothing; here in the DR, you can get in more trouble with the law for killing a rooster than a Haitian. At the beach you see many Haitians trying to sell things, shoes, paintings, etc. My understanding is that they will only see a fraction of a percentage of what they make selling these things. The point is, Haiti is a country with a terrible economic infrastructure to begin with, and I cannot imagine that this will help.

Some good pictures of the conditions can be found here:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/01/earthquake_in_haiti.html

On the Mend

I’m happily writing this without a fever! Thursday afternoon I started feeling a little better, and then after Friday afternoon it was all uphill. (Meaning it got better, not harder.) I still spent most of the weekend relaxing and drinking fluids and eating all of Jenny’s Ricola’s, as the flu has left me with one of those attractive smoker’s lung coughs. It was a delightfully low key time. We watched a good amount of movies…Top Gun, (500) Days of Summer, and 2012. I also finally finished the Curious Case of Benjamin Button today. Oh yeah, I made my lesson plans for this week too. Sometimes I do work.

At 1 today I went on a motorcycle ride with Brewer and Karyn and it was glorious. Yesterday and today we had sunny, warm weather for the first time all week. I’m glad I went; I had been having lackluster feelings towards being here, especially being sick. The drive reminded me how beautiful this country is, and how wondrous it is to live here. And the phenomenon of 85 degrees in January. I wore my Heap jersey, in the hopes of causing the Dominicans to unconsciously start favoring purple. Speaking of which…

At 2 I watched (well, read about) the Patriots crumble to the mighty birds of prey. It was beautiful. At least, the ESPN gamecast (affectionately known around here as the ‘bar graph’) looked very nice. Once it loaded, that is; today’s internet was the slowest I have ever experience while being here. I would rank it somewhere around dial up speed.

Since we have officially entered rainy season, I purchased some clothesline and clothespins for hanging inside my bedroom. Bring on the miserable weather.

Time to go sleep up for Monday! The first graders will undoubtedly have forgotten anything I managed to teach them before the break, thus I will need extra patience. Due to the aforementioned internet issues, I’m not even going to attempt to upload a picture…

Back to warmer temperatures...

Llegue! At the moment I am currently in bed with a thermometer stuck in my mouth, watching a movie. When I landed Monday I was fairly certain I was too hot, and not from the climate, although it was quite humid that day. I've pretty much been in bed ever since. I had to skip school yesterday, of course, and today. I've been alternating between drenching sweats and feverish shaking beneath my blankets, all accompanied by body aches. Fortunately I have wonderful friends here who bring me orange Gatorade, make me tea, and cook me soup. Today I woke up sans fever, just low energy. The thermometer right now, however, is reporting 99.1. Hopefully it won't continue to increase. Never have I so wanted a hot water bottle for my neck.

Anyway, I was so encouraged to go home and hear from some of you that you have been reading my blog! I thought it was just Mom (I love you!). So, it's my goal to make this more entertaining to read. Currently I am also being inspired by Julie & Julia, which (I had forgotten) is about blogging. And cooking. But I'm not being inspired to cook, shocking I know.

I must admit, being sick is not helping to motivate me for the spring semester. Neither is the cold weather...it's somewhere in the 60s, and rainy...quite chilly!! I would love to go retrieve my motorcycle, go to town to get some groceries, and make dinner! ....Or, I could sit in my bed and drink more fluids. Option B? I think so. Although I do need milk.

I guess if you have to miss a few days of school, this is the week to do it...school started yesterday, and apparently I still don't have a full class. There were only 10 high schoolers, and they left at noon. Yesterday was Three Kings Day, kind of like another Christmas, so I guess that makes sense.

I spoke to the new cleaning woman. She is fairly expressionless, which makes me doubt my Spanish when I talk to her. I apparently said something right, because she showed up today. It's the small victories...

I guess I'm off to make lists of the things I would buy at the grocery store if i could go, and then sit listlessly on my bed. Thus begins round two of my Dominican adventures!

Break!

I'm currently sitting in my basement next to my dad (in his neck brace collar) watching Night at the Museum 2 with my family. It's pretty fantastic, especially after going to DC for New Years Eve, and prowling around some of the museums in this movie. (Side note: Amy Adams is reminding me of Nicole Kidman.)

It's been a wonderful two weeks here at home, although I haven't seen everyone that I would have liked, and it has gone very quickly. I am very ready to go back to my warm and moist climate. I'm also ready to see my friends, and eat what my stomach apparently thinks is normal food now. I'm not ready to see/teach my students...but we'll work on that :)

Plans for this semester:

1) Through my substitute status as a CCPL employee, I'm going to take some online non-credit classes, which I am so excited for!! I miss learning.

2) Figure out my plans for next year. There are so many options! I could stay in the DR another year, I could go teach with my cousins (the Heins) in Cambodia, I could go to another country (India, Morocco) with my cousin (Kaylie), I could go home and pursue my Masters degree.

3) Have adventures. To include, but not be limited to, beach trips with my friends, motorcycle rides through the country, and late night laughter. There's talk of a Tier vacation too, so I hope it comes to fruition!

4) Reflect on purpose, and my purpose, and my life.

Two more days and I'm back to my tropical paradise!