Carrito Gandhi and Canada Night

I usually try to leave the office right at 5, because if I leave any later I have serious issues trying to catch a carrito.  On Tuesday, I didn't leave the office until 5:10 since I had to help Robert with something.  I waited until 5:30 on Lope for a carrito and couldn't get one at all.  So I gave up, walked to Tiradentes to see if I would have better luck there.  I did, but I still didn't get home until 6:00.  However, I suppose it was meant to be, since the carrito driver was sort of unique.  First of all, he had these really nice cushions on the front seat so the ride was quite comfortable.  I looked at the driver ID hanging off his rear-view mirror and realized that the guy driving the carrito was not the guy in the ID.  Not by a long shot.  After closer inspection of the driver, I realized he looked like a Dominican version of Gandhi.  Random.  I also noticed that he was driving with his bare feet.  Also random.

The next day, in the carrito going to work, our driver pulled over into the left hand lane and stopped to talk to one of the police officers.  They seemed to know each other well, and when they went to shake hands, they just kept their hands in the shake/holding position for a really long time.  Just as I got my phone out to snap a picture (since I was in B1) they let go.  The remainder of the week was pretty blah at the office.  Robert had gone to Jarabacoa to do his paragliding pilot course and I only had a few small projects to take care of, but I didn't mind since I needed a bit of extra time to work on my Canada presentation for Saturday night.

After work yesterday, I made a big shopping trip to Pola to get all the supplies I needed for making poutine, bannock and caesars.  I wanted to make Nanaimo squares but I don't think I could have done it well with the lack of kitchen supplies available to me.  Anyway, I took all the groceries over to the MC to store them there until the evening (since I was doing the cooking there) and then went to Nacional to grab a few other ingredients (gravy mix and cheese) before heading home to finish the presentation.  I had some issues with my ride to the MC and ended up arriving late.  Mari came with me and the taxi we took got totally lost.  Unfortunately, Mari and I were busy talking and when he went down Lincoln instead of Lope, we realized a split second too late to direct him the right way.  So I figured that he was just going to go that way in order to end up on the right side of the street for the MC... but no, he had no idea where he was going.  He went into an area that I'm not that familiar with and we had to direct him out of there and back to the MC.  Insanity.  Luckily, Sasha had started cooking the fries which was a huge help.

Maria and Lorena arrived just before us and they ended up helping me cook the food (THANKS!!).  Maria took care of the gravy and Lorena helped me make the caesars.  We even had a bit of an assembly line going for the poutine.  I put the fries on the plate, Lorena added the cheese, held it for Maria to put the gravy on and then the two of them coordinated putting the dishes out.  Everyone liked the poutine a lot.  The caesars got mixed reviews - which I expected.  Some people loved them, others were like, meh.   I think a few people felt bad that they didn't like it so I made sure to tell them that I actually rarely drink them since they aren't my favorite - but I wanted to serve a drink originally created in Canada so that's what they got.

Getting ready to serve

Me talking about poutine and caesars

More of me talking

Dig in!

Maria and Lorena looking fabulous

Lorena, me and Maria: poutine chefs!

Then I made a batch of bannock and just fried it on the stove.  It was good, basic, like it should be, and everyone seemed to like it as well.

Manuel and Mari eating bannock

Everyone eating bannock!

I was about to start getting ready for my presentation - and to put on an Our Lady Peace request for Arturo - so I wandered over to where my MacBook had been sitting blasting Canadian tunes for the evening.  To my horror, someone had spilled something on the laptop and just left it there!  I was super pissed and quickly went to grab a cloth to clean it up.  Luckily, it didn't get in the keys.  And then, as I was wiping the computer off I noticed that the left hand corner on the base had a small dent in it.  Upon further inspection, I noticed that the top corners of the screen were scraped, as well as the bottom corner. So apparently someone dropped my precious baby and didn't say anything.  It still works fine but I was just really upset that someone would not even tell me that it happened.  Obviously it was an accident, but when you don't fess up, that's not cool.

It took me a bit to compose myself, which delayed the beginning of the presentation.  Eventually though, we got everyone gathered inside and I did my best to teach everyone about Canada.  One of my favorite parts was a section I entitled, "Speaking Canadian," where I taught the group some Canadian words and phrases, like: eh, double double, timbit, pop, bunnyhug (a Saskatchewan favorite), loonie and toonie.  Everyone seemed to enjoy guessing what each was (I had pictures of everything on the slide as well for them to choose from).  I also had a few objects to pass around, including a stuffed beaver, a toque and a loonie and toonie.  I finished off the presentation with a photo montage video that showed varying Canadian landscapes, cities and animals by province/territory.  Then it was question time.  I was so pleased by all of the interesting questions people asked me!  The best moment though was after all the questions were finished, Felix said out-loud, "I really love Canada."

I forgot to have someone take pictures during the presentation, so with Arturo's help, we recreated what I'm sure I looked like during the presentation.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the night a lot which made me happy and I was so glad to have been able to teach everyone about the amazing place I call home.  Thanks again to everyone who came out!

Empty Apartment, Motorcycles and Paragliding

The last week has been extremely busy.  I was bad and didn't take the time to update the blog.  This could get long.

We didn't end up having hot water until Thursday.  When I came home from work on Wednesday there was a bit of a mess in my room from the plumber being there so I knew that he had actually come.  I also found out on Wednesday that my landlady Delaine had to decided to move most of their stuff to their new place, leaving me in a mainly empty apartment.  Other than it being very echo-y, it's been alright.  She's actually around quite a bit though, doing more packing and cleaning, so its more like having a roommate who is there half the time.  I'm very grateful though that she isn't letting the new owners move in until I leave - it is so kind of her.  She also left the internet for me, which I am even more grateful for!  It's definitely different living alone though, although the place is very secure, including a 24 hr watchman.

On Wednesday, it was Robert's birthday.   I bought him a chocolate croissant as a present in the morning.  At lunch, we went to Wendy's and Robert had his first ever float.  He liked the idea, but preferred it to not be mixed, saying that he could drink the coke with his meal and then the ice cream after.  I think he's crazy, as it is so good mixed!  We still have to work at him remembering what it is called, as throughout the day he referred to it as a floatie and a floater... both of which sound not good.

In the evening, I headed over to the colmado to celebrate Robert's birthday.  A lot of people showed up, I think the most we have ever had at the colmado.  We essentially just sat around and talked, drank beer, ate colmado sandwiches and to finish off the evening, Robert, Trond, Maria and I played dominoes (Robert had gotten a set as a gift from Manuel and Laura).  At first it looked like Robert and Trond were going to beat Maria and I, but then we came back in the end to win by about 2 points.

mi hermana y yo

Trond with his domino holding trick

Maria

Robert

At the end of the night, I did something that I was really afraid of.  I let Arturo take me home on his motorbike, Dominican style: with no helmet.  Fellow Canadians, I know what you're thinking - I was thinking it too.  If conditions were different, I wouldn't have done it, but, Arturo is an experienced driver, it was only 4 blocks away, there was no traffic because it was so late, etc.  Maria had a good laugh since it is completely natural for her to hop on the back of a bike with no helmet.  I explained it to her like this: if you go your entire life with the notion that being on a motorbike requires a helmet, always, and then suddenly you get on a motorbike (scary enough when its your first time) without a helmet, it feels really really bad and scary and horrible.  I made sure that Arturo didn't drive too fast, and I got a bit freaked out when we made the corners, but it was actually a lot of fun.  I think I would try it again sometime, but would need a helmet before I'd go out in any more traffic or for any more distance.  I've also had nightmares about motorbikes on the freeways/highways so I couldn't go too far anyway.  The one good thing about it was that I faced a legitimate fear - and that always feels good when it's done.

That's my: I'm so scared I'm laughing face

On Thursday, we were really busy at work trying to finish the translation of a feasibility study.  Luckily, we got it done in time, so we didn't have to stay late to finish.  The one nice thing about having a deadline is that lunch was brought in for us!  After work, I went home for a quick nap before meeting up with Trond and Mari to head over to the MC to attend Paula's goodbye party.  Earlier in the week, we learned that Paula had decided to end her internship early, which is frowned upon by AIESEC, since it makes the exchange process appear less reliable to the partners, but it was the best decision for her.  The night was lively, with dancing and Costa Rican drinks.  I met another one of the interns from San Francisco de Macoris, Vicky from England.  She was very nice and I enjoyed chatting with her.  She told me that she thinks the pollution here is worse than in London, where she is from.  I actually agree with her.

Friday was our first day off of our 4 day long weekend.  The only thing I did outside of the house was go and get groceries.  My plan was to wander over to La Cadena, which is about 4 blocks from my house, but as I approached Lincoln, I saw that it was closed.  Crap, I thought, since I really needed groceries.  I thought I'd take a chance on Nacional, so I hopped into a carrito.  I figured that if I saw cars in the parking lot, I would get out, and if I didn't see any, I would keep going to Pola.  There were a few vehicles in the lot, so I got out and went inside.  Not everything was open, but the main grocery part was so I was able to pick up enough for the weekend.  I hopped back into a carrito and headed home.  I decided to watch a few of the movies I had on my computer in order to delete them to gain some extra space on my hard drive.  First up, was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  Meh,  it was alright.  In the evening, I was invited to play poker at Arturo's house but I had a bad headache so decided to stay home.  I finished up the painting which I had started a few days earlier.  It was a nice way to relax before heading to bed.

On Saturday, no one wanted to do anything, so I ended up just staying at home.  I watched Goodfellas and A Single Man.  Goodfellas was good, though I've never been a huge Mob/Gangster film fan.  That and I have a sort of love-hate relationship with Ray Liotta.  A Single Man, however, was beautiful, tragic and heartbreaking, but beautiful.  I spent most of the day doing absolutely nothing, which in hindsight, was probably a good thing.  I took some time to reflect and plan for my imminent departure and such.  In the  evening, Bart and I had our weekly date night, but we decided to play different games than usual.  We tried backgammon and pool.  In the end though, we were both craving a scrabble match, so we didn't fully stick to our plan of doing something new.

Sunday morning, I was up early and busy packing for the day ahead.  We (me, Robert, Mari and Trond) had decided to go to Jarabacoa with Arturo for some paragliding!  I was ready to go at 9:45, like planned, but Arturo, being Dominican, runs on Dominican time, so it was much later before they were ready to pick me up.  Anyway, once we were all in the truck, we had to make a quick stop at the Rabies Centre (Mari had been bit over the Christmas holidays and had to get her final shot) for Mari before hitting the road.  The drive to Jarabacoa was nice, although a bit cramped in the back.  It was so worth it though.  I love Jarabacoa because of the fresh air and because it feels like back home.  We ate lunch at a place Mari had discovered on her first trip there.  Essentially looks like a little garage but made excellent Mexican style food.  I had their cheese burrito.

After that, we headed up to Jamaca de Dios (a resort community thing), to meet up with the other Dominican paragliders.  It was a fairly steep drive up and we couldn't do the entire thing with the truck and had to walk the last bit.  The first guy who we watched run off the mountain was unsuccessful in his take off.  This was worrisome since Arturo had told me that the only risk I have with my camera is on the takeoff when you often will land face first if it is unsuccessful.  Ack.  Robert went next and his take off was successful, but he told us later that they had brushed up against a few trees before they really got going.

Walking up the mountain

Takeoff point

Robert getting ready

Robert's takeoff

Robert in the air

Mari had wanted to go next, but they needed someone a bit lighter to go with Tony (guy I had met the last time I was in Jarabacoa and who runs the flight school there), so I ended up going next.  I wasn't totally prepared, mentally, but sometimes it is best to just be thrown into it.  Like I said, I was most nervous about the takeoff.  The running was kind of awkward since you are tied to someone else, but we got a good stride and lifted off fairly easily.  Mari has pictures of me getting ready and the takeoff, once I get copies I'll post them.  Anyway, it was a neat feeling just running and then suddenly your feet aren't touching the ground anymore!  I thought I would be scared, being up so high and just being held up by a parachute, but instead, I just felt calm and safe.  It was beautiful.

View from the air

Looking up at the chute

Tony and I in the air

More beautiful views

The one great part, was when Tony said to me, okay, body weight to the right.  Arturo had prepped us earlier on this and what would happen, so I crossed my legs to the right and leaned in that same direction and we began to make a fast spiral in the air.  It creates a bit of G-Force which makes the stomach feel a bit odd, but it was quite fun.  We also passed by, quite close, to the restaurant at the resort place and Tony yelled out to them, "Hola!  Como Estan!" When we were getting closer to the ground, Tony told me that we were going to have to do a butt landing, so he told me that when we got closer, he would get me to put my legs up high in the air.  This was kind of nerve-wracking, the thought of landing on the ground on one's ass, but you sit in a fairly cushy chair and Arturo had told me that it wasn't that bad.  Plus, the other option of a running landing wasn't that appealing since I was worried of hurting my bad ankle again.  The landing was really quite soft, thanks to some awesome grass and I assume some awesome piloting by Tony.

Our chute, after the landing

Mari, flying next in the distance

Beautiful

The soft grass

Near the landing site

More paragliders

It was an amazing experience and I wish that I could have gone for longer, or another time.  The wind conditions weren't great so the entire flight was around 10 to 15 minutes or so.  Kind of crazy jumping off a mountain and landing 650 meters below!

Paragliders!

After we hung out with the paragliding people for a bit, we headed over to Arturo's family's place for a quick bite to eat.  We also had the pleasure of meeting his parents.  They were very gracious and lovely.  His parents even took the time to walk around the grounds with Mari and I, teaching us about the different trees they had and what they grew.  I learned that avocados grow on really big trees.  For some reason, I thought they would grow on a smaller bush like tree, but now I know!

The drive back to the city was good, except for one portion when it started pouring rain.  Pouring so hard you could barely see the road in front of you.  But after that intense bit, it was smooth sailing.  Arturo took us to a steakhouse, which he claims has the best steak in the Dominican Republic.  He talked me into trying a bit, since, like I said, it is apparently the best in the country.  I had a teenie tiny piece.  It was good, but I won't be going back to steak anytime soon.  The place was quite quaint and unique.  You wouldn't expect such great food from just passing by!  Essentially, it was just set up in the front yard of a house, the left side had a grill and was where they prepared the food, and on the right hand side, there were about 5 tables set up.  And the prices were really good too.  I expected it to be an expensive meal considering that 4 people had steak, but was really really reasonable!

Robert and Trond

My wine

The steak

See!  Tiny piece!

My half eaten salad

The steakhouse

On Monday, the original plan was for Maria and I to go to the beach, but that morning, we decided to just stay in the city since we knew it would be really busy coming back in the afternoon.  I made my way over to her place just after noon and we took a carrito to Kennedy and then walked the rest of the way to IKEA for lunch.  The walk was so hot.  The sun was intense and we were both a little sweaty once we arrived.  Okay I was a lot sweaty, Maria, she was good.  After a quick bite to eat, we walked all the way to Blue Mall.  Luckily, we made our way through several shady streets which helped a lot, but by the time we arrived, we were literally parched.  There are these fountains on the side that we came in on and both of us mused about how great it would be to jump in!  We got two bottles of water and downed over half of each one.  Then it was time for shopping.  We checked out a few stores that had sales, and I was going to go back to one to try on some jeans that I liked that were on sale, but then we saw that MANGO was open.  Needless to say, I ended up buying 2 dresses, a pair of jeans and a sweater there.  Great prices though.  The jeans, I got for about $37 Canadian, and they were regular nearly $100.  Sweater was a great deal too.  $20 down from $65.  I also decided to buy Maria the same sweater (we both loved it - not surprisingly) as a thank you for being such an amazing friend over the past year.  I got kind of emotional about it, as did she.  We've had so many great memories which we reminisced about later over donuts at Krispy Kreme.  She has always been there to help me and to teach me, and to just be an amazing friend.  I'm going to miss her so much!!!

Our Day: Blue/Purple: carrito, Red: walking, Green: carrito

I spent the rest of the evening, watching Glee (I had downloaded the first season on the weekend) and chatting with mom, dad and Bart.  I also did a bit of laundry too.  I had a horrible sleep since I have these 3 weird bites on my arms that itch so bad that it kept waking me up during the night.  Ugh.  I hope they disappear soon.  In a new development, people at the carrito stop (as Robert and I refer to it now) have begun lining up.  This is big.  Normally, it is just this mad free for all, where the Dominicans actually run and push their way into the carritos as they arrive.  There are still a few that don't obey the line system, which is annoying, but it is progress!  However, the honking was unbearable today.  It was definitely a morning where I just sat there and thought, only 29 more days... only 29 more days...  But it was all better once I sat down in Sweet Bakery to have my espresso and croissant.  Then my thoughts turned to, man I'm going to miss this country!  Ah the emotional roller coaster is in full swing, and it's only going to get worse over the next 2 months as I leave and then have to adjust back to life in Canada.

Beach Time! Finally!

The work day on Friday was the usual normal stuff.  I did make a decision regarding Puerto Rico though, and that was to not go.  The price had increased even more that morning and it just didn't make sense for me to still go and not be able to enjoy the visit due to a lack of money.  I decided that on my next trip to the DR I'll add on a side trip to PR, even though I was hoping to add one more country stamp to my passport before this one expires.  I spent Friday night at home, just relaxing.

On Saturday, I was up early to head to work.  Robert and I had a sit-in breakfast at Sweet Bakery which has become a rarity as of late.  A few hours later, we received a call from Ozumy, saying that she was nearby and was wondering if we wanted to go to Sweet Bakery with her.  Since Saturdays are usually quite slow getting going, we were able to sneak out for 15 min to see her.  Once the day did get going though, we were very busy and ended up having to stay late just to get enough of the projects finished.  This caused delays with our next plan: meeting up for lunch at Paninoteca.   Mari and Robert's friend Trond were patient and waited for us to finish.  As luck would have it, Maria (who we were also planning on meeting for lunch) ended up having to run an errand that was taking her longer than she had planned.  The unfortunate part of that was that she ended up not arriving until after we had finished eating.  Anyway.  So Robert, Mari, Trond and I walked over to the restaurant and had some sandwiches.  They weren't super impressed with the place - I, on the other hand, love it.  Trond and Mari had purchased some wine before meeting up with us, and Trond had to show us the bottle he found for RD$100: La Fuerza.

Maria and Nicole showed up just as Robert, Mari and Trond were getting ready to leave.  I stayed with them as they ate their lunch and I ate some nutella gelato!

After lunch, the three of us headed to Maria's place so that we could drop off a few things, including Nicole who wanted to sleep, and also pick up a few things.  Then Maria and I went over to her friend Lorena's place as Lorena was selling Maria her old blackberry.  When we arrived, we were greeted by the entire family, including grandma and a cute dog!  We sat and chatted for a bit and Lorena's mom decided that I didn't know enough Spanish.  Maria defended me, saying that I understand more than you'd think.  It was funny.  Lorena and her sister were planning on going to the salon to have their hair done.  Since that was also part of Maria's plan for the day, I said that we could forego a trip to Blue Mall and go to the salon instead.  So Lorena's mom drove us there, however, on the way we had to stop at Maria's again so she could pick up her shampoo and other hair products.  I was left in the car, and the mom decided that she was going to test my Spanish by having a conversation with me. I did quite well, I think, although got confused once when she asked where I lived - as I thought she meant where I lived in the city but she meant it as in where I lived in my country.  I guess she thought I was American so I had to clarify that I was actually from Canada.  Anyway, it was pretty funny.

At the salon, I decided to get a manicure and pedicure.  I mean, why not?  I was actually done before Maria.

Then Maria and I wandered over to the Orange store on Tiradentes so that she could activate her blackberry.  She was so excited - it was super cute!  We both had to stop by Nacional to pick up a few things so we walked over there, got what we needed, and then found a table to sit at so that I could help Maria get her blackberry set up.  After that, I headed home and spent the rest of the night having Date Night with Bart.  After I whooped him in Monopoly we decided to play Chess since I'm kind of wanting to learn the game and such.  The first time we played, I think I made it 13 moves, which was short of my goal of making it 15.  So we played again, I improved a lot, and Bart made a few mistakes.  Our game lasted 42 moves.  He did end up winning though which wasn't surprising.  I learned a few new things that I didn't know - like being able to switch around the Rook and King - which Bart had done and I responded with WHAT? How did you do that!?!  Then we played Dominoes.  The game online has different rules than the ones I learned here in the Dominican, but I still managed to dominate the game.

On Sunday, I was up early to meet Mari, Robert and Trond at La Cadena before we went to the beach.  I was so excited to wake up to sunshine.  I haven't been to the beach since Turks and Caicos in November, and it shows!  While I waited for the three of them to pick up some food, I stood and watched one of the employees cleaning the glass with Windex and newspaper, which apparently is a good way to clean glass but I don't understand how it doesn't get all ink-smeary.

We caught a taxi to the bus station and then waited for their other friends, Trygve and Silje.  They had a few issues getting there since the taxis kept wanting to take them all the way to the beach.  But it all worked out and we had a nice bus ride out to the beach.  Before we stepped onto the sand, we made a quick stop at the store.  I had some ice cream and a coffee.  Breakfast of champions.

The beach was nice and quiet for the first while.  I did a bit of reading, tanning, napping and even played some Frisbee.  Later on in the day, I tried out Robert's new hammock.  If I didn't keep my arms outside of it, it just wrapped right around me.

Cool ship kite!

Trond and Robert eating apples

Pushing out the sides a bit

And this is what I got if I just laid there

Presidente in the cocoon

When it was time to head home, we ended up deciding to eat near the beach, since the three of us girls were not dressed appropriately for going out to one of the restaurants in the city.  We all had a hankering for Mexican and Mari and Silje had asked some locals if there was a Mexican place.  Turns out there was.  We passed by it the first time since it was actually a sort of combination of American, Italian and Mexican cuisine, judging by its signage.  However, we decided it was worth a shot so we headed in.

One of the owners on facebook at the bar

3rd picture is weird and creepy and they didn't actually have pizza

We were the only ones in the place that seemed to be run by a foreign family with one Dominican waiter.  I had ordered a chinola juice to drink and when it arrived, it tasted a little off.  I had Robert and Mari taste it just to make sure it wasn't just me and they agreed that it tasted a bit fermented.  I took it up to the bar and told the lady that it was a little bit fermented and didn't taste good.  She promptly told me that I was wrong, to which I replied, no, it is not good.  I requested that I get an iced tea instead.  The extent of the Mexican on the menu was 4 options, a variety of tacos/burritos.  Everyone got the burrito except for myself (pasta) and Trond (chicken).  We ended up waiting over an hour for our food, which was utterly ridiculous.  The family that owned the place were kind of weird as well.  The main lady was wandering around in sweat shorts and a t shirt making kind of loud calls on her cell phone.  There were kids running around too but they were fairly well behaved.

When the food finally arrived, we were all disappointed.  My pasta tasted as though someone had taken a can of stewed tomatoes, blended it up, and added some salt and pepper.  I paid RD$250 for it, which, again, was utterly ridiculous.  The burritos were not much better, apparently.

By the time we had actually eaten, it was nearly 9:00 pm.  I had texted Maria to find out how late the buses ran and she thought it was either until 8 or 9.  So, we decided that we'd have to just get a taxi to take us back to the city.  We had one of the family members at the restaurant call us a van taxi, and while we waited, we debated how much it should cost us.  A regular car taxi trip between Santo Domingo and Hemingway is RD$1500.  Since it was a van and it was later at night, we figured RD$2000 was reasonable.  The taxi driver wanted RD$2600, which we were not okay with.  We asked the guy who had called the taxi for us how much it should cost.  He said US$55 (RD$2035).  Robert got the guy to go with him to bargain with the taxi driver.  We had originally wanted two stops (the first in Zona Colonial for Trygve and Silje, and then the second in our area) but the driver ended up saying that he would do one stop for $2250 and two stops for $2600.  Since we can get from Zona Colonial to our area for RD$150, the choice was easy: one stop.

The ride back was decent, I sat and talked to Trond about lots of random things, including cars and dogs.  We passed a bad accident on the road.  All the windows were shattered and the car was facing the wrong way, sitting on its right side with the roof against the barrier in the middle of the highway.  It didn't look good.  There were tons of Dominicans gathered around, and a semi stopped so traffic got a bit backed up.  Once we arrived in Zona Colonial, we said goodbye to Trygve and Silje and then went to find a taxi to take us to our place.  Of course, the first guy we talked to wanted RD$200.  It's so annoying when they do this.  We told him, that we knew the cost was only RD$150 and he assured us that we were wrong.  We said fine, we'd find someone else.  And we did.

At lunch yesterday, Robert and I went to Taco Bell.  He tried out their new deal which was two flat-bread chicken tacos, a regular taco, fries and a drink for RD$150.  I had the 7 layer burrito, small nachos and a drink for RD$210.  Obviously one of us got a better deal...  In the evening, Delaine wanted to talk to me and she told me that someone was coming today to fix the hot water tank.  THANK GOODNESS!  I haven't written about it because, you know, complaining is annoying, but we've been without hot water for the last week and a bit.  This did mean though that I had to tidy up my room since the hot water tank is in my closet.  Not that it was messy, but just put away more personal things that I don't need some random plumber checking out.  Oddly though, this morning, when I went to shower, there was no water in the shower but we did have water from the sink.  I'm not sure how that happened.