Hello dear family and friends! Sorry it has been so long since our last post. Rather than filling you in with so many words, we wanted to upload many pictures so you could "see" into our life here. We are beginning to feel more and more comfortable with living life here. Just the other day though, we were sitting and talking about cool fall days, football and soccer games, the apple orchard, sweatshirts, and bonfires....Putting those happy thoughts aside, we are looking forward to making memories here, so that when this is no longer "home" we will have made wonderful memories to look back on and miss! :)

Robbie's outfit at Tim's birthday party. It was an 80's themed party and chili cook-off. Robbie made the top 10!

My friend Rachel and I made corn bread muffins for the party. They were delicious!

About a month ago we went hiking with some friends and their children. It was a beautiful hike-we will have to take you when you visit!

Me at the bottom of our hike and the bottom of the waterfall. There was a cold breeze that came off the waterfall that was so refreshing!

Our last night staying with Minerva and her son Welington. We went out for ice cream and played Sequence!

Well, you are caught up as far as the first of September. Not too bad! Now we just have to add a few more pictures and blog about our new experiences! We don't have school this Friday because its a holiday here. We are hoping to be able to paint the bedroom in our place, and go hiking in Santiago. We've been having some really rainy weather here, as hurricane season is underway. None of the weather has been severe at all, just rain in the afternoons--sometimes a light rain, sometimes heavy. Sometimes we lose power in our place, but so far we have only lost power for 3 hours at the most--so not too bad. Usually it might flicker off for a few minutes and then come back on. On the plus side, we haven't lost water, which in my opinion is more of a hindrance! Pictures of our place will be coming soon. We love and miss you all. Keep the emails coming! :)

Batey

Our school is an Expeditionary Learning School. Three weeks ago, as part of the final project during our training in what Expeditionary Learning is, we went to a Batey located about 3 hours from Jarabacoa. We talked with sugar cane workers about their experience living in the batey. We also brought them water filters for their homes and taught them how to clean and use the filters. What we saw and felt is indescribable as we arrived in an air-conditioned coach bus, and saw the conditions in which these people were working and living. At first the unfamiliar site made it hard to get off the bus, but by the time we left it was hard to conceptualize that we were driving away and they were staying. A couple members of the community shared their story and how they came there from Haiti, what the working conditions were like, and what they thought of life on the batey. The experience was extremely humbling, as was the process of learning about how the sugar industry affects the entire world. Here are some pictures and a video of our experience.

Picture by Leah Dodson (staff member & friend at Doulos)

Picture by Leah Dodson

Picture by Leah Dodson

*Video upload is not working!*