A Day In The City...

HOLA!! Thought I'd give you a quick update on our day today....

Chapel ~
We are relieved and happy that things went really well this morning. We ended up only doing one of the skits in chapel since we couldn't find the music for the others...pretty sure it's packed in one of those big bags that we are taking to the orphanage in a few days. Brad, Kaylynn, Kelsey, Sarah, Lauren, Rachel and Courtney did their "sticky chair" skit....and did a pretty good job considering they hadn't rehearsed it since Tuesday afternoon. I was even more relieved that my Spanish came back to me fairly fast and that words and phrases came together well enough to share thoughts on why we are here and what God's been teaching us through the book of Isaiah.

Exchanging Our Money ~
Before heading out to go shopping, we had to exchange our money....so we walked to the bank, which is really close to the school. We waited in line so that we could exchange our American dollars into Dominican pesos (which exchanges today for 34.7 pesos for one dollar.) Unfortunately, they told us when we got to the front of the line that we needed our passports in order to exchange money. Bummer. So, we walked back to the school, got our passports and then headed back to the bank again. Thankfully, things went smoothly once we got there and everyone was able to walk away with their Dominican money burning a hole in their pockets.

El Faro a Colon~
Next we headed out for a mini tour of the city accompanied by Miss Stolar and Miss Shawnda's friend, Myrna and her little baby, Eduardito. As tradition would have it, we stopped at "El Faro a Colon" (The Columbus Lighthouse) where Myrna gave a quick history lesson. (It might be worth a google search to you to learn about this Dominican attraction. People say that the remains of Christopher Columbus are buried here, though a couple of other countries claim to have his remains as well.) Here is the place where I always have each of my teams form a pyramid and this year's team certainly did not disappoint. They eventually were successful...and it was quite humourous to all of us leaders who watched and took lots of pictures.

Lunch Break ~
Next we got back on the bus and were on our way to feed our very hungry teenagers. "Pollo Victorina" was the chosen place -- a fast food restaurant kinda sorta like Chic-Fil-A. Most of the team ordered the chicken strip and french fries combo meal...and then we gave Mr. Farmer the bill. No, seriously. (Ok, so the money came from our budget, but still.) Imagine the look on the faces of the workers at Pollo Victorina when our huge group walked in and got in line. All in all, they did quite well and food came out pretty fast... and we all enjoyed our Dominican fast food as we ate together on the bus while heading to the market.

Shopping ~
Our next and final stop for the afternoon was the market called "El Mercado Modelo." Let me just say that we have a team of experienced shoppers for sure! In just only one hour's time, they all found what they wanted, did some serious bartering, made their purchases and still had money left over in the end. We piled back in the bus and had a little "show and tell" as we headed back to the school. We came away with a variety of treasures, such as bracelets, machetes, paintings, tshirts, necklaces and coffee....just to name a few.

Well, the rest of the afternoon calls for some well needed rest. The team will go back to their host families and hang out til we all come back together tonight for a party in the house where Josh S is staying with Juan Marcos. I hear rumors of activities for the afternoon such as going to the salon, watching movies at home, checking out their facebooks, going to the mall....and most definitely taking a nap!!! Sounds like a wonderful way to spend a Friday afternoon to me!

P.S. I will try to get back to the blog this evening after our party and post more pictures from this afternoon. Stay tuned...