road block

welcome to montellano.

to get to our apartment (on one of the main streets in montellano) just turn onto calle silencio and look for the second set of yellow apartments.

oh wait.. not today.

the road has a gigantic hole dug out of it for this cable construction project. lovely.

who would like to join the car-watching party on the porch? we can watch people try to leave and vote on who has the best turn around.. who can conquer the maze the fastest? who will get stuck at the surprise dead end?

kah-tee = awesome

fact: katy is my incredible friend.
fact: katy is my teacher's aid.
fact: katy ROCKS.

at the beginning of this semester i flew in with our 2 new amazing staff members (my 2 new roommates), katy and kendall. it really has been fun learning how to live together. too easy almost :) our biggest dispute is probably along the lines of "i think the spoon goes there.." "no i think it goes in the other drawer." easy. ok i could rattle off all the random things we do or list fun stories BUT the point of this blog is katy's awesomeness in my classroom..

she really has been a HUGE blessing. this is the short story of katy in the classroom:

katy awesome marie kemp

katy went to work in a preschool class to help ashley with EVERYTHING. turn page

katy is very nice and very smart. ashley and the children loved katy right away. turn page

ashley asked katy if she wanted to teach a few lessons. katy said, "sure!" turn page

katy worked on a few lesson plans for Bible time. turn page

the students learned a lot about Jesus. turn page

katy adopted Bible time and rocked it the rest of the semester. turn page

ashley and katy were a great team. turn page

katy and ashley shared a lot of laughs (and sometimes frustration) in class. turn page


ashley will miss katy like crazy when she leaves. turn page

ashley wishes katy could stay but understands katy needs to leave. turn page

love you.

blow me away

TOTALLY understand why all the kite surfers come out afternoonish in cabarete.. oh my gosh, the WIND! they fly through the air when they jump!

we couldn't stop laughing one weekend because it was extraordinarily windy.. gritty snot, sand-plugged ears, squinted eyes.. watch out orifices. almost painful, we could hardly read because the pages were flipping all over the place.. so we took a few pictures. of course they don't do justice to the strength of the wind.. but i will go ahead and share a few:

me and cara

me, kendall, katy.. sweet shades.

..aaand one of cara's attempts to protect herself from the flying sand

happy birthday, miguel!

we went to go eat pizza for miguel's birthday, jennie made a cake, we attacked miguel with silly string.. all these things were funnn BUT the point of this post is this picture:

diego and his papi. are you kidding me? cuh-ute.

oh yes, happy birthday, miguel!!

my FAMILY came!!

to explain what life is actually like here can be really difficult using just words. it is hard to understand if your only frames of reference are photographs or an attempted explanation. i often try to describe what my kids are like, what i actually do everyday, who i interact with, etc but my words just fall so short. i want people to get their feet dirty in the villages and hear my preschoolers sing and cry and shriek. i want people to feel the sun so strong and wake up already pouring in sweat. i want people to taste the difference between beans and rice when cooked together or separate. i want people to see and know that God is moving and is in everything.

for my family to come visit meant so much to me. there was definitely some good time to relax together on the beach and be able to talk in person. it was so good to be able to introduce them to the north coast. good to show them where my kids live. good to play in the ocean. good to share meals together. good to introduce them to the incredible people i work with. good to laugh together. good to show them my classroom. good to squish them into a gua-gua.. just good.

i could never hope to explain life here adequately or to exemplify what it is really like, but they did get a little peak. for that i am so grateful.



thank you for coming. i love you guys so much.

a la playa!

with the HCCSA spring break group (really solid group of high schoolers.. that were so FUN) we took the preschoolers to the BEACH! yeah! the kids talk about it ALL day long and after lunch it was finally time to go.. here are a few photos:

me and my little man, luis fernando, ready to go!

when the clouds come out and we stop running around.. it is COLD (by our standards..)! they're all wrapped up :) (good opportunity to share, right? yeah? high five, kids!)

little g-man all buried in the sand.. he was warmer and super excited for about 3 seconds. then he realized he was stuck.

gigantic sand castle/tunnel thing they all made!

sorry no super cool story.. "soooo we went to the beach.." about sums it up :)

masters of the ocean

normally when i think "triathlon" i think yeah ok biking, swimming, running.. got it.

BUT now picture this: surfing, kitesurfing, and windsurfing. a triathlon in the OCEAN! sweet. turns out the north coast of the good ol' DR is just wonderful for conditions needed (which is where we are for those of you who are not so geographically inclined.. like myself).

and OF COURSE we wanted to go see who, you know, the "master of the ocean" is these days.. turns out Ño ño (as we call him.. real name- emmanuel) ROCKED it. yeah!

cara and i spent the weekend with a good college friend of robin's, crystal. it was really fun and such a good break for us.. much needed. :)

me and cara.. after sprinting through the street after the all-of-a-sudden DOWNPOUR of rain after dinner.. we were SOAKED.

could not have imagined better weather.. ahhh..

crystal and cara watching the kitesurfing part at encuentro

cara and me.. so so FUN

we ran into garrett.. who accidentally competed. haha awesome.

i think this is jan marco during the kite surfing part. sweet. this guy can get some air. oh how i wish i could be this awesome..

i think everyone should come visit next year when the competition comes back.. yeah? is that a plan?