WOWWW!! The days are just flying by and I had no idea how much time had gone by without me reflecting on my time here! So many new things are happening and the past few weeks have been crazy exciting!! Another week flew by at the school and the kids got to learn about world culture! They got to make flags and masks (which they loved)! In ESL class on Tuesday the kids learned about sports and we focused on baseball because the following week, when a group came, the kids were going to get to play baseball with them!! They also learned the song Take Me Out To The Ballgame! On Thursday we went on a village visit to go play with our kids in their house and spend time with their families, and this was definitely one of the best experiences I have had all summer. Getting to spend time with the kids in their house is so incredible because they get so excited that you are not just their teacher at school, but that you are coming to their house and talking to their family and getting to know them better. It was crazy how within minutes of us walking around all of a sudden the whole neighborhood knew that it was a day for the profes to visit, and all of the kids would leave their house after we had visited and follow us to each of the kids' houses. The best part of the visit is when we went to Luigi, Ricardo, Camila, and Reynaldo's house. All four of these kids go to school at Makarios, and they have definitely found a special place in my heart this summer. Luigi is the oldest of the four and I think our relationship started during the first week of the summer when I saw him and I remembered playing with him in the past, not at Makarios, but just when we were playing with some of the kids in the village. And he was so shocked when I said his name and had no idea how I knew him. From that point on I think Luigi started to want to build a relationship with me because he realized that I remembered him and that I cared very much about him. He is one of the smartest, sweetest, and most caring boys at the school, and he loves to dance! I think his desire to be close with me spread to his siblings, because slowly one by one, I started to notice I was always surrounded by at least one of the four kids.
Friday I spent the day at Sosua Ocean Village with the girls. Sosua Ocean Village is similar to a resort, where it has a kids water park, slides, an infinity pool, and two other huge pools that overlook the ocean and are absolutely beautiful! It is the perfect place to go for the day to relax! It was my first time to go there, and it wouldn't have been compete unless my face was covered in grass while I was trying to lay out (the workers were of course mowing the lawn right in the area we were sitting in (because there was going to be a wedding there in the night) and the sunscreen made all of the grass he was cutting stick to my face while the wind kept blowing it straight at us). After we spent the whole day relaxing, Jen and I went to go pick up their cat from the doctor and then we went to check out their new potential apartment in Montellano (in August the new couple will be moving into the Makarios house to host groups, so the Menolds are thinking about moving into an apartment in Montellano). And then we went to La Sirena to get groceries for the group that got here the next day. Saturday the group got here (the group that came was from the Menold's home church and they were all really good friends, so it definitely made the week a lot different than it would be with a normal group) and we got to have our welcome dinner with the whole staff and then on Sunday I went to New Life in Sosua with Miranda and spent the rest of the day visiting some friends in the neighborhood, getting to know the group, visiting my kids in Chichigua, and hanging out with Belize and Abram. This was my first time to go Chichigua after becoming so close with the kids in the school, and so now when I went, I had a whole different perspective on everything as far as these are where the kids I love and know so much live, and spend all of their time, and this is their home and their family. It was absolutely incredible and definitely one of my favorite visits to Chichigua.
Monday through Wednesday we had school for the younger kids and they studied world culture more. Amazingly Makarios was donated enough money to start on a cafeteria at the school this week!!!!!! So the group got to be the first to clear out the space and start building the new building!! Part of the group also helped out in my art class and brought stuff for the kids and the staff to make tie dye shirts. On Tuesday in the ESL classes the group got to play baseball with the kids and it was so much fun!! It started raining in the middle, but I know the kids had such a fun time, even though normally Dominicans hate the rain because they think you are going to get sick from it. After that Kelvin, Belize, Johan, and I had a basketball tournament and it was so much fun, even though no matter who's team I was on I lost. Wednesday after school we went to Pancho Mateo, and I got to give the group a tour around the neighborhood. My time their was amazing as always, and today Profe Genesis took me to go see her house for the first time. It was so conforting to see where she was living, because most of the houses in Pancho are barely standing, but it was heart warming to see that Genesis lived in a well built house and she even had a backyard with her 4 cute little dogs inside the yard. Thursday we took the kids to the beach and they all wore their new tie dye shirts there and LOVED them! It was so great to get to see how happy they were when they were given a shirt they made with their name on it! Later in the day was another soccer game and some of the group members used to be college cheerleaders and so they were doing their cheers and stunts for the kids and the kids were so amazed when one of the guys would hold a girl in the air above his head with one hand. During the game Camila and Reynaldo and I went for a walk and then ended up going to the colmado and spending some time together and they even got donuts!! When the game was over I went on a mission with Belize to find some avocados to make with dinner, and because they are not in season quite yet they are difficult to find. But when we finally found them, I bought one and started eating it just like I would with an apple or anything else. Belize was so embarrassed that I was walking and eating an avocado because he said it was not normal to do here and that now everyone will think I am weird (but I think he was the only one who thought I was weird). Friday I spent the day in Cabarete with the group, as usual, and Saturday morning the group left and I spent the rest of the day at ocean village with the girls to celebrate Dena's birthday that was on the Fourth of July! And later in the day I went to hang out with Belize and Jose and they taught me how to play chess! Sunday I spent the day helping tutor some of the kids from the school who needed one on one tutoring and so we worked on phonics and math for a few hours in the middle of the day. Today was my first day as a science teacher with Nicole! It was time for the switch, which means the summer is already halfway over :( but I had so much fun teaching about the planets with Nicole! When school ended I got to spend the rest of the day with the Menold kids swimming and going on a walk in the neighborhood. The time is just flying by like crazy and I tend to loose track of the days!
