day 47
All is well in the Republican Dominic (as my mum likes to call it!) and today I finished work on the school’s web site. I registered the domain name colegiobuenavista.com this morning and got the Spanish version online. I’m uploading the English version at the moment but it’s taking a while as internet connections in this country are a joke. The French version is also on its way but needs some serious proof reading before I dare put it online. Please have a visit and give me some feedback, even if it’s just to report a typo. Note that the English version is written in American English on purpose, hence all the Z’s where us normal people would tend to use an S (not to mention “enrol” instead of “enroll” and all the badly formatted dates). Ok, I’m being pedantic. Let’s move on.
In other news, I’ve had two colds since my arrival here thanks to the combination of the baking heat outdoors and the icy cold air-conditioning indoors. So the other day I went to the chemist’s to buy some cough mixture. I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw the sign outside the door.
It turns out even seeking medical advice in this country is a bit of a lottery. Anyway, not knowing the word for cough mixture, I gesticulated frantically and gave a very long-winded explanation. They eventually understood. And if ever you happen to find yourself in a similar situation and want to avoid gesticulating like a monkey and getting funny looks, the word for cough mixture is “jarabe para la tos”.
Looks like the English version of the school web site has finished uploading. Looking forward to some constructive criticism from any one who dares! 
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!
notes from a big country [UPDATED]
I’m having a wonderful time in the US of A.
We flew to Miami last Friday and drove all the way to Orlando in our rental car. Before I go on, allow me to describe this so-called car. It is in fact a very spacious van that, from the outside, looks like your average American gas-guzzler. The inside, which is more like a small living room than the interior of any car I’ve ever seen, further confirms it’s greed for fossil fuels.
It comes equipped with leather seats (that look like they came out of the first class section of an airliner), a 25″ widescreen TV, a DVD player, heated seats, a vaccum cleaner (!), two head phone jacks per seat (TV or car radio/CD/tape deck – shame about the lack of vinyl and MiniDisc), and a back seat that reclines into a bed. It is also possible to plug a video iPod into the TV which – to get back on track – is what we did for most of the four hour trip to Orlando. We didn’t actually make it to Orlando that night as it was getting late so we checked in to a motel.
The next day we were up bright and early and got to Orlando only to find that most hotels were fully booked. We went to a travel agent that phoned 40 hotels and eventually found us the one and only available hotel in the area, needless to say that it was the most expensive five star in the whole of Orlando.
Once again I was astonished by the size of the place. The drive from the main road up to the front door of the hotel was a few hundred metres. The hotel itself was enormous – but enormous on a ridiculous scale. The kind of need-to-stand-on-the-moon-with-a-wide-angle-lens-to-get-it-all-in-one-shot ENORMOUS.
Moving on, the rooms were pretty roomy and stunning. Ours came with a 40″ flat panel widescreen, IP phone, two double beds, A/C, black-out curtains and an impressive view of the city.
I realise that so far I’ve hardly mentioned anything about my trip apart from the size of things and the technology I’ve encountered along the way but that’s really what I’m trying to emphasize. Everything is so big and so vast over here, especially when compared to the Dominican Republic. Roads, cars, rooms, burgers, theme parks, TVs, drinks, buildings, people. You name it, it’s at least twice as big as anywhere else in the world. So that’s really the first thing that struck me upon arrival in this country.
Since then I’ve been spending my days shopping and going to theme parks. We went to Busch Gardens where I took a ride (or three) on the most amazing roller coaster I’ve ever had the good fortune to go on. It is called Sheikra (although I’ve been calling it Shakira because that’s easier to remember) and has two 90 degree drops. Here’s a clip of it that I found on YouTube (ignore crappy music).
Sheikra
I also went to Epcot which is less of a theme park and more of an interactive learning experience but still a lot of a fun. There I had the chance to fly in to space on a virtual mission to mars. I also went on an attraction called “Test Track” which takes you on a simulation of a car road test. These tests are supposed to be very close to the real thing except that the car travels on a rail. The last test, in which you are driven around a circuit in excess of 200km/h, is definitely the most impressive. We stayed at Epcot until 9pm that day to watch a very impressive firework display.
I’ve also been a to a few other places where I’ve tried a number of adrenaline-pumping activities including go-karts, airboats, and three particularly impressive rides called G-Force Drag Race, SlingShot and SkyCoaster.
Drage Race is a race between two cars on a rail. When the light goes green you press the accelerator and “wooosh”, you get thrown forward and accelerate to 270km/h in two seconds. The first person to hit the accelerator wins. I did it twice. Lost the first time, won the second. Here are two clips of the the ride; one from the outside, the other from the inside.
Drag Race – from outside
Drag Race – from inside
SlingShot is fairly self-explanatory. You are strapped into a seat that is attached on each side by two hefty looking cables. These cables are in turn connected to two large masts/cranes (whatever you want to call them). You are pulled down then released at high speed. It is the equivalent of putting an elastic band between your thumb and index finger, attaching an ant, pulling the elastic down and then letting go to see what happens. Very exhilarating. And here it is. (God bless YouTube, eh!)
Sling Shot
SkyCoaster is very similar to an attraction that already exists in Walibi (for those who have been in the past year or so) and which I’d already done before trying it over here but it was still an experience worth noting here.
It is like a bungee jump in the sense that you are released from a considerable height (roughly 100m) with a harness attached to the industrial equivalent of an elastic band. The difference is you are strapped in at ground level then pulled up. You then pull a string on your harness which releases you (much like on a parachute). You free fall for 20 or 30 metres until the elastic kicks in and you swing between the two cranes to which the elastic is attached.
SkyCoaster
Driving back to Miami tomorrow and flying back to the D.R. on Friday. Will keep you posted.
photo update
Having neglected the photo side of things for a while, I have made a few changes as you may already have noticed.
Firstly, I’ve uploaded some new photos. Secondly, these updates are now much easier to access. The site is the same but it can now be accessed at the following address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominicanflicks (slightly easier to remember, wouldn’t you say?). And thirdly, I have added a photo feed down the side bar which gives a preview of my latest uploads along with a “More Photos” link to my Flickr account page.
On an unrelated note, I have also added a hit counter to the sidebar which, to my surprise, is at 2600 hits (and those are not repeat hits from the same person). This blog is obviously more popular than I thought, unless of course people searching for a Dominican newspaper on Google accidentally stumble across this on a very regular basis.
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.
las terrenas
Last week I was kindly invited to Las Terrenas by Philippe and Marie-France to join them and their girls for the weekend . Las Terrenas is a small town on the north coast of the D.R. about 250km east of Puerto Plata and 100km or so north of the capital. The north of the D.R. borders with the Atlantic Ocean and not the Caribbean Sea, as in the south.
We set off on Thursday after school and made a long weekend of it. The original plan was to leave on Friday but it’s a long drive so we left a day earlier. I was a bit surpised that they gave me Friday off school but didn’t complain, of course. Don’t think my pupils were that bothered either.
As it was already late afternoon/early evening by the time we left, we made the trip in two stages. It is a couple hours drive to the capital where we spent the night in a five-star hotel (very swanky!!). The hotel was very spacious and luxurious, and I spent the night with Christelle and Pauline playing video games in my room. Mostly we played Mario Karts (one of the greatest games ever invented, IMHO) but I lost interest and nearly commited suicide when the girls started playing the most pointless game ever invented. First off, it was a Pokemon game… You’d think that’s reason enough to jump off the balcony, right? Wait until you here what the point of the game is. You essentially just float around a 3-D environment with a virtual camera taking snaps of other pokemons. This must be done with speed and accuracy due to how fast things fly past the camera. At the end, you have a look through your photos and delete the ones you don’t like. Yep, that’s all there is to it. Whoever designed and took the time to write this so-called “game” obviously needs urgent psychiatric assistance – and a quick look at the definition of the word game in the dictionary. To my astonishment, the girls seemed to be having the time of their lives. I seem to have gone off on a bit of a tangent but felt it necessary given the utter crapness of the game. I also promised myself I’d mention it on the blog (in fact, there is a photo of Christelle playing it on my Flickr page – well, there will be when I get round to it).
Back to reality. We woke up early on Friday morning, had breakfast and set off to Las Terrenas. It was a very long and uncomfortable drive through fields, mountains and dirt tracks (thankfully, the Warots have a 4×4). The impressive scenerey took my mind off just how terrible the roads were and I was able to soak up views of sugar cane fields, awesome mountain ranges and the Atlantic Ocean, though only with my eyes and not the camera. I’m not very good with the whole taking photos at opportune moments thing.
We arrived in time for a late but delicious lunch in a restaurant owned by a French guy. By the looks of it their chef was also French, which probably explains why the food was so good. As a matter of fact, all the food over there was excellent. I haven’t eaten as well as I did this weekend for a while. We went out for every meal except breakfast and I enjoyed every morsel. Las Terrenas is home to a relatively large French-speaking community (I’m convinced that there’s a correlation between that and the delicious food).
We stayed in a cosey apartment across the road from the beach, in which I was spoiled with a double bed and my very own bathroom. The whole complex had the air of a hotel but was in fact a bunch of self-catering apartments with a reception, swimming pool and restaurant.
Aside from stuffing my face and enjoying the comfort of the apartment, I played a lot of cards with Christelle and Pauline, swam in the pool, swam in the ocean (which made a nice change from the Caribbean Sea), went snorkelling briefly (very cool!), played pool, went to bed late (Christelle’s fault for keeping me up all night chatting). In a nutshell, I had a wonderful and relaxing time. It was great to visit somewhere new, get to know my hosts a little better and have a long weekend. They really do spoil me.
This morning we left at 7am. I was knackered and slept a couple of hours in the car. This shaved a little time off the journey and the rest of the trip back seemed to fly by much faster than it did on the way there. We got back just after 1pm – at which point I should have had lunch – and I came here straight away to tell you lot about it. It’s now 4.30pm and I’m famished.
I have some photos but I’ll post them another day. Hasta la vista!
the girls
Follow the link for a pic of Sarah and Jennifer, the two Canadians I live with. We’re in the pizzeria down the road from the apartment.
week 3: progress report
Week 3 and I’ve been dishing out punishments like Straciatelli in an Italian ice cream parlour. It’s not that I enjoy it, they just never listen.. I would like to take this opprtunity to apologise to any of my ex-teachers who might be reading for every time I disrupted your classes. You’ll probably be pleased to hear that I’m getting a taste of my own medicine.
That said, I may have been a nuisance at times but I was a bloody angel compared to some of these guys! Last Thursday a boy kicked a girl in class and she retaliated by drop-kicking (I mean throwing) her pencil case at him. They both saw the headmaster and he got suspended for two days. And as if that wasn’t enough, on Friday one boy hit another boy in class right infront of me. 500 lines each. Ooof!
On a different note, I’ve recovered from my bout of flu. Nothing that a bit of cough mixture, a few Dafalgans, Vicks, flu tablets and a week without air-co couldn’t cure. Am sleeping much better as a result, too.
Looks like we’ve found a replacement French teacher but won’t know for sure until she touches down this weekend. She’s a friend of Sarah’s from Canada called Marie-Christine and she seems very keen. Fortunately/Unfortunately (depending on how you look at it) I’ll be living with three girls. Staying optimistic and hoping for the best. Don’t want to become a girl, you know. Also don’t want to adopt a Canadian accent, particularly not in French.
I’ve decided that I’m going to buy a bike so I can ride to school. At the moment it’s a twenty minute walk or 100 pesos in a taxi (strangely enough, 1 peso is exactly equal to 1 Belgian franc as you divide both by 40 to get the equivalent in Euros - this saves me a lot of time converting as I instantly know the value of anything). And as a result I’ve realised that the taxi’s a rip-off. They sell some nice bikes in the local supermarket but these are far too expensive and beyond my needs. 21 gears, suspension, metallic finish, etc. At the end of the month I’ll be having a look in another shop where I’m told I’ll find one cheaper. I enquired about second hand bikes but to no avail.
Keep meaning to post some photos but keep forgetting to take any. I actually have a few with me but they’re just boring sunsets, beach shots, blah blah blah. No people I’m afraid (EDIT: there are a couple of people actually). Promise I’ll take some more soon.
The usual address (bookmark it to save me some copying and pasting): http://www.flickr.com/photos/20275307@N00/
from hot to cold to hot to cold to ill (yes, you read that right, ILL!)
Would you believe it? I have a freaking cold! You would think that in a country like this air conditioning is something of a blessing. Au contraire, my friends. I’ve been walking in and out of cold classrooms and cars into the hot weather for two weeks straight, and now I have a cold. Isn’t that just brillsville-on-sea. It’s not making me feel too rotten but I do feel pretty silly coughing, sneezing and sniffling in the stifling heat. Makes me look very foreign and tourist-like (and just when I thought my newly aquired tan was helping me to blend in). Not to worry, I should get over it pretty quickly as my body begins to adapt to this tropical madness.
On a positive note, I’m not that burnt after all. My face, arms and chest are going a nice golden brown while my thighs – although still lobster-like – don’t appear to be peeling. What a relief!
Sarah arrived yesterday, bringing us to 3 people in the apartment. She seems very nice and cheerful. More on my flat mates when they’ve all arrived and I get round to taking some photos. We are now waiting for Vivien (24 year old bloke from France) who has spent the last month or so waiting for the French authorities to issue him a biometric passport. If only he were British. I went to the embassy on the Monday before I left and they had my passport ready by Friday, on the grounds that it was an emergency. Either that, or the lady behind the counter had a thing for me. Probably the former.
Really must go now. Here are some pictures of Philippe and Marie France’s daughters, one of whom is a student of mine.
