Pictures

Here are more pictures from the Bamboo hole. Jen had a rapid fire shot, so we got pictures of us going down the slide. :)

At the Bamboo hole 

Teresa sliding... 

And sliding... 

And sliding... 

And in!!! 

Daniel sliding... 

Still sliding... 

And hitting the water! 

Thoughts on Life...

Last night was girls bible study. It was the first one since Christmas break and it was so good to meet again. As usual, we got off topic, and had a brief discussion about the end times. When I think about eternity and how amazing it will be- I mean, we'll actually get to SEE the King of the universe- I realize how limited my view is. Too often I get wrapped up in the day-to-day things. Like for instance, getting upset if things don't turn out how I want them to, or worrying about if I'll be able to go to the dentist. When I turn my eyes away from the little things and focus on the hope that we have of spending the rest of our lives with God, I don't worry as much about the small things, and I'm able to have joy in spite of them. How I wish my focus could last longer that a few moments at a time! The Apostle Paul amazes me- after persecuting Christians, meeting Jesus face to face, and then being willing to suffer again and again for Christ even to the point of death, he was still able to have joy. He says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." -Rom. 8:18 And here am I, one who knows so little about what it really means to suffer, losing my joy over little things like the electricity being off for a few hours. How patiently God continues to point me back to my true source of joy!

The waterslide (to the right of the tiny falls). More pics of that to come... 

Each of those little dark hanging things are wasps nests. And there were more... 

Enjoying the sun... 

Us and pretty waterfall 

The Stadium 

Pretty Waterfall 

The Us (and yes, Daniel is wearing a Sox shirt. HA!) 

The Game 

The field 

A Dominican Baseball Game and Waterfalls

Hmmmm… what do those two things have in common? I’m not quite sure.

On Friday night we attended a Dominican Baseball (beisbol) game in Santiago. The Santiago team (Aguilas- Eagles) played another team (I’m not quite sure of the name). It was quite a cultural experience. We went with Steve (Erin and baby Ryan were still in the states), a couple our age, and Dylan (our neighbor’s son). First, we went to the Pasta House. It was yummy. We even ate mushrooms. Mmmmm…..mushrooms… Sorry, getting off track. Then we stopped briefly at Nacional (a real, big grocery store!), and then headed for the game. We bought our tickets and proceeded inside where we were all given a bag of two orange thunder/noise sticks to inflate. Then we found our seats (they were pretty low and had a good view). Apparently some major league U.S. players play in the Dominican league to keep in shape during the off season, so Miguel Tejada, and some other American players were on the Santiago team. It was nice to go some where in the D.R. and actually know what was going on! (Since baseball is baseball) (Daniel says “That’s deep.”) The cultural part came with the atmosphere. The music was, of course, Latin. There were “cheerleader” type girls who danced to Meringue with their pompoms. The place was pretty empty but it was LOUD! Between the music, cheering, and plastic horns that people were selling, we had to yell to each other to hear. In addition to this, TONS of people walked by selling things (way more than in the states). Food items, of course, were sold, such as hot dogs, pizza, pastalitos (sp?), fresh fruit, coffee, cheese and salami on toothpicks (big pieces!), etc. Phone cards, flashlights, lottery tickets, and the usual paraphernalia. All in all, we had a great time.

On Saturday we hiked down to the bamboo hole with 4 other teachers from our school (Regan, Katie, Renee, and Jen). We had a great time. We played, went down a natural water slide, and enjoyed the beautiful, summer-like weather. We even admired millions of wasps (from afar). Supposedly this waterfall and others near by were used in shots from Jurassic Park.

As for other news: this week is final exam week. Yay! We get to be on the other end and give the exams, which of course means grading. Ah well, the students have half days so we get plenty of time to do so. Another interesting piece of news is that we took Chai into the vet to get spayed. Poor Chai. L We won’t get her back until Thursday. An interesting thing is that I just read Ashley’s blog about supporting getting animals spayed and neutered. The Dominican Republic needs that badly!!! Especially for dogs, as stray dogs wander the streets constantly. And that is why we keep Chai in doors. Anyway, I don’t think we have anything else interesting to say, so I’ll close. Unless Daniel wants to add anything. Daniel?

Hi

Wow, that was insightful. Thank you Daniel.

God bless!

BAAAAAAAAA! ;) 

Christmas with the Parishes 

Christmas with the Gerigs 

Christmas with the Petersons 

Break and More

Pretend this was posted Wednesday ;) Teresa wrote the “MORE,” but Daniel was slow on the “BREAK.” ;)

BREAK: (Daniel)
Our break was good and relaxing… maybe too relaxing… to the point that we were often tired from not doing enough. We stayed at my (Daniel’s) parents’ house except for Christmas Eve when we were at the Gerig’s. New Year’s Eve we got to hang out with high school friends and then New Year’s Day we went down to Taylor for 3 days. I know this is way too brief, but you read this for the “more” anyway ;)

MORE: (Teresa)
Our trip back was exhausting. After 2 flights (our first one arriving early and our second one being delayed an hour, allowing us to catch it in spite of the very short lay-over) were the easy part. Then came the taxi ride where the taxi driver insisted on over charging us even though we have done the same taxi drive several times before. He also drove super slow and I was afraid we would miss our bus to Jarabacoa, which, if we did we would have to spend the night somewhere or pay more to take a bus to La Vega and a taxi to Jarabacoa. Luckily, we made it with 20 minutes to spare. After the 3 hour bus ride, we finally arrived in Jarabacoa and walked home. It was interesting being greeted at the bus station and having being ask us if we knew where we were going. (Yes, we're going home!) I was impressed though! Not a lot of Dominicans in Jarabacoa speak English. So after all of that, and constantly being worried about missing the next mode of transportation, we decided that we'd rather pay a little more and fly to and from Santiago. It's only 30 minutes away instead of 2-3 hours!
Anyway, we're slowly adjusting back to school life. It's good to be back, but it's hard to get in to the swing of working again. The hard part is making myself grade or plan after the school day. But, it is good to see my students again. I missed them.
Here's some interesting information about the weather. Apparently, it did not rain the whole time we were gone on break (which killed a few of our plants and left our house VERY dusty). Well, it started raining on Saturday. And rained on Sunday. And Monday. And Tuesday. And some on Wednesday. But then today it turned in to a beautiful, sunny, Carribean day. And don't worry, I'm not expecting you to feel sorry for us about the rain. We know we're spoiled with our 70's temperatures.
Well, that's about it. Sorry to bore you with the regulars of life. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened yet. But tomorrow we're going to a baseball game! Yay! We're almost hooked up with our Vonage. Give us a call! :) God bless!