Beach Day!

It's a gorgeous day here in Santo Domingo, and it's hard to believe that tomorrow at this time, we'll be loading up the bus and heading toward home. Yesterday we managed to finish all of our goals for work for the week, so today we are going to the market and beach...as soon as the bus arrives. Dominican time is not the same as US time, so 9:30 could be pretty much anytime. Anyway, anyone want some larimar? Apparently this is a semi-precious stone that can only be found in the DR, so I'm on the hunt for some souvenir jewelry.

This is the library that started as a gigantic pile of termite-eaten books stuffed into a basement. We built those shelves!

And this is one of the desks that we refurbished, which started out as a rusty metal frame. Good work! And now we play!

The Trip As Elena Sees It.

Life is undefinable. It's a steady foundation, acquiring new ideas, new stories, and new experiences each and every day. This mission trip has proved to reflect this definition in every way possible. Throughout the course of the week, I've learned not only about the culture of the people of Santo Domingo, but the culture of the very people I thought I had already knew. Today was our last day of work. We finished our desks, fixed up the screens along the windows of the living facility, and shelved the books that we had so tediously organized earlier this week. Surprisingly, the hardest work proved to be tolerating our roommates, whether it be our loud, if not spastic reactions to a cockroach in your room each night-there were about 6- the cabin fever we are all about succumb to. Or the petty little things that would be overlooked if we were any place else. Personally, i've had one of the best experiences of my life, and whether it shows or not, I feel we all have something good to take out of this trip. As a youth in the First Reformed Church, I feel obligated to do good for others, and to spread the word of god in a way that isn't so blatantly obvious, but in a way that makes others reflect on it in later years. As we reach the end of the week, I feel the effort I have put forth begin to set in, and I am reminded of the reason I was put on this earth. To do justly, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our god. Each and every one of us on this trip had a purpose to serve, and we all continue to fulfill it. My intentions were to feel god through every aspect of my time here, and even though at times I felt hopeless and a tad homesick, I've made lifelong friends and confidantes in the most unlikely people, the trip brought a series of events that lead me places i'd never thought i'd venture to, and gave me a new perspective on life itself. I have learned to do everything with someone else in mind, and I believe that is what was to be taken out of this trip in the first place, and I couldn't ask for anything more inspiring and emotionally uplifting than this journey.
I am grateful
I am passionate
I am blessed.

Last Work Day!

It's quite the hubbub around here today as we try to finish up all the projects we've started by the end of today. Today we are:
- sanding and varnishing desk pieces for the school;
- building, staining, and varnishing shelves for the library;
- putting books on shelves if some of them manage to dry;
- replacing screens in the windows of the house where we're staying;
- cleaning stain off of the wall that looks like a crime scene after some shelf-staining gone awry on Wednesday; and
- moving desk frames into storage; and,
- generally cleaning up after ourselves (which is more involved than you might think).

In the meantime, another group has arrived from Canada, so we're trying to work around them, the school is having a Dominican Independence parade, and the Fiesta of Misunderstanding continues as the ladder has left the premises, making it somewhat difficult to replace screens on the upper floor. Oh well. We've already accomplished a ton this morning, so I think we have a pretty good shot of finishing all of our goals for the week by the end of today. Hoorah! I'm so impressed by the work our youth have put in this week, and how well they've coped with all the uncertainty and constant change. Tomorrow: market and beach day!

My Favorite Complaint

At each of our daily team meetings, I give everyone an opportunity to say something that they've enjoyed or found especially interesting, and something that has been difficult or challenging. Last night's most commonly expressed difficulty was that they haven't been working hard enough.

Now that's what I like to hear.

Not because I don't think they've been working hard enough; there have been more waiting times on this trip than on some previous trips, but they have done a lot of work during the times when we were supposed to be working. We're starting to see results; it just took a while to get there. I'm just really glad to be here with a group of youth who want to do good things, not just see a foreign country, and who want to know that they are really helping someone.

Before we leave, we will be replacing the barrel bolts on several of the shower and toilet doors. As I told them last night, it's likely that no one will ever realize that we've done this task. Most people won't even think about how the bolts got there. But because we do this little task, no one will get locked in the shower again, or cut their finger forcing the lock open, or have potentially embarrassing moments of walking in on one another (not that any of these things has happened to us...). And it may not seem very important, but that's how God works: in a million little things every day that hardly anyone notices.

Waiting for Guido: Adventures in Dominican Shopping

We awoke this morning to the sounds of roosters crowing, dogs howling, and children screeching - just another morning at the Centro de Ministerio. Breakfast was French toast, fruit, strong coffee, and the ubiquitous orange drink that has been at every meal. The food has been good, and mostly common Dominican fare...although I'm unconvinced about the French toast. After breakfast we waited for Guido, the manager here at the center, to come back and take me shopping for work supplies, because it's fairly difficult to shop here if you don't speak Spanish, and even harder if you don't look like it's remotely possible that you're from here. Eventually we decided to find another Spanish speaker and go to the lumberyard without Guido. Much to my surprise, the lumberyard is basically just like the ones at home, except that I have no idea what they're saying while they're loading up my purchases.

Then we came back, unloaded the lumber, and waited for Guido some more (okay, we put the youth to work measuring and marking the lumber to make bookshelves, chair backs, and desk tops while I waited for Guido). Somewhere in there it became lunch time, so we ate lunch and continued to wait for Guido. At last Guido appeared, and he and I went on a shopping spree around Santo Domingo. In the midst of this very Dominican looking city, which is full of bright colors, tiny, run-down houses, honking cars, garbage, fruit stands, and very small, very specialized shops, we went to a grocery store more modern-looking than Price Chopper, a hardware store that was cleaner and better organized than Home Depot, and a place that looks exactly like Sam's Club. I also saw an IKEA, a Burger King, and a McDonalds slid into the most unlikely locations. It was a little surreal.

Anyway, I'm back at the center now, and the youth are repairing desks for the school, and building and staining bookshelves for the library. They are also staining the grass, the dividing walls, and themselves. The adventures never stop around here. There's kind of a lot of whining happening at the moment, which is typical mission trip Wednesday behavior. It's the point when the novelty starts to wear off, people are tired from lack of sleep and tired of each other, and they're wondering why they are using their school break to get dirty, sweaty, and weary. We'll have birthday cake and ice cream tonight for Nikki's birthday, but shhh, it's a surprise. The even bigger surprise is tomorrow, since they don't think they're going to get to have any fun until Saturday. We're going to work them pretty hard in the morning, but then take part of the afternoon and evening off to see the historical part of the city. Maybe. If they stop whining, and staining the walls.

I Hope You're Wearing Sunscreen

A boy of nine or ten years has come over to Camila, Peter, and Matt to ask what they are doing. It's a legitimate question; they are sitting around a large bowl in the sun, taking things out of the bowl and throwing them into a wooden box. They explain to him that they are sorting nails. They talk a while longer, the boy trying out a few words of English, Camila exercising her Spanish. Now they've been joined by three girls, a little younger than the boy. The elementary school is coming into session here, and I suspect that soon we will have a whole group of students hovering around our youth as they sort nails and shake debris out of books in the ministry center lawn.

Painting was ruled out because of allergies (whose allergies, I'm not sure; many things are being lost in translation), so our work projects for the day are to organize the tool shed/workshop, and take what seems like thousands of books out of the basement, check them for termite damage, move them upstairs to what will become a library, and sort them. A very industrious group of our youth also cleaned up all the garbage around the ministry center grounds. There were bags and bags of it. One of the things we've all noticed is how much trash is left on the ground here. It's everywhere. One student observed that weekly garbage pickup probably isn't part of their lives, which I think is a safe bet. The jobs we are doing today seem small and kind of tedious, and some of the youth keep looking at me like I'm kidding or insane.

We are probably not going to accomplish a major project this week, but the thing is, these strange little tasks are useful, too. We are doing the things that the locals and the usual visiting groups who do have big projects don't have time to do - the little things that will make it easier for them to do their jobs. And I get to do other sorts of little things, like pester our youth about drinking more water, washing their hands, staying off of their phones, and putting on sunscreen - which none of them want to do, of course. Our pasty northern skin is already changing color...and only tonight will tell whether it's brown or red.

Day 1 - We're Here!

So, we left Schenectady at 11pm on Sunday night, drove to JFK, boarded a 7am flight, arrived around 12:30pm in Dominican time, made it through customs without a glitch, found our hosts, and rode in vans from Santiago to Santo Domingo. By the time we settled into the ministry center, it had been a looooooooooong day. But they fed us well, gave us a quick tour of the neighborhood, and generally gave us a good welcome to the DR.

One of the things I warned our mission trip participants this year is that on mission trips, especially those to other countries, things seldom go as planned. So, I should not have been surprised when things immediately went in a way that I did not plan. The very basic itinerary I received told me that most of our work would be painting and basic renovations around the ministry center, and working with the school they run on the site. The folks here were under the impression that we were going to help them put a second story on one of their buildings (which isn't really something our group is qualified to do) - and bring a significant amount of money with us to fund it (which no one told us about). We negotiated, and now we are...painting and doing basic renovations around the ministry center, and working with the school.

Suffice it to say, this is the polar opposite of last year's hyper-structured, planned-to-the-second mission trip in Toronto. But this is one of the things that is valuable about mission trips: our youth get to see several different ways of living. Life here is slower, less planned. The people here believe in free time, which is something these youth have very little of most of the time.

So, we are enjoying a bit of relaxation before dinner now. Some of us are reading, some of us are soaking in the novelty of sun in February. Nick and Heather are playing some version of kickball with a couple of little girls from the school. We have arrived, and it is good. Tomorrow the work begins!

Flight Information

We will leave the church parking lot on Sunday night at 11pm (note the time change from the original plans).

Our departing flight is Delta 549 from JFK at 7:20am, arriving in Santiago at 12:17pm. Our arriving flight is Delta 550 from Santiago at 1:28pm, arriving at JFK at 4:30pm. I anticipate that we will be back at the church parking lot around 8:30pm, given the time it will take to get our luggage and go through customs.

Notes on Traveling Abroad

We will go over these things again when we are traveling, but I thought I'd jot down a few things to keep in mind while we are in the DR.

STAY WITH THE GROUP. There will never be a time during this trip when you will be allowed to wander around by yourself, so let's just get used to being together! There may be times when we will divide into smaller groups; each group will be accompanied by an adult. I know we've had less strict policies on other trips, but on those trips we were in the US, where we had less risk and the ability to reach each other by cell phone.

Be careful with your money and the copy of your passport that you will be carrying (the actual passports will be in a safe). There is a lot of pick-pocketing in the DR, so keep these things in a belt or neck pouch under your clothing. Do not carry a lot of cash, or keep it spread around in different places so that even if one section is stolen, you still have the rest.

Do not drink the water unless it is purified. Bottled water is fine, and I will have water treatment tablets/drops just in case. Use bottled/purified water to brush your teeth. Avoid swallowing water in the shower. Do not eat fruit (apples, pears, etc.) that has been washed in unpurified water. Oranges and other fruits that have to be peeled are fine to eat. Do not order drinks with ice in them unless you know that the restaurant uses purified water (most of them do. You may think I'm being overzealous, but believe me, you do not want to deal with any of the things you can get from unsafe water.

Be open to the unexpected. Plans will change, things will go wrong, the food will be unfamiliar, you will encounter things that are foreign to you, communication will fail, and you will likely have to do at least one thing that you don't want to do (and probably more than one). We are all in the same boat. Being uncomfortable is part of the deal with mission trips, especially ones in developing countries. You will be less uncomfortable if you just go with it, and the differences can even be fun if you treat them like an adventure instead of a trial. All of that said, if you feel extremely uncomfortable with anything we're doing, please feel free to talk to me or one of the other adults about it. We want you to have fun!

What Should I Pack?

3 days, 16 hours until our flight departs from JFK! If you're more ahead of the game than I am, you're probably already packing. Make sure you have:

- Your passport
- A belt or neck pouch that fits under your clothing for your passport and money
- A small amount of cash for souvenirs and snacks (we will exchange money in the airport)
- clothes (keep in mind that it's been in the 70s and 80s in the DR this week):
- a couple of sets of clothing for painting or getting very messy
- casual clothes for evenings after we are done working
- one outfit suitable for church
- a swim suit
- a sweatshirt/hoodie and one pair of jeans or pants in case it gets chilly
- sturdy shoes that can get dirty
- sandals, shoes for walking around the city
- work gloves (I have some extra pairs, so if you need them, let me know)
- whatever hygiene products you need
- a towel for the beach
- sunscreen

Things you might want to bring:
- a camera
- an mp3 player and headphones
- bed net - our hosts say we do not need them, so it is entirely up to you.

I do not recommend that you bring a cell phone. You will not be able to have them with you while we are working or doing group activities, as being on a phone makes it impossible for you to be truly present with us, and international calling/texting is expensive. I have an international phone plan and any emergency phone calls can come through me. However, I leave this up to the parents' discretion.

I've probably forgotten something, so feel free to add other items in the comments.

4 Days and Counting!

On Sunday night we are off to the Dominican Republic for our annual youth group mission trip! It is sure to be an adventure, as all mission trips are. Pre-trip, I'll post our itinerary, contact info, and preparatory information for youth and parents. During the trip, you'll be able to follow our work in the DR through daily posts and photos. We're getting excited, and we hope you are, too!