The Time In Between

Short post this week! Over the past two weeks, I had a week of sites and the first half of my last set of homestays and language school. It was really nice to have a normal week in sites between the teams, Jarabocoa, the last set of homestays, and these homestays. It was a great reset where I was able to reconnect with my site leaders and the kids in my site. I could go on and on about those kids-- they really do make the struggle of learning a second language completely worth it. 

One of the other things that I’ve been loving about the tutoring site is that I’m slowly gaining more responsibility. When I first began there, I didn’t know enough Spanish to do much more than wash dishes after snack and help glue construction paper onto worksheets. Recently, Elizabeth has been giving me the opportunity to put everything I’ve been doing over these last six months (there’s no way it’s been that long already!) to help teach two women that have recently started coming to the morning Spanish classes. We set up our chairs on the porch while the other students are doing lessons and work slowly but surely through the Spanish workbooks. There's some Google translate on my end (going between Spanish, Haitian Creole, and English), but it’s amazing to see these two women show up every day to learn Spanish. It inspires me, honestly. 

This last week, I’ve been staying at Elena’s house with Makayla, Ava, and Natalie. Elena is an older woman who attends ICM (our church), and I’ve come to find out that she’s related to a good majority of the congregation in some way or another. And I’m only exaggerating slightly. In comparison to my previous homestays, this one has been relatively calm. Myself and the other girls have been keeping ourselves busy in the evenings with homework and whatnot. It’s nice to have a little bit of time where I’m outside of “normal” but I’m also not scrambling around. On Saturday (9th), Elena took us girls to her brother’s house in Moca. He lives on a property that’s used and rented out for weddings and other events of the sort, and so it was absolutely gorgeous. His daughters gave us the Grand Tour of it all, including the pool (which we later got to swim in!), the horses, the chicken barns, and best of all, the ostriches. 

You guys, I had absolutely no idea how large those birds were. I’m not even kidding, they were like 8 feet tall. Pictures at the bottom of the post, as always. When I asked one of the girls what an ostrich is called in Spanish, she told me "pájaro loco," which means "crazy bird." (For those curious, it's avestruz.)

We spent pretty much the entire day at Elena’s brother’s house. We were given so much (AMAZING) food until we couldn’t eat any more… and then we ate more. I got to try a typical Dominican dish, called habichuelas con dulce, which translates to “sweet beans.” It consists of beans blended up into an almost milk-like consistency, seasoned with cinnamon and/or nutmeg. There’s chunks of potatoes in it as well. It tasted weirdly like hot chocolate (which in and of itself is different than in the States). Habichuelas con dulce is a meal that many Dominicans make around Easter, and it’s common for a massive batch to be made to share with all the neighbors, or so that visitors can take the leftovers home (which we did, in fact, do). 

In other news, I’ve started a new round of classes, and am loving them already! I’m starting a class that allows me to get a certificate for teaching English as a foreign language, which is something that I want to pursue further down the road in some capacity. Also, to keep you guys up to date, my application for Global Bridge 2 has been submitted, and I’m waiting on an interview. Thank you guys for your continued support and prayers with all of this!

Final note, I’m sure many of you have seen or heard on the news or on social media what’s been going on in Haiti right now. There is a lot of violence and many of the people in my church have family and friends in Haiti. I know they would appreciate some extra prayer for their families, friends, and churches that are struggling due to the unrest. For those of you who are concerned about how this affects the Dominican Republic-- it hasn’t, really. Much of the unrest is centered in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. 

Thanks for catching up with me! As always, your continued prayers are appreciated. I’ll see you in two weeks, on the 25th of March!

¡Hasta luego, y'all!

Maddy <3

Views of Santiago from Moca

Habichuelas con Dulce

Walking around the venue/farm

The Ostritch