Brother Comes to Visit

The last two weeks have been quite eventful.  We felt the effects of Hurricane Sandy.  We were quite far from the path of the storm, but we still felt the effects.  We experienced a lot of rain and flooding.  On Thursday, we woke up to the downpour of rain that had begun at some point the night before.  I thought my alarm had to have gone off at the wrong time since it was far too dark to be morning.  We were pretty sure school would be cancelled, but the time came for us to leave and school was still on.  Our dedicated taxi driver came to get us. While we were leaving the apartment garage, one of his tires went flat (thankfully it happened before we got on the road).  He and our kind doorman made a quick tire change, and we were on the road braving the flooded streets. Our car doubled as a boat, and we had to change our route three times before we could get to school.  About half the teachers made it to school; the other half were unable to leave their homes/apartments.  Students were trickling in one by one, but less than half came to school.  About an hour after school was supposed to start, it was cancelled for the rest of the day, and we started sending our students home.  It took another two hours before we could get out of school.  We spent the rest of the day managing the leaks in our apartment and getting work done.  They let us know on Thursday night that school would be cancelled for Friday. When I woke up on Friday, I thought the weather wasn’t really school cancelling worthy; however, it did not take long before it began pouring rain. We would watch out the window as the storm clouds came in and the buildings around us disappeared.  Everything was flooded and wet for quite a while.
                This past Wednesday Nate flew into Santo Domingo for a visit.  We left school on Wednesday and picked up the rental car for the weekend.  We really enjoyed having a car for the weekend and the mobility it provided.  We let him rest on Thursday and Friday since I had to teach, and on Friday after school we took off to go visit Monte Plata (where I spend my summers).   I was able to introduce Nate to a lot of the people that I work with there and show him what life is like in Monte Plata since it is very different from life in the capitol.  On Saturday morning we woke up early by Nate’s standards, and took off for the north coast to Las Terrenas, which is on the coast and has beautiful beaches and isn’t too touristy.  It was quite a drive going up and over the mountains.  I was clinging to the door the entire time as I looked over the sides of the mountains with guardrails to prevent our car from plummeting over the side.  Despite the steep road, it was a gorgeous drive with going through the mountains and being able to see the beaches off in the distance.  We had a very relaxing day on the beach. While we were there we got a phone call that our other roommate had been taken to the hospital.  She was sick when we left, but had convinced us she was doing better.  Once we got the phone call, we decided to head back to Santo Domingo.  We arrived, left Nate at the apartment, and then went to visit her.  She was quite sick and they didn’t know what was wrong.  They had tested her for a lot of stuff including Dengue, which we were happy to hear that she didn’t have that. 
                We’ve been spending the last couple days going to and from the hospital meanwhile trying to get the other stuff done that needs to be done. We dropped Nate off at the airport on Monday after a quick trip to the colonial zone, and after a delayed flight and missed connection I’m pretty sure he’s home (I haven’t heard anything different). Our roommate is still in the hospital. They told us on Saturday that she has E. Coli, so they have her on an antibiotic treatment, and she will probably be in the hospital for at least another couple days.   After the day off yesterday, it is now back to school.  We have our normal classes, a check-up visit from the organization that accredits our school, and parent teacher conferences.  With all that, we will be daily going to and from the hospital.  Pray for the health of our roommate that she can get better soon and also for energy for myself and my other roommate as we go through the busy times of this week.