I thought it would be appropriate to do my last blog inside the JFK airport since we're half way home.
This trip seemed to fly by fast. It just seemed like yesterday that we were in this same airport waiting to go to Puerto Plata instead of to Buffalo.
On Tuesday we went to one of the public schools in the area right near La Cienega. I watched a teacher teach French and even though I am not good at Spanish or French I could get the gist of what was going on. Toward the end of the class the teacher came back to speak with me, the class was doing group work. He told me how he is not certified to to French but actually history and that he does not have the supplies to teach either. That, and many of the students feel that they will not need such language skills in the future and often don't care. I was happy to see that this teacher cared and had not given up on teaching like I had heard other teachers of the school had.
Later that day we went to the Mariposa Foundation for girls. I am in complete love with this foundation and all that it stands for. I hope to return to it soon so that I may assist by teaching a class or maybe painting a mural.
Thursday was our last "real day" doing things in the Dominican. It was our last day at the school so the entire school, El Nido and Primary, came together so each one of us could sing our song with the group. The last thing that we sing was a good bye song from the old Disney show "Out of The Box". The lyrics seemed to fit perfectly. "It's been great, to play and sing together. But now it's time to say goodbye. Song long, farewell, to you my friend. Goodbye, for now, until we meet again."
I am defiantly going to miss all the connections I made in the Dominican with not only the kids at the school but also with some of the people that I got to work with (Sarah; Shayna; Mikayla; Joylin; just to name a few).
I hope to return someday so that I may share this experience with others.