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!