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.
