2/1/2013

   Playing catchup again.  Yesterday we had our class at the Institute.  It is a class of twenty - two were absent and three new students came.  The new ones came in with about twenty minutes left in class.  They all laugh about not  being on time because it is just a Dominican thing.  There was such a funny article in the paper today about the new president of this country.  Apparently he has thrown everyone off kilter because he actually is prompt and starts things on time.  They say the last president was never on time - like most Dominicans.  The kids always want to talk or want help after class so we are usually there for at least three hours.  Everyone is so friendly and it gives me a chance to practice Spanish
    So this morning Scott came home from his jog and said the Kirby was given a notice that he too is being fired.  This Soyla is just crazy.  We don't know what on earth she is thinking but she must be in some kind of trouble financially. If she fires all of the help she won't have to pay them and doesn't even pay them the money she owes them.  Elder Yturralde has taken it to a judge here and we are trying to get some help getting rid of Soyla but who knows what will happen.  Scott  says he is not going to make friends with any more of the help because they just get fired.  I wonder if she thinks they are telling on her.
    We had two Spanish classes this afternoon.  Elder Merino, of Mexican descent, has taken Elder Hammon's place and knows much about speaking the language but not much about the grammar.  So he teaches the speaking part and Scott teaches the grammar part. Elder Merino's wife is in the class even though she knows much Spanish.  She keeps him in line - which is often hilarious!  She is the mental health doctor here and makes comments that keep you laughing.  We understand more and more why the man who called to tell us that they had our mission call said "you will love this mission".  I don't know specifically what he was talking about but we certainly have found so many things to love about this mission.
     Got the web page information to Sister Johnson to put together for us.  Bless her heart!  That is what she has been doing in the states.  Her husband is a lawyer here so when they found out she could put together media things for the area they called her to do that.  They are from Park City with a family of eight.  Anyway now there is less pressure for me.  However I have to keep all of the music info, signatures, pictures, names, etc so I can turn in a history before we leave.  That requires alot of communication with other areas in the Caribbean and alot of time on the computer.  Just wish I was trained to use different programs on the computer what would do a better job than the ones I have used.
   Scott practices the piano while I blog so he is getting very good!

1/30/2013

  Our day was great for my Spanish study - time to read and practice conjugating verbs, etc.   So here they tell us that Spanish is going to be the Celestial language so maybe by the time I die I might be able to understand it!  I am rarely in a position that I have to speak anything but music Spanish.  Scott and I try to speak Spanish to each other but we get waylaid all of the time because we forget and go off in English for an hour or two before we realize we aren't speaking Spanish.  He thinks I am losing it anyway - and he could be right except I had already lost it before we came!  We were going to the temple yesterday and I had put a shirt on the ironing board to change into.  Well I was getting ready so I asked him to find the shirt and hand it to me.  He couldn't find it and I had him looking in every nook and cranny in our apartment.  When I finally realized I had put it on!  That was the final straw for him thinking I had any sanity left!!  But then I remember years ago when I had Megan looking everywhere for the phone and I was talking on it - so things haven't changed that much......
   Altagracie, our only remaining worker friend here, got a notice today that she was being fired.  That makes 8 workers that have been fired by Soyla since we got here.  They all know she is doing some very dishonest things.  What is disappointing to us is that the Dominicans here that own the apartments just never act on anything.
   We did get to go to the temple and do a couple of sessions.  There are always new people learning the work that goes on there and that makes for many interesting experiences.  I am so grateful we can do temple work here.

1/29/2013

Just read a post from Jan that says Dallin will be home in a week.  Wow!  We are so proud of him.
Even more so now I know a little bit more about what missionaries do.  Jamie told me that Bailey        Ferris is coming here on a mission in June. How exciting! If you love warm weather this is the place to be. The new CCM president here just arrived, the Freestones, and Sister Freestone's sister is Sister Beecher who we went to lunch with a month ago.  She is serving in Santiago but they come here to spend  a couple of days at the temple every so often so she will get to see her sister. There are four new couples here.  One from California is a neighbor to Scott's cousin, Clint Rees.
   The temple is finally open again and as we got ready to go I couldn't find my temple shoes. ( The ones that don't fall off my feet as I'm walking)  We looked and looked and decided I must have left them at the temple - sure enough, I had.  They asked me if I would be an escort for this Haitian woman who was going through for the first time.  That was great but she spoke French and had on headphones so she could understand what was going on but my communication with her was zilch!  I would have loved to hear her story.  One thing that I think is very strange here is that married couples often live apart - far apart.  Like one is in the states and one is here, or one is in Haiti and is here, etc.  I'm just not sure how that makes for happy marriages  - or faithful marriages.
    When we got home from the temple the Yturraldes came down and brought ice cream. She reminds me so much of Linda McClellan. We have really enjoyed their friendship here.
    We are now without a working phone.  Lost the one that worked while on vacation.  Someone called us a day ago from our phone but Scott couldn't understand what she said and no one answered when we tried to call back.  The office missionaries are trying to get the number cancelled and moved to another phone for us but that takes time here.
      

1/29/2013

   A bit of a relaxing day for me.  Went to PriceMart -to order pizza for Home Evening.  Washed and studied - read the B of M in Spanish on our way to and from Price Mart.  It has given me more pause to think about what actually is happening when I read it in Spanish and then interpret it into English.  How awfully sad it is to read the end of the book as everyone is fighting to the death until there is no one left.  Please don't let that be what happens in our society!! 
     If there is one thing I have learned in this life it is that life is all about adjusting.  About forgiving, about not being offended - about making the best out of very difficult situations - and it is a constant trial for all of us.  I know the Lord wants us to grow and become better and more Christlike.  I just pray to be able to do that!
   Scott went to Spanish and I stayed home because somewhere I picked up diarrhea and needed to be close to the restroom!  It gave me a chance to get more laundry done and talk to some of my favorite people so it was all good.

1/28/2013

We made it through Sunday - better than Saturday when I kept falling asleep during Scott's explanation of the class to the students.  I did realize one neat thing as I heard someone whistling  - whistling is a universal language.  What a nice thought for some of us trying to learn another language!
  We went to pick up the kids this morning and only had five. (William's three, one of the twin's and a cousin)  I just pray that some day these kids can find the gospel as adults and remember the brief time they went to church as kids. Kati had the flu they call the "gripe" here - respiratory problems.  Her mother had given her some medicine before she left but when she coughed in Sacrament meeting she sounded terrible.  The woman in front of us with a baby asked Scott is Kati had the gripe then she took her baby and stood by the door. I would never have taken Kati had I known she was sick  She was sitting on my lap kissing my cheek so I suppose I may be the next gripe victim.  However, the two lessons we went to teach all had sick people in attendance with the same kind of thing so we will see what happens.
   We have made friends with the man who sets on a chair by the alleyway to William's.  He scared me to death for months but started to warm up when he could see the little Dominican kids so excited to see us.  Now he waves and smiles when Scott goes and leaves me in the car.  I think the only reason they leave us alone sometimes is we have the kids with us.  Sunday is the  "everybody fill up you propane tanks for the week day.  They carry these tanks up the street on bikes, motos, heads - I don't know how they do half of the things they do.   One woman walks, pushing a stroller, with  her little girl from down by the river to the church miles away.  She is the only one from that area that I know of that is a member of the Church.  Every Sunday we just wish we had room to put her in our car and take her with us to church.
    We dropped the kids off and headed back to the apartment to have a bowl of soup, pick up our music stuff and head out to San Crystobol.  There were many sick among the group but they weren't going to miss lessons.  I wanted to break out a can of Lysol and some hand sanitizer but I didn't have either with me!  These students are doing very well.  Some are having a harder time than others, of course, but as a whole they are moving much faster than our other classes.
    The traffic was not too bad on our trip back through the city and out to Oriental.  All ten of our students were there - and on time!  In three weeks we are ending the class and having a recital.  Everyone of these students can play with two hands - it is remarkable to see what they have learned.
I am sure we have all been blessed - us to teach and them to learn.
   It never seems like Sunday at the end of the day but it is nice to get home and have those five weekend lessons over.
   We did hear when we got back from vacation that two groups of Mormon dentists who had come here to do free dental work had been robbed at gunpoint as they walked around the temple.  That is a sad way to thank people for donating their time and resources.  I am just grateful that our kids were safe here!
 

1/25/2013

Wednesday's class

Thursday's class

It has been a busy week with three new classes to teach.  Wednesday, the 23rd, was our first day at the Institute with our 10:00am class. They had five students registered but eleven showed up.  It will be fun working with these kids.  On Thursday  our 3:00 our class consisted of about twenty.  Isn't life strange?  Who would have thought we would be anywhere teaching music! Scott has become very good at teaching music.  I am just fairly good at communicating in Spanish so I can help.  Most of the Institute kids speak quite a bit of English but Scott keeps telling them to talk to me in Espanol.  I know that is best but it gets quite frustrating at times!!
     On Friday we had our two Espanol clases.  Elder Marino is teaching in Elder Hammon's place.  His wife is the mental health person here and this gives him something to do.  I think it will be good.  Then Scott is supposed to teach the grammar part of the language.  Elder Marino learned to speak on two different Spanish speaking missions but says he has never learned the correct grammer.  You would think with all of these classes we would be pretty good by now - but not good enough to understand much of what these people say!
   This morning we left at 9:00 am for music lesson at the Caleto Ward in Las Americas.  We had met with them the week before the kids came.  There were three new students and one old one that didn't come.

The counselor in the Stake Presidency that is over the music is such a great guy.  He is a taxi driver here so you know he has to be a quick thinker!  He had scheduled us for lesson in the Moleno Ward eight or so miles away so he led us there and stayed to get things going for us.  This is a different looking church but has nice big rooms inside.  There were about ten signed up for the class here.

This is the front of the building.  The green doors slide in front of the windows and other door to keep anyone from breaking in. 

After these two lessons we just had time to drive home, get some lunch and head out to Hainamosa for our lesson there.  We had missed last week and when we got there three people we had never seen and the baseball player who was just baptized came. Only Felix of our regular students showed up for some time, then Anderson and Soriano came.  Apparently they had announced in some of their wards that we were starting a new class today - just hadn't mentioned it to us.  Such a Dominican way to do things....  So I worked with the baseball player, Felix, Soriano, and Anderson while Scott started in the conducting book with the three new students.  By next week there will probably be ten more.    We just have to laugh at life here - it is never what you expect!  How blessed we have been to be in this beautiful country with so many wonderful people......

     

1/21/2013 Our kids visit

It's Monday already - I can't believe it.  Thought the time would never come that the kids were here and now it is almost gone.  It has been so nice to spend time with them.  Saturday we came here to La Ramona Iberostar.  We were to early to check in so drove to Cueva Maravillasa.  This is a huge cave that was discovered by a boy scout when he uncovered the bush and other natural growing plants that covered the opening to the cave.  They only take you to 30% of the cave and that takes an hour plus to walk through. Much of the rest of the cave is filled with bats!  It is amazing with its natural stalagmites and stalactites, and paintings on the walls that they have proven are between 800 and 1000 years old.  They look like some child's drawings.

   Then we headed back to check into the motel. We were driving our car and Jake was driving a 12 passenger van.  Anyone driving in the DR would understand the getting separated and never finding each other again.  But we did both end up at the resort so that was a plus! This is a beautiful resort.  There is a different feeling here than there was at Punta Cana. The grounds look like the Garden of Eden!  The Iberostar buffet wasn't quite as large or as good as the Majestic but the restaurants we had dinner at were very good.  We tried many different foods - having no idea what they were and decided that Dominican food is very bland.
  On Sunday the Caribbean Area had a regional conference. Since only Jake understood Spanish we decided not to try to find a chapel there that would have the broadcast.  We drove back to Santo Domingo - all in the big van.  I was sitting on the row next to the rear seat and boy was it ever a ride!  Between the crazy driving here and the condition of the roads it felt like a roller coaster ride.  We brought the kids to our apartment so they could see where we lived.

  I know when I went to see Eli I felt so much better when I would talk to her being able to visualize where she was.  We went to the Temple grounds and walked around the Temple - which is closed for cleaning.

  Then we drove down to Williams, hoping we would catch him home.  We didn't.  But the kids got to see how they live down there in the poverty areas.  You always wonder how that first impression looks to someone else because I was amazed and saddened the first time we went down there.  We came back and went to the Colonial Zone that was first established by Columbus' son.  We saw the first cathedral built on this Island.  The old buildings are all cement - and for that matter, so are the new ones.  There were hundreds of pigeons on the square with the church and a big statue of Columbus.  We looked up and saw some white people walking on the other side of the street.  It was our friends, the Shavers, with their daughter and son-in-law. We loaded up and headed back to the Iberostar. 

Some house !

     We really appreciated that our son- in-law and our daughters-in-law would spend their vacation with us.  Nate, Hannah, and Cami were wonderful - and of course, it was so good to spend time with Joe, Megan and Jake  and the best baby you've ever seen - Samson!  How we love all of them!
     The night's were so quiet - no street noise, no guaguas, no taxis, no police blowing their whistles, no presidential motorcade going by, no ambulances sirens. no noisy dominos players. ( One of the guagua's has a new horn sound that sounds like a dying animal)  I'm surprised we could even sleep in the peacefulness of the resort. 
   Monday was the designated snorkeling day.  The trip took most of the day.  I was hoping that it would be a short trip for them so I could stay with Samson away from the water - but no, it was too long and he needed his mom.  I just kept praying I wouldn't have a panic attack in the boat on the ocean.  Someone else must have prayed for me too because it was actually a fun experience.  Something I would have only done for my kids!!  We went out on a motor boat to the island then came back on a catamaran (don't know how you spell that)  but it was relaxing and fun since we were never out of site of land. The kids snorkeling experience was bad though - they didn't even see fish. 

Does that look like Nate???  Meg dancing on the boat.

We had lunch on the Island and headed back to the resort.  Got to love the picture of my sunburned husband!
     We had dinner reservations at a Mexican restaurant - was really good food.
     Joe and Hannah came to our apartment and helped us get some things together to send back for the grandkids.  It was so nice to visit with them.  Felt like home!  I just felt like I should be packing my bag and coming home with them.  That day will come soon enough.
     On Tuesday we did some last minute shopping, checked out, and went back to the buffet for lunch before we left.  They had to be at the airport and we had piano lessons in our apartment for Sister Lee and her granddaughter. Having spent six days with some of our kids was just the thing I needed to know that I could survive another seven months!  We are so grateful to them for coming out here and hope they enjoyed their time here.