Snapshots - Into the Month of December...

The past weeks have gone by so fast! Semester 1 is finished for highschool, except for exams this week, and primary, intermediate, and middle school are finishing by this Thursday as well. And then...Christmas break.....

The Semester 1 highschool choir class; a great bunch of kids.

Grade 4 Music

.... Strange in a way. Advent and Christmas in such a different world. No cold wind and rain. No dark days. No frost and snow. But, you do see Santa Claus and Christmas trees displayed everywhere, you hear "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" being played in the stores, and at La Sirena, the big grocery store, they have already had a synthetic ice skating rink set up over the past four weeks. They have a soap bubble machine going so it looks similar to snow flakes floating through the night air. At school we practiced the Christmas carols for our Christmas program for the past two months, with 30 degree temperatures, last Thursday afternoon and evening we had our Christmas concerts at the school in the open air gymnasium, and yesterday we had our staff Christmas banquet. We sang "Silent Night" in Spanish (Noche de Paz). But if you really come to think of it, Christmas is about Jesus coming into the world to save sinners, and not about all the extras that we associate with Christmas. That's what struck us. Jesus was born in Israel, and most likely there was not a snowflake to be seen when he was born. It might have been warm even...

We were all very excited when Steph and Chad Hampson came as our first official 'visitors from abroad' on November 29. With them they brought a treasure load of boerenkool, Mennonite farmers' sausage, droppies, Brinta, cheddar cheese, cookies, maternity clothes, and gifts, which they, and Opa, Oma, Grandpa, Grandma, and Oma Krul had all sent along to spoil us with. Wow, it was like 'Sinterklaas' in the large scale! The Hampson's suitcases were literally bulging with goodies! Thanks again everyone! Mattais and Kaelie were very excited with their presents, Sherilyn revived after seeing the droppies, and I had nearly forgotten how tasty 'gevulde speculaas' is.

We had a wonderful time with Steph and Chad, just being able to chat like we have done so often, and they really enjoyed their time visiting the school for one morning and lending a helping hand at the New Hope Girls' School in La Vega (see one of our previous blog entries to read more about the New Hope Girls' School). Thanks for the great time, Steph and Chad!

With the Hampsons at "El Rinconcito". Great burgers!

This new LEGO is fun!

This really is my favority meal: BOERENKOOL met WORST. Thanks Oma Krul!

Saturday, December 3: A Daytrip to Constanza.

We had this in the planning for a long time already. Jose, the school watchee (guard), and I had talked about it for weeks already: when are we going to Constanza? Constanza is about two and a half hours south-east from here. Situated in a high valley between the mountains, Constanza is really a unique place with an altogether different climate than here in Santiago. Very few palm trees, but many pine trees. It even freezes up there at times. Can you imagine frost in the DR? Besides coffee and tobacco, many varieties of fruits and vegetables are grown there which cannot be grown in the Cibao valley in which we live; strawberries, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, corn, etc. So, we had to see this place, especially the cool 'aguas blancas' in the mountains. And besides, Jose told us that we had to meet his family members, many of whom live in Constanza and nearby Jarabacoa. So there we went, at six in the morning. Wow, what a trip! It's an amazing world out there!  

Looking a little like the Fraser Valley?

Gorgeous views at 1200 mts

These "aguas blancas" are cold! I took a dive in the waterfall pool, and was surprised at how cold the water was.

Back at home....

We miss our garden a little, so why not start a patio garden up on the fourth floor? And, besides, back in Canada you simply wouldn't try growing tomatoes and strawberries during the winter months. We started tomato plants from seed about a month ago. They are nearly ready to flower. They are the healthiest tomato plants ever seen; healthy green, and thankfully no whitefly (yet) Worth a picture...

Strawberry plants from Constanza

SCS Primary and Intermediate Christmas Programs

Our Christmas music programs took a lot of planning and practicing, but the results were very good. Sherilyn did a wonderful program for the pre-school children this past Tuesday, and the attendance was very good. Kaelie was allowed to wear her fancy white dress and her white 'little lady shoes' as she calls them.  

For the K-6 programs I had chosen two musicals based on well-known Christmas carols and Bible texts, with as a setting 'Israel during the New Testament times'. The kids all dressed in shepherd, merchant, Roman soldier, Egyptian, servant girl, or king and queen costumes, to create a 'real' Bible times feeling. Prior to the program I did a short introduction and devotional about 'the Light has Come', and the true meaning of Christmas. It was a great opportunity to share the gospel, since a lot of the parents are either nominal Catholics or non-Christian. (Thankfully we are hearing from time to time that some of these parents have started attending a local Christian church and others that have been saved.) The students all sang and narrated very well, so much to be thankful for.

 

Mattais the shepherd boy.

"O Come, Let Us Adore Him"

A very full stage and gymnasium!

Kaelie showing her work and Christmas card

Singing "Immanuel, God is With Us"

We wish you all a happy and blessed Christmas and New Year!

Huelga Without Water

On Friday after school the school staff was called into a brief impromptu staff meeting. Sonia informed the staff that there was a possibility of a national huelga (pronounce welga =strike) on Monday, which would mean no school. Over the past few weeks rumours had floated around about protests because of electricity prices and social issues, including abuse of women, which is a growing sad reality here in Santiago.
Sonia explained that we teachers live in fairly safe neighbourhoods, but since some would need to travel through some less safe areas to get to school, it would be necessary to shut down the school. Also around the school itself, a huelga might mean that some people might show their protest by means of burning tires or blocking roads. Sonia told us we would receive an email on Sunday to let us know whether school would be in session or not.

Sunday afternoon we got the awaited email, informing us that a huelga was in the forecast for Monday and that school would therefore be closed. We were excited to have an extra day off and started making tentative plans of what we were going to do the whole day. Anthony wanted to paint the kids' bedrooms, fix up the little school desks we have been using as night stands, I wanted to bake, tidy up the house, do a load of laundry, and the list went on.

Just after our Sunday night dinner, I noticed that our water was off. Strange enough, the power was still on. Usually when we loose power, we loose our water too since the water pump downstairs does not operate without city power. "Oh well," I thought, as I looked at the stack of dinner dishes sitting in the sink, "I have all day tomorrow to do them. The water should come back on soon."

But by the end of the evening, there was still no water. "Surely it will be back on tomorrow," I thought to myself.

But Monday morning came, and still no water. How disappointing. The day off, staying at home started to loose its appeal.  A whole day at home as a family and then no water?!  By the time breakfast was finished the sink was overflowing with dirty dishes and the counters and table were sticky from the pancake breakfast.  There wasn't even enough clean dishes to eat lunch! Never mind baking, which I had hoped to do!  I sighed. It was going to be a long day. I quietly asked God for extra patience for the day.

A while later Anthony came in carrying a large bucket of water. "Where did you get that from?" I asked, as he grinned from ear to ear. "From the tap outside in the parking lot!" he told me happily. "We need to wash the kids uniforms for school tomorrow, and besides the wet towels are beginning to stink with the warm temperature. I'll haul up enough water for a load of laundry and for you to do the dishes."
About 5 trips later up and down the long stairway the washing machine was running and I got down to doing some dishes.

"I'm going to take the kids to the store with me to pick up some paint, they need to get out for a bit." Anthony told me after a while. Since everything seemed quite normal and calm, and the La Sirena store is just down the road, I agreed it would be fine to take the kids out. I decided to stay home and finish the stack of dishes.

After all the dishes were washed and counters wiped clean, I went to check on my laundry. It was stuck on the rinse mode. "Of course," I thought to myself, "it needs more water to run the rinse cycle. I guess I will have to start hauling some more water."

By the time I was on my third trip up the stairs with the buckets I was exhausted and discouraged. I had at least another three trips to make to have enough water to run the rinse cycle. "Maybe I should just wait for Anthony to come home." As I made my way up the stairs, I had to think of the many people in this world who live every single day without running water. We are so blessed to have clean running water in our apartment. What was I complaining about, no water for one day? Just a few minutes away there are many families who daily have to find water to carry home. I had to think back to a few weeks ago when we were visiting the New Hope Girls Academy, and I had the priviledge of walking through the neighbourhood where these girls's families live. Just a little tin house with no running water, no bathroom facilities. I remember coming home afterwards and thinking that our little apartment seemed like a palace. I remember being so thankful to God for all our blessings. How could I forget so quickly how very blessed we are? How dare I complain about a few hours of no running water, or doing a little walking for clean water? I told myself to be thankful instead for the blessing that I do enjoy.

Although one of the neighbours had told Anthony that the prospect of getting the water running again would be slim, due to the huelga, late in the afternoon we were delighted to have our water problem fixed. A nice plumber who must have taken the time to come and fix the problem, despite the huelga! When Mattais and Kaelie noticed that the water was back on, they shouted, "Hurrah, the water is working again! Now we can finally have a shower!" At dinner time we all thanked the Lord for His goodness in giving us running water again.

A Visit to New Hope Girls' School in La Vega

La Vega is the third largest city in the Dominican Republic, and is about a half hour drive south of Santiago up against the hill sides.  This past Saturday we went there to visit the New Hope Girls' school, a project that was started by a Vidal and Joy Reyes, a couple from Santiago, who have their children in our school. Together with the Reyes and several other teachers and our children, we had planned to go to the girls' school to put up Christmas decorations and spoil the girls with some treats and as a surprise, a new pair of shoes.

After driving through the old part of the city of La Vega, we came to a very run-down "barrio", or district, up against the hillside, mostly comprised of shacks built of cinder blocks and tin. We parked our cars along the main road, and climbed up a dirty alley-way, littered with garbage, refuse materials, and dirty water trickling over the broken and uneven cement slabs. The New Hope Girls' school and home rises like a friendly place along this sad path of poverty, dirt, and brokenness.

Vidal and Joy bought this property in April, and coverted the old broken home into a functional two-storey building. During the day, 24 girls from the surrounding barrio come here to hear from God's Word and to learn how to read, write, and do some math. Back in June, when the Vidal and Joy had just started the school, out of all the 24 girls, who are between 6 and 14, only one girl knew the letter A. Tells you something about the illiteracy of poor Dominicans!

The school is also a home for 4 girls who are no longer being looked after by their parents. Very sad. Vidal and Joy told us stories of fathers who are not faithful to their wives, mothers who prostitute to make a living to care for their children, sicknesses, hunger, drunkenness, and fights. This is why the New Hope Girls' School is there. To stand like a symbol of hope on the hillside. Thankfully, soon after Vidal and Joy began working on the home, local Christian people began to help and offer their assistance in many ways. Three Christian ladies from the neighborhood have taken the task upon themselves to teach the girls during the day and also to stay with the 4 girls during the night. It is Vidal and Joy's hope and plan to have the local community involved as much as possible, rather than making this project look like it is run by some supposedly rich and arrogant Americans!

Sherilyn and Kaelie on the path leading up to the school.

Mattais and Kaelie were quite happy to hand out some little toys and teddies which Oma Koster had given along with us in July.

The upstairs level of the home functions as classroom and sleeping quarters. It's a very cozy place. We strung up some Christmas lights and all the girls helped decorating the room with little ornaments. They loved it.

 

The downstairs area is for cooking, eating, and playing. There are many things to be done to the home yet, but at least there is a partly tiled floor where the children can remain clean.

Look at this cutie! These little girls were staring at us with big brown eyes, and it must have been quite a bit to take in for them; to have all these new visitors, to get some treats, to get a pair of new shoes, to do Christmas decorations.

Tim Houck, our Canadian colleague said: "The title for this picture will have to be: Where is Waldo?" (see if you can figure out why he titled it that way -- guesses can be placed as a comment on our blog).

The shoe manufacturing company, KEEN, which has a factory in La Vega, donated shoes for all of the girls. They were so delighted!

 

This little girl was a new visitor to the school, and did not have a pair of shoes that had been ordered for her. She got a little bunny (teddy) as a gift. She was very happy with it and held onto it very tightly.

At the end of the afternoon we returned to our own apartment, quite overwhelmed by the many things we saw that afternoon, feeling very blessed by  everything that we receive from God every day, and determined to return in a few weeks again to do some work at this place of new hope.

Please pray for these little girls, and that God would bless the work that He has called Vidal and Joy to do in this little barrio.

Birthday Boy and a Trip to Playa Sosua

It was the day he looked forward to for such a long time already; his first birthday in the Dominican! Mattais turned 7 on October 17.

We had received a few packages in the mail a few days prior his birthday, which we kept out of sight and hidden until the big day! It's so special to receive a gift from overseas! No wonder he was super excited when he got to open the packages.

A package from Opa and Oma Koster

Wow! Soldiers! How did they know I like playing with soldiers? And 'droppies'. Yum!

Kaelie was pretty excited too, since the package also had a gift in it for her.

And another package from Grandpa and Grandma, Uncle Michael and Auntie Chantelle, Auntie Esther and Uncle Garold! A Playmobil safari jungle set! Kaelie soon found that set contained two "flingos"! (flamingos)

What better 'fun activity' than going to the beach for your birthday party? Of course, we had to wait until the weekend, but over here that is worth waiting for. Mattais and Kaelie love the beach, so we decided that was the best thing to do for the Saturday following Mattais' birthday.

The drive to the beach is absolutely gorgeous. We have driven it several times by now, and every time we enjoy it again. The road leads through the eastern townships of Santiago, through the village of Moca, and then winds its way through the mountains until it hits the ocean road. Along the way there are numerous interesting things that we enjoy every time: people roasting or smoking whole pigs along the road, troops of young guys sitting on their mopeds waiting to give people a ride in downtown Moca, overloaded pick-up trucks full of bananas, groups of ladies with curlers in their hair chatting along the road, roadside stands with local produce, cock-fighting clubs, and the list goes on. We all love it. It's a a cultural and human geography lesson every single time.

 Green and lush landscape around Los Brasos, a small mountain village

 This guy was just smoking up the hill on his moped. And...check it out.....!

 The back of his bike was stacked with crates, stuffed (literally!) with hens, and hanging from the handle bars, many more. They were alive. He gave us this big grin as we passed by and took his picture.

 Then we saw this boy along the road, sitting on his mule, on some kind of errand for his dad possibly. We stopped, said 'hola' and told him that his mule looked very nice, and asked him for his name. Frances, he replied. He looked totally surprised when we gave him a bunch of pesos, and instantly he put his old mule into a fast trot towards the village. We had to laugh. He must have sure thought it was his lucky day: a bunch of 'gringos' take his picture and pay him for it.

 We were awed by the sight of the beach at Playa Sosua. We had not gone to this particular beach before. The water was crystal clear. The scenery stunning. Like stepping into a postcard.

Mattais loved the colourful fish that are swimming around the reef not too far off shore. 'Dori' fish (Nemo's friend) by the dozens. Beautiful. We stuffed some bread crumbs into an small water bottle, topped it up with water, and fed the fish under water by squirting the bread crumbs at them. Boy, they loved us.

 Kaelie always loves the sand and the water too, and is busy for hours scooping sand, carrying water, talking to people that walk by, and laying in the crashing surf.

There was this super cute stray puppy that followed the kids around for a while. Kaelie was thrilled that he wanted to play! She often asks us if God can make her a puppy to play with. This made her day!

 It was a great day, and we stayed as long as possible. A very relaxing and fun family day.



Once Upon a Saturday Afternoon



Tais got his first Birthday Party invite from one of his classmates. Birthday parties are huge celebrations here!

The whole class was invited to a local country club to go swimming and have snacks and dinner there.

He was so excited and had a lot of fun!

Today we decide to go out for a drive, since it is a bit cooler and rain is in the forecast.

(Well, the rain never came, but we had a wonderful day exploring Santiago and some of the local mountain villages.) We all pile into "the Bullet" (for so we have dubbed our '92 caliber Toyota Previa), and we go rattling off.

We drive by our "colmado" (corner store). They deliver our water when we call for more. ("Necessito dos botellons de agua, por favor.") The delivery guy comes by five minutes later on his moped, loudly yells "COLMADO!" outside the gate, and after we open the downstairs door, he carries both 5 gallon bottles up 4 flights of stairs to our front door.

Next we pass a money portal. You see them everywhere, even in the remote mountain villages. They are always nicely tiled with bright shiny colors.

Another "Banca". Some day we'll do a blog post on all the old vehicle models you see around here. Old little Datsuns, Peugeots, Mazdas, and Fiats that we hadn't seen since we were kids, are kept 'alive' here. Very neat.

A common sight, as we are going down the Autopista (highway). This concho was stuffed with at least 15 people. The man in the doorway has to hang on tightly.

We pass a thrift store on wheels. We assume it most likely is an old Mazda. It's hard to tell with all the loose, rusty pieces hanging off it on all sides. We are surprised it still drives!  This collector takes people's unwanted "junk" and sells it to whomever is interested. Not sure who would be interested in these old mattresses!

Real thrift stores do not exist here.

Up ahead: HOMS Hospital. It is a very nice, clean hospital with doctors offices attached. It is only five minutes from our apartment. This has come in handy as Sherilyn has made several visits over the past months. This is where she will go in April when we hope to have a little addition to the family :)

Soon we pass one of the best bakeries in town: Panaderia La Campagna. They have a nice assortment of buns, bread and pastries. Anthony loves snooping around here!

 We drive north and head for the mountains. The drive is beautiful, and as we head up, we feel the temperature dropping. After a ten minute drive up the mountain road, we pull into the parking lot of the Camp David Ranch hotel and restaurant. Stepping out of "the Bullet", we all immediately shiver. "Wow, I'm cold!" Mattais says. No doubt. A fresh mountain breeze keeps the temperature just above 20, much cooler than we have been used to these past months. The view from the restaurant patio is spectacular. Mattais and Kaelie pull out our little binoculars to try spot our aparment.

 

Mattais and Kaelie posing on one of the original cars belonging to the former dictator Trujillo. Two Bel Airs and a Cadillac sit on the parking lot of the Camp David Ranch. Tais thought this one looked like Andy Griffith's police car.

After checking out the sights, we head back home. Then it happens again....After hitting a few too many potholes (which are impossible to avoid) our van shuts down, and Anthony quickly pulls over to the side of the road, ducks under the hood, fiddles around with the battery cables, and off we go again.This has become annoyingly more common the last little while. A few weeks ago this happened in the middle of the busiest intersection downtown. Boy, did we ever get honked at! Luckily today it was on a remote road, at the bottom of the hill, and we didn't hold up traffic. 

Close to our apartment, we stop and buy two pinas. They try charge us the "Gringo" price (one hundred pesos, $2.50), but when they realize that we want the Dominican price (thirty pesos, $1.00), they try sell us five instead! Not sure what we would do with five very ripe pinas. Pinas and avocados are in season now, and taste amazing.

Kaelie back at the apartment with her pineapple.

Back home again! And now for our workout we get several times each day...up four flights of stairs.