Moving

A personal note...Not only are both schools moving next fall, I'm also moving into a new apt. shortly. This one is larger, which is a good thing. We have very little storage room at the schools, so my house ends up being a repository for our materials. I take them back and forth, swapping them around between the two schools and my house. The school stuff has been slowly but surely taking over my place.

Last week I was given the opportunity to look through bunches of boxes and take what we could use at the school. We got some picture books--okay, they are in English, but mostly pictures--and some math manipulatives, wooden toy trains...lots of cool stuff for the kids. Most of it is sitting in boxes in my living room right now! I don't want to take it to the school just to have to bring it back, as we are nearing the end of the school year.

Moving in the DR is tricky. There are all kinds of pitfalls you have to watch out for, and strange things you have to arrange. For example, I have to buy a pump to pump my water up to a storage tank. This is because we only have water for maybe an hour or so every day or two. Then I have to buy and arrange to have a meter installed for my electricity. Oh, and the hook-up to the house. The electric company doesn't do that last little bit, to hook it up; you have to get an electrician to do that. Then there is the inverter, which is my back-up system, that has to be installed through the breakers, so that when the lights go off, mine stay on--except any kitchen appliances. These days almost everyone has inverters.

I can hope that the phone company will take less than three weeks to actually install my phone this time.

The new apt. is a short walk from the church that I've been attending, where we have a new deaf ministry. The location seems like it will be good, based on the areas I expect to work in next year. A friend from church lives just down the block.

There is a hair salon the next apt. over, and that is about as good as having a security guard. The neighborhood is supposed to be fairly calm. The place is on a dirt road, so it is muddy when it rains, and dusty when it doesn't, but probably doesn't get much traffic coming through.

Some of the boys from the school have promised to come over and do all the carting of boxes for me, and that will be a great help.

Thanks to all who have been praying for an appropriate apt. to turn up. Please pray that the move will go smoothly now.

Good progress

Some of the teachers have begun to use Cued Spanish with their classes during the part of the school day they teach Spanish, reading and writing. Sign Language is here to stay--that goes without saying. The students have a great desire to learn to read, which is the point of their becoming bilingual via Cued Spanish. All the teachers are reporting surprising progress for just a few weeks of work. The kids themselves, are enthusiastic and hungry for more.

Today a mother came in and asked about signing her son up for classes. He is ten years old. He's never been to school. But the unusual thing is that he became deaf just a year ago, due to a high fever.

According to the mom, he is of normal intelligence. She will bring him in on Monday so we can get acquainted, and evaluate what his particular skills and needs are.

The new deaf ministry in Invivienda is doing well. It is totally Deaf-led. I attend the hearing church which meets at the same time, and my role is to be the interpreter as needed for communications between the hearing members/leadership and the deaf members/leadership. The church is also asking me to teach a Sign Language class. I've agreed to do that once I find an apt. and get moved in.

One of our teachers has volunteered to be the Sunday School teacher for the students who attend church in Sabana Perdida.

Most, but not all of the students are back from Easter vacation. It's not at all uncommon for parents to keep them out an extra week at both Christmas and Easter.