Santa needs good hiking boots!

Christmas means we get to do things a little different here in the D.R. Part of the schools tradition is to give out Christmas bags. Not boxes, not hampers, but bags. If you have been to the D.R. you will soon realize that the lowly plastic bag is really what keeps the world going 'round. The "funda", as it is called, can be used for groceries (we were familiar with that one), but also as a hat, a raincoat, a motorbike seat cover, rainboots, or perhaps something to hold your hair rollers in. When it comes to shopping you can also get almost anything you want in a plastic bag; eggs, sugar, candy, flour, 1 tylenol pill, 1 scoop of tomato paste (I'm serious about that one). In any case the "fundas" that we gave out for Christmas were hand sewn and good for many different uses, besides the fact that they were filled to the brim with groceries. For many of the people that we visited this might be a weeks worth of groceries. We had a blast riding around in the back of the Diahatsu (Japanese import work truck) with the students. At various spots around or nearby community we got out, attempted a Christmas carol or two in Spanish, and handed out the bags. Our students delivered approximately 35 bags, with our Dominican staff hand delivering the remaining 35 to the more remote locations. Ethan had a blast handing out suckers and toys to the kids along the way. This was a great opportunity for all of us to see how many of the poorer Dominicans live. Within the city of Jarabacoa itself we become accustomed to cement houses, some of which are actually mansions, but this was the Dominican countryside and things look a little different out here. The people were very gracious, and we received many gifts of fruit in return. One lady, who obviously had nothing, tried to get or entire group to come inside for juice. I'm not sure how she was going to pull that off, but she tried anyway. Even with our terrible singing I think the day was still a great success.

Yet another storm!

Here on this tropical island, we dream of a white Christmas. It's so hard to believe that Christmas is rapidly approaching, and yet the calendar (and our children) assure us that the day is actually coming quite quickly. We have purchased a 3 foot artificial Charlie Brown tree at the local shop. Picture tacky flashing coloured lights, paper snowflakes and lots of space between the branches and you nearly have the complete picture. Now, picture the tree sitting on a tiny plastic table with a small bandana scarf on it for decoration. (thanks Naomi, that scarf came in handy) It's not a picture of beauty, but you can't imagine what that Charlie Brown tree has done for the morale in our family!! Chris and Frank had brought gifts from family and friends, so the base of the tree has gifts around it. That hasn't hurt the morale either!!

So, another tropical storm has hit our parts. This has hit our closest major city (Santiago) very hard- many people died, including the parents of one of the Dominican ladies that works with our summer program. However, Jarabacoa has many that are now left homeless. When the river swells, the squatters that primarily live along the banks of the river just watch their meager possessions float down the river. For two days last week, our school basically shut down classes and the staff and students went to work cleaning up the mess that the storm left behind.

On Wednesday, they went out hoping to re-direct a portion of the river away from the homes. Many hands worked incredibly hard, and the staff and students came home tired but feeling somewhat successful. Bob came home tired and filthy, but feeling like he had made a difference! He also commented on how different it was to work with the students off the campus, on a project that they knew would make a difference in someone elses life. A good day!

The second day- I pulled Brodie and Drew from school and they went out to help the crew. By now the river was pretty much re-directed, and the job was more of a clean up. They came home with stories about a lady who had 3 feet of mud in her tiny house. The boys swung pick axes and dug with shovels. They came home excited about what could get done in one day! It was a very positive experience for them.

So with great amounts of water outside, comes very little water inside. Literally. When it rains like this, the city turns the water off. So that means that our city is without water. We are lucky enough to have a cistern, so we had access to water. Toilets flushing, showers running...good times. AND, when you have, you share, right!?! We did. Infact, if company came over and didn't shower at our house.... it was weird!! Now, the time has come, and our sistern is near dry. We are ultra-conserving right now. We are hoping that the water will come on, but at this point they are saying that it won't likely be on for Christmas. When I was once hoping for snow for Christmas....now I want running water.

It's amazing how your priorities change!!

On a health note: Drew's impetigo is healing....slowly, but we are seeing progress. Brodie has a small spot on his face, but we are trusting that it will stay under control with the new medication we found. We have successfully infected many people around us. Odd, considering that our Dominican doctor said that it wasn't contagious.

Take care everyone, God bless as you prepare for the Christmas season.

Missing you all, and expecting picture of you and snow!!

Love,
Carrie

Chris and Frank are here!!

The last three weeks have been very busy. Bob and I recently completed a week of training at school. We took a course called TCI (Therapeutic Crisis Intervention). This is an excellent course and we feel really good about what we learned over the week. Right after the course was done, Chris (Bob's sister) and Frank came out to see us. They left their four children behind to spend time with us. They brought lots of good stuff from home and lots of love and hugs from friends and family. It was SO good to have them here. The first picture on the blog was taken by Frank from our balcony. We are so lucky to have such a great view to enjoy all the time.
Terry and Jill, Chris and Frank and our family got a chance to do some really fun things together. We took some time off so that we could spend three days (two nights) at the beach together. We were fortunate enough to get a good deal on the coast. We spent a lot of time getting smashed by waves on the beach, playing in the pool and enjoying the shopping experiences. Good times!! Brodie and Drew had a chance to learn how to surf. Thanks Uncle T.
We just got back from experiencing a place called 27 Waterfalls! What a blast! It was more beautiful that you can imagine. The water is the perfect temperature and crystal clear. There are many, many pictures! Enjoy!!

The Daily Sights

Here are some random things that me and kids see on a typical day when walking downtown in the friendly city of Jarabacoa.

A dad and his young son (5 years oldish) parked outside the bakery on their motorcycle. The boy was leaning over the gas tank- sniffing. Brodie taps me on the shoulder, "Uh, mom?!?" What can we do?

Dogs- everywhere, there are dogs. They stand outside every store, surround restaurants and wandering the streets. They are everywhere. "Domini-dogs" as we so fondly call them have a very distinctive look. They are typically very "mutt"-like. They are smaller and usually have a black snout (regardless of the rest of their colour) and have HAIRY chins. Oh, yes the Domini-dog. Man's best friend?!?

There may be as many as 4-6 people on a motorcycle at any time. This is the main mode of transportation. A family of 5 is quite the site, and we still comment on this as we see the families wizzing by us.

People aren't the only ones piling on a motorcycle (concho). We have seen lawnmowers, propane tanks, large piles of wood, washing machines, you name it.... It can be carried on a concho!!

Did I mention there are a lot of dogs??

CHICKENS- yes, there are a lot of chickens as well. Everywhere, in our yard, walking down the sidewalk, on the roof of shops, even in trees. Chickens wander around, but if you accidentally kill one, then the owner suddenly arrives, and debts will need to be paid.

Rain, pretty much everyday, it rains. Lightning, thunder and rain. Today, we saw the sun briefly. It was exciting, but then it rained. Right now it's 79 degrees, but raining. It's amazing how quickly we can become accustom to this weather.

Be sure to check out the boys' post, because they really mentioned most of our most recent stories.

Last week, Bob completed his CPR and first aid training and next week, we both will have TCI training (therapeutic crisis intervention). Here's hoping we won't need to use either of our new skills.

We are really looking forward to having Chris and Frank come out and see us. We are planning lots of fun adventures. I hope to have pictures to share.

Technology has Arrived!!

So, it's been three months in the Dominican Republic...and finally we have received the Internet. Bob and I took turns 'nagging' the powers that be, and eventually it all payed off!! This is very exciting, but I do realize that this means that we have no excuse not to stay in contact with our friends and family. Let's see how we do. :)

Bob and I feel so spoiled to have family here. Terry, Jill and Hazel "play" with us every Sunday. We visit waterfalls, eat lunch together or just hang out. That doesn't mean that we don't get homesick every once in a while, but having family nearby is an amazing blessing.

School is busy! Bob thought that he would have very little to do with only 30+ computers on campus, but he has been running. He had new/different ideas than the last computer 'geek' and that he kept him busy. He is excited about his job and doesn't foresee boredom in his future.

I feel the same way about my job. It has been evolving and changing ever so slightly, and I feel like I fit more and more each day. Some parts of my job I would trade in a heartbeat- like the paperwork part of it. And other parts- the 'resource teacher' part and working with the kids....brings more excitement and joy to my life than I thought I would get here. Every once and a while I really miss my old job at ECS, but the satisfaction here is great, and I am reminded why we were brought here.

We were told that we would be working with delinquent teens and that they had done some pretty horrible things. Some with severe anger management issues, others with real addiction problems to various things, some tied up with the law for drugs, violence, robbery etc. I was expecting really rough kids. The truth is, the kids here had done all the things listed above and way more. I can't believe how they can mess up their lives so badly. But I was wrong about how rough they would be. The kids here are great! Messed up, but genuinely great! Some have real learning disabilities, and are ready to feel 'smart'. (That's where I come in!!) All the students are in counselling and most want to 'get better'. I asked one of the students on my caseload to explain my role/job to a new student. It was so exciting to hear what he had to say. He told him, " When I got here, I knew I was dumb, but Mrs Friesen showed me how I learn, and now I KNOW that I'm not dumb, I just learn different. She kicked my butt so much that now I just learn!!" I love it!! Happy girl!

The boys are struggling with friendships. They still miss their days back in Winkler where they would meet their buds at Lion's Park for football. They have a few closer friends here, but they still talk about going home- and have been 'chatting' with their Canadian friends ever since we got the Internet.

So- life is good. God is good. We learned to be thankful for so many things that we didn't know that we were thankful back in Manitoba. Drinking water from the tap, sewage systems that work (ours failed us for a short while and sprayed our sewage over our backyard...ewww), power that is on all the time (we lose ours daily- but for short periods of time. When the power goes out, we also lose water), propane- our stove runs on it, and we ran out when cooking our Thanksgiving supper. (T and J saved the day!!). So many things that we didn't even know that we were thankful for.

We will keep updating. I hope to add some new pictures soon. We've had several days of Tropical Rain- never ending, so photos haven't been happening lately. We love ya all!- Carrie

Always something new!

Two Months are almost up and we are still learning. Everyday there seems to be something new to learn. Whether it is patience, humility, or something new and interesting, there isn't a day that goes by that doesn't throw something new at us. For Ethan it always seems to be a new bug, or lizard; for the older two it's new friends, coping with school, and soccer practice; for Carrie and I it's our duties at work, trying to get to know our Dominican neighbours, and learning the language. This past week we began boarding a student who is attending our school until December. This has given us a great opportunity to learn Spanish from someone who is tryly bilingual! Yahoo!

Life is good

This week has been feeling a little like living in North America, and I have to admit I wasn't loving it. Carrie's job description and hours were changed, I fought with technical issues for 3 days straight, and in between all this we had to get the kids off to school on Tuesday. We didn't have the right uniforms, we didn't have the correct supplies (which cost a ridiculous amount over here by the way), and we were both supposed to be at work. It's not supposed to be like that in the D.R.! As schedules start to click I'm sure we will find our pace, but on days like these it's hard to believe. I thought this picture would remind me that life really is good, and sometimes all you need is a quiet stroll to set your head straight.

The days seem to be going by extremely quick! Today marks three weeks in the DR. Our house is officially becoming a home, complete with plants, furniture and a dog! Let's just say if you mention that you might want a dog...10 will show up on your doorstep. Chiquita belonged to a staff member that was leaving, and the kids felt that it really was our duty to take care of her ( and in doing so..help out a fellow missionary!). Nice guilt trip. Regardless, Kita is now a part of our Dominican family. We are really starting to find our groove here, and although our Spanish is pathetic, we still manage to get the meat, cheese and milk we need. Our learning curve feels painfully slow, but in retrospect we probably aren't doing so bad. Some days if feels as though your head is going to pop trying to remember everything you learned that day!

First Impressions

It's pretty hard to sum up all of what we have seen (and heard...the DR is loud!), but we have had a great first week. Terry and Jill have been playing the role of host and hostess and have showed us around their town. It is quite an adventure learning to drive and find your way around the many twisting streets. Part of the adventure is not having a phone and internet yet, so I am posting this from Terry and Jill's apartment. The pictures are just what happens to be on my camera! I thought I'd just give you a little shot of the streets and a little Sunday afternoon hanging about at the "Confluencia"(kind of like our "Forks", but with nothing to do but to stand around, play loud music and drink. I don't know whether you can hear the thump of the subwoofers or the revving of approximately 100 or so scooters, mopeds, and dirt bikes, but it was definately an assault on the senses. Noise pollution is a term that is foreign to the Dominicans. I have a lot more pictures of the city and I will post up a photo album soon.

Exit

Friday marked our final day in our Winkler house. Leaving really didn't seem so hard when there was nowhere left to sit, eat or sleep! The endless week of goodbyes was difficult for some in our family though, and I think we were all looking forward to getting this show on the road. A relaxing day in Niverville with Carrie's folks (chinese food, steak, and a few other "Last time in Canada" things), and then up at 3:00 a.m. to catch our flight on Sunday morning. We should have know everything had gone too smooth up until this point. The word was that our plane had suffered "damage" (enemy fire perhaps?), and we would have to try again Monday morning! At least this time we can sleep in until 4:00 a.m.! Something tells me that we may be a bit tired by the time we arrive in the D.R.

Trading up?

Last week it was final... I sold our Chevy lumina van and bought our new Dominican ride. A well-loved 1988 isuzu trooper complete with a history full of dents and dings, and a wooden turtle glued to it's hood. Truth be told, I'm more excited about this crazy propane-fueled, dent-filled box riding on a smorgasbord of tires, than I have been about any other vehicle I have ever purchased. I've already got some really big tires bookmarked on Ebay!! Did any one ever mention I like adventure?

Cutting the Ties

The day has come....we no longer have a house! We wanted this, but it is still a little strange to say that we have no home and no job. Oh yeah...and no camper, and no road bike, and no kitchen table, and possibly soon no vehicle. We are definately experiencing the term "lightening the load"!