Life moves fast...

*First view of the Cabarete Beach*

So it has been a while since my last post. I apologize but school has really been picking up and my internet time seems to be getting shorter and shorter everyday. But a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks so I will try to catch you up the best I can. :)

Like I said on my last post, we went to the beach a couple of weekends ago and it was magnificent! We went to a place called Cabarete and it was very different than any beach I have been to. We stayed at this really nice condo called The Nanny and our house was HUGE! It was so wonderful to have semi air conditioning and I took my first hot/warm shower since I’ve been here, and if I hadn’t been so sunburned when I probably would have appreciated it more haha. There really wasn’t that many people on the beach, especially where we were because we were a tad bit out of town. Friday night when we got there, after gawking over our place that we were staying at, we walked down the beach to go to dinner. We literally got to eat right on the beach! All of the restaurants were very honeymoonish…I don’t really know how to describe it. But they all had these couches and chairs that sat really low to the ground. It was really like something you see in a movie. I splurged on a really good drink called a Cabarete Iced Tea..i decided to be a little touristy that night. It was soo yummy, and the liquor was made locally and had like 5 different leaves (or whatever you make liquor with)…I can’t remember what the waitress told us exactly haha. But the next morning we got up and went to this little quaint breakfast place called Dicks and it was like having breakfast in the states! Afterwards we headed straight for the beach and had a VERY full day in the sun. And if you have seen my pics on facebook you will see that I for sure did get some sun! Yikes! That Caribbean sun shows no mercy my friends! For dinner that night, on of the other teachers, Daniel, went to culinary school so he cooked us a delicious meal! It was such a great night hanging out with everyone and getting to know everyone a little more. Sunday morning, we got up and went to the beach once more, despite the sunburn. I mean I had to get my fix of the beach as much as I could. All in all it was a fabulous weekend, and I recommend Cabarete to anyone who goes to the DR! haha

Last weekend, we hiked to another waterfall. I won’t go into too much detail because they probably all sound the same to you guys. But this one was just as great as the first! We had to trek through the river to get to the waterfall so it was a little challenging at times. And for everyone else who has longer legs that I do it was a little easier for them to climb up on the rocks, whereas for me I had to basically rock climb up the rocks at times. Totally worth it. Beautiful waterfall yet again. I’m sure there will be more to come.

This weekend a group of about 20 of us went camping at a place called Manaboa. This is where Chad, the husband of the couple that started Doulos, has a coffee farm. The first week of staff training that I missed the rest of the staff went to learn all about the coffee farm and such, so I was excited to finally see it. The hike up there was quite exhausting and a little longer that what I was expecting. It was my first camping trip that we had to carry all of our food and sleeping bag and such up to the campsite. I felt pretty legit. So now you guys can’t say I’m not outdoorsy. But of course the view was spectacular as usual. I spent the first part of the afternoon laying in the grass, reading my book, then took a nap in the grass, then reading a little bit more. It was perfect. We took a pretty good hike, about an hour long, to another waterfall. It was like another little secret adventure because the trail wasn’t really well cut out. The water was freezing as always, but very refreshing after the hike! That night, was probably one of my favorite memories from the trip thus far. One of the guys brought his guitar with him, so after dinner we all sat around this big campfire and sang. We sang some fun songs Hootie and the Blowfish, and the song “Drift away.” Then we sang some worship songs. We sang for probably like 2 hours. It was just a beautiful time. I wish I could capture it and describe it to all of you, but I guess that wouldn’t have made it as special. It was just a wonderful, special time not only with the Lord, but with the other staff. Just he sound of voices praising the Lord with no noises from the city or anything, was irreplaceable. It was just a quiet, much needed refreshing weekend.

My classroom has been going pretty well. I am teaching a little more. There of course have been many challenges, but it keeps getting a little better day by day. I know its not going to be an overnight process with these kids, or even with myself so I am just praying for God’s strength. And I really am just overwhelmed with everyone’s blessings and prayers. I cannot tell you what they mean to me. Just getting various emails from you guys and little messages of encouragement, means more than you think. Really. So thank you. This week we are finishing our unit on Emotions so we are visiting the hospital tomorrow and bringing them balloons because we want to make people that are sad, happy! Haha. Then on Tuesday we are going to the ancianos (elderly home). They came up with the project and came up with a way to make money. This past week they had to clean houses for donations just around their house or their neighbors house. They had to learn to make money to get there, so we could bring the ancianos cards, and hugs and bring joy to their day. I am really looking forward to taking my first field trip with my kids. Lets hope its not disastrous. Haha.

A few extra highlights from the past few weeks:
-Had a kid in my class give me the finger. Yikes. I don’t think she exactly knows what it means, but she got in a tad bit of trouble.
-I get lots and lots of kisses everyday….and I love it! On Friday one of the girls was eating a sucker and then gave me a little kiss on the cheek and I think she left a little behind of my cheek. O well. :)
-We’ve had a few more run ins with the rat. The new score is me: 4, Melinda: 3, Robyn: 5.
-Had ranch for my first time in what seems like forever! One of the teachers found some for me and bought it for me. Not as good as Chilis ranch, but it’ll due
-New favorite snack here: Peanut Butter Captain Crunch. It will probably get me through the next few months.
-Going into my 6th week of living in the DR!

Thanks everyone for reading my blog again. Congrats if you read this far; I know it was kinda long this time. Check out my pics on my facebook if you haven’t already. I am much better at putting those up than updating my blog haha. Love each of you!