One Year Anniversary

I promised Sarah I would write about my one year anniversary experience with Andy and so here I am almost a month later writing about it. So for our one year anniversary we did not have any huge plans for the day/evening. I had just gotten back from the Dominican Republic about a week and half earlier and we were a little low on funds and had not had time to plan any out of town excursions. So I had decided for Andy's gift I was going to get him a "Wii" and of course he knew nothing about my plan. He had told me ahead of time what he was planning to get me because he needed my input on it. He bought me a wedding band that I can wear to work and not worry about losing or banging up too much. He took me to the jewelry store and let me pick out whatever I wanted. I think my band is quite sweet. It is yellow gold (unlike my "real" wedding ring which is white gold),has channel set diamonds and is very dainty.

So on the morning of our anniversary we slept in and then I made us a late breakfast and gave Andy his gift. He loved his gift and could not believe that I got him a Wii! After breakfast we played a few games on the new Wii, then I started feeling sick and went back to bed. For those of you who are wondering *cough Sarah cough* no I am not pregnant I was just sick. After I slept off whatever it was that I had we went and picked out my ring and got something for dinner. We also ate a little from our wedding cake that we had saved from our wedding. Andy was really skeptical because he does not like cake to begin with and the idea that this cake had been sitting in a freezer for a year did not make it any more appealing, but it actually tasted about the same as it did on our wedding day which was awesome because it was a great cake. So we each took a turn eating our share of our anniversary cake.

Here are a few pictures from our cake eating experience...


*Our cake before we cut into it


*Me eating my first piece of anniversary cake


*Andy is really excited about his piece of cake!

Friday Day 12

Last night we went over to Ingrid's for dinner. Monchi had told us that Ingrid's house was very nice, but little did we know it was a mansion. Well I think it was a mansion. Anyways her house is huge and has its own private gate that a guard at the gate. They have seven people on staff at their house to keep it running. There is an elevator in the house, a spa room that has a dry sauna and steam sauna and massage table, a home gym, pool and hot tub, and so much more. Ingrid gets an at home massage once a week and her kids spend their summers in Europe or Canada. Not to mention her 18 year old son is an underwear model. Talk about a weird experience to have in the Domincan. My hostmoms grandson models underwear!

Today is our last day at the Hostos school and we are leaving for Puerto Plata right after class. So we had to be packed for an the overnight stay when we left the house this morning. So Dana and I ate cereal for breakfast then loaded up the van for Hostos.

I gave my teacher a card and have been hanging out with the kids and getting some fun pictures. I am going to say bye to them at lunch. In the mean time we are just hanging out anxiously awaiting our trip to the beach.

I probably won't be able to write again until I get home. So thanks for keeping up with me and I can't wait to see everybody.

Much love,
Robyn

Thursday: Day 11

Today we had pancakes and pineapple for breakfast. Fanny knows what we like now so all we get is pancakes or cereal and some type of fruit with the exception of mangos because Dana and I both did not like the mangos. Also she only brings out one coffee cup and it is for Dana because I never used mine.

At school I got to observe for the first time since I have been here Social Studies in second grade. My teacher said she does not teach Social Studies very often because she does not like the subject or the textbook they have to use. I spent some time working with Dr. Button working on my project and interviewing other Hostos teachers for my project.

At lunch we had tacos! It was the most American tasting food we had the entire time. They were so good and she said we could have them again on Saturday night. I am definitely craving some American junk food! After lunch Dana and I started packing up our suit cases because tomorrow we are leaving straight from the school to go to Puerto Plata and won’t be back until around 8pm Saturday night. They changed our pick up time on Sunday morning from 5:45am to 6:30am which was exciting to me. Dana and I sat and talked with Ingrid and Monchi for a long time, and Monchi ruined her surprise gift. We were going to give her gift to her on Saturday when we got back, but today she was asking us about printing copies of the pictures that we took together. Dana told Ingrid to tell Monchi that her camera was broken, and so Monchi bought it but then she wanted to know about my camera and she didn’t believe that both of our camera’s were broken and called us liars. So we gave her gift to her early. In our gift was a candle and a picture frame with a picture of the three of us in it. It was really funny, and then Monchi started to cry and Ingrid said her Mom always cries when the girls have to leave. Sunday is going to be a bittersweet day. Ingrid invited us to dinner at her house tonight and I think we are going to get to go, because it has been raining all day so there will be no carriage ride. I am a little upset that we did not get to do the carriage ride at all, but there is not much we can do about it now.

Tomorrow is our last day at Hostos and I am going to try and get some good pictures of my kids. Then at 1pm we leave for Puerto Plata. I am excited to finally have some down time and hopefully have a great shower at the hotel. Tomorrow night is our farewell dinner at the hotel and then we have all day Saturday at the beach or pool. I don’t know if I am still going to get a massage because the hotel that we are staying at has changed, but at least I am guaranteed a massage when I get home. I got a spa gift certificate for Valentines Day that I have never used so I am planning on using it when I get home. I am also emailing Andy a list of things I want him to bring to Dallas when he comes and picks me up. They are just some things that I don’t have with me that I want to use when he comes to pick me up!

Wednesday: Day 10

Today we had cereal and fruit for breakfast. I had a warm shower again, because I know the trick now. No water pressure=a warm shower. I am really looking forward to an American shower amongst other things.

At school today my kids were working on couplets again. Couplets are a style of poetry writing in which the last word of every two sentences rhyme. For example:
I have a sick pet
We took him to the vet.
The teacher asked them to pick their own topic and write a four line couplet. I noticed that some of the kids do really well when they get to pick their topic, but some of the kids feel overwhelmed by the huge decision. Then there are the other kids that when you give them a topic they feel too restricted by it. Like the other day they were asked to write a poem about their moms because the Dominican Mother’s Day has not taken place yet and some of the kids said they could not write about it because they don’t live with their mom. I tried to suggest writing about the person they do live with who takes care of them but they just shut down instead.

After I was done in the classroom I went and exchanged some more money and bought some fresh squeezed orange juice. Then at noon Orlando, Kanki’s cousin who was driving us for the afternoon, came and picked us up and took us to the grocery store. Dana and I got a picture of us and Monchi developed to put in the frame we brought her and then we went home for lunch. At lunch we had pork, rice, beans, plantains, and Oreos. A traditional Dominican meal with the exception of the Oreos.
After lunch we went for our final Spanish lesson and Senor Bueno took us to the market. The market is like a flea market and they sale a bunch of Dominican souvenirs. Carlito, Miriam’s son, went with us so that there would be two fluent Spanish speaking people to help us bargain. I got some pretty cool stuff for gifts and I feel that I got an okay bargain on them.
After Spanish class we went back to the university for our night class. We decided to tip the people that serve us snacks at night, because that is what you do down here. You tip everybody for everything! Plus they are newly engaged and have been really great to us for the last two weeks. Dana and I are going to make a handbook for future Dominican students about what to expect and what to bring with them.

After class we were suppose to go on the carriage ride, but it had been raining so we decided to not go. A few girls wanted to go bowling, but I did not feel like staying out late. So me, Dana, Callie, and Jordan hung out at Monchi’s house. Fanny fixed dinner for Jordan, because Jordan’s host mom never feeds her dinner, and Monchi told us it is like that every time Jackie has study abroad students. We told Miriam that Jackie is not feeding Jordan and Sara amongst other things, and so hopefully it will make an difference for future students that stay with her. The other girls ended up not going bowling because the bowling alley was closed, so I was glad I decided not to even venture out.

More Dominican Pictures

Me, Monchi (our host mom), and Dana at Mom's Lunch

Okay so I tried to get more pics uploaded but the website was being slow tonight so just the one. In my opinion it is the best one of the whole trip!!!

Day 9: Tuesday

I felt a little better this morning and so I got up to get ready for the day. I decided to wear my pink dress because we were all having lunch together with our host moms at Miriam's. Dana and I wanted to get some cute pictures with Monchi that we could get developed here and give to her before we left. At breakfast there was pancakes and a banana. I ate about three bites of my pancake and decided I was not well enough to eat that. I took the banana with me to school in case I got hungry later.

At school my class was writing poems about their mothers, because the Dominican Mother's Day has not happened yet. I was trying to help some of the students but a lot of them were completely disengaged. One little boy told me his mother did nothing for him and so he didn't know what to write. One little girl told me her mom lived in New York and she had not seen her since her birthday. I later talked to Rachel, who has been teaching down here for the past year but is actually a former Texas Tech student, about what happened in my class and she said that is very common with kids down here. It is not just that their parents are divorced and live in different cities, it is that their parents live in another country and they live with relatives here and don't really have a stable home life. It is a very sad situation. What made me upset about the poetry time is that the students felt like they had no alternative topic to write about. I think it would have been helpful if the teacher had told them that they could write about an important person in their life and not just their mom. I lead a portion of the reading lesson with about 13 of the students from my class. My host teacher took the rest upstairs. I was grateful I only had 13. We did a reading lesson and we talked about the difference between fact and opinion. It went pretty well, but that is the most I have done this entire time. After I was done in my class I went with Dana to exchange some more money. We are suppose to go to the market on Thursday and I really want to get some Amber jewelry so I needed Dominican money to get it.

For lunch today we went to Miriam's to have a mothers lunch. All of our host moms were there and Dr. Button and Dr. Johnson cooked traditional American food. We had green bean casserole, chicken and rice casserole, salad, bread, and apple crisp for dessert. The apple crisp was made with oatmeal and raisins so I mainly ate the cooked apple and ice cream. The mom's had a lot of fun and we gave them all a cup from Texas Tech and thank you cards. We wrote our thank you card in English and then had one of the teachers at Hostos translate it to Spanish so Monchi could read it. She cried when she read our card. Dana and I are going to give her another card at the end of the week and the gifts that we brought from home for her. Hopefully she will like them. We got some cute pictures with her too and I am going to try to get them posted on here tonight or tomorrow.

After lunch we went with Monchi to the orphanage for girls that she runs. It was a really neat place and I can tell that the girls are well loved and taken care of. I think Monchi was very excited to have us there and she introduces us as her daughters. Dana and I both feel that we are very lucky and have the best host Mom we could have asked for.

We had a short break after the orphanage that was just long enough to take a quick nap. Then it was off to our university class. I am using Dr. Button's laptop again, but its working out well for me and for her. We had muffins for a snack so I ate one and got a cup of hot chocolate. Tonight we are just going to be hanging out at home, and hopefully tomorrow we will be going on the coach ride. Thursday night we are going bowling which I am actually very excited about! Then Friday is our last day at Hostos and after our time at Hostos we are going to the resort for the weekend. We aren't exactly sure where we are going this weekend because the Breezes resort is closed for restorations and so there was talk about going to another resort in Puerto Plata, but then I heard today that Miriam might get us in at a resort in Sosua for cheaper. I really want to go to Puerto Plata and am hoping that it still works out that we can go there.

Day 8: Monday

Today I woke up feeling sick. I sort of felt sick when I went to bed last night, but I thought it was just because of a long day. I was wrong. I got ready for class anyways and ate breakfast. We had toast and cheese, but I only ate one piece of toast and decided no more. My stomach was really upset and my head hurt. Dana convinced me to stay home for the morning because there was no way I was going to get any better at the school. So I went back to bed when Dana left for Hostos. Fanny (the maid) came in to get our laundry and was surprised to see me lying there, so I told her I was sick to my stomach. I could have sworn that while I was sleeping somebody else came back in to the room, but I am not sure. I think it was Monchi checking on me.

I got up around lunchtime and did some reading then Monchi came in the room to check on me. She told me to come the kitchen and then showed me that she bought me a Gatorade for my stomach. She also asked me if I wanted a “cookie” and I told her no at first because who wants a cookie when their stomach hurts, but then she showed it to me and it was a package of saltine crackers! Dana came home for lunch and showed me her purchases from the grocery store. We asked Monchi if she would take us back to the grocery store so that I would have a chance to get a few things. At lunch Monchi told me not to eat too much and so I just had a little bit of chicken and some rice. Monchi also told me that I was not allowed to snack at class that evening and she would make me mashed potatoes for dinner to help settle my stomach. We had a long break during the afternoon so I was able to sleep some more which really helped me feel better. It was really nice to have somebody take care of me while I was sick. Being sick definitely made me miss home even more. It rained most of the afternoon and so we borrowed an umbrella from Monchi to take to class.

We were late to class because Kanki was late picking us up, but none of us cared too much. I let Dr. Button borrow my laptop during class to show the power points on because her and Dr. Johnson are both Mac users so I used her Mac instead. It is a good thing that Andy has a Mac because it was not a huge leap for me to use her laptop. During our break I ate more saltine crackers, but the snack provided by the university did not look very appetizing anyways so I wasn’t too disappointed. If you couldn’t already tell the break portion of our university class is my favorite part mainly because I have heard all of this before.
After class we decided to not do the coach ride because of the rain. So Dana and I went home and we had cereal with yogurt and mashed potatoes for dinner. I know it sounds bizarre, but it did not hurt my stomach. Also I hear that eating yogurt when you go abroad helps your stomach adjust because it reintroduces the good bacteria to your system. Monchi said she thought that the salad that I had at Jaraboca made me sick, because some places wash their vegetables in tap water which my body is not use to. But honestly I think it was the pizza that we had at Monchi’s on Sunday night after Jaraboca. I say this because Dana’s stomach kind of hurt on Sunday night after we ate the pizza and one of the other girls on the trip got sick after eating pizza as well. Plus nobody else who went to Jaraboca got sick except for me so the salad idea does not make sense. I did not have the heart to tell Monchi that I thought it was her pizza so I just said it probably was my salad. After dinner Monchi took us to the grocery store and bought some rum, coffee, and vanilla. I meant to buy vanilla extract and I am not sure that I did that, but it was really cheap so if we go to the store again I will buy vanilla extract and just have both. After the store we came home and went to bed.

I am really behind my course work because I feel like I don’t have any direction and my time at the Hostos School has not been very beneficial. I feel like my host teacher does not really care for us being here, and so I act more as an assistant to her and am not getting much experience. Everybody else gets to talk to their teacher about what is going on in the class and the teacher takes time to get the Tech student up to date, but my teacher is just keeps going with class and I just help where I can. I have not had an opportunity to meet with the students that she said I could and I just don’t know what to do about it. I am hoping I can get what I need tomorrow and then I will just bounce around to other classes and observe.