Christmas Planning

Since I'm quite anxious to go back home for a visit, I've also began to think about my Christmas visit.  I felt bad asking for more time off - even though my upcoming visit is for family reasons - but Sr. S was quite obliging.  I made a point of asking whether or not it was customary for people in the Dominican to take time off at Christmas (I already knew the answer was no, but I figured I should ask him anyways).  He said it wasn't but that I should take some time if I am able to go home.  This was good enough for me.  And now the flight price watching begins.  Currently, I can do a round trip out of Punta Cana for $888, although it requires me to stay overnight in Toronto, which isn't a big deal, but ups the overall travel price by about $100.  I suppose I could sleep in the airport... but, I'd rather spend that $100.  I happened upon a cool website www.kayak.com which I've been using to keep myself updated on flight prices.  I really like it - plus it allows you to set up fare alerts in a really detailed and specific way.  Cool.

So yes, planning a 6-7 day vacation home for Christmas...

And for a quick update: last night, I didn't do much.  Robert ended up getting quite sick due to his sunburn (I don't quite know how to explain the condition) so I called the tutor to reschedule to next Monday.  I also made a yummy pasta dinner last night by sautéing some red onion, zucchini, fresh tomatoes in a bit of olive oil, oregano, paprika, black pepper and worcestershire sauce.  Of course, I also sprinkled some parmesan on top!  Every so often, a bit of it would taste like my mom's zucchini casserole, which gave me lots of happy food memories!  Note to mom: can you make zucchini casserole when I come home? 

This morning I headed to work alone since Robert was still feeling quite ill.  The carrito I caught only had 2 other people in, and eventually, just me.  He went to ask me something in Spanish which I didn't recognize (at least it wasn't part of my carrito vocabulary that I know) and I was forced to tell him that I didn't understand.  And of course, when I open my mouth and say anything in Spanish I can no longer be undercover.  Anyway, he then spoke to me in English and clarified that he wanted to know where he should drop me off.  I then realized why I didn't know what he was saying since normally they don't ask you where you're going, you just tell them where to stop when you're close.  Point of my story is that we ended up having a conversation in English.  He even told me that he thought I was Dominican.  I thought this was funny.  He also commented that probably if he could see my eyes he would have known.  I agreed (this is also part of the reason I wear my sunglasses) that my eyes do give me away.  He then told me that English is like a second language in the DR and that I should just try speaking English to people if I can't do it in Spanish.  Obviously he hasn't attempted this before...

My plan for the evening is to go home, eat and then head to pilates.  Paula wants me to go to Zara with her, but it just isn't feasible since I would have to go all the way home, get my stuff for pilates, then go to Acropolis, buy supper there, etc.  It will be very rushed for me.  She is lucky that she lives so close to her job.  A lot of days I wish I didn't live 1/2 hour* away.  I also need to take my yoga mat with me today.  They have mats there but they are quite hard and I've noticed that my knees are getting bruised just from the pressure (I bruise VERY easily).  There are a few other ladies who do this so I won't look out of place.  Since Paula is going to be at acropolis though, I will have to get to pilates by myself, which I am a bit nervous for.  I'm sure it will be fine though.

*To clarify, technically, if traffic is good, I live about 10 minutes away via carrito... but after work, it takes 1/2 hour to walk home and at least that long, if not longer to take a carrito home.