Stitches and Christmas (prep)

I will admit that I am not the most graceful individual. I have taken quite a few falls in my lifetime but have always managed to end up with only a few bruises and maybe some scrapes. Such was not the case about a week ago. This fall I got a slack line (see picture). I had decided it would be fun to bring it down to Monte Plata for some of the older kids to try out. So, the first day we (my sister and I) were here we had some free time and decided we would try it out. Before long we were walking the slackline and even had some kids joining us and trying to figure it out. As I was once again walking the slack line I could feel myself about to fall, but I thought I could recover. Instead I ended up falling off and actually landing on my feet until the momentum of falling off carried me to the ground. I attempted to stop myself with my hand but instead my hand only found rocks as did my knees. I sat on the ground and had a little chuckle at myself for how ridiculous I thought I probably looked, but suddenly I became much more serious as I noticed two deep gashes on my knee and a lot of blood on my hand. I assumed the blood on my hand had come from my knees until my hand began to fill with blood. I realized at that point I needed to get to the house and stop the blood. While faith went and got some help I made it to the house and began applying pressure to the large deep gash on my hand. After cleaning it all up it was decided I needed to go to the clinic. At the clinic they cleaned the cuts up even more and as a crowd including a small child gathered the nurse began shooting anestesia into my cuts and sewing me up. I left the clinic with six stitches in my knee and four in my hand and a new story to tell. My hand and knee have healed pretty well and hopefully the stitches will be coming out today.

Aside from some minor injuries I have really been enjoying my time here. We got here during the week of finals so we spent our mornings stapling all the exams for the next day for all the grades and then our afternoons either playing sports or going to casa monte plata (the orphanage). With the stitches the use of my right hand became pretty limited so we had a lot of lefthanded basketball games. I always enjoy playing sports here because there are a lot of kids that are difficult to connect with but when the basketball comes out those same difficult kids are right there wanting to join in. Then even after the games are over they still want to hang out which opens doors for ministry to happen.

Despite it being the holiday season which sometimes means there's not much to do, we have been pretty busy. This past weekend the youth group at church did pantomimes as an outreach for three nights in a row. We could tell they really put a lot of work into it and a lot of people came out to see it. Then last night we went out to casa monte plata for a celebration dinner with lots of food, fun, laughter, and singing (including a nice solo by me that I was completely unprepared for and then had to make up half the words to the chorus of what child is this, thankfully I was singing in english so many of them had no idea). It was a sweet time to see how how the kids have grown and their appeciation for the people that have taken them in.

Tomorrow is the big Christmas celebration at the school which will be fun with all the kids in school all together and each class does its own little program like a drama or singing for the other students. They also will all get a little Christmas gift that we have spent the last couple days wrapping.

Our time here has really flown by. It is hard to believe that by Saturday we will already be getting on a plane to fly back.

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It's all coming to an end

Tomorrow is our last day of our program. In reflecting back, it seems like we just started. As we look at leaving in less than a week, it seems like we just got here and although I'm looking forward to some of the comforts of being in the US I don't really feel ready to leave.
For the five weeks that we have had our summer program we have had very few days in which it has not rained. When it rains, we get a break from the heat. It has not rained for the past two days and the humidity and heat are a strong force to be reckoned with. Nonetheless the kids still have to walk home and sometimes the kids ask us to walk them home. The past two days and then again today we have walked all over Monte Plata taking these kids to where they live. Every time I see the homes of these children and meet their families I understand them more. When I see what little they have I wonder how they can be such happy kids. Then I realize poverty does not define their lives, it is only their situation.
As we walk to the neighborhood where a lot of the kids live, we walk past our first grade teachers house so she walks with us as well. When I started the journey today of taking home the kids after school I thought it was one of our normal journeys but I had been told that Leidy (pronounced Lady) the teacher that walks with us and her mom were going to make us lasagna for lunch but for some reason it didn't click in my head that we would be eating lunch with them today until Leidy's mom was cooking lunch and I asked the intern if we were eating lunch there. I like lasagna a lot so I was excited to eat it and also blessed by these women. However, I'm not a big eater, I'm more of a snacker but today I was a big eater. As we came to the table to eat I approached with fear and trembling knowing that the amount of food that would be on my plate would be a ridiculous amount and I was right. It's a good thing I like lasagna. With much effort, I ate everything that was on my plate. After finishing, Leidy said, "I'm very happy. You know why?" I said, "why?" she responded, " Because you actually ate today!" I responded, "Yes, I ate more than I have in the last thee days combined." which was actually a pretty accurate statement. Her mom came out a couple minutes later and after seeing I had finished asked if I wanted more to which I responded no. She had quite the shocked look on her face and I'm still not sure if she actually believed that I was full. What I loved even more about being there was that we still had two of our students with us and instead of just taking them home where they would probably eat a lot less, they were invited to stay for lunch as well. I love seeing how Christians here take notice of the needs around them and meet them. I see them living out the idea of seeing Jesus hungry and in need and meeting those needs in the way of meeting the needs of the least of these (Matthew 25:31-46).
Yesterday as we were walking back to our house after walking the kids home we walked past some kids playing in the dirt. One little, shirtless boy looked up and I realized he was one of the kids from the school who hadn't been there for a while. As he realized it was us walking he came running and gave me a big hug. He was so excited to see us. We asked him where he had been the last couple days and made sure he was going to come today. He showed up today with a big smile on his face and with girls sandals on his feet. Some of the kids started laughing because his sandals were pink and my heart broke a little as I wondered if those were the only shoes he had. Even with the kids giggling he had a smile on his face and despite what his home life is like, he still had a reason to smile.

Monte Plata, Santo Domingo, Jarabacoa, Santo Domingo, Monte Plata all in two days

This past Thursday we had our teachers over for a delightful dinner of French toast, eggs, and salami. Coming from a place where most people know that syrup and sugar and fruit and other yummy sweet things accompany french toast, I made the assumption that our Dominican teachers would know as well. Imagine my horror as I watched one of the teachers grab the bottle of ketchup meant for the eggs and salami and begin pouring it onto her French toast. Thankfully I was able to stop her before the bread had been destroyed completely. It was really good to have all our teachers together outside of the classroom and just have time to hang out and talk. They all seemed to really enjoy it and we were glad to have an excuse to make French toast.
We had intended to go to bed early on Thursday night because we had to wake up early the next day to take a bus to Jarabacoa to meet up with the rest of the intern group. However, we had yet to pack anything for our weekend trip. As we began packing and getting everything in order the Dominican girl we live with Nadelly and our Dominican houseguest for the week from the orphanage Ysabel came in and started talking with the girls. I knew it was getting late but I didn't realize how late until I looked at the clock and saw it was already past midnight and we still weren't completely ready for our weekend trip. Finally sometime between one and two in the morning we went to bed.
We had a very short night's sleep as we woke up at six the next morning to leave by seven for the capital to take a bus to Jarabacoa. The night before we had been told by Juan Pablo who lives at the school that he would be taking us to the capital. We headed down to the school around seven and I was surprised to see Juan Pablo wasn't waiting for us. A couple minutes later a very tired looking Juan Pablo came out of his house and asked us what we were still doing there and why no one had come to pick us up yet. I was even more confused and starting to believe I had misunderstood something in our conversation the night before. A couple minutes later Juana called him asking him why he had yet to come to the orphanage to pick up the jeep so he could take us to our bus. He was suddenly much more awake as he got on his motorcycle and headed to the orphanage to get the jeep. At around seven thirty we left for the capital. After being on the road for twenty minutes he turned to me and asked me if I knew where the bus station was to which I responded, no, I thought you knew. To which he responded no I don't know. So I asked him if he would like to call someone to get directions. He then began laughing and told me he was just joking and that he knew where the bus station was...kind of. Once we finally made it to the capital and through the morning traffic I realized we had been driving for quite a while. Eventually he turns to me with a mildly concerned look on his face and says, we are not lost yet, which was then followed by him pulling over and asking a street vendor where we needed to go which was the followed by a u-turn (which a sign on the road said not to do) at the next intersection. Emily, one of the interns, found this entire adventure humorous and at random points we would hear her in the backseat laughing. As our bus' departure time grew closer and closer I was not having the same response. We did make it to the bus station in time to get our bus and soon were on our journey to Jarabacoa.
We had a great time in Jarabacoa getting to spend time with other interns and share experiences as well as hanging out with some of the missionary families. Probably our favorite thing was the hot water that we had to take showers after a month of cold showers. We were even able to hike to some beautiful waterfalls. They told us it would be a difficult hike but I had done the hike before a couple years ago and I didn't remember it being too difficult so I decided I could do the hike in my flip flops. I was wrong. About a quarter of the way through the hike up with the rain coming down and my feet slipping everywhere I made the decision to do the hike barefoot. I decided having hurt feet was better than falling off the path and dying. My feet and muscles were pretty sore after that but it was a good adventure.
On Saturday we went from Jarabacoa to the capital to tour the colonial zone which is their more historic part of the city with many tributes to Columbus. I have been there multiple times now so it wasn't all that exciting but it was good to spend some more time with the other interns from other sites. We then got to experience the joy of taking public transportation back to Monte Plata which included riding the metro and then a very crowded bus sitting next to an open window as rain poured in, but i was happy to have a seat and not have to be one of the many standing crammed together in the aisles. By the end of it all, we were happy to get back home and go to bed. The lack of sleep from the previous two weeks finally caught up to us and we were happy to have our first true day of rest on Sunday since we got here.
All in all, things are going really well here. We have seen a lot of behavioral improvements in students and seen them become active learners in the classroom. Even in our afternoon programs with the older kids we have very few behavior problems which is surprising at times having seen some of these kids as trouble makers during the school year and also at camp. I definitely see God clearly working. Pray for God to continue working in these kids and softening their hearts.

the most American thing we know how to do in Monte Plata is eat pizza

Describing this past week with words seems near impossible. This past week we had EBDV, which is the Dominican form of VBS. When you think of VBS you most likely think of games, crafts, snack, etc. When I think of EBDV, my first thought is chaos, but chaos is hardly an appropriate description. EBDV covers a span of two hours of every afternoon for a week with between four to five hundred kids ages five to eleven in attendance. It starts with song time, then moves to game time, which involves a select few of the crowd actually playing the game, but includes the screaming voice of every member of the crowd cheering for their team. Then they move into a time of Bible verse memorization and after that a Bible story time and then they split up into smaller groups by age and by smaller group I mean twenty kids at the least but can mean eighty. Most of my time is spent walking around and telling kids to be quiet or sit down. It is a lot more exhausting than it sounds. I found myself wondering why so many kids would want to come to a hot church and be forced to sit quietly for two hours. I asked the Dominican girl that lives with us why she thought so many kids came and she told me they come because it's EBDV. I did not feel like that answered my question but day after day more kids came and memorized verses and heard the Gospel. In my American mindset I viewed the week as pure chaos but the kids saw it as a place they wanted to be and after thinking about it more I realized many of these kids don't have anything else to do. In addition to the EBDV in the afternoon there was also one at night for kids ages twelve and up. We decided it was best not to participate in this since were already doing the school program in the morning and EBDV in the afternoon but there were an additional two hundred kids there. Pray for these kids that heard and saw the love of God in this past week.
After a long week we were feeling pretty tired on Saturday, so we had a day of fun with our Dominican teachers at a local waterfall. We did a lot of swimming and then some relaxing in attempt to prepare us for Sunday which was the final and craziest day of EBDV.
Today we were supposed to begin our first day of volleyball week with the older kids but it's been raining all day so we waited for the kids to show up for a half hour but none came. Another half hour later we were told there were kids waiting for us. They had showed up an hour late and it was raining so we decided playing volleyball might not be the best decision so instead we played soccer in the rain. We got pretty wet and when it rains the basketball court that we play on gets really slippery so we had quite a few falls but the kids loved it. We had to take a little break in the middle because the lightening was getting too close but once it passed the kids were more than ready to start again. After they left we decided to celebrate our country's independence day we would do the most American thing possible in Monte Plata for a reasonable price and that was pizza. We decided since we were already wet we could go in the rain to the local pizza place. We did not however realize that it was only five in the evening and it was raining which meant the pizza place would most definitely not be open. We were made aware of this as we walked up to Oliver's pizza and saw all the doors were closed. We headed back to the school to wait a while longer and attempt to go again. At around six we headed back in our wet clothes because it was still raining. As we approached we saw the lights were on and the doors were open. We went in and ordered our pizza and were told it would be at least a half hour and to come back later when they would be ready. We also needed some drinks so we went to the local grocery store to get some pop. As we were about to get there it started pouring rain, so we entered the grocery store dripping wet. After almost wiping out as I entered the store we bought our pop and much to the dismay of those in the grocery store returned to the pouring rain. It was also lightning and thundering so we decided instead of walking to the school from the grocery store we should run. As we got closer and closer to the school the streets were more and more flooded with very nasty looking water. The street in front of the school had also flooded so we had to walk through the river that was now flowing in the street to get into the school. It continued to pour until the flooding in the street was above the knees of the average person. The lightning got pretty close to the school and the thunder was so loud it was natural form of fireworks for our fourth of July celebration. Since the street had flooded in front of the school there was no way for us to get our pizza until after the water had gone back down. Once the lightning and thunder had moved on we went out to watch people attempt to drive there motorcycles through the flood. There were quite a few that killed their motorcycles halfway through and had to deal with the shame of everyone watching them as they walked their motorcycles through the rest of the water and then attempt to restart them. After about an hour we were finally able to leave the school to pick up our pizzas. It was still raining and we were still in our wet clothes. It was very funny seeing the looks on the faces of the people as we passed them for the third time in our soaking wet clothes with one of the girls carrying a closed umbrella (we had brought it to protect our pizza). When we walked into the pizza place the guy that had taken our order had a shocked look on his face. He seemed quite surprised that we had actually returned. Needless to say he had not made our pizza so he asked if they could deliver it to us so we walked back to the school once again passing the same people without anything in our hands except our closed umbrella. Finally at eight o'clock our pizza finally arrived three hours after we had began our adventure. It was still raining and it continues to rain but we enjoyed our delicious pizza as we celebrated the fourth of July.

Week one of summer program (week of madness)

We have successfully completed our first week of the summer program and it felt like complete madness. On Saturday I was informed that we would not be having the first week of the program at the school since the eighth grade students would be doing their national testing at the school which meant there could not be any other activities going on at the school during that time. On Sunday night we found out we would be doing the program at the church. We were very grateful to have a place to go but we also knew that we would have to change our plans. First none of the students knew that we were going to be at the church instead of the school which meant every morning we would have to wait at the school for the kids to arrive and then walk them over to the church. Second all of the supplies and materials we needed had to be taken over in the morning before school started and then brought back. Third recess would be indoors and require organized games for the kids to play. With all these changes in addition to the regular obstacles in the summer program it was a pretty hectic week. We were grateful to find out that Thursday was a holiday and we would not have the summer program on that day.
It definitely was a difficult week with the new location and then one of the interns got pretty sick the second day of the program, and by the end of the short three day week I was exhausted. In addition to having the program in the morning we also had guitar classes in the afternoon. There were ten kids signed up for the class and only three guitars. I was really unsure of how it would work out with the kids having to share the guitars, but God knew what he needed and only four of the ten showed up for guitar class. We had a lot of fun working with our four guitar students and teaching them a couple chords but I'm pretty sure the reason they kept coming had more to do with the cookies we gave them and our soccer games that we played at the end of every day than the guitar lessons. The afternoon program was a lot of fun as we got to know our students and joke around and play soccer with them. I've found that being flexible is the only way to maintain sanity while here and that some of he best times come from when your plans get changed.
On Wednesday we got invited to go on a beach trip on Thursday with some of the teachers from school and families from church. We were more than ready to accept a day at the beach. It was definitely not the beach we expected but we were able to have a great time playing in the water and being refreshed after a crazy week. We also got to go to lake Dudu which is actually two lakes that are surrounded by cliffs and extremely deep. One of our interns and a Dominican teacher were brave enough to actually jump off a fifty foot high cliff into the lake. I did not have their courage and instead went swimming in the other lake that was in a cave. The water was very cold but refreshing after a hot day and decent sunburn at the beach. It was absolutely gorgeous a great way to end the first week of summer program.
Being the director of the summer program has been a much different experience than being a teacher in the summer school program. I spend most of my time organizing and making copies so that the teachers are prepared for the next day of class. I also get the privilege of working with the kids that get sent out of class for bad behavior. In one instance two boys from kindergarten were sent to me because they were fighting. When I asked one of the boys if he had hit the other boy his response was "he hit me first" to which the other boy started yelling " no, no, no he hit me first." I had to explain to him that that was not my question so I asked him again and received the same response. After a couple times of repeating myself I finally got the response that answered my question. I talked to them some more about the importance of not fighting and the rules of the summer program. I was very surprised in the end to hear one of the boys apologize to the other for hitting him and then I found out yesterday that he had gone back to his classroom and apologized to his teacher and behaved well for the rest of the week. I was once again made aware that it is not anything that I can do but rather what God does through me. I was sent another kid who had been unable to stay quiet in his class. He was wearing a baseball hat when I asked him to take it off he said he didn't want to so I asked him why and he said that he had taken scissors that his mother had told him not to use and cut his hair and it looked funny. I told him he needed to take it off and it was very evident by the random hairless spots on his head that he had cut his own hair.
It has been a very full week and we are very grateful for the next week of summer program to actually be at the school. I have found myself very blessed with the workers God has given me this summer and also felt God's hand directing this past week and ordaining it to run relatively smoothly.

I think we're gonna have to kill a chicken

This morning after doing several loads of laundry I came up the stairs to find a live chicken on the porch. I assumed one of the neighbors chickens had wandered over once again until I realized that the chicken was tied up on the porch. I've been wanting to have a dog as a pet here but instead we have a chicken. I asked Nadelly what the chicken was for and she said to eat. Someone had given her the chicken as a gift. I'm not a fan of chickens after nearly being attacked by a group of them out at the High's house years ago so I would rather the chicken be dead than alive. Apparently we are going to kill it tomorrow. When I asked who was going to kill it Nadelly said that me and the interns would do it. I have no desire to or knowledge of how to kill a chicken and I know one intern has experience killing chickens but I don't think she wants to kill it either. I think we will have to have one of the boys who live at the school kill it for us. I'm going to try and forget the chicken was ever alive.
This past week was a very busy week. I left on Sunday for Jarabacoa for the directors training and then the summer program training for all the teachers. I felt like I was living a life of luxury as I lived in a massive house with showers that had hot water. I almost had a little bit of culture shock going from being the only white person in town to spending the majority of my time with Americans and speaking mostly in English. It was a really good time as I got to be refreshed by he missionaries there and meet all the summer interns.
We returned to Monte Plata on Thursday and got all settled in and ready for the prep day on Friday. Friday was a long day with three hours of training and then church in the evening and then closing the night out by getting hit pretty hard in the head by a soccer ball. Thankfully today was a good time to rest and prepare more for the next week which starts the summer program.
After going through the training and prepping, I feel very blessed for the teachers I have working this summer as well as the summer interns. It's a group of people that works hard but also love to laugh and have fun. Be praying for us as we start this summer program next week. It's looking like we will be having it at church instead of at the school for the first week because the eighth grade students have to take their national exams at he school which means we cannot have other activities at the school during that time. This will definitely change how our plans work and how we manage the summer program.
We are very excited about the start of the summer program and getting the summer in general started.
I wrote this blog on Saturday and it's Sunday and we don't have Internet yet. On Sunday evening we killed the chicken. We watched it run around with it's head cut off and enjoyed a delicious meal of chicken, platanos, and lime juice. Thankfully we had some Dominican boys who were willing to kill it for us and get the feathers off and cook dinner so the girls didn't have to do any dirty work. I think some of the girls on the team that is here will think twice before eating chicken after watching the chicken die.

Rain

We have now had two days in a row without rain. It's very humid and hot but a nice break after the consistent daily rains that we had for more than a week. On Sunday we were invited out to the orphanage to eat lunch after church. Soon after we got there it began pouring rain. We stayed there for most of the afternoon and then finally decided to return home but it was still raining really hard so we got a ride since we don't have a vehicle. We asked to be dropped off at the front of the house so we wouldn't have to walk from the school up to the house and get wet. We opened our front gate only to find that the front door to which we have no key was locked. Our genius plan to avoid getting wet was ruined as we found ourselves having to walk all the way around the block to get to the entrance of the school. We both had colds and getting wet was not ideal. We were quite the scene attempting to run in our church clothes. Once we reached the school entrance we had to make our way through the creek/river that had flooded to form a river running across the street. I was not thrilled to be walking through the extremely dirty water but alas we made it into the house and out of the rain.
With all the rain, we have also discovered where the many leaks are in our roof. There is one specific spot where it looks like the ceiling could fall at any time. Needless to say we have a lot of water entering into our house in manners we do not appreciate. On the other hand we have had water not entering our house in manners we would like (indoor plumbing). Sometimes we have running water and sometimes we don't. I do not know what the issue is but when we have water we try to get everything that needs water done (dishes, showers, laundry, mopping, etc.) At times we have to get water from the cistern. It's a bit of an inconvenience but I look at it as my new weight lifting program. I can already see my muscles growing.
This week has been full of many fun experiences. I found myself playing basketball with some boys from the school and their teachers. I sustained my first injury of the summer with a toenail that split about half way down. It bled quite a bit and I was happy I had brought my first aid kit so I could attempt to clean it. I thought my toy story bandaids were pretty cool but not everyone shared that opinion.
The next day we had a series of soccer games. Workers vs students. Of course the workers won and of course I slipped on a wet spot on the court and had every body laughing. We have also been playing daily soccer games out at the orphanage. Everyone gets pretty competitive and I find myself to be the comic relief as I stumble and run into people and get kicked in the head. At one point I saw a foot fly past my head as I attempted to head the ball. I avoided a broken nose by mere inches.
While I'm at the orphanage I find myself doing a variety of things. One of my favorite things to do is to help some of the high school students with math. It's a difficult task as I have to learn all the math terms in spanish but I really enjoy it. This past week I was working with one of the kids and I got the normal response of I don't know how to do this because my teacher didn't tell us how. As I worked through each topic with him attempting to prepare him for his upcoming exam, he would say "I get it now". I could see things clicking and understanding happening and it was really exciting to watch everything click. He also told me about how he always does his homework and he has to do it because he has always done it and it's what his teachers expect and he doesn't want to disappoint them. He didn't understand what he was doing when we started but he was extremely motivated and determined to learn which is something that a lot of the students that I have taught in the states do not have. I enjoyed that time so much and seeing this kid that I have known for four years now and how he has grown in his spiritual life and how that has changed his attitude and his person in so many ways.

Robbers or Mangos?

I was abruptly awoken the other night by a very loud BANG! In my only half awake state I believed that someone was attempting to break into the house. I quickly jumped out of bed prepared to use every fighting skill I had. As I became more awake I became conscious of something rolling down the roof and realized that the sound I had probably heard was a ripe mango falling off one of the many trees onto our metal roof. Just in case I decided to get up and take a look around. In doing so I gave Nadelly who had not yet gone to bed quite a scare. Since then I have been woken by quite a few mangos falling onto the roof. I find it pretty incredible my ability to sleep through the Sycamore earth quake but mangos falling on the roof have no problem waking me from my deep sleep.
Last Friday, they had a soccer tournament of the girls in the classes grades 4-8. There were a couple times I though someone for sure was going to sustain a major injury as I saw legs flying without control. Alas, there were no broken noses or concussions although there were a lot of tears as girls got their toes stepped on or became overheated. The games were all chosen at random so at one point the girls in fourth grade were playing those in eighth grade. Everyone called it an abuse but the little fourth graders held their own pretty well. I was hoping for a major underdog upset but the eighth graders won out.
I spend a lot of time out at the orphanage and it is just a good time as I work with Karin on writing and then find myself playing games which can range from hide and seek with he two youngest boys which means they hide and I seek to playing basketball with the older boys. After playing for a good amount of time I eat at Albas house. I have been enjoying her cooking but the other night she made platanos and chicken. It sounded great until I found out the by chicken it meant the feet and necks of various chickens. This is common here but I can't seem to convince myself that I would like to eat the foot of a chicken so I gave my pieces of chicken to the kids and just stuck with platanos. Dinner is always an adventure.
Outside of the school there is a little creek that is filled with garbage and who knows what else. When it rains, the creek become a flowing river many times flooding he street in front of the school. Its been raining a lot so the creek has been becoming a river quite often. When it becomes a river new things come in like fish and then when the river goes down the new things get stuck. Well yesterday I walked up to the office to find a bunch of kids and teachers out of their classes observing something across the street. Nadelly happened to be one of these observers so I asked her what was happening to which she responded they had caught a catfish. I thought it was funny the crowd that had been drawn just to see a catfish until I saw the massive catfish that they had caught. Just estimating I think it was somewhere between two and a half and three feet. Later on in the day they caught another one which again drew everyone out of their classrooms to watch. This one wasn't as big probably only two feet but it was still enough to draw a crowd. After returning to the office I sat in my chair which is on wheels. Next thing I knew the chair was tipping back and rolling out from under me. I gave Andreina quite a scare but once she realized I was laughing she too began to laugh. I laughed until I had tears in my eyes. Only a few passerby students saw the event but after about five minutes it seemed everyone knew as I had teachers and students walking by the office to ask if I was okay. Then this morning as I sat down in the office and I soon felt the chair tipping back, but this time I was much more prepared and was able to stabilize the chair before I fell. It's been a very fun week.

Week one

Yesterday marked one week that I have been in Monte Plata. I arrived last Wednesday very excited and very tired. We went to dinner at the director of the school, Debora's home. I had stayed up all night since we had to leave for the airport at 2:40 in the morning and it just seemed pretty pointless. We were going to go to church after that but I had them drop me off at the house because I could barely keep my eyes open. I slept from eight that night until nine the next morning.
After finally waking up, I went down to the school and was happily greeted by many smiling faces of the kids at the school all calling out "Betania" as I walked past their classrooms. I spent most of that morning talking with Debora about the upcoming summer program. This summer I am the director of he summer program. As I started talking about it and planning it with Debora, I realized how much responsibility I was taking on and started getting pretty nervous. At the end of my time with Debora she asked if I had any doubts and I told her about my nervousness but that I know that God has placed me here in this capacity and I just need to trust in him. As I was telling her that, I was telling that to myself. After sitting down and actually planning things out I'm feeling more and more comfortable with my role here.
When I first arrived here, there was a missionary here, but she left my second day in and won't be returning until after I leave. That left me and Nadelli (18 year old girl) in charge of the fort and all that is involved with that.
As I have been here, I have many experiences that would never occur in the states. The first of which was eating goat. We were invited out to the orphanage for dinner one night and Juana was so excited because she was cooking goat. Since I am such a picky eater, I was hoping I had misheard, but as it turned out I had heard correctly and found myself that night with pieces of goat meat on my plate. I ate it and it tasted like turkey but I'd rather not have to repeat that experience.
I've become very good at killing Mosquitos there seems to be quite an abundance and my new blood seems to be all they desire. They especially enjoy my feet which I especially do not enjoy. Despite the mosquitos and the many mosquito bites I have been sleeping really well. That is except for when I wake up in the middle of the night to what's sounds like someone breaking into the house. It really is not someone breaking into the house but rather the rats that have taken up a residence in our ceiling running around. I have been told they don't come down and I haven't seen one yet but I keep my window s closed and door shut at night so they can't get in if they do decide to join us in the house.
In the afternoons, I have been going out to Casa Monte Plata, the orphanage, to work with one of the kids Karin on her reading and writing. I am amazed by the changes I have seen in her from when I first arrived here three years ago. When I first met her she was extremely quiet and terrified of anyone she did not know. She also couldn't even identify the letters of the alphabet or sounds or count beyond twenty. She rarely ever wanted to sit and learn. Now she is reading and her favorite subject is math. When I go to work with her, she is excited and when she finishes reading a book she looks at me and smiles and says "finished" so proud of the few English words she knows. The other day I was working with her for probably about an hour and I thought it would be a good time to stop, so I told her she could go play an she looked at me and asked if we could do more. I was so surprised by her eagerness to learn and was happy to work with her. Aside from her changed desire to learn she is just happy always with a smile on her face. When she found out I was directing the summer program, she went to ask if she was going to be going to the summer program and came back with this huge smile on her face and told me she was going to the summer program and gave me a huge hug.
After I work with Karin, I spend the rest of the afternoon with the kids playing and having fun and then eat dinner with one of the houses. The other night at dinner the house mom just started pounding on the table and out of no where the kids just joined in with their own rhythms. It was fantastic and hilarious. The kids were just enjoying themselves and laughing. It was such a great moment.
I've also been playing basketball with the boys at the orphanage. I'm usually very cautious about my ankle after it's past injury a couple months ago. Its usually pretty sore after but I haven't damaged it yet.
I think this has gotten long enough so I will end it here.

It's saturday? Wait it's Sunday now since there was no Internet yesterday

I have been in Monte Plata for five days now. Coming down I had absolutely no idea what was in store for me. I got in late on Monday night and spent the night in town being reaquainted with the sounds of roosters and dogs and motorcycles at all hours of the night. School doesn't start until next week so everyone is still enjoying their vacation time. The kids from Casa Monte Plata (CMP) take their own vacations to visit family members but not all of the kids have family members to visit so they usually end up staying at the school or Ramon and Juana's house. In order to give these kids a real vacation a group containing these kids and Juana's family and others from the church went out to camp. When I arrived the had already been there for a few days. So after my night in town we headed out to camp. There was a work group there from Westminster so they were occupying the cabins so we stayed at the top of the property in a little house consisting of two bedrooms with bunk beds and a hallway in-between. The kitchen and bathroom were outside. There was not enough room for everyone inside the house so the boys all slept outside in tents. We had a lot of fun just hanging out and playing volleyball and basketball and a bonfire at night. I also had the wonderful experience of eating pheasant for the first time. I dont plan on repeating that experience. I really enjoyed the relaxing time and getting to reconnect with the people here. We left the next day to come back into town. CMP was still on vacation so we had the two youngest members staying with us in the missionary house. It was fun having the two little boys with us and the adorable smiles they constantly had on their faces. We took the boys back yesterday to CMP since the rest of the kids are coming back today. So now it is just me Melissa (missionary) and Nadelli hanging out and getting Melissa settled in since she hasn't been here long. We went to church last night and when we got home we stayed up telling stories and laughing until midnight. In an attempt to explain what a hillbilly is I ended telling the story of how Luke burned his leg and had everyone laughing. Today another group is arriving from New Jersey and they will be staying at CMP since there is a leadertreks group here from Wheaton academy. We have youth group tonight and then church tomorrow and school starts Tuesday. It's definitely going to be a busy time.