August 1

We arrived home this morning at 1:30am, into Salt Lake City. It has been almost 2 weeks since the last post, and it has been hectic trying to find time to get to the internet and post. It is surreal being home now, and it is hard to put into words the experiences and feelings that I had while I was on this trip. We finished up these last two weeks successfully and it was not easy saying goodbye to the students that we had been working with for the past five weeks. Looking back, I am grateful for this experience, and will never forget both the best and worst times that I faced. Here are some final pictures to sum up the past weeks events...

Kim and Matt Saying Goodbye


Geoff climbing on the Roof to get a Rocket down for one of the students


Marci and Albania


Rocket Unit in Matt and Kim's Class


Amber and Rob teaching about gears


Robotics Class


Tree on School Grounds


School Library


School


Bridge Planning


Geoff in the 12th Graders Class


I don't know what to call this one...


Me and Some of my Students


Rob and the 12th Graders


Amber and China


Solar Ovens!


Anna and Rob's Class


Marci and my class


Geodesic Dome


Neli doing another girls hair during free time


Marci and the girls


Anna and the Girls


One of my favorite pictures


We would go on field trips in these busses


Christopher and me


6th Graders!



Our students got us this cake as a going away present


Walking Home the last day of school


I'm not exactly how to sum everything up, but I do know that this trip was worth every bit, and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. We'll see if we return a year from now, or what other projects may stem from this one. I hope that I get to see the students sometime in the future. Also, I will be posting a documentary in a month or so. Until then...Gracias por leer!

July 17

Time continues to fly here in the Dominican Republic. It has been raining again, which has cooled things down, and makes it a little easier to sleep at night. Here are some random pictures from this past week...


Tons of people ride the motorbikes to get around the cities here.


Cathedral in Downtown Santo Domingo


I never thought that this is where cashews come from...


The Picture Speaks for Itself


Se Vende...Translation...For Sale. I wonder if the cow comes with it.


Charee left on Friday and is going to be married in two weeks. We will miss her, but are very excited for her.


The Terry's also left this week...We will miss the both of them and their help through the more difficult times these past 2 weeks.


Congratulations to Kim for teaching an entire class period in Spanish!


This is what happens when there is traffic...


I guess it is customary for cars to skip over the medium and into oncoming traffic when they don't feel like waiting in traffic. This guy decided to come back over when he stopped moving in the oncoming traffic lane. We had to laugh when we saw this.

July 10

We finished up our second week of teaching this friday, and today we hit our half way mark! It was somewhat bitter-sweet. I have to be honest in saying that many of us miss the luxuries of an air conditioned home, electricity 24/7, and running clean water, but at the same time, teaching these students has been a once in a lifetime experience. Rob and I will be switching classrooms on Monday; I will be going to teach robotics to the 11th and 12th graders, and Rob will be coming to teach the 6th-7th graders about simple machines. The students were pretty bummed when they found out they were going to have a new teacher on Monday. Here are some pictures of our students...


12th Grade Robotics





6th & 7th Grade Building Boats






11th Grade



In other news, the power line running to our home broke and we lost power for about 48 hours. We had no electricity, no running water (including the toilets) except for a faucet near the kitchen, and it was extremely hot. Claudina brought us some clean water and many of us showered with buckets of water. It was quite the adventure, and it was not an easy experience. Needless to say, we all became very close this last week. Our power is back on now, and we are glad to have showers again!

July 4

What a day of independence! Its been a while since we have been able to get to the internet, as you can tell, and there have been some great and unexpected experiences. Teaching the students has been great. It is not easy because of the language gap, even with those of us who speak spanish. The students are eager to learn and we have had fun teaching them about technology. Here is a picture of mine and Ambers class..




We went to Bani this weekend and stayed at a beautiful beach house right on the shore. Claudina and Clara set this whole weekend up. They were very kind and we had tons of fun relaxing and swimming.


The Beach House


Anna's Glamour Shot


My new buddy Yefri. His parents are servants for some of the people who own houses on this beach. He came by a few times and showed us some tricks off the dock.


Yefri running and preparing to jump off the dock


Eating Lunch in the shade


We found these ridiculously huge hats and decided they were necessary while kayaking


More ridiculous hats



Here are some other random pictures of things we've be doing and things we have seen.

The road on the way to school


Common Dominican Home


The "Love Birds" walking home from school



The Santo Domingo Temple


Night Time w/ no power


In other news...Shumway left for home this weekend and we will miss him greatly. He has been a great example and teacher to all of us students here. It was hard to see him go, and a few tears were shed when he left. Dr. Terry and his wife will be coming Tuesday afternoon. We are excited for them both and especially to have a "Mom" in the nunnery with us.

Health Update: So far two of us have become a little ill...Shumway got a parasite, but he is on the mend and now back in the states. Marci had a fever this weekend, unfortunately while we were at the beach house, but she is doing much better now and is back teaching the students. We have a good doctor that we go to who takes care of us...Fear not Mothers and Fathers!

A few of us sat around the table tonight and sang some patriotic hymns. As we sang "America the Beautiful" and "The Star Spangled Banner" in our kitchen/dining room, we felt a little longing for home, and realized how grateful we are for the freedoms we have and for our home country.