First stop for furniture - Dominican estate sale. I have never been to one in the States but obviously we randomly found one here in the Dominican classified ads. We were a tad nervous to start our journey into the mountains of Puerto Plata to retrieve our furniture – especially when the guy e-mailed us again to make sure we didn’t want to consider purchasing the pistol he had for sale. Ummm…but no worries, we made it up the mountain and back down again with a wooden breakfast table with four chairs as well as a bamboo coffee table and two matching side tables for what we Americans would call a DEAL.
Charlie has also become quite the craftsman here. He made us a wooden table to increase our kitchen space as well as two wooden side tables that we affectionately painted orange. The paint appeared to be light orange but settled into a burnt orange. That color follows us everywhere we go – but we’re not complaining.
In addition to celebrating our home, we celebrated Charlie’s birthday in the apartment…
And at our new favorite getaway spot a few weeks later…it’s the Velero Hotel in Cabarete (a beach town 45 minutes or so from where we live). We celebrated both of our birthdays there and basked in the air conditioning, television, pool and delicious food...ahhh.
Girls: 1
Rats: 0
As you know, and saw above in the film, ANOTHER fuzzy friend was living in Anne and Garrett’s OVEN. This one was FEISTY. It jumped, not even kidding, 2 feet in the air to escape the death trap of the crutch at every attempt. I had no choice but to be in the same room as the rat this time, so I chose to sit on a tiny ledge and film (thus, I am BEHIND the camera, filming poorly – many apologies – and commenting obnoxiously).
I was soon enlisted to share in taking the rat’s life. Assignment: throw a notebook at the corner of the water heater to scare the rat into harm’s way. My feet obviously needed sufficient protection for this hefty task (sarcasm), so I decided to put on Garrett’s size 12+ work boots. Outcome: failed miserably.
My throw was weak because I was too concerned in jumping up to the pull-up bar above me to keep my feet off the ground when the rat came pouncing out...
Rats: 0
On a lighter note, I will catch you up! Time is literally flying by here. Halloween has passed, Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and Christmas is already all over this country. Dominicans love them some Christmas décor – starting in October. I was still recovering from last Christmas when I walked into the grocery store here and Christmas trees and garland had thrown up everywhere. Feliz Navidad!
Speaking of holidays, we did indeed celebrate Halloween here – a weekend early. We had a medical team in town for doctors’ visits for the students and their families over the real Halloween, so our team threw down a Murder Mystery Dinner the weekend before. It was hilarious. The theme was 80’s island, so obviously I was in heaven. Anne, Robin, Holly and I visited what is a REAL clothing store here to find our costumes. Our finds should give you a glimpse of Dominican attire.
The premise of the game – everyone is e-mailed a character and information about the storyline through the murder mystery dinner website. For example, Charlie was Jamie Buffett (our specific game was Margaritaville - clever). Notice his costume was manmade – clearly, he kept it for less than 12 hours. So, you enter into the game knowing little and you are handed cue cards and scripts to lead you in what to talk about with whom to hopefully discover who the murderer is. The whole night was right up my alley, and I secretly loved how everyone was forced to stay in character. Made for many a laughs. Which are good for my weary Codetel soul.
As I sit here smelling somewhat like a sewer, I feel the need to try and recreate for you what was our first day of school. All of us teachers have been preparing lesson plans like crazy this week – lessons on class rules, lessons on sharing about our families, lessons on the bathroom procedure at school. No one ever told us that we wouldn’t actually get a chance to execute the lesson plans. That’s probably because the first day went a little something like this…
First Day of School Pictures
I woke up EARLY this morning because I was so nervous for the first day of school. I haven’t had that feeling since I was a little tot. I arrived at school, and with the help of Charlie, had my room perfectly set up for the little angels that were soon to arrive. Our team had a time of devotion and prayer and classic first day of school pictures, and then one by one our new students flooded the little yellow schoolhouse.
My classroom
I met my students and immediately wanted to adopt at least half of them. I gave them their name tags which each had a different jungle animal on them as my classroom theme is the jungle. I was so proud that each of my 3 and 4 year olds could correctly tell me the animal on their nametag. And that they could “formar en una fila” or “form a line” upon first instruction. I knew the first day was going to be a breeze.
FALSE.
Before school...
After school...
As we enter the classroom, Elijio begins to sob because his mother left. Pretty much your pre-school norm. Is vomiting all over the floor where we need to sit for Morning Meeting a norm? It is in my classroom. Yes, Elijio vomited, not once but twice on the floor of our room and on me (hence my sewer smell). I also came out of this day with someone having peed on my clothes unbeknownst to me...
So, then Yaiqui (which is pronounced Jackie), begins to cry too. I later find out that we have misinterpreted her name (due to thick Dominican accents) and her name is NOT Yaiqui. I will have to change that nametag…as soon as I figure out exactly WHAT her name is.
We actually begin to proceed with our morning. There are crying children at all times, but we must press on. Thankfully, all Makarios staff (outside of the teaching staff) was at school today as well and provided many extra hands for the diaper changing, vomiting, bottle feeding and biting…
Biting…that reminds me. Another one of my angels, David, escaped my class during the morning. Robin and Charlie ran, rather sprinted, after the child who was running towards the river that separates his village from the school. Charlie jumped in the river and grabbed him, only to receive a deep bite on his left shoulder. Robin felt bad for the pain Charlie had to endure, but no worries, she was bitten on her wrist by another child later in the day. Did I say child? I meant angel.
All sarcasm aside, today was nothing I expected but everything I needed. These hilarious and sometimes painful moments were interspersed with adorable smiles and little voices yelling, “Profe! Profe! Yo sé!” or “Teacher, teacher, I know!” Ultimately, I am not in control, and I will be learning that anew as each school day passes. I am more than excited to spend the next school year with these children. They may bite and vomit at times, but they genuinely want to love and hold your hand and give an infinite amount of hugs that can make anyone and everyone’s day better.
It's been rumored that people liked Kim’s pictures better than Charlie's boring maps, so here we go...
Santiago:
During our trip to Santiago the first week we were here, we visited the Aurora Cigar factory, a company that is over 100 years old. We learned how to hand roll cigars and that the cigar rollers are allowed to smoke as many cigars as they want while they’re working... We live in a healthy country.
Puerto Plata:
Here you will see the view from the "autopista" or highway that runs through and outside of Puerto Plata along the coast line. It is actually a sugar cane field and on the other side of the trees at the very back of the picture is the ocean.
A view from the Malecon - the street in Puerto Plata that acts as a boardwalk running alongside the ocean.
Escuela Makarios:
Last year our school consisted of one building (which you can see along the left side of the picture) with two classrooms and approximately 30 students. This year we have a new building (which you can see in the back of the picture), four classrooms, kitchen space, a nurse’s facility, a teachers' lounge, 60 registered students, and 20 plus students on a waiting list. Needless to say, God has blessed this organization with incredible growth over the last year. This picture was taken at the beginning of our first PTF (Parent Teacher Fellowship) where more than 40 parents came to hear about the organization and register their children for the upcoming school year.
Our First Weekend: Cabarete
There are a handful of beaches within a 30 minute drive of Puerto Plata, including Cabarete and Sosua. While most of you were cheering on the Longhorns over Labor Day weekend, we were hanging out here.
Non-Pasteurized Eggs/Milk:
One benefit of not having pasteurized produce is not having to put it in the refrigerator…one of the downsides is the potential for unhatched chickens inside your eggs...
Our Second Weekend: Sosua
Dominicans assume that any American (or "Gringo" as they affectionately call us) in Puerto Plata is headed for Sosua. It is one of the more Americanized places around and has an incredibly beautiful beach.
Our new friend Derrick is from Atlanta and moved down to the DR in January to open a BBQ restaurant on the beach. He grills chicken and pork ribs served with homemade sauce and cucumber/tomato salad.
This little boy’s bathing suit is riding a little heavy. He would stop, fill up his bathing suit with sand, walk until it all fell out, and do it all over again.
