The Weekend

Buenas dia,

Estoy sentado en de balcón. Yo puedo caminar des de cuarto. Antes noche yo dormí aproximo 9 1/2 hora. Yo pienso que es que más yo he dormido en años. Es el sábado por la mañana y espero que pasan la mayor parte del día en la playa mirando el océano y leyendo un libro. So . . . with some help on verb tenses, there is about 5 minutes worth the work. I must admit it is really enjoyable to work at this. I am finding that all the vocabulary I learned is helpful, but only to a certain extent. Words alone do not help my sentence construction beyond a certain point. It does help when I am listening because I can pick things up, but like yesterday when I could not remember the word for “word” (yes, ironic). I could not get Juan Carlos to figure out what I was saying. I ended up texting Melissa and wrote to NY to get a single word in the República Dominicana. Soy afortunado de tener diccionarios humanas que están dispuestos a aguantar a mí.

Jordan, esto es para ti; ¿¿descargar el ‘whatsapp’? Te he enviado un par de preguntas y tengo un poco más. ¿Puedes volver a mí, por favor? ¿Cómo va el video? Sé cuánto te gusta responder a mensajes de texto? I know it is summer, though I am amazed at how quickly it had gone by. I am reminded of how parents or older people always told me how time would seem to go more quickly the older we get. The truthfulness in that statement is alarmingly correct. I was thinking about how much more quickly the second almost 30 years of my life went than the first 30. It is simply because we do not have a reference point when we are younger. It the words of Rent a year is 525,600 minutes long. “How do you measure a year in the life?” I have been reminded this summer, and again in the past few days, to measure it in love. Back to the point at hand: what is it about experience and reflection that seems to make things move so much differently or pass by so much more quickly? Something for me to ponder as I read and lay on the beach today.

So it was a beach day. How ironic that the two people I would find to lay down next to were Germans. That was amazing and enjoyable. I was speaking in English, Spanish and German for about 4 hours. It was a wonderful day. While we were there the drinks were free on this beach and there was a sushi bar. It was a really tough experience let me tell you. There was a drink called “coco loco” (crazy coconut) . They were delicious and contained Bacardi 151 in them and tasted like they had no alcohol. I did get out on a ocean for a quick dip, but most of the time I relaxed and read. I found out that everyone else went out after I went to bed and I think the same is on tap tonight. We’ll see. I am pretty wiped out from the sun today, but it was the first time I have done this in years too. I just had my second Nutribullet juice of the day: cactus, red pepper, pineapple and lime, a combination of sweet and spicy. We went to the same restaurant today for “cenar” and I did eat un pescado llame “chillo”. I did get a picture, but I am posting on my phone and have not figured out how to get a picture in yet. We had pictures taken with the family (staff) of the restaurant . However we used Sr. Galán’s phone, so I have yet to get them from him.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my first two days and I am almost over my cough. I think I only coughed four or five times all day. That is the first time in over a month. We set up an excursion on Tuesday. It is on a boat and we go to an island beach and snorkeling and a whole bunch of things. Monday might there is Michael Jackson tribute show I think I want to attend. Needless to say, I never saw the real person, so this is as close as I might get. Today continued the world of crazy driving. They all laugh at me because I am in the back seat just shaking my head and saying, “oh my!!” I am listening to music out the window as everyone is getting ready to go out. I wish I could put sound into this post. It is amazing.

As we were coming back to the resort I observed all the little shops and shacks in which people live. I am forced to consider what we have an take for granted and yet so many of us are unhappy. While I saw a number of people walking who looked a bit haggard, I think many of them are working tremendously hard at jobs for every little money. The family that has the restaurant consists of a mother, who started things I imagine and is now retired or around sparingly. There is the daughter who is probably my age or a bit younger, and then a next generation of children and cousins. They have treated us like family. I think we will be there almost everyday. The woman my age has Wednesday off and I am not sure if we will be there Tuesday. I want to get names and addresses so I can write and send them something.

I am going to do some reading and call it a night. The second complete day has been “muy bien”. I am so grateful to be here and experience this amazing country. It is beautiful and the people are wonderful. It is not what I imagined because of what I have heard about those in New York. While I might have witnessed a brief second or two of that in three days, that is the exception. I actually asked Jacqueline about it. I am hoping this is the first of more trips to this amazing place. The other thing I want is to be able to listen to a conversation and understand. More work to do.

Well everyone else has left for the evening. I am going to read a bit and call it a night. Thanks for reading.

Michael