Hola amigos!

For those of you who haven’t see my house down here, here are a few photos with some explanation on my everyday life down here.

 From my front porch looking in...

 From my front porch looking out...

 Out my back door... :)

As I have said before, we have power 6 hours on and 6 hours off, generally speaking, sometimes it is a little more and sometimes a little less.  We have candles around the house when we don’t have power in the evenings.

Water from the ground also gets turned on and off but that is completely random.  We have two big black tanks. One on the ground where when the water is on it slowly fills that tank.   Our other tank is on top of the house (but not in this picture. This photo was taken this summer when the tanks were at the campsites for the groups to use).  When the water gets low in there we have to wait until we have power and pump water from the bottom tank up to the top. 

Next time you take a nice warm shower, be happy it is heated and has pressure!! Here is a photo of the bathroom.

I cook on a camp stove.  There is a little Super Mercado up the street with a lot of different random things.  As far as fresh produce, they have lettuce, tomatoes, onions and potatoes, and sometimes they will have peppers, and eggplant.  And obviously lots of rice and beans.  I also get super fresh yogurt and juice there.  Here is a photo of my kitchen.

I sleep under a mosquito net with my nice warm blanket (Thanks Jessie).  Most nights it has been getting down to low 70’s and in the early morning high 60’s.  And on the topic of temperature, today was sunny and 91 degrees!

We eat lunch with Carmen and her family.  Carmen received a house from “The Village” Mountain Mission in 2007.  As I have mentioned she has had 12 kids.  7 of them ranging from 21 to 15, a almost 3 year old, who is not her biological son but she took him in, and her 1 year old grandson all live with her in her house.  Here is a photo of everybody plus a pregnant daughter who was visiting, and minus Carmen’s 17 year old son, and a niece she also took in.

Chris and I pay her to cook lunch for us.  She cooks rice and beans every day.  Carmen will sometimes make different side dishes, such as fried eggplant, an okra dish, a potato salad, a potato and fish dish, or a macaroni salad.  Even when we have pasta and or potatoes as a side, the main dish is always a plate of rice.  She always teases me that I only take a little helping of rice.  For them, lunch is usually their only meal of the day so the portion of rice Dominicans will eat is enormous.  Here is a photo of Carmen cooking in her kitchen. 

Also, my garden is doing great!  I had to put a fence of sacks around it so the chickens that walk through the yard don’t eat my veggies.  I am excited to eat from my garden, as well as be able to share some of the fruits and veggies and say they are from my garden.  J  Here is a photo.

So that is the house, and my everyday life. 

As far as new news, the classes are going great!  The kids made books of shapes last week, and were excited to take them home at the end of the week.  I also played color and shape bingo with them at the end of the week.  They got a kick out of it. 

Chris’ new news is he bought 2 mama cows that had just given birth to two baby cows.  He now goes out and milks them every morning with Ruben (a friend down here who Chris pays to milk/take care of the cows).  Can anyone tell me how long I am supposed to boil it, to get it to a point where I can drink it and not get a stomach ache? 

Tim, here is a photo of your chicks! J

And a photo of the ducks who are also getting bigger.

That’s all for now…

Adiós!



Hello everybody!

I had a great weekend!

I spent Saturday morning doing laundry, yes all by hand, in two large buckets of water, and then turning them inside out so they don’t fade from the sun, then hanging them out on the line to dry.  (Alright so that wasn’t the great part… haha)

Saturday afternoon, I went to Suni’s. We talked for a little while about how her grandson is coming to stay with her for several months.  Suni’s daughter, the boy’s mother, wants to take a few classes I believe is why she said he was coming.  So woohoo another kid for my class. J  After talking we took a walk on her and Samuel’s property (her husband).  We continued walking the property next to theirs as well which belongs to Samuel’s brothers.  They were beautiful open hill sides.  Here is a photo.

We then sat on a hillside and Suni said that was where her and Samuel sit and talk about their future.  From that spot they can see their house and all of their animals. They have a couple of cows (one which gave birth to a calf the next day), a donkey, a handful of pigs, a couple of turkeys, and a ton of chickens.  Suni explained how they talk about their house, and how they are saving to plant corn, yucca, and one more thing which I can’t remember on the hill behind their house.

Sunday afternoon, I went to the beach with Chris, Carmen, and Carmen’s family.  Carmen is a woman who people refer to as Chris’ Dominican Mom.  Chris and I pay her to cook us lunch every day.  I’ll have to write about that another time.  Anyways she has 6 teenagers that live with her, a pregnant daughter who is staying for a visit, a 3 year old boy who she took into her house from his mother who couldn’t take care of him, and her grandson who turned 2 not too long ago.

Anyways, we all climbed into Chris’ red truck and drove to the beach.  Here are a few photos. 

This is Chicha, one of Carmen's daughters who has been coming with me in the mornings to help with the class in El Estrecho.

Michael enjoying the waves...

Everyone had a fabulous afternoon!  Even though we don’t live far from the beach, few people in the villages we live and work in get to go to the beach.  They don’t have transportation for their whole family and can’t afford to pay for transportation to the beach.

Monday’s and today’s classes went well.  We are still working on our colors.  I have a handful of the kids who now know most of the colors in English as well as Spanish.  It has been raining on and off for the past 2 mornings, so my morning class in El Estrecho has been a little smaller.  And in Pueblo Nuevo today I had 21 kids.  The older kids are starting to get a little crazy at times, so Thursday I need to remind them that this is a class for the 3 and 4 year olds.  If they can’t be quiet when I need them to be, then they can’t come.  I dread that day, because I know how much they enjoy it, but that day may come where I’ll have to put my food down.

This morning, Carmen and I went into town (Luperón) to buy fresh produce that gets trucked in from Santiago.  Here is a photo.  The truck comes in every Tuesday morning. 

 I bought some for the dinners I cook myself, as well as for Nani.  Monday after school, I hung out with Nani and her girls.  She cooked me dinner.  She handed me a plate of 2 fried eggs, and tostónes (fried plantains), then passed out bowls of left over rice from lunch to the girls with a tiny helping of a scrambled egg.  I’m not kidding when I say I work with people who really only eat one meal a day.  It’s very common for a Dominican in this area to not eat breakfast, have rice and beans for lunch, and eat the little left over, if there is any, for dinner.  Anyways, that is why today I brought her a big bag of potatoes, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, peppers, and a pineapple.  She wanted to make me dinner again to thank me for the food, but I lied and said I had to go, so they would eat the veggies.

Well that is all for now.  I hear Spring is on it’s way!  Enjoy it for me!

Chris went to the capital Santo Domingo this week so it was just Rubio and me holding down the fort.  There was a little boy named Noel that we met this summer.  Chris brought him down to the capital for surgery on his 2 club feet, but when it came time for the surgery, they said his blood wasn’t good enough.  They didn’t have any B+ blood on hand, so for now the surgery is on hold. Here is a photo Chris took of him.

My classes have been going great!

In each of the villages I am working in, the houses are spread out down a long dirt road.  As I drive in now for the class, there are a couple of kids that wait for me and are ready to hop into the car with me for a ride to class.  One of them is Mariel.

This is Mariel (in the red dress).  She is 3, always smiling, and FULL of energy!  I think her favorite part of the class is the dancing.  Her sister is Maria (blue dress) who I work with is the kindergarten class.  Friday there wasn’t any public school, so Maria was happy to join her sister in my class.

Wednesday, on my day off from the classes, I went to Puerta Plata with Sujer.  Sujer is the other woman who helps with the class in Pueblo Nuevo.  She is 21, and pregnant, and very eager to help however she can.  She and I took public transportation yesterday which was quite an experience.  We waited for half an hour out on the main road for a taxi car that wasn’t full. (and by full I mean the driver, 2 in the passenger seat, and 4 squished in back.  It was pretty crazy.  We squeezed into a car and away we went.  It was a half hour ride to Imbert, where we had to switch cars to go to Puerto Plata, another half hour ride squished in a car.  Once we were in Puerto Plata, Sujer brought me to a couple of different stores with school supplies.  The 3^rd store we went to was called La Sirena.  It is kind of like a Wal-Mart.  I have been to this store before and I wish there was one closer than an hour away.  They have pretty much everything you could need.  They also have fresh produce like a grocery store would have.  I bought a couple of fugi apples and gave one to Sujer.  Apples are imported here so they aren’t super cheap. 

Puerta Plata is a city right on the water.  Sujer and I walked along the beach after La Sirena.  Here’s a photo.

It was a beautiful beach, but it had a ton of trash all over it.  There was also a ton of sea glass.  Sujer then took me to a fort.  It had a statue of General Luperón outside of it.  It was a beautiful park.  Sujer was telling me about it but I didn’t really understand too much about it.   Haha

We walked back towards town and saw a Pizzaria.  Some German guy opened a pizzeria.  Sujer suggested we eat there and I jumped at the opportunity to eat some pizza.  It was pretty good.

After dinner, we hopped on the back of a motoconcho’s bike (guys who taxi people on their motorcycle), and he took us to a bus stop.  We hopped on the bus back to Imbert, and then squished into another car back to Luperón.

It was quite a day!

We were finally given permission from the church in Pueblo Nuevo to start using their church for our class.  Its much more room, but doesn't have that nice breeze the other place had.  But it is nice to spread out a little more.  Here's a photo.  I'm reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear (in English and Spanish).  This past week, and this next week we are working on colors in English and Spanish. 

Tim, Here is a photo of some of your chicks.  This was taken shortly after hatching.  They are obviously now bigger and more fluffy. :)

You can check out our website at www.villagemountainmission.com or our facebook page “The Village” Mountain Mission Project for  photos of Noel and my classes.

Have a great weekend! And thanks for reading!  :)

Hello everyone!
Sorry it has taken me so long to post these.  The connection at the house has been horrible.  I am at one of the very few places with a wifi connection in town. 

Monday was my first day of teaching.  The kids love the songs, the stories, the projects and the activities!  I have not only been getting 3 and 4 year olds, but kids up to 10 and 11 and everything in between.  We have been singing a Spanish version of Old MacDonald, a Spanish version of Five Little Monkeys Swinging From A Tree, as well as some English songs like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.  We have been working on our numbers this week.  So we have been singing number songs, and reading number stories.  At first I was only giving the 3 and 4 year olds the projects, but when the older kids were doing the coloring for the little ones while they just sat and watched, I started giving projects to everyone.   I was a little worried at first with the older kids there, thinking they wouldn’t be paying attention and be distracting for the little ones, but it turned out great!  They are having a fabulous time with the songs and stories.  They have never been taught with songs, stories, and games.  After thinking about it, I would rather have them in class with us instead of sitting in front of the tv (when there is power, watching whatever they can) or running around in the street.

Teaching always came so easy to me at home.  Putting it in another language, which I am still learning, has been a huge challenge.  At Madison Learning Center (where I used to work) we used to joke with the kids when they wouldn’t listen, and ask them if we were speaking another language.  Haha  My helpers have been great.  They jump right in with the right words when I need them.

Well I have to go prepare a project for tomorrow.  Here are some photos of the 2 classes.  I only have a couple of photos of the first class (the first 2 photos).  And I have a handful from Pueblo Nuevo.  Enjoy!

reading 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed...

 Singing 5 Little Monkeys Swinging from a Tree...

 Isaura coloring a monkey...

 While we wait for the kids to come, I have been bringing legos...

 Singing Old MacDonald... I'm pointing to the animals I drew as a visual...

 Head Shoulders Knees and Toes...

Eduar coloring his numbers...

Alright, dinner is here... Adios!