"The first week back" for those of you who do not speak spanish, and it was a great first week. The beginning started out a bit rough. I had that typical missionary feeling that most missionaries get going out on the field. You long to just have the normal, comfortable American way of life with friends and family close by, but at the same time you know this is where you are suppose to be, where God wants you. I had a wonderful summer in Dallas and in Austin, and therefore naturally it was hard to leave, but I knew once I got back here and back in the routine, I would fall right back in love with it. So this week...We went to Santiago Monday and Tuesday, which is in hour away from here. We had lots of team time and went to a museum to learn about Dominican history. I went on a tour through an area of the La Aurora cigar making factory, pretty cool huh? http://www.miamicigarcompany.com/miamicigar/aurora/home.htm. He explained how they are made uniquely, being just as good as Cuban cigars, except La Aurora's has more variety. The guy we watched make some had been rolling cigars for 30 years! talk about monotonous. After watching that, Ashley and I walked together through the museum and at one point decided we wanted to take silly pictures. Little did we know, there was a security guy walking around making sure no one did that. After we took a couple pictures, one specifically of me kissing a cardboard poster of a Dominican man, the security guy came around the corner. I had the camera in my hand, and as he walked up, Ashley told me to hide it. Well I could not simply put it in my bag because that would be too obvious so I decided to hold it on the side he could not see, and as he circled around me, Ashley would tell me which way to turn (the benefit of speaking another language than the country we live in) and eventually we just walked away. Of course he followed us the whole rest of the time. You can only imagine how silly and immature I got during and after that, trying not to laugh every time he would pop up. Ashley thought we should take a pic of him, but we decided with better judgment not to.
Wednesday I went to Chichigua for the first time since I have gotten back, and it was sooo great to see the kids. I saw Memo first, and he immediately jumped in my arms for me to hold him. Not going to lie, that felt great! I kept holding him for about 10 minutes until, well, some of you can probably guess who I saw...Weeson! (Wilson). I handed Mems over to Holly and picked up Wilson. He had just woken up and was a bit groggy, which I love because that is when he just likes to sit in my lap or just let me hold him. I have been a bit sad lately because when some of the girls went to ask the parents who was coming back to the school, Wilson's mom said he was not going to. I will get back to this later.
Thursday and Friday we planned for our staff/parent meeting we were going to hold on Friday. We put a meeting together of what we should say, and then went out to the three villages to tell the parents and other parents who have kids that do not come to the school. We were a bit worried that we would not get a full roster because we are now going to have four classes with a total of 60 kids. Knowing some kids might not come back, the thought crossed our minds that we would come short... oh ye of little faith. The room was packed with parents! And...Wilson's mom came to sign him up! yay! We gave each of our speeches (yes I did speak to the parents in Spanish. I was super nervous, and Cristina decided to let the parents know right before I spoke that I am learning so they need to pay attention more when I spoke. For those who know me well, you know that I have a huge fear of public speaking in my own language let alone a second language. At the end of the meeting, we got a full roster and even had a waiting list! The Lord is so faithful. This is when it hit me why I am here and why I love doing what I am doing. By the way, I will now officially be a teacher's aide for four teachers. crazy talk. I will switch rooms after each day so that I can go take notes of each student to see how they are progressing week by week. Even though it may be kind of stressful, I cannot wait to get to know the students individually and of course be with my old students again.
Alright, love you guys. And yes, the picture at the end is what you think it is, but no worries, I did not eat it. Bleh.
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