We leave in a few days.  I spoke to my colleague, Beatriz Pacheco, who let me know she has spoken with several of our contacts in the DR.  There are two or three families from our school that we will see.  We will also meet and interview a teacher who is a relative of one of our students. Finally we are very excited to be able to meet the grandmother of one of our families.  Beatriz also spoke with a contact from the Parque Nacional del Este which we will be visiting on the second half of our trip.

I have done all the things necessary for this trip:  the vaccinations, the currency exchange, sunscreen, bug repellent, looking at maps, and lots of internet research.  I'm looking forward to seeing animals and plants that just don't exist in Boston, meeting people from the home of my students, eating new food (which I hear is excellent), seeing the Caribbean Ocean, and looking at art from another culture. And still, I  know that I don't know what to expect once I get there and that there are going to be experiences that are going to be difficult for me.  I am thinking about my own students who have come to the United States from the DR and how they must have felt before they left their country.  What can it feel like to know that you are moving to a new country, will be going to a new school, living in a place where they don't speak your language, and where the food is different?  What do they worry about before they come to this country, who do they miss, and what is most surprising to them when they get here? 

I am looking forward to this adventure.  The plans have been in the works for several years and now it's really almost time to go.  There are no more plans to be made.  It's time to have the experience.