exhaustivamos
internet has been spotty at best, so i'm only able to update the day before we leave najayo. our mornings have been spent at the local school that the padres have adopted, and we have been buzzing through the classes, teaching them (easy) english, proper hand-washing and toothbrushing techniques, and passing out hygenic products to go alonog with the lessons. r has been the prize man, so there are a grip of kids down here who consider him the santa from america. the afternoons have been spent either at the complex, assisting the players with their english (a harder job than anticipated, in some cases), and at an afterschool program for troubled kids. there is where we really get to make our connections with the community, especially knowing that some of these kids are there due to rape and/or domestic violence at home. we eat all our meals at the padres facility, which is staffed with some of the nicest people i have ever met. they just seem happy we're there. the days are long, the heat makes them feel even longer, and the nights are full of mosquitoes waiting for us to get back. we have been able to steal away for a little fun, including watching the padres boys warm up yesterday, trying to teach some of them some dodgeball, and hanging out at the beach last night while sharing some beers with the padres administrators down here. tomorrow we head to santo domingo for a day, to have a tourist-y send-off, then tomorrow we drop the 2 other girls on the trip off at the airport while we head to punta cana for a little r&r.
since the internet is so unreliable (as is the power, and the water supply, for that matter), i'll post pics when i get home. only a few hundred to get through so far :)
hasta luego.
current mood: packing time