Our First Week

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here almost a full week.  Hurricane Isaac delayed our arrival by 2 days, but we got here just in time for our orientation with Makarios.  On our first night in the DR, we were greeted with a Welcome Party given by the Dominican, Haitian and American staff.  We spent the next 2 days at orientation getting to know each other and learning more about Makarios’ mission.  We capped off the week by having fun with the staff at a local water park. 

Back at our new home, we are getting adjusted to our life here and we absolutely love it.  We’ve ventured out of our neighborhood to go shopping for groceries and to go to church.   This might not sound like an accomplishment until you witness the driving here.  Let’s just say that there aren’t many road rules being followed. 

Another big change that has occurred since we arrived on the island is Doug’s name.  We “officially” changed his name to PACO.  We felt like this was necessary because of the confused looks we got when people heard Doug’s name.  One guy started barking and another said, “You are moving with your DOG?”  We quickly realized that “Doug” doesn’t translate well. 

One last change we thought we’d mention is our new pet.  When we moved into our new place, we inherited a rooster named Lovey.  (That’s him on the left.)  He is good company and he makes sure that we don’t oversleep in the mornings.  We are hoping to get 3 hens in the Fall. 

We love the nights here.  You can see a million stars and the sunsets are amazing.  Also, our neighborhood is very active...from our home we can hear the Pentecostal church competing with the roosters crowing, the crowd cheering at the basketball tournament, dogs barking, horns honking, the guy driving the banana truck saying something through a megaphone, and other random neighbors' music...so different from what we are used to...and we love it! :-)  

Thank you for your partnership, prayers and encouragement.

Love,

Margaret & Paco