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Layover time

Well, I'm here in New York as I missed my connection to Air India from Delta. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I stayed in a junk little hotel last night, but at least they have wireless internet to keep my busy. Unfortunately Air India has one flight a day to London and that's not until 8:10pm, so I'm here all day!

Anyhow, thought I'd put some photos on from my last day in the D.R. Lots of fun with the Trautwein family who totally took me in and made me feel like part of the family. Allison is the one in the top right photo with me, and she's with the Trautweins/Kids Alive for a year. Bottom right is Carlos and his sister Maira, who we visited in Santo Domingo that night; she was who I stayed with 9 years ago so it was really fun to see her again and catch up a bit. Missing it all already!!!

Adios

Well, I'm leaving to England tomorrow so this will be my last posting for awhile. As you can imagine, it is quite difficult leaving. I have been so welcomed and really it's begun to feel like this is home. I know it's time to go to England though and so the bags are packed and ready. I'm staying in Santo Domingo tonight, then leave to London via New York in the afternoon. I should be to the UK in the morning on Friday and will be staying with my sister-in-law, Sarah (and Dan too). Tom's been working hard at his new job, and after 7 weeks apart, it's time to see each other again too! Thanks so much for all your support, emails, love, and encouragement while I've been here. I'm hoping to have a battered sausage and chips by Friday afternoon!

New friends

So these are some of the new friends I have made here. The top photo is Emily, Me, Erica...the girls from Caraballo. Emily is from Australia, Erica from the US.

Bottom photo is Jonathon, Erica, Ross, me, Emily. Some are working with KidsAlive, others with an organization called Crossroads, but it's so much fun being altogether with them. Really supportive, friendly, fun group to spend time with!

Dajabon and Haiti

So, we went to Haiti! Yup, Haiti! It was so fun, although a little scary at times. You can click on the photo collage and see them bigger, as I know I've crammed a lot into it. When the collage is bigger, scroll over it and there should be a spot to click on for enlarging on the bottom right.

Here's the story:
Emily and I met Ross, a guy who's staying in Caraballo, at Sosua where we caught a bus. We went to the border and stayed the night in the city called Dajabon. As we were getting off, the driver asked me if this was my first time in Dajabon, and I said yes, he said be very careful and watch what we were doing. Very reassuring! Anyhow, we found a little hotel and checked in for the night. We managed to find some dinner at Roca Pollo, rice and beans, fried chicken. After getting back to our hotel, we found there was a party in the park across from where we were staying that was playing the loudest music! It was literally shaking the shutters! So that lasted until midnight which was nice, but we eventually went to sleep.

At 7am, we were ready to head to the market. It was so incredible, the colors, smells, sights, wow. It is an open market mostly visited by Dominicans and Haitians, as the Haitian border is opened for the few hours in the morning, allowing them to cross freely into the D.R. We walked around the market for awhile and then got up the guts to cross the border. They apparently sometimes will still charge tourists lots of money to cross, so we were a bit nervous about it all. We pretended to know what we were doing and confidently walked across the bridge, with guards and UN officials all over! We walked to an orphanage just over the border and were able to look around and meet some new people. We handed out some food on the streets and attracted loads of people, which was a little overwhelming.

After we finished taking photos and walking a bit more, we started crossing back into the D.R. As we were crossing a border official stopped us and asked us for our passports. My heart was racing...I didn't want to be detained in Haiti!!! He asked what we were doing, where we spent the night, why we were in Haiti. I told him we were visiting the orphanage and because it was market day, we entered earlier in the morning without any problems. At that point, the UN guy came over and agreed with me and said he had seen us enter earlier that morning, and then we were allowed to pass back to D.R. Once safely on the other side, we got some more photos and a sigh of relief!

It was back to the hotel to collect our things, then another bus ride back to Caraballo where we had juice and relaxed and relived the excitement from the day.

I'm so glad to have done it and been there, what an experience.

Casa Marina Beach

Emily and I had an amazing night at Casa Marina Beach. She has become such a friend and I'm so thankful to have her here. We found a really good deal for this all-inclusive resort on the beach and it was so worth it! We had lots of food, drinks, played in the ocean and talked and talked. We went to a Mexican Restaurant and had a nice dinner, Emily got proposed to and I got hassled to dance, but it was a good laugh. The next day we went in the hot/cold tubs right on the ocean and played some more. We then went into Sosua to catch a bus for our next adventure.

Caraballo and Rio San Juan

Another good weekend out and about. I went to Caraballo school again and got to work with the kids on Thursday. Then on Friday I went to a river and got to play in the water for awhile and had a nice lunch. There was a problem at one of the hotels Carlos inspects, so I went with him to Rio San Juan and had another fun day at the beach. This place is so beautiful, I just love it!

Caraballo Round 2

I'm off to Caraballo again today, probably staying through Monday. It should be a nice time away with the kids and also a little escape to the beach. Emily and I are going to a resort that we found for super-cheap, on Saturday night, so we're really looking forward to that. Nice time to get away and be girls for the night! I may get to do the medical clinic on Sunday, but we'll see how that goes. I'll post again when I can, but internet is funny out there, so it may be a few days.

Empty me

So I just thought I would post a song that I listen to everyday, sometimes lots of times. It speaks to the things I want to do, the things I'm doing, and where I want to be. It helps through hard times and questioning times and helps me understand better what I'm here for and the direction I want to be heading. No matter where I go or what I do, I seek for that purpose in life, that desire and direction and sense of belonging to something greater and really, truly living.

Empty Me
Jeremy Camp

You want to be real, you want to be empty inside
You want to be someone laying down your pride
You want to be someone someday
Then lay it all down before the king

You want to be whole, you want to have purpose inside
You want to have virtue and purify your mind
You want to be set free today
Then lay it all down before the king

This is my desire, this is my return
This is my desire to be used by you

You want to be real, you want to be empty inside
And I know my heart is to feel you near
And I know my life
It's to do your will
It's to do your will

All my life I have seen
Where you've take me
Beyond all I have hoped
And there's more left unseen
There's not much I can do to repay all you've done
So I give my hands to use

Cabarete

Another brilliant weekend at the beach. The whole family went and had a great time talking and playing. I got to go out to dinner with a group from Caraballo, the school I was working at. Nice little getaway after a beach-ful week!