A Quiet Laundry Weekend

Happily, I had a rather quiet and productive weekend.  Since Robert had gone to Santiago for the weekend, I made my way to the office by myself.  It was a beautiful morning.  It wasn't too hot since it was cloudy and there was a drizzle of rain coming down.  After a quick stop at Sweet Bakery, I settled in at J's computer for the morning.  I ended up being called into talk to Sr. S about a report I had read over.  While in there, we began chatting and I figured this would be a good time to bring up my next time off request.  Right now, I'm planning on meeting up with my parents and Bart in early November for a week in the Turks and Caicos.  So I mention this to Sr. S, highlighting the fact that it would only mean a "few" days off and that it falls over a Dominican holiday.  He then proceeds to ask me why they aren't coming here again.  I say that they have already been here so they are looking for something different.  The conversation proceeds as follows:

S: What have they seen?
K: Well all of Santo Domingo and some other areas.
S: Have they gone to the beach?
K: Yes
S: For how long?
K: Well, long enough.
S: What's in Turks and Caicos?
K: I don't know. (There isn't really anything specific that T&C has that DR doesn't)  We are just looking for something a bit quieter, more personal and such.  The big resorts just aren't for us.
S: Oh well I guess if you want quiet, it is good for that.

Then Sr. S. gets a phone call so we never really finished the conversation.  I went back to my desk going, what just happened there?  I didn't mean to offend him by asking to go to another island.  And I don't know if he was just being sort of playful about it or if he was serious.  I also didn't actually get an answer on the time off.  My new plan is that on Monday, I will go in and just outline that our decision has nothing to do with the DR and more to do with just wanting to go somewhere else.  I'm also going to mention that my parents plan on coming to the DR again in February when its time for me to leave as well.  And then I will get a for sure answer on the time off.  I hope.

I did some quick shopping on my way home from the office.  Normally I just go to Pola so that I can take one carrito all the way home.  But, I was feeling like having a better selection for my date night snacks, so I took a carrito to Nacional.  Since it was such a beautiful day (although sunny by this point instead of cloudy with drizzle), I walked home from there.

I had this brilliant (sort of) idea on Friday.  I always get a bit frustrated by our laundry machine.  It never really cleans that well.  I blame it on the fact that the washing machine just isn't up to my standards and that it only uses cold water.  So the idea was that I would fill the machine up with the cold water to the medium load setting, and then fill the rest of the machine myself with hot water that I would boil in the kettle.  It takes me about 5 full kettles to get enough hot in there, but the results were worth it!  My clothes were cleaner!  So I did another 2 loads like that over the weekend.

Sheets and Shirts

New Clothespins!

Clean Laundry!

Saturday evening was, like usual, dedicated to Date Night with Bart.  Monopoly and Scrabble continue to be our games of choice.  Bart won 2-0 in Monopoly and I went 3-0 in Scrabble.

Today has been filled with more laundry, tidying and relaxing.  I took the time to have a sit-down breakfast.  Only cereal and coffee but still, it's enjoyable to not be eating breakfast at my desk or at Sweet Bakery every once in a while.  I'm also finally starting to feel like I have energy again!

Coffee!