7 Weeks in the DR

I decided not to write yesterday because it was just an overly bad day for me.  Nothing too serious, just a lot of frustration at work which made me stressed and homesick. 

When I woke up today, I decided that indeed, it was a new day, and considering I still have months of work to go, I need to figure it all out.  When I got to work, I opened up a new word document and started from scratch.  Lots of extra work, but at least I will be able to feel like the end product is good enough for the client.  Only problem is that I'm still waiting on the answers to a few questions and new data from J.  So there is only so much I can put together right now.  But at least I have a plan of attack, and that's all that matters.

Also, here is a picture of the garbage outside the Chinese restaurant which I had mentioned the other day. This is actually better than it usually is. The dark kind of ring around it is some sort of grease. It stinks really bad.

Lunch made me laugh.  Again, I was at EmpareDado (since I don't know how to order at anywhere else yet) and there was a new girl who took my order.  I thought I was clear with what I said, but then she asked me again which small size I wanted, and the other girl who was nearby (and who has helped me the last few times) was like "6" (the size I always get) before I could answer.  This made us all laugh.  Then the girl was confused and was asking me something about the water and I swear she said 20oz (which is the size of a bottle), so I said yes, but I guess this wasn't quite her question, so I ended up repeating my order and then she understood.  I then proceeded to sit down at my favorite table and when she brought out the sandwich, she asked me a question.  I had no idea what she was asking me, so I just gave that look of helplessness and said thank you.  She thought this was funny, and started laughing and so did the other girl.  And I laughed at myself.  Once I looked at what she brought I decided that perhaps she was asking me if I wanted a cup with ice.  Normally they bring that regardless, but today they didn't.  I have no idea though.  Even though they laughed at me, I think they still like me, so it's all good.

I also have to admit that I've become rather obsessed with Kady O'Malley's liveblogs on cbc.ca.  The political geek in me has been indulging a lot lately in her writing along with several others from the various media outlets.  But there is something about her liveblog that I am particularly attracted to. 

ALSO!  I got served coffee twice today!  The first time, it was already made with sugar (but not nearly as much as the first time) but this afternoon I was able to tell her "no azúcar" (although my azúcar comes out more like sucre - my constant issues with similar sounding French/Spanish words - but she got the point).  I hope I continue to be on the coffee round.  I'm still trying to get used to the small size of the coffees.  I'm a regular morning Grande Pike drinker at Starbucks, so this is fine for an afternoon sip, but in the morning I usually feel like I need more.  I'll adjust soon enough though.

Randoms from Yesterday:

We finally got toilet paper in our bathroom at work after a week without it.  I'm not really sure how this happens.  I've gotten used to having to carry around kleenex when out and about since several places will not have toilet paper, but you would think that at work, I wouldn't have to worry about that.

At lunch I saw the Pola security guard, who stands out near the parking lot entrance under an umbrella, giving himself a dry shave with a disposable razor.  No mirror, just casually going over his face.  Regardless of how silly this looked, it's definitely not good for his skin.