Teacher to Tourist

It's only been a month since I've posted, but it seems like so much longer with everything that's happened since that update. I'll try not to bore you with details and hit the highlights of what I've been doing.

I've started Spanish lessons! That's a really good thing, not just for me, but for all those around me that can't speak English. It is a slow process (and here I thought I'd be speaking Spanish fluently after week one- bummer). I am content now with increasing my vocabulary and putting one sentence together at a time. It may be broken sentences and slow going, but it will come (as everyone encourages me it will). I'm finding my students are excellent teachers (when 10 don't talk at the same time and they talk slowly). They've even learned to write things down for me, because when I see it I grasp it better. Their favorite thing right now is trying to teach me to roll my r's and then proceed to show me how well they can do it compared to my inability. I keep telling them my roller is broken. Spanish lessons are one hour a week, but I am constantly asking Profesora Ruth questions, because she is right down the hall from my classroom. I'm so glad she's patient with me!


My weekends went from very slow to very busy the past couple of weekends. At the end of September my two roommates and two other teachers took a few day off and drove up to Jarabacoa (further in the mountains).

lunch on the mountain- beautiful view

It was a wonderful getaway (in spite of several severe migraines that occasionally took me down). I needed the change of scenery and something to take my mind off of school for a bit. It was definitely a change of pace. Some days we walked to waterfalls (didn't get in because the mud from the rain made it really brown).

We rode horses along the river. My favorite times were reading on the deck as I watched amazing thunderstorms roll in or making smores in the fireplace during the cool nights.

back of our cabin- we spent much time
on this deck!

It was much cooler at night, but still was pretty warm during the day. We could almost bet on a thunderstorm rolling in around 3 pm every day. I spent some of my time floating in the pool looking at the mountains and clouds. It was a great mini vacation.



Last weekend our neighbor, Darlene, took us to Santo Domingo. It is about 2 to 2 1/2 hours from Santiago. She had lived in Santo Domingo for many years and knew exactly where to go and how long everything would take. The drive was beautiful. I will never grow tired of seeing the mountains and green rice fields.

The traffic as we approached Santo Domingo reminded me of traffic back in Chicago, Illinois.


We went to several places, starting with Columbus' Lighthouse. It is in the shape of a cross and at night the lights make a cross. This is where Columbus' remains are supposedly at, but a couple other countries claim to have his remains too.

The view of Santo Domingo and the Caribbean Sea from the steps of Columbus' Lighthouse was quite breathtaking.


We went on to see Tres Ojos (when there are actually four if you count the one you have to take a raft over to get to). These are four bodies of water down in a cave- three of which you could walk up to. It was VERY humid, not cool like a cave you would think of.

Then we drove to the colonial part of the city to see Columbus' son's house. It had replicas of a lot of the furniture and other decorations from that time period. This governor's house was built in the early 1500s and reconstructed in the 1950s. I LOVE the architecture with the stone and arches. I said over and over how much I'd love a house with all those beautiful arches and intricate stonework details.

After touring the house/museum, we continued walking down Calle Las Damas to the mausoleum- Panteon Nacional.
Again, it had beautiful designs and arches. This was where important people are laid to rest. I am really glad Darlene was along to be our translator. Everything was in Spanish and even though I can pick out words, she could help clarify the significance of these places. We continued walking to Parque Colon- the central square of Ciudad Colonial District. Here we saw a large statue of Christopher Columbus (that was home to flocks to birds).

Some especially liked the spot on the top of his head. This place also included the Cathedral of Santa Maria la Meno, which is the oldest cathedral in the Americas, completed in 1540.


We walked down Calle El Conde- a pedestrian only street with street vendors, many restaurants, and a variety of shops. I loved seeing all the colorful paintings for sale along the side of the street. If only I could have gotten a few to brighten up our apartment. One seller saw I was the only one in our group without sunglasses and tried to convince me to buy a pair (not that I could understand his Spanish). We had lunch at a food court down the street.

At the end of the street there is a white marble mausoleum containing the remains of the three founding fathers- Juan Pablo Duarte, Fransisco del Rosario Sanchez, and Ramon Matias Mella. Both mausoleums we saw had the eternal flame.

After walking back up Calle El Conde, we were quite hot and tired from a busy day and decided it was time to head home. I am thankful for Darlene's willingness to take us to all these places.

School has been keeping me very busy. Lesson planning and grading for a teacher are never done (at least for me). Nights are spent attempting to catch up on school work, a short break mentally, and sleep. My students and I have gotten into a good routine during the day. We have pretty much adjusted to Reading Street and Everyday Math. I am finding that I am getting much more comfortable in teaching the curriculum and am now trying to add things occasionally to break up the repetition of the schedule. The differences in teaching in the United States and the Dominican Republic are getting somewhat easier to handle, and God is giving me much grace. I have found that in previous years of teaching I have been able to do a lot on my own, without complete reliance on God. I had fewer students, a smaller school, a more flexible schedule. Here I am finding that I CAN NOT do this in my own strength. Oh, I try! For a short time, until I find myself back on my knees asking God for His guidance and wisdom. And He gives it, just when I am at the end of myself.

Honestly, the last few weeks have been very difficult. I have had daily migraines (more severe and frequent than the ones I had in the states). This has made it hard to cope with the continued adjusting to life here in the DR. I have spent some days laying in bed for hours. I've struggled with the enemy attacking me emotionally, physically, spiritually. Occasionally a good day would come and I would make it through without a migraine or intestinal issue and I would be so thankful (like yesterday)! But what He's teaching me is to thank Him on the rough days too. The days that I think my head will fall off, or my students just did not understand what I was teaching, or my emotions are going crazy, or homesickness hits me. Those are the days I need to choose to be thankful. Thankful that God shakes me out of my complacency, that He gives me one more day to impact these students, one more day to live, a friend who says something that encourages me, a verse that speaks to my heart, and safety. A lady in our woman's Bible study was robbed last week and it shook me up, since she lives one street over from us. I spent days in fear that the same could happen to me. Over the last week God has given me peace that nothing will happen to me that He doesn't allow. He is in control and I can't live in fear. I have to trust His sovereign hand over my life. I will be cautious, but not fearful.

In our ladies Bible study we are going through Jonah. There are so many things I'm learning from the life of Jonah. I've reminded God is a God of grace. It's in my weakness that He can display His strength. I can walk in confidence that He will give me everything I need, when I need it. I can continually yield to Him and His purposes for me, even when they don't make sense. All He requires of me is obedience. Jonah's life was interrupted, and at times so is mine. But those are opportunities, opportunities to let God write chapters in my story that are far beyond my expectations.

I will finish with this. God is teaching me that He can only use me to the extent that I choose to yield and follow Him. I want my life story to reach others far beyond my life here on earth. Today is a day to do just that!

What a week! My class started the Everyday Math curriculum last week and has been doing great with reviewing things from last year. This week I added the Reading Street curriculum. It is going to take a few weeks to figure out how to get everything in that we need to each afternoon. There is a lot to cover every day. It was another hot week with temps "feeling like" over 100 degrees each day. The heat is hard on teachers and students by afternoon. But we manage to push through. Tuesday was the SCS open house. My students made "people" to put in their chairs that had "Math About Me" worksheets attached. They also had quizzes for their parents. Half the paper had a favorites list that the student filled out and the other half (that was folded over so the parents couldn't see) had the same favorites list that the parents had to fill out about their student. It was interesting to see how many each parent could guess correctly. Some were quite surprised by their student's answers. The parents could also write their child a note for them to read the following day. I was pleased to have parents of 14 students show up. Many of them I hadn't met previously. The challenge was each parent wanted to talk with you for a while about their student and you knew you had other parents in the room that wanted to do the same. Balancing them all was difficult. The parents had a meeting in the gymnasium following the open house. I'm learning that the days we don't go home after school because of evening events are going to make the week feel much longer.

Thursday was the beginning of the new teacher Spanish class. I was excited to start learning how to put all of my vocabulary into usable conversation, but nervous about messing up or not being able to remember it all. However, God gives grace. We have two amazing teachers- Victoria teaches grammar for 1/2 hour and Ruth teachers conversational Spanish for 1/2 hour. Both are very important components to learning Spanish. It can be very overwhelming for me, but I am so blessed to have many people around me encouraging me that it will come! One step at a time. 

Friday we all needed a break and the Boehnings kindly opened their home so about 30 of us could get together to play games and eat banana splits. It was so nice to put aside school and hang out. I didn't play the games as much as I was entertained watching them. I was so excited to be able to sit down with Ruth and "talk" with her. She is learning English and I am learning Spanish, but we both have come far enough to communicate without someone having to translate everything. This was a HUGE step for us. I listened as she talked to others in Spanish and could follow the conversations pretty well based on my vocabulary. If I was completely lost on a certain word, I'd ask what it meant in English and then repeat it in Spanish. I understand how others feel after a conversation in a second language- it is exhausting! Small steps again. It was a late night, but the company was great and it was just what I needed to unwind.

Today, Darlene (our wonderful neighbor) took me to Claro to get my phone fixed. I couldn't make calls on it, because something was deactivated. It was fixed within minutes and after several weeks I am back in business. I "convinced" her to take me to the monument here in Santiago to tour the inside. You can't got to the top of the cylinder part, but you can go up about halfway to the balcony part and get a great view of the city of Santiago. It was sunny and very warm, but not too hot to walk around. Supposedly there are 365 steps, but I did not count. Darlene gave me some of the history of the Dominican Republic and how it got its independence. It had to gain its independence twice from Haiti- the final time being in 1844 (I think). Each of the three levels had a few displays/paintings of history or culture. I was glad I finally got to go (and with someone who took the time to explain the history aspect of it). We ate lunch at Subway again, but this time I could order my sandwich and combo on my own (pretty much). I'm sure the Dominicans laugh every time I come around. I know posting a lot of pics in this blog, but each painting had importance significance and the pics of Santiago are a 360 degree view of my "home" now. The breeze was amazing at the top and the view of the mountains on both sides was breathtaking. Darlene was able to point out some landmarks from around the city as well. Enjoy seeing this adventure through my eyes!