Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Our Christmas in the Tropics
We've had a great time here with Mom and Dad Roth. It's so fun to show them everything we do, how we live...
Here we are at Adrain Tropical, a famous Dominican restaurant that serves typical and traditional food. We had mofongo, a Dominican dish involving smashed yuca, plantains, pork rinds, and lots of garlic. It's unique for sure.
This is the resort we went to for Christmas. We took a four hour bus ride from Santo Domingo up to the north side of the island to Puerto Plata. We pretty much feel like we skipped Christmas this year because we spent Christmas Day on the beach - no presents, no snow...
Here we are at Christmas dinner - here, though, Christmas dinner is on Christmas Eve. The spread at the resort was amazing: shrimp, lobster, a suckling pig, all sorts of salads, Christmas desserts, veggies, good cheeses and breads. We certainly had our fill.
Here is a shot of the beach. We got a lot of rest and relaxation in while spending most of our time on the beach. The waves the first couple days that we were there were choppy but fun to bob in and ride on. Sorry this shot is just the beach, no one really wanted to be posted on the blog in just a swim suite.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Today with the padres, we went to the colonial zone and had a blast. We saw Christopher Colombus' first fort, and this is Dad in a lookout post.
Here's the fort again. It rained a little while we were there, but it was much cooler than it was the last time we were there.
This is a picture of the inside of the first church ever built in the "new world." We went in even though we were wearing shorts.
Here's a "modern" nativity scene in the church.
Here we are resting on a park bench.
Everything is going great!
Friday, December 22, 2006
Mom and Dad Arrived
Just in case anyone was wondering, mom and dad arrived yesterday safely. We have been around town a little already and are excited about the days to come.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Shakira Concert
Over the last couple months billboards here in the city started popping up advertising that Shakira was going to be in town putting on a concert. I really didn't think much about going at first with all the school work that needed to be done and the fact that Claire really isn't into concerts like this, but then our friends across the hall got tickets and I decided that it would be fun to experience something like this while living overseas. So Becky found me a ticket from one of her students and we were all set.
Becky and I met up with another teacher from school and caught a taxi over to the Olympic Statium where the concert was being held. Surprisingly it wasn't very far from where we live. After we were dropped off we followed the mob, and I mean mob, of people towards the front gate. Now I haven't been to a lot of concerts in the past but I am sure that there are better ways of getting people through the doors. When we got the the front gate it was completely dark and there was a huge crowd of people all standing and pushing each other towards the door. Figuring this must be the place we joined heard. About half way to the entrance we realized that there was a male and a female enterence so being the only male I was left there by myself to figure out how to get into the concert. I would guess that in this little enterence way there was about 50 or so guys just pushing there way in. I was being moved not by choice towards the door. Sucessfullly I made it in where I found the girls waiting.
Inside the stadium there are a couple of different types of tickets you could of had. One was for the seats. I am not sure if it was assigned seating but I doubt it. Another was a V.I.P. pass that entitled you a booth around the seating area that was air conditioned. The third was the ticket that we had, a general admission ticket to stand on the foor of the statium. In this first picture the large screen that is in the middle of the shot was a jumbotron and the backside of the lights and sound booth. The stage is behind this. Wanting the best show that we could get, Becky and I decided that we were going to try and get as close as possible. So we started making our way toward the stage. Obviously the closer to the stage we got the more crowed it 
became, but we kept pushing forward. We eventually settled on a place that was about 40 feet from the stage just off to the left. We both realized that it was possilbe to have pushed our way up to the front but we were satisfied with where we were. Now the waiting began. Becky and I waited for about an hour and a half for the concert to start. It wasn't the coolest experience that I have ever been in, in fact by the time the concet started we were both pretty much soaked through our clothes. With sooo many people standing soooo close together it didn't alow much room for ventilation.
At last the concert started. This was the first concet that I have been to where I didn't know a lot of the songs, mostly because the majority of them were in Spanish, but it was definatly entertaining non the less. Everyone around us knew all the words to every song and the girls never stopped screaming as loud as they could the entire night. Was people would move and dance little pockets of space would open up which allowed Becky and I to keep inching foward. I would say by the time the concert was over we had gained another ten feet or so closer t the stage. Here in the second picutre is a shot of another jumbotron that was next to the stage close to where we were standing. Another aspect to the concert was the fact that Verizon Wireless was sponsering the show so as people were entering the stadium they were giving those thunder sticks that had the Verizon logo on them. So everyone had those and were also making a ton of noise with them. I am sure I was hit in the head with those blow up sticks a few dozen times by the different people that were standing around me. 
Here are a few shots that I managed to take at differnt times throughout the concert. Sorry for the poor quality of picture. The camera we have isn't the best for taking shots of moving action in the dark. It was a great experience and a very entertaining show to be a part of. During the last song they shot off a confetti cannon and some fireworks that capped off the show. Now the fun of getting out was upon us. Thousands of people were now all pushing to leave and we needed to find our teacher friend that came along with us. Haha I know. We had set up a meeting place prior to the show 
so we started making our way there. It was slow goings as a sea of people pratically carried us in the direction of the exits. As we got farther from the stage the crowd began to thin out and we were able to walk again on our own free will. Now that the concert was over there was really no need for everyone to hang onto those thunder sticks that they had been banging around for the last 3 or 4 hours so most decided that the ground was a perfect place to leave them, along with any other item of trash they had. The ground was completly covered with garbage. So much so that walking was tricky because you could easily trip by stepping on a can or plastic bottle. In the last picture you can see the see of red that was left behind. We made our way over the meeting spot and were unable to find our friend. We decided to get something to drink and take advantage of the half empty arena and take some pictures. After which then we resumed our search unsucessfully. So we decided to leave and walk
towards the front enterence of the stadium where we had set another meeting place in case we got seperated. Eventually walking through the bumper to bumper traffic jams we made our way to the meeting place and didn't find her. 
Our next plan was to walk a little ways up the street to where the traffic was thining out a bit and get a taxi home. So we started walking. The more we walked the more we enjoyed the cool breeze and dreaded the thought of dealing with a taxi. As I mentioned earlier the concert wasn't very far from our apartment, maybe a mile or two. So we just ended up just walking all the way back home. I ended up back home sometime after midnight. Come to find out the next day our friend had met up with some friends of her own and they ended up leaving the conert a bit early to grab a bite to eat. Go figure. Overall I would say that the experience was certainly worth every bit of the trouble. I had a great time.
The concert was on a Tuesday night, the night before our last day of school before Christmas vacation. Sonya had planned to go with some other people we know so
Inside the stadium there are a couple of different types of tickets you could of had. One was for the seats. I am not sure if it was assigned seating but I doubt it. Another was a V.I.P. pass that entitled you a booth around the seating area that was air conditioned. The third was the ticket that we had, a general admission ticket to stand on the foor of the statium. In this first picture the large screen that is in the middle of the shot was a jumbotron and the backside of the lights and sound booth. The stage is behind this. Wanting the best show that we could get, Becky and I decided that we were going to try and get as close as possible. So we started making our way toward the stage. Obviously the closer to the stage we got the more crowed it 
became, but we kept pushing forward. We eventually settled on a place that was about 40 feet from the stage just off to the left. We both realized that it was possilbe to have pushed our way up to the front but we were satisfied with where we were. Now the waiting began. Becky and I waited for about an hour and a half for the concert to start. It wasn't the coolest experience that I have ever been in, in fact by the time the concet started we were both pretty much soaked through our clothes. With sooo many people standing soooo close together it didn't alow much room for ventilation.
At last the concert started. This was the first concet that I have been to where I didn't know a lot of the songs, mostly because the majority of them were in Spanish, but it was definatly entertaining non the less. Everyone around us knew all the words to every song and the girls never stopped screaming as loud as they could the entire night. Was people would move and dance little pockets of space would open up which allowed Becky and I to keep inching foward. I would say by the time the concert was over we had gained another ten feet or so closer t the stage. Here in the second picutre is a shot of another jumbotron that was next to the stage close to where we were standing. Another aspect to the concert was the fact that Verizon Wireless was sponsering the show so as people were entering the stadium they were giving those thunder sticks that had the Verizon logo on them. So everyone had those and were also making a ton of noise with them. I am sure I was hit in the head with those blow up sticks a few dozen times by the different people that were standing around me. 
Here are a few shots that I managed to take at differnt times throughout the concert. Sorry for the poor quality of picture. The camera we have isn't the best for taking shots of moving action in the dark. It was a great experience and a very entertaining show to be a part of. During the last song they shot off a confetti cannon and some fireworks that capped off the show. Now the fun of getting out was upon us. Thousands of people were now all pushing to leave and we needed to find our teacher friend that came along with us. Haha I know. We had set up a meeting place prior to the show so we started making our way there. It was slow goings as a sea of people pratically carried us in the direction of the exits. As we got farther from the stage the crowd began to thin out and we were able to walk again on our own free will. Now that the concert was over there was really no need for everyone to hang onto those thunder sticks that they had been banging around for the last 3 or 4 hours so most decided that the ground was a perfect place to leave them, along with any other item of trash they had. The ground was completly covered with garbage. So much so that walking was tricky because you could easily trip by stepping on a can or plastic bottle. In the last picture you can see the see of red that was left behind. We made our way over the meeting spot and were unable to find our friend. We decided to get something to drink and take advantage of the half empty arena and take some pictures. After which then we resumed our search unsucessfully. So we decided to leave and walk
towards the front enterence of the stadium where we had set another meeting place in case we got seperated. Eventually walking through the bumper to bumper traffic jams we made our way to the meeting place and didn't find her. 
Our next plan was to walk a little ways up the street to where the traffic was thining out a bit and get a taxi home. So we started walking. The more we walked the more we enjoyed the cool breeze and dreaded the thought of dealing with a taxi. As I mentioned earlier the concert wasn't very far from our apartment, maybe a mile or two. So we just ended up just walking all the way back home. I ended up back home sometime after midnight. Come to find out the next day our friend had met up with some friends of her own and they ended up leaving the conert a bit early to grab a bite to eat. Go figure. Overall I would say that the experience was certainly worth every bit of the trouble. I had a great time.Tuesday, December 19, 2006
What a Farce!
What a farce school is! It's unbelievable what happens here during "Navidad," which literally means Christmas. Here, "Navidad" means the months of December and January. Everyone slacks off to the utmost. It's kind of frustrating when we are expected to get things done, but what can we do but roll with the punches?
This afternoon, I (Claire) had seven kids in my class.... and they all happened to be boys. Several students in the morning told me that they came to school today just for my class. Tomorrow is the last day before break, and one of my classes told me that NONE of them are coming to school tomorrow.
It doesn't help that tonight, there is a BIG EVENT: Shakira has come to Santo Domingo and is putting on a concert tonight at the baseball stadium. The concert will most likely go late into the night, and since fun wins hands down when it's up against education, everyone is using the concert as a great excuse not to come to school tomorrow. Everyone and their mother is going - including John. He just left. He has a ticket in the section where everyone stands and smashes up against each other to get closer to the stage - not my cup of tea. Expect a post on the crazy concert later.
So - you teachers back in Indiana whose principals think it's not good to show a movie on the last day of school before break because school time needs to be used for education, thank your lucky stars. We've been doing everything but educating for the past week and a half - really ever since the month of December started. How I long for the way we do school at home...
This afternoon, I (Claire) had seven kids in my class.... and they all happened to be boys. Several students in the morning told me that they came to school today just for my class. Tomorrow is the last day before break, and one of my classes told me that NONE of them are coming to school tomorrow.
It doesn't help that tonight, there is a BIG EVENT: Shakira has come to Santo Domingo and is putting on a concert tonight at the baseball stadium. The concert will most likely go late into the night, and since fun wins hands down when it's up against education, everyone is using the concert as a great excuse not to come to school tomorrow. Everyone and their mother is going - including John. He just left. He has a ticket in the section where everyone stands and smashes up against each other to get closer to the stage - not my cup of tea. Expect a post on the crazy concert later.
So - you teachers back in Indiana whose principals think it's not good to show a movie on the last day of school before break because school time needs to be used for education, thank your lucky stars. We've been doing everything but educating for the past week and a half - really ever since the month of December started. How I long for the way we do school at home...
Sunday, December 17, 2006
A School Christmas Party Like No Other...
We should have known that this school Christmas party was going to be different when we saw the janitors wheeling cases of alcohol into the school early in the day on Friday.
In fact, here it's perfectly normal to receive alcohol from your students as a Christmas present. One of our friends who has worked here for a few years regularly receives bottles of rum. Her students bring it to school all wrapped up and pretty - John got a bottle of what we're calling Super Eggnog. It's not eggnog, but whatever it is, it is creamy, spiced in a Christmasy way, and absolutely full of rum.
We got dressed up for the party since we were told people go all out for Christmas parties (it's true). I (Claire) was especially proud of the job I did on my hair, so for those of you who are interested in those things, I've included pictures. Most women go to the salon before a party like this.
Like idiots, we arrived at the party when it was supposed to start: 
7:30. We had been told that there is usually a raffle drawing for gifts at the beginning of the party to ensure that people arrive on time, so we arrived on time. We were the first people to get there. When are we going to learn? In truth, most people didn't arrive until 8:30 or 9:00 - and this year the raffle wasn't until the end.
When we arrived, the maintenance staff was all there, dressed up. I think they set up the whole party, but this year, unlike other 
years, they were going to stay and enjoy the party... then clean up afterwards. The separation of the social classes here is so blatant. The maintenance people sat at a table by themselves. I think they had a good time, but I felt so awkward about the whole thing. There is one place where social classes are all equalized, though: the dance floor.
The dance floor was in the middle of all the tables, which each had 
several bottles of wine ready to go. They were all gone within an hour, and the beer, rum, and whiskey was flowing. John and I aren't big drinkers at all - a glass of wine here, a beer there - and we were in awe about the fact that they had enough liquor at the party to drown an army, but they didn't have any water or pop - they had maybe two big bottles of Pepsi and Sprite. We spent most of the evening thirsty.
Back to the dance floor. Dancing is huge here, so naturally, they 
were blasting meringue, rigatone, and bachata music all evening. Everyone was dancing. In fact, John and I were in a dance routine together for the Christmas concert, and we did an encore presentation of that with the other teachers who participated. Then, the dance floor was open for everyone to dance. Older teachers were dancing with younger teachers, the directors were dancing with the maintenance staff, everyone was having a great time on the dance floor. They even had dance contests and fun dance games.
were blasting meringue, rigatone, and bachata music all evening. Everyone was dancing. In fact, John and I were in a dance routine together for the Christmas concert, and we did an encore presentation of that with the other teachers who participated. Then, the dance floor was open for everyone to dance. Older teachers were dancing with younger teachers, the directors were dancing with the maintenance staff, everyone was having a great time on the dance floor. They even had dance contests and fun dance games. 
At one point I imagined what would happen if at a school Christmas party at home I even suggested that we all get up and dance meringue together. I think everyone would laugh at me, and then leave. Here, it just so natural. The dance floor is where all conflicts dissolve and all social barriers disappear. In fact, the best dancers, incidentally, were the maintenance staff. I call them "maintenance staff," but here, they're treated like maids and butlers - by administration, teachers, and students. I wonder - is it a coincidence that they have darker skin than the administrators and most of the teachers? Racism is alive and well here.Now, we knew that dinner was going to be served at the party, so we came hungry. Little did we know that dinner would be a long time coming. Dinner wasn't served until 10:30, but when it was served, it was delicious! It was a traditional Dominican Christmas dinner: yucca, seasoned rice with lentils, tasty pork, some plantain goop wrapped in a banana leaf, cabbage salad, sweet potatoes (but here they're white and fluffy and not orange and heavy) and sweet milk and coconut desserts. It was fabulous!
We got to meet everyone's husband or wife and attempt to communicate half in Spanish, half in English. After dinner, at about 11:30, they did the raffle drawing. John won a present: a set of whiskey glasses. We are happy to have them, but I must say that we won't be using them for whiskey. That's like drinking nail polish remover (in my opinion).All things considered, it was a great Christmas party. The best part was that it was outside in the middle of December, and the balmy breezes were caressing our skin as we celebrated Christmas together. (Here, they don't feel the need to be generic and call it a "Holiday Party" since everyone here is Catholic.) The party wound down at about 12:30, and the music didn't stop until 1:00. FUN!
Watermelon in December!
How many of you are eating fresh watermelon this time of year? We can't buy a regular sized watermelon here because we have to carry our groceries home from the store on foot, but we've just discovered mini-watermelons. They're sweet and firm and so summery and tasty! I ate half of it last night and am now preparing to eat the other half.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Toast!
It has been really hard these past few days - school has been stressful, and we're sad because it's Christmas time and we're not home with the ones we love. I (Claire) was having a particularly rough day, working in the spare bedroom after school, when John said he was going to the store for some potatoes. We can't buy potatoes on a regular grocery day because we can only buy them in five-pound bags, and we can't carry potatoes as well as all the other food we need for the week.
In fact, this past week, we had a not-so-pleasant experience on the way home from the store.
It's amazing this hasn't happened more often. As we walked out of the store, it started to sprinkle, and in a matter of minutes, there was a complete downpour. John wasn't happy at all... I was just laughing because it just figures that would happen. By the time we got home, our groceries were soaked, and we were beyond soaked. I took a picture of myself because John was too frustrated with the situation by the time we got home to take a picture of me. At least our bread didn't get too wet.
So, today, John said he was going to the store to get potatoes... When he came back, he said he needed to go help our friend Sonya with her computer, so I started cooking dinner (fish, broccoli, and bread). When he came back, he had a package for me - a wrapped Christmas present!
Low and behold, he bought me a toaster. I was so happy, I yelled and jumped up and down. I love toast, but I never realized how much until I didn't have a toaster. John got me a toaster!!! Now we can have toast!!!! HOOORRAAHHHH!!!! It's such a great toaster!
As usual, he was able to pull me out of my dreary mood. Tomorrow, we're having toast for breakfast! Toast with cinnamon and sugar!!
.
This past weekend, we went to the Colonial Zone and the market. I got this necklace there. It's made of larimar, a semi-precious stone that is only found on the island of Hispanola, where the Dominican Republic is located. We decided that this necklace is going to be a family heirloom. We'll pass it on to our children, grandchildren, and so on... from the year we lived in the Dominican Republic. If you can't tell from the picture, it's a light blue color.
The Party Bus
Sometimes, we're blown away by the things here that are culturally acceptable here... like the way all men here stare hungrily at women on the street and make disrespectful coments and sounds.
Well, we found another thing: the party bus. Here, birthdays are a big deal, and the students at our school have huge, expensive birthday parties. We found out recently that the high school students often have birthday parties on party buses. Basically, they rent a huge bus that is stocked full of alcohol, plays obnoxiously loud music, and has room to dance, and they invite all their classmates to ride around the city stopping at bars and restaraunts until they are completely plastered. Tenth graders do this with their parents' knowledge. No one here seems to see any problem with it because the students themselves aren't driving themselves around. It's perfectly fine for teenagers to get incredibly drunk and stay out all night - as long as they aren't driving, they most certainly can't do anything they might regret, right?
In fact, this past week, we had a not-so-pleasant experience on the way home from the store.
It's amazing this hasn't happened more often. As we walked out of the store, it started to sprinkle, and in a matter of minutes, there was a complete downpour. John wasn't happy at all... I was just laughing because it just figures that would happen. By the time we got home, our groceries were soaked, and we were beyond soaked. I took a picture of myself because John was too frustrated with the situation by the time we got home to take a picture of me. At least our bread didn't get too wet. So, today, John said he was going to the store to get potatoes... When he came back, he said he needed to go help our friend Sonya with her computer, so I started cooking dinner (fish, broccoli, and bread). When he came back, he had a package for me - a wrapped Christmas present!
Low and behold, he bought me a toaster. I was so happy, I yelled and jumped up and down. I love toast, but I never realized how much until I didn't have a toaster. John got me a toaster!!! Now we can have toast!!!! HOOORRAAHHHH!!!! It's such a great toaster! As usual, he was able to pull me out of my dreary mood. Tomorrow, we're having toast for breakfast! Toast with cinnamon and sugar!!
.
This past weekend, we went to the Colonial Zone and the market. I got this necklace there. It's made of larimar, a semi-precious stone that is only found on the island of Hispanola, where the Dominican Republic is located. We decided that this necklace is going to be a family heirloom. We'll pass it on to our children, grandchildren, and so on... from the year we lived in the Dominican Republic. If you can't tell from the picture, it's a light blue color.
The Party Bus
Sometimes, we're blown away by the things here that are culturally acceptable here... like the way all men here stare hungrily at women on the street and make disrespectful coments and sounds.
Well, we found another thing: the party bus. Here, birthdays are a big deal, and the students at our school have huge, expensive birthday parties. We found out recently that the high school students often have birthday parties on party buses. Basically, they rent a huge bus that is stocked full of alcohol, plays obnoxiously loud music, and has room to dance, and they invite all their classmates to ride around the city stopping at bars and restaraunts until they are completely plastered. Tenth graders do this with their parents' knowledge. No one here seems to see any problem with it because the students themselves aren't driving themselves around. It's perfectly fine for teenagers to get incredibly drunk and stay out all night - as long as they aren't driving, they most certainly can't do anything they might regret, right?
Thursday, December 07, 2006
The Christmas Program
I think Claire mentioned in an earlier post a little bit about the Christmas program. I thought I would show you a couple pictures from the event. The first one is a shot of the massive stage that was constructed over the entire soccer field. This picture was taken the day after that is why there is trash all over the place. The other two pictures are a result of me being a male in this profession. 
Whenever there is some sort male part that needs to be filled I become the default. Here you can see me and a couple of my coworkers dress as the three wise men. If you can't tell I am the one in the middle. We had to walk through the crowed of people in the dark, make our way to the stage, and then veer off out of sight. I was asked to do this about two hours before the show started and was never given any kind of a run through. As you can see in the darker picture I was then the one chosen to go first and lead the others through the crowd. With the gigantic spot light in my face, all the pictures being taken, and one 
slightly wrong turn that interrupted the show momentarily we made our way to the stage and then out of the way.
Whenever there is some sort male part that needs to be filled I become the default. Here you can see me and a couple of my coworkers dress as the three wise men. If you can't tell I am the one in the middle. We had to walk through the crowed of people in the dark, make our way to the stage, and then veer off out of sight. I was asked to do this about two hours before the show started and was never given any kind of a run through. As you can see in the darker picture I was then the one chosen to go first and lead the others through the crowd. With the gigantic spot light in my face, all the pictures being taken, and one 
slightly wrong turn that interrupted the show momentarily we made our way to the stage and then out of the way. Wednesday, December 06, 2006
A Truely Dominican Field Trip
Every since the start of November there has been a reading contest going on within the elementary. The winners were the classes, in each grade, that read the most minutes over the five week contest. Me being the Language teacher I was in charge of collecting the reading logs and recording the minutes of both 6th grade classes each week. After the five weeks were over 6B, which is my homeroom, had the most minutes and won the contest in the sixth grade. The prize for winning this contest was never really relayed to me, I just knew that the winning class was going to be able to leave school for an afternoon and do something such as bowling or have a pizza party.
On Friday I was approached by the 5th grade Language teacher, who was in charge of the entire contest as well as the rewards, and asked if it would be alright for my class to receive their prize on Wednesday of this week. To any other educator reading this blog a 2 day notice for a surprise field trip might seem crazy but here in the D.R. that is equivalent to 2 months. So today was the day.
Now remember what I mentioned earlier, I had nothing to do with the prizes in this contest so I assumed that everything was getting taken care of by the 5th grade teacher.....foolish me. Yesterday one of my students mentioned to me the fact that they should have permission slips if they were going to be leaving the school. Silly me I thought that this key piece of the puzzle had already been taken care of. So after mentioning it to the office last period yesterday the permission slips were delivered to the room and the students were told to have them filled out last night and brought back today so that they could go. I thought that there was no chance that everyone was going to bring back that slip on one days notice.
Surprisingly everyone did bring the slips in today so we were ready to go....now if I only knew when were were leaving, where we were going, or when we were coming back we would have been in business. Finally at around 10 this morning I found out that they we were going to be leaving right after lunch around noon. It was almost comical how little I knew and how little everyone else did as well.
After lunch the kids were really ready to go... if only we had transportation we would have. At noon today I found out that instead of getting a bus parents were supposedly contacted and asked if they could drive students to the location (which I still wasn't exactly sure of). After doing some last minute running around I worked it out so my class could cram into the vehicles that were there to take the 5th grade class that we were going with. I being in the last car to leave the school with another teacher and a few students now had a new problem. The problem this time was nobody in the car knew how to get to the place that we were going and everyone else had already taken off. So we as well took off in hopes to catch up to the car that had left ahead of us. I being in the passenger seat was in charge of finding this car and then keeping an eye on it as it weaved in and out of the craziest driving you can imagine.... oh did I mention that just as we were leaving the school it started to downpour. Luckily we found the car and were able to follow it to the location which turned out to be a children's fitness center. After we circled the block looking for a place to park and then ran through the rain trying unsuccessfully not to get soaked we were finally there....then the rain stopped.
Picture in your mind what a gym would look like and then if possible think of the exact opposite of that, this is the place that we were in today. The room we were in was about half the size of a basketball court and if I would have jumped my head would have hit the ceiling. They had an obstacle course type thing with balance beams, rope ladders, and monkey bars set up in the room as well as a stereo with music playing. This was more than enough for the kids to have a great time. The person in charge would give them challenges to do on the course and then they did some aerobic exercises and like always some random running around. The students had a good time, the teacher on the other had were stuck sitting for two hours in the little waiting room they had out front. I did go back for awhile and watch what the students were doing but it was a long boring afternoon.
The trip back was a little less stressful than the ride over but we did cut it awful close as we arrived back to school just as the bell rang. It was certainly an adventure and just another example of how things are done around here.
On Friday I was approached by the 5th grade Language teacher, who was in charge of the entire contest as well as the rewards, and asked if it would be alright for my class to receive their prize on Wednesday of this week. To any other educator reading this blog a 2 day notice for a surprise field trip might seem crazy but here in the D.R. that is equivalent to 2 months. So today was the day.
Now remember what I mentioned earlier, I had nothing to do with the prizes in this contest so I assumed that everything was getting taken care of by the 5th grade teacher.....foolish me. Yesterday one of my students mentioned to me the fact that they should have permission slips if they were going to be leaving the school. Silly me I thought that this key piece of the puzzle had already been taken care of. So after mentioning it to the office last period yesterday the permission slips were delivered to the room and the students were told to have them filled out last night and brought back today so that they could go. I thought that there was no chance that everyone was going to bring back that slip on one days notice.
Surprisingly everyone did bring the slips in today so we were ready to go....now if I only knew when were were leaving, where we were going, or when we were coming back we would have been in business. Finally at around 10 this morning I found out that they we were going to be leaving right after lunch around noon. It was almost comical how little I knew and how little everyone else did as well.
After lunch the kids were really ready to go... if only we had transportation we would have. At noon today I found out that instead of getting a bus parents were supposedly contacted and asked if they could drive students to the location (which I still wasn't exactly sure of). After doing some last minute running around I worked it out so my class could cram into the vehicles that were there to take the 5th grade class that we were going with. I being in the last car to leave the school with another teacher and a few students now had a new problem. The problem this time was nobody in the car knew how to get to the place that we were going and everyone else had already taken off. So we as well took off in hopes to catch up to the car that had left ahead of us. I being in the passenger seat was in charge of finding this car and then keeping an eye on it as it weaved in and out of the craziest driving you can imagine.... oh did I mention that just as we were leaving the school it started to downpour. Luckily we found the car and were able to follow it to the location which turned out to be a children's fitness center. After we circled the block looking for a place to park and then ran through the rain trying unsuccessfully not to get soaked we were finally there....then the rain stopped.
Picture in your mind what a gym would look like and then if possible think of the exact opposite of that, this is the place that we were in today. The room we were in was about half the size of a basketball court and if I would have jumped my head would have hit the ceiling. They had an obstacle course type thing with balance beams, rope ladders, and monkey bars set up in the room as well as a stereo with music playing. This was more than enough for the kids to have a great time. The person in charge would give them challenges to do on the course and then they did some aerobic exercises and like always some random running around. The students had a good time, the teacher on the other had were stuck sitting for two hours in the little waiting room they had out front. I did go back for awhile and watch what the students were doing but it was a long boring afternoon.
The trip back was a little less stressful than the ride over but we did cut it awful close as we arrived back to school just as the bell rang. It was certainly an adventure and just another example of how things are done around here.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Pirates in the Caribbean!
We found out recently that there are still pirates in the Caribbean! In fact, just the other day, a ship was robbed by these pirates in Boca Chica Bay, which is very close to us. Isn't that funny? I doubt the pirates who robbed the ship at Boca Chica carried swords and scabbards, but they participated in the age old pirate activity: thieving.
Pirates aside, we've been having a particularly hard time lately because in the month of December, the workload at school has sky-rocketed, but there is no time to do anything because there are so many extra things going on during the school day - not to mention the fact that the students have completely checked out for the rest of the time left until break.
We're really missing all the Christmas stuff that we would be doing back home. We were just
simply not going to decorate for Christmas here because it's silly to buy stuff when we're just going to leave, but it's so sad to come home to a barren apartment when it's Christmas time. So, we bought a tiny pre-decorated tree and some lights. Unfortunately, the lights we bought are flashing lights, which we didn't realize. They flash so sporadically that we call them "seizure lights." They are hanging in a very tacky and crooked fashion all around our living area, but -hey-it's better than nothing.It's really sad to be here during Christmas time. We're trying not to let it get us down. We're just trying to think about the fact that John's parents are coming to visit in two weeks, and after that, we're coming home to Bloomington for a few days for Joel's wedding. Someone is going to have to shove us onto that plane when we're getting ready to come back here. We're really not going to want to come back after being home for a few days.
Last weekend, we went with a group from school to a city called San Juan to do some work for Habitat for Humanity. Here are a few pictures. It was nice to see another part of the island. The mountains were beautiful, as you can kind of see from the picture taken from the roof of the house.
As for the work, there were a few too many people and not enough work to go around, so we spent the four hours we were there trying to make sure everyone got to work. Basically, we rode a bus for six hours total that day and worked for four. It didn't seem to be the best use of time or resources, but we enjoyed the trip. Our construction experience from other service projects served us well.
We're counting down the days until school is out - only two or so more weeks!
Sunday, December 03, 2006
A New Horror
One of my (Claire) worst nightmares has always been the possibility of bugs getting into my bed. Well, that nightmare of mine was realized last night. Here in Santo Domingo, we live with colonies of small ants. They are everywhere, and no matter how many times you spray or how many ants you kill, they always come back stronger than before. Last night after a long day and a big meal, I was getting ready for bed, and as I pulled back the mosquito net, I noticed that our bed was crawling with tiny ants. I flipped my lid, then John and I sprayed around the room and changed the sheets. How much longer must I endure this? Only seven more months.
I know there have been bigger and scarier bugs in our bed than the ants because I've woken up with huge, painful bites - but I didn't see those bugs crawling on the bed. I only hope the ants decide to leave me this one small area of our apartment to keep as my own. I think I'm being unrealistically optimistic in that hope.
I know there have been bigger and scarier bugs in our bed than the ants because I've woken up with huge, painful bites - but I didn't see those bugs crawling on the bed. I only hope the ants decide to leave me this one small area of our apartment to keep as my own. I think I'm being unrealistically optimistic in that hope.
Friday, December 01, 2006
A Long Awaited Package...
Thanks Lakeview!!! You sent us a package of awesome school supplies on September 23, and it arrived on November 30th! We're amazed that it arrived at all. We were so excited to see things like sticky notes, colored pencils, erasers, etc. It sounds so simple, but we really don't have those things at school.
Thank you Lakeview!!!
The box was gigantic and packed full of great school goodies. WOW!
We plan to give some of the colored pencils and construction paper to some of the poorest kids in the country when we go to work for Habitat for Humanity tomorrow in San Juan.
Right now, school is absolutley crazy. Apparently, in the month of December, school becomes an absolute joke. Tonight, there is a huge production at school called "Welcome Christmas" or something like that. All week, class has been interrupted by blasting music and children singing off-key Christmas carols. Children normally sing really off-key Christmas carols, but the difference here is that the voices are blasted through sub-woofer speakers loud enough to be heard clearly for a couple city blocks.They built huge stage in the gym/auditorium/cafeteria - so huge that it looks like Aerosmith is coming for a concert at school. We'll take pictures and put them on the blog later.
Check out the pictures and short videos page for some photos of our Thanksgiving.
