For the most part, this week was pretty normal. Work has been busy with a lot of small projects here and there. A few of my highlights from the week were as follows.
On Tuesday, I got to be the person who exchanges money between carritos! It's stupid, I know, but I was kind of excited to be sitting in F2 which meant that I passed my carrito driver's RD$100 over to the carrito driver beside us to get change. I also had a really nice lunch from Sweet Bakery, although I didn't realize how little money I had left, and spent just about all of it on this lunch.
On Wednesday, I had a nice lunch with Mari and Robert at Taco Bell. It was a cloudy, rainy and windy day, and we ended up just sitting at the restaurant for much longer than usual just chatting since we didn't want to go outside. I decided to walk over to Tiradentes after work to meet Robert to check out his way of going home now when he's at the bank. We had to wait for quite a while to find a carrito, but once we did, I was very pleased to find out that the end of the Tiradentes line is about 2 blocks away from my new place!
Since we had been paid on Wednesday, Robert and I splurged on Thursday lunch. We went to Emparedado and then to Sweet Bakery. Instead of the cheap espressos we usually get, we got their cold caramel macchiato. It was delicious!
Robert was at the office for most of the day due to a computer issue, so we took a carrito together after work. We left a bit early and by the end of the carrito ride, it was just the two of us in the car. Robert got off first and then the driver turned around and started talking to me in Spanish. While I hate having these sort of discussions with carrito drivers, I was happy to practice my Spanish.
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| Robert |
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| Carrito Driver |
Driver: Is that your husband?
Me: No, he is my friend.
Driver: Where are you from?
Me: I'm from Canada, he's from Norway.
Driver: Do you work here?
Me: Yes.
Driver: You're so beautiful. Are you married?
Me: No, but I have a boyfriend in Canada.
Driver: (something more about me being beautiful, etc.)
Me: (needing to make it clear that having a boyfriend in Canada is serious) I am only here for one year, and I already have 10 months here.
Driver: ahhhh Where do you live?
Me: I live near here, with a Dominican family.
Driver: (confused about if it is my Dominican family).
Me: No, I just live with a woman and her daughter.
Driver: ahhh
Me: donde pueda!
Driver: okay, bye beautiful, you are so lovely, goodbye, so beautiful.
Me: UGH.
Yep, good times.
On Friday, it seemed as though there was a real lack of carritos all day. It didn't help matters that the traffic was really bad and backed up. I ended up having to wait for one for about 15 min. While I waited though, I got to watch this guy discuss a minor fender-bender with a police officer.
At lunch, I set off to meet Robert and Mari at Pola. Our office is right beside one of the government ministry offices and they were having their Christmas lunch/party outside. They had live music, people were dancing and eating and opening presents! Very festive!
We went to Sweet Bakery after lunch, as per usual, and I ate a delicious little apple caramel bar/crisp thing.
Mari and I also spent some time chatting in English with SB Paula. Well Mari did more of the chatting, which is typical, but it was still nice to get to know her a bit more. Turns out, SB Paula thought that the three of us were all American. We quickly cleared that up.
Today, I had a carrito driver who seemed to be extremely paranoid about being seen by "someone." He kept glancing behind him and trying to hide himself from view in the car. He turned around and talked to the other lady and I about it, but I didn't understand much other than the fact that he was trying to ask us if we saw "the car." Very odd. At the office, it was the beginning of our Christmas gift exchange. Instead of calling it a secret santa, J told me that it is called something like "Little Angel." We have to give two gifts, one small one, that is the devil gift, and then one big one that is the angel gift. Today was the devil gift. I was told that it could be a funny gift, but I don't know the guy who I have, so I just got some good chocolates. I also thought that we had to leave the gift on their desk, so when I got in, I was trying to find someone to do that for me. Then I found out, through JCL, that it actually had to be put in a box with the others and then distributed. Great, except all the gifts in the box were wrapped up all fancy. I mean, I had attached a nice card to mine, but I figured for this gift, it wasn't necessary to wrap it up. They have gift wrapping at Pola, but I didn't know if it was free or not. JCL told me that it was, so I ran over to Pola, receipt and gift in hand, to get it wrapped. There was a pretty big line up and I saw that V was one of them. He told me that I'd have to wrap it myself using their supplies since the old lady in front had A LOT of gifts that needed to be wrapped. So, I did just that, grabbed some scissors and some paper, a bit of ribbon, and ta-da, I came up with this.
The entirety of Christmas events at the office has just been one surprise after another. Not enough communication. I didn't even know that I had to buy two gifts until just the other day! And then today, I found out that there was a little event after work to exchange gifts. It turned out well though. My angel/secret santa got me some laundry soap (which everyone laughed about when I opened it... I tried not to take it personally haha) and some chocolate. Other people got funny things too. One of the girls in auditing got a bottle of listerine and another girl got a razor - I'm sure they tried to not take it personally too. Robert received a mini Spanish dictionary and I think my favorite was this bright green and yellow shirt that someone got for JD that said (in Spanish), "More Dominican than Platanos." Also, there was a guy, I think one of the new auditing staff, who first offered me his seat. He said it to me in English and when I responded in English he was surprised and said, "oh you speak English?" I was in slight shock since that isn't a reaction I have ever gotten here... Then he asked if I was American, and I said, "no, Canadian." Then he went on to tell me how he likes Alanis Morrisette and Celine Dion. Then after I had received my first gift of the soap, he came by to tell me that the soap was really good for white clothing. Once again, I tried not to take it personally. He made a point of chatting with me several more times during the party. A new admirer perhaps?
After the party, Robert and I went to his apartment so that I could grab a table runner and magnet that Gerardo had left for me. Robert, Mari and I ended up going over and getting colmado sandwiches for lunch before heading to Zona Colonial so that I could buy a few more Christmas gifts. After we grabbed some ice cream, I headed into one of the stores I like for Dominican gifts and when I went to pay, my credit card was denied. I have been doing a lot of shopping lately but not THAT much. So I will have to give them a call tomorrow to find out what is up. Hopefully they didn't have to cancel it again, like they did earlier on this year. For the trip home, Mari had mentioned that last time she was there she took a guagua home that ended up going down the street I live on. I don't like guaguas and really never take them. But I agreed since it would be cheaper than having to take two carritos. Our guagua was insane. First of all, the guy who takes your money and shouts out at people where they are going was a little crazy. He kept kind of swinging in and out of the guagua and I was sure he was going to end up falling into the traffic. The driver had a heavy foot and did some hard braking and swerving. It all brought back memories to my first few public transportation experiences in the DR when I was sure that the public transportation would be the death of me. We arrived sort of safely. The guy helped me out but I still bumped my head on the top of the door. When I was standing on the ground waiting for Robert and Mari to hop out, he said to me, "God bless you baby!" UGH.
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