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Hola amigos!<br /><br />I’m sitting here at the surf camp wondering if the internet connection will work tonight. We’ll see. And I’m also wondering if the power will go anytime tonight - you never know, but then again it doesn’t really matter… Here nothing really matters, as long as you’re smiling and happy…

Spanish lessons and kiting

Elin Thyr
2006-02-25 13:40:19

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Hola amigos!

I’m sitting here at the surf camp wondering if the internet connection will work tonight. We’ll see. And I’m also wondering if the power will go anytime tonight - you never know, but then again it doesn’t really matter… Here nothing really matters, as long as you’re smiling and happy…

We’ve had our sixth day of school and things are falling more and more into place. I’m understanding a lot - as long as people speak slowly - and I’m beginning to feel the words are coming more and more natural. It’s a great feeling! And school is pretty fun although we’re in a small class room with just a fan and no air conditioning so it gets hot and stuffy quite fast. Especially if you have the class from twelve to three. We’ll probably be moving to a different room with air conditioning next week, but again, you never know. Everything is Dominican time over here. And it doesn’t really matter…

This weekend we were out dancing Friday, Saturday and Sunday and we had such a good time. Lots of salsa, merengue and of course reggaeton. They play “La Gasolina” at least ten times a night… Along with Shakiras “La Tortura”.

And everyone loves dancing so you don’t have to worry about not having a dance partner. More often you have to say no gracias… The only problem is it’s so hot that after just a song you’re glistening of sweat and after three you’re in desperate need for a break. The other day when I was at the beach the breeze no longer felt cool, it felt hot. But apparently it’s unusually hot for this time of the year.

The drinks at the bars along the beach are quite expensive but if you buy them in a local bar - The Blue Bar - on the main road you’ll get a Cuba Libre or Santo Libre (Sprite instead of Coke) for 50 pesos (= between 1 and 2 US dollars) in a huge paper cup which you can take to the other places. And of course there’s more rum than coke or sprite - the rum is produced locally and much cheaper than the soft drinks…

Over all life is pretty easy here. We go to school three or four hours a day and then we have the rest of the day off. Cabarete is immensely popular for mainly windsurfing and kitesurfing, and on a beach close by called Encuentro a lot of people go surfing. On Saturday we’re going surfing and I’m really looking forward to it. The other day I was over at one of the kiting schools that give you the first hour free. So I got to try to fly a kite which looks like the one they use for kitesurfing, except it was much smaller. Easier to manoeuvre. It was a lot of fun but quite difficult to get the hang of. But towards the end I think I had it quite under control, although my instructor had to do a lot of running when I crashed it to the ground… So I’m thinking of taking the course but it’s quite expensive so I’ll see. We’re also planning to go windsurfing next week. If there’s enough wind. Yesterday the wind died at about three in the afternoon and the waves where huge. Apparently it was quite good for surfing. But usually, on a windy day, the water is full of sails and kites.

Other than that not much happens. We hang out at the beach, at Lax - which is a really nice relaxed bar/restaurant/café, at the surf camp and I like taking walks on the beach in the afternoon and runs in the mornings at sunup. It’s nice meeting people - both tourists and locals and people that have come here and stayed for a few years. And we’ve also started to get used to the whistling and shouting of “Hola linda” or “Dale mami” anytime we go anywhere. You just have to accept it as a part of the Latin culture and a compliment. But undoubtedly it is quite unpleasant when ten-year-old boys and seventy-year-old men undress you with their eyes…
OK guys, keep in touch and take care!

Elin