mi cumpleaños

I wasn’t looking forward to being away from family and friends on my birthday, but my Puerto Rican family helped to make up for that.

This morning, after a happy birthday phone call from my brother, I was greeted by Happy Birthday decals on the windows of my car (actually Betsy’s car) as I was headed to church.  That small surprise meant a lot to me, and I began my day with a smile.

I tried not to tell anyone at church that it was my birthday because they make you come up on stage and they sing to you.  (Then you have to awkwardly stand there, not knowing if you should sing to yourself or just clap your hands and smile.)  But Jen made sure that they knew it was my birthday.  I guess I’m glad she did!  I got many birthday greetings and blessings.  I even received a few unexpected gifts from some of the kids in my sign language class. 

When it was time for the people with birthdays and anniversaries to stand on stage, I was the only one to go forward—great!  To my surprise, the worship leader immediately asked Hector to pray for me, and before I knew it I was shaking hands with the pastor and returning to my pew—no song!  As soon as I sat down though, the worship leader said, “We forgot to sing!”  So they did in fact sing to me, but I didn’t have to stand awkwardly on stage.  God is good!

Then a Father's Day Skype with my dad, presents—including shoes and a birthday-party-in-a-box, and lunch with friends at a Mexican (well, Puerto Rican-Mexican) restaurant.  This was followed by a beach walk and a chocolate-coffee ice cream cone at my favorite little shop in town.  We met a few friends there and chatted. 

Then home—birthday phone calls, a movie, and a fire in the chimenea.  When we got the fire to shoot out the top, it looked like a giant birthday candle.  

Thank you to everyone who made my first Puerto Rican birthday so special!

el verano

A number of people have asked us recently, “What exactly are you doing now that school is out?  Are you on vacation at the beach every day?”…We wish!

At the start of the summer, Jen and I made a list of all the things we wanted to do before leaving the island at the end of June.  Much to our delight (and perhaps to our surprise) we’ve almost crossed everything off. 

Here’s an idea of an average day for me:

I wake up early to exercise before it is blazingly hot.  Then I eat breakfast and do my devotions.  Then I go down to my classroom to work.  (I’ve made a long list of classroom tasks—of which I am nowhere near finished!)  I break for a quick lunch, and then I get back to work.  In the afternoon, Jen and I may do office work, run errands, make phone calls, or do some other school business.  Then dinner, practice the piano, watch a movie, read, and bed.

That’s just an average day.  Sometimes we have added excitement like we did today.  We had a group of Girl Scouts come work at the school for a few hours this morning.  They had saved their cookie money for seven years to take this trip, but they wanted to make sure that they included some service work.  So we put them to work!  They painted, sorted food, and did yard work.  We enjoyed spending the morning with them.  They did a week’s worth of school chores in a matter of hours!

 

One of the nice things about summer is that I get the chance to do things that I don’t have time or energy for during the school year.  During the past two weeks, in addition to working around the school, I have been able to do some sewing and painting.  I better soak up this artistic time now to hold me over until next summer!

So, we’re not really on vacation yet, but hopefully soon.  The harder we work now, the more time we can enjoy with friends and family while we’re away.  We have one more week in PR.  Then it’s on to DC!

escuelita de verano

Here’s a six-word memoir for the week:

We survived a Puerto Rican VBS!

Jen and I decided to participate in our church’s Escuelita de Verano (Vacation Bible School).  We were also able to bring three of our students to the program.

After the first day, we were ready to quit.  This VBS was not like the hyper-organized programs staffed abundantly with vigilant adults that we were used to.  Instead, this was yet another cultural experience for us. 

Once we got past this initial shock and our kids had an idea of what was going on, the rest of the week went very smoothly.  Jen interpreted for the two little boys, and I interpreted for our eight-year-old girl.  I also taught a little ASL to the older kids.  Each day the kids had breakfast, sang songs, watched a puppet show, learned Bible stories, did arts and crafts, played games, and heard a missionary story. 

My favorite part was perhaps learning some Spanish children’s songs (like this one that contains the following lines: Tengo gozo en mi corazón.  Si el diablo no le gusta, que él se siente en una bomba—BOOM, y si este no funciona que se siente en un cañón—OOOOOO!  TRANSLATION:  I have joy in my heart.  If the devil doesn’t like it, he can sit on a bomb—BOOM, and if that doesn’t work, he can sit in a cannon-OOOOOO.)  A little violent, no?  But the kids loved it!

All in all, we’re glad we participated and brought our students.  This was a good week for everyone.  Jen and I were able to practice our Spanish and ASL.  Our three kids had a chance to interact with many children and be surrounded by God’s word.  The other children at the camp had the opportunity to interact with our kids.  For many, these were the first Deaf people they had ever met.  They learned how to communicate with their hands, and perhaps an interest in ASL was sparked in some of their lives.  It was a lot of fun for me to watch the older kids embrace sign language.  On the first day, most of the older boys were too cool to sign.  By the second day, they were waving at me during arts and crafts to ask me more signs.  Every time I saw them throughout the day, they were practicing and discussing what I had taught in the morning.  This week was truly a blessing all around.

To top it off, the week’s offerings are being donated to our school.  Each day the kids were asked to bring in change.  The boys and the girls were competing for the heaviest bucket of offering.  We are very thankful for the generosity of the church and community members.  

los carteros

Today, when the mailman delivered the mail, he wanted to talk to me.  He asked I understood Spanish well.  When I answered yes, he asked me if we would be able to stop by the post office later with a van to pick up food.  I said yes, smiled, and said thank you—all the while thinking I must have misunderstood.  Why would we go to the post office to pick up food?

Later, when Jen and I went to mail some packages, the man at the desk asked (in English) if we were there to get the food.  (So I had understood correctly.)  He explained that the USPS had recently had a food drive and the chosen charity did not want the food.  So, the men at our post office thought of our school.

We pulled the van around the back and they rolled out a huge cart filled with food.  The back of the 15-passenger van was full!  It took Jen and me two hours to put away all the food.  

The generosity of the community and the thoughtfulness of the mailmen was truly touching.  Food is our biggest school expense, so this gift was extremely appreciated!

Side note--We finally discovered our mailman's name.  We've slowly been making friends with him.  (It helps that we have cute deaf kids that run excitedly to his car every time he drops off a package.)  On his birthday, we made cards and sang to him: "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you.  Happy birthday dear----(awkward glances when we realize we don't know his name) mailman, happy birthday to you."  Now we're ready for next year!