Dominican Thanksgiving

We had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner. I think there were 14 of us all together...Dominicans, Americans, Canadians, Haitians (baby Jonathan!). It was fun to see the Dominicans trying lots of foods for the first time like apple pie and cranberry sauce and stuffing. It was also great to eat such familiar "home" food. I'm very thankful for the family of friends I have been placed with here!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is going to be Tuesday for us! There are lots of events happening this week so we had to push the celebrations forward a few days. Today we made apple pies and then tonight the turkey got worked on. We got rid of the guts and the neck (how disgusting is that part!). I can't actually remember laughing so hard in a long time! We did it by candlelight as well as the lights were out, which added to the fun. You never quite knew what you were pulling out of that thing!

To get our turkey we had to go on an adventure to Santiago which is a bit over an hour away. We bought our $30 turkey weighing in at 15 lbs (yah, $2/lb!) and a ham too. We plan on having the full Thanksgiving spread tomorrow, minus pumpkin pie. We went to the 2 biggest grocery stores in Santiago and struck out. We tried at the 2 stores in this area and again, no canned pumpkin. One guy I asked told me he didn't have canned pumpkin but upstairs they had decorative pumpkins. I told him thanks, but I couldn't make a pie from that! Anyhow, it's been fun trying to do an American Thanksgiving in the DR! Tomorrow we'll have Americans, Canadians, and Dominicans around our table and I'm really looking forward to it!

Guagua

When I was younger I promised I would never drive minivan. Never say never. I now drive a 16+ passenger van daily. Here in the DR, these types of vans are used as public transport, called a guagua. There is a set route and people stand on the side of the road and wait for it to go by. Now one of the joys of driving our guagua is that they flag me down for a ride. Fun. It is pretty much a babe-magnet.

Our guagua is long. Sometimes I have trouble parking. It is blue. The steering wheel is big but it is otherwise easy to drive. Sometimes I just pretend when I'm driving alone that 4 rows of seats don't exist behind me. It will be amazing when teams are here, for that is the reason for our guagua...but we don't have another team until the end of January.

Our guagua has a tape deck. That is one of the highlights because I have tapes. I like to listen to my tapes because they are generally from about the 8th grade and are amusing. Makes me think of old boyfriends and talking with the girls while playing M.A.S.H.

Our guagua has two settings for temperature, cold-colder. There is no heat, just air conditioning. That makes sense though because, after all, this is the Dominican Republic.

I'm thankful for our guagua.

Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here in the Dominican Republic, and we are LOVING it! Candace and I decorated the house this weekend and brought out all of the Nutcrackers too. Tonight we went to dinner with the Mercy Ships group and were very excited about all the decorations they had. Even though it's still early November and Thanksgiving hasn't even come and gone...Christmas is in full swing here and it's very welcomed!

Dominican Wedding

We got to attend a wedding for friends Milka and Francis on Sunday which was really nice. With only a few variations, it was fairly similar to U.S. weddings and I'm glad we were able to be there and be a part of it all.

Classrooms

Progress continues as we have begun digging and building onto our already in-progress classrooms. We have a bathroom block and 2 classrooms almost finished and have now started digging and laying block for 2 additional classrooms. We are working towards having a 2 story classroom set where we'll have 8 classrooms and 2 sets of bathrooms. Anyhow, it's so exciting/overwhelming/encouraging, to see it all coming together. To trust that we'll be able to handle the changes and growth. I can't wait to meet all these kids!

Life these days...

So these days have been filled with all sorts of different things. I'll start with the top left photo which is Michelle and me...she is one of the leaders with Mercy Ships, the group that is here for the month. We made a day trip with everyone up to Jarabacoa and stopped along the way for coffee.

So then top right was one of the stupidest things I've done yet. So there is this retreat for the youth of all the churches and these two invited me to ride bikes out to it. I thought it would be tough, but figured I could probably do it. I WANTED TO DIE. Or, actually I thought I was going to. It started raining along the way, a mixed blessing as it was cooling but also then meant wet clothes for awhile.

Then that takes us to the bottom two photos where today we went to Jarabacoa to vaccinate the children at the ANIJA school. We did loads of shots on screaming, crying, fleeing children, but it was very successful thanks to all the help.

Storm

Thanks for everyone checking in about how we're doing after the storm. It was a very rainy and windy and wet week, but the north coast was spared most of everything. The south was hit very hard and the rescue efforts are still underway as they find whole villages under mud and water. Dominicans compare this the Hurricane Katrina in the States. Bridges and roads were taken out, rivers rose higher than they ever have; many people are still missing.

Rain

So it's been raining. A lot. The other night the thunder was intense, I have never heard thunder like that before. It probably lasted for over 30 minutes and it shook the windows and the house the whole time. Candace came up to sleep with me...that's how intense it was!

The rain is a mixed blessing. Being from Oregon, I LOVE the rain. I like grabbing a blanket and sitting on the couch and watching it. I like hearing it on the tin roof. I like even getting wet when I go out sometimes. But rain also means flooding. Flooding of houses that were rough to start with. Leaking tin roofs that were already weak fall in, families get wet, dirt floors turn to mud. Rivers rise and it means no school...we can't get into the village if the river is too high; we can't expect the kids from the other side of the river to cross, it's too dangerous.

So today Candace and I sit on the couch, napping, drinking coffee, talking, reading. It's been raining for quite a few days now. I miss my kids at school. I hope they are dry, I hope they get to sit on the couch and drink hot chocolate while their mom reads them stories. And then I am reminded of the hard realities. I hope the rain stops.

Beach day

To celebrate the graduation, we went to the beach for the afternoon on Sunday. It was cloudy and a bit damp, but still great to go out and talk and play...some were even brave enough to get in the water. We went to a new-to-me beach called Cangrejo which we were able to walk to from the house...like 40 miles away (or so it seemed!)

Moving forward

We have the Mercy Ships team here for 3 weeks and construction is flying forward! The septic, which was dug by hand, is almost completely finished which is that much closer to having the new bathrooms ready. The sidwalk around the gazebo is finished. The classrooms are nearly done...it's great! We (and by we I me they) actually just started digging the footings for 2 more classrooms which, to be honest, is overwhelming to think of! To have that many kids in the school will be amazing. I love watching the changes and being involved in something so great.

Adonai Graduation

It's the time of year for graduations! I went last night to the first one which was quite fun. They started out at the park and walked to the church where a million people packed in (it was HOT). After we went and had spaghetti with the graduates and chatted. Why do I get to be a part of these things? How did I get so blessed to live this life? I love it!

In preparation

Dear family

In preparation for being in Oregon for Christmas (Dec 19th-Jan 4th) I'll need a few things to make the transition easier:

-Please place a bin always next to the toilet...that's where the t.p. goes, right?
-Turn off all lights nightly at 5pm and on again about 9pm. Feel free to change the schedule without telling and turn lights off and on at will.
-I will need a constant heater near me to maintain 80 degrees
-Please find all sweaters, long underwear and anything warm
-I will need to be awoken each morning by roosters and motorcycles
-Remove all seatbelts from the car
-Replace all carpet with tile
-Instead of an umbrella, I'll just be needing a showercap
-All coffee will need to come in a plastic cup. Oh yah, I drink coffe now.

Thanks for getting things ready. See you at Christmas!

Jes :)

Yubi's 25!!

We went to Yubi's birthday party last night which was fun, as usual. Yubi is one of the teachers at school and also goes to church with us. We had a group of gringos which was always entertaining and even had to perform at birthday song for her.

Women's Retreat

I got to go to an amazing women's retreat this weekend. It was so great and I was surrounded by incredible Dominican women and learned so much. We talked and talked and talked some more. They're still amazed that I can wash my hair daily and I don't have to wrap it around my head at night...and were stumped at the eyelash curler, we continue to learn from each other!!

Good things come to those who wait

Sorry I've been a bad blog-updater, I'm working on it tonight, so long as the lights stay on. Check in later, I'll do my best! Sorry.

Youth group

Tonight our little dinner for a few turned into all the youth in the church! It was excellent in the end and fun to have everyone over. It's been amazing to be a part of this church and how they have welcomed me in and made me really feel like I am a part of them. The friendships I have made in these last few months are so great and I look forward to building on them in the time ahead. So it turns out I can still be a part of youth group...who would've guessed?!

Roof is on!

What a production! Saturday was the day to fill in the roof on the classrooms and bathrooms. What an incredible project. A whole team was brought in who has a lot of experience with this and it was interesting to watch...and a lot of work for them. So now the roof will "set" for about a month and we'll otherwise be moving forward with all the other projects that are to be done! We are still set for bringing in a new class of 4 year olds in November which is exciting and overwhleming. I took applications for 4 hours and had 167 kids that want in...now we have to pick about 50. It is overwhelming, the need is huge, how do you pick one poor kid over the other poor kid? It's hard but I trust that we'll pick the ones that need it the most and pray for wisdom in doing so!

Happy Thanksgiving

All is well...I knew it would be! Candace is back and settling into the swing of things and it is perfect. Today is Canadian Thanksgiving so we had mashed potatoes yesterday and corn on the cob from the street man today. We started sponsorship work like crazy today since Candace will be taking over that job (!!!!!!!) as I am freed then to work more towards medical and being a nurse! So many ideas abound right now about the direction I could take and the needs that we have. So for Canadian Thanksgiving, I say that I am thankful today that life is back to normal, that Candace is home!

HOOOORRAYYY!!

Candace is back!!! I'm so excited...life is good!