habitats and hired hares!

Life is certainly busy in Jarabacoa! Between going to school, planning lessons, student house visits, worship band practice, small group meetings and the gym, there’s not much time for anything else. I wanted to take a moment to show off some of the work of my 8^th graders at a recent science fair they put on for the rest of the school. They worked really hard on studying specific animals and their habitats. One group even rented an albino rabbit for the day!! Honestly, not much surprises me anymore, even a large bunny at school! Here are a few pictures from the day.

Thanks for supporting me in this ministry. I am so excited to be able to take part in the work Kids Alive is doing to improve the lives of the kids in our school here in Jarabacoa. We see the transformations daily through both academic and personal growth in our students. Of course, I’ll keep trying to post when I can. I’m also planning a trip to the states for Christmas to visit both Wheaton and NH. Looking forward to seeing many of you! 

This little girl just arrived at the Ark!

playing catch-up

Hello! I just emerged from months of adjusting to new cultural norms, roles and routines. It’s unbelievable to me that I left for CIT (cross-cultural training) a year ago! Since then I’ve been on 22 airplanes, in 4 countries, and 11 states. I’ve learned a new language and started my teaching career. Some days I am in awe of how much God has worked in my life in such a brief time. It’s all been positive change, but unfortunately has pushed this blog to the back burner. As things are now settling down for what seems to be the foreseeable future, I’m eager to pick up where I left off and show you the work that God is doing in Jarabacoa.

This past summer I helped to lead the summer program at the Ark, our children’s home here in Jarabacoa. We studied math through games, learned some English, and squeezed a little time for fun and craziness! We went to the river each week, had talent shows, and ran in our annual Ark Marathon (don’t worry, it’s only 3 miles). It's always sad to see summer end, but at least here we get to keep the summer weather year round! 

Near the end of the summer my mom came down to visit and we were able to play tourist and explore more of Jarabacoa. There are many fun things to do, but with a to-do list brimming over it’s difficult to find the time. We also made it to the north coast– I just needed to prove that I really do live on an island ;)

I also had some other exciting visitors here in the DR! My church from Glen Ellyn, IL sent a group down to work in Santiago, our closest city. I was able to visit with this lovely team, hear about another ministry's work with children, and enjoy a lovely meal. Thanks GEECC for your service here and making time to meet up with me! 

Lastly, school has begun and is in full swing! About a week before it started, I was approached about being the school music teacher as that was the position they were unable to fill from the community. (Almost all of the ANIJA staff is Dominican) I also became the 8^th grade math teacher, which is right up my alley! With these new assignments and one week full of teacher workshops, I had some busy nights reading all that I could about teaching music and the Spanish vocabulary necessary to do so. In the US, I would be able to pull a plethora of songs out of my hat to sing with the younger students, but I realized that I only knew one children’s song in Spanish. The learning curve was steep, sleep was scarce, but five weeks later I’m still smiling. I often feel incapable, but by God’s grace and faithfulness I have found joy in my work and have grown immensely.

Thank you to all of you who have prayed and supported me on this journey. I’m very appreciative. If you would like to see more of the work of Kids Alive or donate, please check out my link here!

wheels, weddings, and whereabouts

Sorry about the lack of writing or pictures lately! My camera suffered a sad fall and I’m waiting on a new one being sent from the states. I'm excited to go on a photo spree when it arrives! Until then, I’ll be posting a few photos I snapped from my friend's phone J

Life has been ridiculously busy on this island! We’re winding down the school year, and just like any school, there are piles of paperwork, exams to grade, and graduations. Meanwhile, we are also trying to plan our summer school programs and my roommate and I are navigating the moving process in a foreign country. (Lease signing is intimidating enough in English…) Today I’m preparing to go propane tank shopping, which reminds me, I may want to confirm that “propane” is in fact “propano” before I go.

 

English classroom at ANIJA

Sometimes we do violin lessons at recess :)

On a bright note, I was successfully able to schedule apartment showings on the phone in Spanish and negotiate a lease! We’re moving very close by and will be one floor below another Kids Alive missionary. We are so excited about this! If you’re interested, I believe our new address will be: “Near the hotel, down the hill, past the cows and sometimes one donkey with the fields of “mystery crops” on the right, a colorful house on the corner with the big heavy brown gate, Jarabacoa, La Vega, DR.” This is roughly how I will be ordering pizza!

But it may just as well be easier for me to pick my pizza up than have it delivered, because I also was able to buy my first car! (It’s been a month full of firsts!) Not exactly the car I dreamed of, but I’m learning that all black windows really do have their perks. Not that there are any traffic rules anyways, but I feel a little less conspicuous hidden in my car. One way street signs are really suggestions, headlights are for the rich, and whoever goes first has the right of way. The roads are full of deep holes so much so that when I bottom out less than twice a week, I count it as a good one! If that happened in the states, I would probably panic and have the next appointment at my local car shop.

I recently returned from a short trip to the states to celebrate my sister’s wedding. It was a really special time with family as everyone has been dispersed since Christmas. In the last 7 months, 2/3 of my siblings have tied the knot! We had a great time meeting the other family, riding around in golf carts, and of course, trying to keep up with the dancing of older generations. They far outlasted the 20-something crowd.

Family photo from the rehearsal dinner.

For those of you in the states who I was able to grab coffee or a meal with, give a hug or even say a quick hello, it meant a lot. I was really encouraged by so many of you and your interest in the lives of my students here. Goodbyes were hard last August, but this trip was a good time to catch up.  Thank you for your ongoing love and support!

pests and peaks

Hi Friends!

I realized I haven’t really updated about living in the DR because I felt like I’m still learning new things. Well,  if I wait until I know how to do this, there will never be a post! Every day is an adventure; some days I feel more prepared than others. Just now, I looked down to see a large line of termites streaming through the house. Thanks to my Google syndrome (the necessity to Google EVERYTHING!), I just learned that termites emit an ink, relatively similar to that of a ball point pen, that they use to guide other termites to some place promising. Tomorrow morning might include me, a ball point pen, and a termite circus. Rumor has it they’ll walk in circles if that is how their path is made!

Termites, blindly following their path.

Enough about termites though. Believe it or not, I spend a relatively small portion of my time fighting small (or often large) critters. My time here has been busy! Between going to school, lesson planning, helping kids write letters to their sponsors, and a myriad of smaller projects, I always seem to have something to do. And really, that’s just the way I like it! Last Tuesday I was approached at school and shown the list for the 8^th grade retreat on that Thursday. Lo and behold, my name was on the list as a chaperone! Two days’ notice seems to be perfectly acceptable here to ask someone to spend 3 days with middle schoolers! Really, no amount of notice could have prepared me for these days of fast Spanish, no sleep, and constant activity. But this was a special time of getting to know students and fellow teachers. They took me under their wing as clearly I was out of my element! The students spent time learning about refocusing their priorities towards God and connecting with him as opposed to so many other things that distract us in this world. They seemed to have a blast, and really, they didn’t sleep. Even the swimming time started around 12:30…way past my mid-20s bedtime! 

Red team at the retreat!

Soccer at the retreat.

Working on letters at the Ark.

This girl LOVES writing to her sponsor!

Unfortunately, there was no recovery time from that retreat! I had one day back in Jarabacoa, spent translating for an awesome mother-daughter team from Wheaton and showing up at appointments to look at cars where the owners decided not to show up!! (Not showing up to things is cultural, and is probably the most frustrating thing to North Americans.) At 5 am this past Sunday morning I left for a hiking trip to celebrate Holy Week. Although I was the most exhausted I have been yet here, I began the climb up the highest peak in the Caribbean, Pico Duarte. Thank goodness there were mules following us up, because around mile 11 of steep incline my body was done. 3 nights of no sleep catches up! I had no shame climbing on that mule on the way into base camp :) The rest of the 5 day hiking trip was great! I caught up on sleep in a hammock, summited 10,164 ft, cooked over a fire, and met new friends!

Base camp

Little mule ride :)

This statue was put up 2 days before we peaked!

Here‘s a picture of my new house! It’s a lovely place that I share with two others. Although it often lacks water and electricity or is slightly infested with small critters, the place is pretty comfy and provides a warm welcome after work! I spend a lot of my time here cooking and preparing food. I eat only fresh food now as packaged things are so expensive or unavailable. (I didn't eat much packaged food before, but I did love my chewy granola bars and baby carrots!) I just learned to make granola bars from scratch! After my weekly visit to the fruit and vegetable market, I chop up everything so it’s ready to go. It makes meal time so much easier! Please feel free to send me recipes as I begin to experiment more with cooking here!

Our unnamed street (no addresses here!)

It's constantly muddy 

Neighbor's house...note the DR style scaffolding...

Pi day granola bars!

I love the food here!!

I also posted a picture of our “guard” dogs. They aren't really that scary, but they bark everyone who comes close so we keep them around :)

Shep and Thunder

In summary, God is good! I’m here in the Dominican, healthy, and working hard. Thanks for all your prayers and words of encouragement!