Tarantulas, Coral Reefs, and Picnics

Posted by Maddy October 16, 2023

Tarantulas, Coral Reefs, and Picnics

Hey guys! Welcome back. Just a quick thing: I want to say how absolutely grateful I am for those of you who have been reading this. It’s so encouraging to know that you guys love keeping up with this!

On the evening of October 3rd, 2023, I encountered my first live tarantula. I’d seen a dead one before on the side of the road. But this tarantula was chilling on the outside of the sliding door of the house. It was quite the production, and eventually, we captured it in a plastic bucket. There was a slight debate on whether we should kill it or just release it. I’d just learned that morning that squishing a tarantula could have disastrous results, due to the fact that they can spray a pretty nasty smell like a skunk does when they’re scared. We decided maybe we could drown it in the pool since that wouldn’t require squishing it. This backfired almost immediately after we opened the lid of the bucket.

Apparently, tarantulas are capable of swimming.

Luckily, we were able to recapture it again with the skimmer net meant for cleaning out the pool, and using the long pole to our advantage, take it to the front of the base and dump it over the fence.

Needless to say, it was an… exciting night. The next morning, one of the staff asked why we hadn’t fried it up and eaten it. I sincerely hoped that he was joking.

The rest of sites went off without a hitch. I’m absolutely loving being able to connect with the kids. They’re teaching me just as much as I’m teaching them. Speaking of teaching, Elizabeth, my site leader, asked me if I would like to teach a formal lesson one afternoon for the kids about the seasons of the year. I was super excited about this opportunity and look forward to actually doing it after I’m done with homestays on the 20th! I also get to teach a devotional, and hopefully contribute to music class a bit by playing a song on the piano.

At the end of sites, on the 5th, Elizabeth, Emily, the preschool site leaders, and I went to visit the home of one of the students. We had coffee, chatted with her mom, and got to say hi to some of her siblings. I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on for most of the time because they all talked super fast (even though my Spanish has been improving, all hope goes out the window when you get more than two Dominicans talking with each other). Before we left, we prayed for them and then went back to the tutoring site.

For the rest of the weekend, I was kind of nervous. I’d been so exhausted during homestays last time, and I wanted to avoid that this time so that I could actually function during Spanish class without having to chug a cup of coffee and take a nap during lunch. At one point on Sunday the 8th, Noel and I made pizza dough for our pizza lunches for the upcoming week. It was delicious.

On the 7th, we had another excursion to Paradise Island!! It was absolutely gorgeous. We took a ten (twenty?) minute boat ride to a large sandbar off the coast and got to go snorkeling in the nearby reef for almost three hours. The water was perfect and I loved swimming over all the coral. Courtney handed out bread and we got to feed the school of fish that was hanging around the coral reef. I can’t even describe how surreal it was-- there were all sorts of fish, some of them as thick as my calf and longer than my forearm and others the length of my pointer finger and bright blue. If you went out far enough, there was a drop-off, and there was about twenty (twenty-five? I’m bad at guessing) feet of just water below you. It was the strangest feeling, having so much water below me. It made me a bit panicky, and I had to remember that I can’t panic while I’m breathing through a snorkel, because those two things just don’t mix. The drop-off really gave me a perspective of just how deep the ocean can get. Nothing in creation can really compare to it, and I’m continually amazed but just how vast our world is.

On Monday, the 9th, I learned that I’d been with Natalie, our intern, and a woman from our church named Elenny. Elenny has two daughters, Nileyred and Elah (17 and 3, respectively). Nileyred loves to chat, and I’ve had a lot of fun playing cards with her. We even watched Mean Girls the movie and did our nails together one night, which was super fun. Elah’s got so much sass but really is the sweetest thing. We’ve had some amazing food (Elenny is a fabulous cook). The entire week with them was really great overall.

Throughout the week, I was working toward the end of one of my classes (Old Testament History). I had a big paper due, and although I did most of the research throughout the week, I saved most of the writing for it on Friday, the 13th. Also on Friday, I got to experience a power outage. Power outages aren’t uncommon in the city, but the one that we had went on for a good five hours, which was slightly abnormal. It’s not the first time that I’ve been around when the power has been out, but the base has a backup generator, so it doesn’t affect us that much.

That had its own ups and downs. While it was kind of cool writing my paper by candlelight like a student in the early 1800s, I wouldn’t recommend it. Also because the power was out, we didn’t have any wifi or any air from the fans. So we were all pretty hot (Google says it felt like roughly 90 degrees Fahrenheit, which has been typical lately), and tried to just sit around so we wouldn’t get hotter. At about ten P.M., the power came on again, and we all cheered. Nileyred, Natalie, and I all did a little dance in the kitchen together. That was short-lived, unfortunately, because it went out about ten minutes later. When it went out, you could hear the neighbors yell in disappointment, which was kind of funny. The cycle repeated itself three or four more times, and eventually, I was able to finish my paper and then submit it in one of the short bursts of wifi that we had. So that was a win! By the next morning, the power was back on consistently, and we were all able to enjoy some cool air next to the fans.

On the 14th, Saturday, we got to sleep in a bit, and then we spent the morning hanging around. Elenny and Natalie cooked lunch, and Elah and I played cards. I wasn’t exactly sure what the rules were, considering… well there weren’t any, and when I tried to ask what they were, Elah explained them in Spanish… so for all intents and purposes, I definitely won every round that we played together. Eventually, Nileyred joined us, and since she knows more English, we were able to play a more cohesive game, which was super fun!

In the afternoon, we all piled into the car with a cooler and went to the Botanical Gardens again. Elenny bought us fresh coconut that we drank the water from through a straw (that was a first, and it definitely won’t be the last!) and then we set out to find the perfect place to have a picnic. We got on the trolley that makes a loop around the gardens, getting off about halfway through the short journey. There were some picnic tables under the trees, and we thought that would, in fact, be the perfect place to have a picnic. And, in theory, it was. Unfortunately, we were very, very wrong. Almost immediately, we were swarmed by mosquitoes. (Ah, a sweet reminder of home...) They targeted me with a particular vengeance, and once Natalie noticed this, she ended up standing behind me and swatting my back whenever one landed on me. (She always apologized after, but I told her I’d rather she hit me and kill the mosquitoes than leave me to my own devices where I would have surely perished at the hands of my foes.)

Eventually, the bus came back around, and we gladly got back on it. We made it back to the start of the loop and set up our picnic right there. We had arroz con pollo y habichuelas. White rice, chicken, and beans. And let me tell you-- I will be getting the recipe from Elenny because it was some of the best rice, chicken, and beans that I’ve ever had (have I mentioned that she's an amazing cook yet??). After we finished, we walked around a bazaar that was set up near the exit of the gardens, and then we headed home.

Thanks so much for reading this, and I really appreciate everyone who’s been praying for me (I’m trying to keep my prayer request list updated). Like always, feel free to comment and ask questions. I love all of you, and miss you lots! Pictures coming up, and for those of you who don’t like spiders… well here’s your warning. (Sorry for the weird spacing... Blogger isn't really meant for formatting pictures.) I'll see you on October 30th!

¡Hasta luego, y'all!

Maddy <3