Karisma Villas Del Mar Hotel Puerto Plata

... starting to get dark, so wasn't very good for picture-taking. Finally, we pulled up to a lovely little house in this village in the mountains - which is just houses lining either side of this street. The reception was held outside, and the family had just put in a new gazebo, which was where the band played and people danced, and where the cake was on display. There were little white tables interspersed among the plants and trees in the garden, and people ...

... has<br>changed me, and has offered me a new perspective on what is really important in<br>life.  Sometimes I wonder if the past two years of struggling through this<br>doctoral program has been worth it.  So many sacrifices on the part of my<br>family.  Time away from Ellie--<br>I know that when she gets older, I will tell her about the kind, selfless people<br>who live in a different part of the world.  I hope that, if anything, this<br ...

Hi everyone,<br>Just when I thought I had seen what living in destitution represented, I walked into a neighborhood this morning that redefined the word "poor" for me.  It seems that this redefinition is a consistent happening here.<br>This community lives in squalor, not only in ramshackle "buildings" but in filth.  In fact, their homes are literally built upon a dump. So, you ...

... aren't spoiled by anybody,<br>Who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,<br>Who live and move, but have no being.<br>We pray for children who want to be carried,<br>And for those who must,<br>For those we never give up on<br>And for those who don't get a second chance.<br>For those we smother,<br>And for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.<br> -----by Marian Wright Edelman 

Hola Todos-<br>Have you ever thought of how fortunate you are, just because you were born in a certain geographic location?  We went to a Haitian Batey today.  The Bateys in the DR are kind of like a no-man's land, not recognized by the DR, or by Haiti.  Consequently, the people who live in them are literally without a country.  These people live very poorly, and are rarely allowed out of ...

Hi Everyone!<br>Very busy Monday.  We started out doing home visits with the International Child Care Center.  My group saw two children.  One child was so neurologically unstable, that he really wasn't a great candidate for "therapy" per se.  He is being raised by his grandmother/father, who told us that he has at least nine seizures a day.  In fact, while we were assessing him, he had two.  Not a pleasant sight, and as you can ...

... Animacion) were the best, I cannot praise them enough - they worked very long days, starting at around 8 - 9am and would not finish until midnight! (Obviously with some breaks through out the day). They were so energetic, friendly and smiley the whole time despite the heat. It is really hard working in the heat, even for a normal day (I know as I come from Kenya which is very similar to DR weather wise) but to do a 16 hour day and still have ...

... and a couple other places I can´t think of right now! We were completely lost and confused when we got off the plane because nobody was there to pick us up. We waited outside for about 15 minutes after picking up our luggage before a tall, skinny grey van came peeling around the corner and pulled up to the sidewalk. It was then that we met our guide from ALPI (American Language Partnership International), Miguel. We had a crazy ride ...

... taken with them - one of one of the dolphin jumping over us, in mid-air, and the other of him posing with us, in front of us. I bought these photos after and I will cherish them always! I do hope that everyone who got to swim with the dolphins that day, and any other day, will also take that experience with them as one to remember and cherish forever. After this we went to see Jonathan have his encounter with the sharks and the stingrays. There was a pool of ...

... but anything will seem like gourmet after three months of eating boiled green bananas with eggs or salami for breakfast and dinner every single day. I will be getting all of this for the bargain price of $1000 pesos (about $31) a month. Hard to believe. I forgot to take pictures but I will do that soon and post them the next time I get to the internet so you can see my new home sweet home. In other news, I presented my ...