Students took turns reading a statement in Spanish in appreciation of their mothers.
On Friday night we celebrated an event for the students to thank their families for their hospitality. Normally we provide the food for these events, but the families, with their overflowing hospitality, insisted on bringing the food themselves, potluck style. Soon after the event began at 7:00, however, the electricity went out (except for a battery-supplied loudspeaker system), a regular fact of life in many parts of the capital. We marveled how, back home, everything would have come to a halt for the time being. Here, however, no one missed a beat. There was a one-second “sigh,” and then cellphone lights came out and the rest of the evening went on as if nothing had happened. Both the host families and the Goshen visitors had speeches, songs and thank-you’s to share. Every family invited us to come back again in the future, adding, “Mi casa es tu casa.” Until 8:30 did we actually get around to eating. And the food was delicious.
On Saturday both teams played their last games in La Caoba, a neighborhood in western Santo Domingo. It rained before we got to the softball field, but fortunately that was the last of the rain for the day. On average in the capital it rains once every three days this time of the year, but we were fortunate not to have had any games rained out during our trip. It did mean today, however, that because of some wet field conditions, the game was switched to slow-pitch. GC recovered from the loss in the previous game to go home with a win for their last game in the DR.
The basketball team faced off against an aggressive, well-coached team for their final game. With several excellent shooters also benefiting the other team, the GC women had their hands full in a heated game. The team said this was the best game of the five, and they came out victorious.
