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Friday, February 29, 2008 -
Arrived at DTW at 4:45am to get my boarding passes and to check my
luggage. Security was at high alert so it took a little longer to get
through the security check. Our Delta flight left from the last gage on
concourse B so it took a little time to get to the gate. Beth Bedore
met me at the gate. Beth had come over early in the morning from her
home near Jackson. Beth and I were the only ones on the Delta flight.
When I made arrangements for all of us to fly American, 8 of the
students had made arrangements immediately. Beth waited an extra day,
and I waited until I had heard that all had made their travel
arrangements before I made my arrangements. In the meantime the price
of the flight went up $150. So Beth and I made our arrangements with
Delta. The Delta flight allowed us to arrive an hour before everyone
else and to be on hand when they arrived.
Victor met us at the airport and recognized me
immediately. We put our bags in Bernadette’s car and waited for the
American flight to arrive. It was about 15 minutes late. It took the
group abut 30 minutes to pay for their entry card, get their bags and to
pass through immigration and customs. The excitement level was pretty
high. We packed the bags into the vehicles and headed for Bernadette’s
apartment.
Bernadette had a wonderful meal prepared for us and talked to the group
about what to expect, home stay etiquette, safety and transportation
issues and school expectations. We made arrangements to change money on
Saturday and to do a tour of the colonial district on Sunday. We
learned that Carnival was taking place on Sunday so will take that in
too.
About 9pm we loaded up to deliver students to their home stays. I rode
along to make sure that I knew where everyone was living and so I could
greet and thank folks for having our students. I was the last to be
dropped off.
I am staying with Joyce Nelsen who is a part time teacher at the
International school. She also teaches English to private students on
the side in her home. I am also sharing the home with “Honey boy ” who
does not quite know what to think of the person that has taken over his
room. Our apartment is in a very large complex. The apartment has 3
bedrooms, 3 baths, a kitchen, living room, dining room, laundry/storage
area and a balcony. It sounds like a large place but all of the rooms
are very small by US standards. There is hot water! You have to warm
it by flipping a switch which gives you two minutes of hot water. My
shower was wonderful!
The noise level takes some getting used. Motor cycles, noise from close
neighbors, music from places open at night, dogs barking, roosters
crowing, people slamming hoods, etc make for a noisy environment. NONE
OF THAT WAS A FACTOR AS I SLEPT LIKE A BABY.
Below is my roommate! |
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Saturday, March 1, 2008 - The agenda for the day is to change
CMU’s traveler’s checks into cash; to repair my glasses; to buy a
camera; to buy some groceries; to explore the area and to rest. Victor
will pick us up and take us to a bank that should be able to handle all
of our cash needs. If not I will have to change part of the checks today
and the rest on Monday.
It is always hard to guess what you will find in the Dominican
Republic. Things happen in a timely fashion when you do not expect it
and the opposite also happens. There has been a tremendous amount of
construction since the last time I was here. The population of Santo
Domingo has grown to more than 3 million people. The roads are even
more congested than they were the last time. The increase in population
has increase the use of electric and traffic. Street and sidewalk
repair has not kept up with the need. I have already talked about the
noise connected with the close living conditions.
Well we seemed to be on Dominican Time. The group decided that they
wanted to get cell phones and go to the beach as well as to change some
money so they had Dominican Pesos. Since we had already picked up 3
students with no bathing suits, we had to back track to get their
suits. Then because we were so late the other 6 decided to explore the
neighborhood. It took some time to find them and then we had to return
to their homes so they could get their swim suits. The traffic had been
bad all morning which was another reason we were slow. By the time we
got to the bank it was closed. Most of the students used the ATM
machine so they had cash. We then went to a shopping center in an area
that all of the students could get to from their homes. All but one
bought new cell phones for about $25. The phones came with about 20
minutes of call time on them. While they were getting cell phones, I
had my glasses repaired and was taken home before the group left for the
beach. I have found that my Altel phone works well down here but am
unsure what the cost will be. I am hoping that my “Circle of Friend”
calls will be free—(how is that for being optimistic?) I thought it
would be a good way to test so I could tell the next group that is
coming.
My house mom took me shopping, and I bought a Sony digital camera. We
did some grocery shopping and I came back and learned how to use my
camera. Honey Man turned out to be a great test subject! I got all
kinds of action shots that I was not looking for, but as a result I
really learned what to do with the camera. After dinner I did some
repair work around the house fixing a ”dead” lamp. I took some time to
write a little more in the log and am ready for an early night of rest.
Sunday, March 2, 2008 - I woke up to the wonderful smell of breakfast
tacos. Joyce talked to me about teaching her how to use her computer
better. Being a MAC user to be asked to show her how to better use her
PC was hard to comprehend. But we downloaded a few pictures and sent
them. Tonight we will pull up some of her files that she was not sure
of what to do with them. We are going to visit the Colonial District
this morning and then go to Carnival for the rest of the day.
Victonio picked me up at 8:30am and then we picked up the rest of the
group and met Bernadette at the Cathedral Square where we met our guide
for the morning. Part of the reason to have a guide is the history
lesson you get. You are encouraged to ask questions and to really take
an interest in what your see. Today was also Carnival Day so there
were tens of thousands of people in the Colonial District. We arrived
in time to see the President arrive at the cathedral and watched his
honor guard perform.
The tours included government buildings, the cathedral, the fort,
museums, tourist shops courtyards and the square. The students asked
good questions and learned a lot about the country they were going to
live in for the next two months. They will leave just before the
national elections in May but already have a feel for the freewheeling
campaigning that is a part of every election here. If two candidate’s
rallies happen to cross paths, the one that makes the most noise wins!
One rally alone is an assault on your ears-imagine two at the same time!
We ate at Adrian Tropical on the Malecon. This was also the location of
the Carnival parade. I left the students to enjoy Carnival and I left
for a meeting with Joyce and her friends. Students were given
instructions on how to get home and all of them made it home safely.
This is an excellent group with just the right combination of good sense
and adventurism. All are a little apprehensive about school tomorrow,
but all are looking forward to the challenge.
Below is the group having lunch by
the sea. Bernadette Blenk has on the white blouse on the left side of
the picture.
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Plans have been made to do some
camping in the southwestern part of the country. This is a new activity
that was planned because of all of the changes that are about to take
place in this geographical area. It needs to be seen now before
progress ruins it. We are also going to have our seminars at
Bernadette’s apartment followed by a light meal followed by some kind of
cultural experience that Bernadette will arrange.
Monday March 3, 2008 - I was out of the house by 6:30am. Arrived
at the International School before 7am and met with the 3 supervising
teachers before school started at 7:30am. Victor drove me to St.
Michaels with the three students who were placed there. We met with the
director of the school, Ms. Ines Gygax. The student teachers were
warmly greeted by their supervising teachers. We added another
supervising teacher so that the family life student teachers had more
teaching in her subject matter area. I explained our program and
expectations and answered their questions. We got a tour of the
building and the students went to their classrooms.
Victor picked me up at 10:30 and took me to St. Thomas School. I met
with Joyce Marino and the Elementary principal and found that the
students were already in the classrooms getting acquainted with their
students. I will return tomorrow to talk with the supervising
teachers. Returning to St. Thomas was comfortable. It felt like a
school I had worked in for years. Both administrators wanted to know if
I would work with the teachers doing some professional development. We
will work out the details later.
From St Thomas I went to the bank and cashed my traveler checks. It
takes a long time to sign your name 120 times! The traveler checks were
cashed at no charge and redeemed at the going exchange rate of 33.6P/USA
dollar. I took the cash to the International school and put it under
lock and key. I figured what we owed to each home stay through the
month of March. I counted it out for each family and will make the
payments tomorrow. On my way home from school Joyce stopped at a phone
shop so that my phone could be activated. My new phone number here is
809.520.7683.
I have nothing planned for the rest of the day. It was very warm and
humid today. All of us seemed to be tired. This could also be in part
to the emotional strain of going to school and meeting our supervising
teachers for the first time.
I did want to take a little time to describe the three schools where our
student teachers are placed.
The International School is now located in the northern suburbs of Santo
Domingo. It is about a 20 minutes drive from the old school when there
is little traffic or about 45 minutes in normal traffic. It is located
at the top of a hill overlooking a valley that is being developed. The
school is spacious having been build for 500 students and having a
student population of only 218 at the moment. The floors are still
cement and will be finished at the end of this school year. The rooms
are small by US standards but the class size has been held to 15
students. Their pool was finally certified this past week so can now be
built. They have a soccer field and team that plays other schools. The
phone company has been very slow in putting in the phone service so
there is no phone or internet service at the school. This has been a
major problem for this academic year. The staff is great and love the
new building.
This is what the new International School looks like now.
St. Thomas School has a
wonderful physical plant. All of the building are relatively new and
most classrooms have the latest technology available. They have a
wonderful teaching staff with competent and progressive administrators.
I will include a picture later in the week.
St. Michaels School is a new school for CMU student teachers although
both Barb Senesac and I have visited the school in the past and thought
it would be a great school for our program. It has a compact campus in
the heart of the city. With a school population of almost 600 in grades
1-12 it can seem crowed when compared to the International School. They
just added a fourth floor to their main classroom building and are
already planning the next addition. I will have pictures later in the
week.
Kelly called tonight to report that her placement really did not contain
enough of her major or minor to be an appropriate setting for her. She
has worked with the staff at St. Michaels and has come up with an
alternative placement. I will meet with Kelly and the staff to explore
a different placement for her in the morning.
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