12/5/14 Sites on the Road

There is always something interesting to see on the short two kilometer drive from the Guest House to the jobsite ....

A family of 6 - yes SIX ...

Feed for cattle - isn't there some famous blob or something that looks like this?

Driving around here with all of the bumps, manholes, etc - With eggs in the back - you are the man!

Pickups are over-rated...

Off to refill the propane - transported just like the gas company recommends.

Just don't go TOO fast, ok ?

If this truck were only a little wider we could ...

There is the family of 6, but picture was taken due to the "3-wide turning lane" ...

It is actually very refreshing driving here, everyone is respectful and paying attention (for the most part of course!),
no one gets irate, they just deal with what they encounter and move on -
I like this attitude.

12/2/14 Back in Virginia for a bit

Left on the 6:30am Caribe Tours bus from San Juan to the bus terminal in Santo Domingo. My taxi driver Louis met me and we drove to the airport - he noticed my spanish is better! Very Encouraging. I am kind of sad that I will have my car here at the airport when I return and won't need his help - this is perhaps the only good reason to take the Caribe Tours bus!  
Wow, there are so many people in Atlanta's airport! 
Arrived back in Roanoke about 10:30pm. 
Jumped right into a couple of jobs I have scheduled for folks, so readjusting quickly. Very nice to be home with Stacy for a while. She has decorated the house and has too many great treats to eat - I will need to run more with my friend Zachius in the DR!
The drainage project is almost done, the CAT dealer is picking up the backhoe today.
We are waiting on both parties to agree on a final contract between the Dominican organization ACPSI and the Engineer/Contractor. Once this is completed, we will start the main construction project - in early January I hope.
Stay Tuned!  Merry Christmas! 

11/28/14  Flat Tire, Fried Fish, Tarantula, no Internet, Quiet Time

Well, it is a quiet Friday - the team that was here headed for the Capital this morning. So its just me, the dogs, Allison Krauss and Thanksgiving leftovers.   :)


There is always something interesting on the 2km drive to the site!

Have Door, will travel.

  

Thats alot of rice!

Quiet Time
Had a fun Thanksgiving with the girls from Ohio Northern, Dan, Kari, Nicole and Monchy. Dan cooked a great meals followed by two of Kari's desserts - pumpkin cheesecake and an Apple/Pumpkin Crumb thing with cream cheese in it. Very good eating! Even watched Miracle on 34th St after! (no football though).

Tarantula
Quite an event later last night when a HUGE tarantula showed up outside the door into the dining area. After much screaming from the girls I trapped it .. now what? A little different than squishing a small spider - any suggestions? (wish I had one of my pistols!)

Fried Fish
Enjoyed giving a Monchy a ride up to the reservoir yesterday afternoon so he could introduce me to the Fried Fish - very tasty - no stomach issues later! We are learning each others language, so it was fun.

 

no Internet
Gave up on the internet idea for now - thinking of asking Miguel (who I am renting from) if he could do the paperwork - getting too complicated using one of the translators and asking them to put it in their name ... Dan & Kari are nice saying that they like that I have to be here at the Guest House to communicate with the outside world - feeling is mutual!

Flat Tire
Well, we have a flat on the backhoe, but it should be getting repaired as I write. Ended up helping obtain the correct size socket from a tractor repair place with my friend Zachius (day guard/overseer at the project). Fun spanish conversation in transit. We took off the tire and chunked it into the back of a pickup so it could go to the Bomba (pump) and repair shop.

Living Here
So interesting, a fun challenge - everyone is very patient with my Spanish, in stores buying minutes, getting keys copied, buying Christmas lights, at the jobsite, gas station, wherever.  
End my days listening to Richard Rohr - Falling Upward. listening multiple times, also listening to 

11/25/14  Inspection Boxes, Mega-Meeting, Long Waits in the Bank, Internet installation

Construction:
Workers are finishing up the inspection boxes that are every 50 meters along the drainage pipe. Once concrete lids are formed and poured, the North and West Sides will be complete. I hope the backhoe begins work digging the ditch for the East and South Sides, although a surveyor (topographer) is needed to establish proper depths - hopefully he is here tomorrow.
    Frank and I met with Eduard - our Dominican Engineer (General Contractor) yesterday afternoon and night - started at 3pm, finished at 8:40! I have to say, the Dominicans may be late, not show up, etc, but when they do, they are committed! We discussed many aspects of the upcoming project, a very good meeting. (I even served Dominican coffee early on and then we ate dinner at 6:30). I'm not sure many of my American friends would endure such a meeting, I was impressed.

Culture:
Had an interesting time shopping for Christmas Lights - at a sort-of family dollar type store. i did buy some, and an ornament for someone back home.  Of course, while in the store my dirty truck received a carwash - so I had to pay  a guy for that. Not a bad deal really - getting multiple things done!
    Getting a check cashed here is quite an ordeal. It took an hour - which apparently is good. Dan has had to wait 6 hours! Among all the other steps, they call the person who wrote the check, if they don't answer, no luck until they do. Walking out with Dan who has the equivalent of $10,000 US cash with him is a little unnerving - where is my pistol! 

How about this for hacksaw (made from a piece of rebar)  

More Culture:
So one of the translators went with me two Fridays ago and applied for Internet at the home I am renting - in his name of course due to me being a foreigner. We were told they would determine if it can be installed and get back to us - in 1 to 8 days! They actually did get back a week ago Tuesday, and said someone will call after 1pm to do the installation work. Well, I guess they aren't lying, it still is after 1pm a week ago, but still no internet. Neff (translator) did receive a call Monday from the installer saying that he was in the area and would call later in the day to install it .... still nothing - of course. So I am going to start selling "posible' manana" signs like the "hang in there" signs we have ... oh well.

Life:
Hey, so not only did I shop a little, I got a key copied (so I will have two - one for the Straley's when they drive to the airport while I'm gone). Super nice - go to one store, he offers to have a young guy ride with me and take me to the key store (he then walked back while the key was made). The guy at the key store was very helpful as well - these newer car keys have to be programmed to the car - even a 2003 Montero!

Sunday Church:
An energentic experience - It was fun to visit, even had someone say hello, knew my name and purpose here! Picking up a little spanish in the service is nice.
     Nicole and Monchy then took the team that is here to the town center, where Christmas is in bloom!

11/23/14  Sunday - Quiet Day, Jogging, Canal System ...

A smaller size team arrived after managing to get out of Detroit where ice delayed things - no luggage, but they are here.

I took a little run out behind the property this afternoon - when a Guest House is here this will be an amazing place to take a run - just beautiful - Here is a video a little ways out among the (sweet?) potato fields:


Here is an intersection of the canal system. These are throughout this area of the country - very complex system:

11/22/14  A Saturday in the DR

Construction: 
We are close to half way around the property getting the pipe laid and backfilled - good progress. The North Side (adjacent to the main road) is completed and 75% of the West side is completed with the ditch dug the entire distance.  Next week we should get the South and East Sides Run and begin Building the Cleanout/Inspection boxes that are every 50 meters along the pipes.

Looking North on West Side

Looking East at Northwest Corner (near main road)

In the distance - men carrying Pipes across the field

Living Here:
Ran to Elias Pena, the city in the poorest region of the DR, to see the weekly Haitian Market. The DR opens the border for these vendors to sell at this market. It is quite impressive, taking over the streets with endless piles of clothing and almost everything else! Here is a little video. 

Of course I went there due to having the only vehicle here at the Clinic - the trucks are both in the Capital this weekend. This meant going shopping with Nicole, Laura and Kari - two of which were looking for wedding stuff! Fun trip - they know their markets! 


Kari and I visited the small Christian school that is right in the heart of Elias Pina, it is super-sparse. Kari explained their situation on a video I hope to add.

 Additional info - SRI gave them a laptop which upon the next visit was just being used as a paperweight. Two tower computers turn on, that's all. The principal knows computer knowledge is important for the children, but how to use the computers is not known! A baseball player donated the wall fans in the classrooms.

11/20/14: French Drain Project - Moving Along

 Construction
I am happy to report that things are moving along well.

• The "drilling team" completed 30 pipes yesterday, that is quite an improvement from the 11 completed the first day  - a productivity curve at its finest!
• About 80% of the ditch on the North (main road) side of the property is dug and today the pipe should be installed in it and covered with gravel. 

So a big Shout-Out to Tim Bibee who provided two drills that have been the stalwarts getting the drilling completed!

Clinic Design

 We have made a small addition to the clinic with the addition of a parking area and entry door for the ambulance. This will be a 10m deep x 7m wide roof at the side of the emergency room section with the door on the side of the building leading directly into to heart of the ER. With Mike's suggestion and Dr Canario's approval, this will be a great way to keep the vehicle out of the weather, have the ambulance parted in a visible area, and allow paramedics to take patients directly into the ER area.

 - I hear Bob in my head saying something about additional costs .... oh well. :)

Culture

Feeling comfortable with getting around, talking with people, etc. Far from full discussions with folks in spanish but attempting and getting nice support whether it is the girl at the phone store, the owner of the hardware store, etc. Eduard (our Engineer/Contractor) keeps stressing that he wants me to only speak spanish to him - he is kind of working on his english with me. Delsa, our resident engineer (a required position in the DR on projects) is Eduard's niece and at 29 has a civil engineering degree and is fairly good with her english. It will be nice to have her onsite to more easily communicate - but we are both attempting the others' language to improve our communication. 

Daily Stuff

How about this! It is the greatest Mosquito Racket you could ever want! ZAPS the begeebers out of them!! This is standard fare apparently for homeowners here. - Thanks Miguel for leaving it!

How about this beauty!

This is my Ride we purchased last Friday, a 2003 Montero. Don't believe the 104,000 miles! Originally purchased in VA Beach! I think Hail damage sent it here. Runs well, really nice inside. We shall see!!  The first non-pickup around here at the clinic. It was 1/3 the price of a pickup - easy choice!

Oh - the price you wonder .... $6,600!

It will never be this clean again ....

  

11/18/14 Groundbreaking Day!

Wow, it happened today. A dream that has been floating around for over 10 years became a reality today.  I am worn out! I want to share my discussions with Dr. Dillar and will at some point. For now, here is a little video to quickly see a peek into the day:
A quick peek at the ceremony

Buenas Noches!!

11/17/14  We have a backhoe on the Property!

The CAT dealer delivered a backhoe and generator to us this morning from Santo Domingo - this is something they are doing at no charge. They asked not to publicize their generosity, but I think it is safe to do so in a blog! The are super supportive of our project and every time I have talked with my contact he expresses their excitement to be helping us by donating their equipment. 
   When we met at the CAT dealer in July in Santo Domingo, I found myself in this moment of awareness - realizing here I am - me, a guy from Virginia, sitting in a conference room with 5 Dominicans and fellow Solid Rock representatives, at the Caterpillar Dealer in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, discussing the possibility of them helping us with the clinic project      - who would have thought this is where I would be, how did I get here, this is just amazing! 
   I have found myself in these "aware" moments often these past few years as my life has taken this awesome twist. I am excited for more to come!

Back to the day in summary -
* Alot of excitement today as the small surgical team that is here got rolling seeing patients and the ground-breaking group spent the day visiting the CCED school, toured the clinic and went to El Circado. 

* Visiting with these long-term Solid Rock people is so neat, I will post another day about a discussion with Dr Dillard - a fascinating man.

* The workers stepped up production today due to having the CAT generator, it allowed more drills to be operating at one time. I will see in the morning exactly what they got done.

* We had a good meeting with a lawyer here who will be helping write the contract with the engineer - our last hurdle. Interesting to see how a legal document brings out the differences in our cultures. We are a very "detailed" society compared to the Dominicans! This is understandable in our society, but maybe not the best either. I think with the help of my friend Frank (a Dominican), we will get things worked out to everyone's satisfaction. Frank is a great co-worker on this project, I don't know how we would pull this off without him. He is Dominican but has lived the past 5+ years or so in Pennsylvania and is now a US Citizen, so he understands both cultures and is very good at melding them together. This melding is, what I have recently decided, probably the biggest challenge as I try and fold the two cultures together and communicate the progress of this project. 

11/16/14 5pm   Sunday in the DR

Last night was a quiet night! Wow, a little rain and the quiet is deafening! Riding mopeds and partying outside just don't happen in the rain, or at least near my little house!

Today has been fun and is a special day - a group of about 25 folks that wanted to be here for the ground-breaking ceremony arrived from Santo Domingo at lunchtime. Many of these people were involved in the original clinic or have invested a large part of their lives, free time, and funds here in San Juan de La Maguana.  Rod and Sandy are both here - they were the hosts at the guest house for 5 years in the early 2000's and were here when Philip and I first visited. Dr Dillard was here with Dr Canario when the vision and reality of the first clinic came to pass in the late 80's. He is over 85 years old and is very excited to be here. Two of Jim and Doreen Smith's children are here to represent the Smith family - Jim was the missionary that made the existing clinic a reality.  This November Solid Rock celebrates the 25th anniversary of the clinic opening - pretty neat that 25 years to-the-month later we are here to celebrate the ground-breaking of this new facility that will offer many more services, help more of the poorest of the poor and be located away from the chance of flooding. I am so excited that we have a videographer here to capture memories thru video interviews with these folks - will be some pretty cool stuff!  If 60 minutes knew some of the history here, it would be a feel-good story for sure!

We will eat and then attend a church service this evening.

As far as my part in things -

* There are now 11 pipes drilled, so only 114 to go!! The crew will be back tomorrow to continue this process, and I think the productivity might improve somewhat. A larger generator will be here Tuesday which will provide power to more power drills to speed this process. Right now we only have a small generator that can power just two larger drills continuously.

* Excited that our Caterpillar backhoe and generator should be arriving, I hope it arrives tomorrow so that it is on-site for the ground-breaking ceremony.

* After seeing that the workers were good-to-go with everything they need, I took a crazy trip yesterday afternoon down to beach south of  Barahona, about a 2-1/2 hour trip each way.  I did this last minute trip (starting at 2:30 in the afternoon) so I could put my "new" vehicle to the test. Of course, at about 8pm last night on a very deserted mountainous and dark road it occurred to me that this might not have been the smartest thing I've done - but no problems. The beach was beautiful - rocky, but beautiful. The rocks are white smooth stones - very pretty. The landscape was spectacular with mountains diving right into the water along the shore - making the road design also interesting!

* Rosetta Stone and I are getting pretty tight with one another! Everyone is very patient with my spanish, but I gotta be able to communicate better!  

Buenas Noches Amigos!!

Surrounded by H2O - a Post by Stacy

Well, three days ago Ken left for a three week stay in the D.R. for the beginning stages of an up to three year project – overseeing the Construction of a New Clinic. He has been so excited about this opportunity and it is finally here! And wouldn’t you know that the first step involves water. Unloading  and drilling  holes in pipes that will drain the water off and away from the property. Ken and I have had those talks about where do you want to retire or wouldn’t it be fun to have a place on the lake. I figured we would end up on or near water some day since we both grew up around water. I grew up around fresh water, Lake Norman just north of Charlotte, N.C.  I have wonderful memories of meeting at the Cabin for family get-togethers. Ken grew up around salt water, Coconut Grove in Miami Fla. He has wonderful boating, fishing and snorkeling memories. I have to say, I never thought about living on an island! The D.R. is 1,389 miles from Virginia as a bird flies over the Atlantic – that’s a lot of water!

Fun to see someone filled with a passion for something.

Stacy  11/15/14

Commence Drilling!

11/15/14
We are off - on a Saturday no less!

Video of Drilling the Pipes and a quick look at the site ...

Yes, that 50' container is FULL of these 12" diameter pvc pipes.
What are we doing?
These pipes will drain water off and away from the property, running along the entire perimeter of the property - approximately 2,400 feet. This "French Drain" system uses these 12" diameter pipes that are buried in a gravel trench approximately 2' deep and 2' wide. They will follow the slope of the land and carry the water to the lowest point - the back corner.
  Perforated Pipe this size is not available here in the Dominican Republic, so we are drilling these 3/8" diameter holes every 2-1/2" on the top half of the pipe - its a lot of holes!!
  The source of water we are battling comes from two sources: Adjacent Rice Fields and an old Concrete Canal System that delivers irrigation water to these and other fields. These concrete canals leak and sometimes overflow, so this French Drain will be our defense to keep the water out.
  Without this system in place, the existing land is approximately 30% water-saturated, and even keeps a large lagoon filled.

11/14/14     Hitting the ground running

Well, all the pipe showed up by the end of the day yesterday and luckly Jeff and I didn't need to unload and stack!  

A Great day today:

* Transportation: purchased a truck this am, a 2003 Montero - not quite a pickup but much more affordable and keeps me from gopher mode (we will see about that). Originally purchased in Virginia Beach (has some hail damage so it must have been considered totaled). I am mobile.
* Communication: 
- Had a great meeting with Eduard out at the land this afternoon reviewing the drainage project. I think Frank, Eduard and I will work well together.
- Good discussions with Joe about the project, the culture and more.
* Progress: All the pipe is at the site, the plan is in place and workers will start drilling holes in the pipes tomorrow (Saturday)!  Took some scrambling getting the small generator from the Guest House ready to go, finding drill bits at the store, cords, etc.  Using that "pickup truck" for hauling already!
* Cultural Fun Fact: If you walk up to a crowd of people, you make it a point to say hello to everyone in that group - very nice.
* Realities: 
- A tire going flat 2 hours after driving it off the lot - Frank says these are pretty common here. 
- Took to a tire shop that repaired it for RD$100 (thats $2.30 for you US citizens to repair a tire!)
* Living: 
- Surrounded by just cool people, I am very lucky (that would be "blessed" - ain't no such thing as luck)
- Supported by the coolest spouse.
- Supported by cool friends.
 - Thanks.

11/13/14  First day in San Juan

I write this sitting on a bed with a mosquito net over it, a cool breeze is coming in thru the window and all in all it is very quiet outside. The windows have no screens to keep bugs out, just iron bars to keep people out. I don't think cat-size creatures will come in ...?  There was a cool lizard on the outside of the glass - these are sliding glass windows, so they can be closed! No air conditioning or hot water - a cool shower actually feels good before bedtime.

A busy day today after arriving here at the house late last night and getting a little settled in here. Ran over to the guest house to return the truck I used, started to grab some breakfast and Jeff called saying the pipes for the drainage project were on a truck that was waiting to deliver this morning because they have to unload and drive back to Santo Domingo (3 hours each way) and get more pipe. Who has the key for the container that is on the property and other immediate questions suddenly appeared. It worked out - after using a rock to hammer the key into the old lock - we unloaded 35 12' x 20' pipes into the container.

Jeff then helped me go in search of wi-fi service with the help of Neff, one of the translators. We visited the two competing stores and due to DR laws, Neff personally has now signed up for potential wi-fi service at the house I am living in - with the firm commitment of confirmation that the service is even available in the next 1 to 8 days (so appreciate cox cable's 2 hour window!).

We shall see. Luckly, when I am at the guest house there is good wi-fi service there to catch up on things.

At 3:30 Frank, Jeff, Monchy (the SRI bus driver) went truck shopping. Frank and I both need vehicles. After seeing 2008 standard (smaller than our USA size trucks) priced $20,000 and more, I think I've opted for the $6,400 2003 Montero - pickup beds are over-rated, right! Hopefully we can pull the trigger tomorrow and I can be mobile.  

Interesting cultural things - Nichole patiently waiting 3 hours for a pastor-friend to show up and drive her to the Haitian border to get her passport re-stamped before her weeding next month - allowing travel and less harassment. Her lawyer forgetting she had already sent 2 copies of the needed paperwork to him while he was an hour late meeting her fiance' hoping to get them finalized before the wedding. 

- It has occurred to me in the last couple of weeks that this position I am serving with this project will be a challenge - this culture is just different, not bad, just different. Relationships between people is very important, more important than laws or even something like being prompt when meeting - a concept that we consider an important ingredient in relationships. 

A friend of mine noted that when he visited a country in Africa he was amazed at the number of incomplete homes - he was told the culture is such that when you can afford to build you do so, and when you cannot, the project sits idle. This is also the case here in the DR. 

I believe there is less anxiety and stress in this culture - very different than ours. They put less stress on expectations from one another and seem to be fairly intent on leaving relations in a positive light. Debate over this is worthy, expectations perhaps are needed. Just observing - I am sure my thoughts on this will change over time as I get more involved in the culture.

Well, to sleep I go with the thoughts of purchasing a -hopefully - reliable vehicle and discussing some questions with our Dominican Engineer - a good way to jump into the culture further and hopefully grow my relationship with him. I am very glad to have Frank, our Dominican financial manager, her to help both my relationships and more importantly use his ability to connect the two cultures. The image of needing to wire two devices with different connectors and numbers of wires is swimming in my head...