Sunday Afternoon

So I made it through my first week of teaching. It is definitely an experience. Most of the children don't get that I can't understand them. They keep talking to me and then they're confused that I am not answering them. :) I love teaching them, it's been a lot of fun but the language barrier is definitely an obstacle. Trying to make them understand how to play the game or do the activity without being able to tell them has been interesting. I love being able to interact with so many different classes and to be able to get to know so many of the children. They are so open to me. I already have a few who always want to sit by me or hold my hand or follow me around. They are so cute, they get so excited about telling me the english they know or saying 'good morning Ms. Carrie' when they see me. By the way, no one can say my name. I guess they don't have the sound 'ar' in the spanish language, event the adults struggle with it.

On Thursday, I was walking from the church down the road to the unfinished house where some of the grades have class. As I was walking I passed a stray dog and hoped he didn't attack me and then heard loud Dominican music blaring out of a house and followed three cows down the second road to get to the house. Through all of this I had one of those moments when you are suddenly aware of where you are and what you are doing, when it hits you in a way that it hadn't before. I realized that I'm here. This is where I live and this is what I am doing and it seems so crazy that its almost hard to believe.

I know that everyone is wondering about the earthquake and how everything is going. We are not seeing any of the effects of the earthquake here. I don't think I have any more information about the earthquake than you do. Everthing that I know is from CNN. I think the difference is that since we are so physically close to everything that is happening, it all feels much more real to us. We felt the earthquake, we see the sorrow in the faces around us, we know Haitians who go to our church and work at our school. My heart breaks for the people of Haiti and I am thinking about them all the time. When it starts pouring I am aware of all the people living on the street, when it gets dark I am aware of all the children lost and scared. I saw on the news today about a woman who had been trapped for two days when she was rescued. I think about the hundreds or thousands of people are also trapped and waiting for help and it may never come. Our school is collecting bottled water and other supplies to bring over to Haiti, but from everthing that I have heard, the best thing for Americans to do is to donate money to the Red Cross or another legitimate organization. Down the road there will be opportunities to help in other ways.