A very exciting week

Amigos, compañeros:

A very exciting week here in La Republica Dominicana. I spent the first few days in La Romana, visiting with teachers and watching my student “take off” in English classes at the secondary level. The English teaching group has been hugely supportive and Matt is proving to be The Natural (for those of you who remember one of my favorite baseball movies). I’m attaching a photo of Matt and his partner Ruth in action. I am now in Santo Domingo for meetings, which are also going extremely well.

So many cultural events and activities to mention as well this week. The students and school faculty assemble every morning to sing the Dominican national anthem, recite the pledge and hear a “prayer for learning” before heading to their classrooms. At the home of our host family, I watched a worker shinny up a coconut tree to harvest fruit and he did it barefoot carrying a large knife; I am checking with Cirque de Soleil to see if they need a new act. It’s been raining along the south coast of the country on and off for about 2 days now. I will soon alert Noe that we’ll need his boat. These rainstorms fall far short of a hurricane and we’re now in that season. So, it could rain a whole lot harder some time soon. Memo to Tomas: Next trip, pack an umbrella. A large one.

I could write much more, but I’ll save some for another post. Saludos y abrazos de La Republica Dominicana!!