Day 9 - 10 - Daily Routines
Throughout our first two weeks in the Dominican Republic, the group has started to fall into the rhythm of life here and now have a relatively steady daily routine. Some of the girls like to wake up earlier and get the day started off right with devotions and journal entries. By quarter to eight, everybody is up and moving, looking forward to new adventures the day will hold, starting with a beautiful breakfast prepared by Karina and Franklin’s mother, Louisa . Our breakfast generally consists of fresh papaya, pineapple, and mango, along with eggs, pancakes, or toast. After breakfast, we finish getting ready and leave pretty quickly to go to the school. While we’re at the school we observe the classes and interact with the students as much as possible. We’re so blessed that the students have responded to us so well. They are so happy to see us that they sometimes even greet us with little gifts like candy or sweet notes. Some days we sit in on their classes, and some days we meet with a group of students to talk and work on our Spanish and their English. After school we come home for lunch. One day, we got pizza from a local restaurant and it was really good, but very different from what we’re used to. We had never seen pizza with corn before, and it was a big change from our usual ham and pineapple pizza at home. After lunch we meet up with some of the grade 11 and 12 students and take part in many after-school activities such as volleyball, basketball, and eating spaghetti while learning Latin dances. Then, we have dinner at home. Sometimes we have a Spanish lesson with Franklin’s cousin, Joel, who was kind enough to volunteer his time to us. This week we also started meeting in small groups, which we will do 2 or 3 times a week. We have circle time which is when we check in about our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being and discuss our activities and any issues we had throughout the day. After circle time we play games such as Poker with cheerios, Slap, and Dutch Blitz. We are having a great time and establishing many new relationships as well as eating lots of good food.
Many people mentioned that they will keep the International Block experience in their prayers. Please pray that God will continue to surround us with his protection and that we may continue to grow in our relationships with each other and with the Dominicans we spend time with.
Raina Bos
Comments