Victorian House Hotel Puerto Plata

... scattered around these tables waiting for things to begin. When things got started, however, they were done in a very different order than what we would be used to. In Canada, for example, most people have a drink or 2 before the meal, then the meal is served, with speeches and toasts, and then there are drinks and dancing all night long. Traditional Dominican receptions are completely different. The guests are served drinks first, before the meal, and ...

... gives me the fortitude to be a good mother and role model for my<br>daughter.  Someday I'll share stories about these people, and I hope that<br>by doing so, my daughter will grow up to be sensitive and caring, and<br>hopefully, will have the same opportunity to offer her time and expertise to<br>those less fortunate than her.<br>I'm certain that I will be staying home for a while.  Only two semesters left<br>until graduation, so I have a long haul ...

... imagine what it smells like, and what a health risk it is to live there.<br>I saw a little boy today.  He is 4 years old.  He lives with his parents and 4 siblings in a one-room "house" built out of rusted tin and tires.  Upon meeting him, I could tell that this child was gravely ill.  He contracted Dengue Fever over a week ago, was hospitalized, but released home.  I'm not sure ...

We pray for children<br>Who sneak popsicles before supper,<br>Who erase holes in math workbooks,<br>Who can never find their shoes.<br>And we pray for those<br>Who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,<br>Who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers,<br>Who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead.<br>We pray for those who never go to the circus,<br>Who live in an X-rated world,<br ...

... community (men go for seasonal work).  The women recently learned how to make candles and bracelets, which they are allowed to go outside the Batey to sell, but have to "pay off" the checkpoint guards when they enter and exit the compound.  There are so many moral and ethical issues surrounding the Bateys, too numerous to mention.  The children came running to meet us, some naked, some ...

... I had to turn away.  We educated his family on positioning in terms of comfort and stimulation, and passive range of motion.  Other than that, we advised them to continue the relationship with the doctor and team in hopes of finding some stability with the seizure activity.  That was a difficult one.<br>We also went to the orphanage this afternoon.  Quite a few of the children were very high strung.  One of the teenage boys was ...

... energy and cheerfulness that they do is amazing. The evening shows they do are awesome, yes they do mime a lot but very well and you are definitely kept entertained. The Caribbean Street party is well worth attending and a lot of fun. They also arrange beach bonfire parties as well which is also a lot of fun. EXCURSIONS I would definitely highly recommend Isaira Tours (www.isairatours.com). We booked 4 excursions through them. They came on the ...

... the city, with merengue music blasting from the car speakers. The van proceeded to drop us all off at our homestays. I was paired up with a girl named Katelyn as my roommate, which was very lucky for me since she is a Spanish major and I don´t know any Spanish! When Katelyn and I arrived at our homestay it was about 8pm (ish) and there were tons of people outside drinking and partying with merengue music blaring (the music and ...

... there (that have had their stingers removed), swimming about, and first he and his group went in that pool and snorkelled with them. Then they were to be part of the shark "show", which we all watched. I asked one of the presenters what kind of sharks they were and he told me "Dominican Great White Sharks", which I highly doubt is accurate. They were only about 7 feet long each at the month, but nonetheless scary enough that I wouldn't want to be in any same body ...

... diagnostic at our in-service training conference and it went off without a hitch. So now that that is over with I am getting down to my real work. I had planned my first youth group meeting for Monday but it was pouring rain all day and nobody showed up, so it has been postponed until this coming Monday. I have a good group of really motivated youth that I am excited to work with. We are going to start some organic gardens in the ...