Our Teaching Career Begins

Looks like we need to apologize again for the late blog..... It’s been busy!!  We have come to a realization that we both can’t be doing what we want to be doing at the same time because we have a baby; and babies are time consuming; Haha; Especially our baby; who needs to be watched all the time; to make sure she isn’t eating paper, chewing on cords, chasing the dogs or trying to climb anything and everything. We have decided that instead of us passing Abriel back and forth trying to accomplish things that we just need to take turns. It kind of sucks but it’s necessary and it’s working much better.

Juan Julian playing the vowel game!

We started tutoring!! We started last Thursday. We will be tutoring Monday’s from 2-4pm, Tuesday’s 4-5pm, and Thursday’s 4-5pm. Our first class we had two kids.... and now that we have done four classes we are looking at a steady 15 kids. It’s nuts..... but I am loving it. Whenever I see the kids in the school they grab onto my leg and ask in Spanish (“Dos?! A Qui?!”) when the next class is and then yell “YEAH”. When they are actually in the class they seem less excited to learn and more excited to cause trouble. We have been working on the vowels (Las Vocales) so far: A E I O U!!  I have said that a few times this week.  My heart breaks for some of these kids though.... more than half of them (mostly grade 2) have no idea how to spell their name and the ones that can spell their name usually have no idea what the letters are called to make up their name. They learn by copying. Although, in as little as 15 minutes of one on one time with a little boy named “Dairobi” he can now write his name and say each letter. I am soooo proud of him.  On our first day a girl in our class told me (speaking through our translator Jessica) there were problems at home. She explained that her family doesn’t have a bathroom in the house so they have to go in buckets and then throw it outside. She said the people in the community are yelling at them and calling them names because it’s starting to smell. I asked why her family doesn’t use the community washroom area. She told me since her family is Haitian they aren’t allowed to use it. It took all my power not to lose it right there. Afterwards I explained the story to Chris broke down crying. The worse thing is I didn’t know what to say... all I managed to say was “I am sorry your family is going through this right now”. We are looking into a solution.... but (as is the Dominican way) there is a process. I couldn’t imagine being a 10 year old and having to worry about where I could use the bathroom.

On a much different note, we have found a great restaurant to eat at while we are here. Sometimes it’s cheaper to go out then to cook. It’s called Britannia’s Britannia Pub and it is owned by a Canadian couple from Sudbury. They have a special every night of the week for 99 pesos ($2.60). Can’t beat the price and it’s yummy.  Lots of street vendors come by and try and sell you things. We met Miguel, the shoe shine boy, there as mentioned in a previous blog. Chris and I ran into Miguel again last week and he was with his brother and cousin on a Saturday night around 7pm working. We bought them ice cream and chatted. We learned Miguel and his 3 siblings live at home with their grandmother who can’t work. Miguel, 11 years old, said he goes to school from 8am - 12pm and then works every night from 4pm to 9pm as well as Saturday from 8am to 9pm. He told us this with a smile on his face.... proud.... happy.....brave! We told them that we have some family coming soon and we want to hang out at the beach with them. They were really excited and so are we.

Stayed tuned! In the next couple days you will hear of Veggie Columbus Day!