Friday morning, after devotions, we learned about education in the Dominican Republic. It was interesting to learn how the education system came to be the way that it is today. There was a time that the education system was steeply declining. It is encouraging to hear about changes that are taking place within the government, just within the last few years, to ensure that money is going towards education and hiring of qualified teachers. It seems that this is a time of continual yet slow growth and I am excited to see how the Dominican education system continues to make progress as steps are taken to protect it. We got a lot of information in a short time, but it was very insightful. It also showed me how blessed I am to teach at SCS. We then went to a museum, Centro Leon, for a tour of the history of the Dominican Republic (and some art displays) . Again it was a lot to take in, but very informative.

In the afternoon I worked on finishing unpacking the things I had sent ahead and started to decide how to organize the room. I'm sure I'll change my mind a number of times before the school year actually begins. I was glad to have a couple hours of uninterrupted time to work.

Someone had graciously blessed the staff with free tickets to one of the finals games for the Santiago Metros basketball team, so in the evening several of us took the opportunity to experience a basketball game here in the Dominican Republic. We arrived 25 minutes before the game was supposed to start and there were hardly any people there. I was very surprised because it was a finals game. We got our seats and waited for the game to start. The game must have been on Dominican time and started 30 minutes late. However, by then the crowds started rolling in and when the game started the stands were very full. I could sum it up in a few words: noisy, packed crowd, high energy, military police. When the Metros scored, the people yelled, beat drums and blew instruments, and made as much noise as they could throughout the stadium. This was a nail biter game for me. Both teams stayed within a few points of each other the entire game. The Metros came out in the lead and won 107-101. There was so much going on, so much to watch. I think my brain was on overload trying to keep up. We were quite a site, being the only large group of gringos in the stadium. And yes, the military police were present to maintain order. It was a late night, but well worth it. Now I can compare a Metros basketball game to a Torros baseball game...

Today (Saturday) we drove to the beach at Sosua. The team that was in Palo Alto for the week came with us. It is about a two hour drive. The beach is beautiful with white sand and amazingly clear water that reflected my favorite shades of blues and teals. God gave us a hot, sunny day to enjoy. The water was pretty calm, which gave us perfect weather to snorkel. There wasn't a ton to see in the reefs, but there were enough schools of different kinds of fish, lots of sea urchins, and large pieces of coral to make it worth the time. The rocks went really close to shore with smaller fish and sea urchins to see, so even the kids could "snorkel" (but made it dangerous to walk on).

It was so peaceful looking at the blue fish, yellow and black striped fish, black and white striped fish, and so much more. It was like swimming in a giant fish tank. This was definitely a more enjoyable snorkeling experience than the last time I tried it (too many waves and too cloudy to see anything). I'd love to try it somewhere with even more to see. Maybe someday. We had lunch on the beach (either chicken or fish). We tend to have rice with every meal, but I'm fine with that since I love rice. One new thing I had today was a pineapple drink. They cut out the inside of a pineapple, blend it with juice and strawberries, and put it back in the pineapple with ice to cool it off. It was a refreshing afternoon drink. I can't imagine making them for approximately 70 of us though! I stayed in the water as long as I could until it was time to leave. It was a mental break, but I was quite tired physically. Time to rest up for a full day in Palo Alto tomorrow. Another day, another adventure...