Catch up...

Just letting you all know that I added in some old posts from my notebook!

Call me Profesora Heather!!!

Yes...I officially started today, unexpectedly. I was supposed to go in on Saturday to take an English test and go over the rules and regulations but Ricardo called me today at 2pm and said, "I need you now!" So I rushed over there and he said that one of his teachers is sick and he needed me to teach a class today! I was more than willing!!

Did I like it? Of course!!

Did they like me? They all told me that they did and that they had fun and that it was interesting! I guess that is a good sign.

Their ages ranged from 13 years to 17 years and there were 9 students. I think I even remember their names...hehe...Maria, Pricila, Maria, Starlyn, Fred, William, Laura, and there were two more that I don't remember.

I am teaching English.

I might even have to teach tomorrow if the teacher is still sick.

Oh and I even stopped by the cybercafe to see if Roman had come back to fix an issue with MSN Messenger. We disabled the Task Manager on a limited account and for some reason there are occasionally issues with people logging into MSN Messenger. The manager had told me that he had not been back so I decided to try to fix it myself. YAY more free internet access hehe!

So...I was so excited about this news so I decided to come over here and blog about it but I still have alot of stuff to back blog so...I will be adding it soon.

<3 Lotus

I am Alive...

I have to confess that I wasn't quite sure I was gonna make it to today. Yesterday morning I woke up feeling like crap. I was experiencing all symptoms of a cold unlike my last cold that was mostly just a sore throat and alot of coughing which I don't think I ever got over. I really was going to stay home but not too long after Roman had left to go to the archive I received a call from the first school that I gave my resume to. The guys name was Ricardo and he asked me if I spoke spanish and I told him "Yo hablo poquito pero yo entiendo mucho" which means "I speak a little but I understand alot". He said that it was fine and asked me to come by the school @ 2pm because he had a "business proposition" for me. I gladly accepted and proceded to wonder how exactly I was going to get there. I had no minutes on my cell phone and in order to get some I would have to go to the store to buy a prepaid card so that I would call Roman and tell him that I had to come to the city for an interview. I really didn't feel like going since my cold was really kicking my ass. Not only that but I had never went anywhere alone here because I don't really know my way around yet and this GOD FORSAKEN COUNTRY doesn't believe in maps. Fortunately Roman actually called me since incoming calls are free here. We decided that since Roman was already in the city that he would go and buy a prepaid card and recharge my phone remotely, incase I needed to call if there was a problem while I was on my way. Then he had to tell me what to say to the *concho driver in order to him to know when to let me off. I suppose this would fall under...

New Phrases in Spanish = Donde pueda (Let me out!)

Anyway, the first trip went well. I made it to my interview and the good news is...

I GOT MY FIRST TEACHING JOB!!!

I will be working on Saturdays for about 3 hours. I start this Saturday by taking a test in English and then the guy will go over the rules with me and he said that after about two weeks he might have a lot more opportunities but he said that in the mean time I could also apply for other schools (which I already did that day) and he said that the other schools might also be calling me because I can work for more than one school at a time. From what Roman says, there are kids that start school in the morning and kids who start school in the afternoons. That menas that there are alot of possibilities for teaching here.

After my interview was finished with I think my body decided to go into overtime with this cold because my temperature was almost 101 F and later when I got home I went to sleep and woke up with Roman in a panic and my temperature was almost 102 F. He said that I wasn't responding at all when he was trying to wake me up. He had called his sister and his mother. I guess that proves what a lot of people have been saying about Dominicans. They do help people in need. Especially when they are Americans. I have heard this mostly about people in Santiago. So, it wasn't too long before my fever actually broke and I was no longer delirious. Fortunately, today I am feeling so much better.

I am also rather fortunate that I actually went to the city to my interview because from the way I was feeling after the interview Roman decided to not go in for an extra day at work and he wouldn't have been there when I wasn't doing so well.

*concho - small car fitting 6 passengers costing 8 pesos per person that drives the same route repeatedly. Similar to circus car filled with clowns =)

<3 Lotus

Home Alone...

I do enjoy being around my new roommates but I will still always love being home alone. Today was finally one of thoes days where everyone was out of the house and I was actually home. I've been spending a lot of time at the cybercafe where internet is free due to my contact with Roman. The manager there is named Jose and he is nice and like me he is trying to learn another language, English of course.

Anyway, the house is quiet other than my coughing and sneezing which seems to be getting worse. I decided that I would go through my collection of music that grew quite large from all the people sending me stuff. I had not had time to go through it all due to my addiction to gaming over the last year and all the recent events of moving. Fortunately Dominicans like their music loud so it makes me feel right at home playing my music as loud as possible. I still can't wait for the day when I am online from home again so that I can get some updated music from my reliable music buff, G. Until then I guess I will just go through my old stuff.

Speaking of getting internet, I will be getting it as soon as I get a job. Today I updated my resume with as much "info" as I could and went to three different schools to submit it. The first was not all the impressive and with my luck might be the one I end up working at first. The receptionist ended up being the "President" of the school. I'm not sure if they hold classes in this place because the place didnt look all the scholarly. The second school actually requested that I take an exam. I was a bit worried but Roman seems rather confident in my English abilities. >.> The third school seemed a bit more professional and everyone actually spoke to me in English. They interviewed me twice during my time there. There were actually classes going on at the time AND there seemed to be a lot of well mannered kids around there too. We didn't actually go to the school that a friend of Roman's referred us to.. I heard that it pays the best and it's a very big school. I think the rate I heard was 100RD an hour which is good in this country and you can work about 5 hours a day which works out to be about 10,000 per month...which would be just fine for me.

Anyway, off to rest since I think I'm getting sick again. *cries*

<3 Lotus

Just for the record...

I have been keeping up with my blog but the unfortunate thing is that when I came today to be online at the cybercafe...I forgot my notebook at home. So I guess I will just have alot of typing to do on another date or actually tomorrow because I am coming back here to help Roman do some repair on these pcs. I was told that the people who are coming here are overriding the software that indicates whether the pc is being used or not by pressing ctrl+alt+del... so the cybercafe manager wants that to be stopped. Anyway, I will be back here tomorrow to do some major updates but for today I will post something new that I learned how to make.

Avocado Whatever:
Salt
2-3 tsp Vinegar (any variety=I use the flavor with a bit of garlic)
1 tblsp Mayo (any variety)
1 cup diced mozarelle cheese (never tried it with other types of cheese but you could try)
1 Avocado (ripe but not mushy)

Cut the avocado lengthwise into four pieces. Remove the core and throw it away. Peel away the skin of the avocado and disguard also. Dice each of the quareters into a bowl. The pieces should be no more than an inch around. Add in salt, vinegar, mayo, and cheese. If you want to use in a sandwich or to eat with rice then mix together gently. When I used to make a sandwich you can either eat it alone or with some type of sandwich meat such as ham, turkey, or salami. If you want to use as a dip or to eat alone then you can also mash up everything together into a guacamole type mixture...to make a bit more, you can also add in a bit of water to make it a bit thinner.

I also sometimes just cut up the avocado into 1/8ths lengthwise and put a bit of vinegar and salt and use as a side dish with chicken or other meat, served with rice. Even tastier if you have chilled the avocado before serving with the dish.

Current Anime: http://www.animenfo.com/review.php?id=1443&n=vrezym&t=elfen_lied&type=anime

Still Sick

I haven't written in a few days because I have still been sick. Mostly a lot of coughing and being work out from coughing and not being able to sleep due to coughing. I think today I am feeling a bit better. At least today I feel like actually doing stuff.

Sick and homesick!

Well this is officially my first time getting sick in this country and it sucks. I guess lately I have been cooling myself off in the evening by wetting my hair and my face slightly since I have the fan on all the time I guess that's why I am getting sick. Fortunately you http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.photo.gif
Add Imagedon't need prescriptions here for most medications. Not only that but the price is even cheaper than when I had insurance in the states. Roman was nice enough to go get the throat losanges and the cold medicine for me at this hour of the morning. My throat was hurting so much that I couldn't even talk. I had to write what I wanted.

As for the homesick part...I really miss my sister, Minda. I usually think that I am incapable of such feelings but I surprised myself by bursting into tears when I saw this picture again. I did actually get to talk to my grandmother yesterday. She says she is doing better but I don't believe her. I also miss just being in the states. hearing english speaking people, watching english tv, listening to english radio, being able to call to my friends and family 24/7 and actually being able to know the price of the call, having my friends and family call me at anytime, knowing when I'll have running water and electricity, having aircondition, being able to go to the store when I want, being able to drive myself, my apartment, having a washer and dryer, and the list goes on and on. I have learned to wash all my clothes by hand and then hang them up to dry. Here, there are no laundromats. Most people do not have dryers. Basically, that means that it will be very long time before I use a dryer sheet and feel my towels nice and fluffy. If you have every line dried things before you will notice that the towels are very stiff after you take them off the line. Just a tip...it is also easier to clean thing the very day you take them off. So basically, the days of letting laundry file up until the end of the week and then do it all in one day...is completely gone. As a girl, it is expected that you already know how to clean your own personal things. So I clean my panties in the shower and then hang them to dry on a hanger in my room. I guess I write about this because people in this country don't remember to tell you these things because I think they have been doing it so long that it's not in the forefront of their minds. Even Chen was joking with me one time when we didn't have any running water in the kitchen at all, not just for that moment. It was my first night eating in the apartment and I was finished with my plate and I said, "So what do I do with this (with no water)?" She laughed and said, "Wash it the old fashioned way!" and I looked sideways at her and said, "What is the old fashioned way?" She started laughing so I was too embarassed to push the question but I guess she thought I was kidding. Anyway, I finally told her two days later that I still didn't know what "wash it the old fashioned way" meant. She told me that it meant putting the water into a bucket and use that to wash the dishes. Needless to say after that difficulty in learning how to wash the dishes with no running water, I DEFINATELY didn't want to ask her how I was supposed to wash my panites *cries* /swt /swt2.

New phrase in spanish = Dame los lentes ( Give me the glasses (eyeglass).
*New foods I have eaten = Avocado sandwiches, casabe, Red Rock soda (rasberry), mangu, fried platanoes
Observations = I sware, if people could charge for breathing air in this country, they would but I actually got my eyeglasses repaired for free!!! I was amazed beyond words!!!

The benefits...

No mail. The view. Free electricity. Free water. The walking. The language. The air. The simplicity. The color. The culture. The socialness. The food. The chivalry. The dirtiness. The breeze. The heat. No water. Cold showers. The baseball. The game. The retrieval. The music.

Note: Shortly following writing this entry into my notebook I was trying to get back into the house. Pablo came home and thought I was in my bedroom so he went to his room but in reality I was out on the fire escape and I was trying to tell him that I was on the roof taking pictures but he went by too fast and I only managed to get a "Hi" out of him. Anyway, this guy came by because he wanted to give Pablo something (of course I am only assuming this with my limited spanish at this point). So we tried to scream for Pablo from the fire escape. We tried to go to the front door and ring the doorbell (If I would have heard someone ringing the doorbell like that I would have thought that the whole apartment was on fire). So anyway, the guy left because he realized that I could not get inside and get the attention of Pablo. I went back to sitting on the fire escape and then I really started thinking..."I wonder if Pablo left and I didn't see him?" (I have no keys). So that is when I started to really try to get Pablo's attention. I went back to the front door and kept ringing the doorbell over and over and over and over, etc. and FINALLY he opened the door and stood there for a second before he managed to say, "Heather?...*pause*...what are you doing?". At that point...I burst into tears and Pablo opened his arms and was trying his hardest to console me. I think all I could manage to babble was, "I wasn't sure if you were here...mummble...mummble...*cries on his t-shirt*...*continuous crying*". I kinda started feeling bad for Pablo so I think I managed to stop crying. Anyway, I am ok now....and I did manage to get a set of keys. =)

<3 Lotus...I know my sister is going to laugh at this.

GIVE ME MY PANTIES!!!

Well today I went to this cybercafer today. I am glad that I don't have to pay but normally it would cost 20 pesos per hour, which is less than 1.00. The name of the cybercafe is Camber.net, incase anyone is traveling here anytime soon. The name of the street I think is called Espana. I was able to update my blog and look up some banking info too.

Update on my pc is well I guess it won't be here until Monday and I think basically that this country is holding my stuff hostage until I pay a ransom. I found out that they charge in US dollars and that my luggage weighed about 204lbs and they are charging .95US per pound which is about 193.80US but what they do here is they charge you taxes on every piece you bring here so I have been told that the taxes are over 200.00US so basically I am supposed to be paying about 400.00US just to get my stuff and that is not including the 75.00US that I payed to FedEx to get my stuff to Miami before it was transfered over to a Dominican mailing system. Some people here are telling me that this is a rip off so basically I am in a fight between the company that took over my luggage from FedEx in Miami bringing it to Santo Domingo and the company that is here in Santiago. The Santiago shipping company is saying that the Santo Domingo shipping company is the one who set the taxes and Santiago just paid the taxes to get my stuff to Santiago. Now Santiago is saying that in order to get anything corrected they have to request that Santo Domingo send a copy of all the taxes. When I get a copy of all the taxes I am supposed to be taking the paper to this Government Official to see if the shipping company in Santo Domingo actually paid all of those taxes and to see if the taxes are all correct and valid. I am assuming that once this is all done the Santiago shipping company may be trying to get a refund for all the taxes or a portion of the taxes that they paid to the Santo Domingo shipping company and then recalculating my bill. Until then, I don't have any of my crap and lord knows who is going through my SHIT!!! JUST GIVE ME MY SHIT!!!

Pablo, Chen, and Roman basically said...Welcome to Dominican Republic. /pif -_-

Another day...

It's a beautiful morning in Santiago. A bit cloudy near the mountains but breezy for today. I'm sitting out on the balcony just watching the wind blow threw the trees. We actually have water and power today too. I'm just waiting for Roman to come back from the archive and also to find out if the rest of my luggage came yet, including my pc.

Here, I notice that people are alot more social. They sit out on their balconies chatting with each other. People walk almost everywhere. Hence I think I'm loosing weight already and I have only been here a week as of today. Roman's mom even commented on it. Although I laughed at her after I had to pull out my Spanish/English dictionary and look up the word "thinning". Yeah...I was a bit delayed. People seem pretty patient with you if they know you are actually learning spanish. If you aren't, well, they react just like people in the states do. "You are in the US now LEARN ENGLISH".

New Spanish Phrase: '(E)sta bien? = You're ok?
New Japanese Phrase:
What I spend yesterday*:200=Cab, 30=bottle of water, 120=cab, 21=plunger (I guess you don't put the toilet paper IN the toilet here >.>), 5=soda
Observations: There are big huge rats the size of an average cat in the states. Girls here are so busy comparing themselves to other girls that they don't even look at they guys. I have experienced chivalry!!! Gentlemen do exhist. I have not had to walk four flights of stairs to take the garbage our or bring the huge 5 gallon water bucket or even carry the laundry bag to the laundry place. It seems as though I am only responsible for carrying my purse and looking cute (which I don't pull off very well yet...since I was never really the "dainty" type). I think I'll take some tips from Chen (Pablo's gf and my cute filipina room mate...she is THE SWEETEST...especially since I don't get alone well with other girls and their 24/7 upkeep and competative antics). She seems very down to earth now that I know her in person vs. via pc.

*See exchange rate link for comparison.

Good news...

I believe that we have finally signed up for the telephone line that we are going to need to at least start the whole DSL thing. And any day now my pc will be here, WOOT! Pablo, Chen, Roman and I decided we are going to go four ways on it. I think it's about 500(17US) pesos to start the phone line and then about 2000(69US) pesos to continue the dsl every month and 600(21US) pesos to continue the phone line every month. Total that together and it's about 2600(90US) pesos, divided into two couples will be 1300(45US) pesos per month. We can all handle that. Our rent is about 6000(207US) pesos per month and divided into two couples is 3000(103US) pesos. We are getting free electric and free water for the moment but we are sure it's not going to last long.

Lastnight, Chen and I went outside to have a nice girl to girl chat. While we were out there we could have sword we saw a bit of a nice meteor shower...but unfortunately the guys were getting lost, lonely, and I guess bored in the apartment all alone so they came up to find us...and in the process almost lost the cats. One is named Luna and the other is named Artemis. I will post pics later.

New Spanish Phrase: Well today I didn't really learn a phrase, I learned some words... feo=ugly and estomago=stomach
New Japanese Phrase: Unfortunately I have not opened my book for today or watched the my new anime, Chobits.
What I spent yesterday: I didn't bring my notebook so I couldn't tell ya.

Will see you all soon,
<3 Lotus

DAMN ELECTRICITY!!!

I was just about to start blogging via my notebook that I sometimes enter into my blog later and the damn lights went out! FRUCK!!!!!

Just to let you all know...

while I am waiting for the pc line and my pc to be delivered I am going to be writing all my entries in a notebook and then entering them in whenever I am on a pc. As far as the days that I have missed, I just got a notebook today so I am going to be entering those at a later date too...along with the coordinating pics to go with them.

As far as today's entry...here we go.

The first meeting of the SkyMax Crew...

I woke up this morning and I think I am starting to get used to knowing I'm gonna be here for awhile b/c it didn't bother me that there was no running water. I hardly slept lastnight maybe b/c there was more salt in the chinese food here than in the states (for preservation probably). I have been told and experienced that salt causes insomnia in some people. Anyway, I took stock of the money spent yesterday and then left early due to having to go by the bank. After spending time in a nice cool bank I proceded to what might be a future job for me, SkyMax. SkyMax is basically Customer Service for calling cards sold in the US. From what I have heard, it's not as professional as T-Mobile. They have inhouse monitoring of the representatives, which typically means that the monitoring isn't taken seriously. This leads to the representatives not caring about how they treat the customers. So once I arrived with my room mates I was told that I couldn't stay in the Customer Care Area and just hang out with them while they worked (which wasn't a surprise to me). So I ended up sitting in the Technical Support Department with one of my room mates, Pablo. There was no one else in there working so it was easy for me to stay.

A wierd thing happened today though. While we were at SkyMax these two guys came in with guns drawn looking for some guy names Martin. I guess here they have shotguns all over the place b/c they are cheaper than things like a glock 9, so I have heard. Anyway, come to find out they were the police. I was told that they were trying to steal a moped outside.

Btw one other thing that I want to do on my blog is add in what things I spend everyday so that you all can see what it is like to live here and the cost of living and stuff like that.

Well that's all for right now

<3 Lotus

New Spanish Phrase: Nosotros necesitamos algunas perchas.(We need some hangers.)
New Japanese Phrase: Dakimatai no ni. (I just want to hold you.)

*What I spent yesterday:
500=shoes, 100=shoes, 220=lunch for two, 190=dinner for two, 60=calling card, 100=cab, 32=public car for four, 50=two sodas

*For those of you who don't know how to convert just take the rate for the day which is about 28 pesos per US dollar so for example when I bought one pair of shoes for 500 pesos and you divide 28 into it that means that I spent about 16US(500/28=16.67) for the shoes. And I might add that these were nice tennis shoes that I ordered out of a catalog and the original price was 850RD(30.36US). If you need one more example when I spent 220RD it was equal to about 7.86US(220/28=7.86) and this was like a meal that would fill up anyone.