the Grannies

Hi everyone, this is Carrie.  Technically this is my blog but all of the posts on here are written by the Grannies (Ruth and Karen).  But I thought I would take the time to write a little something as well.

"The Grannies"

That's not just the name of the blog, it is really what we call them.

Example:
Me: "The Grannies want to ride in the back of the truck on the way to the grocery store."
Eddy:  sighs and shakes his head and laughs "ok"

The people here have a name for them as well.  They call them "Las Doñas".

The Grannies are very entertaining.  They have a lot of fun.  They laugh a lot.  They are not afraid of looking like the crazy American grannies.  The people here really respond to their energy and had a lot of fun with them as well.  

 

This was Ruth's third trip and my mom's fourth.  But it was their second trip coming down as "the Grannies."  (just them, no group)

The DR is my home.  This is where I live, work, serve.  The best thing about this place is the people.  One of my greatest desires is for my family and friends (from the states) to have the opportunity to experience the hospitality, warmth, and love of the people here.  Unfortunately, the people here get a little shy around Americans (especially in big groups).

Since the Grannies are just a group of two, they have had the opportunity to experience some things that the work teams don't.  Last year, they were able to get to know and form relationships with some of the people here.  It was fun for me to see how those relationships grew this year, and new relationships were formed.  It was also interesting to see how the people here continued to get more comfortable and relax and joke with them and that the Grannies were more comfortable as well.  We left them on their own a few times where nobody spoke English (and they do not speak Spanish) but they were ok.  I think they can tell you it is amazing how deep of a relationships you can form with people who do not speak your same language.   I already have people reminding me that next year the Grannies need to go to their house for dinner or lunch or a cooking lesson, etc. 

It meant so much to me to see my mom and Ruth (who both are very important people in my life) being accepted, welcomed, loved by all of the people here who are also very important to me.  The people here (including me) are so appreciative of them and the love that they show by serving and helping here.  I am also appreciative to all of the people here who showed them a little bit of what my life is like here and why I love it so much.

We all can't wait for the Grannies to come back next year. 

Day of Rest

Sunday, February 3

 

Sunday was pretty uneventful.  We were very tired and it was hot.  Ruth and I took the opportunity to ride in the back of the truck one more time.  Our week was so full of adventures that when writing this blog we would have to look at pictures and our schedule to remember the things we did.

We emptied our suitcases and the last of the gifts were given to our hostess' and friends.

Howie attended Sunday services with us.  The last time he attended church here was the day after Carrie and Eddy's wedding (August 2011).

Ruth packed up her suitcase and said her goodbyes, she will be returning home early Monday morning.

Monday, February 4

Eddy and Carrie brought Grannie Ruth to the airport at 6:30 am.  I must be getting used to the roosters and chickens and street music.  Saturday night we had 3 parties on the block and the noise was unbelievable!

Eddy and Howie went to the hardware store and then did some small improvements at the school.  I unpacked another suitcase of Carrie's supplies.  There is no end to those suitcases!

At noon we went home, packed up our suitcases and traveled 2 hours to Cabarete.  We have combined our Granny mission trip with our winter vacation.  We rented a condo on the beach.  Carrie has stayed at these condos before with some of the SCS teachers.  We are enjoying the hot showers and washing machine and dryer.  Cabarete beach is known for their kite surfing and has mostly European visitors.  I would recommend our condo to anyone.

Friday afternoon we will be driving back to Santiago.  We hope to stop at school to say our goodbyes.  Our flight leaves early Saturday morning.  

Walking down the street to visit friends.

Our friends, Andy, Sonia & Randy

Just looking

Eddy & Carrie

Dutch Farm's butter! In Cabarete

Pool at condo taken from balcony

Eddy in condo kitchen

Beach

Sunset from condo

Sosua beach

Rain going past us with rainbow in front.

Kite surfing!

Sosua beach

Walmart

Preschool afternoon staff

The last 3 trips I accidentally took a picture near this sport because the taxi dumps us off here.This one is on purpose!

Saturday

Saturday, February 2

Last night I (Ruth) stayed at Shelley’s again.  Mark had to get up very early this morning to travel with his school’s basketball team to Susa (1 ½ hrs. away) so he went to bed.  Shelley, Sarah and I played a card game that they taught me called Trash.  It was a lot of fun and Sarah beat both of us.  We got to sleep in a little longer today as we didn’t have to leave to set up for the garage sale until 8:30.  The garage sale will be from 1 – 5 this afternoon.  The teachers will be running a couple of games for the kids and the newly formed Parent’s Association will be running a food booth.  This is the first event the Parent’s Assoc. is sponsoring.

We got to school about 9:00 am and started to set up.  The clothes are all in large bags at the church so Eddy, Carrie’s dad Howard and one of the dad’s from school headed over there to get them.  We started to set up two rooms that the garage sale will be in.  The desks all needed to be carried out and since we don’t have any tables we used the wood that divides the office into two parts and laid it across some desks.  It hasn’t been reinstalled yet so it worked great.  They arrived with the clothes and hoisted the bags through the classroom window.  We got to work setting out piles of neatly folded and separated clothes.  We had a room for children’s clothes and a room for adult’s clothes and the prices were set reasonably enough to entice buyers.  By 12:30 we were putting on the finishing touches and were hoping for a good turn out.  The weather was sunny and warm and no rain was predicted.  In the DR when it rains often times kids don’t even show up for school because they depend on motorcycles for transportation.   

At one o'clock I (Karen) rang the bell and the sale began! The parents came and they brought their family and neighbors. It was a great turnout!  The large tables always had ladies lined around them. People were buying a lot of clothes, but the clothes piles never seemed to get smaller. In order to try to get rid of more clothes, we decided to have a 2 for 1 sale staring at 3:30. We had signs stating this up on the walls. During the afternoon word spread about the "2 for 1" sale. We noticed ladies sorting with arms full of clothes and even standing just waiting for 3:30. This was going to be a problem. So at 3:20 Shelley had to explain that they had to either pay for what they had in their arms or put them back on the table. They did and the staff helped us refold all the clothes on the tables. Then they were let back in and the digging started all over again!

At 5:00 the teachers helped up bag the clothes up and they were given to the several of the sister churches in the community. The churches will use these for their needy families.

The money was collected and counted and the profit from the first Parents Association fundraiser was just over $40,000 pesos or $1000 US dollars. What a great success!

Pete and Repeat

Thursday,  January 31

This morning we worked at the grade school putting Shelley's office back together.  The entire office was emptied over Christmas break so they could take off the temporary ceiling and pour a permanent one.  Even the doors and windows had to come out.  Later this month a team from Crown Point, IN CRC will be coming down to put a second story above the office and bathroom.  This will be very labor intensive as the blocks will all need to be hoisted manually.   The office staff has been working in an open air hallway and are excited about the office being functional again. 

We cleaned, restocked the cabinet with supplies and moved boxes back into the office.   There is still some work to be done but within the next few weeks things should come together. 

For lunch we were invited to our friend Fifa's house.   She is a very special woman who in addition to raising 4 kids cleans the school, preschool and church.   She also operates a small business selling used clothes and has been the person that many Haitian people go to when they need help.

This was our first day working at the grade school so we enjoyed see the kids play at recess and gym class.  A couple the girls asked me to play with them at recess.  There is no playground equipment but there are balls to kick and toss and there is a large rock pile that the boys love to dig in.

Thursday night I spent at Shelley and Guille 's house.  Sarah beat Mark, Shelley and in WIi bowling, then the kids beat us in Sequence.   It was good to spend time with them - Mark and Sarah are great kids who are active in church and in school. 

Live. Love. Eat.

Friday, February 1

This morning we sorted clothes again for the garage sale.  We are trying to catch up on our blog entries.  My husband, Howie is traveling here today.  I hope he caught the 10:30 flight out of Ohare to Miami.  There is a 4 hour layover before boarding a plane for Santiago.  This is the same as our trip a week ago.  The plane is scheduled to land at 8:40 pm.  American Airlines has two flights into Santiago per day, one at 1 pm and one at 8:40 pm.  I am anxious for Howie to arrive because I know Carrie misses her dad and I am excited for him to share in our wonderful experiences here.

 Our friend Eladia that taught us how to make juice invited us over for lunch today.  Dominican meal times are very different here than in the US.  They eat no breakfast, but then have a small snack around 10 am.  Their lunch is the big meal of the day.  Supper is a more simple meal and they eat very late (between 9 and 10 pm).   For us Grannies we have been eating as Americans and Dominicans.  We eat breakfast AND have a snack at 10.  Then we have a big Dominican lunch AND in the evening we have a big American supper around 6:30 or 7:00 pm.  We have been eating ALOT. 

Eladia make a wonderful meal.  She is a little bit of a health nut and it must be working.  The children in the pictures are not her children but her grandchildren.

Tonight we are taking the Hernandez and Ramos families out to eat at a cute little out-door burger place.  We took them out there last year as well.  It has been raining all week, but this afternoon, it finally stopped raining and the sun came out. 

Carrot & orange juice

Howie was one of three men exiting the plane wearing leather coats!

The coat didn't stay on very long, it was 80 degrees out.