Tim & Grace Around The World

Honeymoon in Kaua'i: Bicycling down the Canyon

2009-11-04T08:58:00.001-08:00

beautiful Hawaiian flowers

The happy couple...not wanting this to be their last day

What a ride!

Mission: Monte Plata (part 3)

2009-02-26T06:51:00.001-08:00

There are so many pictures of our mission trip, that I've decided to mush them down into one video. I will give a quick synopsis of what we did during our two weeks in the D.R. Our group of 35 broke down into 2 groups: 1) clinic group and 2) surgery group.

The surgery group took over 2 operating rooms of a local hospital and 4 surgeons and crews performed major and minor surgeries for hundreds of people.

The clinic group had 4 providers as well. We went into a different village each day giving primary care to the people and free medications. Every day we would load up our big yellow bus with medical and pharmaceutical supplies and head out to places unknown to us. Thankfully, our Dominican staff was on top of everything. All went smoothly. Even in the rain, we saw close to 100 people/day.

Each day, with both groups, began with a song of praise to God sung by both the mission workers and the patients. "Te alabare" (lit: I will praise you) was apparently well known by all in the area.

At the end of the mission trip, my friend Daniela and I took a few days journey down to beautiful Barahona. A nice ending to a beautiful and fulfilling trip. Turn up the volume and sit back and enjoy!

If the video doesn't work when u click on the black box, follow this link (but you will navigate away from this page unless you have tabs)

http://animoto.com/play/NLZHkfDDtKRQM8EbEHAidA?from=share

a little side note: the quality of the photos looks a little bit blurry to me in this video. But it is probably because we have to shrink them all down in size. None of them are blurry in real life. (just a perfectionist's disclaimer)

Mission: Monte Plata (Part 2-Our Clinic Group)

2009-02-14T11:52:00.000-08:00

Once again, these photos are in no particular order (sorry). Let me explain a little about what we did with this MMI (Medical Missions International) trip. There were 35 of us Americans from various medical and some non-medical fields. They divided us up into 2 groups. One group did surgeries. They went each day to the local hospital and used 2 of their Operating Rooms to perform minor and major surgeries. The other group, which I was a part of, was the clinic group. I'll explain what we did more in the next post. For this post, I just want to show who was involved.

Above from Left to Right: Dr. Val Creswall, MD Infectious Disease Physician
Jenny Eckerd, Nurse Practitioner. I really loved working with these guys.
Dr. Sue Giovanni and fourth year Med Student Luke Schnell. They all worked very well together. Some of the Dominican Members of the Team: William, the gatekeeper who signed the people in and helped with crowd control and, Delores the team's optometrist.

Even my friend Daniela showed up to help out a few days. She helped William with registration at first then moved over to help translate for the docs.

This here is a GREAT guy, Steve Trembley. He is a hard-working farmer who was in the peace corp many moons ago. While in the Peace Corp, he was stationed in La Vega, Dominican Republic. It was there that he learned Spanish. Steve was not only great to work with but he had a wonderful sense of humor!

The four young 'uns. From Left to Right, Heather Hall age 16 (the baby of our family), Ashley Waswick age 18--Both Ashley and Heather worked as our runners and help alls. Next in Blue is Liz Barton and then me. Liz and I mainly did translation. Liz was another GREAT person to work with and I really enjoyed getting to know her. While we were on our trip, she found out that she got accepted to Med School. YAYAYAYAY!

This is us at our first debriefing, trying to figure out how this clinic idea is going to work.

Same time, getting debriefed and asking questions.

This is Brian. He was one of the groups "pastors" and also helped us keep the flow of the clinic going, helped with crowd control and etc. He had a real knack especially with the kids.

Dr Creswell and Luke "hamming it up" at lunch time. No joke, for 2 weeks straight we had our choice of ham and cheeze or peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches every single day. yummm.

The Pharmacist Ella who had the busiest post. She gave out an average of 4-500 meds daily. Her helper Julie is behind her. Julie is a great lady who runs a christian adoption agency in Kansas.

Shelly helped with the intake of patients. She learned how to do blood pressures and weigh the patients.

Ashley again. While on the trip, Ash turned the big 1-9.

William again and a guy who helped us with translation one day.

The very expressive and vibrant Liz Barton closes out this post. Miss you all very much!! Please come to NY to see me some day soon.

Mission: Monte Plata Region of Dominican Republic (part 1--Ambiance)

2009-02-12T18:01:00.001-08:00

From the start, let me apologize if these pics are out of order a bit. It's very hard to organize in HTML format. Ok, that said. This first picture: The rooster. No discussion about the Dominican Republic would be complete without including the roosters. They are everywhere. And they are very noisy. Did you know that roosters don't just cock-a-doodle-doo at sunrise. Oh no....All night long these buggards crow. One lovely rooster found a perch up in a tree so he could be right at ear level. What a treat to hear that at midnight, 2am and all through out the night!

Look closely at one of the lovely bathrooms we got to use:

The wasps who lived above my head on the balcony. Never got stung. In fact they all seemed far too interested in the trillions of flowers around than in me. (Thank God)

Outside the school where we were housed:

Stairs we walked up every day leading to our temporary living quarters. Each step is an attribute of Christianity: Faith, Hope, Temperance, etc..

I got to sleep out on the balcony. We dragged two dilappitated mattresses out there and someone let me borrow a mosquito net they had brought. Besides the noise of the roosters and the motorcycles, I thoroughly enjoyed my sleeping quarters.

The others weren't so fortunate. They were 12 to a room in bunk beds. No thanks!

My Life's Theme Song

2009-01-03T18:58:00.001-08:00

Somewhat slow and sad, but my heart's cry. This song first touched my heart while in high school. I'm not sure if anyone else has the same sense I do of wanting to glorify God with their life but so often failing. I know that He is still working and am so thankful, that it is not my strength that will accomplish this, but His great mercy.

Praise You
Words and Music by Elizabeth Goodine

Lord, I come to You today With a simple prayer to pray.
In everything I do, Let my life, O Lord, praise You.
Praise You, praise You;
Let my life praise You. Praise You, praise You;
Let my life, O Lord, praise You.

Lord, You formed me out of clay.
And for Your glory I was made.
Use this vessel as You choose.
Let my life, O Lord, praise You.
Praise You, praise You;
Let my life praise You. Praise You, praise You;
Let my life, O Lord, praise You.

click the link below to hear (it might navigate you away from this page):

www.box.net/index.php?rm=box_mp3_player_run&id=f_238563297&name=Praise%20You.mp3&myfiles=1

Who am I?

2008-12-20T11:37:00.000-08:00

This is a question many philosophers and people in general have grappled with for centuries. As we grow up, many of us struggle to find our true identity. Sometimes, when I see all my flaws so clearly, and I'm tempted to throw my hands up and say, "Well I am who I am." But then I know that's a cop-out. With God's grace and my willingness, I am able to change....thankfully. And there are times when we change and wish we hadn't. Like, growing older and losing abilities that we used to enjoy. Or sometimes our feelings towards people can change. Often we lose interest in something that used to captivate us before. One thing that seems definite for us human beings is change. Perhaps that is why this question is never fully answered. We can't just say, "I am who I am".

As I thought about this today, I thought about how only God can truly say that about Himself. God calls himself the "I AM" or the "I AM THAT I AM" He requires none else and He still is. His existence is not a question. It may be a question for the puny minds of some of us, but it's not in reality. And most encouraging....He doesn't change. He has created us and desired a personal relationship with us since the beginning. We may change. We may flounder and flip and flop in our relationship with him. Sometimes we're hot and sometimes cold or luke warm. But he remains faithful.

For me, once I have acknowledged my many shortcomings and downright failures, and realized that He remains true to His promise to me and that He still is who He is (despite the fact that I am ever changing), it is then that I have come to appreciate and love Him more. To love the great "I AM".

Meet the Bhutanese! (updated)

2008-11-17T19:43:00.000-08:00

What a fun time I've had recently!

Coming home from a conference in NYC back in mid-September, I shared a row on the plane with some scared and very out-of-place looking people. Any of you who know me very well, will know that I love most foreigners (almost to a fault) and I love talking to strangers. So, I struck up a conversation with them. In broken english, they explained to me that they were from the very distant country of Bhutan, which neighbors Nepal. They became refugees living for 17 years in a camp in Nepal due to religious and ethnic cleansing in Bhutan. (that is the short story of it...for more info, google "Bhutanese refugees in Nepal")

Anyways, through great international effort, many Bhutanese are now being resettled all over the world.

Somehow, I have been blessed to be on the receiving end now, of a very special friendship. Below are two of my friends Kumari in orange and Maya in white both about age 20.
(note the colorful Nepalese scarf they draped over me as a token of their friendship ;))

Below are three of the four young guys who have been also very special to me. Narayan, 17 years old, is on the left in the gray sweatshirt, Bikash, 16, is in the middle and Narayan's younger brother Pashu Pati, 16 is on the right.

Here they are again, all excited about their new computer!

Below was a very special day when some family members of the above friends arrived. Maya, Narayan and Pashu Pati's aunt, uncle, cousin and grandparents arrived. They invited me to come to their new home to welcome them. In the photo below, they are searching frantically for their I- 94 forms which allow them to stay in the US.

(thankfully they did find them, after a short scare)

Below is Gopi Neopane, the mother of the three Neopane kids I've mentioned earlier, with Asmitah, her 5 year old neice on her first day arriving in the U.S.

Still not used to the coooold Syracuse weather, the Bhutanese often sport coats and hats indoors. But they are also great hosts, always serving tea, milk and ethnic food to their guests.

Gopi Neopane's Grandparents on the day they arrived...so tired.

Maya and her cousin Asmitah.

Vegetables are always on the menu at the Neopane home.

Being treated as a welcome new part of the family. They call me DiDi (which means sister)

We had a blast at the Museum of Science and Technology and then watched the Majestic India movie and Ring of fire about Earthquakes.

Rock wall climbing at the MOST.

Stay tuned for more great photos to come! (Lord Willing)

Beautiful Fall Foliage at a Marathon...in Fulton

2008-10-24T09:39:00.000-07:00

Ok...so I will set the scene for everyone. I work with a nurse in the E.R. Her name is Ruthie Ripley. At age 40 she began running marathons. She's run one in every state and ran through her time battling breast cancer and etc to get to this big day of running her 100th Marathon. This momentous marathon was held in the location of her first marathon ever...Fulton.

Above, Julie Corsoniti, (my boss) checking in for her race. We all got up around 5am this freezing cold sunday morning, October 12, 2008.

Elaine Devereaux, another nurse I work with and a marathon fanatic brought yummy chocolate chip cookies to share.

I was unprepared for the beauty that I would encounter in Fulton this fall day. I didn't even know they had a lake there.

But...as this sign shows, they do...Lake Neatahawanta...who knew?

More of the pretty lake as the sun rose.

Here's Missy, Social Worker (in the white), Ruthie center, and Annette, Social Worker (in red). They are always that smiley, though it may be hard to believe.

Dr. Skopek, the Ironman himself. It takes a real man to be able to wear pink with pride. He wore it in honor of Ruthie's Breast Cancer fight.

Diane Goode,RN lacing up for the big run.

Kate, Social Worker. BRrrrrr...it was like 30 outside. Let's get running!

Diane Traver's is a nurse and friend of mine #1540 with arm around Ruthie. Not sure who the man in the way-too-short red shorts is, but...yikes!

On your marks! Get set!

And I'm gone...completely distracted by the beautiful scenery around me....that was the last of the race pictures I took (oops).

More natural fall beauty.

See the fog rolling on the lake and the ducks....sooo peaceful.

ahhhhhh.....

Some of the dew-kissed foliage up close...

So, now, once I caught the photographing bug, I just couldn't stop. This was along the side of Rt 481. The fog in the field with the sun rays...couldn't resist.

More rays of sunshine burning through the fog.

This too is along Rt 481...Oneida Lake, maybe?

Check out this picture, I didn't retouch it or anything. You can see the fog just rolling up and the foliage reflecting on the water. Who knew Rt481 had so much beauty?

Train Tracks run out to the horizon...

Well then I just kept going...I reached Syracuse, and it was only 8:30 so I still had a couple hours before church was going to start. So, I kept photographing.

Downtown Syracuse.

And more...of Downtown Syracuse in the fall.

I just couldn't get enough.

To some they're just dead leaves...but to others they are beautiful works of art. (usually they're just dead leaves to me)

Continuing down James Street.
Into my back yard. The Poison Ivy turning colors amid the lush green English Ivy.
The jungle of my backyard...ahhhh such beauty. So that's all...hope you enjoyed seeing these as much as I did taking them.

Third TRI--Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania

2008-09-27T17:38:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! I found this new traveling buddy, his name is Tom, well TomTom to be exact. And thank God we met, because with this new goal of a triathlon in every state and all the other traveling I do, I've been getting lost far too much.

So, me and Tommy took our first trip down to Lancaster, Pennsylvania this weekend where we stayed at the bed and breakfast that I always enjoy so much, Jonde Lane Farms run by a mennonite family. It was so cozy and romantic, just the two of us!

Anyways, I arrived at the farm yesterday. The weather was fine. So when I woke up at o'dark hundred (5am to be exact) to get ready for the triathlon that was in Shrewsbury (according to Tommy 1 hour away), I was unprepared for the weather to take a turn for the worst. Well, Tommy was wrong, it only took me 45 minutes to get there. But I was wrong too. The triathlon wasn't scheduled to start till 8am, not 7. Oh well, I was able to hang out a little with the triathlon junkies who had gotten there early...on purpose.

The sky was ominous at dawn.

The swimming leg, fortunately was done at the YMCA indoor pool. While we were swimming, you could hear the thunder booming outside, and the sky just opened up and poured out rain. Well, that didn't stop us.

After a short 500meter swim, we took off for the bike leg. It was about 16 miles, which is approximately the distance from the Grist mill to camp and back. And the hills were basically the same. But just add water...lots of water. We plugged up those waterfalls and then down the hills. Going down was actually alot more dangerous as I would get going so fast, that with the rain pelting down, I couldn't see anything.

By the time the run came along, I was beat, and entirely soaked to the bones. But the run was only 2 miles, through grassland and up muddy hills.

Anyways, truth be told I had a really good time. I just love nature. The smells and sounds and mmmm just everything about it. And while I was riding I got to thinking about how I have begun to enjoy myself. Enjoy just being alone. It's not what I ever wanted. And I worry that I am growing too independent and solitary at times. But it's what life has given me. I thought I'd be married with 10 kids by now. But God has given me something different, at least for now. So, I'm learning to be content with whatever state I am in. And I do really like all my fun ideas. I'm a real fun person to travel with so at least that's cool. lol

So, that's it for now. I had a blast. Looking forward to the next one. And on a side note, now I think I'm getting sick...achy all over, cough, earache, cold chills...the works. Every up has it's down, right?

The New York beyond Manhattan

2008-09-26T06:11:00.000-07:00

As I bumped along on the subway, ping-ponging from one location to another all over New York City, I couldn't help but think about the many ways there are to travel around this town. For example, if you were wealthy and just had gobs of money to waste, you could be picked up like a movie star in your own private limo. Cameras could be flashing, people watching with envy. Once, some of the girls from church and I rented a limo for a ride down a few blocks. It was fun, a bit over-rated and definitely too expensive, but nice.

You could drive or take a taxi. Both options involve careening through the overcrowded fast-paced streets, stopping and starting for lights and bold pedestrians. Taxis can be expensive, though necessary at times. Driving your own car can be risky and frustrating as you attempt to navigate down one-way streets all the while trying to avoid the scrapes and dents that so desperately want to find your car. Parking is an expensive treat too.

Some choose to ride their bicycles. This looks like a dangerous, but exciting way to maneuver through NYC's streets. Walking too is a healthy option. In fact, you really can't get around NY without being prepared to put some serious miles on your tootsies.

And of course there's the metro system. For $7.50 you can buy an all day fun pass and go wherever you want to. Now granted, the subways are often smelly and grimy. You rub shoulders with some....well interesting (for lack of a better word) folks. But what an experience! From the artsy mosaics that adorn the walls to the subway performers that blow their saxaphones or sing their hearts out, what's not to love?
(click on the map to see in greater detail...if you are so interested you want to see more, that is)

For sure, taking the subway requires a bit of street sense. But I had the pleasure during this trip to NY to stray out of Manhattan for the first time. Usually my friends and I stay around Times Sq, Little Italy and Chinatown, Battery Park, Ground Zero, etc. But during this most recent trip, I had other places on my agenda.

Of course I started in Times Square because that's where the conference was that I was attending. They put me up in the posh Hilton right on 6th Avenue. I spent the first day at the conference, but afterwards, schlepped my way over to Queens where I was to visit a college that one of my friends who will be immigrating to the US is hoping to attend a Language program. Traveling to Queens was quite an experience. And I wouldn't recommend trying to drag a carry-on around with you like I did. Going up and down the stairs and on and off subways/busses was not too fun.

It was interesting to see as the neighborhoods changed. The Queens subway goes through Hispanic, Middle Eastern and finally, last stop, Chinese neighborhoods. When I got off the rail, I didn't see one American-looking person. Nor did I see a sign written in English. Thankfully, I got on the right bus and made it to the college before it closed.

That night I stayed at a hostel in Brooklyn. Another interesting experience! I've already shared this with many of my friends, so I'll spare you the details. The next morning I schlepped my way back to Times Sq to leave my carry-on at the Hilton's storage area and be free from my burdens. Then I got a $3 freshly-made smoothie and a $.75 bagel from the street vendors. I have to be honest, although I was alone, I enjoyed myself immensely!

Later I meandered back to the subway to visit a friend who recently moved here from the Dominican Republic. Maritza and her husband Carlos are christians. They were a great blessing when I was in the D.R., driving me to church each service and introducing me around to their church family. They moved to Yonkers this year and had their first baby. So, of course I had to pay them a visit. This meant getting back on the subway and riding through the Bronx and then the last stop on the 1 train to Yonkers. Maritza, baby Joshua and I had a wonderful time walking the streets of Yonkers to an excellent Mexican Restaurant called Santa Fe, which we will visit again, hopefully.

I must admit to being pleasantly surprised to find how interesting and easily-navigated the neighborhoods are outside of Manhattan. I'm looking forward to exploring some more on my next adventure to the Big Apple!

Love & Mercy from an Unfailing God

2008-08-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

First came thoughts of how much our heavenly Father wanted to bless mankind when He first created us because in Lancaster, Pennsylvania we watched a very moving play called, "In the Beginning". Though not perfect, this play did an excellent job of showing how man's sin put a painfully obvious separation between man and God.

It started me contemplating more about God's love and mercy for us. I couldn't help but weep when I saw the pain that Adam and Eve's sin brought about--and then also how that very pain has been felt in my own life and in the lives of those I love. This was pain that God never intended for mankind to have. The joy of the Garden of Eden, most intensely felt in having a close and vibrant relationship with the Lord, must have made the gulf (created by sin) between God and man that much more painful. But the Lord's promise has remained true that those who seek Him will find Him. Although it is much harder, more like groping in darkness and more complicated than it was ever intended to be, the joy of finding the Lord remains the height of all joys we humans can experience.

These thoughts led me to think about all the substitutes we find to fill the emptiness we feel due to our separation from God. I can't help but wonder if all our "busy-ness" and running around isn't some vain, subconscious attempt to keep ourselves from feeling the loneliness that is inevitable should we sit still long enough to sense our lack of closeness with God. Or maybe it's a purposeful attempt by our adversary to keep us from seeking the only One who will truly satisfy us.
And then I think of the relationships we seek with others, most clearly seen in longing for someone of the opposite sex...for someone who will see us for who we are and love us anyways. For someone who will make us complete and somehow better. Is this longing only able to be filled by the Lord? Who will truly love us unconditionally? Who knows our faults and all our shortcomings, yet keeps working with us? Who died for us in a valiant effort to bridge the very gulf that we created? And then further, if we search for fulfillment in other things, overlooking the very source of our happiness, can we ever really be happy?

While all these thoughts tossed about in my head like kid's clothes in a dryer, camp meeting week tip-toed up. Besides the usual blessing found in meeting with the Lord in such a beautiful, natural setting, came the witnessing of a complete miracle, a work that only God could do. And now I can't help but reflect back on Jesus and how amazing is His work.

I still haven't digested all of what happened with Cori Rocine and the entire Rocine family. But seeing how God was working even, and especially, when things looked desperately hopeless, has caused me to be that much more in awe of the Lord. And it also gives me faith for the situations in my life that cause me pain and that I cannot understand. It seems that truly, I don't need to understand them all. I just have to have faith in God. He is alive and He cares. And though I don't see or know why things are the way they are, He does. And I know that He is truly busy working all things out for my good because I love Him and am called according to His purpose.

So much to think about...so much to be thankful for.

A trip of four states (and a triathlon!)

2008-08-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

Ok so here's the story about my first trip to Boston, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Connecticut. The order of these pictures is basically backwards, so I apologize up front.

We never got to see this show...it's supposedly a very cool IMAX film done underwater. The line was like 3 hours just to buy tickets. And you know me and lines....but maybe next time!

Sandy Shores Beach, Rhode Island. So picturesque! I went here to relax after completing my second triathlon and longest ever! The triathlon was 1/3 mile swim, 18 mile bike and 3.5 mile run.

The triathlon took place on the Naval Base at Newport, RI. These warships were unbelievably large.

The view of the newport bridge in the distance. See those boueys? Is swam out to them and around for my first ever swim in ocean water. Very salty, but it was in Still Water Basin, so the waves weren't too bad.

Though called Sandy Point Beach, it's a very rocky New England beach in RI.

Lazy Summer afternoon...I love those...pops, we gotta get a boat...soon!

Megan, me and her friend Heidi spent a day at Hampton Beach in New Hampshire. It was alot like the beaches of the Outer Banks of NC only more crowded.

cool reflection in Heidi's sunglasses.

Us three E.R. nurses chillin out!

Megan in Little Italy, Boston, being a goofball (in case you needed the explanation)

Some photos of Boston's Harbor.

Seafood was everywhere...so of course I had to have some lobster...mmmmm! What's a trip to Boston without lobster?

Meggie

Yep, Boston
Me & Megan at the Harbor in Boston.

Cool buildings of all shapes and designs grace Boston's streets (which I might add are MUCH cleaner than NY's)

Scary red models in some way-too-expensive store.

Pastries in Quincy Market

Boston Harbor above and below

Below are some pictures of a very talented threesome--two brothers and a sister--from England who did some acrobatics in the streets:

Kids, this is what your hair can look like if you never wash or bush it again! BEWARE!!

More of Quincy Markets below:

Best smoothie I ever drank...really...pinapple, strawberry, mango, and more....most expensive too...$7!

I missed the farmer's market in Syracuse, but there was a great produce market on the streets. Wish I could have brought some of those great deals home with me!

Boston Skyline from the Subway...which goes above and below the city:

Me and Meg on the subway.

More Quincy Markets.

Me kissing my man! He really is happy to see me, he just doesn't like to show it! lol

The three of us after eating a scrumptuous meal in Little Italy. mmmmmm....

Thoughts on Prejudice

2008-07-24T07:23:00.000-07:00

The following is a reflective paper I wrote for class. The topic interests me, so I thought others might find it thought-provoking as well.

I grew up having a heartfelt compassion for those who are mistreated. This led me to read extensively about certain specific groups of people, like the Jews during the Holocaust and African Americans, who were often the object of hate and discrimination. I remember reading the book “Roots” at 12 years old and crying at the injustice. Other soul-searching, well known books like “Black Like Me”, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, and “To Kill a Mockingbird” were among many other books I read about Blacks in American History. And they yanked hard on my young heartstrings.

Perhaps I was a strange child, a little morose or something. However, those types of books fascinated me because they were true. They really happened to people. The suffering I read about sometimes made me hate the fact that I was Caucasian. But they also helped to foster in me a deep-seated care and concern specifically for Jews and Black Americans.
Fast-forward to now. I’m an adult. I’ve been working as a nurse in the Emergency Department setting for about 8 years. Every day we care for people of all walks of life. But in Crouse’s E.R., we seem to have a larger and poorer African American population than we did at St. Joe’s where I worked for 5 years. I brought with me a care and desire to reach out with kindness to the Blacks I would come in contact with. Yet, many times (not all the time, but often) my kindness would be returned with hostility and rudeness.

We, as health care professionals in the Emergency Department, are often the target of abusive language and obscenities. We see apparent abuses of the health care system, where people use the Emergency Department as their primary care providers. When we see the same people coming in time and again, and we experience the rude language and attitudes over and over, we begin to chalk it up to “feelings of entitlement”. I found myself beginning to categorize people, and feelings of prejudice creeping in to my thought processes. I also found myself beginning to grow calloused, hardened to it all. I would respond by walking away muttering insults which I could never say aloud to those who were yelling at me, but which somehow made me feel vindicated.

And I know that I’m not alone. I’ve watched many of my co-workers respond the same way. It seemed to me that my ideals of racial equality and non-discrimination were nothing but youthful ignorance. In the past three years at Crouse, I began realizing an internal struggle that I was having. Deep down, I knew there probably was a reason for the way we health care professionals were being treated, but it didn’t seem fair or right. What did we do to deserve this sort of treatment? The anger we experienced from others felt misdirected. And in turn, we were misdirecting our anger back at others who we felt were treating us unfairly. As I thought more on this, I could see how discrimination and prejudice can be a viscous cycle.

I really don’t want to be part of this cycle. So, I started praying about this problem. “God, please help me. Help my heart to change.” It didn’t happen over night. But I did begin by talking with my boss and admitting that I could feel these prejudice feelings living and growing in me. She suggested I talk with an African American lady who is our Director of Guest Services at the hospital. I went to her. Although our conversation was interesting, it didn’t seem to change anything in me. She also suggested “Help People” which is an organization employees can access to assist them in a variety of ways for the many problems they face. I went there. It didn’t help much.

I continued to pray. After church one day, I had a conversation with a friend who is doing a student-teaching experience in the inner city of Syracuse. My ears perked up. She shared how it was difficult for her at first to deal with the attitudes and different behaviors that she experienced from children of different ethnicities. I then shared a little with her about my feelings of prejudice and concerns that I had regarding them, but apparent inability to change. She told me that she had a couple books which really helped her to see their side a little more clearly. One book she gave me was written by Ruby Payne called, “A Framework for Understanding Poverty”.

Payne’s book opened my eyes tremendously. In the book she explains how all three classes: poverty, middle class, and wealth, have unwritten rules. She shows how understanding these unwritten rules are imperative for survival within that class. It is clear, by the short “Could you survive?” quizzes that each one of us in middle class would find it very difficult to know how to survive and behave in wealth, but we would actually find it just as difficult to get by in poverty. And in the same way, those in wealth would not be able to survive in the other classes, and quite understandably those in poverty find it impossible as well.

Payne also explains how money is not the only resource important for success in the different classes. She explains how our support systems play a key role as well. She categorizes these supports into 7 groups: Coping Strategies, Options During Problem Solving, Information and Know-How, Temporary Relief from Emotional, Mental, Financial, and/or Time Constraints, Connections to Other People and Resources, Positive Self-Talk, and Procedural Self-Talk. They may sound like a lot of psycho-babble. But the book clearly shows how each of us come to the table with different understandings and support systems. These greatly influence our thought processes and ultimately our behavior.

I have been able to reflect and expound on the ideas brought out by this insightful book. And they have helped to change my incorrect ways of thinking. Understanding that people are not mindful of the same rules of etiquette, for example, has taken the sting out of their insults. Also, realizing that there is a whole system of supports that many people are lacking, sheds light on the reason why no matter how much money is spent on certain community problems, they still remain. The book isn’t a cure for all prejudices, but it does promote a better understanding of those who don’t act, respond or think like you do. And understanding eventually, can help to bridge those wide gaps between classes.

My 1st Ever Triathlon--Oneida Shores

2008-07-18T17:14:00.001-07:00

Up until the very day of the tri, I wasn't sure I'd really do it. I had been training, but 2 weeks before the date, I got a heavy chest cold that knocked me down. For 10 days I did nothing but sleep and work. The night before was church and Mike and Auddie Mastroleo made a point to let me know just how disappointed they'd be if I didn't go for my goal.

Welll, thankfully, the morning of the Triathlon, I felt energized. I woke up at 0500, drank a big glass of home-made carrot juice, ripe with anti-oxidants and vitamins, and loaded all my gear into the car and headed out to Oneida Shores.

I was glad I arrived early, because I got to set up all my gear...towel, sneakers, socks, change of clothes, bike in ready position.

One funny, but notable thing happened just before the race. I was all ready to go, and just kind of pacing around, excited and bubbly inside. And this cute guy comes up to me. He leans in real close and says, "Hey your wet suit's on backwards." Well, that wasn't at all what I was expecting to happen. I told him he was mistaken. But then all his buddies assured me that indeed he wasn't...lol. Who knew that the zipper goes in the back on a wet suit?!? So, with 4 minutes to spare I mustered whatever dignity I had left and ran to the bathroom to put that blasted suit put on right. How embarrassing!

The biking was a blast. Note the numbers on my arms, leg, bike and even there's one that you can't see on the back of my calf. That number is my age. How nice! For all to see, they put your age on the back of your calf. Didn't know that before I signed up. And it was lots of fun trying to scrub the ink off as I raced to get ready for the graduation ceremony/reception I had to go to right after.

My least favorite leg of the triathlon is running. I did enjoy being out in nature, though. But not being able to breathe and feeling all wobbly off the bike wasn't a great feeling.

So, here I am in full sprint. And unbeknownst to me, in full smile as well. But the announcer sure didn't miss it and he made sure everyone else didn't either. "Look at this young lady with the big smile. She looks so happy to be here!" Despite my embarrassment, I guess I was. This really was alot of fun.

The blessed finish line! Yay! I did it! I completed my first ever triathlon. (now I'm setting my sights on a triathlon in each of the 50 states....what do you think?)

oh...p.s. Photos are courtesy of Lepow photos. I guess there's a copyright so I have to give them credit.

Leading by Serving

2008-06-29T16:08:00.000-07:00

In the past, my opinion has always been that leadership is a skill that people either have or they don’t. Some people are born leaders and others are followers. As I’ve grown though, I’ve come to realize that there are many different types of leadership styles as well as that there are good and bad leaders. For example, some leaders are given that title by chance of their job. Yet those who are supposed to be following them don’t trust them and they, quite honestly, don‘t care much about those they are supposed to be leading.

Sometimes by just not walking in step with the rest of the crowd, you stand out as a leader accidentally. Being a good leader may depend on just how far down a path you are willing to walk alone, if you believe in the cause, that others may see your sacrifice and determination, and have the courage to come up behind you and join you. And as I’ve learned, good leadership often involves serving the very ones you lead.

A short while ago, while at work at Crouse Hospital in the Emergency Department, we had an unlikely visitor. He was man in his 50’s who showed up in a pair of light green scrubs one evening, with a winning smile and a “can do” attitude. We were informed by our manager that this was Chris and he would be one of our new transporters. Immediately I started wondering why a guy of his age and with this much obvious charisma might possibly be working as a transporter. The only answer I could come up with is that he must have gotten involved in drugs or alcohol which short-circuited his great career potential. I also surmised that in time, the real personality problems that lay deep within his psyche would probably begin to emerge.

I happened to be wrong in all of my assumptions. I found out that this man was actually very successful. He happened to be Chris Farnum, Vice President of Finance at Crouse Hospital and he had recently been given the duty of being Interim Chief Nursing Officer as well. Knowing that he had little experience in this role and no clinical experience, he decided to become one of us for a while. I will always respect him for how he chose to take on his new role as our leader. He worked tirelessly from the moment he arrived each evening, which usually was around 5:30 after a long day of work in the office. He got along well with all the staff members and patients alike in the E.R. He would whisk patients all over the hospital and do any task that was asked of him.

(Pictured above on left Dr. Kronenberg, CEO of Crouse Hospital and Chris Farnum, VP of Finance, on right, at last year's Christmas Party. )

Once his secret identity was let out, he took in the many suggestions and problems that we brought to his listening ears. From housekeepers to physicians, we would tell him our concerns. It was almost therapeutic for us because for so long the E.R. had felt forgotten and suddenly we had someone who seemed to care. He saw first hand the resistance we received from inhouse staff when we would try to send patients up for admissions. He lived the chaos of continuous ambulance arrivals even after being put on diversion to try to stop their influx. He heard the profanities and insults of intoxicated patients and irate family members. He felt our pain, personally.

He took on this humble role, but he also led us as well. He encouraged us to put a smile on our faces and give each patient good customer service. This he did just by showing us how it should be done. There were times when we would be stressed out and feeling like we needed to go on diversion and he would encourage us to hold out a little longer. We knew that financially, the hospital did not want us to be on diversion, but having someone from Administration living the stress with us helped us to believe we could indeed stay off diversion a little longer. Because of his apparent care for us, we were willing to do just about anything that he asked of us.

Unfortunately, his time in the E.R. ended all too soon as a new, permanent Chief Nursing Officer was hired. But I was left with a sense of awe for this man. I kept mulling over in my mind trying to figure out what it was that I was so impressed with. Was it his humility? Was it his charisma? Was it his unique ability to lead such a stubborn and opinionated group of people like those of us in the E.R.? It was all that and more. There was something vaguely familiar about this leadership style. And finally I realized what it was.

The greatest leader of all times, Jesus Christ, did just what I saw Chris Farnum do, only to a much greater extent. He was God, with all the power that entailed. Yet, he stooped down to our level. He came down to earth, put on humanity and lived with all the pains and temptations that we have. He was their leader, yet he washed his disciples feet and even cooked meals for them at times. He wept over the stubborn city of Jerusalem who refused to accept his outstretched hand of love. And he performed many miracles for the sick, poor and outcasts of his day.

And while serving others, he asked of them service. By washing his disciples feet, he taught them that they should do this for others. By refusing to give in to temptation, he called us all to an even higher level of moral maturity. By reaching out to the poor and outcasts, he expressed the importance of compassion and God’s love for others. Jesus Christ taught a radical message of self sacrifice and obedience to God’s word. He did this not only by his words but by his actions. And his message has permeated practically every area of the globe even 2,000 years later.

As I reflect on the example of Chris Farnum as our temporary leader and then more on Jesus Christ, I am impressed with many things; one of them is the realization that true leadership means much more than giving orders. It means rolling up your sleeves and showing others that you are willing to serve with them. Self-sacrifice and determination in a leader are great qualities that inspire others to follow.

Public Speaking

2008-06-25T18:45:00.001-07:00

I can’t help it. My heart starts to race. My palms get sweaty. My mouth goes dry. (In nursing we call this the “fight or flight” response) Well, right now I want to run; run far away and hide. I try to open my mouth and nothing comes out. A little more effort and my shaky voice reveals my nervousness right away. I clear my throat, swallow hard, and try a little louder. Thank God I have my notes in front of me! I am speaking now, but I can feel my voice racing. I just want this to be over. Get it over and sit down without completely humiliating myself. I feel dizzy and loose my concentration. Back to the notes. But in the back of my mind I know that nobody wants to be read to or talked at right now. They just want me to be relaxed and comfortable. Maybe even funny. But I can’t. I race through my prepared notes and rush to my seat, red-faced.
Despite numerous attempts and forcing myself to take a Public Speaking class in college, the story is always the same. Failure. I have spent quite a lot of time thinking about why this might be. I’ve tried to imagine the audience in their underwear or funny-looking hats, but if it hasn’t made me nauseated, at best it just makes me want to giggle, which for sure I shouldn’t start doing, or I might not stop.

Recently, I have become more involved in the union at Crouse Hospital. I sat on the Bargaining Committee as we bargained our latest contract. A few times I had to speak up to the large crowd that sat around the room in a sort of round table format. That went well. There have been many other incidents when in front of fairly large groups of supervisors, managers, directors and others, I’ve had to defend an innocent co-worker or plead the case of our department to get some unfair practice or policy changed. That has all gone surprisingly well.
I almost started to think that I had overcome this fear of speaking in public. But then I was asked recently to speak at the going away party of a lady who is very special to me. She was changing jobs and I was asked to welcome everyone. I knew almost everyone there from our Bargaining Committee experience. And, although I prepared my notes and tried to calm myself beforehand, the same exact “fight or flight” response happened and I bombed the speech.
Currently, the union is looking to improve and expand our new employee orientation. They’ve asked me to help. Maybe I wouldn’t mind speaking to a crowd of anywhere from twelve to fifty complete strangers? Are they crazy?!?! I’ve avoided it for months. But then I keep hearing repeatedly from new employees how lame the union looks in our Crouse orientation. And I know that something needs to change. But as it stands right now, I know that if I were to try to do it, I’d do just as bad if not worse.

So, I’ve been talking this over with our new Crouse Union Representative. He was trying to convince me the other day, “Come on Grace, I know you can do this. I saw you speak up very well in front of 30 or more nurses the other day.” “But that was totally different“, I argue. “How?” “Well, we were all sitting down as equals. And I didn’t have the job of talking at them. We were all just having a sort of round table discussion.” And then the light bulb goes on! That’s what I hate is talking at people and being in a “higher position” than a whole group of people. Perhaps it’s a self confidence issue. I’m not sure. But if we are all at the same level, and anyone has the option of chiming in at any time, I’m comfortable with that.

He then suggested that we revamp our orientation completely. “You know what we’re going to try, Grace? We’re going to have everyone gather their chairs around in a big group circle and we’re just all going to talk about the Union.” We had our first trial run of this on Tuesday. There were 35 people of different ages and backgrounds all gathered in the circle. And we just talked. It was comfortable. The other people in the group seemed to respond favorably too.

The more I reflect on the idea along with our union ideals, the more I feel it goes along exactly with what we are trying to express with the union. No one person is more important than another. We are all on the same team. The playing field is level. One of the main ideas we want to express to our union members is that the union doesn’t fight our battles for us, it gives a voice so we can fight our own. The body language we use expressing that concept is probably just as important as our words. I like this new format for orientation.

Saved at Nine

2008-06-16T05:03:00.000-07:00

Classes have started for me again. The first writing assignment is to write an autobiography. Here's one part of my memoir.

At nine years old, running free outside, feeling fresh air in my lungs, riding my bike and swimming are some of my favorite things to do. I wish summer would last forever! Even still, this wish remains in my heart, the heart of a Central New York lifer.

I love being nine years old. Life is simple, like my faith. I run and play and sing for hours through what seems like endless summer days. And then, when the sun is just beginning to set, my little sister (aka...my partner in play) and I lay face up in the soft, freshly cut grass and stare up at the blue, blue sky watching the puffy white clouds float by.

It is one of those glorious, never ending CNY summer days. I'm laughing and splashing in the water at our church camp. My friend Jamie and I are in a race to see who could do the most back flips underwater in one breath. I want to win. Again and again we push ourselves. “...7...8.…9...” I'm starting to need air “...10...11...AHHH! I gotta come up!”

I spring myself to the top, but only find more water. Disoriented, I begin to panic. Round and round I grope, grasping, clawing, trying to get to the top. Opening my eyes wide in fright, I search around. “Jesus, please help me!“ My eyes catch a glimpse through the murky, seaweed filled waters….light! There it is! Go, get air! I lunge as fast as I can towards the light to catch a desperate breath of air as my lungs feel like they’re going to explode! The pain! The pressure!

I reach the light and spring to the surface, smashing my head on a piece of wood. There’s only space enough for my nose and mouth above the water. Where am I? I realize I have surfaced underneath the long, wooden docks. We’re not allowed under here. Squishy mud is under my feet. Seaweed wraps around my arms. Rumor has it that water snakes live here, under the docks. I don’t care. I can breathe.

I sputter out a weak, “Help me.” The rest is a blur. A strong lifeguard is carrying me to a blanket on the beach. I’m wrapped in towels. I’m safe and warm. I can breathe. I am saved!

Sometimes it's so hard to tell the truth (a poem about Emergency Medicine)

2008-06-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

I want to tell that little boy his Mom will be just fine
I want to tell that dad we got his daughter out in time
I want to tell that wife her husband will be home tonight
I don’t want to tell it like it is, I want to tell them lies

You didn’t put their seat belts on, you feel you killed your kids
I want to say you didn’t ... but in a way, you did
You pound your fists into my chest, you’re hurting so inside
I want to say you’ll be OK, I want to tell you lies

You left chemicals within his reach and now it’s in his eyes
I want to say your son will see, not tell you he’ll be blind
You ask me if he’ll be OK, with pleading in your eyes
I want to say that yes he will, I want to tell you lies

I can see you’re crying as your life goes up in smoke
If you’d maintained that smoke alarm, your children may have woke
Don’t grab my arm and ask me if your family is alive
Don’t make me tell you they’re all dead, I want to tell you lies

I want to say she’ll be OK, you didn’t take her life
I hear you say you love her and you’d never hurt your wife
You thought you didn’t drink too much, you thought that you could drive
I don’t want to say how wrong you were, I want to tell you lies

You only left her for a moment, it happens all the time
How could she have fell from there? You thought she couldn’t climb
I want to say her neck’s not broke, that she will be just fine
I don’t want to say she’s paralyzed, I want to tell you lies

I want to tell this teen his buddies didn’t die in vain
Because he thought that it’d be cool to try to beat that train
I don’t want to tell him this will haunt him all his life
I want to say that he’ll forget, I want to tell him lies

You left the cabinet open and your daughter found the gun
Now you want me to undo the damage that’s been done
You tell me she’s your only child, you say she’s only five
I don’t want to say she wont see six, I want to tell you lies

He fell into the pool when you just went to grab the phone
It was only for a second that you left him there alone
If you let the damn phone ring perhaps your boy would be alive
But I don’t want to tell you that, I want to tell you lies

The fact that you were speeding caused that car to overturn
And we couldn’t get them out of there before the whole thing burned
Did they suffer? Yes, they suffered, as they slowly burned alive
But I don’t want to say those words, I want to tell you lies

But I have to tell it like it is, until my shift is through
And then the real lies begin, when I come home to you,
You ask me how my day was, and I say it was just fine
I hope you understand, sometimes, I have to tell you lies

In Defense of Sheree

2008-06-11T07:44:00.000-07:00

Ok, I recently mocked Sheree in a comment on another person's blog. In the post, Jess was talking about her being a crazy roommate and well u can read more if you click on her blog. Anyways, I just had to add my two cents and share about the ear-bleeding times that Sheree gave me personally, as her roommate while she took classes in Italian Opera and forced me and others to listen to her as she "performed' them for us.

Well, I feel the need to be fair here and semi-clear her name as I might have been a little rough. Yes, our ears did bleed and yes she had many a strange moment at our house. HOWEVER, Sheree did alot for me and my house that I am thankful for. She is a very hard worker and one time while I was gone on a vacation, she stripped all the windows and door trims which were covered with layers of paint and scraped and scraped them to expose the beautiful oak trim which I now get to enjoy every time I'm at home.

Also, every spring I enjoy looking at my tulips and crocuses which Sheree helped me to plant...all 400 bulbs. Well, the squirrels ate like 350, but the 50 left are still beautiful.

She also helped me paint my livingroom, shoveled the driveway in the winter like a mad woman (to this day i won't do that...i just blow thru the snow with my car). And she did alot of other nice things for me.

So, thanks, Sheree. You may be a little crazy, but crazy is fun.

Florida with the Fam

2008-06-07T15:03:00.001-07:00

Below are my first tries at taking pictures of fireworks. It's alot harder than I thought due to the crazy lighting. Anyways, our family had a very nice time together. We went to Animal Kingdom, Epcot and spent some QT together at the beach and poolside. Thank you Lord for the opportunity to do such nice things.

We went orange picking (julie, lee lee and me)

There was this very cute old farmer who ran the orange grove and he teased all of us tremendously. I think we were a great source of entertainment for him as we never had done this before and we didn't know the least bit about orange picking...nor about the gators he told us to look out for!

Sunset over our place in Punta Gorda.

Me and Prince Charming at the Royal Palace. (I know, I know prince charming doesn't exist...but hey it's Disney World, you can believe anything at Disney World!)

mmmm...turkey legs..if only prince charming could see me now, he'd definitly whisk me off into the sunset!

Dad & Lee Lee

Mom had a hoot picking up shells all day

What a handsome guy...my brother Dave in a rare, relaxing moment.

David is a hard-pushing, type A amusement park goer. He frequently consults the map of the parks to see the best route and what we should include on our way to each stop to prevent retracing our steps and therefore wasting time. As you can see Julie on the other hand is biting her tongue to keep from saying...."COME ON! Let's just go and have fun!"

Mommy and Sharlelie are definitely cut from the same mold. They loved this scary roller coaster...Everest. But it was so scary that when Sharlelie got off she was crying. Did that stop her from wanting to go on it again, right away? No way!!

Us with our cool 3-D glasses on

This trip was momentous on many accounts. But probably the most notable would be that little sharlelie lost BOTH of her two front teeth (see above) and made us all laugh till we hurt while she giggingly tried to shay shentences wid "s" and "th" shounds. lol

Natural Beauty around church

2008-06-03T06:18:00.001-07:00

Below are a few photographs of the tulips and lilacs that were so pretty this spring at church.

Cil, see getting up early and weeding at church really is worth it!

When the lionROARS!

2008-05-29T02:55:00.000-07:00

This post is thanks to Priscilla Keim who has encouraged me to start writing more instead of putting in all those darned pictures. I'm not convinced that my words are more thrilling than pictures of zipping through the canopy forests of Honduras or videos of leafcutter ants parading down a soon-to-be-dead tree, but hey, I'll give it a try.

My first topic of interests comes from my friends Amy & Julian. And I want to recap a conversation that we had at church last night. Now Amy and Julian are newly married. And because of that, Amy thinks Julian is just the cat's meow. Well, actually, she thinks that he's more than just a meow...that he's a ROAR!

(above photo of the two love birds at camp during their dating phase)

Let me explain this ROAR phenomenon...for all of you who might not have been in church recently, or who might not attend Living Word. One of our pastors, Bro Bryan Rocine, was talking about the young men and referring to them as young lions. This analogy came from some scriptures he referrenced. (see http://livingwrd.org/audio/audio.html Wednesdays May 21st and 28 to hear more of this interesting sermon)

Anyways, so here's Amy, in love, sitting there listening to the word next to her sweetie Julian. So, she begins poking him in the side, "Honey, he's talking about you! You're a lion" poke! poke!

Now the next details get a little fuzzy. The sermon on May 21st ended and somehow Julian and Bro Bryan Rocine get to chatting. And how it came up that his new bride was poking him and telling him he was a lion, is kind of unclear. There was also some kind of promise made by Julian to Bro Bryan that he was going to "ROAR!" from now on instead of saying "Amen" during the preaching. Julian says this was all said as a big joke, however we're not quite sure what to believe here.

But we know all that we need to know for now. Because the following Wednesday (last night) Bro Bryan brought up Julian and Amy off the pulpit and shared how Amy was poking Julian and calling him a lion. Then, as if to punctuate the statement, Julian lets out a roar! right in the middle of church. Bro Bryan then responds with a thought that we all had been thinking at that point, "Uh Julian, that kinda sounded more like a meow than a roar!" The congregation was then roaring themselves (in laughter of course)!

Look at all you can miss when you miss one sermon!

My Friend's Birthday

2008-03-31T06:40:00.001-07:00

Canopy Tours---Zipping Through Tropical Rainforests!

2008-02-06T08:15:00.000-08:00

La Playa de Tela (Tela Beach)

2008-02-05T08:27:00.000-08:00

The Botanical Gardens

2008-02-02T18:53:00.001-08:00

Ok, forgive me if I don't know all the names, genus and species of these plants. I know little tidbits of stories on most, though not on this. Just some beautiful flowers. and....yup....a weird-looking tree we all know these, water lillies bamboo from east asia...little fact: did u know that bamboo is considered a grass? and that when it is young it grows 15cm/day!! Now that gives new meaning to the phrase, "it's like watching grass grow"...that might not be so boring with bamboo...lol. Look close and you can see busy leaf-cutter ants carrying pieces of leaves bigger than themselves. For those of you that are real interested, I even have video footage of this. Yes I do! This is one of the deadliest trees in the world. If you eat from it, climb it, or even touch it, you will instantly go into anaphlaxys and die. There was also a stricknine tree in the garden.

Disfrutandonos en Honduras (Enjoying ourselves in Honduras)

2008-01-31T08:15:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, my host family and I went to a soccer game at a local stadium. The kids and I had a great time taking photos of each other in the back of the van en route to the game.

We all had a great time cheering for the away team, which eventually lost a very close match. It was alot of fun to hoot and holler--though I hoped I was saying it correctly in spanish.

Sorry I'll probably be dropping in alot of photos of the surrounding area just because it's so beautiful.

The Mission and Surrounding Area

2008-01-30T11:38:00.001-08:00

The view from the church/clinic is breathtaking. It is situated on the top of a mountain and surrounded by mountains with a deep gorge on one side, carved out by a river. In the distance on the other side is the ocean.

La Clinica Salud Total

Dr Bailey and Dr. Sully. Before this trip, I didn't know Dr. Bailey too much. We attend the same church, but our paths rarely crossed. This trip has changed that. We began the trip with a 5 hour drive to NYC. During this trip we got a chance to talk about alot of things.

The biggest thing I came away from this time with about Dr. Bailey is that he is passionate about the Lord and passionate about being a doctor. He really loves it (even behind closed doors). He loves being able to help people. To me, this is very respectable. Also, some of the topics we discussed have given me alot to think about. For example, he told me that if you make an appointment, a decision, to meet with the Lord in prayer/bible study every morning, He will meet you there. He says he's done this for several years during the hardest times in his life. And God has never failed him.

This is the very steep, winding road leading to the clinic/church which sits at the top of the hill. It was built in a simple, yet great way. Before this road was built about a year ago, it was just a dirt road. When it would rain, because the way was so steep, it would become impassable. If you know anything about this area, it rains alot. So, three brothers from the church got together and with simple tools and alot of sweat and work, they constructed this road which is about 1/2 mile and winds steeply up to the clinic/church area. It is really an amazing thing to think about when walking up it. The walk itself is difficult, i can't imagine the work to build it. Also constructed at that time were acqueducts to run along side the road and for proper drainage from the clinic/church.

The Pharmacy. There's a few more shelves than this, but not many. It is always in need of help. Currently, members of the church volunteer their time to count pills and pass out the medicines as prescribed by the doctor.

One of the volunteer pill counters from the states.

Recently, a Honduran dentist was added to the clinic. As you can imagine, this has been a great addition for the people here.

One of the young ladies waiting to be seen at the Salud Total Clinic.

Believe it or not, this is baby#2 for this girl. But fortunately, she's not as young as she looks....23 years old. (I didn't believe her at first!)

Dr. Sully, the Honduran Doctor who works full time at the Clinic and I.

La Ceiba Here We Come!

2008-01-30T08:17:00.000-08:00

We've finally landed! But the trip is far from over. After a four hour drive to NYC, then a short overnight at the Pierson's house. We flew out from Newark at 0500. Talk about red-eye. Then we landed in San Pedro Sulo Airport at Noon. The drive in the church's van took another 5+ hours and we finally got to our destination of La Ceiba at 5:30pm, tired but happy.

Funny, but our first stop was for lunch at a newly constructed mall just outside of San Pedro Sula. This was very beautiful and the view of the mountains through the windows caught my eye.

The Piersons: Tony, Desiree and Samantha. There are two other Piersons who stayed home to work and go to school.

The family I am staying with has 5 members, a mom, dad and three kids. Here are the mom, Erika, and two youngest children Christian, age 6 and Andrea, age 3. Both are adorable and very precocious. They keep me very entertained whenever I am home. Erika is 28 years old and we've had many great conversations (all in spanish of course!)

Here's a little of the food we ate when we first arrived. It's called Pupusa.

Pupusa involves heating a tortilla filled with cheese and/or meat and placing the carmelized onions seen above, on top. It's simple, but good and a typical Honduran dish.

The first dinner with the family. They were so hospitable and dinner was very yummy! There was also an extra visitor, which seems to be very common. This older gentlemen came over to study the bible with Daniel, the host family's dad.

October 2007 trip to D.R.

2007-11-07T07:26:00.000-08:00

On the beach of Punta Cana. The sunny part of the trip.

A view of the tropical clouds from far above.

My dear friend Daniela and her daughter.

The flight from Syracuse early in the morning was breath taking.

The pastor at the church in Bani, praying. See below for full story.

The truck that lugged us through the flooded streets.

GOING THRU THE DESERT

Riding in a taxi one Saturday evening, the driver and I struck up a conversation. Turns out he is a christian. Upon learning this, of course my ears perked right up. Christian? Well, what kind? I started asking about what changes Christ has made in his life. What he believes about certain key doctrinal issues. All seemed in sync with the bible. At the end of the ride, he gave me his taxi card to call him if I needed transportation anywhere else during my stay.

Well, it just so happened that night I got stranded and the friend who was supposed to take me home, couldn't get there. So, I called Jose, the christian driver. That night he encouraged me. "God is calling you, Gracia. Maybe He wants you for his service in the mission field." Well, this isn't the first time I'd heard that line before. To which I told him I just don't know. My impulsive side would love to jump into the mission field. But I don't want to do anything without God's leading. I also shared that I felt like I needed to serve God more where I am and felt so often like a hand was in front of my mouth when it came to sharing the gospel. I can talk so freely and excitedly to other believers about Jesus, but at work or back home with unbelievers, I clam right up. He then shared his experience of going thru a desert time. "Every believer goes through this at some point in his life" he believed. And said that his time lasted 3 years. For 3 years he felt like the heavens were silent, he had no money and life was really difficult. Then when the Lord finally spoke to him, it was like the sun breaking through. He shared that the Lord showed him that Moses had to go through 40 years alone before God worked out things in his life and he was ready for service. He also told me that now, he's a pastor. Money is very tight, which is why he drives a taxi, but he invited me to come visit his church on Sunday. "Well, thanks" I told him, but I already had plans for the morning at a church I have attended during every visit.

The next morning I went back to Fuente de Salvacion and once again was very blessed by the worship. And then you'll never guess the message: Moses and the children of Israel had to spend 40 years in the desert. And when the Lord told Moses he'd take them into the promise land, Moses said to the Lord, "If your presence does not go with us, I don't want to go." Wow! The same topic we'd been discussing. And my sentiments exactly about not wanting to go if the Lord didn't go with me. I called the taxi driver that afternoon, and said I'd like to visit his church that evening. Delighted, he said that he and his family would pick me up at 5:30.

It was starting to rain when they arrived in a beat up old 2-seater pick up truck. Jose and his wife and I in the front seat. The two young kids rode standing up behind us holding onto our seats. "How poor their lives are" I thought. Then we arrived at this run down church in the middle of a kind of dangerous-looking neighborhood. A bunch of excited young people between the ages of 15 and 24 began loading musical equipment in the back of the truck. I had no clue what was going on. But obviously they all did. It took no more than 30 minutes to load drums, amplifiers, guitars speakers and sound controllers into the back. They then covered the equipment with tarp and we set off with 4 more people now crammed into the cab of this two-seater truck. Two beat up cars followed close behind filled with the rest of the young people. By now the rain was beating down hard. The windshield wipers were broken and there was no air to defog the windshield. But these people acted like nothing was wrong. They were so happy! The pastor drove on and on with his arm out the window to move the windshield wipers occassionally. I grabbed a towel and kept obsessively cleaning the windshield in an attempt to make visibility better. The roads in the Dominican Republic are difficult to navigate on a good day. Now add torrential downpours and no visibility. But the group kept laughing, excitedly talking about the coming service. We didn't arrive there until after 7pm.

The church was in the middle of nowhere, a town called Bani Torro, primarily made up of Hatian laborers. The church was very simple, but clean. The pews were obviously hand made of plywood. The bathroom was an outhouse located in back of the building. I was surprised to learn that there were no adult attendees. In the three years they'd been working here, only children from very young to 15 years old attended. Their parents were still leary of this church. Sometimes they visited, but none converted. The pastor's young wife informed me that they hold services at the church 3 times a week.

When we arrived, the young people went to work setting up the equipment. The pastor and his wife changed out of their tattered wet clothes into cleaner tattered dry clothes and in about 30 minutes, the service began. The pastor spent quite a while kneeling in prayer before the service. And at first no one else was there but us. Then the Hatian children started arriving. You would have to have seen the service to really understand. But these young people, who in our country probably would have been standing bored mouthing the words to church songs, were instead singing their hearts out. They were clapping, raising their hands and encouraging the kids to get involved in worship. And they sounded great on top of it all. The service lasted into the night. The pastor preached and after some more singing, it finally ended around 10pm.

By now, I was blessed, and thoroughly impressed with all of this, but exhausted and hoping we wouldn't be cramming 8 people in that same pickup truck. I was dreading the long ride home. But we loaded all the equipment up again and crammed 8 bodies back into the vehicle. This time, one of the young people had rigged up the windshield wipers with ropes to be pulled by the driver and the far left passenger. We laughed and sang all the way home. The ride back seemed alot shorter. But by now the streets were practically flooded. We hadn't known that Tropical Storm Noel had arrived that day. At points, the water was up to the top of the tires. Once we made it back to Santo Domingo, the pastor pulled into a dingy flooded restaurant and ordered chicken for all of us to thank the young people who had helped to lead in praise and worship.

Finally, I arrived home after midnight and fell into bed, exhausted but unable to sleep. What was all that? Who gives their life in service like that? I don't want to forget this experience, but more importantly the lessons I still feel like I'm learning from it.

I'm Baaaack!

2007-03-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

I landed in Syracuse Monday around 10am, bleary-eyed and exhausted after a difficult ending to an amazing trip. So many thoughts were, and still are, swimming around in my head.

I include this picture of this beautiful baby here for two reasons. First, she is just adorable and second, she is the daughter my dear friend and teacher, Daniela, who taught me every day.

Baby Mia was a little piggy when it came to fruit. She loved this watermelon and a banana I tried to feed her.

One last photo of me and my bad-hairself. I can't believe this is already over.

In an almost dream-like ending, I careened down to the Santo Domingo airport in a taxi, windows down, the breeze blowing my hair, with Anthony Santos blaring, strumming his meringue beach music. Meanwhile my taxi driver belted out the words for me. I stared out the window at this beautiful paradise I was leaving as the palm trees whizzed by. I can't believe it's already over. So quick. Just like that. Thank you God for this trip. May I never forget the things I saw or the lessons I learned here.
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Visit to La Romana

2007-03-25T04:33:00.000-07:00

La Romana is a region in the South East of the Dominican Republic. It is very wealthy and clean. Within La Romana is Casa De Campo...where Shaquile O Neil, Michael Jordan and other celebrities have multi-millin dollar homes. There are several other beaches there, some of which we visited.

This is Dominicus, where spent most of our time. To be honest, I didn't really take many pictures here. Instead I tried to soak up the sunshine and really enjoy the last of the time I had with Daniela. This was going to be it for us. And I knew that.

Shops along Dominicus.

A tipo (dude) climbing a palm tree at Dominicus beach. We had alot of fun in the waves. At one point Daniela got so scared of the slimy seaweed she felt at her feet, she climbed on top of me and almost drowned me, but we survived (obviously, right?)

Bayahibe was our first stop in La Romana. It's a small fishing village with a rocky coast. Here, you can launch out with a guide, to the island of Catalina. Be prepared to spend a small fortune though. They were going to charge us $100 to bring us there in a tiny boat. We just couldn't justify spending that amount of money for a beach, so we continued on in a gua-gua (bus) to Dominicus.

Some small shops in Bayahibe, along the main road.

More boats in Bayahibe.

My teacher, Daniela came with me to La Romana. We had such a wonderful time together. I'm going to miss her more than words can say. It's amazing how in one month, we've shared so much across culture and race. I feel like, by knowing her, my life has been enriched greatly.

A couple extra photos: wow! Even this spider is beautiful.

a lizard up close

Algunas cosas diferentes (some different things)

2007-03-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

A little update on my living conditions. As of last wednesday, I am no longer staying with the family that I had been with. The short story is that I had some things stolen from my room and so I had to change living quarters. Seeing I only had 10 days left, with my limited options, I opted for a cheap hotel room. So, when we say cheap, you either get a VERY small room in a nice hotel or a spacious apartment in a not so nice hotel with the possibility of roaches and other creepie crawlies, and questionable security.

So which would Gracia choose? I took the tiny room of course. But when I saw this room, I broke out laughing. I would include a picture of it, but truly there is no way to show size and proportions with the picture. The bed is just barely bigger than me. But I have my own bathroom and shower. It is clean. NO BUGS. Of this I´m sure, because there just isn´t enough room for me and them in the same room! 7 days later I am still laughing because this room is so so cute.

Besides being bug free, another great plus of this hotel is that it has a pool (which no one uses) and a rooftop balcony overlooking the city. That´s how I took the sunrise picture of the Hospital the other day. I feel like I have my own private pad up there because I literally have never seen anyone else up there.

As I ambled down the brick road this afternoon, here were these cockroaches in various states of dying. I wish my picture were up closer, but they were still kicking, so I was skeeved to even be that close to them. There were probably ten of these guys belly up, each about the size of a man´s thumb!!!!

It was raining cats and dogs today (or maybe I should say rats and cockroaches). It really did pour today. I think we got the monthly average rainfall all in one day. But anyways, I almost tripped over this guy (in my open-toed sandals). Yes, rigamortus has definitely set in!

Las Comidas (the food) Aqui

2007-03-21T14:46:00.000-07:00

At the request of some friends, I will tell more about the food here. For those of you who like to sample new things, the Dominican would be a great place for you. But it is definitely not for those with a weak stomach.

The basic ensalada served often with meals.

This is the standard dish: Arroz con Habichuelas (rice and beans)

This is Pasteles en Hojas. I'm not sure all that is inside. I guess I'd describe the insides kind of like a Dominican sloppy joe's with plantaines and various meats. A unique savor to be sure.

Now this is one of my absolute favorite dishes here. I kid you not. I've only found pescado (fish) cooked this well at Boca Chica (that beach I told you about before) Beware, though, don't eat the fish with the blue (or so I've been told).

Once you've chosen your fish and shooed the flies away, it is then covered with special sauces and breading and fried here.

For only 200 pesos (or $6) you get a delicious fish...which I tore up both times I've eaten it, with fresh avacado.

Plantains can be eaten several ways. The two most popular ways are (above) fried. When fried, they taste like a chip.

Or sweet, here. I prefer them this way.

A special sausage made here...meat crammed into pigskin. Often, it is eaten during special holidays like Christmas.

And for desert...how about a delicious cherry covered coconut blend?

Whatever strange foods I've tried, my favorite remains the fruits. Here a fresh plate is being arranged. mmmmmmm

Padre Billini Hospital

2007-03-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

With this entry, I hope to give you a glimpse of the poor healthcare situation here. Seeing things here has definitely given me a great appreciation for my job and my life back home. For whatever problems exist, at least there are ways to help things change. Here, the problems are enormous and changing them seems far far too complex.

The sun rising over Padre Billini Hospital.

Literally, right outside the door, sleeps a homeless person. Every time I've walked past this hospital there is someone new there.

A normal site: standing room only in the waiting room. Our managers would be having a fit if they saw this and the staff that was sitting down, chatting in the back.

cleanest ward in the entire hospital.

There's enormous gates like this one all over the hospital. After 3 all entries and exits are through the emergency room. "Guards" sitting in the chair there, screen those who want to enter. I was told if I wore a pair of scrubs I could circulate without a problem. It was true. No HIPPA laws here. I photographed anything I wanted and no one asked me anything. As for getting through, they just smiled and opened the door.

A doctor actually working, in the E.R. Usually they were behind the desk laughing and chatting as patients waited in the waiting room.

Despondant lady, waiting for a diagnosis.

MMMM yum. Now here's a nice, pustulant leg wound. Hope u all ate breakfast already. He had a stretcher in the middle of everyone else. And hey, why undress the patient and look further? He's probably fine.

This by far was the saddest site I saw. Far from any wards or nurses was this one room with only this skinny little skeleton in it. He had an old smelly diaper on and bloody sheets. Of course he didn't have any way to call for help. I don't know how long he'd been lying there, but it appeared to be a very long time.

This gentleman receives hemodialysis twice a week. Because of poor education and care for diabetics, there are often many avoidable complications like dialysis, amputations of limbs and etc... The fortunate end up on dialysis, those who don't have the money, pass on.

This is an inpatient ward. The beds continue on the right about 4 more and then wrap around behind me to the left. Try recovering here. The food on the table there, was there for hours. The CDC would go nuts!

This young lady is 17 years old and already receives Hemodialysis. She was in a ward with abuot 8 other patients.

Look closely at this lady. She is laying on a dirty stretcher without a sheet. There is only a brown paper towel stretched down the length of it. The nurse working with her did everything, including change her dressing, without gloves.

This lady was quite ill. She had an NG tube and check out her diaper with powder coming out. She was forunate though, she had family to care for her. She also was in a ward with about 8 other patients. The ward reeked of urine.

This man came in and asked for help. He had been waiting for a long time. There were available stretchers in the Emergency wards, but all the medical personel were moving very slowly and told him he'd have to wait. So he crawled out the door and knelt onto the disgusting floor outside, waiting.

Juan Dolio Beach

2007-03-19T06:38:00.000-07:00

We arrived to Juan Dolio on Saturday morning around 12 noon. There were only maybe 3 other people there. Although it wasn´t as naturally beautiful as Boca Chica, it was great!

The palms.

More of the beach.

The views here looked like they belonged in a travel magazine!

Strange looking dried coco nuts.

An upward view of the palms and sun.

My friend Tazha (left) and me.

Look what washed up on shore...an old typewriter! Just what I was looking for at the beach.

Los Niños de la Cienega (The Children of...)

2007-03-17T15:33:00.000-07:00

Let me tell those of you who may not be familiar with Compassion International a little about them. They are an international Christian outreach specifically for children. Their goal is to reach children for Christ because they are the future generation of Christian leaders. They seek out the local church of a specific area known to be in poverty. When they go in, they ask who are the 200 neediest children and begin their work with the church to reach them. The church is responsible for laboring and doing the actual work with the children and community. Compassion assists the church in building a Christian school if one does not exist and oversees the progress of these children to ensure they are being cared for by specific standards. There is much more to tell about the work done, but their website link is provided on the blog if you want to read more about them.

The children were very shy at first. They just stared at me for about an hour.

Gerson Hernandez is 7 years old and lives with his grandmother. He is the child that I sponsor. When he was a baby, he contracted meningitis. At 3, he fell out of a two story window. Since then, he has lived with his grandmother, who loves him dearly. He walks with a limp and has trouble with dexterity in his left arm, but he is persistent, and smart. Many children suffer from accidents and poor nutrition prior to recieving help from the ministry.

The little guy in blue, on the right, won my heart especially. I'll explain why later in the entry.

Here the pastor (on the left) and his wife are showing me the school for my first time.

This is one of the teachers with the children. At first the children were very shy. But by the end of the visit, they were my best friends.

Every time a child goes to school they are provided with at least one meal. In the mornings they get breakfast. The afternoon classes receive lunch or a snack. This lady is the cook for all these children´s meals. She made a delicious cinnamon and wheat-oatmeal like breakfast that was being served when we arrived. Later, she made me and my little entourage a wonderful Northern Dominican meal of rice, beans, carne and ensalada.

La Cienega sits at the foot of the mountains. It is a small agricultural town where the biggest crop is tobacco. Many of the population live in tiny one or two room patched together huts that are more like camp bathrooms. They often have chickens or goats for milk or eggs. Many are uneducated. The Christian school has been open for only 5 months and is already impacting the area. So far, they are working with 150 children.

A mom sitting with her son awaiting the beginning of afternoon classes.

Education is an important peice to raising children and their families from poverty.

Gerson is a beautiful boy and was so sweet. He gave me a bouquet of flowers when I arrived. And kept calling me his Tia (Aunt).

Look into these little guys eyes. They are both about 3 or 4 years old.

This is the pastor´s middle daughter. She practiced her English with me.

A group of children our procession passed as we headed down the road to Gersons house. It was about 3/4ths of a mile from the school.

A group of the children outside the school, who gathered around me to get their pictures taken.

Heading down to Gerson's house. He insisted on lugging my heavy suitcase the entire way. He even fell one time, but he refused to let anyone else take it.

We had quite the parade of children with us as we meandered through the streets to get to Gerson's house. The little guy in the blue shirt held my hand the entire way there. They were all so sweet. At one point as we walked, they were singing songs for me, "...tenemos un Amigo que nos amo...su nombre es Jesus!" ...or "we have a Friend who loves us...His name is Jesus!"

The boy on the right was a great kid. He is not able to go to school at this time because he is 13 and the school is starting with ages 3 to 8 and working up as they get older, but his sister on the left goes. The boy was very helpful when I was there and played with and protected the littler guys.

A group of girls outside Gerson's home.

Gerson insisted I take this picture of him holding his mom's picture.

Gerson's grandma. She raises all types of birds. She wanted to give me a couple, but I told her that I didn't think they'd allow me to take one back thru customs.

Two brothers

The kids wanted to show me this little farm instrument. You pour seeds into the top and then turn the handle and it grinds up the seeds to feed the chickens.

She, like all the kids, was thrilled to have her picture taken.

Botanical Gardens

2007-03-16T06:24:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I heard that you all are getting a big storm. Just get it out of your system by next weekend, k?! I won´t tell you that the sun is shining brightly right now and that the temps are in the 80´s with puffy white clouds sprinkling the sky. That would be too mean. Hey, Mom and Dad, this was the week you would have been here. Bummer! You can still come if u want, I have this great room we could all share!

I went to the Botanical Gardens on Wednesday. Here are a few photos from there. There was one shot I almost captured, but the train we took around the area was going to leave me...it was a bright red cone-like flower with a hummingbird buzzing about. Shoot! It would have probably been able to win a contest it was so neat.

This is the National Tree of Panama. I´d never seen anything like it. It´s branches extended out about 20+ feet in every direction too. Very cool roots, huh?

These flowers don´t even look real up close, do they? But trust me, they are.

Chinese Bamboo

These water lillies and pads reminded me of camp. Take heart, summer is just around the corner. (well at least my corner, lol)

Some flowering trees like what we´ll be seeing this spring in Syracuse

View from a distance of the bridge and reflection in the Japanese section of the garden.

a lilly

Me and Tara (I´m the one on the right) Tara is one of the Christian American friends I´ve made here. She´s a real sweetie. We´ve been to Boca Chica and Salinas together.

another Japanese orchid, but check out the tiny ants crawling around on this one

young flowers growing outside the greenhouse

Tara with mi professora, Daniela

More beauties

Hope u all enjoyed my sneak preveiw of summer.Stay warm!

El Faro de Colon (the Columbus Lighthouse)

2007-03-15T19:25:00.000-07:00

Welcome to El Faro de Colon. This is probably one of the only lighthouses not built on a coastline, but in the middle of the city. It was constructed in 1992 despite alot of controversy as it cost millions of much needed dollars to build. When the electricity in the city works, it emits a brilliant light into the sky, in the shape of a cross, that can be seen for miles. This edifice, though a tourist destination, is quite unpopular with the people.

The tombstone of Christopher Columbus.

Here lie the ashes of the illustrious Columbus.

The top of the statue.

Replicas of the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. Behind is an artist's rendition of how the Indians received the white colonizers.

The deep corridor with rooms on either side, referred to as "the Grand Canyon of the Dominican" by the people here.

Intricate architecture

Santo Domingo is a sea port city, important for trade and commerce during the colonial times and now.

The Dominican is a very catholic country. Their tribute to Christopher Columbus (Colon) reflects this.

Moi! Wow will I be glad to visit the hairdresser when I get home!

There's no place like home!

2007-03-13T06:02:00.000-07:00

I must admit, I miss the U.S. where certain things are expected and taken for granted. I am tired of being oogled by every guy I pass. Today, this one guy licked his lips as I passed and I told him he was gross and asked him in spanish why all the men here behave so rudely to women. Needless to say, that conversation didn't go too far. From age 15 to 85, it seems to be the general norm here for men.

I spoke with some people from Crouse yesterday and they asked about my living conditions. Well, let me just say that Saturday I killed a cockroach the size of a silver dollar in the kitchen. I didn't know they got so big. I knew that this house must have some, cuz the kitchen is pretty filthy, but I refused to look too hard and was just crossing my fingers. Now I'm skeeved.

Everything is very loud here, from the music to the animals to the car alarms to people's voices. Every night I go to sleep to the sound of the VERY LOUD TELEVISION in the living room. In the morning, around 3 or 4 am, I awaken to the sound of the chiwawa (sp?) nearby who begins his extremely annoying morning barking routine. For those of you who know how much I "adore" parrots, imagine my delight to arrive and find a parrot who looks (and sounds) identical to the screeching one that just left my house not too long ago. Only this one has perfected the sound of the local car alarms. How cute, huh? lol

I have only had 2 warm showers since arriving. All the rest have been cold (if I'm lucky) or bathing with a bucket of cold water and a margarine tub to rinse down. I have a fan at the top of my ceiling that vibrates at it's base all night long and I half expect it to wobble off and kill me during the night. For me, this is very much like a long camping trip.

But all is not horrible here. I do really love the climate and the foliage and will miss it desperately. And I'm thankful, truly for this unique oportunity to learn about a people and place I've never known.

There are so many natural wonders here. This coming weekend I will be traveling to Santiago to visit the little guy I sponsor through Compassion International. Then, I will continue north to Puerto Plata (with my guide, of course). There I hope to soak in some sun and take some pictures. On our return back to Santo Domingo, we have a few cool stops planned. So, stay stuned for more pics!

p.s. feel free to write or comment. It's been a little while since I've heard any feedback!

La Toma

2007-03-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

La Toma is a unique place. I didn´t know what to expect when I arrived. Basicly it is a naturalish pool fed by cascading water from the mountains. There are several of these "pools" of various sizes. Kids swim in them and there are slides and all sorts of water sports played in them.

This lil guy sold me an empanada...chicken inside a piece of fried dough with ketchup....mmmmm..mmmm....good!

Here is a small view of a pool. There are actually fish swimming in here with the kids. It´s not like anything I´d seen before. Of course, there are no lifeguards.

Just looking at this lady´s face made me smile, y tu? In her basket she has the fruit I talked about before, called mamon. White juicy, mushy insides.

Imagine my surprise to pull up in a taxi and find about 50+ men in various states of dress-undress, bathing in the water. They didn´t mind my presence, I guess, because nobody stopped what they were doing. These guys were washing not only themselves but their motos downriver from the natural pools. Thankfully, none had on less than underoos.

Me and Claudia. Sorry the light was too low to take any other pictures, or else I would have photographed more of the children playing and the pool surroundings. Unfortunately it was almost dark, so...this is it.

Hope u all are doing well. Take care.

La Playa Salinas (Salinas Beach)

2007-03-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Salinas. Although we arrived before 4, it wasn´t much before then! Aye Carumba! This beach reminds me a little of the Outerbanks of North Carolina. It´s more of a fishing area than tourist area. Pretty nonetheless.

A dried coconut?

Note the majestic mountains in the distance behind this beach house. This is one of the attractions of Salinas.

The word Salinas, like saline, means salty solution. This is one of the salt mines still in use in the area.

The salt crystals close up.

Everything beautiful here is usually so overcrowded. But surprisingly not this beach. It was practically desolate.

Buenas Vistas! Beautiful views.

Some fishing boats taking a siesta.

Boca Chica, Una Playa (a beach)

2007-03-09T10:39:00.000-08:00

I got a call in the middle of my class Thursday from the director. He said that he thought I needed a break from classes to go and see more of the sites nearby. What a relief!! I literally ran home from school to get changed and ready for my guide, Rocky, to meet me and take me there. That call was at 1pm.

At two thirty, we finally boarded this bus. I took a picture from my seat just hoping you all could get a view of what the inside of these bombed out, poor excuses for buses are. See the windshield, it wobbled in the brackets. Note the driver's seat. All of the bus looks like this. I hit my head three times on the top, getting in and out. The people are crammed in like sardines. But nobody refuses a ride even if the bus is packed, they just pack in tighter. Boca Chica is supposedly thirty minutes away. Well it took us markedly longer to arrive.

Finally, it's 4 o clock pm. We arrive in the little city of Boca Chica where all along the streets you can see things for sale. Here are paintings.

Ah....the beach! This journey was worth it after all. As any good tanner knows, 4pm is well after peak tanning hours (which are 10am to 2pm). But I don't care. I'm here and I brought a towel. I laid out for 1 hour just because I had come all this way. My poor guide of course had no desire to do so and waited a polite distance away under the shade of the palms.

An average shop/restaurant which lines the beach here.

The pier at Boca Chica.

No place in the D.R. would be complete without the fruit vendors. I love these guys!

I put this one in especially for Dad. My post card to you!

I wanted to climb up in this hammock and snooze.

Driftwood along the shore.

More bech vendors. These ones were selling clothing. Everything is for sale at this beach, and I mean everything. Women were giving backrubs, braids, dances, and much much more. Just name the right price. A sad truth for some people's survival here.

Local Cutie Patooties in the water.

Nearby the beach, local children play in a dirt park surrounded by barbed wire.

Los Tres Ojos...the three eyes

2007-03-09T05:13:00.000-08:00

Wow! this is now the fifth time for me trying to write something for this entry. I officially hate computers...lol.

Los Tres Ojos received their name because from above they look like three eyes. But really, they are three caves with natural pools within. Here, the trees are reaching to the sky from far below.

This is a view of one of the natural pools from above. The foliage is truly very green, but the sun was beginning to set changing the colors all around.

stalactites and stalagmites, formed by thousands of years of drip, drip, dripping water. Makes me wonder what my faucet will look like in a few years if I don't get it fixed.

Up close to one of the pools. Note the clarity of the water. The water is very rich in minerals.

This is Roque, my guide. He is very mild mannered and helpful. He is the half brother of my director and protects me well. I call him Balboa, because he is so unlike Rocky Balboa!

The only way to get to the third and largest eye was from the 2nd via floating raft. Here we are in the raft departing for the other side.

The raft was moved via pulley system. We were moved by hand to and fro the 2nd and 3rd eye.

The foliage was beautiful and reminded me of church camp. Rumor has it crocodiles live in this lagoon. I didn't see any, although I did jump pretty high when a little rock fell in the water near me.

Lots to do and see!

2007-03-07T15:14:00.001-08:00

Flowers adorn many windowsills in the Colonial Zone.

Per my teacher, this street is one of several used in American movies when wanting to depict Cuba. Of course it´s not legal or safe to do so at this time, so movies are often video taped here and made to appear like it´s cuba. He said some famous movie like the Godfather i think, but you know how much I love hollywood and movies...so unfortunately I forgot. Sorry.

I love las lamparas (the lamps) that adorn the doorposts here.

Ruins of something from the 1500´s. When they tell me in Spanish, it´s hit or miss whether I catch it. I missed this one.

A view looking down at an Ancient Catholic Church.

La Gente (The People)

2007-03-06T13:30:00.000-08:00

Here's some more photos. Once again, it took 1.5 hrs to download them. But, with the feedback I've gotten, I guess people are looking at them and enjoy the work. So, I'll try to keep doing it. I'm doing well so far. No stomach problems or anything yet. I'm not too homesick either, probably because I know it's only 1 month and it feels like it's flying by. Today I was a bit frustrated because it's been a week and 2 days, and my spanish still stinks. I'm trying but becoming fluent in another language is quite a challenge. Seeing that my classes are one on one, there's really no way to fly under the radar, nobody to compare myself with, to compete with, or feel good about where I'm at because of. So, I just feel like a little 3 year old, stumbling awkwardly as I try to communicate.

Today, I visited Compassion International's main office in Santo Domingo. It was very informative. The head guy there even came and picked me up to bring me to the office. The work they're doing is quite amazing. One child at a time. If you have time, check out their website. And really look it over. It's definitely making a difference in the world.

Yikes!! Who's that white chick with the bad hair?!?! Besides having poor showering facilities, I left my hairdryer home. I had heard that the electricity was sporadic, which it is. So here, I'm going au-natural. But see, mom and dad, I'm safe. The police will protect me! Actually, rumor has it the police are corrupt. I haven't seen it yet, but that's the word on the street.

This is a very common site. Here is an auto bus. Imagine how disconcerting it was to see THAT everywhere the first day I arrived. I even rode on one. It's cheap, only 10 pesos...or about 30 cents per ride. There are guys whose job it is to "advertise" you might say. They hang out of the open doors calling to anyone who looks like they might need a ride or maybe want one some day. I thought that they looked like terrorist vehicles whipping around the streets.

Above, this guy offered me his fried chicken. Awe, how sweet! But no gracias!

A proud father and his son. Dominicans, although much poorer than americans, are fairly snazzy dressers, usually. They take pride in their clothing. It's a part of the Dominican Republic that I really like. The average income is 8,000 pesos a month which is about $240/month. Of course there are the extremely rich here who make more than most rich people in the U.S., except maybe hollywood celebreties.

Another friendly family during my travels.

My little shoe-shine guy.

I'm disappointed that these pictures don't show up on the blog as clear as they do on my camera. This guy and his little brother were swimming when I walked nearby. They were very polite. He was swimming in only his underwear, and as you can see, although willing to pose for the camera, tried to cover himself for me.

And here too, his little brother, about 8 or 9 years old with nothing on but his birthday suit and a little sandal (for the camera of course)

They wanted to show off when I arrived and began doing some pretty cool flips and jumps from a nearby cliff.

A trip to the park and I found this little cutie.

A weathered face.

These are the shoe-shine boys of my neighborhood. They will shine anything if you let them. Sneakers, Sandals, you name it, they're there. They work all day and then go to school from 7p-9p. I'm not sure how they learn after working all day, but that's their life. If they haven't earned enough money, they have to go out after school and continue working. Sometimes until 2 or 3 in the morning.

There was a kind of pagan/voo-doo carnival on the main street very close to my house. Vendors swarmed the area. You should have seen the meat and fruit and foods just hanging there. It's a CDC nightmare! The little guy on the left had the job of fanning the meat with that giant leaf to keep the flies away. A welcome treat as not all the vendors were that thoughtful. Trust me, I'm not eating much from the vendors!

This lil old lady let me peek in her house and snap a photo of her as I passed by.

A couple more shoe shine boys.

This guys face says a whole lot, doesn't it?

This boy was picking through the smelly trash, putting on any discarded clothing he found. Dad wrote that the pictures I was posting were probably "cleaned up" a bit for the blog. It's true in this respect: It's very difficult for me to take pitures of the real state of things. Partly because it's a little embarrassing (for me and those I'm photographing) and partly because there's nothing attractive or nothing about, say trash, that would make you want to look at the picture. But I took this one, with Dad in mind, trying to give you a grasp of the world I'm seeing every day. Like I said before, trash is everywhere. The sidewalks have huge gaping holes in them that you have to beware of.

The guys above have to be roasting hot. I was just sitting under a tree with my teacher working on spanish and sweating like a banchee. But they were working with pick axes and shovels in the hot sun for hours before I arrived. And yet, they could still smile for the camera!

Sorry no photos

2007-03-05T15:48:00.000-08:00

I am soooo sorry. I came to this internet cafe because one of my new found friends told me it was very fast. I have just sat here for 30 minutes trying to download ONE photo--without success--and I am DONE!!!! Sorry, I MUST study. Tomorrow is a big day and I can not justify sitting here one more moment.

Just a little update, I had another great conversation with the director of my school. And yes for whoever "annonymous" is that wrote the comment about the spelling of the school. The name truly is Mabraska, which in some language means "journey"...like life...it's a journey. Not Nebraska (what does that mean anyways..lol?). The journey has taught me alot thus far.

I had an interesting weekend and took a bunch of pictures, unfortunately, I can't show them here right now. But I will continue to take more. And hopefully, tomorrow or Wednesday be able to take the time to download the pics.

FYI: I found a small church here that feels like home. The people are open and welcomed me like family. The music was beautiful and although I only got like 1% of what the preaching was, I was so encouraged to be there.

I pray this posting finds everyone doing well. Check back with me!

contact info

2007-03-03T08:07:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and view these pictures. I hope you find them enjoyable and perhaps even a little educational. Unfortunately, I am only in the Dominican for 1 month and the internet connections here are pretty slow. For that reason, I may not be able to send pics or write every single day. But you are welcome to call me or even shoot me off an email (if you want) whenever you´d like. Please keep in mind that during the weekday from 10am-5pm, I am usually in class. So, I shouldn´t be receiving calls. My cell number here is 1-809-504-0259. It won´t use my minutes if you call, but the call is to the Dominican, so check your plans and see what your rates are first.

love and miss you all,
Gracia

Living Conditions

2007-03-03T07:07:00.000-08:00

I walk by this encouraging sign each day. It´s words, common to us in English (the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want) but it´s words in Spanish are similar to other words that give my heart courage, because of their literal meaning...the Lord is my pastor (literally, guide, one who looks out for and cares for me), I shall not ¨faltara¨, which to faltara means literally to be lacking, to be missing or left behind, short of something. A tender reminder in such a strange place for me.

Here is one of the doggies on the streets. He´s taking a siesta after eating scraps. He´s not as flea bitten and worn as alot of the other ones, but sad nonetheless, I think. The state of dogs here kind of reminds me of people. some little pooches, similar to celebreties´dogs, and those many americans own, live pampered lives, and are toted about in their masters proud arms. Meanwhile on the very streets in which they are carried, there are hungry dogs suffering for the only reason that they didn´t have the fortune to be born the right breed.

Ok, I had to include a picture of this. At the house I´m staying, we often don´t have running water. When it´s running, it drips from every faucet. It´s important to try to catch each drop for later. Because, it is almost guaranteed that when you want to take a shower... the water isn´t going to be running. I have taken more showers with a bucket and margarine container than I care to admit. It´s quite the experience, really. Kind of like camping only more challenging, to be honest. If it were appropriate, I´d include a picture, because I´m sure it´s quite amusing.

Lastly, I include this plant that I also pass each day en route to school. It also reflects some of my thoughts. Look closely and you can see that there are big thorns lining each branch. But also beautiful tender flowers. I´ll let you draw your own conclusions, and only say that it does make me think quite a bit each time I see it.

Las Frutas (The fruit) Aqui

2007-03-03T06:33:00.000-08:00

Las Piñas (or pineapple) and other fruit are EVERYWHERE. There´s fruit here that we´ve never heard of like:
-mamon (a red, fruit about the size of a small grapefruit. Inside is a mushy, white, refreshingly sweet liquid with a few black seets inside the size of small almonds),
-caña (which is pictured below) is literally sugar cane. It´s surprisingly healthy in it´s unprocessed form. It tastes very similar to watermelon.
-manzanas de oro are little green fruits the size of kiwi that turn yellow and soft when ripe. Their skins feel like mango skins.
-cajuilitos are redish, dark pink fruits eaten like an apple, and in the shape of a pear but smaller. Inside is a furry pear-like seed surrounded awhite firm fruit which is crunchy.
-There are...Nisperos, quenepas, caimitos, and more strange fruits, not to mention the usual bananas, papayas and other known tropical delights

Las Cañas are sooo yummy. Definitely not a ¨first date¨ food, though! It´s a little challenging not to make a mess when you have juice squirting into your mouth, then you chew the remaining part to suck the fruit out. Lastly, you have to find somewhere to spit the remains and continue eating. But trust me, it´s worth it. If you love watermelon, like me, you´d definitely like la caña. Unfortunately, the caña vendors look the most worn of all the vendors.

Also on the streets are coco vendors. They carry giant machetes (which you can´t see in this picture, but trust me it´s there). They swing the machetes at the cocoas hacking them in half and then scoop out the juice with a ladle type spoon for those who wish to purchase a drink.

La Bodega which is a little grocery store on the corner of the street where I´m staying. It carries a variety of fruits (of course) as well as a host of other small necessities--like phone cards, cerveza, y etc...

Mas frutas!

Alot on my mind

2007-03-01T12:46:00.000-08:00

I don´t have any pictures today. With all that I see each day, and the things I´ve been discussing with my professors, I have alot on my mind. I´m not sad at all, just pensive. We live in a land of opulence. Everyone we know has enough. Actually most of us have MORE than enough...which causes a problem too. But this country that I´m in is one of many. By far, not the poorest. Yet there are many many people here that need help. Need hope. And in the country adjoined to this one, Haiti. It shares an island with the Dominican, yet it´s people are suffering horribly. My teacher was telling me that he has visited there many times. There are many who are so poor they eat mud. They filter it through a screen to get out the pebbles and glass. They hold onto life by a skinny string.

From where you sit reading this, that (and other things that I could tell) sound so far away. They are hard to imagine. Here, I see it as a reality. In the faces of the poor. Yet what can I do? If I sold all that I have and gave it to the poor, it wouldn´t even begin to make a dent. My teachers and I have discussed this at great length today. We all agree, the answer isn´t joining the poor or even necessarily trying in some way to go and help. But having compassion as Jesus Christ did is a start. The bible says that His heart was moved with compassion for so many hurting people. What then can be done with this compassion? I don´t know. Maybe He will show me.

Tomorrow, I meet with the head of Compassion International in Santo Domingo. Please pray that all goes well. Don´t worry mom and dad, I´m not thinking that I´ll be leaving Syracuse to work there. I just want to know if I can or should do more somehow....someway.

Dia de Independencia (Independence Day)

2007-02-28T13:12:00.000-08:00

This is part of our American history. Here is one of he earliest Spanish fortresses ever built from the 15th century. It resembles the ancient buildings
in Jerusalem, doesn´t it?

The Plaza de Colon. The entire fortress seen in the background.

Fountain in the center of the coutyard at mi escuela.

Vendedores (Vendors).

Friendly games of chess litter all the streets and parks.

No estoy en Syracuse!

Even the babies got into the freedom celebration!

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A view of the sea coast, atop an ancient colonial-day fortress.

A beautiful church, housing the remains of some famous Dominicans that I´ve never heard of.

A happy family on the street, riding home after celebrating Independence Day.

This is ¨Abuela¨, spanish for Grandma. I am staying with her. She is a very gracious host. Who can´t help but love such a smile? She goes out of her way to try to make me feel comfortable and provides me wonderful breakfasts like the one below and dinners like the one above. Each one has a special Dominican flair. Above was habichuellas (beans) with arroz (rice) and carne (meat) with Ensalada.

This was fruit (fresh pineapple and papaya) with leche, in the background, an egg and cheese omelet and pan (bread), in the foreground. Muy bueno!

Note the intricate paintings around the dooway, here. Mi professora, Daniella, is kind of hard to see, but she´s opening the doors to our classroom. She works with me for six hours a day, one on one. The program I´m in is rigorous, but seems GREAT so far. I never imagined such personal attention. The director, Rafael, works tirelessly to try to please each student and teach the best way possible for each one. Studying Spanish is like studying the Bible for me: The more I learn, the more I realize I don´t know.

This is the building that my school is housed in. It is very secure and beautiful, as you can see.

I was sure that I had heard roosters crowing this morning, from my bedroom, in the middle of the city. But wondered where they were kept. Here they are! Now I see where my fresh eggs are coming from each morning.

More flores bonitas (beautiful flowers) en route to school.

The local doctor and ambulance were on hand today, for the President´s visit during the Independence Day celebration. His procession drove right by where I was. There was a whole lot of ´´pomp and circumstance´´.

Stained glass window behind beautifully-crafted iron gate

A soldier at the Memorial Parque during Independence Day.

The lower apartment on the right is where I´m staying. We don´t have any screens on the windows. Because of Independence Day, I was awakened at midnight to deafening sounds like cannons right outside my window. Rumor has it that it was fireworks. I find it hard to believe, because those ¨fireworks¨ were the loudest I´d ever heard. All the car alarms in the vicinity went off several times until the ¨show¨ was over. I thought I´d woken up in Iraq!

Flowers that hang from a tree just outside my apartment. They drop petals all over the ground each morning.

Don´t be scared! No, I´m not going ¨Brittany Spears¨. I just thought I´d try braids because the weather is humid and I don´t even have a blowdrier for my hair. I learned why white people don´t wear braids like that! First they only last a short while in fine hair...and for all that pain?? No thanks! Second, our heads are white, very white, underneath all that hair. So, if you don´t want to burn and then peel and look like you have dandruff all day. Not a good idea. Lastly, it just looks like you´re trying to be something you´re not. I´ve decided to embrace my frizzy hair and just make do. Oh well. There are much bigger problems in the world!

I was unable to access the internet yesterday because it was a national holiday and everything except my classes, were closed. And then my camera ran out of battery power today. Otherwise, I would have alot more pics for you. I´m trying to weed through them and only put what might interest everyone.

Alive and well in Santo Domingo!

2007-02-26T13:44:00.000-08:00

Meet Henry. He is the street vendor across from mi casa (my house). Very friendly and just tickled to have una gringa (white chic) smile and chat with him.

ok, so check that out! Wouldn´t the police have a heart attack in the U.S.?? This is just common. Little kids holding on for dear life to mommy or hanging out of open bus doors. I´m sure they never heard of car seats. The sadder thing is that medical care here is horrible. Only one hospital does trauma. And if u don´t have insurance, well you´re out of luck. ommmigosh and the hospitals? woah! They make Crouse´s employee bathroom look like the Hyatt honeymoon suite. I kid u not. I´ll try to get pics of what I mean, but I don´t know if they´ll let me. Stay tuned. Oh, and p.s. I have a Dominican Cell phone now. Of course I left the number back in my room which is 6 blocks away, but that´s the bad news. The good news is that I can receive unlimited incoming calls for free! So, if you have a good long distance plan or want to buy a carribean calling card, we can chat for free. I´ll post the number on the next blog.

Isn´t the local foliage beautiful! I stepped off the airplane, smelled the beautiful ocean air, a wave of heat instantly thawed my frozen bones. Ah!!! I CAN do this for a month. But, unfortunately, the Dominican is a country of stark contrasts: very rich and very poor, beautiful and ugly, and there is lots of trash. All over. Trash and half starved dogs. I am trying very hard not to look too close, so I won´t be able to see the critters y las cucarachas that I know must be there!

My class is hidden by the building on the left. It is directly across the calle (street) from the white building. It is in the Zona Colonial, in an impressively beautiful building in architecture and paintings.

Most everyone here is so friendly. These little guys begged me to take their picture. Note the wooden lunch boxes they are sitting on. All the little kids have them. Home-made. But hey, it works!

Above, there is fruit everywhere! This is one part of the Dominican I can get used to quickly. These bananas hang right outside my host family´s house. Note to self, don´t put a banana in your back pack to eat later, ever again!

Hi everyone! Fortunately, just before I walked into this internet cafe, I bumped into two 20 year old American girls. I was feeling very overwhelmed and homesick already. Wondering, what did I get myself into?!?!? But they assured me that feeling is normal. Both of them have been here since August. At their school, the only issues students have ever had is petty theives. So, this jives with what the professors at school have told me. Violent crime is pretty much unheard of.

Mi familia

2007-02-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

James and Sharon's beautiful wedding on shores of Alexandria Bay, NY.

I think I've watched my dad play the piano since I was able to understand that the beautiful sound, was coming from his hands. I love my pops!
Baby Genesis, just a couple weeks old, with me, soon off to work.
"I'm her favwit cousin, wite Aunt Gwasha?" (:
My big brother, David with Julie at breakfast before church on a Sunday morning.
My lovable, baby sister, Gloria with Caleb and Connor at church.

Connor, after swimming lessons at camp. Note the wiggly front tooth, which hung on for dear life for a couple weeks!
The whole fam at Christmastime! Thank you God for my family!
There's the little princess! "Lee-Lee", being creative at Living Word Camp's Arts and Crafts session.

I love New York (City)

2007-02-11T03:35:00.000-08:00

Amy with a chinese fish salesman. We were starving when we trekked through chinatown en route to Little Italy. But after the sights and smells there, our stomachs were a bit queasy.

Emily, checking out a roadside stand with World Trade Center memorabilia.

Believe it or not, on a warm, sunny afternoon we actually were among a very few number of people on Ellis Island, visiting the Statue of Liberty. Both Bush and John Kerry were in NY campaigning, so we were delighted to explore the Island almost alone. This was truly a rare treat!

God bless America, My Home, Sweet Home!

From the memorial site of the World Trade Center. In the foreground are many, many flowers laid around it by mourners and those who care.

The graveyard behind the church that stood nearest to where the towers fell. It was a quiet, pensive place.

Not the best quality photo, but here are Kristin (friend from Florida), Amy Hock, the Brass Bull near the NY stock exchange, me, and Emily (kristin's sister). We had a riot trapsing about NY.

Here is a quaint Manhattan apartment. I say quaint, but the rent is probably in the tens of thousands!

A serene sitting area, in the midst of honking horns and the hub-bub of NYC's ever-moving city life.

Phoenix, Arizona

2007-02-11T02:41:00.000-08:00

Such thorns!
Every thorn has it's rose? Actually, I learned that cactuses produce a very tender fruit that makes a tasty jelly.

Here's the roses. Of course a thorny plant like the rose, would thrive in Arizona-- with lots of watering, for sure.
My dad's family lives in Arizona. He loves the stark, dry landscape. I think it looks like it's dead, but for the green plants here and there. I definately prefer the lush tropics or even the lush foliage of upstate New York to this barren land. What do you think?

Lancaster, P.A.

2007-02-11T02:29:00.000-08:00

Lancaster has such a wholesome feeling. It was a pleasure to stay at the bed and breakfast of the Nissley's where they treat you like family and go out of their way to help you have the best trip possible. Here's the link to their website: www.pamall.net/jondelane/ . Check them out if you're ever in the area

Outer Banks of North Carolina

2007-02-10T17:27:00.000-08:00

The sun rising on the shores of the Outer Banks of N.C.

Moon view over the channel from our ferry. Good night.

My older sister, Sharon, Me, and my sister-in-law Julie in Ocracoke, North Carolina.

Getting Ready

2007-02-09T06:39:00.000-08:00

In 2 weeks, a plane will carry me away from this bitter cold winter weather to the Carribean for a four week Medical Spanish Immersion program in the Dominican Republic. Already I've begun packing and preparing gear. I'm excited and apprehensive at the same time. This blog is part of that preparation. I will be attempting to keep up to date with it so my friends and family can follow my travels and perhaps visit the Dominican vicariously.

Enjoy!