day 34
Feeling a little lonely and bored in La Romana, Sophie’s boyfriend, Martin, decided to take me on a little trip over the weekend. We went to La Vega, a four hour drive from where I live to meet his friends and family. La Vega (not to be confused with Las Vegas) is a small city situated in the heart of the country. (NOTE: La Vega is both a city and a province, as is La Romana. In each case I am referring to the cities – and obviously they are each located in their respective provinces.)
Despite the fact that we were nearly killed on our way when Martin (in typical Dominican fashion) swerved violently to avoid a huge obstacle in the middle of the road at 140 km/h, the drive there was an enjoyable one. I got to know Martin a little better as we chatted about this and that and “oohed” and “aahed” at the contents of each other’s iPods. To my delight I found out he’s a fan of Guns n Roses which for a man who also likes Beyonce and 50 Cent surprised me somewhat.
We arrived late on Friday evening, stopped by his mother’s to say hello and immediately hit the town to meet his friends. We watched a local band play and drank God knows how many beers as I did my best to socialise. It’s always a bit awkward when you find yourself amongst a group of very close friends and you don’t know anybody, but they were all very friendly and after a couple of hours and many more beers I felt more at home than I have since I got here. Martin even plucked up the courage to sing a couple of songs with the band as I sneakily filmed from the wings, knowing full well it was perfect blog material.
Shortly after this eye-watering performance it started to rain so we headed indoors for a few more drinks and said our good byes (needless to say they love drinking in this country – must be weather or something). We slept the night at Martin’s mother’s house to avoid spending money in a hotel but – and he had warned me – there would be no hot water in the morning. I’ve never had such a cold shower in my life. It can’t have lasted more than 20 seconds, I joke not.
The following day we did a little shopping and booked a night in an air-conditioned hotel with hot water and free Wi-Fi. Before long the sun was setting and it was time to hit the town again. This time we went to a quiet little bar where things got a bit dull. We decided to go to Santiago, a city about 25 km away. We pigged out on some much needed KFC and looked for a pool hall. There were two that Martin knew of but one was full and the other was shut. “Bollocks,” we thought as we headed back to La Vega and instead went to a small club where men were expected to pay an entrance fee, which we somehow managed to avoid (I hope they didn’t confuse us for women!). In any case, any money I saved at the door was soon spent on a couple of Vodka Red Bulls and yet more beer. Dear oh dear, I thought I’d left my blow-all-your-money-and-drink-as-much-as-you-can days behind me.
All in all it was a fun weekend in which I got to practice my Spanish outside the classroom and got to know some interesting people.
the end is nigh
My Dominican adventure is coming to an end and I thought I should give you all an update after a month or more of neglect in this area.
All is well at school. Octavo have started their exams and the others will follow shortly. They completed their written exams on Wednesday and I did the orals yesterday. Some were a complete disaster – those from pupils who spend a good 80% of the lesson facing the back of the classroom – and others did very well.
The school has been competing in a number of volleyball tournaments recently, turning most of the playground into pro volleyball wannabes. While making it exceedingly dangerous to walk past the volleyball net at lunchtimes, it can also liven things up as it did on Friday afternoon. I only had half an hour with one class after lunch on Friday before the all-afternoon volleyball tournament got under way, which made for an interesting afternoon of watching testosterone-filled teenage boys think they’re the best and the girls simply proving beyond a doubt that they aren’t the best and never will be.
Despite the fact that no one was very good at volleyball it was all good fun because most classes were cancelled and everyone came out to watch and cheer on their mates.
Last week I went to see a school production of Jesus Christ Superstar by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Christelle and I went to two performances of it and enjoyed it very much. Even managed to film it and take a few photos.
King of the Jews – Jesus Christ Superstar
As I mentioned above, the end of the year is approaching fast. I have decided not to stay on next year, instead resuming my studies. School finishes around 20 June and I’m flying back to Brussels on 4 July.
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.
