Last Day of School Pt 2

The boys coming into the classroom singing "Feliz Navidad." Also, Johavanny is speaking while letting Joel speak in "English." (fact: Joel does not know English)

Last Day of School

Friday, I had my brothers from Pancho Mateo come and entertain our first grade class for our classroom Christmas party. I told them they had to sing two Christmas songs so they came and sang “Feliz Navidad” about 10 times in a row :). Johan made a big introduction for them, and they came in the room dancing, clapping, and singing. Johvanny then had Joel translate in English for the students...Joel does not know English nor do the students speak it. Awesome. He was making up words, and of course the kids have no idea so I am pretty sure they bought it. I was cracking up. After this, Cakito talked about Christmas and why we celebrate it, emphasizing Jesus’ birth.

The students were singing along and listening to every word Cakito and the boys had to say. I think they were a bit speechless for awhile. They had no idea what was coming! To finish up things in the classroom, we turned on "Teach me how to Jerk," and Joel and Johvanny did a bit of break dancing. Once this was over, we all went outside to play a game of soccer in the mud…hilarious. Johvanny fell twice. Overall, I thought this was a great experience for the kids to see older boys they look up to, having fun in a good way, enjoying each other, and sharing about Christ. Hopefully I can do something like this again in the future, si Dios quiere :).

There's a rat...or more

And this is how it went, or has been going...

We have a hole in the screen above our kitchen sink that a rat likes to crawl through and come steal food at night, mostly avocado. Who would've known that a rat would like aguacate? So Tuesday night at around two Cara woke me up scared that there was a person on our back porch. I woke up and heard the noise. We thought it might be a person, doing who knows what, so I turned on the light thinking maybe they would leave if they knew someone was up. I was not about to walk back there. When I did this, we heard a shuffling noise, and at that point I thought for sure a person. We both freaked out, without making any noise, took off our flipflops, ducked low and crawled out of the room so the "person" wouldn't see us. We called several people who were obviously asleep at this time and finally got a hold of Johan. He came over and thought we were talking about our front porch so texted me when he got back to his house saying, "It's clear." Ahhh, we can relax...ya right. We heard the noise again. At this point, we don't want to call Johan back and annoy him, but of course we did anyways :). While waiting, Cara opened one of the back porch doors, and I grabbed a butcher knife, haha. We walked out, turned the corner, and saw the filthy critter trying to escape out of a bucket that was randomly placed under the screen window (while crawling out of the hole in the screen, it fell into the bucket). It couldn't get out, and it just kept sliding back down. Johan finally got to the house, half asleep with two different colored sandals on (you can see in the pics) and covered the bucket so the rat could not get out, and a friend disposed of it the next day. The end...I wish.
The next night we had friends over cooking and another one popped his head out of the cabinet. Of course us girls screamed running out of the kitchen, only to let it escape out of the screen window. Bleh. We know have two sticky traps and are waiting for the nasty thing to come back.

Mis Hermanitos

I have always said I wanted a brother, to take care of, play with, pick on, all of the above. Well I came to the Dominican Republic, and the Lord blessed me with maybe too many, but I love it. Johan, Benjamin, and Merlin are a few to name, and then there are about six in Pancho Mateo that I play basketball with every Tuesday...Cakito, Johan (different than my neighbor), Joel, Johvanny, Kiko, Jose, y mas! They are the ones who gave me the jersey for my birthday and said I am a part of their team. I took these boys (minus Johan and Jose) to Cabarete. There is a court there, and I have been promising the boys I would go with them and play basketball on a Saturday. Leave it to me to ask them the last Saturday I am here before the Christmas break :). Little did I know that I was about to partake in one of the more intense two games I have played in on this island, ref, five on five full court basketball...I'm still sore with multiple bruises and a cut on my hand haha. After the games, we went and ate pizza on the beach and hung out. I felt like more of a mom really than a sister, "Wash your hands. I brought games for us to play. Here are some brownies for you boys." Mom or sister, I had alot of fun with them and was happy to give them that time together at the beach. I hope to be an example of Christ's love for them. I pray that before I leave this island, whenever that does happen someday, they will ask me about Him. I pray everyday that Cakito will share Christ with them when the opportunity arises. We go all the way to the beach to play more dominoes...pathetic.They lovvvvve brownies.
I sometimes go to their basketball games to cheer them on and take pictures...total mom :) On the left is Johvanny, Johan, and Joel on the right (all brothers) and then Cakito.

Feliz Navidad

Go here to watch the video the Uptons posted of my class singing "Feliz Navidad" for their parents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpVUkBtyl2g&feature=player_embedded

Fiesta de Navidad

Part one
Part two

My Christmas Elves

My class has pen pals from my friend Mary's first grade class. Before I go home for the break, I am getting my students to make Christmas cards in addition to taking a Christmas pic. I can't help but share the pictures I took today and yesterday of them. When I think about the beginning of the school year and how far Johan and I have come with them, I cannot help but give thanks to God for His help. I love them more than I ever thought I would. So here are the pictures to show them off...love my lil Navidad elves.Eduardo...Edua
Bienvenido...Bienve
Jeson
Yulena
Bernito
Rachel
Luis Fernando
Escarlet
Memo...Memskies
Wilsenci...Benci
Carlos Alfredo
Regina
Miguel Angel...Migue
Franchesca, Frannie, Francheca
NeifiGustavo

Thanksgiving Fiesta

On Wednesday of this past week, we had a Thanksgiving fiesta with our kids despite the fact that they do not celebrate it here in November like we do. We thought it would be fun to share about it and have the kids think about what they are grateful for in their lives. After one kid said his family, the rest of them said the same thing :). Memo's answer was awesome: "I am thankful for my mom and my son (10 seconds later)...I mean my little brother." After this, the kids made a turkey craft where they cut out a million parts to color and glue, "me duele" came out of many of their mouths from the cutting. I thought it was pretty funny. For math, they all had to answer addition problems through competition, and if they got the problem right, they won their turkey dessert for the fiesta. Of course, they eventually all won so after lunch we put up balloons, handed out party hats, and played some games...musical chairs and freeze dance. To receive their dessert, they also had to answer the fastest, "Como se llama mi papa?" "Lyle!!" The best part was Franchesca and Yulena wearing their best dresses. That is one of my favorite things about letting the kids wear what they want on fiesta days. I love seeing what dresses the girls come in. Can't wait to see more for the Navidad fiesta.