Choose the Best for You!

Since the last two posts have been without pictures, I made a point to take out my camera a few times over the past two days.  On Wednesday, we got to work and there wasn't any power.  This continued until 11:00 am.  During that time, Robert and I sat and chatted with O about how living in Canada is going to be very different for him.  We talked a bit about winter driving and such and then we realized how many rules he will have to learn before he goes.  This included making sure he knew that everyone has to wear a seatbelt, even the people in the back.  You can't drink and drive, or drink on the street, or have open alcohol in your car.  You have to stay stopped at a red light, and you can't make a right hand turn on a three lane road from the left hand lane.  This went on and on for a bit with Robert and I laughing, and O being in a bit of shock.  When the power did come back on, we were without internet, so the work that Robert and I had to do couldn't be done.  We took an early lunch in order to pass some time when we couldn't be working anyway, and while we were wandering around Pola, we came across this:

"Choose the best for you." Ultra strong or ultra soft?  We may have joked about being able to save money if we snagged a few sheets.

After lunch, we headed over to Sweet Bakery, like usual.  I decided to mix it up and have a Cappuccino instead of my regular espresso.  I'm so glad I did.  It was delicious!

The rest of the day at the office was painful.  The internet was back, but the air conditioning had stopped working.  It was incredibly stuffy and hot upstairs and made it really difficult to focus and actually be productive.  I decided to pick up some hot food at Pola for dinner before I headed home.  It was a good idea.  Even though the ride home was a bit longer than usual, the food was still quite hot when I was ready to eat it.  Part of the reason that it took longer to get home was because there was a fairly major motorcade that had shut down the street that I live on.  Because of this, traffic was backed up coming down Lincoln, so I got out of the carrito early since I could walk faster than we were moving.  As I went to turn the corner onto my street, I saw the beginning of the motorcade, which began with a shiny black SUV and a military guy saying, "please, do not attempt to cross the street.  Do not cross the street, please."  They had even cleared out all of the carritos that are usually lined up along my road.  It's a very busy street so it was really odd to see it so empty.  There were at least 20 vehicles in this motorcade, and I assume, since they went to greater lengths than usual to completely clear the road, it was probably someone high up, perhaps even the President.

This morning, I headed out early to meet Ozumy for breakfast at Sweet Bakery.  We had a good chat although it was a bit shorter than usual since she had a meeting to attend that morning.  Before I went back to the office, I was sure to grab a chinola juice to enjoy while I worked.

When I arrived at the office, we were without internet (but there was power and air conditioning!).  Robert and I did some more chatting and worked on a few other things while we waited for the internet to work again.  It was a bit sporadic later on and I was able to quickly grab info off the internet so that we could at least work for a bit offline.  Just before lunch, we had to meet with Sr. S to go over one of our projects, and he asked me when I would have the document completed on the Cayman Islands.  I said that I wasn't sure since the internet was so off and on and then he goes, "well you can use this then if it isn't working after lunch," and pointed to his iPad.  Robert and I got quite excited about this.  We had both stepped away from the desk before we went to lunch and when we returned, the iPad was sitting there!  We didn't have the password and Sr. S wasn't around, so we went to lunch.  We were able to get his password then and we got to try it out.  I was actually surprised by how heavy it was.  I definitely wouldn't be able to hold it for reading, for any substantial length of time.  Robert and I were like kids with a new toy.

After work, I walked to Nacional to ensure they had the ingredients I needed for Canadian Night, which I am hosting at the MC Flat on the 29th.  I was quite happy to find that they did have what I need (or at least a close enough variation) and that the prices were a bit cheaper than I had anticipated!

I'm also still unsure about Puerto Rico.  The flight prices have increased significantly his week.  I really wish I had known before that I had to go on my own, since I would have saved at least $100 if I had booked even a week ago.  So between that and finding out today that the flight I wanted to take home is now $200 more... I really have to think about this.

Epic Hair at the Bookstore

Lately, I've been feeling like life is really normal here.  Nothing random and crazy is happening anymore. 

And then, the man with the epic hair came into the bookstore.

So yesterday after work, I had gone to the bookstore in Nacional to meet with Lostania, who I am mentoring.  It seems as though we had some miscommunication, because she never showed up.  However, it turns out that an hour alone at the bookstore café was exactly what I needed.  I enjoyed the quiet atmosphere and the classical background music.  I got a sneak peak at another presidential hopeful's campaign material (his team was working at the table beside me) and enjoyed an Arizona Iced Tea.  I took some time to write out the issues that have been nagging at me and also thought about how to deal with each of them.  Quite productive.  By this point, I had run out of things to do so I began people watching, and then I spotted this man:

 
But at first, I couldn't get a good shot of him, so I drew a quick sketch to send to Mari who I was chatting with at the time.

Anyway, here are some additional views that I took after I ran into Manuel (who had come to the bookstore to buy a dictionary and was also shocked and amused by epic hair man)!

Of course, BB pictures are not always the greatest, especially for things in the distance.  What you can't necessarily tell from the photos is that his hair was thinning up front, so his big poof up top was quite teased and sparse when up close. This, added to the way he carried himself and acted while in the bookstore, just made everything more random and funny to me.  He was quite poised and acted very distinguished, took his time looking at the books and talking to the staff.  He even stopped by the café and slowly sipped something while seemingly judging its quality.

I'm such a creepy stalker at the bookstore.  I also now feel bad for judging this man and his hair.

Anyway, today has felt more like a normal day at the office.  For starters, Robert had 15min between his course this morning and heading out to the client's office so we were able to have espressos and catch up a bit at SB.  I met up with Mari for lunch.  Our plan was to go to Pola, but we walked in and it was insanely busy, so we walked out and went to Emparedado instead.

Well, I'm going to be away for the next few days working on my tan and I'm sure I will have much to write about when I return.  Did you know that this will be my first time ever going to an all inclusive resort?  I've never really considered myself to be an all inclusive resort kind of gal, so I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

The Smyth's continue to take on DR

Back at work today!

I didn't have to work yesterday, but the explanation for that will come after we go back in time to Sunday...

Sunday was election day here in the Dominican Republic.  I wasn't really sure what to expect.  I began my day by taking a carrito to the Colonial Zone (the driver got mad at me for making him stop so close to El Conde - oops!), and meeting up with mom and dad again.  Most everything was closed so we ended up having a fairly lazy day.  However, the usual flea market that is in the small plaza across from their hotel was up and running (although with less vendor's than usual) so we went to check out the goods and wares there.  Mom and dad had already been earlier (and while they were out and about they saw their first dead rat Dominican squirrel) and had already made a purchase, but wanted to take me since they thought I would like the stuff that one particular man was selling.  Indeed I did.  More purchases were made, but I must remain secretive about this until after Thursday for two people are receiving gifts from this vendor... (Jonathan and Bart)  We headed to Plaza Espana for lunch, and ate at one of the pretty restaurants on the west side.  I don't remember the name of the restaurant but it has a man with a wooden leg in its logo.  Regardless, it was a lovely meal.  I had salmon ravioli in a mustard alfredo sauce.  Mmm.  However, I was disappointed that they did not have a dessert menu.  Following lunch, we wandered around some more.  Mom and dad took me to see the first monastery and the first hospital (two sites I had yet to happen upon) then we wandered back to the hotel to spend some time at the pool. 

Does this guy look like George Bluth to you too?

Because it was election day, we still couldn't buy alcohol.  We were all craving beer, but had to settle for chinola (passion fruit) juice.  Our lazing at the pool was followed by a nap and then supper (rough life eh?).  Then, as is becoming a habit, I had the hotel call me a taxi and away I went.  I should also mention now that the President also declared (the day prior to the election) that everyone would have power on election day AND that everyone would get Monday morning off.*

I, personally, was happy with both of these political gestures.  I like having electricity, and getting Monday morning off meant an entire day off for me, since I had previously booked the afternoon off.  So, once again, my morning began with a trip to Zona Colonial to meet up with my parents.  Earlier, mom and dad had stopped by the Fort to check if it was open and they were told it was.  When we returned, they then said it wasn't.  But maybe, it would be open tomorrow.  Well, fine, we said.  Instead we headed to the Larimar Museum (interesting, and mom made a purchase) and then to the Amber Museum on el conde (we all made purchases).  We at lunch at one of my favorite pizza shops, where we had to wait extra long because they had run out of tomatoes.  Yes a pizza shop was out of tomatoes...  When we got back to the hotel, we had ice cream and beer, watched a lizard doing pushups and poofing out his neck in an attempt to mate with another lizard who just kept running away from him, followed my relaxing and swimming at the pool.  Another lovely day.

Today's plan, once I finish my morning at work, is to meet up again and perhaps go to the park on the other side of the river.  You know, be a little bit more daring.  Mom and dad are scheduled to head back home tomorrow morning.

*As a side note, can you imagine what would happen in Canada, if Harper decided to just give everyone in the country the morning off.  This would be chaotic!  Think about that one for a bit...

7 Weeks in the DR

I decided not to write yesterday because it was just an overly bad day for me.  Nothing too serious, just a lot of frustration at work which made me stressed and homesick. 

When I woke up today, I decided that indeed, it was a new day, and considering I still have months of work to go, I need to figure it all out.  When I got to work, I opened up a new word document and started from scratch.  Lots of extra work, but at least I will be able to feel like the end product is good enough for the client.  Only problem is that I'm still waiting on the answers to a few questions and new data from J.  So there is only so much I can put together right now.  But at least I have a plan of attack, and that's all that matters.

Also, here is a picture of the garbage outside the Chinese restaurant which I had mentioned the other day. This is actually better than it usually is. The dark kind of ring around it is some sort of grease. It stinks really bad.

Lunch made me laugh.  Again, I was at EmpareDado (since I don't know how to order at anywhere else yet) and there was a new girl who took my order.  I thought I was clear with what I said, but then she asked me again which small size I wanted, and the other girl who was nearby (and who has helped me the last few times) was like "6" (the size I always get) before I could answer.  This made us all laugh.  Then the girl was confused and was asking me something about the water and I swear she said 20oz (which is the size of a bottle), so I said yes, but I guess this wasn't quite her question, so I ended up repeating my order and then she understood.  I then proceeded to sit down at my favorite table and when she brought out the sandwich, she asked me a question.  I had no idea what she was asking me, so I just gave that look of helplessness and said thank you.  She thought this was funny, and started laughing and so did the other girl.  And I laughed at myself.  Once I looked at what she brought I decided that perhaps she was asking me if I wanted a cup with ice.  Normally they bring that regardless, but today they didn't.  I have no idea though.  Even though they laughed at me, I think they still like me, so it's all good.

I also have to admit that I've become rather obsessed with Kady O'Malley's liveblogs on cbc.ca.  The political geek in me has been indulging a lot lately in her writing along with several others from the various media outlets.  But there is something about her liveblog that I am particularly attracted to. 

ALSO!  I got served coffee twice today!  The first time, it was already made with sugar (but not nearly as much as the first time) but this afternoon I was able to tell her "no azúcar" (although my azúcar comes out more like sucre - my constant issues with similar sounding French/Spanish words - but she got the point).  I hope I continue to be on the coffee round.  I'm still trying to get used to the small size of the coffees.  I'm a regular morning Grande Pike drinker at Starbucks, so this is fine for an afternoon sip, but in the morning I usually feel like I need more.  I'll adjust soon enough though.

Randoms from Yesterday:

We finally got toilet paper in our bathroom at work after a week without it.  I'm not really sure how this happens.  I've gotten used to having to carry around kleenex when out and about since several places will not have toilet paper, but you would think that at work, I wouldn't have to worry about that.

At lunch I saw the Pola security guard, who stands out near the parking lot entrance under an umbrella, giving himself a dry shave with a disposable razor.  No mirror, just casually going over his face.  Regardless of how silly this looked, it's definitely not good for his skin.