This week feels like it has been really busy - but it really hasn't been.
Yesterday, I had to work late because J couldn't figure out how to put a file onto a memory stick because it kept saying that there wasn't enough room on the memory stick. I didn't feel like explaining to him that if he just went through the massive amount of files he keeps on there and gets rid of the stuff that doesn't need to be stored there then he would stop having this problem. Honestly, he has been having this issue for about a month now. Instead of being like the rest of us who delete the files we already have on our computers, he just keeps adding files. And then when he can't put anymore on, he wanders around the office trying to find another memory stick to use. So I told him to just email it to me. But he took another 1/2 hour to actually email the files to me. (He doesn't use Outlook, he goes onto the webmail server to use his email, but he has the wrong site address bookmarked several times, along with the one correct bookmark so it takes him a while to get there) The file was a template for a CV. Apparently, a bunch of our CVs had to be sent to Argentina. That's all I was told. So I worked away at transferring my current CV into this template. Sigh.
All of this led to a massive headache, so when I got home I went and had a brief nap. In the evening we were all supposed to go to the MC for Peruvian night - since our CEEDer, Manuel was leaving to go back to Peru. So, Pavol, Maria and I headed over there just after 8. We missed the beginning of the presentation on Peru, but since I couldn't understand most of it anyways, it wasn't a big deal. The email said that Peruvian food would be available for us to eat. Of course, I am always optimistic that there will be enough food, so I don't eat much ahead of time. Each time, I am reminded that I should have ate earlier. This was no exception. The food wasn't served until after 11:30. There wasn't enough of the first dish, so a few of us had to share - which was fine. Then the next dish came out which had octopus in. I didn't eat any of this but planned on having some of the potatoes that were coming out next. However, the potatoes came out while the first wave of octopus eaters were at the table so by the time I got there, well lets just say I ate 4 marble sized potatoes. It kind of bugs me that certain people do end up getting enough to be full, while others, who are more polite and reserved, don't. Last night, I wasn't expecting a full meal, but others, such as the taco night, where I contributed $$ to the meal, I expected to actually be full. I am happy though that there are now more vegetarians so my needs (and theirs) are more readily met. However, the moral of the story is that for now on, I'm bringing my own meal.
We didn't get home until well after midnight and I think I got to bed around 1:00am. I was very tired today. On the way to work, my carrito passed an old man who was standing at the side of the street, playing air guitar with a tennis racket while singing and dancing. Everyone was staring at him. He looked happy though. The work day was pretty low key. I went to Pizza Hut for lunch with Pavol and Jakub. It was quite yummy. I left a bit early today from work since I was tired and because I had worked late yesterday. The carrito I got into, I could barely fit in (I was in B4). Literally my arms had so little room to move that I could only just get my wallet and some change out to pay the driver. The guy in B3 got out after Ave 27. This put me into the B3 position, and a man with a newborn baby into B4. I felt so bad. The baby was sleeping and looked as though it were about 2-3 days old. It had an IV hooked up to it and was just wrapped up in a single thin blanket. The father (assumedly) held the baby, the IV bottle and a small jar of baby food. He looked very sad and concerned. The lady in B1 got out next, so we all had to shuffle out. I had to help open the door for the man with the baby and all of us were concerned about him getting in and out. A part of me wanted to offer some sort of assistance. I feel that way a lot here. I always want to help people. (And the stray dogs too!) But I don't know what I can do.
So that kind of put a damper on my mood. I am looking forward to pilates tonight. But first - a nap.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Adventures at Quiznos
Truthfully, I've spent most of the day following the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology... also known as the Great Canadian Census Debate... And, well don't get me started.
I've been fighting with the air conditioner at work since late yesterday. Although happily, it has worked for most of the day today. Finally my work laptop was taken to have a part replaced since when I opened it up, the monitor would start pulling up the keyboard due to something being broken in the hinges. However, this left me without a laptop for several hours and thus, nothing to do.
While Orlando tried to eat the sandwich with all the peppers on, his burning mouth just wouldn't allow it. So he picked them all off, and replaced them with the sweet pickles. To give you an idea, this is how many jalapenos he took off, after eating several in his first couple bites:
Orlando and I also debated whether or not we could get refills. He was especially thirsty (may have had something to do with those first few bites) but couldn't work up the nerve to just go and get more iced tea. Every time he thought about it, someone would come out of the back or the sandwich staff would be looking over. We should have just asked. There was no signage saying you couldn't, but maybe here they don't have to worry about that sort of thing like they do in Canada. Another thing that made me happy were the sandwich baskets that are shaped like their speech bubble/Q design they use:
When we were finishing up our meal, we realized that we had another 1/2 hour of lunch left (I'm not sure how that happened!) so we were more relaxed and just chatting. Orlando held up a small fry and said, "what does this look like?" I looked at it, pondered, and said, "a cartoon character with spiky hair. OR like a mask that you would wear to a masquerade party." After inspecting the french fry in more detail, he came to realize that it could look like a mask on me at the right angle/distance. He took my blackberry and got a photo to show me. I burst out laughing. It was so random and silly, but exactly what I needed to cheer me up. So we spent some time taking photos of each other. I was really shaky for some reason so the ones of Orlando are not as good as the ones he took of me.
And I just wrote an entire post about my lunch at Quiznos. Random. Or pathetic. I'll go with random.
Monday, July 26, 2010
The Ugly Side of the DR
Our internet at home has been terrible the last few days and so I was not able to post more frequently. Hopefully we will get that dealt with soon.
On Friday night, I took it easy at home, having a late-ish date night with Bart and then promptly going to bed afterwards. I worked on Saturday morning and unfortunately got stuck working an extra hour to finish up something for Sr. S. I wasn't too impressed about it, but there is not much I can do. It does make me feel better about asking for additional time off in the upcoming months! I was supposed to meet up with Paula and Ozumy on Saturday after work. Paula was going to come earlier so I could help her look for an apartment in my area, and then Ozumy was going to come to watch Wall-E with us. Ozumy had to cancel as she had to help her mom out with some stuff at home. We decided we'd try for Sunday instead. So I gave Maria a call to see if she wanted to meet me for a quick ice cream at Nacional. This worked out quite well! I got there a bit early so I got my groceries quick (ingredients for guacamole) and then we went and had very yummy ice cream and got a chance to catch up a bit. Afterwards, I walked home and then proceeded to nap for about 3 hours.
In the evening, we decided that a bunch of us would meet up at Hilton for some drinks and food. I ended up taking the metro to the stop near Paula's place and then met up with her and Yeimy. On my way to the metro station Ozumy sent me a message with some bad news. 4 of our friends had been robbed earlier that day. This put all of us on edge. I stayed inside the metro station to wait for the girls. Paula ended up coming by herself, but without her purse or any other belongings. We then walked to the hotel where we met up with Yeimy who came from their house with the purses (Their house is less than a block away so they figured it was safer than both of them coming over the dark bridge to meet me). Our original plan was to go to Gerardo's place, but after hearing the news, Gerardo insisted on coming to pick us up. We were grateful.
When we got there, Sylvia was already waiting for us. We had a lot of fun, but when it came time to get food, we decided that it was too expensive and that we would go somewhere else. We decided to go to Segafredo in Zona Colonial.
There I had an amazing margarita pizza (although not as good as Famoso, I'll have you know!) and a less than amazing cosmopolitan. I really like the place - has a cool vibe. Pavol and Maria joined us here. Eventually though, the place started to fill up and the music got louder. So we decided we'd head somewhere a bit quieter. We went over to Grillo Bravo in Plaza España and found a nice table outside. After another round of drinks, we headed home. It was a late night!
On Sunday, plans changed again. Ozumy had another commitment she had forgotten about, so Paula, Maria and I decided to have another Sex and the City afternoon. We are nearly finished season 2 now. I also made some guacamole which was so fresh and delicious! I'm glad it is avocado season here! Also the avocados here are much bigger than the ones we get in Canada. I'll have to get another one and then take a picture...
So back to the "Ugly Side" of the weekend. So four of our friends - all AIESECers were at Faro a Colon on Saturday afternoon. The area is quite large around the building and includes some sculptures here and there. The group of them walked over to one of the sculptures and within a couple minutes, two men with guns came out of nowhere and robbed them. Cash, cameras, cell phones, everything was taken. I guess they missed one cell phone though and didn't get the keys to the car they had come in. Thank goodness they weren't hurt. But 4:00 in the afternoon! And in a group of four people! It's so sad, I mean you can do everything right and it doesn't matter. I was told that they did go to the police after, but here, that does about as much good as not going to the police at all. I think about how if that happened in Edmonton it would be front page news. Here, it is nothing.
I think that a lot of us feel that it is not a matter of "if we get robbed," but rather "when we will get robbed." That's not a pleasant thought. However, there isn't much you can do about it other than be diligent all the time. It still freaks me out though. A lot. That and it is hard to just accept injustice.
On Friday night, I took it easy at home, having a late-ish date night with Bart and then promptly going to bed afterwards. I worked on Saturday morning and unfortunately got stuck working an extra hour to finish up something for Sr. S. I wasn't too impressed about it, but there is not much I can do. It does make me feel better about asking for additional time off in the upcoming months! I was supposed to meet up with Paula and Ozumy on Saturday after work. Paula was going to come earlier so I could help her look for an apartment in my area, and then Ozumy was going to come to watch Wall-E with us. Ozumy had to cancel as she had to help her mom out with some stuff at home. We decided we'd try for Sunday instead. So I gave Maria a call to see if she wanted to meet me for a quick ice cream at Nacional. This worked out quite well! I got there a bit early so I got my groceries quick (ingredients for guacamole) and then we went and had very yummy ice cream and got a chance to catch up a bit. Afterwards, I walked home and then proceeded to nap for about 3 hours.
In the evening, we decided that a bunch of us would meet up at Hilton for some drinks and food. I ended up taking the metro to the stop near Paula's place and then met up with her and Yeimy. On my way to the metro station Ozumy sent me a message with some bad news. 4 of our friends had been robbed earlier that day. This put all of us on edge. I stayed inside the metro station to wait for the girls. Paula ended up coming by herself, but without her purse or any other belongings. We then walked to the hotel where we met up with Yeimy who came from their house with the purses (Their house is less than a block away so they figured it was safer than both of them coming over the dark bridge to meet me). Our original plan was to go to Gerardo's place, but after hearing the news, Gerardo insisted on coming to pick us up. We were grateful.
When we got there, Sylvia was already waiting for us. We had a lot of fun, but when it came time to get food, we decided that it was too expensive and that we would go somewhere else. We decided to go to Segafredo in Zona Colonial.
There I had an amazing margarita pizza (although not as good as Famoso, I'll have you know!) and a less than amazing cosmopolitan. I really like the place - has a cool vibe. Pavol and Maria joined us here. Eventually though, the place started to fill up and the music got louder. So we decided we'd head somewhere a bit quieter. We went over to Grillo Bravo in Plaza España and found a nice table outside. After another round of drinks, we headed home. It was a late night!
On Sunday, plans changed again. Ozumy had another commitment she had forgotten about, so Paula, Maria and I decided to have another Sex and the City afternoon. We are nearly finished season 2 now. I also made some guacamole which was so fresh and delicious! I'm glad it is avocado season here! Also the avocados here are much bigger than the ones we get in Canada. I'll have to get another one and then take a picture...
So back to the "Ugly Side" of the weekend. So four of our friends - all AIESECers were at Faro a Colon on Saturday afternoon. The area is quite large around the building and includes some sculptures here and there. The group of them walked over to one of the sculptures and within a couple minutes, two men with guns came out of nowhere and robbed them. Cash, cameras, cell phones, everything was taken. I guess they missed one cell phone though and didn't get the keys to the car they had come in. Thank goodness they weren't hurt. But 4:00 in the afternoon! And in a group of four people! It's so sad, I mean you can do everything right and it doesn't matter. I was told that they did go to the police after, but here, that does about as much good as not going to the police at all. I think about how if that happened in Edmonton it would be front page news. Here, it is nothing.
I think that a lot of us feel that it is not a matter of "if we get robbed," but rather "when we will get robbed." That's not a pleasant thought. However, there isn't much you can do about it other than be diligent all the time. It still freaks me out though. A lot. That and it is hard to just accept injustice.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Are you sure that is Reinaldo?
Yesterday afternoon, Bart was questioning why I didn't have a new blog post up yet. I replied, "I have NOTHING to write about!" Apparently the blogger gods did not accept this excuse, because when I left work - I got something to write about!
So obviously the work day was boring and uneventful, however after work, I finally got to walk home (well in this case, to Nacional)! The sun was actually shining - I actually wore my sunglasses! It was a small break from what now seems to be never-ending rain. I was on my way to meet Ozumy for coffee which I was really excited for. So we met up, grabbed a yummy treat from the bakery, then headed to the bookstore café. We grabbed some coffee and found a table so that we could catch up. Ozumy also gave me a small gift - a bracelet with a maple leaf on - so lovely. (Thanks Ozu!) Then Orlando stopped by and he really wanted to get a new book, so we decided to wander through the bookstore. This got me in the mood for buying a new book (even though I still haven't read the two in Spanish that I bought at the book festival). I ended up getting a classic Dominican and a classic Colombian book, En el tiempo de las mariposas (by Julia Álvarez) and María (by Jorge Isaacs), respectively (both in Spanish).
But the real excitement of the bookstore was when Ozumy says to me, "you see that guy with the red tie? He's president of the senate..." and I replied, "Like Reinaldo?" I didn't believe her at first, but Ozumy was adament that it was. He looks nothing like his giant billboard picture... But then, as I looked closer, I came to agree with her. Anyway, he looks much different in person. He's about my height, slimmer than I had expected and older looking. He actually looks more gentlemanly in person, whereas on his billboards he looks like a bigger good-time kind of guy who you would see barbequing and drinking beer. So out came my blackberry in an attempt to snag some photos. They aren't great quality - but I mean, its my blackberry. Ozumy tried to convince me to ask him for a photo. I told her, "I'm kind of afraid of your government." That and there were visibly armed body guards with him in the store. He just sort of wandered around reading books out loud to the others with him, talking politics and such (or at least that is what Orlando and Ozumy told me he was saying). Finally I got to thinking, maybe I should be crazy and just ask for a picture with him. But Ozumy and I couldn't decide how to go about it and then, well we both chickened out. So these slightly far away/blurry blackberry pictures will have to serve as my memory of the day I saw Reinaldo at the bookstore. Oh and he may have slightly brushed up against my purse while walking by me! (Similar to how I'm a transit nerd I'm also a politics nerd)
Additionally, for a refresher on my Reinaldo posts (and to see his billboard mug) you can read here and here and here.
I left Nacional a bit giddy due to a combination of coffee, having fun with Ozumy, the Reinaldo sighting and the new books. I walked the rest of the way home since it had yet to start raining again. Paula came by shortly after I got home and we did a quick walk around the block to check for apartments for rent and then went to pilates. Our instructor did not take it easy on us last night. Surprisingly, I'm not that sore... yet. Arturo and Sylvia gave us a ride home again (they are both so awesome). I didn't sleep very well last night because we got a pretty intense thunderstorm in the wee hours of the morning. When it was time to leave to go to work, it was still raining, but not quite as bad. However, I got to break out the shades again at lunch time since we had a bit of sun! They are still forecasting rain for the rest of the weekend though so we probably won't get to go to the beach on Sunday. Nada que hacer al respecto.
So obviously the work day was boring and uneventful, however after work, I finally got to walk home (well in this case, to Nacional)! The sun was actually shining - I actually wore my sunglasses! It was a small break from what now seems to be never-ending rain. I was on my way to meet Ozumy for coffee which I was really excited for. So we met up, grabbed a yummy treat from the bakery, then headed to the bookstore café. We grabbed some coffee and found a table so that we could catch up. Ozumy also gave me a small gift - a bracelet with a maple leaf on - so lovely. (Thanks Ozu!) Then Orlando stopped by and he really wanted to get a new book, so we decided to wander through the bookstore. This got me in the mood for buying a new book (even though I still haven't read the two in Spanish that I bought at the book festival). I ended up getting a classic Dominican and a classic Colombian book, En el tiempo de las mariposas (by Julia Álvarez) and María (by Jorge Isaacs), respectively (both in Spanish).
But the real excitement of the bookstore was when Ozumy says to me, "you see that guy with the red tie? He's president of the senate..." and I replied, "Like Reinaldo?" I didn't believe her at first, but Ozumy was adament that it was. He looks nothing like his giant billboard picture... But then, as I looked closer, I came to agree with her. Anyway, he looks much different in person. He's about my height, slimmer than I had expected and older looking. He actually looks more gentlemanly in person, whereas on his billboards he looks like a bigger good-time kind of guy who you would see barbequing and drinking beer. So out came my blackberry in an attempt to snag some photos. They aren't great quality - but I mean, its my blackberry. Ozumy tried to convince me to ask him for a photo. I told her, "I'm kind of afraid of your government." That and there were visibly armed body guards with him in the store. He just sort of wandered around reading books out loud to the others with him, talking politics and such (or at least that is what Orlando and Ozumy told me he was saying). Finally I got to thinking, maybe I should be crazy and just ask for a picture with him. But Ozumy and I couldn't decide how to go about it and then, well we both chickened out. So these slightly far away/blurry blackberry pictures will have to serve as my memory of the day I saw Reinaldo at the bookstore. Oh and he may have slightly brushed up against my purse while walking by me! (Similar to how I'm a transit nerd I'm also a politics nerd)
Additionally, for a refresher on my Reinaldo posts (and to see his billboard mug) you can read here and here and here.
I left Nacional a bit giddy due to a combination of coffee, having fun with Ozumy, the Reinaldo sighting and the new books. I walked the rest of the way home since it had yet to start raining again. Paula came by shortly after I got home and we did a quick walk around the block to check for apartments for rent and then went to pilates. Our instructor did not take it easy on us last night. Surprisingly, I'm not that sore... yet. Arturo and Sylvia gave us a ride home again (they are both so awesome). I didn't sleep very well last night because we got a pretty intense thunderstorm in the wee hours of the morning. When it was time to leave to go to work, it was still raining, but not quite as bad. However, I got to break out the shades again at lunch time since we had a bit of sun! They are still forecasting rain for the rest of the weekend though so we probably won't get to go to the beach on Sunday. Nada que hacer al respecto.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Rain and the Awesome Metro Card
For those of you who haven't taken a look at the weather we're having here lately, well we're in the middle of a tropical wave. So it's raining pretty much all the time. I've been lucky that the last two days, JD has given me a ride home from work. On Monday night, he also drove home two other guys from the office. JD and I have similar taste in music. Often he has on either jazz, classical or opera - and this suits me just fine. But the other two started making fun of it. The one guy even said that if it was his radio, he would break it. JD and I had a good laugh about this, so then, to make them suffer, JD turned on opera quite loud and started singing along.
On Monday night, I watched Invictus. While the ending was predictable, I still thought it was an enjoyable and inspirational kind of movie. I was very frustrated though when the power went out when I had about half an hour left in the movie. My battery power was just slightly less than the remaining time in the movie (about half an hour), so I knew it would be close. I wasn't lucky though and the laptop died about 5 min before the end. About 15min later though, the power came back on, and since I wasn't asleep yet, I decided to watch the end.
Yesterday it was raining quite hard in the morning, so I waited around until it stopped raining before heading to work. Again, I was able to catch a ride home with JD. I found out that he actually works two jobs, and that when he gives me a ride home, he isn't going home himself, he is actually heading to his other job. Apparently he goes to the other job at around 7:00am, then comes into our office around 9:30, stays till 5:00pm and goes back to the other job until 9:00pm, sometimes as late as 11:00pm. He told me though that he really likes doing what he does - he sometimes doesn't understand why people pay him to do the work since it comes quite easily to him. I told him that a lot of people would envy that. Then he told me about how he truly believes that if you love whatever it is you do, the money will come. I agree with this. Although he then said this applies to everyone from basketball and baseball players, to lawyers, and prostitutes. Yes. He said prostitutes. But I guess, if prostitutes love what they do, then they are probably good at what they do, and probably make good money as a result. Regardless, I was a little bit shocked but more amused than anything.
I was quite sore still from the hike on Sunday so I was not looking forward to going to pilates. I considered not going, but in the end, decided I'd better. I have to get into the routine and all! The plan was for me to take the metro to near Paula's house, where we would meet, and then catch a carrito to the studio. This was my first time taking the metro on my own. I was hoping that I could finally get a Metro card (the rechargeable/scanable kind) since Paula was able to the week before. Sure enough, I did! I am such a transit nerd. I had a bit of problems telling the ticket man that I wanted the full RD$100 put on the card, but I got through it and everything worked out. I felt a nice feeling of satisfaction over this small accomplishment once I was on the train and on my way. Here is the card (note that similar to Edmonton, they only have one line currently hee hee):
When I met up with Paula, we went to find a carrito. The first one we got into told us to go into the one behind him as it would leave sooner. So we did. But then that guy sat and waited for so long trying to get more people. Even when he had 5 people in the car, he still waited for the 6th. It was frustrating since we had to be somewhere by a specific time. We tried to get him to leave when there were 4 of us in the car, but his response was that he would leave if we paid for the extra seats. Yeah.... no. Paula also told the driver to stop in Dominican! Normally she says it quite politely like she would in Costa Rica. I was proud of her! Pilates class was quite good. Our instructor was back and feeling better so we had to work really hard. I keep forgetting to mention that the way we end the class is by coming into the prayer position with our hands after the relaxing session and then we clap really loudly and cheer. So Dominican... Arturo and Sylvia gave Paula and I a ride home which was greatly appreciated! Not that I mind taking a taxi, but having to pay RD$100 twice a week does add up. Plus its fun to get a chance to chat with them!
This morning, it was pouring rain again, but stopped at just the right time for me to leave and get to work at a decent time. Although the carrito I took must have had some leaks as the seats were damp and there were pools of water on the floor. We went through some massive puddles. Here in the city a woman and her child nearly drowned because of the flash floods, and there have been reports of flooding elsewhere in the country including a collapsed bridge, damaged homes and rice crops. Not good. I'm glad that our apartment is on a bit of a hill, but it would make me feel better if we were a bit higher and further away from the ocean (although normally I am a fan of living so close to the ocean). I ended up having lunch with Pavol, Orlando and Jakub, which was very nice. I also decided to get some groceries at Pola so that I didn't have to stop at Nacional on the way home in case it was raining. I'm glad I did because they had avocados! Finally!
I am also happy to report that I got approval from Sr. S to take off two weeks to come home sometime in the next two months. Hurray! However, I was then disappointed when O told me that at Christmas, we get to leave a noon on the 24th and then we get the 25th off which is a Saturday. Nothing else. No days in lieu. Nothing. He also told me that apparently no one is allowed to take holidays starting in November through tax season. Which makes sense, considering we do auditing and accounting work. I'm hoping this won't apply to the interns, and by interns, I mean me. I need snow at Christmas. And the massive frost build up in the MC freezer doesn't count.
Finally - check out the new options below! And in an effort to solicit more comments and feedback (which I love to receive) I've changed the settings so that you no longer have to have a google account to comment. We'll see how it goes.
On Monday night, I watched Invictus. While the ending was predictable, I still thought it was an enjoyable and inspirational kind of movie. I was very frustrated though when the power went out when I had about half an hour left in the movie. My battery power was just slightly less than the remaining time in the movie (about half an hour), so I knew it would be close. I wasn't lucky though and the laptop died about 5 min before the end. About 15min later though, the power came back on, and since I wasn't asleep yet, I decided to watch the end.
Yesterday it was raining quite hard in the morning, so I waited around until it stopped raining before heading to work. Again, I was able to catch a ride home with JD. I found out that he actually works two jobs, and that when he gives me a ride home, he isn't going home himself, he is actually heading to his other job. Apparently he goes to the other job at around 7:00am, then comes into our office around 9:30, stays till 5:00pm and goes back to the other job until 9:00pm, sometimes as late as 11:00pm. He told me though that he really likes doing what he does - he sometimes doesn't understand why people pay him to do the work since it comes quite easily to him. I told him that a lot of people would envy that. Then he told me about how he truly believes that if you love whatever it is you do, the money will come. I agree with this. Although he then said this applies to everyone from basketball and baseball players, to lawyers, and prostitutes. Yes. He said prostitutes. But I guess, if prostitutes love what they do, then they are probably good at what they do, and probably make good money as a result. Regardless, I was a little bit shocked but more amused than anything.
I was quite sore still from the hike on Sunday so I was not looking forward to going to pilates. I considered not going, but in the end, decided I'd better. I have to get into the routine and all! The plan was for me to take the metro to near Paula's house, where we would meet, and then catch a carrito to the studio. This was my first time taking the metro on my own. I was hoping that I could finally get a Metro card (the rechargeable/scanable kind) since Paula was able to the week before. Sure enough, I did! I am such a transit nerd. I had a bit of problems telling the ticket man that I wanted the full RD$100 put on the card, but I got through it and everything worked out. I felt a nice feeling of satisfaction over this small accomplishment once I was on the train and on my way. Here is the card (note that similar to Edmonton, they only have one line currently hee hee):
When I met up with Paula, we went to find a carrito. The first one we got into told us to go into the one behind him as it would leave sooner. So we did. But then that guy sat and waited for so long trying to get more people. Even when he had 5 people in the car, he still waited for the 6th. It was frustrating since we had to be somewhere by a specific time. We tried to get him to leave when there were 4 of us in the car, but his response was that he would leave if we paid for the extra seats. Yeah.... no. Paula also told the driver to stop in Dominican! Normally she says it quite politely like she would in Costa Rica. I was proud of her! Pilates class was quite good. Our instructor was back and feeling better so we had to work really hard. I keep forgetting to mention that the way we end the class is by coming into the prayer position with our hands after the relaxing session and then we clap really loudly and cheer. So Dominican... Arturo and Sylvia gave Paula and I a ride home which was greatly appreciated! Not that I mind taking a taxi, but having to pay RD$100 twice a week does add up. Plus its fun to get a chance to chat with them!
This morning, it was pouring rain again, but stopped at just the right time for me to leave and get to work at a decent time. Although the carrito I took must have had some leaks as the seats were damp and there were pools of water on the floor. We went through some massive puddles. Here in the city a woman and her child nearly drowned because of the flash floods, and there have been reports of flooding elsewhere in the country including a collapsed bridge, damaged homes and rice crops. Not good. I'm glad that our apartment is on a bit of a hill, but it would make me feel better if we were a bit higher and further away from the ocean (although normally I am a fan of living so close to the ocean). I ended up having lunch with Pavol, Orlando and Jakub, which was very nice. I also decided to get some groceries at Pola so that I didn't have to stop at Nacional on the way home in case it was raining. I'm glad I did because they had avocados! Finally!
I am also happy to report that I got approval from Sr. S to take off two weeks to come home sometime in the next two months. Hurray! However, I was then disappointed when O told me that at Christmas, we get to leave a noon on the 24th and then we get the 25th off which is a Saturday. Nothing else. No days in lieu. Nothing. He also told me that apparently no one is allowed to take holidays starting in November through tax season. Which makes sense, considering we do auditing and accounting work. I'm hoping this won't apply to the interns, and by interns, I mean me. I need snow at Christmas. And the massive frost build up in the MC freezer doesn't count.
Finally - check out the new options below! And in an effort to solicit more comments and feedback (which I love to receive) I've changed the settings so that you no longer have to have a google account to comment. We'll see how it goes.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Jarabacoa
This weekend was the Jarabacoa weekend! Overall, it was a lot of fun and the area is so beautiful! There were many aspects that reminded me of back home. It made me really homesick - but in a good way.
Saturday morning, I finished packing, and waited for everyone else to arrive. Paula and Gerardo came to the apartment and then we waited for Arturo and Sylvia to arrive so that we could head out. I looked as though I was leaving for a week - but we were told to bring things like our own towel and blanket so that took up a bit of room! We made a quick stop at Arturo and Sylvia's apartment to pick up some games before hitting the road.
The drive was fairly uneventful. I was cozied between Paula and Gerardo in the back of the truck. We stopped about half way to get some beer. It still feels weird to drink beer in a vehicle. Once we got to Jarabacoa we stopped to have lunch at a little restaurant. Their sandwiches were quite good! While we were waiting for our food to be made, one of the DVD salesmen came by. Sylvia ended up getting 3 movies, but only after she made the guy promise that they were all in English and were ripped from DVD's not videotaped versions from the theatre. He promised. Paula also bought a CD from him. Two of Arturo's friends joined us for lunch, Kim and Tony. Kim is originally from the Netherlands but moved here a while ago as she married Tony. They run a paragliding school in Jarabacoa. After lunch, we got some groceries for Sunday's breakfast and headed to the house. We were hoping to go paragliding but the wind was too strong that afternoon.
The house was quite lovely, very cozy! Paula and I chose to stay in the room with its own bathroom and balcony! The yard was gorgeous with lots of different trees and great views of the river below. I think my favourite tree was Arturo's spiky tree - I have never seen anything like it before! We decided to take a walk around the yard and then down to the river. It had been raining earlier so the water was not as clear as it normally is, but it was still quite nice. We found some interesting flowers, including the one below. After the walk, Kim and Tony stopped by and we all sat around playing the game where someone thinks of a topic and you go around and say things in that topic until someone doesn't have an answer or repeats an answer. Tiny rum shots were available for those who lost the round. We had a lot of fun doing that, especially our last round which was types of dances - but we decided we had to demonstrate the dances as well. There were moments that it was difficult for me since we were playing in Spanish and English, and a few times, I ended up repeating one because I didn't recognize it in Spanish... Good times! After Kim and Tony went to pick up their son, two more of Arturo's friends came by, who were also going to stay at the house: Orlando and Joelissa. We sat around for a while longer and then ate some unripe mangos with lemon and salt (something both Paula and Gerardo eat back home). We had a hard time finding lemons. We looked at the grocery store, a fruit vendor and at the colmado beside the house (which by the way was the most attractive colmado I have ever seen!). However, on Gerardo's way back from the colmado, he found a lemon tree in Arturo's yard - so all was good again!
The rest of the evening was spent playing Cranium. Arturo and Sylvia were on one team, Orlando and Joelissa on another, and Gerardo, Paula and I on the remaining team. We played outside in the gazebo, which was fun, except for all of the bugs, moths and butterflies that were flapping and buzzing around the lights - and once and a while smacking into one of us. Kim, Tony and their son joined us a bit later for a while as well. We played until around 11:00pm - our team ended up winning, with Orlando and Joelissa close behind, and Sylvia and Arturo... well, they put in a solid effort! We then saw a crazy creature flying around - it was bright green and blue. Pretty, except for the fact that it was rather large and didn't seem to know where it was going and we were all a bit fearful of it. When it finally landed on the side of the house, we checked it out. Everyone told me that it was a grasshopper. Could be, but this grasshopper was massive - at least 12cm long. Seriously. We hadn't eaten supper yet so we headed into town to get some pizza. The Colombian place that Sylvia likes was closed so we went to Pizza & Pepperoni. I had their margarita pizza and it was so tasty - it was all about the sauce - an excellent sauce! We were all very tired by this point so everyone quickly hopped into bed once we got back to the house.
We all slept in a bit on Sunday morning (except Orlando and Joelissa, who went to try to meet Joelissa's friend for a rafting trip) and ate an amazing breakfast courtesy of Arturo and Sylvia. Since the weather still not good for paragliding, we decided to watch Crazy Heart out in the gazebo. We tried to watch one of the movies that Sylvia had purchased the day before, but the DVD salesman did lie; it wasn't in English. Near the end of the movie Orlando and Joelissa came back. Joelissa was able to go rafting and it sounds like she had a lot of fun! After the movie, we decided to go for a hike to a nearby waterfall. Joelissa was tired from rafting so she stayed behind at the house. We had to drive for a bit to get to the location. It was in an eco-reserve and we had to pay to get in. The hike down was fairly quick although tough in some spots because it had been raining earlier that day - so slippery rocks and mud. It was worth it though as the waterfall was beautiful!
All of us, except Paula went into the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. It was quite cold, but once we were in, it wasn't that bad. We went and stood right in the spray - it was like being in a storm on the ocean. The spray from the waterfall was flying at us horizontally and there were waves that kept us unsteady the entire time! It was a lot of fun though. When we went to get out and dried off, it started to rain, so we all tried to get as dry as possible while putting our clothes back on at the same time. A fairly large group which included a lot of children had arrived as well - but the kids were loving every minute of it. They were even sliding down some rocks like it was a slide! The hike back up was not fun - even more mud and more slippery rocks then on the way down. By the time we got back up - I was exhausted! Since we were all so wet and muddy, we decided it would be best to go back to the house in the box of the truck - so we wouldn't get the truck dirty. When we got in and going, I noticed that I had tons of ants crawling on my shoes and biting my ankles! Frantically, I was trying to get my shoes and socks off so that I could brush off all of the ants. Since Arturo had already started driving, Paula was helping me with one shoe while I worked at the other, since it was hard to untie shoes while trying to stay upright in the truck! I ended up with a lot of bites on my ankles - still itchy today!
After we got back, all of us showered, cleaned up and headed into town for a late lunch. Again, the Colombian place was closed, so we went back to the same place as the night before. I had the same pizza again - it was just too good to resist! I also had a piece of strawberry cheesecake. Mmm.
Following lunch, we headed back to the house, packed up our stuff and went back to the city.
Saturday morning, I finished packing, and waited for everyone else to arrive. Paula and Gerardo came to the apartment and then we waited for Arturo and Sylvia to arrive so that we could head out. I looked as though I was leaving for a week - but we were told to bring things like our own towel and blanket so that took up a bit of room! We made a quick stop at Arturo and Sylvia's apartment to pick up some games before hitting the road.
The rest of the evening was spent playing Cranium. Arturo and Sylvia were on one team, Orlando and Joelissa on another, and Gerardo, Paula and I on the remaining team. We played outside in the gazebo, which was fun, except for all of the bugs, moths and butterflies that were flapping and buzzing around the lights - and once and a while smacking into one of us. Kim, Tony and their son joined us a bit later for a while as well. We played until around 11:00pm - our team ended up winning, with Orlando and Joelissa close behind, and Sylvia and Arturo... well, they put in a solid effort! We then saw a crazy creature flying around - it was bright green and blue. Pretty, except for the fact that it was rather large and didn't seem to know where it was going and we were all a bit fearful of it. When it finally landed on the side of the house, we checked it out. Everyone told me that it was a grasshopper. Could be, but this grasshopper was massive - at least 12cm long. Seriously. We hadn't eaten supper yet so we headed into town to get some pizza. The Colombian place that Sylvia likes was closed so we went to Pizza & Pepperoni. I had their margarita pizza and it was so tasty - it was all about the sauce - an excellent sauce! We were all very tired by this point so everyone quickly hopped into bed once we got back to the house.
We all slept in a bit on Sunday morning (except Orlando and Joelissa, who went to try to meet Joelissa's friend for a rafting trip) and ate an amazing breakfast courtesy of Arturo and Sylvia. Since the weather still not good for paragliding, we decided to watch Crazy Heart out in the gazebo. We tried to watch one of the movies that Sylvia had purchased the day before, but the DVD salesman did lie; it wasn't in English. Near the end of the movie Orlando and Joelissa came back. Joelissa was able to go rafting and it sounds like she had a lot of fun! After the movie, we decided to go for a hike to a nearby waterfall. Joelissa was tired from rafting so she stayed behind at the house. We had to drive for a bit to get to the location. It was in an eco-reserve and we had to pay to get in. The hike down was fairly quick although tough in some spots because it had been raining earlier that day - so slippery rocks and mud. It was worth it though as the waterfall was beautiful!
All of us, except Paula went into the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. It was quite cold, but once we were in, it wasn't that bad. We went and stood right in the spray - it was like being in a storm on the ocean. The spray from the waterfall was flying at us horizontally and there were waves that kept us unsteady the entire time! It was a lot of fun though. When we went to get out and dried off, it started to rain, so we all tried to get as dry as possible while putting our clothes back on at the same time. A fairly large group which included a lot of children had arrived as well - but the kids were loving every minute of it. They were even sliding down some rocks like it was a slide! The hike back up was not fun - even more mud and more slippery rocks then on the way down. By the time we got back up - I was exhausted! Since we were all so wet and muddy, we decided it would be best to go back to the house in the box of the truck - so we wouldn't get the truck dirty. When we got in and going, I noticed that I had tons of ants crawling on my shoes and biting my ankles! Frantically, I was trying to get my shoes and socks off so that I could brush off all of the ants. Since Arturo had already started driving, Paula was helping me with one shoe while I worked at the other, since it was hard to untie shoes while trying to stay upright in the truck! I ended up with a lot of bites on my ankles - still itchy today!
After we got back, all of us showered, cleaned up and headed into town for a late lunch. Again, the Colombian place was closed, so we went back to the same place as the night before. I had the same pizza again - it was just too good to resist! I also had a piece of strawberry cheesecake. Mmm.
Following lunch, we headed back to the house, packed up our stuff and went back to the city.
Door Bouncing
Pilates on Thursday night turned out to be a bit different than what I was expecting for the evening. Our instructor was still sick so the karate instructor ended up teaching us instead. The session only lasted for half an hour and was not very "flow-y," however, I did enjoy a few of the extra leg moves he had us do. Paula and I took a taxi home again, but this time we called 'her taxi driver' so we had no issues. When I got home, I sat around with the guys for a bit while making dinner. I also added the French and Japanese language packs to my rosetta stone. You know, in case one day I want to a) learn Japanese or b) brush up on my French. For now though, I'll stick to Spanish.
My Friday morning was pretty regular. I struggled to get myself out of bed and ready to go, wandered over to the spot where I catch the carrito, and off I went to the office. At first I was in B4 but then the guy in B2 got out, so I switched into B3. Just past Nacional, an older lady went to get into B4. So I scooted my bum up and pushed my knees over to the left to give her room. Instead she tapped me on the shoulder and told me to sit back. Well, whatever, so I sat back. So then she squished with her bum on the edge of the seat and knees to the left. Of course this left her in a position in which she was unable to close the door. So I had to reach to do it. But she was a chubby sort of older lady and the door kind of bounced off her when I went to close it. It closed, but not fully. She gave me this sort of look of shock. I didn't know what else I was supposed to do. Then she decided to continue to talk to me in Spanish. I was too tired to do anything about this so I just looked at her and smiled.
As previously mentioned, I hadn't gotten paid on Thursday. I was hoping that in the morning I would see A so that I could ask her if I could come to her office to get the money. I didn't see her though. Just as I had decided to go and ask someone, and even got Paula to teach me how to say it in Spanish, creepy guy (who has been less creepy lately) came and gave me my pay. Funny and embarassing thing was, he reached out his hand in a kind of weird way, and I thought he wanted a pen (which I didn't have - but was needed for signing the page) but it turns out he wanted to shake my hand. I appologized for my stupidity, shook his hand and laughed it off.
Then on the way to Pola to get my lunch, I walked by the old man that I walk by everyday who sits selling candy and other small confection items. Everyday he calls me "linda" (beautiful). I'm still not quite used to this, in general, but today, I decided that with him, I needed to just be used to it. I mean I still have to walk by him everyday to go to lunch for the next 7.5 months. I can't let it make me feel uncomfortable anymore! Then, at Pola, I was waiting to get some of the cheese lasagne (literally lasagne noodles, cheese and the slightest hint of sauce), and a guy asked me something in Spanish. I reverted to my standby, "lo siento, no entiendo español," to which he replied, "ingles?" "Si," I said. He asked me what my name was, so I told him, then he told me his, I said it was nice to meet him. Then he tried to ask me what I was waiting for. I pointed to the lasagne. He then proceeded to get the server's attention and get me a piece of lasagne. It was very nice of him. And then he just went about the rest of his day. This entire experience made me feel better about Dominican men, in general (sorry, no offense to all the awesome Dominican guys I do know!). Anyway, it was a tasty lunch, all for RD$136 and included the lasagne, garlic-butter potatoes, the tomato/cheese salad and a bottle of water. And yes mom, I know I'm posting yet another food picture, but I don't care.
My Friday morning was pretty regular. I struggled to get myself out of bed and ready to go, wandered over to the spot where I catch the carrito, and off I went to the office. At first I was in B4 but then the guy in B2 got out, so I switched into B3. Just past Nacional, an older lady went to get into B4. So I scooted my bum up and pushed my knees over to the left to give her room. Instead she tapped me on the shoulder and told me to sit back. Well, whatever, so I sat back. So then she squished with her bum on the edge of the seat and knees to the left. Of course this left her in a position in which she was unable to close the door. So I had to reach to do it. But she was a chubby sort of older lady and the door kind of bounced off her when I went to close it. It closed, but not fully. She gave me this sort of look of shock. I didn't know what else I was supposed to do. Then she decided to continue to talk to me in Spanish. I was too tired to do anything about this so I just looked at her and smiled.
As previously mentioned, I hadn't gotten paid on Thursday. I was hoping that in the morning I would see A so that I could ask her if I could come to her office to get the money. I didn't see her though. Just as I had decided to go and ask someone, and even got Paula to teach me how to say it in Spanish, creepy guy (who has been less creepy lately) came and gave me my pay. Funny and embarassing thing was, he reached out his hand in a kind of weird way, and I thought he wanted a pen (which I didn't have - but was needed for signing the page) but it turns out he wanted to shake my hand. I appologized for my stupidity, shook his hand and laughed it off.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
I Miss Direct Deposits
Today was payday. Now, the process in which I get paid is rather, well, old school. Twice a month, I get told to go into a back office, I get some cash and I sign a piece of paper. Usually I have to wait at work a bit longer than I usually stay, until I am able to go in and get paid. So today, I sat and waited. It was after 6:00pm when I finally decided that I should check to make sure that we were actually getting paid today. So I asked J and he said, "Yes, I already got mine," and then he asked me for a "Trident." He told me to go back and get mine. So I did, and everyone from that department was gone. Great.
Now I guess this is partially my fault - perhaps I should have asked sooner or went to check for myself. BUT since the first payday, someone has always told me that it was my turn to go. ALWAYS. No one has actually told me the procedure. (This reminds me of how no one even showed me where the washroom was, let alone any other important aspect of the office when I started) So I left, an hour late, with no money. I was just a little bit frustrated.
In regards to the rest of the day... I had a good morning since JD and his BMW happened upon me while I was waiting for a carrito and gave me a lift to work! On my way home, there was a man standing at the corner near my apartment without a shirt on holding a large machete, which made me slightly anxious. Someone ate my remaining 3 big carrots, which I was hoping to have as a snack before pilates. And by someone, I mean, one of my lovely roommates. It's alright though, I'll just look for 3 new big carrots to appear in my fridge sometime soon.
And off to pilates I go...
Now I guess this is partially my fault - perhaps I should have asked sooner or went to check for myself. BUT since the first payday, someone has always told me that it was my turn to go. ALWAYS. No one has actually told me the procedure. (This reminds me of how no one even showed me where the washroom was, let alone any other important aspect of the office when I started) So I left, an hour late, with no money. I was just a little bit frustrated.
In regards to the rest of the day... I had a good morning since JD and his BMW happened upon me while I was waiting for a carrito and gave me a lift to work! On my way home, there was a man standing at the corner near my apartment without a shirt on holding a large machete, which made me slightly anxious. Someone ate my remaining 3 big carrots, which I was hoping to have as a snack before pilates. And by someone, I mean, one of my lovely roommates. It's alright though, I'll just look for 3 new big carrots to appear in my fridge sometime soon.
And off to pilates I go...
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Dominican Plumbers
I really wish I had updated my blog more in the past 4 days... Now I have too much to write about.
So Friday. Despite its bad beginning of no electricity or air conditioning, it ended very well. Gerardo and Paula picked me up for dinner and we went to Jardin Verde. We were supposed to meet up with Ozumy and Sylvia but they both cancelled. The three of us ended up having a good time anyways. The restaurant feels like being in someone's home. Or in this case, their car port. The owners children and some of their friends/relatives were outside kicking a ball around. The oldest (and roundest) child was constantly making faces at Paula. Gerardo even got hit by the ball during the process of our meal. Our waiter was quite odd. It was like he was angry at us for asking questions about the dishes. I think it was his way of trying to flirt with Paula. He kept being like "what now!" We ended up having some of their dumplings and plantanos to start. I loved that the dumplings were bright pink and green.
And of course, you can't go to Jardin Verde and not have a Frozen Chinola:
Paula and I decided to try their hamburguesa integral. It was different than your average soy based hamburger. For starters, it came with a fried egg on top (which reminded me of a few meals I had in Japan that came the same way) and had a slice of apple in as well. It was the soy patty that got to me though. The texture just wasn't appetizing. I couldn't finish the entire burger.
Somehow Paula got the waiter to give us a pot of tea for free. We had their chamomile tea. It was interesting because it had the actual flowers filling up the pot, but I quite enjoyed it. The teapot was also very cute. While we sat and chatted and sipped our tea, the waiter we had left to do a delivery. When we wanted our bill, the owner went to get it for us. At first he thought that all we had was the tea, but then we said no, we had other stuff, but the tea was free. It was confusing. The owner doesn't speak much Spanish so he sat down at our table and went through all of the items we had to ensure he did the bill correctly. It was rather amusing. All of the randomness of the evening made it even more enjoyable.
On Saturday, the plumber was supposed to come. So I stayed at home, waiting. No one showed up. Turns out the landlady forgot to call Pavol to tell him she couldn't get someone in that day. I'm not going to lie, I didn't mind. I got some extra sleep and didn't have to go to work! I took it easy for the entire day, for the most part. I did run out to get some groceries which turned out to be quite enjoyable for some reason. I ended up taking a carrito there and walking home. I'm glad I did that because when I was walking home, traffic got very backed up because there was a sort of mini movie crew shooting something on the street, and thus blocking one direction of traffic. The walk home was quite nice, it was hot out but since I was in my regular clothes (and not dress clothes like I usually am) it was pleasant. Like usual, Bart and I had our weekly date night, which was a lot of fun - as it always is.
On Sunday, I attempted to sleep in a bit before going to watch the World Cup final. I'm glad I got up when I did though because I soon found out that everyone seemed to be on their way or no longer going to watch the game. I ended up catching a ride with Manuel, although we had to go to the MC to pick up people from there. Of course, no one was ready when we arrived, so we just chilled for a bit until everyone was ready. We ended up having 10 people though so we had to call a taxi to take half of us. We headed over to Alejandra's place which is quite a ways west of where most of us live. Their apartment is quite lovely and has nice views. I decided to cheer for the Netherlands, and thus was a bit disappointed when they lost. Not a big deal though since I don't really follow football... Here are some pictures from that day:
We decided to go to Acropolis Center to get some dinner and watch a movie. I was hoping that Sex and the City was still playing, but it wasn't. All of us ended up watching Shrek in 3D. I wasn't overly impressed with the movie. It wasn't nearly as funny as the previous ones.
Work yesterday was alright. I was quite busy finishing up the financial statement translation and FINALLY completing the final draft up the big project that was supposed to be done months ago... After work I met up with Paula and Maria at Acropolis to check out the sale at Zara. I ended up getting some new dress pants and a dress shirt.
This morning, after another ice cold shower, I became really frustrated and angry about the entire situation. I was so relieved when Pavol told me that the plumber was coming this morning! They actually arrived on time (Pavol had apparently stressed to the landlady that they needed to be there at 9am, European time). I was quite amused since two of them came in. One carrying a bucket with some tools in. The power had went out about half an hour earlier and had yet to come back on. The plumbers didn't even have a flashlight. They were literally using their cell phone to get some light into the cupboard. Anyway, because the power was out they were unable to do any tests since, well the hot water tank needs electricity. A part of me wanted to cry. So now we have to reschedule them to come back another day. Which means at least one more ice cold shower for me. Ah, life in the DR...
I spent the entire work day in Sr. S's office reviewing the final version of the report. It was pretty boring for me as I only had work when either Sr. S or J found something to change. However, I got lunch out of it, which was so yummy. It was a pasta with a cheesy, creamy white sauce. It was so rich and heavenly! And then it came with a side of bread and we had strawberry juice. So good. It completely turned my day around! And then in the afternoon, Sr. S said, "Aye Carumba!" twice. I was greatly amused. I ended up working until 6:30, but Sr. S had A take me home again. I was supposed to meet up with Paula at my house, but she took the Metro in the opposite direction so our meeting time got pushed back a bit. We rushed via carrito to Plaza Central so that Paula could quickly buy some yoga pants. We found some that she liked and made it to the pilates studio on time. Our instructor wasn't feeling well so it wasn't as lively as last week. Still a good workout though! After class Paula and I called a taxi to take us home. When it finally arrived and we got in, Paula turned to me and said, "it's him - the guy who took my RD$1000!" (Quick background: one day Paula was taking the taxi to my house, and she accidentally gave the driver the $1000 instead of the $200, but he didn't say anything and let her get out of the car. And it was during the day so he could have seen) So she starts arguing with the taxi driver, getting upset that he took her $1000 and didn't say anything - he's arguing back but I can't understand him as well as I can understand Paula. Anyway, by the time we reached my place, they were still arguing over this. But about 5 minutes later, Paula called me to tell me that she didn't need the $100 I had given her since the driver agreed that this trip would be for free. Ah adventures!
And of course, you can't go to Jardin Verde and not have a Frozen Chinola:
Paula and I decided to try their hamburguesa integral. It was different than your average soy based hamburger. For starters, it came with a fried egg on top (which reminded me of a few meals I had in Japan that came the same way) and had a slice of apple in as well. It was the soy patty that got to me though. The texture just wasn't appetizing. I couldn't finish the entire burger.
On Saturday, the plumber was supposed to come. So I stayed at home, waiting. No one showed up. Turns out the landlady forgot to call Pavol to tell him she couldn't get someone in that day. I'm not going to lie, I didn't mind. I got some extra sleep and didn't have to go to work! I took it easy for the entire day, for the most part. I did run out to get some groceries which turned out to be quite enjoyable for some reason. I ended up taking a carrito there and walking home. I'm glad I did that because when I was walking home, traffic got very backed up because there was a sort of mini movie crew shooting something on the street, and thus blocking one direction of traffic. The walk home was quite nice, it was hot out but since I was in my regular clothes (and not dress clothes like I usually am) it was pleasant. Like usual, Bart and I had our weekly date night, which was a lot of fun - as it always is.
On Sunday, I attempted to sleep in a bit before going to watch the World Cup final. I'm glad I got up when I did though because I soon found out that everyone seemed to be on their way or no longer going to watch the game. I ended up catching a ride with Manuel, although we had to go to the MC to pick up people from there. Of course, no one was ready when we arrived, so we just chilled for a bit until everyone was ready. We ended up having 10 people though so we had to call a taxi to take half of us. We headed over to Alejandra's place which is quite a ways west of where most of us live. Their apartment is quite lovely and has nice views. I decided to cheer for the Netherlands, and thus was a bit disappointed when they lost. Not a big deal though since I don't really follow football... Here are some pictures from that day:
We decided to go to Acropolis Center to get some dinner and watch a movie. I was hoping that Sex and the City was still playing, but it wasn't. All of us ended up watching Shrek in 3D. I wasn't overly impressed with the movie. It wasn't nearly as funny as the previous ones.
Work yesterday was alright. I was quite busy finishing up the financial statement translation and FINALLY completing the final draft up the big project that was supposed to be done months ago... After work I met up with Paula and Maria at Acropolis to check out the sale at Zara. I ended up getting some new dress pants and a dress shirt.
This morning, after another ice cold shower, I became really frustrated and angry about the entire situation. I was so relieved when Pavol told me that the plumber was coming this morning! They actually arrived on time (Pavol had apparently stressed to the landlady that they needed to be there at 9am, European time). I was quite amused since two of them came in. One carrying a bucket with some tools in. The power had went out about half an hour earlier and had yet to come back on. The plumbers didn't even have a flashlight. They were literally using their cell phone to get some light into the cupboard. Anyway, because the power was out they were unable to do any tests since, well the hot water tank needs electricity. A part of me wanted to cry. So now we have to reschedule them to come back another day. Which means at least one more ice cold shower for me. Ah, life in the DR...
I spent the entire work day in Sr. S's office reviewing the final version of the report. It was pretty boring for me as I only had work when either Sr. S or J found something to change. However, I got lunch out of it, which was so yummy. It was a pasta with a cheesy, creamy white sauce. It was so rich and heavenly! And then it came with a side of bread and we had strawberry juice. So good. It completely turned my day around! And then in the afternoon, Sr. S said, "Aye Carumba!" twice. I was greatly amused. I ended up working until 6:30, but Sr. S had A take me home again. I was supposed to meet up with Paula at my house, but she took the Metro in the opposite direction so our meeting time got pushed back a bit. We rushed via carrito to Plaza Central so that Paula could quickly buy some yoga pants. We found some that she liked and made it to the pilates studio on time. Our instructor wasn't feeling well so it wasn't as lively as last week. Still a good workout though! After class Paula and I called a taxi to take us home. When it finally arrived and we got in, Paula turned to me and said, "it's him - the guy who took my RD$1000!" (Quick background: one day Paula was taking the taxi to my house, and she accidentally gave the driver the $1000 instead of the $200, but he didn't say anything and let her get out of the car. And it was during the day so he could have seen) So she starts arguing with the taxi driver, getting upset that he took her $1000 and didn't say anything - he's arguing back but I can't understand him as well as I can understand Paula. Anyway, by the time we reached my place, they were still arguing over this. But about 5 minutes later, Paula called me to tell me that she didn't need the $100 I had given her since the driver agreed that this trip would be for free. Ah adventures!
Friday, July 9, 2010
Pilates! In Spanish!
For the past few days I've been busy at work attempting to translate financial statements from Spanish to English. This is tedious at best, since first of all, my Spanish is not that good and I may have forgotten much of my accounting classes, thus sometimes struggle with the proper wording in English. But, soon I will be able to read accounting documents in Spanish! I'm sure that's going to come in handy at some point in the future, right?
On Wednesday the usual group (minus a few, plus a few) went to the movies. We had decided in Toy Story 3 (In Spanish). The plan was to meet at Nacional at 6:15 and then catch a taxi over to the theatre. I met up with Orlando, Pavol and David there. We thought that the MC team was going to meet us there as well, but luckily we didn't bother to wait for them since we found out later that they decided to go on their own. There was one taxi driver waiting at Nacional, so Pavol went to ask him if he could take us. At first he wanted RD$170 for the trip. This is too much since most companies will charge RD$150 for rides that are further than that. Pavol got him to agree on RD$150. So we started to get into the car and he's like no, not 4 people. Pavol got angry about this, and told the taxi driver in Spanish that he has a car that fits 5 people, its not like we are trying to put in more people that seats. This guy was crazy - like he refused to take us because we were 4 people instead of 3. Seriously - it costs you the same to take us! So we ended up calling our own taxi who would take all 4 of us for the right price. However, that taxi didn't show up but we found another one who agreed to the same terms. He was a very nice driver. When we got going, he had a song on the radio that Orlando liked, so Orlando started singing along, but as soon as he did, the driver switched to another station. I told Orlando that the driver must not like his singing. haha. He later turned it back to that station and Orlando was able to sing again.
When we arrived we met up with everyone else. Unfortunately "group" movie night didn't really happen since a few people decided to see another movie instead. I was really hungry and ended up getting nachos and popcorn to eat. We were also hoping to meet up with Sylvia and her boyfriend. We were calling back and forth about where we were at various moments. They were running a bit late and ended up getting tickets to the English version. This confused me as I was positive the theatre we were at only had it in Spanish. The movie was excellent! I was impressed by how much I understood - granted I think cartoons are much easier to understand than say, Robin Hood. Since Ozumy was unable to come with us, I may go with her to see it again. Anyway, after the movie, I called Sylvia to see if there movie was out already. It was and she said she couldn't find us. I said, we're just out front of the theatre. She said they just left but would come back up. Okay I said. So I was looking for her and several minutes passed and I didn't see her. She called me back and said, "are you out front of the theatre or out front of acropolis?" hahahaha turns out Sylvia and her boyfriend went to the theatre in Acropolis Centre, not Cinema Central. Which explains why they were able to see the movie in English and we were not! Anyways, we had a good chuckle about this.
Pavol, Maria, David and I walked a few blocks to catch the metro to go home. Unfortunately, it started raining just before we got to the Metro station. So we were a bit wet. I was exhausted by the time I got home and essentially went straight to bed.
When I got home yesterday, I found Pavol mopping up a lot of water with a towel. Turns out our water heater started leaking. Anyway, I had to quickly talk to mom, eat and get ready for pilates so I didn't really take a good look at it. So, off to pilates I went. Well Sylvia and her boyfriend picked me up first, and took me there - which was very gracious of them and greatly appreciated! I met Sylvia's friend Nathalie who is also taking the class. She seems lovely as well. There were 7 of us in total, including an older gentleman that seemed to be having fun! The teacher is a little crazy - she's like one of those insanely happy people. I really like her though. She took us through the hour long workout and helped me out when I didn't understand (even gave a few instructions in English!) and even told Sylvia and I to not do a couple of the exercises since we were newbies. Well I was sold! So I signed up for the full month!
When I arrived home, the floor seemed more wet so I grabbed another towel to put down. I had my daily chat with Bart and then decided to investigate the water heater further. When I went in there with my flashlight, I noticed that there was a shut off valve for the cold water entry, so I turned that off. I wrung out the towels 3 times each and put them back on the floor just in case there would be more residual leakage. I left a note for Pavol telling him that I had turned the water source off and that I hoped it wouldn't affect our shower, which would be cold. In the morning, when I got up the floor was again soaking wet. I wrung out the towels again, had my shower and then went to check out the situation again. When I looked inside the shut off valve was back where it was before. Pavol came out and I asked him if he had turned the valve off last night (thinking that perhaps the way the valve was set up was backwards from how they are in my house at home). He said he did and I was like, "oh crap, then I turned it back on". I went to finish getting ready and then thought about the situation more and realized that if it was turned off again now, why was there so much water when I got up? I asked Pavol again, turns out what he meant by he shut it off last night, was that he "shut it off" at 2am. After I had actually shut it off. Confusion. So we put it back to the way I had it and Pavol made the call to the landlady (who didn't answer). I ended up staying at the house for a bit in case the landlady wanted to come by to see the situation when Pavol finally got ahold of her. However, I guess he was convincing enough because she said she would send a plumber tomorrow morning. I also saw the new baby lizard. I've decided that because of the graceful swishing it does of its tail that its a she.
So I was late getting into work, but like usual, I was still there before quite a few people. The morning at work was extremely frustrating as our power was off for about 90% of the morning and early afternoon. Which meant that my laptop was dead and since it was raining, it was really dark in the office (see picture). Finally just before 2 it came back on and his been on ever since. One good thing about the power being out and it raining was that Sr.S had lunch ordered in! I'm always a fan of free lunch! As the day passes by I am getting more and more sore from the pilates class. It feels good though - I like knowing I got a good workout!
On Wednesday the usual group (minus a few, plus a few) went to the movies. We had decided in Toy Story 3 (In Spanish). The plan was to meet at Nacional at 6:15 and then catch a taxi over to the theatre. I met up with Orlando, Pavol and David there. We thought that the MC team was going to meet us there as well, but luckily we didn't bother to wait for them since we found out later that they decided to go on their own. There was one taxi driver waiting at Nacional, so Pavol went to ask him if he could take us. At first he wanted RD$170 for the trip. This is too much since most companies will charge RD$150 for rides that are further than that. Pavol got him to agree on RD$150. So we started to get into the car and he's like no, not 4 people. Pavol got angry about this, and told the taxi driver in Spanish that he has a car that fits 5 people, its not like we are trying to put in more people that seats. This guy was crazy - like he refused to take us because we were 4 people instead of 3. Seriously - it costs you the same to take us! So we ended up calling our own taxi who would take all 4 of us for the right price. However, that taxi didn't show up but we found another one who agreed to the same terms. He was a very nice driver. When we got going, he had a song on the radio that Orlando liked, so Orlando started singing along, but as soon as he did, the driver switched to another station. I told Orlando that the driver must not like his singing. haha. He later turned it back to that station and Orlando was able to sing again.
When we arrived we met up with everyone else. Unfortunately "group" movie night didn't really happen since a few people decided to see another movie instead. I was really hungry and ended up getting nachos and popcorn to eat. We were also hoping to meet up with Sylvia and her boyfriend. We were calling back and forth about where we were at various moments. They were running a bit late and ended up getting tickets to the English version. This confused me as I was positive the theatre we were at only had it in Spanish. The movie was excellent! I was impressed by how much I understood - granted I think cartoons are much easier to understand than say, Robin Hood. Since Ozumy was unable to come with us, I may go with her to see it again. Anyway, after the movie, I called Sylvia to see if there movie was out already. It was and she said she couldn't find us. I said, we're just out front of the theatre. She said they just left but would come back up. Okay I said. So I was looking for her and several minutes passed and I didn't see her. She called me back and said, "are you out front of the theatre or out front of acropolis?" hahahaha turns out Sylvia and her boyfriend went to the theatre in Acropolis Centre, not Cinema Central. Which explains why they were able to see the movie in English and we were not! Anyways, we had a good chuckle about this.
Pavol, Maria, David and I walked a few blocks to catch the metro to go home. Unfortunately, it started raining just before we got to the Metro station. So we were a bit wet. I was exhausted by the time I got home and essentially went straight to bed.
When I got home yesterday, I found Pavol mopping up a lot of water with a towel. Turns out our water heater started leaking. Anyway, I had to quickly talk to mom, eat and get ready for pilates so I didn't really take a good look at it. So, off to pilates I went. Well Sylvia and her boyfriend picked me up first, and took me there - which was very gracious of them and greatly appreciated! I met Sylvia's friend Nathalie who is also taking the class. She seems lovely as well. There were 7 of us in total, including an older gentleman that seemed to be having fun! The teacher is a little crazy - she's like one of those insanely happy people. I really like her though. She took us through the hour long workout and helped me out when I didn't understand (even gave a few instructions in English!) and even told Sylvia and I to not do a couple of the exercises since we were newbies. Well I was sold! So I signed up for the full month!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Held Hostage by the Rain
Overall, yesterday was not that great of a day for me. Luckily my mom promised me that today would be better. I'm glad she did, because it was!
Yesterday, I had a great plan of leaving work a bit early so that I could catch a carrito and be home quicker with less rush hour traffic. Taking a carrito in rush hour is not useful because 1) they can't drive fast enough to get a breeze going and 2) it takes longer than walking. However, I was told that I needed to stay until we were finished with a small project. Luckily it started raining and then Sr. S told me that A, the driver, would take me home! Yay! He doesn't speak any English so our drives home are very quiet. Other than a quick greeting, and him asking me if I was too cold with the A/C (me? too cold?), and me saying thank you and bye when we arrived, we drove in near silence. Near, because he decided to break out into song a few times. I don't think I will ever get used to this - how people here will just sing outloud without a care in the world. Now A, he is a classy guy. Always dressed sharply, polite, etc. But when he started singing, I knew I would never view him in the same way. It was kind of cute actually, he was pretty out-of-tune, but it was all good.
My evening consisted of talking with Bart and then mom, eating dinner and going to bed. I was so incredibly tired! I slept really well, which I was thankful for, got up early and even had time to make myself some coffee this morning! That and my carrito drive was nice, the seats were comfy, it was quiet and everyone in the back was skinny (I was in B1 today). I also brought my Spanish verb conjugation book with me today - so far, I've been quite happy with what I have learned! I was also quite pleased with my lunch today... I got rice with a bean sauce and a tomato and cheese salad, plus a coke, for RD$105. That's CAD$3! It was quite yummy too. Although the bean sauce was more sauce than beans. I counted a total of 5 beans... I felt kind of gipped.
This afternoon, I walked to Nacional to get some groceries. It was quite sunny and hot today but shortly after I left the office it started to just drizzle. I wandered into Nacional and got my groceries, and when I went to leave, I looked outside and realized that there was a thunderstorm and a heavy downpour! So I stood with about 20 other people at the entrance and waited, hoping it would only last a few minutes. It lasted longer and I decided to call Pavol to see if he and his boss had left work yet (since his boss drives and lives in our building). They hadn't yet, but they weren't planning to leave for 20 minutes still. I told Pavol that I'd see how the rain was, if it died down I might make the trek home. About half an hour passed and I called Pavol to see where they were at. He said they were just about to leave and that they'd meet me at Nacional. Right after I got off the phone, the rain died down a bit. Then I felt bad for asking his boss for a ride. But just before they arrived, it started pouring again. I no longer felt bad. We ended up dropping David off at his French class first and then heading home. I had a productive evening, which I was quite pleased about. I completed a Spanish lesson on Rosetta Stone, did the meditation that Bart sent me the other day, and I still have time to read a bit before bed!
Another thing I have been meaning to write about is the ambulances here. When I first arrived, I read somewhere that people don't move for ambulances because normally they are used to transport people that have, well, already died. Usually when people need to get to the hospital quickly, they take a taxi or get someone to drive. Of course, this seems absurd to me. Anyway, because I am used to people having to do whatever they can do, within reason, to let the ambulance through, seeing an ambulance stuck behind one row of traffic when it has its lights and sirens on makes me uneasy. On one particular occassion, I was waiting to cross 27 near Nacional, and there was an ambulance about 2 rows back from the intersection with its lights and sirens on. No one moved. Then someone from within the ambulance came on a loudspeaker thing and said something in Spanish. I assume they said something like, "Move out of the way! We have a live one!" because for the first time since I arrived here, traffic actually moved out of the way for the ambulance. Today, I saw another ambulance moment that made me laugh. While the rain took me hostage at the grocery store, I watched an ambulance trying to cross Lincoln. There was a bus in front of it, so the bus ended up crossing the street with the ambulance. The funny/sad part was when a bunch of the cars surrounding the ambulance took advantage of the stopped traffic and went through the red light with the ambulance. This caused A LOT of honking from the direction that had the green. Whenever I see something like that, I can't help but think, what would happen if someone did that in Canada?
Yesterday, I had a great plan of leaving work a bit early so that I could catch a carrito and be home quicker with less rush hour traffic. Taking a carrito in rush hour is not useful because 1) they can't drive fast enough to get a breeze going and 2) it takes longer than walking. However, I was told that I needed to stay until we were finished with a small project. Luckily it started raining and then Sr. S told me that A, the driver, would take me home! Yay! He doesn't speak any English so our drives home are very quiet. Other than a quick greeting, and him asking me if I was too cold with the A/C (me? too cold?), and me saying thank you and bye when we arrived, we drove in near silence. Near, because he decided to break out into song a few times. I don't think I will ever get used to this - how people here will just sing outloud without a care in the world. Now A, he is a classy guy. Always dressed sharply, polite, etc. But when he started singing, I knew I would never view him in the same way. It was kind of cute actually, he was pretty out-of-tune, but it was all good.
Another thing I have been meaning to write about is the ambulances here. When I first arrived, I read somewhere that people don't move for ambulances because normally they are used to transport people that have, well, already died. Usually when people need to get to the hospital quickly, they take a taxi or get someone to drive. Of course, this seems absurd to me. Anyway, because I am used to people having to do whatever they can do, within reason, to let the ambulance through, seeing an ambulance stuck behind one row of traffic when it has its lights and sirens on makes me uneasy. On one particular occassion, I was waiting to cross 27 near Nacional, and there was an ambulance about 2 rows back from the intersection with its lights and sirens on. No one moved. Then someone from within the ambulance came on a loudspeaker thing and said something in Spanish. I assume they said something like, "Move out of the way! We have a live one!" because for the first time since I arrived here, traffic actually moved out of the way for the ambulance. Today, I saw another ambulance moment that made me laugh. While the rain took me hostage at the grocery store, I watched an ambulance trying to cross Lincoln. There was a bus in front of it, so the bus ended up crossing the street with the ambulance. The funny/sad part was when a bunch of the cars surrounding the ambulance took advantage of the stopped traffic and went through the red light with the ambulance. This caused A LOT of honking from the direction that had the green. Whenever I see something like that, I can't help but think, what would happen if someone did that in Canada?
Monday, July 5, 2010
The Door Won't Close
Another weekend has passed by - far too quickly!
The remainder of the workday on Friday was quite regular and my evening was quite boring, as I just relaxed at home. I went to work again on Saturday. It was a decent morning, I picked up some yummy breakfast from Pola and got a bit of reading done. Neither O nor J were at work, and I didn't see Sr. S either. I was also without data service on my phone which made it even more "quiet" at work. My one random excitement of the morning was that when I paid for my food at Pola I got 2 of the new 20 peso bills in my change! They are really cool, they feel very plastic-like and have a see through part (as demonstrated by me in the following picture). They were just recently put into circulation. I had only seen one prior to receiving mine.
After work, I met up with Ozumy, Paula, Pavol and Maria. Ozumy was taking us as her guests to a sort of Doctor's Club. A restaurant, pool, etc. that is exclusively for doctors and their families. Ozumy, Paula and I went first and had a quick lunch at the restaurant. Ozumy ordered me a cheese, lettuce and tomato sandwich. It arrived with ham too. So that was sent back and I had to sit and wait for the proper sandwich to be made while Ozumy and Paula enjoyed their meals. When it did arrive though, I enjoyed it a lot - I was suprised by how inexpensive the sandwich and juice were. Pavol and Maria came a bit later and met us at the restaurant, although they didn't eat. Maria had brought food with her and Pavol is doing a "detox" so he isn't eating for 3 days... We then went out to the pool and took in some sun and enjoyed the water. At first, I stayed out to tan, while the rest of them went in. I also wanted to get some reading done too. While sitting there, sunning and reading, this guy came up to me and asked me a question in Spanish. I told him that I didn't understand Spanish, and he then says, "Do you work here?" I replied no. He then took off and ended up talking to the lifeguard and I think was asking him if they could use the diving board. I was rather amused that he could have thought that I worked there. Especially after I said I didn't speak Spanish... He may have just been trying to talk to me, but it didn't seem that way.
I decided it was too hot and thus time for me to get into the pool. I went over to take a shower first and there were these two very cute little girls also taking a shower. They were rather intrigued by me and started talking to me. I said in my best Spanish, "I'm sorry but I don't understand Spanish." The youngest one seemed confused, so I said, again in Spanish, "I speak English." She was still perplexed by this, but then the other one asked me in Spanish if I was American, I said no, Canadian. Then they got excited and started telling me something about something about Canada. Of course it was all in Spanish. It was adorable, but I felt bad because I couldn't talk to them. The pool water was quite warm, but it at least felt better than being out in the sun. I was kind of surprised by the quality of a few of the pool amenities. Including the diving board, which is obviously not safe to use (pictured). There is a big difference between doctors here and doctors in Canada. One of the guys at work, V, was telling me about how his father was a doctor. He was asking me what it is like to be a doctor in Canada, in terms of hours and money. I told him that the hours were rough but that they make quite a bit of money. He said that when he was young, his dad was never home as he was always working extra shifts just to make enough money. This, of course, seems odd to me since doctors are an essential service - it only seems natural to me that they are paid well for the amount of responsibility and knowledge they have along with the long hours and stress they deal with.
Anyway, after the pool I did some work on my computer, made dinner and then had date night with Bart. He had found a new website with some cool games. We tried playing those at the end, but unfortunately, since my internet speed is so slow, a few of the games were difficult to do because of the reaction speed of my computer. It was still fun though. One is like pictionary online. Bart was having some issues with it though since his laptop's trackpad is not as good as mine. We played again the next night, when he had a mouse and his drawing ability did improve slightly...
Sunday was spent cleaning. I washed sheets and some other laundry, cleaned the bathroom, swept my floors, tidied up, etc. I also finally got around to polishing my poor black flats. I'm just hoping they will last me until the end of this internship - although I am doubtful. The toes are very scuffed and the sole is just starting to come loose. Although, given the conditions they are put through, I'm surprised they haven't totally fallen apart on me already! I assume they will need the assistance of a shoe repairman soon...
Today has been frustrating for me again. Not sleeping well (heat), waking up with a sore neck, and not having data services again were just a few of my issues. I feel like I've been in a daze all morning, not really being able to focus on anything. My carrito ride was in what seemed like the smallest car ever. The driver didn't give me my change (5 pesos) because right after I gave him my money, 3 other people handed him 100s and 50s. So he kind of got distracted and I just didn't have the energy to deal with getting my change. Then, we were nearly at my intersection when we picked up this couple. He went to get in the front and she was going to go into the back, but the driver was like no, the other way. Then he proceeded to get out of the car and attempted to close the door for the lady who was now getting into the front. The lady in F1 was like, this isn't going to work - the door won't close! The door was difficult to close to begin with. It appeared to need to be lifted up while closing. Anyway, the F2 lady was a bit on the heavier side and the driver could not get the door to close. So both the man and the woman got back out. Since the man was a bit smaller than her, he fit better in the front (which is what they tried to do at first anyway!) and the lady got into the back with us. I was in B3 and the larger lady was in B4. Fun. And then when I went to get the driver to stop, I said, "Cuande Cruco" instead of "Cuando Cruce." Ugh. the driver still got what I was trying to say but the F1 lady was confused and it seemed like she was trying to turn around to get a good look at the idiot in B3 (me).
So far, it has been a slow day at work. Everyone seems tired. Especially O, who was doing his 'sitting looking like he's working' sleep pose. I was telling Paula about this, and I said how I wish I could sleep while sitting up, but that I'm a head bobber. Paula says that in Costa Rica, when you see someone doing this, you ask them if they are fishing, "estas pescando?" I like this.
My plan for the remainder of the day is to work, obviously, and then head home and get as much sleep as possible and to try to stay cool!
Anyway, after the pool I did some work on my computer, made dinner and then had date night with Bart. He had found a new website with some cool games. We tried playing those at the end, but unfortunately, since my internet speed is so slow, a few of the games were difficult to do because of the reaction speed of my computer. It was still fun though. One is like pictionary online. Bart was having some issues with it though since his laptop's trackpad is not as good as mine. We played again the next night, when he had a mouse and his drawing ability did improve slightly...
Sunday was spent cleaning. I washed sheets and some other laundry, cleaned the bathroom, swept my floors, tidied up, etc. I also finally got around to polishing my poor black flats. I'm just hoping they will last me until the end of this internship - although I am doubtful. The toes are very scuffed and the sole is just starting to come loose. Although, given the conditions they are put through, I'm surprised they haven't totally fallen apart on me already! I assume they will need the assistance of a shoe repairman soon...
Today has been frustrating for me again. Not sleeping well (heat), waking up with a sore neck, and not having data services again were just a few of my issues. I feel like I've been in a daze all morning, not really being able to focus on anything. My carrito ride was in what seemed like the smallest car ever. The driver didn't give me my change (5 pesos) because right after I gave him my money, 3 other people handed him 100s and 50s. So he kind of got distracted and I just didn't have the energy to deal with getting my change. Then, we were nearly at my intersection when we picked up this couple. He went to get in the front and she was going to go into the back, but the driver was like no, the other way. Then he proceeded to get out of the car and attempted to close the door for the lady who was now getting into the front. The lady in F1 was like, this isn't going to work - the door won't close! The door was difficult to close to begin with. It appeared to need to be lifted up while closing. Anyway, the F2 lady was a bit on the heavier side and the driver could not get the door to close. So both the man and the woman got back out. Since the man was a bit smaller than her, he fit better in the front (which is what they tried to do at first anyway!) and the lady got into the back with us. I was in B3 and the larger lady was in B4. Fun. And then when I went to get the driver to stop, I said, "Cuande Cruco" instead of "Cuando Cruce." Ugh. the driver still got what I was trying to say but the F1 lady was confused and it seemed like she was trying to turn around to get a good look at the idiot in B3 (me).
So far, it has been a slow day at work. Everyone seems tired. Especially O, who was doing his 'sitting looking like he's working' sleep pose. I was telling Paula about this, and I said how I wish I could sleep while sitting up, but that I'm a head bobber. Paula says that in Costa Rica, when you see someone doing this, you ask them if they are fishing, "estas pescando?" I like this.
My plan for the remainder of the day is to work, obviously, and then head home and get as much sleep as possible and to try to stay cool!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Toques, Mittens and Beavers
Canada Day in the Dominican Republic
My day, overall, was quite normal. I went to work, got annoyed with certain coworkers, went home.
The plan I came up with for Canada Day was to go to a patio bar that I knew served a Canadian beer - Molson. So I went home, put on my Canuck shirt, packed up some random Canadian things, gave Pavol one of my other shirts to wear, and off we went to meet up with Paula and her boss at Nacional. From there, we headed to Beer House Cafe. Sylvia was the first to arrive - it was so great to finally meet her! We've been emailing each other for nearly 5 months now!
Slowly more and more people came until we had quite a large table full of people from all over the world. Literally. We had only one Canadian (me) along with representation from:
Anyway, everyone who likes beer and could drink tried at least one Molson Canadian. I was quite pleased to find out that we drank ALL of the bar's Molson supply! Interestingly, just having a Molson gave me that comforting home feeling (I'm not really a Molson drinker, unless I'm at the game or if it is the only thing served). I even had to sing O Canada (which I did in the combined English/French version) and had to try to come up with random facts about Canada. Lots of people tried on the toque and mittens, although we could only stand wearing them for about 30 seconds, or however long it took to get the picture, before they were taken off quickly! (It was VERY hot last night) And Ozumy and Mr. Beaver became close friends as well.
Overall, it was a great evening! I'm pretty sure I won't ever forget spending Canada Day in the Dominican. A quick shout out and thank you to all of my friends who came out to help me celebrate - it meant a lot to me!
My day, overall, was quite normal. I went to work, got annoyed with certain coworkers, went home.
The plan I came up with for Canada Day was to go to a patio bar that I knew served a Canadian beer - Molson. So I went home, put on my Canuck shirt, packed up some random Canadian things, gave Pavol one of my other shirts to wear, and off we went to meet up with Paula and her boss at Nacional. From there, we headed to Beer House Cafe. Sylvia was the first to arrive - it was so great to finally meet her! We've been emailing each other for nearly 5 months now!
Slowly more and more people came until we had quite a large table full of people from all over the world. Literally. We had only one Canadian (me) along with representation from:
- Dominican Republic
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Guatemala
- Wales
- Slovakia
- Czech Republic
- Portugal
- Romania
- Morocco
- India
- United States
- Peru
Anyway, everyone who likes beer and could drink tried at least one Molson Canadian. I was quite pleased to find out that we drank ALL of the bar's Molson supply! Interestingly, just having a Molson gave me that comforting home feeling (I'm not really a Molson drinker, unless I'm at the game or if it is the only thing served). I even had to sing O Canada (which I did in the combined English/French version) and had to try to come up with random facts about Canada. Lots of people tried on the toque and mittens, although we could only stand wearing them for about 30 seconds, or however long it took to get the picture, before they were taken off quickly! (It was VERY hot last night) And Ozumy and Mr. Beaver became close friends as well.
Overall, it was a great evening! I'm pretty sure I won't ever forget spending Canada Day in the Dominican. A quick shout out and thank you to all of my friends who came out to help me celebrate - it meant a lot to me!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
HAPPY CANADA DAY!
Today, even more than most days, I miss my home! I hope everyone has a great day and remembers how fortunate we are to be citizens of such a great country! Oh and enjoy your day off!
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