Amundsons

“Courage you have, and the knowledge that we are all pilgrims together, wending through unknown country  home.” -Fra Giovanni  These same four packs have been our constant since we began in August.  They were good to us on this journey, holding what we needed and nothing more, teaching us the meaning of the word ‘need’.  Our packs kept us nimble, which in turn kept us moving, and the moving provided our adventure.  Today they are packed for the last leg, the leg that leads home.  I’m writing this last blog post from the airport, as Jake is trying to get me to board the plane.  Desperately trying to get me to stop writing and get on the plane, no doubt a little nervous that I might not make that boarding call.  It takes as much courage to return to what you know, as to adventure into the unknown.  He knows this.  These chicas have grown this year, and their wanderlust has been sparked, they will never be the same. Jake and...

When I realized we had volcanos for the 4th quarter of 6th grade science, and we had already been there, done that , I thought we might take on a little physics for homeschooling.    Science lesson #1: There are lots of fun things to study about the physics of air, one of Jake’s favorite is scuba.  As a certified Dive Master, he has been diving for years.  I frequently go with him, but real-talk, it freaks me out, every time.  Now that I am of a certain age, I feel like I have hit the stage in life when I can say no to things, things that other people might think are cool- but I don't.  Outdoor Music festivals would be one example, scuba is certainly another.  Plus with my advanced years of age, a bonus 12-year-old lives with us.  According to PADI, 12-year-olds  are old enough to dive 40-feet underwater, and ours loves an adventure with her dad.  When she found out that her aunt Abbie was gonna come down and go diving with her, ...

.............. When I was in Spain I wrote a report about Chocolate , my aunt Becky told me that when I went to the Dominican Republic I should write a report about the Cacao beans.  This is because the Spanish do not grow their own cacao, they only make it yummy.  Their cacao is grown in tropical places like the Dominican Republic.   In fact, 15% of the world's cacao beans are grown in the D.R.  We went to San Franciso de Macoris, which has a large cacao plantation to see how cacao is grown and turned into chocolate. First, the farmers plant the trees.  I got to plant my own cacao bean, once the bean grows a foot tall, they cut down branches from a mother plant and splice it into the new plant.  A mother plant is a grown tree that has always grown lots of pods, so they hope that it will help this new plant grow lots of pods as well.  There are three different kinds of cacao pods.  At this plantation they grew yellow and purple po...

Part of my sabbatical proposal this year was to work with students with disabilities.  I have been working for 3 months with three kids who are non-verbal, helping their teachers to set up a homemade version of a picture exchange communication system (PECs).  The boy that I am working with has made huge gains, turns out he loves listening to música and will follow almost any communication demand in order to get 30 seconds of a little Enrique Iglesias.  To be fair, so would I. The two girls have had more challenges.  I thought they were just progressing slowly, moving along at their own pace, and I was fine with that. But I was off for a week when the Greenville group came down, and I am pretty sure they had a whole week of tranquillo (chillin').  When I came back, one of the girls had completely forgotten not just what we had done for 3 months, but also forgot who I even was- that didn't feel great.  The other girl certainly remembered me, in fact she ...

Christopher Columbus landed on the north coast of the island of Hispañola in 1492.  He named the location Puerto Plata, meaning silver port because he had finally found silver.   Puerto Plata became an important location for the Spanish for the next 300 years, as ships would arrive at this port using it as an entry point to travel to other parts of the Americas.   Puerto Plata needed protection, and Fortaleza San Felipe provided military and arms to be used against pirates and other colonizers such as the French and the English.   In May of 1800, the fort was used in the Quasi-War between the United States and France. Fort San Felipe was first commissioned by King Felipe II of Spain in 1564 and completed by Don Rengifo de Angulo in 1577.  It sits on the hill of Puntilla Del Malecón and is strategically located as all other locations on the coast are protected by the reef and ships were only able to enter here.  There w...

................ The Dominican Republic has amazing coffee according to my mom.  The best coffee is grown in tropical climates, but up in the mountains.  We went to see how they grow coffee in a place called Jarabacoa. First the Dominicans grow the coffee, it takes about four years before a coffee plant is ready to harvest. Then they pick the coffee beans by hand, this takes a lot of work.  In my right hand are the coffee when you pick them from the plant, they look like berries.  The dark red ones are the best ones.  In my left hand the coffee beans have been through a machine above to take off the fruit. Next they dry the beans in these tents to take out the moisture.  They need to get the moisture down to 11% so that takes a lot of sun.  Fortunately, the Dominican Republic has a lot of sun.  Charlotte is standing here because my mom made her.  My mom says she has a case of the teens. Before you roast the beans you first need t...

Travel: And why I want to learn how to travel like a Dominican. I had to make a quick trip up to the States for a work thing.  When I say quick, I mean I was traveling longer than I was there type of quick.  In order to try and get a deal, this trip consisted of multiple layovers and a train. Although I love a train just as much as the next teacher for kids with Autism, the train created a very long two days of travel back to the Dominican Republic. On the way home, flying my last connection from Miami to the D.R. the plane was filled with two predominant cultures, North Americans heading to the beach and Dominicans.  As we were approaching Santiago the weather turned on us.  It is the rainy season here in the D.R. which means the weather is predictably unpredictable.  The plane started to shake and rock and when I looked up I counted no less than 4 rosaries in my row of 6 passengers.  A 4 out of 6 rosary ratio is certainly an indication that God ...

Rumor has it that Carnival has been happening every February in the Dominican Republic since 1510.  The African slaves brought into the New World were permitted once a year to mix some of their pagan celebrations with Spain’s Christian traditions resulting in... well it was just a really fun street party.  Any street party is only as good as its street food, as far as we are concerned.  Carnival did not disappoint in the fried mystery meat department. Then there was that Chulitos, a rolled-up finger food that was made out of yucca and stuffed with meat and cheese  The streets are filled with dancing, music, and traditional characters such as the Lechón.  These guys hold these látigo (giant whips) which they fling around landing with a giant crack, which apparently purifies the energy- and terrifies the 40-year-old white ladies. Along with those whips they also wield vejigas, which are inflated cow or pig bladders at the end of a rope. ...