¡Fotografías!

Playa Rincon please note that the small boys are in every frame of the panoramic picture. This is beach #2 technically, but beach #1 in the photo log.
I ♥ ocean waves.


I also ♥ Estillo Tours and their friendly driver who picked us so we wouldn't have to walk through this (see below). When Natalie get's her photos online I'll have a link...her pictures are more accurate and probably better quality....
Las Galeras - beach #1. Our "home" for the trip.
Christie Collver and I...goofing around in an "abandoned" boat.
I love this picture. I love it for 2 reasons; 1) it's gorgeous and 2) I love sunsets here.
Fronton - beach # 3 the whole reason we piled in a car for 6 hours! This picture (above) was taken from one of the openings on the trail in/down to the beach (below).
picturesque and peaceful
Check out this site for more information...Dulous Discovery School & Playa Fronton. Dulous is the other Christian school in town. It is a very hands on learning - Montesorri style school for PreK-12. I looked at working here too, but JCS is where I was supposed to be...but they do some pretty cool things at their school.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I hopefully post the results of making ooobleck with my 3rd graders soon (that is if I am brave enough to pull out my camera around water, cornstarch, and 8 year olds).

Plan B is not Plan A Recylced...The Saga of 3 Beaches in 3 Days

This is the story of how 6 girls piled into 1 CRV for 62 hours of Dominican Sand and Surf. Teaching in the Dominican Republic has had it’s perks in the month of January…like no 5 day weeks of school! So to celebrate Juan Pablo Duarte one of the founding fathers of the FREE Dominican Republic we hit to road.

On Saturday morning we loaded our backpacks and snorkel gear and took off for the North East coast. We drove from Jarabacoa to San Francisco to Samana to Las Galeras. Being in a car for nearly 6 hours was not as much fun with the roads that awaited us.

The drive from Jarabacoa to San Fransico was a nice pleasant drive very reminiscent of driving through north Wisconson in the summer…pine trees, beautiful rocks, and a 4 lane highways with good quality pavement. Also on the way to San Fransico we say our first glimpses into the farming industry of rice. They use airplanes to crop dust and huge tractors to turn over the fields yet do most of the harvesting by hand.

After leaving San Francisco the roads turned dramatically worse. Sometimes the road was so bad that it was sometimes one lane. We drove through Nagua which was the first time I had seen the ocean other than flying over it. Seeing the ocean for the first time was great; despite the pouring rain outside the car. We left for our trip with a 55% sun and 40% rain prediction. (Thankfully most of the rain came while we were driving and not on the beach enjoying our vacation.) In Nagua I saw some of the devastation that was left by the hurricanes this fall. Nagua is on the NE coast where most of the hurricanes hit the hardest if they came from the north. Entire neighborhoods were gone and all that remained was cinderblock foundations many of which were no larger than 10 x 10. Those small foundations probably housed a whole family.

The roads the rest of the way were 2 lanes with potholes that nearly covered the whole road…so our wonderful drivers had their hands full with maneuvering to keep the rest of us comfortable the best they could.

The next big town we arrived at was Samana which is known for it’s bay and for whale sightings. We didn’t go on a whale expedition but it was easy to tell that whale watching was a huge industry. The downtown area was very nice and well kept due to tourism. But as soon as you left the town it was back to shacks and poorly held together outhouses. I saw lots of wildlife sitting in the back of the car…there were pigs, goats, horses, mules, ducks, chickens, and the occasional wild turkey (I was the only one who saw them…but they were there).

We drove about 6 hours to reach our final destination of Las Galeras…a town that the main road literally runs into the ocean. We stayed at a hotel and were within walking distance of food and the beach. We headed to the beach the first afternoon after naps and lunch. The beach wasn’t spectacularly kept but the views were great. There is huge resort in Las Galeras so that is where most of their money is at.

On Sunday we had the grand plan (Plan A) of driving to Boca del Diablo and then hiking in to Fronton a small beach that is only accessible by boat or a hour hike. To our dismay we went to leave to find that our car would not start! So after trying to figure it out on our own we were assisted by 5 kind Dominican men. Despite the language barrier, no owner manual or any mechanics it took 7 hours to identify the problem, fix it and then decide what to do. We instead settled on heading to Playa Rincon (Plan B).

Playa Rincon involved a half hour drive down yet another bumpy half there road. On this road we were passed by car after car ignoring the bumps. We concluded that people who drive that way either replace their axles every year or just buy new cars. In one of the towns we passed we came across a lady killing her chickens…some of us actually saw it….not the most pleasant thing ever. Along another point we saw fields of pineapples growing and more wild turkeys.

If you’ve been following my blog you know that it rains a lot here. We saw the results of the rain in road width red clay mud puddles. It was definitely an off-road experience but with a road still present. Anyways we got to the end of the road or so we thought…people had parked. Only when we had stopped to look did we see why people had stopped. The road the rest of the way down was completely flooded. Imagine walking outside of your house and seeing water knee deep, whole street across and about 30 feet long sections of road not visible. Yep that’s what awaited us at the bottom of the hill. We considered throwing out a plan C but we were “rescued” by Esitllo Tours. We managed to catch a ride on their big Daihatsu truck with one of their tour groups. The ride through the puddles was much happier. We were able to watch everything else around us; like whole families walking through the water, supercross bikes (dirt BMX style), and the ice cream man on his little moto. It was quite the experience. But the beach was worth it. The water was pristine, the waves, nice sand, and about a mile of untouched beach. The palm tree groves were spectacular too. Here I went body surfing with some of the other girls; it was so much fun (despite the salt water up my nose)!!!

Sunday we finally made it to Fronton. When we first got to Fronton we saw 2 cruise ships sailing. Cruise ships are huge!!! It’s crazy to think that I live on an island that is a cruise destination. When we started hiking it was so frustrating because I didn’t know what to expect; since breaking my camera this year while hiking I am a bit more apprehensive. The hike to Fronton takes you through the forest along the coast. The area of the trail we hiked is rumored to also be used for drug trafficking from Columbia. No drugs were seen in transit along the trail; happy day. Every once and a while we would come across and opening and see the blue expanse of the ocean…holy cow is it beautiful!!!! The last half of the hike was tricky due to hiking mainly on coral and mud, but the beach was worth it. I received my sunburn here and a few blisters.

After hiking out we went down to see Boca del Diablo (Mouth of the Devil). Basically it’s a giant hole in the ground that gets filled with water. When the water pressure is to great is spits spray out of the top. You can throw things inside and they will get spit back out…we sent a palm branch shooting out maybe 20 feet in the air. The sound it makes is not a happy sound it’s very dark and menacing. Then it was time to pack up and come home.

It was a great trip and I really enjoyed it! I will try and post pictures soon. I am at home today with pinkeye, but have already felt a huge difference in my eye since starting drops last night! I have to continue the drops for 5 days and then it should be gone. Thankfully my pinkeye is more of the North American strain…the Dominican version involved pockets of stuff on your actual eye…gross. So I’m pretty happy I caught it early!

Still Preluding....

Tomorrow will be the day I at least compose my blog from this weekend. I now have pinkeye...something related to the ocean water I fear or hiking yesterday. I have already begun my eye drop steroids so hopefully I'll be back at school on Thursday teaching away. Until then this is lesson 1 in relaxation and trusting God.

Prelude...

There will be no extravagent photos included in my blog entry for some time from this last weekend. Our modem decided to die while we were away so I can't upload pictures quickly on the school's computer. I will however attempt to share the memories of the weekend with you at a later time. I don't want to right my long blog on the school's time. Please check back within the week for a full synopsis of the weekends happenings...they are not to be missed.

Rain Count

36 hours and counting of continuous rain.


I'm off on an adventure this weekend to the coast so hopefully we will have sunshine there and some beautiful beaches and no injuries as we hike...if indeed that is what we end up doing.

This weekend is a lesson in patience, spontaneity, and life outside the 23km circle I've been living in here!

I will try and post pictures when I return.

Surivor Dominican Republic

Unofficially I have already lost said game to Karyn Staats because she's been here longer. I took my title from her.

Anyways...this week was a battle of outwitting, outsmarting and most definately outplaying my students. They were in it to win it I could tell, but sadly they lost. Third quarter is a part of the year I have not seen ever in my teaching career....it's truly GAME time! This is when you make it or break it as a teacher.

When you make it this far you feel as though you've succeeded in something. For me that something is my sanity but this week my students tried mightily to break that sanity. Sadly this was not a good week for support at school either. With about 30% of our teaching/administrative staff out during the week I had no where to turn. Thankfully God only gives us what we can handle. I managed to make it through the week of temper tantrums, split pants, spilt milk(true story), and fits of rage {leading to broken pencils}. God has a very specially eye on my class...things could go so much worse than they have.

This week we were fortunate enough to have Wednesday off...which should be a mandatory day off of school. Granted it would take longer to finish school but having the day in the middle of the week to recouperate from the stress of Monday and Tuesday. And then when Thursday and Friday come they just fly on by.

Some urgent prayer requests..
Parent/Teacher conferences. I have requested to meet with several of my student's parents due to their child's behavior. Pray that God will give me wisdom to say what I need to say via a translator and that we have translators. I am still not able to carry a good conversation in spanish. With the information I have to get across I need to be concise and professional instead of me stumbling over my vocabulary.

A friend here has been very hurt by things that have been happening here both at school and at home. Please pray that God will comfort her and show her the next step.

Yulissa, our AMAZING 1st-4th Spanish teacher. She is not older than me and has two small children 1 and a half and 4. Her mother-in-law has been in the hospital for the last few days (possibly even a week). In the DR you don't leave someone unattended in a hospital because nurses are scares and occassionally you need to replace IVs etc... Needless to say she is very tired from spending nights at the hospital with her. Yulissa is an amazing woman of God, please pray that she would regain her strength and that her mother-in-law would be healed.

For my attitude...I fear we have entered the second winter rainy season...so far it has been raining for about 24 hours straight. Last time this happened it rained for nearly 5 consecutive days! I struggle with sunlight withdrawl so not seeing sun makes me very sad and mopey. Please pray that I will snap out of it! It affects my interactions with others and just makes me what to cry all the time. Not to mention it's chilly without heat...sweats and sweatshirts it is becasue it's only about 60 degrees...I know in the states I'd be running around in shorts, but without heat and continually damp clothes it's chilly!


Most Exciting News!!! The Scholastic Bookfair is coming to JCS!!!! HOORAY FOR THE CHANCE TO GET GOOD BOOKS FOR MY KIDS!!!! Please pray that I don't spend my WHOLE salary there....which I will say is mighty tempting!

Times they are a changing...

Happy Inauguration Day/3rd Quarter

This week is a week of change for many people...some are starting new semesters, some are starting new quarters, and some are starting new careers.

My students made the switch yesterday from history to science. They also were introduced to the 90-minute Language block used in the US schools. I am so excited to have a schedule that allows me to break my day up and actually focus on the key components of the English language. I am hoping that through using this method, I can improve their quality of work all around even the smallest bit. My 90-minute block allows me to teach spelling, phonics, and grammar all at the same time with a built in read aloud time! Normally by 3rd grade phonics are fairly automatic in the states, but I'm starting at square one. I am focusing on blends to start with because many of the students can't read our spelling list and the blends that are on it. Phonics is also crucial to good spelling. I have amazing spellers in my class, but I have a few that are going to see the benefit of daily phonics.

Thanks to Natalie for my amazing b-day gift of the first 8 books of "The Magic Tree House" series. My kids are loving them; especially my boys! Hooray!!!

My students also started music yesterday. After talking to almost all the teachers all the students are learning about the musicality of Michael Jackson...yep, I really hope they learn the Thriller dance just because it would be really funny! I'm excited for my kids to do music because I share the same excitement for music as they do. I miss piano tremendously and I occasionally go play on the schools untuned piano.

I am in need of wisdom with a few of my students because of their incredibly unruly rude behavior. Many of my children have close to free reign at home so enforcing rules for them is sometimes difficult. I receive many tears because they aren't used to being told no or follow the directions...today I made 2 students cry because I disciplined them. At least they don't enjoy their punishment. If their behavior continues I'm not sure what I will be doing with them - other than prematurely graying.

Tomorrow we have off due to it being Agriculture Day...I'm not going to complain for a day off and away after the first 2 days this week.