Another Week has Nearly Passed

As you may have noticed, my weeks are getting more and more "regular" with less random stories.  This week has been no exception.  My main excitement has been the long awaited arrival of my work laptop.  It ended up receiving a new motherboard and hard drive.  This also meant that ALL of my files were lost which is rather frustrating.  The upside to that is that my laptop is fresh with no crap on it!  Additionally, this made me smile:

Halloween at Wendy's

Normal weeks allow me more time to reflect and really ponder what life is like here.

The other day, I started thinking about the person I am here.  This was brought on by a particular carrito ride in which I was sitting in B4.  When the carrito pulled up, it looked a little cramped, but I didn't want to wait any longer to get to work.  Inside was a bigger lady, a bigger guy and an average sized man (B1, B2, B3).  The poor man in B3 tried hard to squish up enough for me to fit in.  I kid you not, there was about 6 inches of seat space available for me.  So, I got myself in, did the side sit, however this still resulted in me essentially sitting on the B3 man.  It took a couple tries to get the door closed (I'm sure my right hip/butt will be happy to not take this type of beating all the time once I return home), but eventually I succeeded.  I just sat there, thinking, this is so weird. I'm half sitting on a complete stranger on my way to work.

The B1 lady was the first to get out.  I've determined that B1 is my favorite spot.  Only having a person on one side of you but without the stress of opening the door which comes along with the B4 position.  Since we all had to get out for her to get out, I made a point of climbing into the car first, effectively stealing B1.  Normally, I wouldn't do this, but we were still quite a ways away from my office so I figured chances were good the others would have to get out first.  The big guy got into B2.  Again, I found myself pondering my situation.  I was now squished into the left hand corner of the car with a big guy leaning back on half of my chest.  A random guy was leaning against my boob and I didn't care.  Today, Robert and I were essentially hip-checked into the B1/B2 positions by this big guy.  He just kept pushing and we kept squishing.

Then I start thinking about how we act on a crowded bus back home.  I remember back to those cold winter mornings when the bus was packed with downtown workers and university students.  All of us with big jackets, some of us with big bags.  The floor is slippery from the snow and quick stops usually result in people bumping into one another.  Here, this wouldn't be a big deal.  At home, you quickly turn to the person you bumped into and apologize.  Usually they apologize too, because that is just what we do.  We would never try to squish an extra bum onto a seat (unless its two people with a child or something similar).  The seats are designed for one bum only.  Riding the bus is going to seem luxurious after this.  I also have moments where I get nervous, thinking that I won't remember how to take a bus.  Like somehow I'll be sitting there and will just yell out "Donde Pueda" when I want to get off.  Everyone turns and stares.  Or I'll get on to the bus and make people squish over.  Of course 3 of us can fit on the two seats!  In reality, as I have already experienced, this won't happen.  Canadian life is like a second nature.  You just hop back in and it feels like you've never left.  At least most of the time.

Anyway.

Yesterday afternoon had a bit of randomness to it.  I had lunch with Robert and Mari at Jardin Verde.  Of course, I had frozen chinola.  After lunch, Mari and I made a stop at Sweet Bakery.  I was already late heading back to the office so I just grabbed an espresso to go.  When I got back to the office, I was walking into my area and my sleeve (I was wearing my kimono style shirt) got caught on the door handle.  This caused half of my espresso to jump out of my cup and onto the floor and my hand.  Ouch.  I quickly went to set down the remainder of the espresso and grabbed a bunch of napkins to dry off my hand and wipe up the coffee on the floor.  Luckily, it didn't burn my hand too badly.  Then, I had an embarrassing moment where I had plugged in my headphones and took a bit to realize that the sound was actually coming out of the computer speakers and not my headphones.  Of course, I was turning up the volume since I couldn't hear well.  Also embarrassing but no one seemed to care.  I was then paranoid for the rest of the day that suddenly the sound would start coming out of the speakers instead of my headphones.  (For some reason the settings on the laptop were such that speakers were set as default... I had to go in and put headphones as default and now it works like computers should when headphones get plugged in.)  But this wasn't the end of it.  On my way home, I was walking and about to cross a street when a car decided to suddenly turn right.  I was mid-step and since I couldn't take a full step, I ended up taking a half step... right into the gutter full of water and other miscellanea.  So I squished for the rest of the way home each time I took a step with my left foot.  Ugh.

Christmas decor at Jardin Verde

Mari and I went to pilates in the evening.  We had some issues getting a taxi to come and pick us up.  The location of the studio is kind of random and you have to give a good description of the place normally.  Mari called and tried, but the operator just kept giving up and transferring the call or hanging up.  We asked Arturo, the owner of the studio if he could call.  For some reason, he was totally anti-calling.  He had no problems standing beside Mari and telling her what to say but he wouldn't pick up the phone.  I mean, I can understand that we have to work on this, but when you watch someone struggling and being hung up on, it's time to take over.  We tried to give the phone to him to call, and he quickly gave it to Rina, our instructor.  It's like he was afraid to talk on the phone.  Very weird.  Maybe he has blackberry-phobia?  Anyway, we waited for over 10 min and there was still no taxi.  The man who comes in to work on martial arts with Arturo after our class ended up calling for us.  It was really nice of him.  The taxi driver was also very odd.  He had problems understanding my accent, and then when I told him that we lived near Hipolito, he said to us, "Los gringos quiero lluego papa."  Then he repeated this a few more times.  Haha.

When we got home, we decided to go to the colmado for some sandwiches and beer.  It was nice to just sit at the colmado, the two of us, and chat.

Colmado Sandwich

Tonight, it will be early to bed since we are meeting at 5:30 am tomorrow to go to 27 Charcos.  Adventure awaits.  I'm sure I'll have a least one story to tell about it when I return!

Museo de Arte Moderno

I had a lovely Sunday!

It all began by getting up early to get some laundry done and hung up before I had to meet up with Manuel, Robert and Mari at 10am.  Mari had recently went to the Museo de Arte Moderno and had told us about a great exhibit on the environment and environmental issues that was ending today - so we figured we should go and check it out!  I met up with Mari and Robert but we couldn't get ahold of Manuel.  The three of us went to grab a bite to eat at the colmado and then waited some more. Finally Manuel messaged us to tell us he had slept in.  We decided to just head over on our own, instead of waiting around in the heat.  The metro conveniently gets us within a couple blocks of the museum.  Overall, I really enjoyed the exhibits and felt more like "myself" by spending a morning wandering around and looking at art.  We were able to take photos of the works, so I'll let the pictures and captions do the rest of the talking.  As a side note, the floor of the gallery looks remarkably similar to the floor in our apartment.

Museo de Arte Moderno

Covered in Ants!

Close-up

Deer couch with built in TV screen

Dolls with boxing gloves

Sandals with barbed-wire straps

Branches

Hammock

Made out of electrical cords

"Pac-Man"

Commentary on how we let junk build up

Termite

ecologic footprint

"For Sale: la casa de Mario"

We could go inside!!

Mari looks in

Wooden Chairs Biodegrade

Tree from foil

Bird cage

See!

Leaves strung together

I don't remember what this one was

Foods preserved in rum

Boats with messages made from flip flops

Atomics

Memory card on display

Blue rocks

When we exited the museum and headed over to Manuel's car, we spotted this guy:

Me and the snowman dude

After the museum, we headed to Nacional to pick up some groceries.  On the way, I was FINALLY able to get a picture of this billboard.  Backstory: in early July, this billboard was put up and it made the news.  It features the current president, who, under the Dominican Constitution, is unable to run for an additional term.  However, he and his party are trying to find a way for him to run again.  So this billboard is one of many that can be seen around now, but when it first showed up the President denied knowing anything about it.  Manuel told me that there was the same story surrounding a billboard of the First Lady which I see everyday on my way to work.  

El destino 

Back to grocery shopping...  Mari was really wanting to go to the colmado and have some rum and coke, but since the colmado was already closed for the day, I suggested we just sit outside in the yard and drink there.  So that is what we did.  I made some guacamole and Mari made some pasta.  During our little outdoor meal, Robert picked a couple oranges from the tree above us and Mari was sure that she saw a black snake.  We couldn't confirm the snake though.  The oranges were not too bad, just a bit bitter.

Yeah, our table is an ironing board...

My two favorite Norwegians!

Attempting to pick some oranges

Success!

Mari cutting the orange

Robert comparing a bug to a piece of wood

After eating and drinking, Robert got the idea that he should put some chip crumbs on the ground to see what the ants would do.  It was quite interesting to watch how quickly they were able to get the word out to the other ants about the chips.  We spent quite a while just watching them carry the chips back to wherever they had come from.  One of our favorite moments was watching three ants carrying one chip, one on each corner, trying to climb up a leaf.

The rest of the evening was quite relaxing and I decided to finish it off with a nice cup of tea.  Something I don't do often enough here.

Where has all the Electricity Gone?

The one thing, more than anything else, that drives me insane about the Dominican Republic are the electricity issues...  

Let's recap this week.

Monday: as I mentioned in my last post, there was no power at the office for most of the afternoon and no electricity at home until about 7pm.  After the power came back on, we had water for about an hour and then it went out for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday: once again, no power in the afternoon at work.

Wednesday: no power in the afternoon at work.  Came home, had just enough time for a shower, then the power went out again until after 8pm.

Thursday: oh Thursday was a good day!  We had power all day - can you believe it?  Although I was without internet when I got home...

Friday: power went out in the afternoon and stayed out until just after 7pm, then went out again at 10:30 till just after 11:00.

Today: power went out at work just after 10:00 and was still out when I left at 12:30.  

Granted, this has been the worst week yet.  

The week itself was alright.  Robert was at the client every day this week, which made it rather lonely at the office.  On Tuesday, Ozumy and I went shoe shopping and I was able to find some shoes to wear to 27 charcos at Payless for just RD$770!  I went to pilates that evening on my own.  Paula was there also so we shared a taxi home.  On Wednesday, Robert, Pavol and I ended up hanging out at the colmado until the power came back on.   Later in the evening, Ozumy stopped by to pick up the money for the 27 Charcos, and I ended up back at the colmado with her to say hi to Mari, the Siljes and Manuel.  I splurged on my lunch on Thursday and went to Sweet Bakery and had their ensalada mexicana.  It was very delicious and very large.  In the evening, I went to pilates with Mari.  We shared a taxi home with Paula.  Our taxi driver had the best laugh.  Paula was trying to convince him to give us a better deal and while I got lost after a bit, it was still hilarious just to watch and listen to them arguing and laughing.  Mari invited me over to have dinner at their place.  Silje 2 had made some pasta. I contributed some parmesan cheese to the meal.  It was really nice to have dinner with them, it sometimes gets lonely eating by myself all the time.  

Zapatos Nuevos

Ensalada Mexicana

On Friday, I was not feeling well at all so I decided to take the day off and rest at home.  I'm glad I did.  Since the power was out all afternoon and into the evening, I ended up at the colmado again for dinner.  Robert and I walked over there, after a quick chat with Tamas, and found Pavol already there with a beer.  We joined in, then Tamas came by, followed my Silje 2 and then Mari and Silje 1.  While there, I found out that David had resigned that day.  I was sad to hear that, but not that surprised.  Bart and I had a mini date night as well.  It consisted of me winning at everything...  My macbook was also acting up.  Every once and a while the screen would start going white and I was unable to click or move the cursor.  The only thing that made it better, temporarily was adjusting the screen angle.  Weird.  I'm thinking maybe it is due to the humidity, since I had a similar problem with my iPod Touch a few months ago.  I do need to replace my humidity catcher so maybe that is why.  

Due to some unfortunate circumstances, we decided to move our 27 Charcos trip to next Saturday.  While I'm not happy about the reason why we had to move it, I am happy that it was moved.  I really feel like I need to be more healthy before undertaking such a demanding adventure.  So, instead, I went into work.  As I mentioned, the power went out quite early so I wasn't productive work wise, but I did manage to read over 1/4 of my latest book choice!  I came home quickly to repack my purse and then it was off to Zona Colonial to meet Maria and start my Christmas shopping.  I know, I've been complaining about the Christmas decorations, but I need to pick up a few things now to send them home with Bart and the parents, since certain gifts are limited in quantities by customs... 


And that is my week in review!

Bayahibe

After work on Saturday, Robert and I took a carrito home and then finished getting ready for the trip to Bayahibe.  Silje ended up losing her wallet (thank goodness she didn't have much in it!), so we did a bit of a search for it in Gerardo's car and at the new theatre in Novo Centro where they were the night before.  On our way out of the city, we were desperate for a treat from a "manzana boy."  At every intersection the light was either too short or the manzana boy was too far away.  Finally when we were at Gomez turning onto 27, we spotted one.  Gerardo honked his horn and kind of waved at the manzana boy, and he came running.  We were a little too excited and ended up giving him too much money and not getting enough of the "freezies" for our money.  Of course, manzana boy ran away about as fast as he had come... this time with our money.  Still, it was enjoyable.

Piña skim ice

We made a quick stop on our way out of the city to grab something to eat, before really hitting the road.  The trip was quite uneventful and driving along the coast was very beautiful.  When we arrived at Bayahibe, we headed to the cabaña that Mari had stayed in when she was there a few weeks prior.  It cost us RD$800 per night per room, which, ended up costing us each about CAD$9.00.  While it was much better than what $9 could get you in Canada, it was still one of the worst places I've ever stayed in.  Anyway, once we unloaded our luggage, we got into our swimsuits and headed to the beach.  Robert, Gerardo and I had this realization of suddenly knowing where we were.  The beach we went to also happens to be the same beach that the boats to Isla Saona leave from!  We hung out at the beach until sunset and then hustled back to the cabaña as quickly as we could since the mosquitoes came out in full force once the sun went down.

Silje and Gerardo

Sunset

Beach

After a quick shower, we all went and picked up a snack (including coconut M&Ms) and some Presidente.  Mari's other friend (also named Silje - Silje 2 for my purposes here) was on her way from Punta Cana in a taxi so we were waiting for her to arrive before heading to dinner.  We wandered over to a restaurant that was right beside the ocean.  It was a lovely place for a meal; outdoors on a nicely appointed patio with the waves coming up on shore just a few meters away.  The food was good, nothing spectacular, but it hit the spot.  They also had these great seashell lamps that I really liked.  One of my favorite moments was when we saw a little mouse run along the beach and then he climbed up onto some pieces of coral near a palm tree.  He just sat there, watching the ocean.  It was cute.  (Yes, mice are cute... compared to the horrible rats...)  After dinner, we were all quite tired so we just headed straight to bed.

Coconut M&Ms

Me and Gerardo with our Presidente

At the restaurant

Seashell lamp

However, right before we were about to go to sleep (I was sharing a room with the two Silje's), Silje 1 let out a little scream.  She had found a rather large cockroach on their bed.  This was followed by the bed being taken apart and the sheets being shook out, but we still couldn't find it.  As it turns out, it had run really quickly into the bathroom.  So Silje 2 ended up trapping it in the case for Silje 1's snorkeling gear, but took off one of the cockroach's legs in the process.  Then she slid a Norwegian fashion magazine under the case and carried the cockroach as far outside as she could.  Silje 2 then did a thorough search of the room with her flashlight until it was concluded that there were no more cockroaches to be found.  Needless to say, none of us slept that well.

Mari, on the patio outside our room

The bed the cockroach was on

The bathroom

Ceiling

Bed I slept in

In the morning, Silje 1 and Gerardo went out for a run.  I wish I had known that they had planned on doing this, because I would have brought my running gear as well.  Oh well.  We all munched on some breakfast on the patio outside our cabaña before packing up our stuff.  Because of the cockroach incident (and finding another one in the bathroom that morning), the girls decided that they didn't want to stay at that place for the rest of their time there.  (Silje 1, Silje 2 and Mari were going to stay a few more days)  So they checked out the rates at Hotel Bayahibe and found that they were quite reasonable.  We all took our luggage up to their room and Robert, Gerardo and I were all a little sad that we didn't get to stay there.  It was a really cute hotel, very bright, air conditioning, hot water and ocean views.  Slightly more expensive than our cabana, but still quite cheap.

Then we headed to the beach again, this time to Dominicus beach.  It was an incredibly sunny day so we paid to have two umbrellas and some lounge chairs put out for us.  It was well worth it!  The day was a lot of fun.  Robert found some "bling" in the sand, Silje 1 found a cool fish to take photos of underwater, we saw a fake pirate ship, and I got some reading done.  We had lunch at a restaurant on the beach which, according to their menu, served pizza.  We were all pretty excited about this.  When we went to order the pizza, the waitress then informed us that they didn't have pizza, along with a whole host of other menu items.  Not impressed.  When we returned to our spot on the beach, we all decided to snooze a bit.  After a decent nap, we were awoken by a group of guys who had brought a giant cooler and a speaker system with them.  The music was pretty good overall so we didn't mind having them there.

Gerardo and Silje 1

Robert and his bling

Mari, Robert, me, Gerardo and Silje 2

Robert diving into the sea

Once again, we stayed until sunset, but this time, left before it had completely went down.  On our way back to the car we saw a guy who had gotten his SUV stuck in the sand.  His tires were bending in a way that they shouldn't be, so it seemed as though he had done a bit of damage as a result.  We headed back to the girls' hotel, had a quick shower, and then Gerardo, Robert and I headed back to the city.  We stopped in La Romana at Burger King for supper.  We decided to go through the drive through.  When we arrived, Robert and I got really excited since the picture of the wrap was on the board.  When we ordered, they informed us that they didn't have it.  Then it took, literally, over 15 minutes for us to actually get our food in the drive through,even though at the time of ordering, we were only 4 cars back from the window.  To make matters even worse, they gave Robert grape pop instead of coke.  We made it back to the city in time for Gerardo to catch the show he likes about a Mexican women's prison.

All in all, an excellent weekend!

And then, it was back to work.  Robert had to be at the client's office today so I was on my own at work.  I spent the morning trying to get some antivirus software onto J's laptop.  Anytime you go to stick in an external drive, it will make all folders into just shortcuts, so that you're no longer able to access what is in the file.  It also adds a bunch of random files.  Anyway, I finally got a good program to work and it got rid of the virus!  Yay!  Seriously, they should hire me as their tech guy... and Robert.  We do a lot of good for these computers here! 

I met up with Ozumy for lunch at Pola.  The place was packed!  My effort to save money was successful, as my entire lunch cost only 51 pesos.  That's right, less than 2 dollars.  I had a small dish of rice, some avocado salad and a bottle of water!  After eating at Pola, Ozumy and I headed over to sweet bakery.  Since I had money leftover in my budget, I had a small cheesecake and an espresso.  That didn't help my effort to be "new bikini" ready by Nov. 5.  When I returned to the office, the power was out.  It stayed that way for about 2 hours.  I didn't mind so much though, because it gave me an opportunity to do some reading in my current book, "The Logic of Life," by Tim Harford.  When the electricity did come back on, the air conditioning powered up and spat out a cockroach.  Luckily, the cockroach came flying out towards the wall, not towards me.  It fell down behind the desk, and then hit the ground running.  I let out a disgusted arrgheeew noise and lifted my feet up onto the legs of my chair.  O looked under the desk and tried to squish it.  He wasn't successful.  He kind of laughed about me not being impressed by this whole thing and asked me about it.  I told him that I'm still not used to them and they are so big!  He then asked if we had cockroaches in Canada.  I said that I guess we do, but I've never had them in my house or office.  Then he told me that I can just step on them, to which I replied, yeah no, they make that gross crunchy sound, and they are too big.  I mean who wants to scrape off cockroach from the bottom of their shoe.  Especially when they are 2 inches long, like this guy was.

After a power walk home, I arrived to find that we didn't have electricity or water.  It was closer to 7pm when the power and water came back on.  I made some pasta and had a glass of wine.  When I went to do my dishes, our water had gone out again... Oh life in the DR.