lluvia

i don't know if the raining season has come early, or if there's some sort of tropical storm or hurricane that i am completely unaware of because i rarely, if ever, check the news. but one thing i do know is that the north coast of the DR (at least from Puerto Plata to Montellano) is getting a really good soaking right now. this has happened quite a bit over the past week or so. sometime around 3:00 or 4:00, the clouds roll in, and by 4:00 or 5:00, the rain starts coming down. thankfully, this is late enough in the day that camille is able to have all of her classes, and i am able to have most, if not all, of mine. my last class has been cut short a time or two, but they're a smart bunch, so they catch up quickly.

for those who don't know, dominicans and haitians do not like to be out in the rain - at all. and in this country, it's very reasonable. the streets, which are pretty bad to begin with, flood very quickly here, so it's very difficult to get anywhere by any form of transportation. and most of the people we work with who live in the bateyes simply don't have the correct clothing (such as rainjackets) to be able to do anything except stay in their semi-dry houses and wait it out. so, when it rains this heavily, there is no class.

so please pray that the rain stays away as much as possible during the daytime hours so that we can continue having our classes. our classes have been going very well, and we've begun to develop some good relationships (although we've had to compete with their love for Brian & Bethany, which certainly is not a bad thing :) and we of course want to continue with this as much as possible, without the interference of the rain.