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...