Slowly Getting into the Christmas Mood

The beginning of my week was a little rough.  I have been having issues sleeping well at night.  I think it has something to do with the new place, bed facing a new way, having to sleep on the other side of the bed, etc.  It's improving though!  Overall, the week has been quite busy at the office.  A lot of projects on the go and several that are finishing up which means I'm doing a lot of translation and quality control work.  Along with writing a few proposals and other things.

On Monday, I had lunch with Mari.  Lately, our lunches have been as cheap as we can make them.  I think this one came in at about RD$65 (CAD$2).

Rice and Beans and Platanos Maduros

I was quite worried that I would somehow end up getting off too early on my way home.  I didn't have to worry about this though since I got stuck at work a bit late and traffic was too heavy to justify taking a carrito.  So I walked all the way home.  It's amazing what those extra 6 blocks do for my energy level.  I was really tired by the time I got home.

Tuesday was similar to the day prior.  Lunch with Mari and lots of work.  It was pay day but I didn't want to have to walk home again, so I left right at 5 to catch a carrito, and thus missed out on getting paid.  I headed home quickly and tried to have a nap before Gerardo came to pick me up for a trip to IKEA.  I wasn't overly successful at actually falling asleep but even just resting made a huge difference in my energy level.  Once he came we went to pick Mari up, carrito style, at the side of the road.  Once she was in, we headed off to IKEA.  On the way, we passed by the park where Lincoln and Lope  split and I finally got to see the trees all lit up.  We decided to stop on our way back for pictures.  Then we passed the park with the giant animals near IKEA and they had COVERED the giant gorilla in lights.  It was amazing and kind of crazy at the same time.  Again, we decided to stop after supper and shopping.  So we arrived at IKEA and went straight to get some dinner.  I had the pasta and a cute can of wine.  I know, a can.  It was called "Vino & Fashion."  How could I resist?

Vino & Fashion

After eating we did a bit of shopping.  I was picking up a gift for our Secret Santa night we were having on Wednesday, along with a few foodstuffs and a random stocking stuffer for Bart.  However, being at IKEA (which makes me feel like home since it looks exactly the same), listening to Christmas music and seeing all the Christmas decorations made me incredibly homesick.  Mari was having the same issues.  I started getting really excited about going home for the holidays!  As mentioned, we planned on stopping by both parks for pictures after, and that's what we did.  Here are some shots (courtesy of Mari):

Me and the Crocodile

Eee Big Gorilla!

Gorilla with one green eye

Giraffe

Me and Gerardo

Poinsettias and lights

It ended up being a really enjoyable evening!

Wednesday's excitement came in the evening.  I rushed home from work to pick up something to bring to the party and to wrap my gift for the gift exchange.  I was actually buying for Gerardo, and thus had secretly purchased his gift while with him at IKEA.  I threw on a dress and headed over to Robert and Mari's a bit early so that I didn't have to walk when it was totally dark.  Slowly, everyone else showed up, except Sylvia.  She called us and as it turns out she'd been trying to get a taxi for about half an hour and didn't have any luck.  So Gerardo and I headed over to pick her up.  Gerardo because he has a car and me because I have the best sense of direction.  When we returned, we all did some more chatting and picture taking before doing the gift exchange.  It was so much fun!  Robert was my secret santa and he got me a mahogany massage thingy that was made locally in the DR.  Very cool!  Manuel also stopped by and we ended up ending the evening with some Charades.  Here are some highlights from the evening:

This morning, I met Mari at the metro station so that we could get an early breakfast, together with Ozumy at Sweet Bakery.  Afterwards, Ozumy and I went to the dry cleaners since I had a few things to be cleaned, along with a pair of pants that needed the hem fixed, and another pair that just needed to be hemmed.  I needed Ozumy to be there because my needs were a bit more sophisticated than I can handle myself in Spanish.  Plus I really didn't want anything to be screwed up.  The total bill for the dry cleaning of one pair of pants and two shirts, plus hemming two pants was about RD$700.  That's about $20.  Which is insane.  I pay nearly that much to have one pair of pants hemmed back home!

At work, I got a call from Sr. S and he asked me about my progress on a particular financial report.  I stopped and thought, I know which one he's talking about but I didn't know that I was supposed to do anything with that.  As it turns out, I was supposed to translate it.  So it seemed like there was some pressure to get this done right away, so I just immersed myself in it and finished the entire financial statement in about 3 hours.  Sr. S was really surprised that I finished it that fast.  So was I, but I mean, they've gotten a lot easier now that I've done so many of them.  We didn't have internet for the end of the morning and the rest of the day.  That was really frustrating.  O and I also had to get a document and draft email onto Sr. S's blackberry in order to send an email with an attachment which HAD to go out today.  What a hassle.  Internet is important, just saying...

I ended up leaving a tad early, which I didn't feel guilty about since I had worked through my lunch.  I made it home in less than 20 min!  I rented "Eat, Pray, Love" off of iTunes the other day so I'm hoping to watch that this evening.  Life tomorrow is also going to be different, as Pavol heads back to Slovakia. There is a good chance he'll be back in January, but it will still be weird not having him around.  Such is life though.

Fever!

The end of the day on Thursday was spent suffering from a crazy fever.  I left work a bit early to catch a carrito and I just felt so horrible.  I took some tylenol and had a nap when I got home, and then still went to bed early hoping that it would be enough to make me feel better.  In the morning, I thought I was better.  I had a sore throat which made me feel a bit more relieved since fever is one of the symptoms of both malaria and dengue... I got up and got ready but then the heat waves started again and I just couldn't bring myself to sit through that all day at work.  Robert was good enough to pass along the news to Sr. S.  Later on in the morning Sr. S. called to check to see if I needed him to take me to the doctor or if there was anything else I needed.  I said I would see how I was the next day.  I'm really not a fan of going to the doctor here.  After my ankle experience, I'm not really keen on going to the doctor for anything more internal.  So my day was spent in bed, napping and drinking lots of water.

That evening we had planned an intern night at the colmado.  I was feeling a bit better that afternoon, and even better after I ate some food and had some fresh orange juice (Thanks Pavol for bringing it home for me!).  I also thought that a bit of rum might help with my throat.  So once Paula and Gerardo arrived, we met up with David and the 6 of us wandered over to the colmado.  Manuel ended up joining us later too.

Robert, Paula, David, Pavol and I

Robert, Paula and Manuel, all with their legs crossed the same way!

We also had a good laugh about this security guard.  He wasn't guarding the colmado, so he was apparently on duty but not exactly doing his job.  I enjoyed how he was in flip flops too.  Paula asked, "Do you think he even knows how to use that thing (gun)?" and Pavol replied, "of course he can scratch his back with it!" Good times.  I also had a chance to talk to all of my dad's side of the family last night since they are in Lloyd for the burial of my late grandfather's ashes.  Definitely great to see and talk to them again - it has been so long!

Security guard with his gun and flip flops

"On Duty" watching TV at the colmado

I headed to work on my own this morning, since Robert had slept in.  I went to get the papas y queso from Pola before heading to the office.  I was so excited for the breakfast, except I still don't have my appetite back so I only ate about half.  My plan for the rest of the day is to do laundry and start packing.  I still can't believe that in 2 days I will be on my way to Punta Cana to catch the flight! 

Where have all the Snickers bars gone?

Es viernes! (It's Friday!)

Normally, I don't get excited about it being Friday because I work on Saturdays... but this Saturday (sábado) we are heading out to Isla Saona for Paula's birthday!  Which means a full day of sun (hopefully), sand and water!  There are over 20 of us going together - interns, aiesecers, coworkers, friends.  It should be a great time!  Plus, I haven't been to the beach since Bart was here and I'm rapidly losing my tan.

So, Wednesday night after work, Robert and I did a bit of shopping.  I found those things to hang in my closet to help prevent the moldy clothing.  After having it hung up for 24 hours, it had already collected about 1/8 cup of water.  Freaky.  They are supposed to last for 60 days, but at that rate, I'm not sure if it will!  Anyway, we did a rum tasting at the house (one from the Turks and Caicos) and then met up with Paula and Yeimy and headed to the colmado for some beer.  We, the interns, decided we needed to meet and really discuss what our housing needs are and try to come to a solution that works for all of us.  While there, I thought I would check to see if they had any Snickers bars.  For the past couple weeks, I haven't been able to find a Snickers bar anywhere!  It was like one day, they suddenly vanished.  And not just the ones near the till, even the Halloween sized packs, and the mini Snickers bites.  None at Pola, none at Nacional.  Anyway, I went in and asked for a Snickers, there was one there (and an almond one at that!) it looked like it had been there forever and had went through being melted and then frozen, but I didn't care.  The guys at the colmado thought I was weird for insisting on that one - they even tried to give me two other chocolate bars instead.

It wasn't that tasty - like I said, it had been melted and frozen at least once - but I savoured it nonetheless.  Who knows when I will get my next one!  For now, it will remain a mystery as to why all the Snickers bars have vanished from the DR.  I hope there wasn't a recall or something... I'm sure to have been affected based solely on the amount I have eaten in the past 5 months...

Sylvia and Arturo rode up on the motorbike later on in the evening and Maria, who had to work late, got dropped off by one of her coworkers.  When the colmado closed, we went back to the apartment and hung out for a bit longer.  We ended up calling it a night once we realized that Robert had fallen asleep on the couch.  He hasn't had an opportunity to nap or deal with the jet lag at all.* 

At work yesterday, Robert got assigned a workspace down in the auditing department.  It was a very lonely day as only L (Sr. S's admin assistant) and I were in our department.  J and O were out at a site near Puerto Plata and Sr. S sounded like he was outside with a lot of kids when I spoke to him briefly.  We met up with Pavol for lunch and then Orlando stopped by too.  And here I went and wrote my little goodbye tribute to him the day before.  Regardless, it was good to get to see him again.  It hasn't quite hit me yet that he's no longer here.  In the afternoon I ended up being quite busy working on a small project with L for Sr. S (thus why I had to call Sr. S).  L and I have developed this way of communicating with each other (since she doesn't speak any English) where I say the key words/attempt a sentence and she comes up with a proper sentence and I say si or no.  I can understand her most of the time, sometimes she just has to say it a different way.   But it makes both of us laugh.  I really like L. 

On the way home from work, as we were passing near the Reinaldo building, Robert and I saw a hummingbird!  It was pretty cool!  We also stopped at the colmado for some ice cream.  We were chilling at the apartment, chatting and eating the ice cream when Pavol came home.  Then Manuel called and said he was coming over to get one of the Spanish Koran's that Pavol randomly received after eating at a Moroccan restaurant with Zak.  We ended up going to the colmado, we were all dressed really casually - looking totally gringo - especially Pavol who was wearing his shorts that look like underwear.  I stayed only for a little while and then ran off to catch the metro to meet Paula for pilates.  On the metro, everyone stares at me, all the time.  Last night was no exception.  Then one guy started hissing at me and I just ignored him and shook my head.  Finally he got up and came over to me, and asked me if I wanted his seat.  I didn't, so I said no.  Then he gave it to some other girl.  I really dislike the hissing.  It's one of the things I just can't accept.  It goes against everything I was ever taught.  To me, it is incredibly rude and disrespectful.  I know it's a cultural thing but yeah.  Anyway, because of the ice cream followed by the colmado, I had ice cream, beer and some trail mix in me before going to pilates.  I was rather sluggish.  Sylvia gave us a ride home and when we passed by the colmado I noticed that the guys were still there - I'm glad they got some guy bonding time!

David is now house-sitting for Tamas (who is on vacation for a month) so Robert was able to sleep in David's room.  He slept in a bit so we didn't leave for work until 9:00.  Since Robert didn't have time for breakfast we went to Sweet Bakery where he got a sandwich and an espresso (although it was supposed to be an Americano) and I got a latté.  I noticed my latté had a weird white sticker on it.  When I got to work, I realized what it was for:

Yep - that's pretty cool - a sticker handle!

Stay tuned for the tales and adventures of the Isla Saona trip!

*Although I believe this is the best way to overcome it - just force yourself through it!  

Miniature Lizard

On my way to pilates last night, I was walking to the metro station when I saw sparks fly off of a power pole.  I assumed that someone was trying to illegally steal electricity (something that is common here) but when I got closer, there was no one there.  Literally, the electricity sparked on its own.  Like when someone is welding kind of sparks.  Eeek.  Needless to say I crossed the street and then crossed back to pass it...

Pilates was good like usual.  I am beginning to notice the effects - feeling more toned and flexible - which makes me happy.  When I got home from class, David opened the door for me and said, "you have to see this lizard!" I got quite excited - as I always like lizards in the house - and then got even more excited when I saw this guy.  He was so tiny and adorable!  We spent probably a good 20 minutes taking pictures of him and I even tried to feed him a piece of my plum.  I don't know if he ever ate it though since I had to go and get some stuff done.  Stuff like making this video.



So that was rather exciting.

Today, all of us were a bit slow getting going, but Robert and I still made it to work at a decent time.  JD was around in the morning so him and Robert finally met, although there wasn't a desk ready for him yet in that area so he is still stuck between O and I.  We ended up going to Sweet Bakery for a quick morning coffee break.  It was the first coffee break I've taken in 5 months.  It felt really nice.  I got an espresso and a mini guayaba pie.

At lunch we met up with Orlando and Ozumy by the bank and then we walked to Quizno's.  I didn't want to walk because it is really hot today but traffic was backed up so we knew it would be faster.  Pavol was waiting for us when we arrived.  Ozumy was really hoping that we would find another fry mask, but unfortunately, all of our fries were normal shaped.  Although she did totally step up and get a refill on her drink.  We still don't know if it is allowed though.  We were also scoping out a potential bachelor for Paula.  We thought this guy had some potential so we took some paparazzi pics:

Today at lunch was also the last time I will see Orlando, hopefully not forever, but probably for quite a while.  He heads back to Colombia tomorrow.  I will definitely miss having him around.  Here is a sampling of some of my favorite Orlando memories:

• Him helping me with my camera to take pictures of the moon
• Me explaining English colloquialisms and other confusing English things
• When I thought he was telling me that his Rosetta Stone program crashes every time he takes a plane
• Him giving me advice on tech products and programs to download
• The fry mask at Quizno's
• His never-ending attempt to figure out a way to teach me how to roll my R's

Yep, saying goodbye sucks.

Moldy Shorts, Dominican Weddings, Norweigan Intern!

This weekend was incredibly busy.  I really wanted to get a couple posts in since so much happened, but I just didn't have time!

Friday was a fairly regular day at work.  There was a Colombian party in the evening at the MC but I was just too tired and grumpy to go.  Instead I stayed home, made a yummy supper, drank some wine and watched the Informant. I felt like I just needed some time to myself since I've been a bit frustrated with several things lately. 

Like usual, I went to work on Saturday.  When I was getting ready in the morning, I thought that I would wear a pair of my dressy shorts.  I went into my closet to grab them and then realized they were moldy!  Yes, moldy!  Ugh, the humidity is so frustrating.  Gerardo told me though about these bags you can buy with stones in that help to absorb the humidity so that I shouldn't have the problem again.  I ended up wearing jean capris instead, but promptly put the shorts into the washing machine.  While at work, I was informed that at the party the night before, they decided to have a bachelorette party for Mariangeles (who was getting married on Monday).  Somehow I ended up helping to plan the party.  After work, I ate lunch with Orlando at Pola and then we met up with Ozumy to go to an adult novelty store on Tiradentes, to get some stuff for the party and some fun gifts for Mariangeles.  We were able to get everything we needed, which was good.  On the way back I had to pick up some groceries for that evening as well, since a few of us were meeting at Gerardo's for a curry dinner.

By the time I got home, I had about 20 min to briefly rest and then I had to get ready to go.  Pavol and I took the metro to meet up with Paula, and then her friend Johanny picked us up and from there we went to Gerardo's.  Gerardo has a very nice apartment - I'm a bit jealous.  Sylvia and Arturo had already arrived, so once we got there we started cooking right away.  The curry turned out really well - and we had lots of really good wine to drink too.  It was a lovely evening full of good conversation and lots of laughs.  We also met another coworker of Paula and Gerardo - Alejandro, who is also from Guatemala.  Turns out that he lives very close to us so Pavol and I were able to catch a ride home with him.  Late that night I ended up checking my email to find some information on the wedding since Paula and I were in a disagreement over what time we were supposed to be there.  However, I found an unexpected email from back home.  So here is my quick shout out and congratulations to Brandon and Kelly on getting engaged!  All the best!

Sunday was my one chance to get a bit of sleep so I tried to stay in bed as long as possible.  Paula came over around 4:30 to help finish the plans for the bachelorette party.  Ozumy came over a bit later as well.  We headed over to Maria's around 7:00.  By 8:00, everyone was there except for the bride and her friends that were arriving that night from Spain.  Unfortunately, by the time they did arrive, a few people had had a little bit too much to drink (due to one game we played where you couldn't say the person's real name for the entire evening, only our "stripper" name that we were given) and most of the food was gone.  We still ended up playing a few games and had lots of fun once she got there though.  It was a pretty crazy evening all in all.

Monday was the day of the wedding.  I originally thought that I had to help with pictures at the ceremony so I was dressed and ready to go at 5:00.  However, Ozumy called and informed me that this was no longer the case.  She ended up coming over at around 6:00 to get ready.  Then we met up with Pavol and Manuel and headed over to the dinner and party.  The place was packed and full of people.  Everyone was so nice though ensuring we had something to drink and food to eat.  At 9:00, Manuel and I left to go and grab Adaica so that we could pick up Robert from the bus station.  Luckily his flight arrived early enough that he was able to catch a Caribe Tours bus to get here - which was a relief for me because I was so worried about him having to take a guagua on his own.

Yesterday morning was kind of hectic since we had 3 people needing to shower and get ready in one bathroom.  But it worked out alright.  Robert got to take his first carrito - and even got stuck in B3 for half of the trip!  He got given a project right away which was good, although it proved to be slightly more difficult than first thought.  Lunch was at Pola with Orlando and Ozumy, and we also stopped by the MC to say hi and to collect some money for the Isla Saona trip that is happening this Saturday. On the way home Robert and I picked up groceries from Nacional.  Overall, I think Robert enjoyed his first full day in the Dominican!

Toques, Mittens and Beavers

Canada Day in the Dominican Republic

My day, overall, was quite normal.  I went to work, got annoyed with certain coworkers, went home.

The plan I came up with for Canada Day was to go to a patio bar that I knew served a Canadian beer - Molson.  So I went home, put on my Canuck shirt, packed up some random Canadian things, gave Pavol one of my other shirts to wear, and off we went to meet up with Paula and her boss at Nacional.  From there, we headed to Beer House Cafe.  Sylvia was the first to arrive - it was so great to finally meet her!  We've been emailing each other for nearly 5 months now!

Slowly more and more people came until we had quite a large table full of people from all over the world.  Literally.  We had only one Canadian (me) along with representation from:

• Dominican Republic
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Guatemala
• Wales
• Slovakia
• Czech Republic
• Portugal
• Romania
• Morocco
• India
• United States
• Peru

And that's what makes AIESEC so awesome! (I hope I didn't forget anyone!)

Anyway, everyone who likes beer and could drink tried at least one Molson Canadian.  I was quite pleased to find out that we drank ALL of the bar's Molson supply!  Interestingly, just having a Molson gave me that comforting home feeling (I'm not really a Molson drinker, unless I'm at the game or if it is the only thing served).  I even had to sing O Canada (which I did in the combined English/French version) and had to try to come up with random facts about Canada.  Lots of people tried on the toque and mittens, although we could only stand wearing them for about 30 seconds, or however long it took to get the picture, before they were taken off quickly!  (It was VERY hot last night) And Ozumy and Mr. Beaver became close friends as well.

Overall, it was a great evening!  I'm pretty sure I won't ever forget spending Canada Day in the Dominican.  A quick shout out and thank you to all of my friends who came out to help me celebrate - it meant a lot to me!