Whoa. What!?

So, we don't have a full length mirror in our house.  In fact, the only mirrors I have access to in the village are small bathroom vanity mirrors that show me from, um, boob up.  The only view I have of my body is looking stright down it.  Honestly, until a few days ago, I thought I wasn't really showing.   My clothes still fit about the same, and I haven't gotten stuck in any doorways yet, so I figured maybe I just look a little pudgy, but not.....pregnant.  So one day, I put on a dress that isn't tight (that's never really been my thing) but it hugs in just the right places.  Or should I say it USED to hug the right places!  I thought it was fine by my downward glance, but I went in to town and caught my reflection in a big store window and SHABAM!  I got a baby belly goin on!!  I stopped dead in my tracks and had to make sure the white girl I saw in the reflection was really me.  At first I was a bit taken aback, felt like I might start beeping if I backed up.  Apon closer inspection however (yes, I crossed the street to be closer to the window) things aren't looking too bad!  I very quickly became very proud of that baby bump, and now I am just loving showing it off.  I am so glad that people no longer have to wonder if I am pregnant or just eating too much rice and beans.  And that I don't have to wonder if they are wondering....  Also, I have been wanting to make friends with some pregnant women in the village, maybe start a walking group, but I always worried they wouldn't think I was pregnant enough.  I expressed this to one of our new volunteers and she assured me with a once over that "oh no, your are surely more that enough pregnant!" So that's my new goal: make some pregnant women be my friends and convince them that pregnancy is not an illness and no, they do not need to go on partial bedrest the entire 9 months, as is common practice here.

Not the black dress I was referring to, and you can't really see the bump...oh well!!!

Also in baby news, we have got a boxer soccer player extraodinaire on the way!  I finally felt the baby move, and Patrick has been able to feel movement on the outside too!  Mainly it moves when I eat, so pretty much all day long.  No but really, after a meal this baby gets movin'.  We went to the beach this weekend and as soon as I was floating in the waves, kickboxing for fetuses started up full force.  Is there such a thing as double weightlessness?  I don't know if it was a coincidence or if the baby just really likes to swim, I haven't been back to the beach yet to test it out.

My mom flies in tomorrow for a visit and I am so excited to show her around our little slice of heaven (just a saying, we still live in a poverty stricken village).  Included in the trip is a trip to the clinic to have the THE  ultrasound done.   I should be able to post by Tuesday if we've got a Jack or a Jill on the way!  

Lasly, I have to give a shout out to my best friend Cat(herine).  Most everything has paled in comparrison to this baby, but Cat's recent engagement and July 2012 wedding just has me all twitterpated!    I miss her so much, and coming home to have the baby is a really good excuse to be in the same state for four months!  

one whole year!

Our first wedding anniversary is tomorrow!  I flipped back in my day planner to this week one year ago, and it was so fun to remember the things we were doing and planning for the wedding, honeymoon, and move to Atlanta.  It was impossible to imagine at that point all the changes we would face in this first year, from moving to expecting a baby!  Who knew?!  We have had so much fun and we continue to grow closer everyday, through every new experience.  I am so lucky to have married my best friend, biggest supporter, and someone that challenges me to be a better person.  I can't wait to see what year number two has in store for us!

Here is a quick look back on our amazing, adventure filled first year together.

Our Beautiful Wedding!

Paddleboarding on our Honeymoon.

Canoeing the Chatahoochee river with the dogs.

Some of the awsome friends we made in Alanta came together to build a softball team.

Enjoying a night out in Atlanta

Group trip to Helen for Oktoberfest

Patrick carving our very first Thanksgiving turkey in our home.

Celebrating Christmas at the Broadamore.

Our first Christmas morning together as husband and wife.

Breaking it down after a dinner party.

The sign I made for our front door, and the decorations Patrick put up when I changed me name.

Enjoying a ski trip in Colorado

Just hanging out at home...

One of the last get togethers with friends before we moved.

The day we moved ALL of our belonging into storage AND the day we found out I was pregnant.  

Our first day in the Dominican Republic

Smootching in Santo Domingo.

The low down

This past month we have finally started to feel more at home here.  Our little house is now comfy, not cramped, the heat and bugs are bearable, I feel more ownership in my job, and even though our social life is still not quite satisfying, we no longer feel bewildered by the Dominican approach to friendship.  I have started cooking more and better meals, working out more regularly, and Patrick and I are loving all the time we get to spend together, and the little routine we have developed of reading the upcoming week in pregnancy each Sunday, taking walks down farm roads, and our morning commute together, only 100 yards from  our house.   My early pregnancy symptoms have pretty much gone away, and I feel less worried on a day to day basis about the baby's health now that we are in week 15!  Also, having shared the pregnancy news with everybody was such a relief, and I have started to see how this could be a very positive community to be a first time mom in. ( I know that's a dangling modifier or something, but who can be bothered to say "in which to be..."?)
My first prenatal appointment was awful.  I went to the most highly recommended doctor in the region, and she was one step above putting the laboring woman under general anesthesia.  Many shocking details I could go into but I just hate to relive it. We had pretty much decided by that time that we weren't comfortable giving birth here, or having a newborn here, and this appointment sealed the deal.  I will becoming home to have the baby!  This makes things a bit tricky with work though, since I will have to leave for Colorado between 30-32 weeks (November), spend a month and a half with out Patrick before he comes for Christmas and baby's birth, then stay in CO another 8 weeks, Patrick would leave after 6 weeks, so at least 2 more weeks apart.  Then I would head back to the DR with the baby, and start work again, after having been gone four months.  Its not the most ideal situation, Patrick got teary eyed thinking of missing those last weeks of pregnancy, and I am worried the baby will come early and he won't be home yet.  There ARE some up sides, namely baby's health and my health, having family close for the birth, and all that time with friends and family!
It is pretty hard to imagine having a baby here at all.  When I pictured life with a baby, I thought of being a stay at home mom, being a part of mom's groups, stroller walking groups, trips to the park, baby music class, homemade organic baby food,  a pretty nursery, and competent doctors.  Life with a baby here would be NOTHING like that.  We haven't looked hard for a good pediatrician, so we still might find that.  However, if we were to leave the DR for good, I wouldn't be able to stay home with the baby. We sold everything we own, including our cars, and there is no way we could start over again on one salary.  HERE, I could work from home in the morning, have a two hour siesta from 12-2 and have a babysitter for the afternoon.  Patrick would be able to spend that siesta with us and all that family time is so appealing.  Also, even when we are in the office, we are less than a five minute walk from home, so we can check in on the sitter or if we just have to see that baby! Finding someone we trust to stay with our baby will be hard, but assuming we can find good medical care and a trustworthy sitter, how could we pass up the opportunity for that schedule?!  When it comes down to it, time with our baby far outweighs the mom's groups, music classes etc... and who knows maybe I can start a mom's group here!  

whew!  TMI?  Maybe.

I didn't include any pictures in the last two posts, so here are some randoms!

Oh and by the way....

I'm pregnant!  

Due January 1st, 12 weeks along, I'm feeling mostly good but tired, and we are in the process of deciding what to do, where to have the baby, talking to the boss, looking at hospital options, etc...

More later!

Waaaaayyyy over due.

I truly do apologize to my 2 readers for not having written anything in the past month.  I would have to say the biggest reason I haven't been writing is that there has just been so much going on, that it is hard to choose what to include, how to portray it, and how to find the time.  Also, emotions have been a bit scattered as we have been settling in and leaving the vacation phase, and recognizing that this is our actual life for the next few years. I would have hated to have written at a low moment and left you all thinking we are constantly gloomy, and yet it also doesn't seem quite right to let you think  its all palm trees and mangoes either. 

We have done some really fun things this last month.  Patrick's parents came down for a quick weekend trip, and we got to do some our first sight seeing.  We drove around the island's largest lake, which takes us very close to the Haitian border.  The lake and surrounding areas are beautiful, there are some Indian cliff drawings along the way, and some very cute little towns to pass through.  We also spent a little time in Santo Domingo, and particularly enjoyed the colonial zone, where Christopher Columbus first established a colony.  There are 16th century churches and parks and palaces, well kept gardens and streets, and a safe, lively scene all day.  It reminds of Sevilla, Spain, which makes sense seeing as how ol Chris was sent from Sevilla by Isabel and Ferdinand to take the very trip that landed him on our island.  It was great to get out of our little towns where we know everybody's problems and hardships, and just appreciate the beauty of the country.

We have also settled into our jobs quite nicely.  Patrick saved Bombita after finding out that they didn't water or electricity for a week, made some headway on his deaf school project, and gained respect from the communities and our co-workers.  He enjoys his job immensely, and now that I have seen him in this role, I really can't picture him in any other type of job.  I have also been enjoying my job.  Since the regular school year is over, I have planned and begun a few new programs for the summer.  We are having tutoring for remedial students for the first time and it is going very well.  The students come to class on time, and seem to be gaining a lot of confidence from the one on one setting.  We are also hosting a drama club in Bombita, and will be preforming the Wizard of Oz in just a few weeks.  The kids LOVE having something to do, and they take pride in their roles.  We are also painting a new mural in Bombita, as the old one did not represent the community very well and needed some serious touching up anyway.  Even with all that going on, I still have two afternoons a week which are pretty much empty!  Communication has been hard for me, not the Spanish, but just that people DO NOT communicate well.  It makes it very hard to make plans, get something approved, and feel confident in my job.  But we just do the best we can, and be confident in that.

We love all the time we get to spend together, especially at lunch.  Everyday we get a two hour lunch break, and 3 out of 5 days we spend it together.  We also get to spend most evening together as well as work together some of the time.  The hard part is we miss having a social life.  Or better to say, we miss our social life.  As you know, Patrick and I are not party animals, but we do like to go out with friends and have a beer, play some pool, maybe dance, have another beer, etc... Because we work for a Christian organization, and Christians here do none of the above, WE are not allowed to do any of the above.  There is nothing to do in La Hoya but got to bars, or go to church.  And there is church every night of the week for those who choose to go.  We do go on Sunday mornings, but we just do not want to be in church with the same people, doing the same thing, every freakin night.  On top of that, there are some other social "weirdnesses"like if someone comes to your house, it is incredibly rude to say "oh, we are cleaning the house" "we are talking to our families" "I am washing my hair" or any other excuse that lets them know you can't or don't want to hang out.  And once you have someone in your house once, they come EVERY day!  MULTIPLE times a day!  And if they come at meal time, you absolutely HAVE to offer them some of your lunch or dinner, even if there really is only enough for two, and they ALWAYS accept!  And its also rude to ask them to leave when you are ready for bed, or have to go back to work.  People's feelings get hurt, and grudges last.  It just leaves us feeling bored, and like we constantly have to be checking in to make sure we haven't offended somebody.  And sometimes we have to lock ourselves up in the house to have some uninterrupted alone time.  We miss our friends.

BUT!  then we have a day like yesterday, spent at a new beach, playing in the ocean, listening to music, cooling off in a mountain stream that meets up with the sea, seeing gorgeous flowers, stopping at quaint little roadside stands for fruit and chicken and empenadas,   and come home to our little house surrounded by palmtrees, sugar cane and chirping birds to sleep under a mosquito net as a quiet thunder storm roles by.  And it is so worth it.

Our Second Week

Three things right off the bat:  I am sure that eventually my titles will not have to do with the amount of time we have been here, and I have a second blog!  This one is more for COPA use, it is much shorter, and each post includes one picture.  It is much less personal, really just for increasing the amount of information available to the public about what we do here, and what life here looks like.  The address is copa365.blogspot.com .  Also, since I update these at random times, you can become followers and you will receive an email letting you know there is a new post (so you don't have to check back every day, which I know you all are doing!)

I thought I would start off with a picture of one of the kids from the Bombita school.  He was quite the flirt!

Ok, on with the show!

THis week we have settled in to a bit of a routine.  Work starts at 8, and we usually walk there together which is just a really nice way to start the day.  We work, sometimes together sometimes separate, until noon when we have a two hour, count em, two hour siesta.  During this time we eat lunch, take a little nap, play a little guitar, play with the dogs, and do a lot of reading!  At two we go back to work, and work til four.  Work for me so far has been teacher evaluations.  This has been a great way to get to know the teachers better than just a "hi howarya" and a handshake.  More on this later...After work we walk home together, walk the dogs in a plantain farm or on the baseball/horse field behind our house, and then make dinner.  We haven't been too social at night so far, there have been some board games with other volunteers and such, we pretty much stay in and watch a movie, talk, or read.   I think that once we get used to the heat we will not be so drained at the end of the day and will begin to spend more time with people we have met.  So far, interest in the dogs has not cooled down, we still have kids climbing the walls to see them, and in art class student are drawing the dogs with our names in hearts, or drawing all four of us together.  When we walk through town, new people come up to us to ask if we are the Americans with the dogs.  I was also asked by a farm owner if we would be willing to breed Tosh if he found the male dog and paid us. I explained to him that she doesn't have to appropriate organs for that purpose, but he continued to ask that if he could find a way, would we be willing to do it. At some point I just said sure, if you can find a way to impregnate a dog with no uterus, feel free.  He said he would be working on it. 

More on the teacher evaluations-These are pretty well set up, and i have really enjoyed the process.  I always loved being evaluated in the classroom, and I actually like it from this side better.  I have already been asked to meet with a new teach to discuss her plans for her eval, and it made me feel like I knew what I was doing when she liked my ideas, was stumped by some of my questions, and ended up tweaking her plans on account of those questions.  i have been able to contribute a good bit to the discussion after the evaluation, and I have learned a lot as well.   The  people in the evaluation group are myslef and the other education advisor Olivia, and the principals from each school.  We watch a class for 45 minutes, then we discuss for about 3 hours and meet back with the teacher 30 minutes.  The three hour meeting in the middle gets to me a bit, because about half that time is spent talking about completely unrelated subjects and we could be spending that time in the classroom, I mean, sometime we don't even get t o see the entire lesson, and yet we still evaluate them on it!  So I think that will be something I will work to adjust in the future.  Also, almost all the teachers give repeat lessons for their evals.  Meaning we are not seeing how a teacher teaches, how she handles the situation if the kids are not getting it, etc...We flip throught he teacher's planning book every time, and many times see that they taught this particular lesson, with these some activities and questions just yesterday, two weeks ago, or last month.  And nothing gets said to them.   I will say there have been some excellent lessons taught that were not repeats, and some of them that were repeats were so good, I am sure the teacher was just very nervous and didn't want to mess up.  OH!  The teachers' bonuses are based of these evaluations, so it is pretty stressful.  So to keep that particular gaff from continuing, I suggested doing pre evaluation meetings with just one of us and the teacher, to review their plans for the day and tweak it a bit if necessary, in hopes that they will learn more, and be more confident.  The suggestion was well received and hopefully we can put it in to place next year.

Ruber, Maribele, and Olivia during the evaluation meeting

Last weekend we were in a bit of a strange and stressful situation.  We always go into Barahona, which is the closest city, do do grocery shopping and eat lunch as a group.  That particular morning, right as we were leaving La Hoya, A Haitian woman and her two small boys were walking towards us.  Olivia stopped them and asked where they were going and did they need a ride.  The woman was pretty out of it didn't answer at all.  So Olivia asked again, where are you going.  This time the woman replied "Where are YOU going?"  Eventually she got into the truck with us.  All three were lethargic, dirty, and the boys did not have shoes, and one did not have pants or underwear on.  They did not talk the entire way there.  Once we arrived we all got out of the car, Olivia gave her 50 pesos, and we went to do our shopping.  When we came back tot he truck to drop off the groceries before lunch, they were sitting outside the truck, or so Patrick told me, I didn't actually see them there. So After lunch we brought them our leftovers and a fork (portions are massive here!).  But when we got in the truck, so did they!  We didn't really know what to do, but we found out she was homeless, Her house had been robbed and she said her husband and two older kids had been lost and she had been walking for the last two weeks.  So we called some of the locals we know, and they suggested we take them to the fire station.  When we did, they said they could stay there one night only, and did not have any information on any shelters or resources.    So we came back the next day, and the kids and their mom were significantly more alert and talkative.  Patrick and I bought the boys some shoes and clothes, the woman had nothing but he clothes on her back and her boys.  We also brought them some breakfast, a towel, some fruit and some water. We took them to the other town we work in, Bombita, which is a Haitian village. A human rights worker met us there and let us know that there was a house that had an extra room they could stay in.  The mother showed no emotion at this news, I am sure in her mind there were still so many unknowns remaining such as food, water, being accepted into the community, etc...The boys were sad to leave us as they were led away, and the way they kept looking back at me just broke my heart.   We have been back to see them a few time this past week, and every day the mom, Cito, has been more alert and more talkative.  She is obviously traumatized, but the community, which is already hard off for basic needs, has welcomed her and her boys, and have brought them food, a mosquito net, and more.  We feel confident that this will e a good long term solution for the little family, and she may even be able to get a part time job cleaning at the school.

This is the beach we went to last weekend, Playa Azul

Thats pretty much all for now folks, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed this little update!

Our first few days and our first few lessons

 FYI/ I wrote this a few days ago, and hav only just now gotten internet!

We have arrived!!!  We flew out from Atlanta on Friday morning with about 300 pounds of luggage, not including our two dogs.  The emotions during that flight ranged from child like jittery excitement to full on, adult like apprehension of all that lies ahead.  It sometimes felt like another trip, just another vacation, until I looked around the plane and saw the actual tourists near us.  They were excited and carefree, with light bags and sun tan lotion, looking forward to a week of relaxation, some interesting food, and pretty beaches.  After making this comparison, I no longer felt like this was just another trip, and that’s probably when my emotions evened out and I accepted that I had little idea of what to expect,, and there was nothing I could do about it at that time.

Anyway, we got the dogs through customs alarmingly easily, we didn’t even have to use the bribe money we had tucked away just in case.  We found our taxi driver with just as much ease and all our things fit well into the cab of his truck. 

The drive from Santo Domingo to our little village, La Hoya took about four hours.  To say there are no traffic law is an understatement.  Its almost as if there are in fact plenty of laws, and people try their darndest to break every single one of them. It didn’t help that everyone was so interested in our dogs that as they passed us, they would see the dogs and slam on their brakes to get a better look, try to ask their breeds, names and ages.  Others would try to flick their noses!  Luckily, our normally sweet puppies snapped right back.  There has been an increase of dog-napping recently as dog fighting has become a lucrative job, so I was worried that the dogs would be too nice for their own good, but they have been just aggressive enough to put off any bad intentions.

When we arrived in La Hoya it seemed that no one new where we were supposed to go at first, but we got it figured out eventually.  A few guys were still working in our house building a new kitchen cabinet and a small parade of children had formed, not to welcome us, but to inquire about the dogs.  The taxi driver unloaded the bags, and the guys finished up their work and we were left on our own for the remained of the night, with no dishes, no food, and no electricity.  Awesome.  We were feeling a little bit down but we rallied and went in search of food.  You have to understand that there are no stores here.  People have “colmados” or little shops run out of the front room of their homes.  These are not clearly marked, the hours are random at best, and they sell out of anything fresh in the morning.  We really wanted some fruit or vegetables or something not fried, but there was nothing.  We met our first friend at that point, Marilin.  She called out to us and introduced herself.  She is friends with some of the other volunteers, and when we asked here were to find some oranges or mangos, she invited us in her house and gave us each a mango.  We met her kids and the neighborhood baby(yes, the neighborhood baby.  He gets passed around from one house to another, I still do not know who his mother actually is.) Then we got some bread and some juice from a colomado, and with lifted spirits, returned home to find the electricity back on.  Lesson one: welcome new volunteers better than we were welcomed.

On day two we woke up to about 10 boys sitting on top of our fence, waiting for the dogs to come out.  Eventually we got up and went out with the dogs and put on a little show, McKinley impressed them all with her Frisbee skills, and Tosh impressed when one of the boys jumped into the yard and she growled her meanest growl and started advancing on him.  Nobody else tried to do that again.  After 20 minutes or so we had to make up some excuse to go inside because these kids, and a few adults by this time, were just not going to leave!  We also had to tell them that when we are here with the dogs they are nice, but if we are not here, they will protect the house so please, do not ever climb the fence again. Later, we went with a few of the other volunteers to the city, Barahona.  We did some grocery shopping in a store and a little in the market and then had lunch with the whole group.  The trip wasn’t to remarkable, but it was good to see what sort of resources a bigger city would provide us.  When we got back we had some down time and then two of the girls showed us around town a little more.  The showed us their favorite colmado, the church,  a few short cuts, and the little park in the middle of town.  And that’s pretty much all there is to La Hoya.  Later the some two girls came over with some crepes, and we sat and talked a while.  Some of the students also came over and played with the dogs, played with Patrick’s Ukulele, and we played pass the pigs.  They stayed for quite a while, and we had no idea how to tell them it was time to go home, until, thankfully, they said they had to go to youth group.  Lesson two: Always have an excuse ready to give guests when we want them to leave, i.e., I have to wash my hair….

Yesterday we went to church.  It is a pretty good sized church, but people only sit on one side because so few people come.  I was wondering why this was, until the music started.  The musicians are pretty talented, but the singing! Oh the horrors!  No tune, no rhythm, everybody singing as loud as they can, even the folks with microphones, I mean, their joy was apparent and wonderful, but it was seriously painful.  After church five of the little girls from the school came over and showed me how to make tostones, which are cut up plantains, fried, smashed, fried again, and salted. They were delicious.  They girls were a little crazy over everyting in the house.  They were fighting over the ukulele, my camera, the ipod, the ipod stereo, the dogs’ toys, the dogs, the cooking responsibilities, the cleaning up(they washed the dishes!) the rules of tag, the rules of pass the pigs, it was about 4 hours of them fighting, and nothing I could do about it.  They were fun, and helpful, but I will have to set some guideline for the next time they are in our house.  Later, two volunteer cooked us dinner, we played Cranium, and finally, after a long day of socializing, bed time! However, we are so covered in bug bites of all sorts, we seriously have no room left on our bodies for more bites, that we could barely sleep.  That combined with the heat, the emotional and physical exhaustion, and the motor bikes roaring by, last night there was not nearly enough sleep happening. Lesson three: Know when enough is enough, and when to say no, or it will get the best of me.

Anyway, tomorrow we are going to the beach with a few other volunteers and a bunch of Dominicans from the village.  This should provide for some interesting tid bits!