FINALLY BACK IN THE DR!

FINALLY BACK IN THE DR!

05.30.12 

I can't even explain how amazing it is to be back in the Dominican Republic for the fourth summer in a row!! When I was flying into Puerto Plata on Tuesday I didn't feel like I was going to some foreign country where I would feel out of place for three months, but instead I almost felt like I was coming to my second home in a sense. I left Austin at 5:45 A.M. Tuesday morning and flew from Austin to Dallas, Dallas to Miami, and then Miami to Puerto Plata arriving around 3:00 P.M. (the time difference is only an hour later here). Oh and did I mention that I somehow ended up getting to fly first class the whole way here? I don't think I have ever been on an airplane where you are served a three meal course for breakfast and lunch AND the chairs can be turned into beds. It was such an awesome, unexpected surprise! I was the first one waiting around the baggage claim, eager to get my bags and be on my way back to the house. As time went by I started to notice that bags were slowly gone and that there would be no more coming that day. So after about an hour and a half of waiting we finally discovered that my bags never made it onto the plane from Miami. Fortunately my mom had suggested I pack my necessities in my backpack and I was able to manage until my suitcases were delivered to the house this evening. When I finally left the airport (long after they had been expecting my arrival) I was greeted by almost the entire Makarios staff!!! I was so happy to be here and get to see familiar faces when I arrived, as well as new ones! We hopped in the car and drove about 20 minutes back to the Makarios house in Los Ciruelos where I finally got to meet my awesome roommate Kelsey and the rest of the host family. Josh and Jen Menold are the host couple and they actually have 5 kids that are also living in the Mak house with us! And their kids are definitely the cutest, funniest, and most polite kids I have ever met in my life! We spent a lot of time talking and getting to know each other and then after dinner we called it a night in order to be rested up for my first full day here!

~This is a picture of the Menold family, aren't their kids the cutest! Starting on the left the kids are Aribella, the oldest girl who is so sweet and loving, Parlyn, who is always smiling and laughing, Oliver, the youngest boy, Finley, the most fashionable and funniest child I have ever met, and Tate, the oldest and very responsible boy. I can already tell that Josh and Jen are going to be the greatest host couple there possible!

I started off my first full day in the DR getting to eat a yummy breakfast with the Menolds and Kelsey and then Josh drove me over to Montellano (the neighborhood where the school, church, playing field, and some of the other staff live). We left a little bit earlier than planned when Josh got a call from Sarah, one of the American teachers, that she had somehow gotten locked inside her room. We went to go see if we could get the door open and somehow Josh managed to get it open and we saw that in some crazy way the lock had come apart on the inside and was completely destroyed! Anyways it was so funny getting to meet Sarah this way and we laughed about it for the rest of the morning. This was also my first time to ride on a motorcycle 'moto' in the DR but from now on that is going to be my main way of transportation on the island, in the past years I rode in a gua gua, which is similar to a bus when I was with a large group from the U.S. I got to spend all day planning school lessons with the American and Dominican staff for summer school! For the first couple weeks Narolin and I are going to be teaching art at the school! We came up with some awesome lesson plans and got to spend a lot of time getting to know each other as well! Narolin and I also took little breaks in between planning and went around the school talking to all of the different teachers so I could get to know them better! We got to all eat lunch as a staff and had our first staff meeting to talk about the summer and our plans for the upcoming week. The first group is arriving here on Friday and is going to be mainly helping us clean up the school and help with preparations for our first week. After we were done for the day at the school Sarah and I went to go pick up Kelsey from the Mak house and we had a 'how to find a ride/ go around on a moto 101 lesson'. It was so much fun, and we even rode to the bomba to get some ice cream and then went back to Sarah and Imani's house to hang out before we came back to the Mak house. When I was at Sarah and Imani's house Imani, another one of the teachers at the school, was telling me how she had just come back from Jody and Perla's house (Jody was an intern for Makarios when I came my sophomore year of high school and Perla is his fiancé that I got to meet last summer when I was here and they are actually getting married next week!!) I had no idea that they only lived a couple doors down from Sarah and Imani so when Imani and I were outside we saw Jody outside on his deck and it was so great to see him again and I am so excited that they are about to be married! Perla wasn't home, so I told him I would come over and visit sometime this weekend when she was there too so I could see them both! Later we came back home to the Mak house for staff dinner and bible study, like we will do every Wednesday night and had a great first bible study all together! Tomorrow morning we are going to Pancho Mateo, one of my favorite villages here to go visit the students and their families! 

 ~Cakito and I back together again!!! I met Cakito (Francis) the first summer I ever came to the DR and he was one of the only boys I met who could speak English pretty well. Cakito and I became good friends and have gotten to know each other over the years and I am so happy I will get to be hanging out with him a lot this summer!

 ~These pictures were taken after we rode the motos over to the bomba for some el helado! The first picture is of the other intern Kelsey and Sarah and the second picture is Kelsey and I's first roomie picture!!

~This is Dena, another one of the American teachers, riding on the moto as we were headed back to the Mak house for dinner.