Christmas Joy

This Christmas was very different for me.  It was difficult for me to accept the fact that Eddy and I would not be able to go back to the states for Christmas.  Eddy cannot yet travel into the US due to visa issues, and he is my family now, so (like we will continue to have to do) we had to choose.  The decision that Iwould stay in the DR for Christmas was pretty easy, carrying it out, however, was difficult.  There were definitely tears at some points.  Christmas here is very different.  I was shocked to learn is that it is not really celebrated as a Christian holiday, in the same way it is in the states.  What I mean by that is, unless Christmas is on a Sunday, there is no church on Christmas.  The people in my church here love memorizing verses, they can recite verses for every occasion, except verses from the Christmas story.  In the states I think most Christians in the states can recite a lot of Luke 2 without even trying.  Also, it is very difficult to find non-secular Christmas songs in Spanish.

My reaction to all of this was to start fighting to bring a Christian Christmas to the Dominican Republic.  As I did so, I also had to re-evaluate my opinion about celebrating Christmas.  Was it just because of my own traditions and how I grew up making me feel so strongly?  or was it something else? Having grown up in the church and at a Christian school, I had learned a lot about Christmas.  I had heard sermons and lessons from every perspective on the Christmas story.  I don't know for sure, but I think it is actually somewhat difficult for pastors each December to try to think of a new take on the story or a new way to to teach about it, because everybody has already heard so much about it already.  Here it is not like that.  Here there is still so much that people haven't explored about the Christmas story.  By talking and studying Matthew and Luke with Eddy and with our community Bible study, I too re-discovered the miraculous Christmas story.

There are so many amazing things that happened that day, and so many things to think about and study.  Mary's faith and humility is something we all can learn from.  The fact that angels announced the birth to shepherds of all people, poor young shepherds.  A new star appeared in the sky and led the wisemen all the way from the East!  That feeling that we feel on Christmas morning at church, singing Christmas hymns and thinking about the blessing that was Jesus entering the world, is one-millionth of the feeling that there must have been on that day in Bethlehem.  That day changed everything.  That day brought a hope and a joy to the world that there had never been before.  As the angels said "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of GREAT JOY, which shall be to ALL people. "  I firmly believe that that is a joy that no one should have to miss out on.  I am now sure that it is not just my own culture or traditions that made me feel so strongly.  I am sure, because on this Christmas, when my joy was being replaced by home sickness, God gave me my joy back by helping me rediscover the miraculous story of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Below is the King James Version of the Christmas story.  First from Luke and then from Matthew.  I invite to read it as if you are reading it for the first time and see what God reveals to you.  I know that Christmas has passed for the year, but the joy and peace that we can find in studying and marveling in the story of how Jesus was born, can be found at any time of year.


 Luke 2
 ¹And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.
 ²(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
 ³And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
 ⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
 ⁵To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
 ⁶And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
 ⁷And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
 ⁸And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
 ⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
 ¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
 ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
 ¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
 ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
 ¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
 ¹⁵And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
 ¹⁶And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
 ¹⁷And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
 ¹⁸And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
 ¹⁹But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
 ²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
 ²¹And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

 Matthew 1
 ¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
 ¹⁹Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
 ²⁰But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
 ²¹And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
 ²²Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
 ²³Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
 ²⁴Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
 ²⁵And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

Matthew 2

 ¹Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
 ²Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
 ³When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
 ⁴And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
 ⁵And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
 ⁶And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
 ⁷Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
 ⁸And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
 ⁹When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
 ¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
 ¹¹And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.
 ¹²And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

A Very Dominican Christmas - Part 2

On Christmas Eve I experienced my first Dominican Christmas...twice.

We went to Eddy's parents' house around 7:00 for dinner.  They had a very traditional Dominican Christmas meal that included the roasted pork (of course), white rice with guandules, a special type of chicken, avocados, potato salad, green salad, rotisserie chicken, and rolls.  Let me explain a little about each food.  You already heard about the pork.  Eddy's mom called the chicken "pollo a la parla", I have no idea what that means, but it was pretty good.  Guandules are a special kind of beans that they put over the rice.  It is a very traditional part of the Christmas meal.  They are very good.  There is always avocado.  Domincan potato salad is the best potato salad in the world (it may even beat good old Key Market potato salad).  The green salad is basically shredded lettuce with tomatoes and cucumbers.  And the store-bought rolls and rotisserie chicken were my contributions (along with brownies for dessert, which were a big hit).  As promised, we ate a lot.  We were both very hungry and the food was very good.  Plus it made his mom very happy.  After dinner we hung out for a little while and visited the girls. 

The day before, Lelo had invited us over for dinner.  We explained that we would love to come but we were eating dinner at Eddy's mom's house.  Eddy's mom's name is Ana and she is Lelo's sister.   Lelo told us not to eat very much at Ana's, but we told her we were planning on eating a lot.  This somehow translated to her believing that we were eating dinner with their family and planned on eating a lot. 

Around 9:15 Eddy's mom informed us that Lelo told her we were eating dinner with them.  (In retrospect, it was probably good that we ate a lot at her house, because his mom was probably watching to see.)  So we headed over to Lelo's.  They had even more food than Eddy's mom.  We were so full.  Right before we started, Eddy told me not to worry about it, just take a little salad.  However, in the Dominican culture, the guests serve themselves first.  They all watch what and how much you take, and it is very rude to only take a little.  There was no way I was getting away with only taking salad.  So I took a little bit of everything.  I had read somewhere that it takes your brain 20 minutes to know that the stomach is full.  My strategy was to eat it all very fast so that I finished before my stomach told my brain how full it was.  Just as I was almost finished I realized the flaw in my plan.  My plate was almost empty and everyone else had just started eating.  Dominican mom's don't like empty plates so early.  I tried to hide it, but one minute later, my empty plate was spotted and I was served more pork.  This time, I ate it very slowly so as not to be served more and when everyone else was finishing, snuck the rest onto Eddy's plate.

All in all, it was a lot of fun but it was also a little emotional for me.  Lelo and her husband live right across the street from our apartment.  Eddy's two single cousins still live there and his two married cousins live in two houses built a few yards behind Lelo's house.  We spend a lot of time with their family and at Christmas dinner it was very apparent that they consider us a part of their family.  After dinner Eddy's mom and dad and sister came over as well and we all sat around and talked and celebrated for a few more hours.  It was my first Christmas without my family in the states but my first Christmas with my family in the Dominican Republic. I think I am starting to get used to having so many conflicting emotions at the same time.

I did take lots of pictures and I would love to share them with you but my wonderful husband, who I love, accidentally erased my memory card.  Maybe next year.  Merry Christmas!

A Very Dominican Christmas - Part 1

Ever since four days after my wedding, I have been very aware that I was not going to be going back to the states for Christmas.  It has been a journey for me accepting that fact, which was somewhat more difficult than I thought it would be.  A couple days ago, God opened my eyes and reminded me that yes, this will be my first Christmas without my family, but it is also my first Christmas that I would be celebrating with Eddy.  I have 29 years of Christmas memories with my family and this year I will be creating my first set of Christmas memories with my husband.  I decided to embrace and enjoy my first Dominican Christmas and be prepared for anything.

Yesterday was December 23.  All of the family parties here are celebrated on Christmas Eve night, and the most prevalent tradition is that everyone eats roasted pork on Christmas.  Yesterday was an eye-opening day of learning about pig roasts.  First, in the afternoon, I heard the pigs screaming on their way to slaughter.  Apparently, they somehow know that they are on their way to slaughter and scream all the way to the slaughter house.  It is a very unpleasant sound.

Later in the evening, we walked over to Eddy's mom's house to talk for a while and then stopped by his aunt's house to visit them as well.  It was after 10, so I was already thinking about going to bed.  However, they invited us to come back, because they wanted me to go with them to go visit the pigs roasts that were happening in the area.  They wanted us to come back in two hours, but we convinced them to go in one hour.  They told me that I needed to learn that on the 23rd and 24th, you don't sleep.  So at 11, we went out walking, Eddy and I with his aunt and uncle and about 7 other cousins.  Usually, we don't go out at all at night, let alone walking far distances, but since it was the 23rd of December, everyone is still up and out, plus we had a big group, so it was safe.  The first place we stopped was right down the street and they had about 10 pigs roasting, however it was close to a colmado, so there were a lot of people around and I (as an American) was drawing a lot of attention, so we kept on walking.

We walked for almost a half an hour, in the rain, on a dirt road full of holes, rocks and mud to get to the next pig roast.  It was very dark and there were no lights, so the walking was difficult.  This pig roast was at the house of one of Eddy's cousins so it was safer and more relaxed.  They had between 20 and 30 pigs roasting.  There were a group of men working there, that would be staying up all night to continue turning and roasting the pigs.  When we arrived, the first thing we heard was the snorting of a very large, live pig in a pen nearby.  Then I saw the pig-roasting hut with two levels of pigs being roasted.  Nearby there were two boys between the ages of 7 and 10 plucking the feathers out of two chickens.  In the time that we were there they plucked all the feathers, cut the heads off and then put them on a wooden stick to roast them.

Most of the time, I tried my best to stay pretty far away from the action. Everyone kept saying to me, "son bonito no Carolina?"  Which translates to "they are beautiful, aren't they Carrie?"  Umm.... beautiful is not the word I would have used.   Also, Eddy's family does not really take no for an answer so at one point they did make me go over to take a couple pictures.  In order to do that I had to pass by where the chickens had been.  My goals was to not step on one of the chicken heads laying on the ground, not look completely freaked out, and not hit my head.  I did succeed in not stepping on the heads, but I think I failed in my other two goals.

the first stop

hanging out after a long walk

a few of the pigs

the pig roasting shack

They were very proud of their chickens.

right after the chicken head incident

Eventually we did head out on our 30 minute walk back home.  Luckily it had stopped raining by then.  On the way home I asked Eddy if they only did that for me.  But he explained that it is a tradition of theirs to go out late at night on the 23rd to visit and see the pigs being roasted.  So, my first Dominican Christmas tradition completed.  Eddy commented that I am probably the only American ever to see a Dominican pig roast in that way.  It does make me feel good that Eddy's family doesn't really think of me as "american" anymore.  I'm just Carolina to them.  And I am thankful that I have the opportunity to be a part of a Dominican family and that I get to witness things that are very "Dominican" and that many Americans that live here do not ever get to be a part of.

I do not know what today will bring.  I do know that I will be expected to eat a lot of pork, so hopefully I am able to find a way to do that.  I also know that tomorrow I will have plenty of things to write about.

Random Facts - Las Mañanitas

This year I will be experiencing my first Dominican Christmas.  There are very different Christmas traditions here than those of the United States.  One of those traditions involves "Las Mañanitas".  Saturday morning I was woken up at 5 am by a group of Mañanitas.  It literally translates to "the little mornings" but the name actually refers to the people and originates from the fact that this tradition is done very early in the morning.  It is a little bit like caroling, but definitely has a Dominican twist.  The tradition is to get up at 4 or 5 in the morning and get together with a large group of people to walk through the neighborhood singing with the accompaniment of a tambora.  This is like a hand drum, but much louder.  The do not sing soft christmas carol type songs, they sing fast, loud, merengue songs, which is the most traditional type of song here.  They walk through the neighborhood, stopping at each house and sing until the family in the house wakes up and comes out.  Sometimes, they will get invited in for some jengibre, which is a traditional Christmas tea.  You might think that people would find it annoying to be woken up so early in the morning, however, the people here love it and yesterday it created a sense of excitement and joy and celebrating in our neighbordhood, having all been visited by a group of Las Mañanitas. I enjoyed it as well.

School Pictures

I was looking back at my old posts and I realized that I haven't posted pictures of the school for a while.  So here you go!

This is the new school building.  All of our students, except the preschoolers, have class in this building (kindergarten through 6th grade).  There are three classrooms downstairs and three classrooms upstairs.  They have been in use for over a year.  They are very unfinished without doors, windows, or electricity.

Doors and windows will be going in over Christmas Break! 

On the left are the bathrooms and on the right you can see the door to the office.  This is the newest part of the school. 

This is the "cafeteria" the children can buy their snack here and we made a make-shift roof to have a covered area for the children to protect from the sun or the rain.

Here are some of the first graders at recess...

...and in class.

Last month, a medical team from Hands of Grace came down and checked our students.

Things I Have Learned Since Moving to the DR...

21.  Through all those years when I thought I would always be single, God was preparing a husband for me.
22.  I can cook (kind of).
23.  My family is one of my greatest blessings.
24.  I can't tell the difference between the sound of gun fire and the sound of fire crackers.
25.  I am completely safe in God's hands.

A few picture of the kids

Kinder (4 yrs)

Maternal (3 yrs)

Parvulo (2 yrs)