Poo and Japanese Garbage Trucks

The lightheadedness I complained of yesterday still persists today, along with a solid headache.  Not sure what is up.

This morning on the way to work, Robert and I were about to round the corner onto José Contreras when I noticed a pile of poo.  It was gross and big, and had a lot of flies and other bugs around it.  And it wasn't like regular dog poo... that's all I'm going to say about that one... 

Then while waiting for a carrito that had space for two, a small dump truck pulled up in traffic.  Oddly though, it had a lovely Disney scene with Peter Pan and what I assume was supposed to be Wendy, but looked much more like Princess Peach from Mario, flying over London.  Both of them had anime eyes.  And then underneath this large mural that took up the entire side of the small dump truck was a quote that said, "We must be able to fly to the sky."  This was very random.  I thought about how the two men driving this dump truck must feel.  Then I began to notice that there was a lot of Japanese writing on the more official parts of the truck and assumed that it must have been imported from Japan.  The carrito we finally got into ended up behind the dump truck.  It was then that I read in Spanish that the truck had been donated as a gift from a particular city in Japan.  Interesting.  Here are the two pictures I was able to get:

When lunch time rolled around I decided that I needed a splurge on some food that wasn't at Pola.  I spoke with Pavol and Robert and they agreed to go to Emparedado with me.  I then realized that it had been so long since I had gone there.  Most of the staff were new and thus no longer recognized me!  After we finished our meals, we went next door to Bon to have some ice cream.  We sat outside at a table and were able to catch a good breeze!  Very enjoyable!

Robert

Me

Pavol

The plan for this evening is to see Inception with a few people.  I need a big nap first though.  However, I am looking forward to the popcorn!

Boligrafos and Other Things

I wish it was Saturday.

Not since I first moved here has a week felt this long.  So recap.  I made it to pilates on my own on Tuesday!  I was quite pleased.  I definitely felt weird carrying my yoga mat in the carrito though.  However, it was so worth it as my knees were much more comfortable and in less pain because of it.  Paula arrived a bit late, which meant that I did not have my personal translator present.  Our instructor, Rina, is always trying to get me to speak more and so she was asking me questions in Spanish.  She was quite pleased when I understood and responded a few times in Spanish!  Yay!

Pilates Studio

Wednesday was more exciting for me.  Work was normal, but I spent most of my morning making a card for Paula and installing Rosetta Stone on JCLs computer.  It gave me so many problems!  Luckily, Robert has some good computer skills so he helped me out.  We even had to reinstall some sound devices just to get some sound in the headphones.  Since there is no built in microphone in the computer, I decided to purchase a headset for JCL to use.  We attempted to go to a nearby tech store at lunch, but it was closed.  Speaking at lunch, I paid RD$74 (approximately CA$2.11) for this:

RD$74 Lunch: rice, beans, coleslaw and water

And we got 2 free cookies each at Pola.  Which totally made my day.

After work, Robert and I headed to La Sirena to find a headset.  We were told that we could get one there for RD$125 (CA$3.60).  This seemed really cheap to me, but it was true.  It's not the most awesome headset out there, but it will do the trick.  La Sirena itself is massive.  It's bigger than our Superstore back home - mainly because it has 2 levels.  It was kind of overwhelming but at the same time, it kind of felt comforting to be in a huge buy everything in one place store. (Sad but true)  After I bought the headset, and Robert bought a bottle of clothes-grade vodka and some plug adapters, we set off to Acropolis to meet up with Manuel.  On the way out, there were these guys hired for one of the phone companies (I think Orange) who were standing in black outfits, sunglasses and earpieces with these giant inflatable sign things on their backs.  It was kind of funny and creepy at the same time.  Maybe they were advertising internet security?  I have no idea.  Anyway, Manuel had already gotten some dinner at Taco Bell when we arrived but I opted for Pizzarelli instead - a giant slice of cheese pizza!  I then helped Robert pick out a small gift for Paula before heading back downstairs to meet up with Ozumy at Docks.  For the first while it was just the four of us (Me, Manuel, Ozumy and Robert).  The place is cool, but the music was way too loud for me.  Especially because it is a sit-down kind of place (no room for dancing).  Eventually, Paula, Yeimy and Emily arrived, followed by Sylvia and Arturo and then finally, Rene, Sasha, Manuel (Peru), Laura, Adaica and Cyril. 

Ozumy and Manuel

Paula

Robert and I

By the way, here is the card:

Feliz Cumpleaños Paula!

We ended up leaving a bit later than I had hoped, and thus why I am quite tired today.  Manuel gave Robert and I a ride home which ended up being quite funny due to the random Spanish usage.  Rosetta stone taught me to call a pen: boligrafo.  This annoys Manuel, since to him, a pen is a lapicero.*  So Robert and I rambled on about this and that, not always making sense, but trying to talk about boligrafos as much as possible. 

The carrito that Robert and I took to work today was definitely unsafe.  Broken windshield, holes in the floor, probably a broken handbrake since a large rock was in the car (Robert believes this would be to place behind/in front of a tire to keep it from rolling away) and it swayed while driving, etc.  Since I needed coffee and Robert needed breakfast we decided to go to Sweet Bakery.  When we passed the office Creepy Guy was out there and he said to us (roughly translated), "no! Work is here!"  It was pretty funny.  I also got JCL up and running with Rosetta stone, after a small fight with the microphone set up.  It made me so happy to watch her sit there, learning new words and seeing the smile on her face when she got a bunch of the answers right.  So worth the hassle (and the RD$125!). 

Me and my espresso

Another accomplisment for the day was getting my meal down to RD$58.  That's right, under $2 Canadian! It was the same as yesterday, but with slightly less rice and cheaper been sauce. 

I've spent most of the afternoon being dizzy and lightheaded.  I'm not sure why. Hoping it will get better before pilates.  Probably just from being too tired.


*Side note, if you google translate "pen" it gives you pluma.  I've been told that old people use boligrafo and pluma.  Anyway...

Christmas Planning

Since I'm quite anxious to go back home for a visit, I've also began to think about my Christmas visit.  I felt bad asking for more time off - even though my upcoming visit is for family reasons - but Sr. S was quite obliging.  I made a point of asking whether or not it was customary for people in the Dominican to take time off at Christmas (I already knew the answer was no, but I figured I should ask him anyways).  He said it wasn't but that I should take some time if I am able to go home.  This was good enough for me.  And now the flight price watching begins.  Currently, I can do a round trip out of Punta Cana for $888, although it requires me to stay overnight in Toronto, which isn't a big deal, but ups the overall travel price by about $100.  I suppose I could sleep in the airport... but, I'd rather spend that $100.  I happened upon a cool website www.kayak.com which I've been using to keep myself updated on flight prices.  I really like it - plus it allows you to set up fare alerts in a really detailed and specific way.  Cool.

So yes, planning a 6-7 day vacation home for Christmas...

And for a quick update: last night, I didn't do much.  Robert ended up getting quite sick due to his sunburn (I don't quite know how to explain the condition) so I called the tutor to reschedule to next Monday.  I also made a yummy pasta dinner last night by sautéing some red onion, zucchini, fresh tomatoes in a bit of olive oil, oregano, paprika, black pepper and worcestershire sauce.  Of course, I also sprinkled some parmesan on top!  Every so often, a bit of it would taste like my mom's zucchini casserole, which gave me lots of happy food memories!  Note to mom: can you make zucchini casserole when I come home? 

This morning I headed to work alone since Robert was still feeling quite ill.  The carrito I caught only had 2 other people in, and eventually, just me.  He went to ask me something in Spanish which I didn't recognize (at least it wasn't part of my carrito vocabulary that I know) and I was forced to tell him that I didn't understand.  And of course, when I open my mouth and say anything in Spanish I can no longer be undercover.  Anyway, he then spoke to me in English and clarified that he wanted to know where he should drop me off.  I then realized why I didn't know what he was saying since normally they don't ask you where you're going, you just tell them where to stop when you're close.  Point of my story is that we ended up having a conversation in English.  He even told me that he thought I was Dominican.  I thought this was funny.  He also commented that probably if he could see my eyes he would have known.  I agreed (this is also part of the reason I wear my sunglasses) that my eyes do give me away.  He then told me that English is like a second language in the DR and that I should just try speaking English to people if I can't do it in Spanish.  Obviously he hasn't attempted this before...

My plan for the evening is to go home, eat and then head to pilates.  Paula wants me to go to Zara with her, but it just isn't feasible since I would have to go all the way home, get my stuff for pilates, then go to Acropolis, buy supper there, etc.  It will be very rushed for me.  She is lucky that she lives so close to her job.  A lot of days I wish I didn't live 1/2 hour* away.  I also need to take my yoga mat with me today.  They have mats there but they are quite hard and I've noticed that my knees are getting bruised just from the pressure (I bruise VERY easily).  There are a few other ladies who do this so I won't look out of place.  Since Paula is going to be at acropolis though, I will have to get to pilates by myself, which I am a bit nervous for.  I'm sure it will be fine though.

*To clarify, technically, if traffic is good, I live about 10 minutes away via carrito... but after work, it takes 1/2 hour to walk home and at least that long, if not longer to take a carrito home.

Isla Saona Take 2

Ah the weekend!

After a detour to Plaza Central to get sandals for Robert (silly guy didn't bring any!) we headed home for what was supposed to be a nice evening that would involve time to get ready for Saturday's trip and an early bed time.  Just as I had begun making supper, the power went out.  Ugh.  I was hoping it would be one of those 20 min kind of power outages so I kept making dinner, then I ate dinner, and still the power did not come back on.  The apartment got crazy hot so Pavol, Robert and I decided to head over to the colmado to be a bit cooler (they have a generator) and to have some rum.  It felt like the entire neighbourhood was there!  They didn't even have enough chairs, so Pavol ended up sitting on a crate.  I can't believe I was at the colmado three nights in a row!

It was getting pretty late and we figured we'd better head back to attempt to sleep even though the power wasn't on.  I had a plan to shave my legs quickly with the water that would be have left.  (When the power goes out for a long period of time we lose water pressure/flow)  Well, when we returned, there was no water.  Everyone was worried that the power wouldn't be fixed before the morning, and since I had to get up early, I was dreading the idea of not being able to shower after what was sure to be a very sweaty sleep.  Maria gave Pavol the idea to order another jug of water from the colmado so we would have some water to wash with in the morning.  Since they insist on always taking an empty bottle when they deliver a new one, Pavol filled up the sink with the remaining water so that I could shave my legs.  It was quite odd to be shaving my legs in a sink with a candle as my only light source.  I did a pretty good job considering the situation!  After ensuring all our lights were turned to the off position and all the fans to the on position, it was bed time.  The power did end up coming back on at 2am.  The relief that you feel when the fan starts turning again is indescribable!

The alarm was set at 5am since we were supposed to be at the MC by 6am.  We ended up taking a taxi there since we weren't sure if there would be any carritos available.  Everyone arrived before the bus, except Maria.  Luckily the bus saw her on the way to the MC and picked her up (her friend Nicole's mom was the organizer of our trip and was on the bus).  When we arrived at Bayahibe we had to wait for quite a while until we got the wrist bands that enabled us to go to the island.  Then we hopped onto a speedboat which took us out to the catamaran, and then waited for more people to come.  I was under the impression that we were to have the boat to ourselves.  Apparently this was not the case.  Here is me being unimpressed with all the other people on our boat:

The ride out to the island was lots of fun.  There was a lot of dancing, drinking, talking, laughing and picture taking!

Once on the island, we dropped off our stuff and headed straight into the water.  It was a gorgeous day and the ocean was quite clear and clean!  For the remainder of the day some of us napped, played volleyball, went for walks, chilled in the ocean, ate food, drank more, etc.  I think everyone had an excellent time.  Although a few of us left with a bit of a sunburn (me included).

We were split up into two speedboats which took us to the natural pool to view the starfish.  Once again, I didn't touch the starfish.  Although they were cool to look at.  Gerardo also claims that he was bit by something in an unmentionable area.  Poor guy.  After the starfish break we headed back to the main island and hopped on the bus to head back to the city.  Ozumy and I slept just about the entire way.

That evening, both Robert and I crashed pretty early.  I was talking with Bart but just couldn't stay awake, it was only 9:30 but I figured it was best that I just went to bed.  When I went out to wash my dishes, I noticed that Robert had fallen asleep at his computer.

Sunday was a nice leisurely day.  I got a bit of laundry and cleaning done, spent a bit of time with Robert and Paula, and attempted to meet up with my new tutor, but he ended up cancelling due to a family issue.  Since Bart and I had time conflicts on Friday and Saturday, we ended up moving our date night to last night.  Like usual, Monopoly, Scrabble and Pictionary were played.

And just like that, another weekend came to an end.

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!