October 6, 2011

After almost two weeks of sleeping on planes, on couches and cushions, I spent my first night on a bed albeit a not so comfortable one.  Turned on the TV and found out that Steve Jobs had died. What a loss for our technological advancement. I could barely look through the windows as the dust storm continues to obscure everything in sight.

Back to the embassy where I had brought my laptop on Caroline’s suggestion that they might have a techy guy who could figure out the problem. We went through security rather fast now that we have our badges, but when I approached someone about looking at my computer, he looked at me quizzically and wanted to know how I had been able to bring in a personal computer as not even flashdrives are allowed in. I just replied that no questions had been asked about it. He indicated that bringing in that kind of equipment would allow me to obtain information that could then be passed on to Wiki Leaks. I’m glad that such transgression didn’t prevent him from working on it. While waiting for our meeting with our RELO, I made a stop to greet the embassy’s cashier, a Tajik who lived in New York for two years and became friends with a lot of Dominicans. He wanted to know if I could dance bachata. I replied: “Would I be a Dominican if I didn’t?”. Vali speaks Spanish quite fluently and was delighted to find someone to practice with. Our RELO discussed what kinds of activities we’d be expected to carry out in addition to our teaching duties, mostly organizing teacher-training workshops and conferences. I just learned today that a fifth ELF is expected to arrive in mid-October. Still no date has been set for me to begin teaching at the pedagogical.

                         Upcoming attractions at the Opera Ballet Theater

We took a ride in a gypsy taxi, a privately-owned vehicle operating an establish route, driven by an extremely young guy who adeptly kept removing and replacing his route number whenever he spotted a policeman or uniformed member of the army. He charged us twice the rate, something that infuriated Caroline, but that I was willing to pay as I was hungry and tired and this taxi made fewer stops. Glad to have my computer working again. When I arrived home, I found more presents: an ironing board, a dish rack (too big for the small counter), knives, a small reading lamp, a mop and other items I simply was too tired to even figure out.