Avocado Man

This Haitian man walks through our neighborhood every Saturday and Sunday selling avocados which he carries in a big bowl on top of his head. If we call out to him, he'll come to our door. Brian helps him take the bowl down from his head so that we can choose our avocado. After haggling a bit over the price, we pay him, and Brian helps him lift the bowl back up so that he can continue down the road.

We Bought a Tree

This morning we bought a small indoor tree for the corner in our bedroom. It cost us about eight dollars for the tree, the stones she put over the dirt, and the use of her wheelbarrow to bring it home. It makes our apartment feel a bit more like a home.

Santiago Christian School

This is a picture of our cafeteria.

Here is a picture of our school sign.

Art and music classes are inside this building. Gym classes meet in the open air gym on the right side of the picture.

This is called a "ranchito." Students like to sit here to talk, study, or eat lunch.

Another open air gym.

This is the preschool play area.

The Library

This is where Amy spends her days at school. The library has two "wings" all in one room. The top picture shows the middle school/high school part of the library. The next picture shows the elementary section. Two of my favorite things in that area are the red elephant bookcase and the Cat in the Hat which was painted on the wall by a high school art class.















The library also has about twenty computers that can be used to search the internet or locate books in our library. High school students also use them to type papers or print off work that they've completed at home.

Saturday Night Sightseeing

On Saturday evening we went with James and Carol Dale to do a little sightseeing. We headed downtown in a cab to see "the monument." This momument was originally built by the dictator Trujillo in honor of himself. After he was assasinated, the monument was dedicated to the heroes of a war. The figure on top is the Betsy Ross of the Dominican Republic.

We walked all around the monument, and even stopped to check out some baseball sculptures nearby.

Then we ended our evening at a wild west restaurant complete with waiters in cowboy hats, holsters, and plastic pistols. The restaurant specialized in a variety of grilled meats, but strangely enough, they also served sushi.

How Did He Do That?

Today we went to a church near our home that has English translation for the sermon. Right before the service started, a man handed me the headset that would allow me to listen to the sermon. After all the initial singing and prayers, I turned on the headset and put it over my ears. The young man who was translating the sermon listened to the sermon and translated it into Spanish as it went along. His words flowed so well, and it was so easy to listen to. As he was speaking in English for my benefit, he had to be listening in Spanish to figure out the next part of the sermon. I have no idea how he could do it. He only slipped up one time, and he said into the headset that he was sorry but he lost his train of thought. I'm so grateful he was there, and that he was willing to translate today.

Pizza Delivery

Tonight after school we walked to the grocery store. We took a taxi home with all of our bags of groceries. By then we were very tired, hungry and hot. We decided to order pizza. A teacher had filled us in about the local pizza places so we decided to call Pizzarelli. Brian called and asked about some pizza toppings, ordered a medium pizza to be delivered, and gave them our address. The pizza was scheduled to arrive in about 35 minutes.

We were busy putting groceries away when the phone rang about 10 minutes later. It was a survey to see if we were happy with our pizza ordering experience. The woman asked if we were satisfied with our treatment when we called in the order. Then she wanted to know if the pizza had arrived within the scheduled time. Brian explained that we had just ordered a few minutes earlier.

I'm including a picture of our pizza delivery man. He delivers the pizzas on the back of a motorbike. It was hot and delicious. If the pizza survey woman happens to call again, we'll be able to tell her it was a wonderful experience!

Come in for a Visit

Brian is working on his lesson plans in his "study."

We usually eat breakfast out on our balcony.

The couch in our living room is loaned to us until we get our own.

Our tiny bathroom


Our kitchen has a brand new gas stove.


We just got this table and chairs, and it was delivered by a taxi.
The table was upside down on the roof of the taxi with its legs
pointing up to the sky.

We have a great ceiling fan in our bedroom to keep us cool at night.