We have been working on assessments of the kids in school.  I wish I had done them when they first started.  I know how much they have progressed and it is so very rewarding to see and be a part of!  We have been giving Suni many more responsibilities in the school and she is thriving!  It has also been extremely rewarding watching her grow in confidence when working with the kids.  There are some photos in the post below of this.

Well, after Odil learned how to sew a little pillow for her doll, she went ahead and sewed 3 more.  Haha When I asked her where the blankets were to go with the pillows, she responded with a “ you didn’t teach me that yet?”  Haven’t done that yet, but we did build her a doll house as well.  I had her and her sister and brother help me build it and them I let them go to town to build a box/bed for their new puppy. Today I am going to bring over paint for Odil's doll house.  She wants it to be pink.  A girl after my own heart! J

I have started the seeds for my veggie garden, and made the plant boxes so they hopefully won’t drown again.  The soil here is so fertile here that you can take a branch off of a bush and plant it, and I will usually grow.  It’s amazing!  Sandra loves to garden and has lots of plants and flowers.  She got me started with a collection of my own.  They are beautiful!  They are all planted in containers.  I hope they all grow well.  We’ll see just how green my thumb is.

This month is Carnival.  It is not so big out here in the campos but in the cities it is Huge!  Last weekend, for Chris’ birthday, we went to Puerta Plata and experienced Carnival first hand.  They had closed off a huge section of the street by the beach and there were beer tents all over.  There was a main stage area where the costume/dance contest was held.  Groups of Dominicans dressed up in elaborate costumes and one at a time went up on stage for a minute or two.  Some had little skit type dances, and some just jumped around.  There were street venders walking around selling masks.  Jamie bought one with spikes, and we both bought some with feathers.  Boys walked around with a ball on a string and hit the people walking by.  There were tons of Dominicans and tons of tourists.  The energy was amazing.  It was a great day! I took a ton of photos of this.  I'll post some of them later after I go through them.

This morning we went kayaking.  We went to a spot where supposedly there are a group of manatees living.  The boys that took us out said that they are always in this cove area.  Today unfortunately we saw no manatees.  Oh well… maybe next time.  It was still a beautiful kayak trip!  Chris took some photos.  I’ll try to get a few to put up.

Before we went out on the kayaks, while walking around the beach, I found a beached starfish.  I threw it back into the water.  J

I found another when we got back but it was dried up.  I took that one home with me! J

Here are some photos...

Suni, Anthony, y Romer used every block for their castle.

Maicol

Suni working with Isaura and Jose.

Emilio

Everybody LOVED the doll house I made! :)

Eimy and July playing ball.

Well after a couple of months at home, I am back in the Dominican.  I can’t say my time at home was very relaxing, but I can say it was productive.  In addition to working part time here and there, I fundraised, fundraised, fundraised.  I succeeded in raising the funds for a new vehicle.

For those of you who are unaware of the vehicle I drive here and there, village to village, picking up kids, dropping them off, driving to the city of Imbert to get groceries for the school, and occasionally when I have time (which isn’t often) to the beach….

It is a very run down station wagon from the 80’s.  There are holes in the floor, 2 of the 4 windows don’t close, one of the back doors doesn’t open, while when unlocked the other back door flies open while driving down the road (since I have been back, the front passenger door does this as well.).  I put water in the radiator every other day and have to disconnect the battery every night if I want the car to start in the morning.  The seal is broken on the front windshield, therefore when it rains, I get wet. (I just put silicone on this, don’t know if it worked yet. I haven’t driven in the rain since.)  There is no power steering; I have also become a pro at changing tires.  I pick up 7 children on my first run, drop them off at the school with Jamie, I then drive out to pick up the breakfast and continue to pick up our local helper and 4 more kids. This vehicle is not safe for me and not safe for the children.  But we are a small mission and so we have had to just use what we have. 

Anyways, due to lots of generous donors and one very very very generous family, we are shopping for a new vehicle for our “school bus”.  Thanks to everyone who donated!!!  I’ll let you know when we are up and running with a safe reliable vehicle! J

I spent my first couple of days cleaning the house, reorganizing my things, and of course visiting families.  I received lots of hugs!!! Early last week, Jamie and I went house to house of our students in the pre-school letting everyone know we were back and starting right up again.  The parents and kids were all super excited!  One of the boys ran to put on his shoes and grab his backpack.  He was very disappointed when we told him he had to wait just a couple more days.

Our first day of school went almost too well.  The kids all listened well, shared the toys, participated in circle time, and listened to the stories.  It was totally not expected but a great surprise!  Our second day went pretty well also.  The kids showed their excitement a little more by being a bit more wound up.  Haha  But it was a great start to this semester.

I have been working on a doll house for the school.  I built and painted it before I came home.  I made some furniture for the little dolls I brought back with me. ( Thanks Susan and Alex!) I’ll have photos up soon of it!

Sandra’s girls, Diana 11, and Odil 9 were over visiting and admiring the doll house.  This led to a lesson in sewing little pillows for their dolls.  Next lesson, blankets!

I am also going to try again on a vegetable garden.  I bought wood to make some boxes to raise the plants up in hopes of them not drowning and becoming mush again.  Both Sandra and Suni want to try to grow veggies too.  It’s a good thing I brought down a bunch of seeds! J

That’s all for now!

New Year’s resolution… I’m going to try to make more time to keep up this blog!  Sorry to all that were reading this regularly.  Here’s to the New Year!

ADIOS!