DR (days 4-6)

day four: this day was quite rough. We set up the clinic at a woman's house named Nancy. She asked if a couple of us girls could go over to her father's house to help bathe him. Her father was very old and close to the end of his life. He was completely skin and bones with no use of his limbs and could not speak because of his disease. He also had sores all over his body from laying in the same position day after day. It was very overwhealming at first, so much so that alison had to leave the room and ask someone else to come help. However, the hardest part was understanding Nancy and her mother as i tried to help them. They talked on and on and knew no english at all. Alba had told them that i spoke good spanish so they just kept on going. At first i was lost, but then words and phrases began to come back to me and i could understand almost all of what they were saying to me. That was such a relief. God once again showed me that He can use me just the way i am. Jen had a hard time with other things that day:) That night we ate dinner in the community with a family that Alba knew. Mayra cooked mangu (mashed plantain) and chicken in this amazing sauce that we mixed with the mangu. After dinner we played spoons to see who had to wash dishes. Mayra's sister lost. As we were waiting on our ride back to the base a car drove by that was blasting music and we all started dancing in the street. That night i also learned that if a kid wants your attention they always tap your butt. That happened a lot during the two weeks.

day five: On this day i realized that the crowing rooster here is like God...no beginning and no end! Throughout the day one of the songs in morning worship stayed with me. It went..."may the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be pleasing to you, pleasing to you, my God. I desire to be your servant, i desire to be a blessing, in your eyes." At the site today i really got to talk a lot with the kids which was fun. I had a misunderstanding with a woman though. I thought she was asking me to take her daughter's blood pressure so i told her that i was not allowed to take the pressure of anyone under the age of 18. She started to get very upset with me and i kept saying "im sorry im sorry, talk to the doctor." Finally she reaches over me and grabs a number to see the doctor, puts it in front of my face and says "teeket" (ticket). I pretty much felt really stupid. That night Jen was all about getting in the shower FIRST. Ha. To her surprise, about 2 min. into her shower she was greeted by a little friend, who she claims was a big friend, but come on jen we all saw it:) So she starts screaming "ahhh thaaahht soo grohhhoos! ahhhhh ah ah!" basically a scream/cry/laugh... quite hilarious if ask me. At random moments the rest of the night someone would start laughing we all knew what it was about. Jen would just say "shut up you guys it was not funny!" Boy was she wrong:)

day six: white water rafting day! Well as ellen told everyone in church on sunday, our trip was quite the adventure. Our guide was very onery and would try to get us thrown out of the raft. During the first 2 min. of the trip, my mom and i went out at the same time--feet over our heads right into the water. Later on mom fell out in the middle of a rapid and hit a big rock. At one point we stopped and there was a big rock about 30 feet high with another ledge about 20 feet high. Most of us jumped off and it was a lot of fun! That night we went shopping in Jarabacoa and ate dinner. That was the first time i had seen little boys begging on the street before and it was so sad. I gave one of them part of my coke and some other boys about half of my waffle
cone. I wish i could have given them so much more because it made me really sad knowing that i never go hungry and our group may have given those boys the only meal they had that day.

days 7-9 to come!

Dominican Republic (days 1-3)

When we first arrived on Monday, June 12 around 7 pm we got a short orientation and then went to our room to await the rest of the group that was coming from James Madison University. Eveyone else in my room woke up when the two other girls that joined our room came in. But i was sound asleep!

the next day consisted of sitting in plastic chairs listening to Nate and Kevin talk about what we'd be doing, what to expect each day, and the dominican culture. The major differences in culture are the ways they express themselves. If they dont understand something, they scrunch their nose at you; if you walk into or out of a room you greet each person by touching cheeks and kissing the air; and they dont point with their fingers, they use their lips to point. The most surprising part was when they said that dominican men see american women as easy and to expect them to whistle, make comments, and look at us in that manner. That definitely happened too, and sometimes it was a little scary.

Around 2 o'clock that day, we had orientation with our ministry sites. We went to the clinic to meet Alba and she told us what to expect each day, taught us how to take blood pressure, and then we talked and prayed the rest of the time.

That night two of the dominican women from the education site taught everyone how to merengue. My partner could use some practice:)

The third day was our first day actually in the ministry site doing missions work. I was really excited and and little scared about my responsibilities. Alba chose me to help her with the patients first (she thought i knew a lot of spanish..ha!) I actually understood a lot more than i thought i would. It was a little overwhelming at first, but after only 2 hours i could figure out what disease the patient had just by the combination of medicines that Alba gave them. It was really fun feeling like a doctor. All the patients saw us as doctors so they would talk to us instead of Alba because there, if they get an american doctor, they think they will get better treatment. So it felt cool when adults would come up to me as i was playing with the kids and start talking to me about their symptoms and where they had pain and ask me what to do and all this stuff...then i felt really stupid when all i could say was "Uhhh, no sé. Necesitas esperar por la doctora." (Uhhh i dont know. You need to wait for the doctor). After my first day, i couldnt wait to go back!

days 4&5 next!

If You Give A Marissa Enough Credits, She's Going to Want to Graduate Early

Well, as you might all guess, graduation was yesterday for greenville and instead of studying for my two hardest exams tomorrow, i am updating my blog. I have realized that my GPA will still be over a 4.0 even if i get D's on all my exams. Sweeeet! Not that i still wont try...anyone who knows me knows that i am definitely type A perfectionist.

Back to graduation...(by the way, that will be me next year!)
HOWEVER, i want to graduate now. High school is just not my thing. Some people love it and good for them but i cannot wait to leave. I can already hear the advice coming from those of you who are out of college....."enjoy high school while you can because you cant go back"...... (this is the part where i put my fingers in my ears and sing "la dee da dee da.") I'm sure if i was a drama queen then i would just LOVE my high school....but indeed that is just not me. I get sad when i think about leaving all my friends, but then, i'll just make new ones in college and hopefully still keep the ones i have now! If it wasnt such a chore to graduate early, i'd probably do it. Thats enough complaining out of you, marissa.

Today was mi primo's graduation party and i got to see my favorite cousin....darah! (ps: She is like #1 hilarious...ha). That darn girl just cracks me up... and i got to catch up with julie who i havent talked to since...probably 6th grade basketball summer camp with uncle gary (alright?..OK!!...OK?.. alright!!). ahhh the good ol times.

Choir-o-rama was an overall sucess even though i got soooo nervous (as im sure everyone could tell) up on stage. I seriously, no joke, drank an entire 24 oz. bottle of water every night before going on stage for "I Will Survive." Then, once i stepped on stage, my mouth went dry. Don't you just hate that...sheesh.

Since im being so positive (as always) can i just ask a question? Is everyone else changing except me? Am i so old fashion to think that certain things are still so very wrong and yet it seems i am one of the only ones willing to stand up for my beliefs on this issue? Should i feel so alone? I thank God for the girl that has gotten me through with many long phone venting sessions, but why is she the only one my age who understands? It must just be one of those things that i cant shelter my friends from, they can learn from their mistakes and then I'll just be there waiting to support them when they need it. Its hard being the one who has to sit back and watch people mess up knowing that the minute you say something, you could damage a friendship. Its hard being the one who isnt having all the "fun" because you are so worried about your friends and what they are doing to themselves. Dont get me wrong, I am in no way better than anyone and i am prone to mistakes as well, but i only hope that my friends will confront me when they are concerned about me and that i will be able to respond in a way that shows i value them. I think that that is one great reason to stay in touch with God. He may want to speak through someone else to get to you, so we cant be quick to say "oh you're judging me." Maybe He wants to see if you'll listen to Him. I dont know, these have just been my thoughts the last few weeks. I dont have it all figured out, nor will i ever be able to discern the workings of God, or the minds of people. Heck, i dont even understand myself.

Boys....need i say more?

Why cant they just act mature? Why is it so cool to make fun of girls and put them down? Why do they think that they are so smooth when all they can ever say to a girl is "...so what's up?" Why is it cool to joke about getting trashed after we have just had a very serious assembly where college aged guys talked about their best friends who were killed from drinking accidents right before graduation? Why is it so funny to put down immigrants in our school, or people from different ethnic backrounds? Today, these things just made me so angry i could have cried (or punched the guys saying this stuff). Can someone explain to me why some guys are so stupid?

Bad Week

I have had a cruddy week and i hate to be negative but im afraid that choir-o-rama week of "you know what" isnt going to be much better.

It all started with my big brother coming home. Don't get me wrong its not like i hate him or anything, its just that ryan being home means the sharing of the car has begun. Ryan also got a job. This means that every day i have to get up 30 minutes earlier than usual so i can ride in to school with my dad. I cant drive to lunch, i cant go home right after school, i have to wait for someone to pick me up now like a little freshman and i am just not very happy about it. I feel sort of selfish for expecting to have a car all to myself, but its just hard because every single one of my friends has a car at their disposal and its not like they want to drive 7 miles out to my house to pick me up so we can hang out. So that part stinks.

Then there is some stuff going on with many of my friends that i just dont understand. I feel like i dont even know half of them anymore. They have become totally different people recently and its like im the only one who isnt changing. Ps: thanks jen for being there.

Then there's choir-o-rama coming up...call me a choir nerd or whatever but i obsess over making choir-o-rama perfect and people in choir have just really been getting on my last nerve. First there's the people who goof off all the time and never learn choreography or vocals. Then there's the people who get really upset with those people and all you hear from them all period and during rehearsal is "shhhhhhhhhhh" and "can everyone just shut up?" One particular girl happens to stand right next to me or behind me in every segment that i am in for the show, she's loud and off key and she is a senior and it makes her mad that i am in front for all the songs and she is stuck behind me and cant be seen from the audience. Most of the drama at greenville starts in the choir...pathetic i know.

Then we have teachers. Thats all im going to say.....that and one other word.
Yearbook.

And on top of all that...every night this week i have been losing about 3 hours of sleep and i cant figure out the problem. I just wake up around 2 am and cant get back to sleep. So that doesnt exactly help the fact that im not a morning person in the first place.

I'm done ranting.
this just makes me mad all over again.
shoot...im so good at that

PROM...PROm...PRom...Prom...prom

yes it's true...im not going!
afterprom, yes, but not prom prom
instead i get to hang out with jeni! and the rest of the people from FM who still actually like me. I have my reasons for not going to prom so dont anyone ask me anymore...no more nagging and no more telling me that i just HAVE to go, cuz that makes me not want to go even more! (now chelsea and susie are wishing they hadnt nagged me so much...ha). I'm still making my contribution as a junior and working hard on decorations blah blah blah...i just didnt feel like going anymore

so i hope everyone who IS going has a good time even though ill be having a better one!

I love Jen(i)!!

this girl is CRAZY!

For the sake of Updating...

Spring break has been pretty sweet i guess...

Friday: bonfire and playing who-knows-what-game-we-were-playing in the woods with half of greenville + jeni and logan from FM. Definitely a good time until i had to leave at 10:30 (!!!!) so i could rest up for the ACT (grrr).

Saturday: TONS of fun with some of the FM'ers (zach, jeni, logan). We went to starbucks for some free coffee! Yay for coffee! Then back to jeni's for an entertaining game of trampoline football and hiding of a certain person's wallet (but neither jeni or i did it!...wink wink). The picture to the left is sorta what zach and logan looked like after they had been defeated by jeni and me (well, mostly me) Then we did probably the most corny thing in the universe....looked at the stars! Haha...im guessing thats how the date rumor started. hmm

Sunday: Church and an impulsive decision to go see "Take the Lead" with my mom (good movie!)

Monday: Work work, blah blah blah

Tonight: Another bonfire at Susie's (yippie!) which = more sweet times to come!

I'm Convinced...God Did Not Create the ACT

The ACT should die....
along with all other standardized tests....but mostly the ACT
This statement totally contradicts what i put in the writing section of the ACT last time i took it.

Reasons why i hate tests:
1. I am NOT a good test taker
3. They make me nervous
4. You have to wake up way to early to take them (my brain doesnt function that early)
5. Afterwards you are completely brain dead b/c you have sucked out all the information stored in there and thrust it into your answer booklet so you basically have to regain your IQ over the next several days.


GRRRRRRR.....

Living for the Weekends!

Well, no pictures to post here b/c my big brother had to take the digital camera away from me and he is @ Miami at the moment....darn

But, last night was pretty sweet anyway...
Basically it was me, emily, kip, matt, chelsea, erin, austin, zach and others that went bowling at McBo's in Versailles. Then we went to China Garden where i had chinese for the first time! (i even got a cool box to put my food in! but i left it in emily's car!). Then we all headed to Roger's for some good ol ice cream. Then it was back into town for a movie. I never knew i could have fun with a bunch of freshmen and only two people my age! Ha! Whadda ya know.

Friday's dance was awesome as usual! I did so well at the limbo! I was mighty proud of myself until the next morning when the pain hit me square in the back, abs, calves, you name it....everywhere (a combination of volleyball the night before and dancing my legs off). The only bad thing was the couple of guys who felt the need to strip their shirts off on a particular song (i think you all know the one). That just doesnt need to happen! But it was still a blast just so lindsey and dani know:)

Let the good times roll...

Well this post is long overdue. This picture was from a few weekends
ago when chelsea, susie, alison and i got bored and decided to go to the Goodwill in Troy and have some fun. As you can tell, we definitely had some:) Then after we had had our good times we went to La Fiesta. I have decided i like it there quite a bit. I didn't have to pay the time i went with the girls because the waiter paid for me! Needless to say I'll be eating there again;) ha

This was last weekend when i went bowling with emily, chelsea, david,
jansen, todd and luke. It was tons of fun especially when we went to pay for our games because they look at the scoreboard names so they know how to charge. Well, see we had all put our nicknames and stupid stuff on the scoreboards so it was funny when we had to indroduce ourselves with those names so we could pay.

This is the scoreboard. The first was Todd (FEF..felipe el formidable), then came david (dafe...pronounced dayfffff), then jansen (jew fish... don't ask), then emily (i won't put her name down), then chelsea (chelsers...boring), then me (pluto...yes there is a story behind it), then luke (lukers...again, boring).

All in all some good times with the friends lately.

Looking into the Future

Here's what I'm thinking...
I've pretty much decided against swimming next year. So, I want to try something new again. Dance. Yep, marissa is going to get her coordination and balance under control and try dancing. That's me over there, wearing my dad's dorky glasses and testing out my dance moves. I'm not sure as to what type of dance I want to try, but I do have some choices. I could do jazz, tap, or ballet. They all sound fun to me. I've always loved dancing so I guess here is my chance to see if I could actually be good at it.

I have the urge to swim right now...hmmm

So, I just spent the past two days lifeguarding for a total of 4 kids birthday parties. At one point two parties overlapped. 40 kids in the pool at one time for 3 straight hours = not fun at all & a HUGE headache. If anyone wants to give me a job...you know where to call because I'd love a new one.

Renewing Relationships...

No, I am not talking about boys or friends...I am talking about my bed, my bathroom, my shower, and basically my life. No longer must i lift my head from my comfy feather pillow at 5:00 am each morning, no longer must I get ready to start my day in a smelly locker room at the YMCA, no longer must I smell like chlorine, no longer must I have dry, itchy skin, no longer must I shower with 16 other girls using only 4 shower heads in which I must bend half way over just to get my head underneath, no longer must I go for insane amounts of time without breathing, no longer must I pack my whole life into a duffel bag, no longer!!!!

and I am quite happy about it :)

Swimming...almost done!

Last day of practice was this morning! Yeah!
Tomorrow is sectionals and i am pretty excited! I really want to break all my personal records tomorrow in the 50 freestyle and the 100 breastroke. That may be hard to do b/c i broke my pr last weekend in breastroke by 2 seconds in the Miami pool (which is a fast pool). That's me on the right...ok kidding...but i wish i was that good. Oh well I will try my best! Let's see, not much going on right now...hence why i have not updated lately.

I've got a confusing situation on my hands and I'm not quite sure what to think of it all. Hmmm....but, however it turns out will be for the best i know.

Well, dont hold your breath, but hopefully once I get my life back since swim season is over for me after tomorrow there will be some more interresting and thought provoking posts. To be quite honest, I don't think I would even read my posts if i were all of you! Ok, later everyone.