Friday, March 9th, 2012
Sitting on my bed at Rebekah’s
9:30AM
Wow. I totally
overslept. I meant to go to
devotionals (or whatever it is called) at 730AM at school, and then come back
and shower for the day. That
didn’t happen! I am exhausted
today. I think they thought I
would want to jump into the classroom quickly and I haven’t. I told my teacher I would be there
Monday. She was trying to tell me
details the 1st full day I was here, and I made a note to myself to
not go back to her class. I just
got here the night before and didn’t care about schedules. She asked me to stay after or
something, so we could talk; I told her we would be fine having M-F—no need to
be staying after school. I’m
thinking, “sweetheart, I don’t have a place to live. Screw school right this minute. Someone give me a phone to call and hear a voice that is familiar!) I don’t understand how school pay goes. I think Monday is when I start getting paid, so I have just
been going up to school to look around, talk with teachers, and do
paperwork. Today is Pep Rally at
1:45.
My face has been breaking out. Then again, it was like that a little in the States, it
seems to be worse the last few days.
I didn’t say anything to Bekah. She mentioned to me first that I might
want to use the bucket of water in the shower for my face. She said she had
issues with her face and the water.
Noted. I saw this bucket thing at Melissa’s too. It says Aqua Pura on the 5 gal bucket,
then on the inside there is a ceramic bowl like thing that must have chemicals
or something. The water on the top
is greenish, but clear when it comes out of the spout. I went to town with Mel
and Amy last night after-school for vegetables, fruit, etc It is about a 5-10
minute walk. It is like Honduras
when we went to see the Christo statue, but my streets aren’t filled with
Chinatown like things but with stores and little markets.
Furniture was delivered this morning!! They say that there really aren’t any
crimes in this little town other than theft. All my windows have bars. One of the girls had a table by her window. They stole her laptop by reaching
between the bars, and then came back later for a watch that was on the
table. If you leave doors unlocked
or windows open, theft will happen.
Really, no other problems, and not violent crimes from what they
say. Then again, the girls say
things like, “we don’t want to scare you!
You just got here! I have
explained that it’s important that they share what they know bc I AM LIVING
ALONE! J They gave me more info after that.
When I got back from Bible study the family was doing their
nightly readings from the Bible.
Fanies reads the passages and Rebekah and Malachi sit and listen. I went to my room and listened from my
bed, but was having trouble hearing him.
He reads his English Bible, so sometimes he is slow, choppy, and asks
Bekah to explain a word or two.
So, I went out there slowly and asked Bekah if this was family time only
or could I join them when they read at night…of course she said, “join
us.” When we were done
Malachi went to bed and we just talked about school etc. We got talking about the Sexism issue
here. Prostitution is legal. Child prostitution is not legal;
however, police do not enforce the laws L Some of these girls are as young as 12
being pimped out to American tourists for money. Francis said that he has confronted men before in Santiago
(I think he said there. My mailing
address at school says Jarabacoa, La Vega. Yet, they always talk about La Vega as being another place. I thought Jarabacoa was in La
Vega. Who knows?) So he said that he has confronted
American men when he sees them with these little girls and they call the police
or security on him. In all
honesty, he said he doesn’t even say anything anymore bc it is so rampant and
accepted here, and he will be arrested if he speaks up too much. Instead, he approaches them and says
things in passing like “God sees everything,” “The Lord knows what you are doing to His kids,” things like that. Police can be paid off for
anything. This Sexism industry
makes a lot of money and they want American tourists to continue to pay to
sleep with these kids. I went to
bed praying for them, woke a few times at night praying, and then again this
morning. I know change in
something like that has to be done with the Lord’s power. I looked up some
stuff about the DR before I moved here.
I don’t know what gov doc I read, but it gave me a lot of valuable info. I also looked up the Pres. The President here lived in the US for
sometime growing up. I think he
got his schooling in NY, too. I
don’t understand the corrupt crap.
Bek says that the laws are written well. They are great.
The problem is that they are not enforced!! Grrrrr.
I really hate that you can’t call the police, ambulance, or
fire and have reliable service. Or
any service for that matter! Once
again, Honduras prepared me for that madness. If I need an ambulance, Bek said
call her or someone with a car to take me to the hospital. The ambulance might not come or take
awhile. My school insurance covers
hospital stay 100%. Found that out
by a girl that had a parasite that she needed to stay for 3 days there last
week. They did say that if they
know you are American, you get a little bit of better treatment. If you tell banks, stores, hospitals,
police, whomever, that you work at JCS, you get better treatment. I guess they have a reputation and even
though the board is crazy in some ways, they expect us to be taken care of
around here. 2 years ago all the
American teachers’ homes were being broken into, not just through the
windows. Police weren’t taking
action and it continued to happen.
The Board put in cameras on the homes J and they “took care of the guy’ themselves…I
don’t even know what that means.
They have money and know people to take care of business. I didn’t ask. Bekah just said, “we never had an issue again after
that. Whatever they did, it sent a
message out to the community to leave us alone.“ She said that any problems go through families, not
really the police. So any issues,
just take it to Rebekah and Francis. It is crazy bc sometimes being white can help
you and other times it is against you.
People are always trying to talk to me in Spa bc they think I am
Dominican. I cant remember if I wrote that. Last night I was at the little store up the dirt road I live
on. It is 30secs away! Has everything! Melissa took me. I am a little meek using my Spa bc it
sucks compared to others!! The guy
asked if I was Dominican. In shops
like that, they will be honest with you for prices if you are DR. If you are white and walk up there,
they’ll spit any prices out knowing you will just pay whatever they say bc it
isn’t labeled with a price. As soon as my internet is up and running at the
house, I am going to get more Spanish stuff on Amazon. Church sent me a gift certificate
through email. I love their faces.
I need a new non-fiction Christian book. I went to the little school library and ive already read the
Max Lucado books they have…Ive been rereading my Cstanley prayer book.
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