5:09PM
Sitting on the couch with the fan blowing on me, and then
the electricity shuts off.
Eck. I am writing this in
Word, and then transfer I’ll it over to my blog when it comes back on. We seldom lose power at night. Usually they shut it off mid-day for a
few hours. We lost power at about
11AM today and got it back sometime while I was in town, around 3-4. I just realized that we never lose
power on the weekends. For the
most part, we always have it. I
have no idea why or when they shut the power off. I truly don’t think there is a reason to the times and days.
Alyssa pointed out that leading up to and during elections, WE ALWAYS had
power. Hmmmmmm. Moving to the back porch because it it
much cooler out there.
So I went to town to cash my check from school, which was
for about 10, 000 pesos. I love
the banco! It has air
conditioning. I forget how nice
that crisp air is until I walk into Banco Popular and it hits you in the face.
::Smile:: Ahhhh. Security guard with a gun is stationed
out-front ßstandard
operating procedures for banks. I
still do not have a bank account and I was told again that I would be able to
open one soon.
We walked up the side street to go to pay the electric
company. A truck drove by and he
screamed junk out the window to us (which is common here) and I couldn’t help
but laugh. I don’t know what he
said, but I am sure it was funny.
Elissa didn’t think so at first.
Random marriage proposals are up to about 9 now, somehow I always
pictured it a little bit different then what these are :) (Reminds me: I caught a moto to go to church last Sunday alone. As I was approaching town I saw this
clean cut, good looking guy on a moto next to us. He did the stupid “psssst pssst” crap, and I swore it
was my friend Chi-Chi, so I smiled big and said HEY, BAaaBaaaY! Nope. Not Chi-Chi and then they started
riding side by side with my moto. Crap. Ha. I got to church and there was Cheech. Whoops. Sometimes I want to yell
obscenities at them and sometimes I just crack up laughing at how ridiculously
harassing they can be and not even care.)
So, my moto was going so fast that I was making up a convo with the
moto-man in my head about how he was going to kill me at this speed. Then I would remember God has big plans
here and my likelihood of dying was about zip! A screwed up face, massive concussion, paralysis,
maybe. There are so many different
kinds of bikes here that I don’t know the difference unless I am riding it.
This was like a real bike, I would say.
Luke can blog on that when he gets here and sees, to explain the
difference. Usually when I am on a
moto we “putt” to church or the store, this thing was zipping so fast I had to
hold onto my driver. Usually I can
ride with my hands on my thighs—ready to grab his waist if I need to. I held on tightly to this guy the whole
time and didn’t enjoy the scenery at allllll up the mountain because I was too
busy cussing him out in my head.
I am so alllll over the place with this blog today! I went to the place to pay my electric
bill and there was a line going out the door, literally. The bill is for 4/09-5/09/12 and I have
until 6/08/12 to pay it. I have
been told that you should pay it at the farmacia to avoid overcharges b/c when
the electric place sees you are white, they jack the price next time. I don’t see this being true. I have no idea, really. I’ve been lying out and studying Spanish
to get a little darker to fit in a bit more. Some man was hitting on me at the vegetable stand and I told
him I was American and he asked if I was born Dominican—it’s working. J He also followed me
all the way to town without me realizing it. As I turned into Supermercado J, I looked out the window b/c
I saw a bright color in my peripheral vision, and sure enough it was him. Whoa. He asked if I was a teacher. People always ask if I work at the “Christian school.” I assume it is the only school that is
Christian and not Catholic in this immediate area. They don’t ever say Jarabacoa Christian School, just
Christian school.
Back to the electric bill. You pay all bills in cash and wait in a line. Online, people. Online. J I went with Elissa to Edenorte and waited about 15
minutes. My bill has some lady’s
name on it that I don’t know, Ydalia Abreu. I was also told not to pay the bill immediately when I get
it, which I was about to do, when I got it last month. Some crap about them restarting the
billing cycle from the day you pay it.
I never have any idea how they get away with any of this garbage I write
about. Electric bill was 1216
pesos. We headed to the phone and
Internet place, next, named Claro.
She doesnt know how much she owes because they stopped sending her a bill. You dont get to see your bill, they just tell you what it is when you get to the counter. Seriously. You must get a landline phone in order to have Internet. Why? I have no idea.
I still do not have either one at my house. I want this figured out before I leave for Honduras in 2
weeks and I don’t know if that is actually going to happen bc I cant get anyone
to do anything to help fix it. As
we walk in a few people are waiting in line because the lady behind the counter
went to go grab a cup of coffee. She came back with this dainty little cup all
smiles and no one is as shocked as I am that we are waiting and you are getting
some coffee. I hope you enjoy it,
lady. Okay. Elissa’s bill was 1798.40. I throw money in on that because I use
the Internet. I was really
bothered that I was illegally pigging backing off upstairs, but I HAVE tried so
many times to get it on my own bill that there is no guilt left for this!
Oh, let me tell you about currency. Anything after the decimal doesn’t
count. We only have pesos and
there are no names for the coins other than the amount that they are. This sounds fine until one day I wanted
change for 100 and had no idea how to tell the lady what I wanted at the lunch
store. I asked a kid, “Hey, what
are the names of our coins.??” He
says there aren’t any. “Uh, okay,
do I say I want 10-10’s in Spanish?
Or do I say I was 4- 25’s?”
Yea, he didn’t know.
Jillian took charge and got me change somehow. The lady first took my 100 and gave me 25 back. Uhhh, no. Why do you think you would keep 75? What the heck do you say?! You can make 50 in pesos and
there are 50 peso bills, both are exactly the same value. Oh, yea, the coins here are SOOOO
heavy! I was cleaning up a little
purse I have from the States and was taking all my coins out in a hand full and
was shocked at how light our money is compared to the peso. Peso Coins are 1, 5, 10, and 25. Peso dollars are 20, 50, 100, 1000, and
2000. If there are bigger bills, I
haven’t touched them yet :)
Just went in to get a cup of coffee and I have power! Bbbbba-bam! I flipped the hot water switch because a storm is coming and
we might lose it again. I hope to
let my tank get hot for a shower. I head to the kitchen to smack the coffee pot
3 times, flip the switch a few times, and wait to see if it will finish
brewing. No? Okay, 2 side smacks, unplug, plug-in,
flip the switch a few times, do 2 jumping jacks, and smack the top again 4
times. Brewing :) Jumping jacks always do the trick with
that piece of trash coffee pot.
Lastly, we went to the photo shop and got a picture
developed of Elissa’s class.
Inside the shop you can purchase Vikki’s undies. Why? No idea. It is
so out of place, but you learn not to question the madness. Next door is some store and their music
is so loud I want to scream STOPPP!
We grabbed some frozen yogurt across the street for 135pesos for a
medium and I watch a man walk down the street and see a beer bottle sitting on
the ground. He picks it up and
swigs the rest. Ay yi yi. I gag on my yogen fruz. We seriously were in town for
maybe an hour or so and I made it out to be an all day ordeal :) This is why you love me.
Honduras is fastly approaching! I can’t believe 4 houses have to be built. I keep forgetting
I am going to Honduras b/c there is always junk going on around here and it
slips my mind that one of the missions trips are coming up. Pastor Timm emailed me today checking
up on a sister and when I saw he wrote “4 houses,” I was like holy crap we will
be exhausted :)
Good exhausted. I am
getting a pedicure as soon as we get back to the States after that! No more using this paddle board looking
sandpaper thing!! My piggies are soaking in a pedi bath, no more trash-can
filled with water junk!
More thoughts to come later, I got some things to do first. XOXO
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