See, It's Not So Bad

From Eric's previous pictures and videos you can see that we are ruffling it a little. But life is so good because we are working together real well and we have an amazing community here who is willing to help us with anything! In fact they don’t even need to be asked if they know of a need you can pretty much guarantee you will get help. Sometimes it is nice to be the helpless foreigner. Laundry day was a bit trying though! I had help lined up for the day before but we had no “luz de la calle” which means we were running on the inverter power so no running a laundry machine. Eric was a trooper though and we did it together the whole time. I think I would have quit early but we had a small flood and all the dirty clothes got wet so there was no stopping and coming back to it. Needless to say we will not wait 2 weeks to do laundry again if it can be helped.

Last night we had friends over for dinner for the first time. Alberto and Milagros came with their 3 children and 1 Niece and 1 Nephew. It was a full house and we all had a blast. Alberto and I cooked together so that I can learn how to make his amazing chicken dish. The kids and Milagros arrived on 2 motos, 7 people 2 motos!!! The apartment is great for having people over and the table is in a room just off of the living room so the adults could have some private time and still keep an eye on the kids.

Yuli, the girl from our photo cards has been coming over at least twice a week since we moved in and that has been great. We are paying her to help out around the house so she comes once to work and once to hang out. We are helping her learn English and she is helping us with our Spanish. It is a great exchange! We hope to go to her house in the next week or two. She moved out of the barrio and is living with her boyfriend.

Please pray for us and this relationship that it would be blessed and profound! Yuli has two years of school left before she can go to college. Pray that she remains focused on her studies. Also pray for Eric and me because the craziness of the school year starts on Monday!

Laundry Day

Just got to do our first day of laundry... only took like 5 hours!

Kisha & The Ants

No dialogue required...

Running On An Empty Tank

A few days ago we had a practice of patience when we woke up to an empty water tank. Perhaps a little background info will help you understand how this is even possible. Every house that I’ve seen so far in La Vega, and most of the DR for that matter, has a multi-gallon tank on the roof. Most of them are black, and there are different sizes and shapes, but they all do about the same thing. They hold all of the water for a given house. Each house also has an electronic pump with an automatic switch, which pumps the water from the big pipe under the street to the tank that is on the roof. It’s really not that complicated, but there are plenty of ways that things can go wrong. A broken PVC pipe, a pump that’s not functioning, or a lack of electricity are just some of the problematic options.

At first we thought the lady that takes care of the plants left the water on in the garden. It took a day to figure out there was no way that could happen because the garden hose isn’t hooked up to the tank. Then it took a day to figure out that even though we had closed all the outdoor spigots, the tank still wasn’t getting water. On day three the chairman of the board for SCS showed up with a couple of guys from his church to help fix the problem. Mind you, that was two days of walking down to the garden to draw a bucket of water just to flush the toilet. Fun times.

With relative ease they figured out that the automatic switch on the pump wasn’t telling the pump that it was time to draw water. A quick trip to the hardware store and about US$5 and we were back in business.

I think we weathered the whole thing with good grace. Kisha and I remained on the same team as we tried to trouble shoot and network to solve the problem. We are now much more appreciative of water when we turn the spigot off and on. So I guess you could say that we practiced the patience pretty well!

El Clima

A weather report from La Vega, DR...

Kisha's 11 Day Update

It was 11 days ago that I got on a plane and headed to the Dominican Republic… So how am I feeling and what has happened? Today I am tired. We had a problem with the water that started the day after we received our inverter. So we went from not having electricity to not having water! 2 days without water because it took us a whole 24 hours to figure out something was broken.

I have gotten to spend 2 days with Yuli, the girl from our photo cards, and that is a huge blessing! We are teaching her English and she is helping me with my Spanish. She is a beautiful and smart girl that I am so very proud of. Other than that I have spent time reconnecting with my friends here. The craziness will begin on Saturday though because a group is coming for 1 week, then a couple of ladies will be here right after that. Also Eric will start working and my days will change a lot. It has been great to spend so much time together before he starts his first year teaching which means lots and lots of hours preparing lessons and correcting papers.

As for my emotions… I just got off the phone with Pop, this was my first conversation with someone state side since we got here and I had myself a cry. I am starting to miss people but most of my emotions are pointed at my dog. I wish so bad that I could have Maynard here with me. So tonight I am sad. But I have been nothing but excited since we arrived. It is great to get emails from friends. That helps me to feel like I am still a part of my church. Thank you everyone for your support. Pray for me and my dog that we can be comforted in this time of separation.

Inversion

I simply cannot believe how great it is to have power all the time! Nothing personal against the folks from the stone age, but they were seriously missing out. Here are a few photos from the installation process:






Electricity is a beautiful thing. Even some of our Dominican friends would smile when they heard about our lack of inverter... they know that means no fan while you TRY to sleep :0)



The good news is we have a fully functional inverter. The bad news is that if you visit you'll be sleeping with it! Yep, the breaker box is in the guest room :0)

Never Alone

As it turns out, you're never alone when it comes time to get something done in the DR. We picked up some paint at La Sirena (It's like Walmart) because we decided to paint a few of our walls. Kisha knew someone who had some paint brushes and rollers, so she went out to find them. She was gone for a while, but when she came back she had two of our friends wielding everything necessary for a huge paining project. 5 minutes later 2 of their friends showed up, and then it was just riotous. They had the place painted in no time, and it was just a great reminder that we're not here by ourselves.

4 Guys Paining the Guest Room


EJ Paints the Pink Stuff Blue


Willy shows EJ the intricacies of a gas stove


Everyone, from every culture, loves power tools... even Bau!

Just a few things left to do before we take the photos of the completed house. We're waiting on an IKEA couch, and have to go find a kitchen table. And most importantly, THEY ARE INSTALLING AN INVERTER AS WE SPEAK!!! It's amazing that we made it a week without 24 hour power, but I have a new appreciation for electricity. Even with all the camping and whatnot, I'm still VERY used to plugging things into the wall and getting results.

Chaio for now!

The New Neighbors

As of today we are officially the new neighbors on the block. We managed to get our place put together enough that we're gonna try sleeping here tonight. The place is looking pretty good, though there will be some furniture that we need to acquire. There is some serious charm to this house, and I think we're gonna like it.

The only downer is that we don't have a solid internet connection yet. We don't have an inverter installed yet, so we don't have 24 hour power yet. Actually, I'm not even sure when I'll be able to post this note! Ah well, I'm certainly not here for the creature comforts.

I'm learning a lot about Dominican life. There are many things that are similar to the US. In some ways I'm doing more "American" things than I usually do in Portland. Twice I've gone to the Dominican equivalent to Walmart, and I was so relieved to have the prices marked on the products that I didn't even mind my sub-cultural betrayal. When asked by the kind lady from my school where we wanted to eat when we got here, Kisha said salchicha (a DR sausage on a stick, served with hot sauce) and I said pico pollo (fried chicken and plantains). She didn't take us serious, though, and offered us either McDonald's or Burger King. I don't even eat like that in the states!

I'm learning some of the differences, too. There are lots of social do's and don'ts, some of which I may never learn. Our friends that we've been staying with won't let us do ANYTHING. Sometimes people start cooking for you and you don't even know it. Kids do all kinds of stuff that we wouldn't let our kids do. The peso to dollar ratio is still killing me, even though I practiced. It rains like mad every day.

We had some American friends over for coffee today, and talked about how this is actually one of the more stable things we've done in the past few years. For one, I actually have a solid teaching job. We have more than a 6 month lease on an apartment. It feels good to have made a decision, follows through on it, and to see how God was opening doors all along the way.

Hoping to have an inverter and solid connection sometime next week. Until then I'll keep posting on the occasional wifi I can scrounge up!

Fried Eggs with Onion & Salami

Mangu (mashed plantains)

So Far So Good

We’ve had a good couple of days in the DR so far. When we landed on Monday we knew there was going to be a national strike that would likely hinder transportation. Got to stay in Santiago with the secondary principal and her husband, which was really nice. She is going to be great to work with. Tuesday we spent most of our time running around Santiago, getting cell phones, looking home furnishings, and mad-dashing to the airport (including our first trip to a fast food joint in oh-I-don’t-know-how-long). When we finally got to La Vega we got to sit and talk with Chelo until it started raining buckets. That pretty much washed out any chance of walking over to the barrio, so we settled down for an electricity-free evening and some good sleep. The electric came back on around 9, so we had a fan going when we went to sleep, but “se fue la luz” happened again in the middle of the night, and I woke up in a fantastically stuffy room. Love the Caribbean! The mosquitos ate Kisha alive :0)

We are quite fortunate. There are stores and places here that are exactly the same as the US… I don’t think we’ll have a hard time finding stuff that will remind us of home. It’ll cost, though. So far I’m thinking we had the right idea about bringing our kitchen knives, some of the exotic spices we get from Uwajamaya, and lotsa good shoes. Other than that there’s plenty of good stuff here on the island, though I’ve not been everywhere. The school has hooked us up with a sofa, some furniture, and some dishes as well. Our place is really nice looking, and has plenty of space for the two of us.

Today we got to hang out in the barrio and say hello to almost everyone. It was really nice to be greeted by smiling faces, hugs, and cups of coffee. Rod let me borrow the "Jeep" to get the paint and cleaning supplies we need for our new place. As some of you might have suspected, my driving skills almost blended in :0)

Tomorrow we get to say hello to the few people we missed tonight. Oh yeah, and paint our new apartment :0)

LEAVING

I'm currently on my first flight to JFK, though this'll get posted once I find connection. I popped Mumford & Sons in the earbuds, a somewhat moody Scottish folk-hipster band. I wanted to just sit on this first flight and feel my feelings. Mums is just the thing tonight.

By this time my beloved P-town with my beloved friends and family are more than just a few miles to my posterior. The physical location I can leave... It's not afforded me much by way of employment in the education industry, and I look forward to this opportunity to re-enter the classroom. It's the people I'm gonna miss.

I got a little freaked out on Thursday as I said goodbye to our house church conglomeration... I was thinking I was leaving the people. I've been thinking about that the past few days... I think that I'm flying away from bodies, but I'm NOT flying away from relationships. The difference is huge. Many of my Portland relationships are the forever kind!

As we were planning to leave were spoke with another couple who cautioned us not to go somewhere simply to run away from the life we had in Portland. I was sruggling with things at the clinic, and they had been hearing our frustrations. But this move is not a running away... It's a running towards. The feelings of unrest were spot on because there was something coming that we would never dreamed of had we been perfectly content. We spent a lot of time praying and searching on this one. La Vega/Santiago is where we are supposed to be.

So I guess the emotions are mixed. The sad stuff happened this past week: the goodbyes are over. What we have in front of us is the excitement of saying hello. I guess we'll mostly be saying hola, but you know what I mean ;0)

Closing Out

It is Tuesday evening, and I am exhausted! I over did it a little in the last two days. Eric and I celebrated the 4th of July with our house church. We had a great time hiking in the Gorge and watching the fireworks in Hood River, Oregon. Then today we went to the Oregon Zoo.

We have started saying goodbye to friends now, and that is hard for me. I am so excited to go, yet I am sad about leaving friends. Friends are like family for me, and I am reluctant to accept change. I am thankful for the time off of work to get the chance to have quality time with so many of my loved ones here in Portland. Every day from now until we leave there is some kind of event in place where we will be saying goodbye to people we love. The closure is good though, and it is getting very exciting.

With each day the reality of leaving Portland for more than a vacation becomes more real. It seems like I should have something inspirational to say to all of my friends, but when we hang out there is nothing profound to say. I have not had the life changing experience yet... I feel prepared and ready for this adventure. The unexpected will happen, but we are blessed with such an amazing community in the DR that I am not scared. That is a big answer to prayer. Fear is an emotion that has been a huge part of my life since I was young. But at this point in my life I am experiencing confidence and hope more than fear. I am confident that we are doing the right thing. I am confident that God will provide for our needs. I am confident that our friends and family will not abandon us. I am hopeful for the impact this adventure will have on our lives. I am hopeful for the impact we will have on the community we are entering. I am hopeful for my future, for our future.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this change of attitude and perspective!