I stand AMAZED: Day 8: Tuesday January 11, 2011: Motorcycle Safety Goes Down the Drain.

Stephanie and Lara rinsing clothes

Laundry day number 2!
This time all the married couples clothes got washed. Being that there was plenty of women helping, I took time to catch up on some journaling....don't get on me for NOT working. You're reading this aren't you! :P


Steph caught me in a concentrated state

I took some time to sit back and reflect on what has stuck out to me the most while on this trip. The biggest being the hospitality of the Dominicans!! Our house mom, Albina, being the first one that comes to mind. I love her so much and I can't even understand a word she says! No matter, she always has coffee ready for us no matter the time, both morning and night. She is always making sure we're comfortable and looking out for our well being. She even stayed up all night with David when he was sick and she doesn't even speak English! David said that she told him(of course he had to have it translated) that while we are in her house, we are her kids. She has such a servants heart. God Bless her!
But she's not the only one, everyone here is so nice. Always giving up their chairs for us, or getting us chairs. It took a while to get used to, especially the first couple days when they would make me stand up, then get a me a chair to sit in. I don't mind sitting on the ground honestly, but I felt bad that they had extra work to get me a chair! And the people are always so cheerful and smiling! :) It's gonna be weird going back to America where girls are seen as equal to guys and where you walk down a street and no one talks to you. Sheesh, people don't even smile at you unless they know you.

Taking time to enjoy cake ice cream outside Juancito and Dominga's newly plastered house.

Tuesday afternoon, the youth girls helped fold and sort laundry, then we chilled at David and Jewels working on friendship bracelets. By this point we were making them for whoever wanted them. Rubi got one to match her favorite outfit-the Disney princess outfit. And Heather and Rafael got them too. Friendship bracelets, we decided, were an easy gift to make and they were all unique. And to think that I considered NOT bringing my bracelet stuff!! Oh boy, I don't know what we would have done in our spare time without it! :) We also used this time to talk to Jewel about what we've liked and disliked(there were very few dislikes) about the trip as well as learning more things about the people and culture.

Meanwhile, construction work continued at Juancito and Dominga's. Preparations were being made to pour the flooring in the addition as well as take out the old wall in the kitchen. Neil and Mark starting putting the plumbing in on Monday I do believe, and I knew right away when I walked in and smelled that all too familiar smell of purple cement stuff that glues PVC pipe together that there were plumbers in the house! What a blessing to this wonderful family when they have plumbing as well as an indoor bathroom!
The rest of the crew worked on leveling the floors and pouring concrete. The floors are leveled with dirt, then packed tight to get the air out. They dump gravel in and cover it with concrete. To finish the floor, color is added to the top layer of concrete if desired. I'm looking forward to seeing what colors they decide on to paint the outside as well as the inside!

The wall before

and after.

Mark and Neil teaming up to put the bathroom plumbing in at Juancito and Dominga's

I think this is a drain pipe

pouring the concrete floor in Juancito and Dominga's

1 room almost done!

Work also continued with both of the septic holes being dug deeper(nothing too exciting there except dirt). Once the hole is too deep to throw the dirt, a bucket system is used to get the dirt out of the hole.
The community house project was coming together as the crew continued work on forming and pouring the walls.

This is the second hole, started before we arrived and was mainly worked on by the DR boys.


Rafael and Marc in the other hole. This one had a lot of rocks

Juansa flashing that muy bonito smile as he pushes a load of concrete

Forms up for the inside walls of the house

Hannah, Me and Stephanie riding in the back of a the truck on it's way to church

As 4pm rolled around, we piled into the bed of a truck and headed to the church to pick up the rest of the group for a sight seeing 'trip to the mountains'. Upon hearing that there were too many people for all of us to fit in the truck bed, I took the opportunity to ride a motorcycle/dirtbike! Funny thing was, I was just saying earlier that I wanted to ride one before I left! Juan Carlos was my driver, which I was thankful for, because he spoke English! I'm kinda proud of the fact I broke so many safety rules in ONE RIDE and I'm alive to tell about it. I was wearing flip flops, NO helmet, just a T-shirt and I was riding with a guy I only met 3 days before! :)

I will say that I loved riding on the back of that dirtbike! Going down the highway with my hair blowing in the wind. I know why dogs love it so much! You just feel...free. I wouldn't have taken this trip any other way. There was something so spectacular about seeing the Dominican countryside and mountains flying by on the back of a dirtbike that made the trip... indescribable!

the dirtbike crew

We went through a town, or two, and up a dirt road...which turned into a path and everyone on the truck had to get out and walk up this hill to a look out. It wasn't any special marked of place. Nope..we were in someone's front yard! There were chickens, walking around and even a donkey tied right there next to us.

As we left our first stop, we were blocked by a unique obstacale....domestic poultry combat practice going on in the middle of the street!! Not to worry however, because everyone in our group wanted pictures of this(since cock fights are illegal in the USA). Later on, Jewel pointed out a fight building where they sometimes go 'to the death'.


Fight cage-a run down one at that.

Our final stop on this tour was to Juancito's tomato fields! I LOVE TOMATOES! And I could smell them before I even got off the dirtbike! It was like a little piece of heaven for me as I gazed upon rows and rows of tomato plants, full of red, delicious tomatoes! Tomatoes are in season all year in the Dominican and I would move there just for that reason! We got to pick a tomato or two to eat while we watched the sunset through the coconut, palm and banana trees.
Speaking of coconut trees, David, being the man he is, decided he wanted to climb one, and did so, getting maybe about 1/3 of the way before stopping.

Rubi loves her tomatoes!


The beginnings of a sunset

Go David!

....and he stopped...

Tuesday night was a "free night". We were already planning on games..and games we played! The generator got hooked up so we could have light at church as Dominoes, Connect Four, Sequence as well as other games were played between the Dominicans and us. It was almost a sad night as we realized tomorrow is our last full day in Los Toros. But even that dreadful reality couldn't stop the smiles and laughs from bursting forth as we played together!