Vamos al río

"A sense of significance that is rooted in the purposes of God cannot be lost in any situation." This line at the end of Shantung Compound [a book were reading for my ministry class] made me a bit more aware of my selfish ambition. It made me analyze how I'm evaluating the significance and purpose of what's being accomplished in this semester abroad. When I get discouraged and shut down because I can't figure out how to say something in Spanish, or because I've failed previously, or because my contributions to a conversation end up killing the conversation, I'm placing significance in my abilities as a communicator rather than the purposes of God. I'm still throwing this idea around in my head, so I'm not sure how much sense that big long sentence made. But, that quote was just a good reminder for me that when I'm out of my element and failing to communicate effectively or with any sort of depth, I'm not a failure and there's much to be gained from that humbling experience, for His power is made perfect in my weakness.

Our first group excursion Saturday was fantastic. We hiked across the river to the community of Los Higos where this precious little lady, who apparently is like the grandma of that community made an amazing lunch for us.

Its times like these when I wish communication was my number one strength [yes, even in the Dominican I stilll speak Greenville-ese and Kara is the only one who understands me] so I could better relay to you this incredible experience. Speaking of Kara, here's a picture of the Greenville girls from Saturday.

The water started out just up to our knees and as we crossed the first part Margie and I realized our extreme ungracefulness as we slipped on the rocks and sometimes caught ourselves. Also, we realized it helped to balance with someone else so Jen and I held hands for parts of the way [since Japón instructed us never to separate from each other, and yes, I got in trouble when Jen had a little splinter in her foot when we got home].

Crossing that river was a good leg workout and a lot of fun. Its unfortunate that we had to watch where we were stepping so much of the time because I wanted to be looking up the whole time at the sky, and mountains, and wild horses, and birds, and lime-green and lemon-yellow butterflies. It was absolutely incredible.

Speaking of wild horses, these next few pictures are dedicated to Hannah Ruth because I thought of her every time I took a picture of them. 

At one point Josh took our bags with our cameras to keep them from getting wet [thank you Josh for being so gracious] and we went out in the middle of the river and let the current carry us for a stretch of the river. SO much fun.

Once we got out there we mini-cliff jumped [nothing like Kincaid because the river was too shallow] and sun-bathed [yes, Mom and Grandma, I wore sunscreen :] and Mari piled our plates high with delectable arroz con habichuela, pollo, y ensalada. Then Jen and I washed our hair in the river, which was hilarious. Then, on the way back, the current was stronger or I was weaker so I lost my footing a couple times [thank you Rachel and Nate for pulling me back upright so the current didn't sweep me away]. Oh, also, we got to ride out to the river in this big open air truck thing. [Apparently this blog won't let me load videos so I'll show you that truck later, maybe on facebook].

Great.    Day. 

This first picture is the view out my bedroom window at my house. Definitely great motivation to get out of bed in the morning. 

This is from the table where we do our homework out on our patio.

This is the woodshop de mi Papí Dominicano. He and Bebo my Dominican brother [he is Jace's age, which makes me miss my bro :(  ] work here during the day.

And Ari, my little two year old niece. Preciosa. Its nice to have niños around the house when I miss my little cousins. 

Tomorrow, after our group excursion, I'm hoping to have time for a deep and heartfelt blog, but until then, I need to study for our first test we're about to take. Yikes. Fortunately, Brent [our team leader] is taking us out for pizza tonight to celebrate the end of the first week of classes. Hallelujah!

hace mucho calor aquí

For those who have asked, I can't really give an address for things to be mailed here, because for some reason I don't fully understand, it is ridiculously expensive, but Brent has to make two trips to the States and back here, and he offered to bring things down for us. And, I think I can still mail things from here, which is good. But, that address would be:


Niquita Reinhard
c/o Brent Reimer Semester Abroad Office
1001 Bethel Circle
Mishawaka, IN 46545


(He prefers that it is just letters though and not larger objects :)


Alright, let me tell you a little bit about my Dominican Mamí and Papí. Our papí is a precious little old guy who works in a woodshop right outside our house. And our mamí...where to begin? I just remembered that I think I've already talked about her a little bit, but today she brought little packs of Dinosaur vanilla sandwich cookies back from the store for us in case we got hungry at class before we got home. So. Precious. And she just does so many little things like that all the time. She already knows how we like our coffee and brought some out to us while we were working on homework. So yup, they're taking really good care of us here.


Now its back to my hammock for a little devotions and possibly a nap before class starts. (Its ok to be jealous :)

mi sobrina

Mom, I hope Dad has taught you how to check this blog, because I need you to be able to read this because I miss you. Lots.  Also, I'm jealous that Jordan got banana bread the other day, I want some.


Ok, I kinda want to take a siesta before classes start, so this one is going to be short, but if the picture will upload, I have to show you my favorite part of yesterday. After classes and dinner, Jen and I sat outside to do homework and our little niece came and sat on my lap and was drawing in my journal while I worked on conjugating some verbs. It was wonderfulness.

It takes 3 and a half years to upload photos here, but I'm sure I'll have more of her and other amazing people and sights to share in the future. 


In addition to the mountain outside my window, I can definitely get used to the siestas here. Me encanta mucho. 

dame un chin

Alright, I am going to have to do this whole blog thing in little bits and pieces. Just like with my journal, I have to write at different times throughout the day, because to come to that blank page at the end of the day is overwhelming. There is just no possible way to transfer the experiences of an entire day here onto a little two-dimensional space with only pen and paper.


Our Dominican mom does a great job of slowing things down and annunciating for Jen and I to be able to understand her better. And talking is slow going for sure, but I can already tell that I can form sentences a little more easily than when I left. BUT, when all of our cousins and siblings and aunts and uncles are hanging out on the porch talking to each other...they could say whatever they want about me, because I can only understand a phrase about every 72nd sentence. That will take the longest to learn.


Last night before bed, Jen and I had a slightly awkward, but hilarious talk with our mom about 'the birds and the bees.' But, this wasn't really a big deal, because as soon as we got there she already had our legs propped up in her lap, rubbing Vicks Vaporub on our mosquito bites. She is so precious and overprotective of us. All the meals so far have been absolutely wonderful. For example, lunch today was chicken and rice and vegetables with some fresh avocado and pineapple. De. Li. Cious. Ness. And, she even warmed up our water for our bucket baths for us and walked us to our first day of classes today.


Now, we just finished with our first day of classes. Both of my professors are really great, (only surpassed by you Daddy ;) they speak fast, but slower than at the house and I can keep up even though my brain has been in overload mode ever since we moved in with our families.


But, even though I'm in a constant state of exhaustion currently, everyone here is patient and understanding and I will never ever get tired of waking up and seeing the mountain outside my window. And I appreciate prayer for those moments of extreme exhaustion. I miss you all tons!!  (Hopefully I'll have time to post some pictures next time)

Normally, I'm guessing I won't have time to blog everyday, but at the request of my father, I'm attempting another little entry today. (I suppose since it is at the request of my father, it should be in español, but I'll get there eventually ;). So, here are some Dominican cows for you. They are just hanging out near the base. We walked up a super steep hill to get to this super incredible view over Jarabacoa and we could see the mountains in the distance, but the picture I took there didn't capture the beauty well enough, so you'll have to wait until I get a better picture to see that.


This morning Raul taught us a little Dominican history-sociology lesson and Katie (I get to work at my preschool with her) translated since our group ranges widely in Spanish-speaking abilities. But, the exciting thing was, since he broke it up into sections for her to translate I was able to understand lots of it before she translated. The Dominican accent is so hard to understand sometimes, but I LOVE it. 


Tonight, after a scavenger hunt to get us better acquainted con la ciudad, we ate at Pica Pollo. Deliciousness. I guess its kinda like Dominican fast food, but we got chicken strips, fried plantains, and chinola, this wonderful passionfruit juice.


And, I just got kicked off the internet, so hopefully this is already saved and I can post in the morning.

no. way.

I can't believe we're finally here. 
And travel day, though exhausting, was incredibly smooth, praise the LORD!
Also, my brain is for all intents and purposes fried, so my only thought for tonight is that I hope I never lose my amazement and child-like wonder when I fly. I love the rush when we take off and I love watching the sunset over Miami through my plane window. And I love when people clap as we're landing in la República Dominicana. Only a few people did tonight, sadly, but it still made me feel like I was returning to my second home.