Villa Esperanza

Villa Esperanza

About Me - trying to live a life that is as full as it can possibly be - loving God & loving others

Saturday 11 January 2014

Welcome Home - have an orange....

Look at my magnificent welcome home gift!! Yes, Its an ORANGE!!
This orange made me smile more than any orange ever has before though! And I feel very welcomed by it...


After 7 weeks away, visiting friends, family, supporters and churches in England, I headed back to the DR. Typically, I got caught up in the Polar Vortex in New York and my flight was cancelled...so far thats cost me $350 dollars...which Im fighting to retrieve...so my journey back took 61 hours door-to-door, and was a little irksome, but hey ho. I was safe. Cold, but safe. Ive never experienced -27 c before, and hope to never experience it again! I wonder if it would of been any less painful if I had winter clothes, instead of Dominican ones...

Anyway, I got back feeling exhausted and popped out to get some dinner. I was met by the security guard who looks after the houses around mine. He was delighted to see me, shocked at how white I am and proceeded to present me with this, welcome home orange! How sweet!

People have been so excited that Im back! Its really lovely. Random motorbike men in the town are all shouting their hellos to me, and its a little bit like being a celebrity!!  It wont last long, so let me enjoy it while I can!!

I went up to Esperanza on Thursday and was met by some of the youth football team, desperate to show me their latest trophy. I love how excited the boys get by football - its teh same all over the world hey! Apart from maybe at the north pole....maybe...? Ah, the beautiful game...

Then Evalina came to see me, she is one of the loveliest ladies I know. She came marching over and demanded to know how my Mother was, my Father, my Brother and if I had been in church while I was away. Once she was reassured that I hadnt Backslidden in my homeland and fallen into those dangerous English Ways, she was quite happy again.
Phew, Im glad I hadnt fallen away....!!!




The first conversations are always interesting to me. 2 young men from the village came over to ask if I had a bible with me - thank God for the bible app... they wanted to know what John 16 v 3 said,. which if you go read it (go on, go look it up) you will see makes little sense, and when read with v1-2 as well is slightly worrying... fortunately it turned out they meant John 3 v 16!!


Just one more photo for ya today! This is Sandra and I. Not Sandra from Aguas Negras, Sandra from Esperanza. She decided that my hair was so terrible she wanted to cut it off... I declined her kind offer and instead allowed her to put it into pig tails... classy hey.









So, Im back, and the honeymoon will soon be over. This morning I decided it was time to get rid of all the dust and dead insects, so spent a good 4 hours cleaning by little apartment! I had some interesting uninvited dead house guests to dispose of - sorry there are no photos!!

I start teaching English classes in Esperanza on Monday. Its been a while since I taught English, but Im quite looking forward to it. Im having 3 separate classes, based on ability.

Ok, time to go have a shower. I have no hot water, but I guess thats ok, it is 29 degrees right now...

Bye bye World!!
I'll be back!



5 comments:

  1. Great that you're back home and back to your musings!

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  2. Great to hear you are back and God is using you :)

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  3. I love hearing all of this Claire Bear. I'm so glad I can picture it properly in my head too. Keep going and may this year be FULL of God's richest blessings for you. Love you LOTS!

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  4. Just in case you didn't know (because of your little trouble with colour recognition!!! ;-P), that orange is not quite orange! :P Whether it's the photo or the actual orange I don't know - I never saw and orange while I was there!!!

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