I thought this post would be full of stories about my adventures at 27 Charcos, but instead, nature happened. Late on Friday night, we got a call to tell us that the tour company had cancelled the trip. They had received too much rain up north and thus the currents at the waterfalls were too dangerous. So instead of packing and going to bed early, I headed over to the colmado for a beer and a sandwich. Prior to us finding out, I was sitting in my bed net, talking to Bart when O called me.
O: Hey Kierstin, it's O from work.
K: Hey O, what's up?
O: So you know, A the driver?
K: Yes (thought: did something happen to A?)
O: He's coming over to your house.
K: Oh? (thought: crap, I have to go into the office at 7 at night...)
O: Yeah he is going to drop off your salary. He's on his way, so just keep an eye out for him.
K: What? Okay. Do you know if he is bringing Robert's as well?
O: Not sure, you can ask him when he arrives.
K: Um ok, well thanks.
So anyway, I waited around for A to show up. I went to tell Robert, just in case, and we were outside waiting when David showed up. Side story: David was really sick last week. He has some sort of bacteria that has caused a huge rash on his leg, and was making it hurt to move his legs. Not cool. I saw him this morning from my carrito and he was still limping which isn't good. Then I get a call from A. A doesn't speak any English. He says who he is and that he is on his way with my money, I asked him where he was, and he said, outside your house. This is a Dominican thing to do. They are always there already. I was standing outside my house so I knew he wasn't actually there, but withing a couple minutes, he turned the corner and stopped by. He handed me my salary through the car window. It was in an envelope that said "Senorita Kierstin." There was no salary for Robert. I'm still not totally sure why this happened. I'm thinking that perhaps Sr. S got confused about me taking Saturday off and perhaps thought it was for my vacation, thus he wanted to get me my salary before I left. I have no idea.
Robert and I decided that we should go into work even though we had been granted the day off. Since we still plan on taking the trip eventually, we'll need that day again. Better to build goodwill right? When Sr.S saw me, he seemed really confused. I explained to him that the trip was cancelled because of the weather. He seemed to sort of have a light-bulb moment when I said that (which is why I believe my theory about the money coming because he thought I was going on vacation that day). After work, we stopped by Nacional to get some groceries. I've become particularly meat-adverse here in the Dominican, even more so than I usually am. It just always looks more scary here. Luckily, Robert is sensitive to this and takes care to shield me from it. Like covering up his meat in the grocery cart with another food item. It sounds stupid, but I really appreciate it. We had quite a few groceries between the two of us but decided to squish into a carrito instead of paying more for a taxi. We had to wait quite a while until one arrived with two seats free (and one where the other people didn't dash in before us). Finally one came along with an empty front seat. Perfecto! We got in, and piled our groceries up on our laps. There was zero room. Luckily, the car was an automatic so I didn't have to worry about being in the way of the shifting.
That afternoon, Robert stopped by so I could help him out with his motivation letter for the Master's program he is applying to. After he left, I spent the remainder of the day cleaning and I even started packing for vacation. I have also decided that since I have to move in a month, I'm going to send some stuff home with mom and dad this trip. So I got out one of the giant suitcases and started filling it up. I'm hoping it won't be too heavy... Since I was not at 27 Charcos, Bart and I were able to have our usual Saturday night "date night."
Sunday was spent doing laundry, several skype chats (including Lynelle and Ola!) and helping Robert out some more with his application. As a thank you, he even made me an omelette! I also finished reading "The Logic of Life" this weekend, and have started reading, "Every Man Dies Alone" by Hans Fallada, which Jonathan had given me for my birthday. The only thing is that it is big and a hardcover so it isn't conducive to carrying around with me all the time. I'm going to take it on vacation though so perhaps I'll get a good chunk of it read there. Sunday was also Halloween, although I kept forgetting about it since it isn't really celebrated here.
I still go to Sweet Bakery every morning for my coffee and a treat. Yesterday though, they were out of small bags/boxes so I got given this giant bag for my one little pastry. I felt like such a pig carrying it back to work.
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| Giant Sweet Bakery Bag |
I also received the sandals I had ordered from JCL on Saturday. I had actually ordered two pairs but one wasn't available. Luckily, the pair I liked more were. She also told me that she is getting a new catalogue soon that I could look at to find another I like. The sandals cost me just RD$550 ($15 Canadian). I had a bad headache all day yesterday so I had to cancel on my mentoring session with Lostania. I headed home, spoke briefly to mom and then Bart, and went to bed. I was surprised that I slept the entire night. I could have slept longer too.
I've also been keeping an eye on Tomas, the latest tropical storm/hurricane that is currently south of the DR. At first, it looked like I may have issues leaving the country on Friday, but now, it seems that I should be able to get to Turks and Caicos, although we'll probably have a day or two of stormy weather once we're there.
