Hurricane Matthew October 3-7

For three days we were under house arrest as caution for the hurricane. We were all prepared for the worst, but when the storm came we were protected by the mountains and got almost nothing. On Wednesday we were supposed to start teaching again, but only about five kids showed up so we decided to cancel classes for the week. The government canceled school the beginning of the week so most parents kept their kids home the whole week. I'm glad I got one day with some of my kids though, I was starting to miss them.
House arrest was a pretty obnoxious thing. Having 31 girls stuck in a house together for multiple days gets quite old. We played lots of card games and watched movie after movie on whatever laptop was charged. If you know me you know how much I dislike not having things to do.. So I started writing and researching poetry, practicing cursive(it's a dying art), playing the guitar, practicing the uke, and listening to audiobooks. Most of the girls thought I was crazy for researching poetry, and maybe I am, but I think it's fun. I'm not sure any of my poetry is going to see the light of day enough for others to read, but it's giving me something to do. As for the musical instruments, I'm just hoping that by the time I go home I can have enough songs down to entertain passengers.
Anyways, back to the hurricane. The other side of the island was hit hard while somehow we ended up with just light rain and wind. We really got lucky. It was harder to stay home since the weather was nice, but if the weather was bad we would have had more problems. Our neighbors houses flood just about every time it rains here and that storm could have done a lot of damage had it hit hard.

On Friday when our house arrest was lifted we decided to go to Pueblito. It's a beach just on the other side of town. We took a guagua there. On the way I sat by an older gentleman and he happen to speak some English. It was fun to talk to him and I wish I learned his name. At Pueblito there are lots of little souvenir shops by the beach and every shop owner tries really hard to get you inside. We looked through so many shops before we could go sit on the beach. I only bought a few things.. We had to barter with the guy selling chair spots. He wanted way too much money from us and all we wanted was a chair and umbrella. We gave him the little amount we offered and he stormed of all upset we wouldn't pay more. We spent the afternoon there building sand castles, reading, and playing in the waves. This is the first beach I've been to here that actually has waves. It was great! We came home to find that we had a problem with our water system and there was no water in the house...

Adventures of the week: hurricane watch, no water, trapped in house, thunderstorms, no school, blisters, cuts, lizards, and more power outages.

Conference weekend!

Saturday morning rolled around and we packed up our conference stuff and headed to Mario's house. Remember that one? (He lives in the zoo). We spent the morning at his house looking at and playing with the animals. After an hour or so I was really tired and ready to go get food and head to conference. It took us forever to leave his house and then we couldn't find a guagua to take.. And to add to the adventure, it started raining on us. Finally we got a guagua and a taxi and headed to the church. We got there just in time to hear the end of Elder Hales talk. I was really sad we missed the first part of the session, but thankfully with modern technology I can watch it again. Conference was amazing! We watched it with all the Elders in the area. After the first session they came with us up the street and joined us for lunch. After lunch it was back to the church for the next session. Being able to watch conference here in English is such a blessing.

After all the sessions Emily and I decided to go to the store. We set off in the wrong direction, but soon remembered how helpful technology is and looked up the fastest way there. We ended up walking down some little roads and going through parts of town I would normally avoid, but it was still light out and I didn't feel too sketched  out. We made it to the store, got what we needed, and headed outside to find a taxi home. A taxi driver met us at the door and we asked how much it would cost to get to El Javillar, the little outskirts we live in. We didn't say another word to him the whole ride and he drove us right up to our house.. We were a little confused as to how he knew exactly where we lived, but I guess when you travel with a group of American girls the taxi drivers learn where we live really fast.

Sunday morning we got up and made a bean dip and salsa for conference. We even made it to the church on time! In between sessions we had the Elders teach a couple of us how to play Dominos, Dominican style. It was a goal of mine to learn how to play before I left. To be able to learn from someone who speaks English was a dream come true. Everyone and their dog her knows how to play. It's crazy, but I now see why, it's so fun!

Conference was amazing! I was really sad when it ended. It was really nice to have a meeting where I could understand what they were saying and I just really love General conference. Speaking of that, during the first session Averie turned to me randomly and said, "No wonder you like conference so much, it's all old people!" I laughed for a good few minutes about this, but had to admit deep down there was some truth to that. Granted not all of the speakers would be considered old or Elderly, but she had a point. It seems me love for Elderly people has become apparent even though I have only known these girls for six weeks. My love for conference goes way beyond the fact that the leaders of the church are older and wiser, but I thought it was a funny comment. After conference we had to take a bunch of pictures with the missionary squad we watched with, but then we headed home to enjoy the rest of the sabbath day and ponder the words of the Lord's servants.

Adventures of the week: walking in the rain, finding a neighborhood pharmacy, learning Dominican dominos, taking the backstreets to the store, tropical storm, and making salsa.

When it rains it pours

We have been told that this is the start of the rainy season and others have warned us of a hurricane in the area. Needless to say, it's been a little rainy. Friday was a particularly rainy day. A good bunch of kids stayed home from school because of the rain. I woke up not feeling well but found the rain and the kids motivation to get up and go to school. It stopped raining just in time for us to walk the kids over to the house for class.  Class was really hard for me that day. Ashley and I ended up team teaching both lessons because my throat started hurting after talking over them so much. After school I went and took a nap. When I woke up I was freezing and knew I must have a fever. The girls at my other school offered to take over the rest of my classes for the day so I could stay and rest. I'm really grateful they did. It would have been a very rainy walk and miserable time teaching. Another tender mercy of that day was having soup for dinner. The cook very rarely makes soup, but I couldn't have been more grateful to see that pot of soup waiting for us. It may have had chicken bones and other questionable things in it, but it was soup and it did my body good. We went for a walk to the pharmacy and bought some medicine to hopefully help me get better fast. When we came home we watched a movie upstairs under a shelter while it rained behind us. It was beautiful.

New week, new school, new adventures

The weeks go by faster and faster. I'm already starting to dread leaving this place. On Monday we started teaching at a new school. The first day was a little chaotic, as we thought it would be. The school is about a 20 minute walk from our house which doesn't seem like much, but when it's hot and uphill it makes it seem much longer. I was honestly a little discouraged walking to school the first couple days. It didn't help that one of the teachers I work with decided she doesn't like me and puts me down on a daily basis.. I guess after living with 30 girls in close quarters for over a month only having one person dislike you is pretty good odds. Nonetheless it made me a little upset. No matter how upset I am though the kids here find a way to brighten my day and lift my spirits. My absolute favorite part of the day is our walk home from school. You would think it is because that means I'm done for the day, but it's because I get to walk home with my kids. We get done teaching at the same time the school gets out so the kids walk us home. On a particularly rough day I started walking home just following the group and soon a little girl named Karina was at my side holding my hand. It's the little things that keep me going. This little girl had no idea how much walking home by my side meant to me that day, but I'm sure it meant something to her too.

It's amazing how one small gesture can make or break your day. It makes me wonder what I could be doing each day to brighten someone's life. I think we would all benefit from thinking this way once in a while.

September 19-25 New walls and waterfalls!

The past few weeks flew by! We had the ILP director visiting us for a couple days last week and interview each of us. It was really nice to have him here to help sort out some school issues or housing issues. The day that he got here things started happening, like getting new walls in our classroom and new schools set up. He didn't even ask for the walls they just started building. I'm pretty sure noise ordinances don't exist in this country because they pounded in those wall clear into the night. They did it mostly without power too. During my director interview I think we talked more about the river than anything else, but what do you expect from a Hazlett? One of the days we had a teacher get sick so I filled her spot. I ended up teaching six hours that day instead of just two. It was intense! By the end of the day my voice was almost gone and I was completely exhausted, but I really loved being with the kids all day.

27 waterfalls
Last Saturday morning we set off to conquer 27 waterfalls. It was one of the coolest things we have done yet. We got there, paid for the guides, were fitted with helmets and life jackets, and set off. We hikes a good 45 minutes through jungle like trails up a mountain. I wish I had counted the number of stairs we climbed. It was a lot... But worth every step. The water was cool and refreshing. For the next few hours we made our way down the mountain by jumping off waterfalls and sliding down natural slides into pools of clean blue water. As we got farther down it turned into more of a slot canyon where we would slide down and then wade our way through the narrow canyon to the next obstacle. Honestly being there in fresh water wearing a life jacket made me feel very at home. I loved every second of it. The other girls probably started to get annoyed with me because I was singing on the trail, but being out there just made me so happy I had to sing. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

On Sunday only a few of us made it to church, but it was a good meeting. At least what I understood from it was good. I'm starting to understand more and more of the Spanish spoken here, the hard part for me are the gospel words. I'm not very familiar with those so it makes understanding at church quite a bit harder. I'm still trying though! After church we were talking with the bishop about going to the temple and he asked if I knew how to play the piano. Hesitantly, I said I could play a few hymns and he then asked if I would be willing to play in Sacrament meeting. Again very hesitantly, I agreed that I would practice and try my best. I'll never forget the look of encouragement and joy on his face. Hopefully my playing can be what it needs to be for sacrament meeting. I know if I try my best angels will be there to assist me. Wish me luck though! 😁

Adventures of the week: Director visit, jumping off waterfalls, getting American candy :), teaching six hours in one day, and piano playing.