Rain, Rain, Rain

With living and teaching in the Midwest, I was guaranteed to have a few snow days every year. With living in the Caribbean, it is a bit different to be getting hurricane or 'rain days.' Last year the Dominican Republic was having a drought, and we were praying for rain. This year we're having torrential rains, and we're praying for the rains to stop. The area where I live in Santiago (and also our school) has not been affected much by the rains-- though there are a lot of people with leaky roofs, and b/c of the dampness, there is mold that has started to appear in some apartments. In other areas of the country, and some that are even on the outskirts of the city, there is massive flooding, mudslides, and many people are displaced from their homes. There will probably be more repercussions from all the rain, later as well.
Monday we didn't have school b/c of the rains that had been affecting the area-- the schools were closed, but b/c we have an Accreditation Team here, the staff came to school for the morning. A Team of several school personnel (from Caribbean countries and also a Supt. from the U.S.) were here visiting from Sunday through Wednesday, which is a pretty exhaustive process that is done every five years. There are a lot of preparations that have to be done beforehand, even a year in advance, and then they come to observe the staff/campus and interview the community, teachers, staff, parent's, and student's.
We had a few days relief from the rain Tuesday through Thursday, but then starting last night it started raining again. It has been raining almost all day today. With having an outdoor campus, it does make it somewhat difficult for teacher's and student's. There's never been more of a need to make sure you have an umbrella! Just walking to Specials (Computer, P.E., Art, Music, etc.) or lunch can be a feat with the rain, b/c the classes have to walk outside in the rain. With days like today, the Specials Teacher's have gone to the classes, which makes it safer. Everything is wet here, and with all the tile, it makes it a lot easier to slip and fall. It's things like that you wouldn't ever think of being a issue. It has also been weeks since student's have been able to have soccer practice, b/c the fields have never been dry enough to play. The people that are from here have said they have never seen it rain like this ever before. Please pray for Santiago and the country, as this has affected many, and will affect them for a very long time to come, especially the economy with the crops and buildings. Our school nurse has given us warnings of being watchful of our tap water as well, when it comes to brushing our teeth or cooking with it. We have never been able to drink the water, but with all the rain that has come, it could affect the safety of the tap water in other ways.

Every year it seems that October is the 'magic' time, when the chaos at school slows down, and things start to fall into place. It's when schedules start to become more consistent, and you start to have an idea of what you're doing. Many times I've found myself saying-- Can I just fast-forward to October??? With Special Education/SST, it is very common to have your students more than one year, which is a really nice thing. You get to know your students, and it seems like that 2nd year you're able to prepare for them, and know exactly what you're doing with them-- and their skill level. When you have a new student and you don't know them, or how they learn, it takes a period of time to figure out what strategies/curriculum programs are best for them. And also, b/c my time with them during the day is usually relatively short (30-60 min), it takes awhile to get to know them personally. For some student's, being out of their classroom, and having to go work with another teacher they don't know very well is intimidating. So for some of my student's I have to spend several weeks/months getting to know them on a personal level-- what they're interested in, in order to have them respond to what I ask them to do. For some student's it's really easy. For other's, it takes sometimes a long time to break their "shell" and see their true personality. This year I have only 2 returning student's from last year, so it's been a bit of a learning curve getting to know my students.

This year I have found myself struggling a bit, with having the distance of being away so far from my family. In the past I've lived 7 hrs away from my family, but it was always within manageable driving distance to see them. My family has been having some health issues, which has made it hard to be here away from them-- and not being able to see them makes me feel a bit helpless-- though I know that God is watching over them. A few weeks ago my dad, who is a rancher, was kicked by a cow, and fell and tore his hamstring/tendon in 3 places. He was out in the pasture, 20 miles from town, when it happened, and thankfully, there were several other people there with him. The Dr thought that he was going to have to have surgery to fix it- b/c the muscle was away from the bone-- but a 2nd Dr said that he wouldn't need it, and instead would just have a brace and crutches for it to heal. 5 years ago my dad was mauled by a bull and he broke 6 ribs, fractured his sternum, had 2 punctured lungs-- was in the ICU for over a week, and in the hospital for almost 2 weeks. He thankfully recovered from that,-- but with going through something like that before-- and then having this happen-- it makes you think about the past. He has slowly been healing, and has noticed improvements every day.