I could explain to you about the 4-5 buses/cars we took there and then back to Santo Domingo, but that is even boring for me to think about so I’ll pass. The thing that I do love about Dominican transportation though is that you can stand along any main highway, wave your hand at a passing bus, and they’ll come and pick you up. No official stops needed except at the beginning and the end (but then it’s just usually a turning around point and not much more than that). You can also get off at any point you want by just yelling at the cobrador to let you off. It’s a sweet system for people who want to travel very specific distances, but unfortunately means a lot of stopping and starting that you wouldn’t have in a more conventional system.

Here are some pictures stolen from Google so you can see what the waterfalls look like:

Tomorrow was supposed to be spent going to loan meetings in the morning, but Ramona has no meetings tomorrow and I already went to Rosa Iris’. I called her to try to go with her anyway and there just ended up being a super awkward conversation in which I couldn’t really hear/understand what she was saying but it basically made it sound like it wouldn’t be worthwhile for me to head out anyway. I suppose I can spend time writing things up that I’ve been putting off and will likely forget to do once I return to the US and the rush of real life begins again.

Friday night I arrived in Cabarete and waited for Jordan and Amber at the complex where they’re renting a small house for a month. Shortly they arrived on a poorly painted, lime green moto. It’s from 1985 (older than any of us) and starts with any sort of key or screwdriver. There is no real speedometer, only one drawn on cardboard with an arrow pointing between “muy rapido” and “rapidisimo.” Our first task was to fit a third person on the 2 person bike along with all of my stuff. We managed, Dominican style, and got to their house. It was their neighbor’s last day in Cabarete, so they had decided to cook a communal dinner and eat it by the pool side. The environment was awesome: clear, starry skies, palm trees, small swimming pool, thatched roof houses, and people from all over the world. There were 3 of us Americans, the Dutch neighbors, a man from Quebec (who seemed to think he was European), a Welsh woman from England who lived in the Grand Caymans, two Russian girls, and their Danish friend. While eating salad, tomatoes with mozzarella, fried cheese, corn, chicken, potatoes, pineapple, vegetable shish kebobs, tuna, pork, etc., we learned about the difference between Holland/Netherlands, learned the physical characteristics of a Grand Caymanian, and discussed why the heck Germany hadn’t taken over Denmark. It was a delightful, tranquil evening.

The next morning at 6:45 we woke up and I had my first surf lesson. I did much better than I thought that I would, especially when I had the instructor with me. I was able to ride a good number of waves in and had to stop myself (by falling off, of course) because either I had reached too far in or the wave had simply stopped. Clearly, I was just using a learner board so it was quite large and steady, but it was fun. When I was by myself my main problem wasn’t the actual “surfing” part of it, but rather getting my board flipped around and being ready to catch the wave. We came back for lunch and then while Jordan and Amber headed out to their kiteboarding lesson I went down to the other beach to meet up with some of the new study abroad people who also chose to come to Cabarete for this weekend. We sat by the beach for a while and I stole some shade from a nearby umbrella since I didn’t feel like paying for one (and heck, they weren’t using it all anyway. Although it was kind of awkward when I stood up and hit my head on their umbrella but I just kind of walked away very quickly…). Briana (the girl from PSU who’s there this semester) and I walked back, swam in the pool for a bit to get the sand off, and then showered. By that point the rest had come back and we went out to get in on the many happy hours on the beach at that time. Banana mama= yum.

Dinner was next, and we ate at one of the lovely restaurants along the beach that had tables out right in the sand so you could have sand in your toes while you ate. Fantastic. I had a pasta with tomatoes which was fine, but got to help finish off the nachos one girl got which was delicious. I’m really going to miss fresh avocados. And fruit juices. We sat closer to the water after that to give time for our food to digest and then headed back up to that strip of restaurants/bars on the beach and hung out the rest of the night. Near the end I ended up meeting up with some of the Esperanza interns and it was great to see so many different parts of the summer merging.

Pretty much all day today (Sunday) was spent at the beach, which you can tell almost immediately when you look at me and see that I am slightly pink. And I did wear sunscreen (and even reapplied more than once… that’s got to be some sort of record). I guess that’s what the Caribbean sun does to you on a hot August day, despite the fact that you pretend to have Latin blood in you. Breakfast was fruit, yogurt, muesli, a croissant and orange juice. It was enough to count for both breakfast and lunch and, along with an ice cream and a banana, got me through until a very late dinner (11:30).

Dinner is a story in itself. Amber, Jordan, and I were all thinking about going into town to eat at a restaurant there but then none of us really had the energy to move around dinner time. So basically we sat around until 10 pm when we figured we should start making some sort of decisions about food/the rest of the night. In the end, Jordan and I took the moto into town in search of some cheap yet delicious pizza. On our 4^th stop, we finally found a place offering 2×1 personal pizza specials on Sunday nights so we put in our order for 3 pizzas and then decided to look around the restaurant. Seriously, I might have some tripped out dreams about this place. There were between 50 to 100 fish tanks there, all of which were lit with a blue or green or white light. The tanks seemed to be placed wherever there was room for them. In fact, the fish tanks took up more room than the sitting area (and this was not a small place; probably about 15-20 tables). The great majority of the tanks had fish in them, but all had some level of algae (many were not too pleasing on the eyes). There were a large variety of small fish, usually broken up by tanks. While it was great that the owner had figured out a way (albeit untraditional) to merge his passion (fish) with his business (restaurant), I still don’t think I ever need to go back there (except that the pizza was fine). The atmosphere was so strange since in addition to the fish tanks there were red rope lights which would flash periodically, a disco ball, and a strobe light hanging on the ceiling over the seating area. Near one of the outside entrances there was a glass case used to keep food warm that was dripping with condensation on the inside and had dingy yellow lights inside. There were not many people there, and the ones that were I think were related to the woman who took our order. The boy was skateboarding around and the little girl was carrying cushions and her brother’s shoes around. The mom was lying on the cement ground playing with them. I wish I could have shown you all this place just so you know that it exists.

That was long, but I guess it encompasses many days. Tomorrow, maybe the 27 waterfalls. That depends if I can get more pesos on my phone somehow by morning.

Last night I hung out with Michell (Jordan’s friend who is now my friend despite the fact that he peaced out). She came over, I had dinner, and then we headed out to Cinema Cafe, which is one of the nicest/chill places within walking distance. Half of has no roof and there’s no wall separating that part from the rest so it all has the open air sort of vibe. Under the actual open air part, the ground is made of loose rocks and there are full sized palm trees reflecting green/blue/red lights. It’s pretty sweet. And the best part is that it’s not too loud or crowded. We then went to Michell’s friend Geraldine’s house and her aunt gave us fresh homemade mango juice. Delicious! Finally we ended up at a place called Dock which is also a semi-open air area attached to the nicest mall here and relaxed there for a little while until I was falling asleep just sitting there (made it to about 10:45 pm… I think I’m getting old).

Today I only headed to one meeting since I had already been to the previous one and the borrowers there spoke mostly Creole so it was very hard for us to understand each other using Spanish. Unfortunately in the second meeting the best spot that I could get to talk to the women was right next to the loan officer (who had also escaped from the general mass of women outside) and the women helping her to count money. Wouldn’t be such a big deal except that they would clearly have had to alter what they were saying to make sure they stayed in the loan officer’s good graces. Oh well, I suppose it’s an interesting study of what they think they’re supposed to say. I also learned about a creative method that the women were using to get money for their business/families: un “san” (no idea what that is in English… I looked it up for you all and it just came back saying “saint” which is clearly not the meaning of the word I’m looking for). Anyway, every week the women show up with RD$200 pesos more than their weekly payment and put it into a pot. Then they do a raffle to see who gets to bring it home each week. Once you get the money one time during the loan cycle, your name doesn’t go back in the pot until the end of the loan cycle when all women have been picked. With 25 women in a group, that’s a lot of money (although I think it’s split in half since there are 2 winners each week). It’s a fascinating strategy and I would have loved to have talked to them more to figure out what they do with that extra injection of capital part way through their loan cycle.

Also, it’s interesting to see that they can all agree to bring an extra RD$200 to each meeting whereas many groups complain when they have to be “in solidarity” with each other and lend RD$86. Makes me think that $86 pesos (slightly over US$2) doesn’t really make the difference of whether they can eat or not each day as they claim when they are asked to lend the money. It’s like pulling tooth and nail to get this amount out, whereas today’s group is able to find an extra $200 each week. Thus, it seems likely that people do indeed have more than $86 pesos to their name and are simply reluctant to lend it (despite the fact that they will likely be repaid soon).

Those are some microfinance thoughts for you today. Hopefully I explained it well enough for the non-MFI educated to understand.

Another unique thing about today: I went on a run. The exhaust coming from the cars is awful as is the heat, but I did it anyway. And didn’t step in a big puddle this time either. Although earlier when I was walking I did slip on a puddle but caught myself before any Dominican man had the chance to make fun of me. Oh, and this morning a guy came and sat down next to me as I was waiting for Ramona and tried to guess where I was from. He really didn’t believe that I wasn’t Swiss. Or Austrian, I think was the other option. And then when I was kind of dispondent (early, sun, random man) he left saying that it was too bad I didn’t want to talk to him because he was going to offer to answer any questions I have about the country to me. Sounds sweet, but not really. Dominican men would come running over with just a look if you let them. Oh machismo, I am most certainly not going to miss you. And the overly intense stares from men that follow you too long. Or the guards (supposed to be professional, right) pretending to kiss you as you run by them (seriously, even though I’m this sweaty??).

The next morning I woke up in plenty of time to get to CIEE (despite only getting 4 hours of sleep), but had thrown my keys somewhere when I got back the night before and was locked into the apartment. After frantically searching for them everywhere, I had to wake Madga up to be able to open the door to leave. I ran (as fast as my 8:22 am body would carry me) and was the last person to arrive to the excursion. Me… the one who didn’t even need to be there anyway. But we left on time so it wasn’t too much of a problem. Our first stop was Boca de Nigua, which is an old ingenio (sugar mill) which is one of the largest in this region. It was the sight of terrible conditions and African slaves (although many Dominicans deny any existence of slavery in their country since that would be admitting that they have any African ancestorial roots or ties).

Afterwards, we went to hear a local woman talk about “sincretismo,” which is basically a Dominican religion which combines voodoo and Christianity. There are many saints you can pray to depending on what you’re hoping for. There are candles and flags and soaps and scented/colored water, all of which have special purposes and will get you different things. This woman claims to have been “montada” by many of the spirits (meaning they came through to her and she conversed with them). She’s like that lady in Medium, apparently, but not about solving crimes and all that stuff. Lunch was a typical Dominican buffet at a hotel. Best part of buffets: lots and lots of vegetables that I don’t have to cook for myself.

Following lunch we headed to Playa Palenque. It’s only redeeming quality: it’s very popular with the locals and not overrun with tourists. However, there’s a reason for that. The sand is dark grey which means it soaked up all the sun and burned your feet. The water wasn’t the pretty blue/green that it is elsewhere and there were jellyfish in the water that stung about half of our group who decided to actually go in. I decided that I didn’t really need to swim in that water to risk the sting and to keep my hair straight, so I just soaked up some rays and ate lots and lots of limoncillos. After getting back home, Amber (Jordan’s girlfriend who studied abroad with me last semester) had arrived at the apartment and it was good to see her for awhile. While they were out to dinner I talked to Loryn for a good 2 hours and then just headed to bed to get some well needed rest.

This morning I saw Amber and Jordan off after a delicious breakfast of fried eggs, toast, and avocado. After that I really had no idea what to do so I blasted music and played tetris on my phone. Perfect morning. In the afternoon I showed some of the CIEE kids how to get to Juan Dolio and we spent the afternoon at a much more pleasant beach. According to the people I went with I got nice and tan. Hopefully it lasts til I get home.

Tonight I’m trying to convince Elizabeth to hit up the last of the merengue festival with me. We’ll see how that goes!

Mmmhh this Presidente is so cold that it hits you like when you dive into a swimming pool for the first time. Or, according to Jordan, “this Presidente is so cold it makes you want to slap your mother.” Delicious.

Yesterday I went to El Conuco, a traditional Dominican restaurant where they dance on a bottle, with the CIEE group. Or at least that was the plan. They were supposed to arrive there at noon after learning how to use public transportation during the morning but by 1:30 still hadn’t arrived. So I ended up having to eat without much of the group since I had a hair appointment at 2:00 (well, it was at 2:30 but they told me that I should actually arrive at 1:30 since I have a significant amount of hair. That’s true, but not a WHOLE HOUR’S worth of extra hair compared to the other Dominican women that they serve… seriously?). So yes, my hair no longer changes color half way down the strand. I’m much more rubia again. And, it’s straight (well, now it’s straightish since it’s been a day by now and my hair and this climate does not allow for any sort of straightness, despite the intense Dominican blower experience).

This afternoon I went and had lunch with Belkis and her new student (Danitza). I could tell that she was really happy to have me back and prepared me a super delicious lunch according to my recommendations (rice, beans, pollo guisado, and salad with lots of avocado as requested). I really enjoyed being back there and still felt quite at home. That house is truly like a second home to me. Her and I sat around talking for a while afterwards and then when I said I had work to do and wanted to take a nap she told me to do it there. I preferred to just sleep in my own bed so I headed back. After stopping by the copy place to participate in the last day of their 2×1 sale on black and white copies, I took my first nap here which was phenominal. I made myself an awkward dinner of a hard boiled egg, random vegetables, cottage cheese, and papaya. Then Skim Ice and a chocolate wafer since I hadn’t had my sweets for the day. I try to make my meals well rounded, but it often ends up in random combinations. I will enjoy being back in the US and enjoying cooking again.

Also, my big realization of the day was that I leave in about two weeks, not this Thursday. I had been doing calculations about how many more interview copies I would need and only figured through Thursday since I seriously thought that’s when I was leaving. I knew the date though, and realize that with today being the 30th that there was no way that the 12th fell in the following week. It made me feel brilliant. I’m mostly happy that I have another week since I’m truly enjoying my time here. I guess I just got caught up in the fact that the interns and Jordan were leaving this weeks so I just assumed I was too. That’s false.

Tonight is the Brugal Merengue Festival. Should be fun but wayyyy too crowded. Luckily we can walk there since it’s on the Malecon so if it ends up being too much I can just head home. I was supposed to see Alexis y Fido tonight in a cave (would have been awesome!) but the people I was going to go with failed.

*Title inspired by Jordan who said he didn’t want to pay for more toilet paper since, “I have tissue packets.” Made me laugh really hard.

Yesterday and today I went to loan meetings and did interviews. But for this entry I’m not going to focus on that since you’ve had enough of me describing those adventures so I’ll stick with the new ones. Yesterday (Tuesday, I think?), I came into the CIEE office around 2:30 and hung out with Robin talking about my internship and the possibility of doing a Fulbright project here (awesome, right!?). When they got back from getting there phones (there was a time I didn’t have this Dominican phone?), I had a little session with them when they closed the doors and all CIEE staff left so the students could ask me any sort of question that they wanted. It was fun and made me realize that I also once had those questions. Except for the question about where to find a hula hoop club, but I told her I wouldn’t even know where to direct her in the US.

It’s been fun getting to know them and see where all they came from and the similarities/differences among the groups. I found another girl who is going to be a senior at Penn State and who went to Grace Prep. Small freaking world (that’s where Loryn’s mom works). And honestly, I’m realizing how much I enjoy going back and getting a new perspective on groups that I used to be part of. After Leadership Jumpstart I got to be a TA and see the freshman year transition all over. I led the Jr. High youth group at church and got to learn again what life was like at that age. And now I get to relearn what it was like to study abroad, but from a much more emotionally detached/analytical perspective. Maria (the program director) said that it was good to have someone around who sobrevivio la experiencia (survived the experience). I suppose I’m an especially good example since I’m back another month for more (a slightly biased sample, but oh well).

This afternoon I sat through the orientation part about Dominican racism (there was a time where I could hardly tell Dominicans and Haitians apart? where I thought that in this country race didn’t matter?). Then there was a snack break (fruta!!) and a presentation about the classes and atmostpheres at the different schools  (there was a time that I actually considered taking a class at la UASD?). Throughout that presentation, it made me realize that if I had to do it again I would likely take the exact same classes that I took. In fact, I can’t think of much anything that I would have changed from my time here last semester. That either means 1)I’m uncreative or apathetic or 2) I actually had the best experience I could have while here. I choose to tell myself it was the second one, although as time since my last semester here slides away I find myself dwelling much more on the great times I had and forgetting about the many, yet small daily inconveniences (I thought of making a list of examples, but then realized it would go on too long before I stopped myself) that peppered each day. I forgot about the daily stress of classes while I was here and remember most my time at the Melia pool with the other students. Heck, I’d forgotten that I’d even taken classes until they started describing the schools today and I was like, Oh yeah, I did go to INTEC. It’s probably because those ones ended mid-October… aka like 10 months ago.

After the days worth of orientation was done, a few of us went to the beloved colmado across the street (saw Carlos of course, and Vinchenzo who happened to be riding by) and shared jumbo Presidentes all around. Now they can begin there experience here (that’s pretty much the one of the first rite of passages that they have to go through). After a little while doing that, I headed back to my apartment and met up there with Elizabeth (who really wanted to use my shower due to the decent water pressure, especially in comparison to bucket baths) and Jordan. We hung out for awhile and then Jordan’s friends came over and made mofongo (fried platanos mashed with garlic and pork) and fried cheese. Delicious? Yes. But I have a feeling this grease might not sit too well in the morning. Oh well.

Tomorrow will be good except for the fact that I’ve got to wake up super early to be in Villa Mella by 7:15 am (40 minutes away). I need to shower but I’m exhausted now (for some reason I’ve gotten less than 6 hours of sleep the last three nights) but I know I won’t want to into the morning. I guess I’ll do it now. But then my pillow will be wet. So maybe not. We’ll see.

We piled into her car (4 in the backseat, typical Dominican style) and made our first stop an empanada stand so we could get some breakfast. After a delicious egg and cheese empanada (my first time having egg in it, it was pretty good), we drove to Salto de Jimenoa. This is one of the huge local waterfalls that is popular for locals and tourists to visit. Walking there, we went over a fewsuspended bridges made of wooden planks that are the type that you would see in movies or guidebook pictures. And the type that bounce a lot when you get to the middle of them. The waterfall was gorgeous and pictures will be coming soon. We swam a bit and then headed back out. Next stop was Carla’s house where we were presented with a delicious, full Dominican lunch (rice, beans, salad, chicken, tostones, boiled green bananas, and lots of juices: passionfruit, guabanaya, lemonade, Coke) and a sweet coconut paste for dessert.

After lunch we drove up to a place called la Jamaca de Dios (God’s Hammock) which is a rich, gated community on a hill. The houses and scenery were absolutely gorgeous. From the restaurant, you had a overlook of the entire city from far away and you could see the mountains surrounding it. Unfortunately, there wasn’t actually a hammock, but the view made up for it. We stayed there and they sat and enjoyed wine (makes me wish that I actually liked it) for an hour or so. At 4 pm, it was time to head back to the bus stop and we made it at 4:25 for the 4:30 bus (good timing once again). I slept all the way home, which was great except for the fact that I should be in bed by now to wake up early, but I’m not tired.

Now that I had successfully avoided the stalker by walking quickly out of Pollos Rey (see previous story for lots and lots of detail), I returned home and finished translating/writing out my interview from the day before. At five thirty, Elizabeth (intern whose family hosted us last week at Casa de Campo) and Jordan returned from work. The interns were coming up to Santo Domingo this weekend, for lack of any better plans, and crashing at our apartment for the weekend. Elizabeth and I met up with Natalie (another intern working in Samana) at the Conde and we headed for my first joyous reunion with Barra Payan. Payan, in case I haven’t already raved about it to you, is a fantastic Dominican restaurant that has a wide variety of delicious sandwiches and juices and batidas (fruit shakes, more or less). Honestly, I think it’s my favorite place in this country. When I’m sitting at that counter, I have no desire to be anywhere else in the world.

Coming back from Payan, we met up with the other interns (who found their way to my apartment without me having to give directions… that was a nice surprise). From that point to the end of the night, there were a bunch of people coming in and out of the apartment. Jordan was throwing a going away party for himself (since he leaves next Friday) so he invited everyone he knew on top of the interns that were there. It was a fun crowd; loud enough that the neighbors probably weren’t too happy with us (but I could really care less about those above us since they flooded my room that very day). I finally went to bed quite late and woke up around 9 am on Saturday. The other interns had found creative ways to make themselves comfortable despite our lack of beds. When people finally got moving we all wanted food so guess where we went? Payan! Delicious. I bought two sandwiches and took one home with me. This also marks the first meat that I’ve had in months, which my stomach wasn’t too happy about. But by eliminating meat from Payan that only leaves you with one choice which I had just had for dinner the night before. Oh well, my body will enjoy the protein. Make some muscles out of it.

We got back and the majority of the group decided to go to a cock fight. While it would have made a very exciting blog entry (that’s how I’m starting to think of things sometimes now), I didn’t want to pay the 700 pesos or be stuck in a place surrounded by sweaty Domincan men watching chickens battle to the death. While it would have been interesting for about 20 minutes, I think I would have just been bored and no one likes that person who always wants the group to leave early. Morgan and Grant also didn’t want to go, so we went and spent RD$100 (about 3 bucks) to see The Last Airbender (in English). It was good and air conditioned, but it ended a lot sooner than I thought it should have. Afterwards, we found our way to a 24 clinic (after asking directions from the gas station attendant) since Grant hadn’t been feeling well for the last 3 days. Let’s just say I do not want to get sick here (knock on wood). The worst part was that there was no soap in both the men and women’s restroom. Uhhhh… seriously?! And the nurse left the needle/syringe she used to inject medicine taped attached to his arm for 30 minutes. When we asked why, her answer was “just in case.” Just in case of what? She didn’t have an answer for that one. Eventually the analysis of his stool sample came back and we learned that he had an ameoba so he would be fine with some pills.

Finally, we got back to the apartment at 10:30 or so and a few of us decided to go into the Zona with Jordan and some of his Dominican friends. We went to a place called La Parada which had good dancing and the coldest Presidentes that I’ve ever had in this country (that’s a feat!). Upon walking in, I saw Robin (the American woman who works at CIEE who I would love to be someday). Actually, I saw her boyfriend first and said to myself “Hmmm he looks familiar,” until I realized that I recognized him from her Facebook profile and that that blonde with her back to me was most likely her. It was fun to run into her outside of the office. So the rest of the night we danced merengue and attempted salsa and the Dominican friends we were with did a good job of keeping the old drunk men away from us gringas.

Today (briefly, since it’s way past my bedtime) we went to get ice cream for the 3rd time this weekend (4th for Elizabeth). On our way back her and I stopped in the salon in the bottom of my apartment building and got US$6 pedicures (including the tip). Awesome and now my toes look pretty. After that, the interns peaced out and I went over to see Stephanie and Beliks (Finally!!!). It was so so so good to see them again and we picked up right away where we had left off over seven(!) months ago. I got caught up with all the gossip and her and I went to McDonalds (meat two days in a row, that’s a new record). It’s been strange that I’ve been craving meat and soda recently, two things that I got over a while ago. I think the ways of this country find interesting ways to infiltrate you. Stephanie and I hung out until 10:30 when I figured I should probably walk back before all the tigueres come out. And now it’s 12:30 am since I just wrote these two blog entries. And I’m waking up at 6 am for a day trip to Jarabacoa with Jordan and his family tomorrow. Should be fun!

Let’s take a step back to Friday. Friday morning it was POURING rain when I was supposed to be leaving the house to do my daily 40 minute commute. True to Dominican ways, I decided I deserved to not put myself through that so I went back to bed. I woke up at 8 only to sit up and notice that my floor was shinier than usual… aka my room was flooded. I escaped the room through a dry patch (one good part about having lumpy flooring) and let Jordan know. He began sweeping the water into the bathroom drain. As this was happening we looked around for the source of the water. The windows were closed and the curtains covering them were completely dry, so that left out the most obvious culprit. However, once we entered the bathroom we found the source… as it hit us in the head from above. The apartment above, apparently, had left two windows open and their entire apartment had flooded. This tropical storm (which is the next step up from a tropical cyclone, just to put this in perspective) was strong enough (40 mph) to push that much water into their place through just those two windows that in a few hours it was enough to seep through the cement and flood my room as well. Lovely.

Since I had missed the morning meetings and the internet in the office wasn’t working, I decided it would be more productive to work from home. Then after a few hours working from home I decided that I should go and do work somewhere else (in the US, it would be a coffee shop but they don’t really have that sort of scene here so I needed to go be creative). I took my computer and backpack down to the Zona Colonial to look for the best place to sit down and work for a while. After traversing the whole Conde up and back, I figured the best place was Pollos Rey, which is bascially a fast food chicken joint. (Seemingly strange choice, I know, but if you had seen the other options you’d understand.) I get into the line to order my rice, beans, and tostones (which I’d been craving for the past week) when a man hands me a napkin to wipe my sweat off. Thanks. We get to talking. He’s Alex. (He’s short and a bit chubby). Yes, I’m American (no point in denying it). No, I don’t think he looks American despite the fact that his friends tell him that he does. He makes me look into his eyes to see that they’re “claro” (light). I suppose they are lighter, I say. His mother is from Spain. Wow, so interesting (not). Do I have a phone number? Nope (as I make sure it’s not sticking out of my pocket). Do I chat online while I’m in the DR? Nope (definitely not chatting with two people as I’m writing this). What about when I’m at home? Hmm… occasionally (heck if I’m out of the country it doesn’t matter). Let’s hang out, he says.  Sorry, but I don’t know you (said politely of course, no need to make him feel bad). Well, I have lots of foreign friends. Everyone knows me around here. I even have this Canadian girl who calls me up and we hang out. There’s nothing to worry about. Respectfully, sir, I’d still prefer not to.

He offers me to cut in front of him in line. That’s really not necessary. No, really, go ahead. Finally he orders, gets his food to go, and leaves. Situation complete. Just kidding, he’s back because they forgot to give him his beans. They give it to him and he leaves again. Finally done. I get out my computer, sit at a small table by a window and I begin to work. Guess who I see out of my peripheral vision sitting down at an adjacent table? Him. Uhoh, this isn’t good. I have my headphones in, so instead of approaching me he sits at a table and begins to write. He writes for a good 15 minutes and by the time he’s done I’m expecting a full love letter (a bit arrogant, I know, but it happens all the time here). Instead, he hands me a scrap of paper with his screename and two phone numbers on it. He seriously needed that long to write like 2 words and 14 digits? Wow. He hands me the paper, says a bit more to try and convince me to call him, I say that I’ll think about it (hahaha) and he walks out. Freedom at last!

30 minutes later: Oh wait, who’s that guy in the pink shirt sitting down at that nearby table? Wait… it’s the same guy but now he’s no longer wearing brown. Surely he does not love the chicken from Pollo Rey that much to be back again. Maybe he thought the color change was more attractive to the ladies. Seriously starting to creep me out. He sits there, stares, walks out, talks to the guard in front of the Payless Shoe Store next to this building, and finally walks away. And yes, that was actually the last time I saw him. Sadly, I changed tables at one point and lost the scrap of paper along the way so I have nothing to remember this day by. I was going to use it as a bookmark.

Another highlight: I didn’t pay for transportation to or from the office today. The Metro has a deal that if you put RD$200 on your transit card they give you a free ride. So I used that ride this morning and Ciprian was driving to the central office in the afternoon, so I bummed a ride with him. I walked around my own stomping grounds in Gazcue and went to the copy place that used to hold my class readings to get more copies of my survey made. On the way home, I stopped by the grocery store that my host mom always went to but unfortuantely didn’t run into her. Zuchini, though, was about 50% off and I got two that were bigger than I had ever seen before. I also found a pizza with corn on it! So I bought it and was really excited to make it and then no one in my apartment knew how to use the oven. I tried it on the stovetop but it burned in less thatn 5 minutes. Fail.

As you can tell, not too much of an exciting day. Tomorrow something interesting (and actually worth reading/writing about) might actually happen. For all of our sakes, I hope so.