So, now that I am living at the Makarios house and the Austin Stone group is here, I am learning more and more what my summer will look like. Last night, after our fifth power outage, my roommates (Holly and Laticia) and I decided to sleep with some of the other female interns on the roof. Let's just say, that is the best idea we have ever had. First of all, it's beautiful up there. To the north is the ocean and to the south is Mt. Isabela, which is a sight to see. Secondly, it's COOL. No joke, Holly got up in the middle of the night and got us one of those hotel blankets, like the pink ones I used to have. It was incredible!
We woke up for breakfast at 7:30 and then it was time to get situated into the guaguas to head to the villages. Guagua is the word for van, which includes both our Makarios vans and public transportation vans, which are a whole different, completely awesome story. (See the end of the post)
So, if you read about guaguas, stuffing 40 people in two vans is a task. We did it though, and I made my first trip to Pancho Mateo. Today I was getting to know the village, but I get to do something very special that I am both a little nervous and extremely excited about while I'm there. One of the interns, Chris, is in graduate school at Clark in Massachusetts getting an a grad degree in something like international development (I forget the exact name). He is here this summer, living with a family in Montellano (Luz, our housekeeper, is who he lives with), and interning with Makarios to fulfill a degree requirement. So while he is here, he is conducting a survey and study of the people in the villages Makarios works in, mainly Pancho Mateo and Chichigua. He is trying to find out people's opinions of us and other "gringo" presences in the villages -- because there are a lot more than you'd think! He is asking them about the new education center we are building in Tamarindo as well. So my job is to help him, to listen to the people and ask questions as well so he is not alone and it is not as awkward.
We started that today, and had this great conversation with an old Dominican woman and half her relatives. Dominicans are some of the most hospitable people in the world. They immediately offer you their chairs to sit in on the porch and coffee if they have any (which they oftentimes don't since in these villages they have so little) even if you can't speak your language.
I was really nervous about doing this and talking to adults, just because Dominican Spanish is so different, but God really blessed today! Plus I still got to wander around and hold lots and lots of cute kids that are starving for attention. The Austin Stone group is split into three groups. Half of the girls go with Camille to help with her classes that she teaches in Spanish in the villages. Half go with Alexia to help with English camp. (Alexia and Camille are the two teachers who have been here the past year with Makarios.) The guys are all out at the site working on building the education center, which is one of our main projects for the summer.
The village was so amazing to walk through. It really is amazing how much we take for granted just at the Makarios house (I'm typing on a laptop that is connected to the wireless internet, for one) and these kids and families literally have nothing. Children are naked or wearing their one pair of clothes and some have scabies and other ailments, yet they are all so excited to see "gringos" everywhere and want to hug us and be held by us and sometimes kick us, which is okay too.
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PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN THE DR:
These consist of old vans, sometimes 15 passenger, sometimes more the size of a small school bus, sometimes smaller. They run on the same route up and down the autopista, but you just stand on the side of the road and flag them down, as one of the workers is standing in the open doorway looking for passengers. Then you yell at them when you want them to stop and get out--this can sometimes be a disaster, as we found out. And you can fit a ridiculous amount of people into a guagua. Other interns have seen 30 people squished into a 15-passenger guagua. The other option for public transportation is the motocoche. These are small motorbikes that two people can fit its driver and then two more people. I got thrown onto one with Johanna, another intern, on the way to lunch one day in Cabarete. It was awesome, but I kept wondering what would happen if we crashed. Don't worry Daddy, it didn't go too fast!
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I'll post more pictures soon -- I have lots of cute Haitian and Dominicans.
Pray for continued confidence in being in the villages and that God would use us in big ways and in the way he has planned because I have no idea how that will look but I'm excited!
Monday, June 18, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Finally, a few pictures!
The first three pictures are from San Juan Adentro, outside of Santiago. The little girls with me in the third picture are Nini and Rosalina, Ruben's daughters.
The last two pictures are from Cabarete, where I have been the past three days and why I haven't been posting. We had a staff retreat and it is absolutely beautiful there! Cabarete is famous for kitesurfing. In fact, the world championship will be held there in just a week or two. We stayed at a VERY nice hotel, Agualina, that had AIR CONDITIONING! It was awesome. But the best part was getting to know the rest of the staff and interns. I am so excited to know them better and I truly believe that the Lord brought us together for big things.
I am now at the Makarios house in Puerto Plata. We live in a very nice neighborhood, but that doesn't mean that we haven't lost power four times today, because we have! The Austin Stone group is here, which is very exciting, but I am tired and should sleep because tomorrow is my first day out in the villages.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
El Campo
Let me tell you, the rules for driving in the Dominican Republic are, if you get there first, it's your turn. And the roads are bumpy. Every moment is an adventure here. I can understand and speak some, but Dominican Spanish is very fast, and very hard to understand! I know that with time I'll get better.
I woke up around 10 a.m. this morning and Ruben came and picked me up to take me to his farm. Ruben drives a Toyota truck that seats five, but today it seated seven, including eight-month-old twins. Wistli, a Haitian man who works on the Makarios farm, has two adorable twins, Nefti and Neftali. Unfortunately, they were very sick. So today I went to the doctor, the supermarket, and the countryside.
I have never been so humbled in my life. This country is so poor and I got to spend time with familes who had nothing yet were living richly. I have everything and am nothing like them.
Let me tell you a little bit about Ruben. He is 55 and a native Dominican but lived for thirty years in the US. He became a Christian at 26, where he says his life "really began." He became a monk for awhile, actually a Franciscan, and lived basically as a poor man for the Lord. But Ruben felt called back to his home country and so he came back here. Over the next several years until now, he adopted three boys, got married to a woman who had a son, and had two little daughters. Naomi, who is three and goes by Niní, and Rosalina, who is four, took up most of my time today. They took me into their room and showed me every single doll they had (most of which had no clothes and were missing at least one leg).
Ruben's farm is absolutely amazing. It took an hour to get about twenty minutes away because of how rough the roads are, but I got to see the most beautiful view. Ana Maria, Ruben's wife, prepared me a Dominican meal which was delicious, and the farm has all kinds of wonderful fruit growing. I got to sit in his hammock for about an hour with Niní and Rosalina and it was great--I told Ruben I could stay there forever and he said I could as long as I helped his wife around the house!
Ruben's kids took me around to meet all the neighbors. They are all so hospitable, offering chairs and insisting you sit down and offering coffee. Not to mention that everything is so green, and so beautiful.
I am back at the White's house for the night. Oh, and I got to meet Jacob and Isaac, the Haitian twins that Sharla is in the process of adopting! Isaac is almost completely deaf and so they are teaching them sign language in addition to Spanish, English, and possibly Creole. I can't wait to post pictures.
Pray for safety in traveling, because tomorrow Sharla and I are headed to Puerto Plata, where the Makarios house is, in the morning! Also be praying for our staff retreat this weekend and for God to direct us for the summer. Pray that I don't lose heart with my Spanish but that the Lord will give me the strength and confidence to speak!
Love you guys!
I woke up around 10 a.m. this morning and Ruben came and picked me up to take me to his farm. Ruben drives a Toyota truck that seats five, but today it seated seven, including eight-month-old twins. Wistli, a Haitian man who works on the Makarios farm, has two adorable twins, Nefti and Neftali. Unfortunately, they were very sick. So today I went to the doctor, the supermarket, and the countryside.
I have never been so humbled in my life. This country is so poor and I got to spend time with familes who had nothing yet were living richly. I have everything and am nothing like them.
Let me tell you a little bit about Ruben. He is 55 and a native Dominican but lived for thirty years in the US. He became a Christian at 26, where he says his life "really began." He became a monk for awhile, actually a Franciscan, and lived basically as a poor man for the Lord. But Ruben felt called back to his home country and so he came back here. Over the next several years until now, he adopted three boys, got married to a woman who had a son, and had two little daughters. Naomi, who is three and goes by Niní, and Rosalina, who is four, took up most of my time today. They took me into their room and showed me every single doll they had (most of which had no clothes and were missing at least one leg).
Ruben's farm is absolutely amazing. It took an hour to get about twenty minutes away because of how rough the roads are, but I got to see the most beautiful view. Ana Maria, Ruben's wife, prepared me a Dominican meal which was delicious, and the farm has all kinds of wonderful fruit growing. I got to sit in his hammock for about an hour with Niní and Rosalina and it was great--I told Ruben I could stay there forever and he said I could as long as I helped his wife around the house!
Ruben's kids took me around to meet all the neighbors. They are all so hospitable, offering chairs and insisting you sit down and offering coffee. Not to mention that everything is so green, and so beautiful.
I am back at the White's house for the night. Oh, and I got to meet Jacob and Isaac, the Haitian twins that Sharla is in the process of adopting! Isaac is almost completely deaf and so they are teaching them sign language in addition to Spanish, English, and possibly Creole. I can't wait to post pictures.
Pray for safety in traveling, because tomorrow Sharla and I are headed to Puerto Plata, where the Makarios house is, in the morning! Also be praying for our staff retreat this weekend and for God to direct us for the summer. Pray that I don't lose heart with my Spanish but that the Lord will give me the strength and confidence to speak!
Love you guys!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Day One
I got to the airport this morning in Austin just before 5 a.m., only to find out that my flight was cancelled from Miami to Santiago! I was supposed to fly from Austin to Chicago, Chicago to Miami, and finally Miami to Santiago, but American Airlines was able to find me new flights from Austin to Dallas to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and THEN to Santiago!
What was weird was that the man sitting next to me on my flight to Puerto Rico turned out to be a man studying theology at Dallas Theological Seminary who was getting married in Puerto Rico this Saturday. We got to talk about what I was doing in the Dominican and I got to help him with his very basic Spanish workbook. Had I not been on that flight, I would have never gotten to have that conversation.
After a three hour layover in San Juan, I got on a very small, very Dominican American Eagle flight to Santiago. The plane was old and tiny and hot and everyone was yelling on the plane so I got a little nervous. But I got here without a hitch, all my luggage was waiting for me, and now I am at the White's house! Ruben, who runs the Makarios farm, picked me up, and his little daughters are three and four years old and already have put their fingers all over my computer screen. I love them instantly though!
I wish I could have taken pictures, but it was dark when I got here and slightly rainy. Pictures to come!
What was weird was that the man sitting next to me on my flight to Puerto Rico turned out to be a man studying theology at Dallas Theological Seminary who was getting married in Puerto Rico this Saturday. We got to talk about what I was doing in the Dominican and I got to help him with his very basic Spanish workbook. Had I not been on that flight, I would have never gotten to have that conversation.
After a three hour layover in San Juan, I got on a very small, very Dominican American Eagle flight to Santiago. The plane was old and tiny and hot and everyone was yelling on the plane so I got a little nervous. But I got here without a hitch, all my luggage was waiting for me, and now I am at the White's house! Ruben, who runs the Makarios farm, picked me up, and his little daughters are three and four years old and already have put their fingers all over my computer screen. I love them instantly though!
I wish I could have taken pictures, but it was dark when I got here and slightly rainy. Pictures to come!
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