Good morning Everyone. We had more rain last night, but our students continue to show that they are a resilient and flexible bunch! The sky looks more friendly this morning, hopefully we will begin to see some consistent sunshine.

After breakfast this morning, we will head back to DREAM center to continue our work. Because of the heavy and consistent rain that has been coming down at least a week before we arrived, the ground is saturated. At our hotel on the beach, we haven’t seen any hint at all of flooding. However, on our drive to Cabarete it is clear that the land is holding as much water as it possibly can. On the sides of the road fields and houses that are much lower than the height of the road are inundated with water. DREAM center has not seen any flooding, but lower lying homes in the neighborhood have. DREAM is opening their doors to families who need a place to get away from the water, and is not having normal classes in the Preschool today. This won’t hinder out ability to continue our work there today, and gives our students a great chance to experience a community coming together to help each other. John and Otto have been excellent in communicating with us regarding changes to our schedule due to the weather, and we are already planning ways to ensure that our students get both the work experience, as well as the opportunity to see the country on our excursions. Luckily, there is plenty of work to be done indoors, and our students are literally chomping at the bit to get back to DREAM center and get to work! For this morning’s post, I thought I would share words from our students. We asked them to write a bit specifically for the blog before continuing their longer journal entries last night.

“Today I was super excited to start a new day. I was amazed when I got to the school. Everyone was so happy. I got there and started painting the numbers on the steps, and then I wrote the names of the numbers in English and Spanish. I had help from some other people in our group. I will never forget being able to meet the kids on the stairs and talk to them. I remember talking to a 10 year old and a little 1 year old. I loved standing on top of the stairs and being able to smile down at the kids. They always found it so funny, and they would laugh a ton.”

“I now I’ve gone on this trip before, and I realized this the first time, but I had forgotten how lucky I am. Today we did a quick activity where we learned about DREAM project. Mine was about a documentation program. DREAM helps families get their children birth certificates, and I found out that 20% of children don’t have one. That made me sad, but also excited that I am probably helping at least one of those children. I can’t wait to help as many of them as I can.”

“Today I met a few very nice kids. I ordered bananas in Spanish at a store. I had some great food at Mercedes Restaurant and painted an entire wall.”

“I’m really surprised by how awesome the food is here. I am usually a picky eater, but I have eaten the most food I have ever had in my life. The food is amazing here. Surprisingly, there is a lot of fried chicken. A lot of the food that we have eaten here, we also have in America.”

“I don’t know why I was so nervous about coming to the DR. I never want to leave. The food is amazing, the people are kind, the kids are sweet and welcoming and the Dominican is just an overall great place to be. Over the past week, the DR has gotten a LOT of rain. Houses are flooded, as well as fields. This week was a good time to come help people in need.”

“It’s like people see us and they want to help us. Everyone is friendly and welcoming.”

“The kids went from shy and silent to laughing and talking. It’s amazing that a limited Spanish vocabulary makes it so that we can communicate and find similarities with kids that we just met in a place that we’ve never been before. When we left, they even hugged us before we left the building. I can’t wait to talk with them some more.”

I hope you have enjoyed these short snippets that provide a window into the experience of travel in the Dominican Republic through the eyes of middle school students. We will continue to have students provide us with thoughts to post on the blog, as well as keep you updated on the weather, our plans, and of course – pictures, pictures, pictures!

I have been thoroughly impressed with our students, both in their attitude and behavior. What is most impressive is their clear desire to work in helpful ways, and their understanding of the need for our plans to be flexible.

That is all for now from a slightly overcast Kite Beach. Liz and her crew of early morning exercisers will be arriving soon for breakfast – and then off we go!