Profe in the DR 18

Profe in the DR 18

Last week I had to see a specialist in the capital about my finger.  He told me to keep in immobilized for another ten days, but at least he didn’t put it in a cast again.

  Saturday the soccer team worked on the play.  After the last heavy rain, the play filled up with water and as people and animals walked through it, they left behind holes where they stepped, and pushed the mud up on the sides sticking out.  This dried hard (lots of clay in the soil) and was dangerous to play on.  The soccer team continued to work on the play, carrying dirt from just outside of the play and filling in the holes.  This took a long time since we only had one shovel, one rake, and one wheelbarrow.  They also picked up trash and tons of broken glass from the play.  Today we had are first home game of the co-ed summer league.  Our team played very well and won 1-0.   I refereed the game, and figured I ran more than the players did. 

I finally got out on my bike on Monday.  It had been a long time since I last rode.   I had to fix a few things on the bike, then various health problems (back spasms, dislocated finger, bad chest cold) kept me from riding.  I rode this morning with Aiden, another volunteer who just moved to Batey 1.  I got in 3 hours, and had two flat tires.

Yesterday was Día de Bañarse (bath day).  The kids all went down to the river and swam and splashed around.  Other kids were walking around pouring water on them selves. 

The teenagers showed up for English class on Wednesday, and came with friends.  The class doubled in size.

We had our second and third classes of Deportes para la Vida this week as well.  The boys don’t have a lot of patience but are learning quite a bit.

Lately more girls have been coming to learn and play chess.  My house is always full of kids playing.

One of our volleyballs came apart and the other has several holes in it, leaving us with nothing to play with.  I am trying to get some more volleyballs and a net.

I have been trying to teach the kids how to type, but the lack of electricity is making this difficult.  World Vision installed ten new computers in our community center, but there isn’t any electricity ever to use them.  The transformer from the street blew out five years ago and has never been replaced, so the only electricity for the community center comes when a neighbor chooses to run his generator (which is not that often since gas costs money.)

It’s been getting hotter at night and it’s been hard to get to sleep.  I finally got smart and use a bottle of cold water to help cool me down.  I place it on my chest or under my neck.