Semana Santa

I think today is our first regular day in a while. Between company and assorted national holidays we have been keeping relatively busy. Semana Santa or Holy Week just wrapped up this weekend. This meant that our boys were off of school.... pretty much Dominican spring break. We took the opportunity to do a little vacationing in the capitol as a final trip with Carrie's folks. We took in the colonial district and some of the old forts. Dominican tourism is cool in the way that you usually get to climb in and on everything!...very cool for kids. I'm not sure how many centuries these monuments to civilization will last under this torture, but for now it definately makes sight-seeing in Canada and the U.S. a little lame.

Another little surprise was the Zoo in Santo Domingo. If first impressions were to mean anything we probably have turned around at the parking lot. The smell of sewage, garbage, and other nasties was part of the welcoming committee as we walked up to the peeling front gates. Once inside we attempted to walk around and quickly realized that there wasn't much for animals around. We saw some flamingos, and a duck, but nothing more. Because of the absence of signs it took us a few minutes to realize that we had to board the zoo train to get up the hill to the zoo. We should have known......Dominicans would never walk around a zoo!!!

The enclosures were actually quite big, and the animals looked healthy. We all decided that for the $1.50 entrance fee it was actually quite a bargain. One huge bonus was that due to Dominican safety standards (or lack there-of) we could actually walk inside some of the enclosures if we so desired to. Just for proof I have a shot of Drew waving at us from the inside of the ostrich and white rhino enclosure. (Don't worry the animals were at least out of sprinting distance!) We sometimes wonder what kind of tourists we will be when we return.

Some other fun we had was throwing our kids off of the side of a mountain (para-gliding). This was still part of their birthday gift that had never quite materialized. They had a blast, but they both agreed it was too short. We wrapped up the week with a mini-marathon around Jarabacoa. Brodie and I had been "training" with some of the kids from school, and so we all loaded up on Saturday and gave it our best on the 11km run. Brodie ran a shorter race with the 15 and under kids. I managed the run not too bad, but I still have a few sore muscles today. Apparently I don't recover as fast as I used to. Part of the marathon excitement included a shooting that occurred at the first corner the marathon ran by. Apparently a few minutes before the start of the race somebody tried to take out a fellow Dominican in front of the local Pizza Pepperoni. Not sure what the issue was yet, but Carrie saw one of the wounded running across the street into the clinic.....but on with the race. We do have violence occasionally, but it doesn't really concern us. Either we are simply too naive, or we have started the process of becoming Dominican. Either way, we don't really have random violence, it is always parties that know one another. If you don't hang out with bad people....then the other bad people don't shoot at you! It was a nice ending to the "holiest" of weeks in the D.R.

Tour Guides

Yes...I am aware that Christmas was a long time ago. I am not quite sure what exactly happened to a lot of the time inbetween then and now! Part of it had to do with visitors, birthdays, and just plain being busy.
Mom and Dad started things off in January with a timely visit that enabled them to spend Brodie and Drew's birthdays with them. This was a great treat that was much appreciated by the twins. Having seen most of the "touristy" things on their previous visit with Terry and Jill, we spent more time just casually strolling the town, and going out to eat. A brief break, and we had the Trinke's from Winkler and Carrie's parents arrive within one day of each other on January 30th?...I think. Things are already blurring. This made for a full house, but a great time was had by all, doing some great site-seeing as well as some more good eating. We all toured a coffee factory together, saw a waterfall, and shopping up town. After seeing how this side lives, we dropped Derek and Shanna off at an all-inclusive in Sosua. Spending a night at the all-inclusive with them, was a real treat for us! (Thanx guys!) This brings us up February 3rd. This is an incredibly boring post, but at least you won't have to look at Christmas news!

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