Back in the DR

After two flights and a bus ride, I'm back in Santo Domingo.

The remainder of my time in Canada was quite nice.  Bart and I drove back to Edmonton on Sunday morning, after a tough goodbye at my parent's place, which allowed for enough time to pack and to get in a couple more Alias episodes in the process.  We ordered in pizza from Panago for dinner and then we stopped by his parent's place for another goodbye.  His mom insisted on making me a mini pita pizza and giving me a giant chocolate bar for the trip.  Ola came with us to the airport.  I checked in and dropped off my baggage then the three of us hung out at Tim Horton's until about 20 min before I had to board my plane.  Another hard goodbye.

Me, Bart and his parents

Ola and I at the airport

When it was announced that my plane was boarding, I just sat there.  I was kind of in a daze.  There was a part of me that didn't want to get on that plane.  I hesitated, considered calling Bart and telling him to turn around and come back to the airport, but then told myself that I had to finish this.  I got on the plane and was unhappy to discover a woman with a newborn baby in the row behind me and a couple with a small child in the row behind and to the left.  UGH.  Of course there was crying from the children.  I was actually able to get a decent amount of sleep.  It helped that I had the row to myself.  When I arrived in Toronto, my first stop was starbucks.  I then found a cafeteria/restaurant near my next gate that had a half decent cheese omlette.  It also came with toast and hashbrowns.  I was really hungry.  The airport was freezing cold.  I was shivering for the entire layover.  I went to one of the shops to see if maybe they had a decently priced blanket.  They had a blanket, for $40, but I just couldn't bring myself to purchase it.  I went back to the waiting area and wrapped my light scarf/wrap around me and tried to stay warm.  It sort of helped, but not enough.  I ended up going back to that store and buying a pair of "travel socks."  It helped a bit to have those on but I still couldn't shake the chill.  Once on the plane, I was really hoping that I would have the row to myself again.  I knew that the plane wasn't full.  At first, a rather large man and woman sat down beside me - they were also with another two women.  There was an empty row in front and to the right, so once we got going, he went and sat there with one of the other ladies, and the other lady came and sat in my row with the original lady.  I think they were either Ukrainian or Russian.  They got in trouble a lot with the flight attendants for standing when the seatbelt sign was on, giving their liquor to the other lady (the flight attendants have to monitor the amount of alcohol passengers have), etc.  They were also really loud.  I understand though, most of the people on the plane were excited to be going on vacation to the Dominican.  I was just tired and wanting to sleep.  I dozed in and out for that flight, but felt horrible afterwards.

I had no problems at customs, although the agent took a while to figure out my visa.  I'm guessing they don't see a lot of non-tourist visas at that airport.  I caught a taxi to take me to the bus station.  I was too tired to argue/negotiate with him so I ended up paying RD$1080.  Technically that is their standard fare, but it is obviously hiked up since the majority of people coming and going to that airport are tourists.  The taxi driver tried to convince me that I should take a different bus to Santo Domingo, but I insisted that Expreso Bavaro was the one I wanted.  I had to wait about 45min at the bus station before we could get on the bus.  I was really excited to have my own seat, but that was shortlived as more people got on at a second stop in the area.  They played two movies on the bus: Dennis the Menace and Cobra.  Both in Spanish.  I was not overly successful at sleeping on the bus and maybe got half an hours worth of sleep during the 4 hour ride.  When I arrived, Gerardo was there to pick me up and take me to my apartment.

Upon my arrival at the apartment, I was greeted by David, Pavol, Robert and Mari.  Mari and Maria had went to Krispy Kreme earlier that day to buy doughnuts so I got to have my first Krispy Kreme doughnut (and my second, third and fourth since then...)!  I was very glad to finally get to meet Mari - she is going to go to pilates with me tonight!

The Post-Canada Diet

Work today was good.  I didn't have much to do, but that allowed me to catch up on a few things that I neglected while away.  I ate lunch with Robert and Mari.  I just had a salad (since I ate too much the last two weeks) and grabbed a table while Robert and Mari waited for their pasta.  The pasta guy took forever though and I had to tell several people that they couldn't sit at my table.  I think that some of them didn't believe me anymore, since I'd been sitting long enough to nearly finish my meal.  A lot of people at the office asked me where I had been (apparently people don't gossip here like they do back home) so I told them that I had gone back home to be with mi novio while he had surgery.  It was nice to actually have a more personal conversation with a few people.  I often feel like I barely know people here - it is so different.  I'm used to having info on what everyone is doing at work, but here, no one really talks to me about that sort of thing.

I'm still really emotional today.  Lots of ups and downs.  I feel like I did when I first arrived, except things are less scary since I know my way around and can speak some Spanish.