Weekend in Jarabacoa!

Brisas de Yaque Hotel in Jarabaoca

Hiking El Mogote en Jarabacoa

Happy Monday!  I hear there is a snow day back in Michigan, but I can't quite say I'm jealous... Here are some of the highlights from the past week (and please be patient as there is a girl behind me in this internet place wearing headphones and singing bachata at the top of her lungs with a terrible voice, I can't exactly think):

For those who can't make it through my lengthy emails, I will start with a thank you and a specific of how your support and donations are being put to good cause.  Auxilia, a worker from our kitchen at NPH, is a doll and hard worker but hardly gets by supporting her kids, her husband who has a disability (or possibly amputee?), and an older parent as well.  We were riding the bus together a week or two ago, and she told me about her husband who would love to be able to walk and work again, but until he can get a prothestic leg and arm, she has to be the one to support all of the family.  I asked about the prosthetic and she quickly pulled a prescription out of her purse detailing the piece needed.  It appeared to have been in her purse for a long time, but it cost $90 that she just didn't have, and through her attempts to save, she had to use every penny to put food on the table for her family.  So this week, I am happy to say that her husband will soon be walking again and learning to use his hand.  Tuesday when I handed her the money, she was so happy and hugged me tight, saying God will multiply this amount for you, God will really bless you, just wait and see... well He already has, but since each of you reading this email is a person who has made this possible, please know God will bless you greatly too... like Auxilia said, just wait and see. :)

Wednesday, Christopher filled his behavior graph and so we celebrated by taking a trip to the nearby batey.  Bateys are the very poor villages on the outskirts of the orphanage where you can buy a soda or bag of chips after a 30 minute walk through the countryside.  The people there live BASIC, no water, electricity, bathrooms, and these are usually the place where most of our kids come from.  Well for the first time, the kids in the batey were just coming out of school when we got there so there was a large crowd and I think it was a rare moment for Chris, as the kids pointed at the white girl, laughing and saying "Hello" in English and the other boy, dressed nicer than anyone else, walking with me hand in hand.  I think it was an awkward and unexpected confrontation with his past, but he squeezed my hand tighter, and was still all grins leaving with his pop, ice cream, cheetoes, and candy.  An ironic reminder of how good life is, even being an orphan.

My new student, Carlos Daniel is making great strides.  What I've found is that he's not special needs at all, just limited in his Spanish and education.  He didn't know his numbers or how to add a week ago, and by the end of this week, he was completing entire pages of math problems, and reading simple sentences.  An exciting everyday miracle.

Thursday, I finally was able to find patience with my oldest student Paola, who like I've said nicely in emails before, really needs a lot of prayer.  By Wednesday of this week I was so sick of her "teenageness" - neck swinging, storming out of class at any given moment, dropping f-bombs - I put a new behavior plan in place and was ready to crack the whip.  I prayed for God to give me patience and guidance with her, and what He gave me was something else.  A glimpse into Paola's world.  Thursday morning she came in and went straight into the bathroom.  I rolled my eyes following her, thinking "refusal to work this early, come on..." but found her sobbing and sobbing beyond control.  It's nothing, I'm fine, I'm fine she explained.  I hugged her and all her hurt streamed down her cheeks and soaked my blouse.  Finally all her terrible history poured out, between long sobs, much worse than anything I read in her file.  She told me the details of how her dad killed himself, how she was the first to find him, wrist slit, knife and a pool of blood by his side.  The rest of the story gets much worse after she goes to live with her mom.  I really don't mean to behave so bad Kristin, I love you and I'm sorry, she said.  I felt like a complete jackass for being so hard on her and frustrated with her.  I'm trying a new approach with her, trying to be PATIENT, and praying Paola will eventually leave her past behind and find her happy ending.

Well LOTS more visitors this week, from at least 5 or 6 countries, and 2 new roommates!  Mark, t-dye t-shirt clad hippie from Oregon who used to volunteer in NPH Honduras came to work in the sponsorship office, and my old roomie Kristina came back from New Zealand to be our new "home correspondent" - journalist of sorts.  I couldn't be happier to see her and gave her a mango from Jarabacoa as a welcome home present. (eating mangoes on hot August and September days was our favorite passtime and we even had a mango dictionary full of mango terms - like mangover - morning after too many mangoes :)

Anyways, that brings me to Jarabacoa - our "relaxing" weekend away.  Well, it started in La Vega, another town in the mountains halfway to Jarabacoa where we stayed with an American missionary couple at their house.  Didn't sleep much, or maybe at all, as there was a "Lady and the Tramp" dog convo going on ALL night in the neighborhood, and as soon as that let up, came the roosters and morning birds.  Next day, we got up and explored the mission field with this amazing couple.  They had been in the DR over 20 years, worked with the poorest of the poor and were connected to EVERYONE we met.  We went out to poor villages and sat in pavillions, not more than a slab of concrete and roof hut where kids studied.  It was incredible, and we were so inspired.  Hoping to go back in a few weeks to help with a building project - we'll see. :)

Then onto our final destination - Jarabacoa.  A breathtakingly beautiful mountain town where we stayed for the weekend to "relax".  Friday night we wandered around town and found colorful fruit and vegetable markets full of green, orange, yellow, red, and purple.  The fruit, like the air, was so fresh and delicious.  The surrounding farms all around the city were full of the same bright colors.  It was wonderful. 

Saturday we were up bright and early to see the country.  We decided on what the guidebook said was a "nice day hike", so I slipped on my reef sandals and grabbed some gatorade, thought this would be sufficient.  This is my disclaimer for anyone who deems me as a terribly awful wife for taking my husband on the adventure I am about to describe, just after getting him out of the hospital.  Our moto driver did warn us, we should pay him $25 each to guide us because it was "a very dangerous climb" but I figured that's what they all say trying to make a buck.  Well, the nice day hike was actually El Mogote, a large mountain outside the city full of rough unmarked trails, that were much more vertical than horizontal.  The first hour of the trip up was nice, we came across orange trees, rasberry bushes, and tomato plants, and even ran into what I think was a wild mongoose, Dave wanted to pet it until I told him I think I read how dangerous it was in our guidebook.  Flourescent colored insects, large slugs, and humming birds too.  After the first hour though, it was up, up, up, climbing with our hands on anything we could grab in the wet mud since it had rained all night.  Dave stopped and sawed apart large tree branches with his Leatherman to make us walking sticks, which were livesavers.  It took about 3 hours to get to the top, and I kept telling Dave we could turn back, but after watching a documentary on Mt. Everest the night before at our hotel, he just couldn't.   Well, the way back down was MUCH more difficult than the way up.  We didn't realize with it being an almost vertical climb up, and it being so wet, that there was no way going back down on two feet.  As much as we tried we fell so many times, we decided to slide down instead, using our tree branches as an oar of sorts.  Sometimes it got pretty fast, but mostly kept it slow, riding over big rocks.  The first hour consisted of fits of uncontrollable laughter, but the last couple hours, mostly just frustration.  And, as Dave predicted, it didn't take long for my pants to split open on a rock, then my underwear too and they were filled with dirt, my pants hanging wide open down to my thighs and my bare white butt exposed to the world.  Luckily we were the only ones crazy enough to try to climb El Mogote.  When we got to the bottom I was lucky enough to have grabbed that cardigan in the a.m. to wrap around my waist to cover myself as we hitched a ride back to town.  By the time we got back to our hotel it had been over 7 hours.  Not the relaxing experience we had planned, but definitely an amazing adventure.

Sunday morning, we took an early moto tour out through the country and out to see the Jimonea waterfalls, the ones from Jurassic Park.  Well, he took us to the wrong one, a much smaller one, but still cool.  We took the windy bus ride through the mountains back to Santo Domingo to meet Tim and Paola for his birthday and pizza lunch.  At the restaurant, one last funny story... in the bathroom there was a little girl wide eyed staring at me, I was surprised with the amount of foreigners who come through the capital that she would stare at the American, but then she got her sister, who equally stared, then her mom who she hid behind, and whispered, Mom look, come on, Mom, it's Shakira, come and see!  I guess my wild unwashed hair from the multiple moto rides gave me that Shakira look.

Well, I'll leave it there, but it is great to be back again at the orphanage.  I was showered this morning with lots of hugs and kisses, and even a handful of smashed up wildflowers from Jhon Luis.  It is great to feel missed.  This week we're starting a unit on Dinosaurs which will be lots of fun.  More details on that next week.  Also DR independence day is Friday so some fun activities there too, and we'll have a parade and party on Friday.  Dominicans always love to celebrate. :)  This week, please let me know if you would be willing to commit to praying for Rosali, one of my cuties from my morning group.  She is always giggling, but I will fill you in on more details if you are interested in praying for this little princess.  Oh and please be patient on me getting back to emails, they cut our internet at the orphanage so the only time I can write now is these Mondays when I come to San Pedro.

Okay wishing a great week to everyone, lots of love, peace, and prayers to everyone back home.
xoxo
Love,
Kristin
 

Visiting Animal Planet in Jarabacoa!

Happy Valentines Day!!!  Hope you all had a wonderfully romantic special day with your loved ones... and hope you all received my ecard with our party photos and songs on video.  I was going to try to send photos and videos today by email but forgot my camera and I think card was a lot easier to download the videos.

Okay, I think Ill go reverse chronological order, since I think its a small handful who make it to the end of my emails.  Since everyone wants to know, how is Dave, here is the latest scoop... He does not have dengue fever and never did.  Before you sigh with relief... its because he has malaria.  Yeah, like the deadly disease carried in mosquitoes that you hear about passing through Africa... that one.  Since around 500 people know about it on this side of the world, and my mom has it plastered all over facebook, I think I may as well share all the details.  Since we came back from the hospital last week, after 3 days of staying there "interno" being treated for dengue, his fever, migraines, chills, yellow skin, and finally convulsions got worse.  I could barely walk outside my door without a million people telling me what a bad wife I was for not taking him back into the hospital, then went back to him who stubbornly insisted he was fine and would wait it out as dengue can last up to 15 days.  Well finally Friday night the whole volunteer house was against him, as well as the rest of the orphanage so he finally agreed to go in.  He insisted on driving, so we borrowed the orphanage truck Saturday morning to go into the clinic.  They called up a team of "malaria specialists", so we went to meet them at MUSA, the public hospital.  I think this is the first time I have been in a passenger seat next to him in this country driving, and while looking out the window at the bright pink and green buildings, horse and carts trotting by, old men selling fruit on the street, stray dogs, reggaeton blasting, motos weaving in and out, and children jumping up onto the windshield trying to wash and make a few cents, I flashed back to our times driving side by side in Michigan, thinking of the quiet snow sloshed highway of 69 driving home or to work.  So crazy how life can change in the course of one year.  I guess this is all part of the adventure though it doesnt always happen quite the way you imagine in your dreams.  Okay, so anyways, we got to MUSA and the malaria specialist was waiting for us.  I definitely had done my homework on dengue vs. malaria vs. hepatitus, reading online while taking care of Dave, and asked tons of questions and watched carefully through every test they did, knowing the symptoms, numbers, med names, side effects, etc.  The specialist insisted I was a doctor or nurse, and asked where I studied.  I told her I found all this information on the internet and she was so blown away by it.  She said really, shocked as if all of her time researching was just all a waste, this information is on the internet???  How do you find it??  Did you tell Dr. Bettini that this is all on the internet??  Guess she never heard of google.  Then she insisted I stop teaching then to join her malaria squad team, out combatting malaria in the bateys and villages.  Ah tempting as it is, cant commit to that right now.  Sooo his diagnosis came back positive and he took 7 meds and started feeling better that day (Saturday), though side effects came later, then took another 3 meds Sunday.  They told us to come back Monday for the last of the treatment.... so this morning I felt I couldnt yet again leave my poor teaching assistant solo so Dave went on his own since I thought he was just getting a shot and would be okay.  So around 11a.m. this morning, the whole malaria SWAT team, looking like that team out of Monsters Inc (Tracey knows exactly what Im talking about here) came with their big badges and kits, pulling everyone out of class to get finger prick tested and treated for malaria.  They asked all kinds of questions, and then informed me that a man named David came from Haiti and had been infected by malaria, and since a mosquito could bite him here and carry the infection, now all 300 of us or more at NPH were at risk.  I explained that this was my husband and they were especially concerned.  (Though I was too busy worrying about him this past week, he was sweet, even in his sick state would run and slam the door and pick up the fly swatter swatting like crazy at anything that came in.  He said "I love you too much to let you go through what Im going through"... what a sweet guy huh?)  So yeah, I think the guy who hates attention definitely has gotten more then ever before, and not all positive since about 300 people, including the babies, all had to get their finger poked for him.  They poked the middle finger, and it was a great scene watching the whole preschool class come out in a crying line to go home, all with their middle fingers sticking straight up to show their boo boos (wish I had my camera...).  I guess Poor Dave took his nickname to a whole new level this time.  But now, today, he seems to be doing better.  He came in to give art lessons to Samuel today even, but is spending the rest of the time in bed.  We both vowed to trying to eat and live healthier, spend our stipends on fruits and veggies since our diet is rice and beans and rice and beans and rice and beans and more rice and beans.  Saturday we bought all kinds of vegetables and have been eating only veggies all weekend.  Valentines dinner was a big bowl of green brocolli at the house.  To try to give it some flavor we got the flashlight and snuck around in the dark through the tall grass looking on all the lime trees to snatch a piece of the kids fruit, but with no luck.  It was fun though.  Sound like how you spent your Valentines day?? 

Okay so since this email is totally out of order, that brings me to my next theme of this email - Valentines day... or as they say here The Day of Love and Friendship.  Like I said, we have been doing everything hearts and valentines and friendship in my classroom this week and last - from read-alouds, to cut and paste pages, to heart cookie play-doh math, to heart collages with feathers and bows, to heart symmetry, to heart word building games and more (this is what you do when you have a modge podge class of anything and everything, in a country with no curriculum).  As youll see on the videos we wore heart crowns and sang translated versions of Skidda ma rinky dinky dink and The More We Get Together and Hello Friend.  We made TONS of decorations for the party, the whole room was COVERED, including handprint rose bouquets and butterflies with heart wings that said "On my wings of love, I will fly around the world and make it better" (okay the phrase sounds better in Spanish) - then we spread our "love wings" and flew around the room hugging, and using our wings to pretend to help others who were sick or in need. Simple concept, but oh so important for these little guys in a world that has been so cold to them in the past, and is so full of poverty and disease and just general need.  We played games where we passed hearts in a circle to music and when the music stopped, we had to show "love and friendship" to others in the room.  Oh and we had pink strawberry cake for the party, with sweet coconut in the middle, pink frosting, drizzled with strawberry sauce, then decorated in red hot candies.  It was sugary SWEET! (just how the Dominican kids love it)  My roommate Jose spent the night before the party baking while I sat and translated histories for him into English to send to US sponsors (seemed like I got the better end of the deal).  Everyone at the party ate cake and drank red juice and ate heart suckers.  A small handful of visitors came to watch our show, youll see my little Moises in the video, blind with CP, falling over while doing the skida ma rinky moves to a different song, not able to see my lead, but too cute.  I think Ive mentioned him before but he found in a basket on church steps as a baby and they named him Moises, like Moses found in the basket in the bullrushes.  He is about the cutest thing in the whole world too.  Oh and of course youll see Rodolfo front row with crown over eyes refusing to sing because his VIP, my roomie Janvier, didnt show on time for the show.  But anyways, kids will be kids, and it was a quite a bash, and hope you all enjoyed the card, let me know! :)

Okay, well like I said, most of Saturday was spent at the hospital, but that night Jose had a dinner party at the house for us (early bday because my roommate Kata is going to an Occ. Therapy conference in Mexico next week) - he cooked and cooked and cooked like crazy, and we equally ate and ate and ate like crazy.  All kinds of unusual ethnic dishes I never thought Id like, wheat salad, french quiche, meat in crepes, cheese seasoned potatoes, brownie birthday cake, and much more.  It was a great time, and have I mentioned I love my roommates?  Weird to live so many people after 2 years married living on our own, but it is always fun living in such a multi-cultural home.  Speaking of roommates, in addition to the millions of visitors in and out, I have 2 new roommates... one named Martin from Germany who works in fundraising, and a white water rafting instructor from Cali named Collin who drives trucks to and from Haiti. 

Oh and I think that brings me full circle to Sunday, the real Valentines day, that I spent at the orphanage with Dave.  We had a dance party on the cancha (basketball court) and there was a birthday party for all the January birthdays with a big cake (have I mentioned things are slow-paced here and often happen late?).  I went to the school for a couple hours to "work" but really making valentines for our volunteer house, my little girls house Santa Ana, my beloved teaching assist. Maria, and of course most of all Dave.  I made an updated version of What I love about you.... (I did this Valentines Day 7 years ago with 101 reasons but didnt come up with quite that many this time, just more lengthy quality reasons) and a photo slideshow of photos through our time together.... little did I know, he was not home in bed resting but actually up in our arts and crafts room at the same time busting out the ribbons, pastels, paints, and construction paper making me a beautiful valentine too.  I think it made me more happy than any romantic dinner or jewelry or weekend away ever could have.  Then we had our delicious, or should I say healthy, brocolli dinner and watched our favorite movie Elf that we found in a plastic bag in our living room. 

Okay so this brings me to my "prayer child" of the week, if you have made it this far, please email me if you are willing to pray for Samuel on a regular basis.  He was expelled from school in the fall for behavior and has been a part of my program ever since.  He can be really tough, and spent our Valentines day party outside throwing things through the window since he wasnt allowed to come (for reason too extreme to mention in email).  He has a terrible terribly sad history.  Please email and let me know if you are willing to commit to praying for Samuel.  I will fill you in on more details then.

Okay lots of love and peace and friendship to all, and of course many thanks for all of the prayers, love, encouragement, support, donations.... I am blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed!!  Hopefully the next time I write it will be to inform you that Dave is all healed and we are back from a weekend AWAY - we live 10 minutes from the beach (by car) and have not been in over 2 months!  Im so ready for it! 

Love love love you all,
Kristin

We made so many Valentines projects they wouldn't fit on the bulletin board!

Jhon Luis making his crown of hearts

Katha and Wilkin making a Valentine man

Rodolfo making his Valentine's bouquet!

Carlos Daniel and his heart collage

Erika, Samuel P., Wilkin, Luis Alberto, Moises, and Jhon Luis all dressed up for Valentine's Day!

Visiting the piggies at the farm!

Going to visit the NPH farm!

Hello hello,

Sorry I am now 2 days off on my weekly email, everything is a little off here.  As you all know, cats out of the bag, Poor Dave, as nicknamed by my cousin Kim, and the name is becoming more and more fitting, is sick again.  He didnt want anyone to know but words out, so thats the reason I didnt write on Monday cause we were at the clinic all day, and then I started to write an email last night but internet was out, so now Im here in town making photo copies for all my Valentines lessons and activities and shopping for our party so thought Id email.  Has to be quick cause I have two visitors with me, one disaster relief specialist from Miami and another from Haiti, so Im taking them around to get supplies to take back over, beans, rice, water, meds, etc.  Right now theyre at McDonalds so Im writing quick.  But for those who dont know, Dave got back from Haiti Saturday and after I badgered him all day Sunday about not helping me face paint for visitors day, I found out he has dengue fever, kidney infection, and pneumonia.  Great wife I am, I know... but so besides teaching and trying to tend to him bedside while he demands to be left alone and that hes fine, here is the latest news...

We are moved into our new house and things are going good.  It is really nice, and we have our inverter hooked up so we have lights almost always, and are back to having electricity around 10 out of 24 hours a day so that is nice.  We also get internet most of the time right on our patio, sometimes even in our bedroom.  And though I hate to even share it because I feel so guilty, I have to share, we have a hot water heater!  Granted it is small and only works when there is electricity, but I have to admit it is sooo nice.  At the same time, I feel terrible because I know I am living better than about 95% of the people, which I hate, but had to share.  Another one, not sure anyone would want to hear, but will share anyways... in our kitchen we have had a terrible problem with flies the first couple of weeks... we would have like 100 of them and then kill and kill them and they would all be gone and wed keep all the doors closed and all of sudden there would be 100 more and we couldnt figure out where they were coming from but then found a mound of brown dirt in the pantry where they had been hatching... found out from Daves boss Francisco that one of the guys working on the house a few months ago had to use the bathroom before they had installed one so instead he used our kitchen pantry, and apparently forgot to clean it up later.  Never imagined Id be cleaning up 3 month old human feces in the kitchen, especially from an adult, but guess its part of the adventure.  The flies have been much better since.

Okay have to hurry now cause visitors are back from McDonalds, so will share the other details...
Tuesday found out Glorimar, one of my favorite favorite favorite girls, I know I shouldnt have favorites but she really is like a little sister to me, was leaving school.  I said okay see you at lunch, but then found out she was leaving forever.  I burst into tears immediately and all the kids climbed up in the windows to watch the teacher cry.  We had a quick makeshift going away party for her with whatever gifts I could find around my classroom and house and baked a chocolate cake, and since the lights were out that night, we passed the flashlight around a circle telling our favorite memories and wishes for Glorimar.  Then I went home and cried like a baby.  The good thing is that family came forward who can take care of her, an aunt who is a psychologist and makes enough money to take her and her brother Miguel, who also came to my class for help with math, and I met with her aunts boyfriend who seemed like a good enough guy, but it was still so hard to let her go, especially not knowing where or what her new life would be.  Just have to pray for her lots and especially that she never changes or lets her heart harden through lifes struggles because so far she has the biggest one I have ever seen in an eleven year old.

Other news, we just finished our farm animal unit, lots of fun there... animal cracker farm math, farm animal read alouds, songs, charades, mini book making, coloring and counting cut and paste pages, sheeps with cotton ball filling and chicks with yellow crepe paper, and a visit to the NPH farm on Friday.... very fun and big thanks to all those who support my class and make learning fun and enjoyable for the kiddos.  Now planning lots of Love and Friendship activities, thats what they call Valentines here, Love and Friendship Month, and we are having a big party next Friday.  Check facebook for pics, and for farm pics as soon as I can get them up there.  Great ones of the kids feeding the chickens and getting pecked too!!

This weekend was another weekend in the compound, I am so ready to get out but everyone is working to make up for all the people who went to Haiti, so its only fair I do my part too.  Most of Friday and Saturday was in the office translating and then Sunday was family day so I was one hour church, two hours making kites, one hour with lunch, one hour making bracelets and necklaces, then three hours of face painting.  Was so beat by the end of it!  All went pretty well for the most part, except the sad faces of the kids who waited and waited for an aunt or cousin or grandparent to show and at five they finally went inside disappointed.  Last family day, I spent most of the day with Rodolfo and we pretended to be family, but since I had to work this time, he hid from various locations throwing rocks at me and screaming that he would kill me.  He was so angry and jealous and disappointed.... but amazingly resilient as he was back in my classroom yesterday again full of hugs and smiles.  Most of the kids here have learned not to love or attach too much, but a few that do get hurt so easily and quickly.  It breaks my heart.

Okay, well I feel bad my visitors are definitely waiting for me and have lots of shopping to do, so have to go, but lots of love and sunshine sent your way from the DR.  Was planning to attach a picture, but left the camera at home!! New idea though... I was thinking about trying to attach a picture every week, or at least give a name, and if you feel compelled to pray for that child, please just send me back an email letting me know and then hopefully, eventually, each child will have someone praying specifically for him back home.  So this week, Rodolfo, who appears to need it more than ever.  If you write back, I can give you more specifics.  And Glorimar.  And also Ill add Paola, my 190 pound teenager in my classroom who is as teenager as it gets... she hasnt been in school for over a week for a list of reasons... most recently because she ate a handful of small rocks and now cant get them out.... pray for her and for my patience with her because sometimes it does run low!!  Let me if you feel led to pray for any of these 3 of my kids.

Okay, love you lots and keep in touch.
xoxo

Love, peace, and prayers,
Kristin




May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you....May you be content knowing you are a child of God.... Let this presence settle into our bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of you.