Kristen: Santiago Christian School

Huelga!

2009-09-14T18:04:00.003-04:00

Thursday at school we got an e-mail from the secretary: "Classes are canceled for tomorrow. There is a huelga scheduled for the area surrounding the school." A huelga is a strike, and because they can sometimes burn tires and block roads, the school decided that it would be safer to cancel school for Friday instead of go through the hassle and potential danger of getting our students to and from school. Naturally, we were all excited about this extra day off! (You all got Memorial Day off, and we got our huelga. 4 day week either way. :) )

Since we had an unexpected 3-day weekend, I finally made it to the beach!!! It was beautiful, as always, and the water was as warm as bath water. Frozen lemonade, beach chairs, crystal clear water, mountain views, and chinola (passion fruit) popsicles. Perfection. Only downfall: I somehow missed my ankles and my right knee with sunscreen and now have very splotchy legs.

Saturday was also a fun day... of games! The Wolverines won (yay!!) and I got to go to a baseball game at the stadium here in Santiago. Santiago is hosting the International Tournament for 8th-10th graders this year, and there are teams here from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Guatamala (and possibly more). There were 5 students from our school playing for the Dominican team, so we went to support our students. Puerto Rico won, but it was a fun game anyways.

Sunday was also the first English service at Vida Nueva, a local church in the area. It was truly a blessing to be able to worship in our own "heart language." This is something that I definitely miss living here. It looks like this may happen once a month, so I'm pretty excited!

(I'm really proud of the fact that I'm actually blogging - yay me.)
(Also, it was so hot today that the candles were sweating....)

Fuente de Vida

2009-09-09T20:29:00.001-04:00

I have been loving the worship at the church that I've been attending recently. I just thought that I'd share one of my new favorite songs with you! Follow the link if you'd like to hear it. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYbxPjQAG1E

My House

2009-09-09T20:27:00.000-04:00

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Joshua 24:15

Lately I have been reading excerpts from John Wesley's sermons in my devotions in the morning. This morning I was especially challenged by his words and the verse of his reflections, Joshua 24:15.

Who is my house? If I had a husband and children, then the answer would seem obvious, but today I started wondering if there could be more implied outside of my immediate family. What of those relationships and friends that you engage with for some period of time, be it long or short? For however long the period, aren't they committed to you in such a way as can be considered a part of our "house?"

My life has been separated into stages of 4 years: 4 years here, move, 4 more years, college, 4 more years graduate, etc. :) At each stage I've made relationships deep enough that I could easily consider them family in my heart and mind. But have I loved them enough to confidently say that through knowing me they saw the Lord? That through knowing me they saw what it meant to serve Him? As part of my "house," have I encouraged us to serve Him together? If I were to give an account to those in my care, would they be accounts of joy or of grief?

As for now, I think that my house extends further than even my friends, but I think that it especially includes the students entrusted in my care for 8 hours a day, 9 months of a year. May I consider them a part of my charge and encourage them to serve the Lord with everything they have and all they are.

"And it is not the will of your Master that these should go out of your hands before they receive from you something more valuable than silver or gold."
John Wesley

New Memories with Old Students

2009-09-06T16:54:00.004-04:00

Three of my students from last year came to my house this past Friday just to spend some time with me and catch up on their summers. I also wanted to hear about the beginning of 7th grade! They had been visiting my classroom daily and wondering when we could spend some time together, and since lunch times didn't work I invited them over. We had a fun time eating WAY too much food and reminiscing about last year. We had snacks of my favorite bean dip and mangoes, and then we ordered pizza, made brownies, and had hot cocoa. One student brought her camera and we looked at pictures of SpiritWweek last year, and it was just so fun to remember all the funny things that happened throughout the year! She had a video of 3 of the boys in my class dressed up as people from different countries doing a silly dance. There was one that had a traditional Mexican costume from his uncle, complete with a sombrero. He had stuffed the outfit so that it would fit him and during the dance he was losing his belly. :) Looking at their pictures I realized how much they had grown over the course of the year, and how much older they look now! Middle school days bring about big changes right before my eyes, and it's surprising how little you notice it while it's happening.

One of my favorite things about working at SCS is the relationships that I develop with the students - the elementary students all the way up through the high schoolers. The mission statement of our school is to influence the lives of our students and parents for Christ, and the atmosphere really encourages us to do so through the relationships we develop with our students. It really is a special ministry.

Blistering heat...

2009-08-27T16:43:00.002-04:00

FYI, the heat index yesterday was 114 degrees.

Prayer Request

2009-08-25T19:04:00.006-04:00

The day ended sadly for the 6th grade today. One of my students lost her mother. She had been sick for awhile, so it was not unexpected, but that does not reduce the difficulty of this situation or minimize her pain. Please pray for her and her family. She has an older sister in high school at SCS and older siblings in college. May God's grace and love abound more and more in this time of grief.

First Days of School

2009-08-24T16:42:00.002-04:00

It's been a few weeks since my last post, and school has officially started! On the first day of school (Tuesday, August 18), I must admit that I was a little nervous! I was feeling the 1st day jitters as we drove to school and I thought about my new class, but as soon as I got out of the car one of my students from last year saw me and ran across the parking lot to give me a big hug. All day long I was greeted with hugs, air kisses (Dominican greeting), and enthusiastic "Miss Long!"s, and I just kept thinking over and over again that this is why I'm a teacher. Now into the second week of school some of my old students are still dropping by my classroom, sneaking up behind me as they see me around campus, or waving from their classrooms. I know this will die down a little as they get used to 7th grade and their new teachers, but I'm still cherishing the relationships that I've made with them and just the opportunity to see them grow. They have middle school uniforms this year, and they look so old to me! Most of them grew over the summer and are now taller than me. :) I just have to accept that they're big 7th graders now!

Because our last few days of school were canceled last year due to swine flu, we had to do 6th grade graduation this past weekend. It definitely added extra stress to last week trying to get everything prepared, especially since my co-teacher and I had no idea what we were doing (we were both new to SCS last year), but things went off smoothly, and it was really nice to have the opportunity to reconnect and celebrate with my old students.

As I continue to enjoy my kids from last year, it really increases my excitement for this year. I know that I will get to know the kids in my class now just like I know the 7th graders, and I'm excited to learn and grow with them together. I have already had a lot of laughs with this new bunch, and I'm pumped for the year ahead! It's been a good first week!

It's Official!

2009-08-10T18:50:00.000-04:00

So I know that you are all shocked...two posts in two days?! Definitely a record for me. :) My goal is to be much better this year, so I suppose this is my attempt at a strong beginning!

So today a group of us went to Santo Domingo (the capital) to get our residency. We were all at different stages of the process, but everything went very smoothly and all in all it was a successful day. These day trips to the capital are always funny days because it's just a lot of waiting around and not really knowing what you're doing. You just follow random people and they say, usually in words most of us don't understand, to stand here, give this to them, sign here, go there, etc., and we just kind of wander around like little ducks in a row. Silly, surprising things always seem to happen, like the day the lawyer took us to a copy machine outside under a tree...and yes, it was working.

Today was no exception for a lack of stories. Those who were at the beginning stage had to do a bunch of tests for a physical, and one was an x-ray. From the stories I hear, it was a very tiny room similar to a trailor and it was jam packed with people, in the traditional Dominican style. :) Not only was this room very small (smaller than the van we drove in that morning), but apparently the ceilings were also very short and so some of our teachers actually couldn't stand up straight inside it. So while they're waiting in this room one of the parts for the x-ray machine breaks so they have to wait even longer in this tiny, crowded room while they wait for the part to be delivered. Conveniently, it starts raining outside. Don't think sprinkles...think turential downpour. :) So no one wants to step outside, especially the Dominicans because they won't go anywhere in the rain (they swear it will make them sick) and remember, it's really hot down here. Then once they finally got the machine working people had to actually pass the x-rays from the technician to the lady at the desk because it was so crowded! It's stories like these that really categorize my funny, crazy life that I love so much. Basically, I just laugh a lot. So... after 3 days each filled with stories similar to this, I'm officially a resident!! Yay for being legal! :)

Beginning Again

2009-08-09T20:36:00.000-04:00

Friday afternoon I got off the plane, stepped out into the 90 degree weather, and was once again surrounded by the strange familiarity of the place I've decided to call home. It truly is surreal to be back again, and I admit that I have a mix of feelings. In many ways there is so much that is right about being back, yet I am confronted from time to time with a feeling as though I don't really belong. I am still a stranger in a culture that is not my own, as I always will be here. When people ask me basic questions, I still usually respond with a confused look and a statement of "Lo siento, no entiendo," (I'm sorry, but I don't understand). And after a year, I'm still committing cultural fauxpas, even after only 2 days here! Like this morning in church I put my purse on the ground under my chair (as I usually do out of habit, apparently) and then remembered that you don't do that here. All the other ladies had their purses on their chairs. Oops! But as I get frustrated as my brain is struggling to remember the few Spanish words that I know, I think back to last year and how far I've come; how I know what to expect in many ways and how much I've learned. And as wonderful as last year was, I am glad to enter into this year with a little more wisdom, experience, and understanding under my feet. It's all a part of transitioning back, I suppose!

About a week ago I got an e-mail from my roommate informing me that our apartment had been broken into while we were gone. I was a little nervous to come back and discover what was missing, but it looks like we only lost a few really random things, like a lamp, a cell phone, and all my DVDs. We're also missing a few towels and some sheets, but we're pretty sure those weren't stolen - who would want our sheets? Haha... so we keep joking about the linen bandits. Really, though, I just feel so blessed because it could have been a lot worse! Nobody was in our apartment, all of our truly valuable things were with us, and...the stuff that was taken?....well it's all just stuff anyway. And now we have a brand new cage over our door, so we're probably safer for it. :)

It has been so great to see my friends again and catch up on the summer. I also ate some of my favorite things again, like Yogen Fruz and the most delicous mango, and that made me so happy! You haven't really eaten a mango until you've had one here. They're amazing. It's beautiful here and warm again (unlike the rest of this cold summer!), and this morning I was woken up by the sunrise over the mountains. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I pulled my mattress out into the living room because there's a great breeze out there, and when the sun woke me up I was so content. I also ran into one of my students from last year when we went for ice cream, and it was probably one of the highlights of my time here so far. All in all, it's so good to be back again and I'm getting excited about this new year to come. It really is a blessing having two homes! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-28T19:47:00.000-04:00

So, I'm alive! I promise! And...I'm officially the worst blogger in the world, so I'm sorry about that to all of you who tried to check my blog and were disappointed for 3 months. Now that life has settled a little, maybe I'll improve.

Here's a quick and VERY brief update:
School is going REALLY well. I love my class, and I love teaching 6th grade. My students are so full of life and creativity, and I absolutely love that! Sometimes they make me crazy, it's true, but overall it's been a good year.

The beginning of the year was unbearably hot, but now that the "winter" is here the weather has started to cool down a bit. It's in the 70's now and gorgeous. Also, the hurricane season is pretty much over, so our water and power has been turning off less and less.

My roommates are great, and we have a ton of fun together. My roommate Allison and I have discovered that we both LOVE puzzles (something we never knew about ourselves before) and we have completed several of them. We make cookie dough and other snacks and just relax and do our puzzles together. We even bought a pack of 10 of places around the world! (one of which was the Great Wall, and I was excited). We also had a bit of a struggle about when we could decorate for Christmas, but our compromise has become one of my favorite things about our apartment! You see, in the DR people start celebrating/decorating for Christmas in early October. At the beginning of November Allie wanted to decorate our apartment for Christmas, which I promptly objected to. After several convincing arguments on both sides, we decided to put up a "Fall Tree." We found a paper turkey in some random things that the previous apartment-owners left for us, and that now adorns the top of our festive tree. Then we cut out lots of paper decorations, like leaves and pumpkins, and we hung them on the tree. After making pumpkin break and an apple-cidery-ish drink, it really felt like fall! Another night I finally gave in to bringing in the Christmas music, and we put on sweatshirts, turned on all the fans, wore scarves and socks as mittens and danced joyously around the apartment. One of my favorite things about my roommates is that they actually think my silly ideas would be fun to do, so we have a lot of giggles together. :)

So even though I've been loving my life in the DR so far, I was definitely ready for a break, and I've had such a perfect one so far! My roommate Allie, my friend and co-worker Stacey, and a student teacher Erin (who lived across the hall from me at Taylor! Small world!) all went to stay in a condo at a beach called Cabarete. It's been SO nice - complete with a stove that isn't 50 years old, water that always stays hot, a gorgeous pool, and a perfectly untouched beach. The weather was supposed to be cold and rainy while we were here, but it's been absolutely beautiful! We even got to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner on the beach at one of the restaurants! It's been fantastic.

I'll be coming home for Christmas on Dec. 19, but I'll try to update my blog one more time before I leave! I hope that all is well back at home, and thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!

One down, 37 to go!

2008-08-25T18:46:00.000-04:00

I have officially survived my first week of school...yay me! The week consisted of TONS of get-to-know-you games, fun activities, and establishing procedures and the sort. The week went by without a hitch, for the most part, except I made my first student cry. :( I must admit I didn't expect that to happen during the first week of school!

At SCS there is a system where students have colored cards, and their cards are flipped if they do something wrong. There are green (excellent), yellow (warning), red (lunch detention), blue (call home) and black (principal's office) cards. Well this student had been out of his seat and talking and the like and eventually I made him flip his card to red. Well, apparently, this was devastating and he began to cry, though mainly because of what his Mom said would happen if he was on red this year than because of what I had done...or at least that's what I keep telling myself. :)

This weekend was fun, and I must say that it was nice to finally have a weekend not planned by the school. On Friday night we had a pool party at one of the teacher's house and we ate Dominican food and had a fun time just spending time together. Saturday morning I slept in a little, and then the most wonderful thing happened...OUR WATER TURNED BACK ON! We had been without water in our apartment for 4 days. The first day our entire apartment was without water because there, apparently, is a water faucet someplace that can be turned off. So we should have had water for 3 days but sadly we didn't. But regardless of how our water was turned off, I don't think I've ever been happier to see water come out of a faucet before. Saturday night a bunch of us played Settlers together. Sunday I went to a Spanish church whose pastor is from Georgia. He spoke Spanish with an accent I could understand and at a pace I could follow! I was so proud of myself because I could actually understand more Spanish in those 2 hours than in my entire time here so far! :)

Today school was a bit of a zoo. Let's just say that when teaching overseas, it's important to be adaptable and expect the unexpected. I had taken my students to their first special (which is on the opposite corner of the campus in a building we like to refer to as Africa because it's so far away) and it started to downpour. I realized that the windows in my classroom were open, so I ran across the campus to go shut them. When I got to my room, I frantically tried to shut all the windows, but by the time I got them closed, a third of the desks were covered in water, all of my math curriculum was drenched, and a few of the students' backpacks were filled with water. I spent my whole prep period trying to dry of the classroom. Good times! Soon after that the rain let up a bit, but then right as the students were to come back after lunch there was another downpour. Our cafeteria has no walls (most of the school is open-air) and so some of my students were playing out in the rain absolutely drenched and some were running around screaming inside the pavilion trying to get away from the rain (an impossible task). We ended up playing and hanging out in the pavilion for 20-25 minutes waiting for the rain to let up so we could run to our classroom. After that, all the kids were wondering if they could dump out their shoes or complaining that they were cold. It was a crazy day!!!!

So apparently there's another tropical storm coming over us, so pray for the DR as we brace ourselves once again!

School Days

2008-08-20T17:47:00.000-04:00

So I have officially completed my first 2 days as a real teacher. :) I'm teaching 6th grade, and I have 25 students in my class with a possibility of more to come! My students are great, but they definitely love to chit chat. It's 6th grade, what can I say!

The first day went pretty smoothly, except for the fact that I was locked out of my room in the morning and couldn't get it to open for the life of me. I eventually got it open with the help of the mother of one of my students. She said she could do it because she was Dominican. :) The first day we pretty much just went over routines, played get-to-know-you games, and established the rules. All in all it was a good day though we had some crazy moments. I'm excited to get this year rolling!

Today was another day of getting to know one another, memorizing names, hearing about the summer, and establishing what the classroom expectations were for the year. The only real crazy thing I did was let my class out half an hour early for lunch (woops!). They were all trying to tell me they were too early, but I just thought that they were telling me it was 5 minutes early and I kept assuring them that it took time to get to lunch so we needed to leave a little early. Finally, after most of the class had left, one of my students asked me why we were leaving at 12 if lunch started at 12:35. This language barrier thing is kind of an issue. So I had the girl summon the rest of the class, and they all came running back to me laughing at their crazy teacher. Fun times! I told them they needed the stretch anyway. :)

I wanted to tell you a bit about the school, but nothing all that interesting has happened so far, so I'll leave the stories for later! God Bless!!

Vamos a la Playa!!!

2008-08-19T19:12:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, this past weekend I experienced my first Tropical Storm in the DR. My school had a retreat planned, and guess what we did...we went to the beach!! (hahahaha...) Saturday morning we woke up and it was pouring rain outside. We packed up a little reluctantly and called the director to try and convince him not to go to the beach during a tropical storm. It sounded a little dangerous and not very fun at all. He told us that we had plans and we were sticking to it, so we drove to the coast. Part way through our trip there it stopped raining, and where we were it didn't rain for the rest of the weekend (though it apparently rained in Santiago the entire time). Moral of the story...when there is a tropical storm, no worries...drive towards it! (I'm kidding ofcourse.)

The weekend was lovely. The beach we went to is called Cabarete, and it was absolutely beautiful! We swam in the ocean, went shopping at some shops, and then a few of us went horseback riding on the beach. It was so much fun to see the beauty of the island and laugh a lot with some of my new friends. Afterwards we ate dinner on the beach and then had devotions and praise and worship with the entire faculty. Sunday we went to church, ate authentic Dominican food (rice, beans, pork, and coffee), and went back to bask in the sun and play in the ocean! It was a really relaxing weekend to calm our minds before school actually got started.

For those of you who were worried about me during the tropical storm, thanks for your concern but I was clearly pretty unaffected! I did hear that there was flooding in some parts of the country, but I understand that because of where Santiago is located, it is usually fairly untouched by the storms that pass through. I hope all is well with you back home!

My New Home

2008-08-12T21:25:00.000-04:00

I have officially made it to my new home. What a long journey it has been! I apologize that it took me so long to post my first message to you all, but we do not yet have the Internet working in my apartment. Thank God for friends who share wireless! So much has happened so far that it would take me forever to give a complete recap of my first week, but I will attempt to give you the highlights. Thank you so much for your prayers, for your interest and follow up, and for your patience with me as I have been slow in communicating!

On August 4th I arrived at Indiana Wesleyan University (not far from where I just left a few months ago) and had the privilege of meeting my new SCS family for the first time. It was exciting to see all the new faces and to get to know them over the short week that we were together at IWU. While at IWU, we took a class for teaching English Language Learners which will be extremely beneficial since practically all of my students will not speak English as their first language. It was a fun class with great teachers and it was really nice to get to know all the other new teachers before we moved down to the DR together. We were all very anxious to leave and arrive at our new homes.

For the most part, traveling went off without a problem (we left on August 9th). We all made all of our flights, even though we had a 10 minute layover in Chicago (always a bit stressful), but luckily we all made it on the plane with time to spare! Our luggage, on the other hand, did not. :) Of the 20 of us who flew down together, I was one of 4 or 5 who arrived in the DR with all of my luggage. So, lucky me!, I have still never lost my luggage in all my travels to obscure parts of the world.

Friday night Megan (my roommate - she teaches 3rd grade) and I got settled into our apartment. We were very blessed because we moved into an apartment that was already fully furnished and had most of the comforts of home. Many of the other teachers live in new apartments and have very limited furniture, or in some cases none. The school even had some food in the kitchen for us to tide us over until we were able to go grocery shopping. Saturday we took a tour of the school, went shopping, and a few of us went out to dinner and a REALLY good burger place.

Sunday was my favorite day here so far. I was really able to experience more about the culture and the beauty of this country! Each new teacher was paired up with a host family connected with the school (our Dominican staff, such as secretaries, kindergarten teachers, aids, etc.). Megan and I were paired up with Sandra, the director's assistant, who is pretty much in charge of everything at the school. :) She took us to her home church in the morning, and it is a Spanish service so she translated it all to me. I really need to work on my Spanish! (Quick note to Kristin Goldman, we sang a few of the songs that you always played on your phone and I thought of you!) The service was very good, but very long. It started at 10 and went until about 12:30 or 1:00. (Dad, if anyone ever tells you you're longwinded, they haven't been the the DR.) The message was very good and I really enjoyed the service. After church we went back to Sandra's house and ate Dominican-style tacos, and afterward we went to a place called 27 Waterfalls with the youth group at the church.

Now, when Sandra called us Sunday morning, she asked us if we wanted to go "see" 27 waterfalls with the youth group. She told us to pack water shoes and things to get wet in, so I think we're going hiking and we may be walking through some waterfalls. Well...I was only kind of right. We got to the place and they hand me a helmet and a life jacket. I'm thinking "WHAT are we Doing!" Well...we did kind of go hiking, but we also went swimming and climbing up ladders, and sliding down natural waterslides and cliff jumping (very small cliffs, no worries, I was safe)....and it was probably one of the coolest things I've done in my whole life. Because we got there later in the day, we only got to slide down or jump off of 7 waterfalls, but someday I hope to go back and do all 27.

Yesterday we went to the capital, Santo Domingo, and applied for our Dominican residency. Lots of funny stuff happened, but it was probably funnier for those of us who were there then for you so I'll spare you the stories. Today we spent our first day in our classrooms getting ready for school. I will have to tell you more about my classroom and the school later, but this is already longer than it should be. If you made it this far, then I admire your endurance.

When talking to another teacher (my hotel roommate at IWU), she shared with me a verse that really touched my heart as a very appropriate verse for the year. Romans 12:12 "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer."I ask that when you pray for me, you will ask that these things be increasingly true in my life, and that I would focus on these words as I go through my ups and downs.

Once again, I thank you for your prayers and your constant support and encouragement. During my short time here I have been repeatedly assured that I am in the middle of the Lord's will for my life here in the DR. Praise the Lord, for He is SO GOOD!