clips ‘n flicks
I’ve uploaded photos from Florida on my Flickr page (accessible from here or the sidebar to the right). And, as you may already have noticed, I have updated my last post to include some videos of the weird and wonderful rides I did in various theme parks.
I’m afraid I’ve had to remove the sound so as to make the files small enough to upload relatively quickly. I do have a broadband connection but unfortunately Dominican broadband isn’t all that broad. In any case, you should all be able to view them as I’ve posted them on YouTube.
Enjoy!
cough, splutter and mutter a few words…
Today I was supposed to join Christelle and family on a boating excursion to a nearby island. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling my best and spent the day in bed. As a result, I didn’t get anything productive done and I’m still feeling a bit under the weather. That said, the weather here is as good as it gets for a February afternoon.
Meanwhile, Christelle’s godparents have joined me in the apartment during their two week stay in the country. They arrived last week and will be leaving on 6 March.
I have been enjoying the luxuries of having an internet connection at home. This is only my second post since the installation because I’ve been spending so long reacquainting myself with the wonders of high-speed surfing, what with downloading the latest episodes of 24, Prison Break, Lost, and so on.
Lately I’ve been doing some interesting activities in the classroom; interviews, getting the kids to teach a lesson and surveys. I dare say most of them enjoyed it compared to your average lesson.
It’s time again to think about exam preparation and that dreaded calligraphy!! Exams aren’t for a few months but from what I understand they must be submitted by April to be checked, copied and bound.
I’ve had a nasty cough for the past couple of weeks which doesn’t seem to want to go away. Must get something for it when I’m feeling up to the challenge.
Back in January I promised you all a photo of that plane I was on that got a rabbit stuck in one of its engines. Here it is.
The infamous plane that was brought down by a rabbit, of all things holy.
Note: I’ve just updated the blogroll down the left side of this page with a few links to a couple of blogs and other pages of interest.
new news
Hello all. Sorry it’s been so long since my last update. I’ve been waiting to get internet in my apartment but it’s taking longer than expected due to a number of cock-ups along the way, as is usually the case in this country. As a result, I’m still waiting for news from my friends at Verizon on that front. Anyway, I’m taking advantage to give you an update now as I’m at Christelle’s with the laptop and wireless internet at my disposal.
On the Friday of my first week back at school, Christelle’s dog gave birth to eleven cute-looking puppies. After running a few errands, I rushed over to see the youngsters but unfortunately they had all popped out by the time I got there. Anyhow, I got some great photos of them (which, once again, I will post when I have my camera and some new batteries).
Last weekend I went quading in the fields with Christelle and co. It all started well but we ran into trouble when the smaller of the two quads was rendered unusable due to a problem with the chain. We stopped for a bite to eat and a swim in the river and set off again for home. Christelle drove the big quad which towed the small one. I was given the job of steering it while the rest of the family followed close behind in the car. Little did I know at the time that Philippe had asked Christelle to purposefully drive through every possible puddle to make my trip home as muddy and uncomfortable as possible (ha-ha-ha…).
The first puddle was all well and good. When we approached the second puddle I started to feel a little anxious. At this point I was covered in mud and thoroughly pissed off, much to the amusement of the others. I told Christelle that if she drove through another puddle I would jump off to save myself from another shower of mud. As we approached the third puddle, I was convinced that she would take me straight through it – this, apparently, is not true as she was simply avoiding a bump in the road. However, I was expecting another drenching and thought that at 20km/hour it would be perfectly safe to make a break for it by jumping. I jumped in quite a controlled and effective way and landed on both feet but because it’s been a while since I’ve had a physics lesson, I forgot that the laws of motion would cause me to keep moving at the same speed as we were going before my leap for safety. Upon landing I was forced forward and forced to run in order to keep my balance. Unfortunately I didn’t run fast enough and fell. I grazed the palms of my hands and my thigh. Apart from that I was fine but not in a good enough state to keep going on the quad. Philippe offered to take the small quad and I drove the car. Five minutes later the small quad had a puncture and we had to pump it up temporarily to get ourselves home. We eventually got home in one piece.
Back at school all is well. Today was “La marcha de Juan Pablo Duarte” (have a look on Wikipedia for his life story). The kids made little speeches and had a sing song to celebrate the occasion. I took lots of photos and everyone had a good time.
Battery life is low, gotta go.
NOTE: Excuse the embarrassing amount of spelling mistakes and typos in the previous version of this post. Here is the new and improved revision.
boat ride, exams and faq
Last Sunday I went on a boat ride up the River Chavon with Christelle and co. It was a relaxing break, both for me and my hand, after days of non-stop calligraphy. The trip was organised by a family whose kids go to my school. We had the boat to ourselves and spent a very agreeable afternoon eating, drinking beer, swimming and diving into the river. The boat was big and came fully equipped with a kitchen and one of those portable toilets you find on building sites and at rock festivals – this one, mind you, was clean. All in all an enjoyable experience that gave me a chance to do something a little different and gawk at some astounding scenery. I took some great photos which I might post later on when I’ve finished writing.
The next day I handed in my exams which, unfortunately, were not good enough. Marire-France spent a good part of the next week re-writing all the newcomers’ exams. I was incredibely grateful but also a little disappointed that all my efforts had gone to waste. Either way, the exams are now ready and will start on Monday 11 December. Mine are scheduled to finish on the 13th, two days before I return to Belgium for Christmas.
Now I want to address a few questions my dad put to me in his last email.
To what extent do you move in normal Dominican circles?
The honest answer to that is not a lot. During the week I’m either too busy or too knackered to do anything or go anywhere. I spend most of the day at school and when I get home I eat, read, maybe go to the cyber cafe, then it’s bed time. At the weekend I spend my free time with Christelle and before I know it it’s Sunday and I have 30 lessons to plan for the coming week. I have been introduced to some of Christelle’s friends but don’t see or spend time with them on a regular basis. Having said that, it seems that she is also spending less and less time with them since we’ve been together. The Dominicans I see most are my students, the restaurant staff, taxi drivers and the guys at the cyber cafe. Incidentally, these are the people I pratice my Spanish on.
Is your area typical of the whole country or is it more privileged?
La Romana is a city of contrasts. Some areas are very run down and look very grotty while other areas, for example around the school, are home to relatively well off families that live in big American-style houses that have neatly trimmed lawns with sprinklers running out front. You also see a lot of 4×4s roamning the streets. So the answer to your question is probably no, La Romana is not very typical of the country as a whole.
What’s the standard of living like?
The standard of living for most Dominicans is fairly low. Life is expensive given their relatively low wages and most of them don’t do their shopping in super markets. Instead they rely on huge bags of cheap rice, no meat, and cheap water that comes in family-sized bottles. They are not starving of course but they certainly don’t have any extra cash to buy anything but essentials and pay the rent. The parents of kids in my school are relatively well-off but even some of them have trouble paying the monthly $100 per student. The teachers in our school receive the same salary as we do but must pay rent and feed their families with it. It gives you an idea of just how lucky I am.
writing’s a bore, reading galore
Hand writing exams is a long and laborious undertaking. I made some good progress today but ended up getting very discouraged after making a mistake near the bottom of a page thus rendering the whole page and all my efforts useless. I was writing a fill-in-the-blanks exercise and concentrating so hard on writing well that I filled in my own blanks. Retarded? Frightfully so.
I’ve otherwise been enjoying my holiday, spending most of my time with Christelle or reading. I just finished The Hobbit, which I absolutely loved and only vaguely remebered from when my dad read it to me as a child. I actually brought exactly the same copy here which, fifteen years down the line, is coming to pieces and very difficult to read without whole sections of the book falling out everywhere. It is at times like these that you thank God the pages are numbered.
I’m now reading Number Ten by Sue Townsend. It is a light-hearted and funny book about a Labour Prime Minister who feels very out of touch with the British people and decides to go on an adventure around the UK - dressed as a woman and accompanied by Jack Sprat, the policeman who guards the door at Number 10 - to get a taste of what it is to take public transport, wait in hospitals and do all those things us normal people do everyday without thinking twice. (Phew! Long sentence!)
Tomorrow I’m going sailing up the Chavon River with Christelle and family. We will be spending the afternoon on the boat stuffing our faces and seeing the sights. I mentioned the Chavon River, and the magnificent view I got of it from Altos de Chavon, in an earlier post. Looking forward to that and will report back with a summary of our day and (I hope) some photos. I have a feeling my Flickr account will be closed down if I don’t post some new snaps soon.
