Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Back Home In Indiana
First of all I just want to let everyone know that the 6th grade graduation went off without any major disasters. Other than there being no electricity to the building when we got there and the fact that instead of Pomp and Circumstance they started to play the American national anthem as the students were walking down the isle there weren't any problems. I was able to read all names without butchering them to badly and all in all it was a nice ceremony.
On Friday after our last teacher day, Kari invited anyone who wanted to stop by for one last goodbye toast. We had a nice turn out and enjoyed one last conversation with everyone. We finished off our last night with a nice dinner together and some closer friends. It was a nice way to end our last day on the island.
Our last morning we spent loading all our final belongings into our suitcases and coloring in the final pie piece on our Doughnut of Doom. It was o
ff the the airport where were all had a snack together before loading onto a plane for JKF. It was in JFK that we all had to say our teary goodbyes. It was sad to leave our friends knowing that we wouldn't be able to share the little things in our day to day lives with each other. But we all found comfort in the fact that we will see each other again someday soon.
Claire and I were then headed to Indy. However we had to wait on the runway for about 2 hours while the log jam of planes took off. We finally took off about the time we were to be 
landing in Indianapolis. When we finally did land it was storming out and had to wait on the ground at the airport while the lightening in the area cleared so a ground crew could come out and park the plane. Then it took about an hour and a half for them to get our bags off the plane before we were home bound. We got to Bloomington around 1 in the morning.
Since we have been home we have been living on cloud nine. We have enjoyed going to Wal Mart, eating at choice restaurants, sleeping in our nice soft bed, taking long hot showers, and hanging out in the air conditioning not sweating our brains out. Claire and I have also gotten new cell phones since we have been home. If you would like our new numbers just send us an email and we will be glad to pass it your way. This way we don't have to post them for the entire web to see.
We would like to thank all of you that have been reading our blog over this last year. The blog has been a very enjoyable thing for Claire and I to keep up on and a great way for us to share our story with you all. For those die hard viewers out there I just want to let you know that just because we are back doesn't mean that we are going to stop blogging. I am currently working on a new page that we will be using as this new stage in our lives begins. Once again thank you all for taking time to visit and share our stories.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Leftovers
Well we are in our final stretch here now that we only have a couple days left. We just wanted to catch you up on some things that we have done in the last week that were noteworthy enough to make the blog. 
esort but figured there wasn't much that we didn't put on the last blog entry about the Hamaca. 
The last couple days we have been finalizing everything at school. Packing boxes, finishing any grading, entering grades on the computer, and so on. Claire and I are done with everything so we have been coming home extra early to finish getting our apartment ready to go. I have also been attending graduation rehearsal for the 6th grade graduation that is tonight. I found out yesterday that I will be the MC of the night with my 20 page script. Ahhh the advantages to speaking English. I will probably have to put a post tomorrow letting you all know how this worked out. 
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Zoo and Bowling
rds all while packing and 
getting ready to come home. Our last weekend in the city was actually last weekend, June 8th. Since it was our last weekend in the city we decided to try and fit in anything that we might want to do. So the zoo it was. We weren't expecting much before we arrived. We were told that there isn't much there and what is there isn't kept up very well. We decided to see for ourselves. The Lonely Planet book that has been our trusty guide around town s
aid it was one of the largest in Latin America.
he trash away. We pressed on. With our entrance ticket we got a free ride on the train that took us around the entire zoo but it didn't 
leave for another 20 minutes and we assumed that everything would be in Spanish so we decided to walk. 
hod and the only thing protecting you from the 
animals was a trench about 4 or 5 feet wide and deep that you just had to hope the animal wouldn't decide to cross. 
he circle that we were walking continued to go on and on and seemed to get bigger as we found ourselves taking side paths here and there to see other animals. Before we knew any better we had been there for a few hours, were drenched in sweet, and in desperate need of something to drink. Luckily we found a stand that served drinks unfortunately for us we were in the D.R. and nothing was cold. Thank goodness there was ice. After a quick rest were were back on the trail. This time to make the last leg of our trip through the bird area. When we finally arrived back at the entrance we were exhausted and even though we had talked about the idea of taking the train just for the fun of the ride we decided to call our cab and call it a day. 
Later that night, after a shower, nap, and some dinner, we decided to head out for some bowling. There is a pretty big alle
y just down Lincoln and we had always talked about doing it we just never had made it down there. So today was the day. It is a surprising big place with alleys on two levels. Once we had our shoes and picked out our bowling balls we were ready to play. None of us are very good and we did have to contend with some unruly Dominican teenagers sharing the 
lanes next to us but we all had a great time. As we were finishing up our hour of bowling Roger, Holly, and one kids Roger helps support showed up and got in on the action with us. We finished the night off by playing cards at the bowling alley while Roger and Holly finished up their game. 
e were able to check a couple more items off the list. 
The next thing on the list was one last resort trip the following weekend. Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Living the Duality
haven't posted a new blog recently because we've been too busy living. We are simultaneously trying to live it up and experience everything one last time while feeling extremely excited and ready to move home. It's a strange combination that makes it so we are living a duality. At school, it's final exam time, which means vast expanses of time at school to do absolutely nothing for me (Claire). For John, it means lots of time spent babysitting. We have everything done - classrooms ready to pack up, grades finished, all books and materials inventoried - and now we just have to wait for the scheduled time for our finals, grade them, and enter the grades into the computer. I've finished two books in the past two days.
Tonight, we were supposed to go bowling and play games at this game center about 3/4 of a mile south on Lincoln, but John is sick. He has a temperature of 101.666666 (convert
ed from 38.7 Celsius because our thermometer is in degrees Celsius). He's sleeping, and I'm blogging. I have a feeling we'll spend most of the evening in the air conditioned bedroom since there's nothing worse (when you have a fever) than hanging out in a hot and humid climate.I'll now recount last weekend's activities through narrative and photos... the photos will be added later since Blogger is having trouble uploading them at the moment.
ded with dinner on the square in front of the first governor's mansion. We found ourselves breathing the cool evening sea breeze and realizing that we might miss this part of living here...
But as soon as we had to haggle with rude taxi drivers for a ride home, the possibility of sweet nostalgic thoughts abated. We know that when we leave, the things we love about living here will grow in our minds and loom over the more numerous unpleasant things that will continue shrinking with relative inconsequence as time moves by. 
the various cockroach-looking sea creatures like lobsters, turtles, and crabs.
The only notable feature of El Acuario Nacional is a tunnel that goes through the biggest tank. We went in and stayed in it for quite some time, but it seemes all the aquatic life prefers to make rounds around the outside of the tank, so when you're in the tunnel, you can't see anything. 
We spent about an hour (or more) simply watching the waves crash into the coral and rocks below, spraying us occasionally with damp 
saltiness. We breathed the sea, soaked in the sun, and absorbed the rhythmic sound of the ocean knowing that soon we won't be able to feel, see, and hear those things as often as we want. Indiana, unfortunately, is landlocked.
