Hola para de República Dominicana,
Blogs el año pasado yo estaba en relativamente el mismo lugar: Puerto Plata. Estoy aquí voy a José una vez más, pero esta vez Melissa está aquí para el viaje. Hoy han sido visitar otros lugares y tenía el día para mí. Estoy ‘esperando’ para que vuelvan. Estamos en tiempo de República Dominicana, y José está a cargo, por lo que sólo Dios sabe cuándo realmente tenemos cena. Aunque creo que la Facultad el año pasado podría haber sido un lugar más agradable, este viaje fue todo incluido y como tal, ha sido una especie de cerebro no. No hay realmente mal lugar parece, así que hoy que decidí simplemente el día y relajarse. Fui a un paseo de hora y media a lo largo de la orilla con Adam y Lucy, dos del grupo de canadienses que conocí el otro día. Era un agradable paseo y se encontraron algunos tesoros de coral y conchas. He disfrutado hoy en particular porque he tomado algún tiempo para mí y esta noche fuimos a la ciudad y comió la cena en el descubrimiento el año pasado, El Cocinero. Que tenía la ensalada de langosta y algunos batata frita. Melissa también quedó impresionada con la comida, pero nos deliraron sobre él hasta el año pasado.
Es ahora martes por la mañana y estoy en el desayuno con José. Melissa está durmiendo. Necesito hacer un trabajo de la escuela hoy y necesito que tipo de plan a thecremainder dve vacaciones. Se probabky hacer un viaje a WI la próxima semana para finalizar un par de cosas y espero conseguir otra escuela trabajo administrativo terminado. Volviendo a El Cocinero hoy ha sido un placer. Melissa tuvo el pescado en una salsa de Lima y fue increíble. Me alegra que tomaron el tiempo para ir allí los dos últimos días. Son personas increíbles y si de alguna manera pude conseguirlos para poder visitarme en Pennsylvania, gustaría que vienen a visitar. Hicimos algunas compras y lo hice algún pensamiento. Fue un día bastante relajado y después de pasar tal vez demasiado tiempo en el sol ayer, le estoy dando es un descanso hoy. Okay . . . back to English. I has taken me some time to write this, but it is a good practice for me. I am pretty sure there are mistakes, but I am hoping that those of you who can read Spanish can understand what I was trying to say. It has been a good time to visit the restaurant from last year for the past two days and see the amazing people who work there so hard everyday. They are so wonderful and the food is so amazing.
I did get my grading finished and turned in today, so that is something off my plate and something important for the students. That reminds me I should send an email to Dr. Cheese letting her know that the two students with incomplete grades for the session did finish their work. For the most part some of the students I had this past summer were as capable as any students I have had, but some of the were the least motivated I have ever day also. Those are frustrating things for me. Otherwise, in general I love teaching every day and I am glad when I actually make a difference in another person’s life. Sometimes those differences are small, but once in a while, there is something significant that happens. Last night I got a message from a college classmate, she was a year behind me, but younger than that because I was older. She had a boyfriend on my floor and I remember she used to call the hall phone every morning to be an alarm clock of sorts for him. There was only one problem: he never got up to answer the phone. I remember one morning the hall phone rang and one of the frustrated guys on the floor answered it in a way that was less than polite and it was not the girlfriend, but someone’s mother. That created a phone call to the dean of students and a floor meeting about phone etiquette that night. Yikes! Anyway, I have two former Dana classmates who have a more conservative bent than I have and sometimes they love to pound away on me on Facebook posts, but all in all I think I can manage. The one is an attorney, I think, and while he writes reasonably well, his logic is not always the best (rather oxymoronic), which surprises me. The second classmate was a floor-mate my freshman year. He seems to come out of left field(more accurately right field) at times and I am not always sure what prompts his posting. There are some seriously important issues in what he writes, but there are certainly non-sequiturs in what he is saying, so I have to try to fill in the pieces. Sometimes, I am not sure I am as successful as I might hope to be. Interestingly, last night, the sister-in-law of the attorney (and previously mentioned infamous-phone-calling-girlfriend) jumped into the conversation also. So I am out-numbered three conservatives to one rather conservative democrat, but certainly liberal to the three of them. So I have a post there to work on today also, but that is fine.
What I have realized is that this particular week in August seems to be a traveling week for me. In 2003, I was just moving to Wisconsin, In 1992, a few days later I was actually moving to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In 2007, I had just returned from California, after spending most of the summer in Placerville. It was when I met a person who still boggles me, but has seemed to disappear once again. In 2009, I was moving to Pennsylvania, traveling cross country on the Harley. Last year, during this same week, I was in the Dominican Republic as I am now. It seems much longer than a year ago, but so much as happened. It is interesting how a location, the sights, sounds, and smells can bring you back to an earlier time in your life. What I remembered last year about the amazing ladies at El Cocinero was both their work ethic and their genuine care and smiles. When we got there the other day, they were shocked. Today we spoke with them – thanks to Melissa – about the year that has occurred and how much has changed in that time. When I walked around the open door and they saw me on Sunday, they were shocked, but genuinely happy to see us. It was wonderful to see them. I am not sure what it is about this week and traveling. Some of it is because of school schedules and I have often taught in the summer. Some of it has been the need to move from one place to another before a school year begins. What is rather shocking is how often it has been on the exact same days. This trip to the Dominican Republic is exactly the same days as last year. I do love to travel and see new things and experience new possibilities. I still need to work on my Spanish. I want to do so much more than I am doing. I have learned a great deal considering I have only attended about 8 classes and did everything else on my phone, with a lot of help from Melissa and Jose. It is better this year. I understand the great majority of what I read. I struggle still when I listen and I am not confident as I would like in my speaking.
I wish I could go to an immersion school. I might have to check into such a possibility. That would be a quicker and more intentional way to manage my hopes to learn Spanish. I know there is much to do yet, but it is something I am both interested in doing and something I enjoy. What I am also realizing is that I do not manage as much on my plate as I did at one time. I need to be more focused and too many things seem to boggle me much more now than they might have done earlier in my life. Well, what I know is I still love to learn and I am never tried of trying new possibilities. During the past 20 years or so, I have been across the entire country more than a couple times. I have been in cars, trucks, motorcycles, planes, and in large and small airports. Seldom to I really tire of it all, but at the moment, my eyes are a little droopy. I think I might sign off and take a quick nap before our Brazilian evening meal. It has been a wonderful few days and the remembering and traveling are two of my favorite things. During the week we traveled again to La Vega, where Jose grew up and also to Jarabocoa, which is in the central mountains of the island. It was a beautiful place and somewhere I hope you will perhaps hear more about. There are a number of things I would need to work on, but we will see what happens. I hope you are well as you read this and enjoying your own times. It has been as hot here this week that the beginning picture would be appropriate.
Thanks for reading.
Dr. Martin
thewritingprofessor55 