Boligrafos and Other Things

I wish it was Saturday.

Not since I first moved here has a week felt this long.  So recap.  I made it to pilates on my own on Tuesday!  I was quite pleased.  I definitely felt weird carrying my yoga mat in the carrito though.  However, it was so worth it as my knees were much more comfortable and in less pain because of it.  Paula arrived a bit late, which meant that I did not have my personal translator present.  Our instructor, Rina, is always trying to get me to speak more and so she was asking me questions in Spanish.  She was quite pleased when I understood and responded a few times in Spanish!  Yay!

Pilates Studio

Wednesday was more exciting for me.  Work was normal, but I spent most of my morning making a card for Paula and installing Rosetta Stone on JCLs computer.  It gave me so many problems!  Luckily, Robert has some good computer skills so he helped me out.  We even had to reinstall some sound devices just to get some sound in the headphones.  Since there is no built in microphone in the computer, I decided to purchase a headset for JCL to use.  We attempted to go to a nearby tech store at lunch, but it was closed.  Speaking at lunch, I paid RD$74 (approximately CA$2.11) for this:

RD$74 Lunch: rice, beans, coleslaw and water

And we got 2 free cookies each at Pola.  Which totally made my day.

After work, Robert and I headed to La Sirena to find a headset.  We were told that we could get one there for RD$125 (CA$3.60).  This seemed really cheap to me, but it was true.  It's not the most awesome headset out there, but it will do the trick.  La Sirena itself is massive.  It's bigger than our Superstore back home - mainly because it has 2 levels.  It was kind of overwhelming but at the same time, it kind of felt comforting to be in a huge buy everything in one place store. (Sad but true)  After I bought the headset, and Robert bought a bottle of clothes-grade vodka and some plug adapters, we set off to Acropolis to meet up with Manuel.  On the way out, there were these guys hired for one of the phone companies (I think Orange) who were standing in black outfits, sunglasses and earpieces with these giant inflatable sign things on their backs.  It was kind of funny and creepy at the same time.  Maybe they were advertising internet security?  I have no idea.  Anyway, Manuel had already gotten some dinner at Taco Bell when we arrived but I opted for Pizzarelli instead - a giant slice of cheese pizza!  I then helped Robert pick out a small gift for Paula before heading back downstairs to meet up with Ozumy at Docks.  For the first while it was just the four of us (Me, Manuel, Ozumy and Robert).  The place is cool, but the music was way too loud for me.  Especially because it is a sit-down kind of place (no room for dancing).  Eventually, Paula, Yeimy and Emily arrived, followed by Sylvia and Arturo and then finally, Rene, Sasha, Manuel (Peru), Laura, Adaica and Cyril. 

Ozumy and Manuel

Paula

Robert and I

By the way, here is the card:

Feliz Cumpleaños Paula!

We ended up leaving a bit later than I had hoped, and thus why I am quite tired today.  Manuel gave Robert and I a ride home which ended up being quite funny due to the random Spanish usage.  Rosetta stone taught me to call a pen: boligrafo.  This annoys Manuel, since to him, a pen is a lapicero.*  So Robert and I rambled on about this and that, not always making sense, but trying to talk about boligrafos as much as possible. 

The carrito that Robert and I took to work today was definitely unsafe.  Broken windshield, holes in the floor, probably a broken handbrake since a large rock was in the car (Robert believes this would be to place behind/in front of a tire to keep it from rolling away) and it swayed while driving, etc.  Since I needed coffee and Robert needed breakfast we decided to go to Sweet Bakery.  When we passed the office Creepy Guy was out there and he said to us (roughly translated), "no! Work is here!"  It was pretty funny.  I also got JCL up and running with Rosetta stone, after a small fight with the microphone set up.  It made me so happy to watch her sit there, learning new words and seeing the smile on her face when she got a bunch of the answers right.  So worth the hassle (and the RD$125!). 

Me and my espresso

Another accomplisment for the day was getting my meal down to RD$58.  That's right, under $2 Canadian! It was the same as yesterday, but with slightly less rice and cheaper been sauce. 

I've spent most of the afternoon being dizzy and lightheaded.  I'm not sure why. Hoping it will get better before pilates.  Probably just from being too tired.


*Side note, if you google translate "pen" it gives you pluma.  I've been told that old people use boligrafo and pluma.  Anyway...