Sorry it has taken me so long to update my blog, I've been really busy and tired getting settled here. I'll start from the beginning. Arriving in the D.R. was a little stressful for me as I didn't know who was picking me up and I didn't have any contact information for the missionaries with Kids Alive. Everything worked out (thanks for your prayers) as Marcie, Paul, and there 2 kids picked me up. I was one of two Americans on the flight! I stayed with them the first night and Sunday I moved in with Vic and Leslie (Vic is the field director) for a couple of weeks. Sunday I went to church and then we went to the river to go tubing. Monday and Tuesday I was at ANIJA, the school for the kids at the Ark (a KAI orphanage) and other kids from the community, for most of the day for teacher training. I was excited to be in my first teacher orientation but I only understood about 10% since it was all in Spanish. School started at ANIJA on Wednesday, grades 1-8. I did not start the first week but I am teaching 3rd-8th grade English starting Tuesday! After getting more comfortable with teaching English I will take on more responsibilities such as starting and coaching a volleyball team, helping with child sponsorship, and helping with math. I am starting to feel settled in and Praise God for providing an aide for me, Loida, for the first month. She is a Dominican and will be able to help me with classroom management since I can't communicate in Spanish very well yet. I've also been going to different missionaries houses for dinner throughout the week to get to know more people. I feel very welcomed! I am also getting tutored for Spanish 4-6 hours a week. Today I had my first motorcycle lesson! I was a little scared... I had a death grip on the handles. I'll post pictures soon.
:) Ways to be praying for me-
1. Please pray for my first few weeks of teaching!
2. My ability to learn, speak, and understand Spanish
3. Peace about where to live
4. Transportation (most likely some sort of motorcycle) and safety!
5. Daily time with the Lord
Lastly, my gramma is in the process of passing away. Please pray for my family and relatives and that my gramma is comfortable. My gramma is 92 years, my only grandparent living, and has lived within 5 minutes of me for most of my life.
Overall, I am doing very well and feel good being here. Thanks again for your support and prayers and know that I am praying for you as well. Again, please send me any updates, prayer requests or praises.
God Bless!
Julie-Anne
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
I have arrived!
I have arrived safely in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic after a long day of traveling yesterday. Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for me as I am so doubtful of my ability to teach speaking Spanish. I will post more later.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
I passed!
Julie-Anne
This is my teacher, Katia.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Finca Colombia
The day after we (the group on a mission's trip and I) went to a coffee farm called Columbia. Although I am not a huge coffee drinker I really enjoyed the tour. The owner of the coffee farm gave us the tour and shared her family's background with the farm. Here's the short version- The owner's great-grandmother came to Guatemala from Spain and bought the farm for her sons to tend to. Back then the farm was for vegetables, not coffee. As she got older, she decided to divide the farm and give ownership to her four grandsons (one being the current owner's father). Well, the current owner's father loved the farm so much that he bought back the other portions of the farm and converted it into a coffee farm. As he got older, he also decided to divide the farm and give ownership to his two daughters (who both currently own the farms today). I thought it was really neat that she shared her story. It made the tour more personal. At the end of the tour we each got to try a cup of Guatemalan coffee. Yum!
This is the group I went to the coffee farm with.
Cindy is on the very left. She is one of the people
who stayed at my house.
This picture shows the stages of growth starting
with a coffee bean growing into a leaf/tree.
This is a coffee bean ready to be harvested. The
two little coffee beans were squeezed out of the red shell.
A closer view of unripe coffee beans on the
branches on a coffee tree.
This is a picture of all natural compost made of
old coffee bean shells, worms, and some other
stuff I didn't want to know.
This is where they spread out the coffee beans to dry.
A picture of the owner telling us about the storage
process for the coffee beans. This farm in particular
exports their coffee to Japan.
This is the group I went to the coffee farm with.
Cindy is on the very left. She is one of the people
who stayed at my house.
On the right is a picture of what a coffee tree looks like.
This picture shows the stages of growth starting
with a coffee bean growing into a leaf/tree.
This is a coffee bean ready to be harvested. The
two little coffee beans were squeezed out of the red shell.
A closer view of unripe coffee beans on the
branches on a coffee tree.
This is a picture of all natural compost made of
old coffee bean shells, worms, and some other
stuff I didn't want to know.
This is where they spread out the coffee beans to dry.
A picture of the owner telling us about the storage
process for the coffee beans. This farm in particular
exports their coffee to Japan.
Volcano Pacaya Round Two
.
Here are a few pictures from my second trip up Volcano Pacaya. I went with a group that is in Guatemala for a missions trip with their church. A group of about 12 or so decided to come early for a week of language school. Three of the people in the group stayed at my house and invited me to hike Volcano Pacaya with them. They were such a blessing as they included me in all of their outings and offered many encouraging words.
My second experience up the Volcano was actually quite different from the first hike up. This group was more active in general than the first group so we hiked at a faster pace. After reaching the end of the 'normal' hike and transitioned into climbing up the rocks, some people decided to take a different path that allowed them to run down the hill. I chose not to run down but took a video of a few in my group that I posted below. I did not see anyone do this during my first trip up the volcano. Once we arrived at the top, the formations of the cooled lava rocks we walked on were different than the first time, as if new lava had flowed and cooled within the two weeks I had gone before. The lava stream was shifted over a couple feet as well. As you'll see in one of the pictures below, I upgraded my method of roasting marsh mellows. Our guide cut down a branch for us that had 4 little branches sticking out. Therefore I could roast 4 marsh mellows at a time and this time we had colored marsh mellows rather than white (I liked the plain white better). On the way down, right after we finished the rocky part (thank the Lord), it started to rain and then pour the rest of the way down. I was glad I had my rain coat!
Seeing the lava flow was just as cool the second time around.
Here are a few pictures from my second trip up Volcano Pacaya. I went with a group that is in Guatemala for a missions trip with their church. A group of about 12 or so decided to come early for a week of language school. Three of the people in the group stayed at my house and invited me to hike Volcano Pacaya with them. They were such a blessing as they included me in all of their outings and offered many encouraging words.
My second experience up the Volcano was actually quite different from the first hike up. This group was more active in general than the first group so we hiked at a faster pace. After reaching the end of the 'normal' hike and transitioned into climbing up the rocks, some people decided to take a different path that allowed them to run down the hill. I chose not to run down but took a video of a few in my group that I posted below. I did not see anyone do this during my first trip up the volcano. Once we arrived at the top, the formations of the cooled lava rocks we walked on were different than the first time, as if new lava had flowed and cooled within the two weeks I had gone before. The lava stream was shifted over a couple feet as well. As you'll see in one of the pictures below, I upgraded my method of roasting marsh mellows. Our guide cut down a branch for us that had 4 little branches sticking out. Therefore I could roast 4 marsh mellows at a time and this time we had colored marsh mellows rather than white (I liked the plain white better). On the way down, right after we finished the rocky part (thank the Lord), it started to rain and then pour the rest of the way down. I was glad I had my rain coat!
Seeing the lava flow was just as cool the second time around.
This is the very top of Volcano Pacaya.
Proudly roasting 4 marsh mellows at a time :)
This is my good friend Lori. She has been such a blessing as a running partner, study friend, and sister-in-Christ. I think we will stay friends for a long time.
A view on our way down Volcano Pacaya.
This is the video of a few people from our group running down the side of one of the mountains. I chose not to run down the mountain. I took a video instead. No one got really hurt, just a few scratches.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Lake Atitlan
Sorry I have not posted something about my trip to Lake Atitlan sooner than this but here are the details and some pictures.
A few friends and I got picked up Saturday morning around 6am to make the journey to Panajachel, one of the 12 or so towns surrounding Lake Atitlan. Let's just say it was quite a journey as the roads were rough and scary at times. The road had 160 degree switch backs going through the mountains, where a road big enough for a car and a half was used as a two way road.
We sent the day traveling by boat to three different towns called San Pedro, Santiago, and San Catarina. We walked around, shopped, took pictures, and ate throughout the day. After about 6 hours or so, we came back, showered, and walked into the town of Panajachel. I don't remember what restaurant we ate at but let's just say it was really late, I was really hungry, and I did not have the patience I needed to wait an hour and a half for our food. The next morning we left for Chichicastenango which was another 1 1/2 hour drive. Chichicastenango is known for their market so we mostly walked and shopped. We only lasted for about an hour and then found an ice cream shop to sit at until our van left to head back to Antigua.
Here are some pictures from my trip.
The view of Lake Atitlan from our hotel and out my window.
A little closer view of Lake Atitlan from our hotel.
This was our boat driver. We rented a private boat for the afternoon. There were 5 of us renting the boat so it wasn't too expensive to rent for 6 hours.
This was our boat driver's son. He is 4 years old. He was so cute as he helped his dad throughout the day. He was so tired he fell asleep on our last stretch home.
A sunset view of Lake Atitlan.
Relaxing once we got back to our hotel.
The best bean log I've ever had...
although I'm not sure if was worth waiting an hour and a half for.
A few friends and I got picked up Saturday morning around 6am to make the journey to Panajachel, one of the 12 or so towns surrounding Lake Atitlan. Let's just say it was quite a journey as the roads were rough and scary at times. The road had 160 degree switch backs going through the mountains, where a road big enough for a car and a half was used as a two way road.
We sent the day traveling by boat to three different towns called San Pedro, Santiago, and San Catarina. We walked around, shopped, took pictures, and ate throughout the day. After about 6 hours or so, we came back, showered, and walked into the town of Panajachel. I don't remember what restaurant we ate at but let's just say it was really late, I was really hungry, and I did not have the patience I needed to wait an hour and a half for our food. The next morning we left for Chichicastenango which was another 1 1/2 hour drive. Chichicastenango is known for their market so we mostly walked and shopped. We only lasted for about an hour and then found an ice cream shop to sit at until our van left to head back to Antigua.
Here are some pictures from my trip.
The view of Lake Atitlan from our hotel and out my window.
A little closer view of Lake Atitlan from our hotel.
This was our boat driver. We rented a private boat for the afternoon. There were 5 of us renting the boat so it wasn't too expensive to rent for 6 hours.
This was our boat driver's son. He is 4 years old. He was so cute as he helped his dad throughout the day. He was so tired he fell asleep on our last stretch home.
A sunset view of Lake Atitlan.
Relaxing once we got back to our hotel.
The best bean log I've ever had...
although I'm not sure if was worth waiting an hour and a half for.
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