El Policía

Yesterday I had my first run in with the police...

I was on my way to meet Ozumy, Zak and Zak's brother, Karim, for lunch.  I headed over to the MC and had started walking up the stairs (they are on the 3rd floor) when I passed two police officers.  They were talking and of course, I couldn't understand, but then it seemed as though they said something to me.  Being a good Canadian law abiding citizen, I turned around to find out what they wanted.  The one officer continued down the stairs, and the other one stayed back to talk to me.  I told him right away that I didn't understand Spanish, and he asked me if I understood Spanish a little bit, and I said yes.  He confirmed that I spoke English, and asked me where I lived.  I told him I lived here in Santo Domingo.  He continued to talk to me in Spanish, but it was noisy and I had a hard time hearing him, on top of the fact that I don't understand spoken Spanish well yet.  I was pretty sure by this point that he was hitting on me (and that I was not being questioned for police type reasons) as there were a few words I picked out that hinted this way.  Finally, he asked about my phone number.  I was like, I don't understand (No entiendo!) hoping he would just give up.  Instead he wrote down on a piece of paper something close to this:

Usted se ve muy bien me de le pedia su numero?

Which roughly translated means: you look very well, can I ask for your number?

I said no as politely as possible but he was still persistent.  Then I was saved by the arrival of Ozumy, Zak and Karim.  I quickly told Ozumy to get him to tell her what he was asking me... she did, and he replied in Spanish, "oh I was just saying hi." When he was further away I told Ozumy about the note.  Then I asked her to teach me how to say, "sorry I have a boyfriend" but like most times when I ask what something is in Spanish, I forget.  Later I asked Maria, and I wrote it down: Lo siento, tengo novio.  Memorized!

Jennifer told me today that unless I think I might have done something wrong, to just walk away from the police when they start talking to me.  This goes completely against my instincts.  I mean, if I'm wandering around Edmonton and a police officer stops to talk to me, I stop and talk to him/her.  Obviously, I would understand a lot more quickly as to whether or not they were talking to me for business or pleasure, but still, I'd stop. 

Anyways, more importantly - lunch.  We went to a restaurant called Lasagna near the office.  I ordered cheese and spinach cannelloni with a tomato, eggplant and mozzarella sauce.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised!  It was quite delicious!  Ozumy made me order in Spanish, I stumbled through a few new words... but the waitress seemed to understand.

On my way home - I ran into Orlando!  It was a lovely surprise!

Today, lunch was also quite exciting.  The original plan was to go to Pola with Zak, but just before it was time to leave he emailed to tell me that Pola was canceled and to come over to the MC right away because they had just cooked something.  So off I went.  Joel was over there (he is studying to be a chef) and he was teaching Zak how to cook this sauce for pasta.  It was amazing.  The main excitement came when Joel was like quick, do you have any rum?  Zak said no, but he had some whiskey.  Joel said this was okay and Zak ran off to get some.  Then he made Zak put some in the pan where he was cooking corn and then turns to us and says, stand back!  We're like what?  As Joel puts the pan back near the flame and starts the entire thing on fire.  It was crazy.  Since there were two pans for sauce (one with ham, and one without ham - for me) he did it again for us with my pan, which we caught on video.  I don't think I could do that.  Anyways, the food was great and we sat outside on the patio to eat!

When I arrived home I found out that I had received some mail!  My dear friend Chelsey had sent me a card for my birthday and another one to tell me she missed me.  That made my day!

This evening was rather unexpected.  After altering my appearance slightly, I turned on my computer to see that mom and dad were still at home and online.  I chatted briefly with them but I can't believe that I will see them tomorrow!  Just as I was finishing up my conversation, there was a knock at my door and I heard Ozumy's voice!  She, Orlando, Zak and Rene had stopped by.  Zak ended up going with Pavol to play football and the rest of us stayed at the apartment.  I made some dinner and we watched some Monty Python (Holy Grail).  An enjoyable night.

Tomorrow will be a big day for me!  Taking a taxi alone to the airport!  It's exciting but scary at the same time. 

Oh and coffee update: I am no longer included on the coffee run. However, last Friday, I had to do a survey in Spanish at the office which asked demographic questions along with whether or not I drink coffee, how I like my coffee and if I would pay RD$15 to get it from a machine at work.