Soon we are off! | rachael

Good day,

We arrived back in Santo Domingo today. As we left the Sabana base there were tearful good-byes which makes my heart happy as it shows that the students had meaningful experiences. Few, if any, students wanted to leave. The group really loved getting to know "the family" in Sabana this time around: Pierre (father), Helena (mother), Rogelia (20), Solomon (18), Juan (16), Evelin (14), Lisa (4) and Noelina (3 months) as well as a family friend, Rosa (I'm guessing 18 but I'm not actually sure). The crew also fully embraced Spanish this time around and the family was most helpful in helping them learn more each day.

Although many, if not all, students enjoyed interacting with various family members, Rebecca and Hannah stand out the most to me. By the end of our 11 days in Sabana, Rebecca and Hannah were calling Pierre "Papi" (daddy) and his children were their hermanos (siblings) because they had created an elaborate plan (on about our third day there) that Rebecca is going to marry Solomon and Hannah is going to marry Juan. Brian, our chaperone, is going to marry Rogelia and Scott, a student from last year, is going to marry Evelin and they're all going to live on a house on the countryside with their cows. Pierre then repeatedly told me that Rebecca and Hannah were his favourite hijas (daughters), so he was clearly in favour of the plan.

Yesterday was the soccer game which was a bit of a grudge match as we had competed twice but had yet to win. The team was promised that whoever scored the first four goals would be prized with a Crachi chocolate bar (worth 15 pesos, about 40 cents Canadian) and that was sheer motivation for some. Derek got three of the four goals. Hannah really wanted a chocolate bar so she got herself on the field and within scoring position. She had a good shot and then Luke decided that he needed to tap it, touched it last on its way to already being a goal and, as such, was credited with scoring. Hannah was not happy :D The coach for the other team also reefed. He was hilarious. He hollered out that there were 55 seconds left and then the next time he hollered it was a minute. I kid you not, those 55 seconds took over ten minutes to complete. At one point the Dominicans scored but Jason and Derek stood their ground and fought for the offside call. We got it and the goal was withdrawn. At the end of a good hour and a half we were deadlocked in a tie.

Part way through the match a boy of about 8 asked if he could play on our team. Eventually we let him and it turned out to be a good decision as he completed stripped the biggest opposition of the ball. What a cutie! When it came time for the shootout he clearly became our first choice. We didn't know his name but we knew that he was wearing a red (rojo) shirt so we all loudly changed "rojo" repeatedly. His shot didn't go in but he sure was special for a half a minute!

We were still deadlocked after 8 shooters apiece; it was getting down to the wire. We took a chance and sent our goalie into the fire to take a shot. As he's preparing to shoot we heard the Dominicans yell, "Jackie Chan!" repeatedly. This Jackie Chan they spoke of is our very own Jason Jung. He fired a beautiful shot that beat their goalie. We erupted in a cheer. But, off to his net he went to try to secure the win. With Jackie Chan-like reflexes, he saved a shot in the lower left corner for the win. We have been redeemed; we beat them once!

Last night was a despendido, a time of honouring the group and the work they completed. Some teachers from the school where we've been working came over. Some of them sang for us, one lead us in a fun song/dance number and then we sang a couple of songs for them. At the end of the evening the principal presented Max with a photo of him and Kina from a good number of years ago. This was a thank you for all the work he's done on their school over the years. It was a neat moment!

Today we worked hard as we started some jobs, finished old jobs and did a massive cleanup. We met most of our goals which excited me. We left the place cleaner than when we got there which is something my mom always drilled into me. Our beds were stripped, sheets brought to the laundry, rooms swept, benches that we sat on to eat were returned to the church, the main area was swept, the storage room was cleaned out and organized, tools and equipment were organized and our rubble was brought to the dump, among other things. A fine day, I must say.

Some of us took public transit home. As we arrived at the base and some entered their rooms we heard "I'm home!" which was fun to hear. We sat down to the treat of a pizza dinner and meandered around the base trying to find our way amidst the 37 folks who are here from a Michigan high school.

Tonight we had circle time with Max where he shared his stories and answered a plethora of questions. He told us why he came to the Dominican and gave some examples on why his work is meaningful. After the Q&A we went around the circle and shared memories/said what we appreciate about Max. Max was sitting in between the McMillan twins so Rachel told a funny Max story, Max skipped his turn to talk and then Lauren spoke about how Max reminded her of her grandfather. Billy was next and said, "Max, don't you want to use this opportunity to say something nice about yourself?" We laughed. Good on you, Billy.

Tomorrow we leave the base at 8 and will head to the orphanage for a third time. In a vote-of-sorts 20 of 21 students wanted to go back to the orphanage with over half of them wanting to go back so badly that they were willing to pay for their own bus or taxi to get there; this group loves the orphanage (not that other groups haven't). We will spend a couple of hours in the orphanage and then head to Jarabacoa to Rancho Baiguate. We will go through our prep stuff on Friday night and head out early on Saturday morning.

People continue to experience random illnesses. Please pray for health and strength so that hopefully all 27 of us (we're still 27 because Shelby is gone but Rod has joined us) can make it to the peak either with our feet or with a mule or a combo of the two!

rachel