In One Weeks Time

In one week I have gotten very close to officially launching my fundraising campaign for the fall quarter. I am still trying to collect my testimonies from teachers, parents and students that has proved to be the hardest part. We have set up a mass email account so that I can easily communicate. But what is even more amazing is that we received a $100 gift even before really launching the campaign. I am excited to see if my ideas will actually work. I have some fear that these fund raisers won't go anywhere.

It is times when I wonder where my fundraising will go that I have to remember that the most important thing that I am here for is relationships. I am here to love people and be loved by people. I am here to share my life, to show people God is a living being and not just words on paper. I am here because long ago these relationships were started and they have continued to affect my life. I am here because this is where the door to work was open for Eric. Our surroundings have changed but not who we are. We continue to live our lives in service to each other and our community. I used to think the life of a missionary was very different from that of a "normal person." But when I gave up the idea of being a missionary I quickly learned that brokenness is everywhere. In the church in the streets with the rich and with the poor. We all need healing.

We all need to learn how to live life in a way that heals. Jesus said he came to bind up the broken hearted. Now that my heart has been bound and healed my passion is to bind the hearts of those around me.

Remember Peace

Photography has become a great joy for me. I love framing the shot and playing with the camera. The other day I was taking photos of the street dogs. I want to make a collage of them. Some are so ugly that it is sad and other have this husky wisdom. Then there are the chiwauwaus... They are everywhere! Eric calls them Ratones which always gets a laugh. The other evening we went walking up the big hill near our house for exercise and Rod & Twilla's dogs accompanied us. Their names are Brownie and Romeo, these dogs have a sense of duty! They attacked every single moto that drove by! This was a little embarrassing but it is something watching these two rat dogs attack moving motorcycles and having the people actually be scared of them!

I have switched photo web pages so if you want to see my art you can follow me on at www.rememberpeace.smugmug.com I now have a collections of photos from the mountain village in Jarabacoa!

The 1st of the Year Is Always Crazy

As you might have guessed, the school year has started. Among other things the school year beginning means I can't hang out on facebook & blogger as much as I'd like. My sincerest apologies to anyone who feels kicked to the curb!

It's really nice to be a teacher again. I like spending my days with young people, and I'm mostly adjusted to the schedule. In many ways SCS is just like the other schools I have graced with my presence. In others, it's very different. They have a classic 43 minute class period, 8 periods a day, and 30 minute lunches. It reminds me of when I was in school. On the other hand this is the first place I've been unable to project over the sound of the class. The combination of loud students, loud ceiling fans, and super-solid surfaces (walls and ceiling of concrete, floors of ceramic tile) makes it a great deal tougher than I've ever had it. I put in earplugs during my prep period just to regain centeredness.

We're still having a good time in La Vega. Things are starting to feel normal... we have a few favorite restaurants, ice cream, frozen yogurt, and I know how to get to most of these places (which is the key). I can also get to the hardware store, furniture store, the electric company, phone company, multiple markets and at least a couple outdoor parks. Those are not things I thought would be hard to remember, but it took a while to get it all sorted out. It's a great deal easier getting around La Vega on a motorcycle than it is in a car, that's for sure. The narrow streets and crazy amount of motorcycles makes SUV's just not the ideal thing.

Keep praying for us, if you don't mind. I have a couple classes that need some discipline/encouragement (aren't those like the same thing?) that will involve a call home. I suppose it was inevitable, but I always hate to have to do it. 3 weeks and no detentions so far... I must be loosing my edge :0)

Irene gave us 2 days off!

Irene was exciting to hear about since it was our first hurricane. No one in La Vega seemed worried about the event and we did not find out about it until Sun night around 8 when we received a call letting us know that school was canceled. It reminded me of my time working at McKay Elementary school. We would cancel school for a dusting of snow... Well there was just rain and a few wind gusts. Mostly we just hung out inside with friends cooking eating and having fun. Eric got a lot of planing and grading work done. The second day off was very nice out and I walked to the barrio and watched a movie with a family.

Oddly enough today we have sustained winds of over 13 miles an hour with lots of rain, worse than anything we saw with Irene and Eric is going to work... hmmm

So you may wonder how this is because stateside school would not be canceled like this. Well here the ministry of education decides and he canceled school for the whole island for those two days. The school districts do not decide there is one guy who decides for the whole island.

I Think I'm Ready

I think I'm ready for this first short week of school. I spent that last couple of days cleaning things out of the cupboards and tossing curriculum that was dated as old as 1987. I have 3 relatively solid plans for Wed-Fri, and what I learn about my students from these first few days will help shape next week. I am very excited to be back in the classroom full time, and I look forward to a very good year. The other middle school teachers are cool people, and I think we're going to make a good team. I intend to work closely with the other teachers, preparing students for the writing projects they will need to accomplish in the other classes. It's a fun and exciting challenge, and part of the reason I like teaching is figuring out what kids need to learn well.



Starting this year is a great deal easier than the first year I taught. I'm not nearly as nervous, and I think I'll be headed out to a friend's going away party in the barrio tonight. Our friend has been working with TEARS for 8 or 9 years, and is dearly loved by the people of Maria Auxiliadora. She will be missed, but I intend to keep her guitar good company while she's gone :0)

Electricity and Innertubes

After a long hiatus from blogging, I felt compelled to write a quick note and post it out there in the bloggosphere. Our life has been eventful, to be sure, as every move is eventful. Everything is a step or two more complicated here than it would be if we had simply moved somewhere else in the US.

Allow me to iterate... In preparation for our arrival, the school signed a contract with the electrical company, and the electricity was up-and-running. Well, it was sort of running. Let's just say that when there was electricity in the neighborhood we were already part of the action. When I got here the school handed me their contract and told me to go into the electric company and switch the contract into my name. They made it sound easy.

As it turns out, the electricity company is notorious for a few reasons. First, they have some super lousy customer service. I got to see this first hand because I was talking with a customer service lady that simply would not slow down her speech, no matter how many times I asked or reminded her that I had only been in the country a couple weeks. Second, the electric company has been known to over charge people. Kinda like how they want me to pay for the month of MAY (not June or July... it's crazy). Lastly, they're quick to simply turn a person's power off. Currently the good ladies at my school are worried that the company will do just that because I can't talk to their customer service people long enough to get them to switch the account or allow me to pay a bill for the time period that we were actually living here.

Dizzy yet? You should have seen me walking out of the office last time... it was nuts. Pretty much everything around here works kinda like that. I bought a new motorcycle... had it in the shop within two weeks. The smoothest thing that's happened so far is that I got a flat tire today, and it was patched within 30 min and cost me less than 2 bucks. That's because it was a guy working out of his house, not some established place trying to steal my pesos. (BTW... the motorcycle tires down here have INNERTUBES like a bicycle! It reenforces my theory that this thing is really a bicycle with a motor attached to it)

We're learning how to navigate in this new culture, though. The motorcycle is a great deal easier to get around on in La Vega, because the streets are narrow and there's a great deal of waiting and honking to get a car through some of the neighborhoods. The mercados are cheeper to buy veggies at, and there are more options than just the Dominican Walmart for the shopping. We've found most of the spices we'll need for the basics, and I even managed to find a place in Santiago that sells BAGELS!!!

Our current complications involve buying a bed and couch, as well as a possible auto repair on the SUV that I drive to work every day. Please pray that we'll be able to afford all of these things and still pay off our medical bills in Portland. Also, pray for the beginning of my school year which begins this coming Wednesday. We're almost done with our teacher's meetings, and will have Monday and Tuesday to prepare for the actual classes. Pray for the kids and parents and teachers that we may start this year off well.

So Many Animals, So Little Touching

I doubt many will be surprised by what I am about to say, because we all know I have the barely controllable desire to make friends with animals.

In my neighborhood there are 3 horses, and 1 is a baby. There are a zillion dogs. Cats are everywhere, as well as kittens, puppies, chickens AND on the way to Rod’s house there are often baby cows!!!!! (vacacitos ) The sad part is I don’t get to touch any of them. Thankfully Rod has 3 dogs and 5 puppies that I can play with!

My photos are from the Travasia which is a mountain village where we have a church plant. Thankfully I got to pet both horses, ride the white one and play with Chiquito, Moreno and Tigua's dog.