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