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Usual night noise, with the addition of three dogs who took turns barking incessantly. Clearly one of them lives next door. Someone (but I don’t know who) actually got out of bed at one point and yelled “shut up” at the dog next door. In hindsight, it is actually pretty funny because the dog stopped barking – he must have had some language training along the way… Craft for the day is “The Talents.” Morning chaos seems a little more organized somehow. Perhaps we have worked out the routine for getting everyone out the door on time.
When Lucrecia arrived, I asked her if she had tried the bras. She responded by flashing me in the kitchen! She is so happy with them and keeps hugging me and blowing me kisses all day. Clearly, this is a special treat for her. Note to self: definitely need to tell my friends about this so that I can bring a better size selection next year …
Kathy and I headed next door to do our morning prep. The time that we have spent each afternoon preparing the following day’s craft has really paid off. Everything is now running like clockwork – get the memory verse taped up, put the books and nametags in each room, morning songs, and then wait to hear from the teacher if there are any new students on this fourth day of classes. We are now up to 76 students! The children are excited about the daily craft project and several inquired yesterday about what they would be doing today. How wonderful to be so excited about the simplest things! I do have to admit that I have noticed a growing impulse to want to cut paper plates and punch holes in them. I especially noticed it this afternoon, as I was seated at the table for lunch, I found myself gazing at the stack of plates and trying to estimate how many plates there were. Surely this is a result of us constantly counting and shifting supplies – most often trying to guesstimate what we will need for the next day and giving the rest to the Mao folks whose numbers are really swelling. They are now up to 112.
Anyway, back to the morning. We have also learned to recognize the look on Joanne’s (assistant for the littlest ones’ class) face when it is time for the Play Dough. She appears daily, with that look on her face, shortly after complete chaos has broken out in her classroom. It is amazing the calming effect it has on them. As I walk into the room, holding the Ziploc bag containing the precious stuff, kids scramble to get back to their seats as their teacher explains that only children who are seated and quiet will get Play Dough. Within a minute or two, the room is nearly quiet as each child works the dough. Some of the girls run to me and grab my hand, gently pulling me towards their desks to show me that they have carefully crafted “Gail” out of the dough. “Kathy” is next.
In the process of helping the youngest group with their craft project, I discover that several of them say “Los dones de Diego” (The talents of Diego)– which is exactly what the sample says. Further inspection reveals that the three talents from the sample, “Jugar futbol,” (to play football) “Cantar,” (to sing) and “Leer” (to read) are also used. Hilarious – each of them has done exactly what the sample shows, even to the point of not writing their own name, but writing “Diego.” I’ve never seen so many little girls who liked futbol!
Kathy and I finished early, (because we didn’t have any crafts to prep for tomorrow) and I jumped on the computer to check messages. Sheree and Smith appeared shortly and the Mao group later, just as expected. After lunch Andi, Karen, and Yvonne headed out with Olga for shopping (again). We each put our orders in for coffee and vanilla to bring home. While they were gone, the rest of us headed over to the supply room to prepare the 350 gift bags that we will give to the children and teachers tomorrow. We worked on those for at least three hours, while the others were gone.
We worked on them for over four hours, total. The original plan was to staple each bag shut – 2 bags were stapled before the stapler jammed. OK – Plan B. Punch a hole in each bag and then tie it with a piece of left-over yarn. That worked well, with the end result being a sea of crisp white bags topped with a colorful accent. Fortunately, we had been given the afternoon off from painting – realizing that we couldn’t paint and prepare the bags. We finished the bags at 5:30 and our taxi to Father’s home arrived at about 6:00. The time in between was filled by helping Andi prepare the gifts that she had bought for Father and his family. Sheree and Smith had stopped, with their taxi driver, at a store on the way home and purchased a basketball and pump for Georgey, Father’s Almonte’s son. He’ll love that. It must be torturous to look at the basketball hoops in the church compound every day and not have a basketball!
The Almonte home was a multi-family structure – they had
three bedrooms and two baths. Quite nice, really and Andi later explained that
this was “above average.” There were several things, none-the-less, that still
struck me as strange – like the giant mildew stains on the ceiling in the
bathroom. Andi also noted that the bathroom doorknob was missing. As usual,
all of the windows were wide open, in hopes of capturing the slightest breeze.
Olga had prepared quite a spread, we had a prayer, and then ate and drank adult
beverages. I was happy to see that 6 of our 7 teachers and assistants were
there – everyone except for Jessica, the assistant for the oldest class, as she
was home studying (she is an English teacher, but is also studying fashion
design). Kathy and I found out earlier that the rest of the team was planning
to give each of their teachers a photograph of themselves, taken with their
digital cameras. Neither Kathy nor I have a digital camera, so we won’t have
photos for
our teachers. Karen had her digital camera with her that night, so I
asked if she could take pictures of the La Anunciacion teachers. She was happy
to do it – OK – that problem’s solved.
Then the dancing started. My teachers were hilarious and wanted to show us how to dance. I danced with Ana and later Ada. Lots of activity in a small space, in warm temperatures. Yvonne broke into one of her regular numbers, but was quickly upstaged by Milagros (Miracles), one of my teachers for the oldest group, who, I have just learned tonight from Olga, is a psychologist. Olga presented each of us with a small box, wrapped in Christmas paper. I couldn’t help but notice that most of the boxes are the same, except for Smith’s, which is smaller, and Kathy’s, which is bigger. We opened them and showed each other. They are all decorative plates, depicting a famous scene from the Dominican Republic. Mine is the first church of the Caribbean, a historical cathedral in Santiago. Kathy’s is identical – only larger (she is the deacon!). Smith’s is a replica of the monument that we visited the other night. How thoughtful of them to give us each a remembrance of our time here. I can’t help but smile as I run my fingers over the rooster that is painted on the plate. Yes, roosters have indeed been part of our experience this week.
Much to our surprise, the trash collectors arrived at about
9:30 pm to collect the trash. At 10:00, another family stopped by with two
young children. Apparently, she is a local celebrity with her own television
show. She was very friendly and interested in practicing her English, which was
actually quite good. Good thing, because we were getting really tired and our
Spanish was quickly declining. At around 10:30, the 2 taxis showed up
(apparently the large one that we had ridden over in wasn’t available – or
forgot to come get us) … either way, another late night and we were exhausted.
When we got home, decided to just go to bed, which was a mistake. I tossed and
turned for several hours, I think
due to sheer ickyness. The Mao team was
sitting at the table signing their names to the certificates that “Breechy” had
printed. All in color, on card stock, for their 112 students. I have nicknamed
him “Godfather” as he is clearly “the man” for the Mao component. A couple of
days this week the Mao team has returned toting fresh-squeezed cherry juice.
One day they came home with giant sun flowers and shared pictures of a home that
had sun flowers that were taller than the house. Entire night was a restless
one. The trash collectors appeared some time after 2:00 AM. I wouldn’t have
believed it, if I hadn’t seen them at Father and Olga’s home this evening …
