Sunday Nov. 8
Today I sang in church with Judnel, one of my students. He is on the worship team and loves to sing as much as me, so we’ve been practising “How Great Thou Art” in English. I don’t know if I’ve talked about how they have a time at church when anyone can bring a song or testimony to the Lord. Anyway this was that time, and Judnel had put his name in, so we sang, Of course, it’s all acapella. He did very well with his words, which we had written out. It’s a song they sing in French so people could understand what we were singing about.
Monday Nov. 9
Today was a holiday- Constitution Day. I thought I would spend the day at the beach but it rained all day, which was very surprising. So I spent most of the day in my room. The front yard was full of water so I took a picture. My camera is not working well. The pictures are usually very dark and sometimes when I want to shoot the screen is black. We did have class this evening, so I got to talk to some people finally.
Tuesday 10
God gave me a little song today. We are preparing for Nov. 25, which is Mariposa Day in honour of the 3 Mirabal sisters who were killed for their political beliefs. Suzanne asked me to try and think of something to do in English and while I was preparing, He gave me a little tune and some words to teach them. You can read more online than I can explain but butterflies (mariposas) have become their symbol.
Fly little butterfly,
Way high up in the sky.
Your presence reminds us all
Of the sisters, Mirabal.
Friday 13
We haven’t had any water since Wed. They are emptying out the cistern so they can clean the bottom. That means that even when the power is on there is no water to pump.
Here’s a picture of Judnel down inside, mopping the floor.
It’s as big as a good-sized room, probably 8X10X8. Now the job is done and the cistern has to refill from the town supply, which comes in a trickle, so I don’t know how much longer I’ll have to shower and shampoo from a bucket. At least we have a second small cistern on the property so I don’t have to haul water from somewhere else.
This afternoon Suzanne took me to a big supermarket in Sosua. I got some Russian foods that I like and spent way too much money, but it will last for a while. When I got home I discovered they had charged me 543 pesos( approx. $18. ) for a lb. of rice which was actually about 27 pesos. I always watch the prices on the shelves but I was busy unloading my cart when she rang it in and I didn’t notice till I got home. I had to call and try to say enough to get someone English to talk to. I did and he told me to bring in the ‘factura’ and the rice as soon as I could.
Saturday 14
Got up at 3:30 this morning to type this week’s blog since the power is on and I seem to be finished with sleeping for now. It’s raining but hopefully it will clear by daylight for my trip to the beach.
Well, so much for those plans. I went to the beach as usual and even took time for a swim, but when I went to the restaurant I couldn’t connect. I finally gave up and left. I tried another place also but no. I am selfishly hoping that the problem is theirs and not mine. I did a little more exploring on my way home but it was a pretty dejected walk.
I did some laundry by my usual “bucket method” and worked on some stuff for school. Later when the power came on, I decided to see if there was enough water in the cistern to start the pump. Hallelujah!!! There was. It started after just 2 tries.
Sunday 15
Well it rained last night. No water in my pipes, but plenty coming from the ceiling. The power was on at 5 so I took my flashlight and headed for the pump house. I was successful once more so immediately took my shower before it went off again.
Monday 16th
Started some Spanish lessons today. One of the teachers at our school, Azarias, gives Spanish lessons but earlier when I asked how much I told him I couldn’t afford him. The other day he suggested that we could teach each other, so he will teach me and I will help him with English, although I don’t know what help he needs. I had my first lesson today. I have picked up a fair bit of vocabulary for 2.5 months, but have much to learn. It must be standard for language teachers to ask why a person wants to learn the language because he asked me that. The guys I teach all wanted to tell me how much they wanted to learn English, how they love the language, and how it would help them get a job. So I jokingly said that to Azarias. We laughed when I said it would help me get a better job. I told him I wanted to be able to speak to my neighbours and say more than “Hola”. It would be great to actually have a conversation with them and know what they’re laughing about when I hear them talking in the neighbourhood. It would help the loneliness. I could actually visit my fellow-teachers who live so close.
Tuesday 17
This afternoon we visited an organization just up the road from us called Dream Project. It is sort of like a community center. It is funded by someone in the States. They have a great facility and everything is free to anyone. They have computer classes, English classes and other groups for adults and also several Montessouri classes. Some of our students go in the afternoon. We have learned that we are welcome to take advantage of what they have to offer. We went to see the library and Suzanne arranged that our classes will go on a regular basis for a story time and also to borrow books. They have a few English novels that I will appreciate being able to read too. They have solar panels(always power) and wifi, so I was told I could go anytime and sit in their courtyard and go online. I tried it today and hallelujah, my computer worked fine.
Wednesday 18
Today we went to Sosua and I did get my money back. That was a relief. 543 pesos can be a week’s worth of food for me. We went on to Puerto Plata for more shopping for the school and she bought me some different colours of thread as I am doing a bit of sewing for some of the guys and people I know. On our way home we had…honest to goodness ice cream- 3 scoops for 55 pesos ($1.50) It sure was good. I had this delicious chocolate, pistachio, and rum & raisin for my 3 choices.
Today I sang in church with Judnel, one of my students. He is on the worship team and loves to sing as much as me, so we’ve been practising “How Great Thou Art” in English. I don’t know if I’ve talked about how they have a time at church when anyone can bring a song or testimony to the Lord. Anyway this was that time, and Judnel had put his name in, so we sang, Of course, it’s all acapella. He did very well with his words, which we had written out. It’s a song they sing in French so people could understand what we were singing about.
Monday Nov. 9
Today was a holiday- Constitution Day. I thought I would spend the day at the beach but it rained all day, which was very surprising. So I spent most of the day in my room. The front yard was full of water so I took a picture. My camera is not working well. The pictures are usually very dark and sometimes when I want to shoot the screen is black. We did have class this evening, so I got to talk to some people finally.
Tuesday 10
God gave me a little song today. We are preparing for Nov. 25, which is Mariposa Day in honour of the 3 Mirabal sisters who were killed for their political beliefs. Suzanne asked me to try and think of something to do in English and while I was preparing, He gave me a little tune and some words to teach them. You can read more online than I can explain but butterflies (mariposas) have become their symbol.
Fly little butterfly,
Way high up in the sky.
Your presence reminds us all
Of the sisters, Mirabal.
Friday 13
We haven’t had any water since Wed. They are emptying out the cistern so they can clean the bottom. That means that even when the power is on there is no water to pump.
Here’s a picture of Judnel down inside, mopping the floor.
It’s as big as a good-sized room, probably 8X10X8. Now the job is done and the cistern has to refill from the town supply, which comes in a trickle, so I don’t know how much longer I’ll have to shower and shampoo from a bucket. At least we have a second small cistern on the property so I don’t have to haul water from somewhere else.
This afternoon Suzanne took me to a big supermarket in Sosua. I got some Russian foods that I like and spent way too much money, but it will last for a while. When I got home I discovered they had charged me 543 pesos( approx. $18. ) for a lb. of rice which was actually about 27 pesos. I always watch the prices on the shelves but I was busy unloading my cart when she rang it in and I didn’t notice till I got home. I had to call and try to say enough to get someone English to talk to. I did and he told me to bring in the ‘factura’ and the rice as soon as I could.
Saturday 14
Got up at 3:30 this morning to type this week’s blog since the power is on and I seem to be finished with sleeping for now. It’s raining but hopefully it will clear by daylight for my trip to the beach.
Well, so much for those plans. I went to the beach as usual and even took time for a swim, but when I went to the restaurant I couldn’t connect. I finally gave up and left. I tried another place also but no. I am selfishly hoping that the problem is theirs and not mine. I did a little more exploring on my way home but it was a pretty dejected walk.
I did some laundry by my usual “bucket method” and worked on some stuff for school. Later when the power came on, I decided to see if there was enough water in the cistern to start the pump. Hallelujah!!! There was. It started after just 2 tries.
Sunday 15
Well it rained last night. No water in my pipes, but plenty coming from the ceiling. The power was on at 5 so I took my flashlight and headed for the pump house. I was successful once more so immediately took my shower before it went off again.
Monday 16th
Started some Spanish lessons today. One of the teachers at our school, Azarias, gives Spanish lessons but earlier when I asked how much I told him I couldn’t afford him. The other day he suggested that we could teach each other, so he will teach me and I will help him with English, although I don’t know what help he needs. I had my first lesson today. I have picked up a fair bit of vocabulary for 2.5 months, but have much to learn. It must be standard for language teachers to ask why a person wants to learn the language because he asked me that. The guys I teach all wanted to tell me how much they wanted to learn English, how they love the language, and how it would help them get a job. So I jokingly said that to Azarias. We laughed when I said it would help me get a better job. I told him I wanted to be able to speak to my neighbours and say more than “Hola”. It would be great to actually have a conversation with them and know what they’re laughing about when I hear them talking in the neighbourhood. It would help the loneliness. I could actually visit my fellow-teachers who live so close.
Tuesday 17
This afternoon we visited an organization just up the road from us called Dream Project. It is sort of like a community center. It is funded by someone in the States. They have a great facility and everything is free to anyone. They have computer classes, English classes and other groups for adults and also several Montessouri classes. Some of our students go in the afternoon. We have learned that we are welcome to take advantage of what they have to offer. We went to see the library and Suzanne arranged that our classes will go on a regular basis for a story time and also to borrow books. They have a few English novels that I will appreciate being able to read too. They have solar panels(always power) and wifi, so I was told I could go anytime and sit in their courtyard and go online. I tried it today and hallelujah, my computer worked fine.
Wednesday 18
Today we went to Sosua and I did get my money back. That was a relief. 543 pesos can be a week’s worth of food for me. We went on to Puerto Plata for more shopping for the school and she bought me some different colours of thread as I am doing a bit of sewing for some of the guys and people I know. On our way home we had…honest to goodness ice cream- 3 scoops for 55 pesos ($1.50) It sure was good. I had this delicious chocolate, pistachio, and rum & raisin for my 3 choices.
that ice cream sounds good. :)
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