June 14th and 15th - Third and Fourth Day in the DR!

Last night we were too busy staying up until 12 a.m. to celebrate our team member Josie's birthday that we forgot to blog. A few of us sat around in the hallway talking and then once it turned to midnight, we sang happy birthday to her. Perfect way to spend your birthday, right? Anyway, yesterday we helped put up the roof and leveling the floor for the cement that consisted of a lot of bucket lifting with dirt. We also collected rocks for roughly two hours in order to fill the septic hole behind the house. Unfortunately, there was only smaller rocks so it took much longer than past years.
All of the people who have helped build the house signed two of the wooden rafters and we put it so the family can see it whenever they look up. This makes the house so much more personal and acts as a reminder of what we have all done together. After we finished at the worksite, Jose showed us the Haitian and Dominican Republic border and gave us a little bit of a history lesson about the relationship the two countries have. The border surprised us all when we saw it. Rather than having a long process to have people come into the country, people are asked why they are coming into the Dominican Republic, checked if they have the documents, and then are allowed into the country. We finally drove back to the hotel where we had an hour to get ready for dinner and nap a little.

Today, we covered the dirt inside the house with cement and made a sidewalk too. We lifted buckets and shoveled all day, but it was doable and we survived as usual. The progress is amazing to watch. Throughout the day, all of us constantly brought up the fact that we have been able to build a functioning house in three days. Once all the hard work was over, we drove to a nearby field where we played a massive baseball game with all of the kids in the community who have helped with the house. Baseball is extremely popular down here so all of them were much better than us. It was fascinating to watch the Dominicans and Americans play the game and be able to communicate with each other even though the language barrier is there. There is also a much stronger sense of community here compared to America. Everyone works together and goes out of their way to help. Tonight at dinner we had Karaoke night and sang happy birthday to Josie and Tim. Kishan and Kelly sang "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift and everyone joined it. We're all in shock that this trip has gone by so quickly and can't believe that tomorrow is our last day of work.