I'm going to miss all the language goofs/ challenges from living here. I'm going to miss the winning money, throwing pictures, using goats to cheat on tests, exposing yourself comments that come from the differences between English and Spanish either due to false cognates (words that sound the same, but mean different things) or things that can translate or can't translate "correctly" from one language to another.
This might be one of my last language goof stories. Before the kids matematicas (Spanish math) final, Oasting came up and asked me, "Miss Scislow, do you have a transporter?" I kind of looked and him weird and was like, "Uhh.... a what?" "A transporter." All I could think of was like a time traveling machine or something out of Star Wars. So, I was like, "Umm.... no." His response, "What the heck?!?! You teach geometry!" By this point, I was thoroughly confused. So I was like, "Tell me one more time what you want." "Miss Scislow!" Oasting replied, "a transporter, you know, una transportador." Still thoroughly confused, I had to ask "What exactly does a 'transporter' do?" And he looked at me really funny and said, "You know, it's like one of those half circle like things that measures angles." Apparently, a "transportador" (which sounds an awful lot like transporter, so you can see why he'd translate it like that) is a protractor! Which I did have to lend to him for the test. And I learned a new word that I probably won't ever forget now out of the deal. Haha!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Goats
Well, things are really winding down now. Graduation was a week ago last Friday (June 5th). It was originally going to be at school, but with the prediction of rain, they moved it to the Gran Teatro Cibao, which is a big theater by the Monument. It was really nice, better than at school, because it was air conditioned, had stadium seating so people could actually see, and they had a baby grand! So, I got to accompany the Friends (by Michael W. Smith) song that the choir sang on a real piano instead of a keyboard which sounded SO much better! The service itself was a good mix of English and Spanish, which songs in both, speeches in both, etc. It kept moving nicely and was actually not totally boring, haha! Our song sounded really nice. Miss Jennie asked one teacher from the Dominican curriculum and one from the American curriculum to prepare a short message for the graduates, and for the American "speech" she asked me. I tried to make it short, inspirational, and a little funny so I wouldn't cry. The kids laughed, which is what I was going for, and the American teachers all said it sounded really good, so that's good. I didn't actually start crying until after the service when German came up to give me a hug and totally lost it. I thought I was going to be able to make it without crying since I made it through the service, but when he started crying, I did too. I'm going to miss those guys! Anyways, after the service, they had a dinner for the seniors, their families, and then invited some of the teachers at this fancy restaurant/ party place. It was a really nice meal and fun to get to hang out with kids. We had a good time. Dinner was yummy, some of the kids, Kaitlyn, and I snuck out to go get some frozen yogurt at the Bon that's close at like 11:30, and then we came back, visited, and danced before heading home around 1:00. All in all, it was a really nice time.
Christie (a graduate!)
Steffany (a graduate!)
Alana (a graduate!)
Chris (a graduate!)
German (a graduate!)
Mike and Arnold (two of the boys that were in choir, from 9th and 10th grade)
Albania and Ashley (2 of my ninth grade girls in choir)
All my seniors!
After the graduation with two ninth graders, Nicole and Marcel
Choir kids! Bianka, Steffany, Jonathan (not in choir), Johanna, Jose, and Albania
School "officially" ended last Monday with the end of the year party after their last final. (That's where a lot of my pictures with kids from the last blog came from.) The kids that failed classes however had to come in all last week and today (the day depended on what they failed) to re-take them. On Monday, Ignacio came and got me and told me Sebastian's grandmother was in the office and wanted to talk to me. Now, Sebastian failed algebra, and his grandmother is a very scary woman, so I was a little nervous. As I was walking up to the office, I ran into Sebastian, who gave me a big hug and an end of the year present. So, I figured that's all she wanted, so I didn't go to the office. So, I was talking to Sebastian when Ignacio came looking for me again. Apparently, she still wanted to talk to me. She was actually very nice to me though, and asked if I could help Sebastian study for the algebra re-take. I told her that was fine because I really wanted him to pass and to let me know when worked. So I went over to their house on Wednesday for about two/three hours. She sent a taxi over to pick me up, and gave us juice and lots of yummy tropical fruit which we were studying. Sebastian cracks me up. He told me that his grandma is very worried about appearance and so she made the maid clean everything all up before I came. I told him that really wasn't necessary, and he laughed and said he knew. He then proceeded to tell me that he was in trouble because he put boxers on the fan in the room that we were supposed to be studying in before I came to make his grandma mad and that she wasn't tall enough to get them off. Haha, how ninth grade boy-ish is that? Anyways, he said she was being "nice grandma" because I was around, so that made him happy. He said "mean grandma" made him sit at the kitchen table until like 1:30 in the morning the night before the algebra test the first time studying. Apparently she turned the motion sensing alarms on so he couldn't leave and go to bed. Poor kid! Anyways, we got a lot done, and she asked if I'd come over again the next day, so I agreed. Thursday was Corpus Cristi, which is a Catholic holiday, so we didn't have to work. So, she sent the taxi to get me around like 2:30. Jose was there that day too. We studied algebra for soooooo long. I made sure I gave them breaks so they didn't get too math-ed out. We played with Sebastian's dog Ozzy some (I miss Buddy!), and then took some random breaks and played like 20 questions sort of stuff... I learned a lot of really interesting things about both boys. Anyways, I ended up being at the house until like 10:30 by the time we got through everything. She ordered us pizza for dinner, and we got ice cream and popcorn for snacks throughout the 8 hours of studying algebra. Both boys worked really hard, and I was really pleased with them. The grandma asked me how much I wanted her to pay me and I said nothing. And then she made Sebastian ask me in English because she didn't think I understood, and I said nothing again. So, she came in the room and gave me 1000 pesos (which is like $30), and I gave it back. So, she left, and came back with and envelope and tried to give me that... Which I gave back. Anyways, when I got home, and was looking for my apartment keys, I found the envelope with a note from Sebastian that said "Ha ha she made me do it" in my purse. He was happy because before I left I told him, in front of her in Spanish, that I wanted him to go to bed and not study any more algebra, haha. Anyways, so Friday they took the test. Jose got an 89% and Sebastian got a 96%, which was way higher than either needed to pass. So, I was very happy! Jose picked me up and gave me a huge hug when I showed him his score. Sebastian informed him that he would get cooties doing that. But Sebastian gave me a big hug like 5 minutes later when he passed too and said his house was probably full of cooties, but that was ok.
I'm going to miss my kids and all their crazy questions and shenanigans. Last week Sebastian asked me at school if I "had any charity money" so he could get something to eat. So, I was like, "Yeah, get what you want." And he was like, "Yes?? Really?!?! Thanks! I mean, you do make 20Gs a month!" (Which is technically true.... but 20,000 pesos is a lot less than 20,000 dollars, haha!)
Sebastian, probably playing Tetris
Then during the math retake on Friday, Juan was in the room because he was re-taking matematicas, and all the other kids were retaking mine. And he asked me if anyone failed chemistry, and I said no. And then he asked if I knew if anyone had re-failed quimica, and I said I didn't know. And he was like, "If Camilo failed, he's the biggest retard ever! He had the biggest goat ever! It was so obvious!" I had to laugh because that's one of those cases where the word in Spanish and the word in English don't quite match up. In Spanish (at least here), they use the word "chivo" for cheat sheets. Literally though, "chivo" means goat. So, like if you eat chivo, it's goat meat (a delicacy here). Anyways, the kids don't know what a "cheat sheet" is, so they always just say "chivo" when they are taking in English even though it's obviously a Spanish word (Like: so and so had a chivo for the French test). Well, Juan decided to translate the word "chivo" which as I said, literally means goat. However, no one had any goats during any tests. Haha! (Although there are some goats that live next door to school....)
Juan's the trouble maker in the middle (along with his two best friends, and some of my favorite kids, Marcel and Alex)
This week is our last week at school. Today was the last day we had kids in. Friday is conferences. And Thursday, Jonathan comes to visit! Yay! We are going to do some traveling around the country before heading home on July 2nd. Man time flies! While I'm really, really sad to be leaving, at the same time, I can't WAIT to get to see everyone at home! Miss you all! (Less that three weeks to go now!)
Christie (a graduate!)
Steffany (a graduate!)
Alana (a graduate!)
Chris (a graduate!)
German (a graduate!)
Mike and Arnold (two of the boys that were in choir, from 9th and 10th grade)
Albania and Ashley (2 of my ninth grade girls in choir)
All my seniors!
After the graduation with two ninth graders, Nicole and Marcel
Choir kids! Bianka, Steffany, Jonathan (not in choir), Johanna, Jose, and Albania
School "officially" ended last Monday with the end of the year party after their last final. (That's where a lot of my pictures with kids from the last blog came from.) The kids that failed classes however had to come in all last week and today (the day depended on what they failed) to re-take them. On Monday, Ignacio came and got me and told me Sebastian's grandmother was in the office and wanted to talk to me. Now, Sebastian failed algebra, and his grandmother is a very scary woman, so I was a little nervous. As I was walking up to the office, I ran into Sebastian, who gave me a big hug and an end of the year present. So, I figured that's all she wanted, so I didn't go to the office. So, I was talking to Sebastian when Ignacio came looking for me again. Apparently, she still wanted to talk to me. She was actually very nice to me though, and asked if I could help Sebastian study for the algebra re-take. I told her that was fine because I really wanted him to pass and to let me know when worked. So I went over to their house on Wednesday for about two/three hours. She sent a taxi over to pick me up, and gave us juice and lots of yummy tropical fruit which we were studying. Sebastian cracks me up. He told me that his grandma is very worried about appearance and so she made the maid clean everything all up before I came. I told him that really wasn't necessary, and he laughed and said he knew. He then proceeded to tell me that he was in trouble because he put boxers on the fan in the room that we were supposed to be studying in before I came to make his grandma mad and that she wasn't tall enough to get them off. Haha, how ninth grade boy-ish is that? Anyways, he said she was being "nice grandma" because I was around, so that made him happy. He said "mean grandma" made him sit at the kitchen table until like 1:30 in the morning the night before the algebra test the first time studying. Apparently she turned the motion sensing alarms on so he couldn't leave and go to bed. Poor kid! Anyways, we got a lot done, and she asked if I'd come over again the next day, so I agreed. Thursday was Corpus Cristi, which is a Catholic holiday, so we didn't have to work. So, she sent the taxi to get me around like 2:30. Jose was there that day too. We studied algebra for soooooo long. I made sure I gave them breaks so they didn't get too math-ed out. We played with Sebastian's dog Ozzy some (I miss Buddy!), and then took some random breaks and played like 20 questions sort of stuff... I learned a lot of really interesting things about both boys. Anyways, I ended up being at the house until like 10:30 by the time we got through everything. She ordered us pizza for dinner, and we got ice cream and popcorn for snacks throughout the 8 hours of studying algebra. Both boys worked really hard, and I was really pleased with them. The grandma asked me how much I wanted her to pay me and I said nothing. And then she made Sebastian ask me in English because she didn't think I understood, and I said nothing again. So, she came in the room and gave me 1000 pesos (which is like $30), and I gave it back. So, she left, and came back with and envelope and tried to give me that... Which I gave back. Anyways, when I got home, and was looking for my apartment keys, I found the envelope with a note from Sebastian that said "Ha ha she made me do it" in my purse. He was happy because before I left I told him, in front of her in Spanish, that I wanted him to go to bed and not study any more algebra, haha. Anyways, so Friday they took the test. Jose got an 89% and Sebastian got a 96%, which was way higher than either needed to pass. So, I was very happy! Jose picked me up and gave me a huge hug when I showed him his score. Sebastian informed him that he would get cooties doing that. But Sebastian gave me a big hug like 5 minutes later when he passed too and said his house was probably full of cooties, but that was ok.
I'm going to miss my kids and all their crazy questions and shenanigans. Last week Sebastian asked me at school if I "had any charity money" so he could get something to eat. So, I was like, "Yeah, get what you want." And he was like, "Yes?? Really?!?! Thanks! I mean, you do make 20Gs a month!" (Which is technically true.... but 20,000 pesos is a lot less than 20,000 dollars, haha!)
Sebastian, probably playing Tetris
Then during the math retake on Friday, Juan was in the room because he was re-taking matematicas, and all the other kids were retaking mine. And he asked me if anyone failed chemistry, and I said no. And then he asked if I knew if anyone had re-failed quimica, and I said I didn't know. And he was like, "If Camilo failed, he's the biggest retard ever! He had the biggest goat ever! It was so obvious!" I had to laugh because that's one of those cases where the word in Spanish and the word in English don't quite match up. In Spanish (at least here), they use the word "chivo" for cheat sheets. Literally though, "chivo" means goat. So, like if you eat chivo, it's goat meat (a delicacy here). Anyways, the kids don't know what a "cheat sheet" is, so they always just say "chivo" when they are taking in English even though it's obviously a Spanish word (Like: so and so had a chivo for the French test). Well, Juan decided to translate the word "chivo" which as I said, literally means goat. However, no one had any goats during any tests. Haha! (Although there are some goats that live next door to school....)
Juan's the trouble maker in the middle (along with his two best friends, and some of my favorite kids, Marcel and Alex)
This week is our last week at school. Today was the last day we had kids in. Friday is conferences. And Thursday, Jonathan comes to visit! Yay! We are going to do some traveling around the country before heading home on July 2nd. Man time flies! While I'm really, really sad to be leaving, at the same time, I can't WAIT to get to see everyone at home! Miss you all! (Less that three weeks to go now!)
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Te Regalo Amores
Random school stories/ quotes as of late:
(I’m going to miss this so much!)
Alex told me, “Miss Scislow!!! I get my braces off today! I’m going to be a WAY better kisser now!”
So, I’ve written about Murphy before (my ninth graders imaginary friend). In class on Wednesday, Juan very seriously told me, “Miss Scislow, Murphy is real!” And I was like, “Sure, whatever, let’s review some chemistry.” Juan was like, “No, seriously! He’s REAL! Want to see a picture of him?” And I was like, “No… he ate my chalk.” Marcel laughed and corroborated Juan’s claim. Anyways, needless to say, I was a little confused, wondering if they were getting totally delusional. At this point, Juan whipped out his cell phone to ‘show me a picture of Murphy.’ Apparently, on Tuesday, Juan got a puppy… a cute little, tiny chihuahua puppy… and named it Murphy! So, now Murphy really IS real.
Spending any amount of time outside of the classroom with my ninth grade boys is interesting/ amusing. The other day, Oasting, Sebastian, Marcel, Alex, and Frankie were going at after school. They were trying to see who could come up with the best insults, and probably were going on for about 15 minutes. They got: “You’re so dumb you tried to alphabetize M&Ms.” “You are so ugly when you came out your mom said, ‘What a treasure’ and your dad said, ‘Can we go bury it?’” “You’re so ugly, you were in Star Wars and didn’t even need a costume.” “You’re so dumb you tripped over the cordless phone.” “You’re so fat, the only time you’ve seen 90210 is when you step on a scale.” “You’re so old, Jesus sat behind you in math class.”
One day, Micah and I were sitting in homework room today with Luis, our little 10th grade trouble maker who needs LOTS of help w/ math and science. I was correcting tests, and Micah was working with him on physics, and they are working on this problem where a guy is pulling on his dog’s leash at an angle with a certain amount of force. Because of the angles/ forces, it makes a triangle with x and y components to the force. So Micah's like, “Draw a picture, Luis.” So, I turn to look at this picture...... and Micah wants him to be drawing a triangle, right...... and he drew a dog. I kind of laughed and they realize Luis wrote MICA above the dog, which made me laugh even more. Micah was like, “Luis, Mickey is a mouse, not a dog. And that’s not you you spell it.” So, I realized Luis was trying to name the dog MICAH and whispered to him, to put an H on the end.... Micah laughed and was like, “Ok, just draw the triangle Luis.” So, then Luis draws the person that is pulling on the leash. And it's a stick person with long hair.... and he writes Miss Sisslow above it. So, Micah started getting a little annoyed, I kept correcting, and then Micah all of the sudden was like, "LUIS!!! Erase that picture RIGHT NOW and just draw the stupid triangle!" So, I ignored it and kept correcting when Micah yelled at him again to erase the picture. So, I turned around............ and Luis and drawn boobs on the stick figure that was supposed to be me. I think Micah just made him skip the problem after that.
My ninth grade chemistry tests actually went pretty well. For ninth grade, we have them split into two rooms. Micah was in the room that was almost done, and I was in the other room. Sebastian and Oasting were making jokes about each others' moms and about George's mom. They think this is really funny. Anyways, Oasting said something and Sebastian took a shoe box that was in the front of the room, chucked it at him, and hit him right in the head with it. So, Oasting jumped up and jumped to throw it back, and I was like, "Ok, ya, enough guys, keep working." Just as Oasting let go of the box (throwing it back at Sebastian), Miss Jennie walked in the room. Sebastian was sitting right by the door, so the shoe box Oasting had just thrown almost hit Jennie. It was actually kind of funny, but she was a little annoyed with them. So, she took Oasting and Sebastian's tests and handed them to me. And I was really confused because she didn't say anything. When she picked up Sebastian's test, his note card fell on the floor, so she started telling him he wasn't going to be able to finish the test because she thought it was a cheat sheet. Eventually she stopped grumping long enough for me to explain that I had give the kids all note cards and they were allowed to use them on the test. So, that calmed her down, and she left. So, I wasn't really sure what to do since I was standing there holding both boys tests. But she never really said they couldn't finish them.... So, I just gave them back because I didn’t know what else to do.
The other good test story is Jose. He really, really struggles with school, especially math and science. He's not a very good student, but he's not very smart either, which makes it hard for him. Well, going into the final, he had a 66% average, and I calculated out that he needed and 80% on the final to pass the year. So, I let him know, so he'd actually study for it, but I wasn't super optimistic because he's never gotten anywhere close to an 80% on one of my tests all year. Anyways, he stayed after school really late the two days before the test, we studied lots, he called our apartment like 4 times the night before the test with questions, so I knew he was studying... And he ended up get exactly an 80% on the test! I was SOOO happy for him! When I told him the next day he gave me the biggest hug ever, like a pick me up off my feet and spin around in a circle hug. It was really cute.
That test was pretty funny to correct. The last question, just to give easy points, was basically, "What did you learn in chemistry this year, and how might it be important in your life?" I got some pretty great responses:
Juan: "Murphy also learned a lot before he died and got inside my dog."
Doris: "The most important thing I learned is that Miss Scislow is the best teacher ever."
Sonia: "Chemistry is important because if a student fail the class, they are not going to college. They gonna live they're lifes like homeless people."
Nicole: "Chemistry was my favorite subject. It was really fun taking class with you miss! ... Even though when we talk a lot it seems like we don't care, but we DO!! Have a nice rest of your life."
Oasting: "It's also good because it makes you look smarter in front of people."
Sebastian: "Miss Lizzo is a great teacher!" (Jeremy, one of the 8th graders, always calls me Miss Lizzo, and Sebastian and Oasting think it's hilarious that he can't say Scislow -even though he speaks perfect English- so they started calling me Miss Lizzo half the time too. I think it's amusing.)
Rony: "I learned everything because I like this class."
Yang Gi: "I learned paying attentian in the classroom is important. Because if I payed attentian in the class I will learned much more but I didn't that's why I don't know that much if I payed attentian I would pass easyer. That is how and why I learned that in this semester."
Jose: "I like this class. Miss Scislow, she's the best teacher at school."
Priscila: "The best part of all that we had fun while learning this thing :)"
And the one that almost made me cry:
Alex: "My favorite thing about chemistry is my teacher because even when I don't believe in myself, she does and she'll do anything to help me reach success."
Anyways, needless to say, I’m going to miss these guys!
Here are my latest pictures:
Goes with the last blog entry about recent adventures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010670&id=88400178&l=5758abf9ba
Last week of school: I gave my kids my camera for the last like three days and told them to take pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010697&id=88400178&l=8052bd66f9
Graduation and Last Day:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010698&id=88400178&l=f9d81e6ab4
(I’m going to miss this so much!)
Alex told me, “Miss Scislow!!! I get my braces off today! I’m going to be a WAY better kisser now!”
So, I’ve written about Murphy before (my ninth graders imaginary friend). In class on Wednesday, Juan very seriously told me, “Miss Scislow, Murphy is real!” And I was like, “Sure, whatever, let’s review some chemistry.” Juan was like, “No, seriously! He’s REAL! Want to see a picture of him?” And I was like, “No… he ate my chalk.” Marcel laughed and corroborated Juan’s claim. Anyways, needless to say, I was a little confused, wondering if they were getting totally delusional. At this point, Juan whipped out his cell phone to ‘show me a picture of Murphy.’ Apparently, on Tuesday, Juan got a puppy… a cute little, tiny chihuahua puppy… and named it Murphy! So, now Murphy really IS real.
Spending any amount of time outside of the classroom with my ninth grade boys is interesting/ amusing. The other day, Oasting, Sebastian, Marcel, Alex, and Frankie were going at after school. They were trying to see who could come up with the best insults, and probably were going on for about 15 minutes. They got: “You’re so dumb you tried to alphabetize M&Ms.” “You are so ugly when you came out your mom said, ‘What a treasure’ and your dad said, ‘Can we go bury it?’” “You’re so ugly, you were in Star Wars and didn’t even need a costume.” “You’re so dumb you tripped over the cordless phone.” “You’re so fat, the only time you’ve seen 90210 is when you step on a scale.” “You’re so old, Jesus sat behind you in math class.”
One day, Micah and I were sitting in homework room today with Luis, our little 10th grade trouble maker who needs LOTS of help w/ math and science. I was correcting tests, and Micah was working with him on physics, and they are working on this problem where a guy is pulling on his dog’s leash at an angle with a certain amount of force. Because of the angles/ forces, it makes a triangle with x and y components to the force. So Micah's like, “Draw a picture, Luis.” So, I turn to look at this picture...... and Micah wants him to be drawing a triangle, right...... and he drew a dog. I kind of laughed and they realize Luis wrote MICA above the dog, which made me laugh even more. Micah was like, “Luis, Mickey is a mouse, not a dog. And that’s not you you spell it.” So, I realized Luis was trying to name the dog MICAH and whispered to him, to put an H on the end.... Micah laughed and was like, “Ok, just draw the triangle Luis.” So, then Luis draws the person that is pulling on the leash. And it's a stick person with long hair.... and he writes Miss Sisslow above it. So, Micah started getting a little annoyed, I kept correcting, and then Micah all of the sudden was like, "LUIS!!! Erase that picture RIGHT NOW and just draw the stupid triangle!" So, I ignored it and kept correcting when Micah yelled at him again to erase the picture. So, I turned around............ and Luis and drawn boobs on the stick figure that was supposed to be me. I think Micah just made him skip the problem after that.
My ninth grade chemistry tests actually went pretty well. For ninth grade, we have them split into two rooms. Micah was in the room that was almost done, and I was in the other room. Sebastian and Oasting were making jokes about each others' moms and about George's mom. They think this is really funny. Anyways, Oasting said something and Sebastian took a shoe box that was in the front of the room, chucked it at him, and hit him right in the head with it. So, Oasting jumped up and jumped to throw it back, and I was like, "Ok, ya, enough guys, keep working." Just as Oasting let go of the box (throwing it back at Sebastian), Miss Jennie walked in the room. Sebastian was sitting right by the door, so the shoe box Oasting had just thrown almost hit Jennie. It was actually kind of funny, but she was a little annoyed with them. So, she took Oasting and Sebastian's tests and handed them to me. And I was really confused because she didn't say anything. When she picked up Sebastian's test, his note card fell on the floor, so she started telling him he wasn't going to be able to finish the test because she thought it was a cheat sheet. Eventually she stopped grumping long enough for me to explain that I had give the kids all note cards and they were allowed to use them on the test. So, that calmed her down, and she left. So, I wasn't really sure what to do since I was standing there holding both boys tests. But she never really said they couldn't finish them.... So, I just gave them back because I didn’t know what else to do.
The other good test story is Jose. He really, really struggles with school, especially math and science. He's not a very good student, but he's not very smart either, which makes it hard for him. Well, going into the final, he had a 66% average, and I calculated out that he needed and 80% on the final to pass the year. So, I let him know, so he'd actually study for it, but I wasn't super optimistic because he's never gotten anywhere close to an 80% on one of my tests all year. Anyways, he stayed after school really late the two days before the test, we studied lots, he called our apartment like 4 times the night before the test with questions, so I knew he was studying... And he ended up get exactly an 80% on the test! I was SOOO happy for him! When I told him the next day he gave me the biggest hug ever, like a pick me up off my feet and spin around in a circle hug. It was really cute.
That test was pretty funny to correct. The last question, just to give easy points, was basically, "What did you learn in chemistry this year, and how might it be important in your life?" I got some pretty great responses:
Juan: "Murphy also learned a lot before he died and got inside my dog."
Doris: "The most important thing I learned is that Miss Scislow is the best teacher ever."
Sonia: "Chemistry is important because if a student fail the class, they are not going to college. They gonna live they're lifes like homeless people."
Nicole: "Chemistry was my favorite subject. It was really fun taking class with you miss! ... Even though when we talk a lot it seems like we don't care, but we DO!! Have a nice rest of your life."
Oasting: "It's also good because it makes you look smarter in front of people."
Sebastian: "Miss Lizzo is a great teacher!" (Jeremy, one of the 8th graders, always calls me Miss Lizzo, and Sebastian and Oasting think it's hilarious that he can't say Scislow -even though he speaks perfect English- so they started calling me Miss Lizzo half the time too. I think it's amusing.)
Rony: "I learned everything because I like this class."
Yang Gi: "I learned paying attentian in the classroom is important. Because if I payed attentian in the class I will learned much more but I didn't that's why I don't know that much if I payed attentian I would pass easyer. That is how and why I learned that in this semester."
Jose: "I like this class. Miss Scislow, she's the best teacher at school."
Priscila: "The best part of all that we had fun while learning this thing :)"
And the one that almost made me cry:
Alex: "My favorite thing about chemistry is my teacher because even when I don't believe in myself, she does and she'll do anything to help me reach success."
Anyways, needless to say, I’m going to miss these guys!
Here are my latest pictures:
Goes with the last blog entry about recent adventures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010670&id=88400178&l=5758abf9ba
Last week of school: I gave my kids my camera for the last like three days and told them to take pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010697&id=88400178&l=8052bd66f9
Graduation and Last Day:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010698&id=88400178&l=f9d81e6ab4
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Miss Scislow LOVES getting mistaken for a student while on a field trip to a water treatment plant.....
School the past couple weeks has been crazy, and our weekends have been packed. After our Haiti weekend, we went to Cabarete, our favorite north coast beach the next weekend. It was nice to get some much needed rest and relaxation. The following weekend we hung out at home, which was nice, except for the fire.
Two weeks ago was pretty crazy with the last marking period finishing up, exams starting for eighth and twelfth grade, and reviews starting for everyone else. On Monday after school, I helped Keith chaperon an ecology club field trip to a little zoo in Santiago. It was pretty fun. They actually had more animals than I was expecting, although the conditions of the cage were pretty bad. It rained most of the time we were there, but the kids didn’t seem to mind too much. They had fun, and even though we got really muddy and wet, and everyone made it back in one piece! On Wednesday, Grecia walked into my tenth grade class at like 8:45 and was like, can you come with us at 9? And I was really confused... Anyways, apparently, she organized a field trip for the eleventh graders to Coraasan, which is the water treatment plant in Santiago. And since I teach first things on Wednesdays and then have a break until 11:45, and I teach chemistry, I was the "logical" person to ask to chaperon. Anyways, it was actually pretty interesting. And I like my eleventh graders, so it was ok. So, we spent the morning at the water treatment plant learning about what all they do there (in Spanish of course). I got mistaken for a student... It was great... The kids thought it was really funny. So, yeah!
My ninth graders had their last algebra test, and apparently decided that it was the last one, so they might as well cheat. I caught five of them cheating! Because we’ve had so many issues with cheating in that class, the ninth grade teachers all have to write two versions of the test. Usually I just change the order of the problems. Before every single test, I tell them, “Don’t cheat off the person next to you, because they probably don’t have the same test as you.” Anyways, the message doesn’t seem to sink in. If you copy off someone that has a different test, and have all the right answers to the other test, it’s pretty obvious to me that you cheated. And I tell them this every time! Anyways, this time, I had to fail Alex, Marcel, Ashley (who are all way too smart to need to cheat), Jose, and Sebastian. The one that made me the maddest I think was Sebastian. He was taking it after school in homework room with me! So, I was there to answer any questions he might have. Oasting was taking the test at the same time, but basically, Sebastian had my undivided attention for questions. Anyways, Oasting finished, I corrected his test, and walked from the table in the hallway into the classroom where my computer was charging, and back (maybe like 20-30 seconds). During this time, Sebastian took someone’s test, not sure whose, and changed all his correct answers on the first page to the answers for the other version of the test... So, he had the answers right, but then he changed them to the right answers for the other test. I didn't see him doing it, but I knew he had them all right, and then all of the sudden he had all the answers to the other version of the test. And he was using erasable pen, which really isn't all that erasable, so I could see what he had originally. The idiot!!! So I was mad at him, and at myself. So, what Jennie decided to do for the final is in addition to having two tests, we split the kids between the classroom and lab, so there are only twelve in each room which is nice. We also make them face the walls/ corners/ be back to back so that they can’t copy. And, Kaitlyn and I were in charge of the room division/ seating charts, so we put the smart cheaters next to dumb people so they wouldn’t want to copy, and we split up anyone that we knew would cheat off each other. For me, it worked out, and I didn’t have any cheat on my algebra final (which was Monday), so that was nice.
After that long week, we decided we needed to get away, so Lauren and I went to the Capital for the weekend. We went down on Friday night after school, checked in around 8:30ish, and went out for dinner at a restaurant on the water. The food was delicious. We got tostones and chicken, steak, and shrimp shish kabobs with the best flan I’ve ever had for desert. On Saturday, we went to San Cristobal for the afternoon. It was kind of a disappointment. There are supposedly some cave paintings there, but they are installing lighting in the caves, so we just got to see like two paintings. Then we went to Trujillo’s house that he had built but never lived in. It was really weird… We had to go buy shoes because apparently you can’t go in with sandals. Our taxi driver got mad at the guard lady who told us this and yelled “Como si fue alguien bueno” a lot. (Meaning, “It’s like he was someone good!”) Our taxi driver for the day was awesome though. We had a good time with him. Anyways, a little bit of a bummer we didn’t get to see the cave paintings and had to buy ugly 200 peso shoes to go in to the house which was slightly lame, but it was ok. We finished up the day wandering through the Zona Colonial and then had dinner and drinks in the Parque Colon, one of our favorite spots in the capital. On Sunday, we went to the botanical gardens which were awesome! They were soooo pretty! It didn’t feel like we were in the middle of a big city in a third world country. After that, we went back and hung out at the Parque Colon, got some lunch, read, people watched, and just relaxed before heading back to Santiago.
That Monday, exams started. I had my ninth grade algebra test and my twelfth grade pre-calculus tests. They went well for the most part. The kids were slightly crazy as usual! I’ll write up some more kid stories soon. Then last weekend we went back to Cabarete Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. (We finished early on Friday because the kids did a Mother’s Day presentation after their exam and then we got to leave at noon!). This week is more exams. They really stretch it out pretty far around here! Friday is graduation. Monday is everyone but 12th grade’s last exam, then the kids end of the year party, and then we’re done except for the kids that have to retake finals because they failed classes. We still have two full weeks of work after this though. What we are going to be doing, I have no clue, but we’ll see! After that, Jonathan comes for two weeks, and then I’m home! Crazy! This year has gone by so fast! Hope all is well! Love ya!
Two weeks ago was pretty crazy with the last marking period finishing up, exams starting for eighth and twelfth grade, and reviews starting for everyone else. On Monday after school, I helped Keith chaperon an ecology club field trip to a little zoo in Santiago. It was pretty fun. They actually had more animals than I was expecting, although the conditions of the cage were pretty bad. It rained most of the time we were there, but the kids didn’t seem to mind too much. They had fun, and even though we got really muddy and wet, and everyone made it back in one piece! On Wednesday, Grecia walked into my tenth grade class at like 8:45 and was like, can you come with us at 9? And I was really confused... Anyways, apparently, she organized a field trip for the eleventh graders to Coraasan, which is the water treatment plant in Santiago. And since I teach first things on Wednesdays and then have a break until 11:45, and I teach chemistry, I was the "logical" person to ask to chaperon. Anyways, it was actually pretty interesting. And I like my eleventh graders, so it was ok. So, we spent the morning at the water treatment plant learning about what all they do there (in Spanish of course). I got mistaken for a student... It was great... The kids thought it was really funny. So, yeah!
My ninth graders had their last algebra test, and apparently decided that it was the last one, so they might as well cheat. I caught five of them cheating! Because we’ve had so many issues with cheating in that class, the ninth grade teachers all have to write two versions of the test. Usually I just change the order of the problems. Before every single test, I tell them, “Don’t cheat off the person next to you, because they probably don’t have the same test as you.” Anyways, the message doesn’t seem to sink in. If you copy off someone that has a different test, and have all the right answers to the other test, it’s pretty obvious to me that you cheated. And I tell them this every time! Anyways, this time, I had to fail Alex, Marcel, Ashley (who are all way too smart to need to cheat), Jose, and Sebastian. The one that made me the maddest I think was Sebastian. He was taking it after school in homework room with me! So, I was there to answer any questions he might have. Oasting was taking the test at the same time, but basically, Sebastian had my undivided attention for questions. Anyways, Oasting finished, I corrected his test, and walked from the table in the hallway into the classroom where my computer was charging, and back (maybe like 20-30 seconds). During this time, Sebastian took someone’s test, not sure whose, and changed all his correct answers on the first page to the answers for the other version of the test... So, he had the answers right, but then he changed them to the right answers for the other test. I didn't see him doing it, but I knew he had them all right, and then all of the sudden he had all the answers to the other version of the test. And he was using erasable pen, which really isn't all that erasable, so I could see what he had originally. The idiot!!! So I was mad at him, and at myself. So, what Jennie decided to do for the final is in addition to having two tests, we split the kids between the classroom and lab, so there are only twelve in each room which is nice. We also make them face the walls/ corners/ be back to back so that they can’t copy. And, Kaitlyn and I were in charge of the room division/ seating charts, so we put the smart cheaters next to dumb people so they wouldn’t want to copy, and we split up anyone that we knew would cheat off each other. For me, it worked out, and I didn’t have any cheat on my algebra final (which was Monday), so that was nice.
After that long week, we decided we needed to get away, so Lauren and I went to the Capital for the weekend. We went down on Friday night after school, checked in around 8:30ish, and went out for dinner at a restaurant on the water. The food was delicious. We got tostones and chicken, steak, and shrimp shish kabobs with the best flan I’ve ever had for desert. On Saturday, we went to San Cristobal for the afternoon. It was kind of a disappointment. There are supposedly some cave paintings there, but they are installing lighting in the caves, so we just got to see like two paintings. Then we went to Trujillo’s house that he had built but never lived in. It was really weird… We had to go buy shoes because apparently you can’t go in with sandals. Our taxi driver got mad at the guard lady who told us this and yelled “Como si fue alguien bueno” a lot. (Meaning, “It’s like he was someone good!”) Our taxi driver for the day was awesome though. We had a good time with him. Anyways, a little bit of a bummer we didn’t get to see the cave paintings and had to buy ugly 200 peso shoes to go in to the house which was slightly lame, but it was ok. We finished up the day wandering through the Zona Colonial and then had dinner and drinks in the Parque Colon, one of our favorite spots in the capital. On Sunday, we went to the botanical gardens which were awesome! They were soooo pretty! It didn’t feel like we were in the middle of a big city in a third world country. After that, we went back and hung out at the Parque Colon, got some lunch, read, people watched, and just relaxed before heading back to Santiago.
That Monday, exams started. I had my ninth grade algebra test and my twelfth grade pre-calculus tests. They went well for the most part. The kids were slightly crazy as usual! I’ll write up some more kid stories soon. Then last weekend we went back to Cabarete Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. (We finished early on Friday because the kids did a Mother’s Day presentation after their exam and then we got to leave at noon!). This week is more exams. They really stretch it out pretty far around here! Friday is graduation. Monday is everyone but 12th grade’s last exam, then the kids end of the year party, and then we’re done except for the kids that have to retake finals because they failed classes. We still have two full weeks of work after this though. What we are going to be doing, I have no clue, but we’ll see! After that, Jonathan comes for two weeks, and then I’m home! Crazy! This year has gone by so fast! Hope all is well! Love ya!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Where was WWI fought? And WWII?
Crazy kid quotes/ stories as of late:
Micah and I were sitting in homework room after school one day with Luis (10th grade) and Michael (11th grade), and Luis was supposed to be studying WWI for world history. So, I told him he had to tell me five things about World War I before he could go. He immediately responds, "WWI, that was fought in South America, right?" And I just kind of look at Micah slightly shocked and was like, "Umm.... No...." And Luis is like, "Well, was it WWII then? I thought that was the one started by the Haitians."
Another day, we were having a work day in pre-calculus. So I was walking around answering questions. And I notice Jamie has white stuff all over his face. So, I was like, “What is all over your face? It’s all white and streaky!” And he was like, “Dang! That’s my sunscreen!!! I guess I didn’t rub it in. UGH! I have to go wash my face right now!!!!” And I was like, “Seriously, you can do that after class. Why are you even putting it on in class? You aren’t going to get sunburned in the room….” And he’s like, “I HAVE to go wash it off!!! I can't do pre-calc with a white face!!!" And I just kind of looked at him funny until German responded, "Dude, Miss Scislow ALWAYS has to do math with a white face!"
A couple of my ninth grade boys sag their pants really low on a regular basis. I usually joke about it to get them to pull them up rather than get mad. One of the most repeat offenders of this is Sebastian, and the other day his pants were ridiculously low when we were out at recess. So I was like, "Sebastian, your pants are totally falling off right now! Just thought I'd let you know." Usually he just pulls them up. Instead, he laughed and very matter-of-factly said, "Miss Scislow my pants are NOT too low, my boxers are just up really high!"
On Monday, I walked into the ninth grade room for class with them at 12:30. And I'd already had them at 8 for their algebra final, and I knew everyone was there. So, I start class and whatnot, and halfway through, I realize George isn't there. And I'm like, "Ugh!", figuring he's off somewhere at school ditching class. (Which at St. David really isn't all that exciting because there is nothing to go do instead, but whatever....) So I ask where he is. And Priscila tells me he went to the dentist. And I must have made an "I don't believe it" face because I figure he just left because he didn't want to be at school. (And generally “the dentist” is the excuse he uses, and generally he tells me what he’s really up to instead…) And Ashley, very thoughtfully, was like, "Miss Scislow, George goes to the dentist a lot…….. He really doesn't have very white teeth…….. I think he lies…...."
My ninth graders have an imaginary friend. His name is Murphy. According to Juan, he’s about one foot tall and has hair as long as the room. He’s mainly Juan, Marcel, and Alex’s creation, but the entire class knows about Murphy. So, they randomly tell me lots of Murphy stories. Apparently Murphy was in jail last week for strangling a gangster to death with his long hair. But he escaped. He’s too small to get stuck in jail. There was a picture out for his re-arrest of him holding hands with Juan and Marcel… Apparently, Murphy used to be a good boy, but they corrupted him. Anyways, they randomly talk about/ to him, go open the door for him in the middle of class, pretend to pet him, rescue him from getting “molested” by each other, and whatnot. (They goof up that word… In Spanish, ‘molestar’ means to bother or to annoy. So they are rescuing him from getting bothered by the others, not from how most English speakers would use the word molest….) Then yesterday, I was in my ninth grade room and there was no chalk. There is never any chalk. Even when I have them twice in a day but not right in a row, the chalk is always gone when I go in for my second period with them. So, I was kind of annoyed and said more to myself than to them, "Seriously! Why is there NEVER chalk in this room!" And Marcel looks at me very seriously and says, "Miss Scislow, don't you know?" And I was like, "Know what?" And he stage whispers, "Murphy eats chalk!" All I could do was laugh and ask him to go get me some more; I couldn’t even be annoyed with the lack of chalk.
The other excitement around here recently was that we learned the Dominican does not have smoke detectors, and we have no idea how to call the fire department… Two weekends ago, we were hanging out, having a quiet weekend at home for once. I made pancakes for breakfast, and then jumped in the shower. Just as I'm getting out of the shower one of my roommates starts screaming in the kitchen, "KRISTEN!!! Come here! We don't know what to do!!!" I figured it was a big cockroach or something, but was kind of confused, because we kind of ignore the cockroaches. So, I run into the kitchen, and there is a pan on the stove. And the entire pan is engulfed in flames that easily were shooting as high as our hanging cabinets (almost all the way to the ceiling!). It was easily the largest fire I’ve ever seen inside. The entire kitchen was full of smoke. (I guess in a way, it's lucky there are no smoke detectors in the DR, because otherwise our whole building would have had to be evacuated.) Apparently what happened is another one of my roommates was frying yucca and started a grease fire… a big one! Anyways, we just sat there and stared for a sec, and I realized we had to put it out ourselves and soon because if it spread we had no idea how to get a hold of the fire department. So, I grabbed one of our really big pots from under the counter and threw it over the flaming pan so the fire couldn't get any air. It went out pretty quickly after that. So, that was good. It was a little scary though! We found out after that apparently 911 works here, but it’s not actually reliable at all…
Hope all is well with everyone at home!
Micah and I were sitting in homework room after school one day with Luis (10th grade) and Michael (11th grade), and Luis was supposed to be studying WWI for world history. So, I told him he had to tell me five things about World War I before he could go. He immediately responds, "WWI, that was fought in South America, right?" And I just kind of look at Micah slightly shocked and was like, "Umm.... No...." And Luis is like, "Well, was it WWII then? I thought that was the one started by the Haitians."
Another day, we were having a work day in pre-calculus. So I was walking around answering questions. And I notice Jamie has white stuff all over his face. So, I was like, “What is all over your face? It’s all white and streaky!” And he was like, “Dang! That’s my sunscreen!!! I guess I didn’t rub it in. UGH! I have to go wash my face right now!!!!” And I was like, “Seriously, you can do that after class. Why are you even putting it on in class? You aren’t going to get sunburned in the room….” And he’s like, “I HAVE to go wash it off!!! I can't do pre-calc with a white face!!!" And I just kind of looked at him funny until German responded, "Dude, Miss Scislow ALWAYS has to do math with a white face!"
A couple of my ninth grade boys sag their pants really low on a regular basis. I usually joke about it to get them to pull them up rather than get mad. One of the most repeat offenders of this is Sebastian, and the other day his pants were ridiculously low when we were out at recess. So I was like, "Sebastian, your pants are totally falling off right now! Just thought I'd let you know." Usually he just pulls them up. Instead, he laughed and very matter-of-factly said, "Miss Scislow my pants are NOT too low, my boxers are just up really high!"
On Monday, I walked into the ninth grade room for class with them at 12:30. And I'd already had them at 8 for their algebra final, and I knew everyone was there. So, I start class and whatnot, and halfway through, I realize George isn't there. And I'm like, "Ugh!", figuring he's off somewhere at school ditching class. (Which at St. David really isn't all that exciting because there is nothing to go do instead, but whatever....) So I ask where he is. And Priscila tells me he went to the dentist. And I must have made an "I don't believe it" face because I figure he just left because he didn't want to be at school. (And generally “the dentist” is the excuse he uses, and generally he tells me what he’s really up to instead…) And Ashley, very thoughtfully, was like, "Miss Scislow, George goes to the dentist a lot…….. He really doesn't have very white teeth…….. I think he lies…...."
My ninth graders have an imaginary friend. His name is Murphy. According to Juan, he’s about one foot tall and has hair as long as the room. He’s mainly Juan, Marcel, and Alex’s creation, but the entire class knows about Murphy. So, they randomly tell me lots of Murphy stories. Apparently Murphy was in jail last week for strangling a gangster to death with his long hair. But he escaped. He’s too small to get stuck in jail. There was a picture out for his re-arrest of him holding hands with Juan and Marcel… Apparently, Murphy used to be a good boy, but they corrupted him. Anyways, they randomly talk about/ to him, go open the door for him in the middle of class, pretend to pet him, rescue him from getting “molested” by each other, and whatnot. (They goof up that word… In Spanish, ‘molestar’ means to bother or to annoy. So they are rescuing him from getting bothered by the others, not from how most English speakers would use the word molest….) Then yesterday, I was in my ninth grade room and there was no chalk. There is never any chalk. Even when I have them twice in a day but not right in a row, the chalk is always gone when I go in for my second period with them. So, I was kind of annoyed and said more to myself than to them, "Seriously! Why is there NEVER chalk in this room!" And Marcel looks at me very seriously and says, "Miss Scislow, don't you know?" And I was like, "Know what?" And he stage whispers, "Murphy eats chalk!" All I could do was laugh and ask him to go get me some more; I couldn’t even be annoyed with the lack of chalk.
The other excitement around here recently was that we learned the Dominican does not have smoke detectors, and we have no idea how to call the fire department… Two weekends ago, we were hanging out, having a quiet weekend at home for once. I made pancakes for breakfast, and then jumped in the shower. Just as I'm getting out of the shower one of my roommates starts screaming in the kitchen, "KRISTEN!!! Come here! We don't know what to do!!!" I figured it was a big cockroach or something, but was kind of confused, because we kind of ignore the cockroaches. So, I run into the kitchen, and there is a pan on the stove. And the entire pan is engulfed in flames that easily were shooting as high as our hanging cabinets (almost all the way to the ceiling!). It was easily the largest fire I’ve ever seen inside. The entire kitchen was full of smoke. (I guess in a way, it's lucky there are no smoke detectors in the DR, because otherwise our whole building would have had to be evacuated.) Apparently what happened is another one of my roommates was frying yucca and started a grease fire… a big one! Anyways, we just sat there and stared for a sec, and I realized we had to put it out ourselves and soon because if it spread we had no idea how to get a hold of the fire department. So, I grabbed one of our really big pots from under the counter and threw it over the flaming pan so the fire couldn't get any air. It went out pretty quickly after that. So, that was good. It was a little scary though! We found out after that apparently 911 works here, but it’s not actually reliable at all…
Hope all is well with everyone at home!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
The gringas go to Haiti!
Well, I’ve been keeping busy and getting around as usual! We had a three day weekend this past weekend. The kids had a four day weekend! On Friday, we had a planning day to write exams and a surprise baby shower for Micah and Kaitlin. My finals are all written now, and I’m completely planned through the end of the year, which is really nice! Then Monday was the Día del Trabajador, essentially Labor Day, so we got the day off.
Lauren and I headed off for our adventures on Friday night. We took off from school at exactly 3:00, went to the money exchange place to get some dollars to pay our tour guide and the border offices, got out some more pesos so we would have some money, and made it back to the bus station in time for the 4:15 bus to Monte Cristi. The bus was late, but we were still in Monte Cristi by 7:00 and caught a motoconcho to our hotel which was right on the water. From there we enjoyed the sunset, our wonderful view of El Morro (the huge flat topped mountain that is the highest costal elevation in the Dominican), and had a Presidente under the stars while listening to a crazy Dominican guy play “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion on his cell phone. We went out and got some dinner: chivo and tostones (goat and fried plantains), which was fairly delicious, and then went to bed.
Saturday morning we got up, ate breakfast, and headed out for our adventures. From our hotel, we walked into town. On the way, we passed huge salt flats where the pump in ocean water, allow the water to evaporate, and then gather the salt. Apparently Morton Salt gets a lot of its salt from in and around Monte Cristi. The town of Monte Cristi is small, dusty, and run down. In the central park is a clock tower that was designed by Eiffel (yeah, the Eiffel Tower designer) and given to Monte Cristi as a gift from France. In town we caught a motoconcho to Playa Detras del Morro, or “beach behind the Morro”.
The Playa Detras del Morro in the Parque Nacional Monte Cristi was amazingly beautiful. For the majority of the day, Lauren and I were the only people on the beach. It was super relaxing and calm. The water was really warm, the sand super soft, and the view breathtaking! Around 3:00, the tide started to come up and more people were coming. We met some nice Dominicans who we visited with for a while, and then went hiking with them up to the top of the second peak. It was an amazing view of the Bahía (the bay) and the beach. You could see the mountains in Haiti from one side and the playa from the other. It honestly felt like we were standing on the edge of the world!
On Sunday, we got up and met up with our Dominican friends and went to the Isla Cabra, a little island off shore. We went out in a little, tiny, wooden fishing boat. The island beach wasn’t nearly as pretty as the Playa Detras del Morro, but it was still nice. We explored the whole island. On the back side the beach was rocky, and had lots of fossilized coral and shell creatures in huge rock slabs. It was really neat. Then we climbed to the top of the island where there was an old falling down monument and a cool view of the ocean. Getting there was a little rough. For some reason, we had left our flip flops on the beach when we went exploring. So, we were barefoot. The sand in some parts was sooooo hot you had to sprint between grass patches where your feet could cool off enough to do it again. Anyways, there was this patch of trees with lots of fallen leaves and shade. So, I was super pumped to get to run to that one! Anyways... I kind of missed seeing the broken branch that was sticking straight out... So, I ran straight into it full speed. It cut my cheek open pretty nicely. My kids have been laughing at me all week! Anyways, after a relaxing day on the island, we headed back to the mainland for a quiet dinner at the hotel, a beautiful sunset, and star gazing with a Cuba Libre and a cigar.
Monday was quite the adventure. We hired a guide for the day. He was a French man who has lived in Monte Cristi for over 20 years and speaks French, Spanish, Creole (what they speak in Haiti), and some English. He picked us up at our hotel at about 7:40, and we drove to Dajabon. Dajabon is the northern border crossing in the Dominican. We got some breakfast there, looked at the Haitian market where people come twice a week (Monday and Friday) from Haiti to sell stuff, and where Dominicans come to get a bargain. As soon as the border offices opened, we stamped out of the Dominican, walked across the bridge that separates the two countries, over the river which is considered “no man’s land” and then got motoconchos a short distance to the Haitian immigration offices and got stamped in to Ouanaminthe, the Haitian border crossing city. From there, we took motos to a bus stop where we boarded a huge, brightly painted school bus that was packed full of Haitian people. There were between three and five people in every seat. The man behind us has a rooster in a cloth bag that he kept letting half get out before stuffing it back in the bag after which it would crow for like five minutes before he’d do it again. Driving along the north coast of Haiti some eighty kilometers was really interesting: seeing people selling things on the side of the road, people riding donkeys, women carrying baskets on their heads, people bathing in the river, women doing their laundry in the rivers, cows crossing the road, etc.
When we got to Cap Haitien, we went to the Mercado de Hierro or Iron Market which is like a huge market more or less where people go to buy and sell things like food and coal. The name comes from the building most of the market is housed in. It’s made of iron and from French colonial times. The market spills out into the surrounding streets though. After that, we walked through the main square, saw a huge church, got some lunch, and wandered around the city some more. We went to an artisan market where we bought some cool, handmade wooden bowls and enjoyed the view looking back at the city wedged between the mountains and the ocean.
After a brief stop to get water, we got a taxi at about 3:30 Dominican time (2:30 Haitian time), and started what was supposed to be about an hour drive back to Ouanaminthe/ Dajabon to cross back into the Dominican before the border closed at 5:00. Well, the taxi driver drove like 10 miles an hour the whole way, stopped for gas, stopped again to put oil in his car, and stopped a third time to fill up his tires. Anyways, we got to Ouanaminthe at about 5:05… So, our guide took his passport along with mine and Lauren’s and stopped at the Haitian immigration offices, and sent us running across the border. We honestly, ran through a bunch of parked cars, up a hill, and across the bridge that’s the border. We ran through the Haitian set of gates without saying anything, and got to the Dominican gates slightly out of breath, very stressed, with no passports. So, I had to beg the Dominican soldiers to let us through the gate, even though the international border was closed, with no passports and to keep the border and the immigration offices (so we could get stamped back into the country) open for us. It was quite the workout for my Spanish. And I’m pretty sure I bit off all my finger nails! Anyways, they ended up letting us through and held the border and the offices open for us until our guide, who was busy bribing the Haitian officials to stamp his passport and our two passports when the white American girls who the passports belonged two were clearly NOT with him. Anyways, we made it! We got into the DR, drove back to Monte Cristi, and caught a gua gua back to Santiago. Home sweet home! It was a pretty sweet weekend all in all though!
If you want to check out more pictures, go to:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010385&id=88400178&l=73a941977a
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010387&id=88400178&l=5299752531
Lauren and I headed off for our adventures on Friday night. We took off from school at exactly 3:00, went to the money exchange place to get some dollars to pay our tour guide and the border offices, got out some more pesos so we would have some money, and made it back to the bus station in time for the 4:15 bus to Monte Cristi. The bus was late, but we were still in Monte Cristi by 7:00 and caught a motoconcho to our hotel which was right on the water. From there we enjoyed the sunset, our wonderful view of El Morro (the huge flat topped mountain that is the highest costal elevation in the Dominican), and had a Presidente under the stars while listening to a crazy Dominican guy play “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion on his cell phone. We went out and got some dinner: chivo and tostones (goat and fried plantains), which was fairly delicious, and then went to bed.
Saturday morning we got up, ate breakfast, and headed out for our adventures. From our hotel, we walked into town. On the way, we passed huge salt flats where the pump in ocean water, allow the water to evaporate, and then gather the salt. Apparently Morton Salt gets a lot of its salt from in and around Monte Cristi. The town of Monte Cristi is small, dusty, and run down. In the central park is a clock tower that was designed by Eiffel (yeah, the Eiffel Tower designer) and given to Monte Cristi as a gift from France. In town we caught a motoconcho to Playa Detras del Morro, or “beach behind the Morro”.
The Playa Detras del Morro in the Parque Nacional Monte Cristi was amazingly beautiful. For the majority of the day, Lauren and I were the only people on the beach. It was super relaxing and calm. The water was really warm, the sand super soft, and the view breathtaking! Around 3:00, the tide started to come up and more people were coming. We met some nice Dominicans who we visited with for a while, and then went hiking with them up to the top of the second peak. It was an amazing view of the Bahía (the bay) and the beach. You could see the mountains in Haiti from one side and the playa from the other. It honestly felt like we were standing on the edge of the world!
On Sunday, we got up and met up with our Dominican friends and went to the Isla Cabra, a little island off shore. We went out in a little, tiny, wooden fishing boat. The island beach wasn’t nearly as pretty as the Playa Detras del Morro, but it was still nice. We explored the whole island. On the back side the beach was rocky, and had lots of fossilized coral and shell creatures in huge rock slabs. It was really neat. Then we climbed to the top of the island where there was an old falling down monument and a cool view of the ocean. Getting there was a little rough. For some reason, we had left our flip flops on the beach when we went exploring. So, we were barefoot. The sand in some parts was sooooo hot you had to sprint between grass patches where your feet could cool off enough to do it again. Anyways, there was this patch of trees with lots of fallen leaves and shade. So, I was super pumped to get to run to that one! Anyways... I kind of missed seeing the broken branch that was sticking straight out... So, I ran straight into it full speed. It cut my cheek open pretty nicely. My kids have been laughing at me all week! Anyways, after a relaxing day on the island, we headed back to the mainland for a quiet dinner at the hotel, a beautiful sunset, and star gazing with a Cuba Libre and a cigar.
Monday was quite the adventure. We hired a guide for the day. He was a French man who has lived in Monte Cristi for over 20 years and speaks French, Spanish, Creole (what they speak in Haiti), and some English. He picked us up at our hotel at about 7:40, and we drove to Dajabon. Dajabon is the northern border crossing in the Dominican. We got some breakfast there, looked at the Haitian market where people come twice a week (Monday and Friday) from Haiti to sell stuff, and where Dominicans come to get a bargain. As soon as the border offices opened, we stamped out of the Dominican, walked across the bridge that separates the two countries, over the river which is considered “no man’s land” and then got motoconchos a short distance to the Haitian immigration offices and got stamped in to Ouanaminthe, the Haitian border crossing city. From there, we took motos to a bus stop where we boarded a huge, brightly painted school bus that was packed full of Haitian people. There were between three and five people in every seat. The man behind us has a rooster in a cloth bag that he kept letting half get out before stuffing it back in the bag after which it would crow for like five minutes before he’d do it again. Driving along the north coast of Haiti some eighty kilometers was really interesting: seeing people selling things on the side of the road, people riding donkeys, women carrying baskets on their heads, people bathing in the river, women doing their laundry in the rivers, cows crossing the road, etc.
When we got to Cap Haitien, we went to the Mercado de Hierro or Iron Market which is like a huge market more or less where people go to buy and sell things like food and coal. The name comes from the building most of the market is housed in. It’s made of iron and from French colonial times. The market spills out into the surrounding streets though. After that, we walked through the main square, saw a huge church, got some lunch, and wandered around the city some more. We went to an artisan market where we bought some cool, handmade wooden bowls and enjoyed the view looking back at the city wedged between the mountains and the ocean.
After a brief stop to get water, we got a taxi at about 3:30 Dominican time (2:30 Haitian time), and started what was supposed to be about an hour drive back to Ouanaminthe/ Dajabon to cross back into the Dominican before the border closed at 5:00. Well, the taxi driver drove like 10 miles an hour the whole way, stopped for gas, stopped again to put oil in his car, and stopped a third time to fill up his tires. Anyways, we got to Ouanaminthe at about 5:05… So, our guide took his passport along with mine and Lauren’s and stopped at the Haitian immigration offices, and sent us running across the border. We honestly, ran through a bunch of parked cars, up a hill, and across the bridge that’s the border. We ran through the Haitian set of gates without saying anything, and got to the Dominican gates slightly out of breath, very stressed, with no passports. So, I had to beg the Dominican soldiers to let us through the gate, even though the international border was closed, with no passports and to keep the border and the immigration offices (so we could get stamped back into the country) open for us. It was quite the workout for my Spanish. And I’m pretty sure I bit off all my finger nails! Anyways, they ended up letting us through and held the border and the offices open for us until our guide, who was busy bribing the Haitian officials to stamp his passport and our two passports when the white American girls who the passports belonged two were clearly NOT with him. Anyways, we made it! We got into the DR, drove back to Monte Cristi, and caught a gua gua back to Santiago. Home sweet home! It was a pretty sweet weekend all in all though!
If you want to check out more pictures, go to:
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http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010387&id=88400178&l=5299752531
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