A DAY IN THE LIFE

Hey Bob. I second those feelings as well, that is a very noble thing youre doing, helping ur housekerpers children out in that way, I actually meant 2 share that opinion before with you, the last time you mentioned it. I absolutely believe education is the BEST way to success, especially in a poverty stricken country where their is not alot of opportunity. So hats off to you and Patty on that one.

Sorry to hear you had another accident so soon Bob.  Did you ever get the truck repaired from he last accident? Looks like driving is becoming a bit of a hazard lately Bob.  I'm glad to hear the graduation went off without a hitch and I applaud you and your wife for actually making a difference instead of just talking about it like so many others.  It seems that many foreigners come to the island and open businesses and do quite well by raking in big profits at the expense of cheap labor and never even consider doing the minimum in improving these people lives who they depend on day to day to help them earn their profits.  Thanks for trying to make a difference.

Massagewiz thank you for your post.  We all "should" do what we can.

Bob K

As to the accident.

First of the parts for the truck should be in this week and we hope to have it fixed by the weekend.  Not really a big deal and the shop says they need it for 2.5 days to get it done.  So fingers are crossed

For the RAV4 it will take a bit more work and I am hoping when the dust settles we are only with out it for a week. What happened was we were pulling out going left onto the main road in Sabaneta heading east towards Gaspar Hernandez.  We were about ¾ of the way out and turning to the left when a motor cycle came from the east heading west in the middle and towards the wrong side of the road at an extremely high rate of speed.  We were stopped and he hit the front drivers side of the car at an angle.

The motorcycle driver was thrown over our car putting his hands down the hood of our car and doing a flip and landing behind us.  He immediately got up and said he was ok.  We had someone offer to take him to the hospital but he refused saying to this person that he was ok. Our lawyer suspects he will show up today or tomorrow in a neck brace with all kinds of injuries. Thankfully he is not dead or in the hospital now.

Others in the area said that this person was known to drive his motorcycle at very high rates of speed in the past.

So today off to AMET to file a report (our lawyer or the lawyer for our insurance company may come with me) and then file an insurance claim. 

At least now I have something to do this week.

Bob K

Yes Bob i wish all expats gave back outside of employing locals. I too help 1 or 2 kids every year. In addition i sit on 3 foundation boards all connected to education. For me its the key to helping create meaningful change!

Bob, you sound like a really awesome person! Hope soon get the pleasure of shaking your hand...What an inspiring attitude...We are all family after all...Interconnected through the "human" in all of us. None can help where they are born or what country or customs, finances etc.  I thank God that I was born in a free country and not in another where I'd be a slave just because of my gender...Its a beautiful thing when we realize that ALL have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If you can help someone else make that happen in their life then you just made the world a more beautiful place. To me such things are like ripples on the pond, they keep spreading...Better to spread the good than the negative. Way to go Bob!  Planner, you also are to be commended! You guys rock!

I feel education is the key to thinking 'Outside the box' the little box of circimstance tradition and 'norms' we often start in.

Education is what helps little minds to think bigger!

Yes it all starts with education and I can say that the current administration has done more for education during his tenure so far than in the last 20 years.  But it is unfortunate that it is only a  very small start, but a start non the less.

Bob K

Are you kidding???
Do the math, we have 5 million tourists a year.
What if each brought some pencils, books & a few dollars?
& gave to the right people, of course.

This is a third world country.
Treat it as it is, help a little please.
How do you think the great USA made it?
The gov't stole all the land from the Original People.
The only difference is, the Spanish went home &
left us with a mess.

Quite true Bob!
Education, education, education.

Bob glad you are all ok,and that guy haven't showed up with all the injuries on purpose.
I had a big accident last year in Cancun highway (Mexico), I was sitting at backseat of a car,and a trailer with a cargo hit us 4 or 5 times from back side,until he threw us out of the highway,and he did not even feel that he hit us!he was drugged and whatever comes after it... and he hit another car,and a taxi,and after that he got into Hotel Zone and crush in to Holiday inn hotel I guess. And the police did not detain him because I was going to die,police stopped him because he broke the palmtrees on the road... thanks god ,my friends car which I was travelling had insurance policy which covered my emergency attention and 50 sessions of physiotherapies and thousands of weird medicines... I cannot stay standing for so long,as that comes,i cannot do my profession. and believe me there was no way out to sue the trailer driver or the company...
I am glad that nobody is hurt.

Yeah my daily life here, well it looks like there is everything in the supermarket but the bank system is a bit old ,they gave me a little account book ) I went back to my childhood.
and the electricity goes and comes,we do not have suppliers. it is a hell without fan in daytime.
I have a huge mango tree,mangoes are falling off,and I had to make a Cuban style mango marmalade and gave it as a gift. I also have an avocado tree,i am waiting them to make some guacamole
I just overreact when I couldn't see fresh variety of fish and seafood in the supermarket, I guess I need to find a special store huh?
the traffic is crazy here. it reminds me Istanbul's traffic,where nobody respects crossing spots, here they do not respect the traffic lights.interesting detail! after too many years I am learning again how to cross the street )
the beef meat is fine and the price is not bad.
normally in cancun non of the mosquitoes bite me,here they just eat me!
well this is what I have seen in 2weeks
lovely week to you all!
Selen

Welcome Selen - hey - where's my mango marmelade......???  LOL   Yes until you get used to things it can be challenging.  YOu need an inverter and batteries my friend, then at least you have light, fans and computer / internet /TV for a few hours.   IF you need a contact let me know, I have lots and lots here in the capital!!!!

oh planner! nice to meet you. hope I can meet you face to face for a coffee someday,i just don't really know where I live
when I get next mango falloffs and need to get jars,so I make you a mango marmalade!! you should eat it with this creamy ball shaped cheese,dont know the name. I found it in a little store in jumbo supermarket.
I have too many questions ! I do not know where to start LoL
Nice to meet you

We can meet for coffee somewhere at your convenience, as long as you know where it is....

Hi Planner.

I have read several of your posts and you seem sweet and very sincere in your passion for the DR.  I also have a background in banking but I have changed careers (education) and I would like to pursue a life-long dream of teaching abroad.  Do you have suggestions??  Can one live on a teacher's pay in the DR??  Where are the opportunities?  And, any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.  (as an aside, I have some skill in Spanish - not fluent but I am able to communicate and my reading and writing skills are decent)

Thank you!  Welcome to the forums. Yes, i am passionate about this country! I love it here even when i have a bad day....lol.

There are good teaching jobs in the private schools.  They do pay reasonably well and seem to have turnover. Most of the volume of private schools are in the big cities - first Santo Domingo, Santiago and then some on the north coast and Punta Cana area.

Selene glad to see that you have the most important quality to live here....Adaptability.  So very important.

I used to have a saying in the Operating room when things were not what they were supposed to be.  "good surgeons adapt"  The same is true in life.  Especially when things are not as they were supposed to be.

If you are on the north coast let me know

Bob K

Georgeab welcome to the forum.

Yes one can teach here  but jobs are not that bountiful and pay is certainly not what you are used to. Your best bet will be at one of the many private schools in the country.  Do a google search on them and gather information.

Have you been here before?  Life here can be very challenging at times but for many of us certainly worth the challenge.

Bob K

Electricity story......

Yesterday the electricity went out at about 8 am.  I have an inverter and 2 batteries so I was not too worried.  At noon I called Edesur to find out when the electricity would be back.  They told me they were doing "scheduled maintenance" and it would be back at 4pm. 

Ok, so I get really careful of what is turned on and I turn off everything not needed.  Even  power bars use a little bit if they are on and not needed.  So everything not being used was off.

At about 4: 10 the electricity comes on,  and it goes back off about  2 minutes later! What the hell

I wait to 4:30 and call Edesur to be told the electricity was on. NO it isn't i said. She called me a liar!  REALLY!!!!!  I told her to I was not a liar and asked for a supervisor and she "somehow" cut me off.

I called back. And was told we had electricity WELL NO WE DIDN'T.  All the streets around us had electricity but my cul de sac did not.  They finally took a report.  And we waited. I called back a number of times to be told they have technicians on duty 24 hours a day.  BIG FRIGGIN DEAL when would one come HERE?????

Yup, we waited and waited. About 7:15 my inverter and batteries ran out of steam. Now i was  in the dark and no fan like my neighbors.  And I will digress - my poor neighbors -  elderly like maybe  75 or 80 and both with chikungunya outbreak again.... suffering no fan nothing......  they have no inverter.  I felt so bad for them in their beds. And it was still well over  85F here with no breeze.... yikes.

So I call and call and call. Each time a different story.  Finally this morning i get a supervisor on the line, who tells me a technician will come around  11:30 am.  REALLY - after  over 27 hours without electricity they will send someone over!!!!!

And he shows up and in  less then 20 minutes the problem is fixed!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

In case I am not clear I detest Edesur!!!  BUT they are all the same, Edesur, Edeeste, Edenorte.........electrical distributors are horrendous businesses incapable of decent customer service!!!!  HORRIBLE.......

And thanks for letting me VENT......LOL

Glad you are back among the living.

Me, off to see the insurance adjuster about the car. This should be fun.  But probably not as much fun as getting a police report

Bob K

Damn, that does sound like a horror story!!  Sounds like those power outtages take some getting used to, being that they are a way of life there. 

Do they happen on the ENTIRE island? is there a place there that you can reside at where that happens less?

Does this happen every single day or maybe like once a week?

When you live here you ALWAYS want to live in a 24/7 circuit area.  So that is where I live. In theory there should be no scheduled outages, meaning almost everyday the electricity would go out. 

We should only go out for scheduled maintenance and when something breaks.  Here is reality - the country does not produce as much electricity as it uses.  Second it does not collect revenue for all the electricity used.  The last figures I saw showed they only collect a bit over 60 cents on the dollar.  Meaning ----- outages!!!!

When it is worse then normal we get unscheduled outages.   

A circuit A is 24/7
A circuit B  means you get a minimum of 4 hours of outage a day.
A circuit C means you get a minimum of 8 hours of outage a day
And just don't even look at the rest.  There are areas here out 16 or more hours a day.

Yikes..... so its high on the list of consideration when you are renting or buying a place.  Next to consider is your backup system.

For me an inverter and batteries takes care of MOST of the outages.  It is rare we get what just happened!

Good luck Bob, keep us posted!!!!

Oh so that's how it works!  Iinteresting, I never knew it works like that. That there's an A circuit B circuit C circuit & so on. Sounds A circuit is the way 2 go!  And in a 24/7 circuit area the power there should be no outtages (in theory that is) So what that means in reality is that power just doesn't go out as much as in the other areas.

But still the power goes out lol!

Oh so that's how it works!  Iinteresting, I never knew it works like that. That there's an A circuit B circuit C circuit & so on. Sounds A circuit is the way 2 go!  And in a 24/7 circuit area the power there should be no outtages (in theory that is) So what that means in reality is that power just doesn't go out as much as in the other areas.

But still the power goes out lol!

I don't know which circuit I belong to! but last week I did not have energy problem.
2 weeks ago ,the electricity had gone so many times, and for long periods!
The thing that drives me crazy is -I just realized what it is stressing me- the engine noises of motorcycles and big trucks on my street. there is a lot of circulation and they are incredibly noisy. Lol : )

Well, get used to the power outages.
It will not be fixed anytime soon.
Maybe in 4-5 years.
Get an invertor & 4-8 GOOD batteries.
That's my experience anyway.
Solar & batteries are the real answer, it's getting cheaper every month!

Yes noise is another major consideration when deciding where to live.  Before deciding visit several days and times and always on weekends. A nice quiet area can transform on weekends!!

Because i work from home and i am a ligjt sleeper quiet is very important to me.

In Barahona only the centro seems to try to have power available, but all the hotels and restaurants have generators. You can hear them go on when the lights go out. They have said they were going to extend all day power to the rest of the area, but so far there have only been promises. The usual schedule in Palmerito is that it comes on around 7:00 AM and runs until maybe 10, and then comes on again around 8:00 and goes out about 10:30. They installed power meters on houses several years ago, but people broke them and painted them over in some sort of protest.

One or two of the colmados have a generator on until midnight with merengue and a bunch of Presidente Light connoisseurs hanging around them.

yes ! all day long it is bbbbzzzz vrrr hrrrr grrr .oh my god! but after 19:00 oclock it gets calmer.
it is incredibly hard to make phone calls. I live at my office by the way ) I hardly here my own voice hahah
and the Dominican accent is different for me as I do speak Mexican Spanish . imagine!!

Xavier sounds like you are not in a good area! Do you have backup???

Electric problem fixed in 4-5 years.....I want some of what  you are smoking   We have heard that story for the last 10 years.  Not much has changed in that time except for the cost going up.
I will admit we are now on a 24/7 line so we only lose our power  a couple of times a week for 30 min to an hour or so.  What drives me crazy and what will ruin our electronics is that the power goes off then on then off then on sometimes up to 10 times in a very short (couple of minutes) period of time. Talk about surges.
Also at least for Ed NOrte we can tell when we are on generator because the lights are brighter and the fans go faster.  We are lucky with Ed Norte to bet 108 or so rather than true 110.  Generator is pure 110.

Bob K

Update on the car.  So met with the adjuster.  A few back and forth points on what needed to be fixed and I think we have it done.  He says parts should be at the shop by Friday of this week. I am not holding my  breath but hoping they will get here sometime next week.  The shop will need the car for 4-5 days to repair it and we are suppose to get a rental car paid for by the insurance company.  We will see. 
So now we wait and in the mean time my front end is being held together by zip ties and duct tape.  It looks so Dominican.

Bob K

Hahahaha yes you are aplatanado Bob......HAHAHA.

On the subject of power outages, I have visited the country 3 times. 1st in Juan Dolio, 2nd in Santo Domingo and the last in Sosua. I only remember one power outage and that was in Juan Dolio (the first trip), I was in a bank and the lights went out. But that was only for like 10 minutes. Never remember another power outage anytime out of the 3 trips.

How is this explained. Was it because I was in a tourist area maybe, & this is something that happens in local?  Or have I just been lucky.

Depending where you stay you might not even realise there is an outage. For examples most hotels either have  huge generators or their power is supplied by private companies......   

Believe me there are outages all across this country. Sometime and some places seem to be worse then others - like my house this week.....LOL But it is not normal for my neighborhood.

Yea that definately is a HUGE factor to consider when looking for a place to rent at. I need my juice Planner lol!!

I  so understand - so you look for a 24/7 circuit and then you always have a backup!!!!  So an inverter and 2 batteries costs about  US 425 (today)  that will keep a fan, tv, internet and computer going for about  8 to 10 hours! At least mine does.

Id pay $825 lol.      Just to keep my juice going lol

Well that will get you a bigger system with  4 batteries.....LOL