Feeling Blessed

I have officially been living in the Dominican Republic for 2 months now.  Many people have told me that the two month mark is the point when it starts getting difficult being away from home.  I'm not going to lie, I definitely miss home, my family, and all the luxuries of living in the United States.  I had my first real shower yesterday.  For the past 2 months water had not been coming out of the shower head, so I used a cup and the water from the bath tub.  We really do take so many things for granted.  Being so far away from my family is something that will never be easy.  Some days I just want to walk over to my grandma's house and sing karaoke with my sister, or go to a movie with my parents and brother.  And  I could  really go for an In-n-out burger (my mouth is watering just thinking about it).  However, despite having my moments where I miss home, there is no place I'd rather be.

I am settling into my job well teaching English.  They have learned so much.  The last few weeks a lot of different American groups have stopped by the school, and of course I didn't hesitate to show off the English skills that the students have gained.  And you can tell how excited the kids are to share their knowledge with the Americans.  I came here to make an impacts in children's lives and I really feel like I'm doing that at in my English classes.  

Every week, I learn new things about the culture here and become more aware of how poor some of these children's lives are.  The other day a child came to school with a huge burn on his back.  It was a fresh burn and the skin was broken.  No one knows for sure how the burn got there.  The boy's mother may have done it to him as a form of punishment, or perhaps it was an accident with no parent around to take care of it.  Either way, it was a situation that was very hard to witness.  Moments like these, make it more clear to me how important this school and the teachers are.  This school can be a place where all children are cared for, where all children can feel the love that they may not get at home.  I have such a belief that this school can do amazing things, and I really think its on the way of doing that.  I just feel so blessed to be apart of it.