Here’s a little something about a few of the girls I hang out with…
Melissa is 26 and from Colorado. Shes teaching 7/8 Grammar and very “spunky” and fun, and loves to joke around. Our personalities are similar and we get along great!
Natalie is 24 from Fort Wayne, Indiana. She’s been teaching at JCS for the last two years and is teaching the other third grade class along with me! She also has a motorcycle, which is a fun way to get around town here.
Jessica is 23 from Holland, MI. She went to Hope and is teaching 6th grade at JCS. She’s really athletic and wakes up early to work out everyday.. I keep telling myself I’m going to do that, but it hasn’t happened yet…. Haha
My roommates are…
Elissa is 24 from Houston, TX. She’s teaching PreK 2, the two year olds part time.
Natalia is 34 from Flint, MI. She’s teaching 2nd grade, and helping me with which of my third graders I need to be aware of!
I’m having a great time with these girls. They are amazing and I feel like it’s totally a God thing that we all came together like this! What’s really crazy, is that in my process of finding a teaching job overseas, I seriously considered this school in Peru, but when I talked to the administrators of the school I didn’t feel right about teaching there. I was talking to Melissa and the other girls about this, just making conversation, and Melissa was like “oh my gosh, I almost taught at that same school too!” and she later went on to say how she didn’t feel right about that school either. Isn’t that strange? And now we all are together in the Dominican Republic teaching at Jarabacoa Christian School. Small world!
Anyway, since we haven’t been having school planning or anything, us girls have been watching a ton of movies and playing a lot of card games. One night, the girls that live upstairs from us (other JCS teachers) had some Dominican friends over. The night turned from eating tacos and listening to praise music to dancing the merengue and bachata, and playing cards. It was fun! And I got to dance with a cute Dominican guy Other things we’ve been doing were going to the pool at some hotel for the day, went to Santiago to watch a movie in the theater and ate at Chilis, and I had to go to Santo Domingo for the day for some teaching conference. It’s been fun! And quite the adventures!
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| A bunch of the new staff at Rancho2Rios pool |
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| Melisa, Natalie, Jessica, and I at the river in Jarabacoa |
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| Me and Benjamin |
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on our way to Santiago! On parent's night  Dancing with Joann ("Ja-wan") |
Some things that are different, and take getting used to:
- COLD showers.
- The power goes out at least once almost every day. REALLY ANNOYING… especially when laundry needs to get done, and teacher stuff.
- No dryer.
- No microwave.
- No flushing toilet paper
- No drinking water out of the faucet - so far I’ve caught myself every time I get the urge to simply drink out of the kitchen sink!
- Spiders and ants everywhere in the house. Gross.
Just the little things. They’re really no big deal, but still something to constantly be aware of. Funny how us Americans take all these things for granted huh?
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| My desk area (with reading fish on the Bulletin Board) |
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| Class from my desk |
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| Job Wheel |
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| The discipline. |
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| Cubbies |
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| Desk with the caterpillar name tags :) |
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| My door :) |
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| Me in front of my "Fruit of the Spirit" tree - the third grade religion theme this year! |
Thank you all for the support. I feel so incredibly honored to have this opportunity to touch young lives, and every person in my life has helped me get this far. I’m so excited for what there is to come! God is doing incredible things!
I'll be sure to write soon about the first day :)
Wow Jess, it's so cool to see pics of your classroom and read about the things you've been doing and getting prepared for! I'll look forward to hearing about your first day!!
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