Happy Valentine's Day!

Sorry I haven't blogged all week. It was a busy week with my parents here but a fun week! I'll try to give a brief overview of what we did.

Monday - We took a tour of the hospital with Dr. Garcia who got to meet Dad for the first time. All leaders and their parents went with us. We walked around to all the different portions of the hospital and as we entered the ER, a man was being catherized in one of the beds! So much for privacy, oops! From there we headed to the Rehab Center, to Lilo's the grocery store, and then to get ice cream. We came back for lunch and were supposed to head out to a local school to teach for the afternoon but it was pouring rain all morning and some in the afternoon so very few students would have been at school. Here instead of snow days, they have rain days because of the muddy roads! So, many of the orphanage children didn't go to school and we decided to have an activity day with them. They came over and made some wooden airplanes and did some small sewing kits that Bryson's parents had brought. We also had reading, cards, Left, Right, Center, and Betty Spaghetti. That evening was movie night for the kids and we watched Robin Hood with them! Nena sat with me for the movie, I love that kid!

Tuesday - We headed to Jaibon to meet the boys at that orphanage and to enjoy an awesome lunch. Jaqueline, the cook, in Jaibon chops up everything fresh and makes wonderful food. We toured around a little, hung out with the boys, ate lunch, and then played with the boys again. I played with Dany for a little while tossing a ball into the spaces between the benches in their ramada area. Mom took a nap against the wall, she was a little under the weather, and doped up on drugs that made her tired. Christine's Mom cut some of the boys' hair which they enjoyed. We headed back to Monte Cristi and stopped for ice cream in Villa Vasquez. That evening was history talk/movie night so as our parents watched In the Time of the Butterflies, we hung out with the kids some.

Wednesday - We used the morning to do some planning for Thursday and then headed out to Manzanillo, a town about 1 hour away, where Orphanage Outreach was donated a house. Marge, who was a Peace Corps volunteer for many years, lives in this house and we had a picnic lunch in her back yard. Her yard is awesome with banana tree, plantain tree, lime trees, mango trees, apple banana trees, etc. It was a cool atmosphere and we enjoyed PB&J sandwiches. We headed to the park and then to the river where we could see across the river to part of Haiti, but just a beachy area. We headed back to Monte Cristi and stopped at Batey Jaramillo on the way home to show them what a batey looks like. When we got back we had some free time with the kids. Dad played basketball with some of the older kids and got a good workout in! For dinner we went out for pizza with Dr. Garcia. He, his wife, and a german exchange student living with him, joined me, Mom, Dad and Coco. It was an enjoyable dinner and he had some very nice things to say. I love that man, a very humble, awesome person.

Thursday - We headed out to Jaiqui, a poor village area, to do some activities. It was rainy that morning as well, but we headed out anyway to see if anyone would show up. The road to Jaiqui is about 6 km and all dirt roads, which meant all mud. There were a few uphill spots that we weren't sure we were going to make it up, sliding here and there but we made it. We set up shop in the church and played some left, right, center, and dominos with the men, colored with the kids, gave manicures to the women, and Christine's Mom cut a few people's hair. We spent a couple of hours there just enjoying their company. Then we headed back for lunch and had some time to plan for teaching that afternoon. We went into Ciudad de Luz, a small private school, that was started by previous OO leaders. Mom, Dad, John and I taught 4th grade. We taught the parts of the head so we had made this face with velcro pieces for the eyes, ears, etc. They had to come up and find the piece that we said in English and put it on the face. Then we had them make their own faces with button eyes, mouths, teeth, tongues, ears, and yarn hair that we had cut out for them. They enjoyed this! Afterwards, we played slap it, where they have to slap the picture on the board of the word we say in English. We stayed for recess and they were wild! The evening was free to hang out with the kids at the orphanage.

Friday - The morning was spent exploring around Monte Cristi, going to the gift shop where Mom and Dad bought me some cool paintings for my spare bedroom, and then we went to see the clock tower, the Cuban Museum, and I also got a painting from a local artist to put up in my den. It is awesome and hard to describe. I'll post a picture once I get it, he has to repaint one because the one he had hanging up he is using for an art show in NY. That afternoon we went out for lunch in town to the buffet lunch at Comedor Adela. Instead of going to the beach, we walked back, napped and then our parents helped make some beds for the teams coming in. Thanks for the help! We then just spent time hanging out with the kids before dinner. We headed out for dinner too, but before that we went up to the prison where you can see the best view of Monte Cristi. Pizza was great as always, and when we got back we had closing and birthday cake for Christine's Mom.

The week was a great week. Some highlights of playing with the kids were playing a game of pass the ball around with Mom, Jasmin and Bryson's parents, Dad doing slow death to some of the younger boys, Dad playing basketball with the older boys and beating them, Mom drawing sidewalk chalk with the kids, all the kids telling Dad he looked like Tom Eklund (the executive director of OO) all week long!, Mom sewing with Yanina, Dad playing Old Maid with me, Carolina, and John's dad Elden, etc., etc. It was a great week and I think Mom and Dad both had a great time! I took some pictures throughout the week but most of them are on Dad's computer so I'll have him send them to me so I can post some for everyone to see!

Saturday I headed in to the airport to pick up some new volunteers. We had a daughter, mother with us, a family of 6 from Boston that is sailing for a year who stopped in the DR for a week, and two college teams from Canada. I made it back to the orphanage at dinner time, hung out with the kids for a bit after dinner, and then headed to my room and went to bed at 9pm!

Today was orientation day, this morning we did introductions and then Coco and I worked on the med list for customs that she has to take to the capital tomorrow (5 hours away!) to get approved. This afternoon is more orientation and then church this evening.