That is all about to change!

Since we’ve all been receiving such strong encouragement to reach out and examine our circumstances to see if we can “step over into Macedonia” many friends in the States have answered the call. In fact, at our recent Special Assembly Day they announced that in the last month the branch has received over 300 requests for information about serving in the DR!

300 requests in 1 month! That’s insane!

We have gotten a couple of emails from people who were told to contact us by the branch to learn about serving in ASL in the Dominican Republic, particularly in Santiago. While we have been able to answer many of their questions, we were most surprised at just how many of them had stumbled across our blog in an attempt to find information on the Deaf in the Dominican Republic!

To that end, I’ve decided its something important for the friends and for us to keep up. I’ve gone back over the last year and half and picked a couple of highlights to share with you. I’m starting with last June, so bear with me, we’ll get caught up soon enough!

I hope you enjoy our stories and experiences, and leave a comment if you have any questions!

Dominicans love fried food. Dominicans love hot dogs. Dominicans love street food. A few Deaf brothers in our congregation desperately need work. Do you see where this is going? Yeah, me neither, but Anton sure did.

In an attempt to help some friends in our hall earn some money and have a profitable business that can get them the cash flow they need to make it to the meetings and even say, regular pioneer, Anton decided to help them set up a fried food stand, selling none other than the ultra American favorite, the corn dog.

You pretty much can’t go wrong with a corn dog. Now, the Dominicans had never seen anything like it, but when we described it as an “empanizado” hot dog and covered it with mayo and ketchup (YUCK!) they couldn’t get enough.

Here are some pictures from the very first night of Corn Dog El Mudo:

At the beginning of the video, when the “Ump” hits the base, listen carefully as he yells “Play Ball!!!”. Then after it goes into the river, he shouts “Foul Ball!”. There are actually very few Spanish words in baseball, most of the vocabulary is borrowed since they all grew up watching the “American Past Time” on TV, in English.

Click the “Read the rest of this entry” button below to see some pictures.

Very cool random plant outside the pool where we swim! It is a little like a willow tree, but a lot thicker, and the green little stubs are quite hard.

I am a botanical person, it’s true, but I don’t know the name of this one!

For those of you who don’t know better, this is our street. The bulldozer is actually right in front of our house. As you can see, the fixing of the road is the most entertaining thing going on… other than the gringos taking pictures that is…

This is an interesting little project to repair the road on our dead end street. Funny thing is, they started from the entrance, not from the dead end so… if your car is stuck on the other side of the bulldozer, looks like you’re walking to work for the next… 3–5 months. (They work a little slower here in DR than they do in Michigan.)

We are currently parking our CRV on the next street over, or wherever else we can find room.

We were excited to arrive home and see how much progress they were making. You see, throughout this whole process, they have shut off our water, only letting it run late at night, if that. *Even* if they aren’t working that day. Frustrating, but that’s life I guess. (Lots of bucking showers and filling up a large tank out from with a hose that stretches from the neighbors house the block over from us… it is quite hilarious actually.)

So, the bulldozer was running when got in, but not actually moving anything… then I saw why. Take a closer look at the operator in this picture below:

Random neighborhood kid playing on the heavy machinery! *Gotta* love the Dominican Republic!

I wish we had taken pictures of the view, it was amazing. We will have to the next time we come back that way.

When we finally got to the base of the mountain, we decided to stop at a little fruit stand and see what they had for lunch… that’s when we found these beauties! They were seriously the biggest I have ever seen before… and the best part was the price, 10 pesos each! Yes, for the price of $.84US, I walked away with 3 fruits that from my guess probably weighed about 3 lbs each. And yes, those are REGULAR cans in the background as a size reference.

Needless to say, there was a lot of guacamole to be had for lunch that day. As well as home made avocado ice cream the next day which is absolutely worth trying.

A common problem that we face mostly with younger kids (4–18) is the lack of any understanding of questions. For the most part, they know that they are being asked a question and that I am expecting some sort of reply but… exactly what kind of question; that is up to their interpretation. The two questions we have the hardest time with are “who” and “what”. The school does not teach the difference between these two signs here and therefore they attempt to learn their meanings by watching other kids use them. Of course, this leads to a problem when the kids around them don’t know how to use them either.

It seems like such a simple concept, “who” and “what” and yet it seems to take months to master. Here we are giving Billy a crash course in their meaning (this is after I got sick of him pointing at the Bible and asking “who???”. We were able to get a basic understanding down by asking whether things have a heart beat or not. If they do, it is a “who” question, if not it is a “what” question. This is only a crude outline of their meanings but at least it is a first step in the right direction. I think the best part is when he still catches himself mid-sentence and corrects his “who” for a “what” or vice versa.

Today we took delivery of 7 brand new hockey sticks (imported from Canada, manufactured in Ukraine). A good friend and fellow hockey lover/player was so kind as to bring down a bundle of new sticks to get some of out junior players up to snuff in the equipment department. As you might imagine, these things aren’t exactly available for LOCAL purchase so… this works out really great!

Tomorrow we have a big group coming in from all over Santiago and some of the outlying towns as well as one visitor (Jeremy Fryc) form the FAAAAAAAR other side of the island. Should be an interesting game.

For any that might be concerned, we play a very toned down version of the game since we have so many novice players out on the “ice” at one time… no mom, no broken bones yet and we try to keep it that way.

Now if only we could get a few more sets of skates down here…

So every month, we push the button and almost magically, 2 hours later, we have a fresh batch of snow. Guess what we did with it?!? We introduced Jessica to winter time antics!

Yes, it took a while to set this up but it was well worth it, scarf, cap, gloves and everything. All the way down to pepper corn mouth (sorry, I forgot the buttons).

Then we taught Jessica how to make and throw snowballs.

And even what it feels like to stand on ice. After stepping on the block, she quizzically looked up at me and asked, “Is this what it’s like up there where you are from?” 

It’s always fun to find little bits of home in things that are so far removed from it.