You CANNOT drink the local water here as
it is full of bacteria and can make you VERY sick. So, they sell you clean water in 5 gallon jugs for about $1. At the stores you can buy a pump for the top of the jug to dispense your water. I no longer need those workout videos! haha
The next time you open up a carton of eggs I want you to appreciate the fact that they are CLEAN ... ours came directly out of the chicken’s booty!!!! Haha ... oh, AND they put them in a BAG for you to take them home. Needless to say with our horrible road conditions not all are fortunate to make it to Kelly’s plate :) (Seriously, who puts eggs in a bag??)
Our milk, now referred to as "Leche" comes in a cute little box. It sometimes has a pour spout and sometimes it doesn't. If you find a box WITH a pour spout, consider yourself BLESSED! haha
Do we have a washing machine and dryer? Oh yeah right, WHATEVER!!!!! Clothes are washed by hand (I have a new-found respect for my Grandparents generation, Bless Their Hearts!!) And yes, I have a clothes dryer, it’s called a barbed wire fence ...
What about electricity? Uhm yeah, sure we have it ... I think .... Oh yeah, that's right I do have electric ... sometimes .... No, seriously, I must have it because I get a bill each month for it, and its REALLY cheap - like $20 a month!!!! Maybe its so cheap because we only have it for a FEW HOURS A DAY!!!!!!!! Well when we moved here a lady told us that it was only off for a few hours a day I think she meant to say it was only ON for a few hours a day!!! They sell inverters here which is a battery charger. So, when the power is on it will charge the batteries so that when the power goes out you can still run your lights (nothing else, though). Needless to say, you do not use your refrigerator very much. You buy what you need for that day, and nothing else. Did I mention that I have to cook every meal???? Gah, I sure do miss McDonald's!!!!! We have had MAJOR issues here with our power. We have blown out numerous florescent lights and many many electronic items. It could be because of the power lines, I am not sure, as this is just an assumption :) (Check out those power lines)
How do we get around town? We do not have a car yet or the money to purchase one (as they are EXTREMELY expensive here), so we bought two motorcycles to get us to the store and back. A great big thanks goes out to my daddy, Jeff, for teaching me to ride one when I was little bitty - it has finally paid off! You’d be proud, haha!!! Oh yea, the kids LOVE LOVE LOVE it too ... Micah and Jonah want to drive us around since they see little bitty kids driving around. Uhm, I am just not ready for that yet ... Lord help me with this one :)
And if you happen to need anything really large, you can put it on the motorcycle too ... need a sheet of plywood?
How about a fan?
No problem ... they deliver!!! (You would NEVER believe the things you see - so I NEVER leave
the house without my camera!!) Gasoline is about $5 per gallon here, but praise the Lord ours only takes about a gallon and will last us over a week!!!!! And hey, if you run out of gas, someone will graciously push you to the nearest gas station (see picture) ...
You just better hope that our teeny tiny gas station actually “has” gas when you get there!
Oh and there’s a pretty good chance you will get stuck in a traffic jam with some pretty stubborn animals too...
What do you guys eat? Rice & Beans ... and more Rice and Beans!!! Ok, if you’re lucky you might get some Yucca & fried Plantanos (my favorites) and some boiled green bananas (another YUK).
When they cook a fish here -
they dont let ANYTHING go to waste! Same goes for the chickens, they eat feet and all!!!! I have found some things at our teeny tiny “Super Market” (haha ... whatever) that allows us to eat some “normal” things. We eat spaghetti ALOT!!! We have been able to find some good ol pork chops every once in a while. Its just scary as many pigs roam the streets and they eat and drink sewer water ... you do NOT want to eat one of these bad boys, thats fo sho!!!
Also you have to be VERY careful with our electrical issues as meat in the store has been frozen, thawed, frozen, thawed, etc etc ... Where is the FDA when you actually “need” them???
What are the people like there? I will use one word to describe the Dominicans ... LOUD!!!! They talk loud, their music is loud, and their motorcycles are loud! Honestly I am surprised that we dont have many more deaf kids here. And dont think that their churches are any different ... One time Jonah was talking VERY loudly to me right in the middle of the service and NOBODY heard him. It is ridiculous! At 6:30 every morning people are in the streets talking (loudly), driving like crazy on their motorcycles, blaring their music ... most of you know that I am NOT a morning person, and my bedroom window is very close to the road ... thank God I dont own a gun! (just kidding) All joking aside, the Dominicans are very patient and loving people. We have been welcomed in as family here, and for that we are grateful.
Even with all that we have had to deal with on a daily basis, the Lord has truly showed us Grace unmeasurable. He has blessed us with patience (somedays more than others, haha) and He has given us so many reasons to be thankful that we wont let all of the hoopla of everyday living drag us down. We have WAY too much to be thankful for. He has truly blessed us with a wonderful home here, wonderful friends and a wonderful building to teach the deaf (for FREE)!!! We could definitely focus on the negative, but we’d rather PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME!!!!
He called us to Manzanillo to start a school for the deaf ... and one look into these kids eyes and their eagerness to learn ... well, it sure does make it all worth it!
