Cultural Weekend

One hour after our return from living on a mountain with our students, the new teachers headed off to the capital in public transportation to spend the weekend learning about the culture of the Dominican Republic. The conference was held in a Catholic retreat center on a cliff overlooking the seascape. I learned a lot about the various family structures of my students and my own reactions to cultural differences. The weekend was exhausting, but I was thankful for the opportunity to learn more about the culture I am living in. There are so many miscommunications that occur due to differences in culture and I hope to be able to avoid more of them now. Living in a different culture is humbling and a great opportunity for personal growth. I highly recommend it to all of you. This picture is of all of the new Doulos staff. I thoroughly enjoy all of these teachers and we always have a lot of fun together. For more pictures, visit my web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/ewissema/

Living in the Mountains......

Every year the school takes the students up on top of a mountain in the midst of a coffee plantation for a week of outdoor education. Many of the students look forward to this week all year and talk about it for the rest of the year. Classes are held in the woods and students learn to appreciate the amazingly beautiful natural world around them. Living in the mountains with 55 12-16 year old students is slightly less relaxing than the usual camping experience, but it certainly was an adventure. The mountains were breathtakingly beautiful even through all of the rain. I had the opportunity to talk to many of my students on a more personal level and build better relationships. This picture is of the girls in my cooking/sleeping group in our outdoor kitchen. It poured for more than half of the 4 days that we were on top of the mountain and many of the sleeping bags were soaked, but thankfully no one was hurt in the slippery mud and everyone saw the rain as more of an adventure. I was exhausted after this trip, but delighted with the experience.

Surviving the Storm

Dear All,
I just wanted you all to know that we are surviving the storm. It has rained for six days straight and the rivers have been dangerously high, but no one at the school has been hurt. The entire town has been shut down for the past three days since the rivers have been dangerous to pass. The school and my apartment are both built with solid roofs and located on one of the bigger hills in town. My clothes and shoes are perpetually wet and the wet weather is not helping my ear infection heal, but I am in good spirits and taking the opportunity to rest. No teachers or students have been hurt to my knowledge. There are numerous houses that are poorly constructed and built within feet of the river that have been destroyed and several people have been killed in the process. For the most part, living in the mountains has protected us from the high winds. The main problem is the massive amounts of water. I think I am getting a taste of what Noah must have felt like when he was building his ark. Please continue to pray for protection for the school and its students as well as the families that live too close to the river and are still in danger.

Medicine in a Third World Country

I always wanted to know what it was like to live in a third world country--not just as a tourist or visitor. My recent adventures with the flu and ear infections have exposed me to more of the local life than I would have otherwise seen. Jarabacoa-the town which I am living in has some local doctors, but the regulations are somewhat lax and there are no specialists. After struggling with an ear infection for a week I asked the local staff who I should have look at my ear. They all told me that I needed to travel to the bigger town (La Vega) an hour away if I wanted an accurate diagnosis. Having no car or other means of transport I crammed into the local bus (GwaGwa) with our Computer guy who has classes in La Vega every night. I left school early to try and make it to the clinic before it closed at 5PM. There is no time schedule for the buses--they leave when they are full and not before that. The bus driver kindly dropped my friend off at his house and dropped me near the clinic. There are no such things as appointments. You put your name on the list and wait. The first time I visited the doctor I waited for 5 hours before I was admitted to have my ear examined. The lights periodically shut down, but the generator at the hospital was decent and the lights usually came back on within a minute. The doctor was trained in Spain and seemed to know what he was doing. Trying to explain and understand a medical problem in Spanish certainly put my vocabulary to the test. The pharmacy was out of some of the medicines that I needed to buy so I waited another hour for someone to go pick up a new supply. The real adventure was trying to get home. The computer guy kindly returned to help me travel to the bus station. The last bus returning to my town leaves some time between 6 and 7PM. If I had really been stranded I could have called another teacher that had a car or waited for our Computer guy to finish his classes at 10PM. Fortunately, I managed to catch the last bus home, but it was dark by the time we arrived in Jarabacoa. I sat next to a very kind lady who found a friend of hers to take me home on the back of his motorcycle since I didn't want to walk in the dark by myself. This woman had also been to La Vega to visit a doctor; unfortunately she could not afford to buy the medicine she needed. Medicine is extremely expensive here considering the average salary. My consultation with the doctor was only $15, but the medicine has totaled to over $100. I had the local experience of having to take 8 hours out of my day to visit the doctor, but at least I could afford the necessary medicine. Despite my tired and grouchy state, I was reminded of how thankful I should be for what I do have and how gracious it was for a sick woman to be taking care of a foreigner.

Two worlds meet

This Thursday I had the surreal experience of visiting the brand new Hard Rock Cafe in the Capital (Santo Domingo). The director invited me to come with her to a fund raising event for the first underwater conservation park on the Dominican Republic. This park will be a huge step towards protecting the remaining coral reefs. I have been put in charge of the annual sixth grade coral reef trip. I will be traveling to a beach the first week in December to work with Reef Check to teach the students about the importance of coral reef conservation and the damage that has already occurred. Working with Reef Check is an exciting opportunity to use my recent Master's on coral reef microbes in my current teaching job. Traveling to the Capital was a surreal experience. I went from the muddy streets next to my apartment with fresh pig legs hanging next door to hearing famous artists perform live in the Hard Rock Cafe and looking at guitars from Maroon 5, and real jackets from the Beatles in the space of a 3 hour drive. Visiting the nicest part of the Capital and being admitted into the VIP room (only because I'm a teacher) was a strong reminder of the huge disparity between rich and poor in this country. I am so excited that the school is able to fund raise and provide my students with the opportunity to work with an international organization on real corals. Many of my students have never been to the beach even though it is just 2 hours away.

Whew!

Dear friends and family,
My apologies for not sending out an update for the past few weeks. A lot has been going on. I have been sick 3 times in the past month and a half. Nothing life threatening, just exhausting. I currently have an ear infection and a sinus infection. Prayers for a speedy recovery would be much appreciated. I did spend a wonderful weekend at the beach recovering from a previous flu/cold. I have moved into an apartment with another teacher since the local family I was living with needed the room I was staying in. My new roommate Melanie and I are slowly acquiring the necessities of life here. With the help of packages from our wonderful mothers we now have enough dishes to cook. I think I am going to enjoy living with her and coming home to a peaceful place that I can really call my own. I promise to provide more details soon, but for the moment I am just hanging on and trying to recover enough to teach for a full week and learn how to have more patience with middle school children.
I hope that you are all well and blessed

Thief! Ladron!

I thought you all might enjoy one of my more amusing stories. The local family that I stayed with for the first 2 months of my life here in Jarabacoa has a small chihuahua named Suzi. Suzi is the smallest, most active dog I have ever met. She is so little that sometimes she wags her tail too hard and falls right over. I can hold her in one hand and carry her around the house. One night when I was walking into the kitchen before bed to get a glass of water, the mom of the family picked up a gray piece of cloth on the floor. She asked me what it was. I took a look and realized that it was a pair of my underwear! How embarrassing! The mom (Mary) started laughing and told me that the dog was known for stealing items of clothing and dragging them around the house. The picture is showing the dog Suzi and Michelle- the little girl who's room I was staying in.