Anne Marie is here (it's still raining part ii)

Anne Marie arrived yesterday! It's so great to have her here. Luckily, the clouds parted long enough yesterday for it to be warm and sunny upon her arrival. We woke up this morning to gray skies and more rain and no school. I think its freezing and I am sitting here typing this in long pants, socks, three shirts and a blanket thrown over my legs...Anne Marie informed me this morning that it was only 70 degrees and I needed to stop whining. I guess my body just likes to be hot and sweaty.

We still went out to the village this morning to see the kids and to walk around a little. It was fun to hear some of Anne Marie's stories about living here. A lot of the kids remembered her from when she worked here two summers ago. We had a really nice time. Anne Marie wanted to buy food for a family and let them cook it for us. Then we would eat with them. The family would have a decent meal and some leftovers as well. And we would get to visit with them and share a meal. We decided on a family with seven children. The oldest girl, Johana, is in my sixth grade class, so I was really excited to eat with her family.

Anne Marie and I went into town and Anne Marie purchased rice, black beans, onions, garlic, a pepper, sazon (a dominican all spice), salami, and vegetable oil. We went back into the village via motorcycle through the cold rain and mud puddles. It was a miserable ride and halfway there, I wished we had stayed home. When we finally arrive back at Johana's house, all of her little brothers and sisters were so excited to see us. I immediately regretted wishing I had stayed home!!

We hung out with the kids while their mom, Yani, cooked away in the kitchen. Six of the seven children were quite calm and enjoyable. Most of them just enjoyed being cuddled and hugged since it was so nasty outside. The seventh and smallest bit Anne Marie's fingers a few times and insisted on screaming at the top of his lungs most of the time we were there. We didn't really try to cuddle with him too much...

Although we thought we had purchased all ingredients needed for a Haitian Dominican feast, Yani complained that we forgot to buy salt, bouillon cubes, and "salsa." Yani also decided to treat us to fried yuca which, while inexpensive to make, takes a lot of hard work. We made a couple runs to the local colmado to pick up the ingredients we forgot and yuca and butter. Poor Johana slaved away grating the yuca into a fine mush that would eventually be combined with butter and fried. I offered to help and ended up cutting my finger. Yani found me some gauze and told me to get out of the kitchen.

When we finally sat down to our meal, we were all hungry. Natanail, the second oldest girl that also attends our care center, prayed for us. The food was delicious! There was plenty of rice, beans and salami left over for another meal for the kids (although the next day, Natanail and Johana assured me that all of the food was consumed later that night.)

Anne Marie and I left shortly after we finished eating. We were afraid the the river might rise too much for us to get out of the village safely! We made it home semi-dry, safe, and excited about the time we spend with Yani's family.

It was a perfect way to spend a rainy Monday.

More soon. Love to all.

'ta lloviendo...todavia

The sky became really cloudy and gray on Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon brought rain and school let out early. It was still raining on Thursday- school was cancelled completely. It rained all day yesterday and continued through the night. I woke up this morning to a foot of water in our neighbors yard! I am so thankful that I live on the second floor!

The weather forecast for the next 10 days is rain. Please pray that it lets up or we may not have school until January (School gets out for Christmas December 10.) Pray for the people living in Montellano and in Caraballo that are cold and wet this morning! I'm going to wade around outside for a little bit. Hopefully, I can post some flood pictures later today...

cositas

I hope you can appreciate these "little things" as much as I did today...

Abdiel: Mi mamá no vive en la casa. Mi mamá vive en la selva.
My mom doesn't live in our house, she lives in the jungle.

Diana: [very angrily although she had already eaten breakfast with the other kids]
GEORGIA! ¿Porque no me traes queso a comer? ¿Porque no me traes queso en una funda?
Georgia! Why don't you bring me cheese to eat? Why don’t you bring me cheese in a bag?

I guess she likes cheese as much as I do, but cheese in a bag?

More grammatical errors...

Limate: Yo no va a escuela. [Threatening to stop coming to school]
Georgia: Limate, yo no VOY a escuela. Dime- yo no VOY a escuela.
Limate: Georgia, yo no voy a escuela.
Georgia: Limate, por favor, que vengas a escuela.

Little ladies

The little girl on the left bit my finger the other day because I wasnt paying her enough attention. Estafani, on the right, loves the camera. She is always posed for a picture.
I'm excited to go to school today to see them both! :)

giant lizard living behind of the tiles of my shower!!!!

I was up late last night because the power came on at about 11:45 p.m. I got up to utilize the light for an hour or so. Right before I went back to bed, I went in the bathroom. And there was at 6 inch (no joke) lizard on the wall. Luckily, it was pretty shy. It quickly slithered (more like a snake with legs) back behind the shower tiles. I suppose I have two options: caulk the top of the shower or live with the monster of another 5 months... My other thought it that if I stop up his escape route, he might freak out and slither in my direction. There is a similar lizard living (about an inch long) in my kitchen. My concern is that he will continue to grow...

Eeeek! Thank the Lord for mosquito nets to keep these creepy crawlies away from me while I sleep!

cranglish

yo no tiene lapiz.

yo no sabe.

If you've ever studied Spanish, the above mistakes probably make you cringe. This is what happens when you grow up in a Haitian village and attend a spanish speaking grade school. I have enough trouble making sure that I am speaking spanish correctly! Today, I had to correct my little Diana when she said, "Yo no sabe, Yorda (this is what they call me a lot of time- pronounced Jorda.) It's "yo no se, Diana."

All of the kids speak a little English here and there. Most of them can communicate just fine in Spanish, but the majority of them are most comfortable with Creole. This makes for interesting mixture of languages in class. I can only say a few things in Creole at this point. "Pah too shay zabokah" means "don't touch the avocado." And "booflah" means loco. Diana refers to everything as booflah. Luckily, I took French in highschool, so when the kids start cheating in math class in Creole, I can understand them (numbers in Creole are very similar to French.) They are usually pretty impressed :)

Today, we were all stuck in the lunchroom for about 30 minutes longer than normal due to a downpour. It was pretty fun to be all together and listen to the rain- all 200 of us. However, a fight eventually broke out between a sixth grade girl and a seventh grade girl. There were pieces of hair on the floor after their fight. It was pretty intense. Our mild mannered head teacher finally lost his cool. I had never witnessed a fight between two middle school girls. It was just like the movies. All of the kids ran over to watch and were cheering. Luckily, Junior (one of the teachers) was able to pry them apart. Shortly after, school was dismissed due to the weather.

School is going well in general. I love my kids more everyday. We are starting a new program on Monday for the third grade. Please keep this in your prayers. I put together the program using a model from a care center in Jarabacoa. It could be a great change for the third graders. If it works, the other classes can follow suit. I am really excited about it and hope it works out. If its successful, I'll tell you more about it.

Emily Cockerham (former coworker from WF) and her college friends are coming down to Playa Confresi this weekend. I am going to go out for a visit on Sunday. It will be great to see them!

Thats all for now.

Love love love,
Georgia