slow day yesterday

I didn't do much. I worked most of the day. Cari's mom came for a visit. I helped Joan with his homework as well. At night we stopped by Hotel Casona Dorada to meet one of our clients that arrived yesterday. Joan and I went while Cari stayed home. She is not yet comfortable in leaving the apartment empty after the recent break in. I can't say I blame her. Joan and I had a few frozen lemonades, talked to the client a bit and came home early. Pretty boring for a friday night!

Match Maker, Match Maker. . . . .

I have posted before about our website www.dr-tourist.tv That site is for travel relate video clips of the Dominican Republic. We also have another site online called www.latinadominicana.com That site is an introduction agency. Once my "novia" and I met, she had a bunch of friends that also were interested in meeting "gringos". Many women down here are not very happy with their options with Dominican men etc. They would like to meet men from other countries for friendship, dating or even marriage etc. My buddy and I started that site a long time ago when we were both married to Dominican women. My girlfriend Cari has started to help find more women for the site and I have done a bit more work on promoting it.

We have both decided to step up our efforts a bit and the work has paid off. Over the Christmas holidays we had 2 clients in town to meet and get to know the women. One guy from Long Island wound up getting Married before he left, here is a link to some photos of his wedding at the justice of the peace.

The second guy met one of Cari's friends Lusilda and they hit it off great. They spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New years eve together amongst other dates. We went to Boca Chica beach, a few restaurants and discos together. He has purchased phone cards and calls her all the time. He wants to come back down in March to spend more time with her. Here is a link to their photos

Today another gentleman arrives from South Carolina to meet a dominican woman he has been speaking with by phone etc. They will spend a few days getting to know each other. Hopefully things will work out well for them as well.

Having my laptop stolen will certainly be a speed bump as far as working on our websites. I will need to get a new laptop as soon as I get back to NY. I have a bunch of plans for both sites and also plans for a third site dedicated to selling dominican republic related items such as books, music, calling cards etc etc etc.

I've been robbed!

When I said I was going to try and not be boring, geting robbed was not what I had in mind! Last night after 4 am, we had burglars in the apartment! They came in through the balcony and got my laptop, my Sony DV camera, my cell phone and my credit cards. My girlfriend cari, was asleep in her sons bed when she saw what she thought was me, grabbing my laptop. She asked what I was doing and the guy just grabbed the laptop and walked down the hall and out the door. Right next to the balcony was a nintendo gameboy and a TV and they didn't tough them. It sure sounds like an inside job. The building management has an employee that has dissapeared. He also took off with our rent, has keys to the main building entrance, and new the balcony door was not very secure. Live and learn I guess, and I'm glad nobody wa hurt.

I also went out and shot some video yesterday. I tried shooting some clips to edit together to show some "slices of life" on the www.dr-tourist.tv site. I plan on having one clip called "street corner cuisine" showing all the types of food one can buy on the street hear. Walking just a few blocks, I grabbed clips of the pickup truck that comes every day selling oranges, onions etc, some fruit vendors, guys hacking open cocunuts to sell the milk, a couple selling rice and chicken out the back of a pickup, shaved Ice, sugar cane being chopped up and sold etc etc etc.

I also tried grabbing shots of the infamous "publicos". the preferred mode of "mass transit" for many dominicans. I just missed getting a shot of a guy getting out of a crowded publico with a live chicken. I will edit together a clip of the "publicos" and "gua guas" to put on my site as well.

I have more to shoot. I shot some more this afternoon without leaving our balcony. There was a truck selling chickens. They would wash them, pluck them and butcher them right in front of the customers in the middle of the street etc! That is the first I saw that! My "novia" wanted to buy some. . . .I passed. I am the pickiest eater I know and I am not buyinmg chicken from the back of a pickup truck!

Welcome to my blog.

OK, so I have sort of impulsively decided to do a Blog. Heck until the Iraqi invasion I wasn't even really aware what a blog was! I have been living in Santo Domingo for a little over a year. The experience has definitely been "interesting". I am living like a "local", meaning I am not in some ritzy apartment building, living large, but rather living in a small apartment in an "OK" part of town. My rent is 7,000 pesos per month which is currently less than 200 bucks. I can walk to the "Zona Colonial", which is the oldest city in the New World. I am a few blocks from the Malecon which is the main road, that is right on the Caribbean Sea. There are also some big hotels, casinos, discos and restaurants all within walking distance etc.

I have been working on a couple of websites related to the DR. One of them is basically a place to post video clips related to the Dominican Republic. I havebeen posting some travel related video clips and plan to add clips showing "slices of life". I hope to help people get a "taste" of life in the DR as well as info on traveling here.

I live with my "novia" and her soon to be 8 year old son. Getting used to living in a new country with all the cultural differences can be made altarnatingly easier and more difficult living with others. Some things I take for granted they find very foreign and vice versa. Boring is the last word I would describe the experience and hopefuly it won't make for boring reading! We'll see. . . . .