And You Smell Like One Too

So, later on the day of my 23rd, American Airlines awoke me with a lovely present: the bags we’d been waiting for! Tim’s clothes, which he was thrilled to receive and then be able to change his outfit, and a bag full of things for me! My wonderful family sent me a lot of things I asked for (as well as some packages they’d received from some of my dedicated friends up there in the U.S. of A.), and some surprises. The best surprises of all were two hand-painted dog bowls that say “Lina” on them! My dog Sammy’s color was blue; it fit because he was named after Sammy Sosa and blue was just his color. My dog Benny’s color is green, again because it’s just his color, you can just tell. Lina’s color had to be whatever color stuff they had in the tiny selections of pet supplies I could find in this country. That, for a point, was red, pink, brown, green, white, purple, and/or orange. After the shipment from my family I am happy to announce that despite the fact that I used to not be so keen on the color, Lina’s color is pink. The bowls, which Julie the artist put a lot of effort into and it totally paid off, are purple and pink, and her new leesh is pink, and I had to just face the fact that she is a puppy who’s color is going to be pink. I even put pink bows over her ears to show her cuteness and my formal, enthusiastic support of the color. So there you have it. Julie’s the greatest.

The weekend following that less than perfect weekend in Santiago was also spent in Santiago, with Timmy. A few key differences are that we didn’t stay in a hotel that was abandoning us, we didn’t overpay for where we slept either (in fact, we were able to use the kitchen and make some great food too), and we weren’t stuck waiting for baggage. So, we did more, and it was a lot more fun.

Perhaps I should back track to the days spent in my site. Day 1) I cleaned and Tim rested. I had a class that evening (and had meetings the night before which Tim was a very good sport and attended and they were a bit crazy) so we decided we’d hang around my town and meet with people and lay low. Day 2) Beach time! We took Lina who got car sick on the way to the beach…luckily it was my host family’s car… just realized I still haven’t cleaned it out as properly as I should… I’ll get on that. Anywho, the beach was incredible. Tim and my host brother spent a lot of time talking about baseball (I got to interpret for them) and then we went swimming and playing in and around the rocks at the beach. On the way home, my host brother pulled over to a path that led to a part of the coast I hadn’t yet seen and am so excited to see again: caves all along the ocean front. We happened to be there at dusk so I got some great photos. It was a Tim photo shoot in fact. I also got my only photo of my host brother and I there as well as the only photo of Tim and I from his trip. I had to beg both boys to take the photos but I’m glad I did. Day 3) My host brother took Tim and I up the hill in my community. I’ve been wanting to climb it for a long time and never had a deadline to impose on my host brother so we never made it happen until Tim came. It was quite a hike, a lot of potentially dangerous places to fall to ones death, but we made it out alive. Tim got stung by a wasp though… Day 4) River walk. It was Tim’s idea and I give him credit for it. Only problem is the river was pretty much completely dry so there wasn’t much to it besides walking on large rocks and sand. Still, it was fun. We spent the rest of our time watching DVDs he had brought me, enjoying the nation’s selection of beverages, talking, laughing, playing with Lina, and playing dominoes. All in all, it was a good site visit.

We got to Santiago on a Saturday and spent the day welcoming some of my friends who were coming to celebrate with us. Then we all went out looking for fun and found ourselves on some interesting adventures. We ended up searching for a Georgetown basketball game all over the city and being unsuccessful, looking for Mexican food and again being unsuccessful, looking for a place to dance and being unsuccessful and then tired, and so instead we ate empanadas, walked around, decided the smell of an indoor fountain is an incredible thing, entered a recently constructed T.G.I. Fridays and leaving without purchasing anything, and shopped in an incredible grocery store.

The next day more of my friends arrived and after some fast food and internet, one group headed out shopping, and another group (which included me) headed out to see the famous Santiago monument. It was a very enjoyable afternoon. That evening we played Cranium, ate tacos and birthday cake, and even though it was 11:55 on a Sunday when we finally went out, we found a lot of fun activities to keep us busy. Highlights were when engaged in team races up the steps of the monument to find two of my friends (my team lost), when I convinced some casino security guards that I was not a security threat because it was my birthday, when for our free drink in the casino we ordered water, when my little (incredible) brother and I danced freelance to Caribbean dance music and the Dominicans watching (of which there were at most 3) cheered us on, when some sketchy woman in the casino gave us her massage business cards, when the taxi driver wanted to drop us off at a country-western themed bar and simultaneously we all yelled out “no!”, and, best of all, when one of my friends, who’s always the one with the good ideas, decided to mount a large metal statue of a chicken on the hill by the monument and the chicken proceeded to nosedive into the pavement. They fell.

Unfortunately my little brother had to leave me the next day. I took him to the airport and for a second time rationalized myself out of crying at the Cibao Regional Airport.

And so began Semana Santa, aka the week leading up to Easter. A lot of family of the people in my community came in to visit for the holiday week because of the holiday and because we live so close to the beach where everyone in the country goes for Semana Santa. I had some visitors for Saturday and Sunday morning until I had to leave. (More on that to come.)

I wanted to thank them for making the long journey and engage in a sentimental holiday activity with them so I went out and bought some eggs. I’d asked an American at some point how long you’re supposed to hard boil eggs. I wish I could remember who it was who told me “you can’t boil them for more than 3 minutes or you’ll mess them up,” because I’d love to smack this person. I wasn’t quite as sure as this person about that amount of time so I double checked with some Dominicans. They also told me 3 minutes. I figured I’d remembered that it actually takes a while incorrectly and so decided to go with those who clearly knew better than me.

That night I presented my visitors with the surprise and we then attempted to drip hot wax from my green and pink candles on the eggs which was somewhat successful once we got a groove going. They were pleased and we all had fun decorating, but mostly I was excited to crack them open and mush them up with mayonnaise. The next morning (Easter morning) I cracked an egg against my table and was surprised to find a very wet and very un-hard-boiled egg-goo inside. So much for hard boiled eggs for Easter. Still, my friend was great and made us pancakes and scrambled eggs (with other eggs) which were delicious. He also made us a delicious lunch and then I had to get the heck out of there, leaving them alone in my house for the evening.

I had been unaware until the weekend of my birthday celebrations that a Creole class I was planning to take in June had been moved to this week. I spent a good deal of my last day with Tim trying to get in touch with someone to sign me up for the course before I lost cell phone signal on my way back into my community. I’m pleased to say that my efforts were successful, although it came at the cost of being able to spend both nights I’d planned on spending with my friends who visited me for the holiday weekend.

But here I am in Santo Domingo, learning Creole and doing well. March has flown by and I certainly hope April is calmer and I spend less time away from my community. And so, as I’ve just learned…

Orevwa e babay!