Funny Story

Here's a second hand story from another volunteer. First some background: Foreigners, especially white foreigners, are often referred to as "Gringos" by the Dominicans. Usually we just let it go and don't get too upset about it, becuase its really not that big of a deal. Sometimes, though, usually when one is already in a bad mood, it can be irritating enough to say something about it. So when this other volunteer, Galen, was called "Gringa" by a Domincan, she explained to him that she is not a Gringa, but that she is American and is from The United States of America. This confused the Dominican, however, and prompted him to question just who the Gringos are then. Galen then explained that Gringo is a term used by Dominicans mainly to refer to white foreiners. This didn't completely get the point across, though, as the Domincan then asked, "Well then, where are the Gringos from?"

This is just another example of the lack of knowlege about the outside world that often exists on this island. Sometimes I think we take for granted that we, as decently educated people, really have a global awareness that is not prevalent everywhere else. Even a basic level of understanding, like the fact that there are no people offically known as Gringos who all come from the same place, can be a rarity. The bottom line, I suppose, is this is another instance where I have to tell myself, "that's why we're here."

I hope everyone enjoyed the Memorial Day weekend, doing things like camping, going to a lake, grilling burgers, drinking beer, watching the Indy 500 or whatever. I, of course, did none of these things. OK, I did have a little beer.

I Thought I Was Cured

Apparently not. Back in 2005 I decided it would be a good idea to run a marathon. In October of that year, I did indeed pull it off and finished all 26+ miles of the Portland Marathon. Afterwards, I said to myself, "self, we're never going to do that I again. I must´ve been insane when I decided to do it." At some point down here, I guess I lost my mind again and thought maybe another marathon would be a good time.

I had a specific marathon in mind and I started my training program in March (I´d been running pretty consistently since January, but not following any kind of plan). I was kind of taking a wait and see approach at this point, however, as I didn´t actually sign up for the marathon. That way, I could back out if things weren´t going all that well. As it turned out, I stuck with the training pretty well and decided recently to actually sign up and put myself at the point of no return. I had been targeting the Seafair Marathon in Bellevue, WA and I am now all signed up and ready to go for the race which is held Sunday, July 8th. If anyone wants to come out and see one of the greatest spectator sports on earth, this is a prime opportunity. But If you have more important things to do, I´ll understand. Later.

Jarabacoa

This weekend I went to a town in the interior called Jarabacoa. One of our volunteers is stationed at a coffee farm near there and, since it was her birthday on Saturday, a group of us went there to celebrate. We took a short hike to a waterfall, went out to eat, and then hit up a Dominican club. Jarabacoa is a typical mid-sized Dominican city, which was nice to experience for a change, but really, nothing too interesting happened to tell you about. I did take some pictures at the waterfall, however.

The Waterfall

Anthony and I displaying our lack of intelligence

Jeff and I with a nice artistic angle

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

Here's a shot of my commode

And as a bonus, here's the view from sitting on said commode

The Best I Could Think Of

What's been happening lately? Not a whole lot I guess. This weekend I did a lot of reading and lying around. I watched the De La Hoya/Mayweather fight on Saturday night, mainly because I was bored, not because I really cared too much. Since I couldn't think of anything too interesting to post, and also because I should've done this a long time ago, I thought I'd throw up some pictures of where I live. I think I posted one of my room at the beginning of the year, but this will be a little more extensive. Here goes:

My room

My room from my balcony

The view from my balcony, looking to the right

The pool

The lobby, where I would often watch Gonzaga basketball and yell at the TV by myself

The outside

Another view of the outside

My balcony from the street below

Well, I'm sure that was highly exciting for everyone. Perhaps adding a small amount of interest to it, is the fact that I took these pictures this morning. So that's what it looks like down here today.