Things to Consider

Being in your twenties is supposed to be a time of adventures and risk taking which is more or less what I was looking for when embarking upon this most recent journey to the DR.  However, in every leap we take there are some things that we should consider... Unfortunately it is the most important of these "things to consider" that we usually don't find out until after. While we can do our best to research establishments online, websites are informative but let's just say they can be deceiving at best. 

Something I wish I could have considered prior to committing myself to a year teaching at the Ashton School of Santo Domingo, is the school song.  Many schools, almost all schools probably have a school song or an anthem that is pulled out at various sporting events, spirit week or homecoming to unite the masses.  The Ashton School has a school song... however it is lacking in sports teams, spirit weeks and homecoming.  In no way does this mean that the song is not utilized fully.  

Once a week all of the students are lined up by grade in the court. Here they "joyously" unite their voices to sing homage to the institute which enlightens them daily. During this weekly event teachers patrol the ranks like generals in a military post with the intention of scaring the children into making their voices auditory, standing straight and meeting the uniform expectations.  All of this under the threat of having to assemble again before lunch if it is not sung correctly in the morning.  Ahhh.... the things we learn after the fact. And now I share with you the lyrics of, The Ashton Anthem. 

"Ashton school to you we give our love and praise, 

Through our lives we always cherish our school days

Swift the care free hours are flying, 

But our memories are never dying, 

We will always love you dear Ashton School. 

Ashton School to you we pledge our loyalty, 

Our praise's that you always stand here years to be. 

Though someday from you we're going 

All the pride for you we're showing

Onward, upward, ever forward Ashton School."

*Sung to a Disney like melody.

 At this time my roommates and I engage in outbursts of music often containing the lines of this song.  For us it has proven to be an avenue of amusement.  Lines of the song are picked out and sung to rally members of the household who have at some point begun to take this situation too seriously... which is at no point healthy or acceptable! 

So I will leave off with that for now but there are many other "things" on the list to be "considered".

Love Bren

Six months on standby is this American Airlines???

So it has been a long time since I "blogged" about teaching in the DR... it is just life these days.  A quick fast forward through fall: Eric visited and we tripped to Jarabacoa (the mountains) and Bani (the beach), Marlee visited and we tripped to Playa Bonita (northern beach) and Jarabacoa (a favorite of mine).  Alejandra, a girl from Madrid adrift in Santo Domingo and a fabulous girl moved in with Alissa and I! We call ourselves the Powerpuff Girls (only on certain occasions).  We battle The Ashton School on a daily basis.  

I saw most of my family on Thanksgiving through Skype and it was great. My sweet little niece was confused by the computer but I loved every second of it. Here in the DR we shared Thanksgiving dinner with each other, a few close friends and Eric (via Skype)!  After that I think I became an even more serious work-a-holic if that is possible and just nose dived into it.  Alejandra, Alissa and I took a few trips to the tourist market to buy presents and then I was off... a day early and not a dollar shorter... than planned. 

Whew!  

Home was home and I finally felt like me again... just in time to come back to the DR. 

Luckily this time I was blessed with the most easy going loveable travel companion, Eric! He moved down here and now there are four of us in the apartment. The "powerpuff girls" is no longer too appropriate so we have changed our symbol to be representations of each of the elements under Captain Planet... 

The school situation is constantly on rocks which is difficult as it is my first year teaching outright and my first year in each of these subjects specific.  I am a little troubled to say the least by the amount of administrative work that I am expected to perform amid myriad teaching responsibilities all within the normal school day.  I am so incredibly lucky to have the support of my three wonderful roommates.  I am making us all "TAS surivors 08-09" t-shirts before the year is up.  

Last weekend the roommates, Cristabel, Jared and Poli all traveled to beautiful Cabarete for a weekend of relaxation on the beach.  If anyone is a kitesurfer you should be sure to check out this locale. 

Writing about things of past months is not quite as flavorful as I would like so I will exit now with a promise for more frequent and humorous updates.  

With Love 

International Beach Clean Up Day! September 20th, 2008

This morning I woke up as usual around 8am, made a big breakfast of french toast, a fruit smoothie and coffee, and then headed out with Alissa and Peter to clean up a beach.  I was expecting a beach, with some trash around on it.  What we found was very shocking and very overwhelming.  

Santo Domingo a sea front city boasts the malecon which is basically an area that follows the sea front like a board walk.  This area is popular with young people who like to go out; there are some sea side restaurants, a casino, a mall and some high rise apartment buildings along the stretch.  I have driven along the malecon a few times and noticed the beautiful expanse of sea waters and tall palms reaching out for more sun.  The beaches are not really noticeable from the road because the coast line is rocky and well from the road it just sort of drops off to the sea. 

Today when we showed up for the beach cleanup I was absolutely stunned.  The expanse of "beach" to me looked like an expanse of landfill.  From the waters edge to about 20ft inland was continuous trash.  Take a wild guess what the most prevalent substance was........ STYROFOAM.  Millions of pieces of shredded styrofoam absolutely covered the sand, were tangled in the sticks and natural debris.  I don't even know exactly what words to use to describe this... hypodermic needles, sandals, shoes, dolls, tooth brushes, pens, bottles, combs, plastic utensils, wax coated juice/milk containers .... were piled up by the thousands.  

The Ocean Conservancy sponsored this international volunteer effort for cleanup and here in Santo Domingo there was an excellent turnout.  Many people walked along the beach collecting bags of trash while more inventoried the findings for the conservancy.  This trash lies on the coast of a country, yet its origin is entirely unknown.  It is so easy to shrug off any responsibility to a problem like this, one so far from our own "home".  But the reality is that trash and other pollution does not know political boundaries.  There are some beaches here in the south west that have literally Mountains of trash on them because of the way that the water currents work.  

I pictured the ocean like a pool or a hot tub and these little islands are acting like the floating filter that moves around collecting debris.  More disturbing is something called the "trash vortex" which is a collection of plastic debris twice the size of Texas located in the Pacific Ocean.  Winds have caused all debris to collect in one are and the "trash island" is said to be about 30ft deep with all types of debris.  Go ahead and look it up online there are many resources confirming this problem.  It is safe to say that each and every one of us is responsible in some way for this and many other global problems.  

It is hard to imagine such a tangible problem and even more difficult is wondering how to ever reverse the impact of our actions.  What a day. 

Wifi Begins

Yay! We have wireless now at the apartment and I can check the weather!  For the last month here I have not been able to check the weather and have been relying on friends here and at home to update me on the storms that have been bombarding the area.  Luckily! We have been to the south of the storms and have only experienced some rains.  The weather is so unpredictable here.  It will down pour on the sunniest day without warning!  Alissa my roommate (the one in red with curly hair) turned 28 on Tuesday so we went out for Mexican food dinner.  This country does not believe in spicy food.  Anyway, things are going well.  No big adventures due to the weather but meeting some friends and getting out and active running and doing Yoga! 

Coming Along!

So the school is still under construction but it is coming along well.  Here are some updated pictures.  The weeks are starting to move a little faster.  I have ventured out and taken taxi's by myself.  The city is pretty safe in that sense and I only go to places that I have been to before.  The weather has been very hot over 100F everyday.  When we get out of school it is hard to be productive because of the humidity .   I met a girl named Alejandra through my friend Cristabel.  Ale is from Madrid and is an international journalist here for a few months.  Cristabel, Ale and I run at a place called the Mirador, it is an avenue that is closed for recreation in the evenings.  I have been once before about five years ago and it is really cool.  Check out videos on Youtube, as I probably wont be bringing a camera.  adios! 

My ClassroomMy Books
The Pool! YAY
Water from the storm...blowing pretty hard!

Hey!  I am including more photos of the school.  It is still under construction BUT things are coming along more quickly than I had expected.  Today I went up the three flights of stairs to find the teacher editions of my school books, Success!  That is great because now I can make my year plan and write out my syllabus.  Yay.  

The school is overall pretty nice. There is a pool which is great, the kids have swimming once a week.  There is also an outdoor playing court and an indoor one.  The classrooms are located on three levels starting with the little ones on the first level and me... well I am going to have some really nice leg muscles by the end!  Ha!  I do have a nice view!  

There is a guard on duty at the gate all the time and there are security cameras in place.  A lot of things get stolen around here... like care