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week 12: rain, rain and more rain (september 1-7)
tropical storm fay: tropical storm fay actually ended up hitting us worse than hurricane gustav. it rained pretty much all week. i think there were another 2 days that the kids didn’t have school this week. we don’t really have a national weather service here, so the country gets all it’s info from miami or puerto rico, but we do have a system… alerta verde, alerta (something i don't remember) and alerta roja… which relate to the severity of the storms. so, anytime we are on altera roja the kids automatically don’t have school because the teachers can’t be bused in to teach. the picture above is our soccer field, which was basically turned into a swimming pool after the storms. apparently we also had a tornado come through, but i didn’t see it. it did some pretty bad damage to the nearby village, called batey nuevo. two families lost their tin homes and the electric lines were torn down, so we were all without electricity for a few days. no one was injured, so that is good. nph has a good relationship with the people of batey nuevo (many of their kids come to our school), so we also try to help them in times like these. please keep these families in your prayer and all those that have been affected by the hurricanes, especially those in haiti. haiti has been hit much worse than we have in the dr…. there is a lot of damage and many lives have been lost.
second home: so this weekend was my weekend off. (we work monday through the following thursday and then are off for three days). it’s very nice to get away from the home for a few days. i really like it here, but i don’t think that i've lived in the same room with anyone since i was like six years old, so living in a house with 6 people (4 in my room)… is interesting at times. also, it’s weird to live where you work because it’s like you are working all the time, which is basically what we are doing. so while it’s really fun and being with the kids doesn’t really feel like work, it’s nice to get away and get refreshed. i was a little worried to go away this weekend because we were expecting hurricane ike to come in, and going closer to the coast probably wasn’t the best idea, but ike passed through giving us only about ½ hour of rain. but anyway, one of my roommates and i found this great little town about 20 minutes outside of san pedro called juan dolio. it's right on the beach and has this great little hostel with $10 rooms… we’ve been several times and it’s been a great home away from home. it’s a very simple little hostel, just a bed, fan, tv and bathroom (that sometimes has hot water)… but really those are the four greatest things ever. it’s so nice to sleep in a room by myself and i never realized how amazing fans are (well… i did, cuz i love fans… but i respect them ever more now). and the best part is the tv… there are like 3 english channels, but one of them is tbs… which is the greatest tv station ever. i really don’t watch a lot of tv at home, with the exception of suns games (and lost and the office), but i never realized what an amazing television station tbs is… seinfeld, friends, funny movies and if i'm really lucky… the office! i even found the diamondbacks playing the dodgers on some spanish fox-channel… they got crushed, but it was good to see them! the lady who owns this hostel used to work in an orphanage in india, so we have become friends with her. it's also great cuz there is an awesome pizza place right down the street… it is so amazing to eat pizza!! all in all juan dolio is a pretty great second home in the dr.
tropical storm fay: tropical storm fay actually ended up hitting us worse than hurricane gustav. it rained pretty much all week. i think there were another 2 days that the kids didn’t have school this week. we don’t really have a national weather service here, so the country gets all it’s info from miami or puerto rico, but we do have a system… alerta verde, alerta (something i don't remember) and alerta roja… which relate to the severity of the storms. so, anytime we are on altera roja the kids automatically don’t have school because the teachers can’t be bused in to teach. the picture above is our soccer field, which was basically turned into a swimming pool after the storms. apparently we also had a tornado come through, but i didn’t see it. it did some pretty bad damage to the nearby village, called batey nuevo. two families lost their tin homes and the electric lines were torn down, so we were all without electricity for a few days. no one was injured, so that is good. nph has a good relationship with the people of batey nuevo (many of their kids come to our school), so we also try to help them in times like these. please keep these families in your prayer and all those that have been affected by the hurricanes, especially those in haiti. haiti has been hit much worse than we have in the dr…. there is a lot of damage and many lives have been lost. 
second home: so this weekend was my weekend off. (we work monday through the following thursday and then are off for three days). it’s very nice to get away from the home for a few days. i really like it here, but i don’t think that i've lived in the same room with anyone since i was like six years old, so living in a house with 6 people (4 in my room)… is interesting at times. also, it’s weird to live where you work because it’s like you are working all the time, which is basically what we are doing. so while it’s really fun and being with the kids doesn’t really feel like work, it’s nice to get away and get refreshed. i was a little worried to go away this weekend because we were expecting hurricane ike to come in, and going closer to the coast probably wasn’t the best idea, but ike passed through giving us only about ½ hour of rain. but anyway, one of my roommates and i found this great little town about 20 minutes outside of san pedro called juan dolio. it's right on the beach and has this great little hostel with $10 rooms… we’ve been several times and it’s been a great home away from home. it’s a very simple little hostel, just a bed, fan, tv and bathroom (that sometimes has hot water)… but really those are the four greatest things ever. it’s so nice to sleep in a room by myself and i never realized how amazing fans are (well… i did, cuz i love fans… but i respect them ever more now). and the best part is the tv… there are like 3 english channels, but one of them is tbs… which is the greatest tv station ever. i really don’t watch a lot of tv at home, with the exception of suns games (and lost and the office), but i never realized what an amazing television station tbs is… seinfeld, friends, funny movies and if i'm really lucky… the office! i even found the diamondbacks playing the dodgers on some spanish fox-channel… they got crushed, but it was good to see them! the lady who owns this hostel used to work in an orphanage in india, so we have become friends with her. it's also great cuz there is an awesome pizza place right down the street… it is so amazing to eat pizza!! all in all juan dolio is a pretty great second home in the dr.
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