Buenas Dias Amigos y Familia!

Hi everyone! We only have about a month left here in Punta Cana. I cant believe it! Time has flown by as it always does. We are half way done with Human Geography which we are studying right now and then we have one more class, Working in the Global Community. Human geography has been interesting. The main project for this class is doing a housing census in Veron. We are split into the same groups as we teach with. We have satellite images of the town to find our way around. The same project was done 2 years ago, so we're going around and filling in the buildings that have been built since then and also those under construction. Veron has grown very rapidly. There are new houses and businesses going up everywhere. Some of the town has a grided organization to it, but other parts are just shanty homes, built wherever there is a space. Part of the point of our work is to help the mayor and other officials know where people are living and ways that they can better regulate and organize construction. We have meet and talked with many locals in the process of doing our project. They are all very nice and interested in what we're doing. Only a few people have questioned our motives. For example, one man told another group that he didn't want them taking pictures of the houses because they were only going to take them back and make fun of them and give them to the government to be used against them. My friend Haley tried to explain to them that it was not like that at all that is wasnt for the government, but it was pretty much unsuccessful. As the left they walked away they noticed a large bottle of Brugal sitting next to the man which could explain his frustration and anger towards our group: the gringos. Steven Duke, our director at Virginia Tech, requested that we have escorts with us through Veron This never happened, but even with the cat calls and comments we dont feel unsafe.
Most of our facilites here at the Fundacion havent been in operation lately. Our cable worked for about 2-3 weeks when we got here but hasnt worked again until the beginning of this week. We insisted that it be working for March Madness. Our professor, Korine, emailed the top guys and it started working the next day, leading us to believe it couldve been fixed a long time ago. We've learned that there is a thing called "Dominican Time." You could say it is similar to "Huber Time" times 10. I think anyone looking at this should understand. We also havent had hot water for about two weeks now. We ask our director here, Heyddy everyday about it and everyday she says it should be fixed. Again....it's being fixed on "Dominican Time" Our wireless internet isnt very reliable either. Sometimes it works...sometimes it doesnt. Needless to say, we've learned to be flexible and that we're in la Republica Dominicana and they run on their own time.
My favorite thing we've been doing the last few weeks is going to the school twice a week to teach English. My group is teaching juniors and they're great. I think it's the easiest age to teach. The younger kids don't have as much interest and the older kids dont have as much respect. Our focus in class this week was parts of the body and verbs, along with some vocabulary. We taught them "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and they loved singing it. Teaching for me has been very rewarding especially when you can see the students progress. Some of the students will stay after class also to ask questions.
I hope things are going well in the States. I cant wait to see you all!
Hi everyone! We only have about a month left here in Punta Cana. I cant believe it! Time has flown by as it always does. We are half way done with Human Geography which we are studying right now and then we have one more class, Working in the Global Community. Human geography has been interesting. The main project for this class is doing a housing census in Veron. We are split into the same groups as we teach with. We have satellite images of the town to find our way around. The same project was done 2 years ago, so we're going around and filling in the buildings that have been built since then and also those under construction. Veron has grown very rapidly. There are new houses and businesses going up everywhere. Some of the town has a grided organization to it, but other parts are just shanty homes, built wherever there is a space. Part of the point of our work is to help the mayor and other officials know where people are living and ways that they can better regulate and organize construction. We have meet and talked with many locals in the process of doing our project. They are all very nice and interested in what we're doing. Only a few people have questioned our motives. For example, one man told another group that he didn't want them taking pictures of the houses because they were only going to take them back and make fun of them and give them to the government to be used against them. My friend Haley tried to explain to them that it was not like that at all that is wasnt for the government, but it was pretty much unsuccessful. As the left they walked away they noticed a large bottle of Brugal sitting next to the man which could explain his frustration and anger towards our group: the gringos. Steven Duke, our director at Virginia Tech, requested that we have escorts with us through Veron This never happened, but even with the cat calls and comments we dont feel unsafe.
Most of our facilites here at the Fundacion havent been in operation lately. Our cable worked for about 2-3 weeks when we got here but hasnt worked again until the beginning of this week. We insisted that it be working for March Madness. Our professor, Korine, emailed the top guys and it started working the next day, leading us to believe it couldve been fixed a long time ago. We've learned that there is a thing called "Dominican Time." You could say it is similar to "Huber Time" times 10. I think anyone looking at this should understand. We also havent had hot water for about two weeks now. We ask our director here, Heyddy everyday about it and everyday she says it should be fixed. Again....it's being fixed on "Dominican Time" Our wireless internet isnt very reliable either. Sometimes it works...sometimes it doesnt. Needless to say, we've learned to be flexible and that we're in la Republica Dominicana and they run on their own time.
My favorite thing we've been doing the last few weeks is going to the school twice a week to teach English. My group is teaching juniors and they're great. I think it's the easiest age to teach. The younger kids don't have as much interest and the older kids dont have as much respect. Our focus in class this week was parts of the body and verbs, along with some vocabulary. We taught them "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and they loved singing it. Teaching for me has been very rewarding especially when you can see the students progress. Some of the students will stay after class also to ask questions.
I hope things are going well in the States. I cant wait to see you all!