Day 8 - Thursday

Our time is winding down and we know it.  We want to make sure we do everything we would like.  I start making lists and checking things off in my mind.  I think this drives Clint crazy because he traveled a lot with his parents growing up and there was always a strict itinerary.  He does not want to be so scheduled out.  Which I get, but I also worry about missing something.  I get ready to go to work.  The night before we had packed all of our dirty clothes and things we would no longer be using.  I didn't want to miss out on our last days because we had to pack.  I've got my remaining clean outfits all planned out and hung in the closet - so getting ready is easy.  I'm working 9-12 again today.  That's an easy shift and there's a lot of day left when I'm done.  I a so tired of lugging my bag with my laptop & charger & work info to the desk everyday.  The walk itself is tiring without adding the weight of my bag.

We are planning to take a taxi into town and go to a local flea market.  I'm really excited about that.  I love shopping and one of my favorite things about going to Juarez was shopping in the market. 

Our taxi driver tried to convince us to pay him more and he would take us to a market that has better prices because it is not as touristy.  The he asked if we've seen the Basilica and I realize that is in La Romana which is like an hour and a half away.  No thank you I tell him.  He keeps trying to barter with us but I just tell him to go to Plaza  Bavaro.

I was expecting to see booths set up, but these were rows of little buildings like mini storage.  They sell a lot of paintings here and jewelry.  The paintings would have been more of interest to me, but I just didn't find them impressive.  In Honduras you could buy paintings with great detail and they were really good renderings.  I just wasn't impressed with any of their work.  As Clint pointed out later, paint and paper are cheap.  That's really how they try to turn a buck.  The jewelry was nothing special and I don't really wear it anyway.  I wasn't really finding anything and that was bumming me out.  We priced a couple things and it was hard just to get them down to what they charged in our gift shop.  The whole experience was starting to get on my nerves.  I did find a photo album like one I was eyeing in the gift shop, but I preferred this design.  I also got Lydia an elephant.  Yesterday was her birthday.  The girls in the office had helped a lot on things I couldn't do here and I had only got them magnets so far, so I picked up some little nick knacks for them as well.  Clint bought a carved walking stick.  That was an ordeal.  The guy was wanting so much for it - it was ridiculous.  Clint is terrible at bartering.  He's got a soft, mushy heart and their little guilt trips seem to really work on him.  I'm just short of saying I do not care to this guy.  As we are leaving he agrees to our price, as expected.  This wasn't fun.  They were really pushy here - Really!  And the women wanted to braid my hair.  I am so not turning my glory over to these strangers hands to tangle and torture e.  NO thank you.  Plus I just think it would look ridiculous.  Anyway, I was ready to go.  Our cab driver wanted the return fare so he waited for us, but he didn't have to wait that long.  The hotel told him to wait for 3 hours, but only had to wait about an hour and a half for us.

I was hungry by the time we got back to the resort.  We headed back to our room.  We actually took a little bit of a nap which just goes to show how far into the trip we are.  We were surprised when Andy called and invited us to have dinner with them the following night at the Japanese restaurant.  We were excited because we hadn't eaten there yet and we'd been talking about it.  Well then they invited us along for dinner that night as well.  It was really nice because we hadn't had any real companionship since we got here.  I didn't try to hang out with any work people while I was off the clock and I avoided all of the large groups of associates.  So we didn't really feel like we'd been around people in awhile.  I guess Andy & Lezlee enjoyed some time to themselves, but didn't really always want to be alone.  That's not usually how we are on a vacation, but we were happy it worked out that way.

We ate at the Steakhouse again, which we were happy to do.  It was not as phenomenal as the first time, but it was still really good.  Our conversation was fun - we ended up staying for a long time after we were done eating.  Then they came back to our room and we all talked until around midnight.  It was great fun.  We had never really spent time with them outside of when Clint occasionally preached down there, so it was like a new friendship without the awkwardness of the initial small talk.  They are really easy to talk to. 

What a fun night.

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June 11, 2009

We were able to sleep in a little bit today.  Julia had to work from 9-12.  When she  got off work, we had planned to take a cab to the market in the local town.  The area where the resort is located is called Punta Cana.  However, I think the local town is called Bavaro.  A taxi from the resort to the market in Bavaro was $46 [roundtrip].  The driver would wait for three hours for us to shop.  We were looking forward to getting some good souvenirs.

As we left the resort, we were once again immersed in the local culture, just not as much this time.  It was another good opportunity for me to get to practice more Spanish.  We talked to the cab driver and he pointed out places of interest along the way.  Once we got to the market, the driver let us out and then began following us around.  He explained that the resort likes for him to look after his passengers while they are in the public.  It was comforting to know, he was a really nice guy.  The marketplace was very very different than the one in Juarez.  All of the shops had all of the same stuff for the most part.  Also it was the same merchandise they had in the resort's gift shop.  We were a little disappointed, but we still got a chance to barter for some stuff.  Julia got her sister Lydia a hand carved elephant for her birthday.  I got a hand carved walking stick.

There were men outside the shops calling for you to come to check out what they had in their shop.  I thought of them as herders, because it seemed to be their job to get people through the doors.  Some of them were a little pushy and we tried to ignore them.  Most of them spoke a little English.  Two men almost began fighting over us as we left one shop, and I tried to get in front of Julia to protect her.  One of the guys was saying to the other, "Don't push, don't push!"  But then he started pulling us along with him to his shop!  It wasn't a frightening experience and we enjoyed it.  One guy kept calling out from down the way, "on to the next!" or "I'm next!"  I'm not sure.  Jules got repeated offers to have her hair braided.

After we had our fill, we went back to the back and back to the resort.  We met Andy and Lezlie for supper than night at the Prime Grill.  We all had filets that night, they were really good.  My stomach was feeling better, but I had a bad cough because of my sinuses.  We all went back to our room and just talked for a long time.  Finally we said our goodbyes and Jules and I crashed.

I was a little too specific on something in my writing - so there will be some edits today (like not including people's full first & last names)

Day 7 - Wednesday

I worked 7:30 to noon today.  It was nice to get off and know I had the rest of the day to myself.  I was ready to get in the ocean again and relax.  I'd hardly had time to do some of the things I'd really wanted like work on my journaling, read my book, work on the music for Rachel's wedding, or take a class at the gym.  We loaded up our journals and books and headed to the beach.  There was also a class at 6 that I told Clint I wasnted to try out.

We picked out our chairs on the beach and got out our books and began to relax and read.  I wasn't too far into my reading when I told Clint I had to get in it.  So we put our books down and went and got in the water.  The waves were not nearly as strong today and I wasn't as afraid to get out a little bit farther.  Of course I was still only about waist high.  I was proud of myself.  I also wore my sunglasses this day which kept a lot of water out of my eyes.  Clint would laugh because I would take a big gasping breath if I thought a big wave was coming in.  But a girl has got to be ready in case of going under.  But there was no going under this day - all pleasant experiences.  We stayed in the water for awhile.  I think we read some more after we got out of the water.  It was such a nice time.

Then we got cleaned up and headed to the main building so I could make it to the class.  We were walking around the gym area when I heard Clint say, "Hey that's Andy."  I'm trying to figure out why he would know an associate when I turn and see Andy and Lezlee [from Church of Christ in Texas].  I am so incredibly baffled.  Turns out Lezlee's grandmother, Millie, won the trip and gave it to them.  We stand around and talk for awhile.  I'm shocked that they are staying through Sunday, since they have nowhere to worship.  I know they realize how long we've been there, so I manage a way to throw into conversation our trip to Santo Domingo.  I wasn't trying to seem "holier than thou" but I wanted there to be no doubt that we had worshipped.  We gave them our room number and offered to meet up sometime.  We were very nervous about over-stepping.  they probably wanted some alone time.  Well, it was time for my class to start so I excused myself and Clint stayed back to talk.

It was hard for me to get started in the class.  The good part was that there was just 2 other people in the class - a woman and her young daughter.  The instructor never really showed us "how" to do anything, she just moved in front of us and we had to figure it out.  I got a few moves down, but some things I just couldn't keep up with.  I was actually glad when class was over.

By the time I got out, Clint was working out, but he didn't seem too sad that time was up.  He filled me in on parting with [our friends] and I was glad to know they had our room number, but we didn't have thiers.  That way it was solely their choice whether we were in contact or not.

We went back to the room and ordered room service.  Our stomachs had been a little weak, so we liked ordering something "normal" like chicken fingers and fries.  Plus, there are only so many times you want to make the trek between our room and the main building in one day.  I had fulfilled my quota.  My legs would get sore by night time, but I was glad for all the walking.  It was really good for me.

I also have to interject how entertaining the TV programming has been here.  There were not a lot of channels to choose from really.  Several were in Spanish and the majority of the rest were sports.  However, there was always some B movie from the 90's playing and I found them super entertaining.  At home Clint normally turns the TV off at some point during the night, but he had informed me he wasn't turning it off here - although it was never still on when we got up.  We finally saw the sleep timer turn on by itself.  That was really weird.  Some of my coworkers would tell stories of their TVs changing channels on their own.  So funny.  But we watched TV and went to bed.

June 10, 2009

Julia got up early and went to work at 7:30.  I slept in and rested until around 12:00 when she got off work.  I really had good intentions about going to work out at the gym while she was working.  I haven't much though.  I've been battling off a sinus infection.  I think its the same stuff Julia had a few weeks ago.  Lucky for me she still has some medicine that I can take.  Also, my stomach hasn't been doing great, but it's getting better.  It's kept me from feeling like working out much.

We ate lunch at one of the delis here then got ready for the ocean.  We spent the afternoon just relaxing on the beach.  We swam in the ocean for a bit.  We passed time reading, journaling, and listening to ipods while lounging on the beach.  We got cleaned up and headed back up to the main buildings.  There was a class at 6 that Julia wanted to try out.  It was in the gym so I decided to finally get in another workout while she was doing that.  When we were headed to the class, I saw a familiar person from back home.  At first I had to think if I was just seeing things.  Finally I decided I was right.  It was Andy & Lezlee from [TX congregation]!  It was so weird to run into them in the Dominican Republic!  Apparently Lezlee's grandmother sells Pre-Paid Legal and had won this trip.  She couldn't go so she gave it to them.  We agreed that we would have to meet up later and hang out.  I was nervous about intruding on their vacation, but they were up for it.  We parted ways and we went to the gym.  I worked out while Julia went to her class.  I watched her a little bit.  She was really getting it down, she could move really well.  We didn't feel like going all the way back to the room, getting dressed for dinner, and walking all the way back so we ordered room service.  Besides there was some more normal food on the room service menu.  We ordered the great chicken fingers and I also got some spaghetti.  It wasn't really good.  We watched tv and went to sleep.