to burn or not to burn
Jennifer and I went to the beach at Bayahibe today and I came back with legs like boiled lobsters. I’m hoping that they’re not so burnt they’ll peel, but that’s probably just wishful thinking on my part. In any case my arms and chest are nicely toasted and my face is somewhere in between (not literally). And yes, I was wearing sun cream. Factor 50, I’ll have you know. Didn’t make a blind bit of difference though, especially in the early afternoon sun.
Met a couple of my students on the beach and had my first proper conversation in Spanish. To be honest it was more an Anglo-Franco-Hispanico conversation as it was with a student of mine who knows next to no English and very little French. As a result, I was doing my best in Spanish while she struggled to understand and did her best to help me with the occasional word here and there. In any case, I was pretty chuffed with myself and it has boosted my confidence a little for my Spanish lessons which start on Monday.
On an unrelated note, I noticed that I haven’t yet mentioned something about this country, and that is the way people drive. One word: ridiculous! People overtake whenever and wherever. Traffic lights are nearly always red for everyone which means negotiating junctions is tricky (to say the least) and an absolute nightmare on main roads when there’s lots of traffic. Honking your horn in the city is not only legal, it’s a way of life. What’s more, little kids stand in the middle of the road selling top-up cards for mobiles and cleaning windscreens, which causes everyone, and in paticular moto conchos, to slalom round them. The other day I saw a little kid get knocked over by a scooter and no one batted an eyelid. It really is unbelievable. Luckily the kid was fine and he just got up and got out of the way while the guy on the scooter gave him an apologetic glance and rode off (with a very distressed looking passenger on the back). If you consider the same scenario in Europe you can imagine that heads would turn, the police would be called, insurance policies called into question, etc. I was truly shocked by that but at the same time not in the least bit surprised.
Anyway, tomorrow we’re back off to the beach when we go to pick up Sarah from Punta Cana, east of La Romana. Apparently the beaches there are even more spectacular than those at Bayahibe so I’m looking forward to that. Must take it easy though as I don’t want to self combust, catch sun stroke, or die of skin cancer.
progress report: end of week 1
What a week it’s been! So many things have changed so fast and I’ve been changing with them.
Now I…
wake up automatically at 5:30 every morning (no alarm needed!)
know how to shout at kids without feeling the least bit of remorse
spend so little money it’s ridiculous
am immune to mosquitos
feel cold at temperatures below 30 degrees centigrade
sleep naked (well, nearly)
am busy ALL the time
am finally learning Spanish properly
jump onto the back of a random person’s moped to get a lift somewhere (known as a “moto concho”)
pay 30 pesos to get pretty much anywhere on a moto concho (equivalent to 75 cents in real money)
wear a uniform to school (navy blue trousers, white shirt, blue tie)
wear flip-flops a lot (not to school, of course)
The list goes on but I’ll stop there as I’m getting tired and going to bed soon. Off to the beach tomorrow morning. Jealous? I do hope so 
By the way, turns out that hurricane won’t be hitting us on Sunday. I’m both relieved and slightly disappointed as I was secretely hoping to get some interesting action shots of the whole thing.
rainy days, hurricanes and the like
Had a strange thing happen today. Looked out of the window while having breakfast and noticed it was raining quite heavily. However, when I returned to my room on the other side of the apartment there wasn’t a drop in sight. The rain barrier (or whatever you want to call it) must have been just above the apartment. Turns out this is quite a common occurence here where it rains very erratically and over very small areas and never lasts more than 5 or 10 minutes.
I also found out today that there is a hurricane on its way. If early trajectory calculations mean anything (which is unlikely but still possible) it will be passing over here on Sunday. Unfortunately, this is the same day that Sarah (the other Canadian joining us) arrives from Canada, not to mention the fact that I (and the rest of this place) might be taken out by one gigantic gust of wind. I’m told that if it passes within 300km of here we should be alright. Wish me luck.
See photos of cloudy sunrise, rainbow and one of my classes here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/20275307@N00/
more photos
The apartment was amazing enough while it wasn’t furnished but now that it is… WOW! Follow the link for photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/20275307@N00/
No Ikea over here. All the furniture is handmade by Dominicans from wood and bamboo (is bamboo a type of wood? meh..)
I’ve also posted a pic of the kids singing the national anthem on their first day back at school.
Gotta go. Enjoy!
day one in school
Early start today. Got up at 6.15 to be in school by 7.30. Felt a little nervous as hundreds of excited kids bustled around me on their first day back. Before starting class the kids gathered together to sing the national anthem – which lasted a while when compared with God Save the Queen.
At 8.00 my first lesson began with a class of 25. Now I’m telling you, teaching kids is nothing like teaching adults, which is what I’ve become accustomed to over the past year or so (let alone the fact that there were 25 of them!). This particular class was with 11 and 12 year olds. I really felt I could connect with them as I remember what it was like being that age. There were a few louds mouths who just wouldn’t shut up but the majority were very polite and civilised.
Throughout the course of the day I had another five lessons with kids of all ages up to about 16. We didn’t do anything too serious as it was the first day and mainly introductory but, nevertheless, I did do some teaching.
The 16 year olds were quite talkative (amongst themselves, that is) and not exactly motivated to do much, but that all changed when the headmaster walked in to see how things were going.
My worst class of the day had to be the one just after lunch where I had a bunch of 10 year olds who were a little too enthusiastic for their own good and just wouldn’t shut up! ‘TEACHER!TEACHER! DANIEL! Señor Daniel!,’ they shouted all at once. Oh, God! Now I understand why teachers like students to raise their hands to answer a question. It didn’t help that I’d brought in sweets as a kind of reward system. Unfortunately there weren’t enough to go round as this was quite a big class. Eventually, the boxes of Tic-Tacs I had, which originally counted as one sweet/reward, had to be opened and shared amonst everyone who didn’t get a mini Mars bar or Snickers. And then there were those who didn’t like chocolate and wanted to swap their Mars bar for something else.
My day finished 4.30 and now I’m absolutely shattered. What a day!
Despite my negative comments, I had a thrilling day full of fun and new experiences. I’m so glad I came here and I hope that every day brings me and my students just as much fun and excitement as I had today. Teaching kids is much more challeneging than teaching civilised adults but it’s also much more fun. I love it!
Apart from all that, Jennifer (one of the Canadian girls) arrived yesterday evening. And I’ve finally moved into my fully furnished flat. More on that soon including photos. Hope everyone’s doing alright on the other side of the pond.
Bye for now.
photos
Just posted pics of my surroundings, as promised.
first impressions..
Hello all,
I have finally got round to making this blog and posting something on it, so here goes.
I hate to start on a negative note but my trip here was full of bad omens. My flight from Paris to New York went smoothly until we landed and had to wait 45 minutes to get off the plane due to technical problems with the docking station (that corridor they attach to planes when they land). After a little manouvering and a long wait I finally stepped into Newark airport only to find that I had missed my connecting flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. After a thorough frisking by American customs officials, I was put on the next flight two hours later. Unfortunately, that flight was delayed and caused me to miss my next flight to the D.R.
As a result I spent at least an hour running round the airport looking for someone from Continental Airlines who could get me on another flight. At this point I’d been up for 22 hours and all I wanted to do was go to bed. Anyhow, I finally found a representative who gave me a free night in a hotel and put me on the next flight the following day.
I got to the hotel – which, luckily, was in the same building as the airport – and collapsed on my bed. And it wasn’t until I decided to read a bit of my book that I realised I had forgotten my glasses on the plane! So I got out of bed (by which time it was 1AM local) and asked around the airport – in my best Spanish - if they had a lost porperty office somewhere. I was told to try again in the morning because everything was closed and most airport staff had gone to bed. Great!
I went back to my room and opened my case to get my sponge bag only to find that a bottle of blue shower gel had exploded all over half my clothes accompanied by note warning me that my case had regretably been searched. Whether it was customs officials searching for liquid explosives or the drop in pressure at high altitude while flying, I shall never know. In any case, at this point I was thoroughly pissed off (excuse my French) and it left me wondering if I should even have embarked upon this crazy adventure in the first place.
Anyway, I’m here now and my perspective has changed entirely. The Dominican Replublic is a beautiful country and the weather is almost too good. Everybody is so generous and welcoming and I’m really starting to feel at home. I have been spending most of my time with a French family and they’ve been taking extremely good care of me.
Philippe and Marie-France, who own and run the school, have shown me around and taken me out to dinner every night. Their two daughters, Pauline and Christelle, are a good laugh and have kept me entertained during my first few days here.
The school I’ll be working at is a nice little place with 400 students (see photos). You’ll notice that it even has a swimming pool and a trampoline! I start teaching on Monday 4 September.
At the moment I’m still living in a hotel but on Monday I’ll be moving into an apartment. I went to visit it on my first day here and it’s incredible. The place is MASSIVE! There are three bedrooms, three balconies, a massive living room and an equally massive kitchen. All in all, a pretty sweet deal.
Really don’t have time to post photos right now but will do tomorrow.
Ciao for now!
