Things are getting settled down. We have been really busy the past while getting our lives all setup. Now we have keys and a place to put them. On the same day two-weeks ago we moved into our new place (owned by some Canadians from Ontario) and purchased a vehicle.
The house is great – three bedrooms, big open kitchen and living room, pool and a one-room guest ‘cabana’ beside the pool. There is also a fully equipped gym – Carmen says we should start selling memberships. The kids spend most of their free time playing on the deck, in the pool or watching TV. Today Cohen was watching Phineas and Ferb in Spanish (even the them song was translated). We went to the beach today for the first time in a couple weeks.
Our vehicle is a 2003 Mitsubishi Montero Sport, which is kind of like a Toyota 4Runner in size. It is a 4x4 but I am not planning on going anywhere that I will need it (however, some people in this hilly town need it to get to their homes – sometimes our flat beach road with its potholes and mud might require it too). Doing anything in a language you don’t speak or read is difficult. Buying a car privately is really difficult. We made it through with a combination of a dictionary, Google Translate, an excellent friend and a patient mechanic. At one point I sat at the mechanic’s house on his computer having a conversation using Google Translate – because my dictionary didn’t include phrases like “tie-rod ends”, “wheel camber” or “door gasket”.
Schedule
Weekdays start at 7 am by getting the boys ready for school. We usually get to the school at 7:45 over the single-lane, bumpy, muddy last half kilometer. The problem with a single lane road is two-way traffic. It is an interesting negotiation between lines of cars as to who goes when and it actually works rather well. Will that road ever widen to fit two lanes? A new house is going up at the mid-way point of the road across from another house. By the placement of the fences there is no possible way this road can widen. There is about a 400m stretch of our beach road that is one lane, too. If anyone ever decides to develop the empty lot in the middle of that stretch there will be almost no way to allow vehicles to pass one another.
Most days Cohen cheerfully hops out and goes into the main schoolyard. Chase still has issues. He acknowledges that he likes school – everyday when we pick him up his day was “great” or “awesome”. He just doesn’t like getting to school. Some days he cries – a couple of days he has melted down.
Cadence, on the other hand, loves her little school. It has toys – lots of girl toys. There are the usual blocks, puzzles and paints but there are also princess dresses, fancy shoes and critters. She loves all the animals. The school has two hamsters, a hermit crab and a jar full of tadpoles; plus all the stray dogs around the school. The other students are girls and I think she is really starting to figure out how to play with people who are not her brothers (which usually involves far less screaming, crying and somebody sitting in time-out, I hope).
Her school starts at 9:30 to 12:00 and that gives Carmen a little time to re-group. The boy’s school ends at 1:30 after which we have lunch.
Dominicans typically have a later lunch (after 1:00 pm) and often don’t work again until 3:00 or 4:00. Some sleep; others just try to keep cool. This means that many businesses (like the grocery store) aren’t open in the afternoon -- which coming from Canada is hard to adjust to. You can’t drop by the supermarket for a couple things because it isn’t open. They do open again in the late afternoon, which is also the best time to be at the beach (best surf, although we have yet to start boogie boarding).
My work day still isn’t regular by any definition. The goal is to get up early, work until lunch then occasionally have some meetings in the late evenings. With our Indian teams 10.5 hrs ahead and the main office 2 hrs behind it should be possible. Currently though I am getting up early, working throughout the day, getting online in the evenings – this is all inter-mingled with errands, interruptions, dips in the pool and in the later evening, mosquito control.
The sun goes down at about 7:00 pm and the mosquitoes start their assault at about 6:45 pm. So every night just around supper-time we are closing up the house to try to keep the blood thirsty CO2 magnets out.
Mosquito Patrol
Right now the mosquitoes are quite a problem. First, there is something about me that mosquito’s love (honestly, what is not to love?). Second, I seem to have passed this gene onto my children – which is unfortunate for them. Third, the concept of “weather stripping” isn’t a strong one here, so although the windows have screens, there is a 2 cm gap above the doors and between some of the windows.
Our first night in the house the kids were eaten alive. Carmen put calamine lotion on Cohen and counted 176 bites. I fogged the house that day with insecticide. The next night was better but there were still new bites. The worst part is if you do keep covered up with a blanket (remember it is still 28 c / feels like 38 c with humidity every night) they bite your face. Poor Cadence looks like she has chicken pox with red welts all over her face and neck.
So, we try to keep the bedroom doors closed during the day to keep them mosquito-free. In the evenings I have a kind of electrified tennis racquet that I carry with me and I swing at anything that flies. I usually patrol the house and bedrooms 3 or 4 times. Our last trip to Santo Domingo we purchased mosquito nets for over the beds. I will be looking for a chemical called Permetherin to soak those nets in which is safe for people, but not safe for insects. The goal is to keep most of them off of us and any that try to get at us through the netting – they will die.
We are also having the property sprayed. Don’t get us wrong, we understood that mosquitoes, spiders and cockroaches were going to be a daily part of life. But when your children are covered in welts … that is a different story.
Back to Canada for a week
I am back in Canada right now to be back in the office and to take care of some last minute things at our house. We packed (most) of our stuff into our basement and will be renting the house for the next year. We don’t plan to be away the whole year, but finding a place to live when we come back is a ‘next year’ problem.
Right now, however, some of the stuff that we didn’t pack needs to be put away – along with some other things like having the carpets shampooed and whole house cleaned.
One of those things that you learn the hard way through experience caused us some grief and travel last week. It all started when we remembered we had some banking related to our mortgage back in Canada. As everything is jointly held the bank requires both of us to be present to sign the mortgage papers. I am back in Canada; Carmen isn’t.
So, the bank indicated that power of attorney is the best way to allow me to sign the documents. In Canada you would have a POA witnessed by a Commissioner of Oaths or have it notarized. Our bank didn’t think it would accept a foreign lawyer’s notary stamp so we were in a pickle – how do you get a signature on a document authenticated in another country?
Had Canada and Dominican Republic both signed the Berne Convention of 1981 it is a relatively easy process. But they didn’t.
I went on the Canadian Embassy in Santo Domingo’s website and saw that the embassy could act as a Commissioner of Oaths and could notarize documents. I called and spoke with someone who said this would be possible. The bank sent me the boilerplate POA that they would accept and I prepared the documents.
The idea was to get up early, drive to Santo Domingo, get the papers signed, do a little shopping and head back. The kids would miss a day of school and we would be cooped up in the car for most the day – but it was either this or Carmen would have to fly home in a couple weeks to sign the documents.
We got up early, but not really early and it took us way to long to get going. We wanted to get to the unfinished highway (which cuts the travel time significantly), rather than taking the twisty, turny, jaw-dropping-scenery, finger-nails-in-the-dashboard mountain road. But to do this we had to get there before the security guard arrives.
Between the security guards at the beginning and the end of this highway, the road is mostly done. It is completely paved while there are a couple places where it has been patched, but there are no lines, lights, reflectors or guard rails. This road goes through the mountains too – but not as high. We know this because on our first trip back from Santo Domingo we came through in the evening after the guard had gone home for the day and we drove around the barrier. It was a huge time-saver and if it had been daylight – the scenery is even more impressive.
Before getting to the highway we needed money and gas. There are three banks in town. Ours is the last one on the way out of town. We stopped at the branch but the automated bank machine was out of service. Rather than driving back I figured we should have enough money to buy some gas, then we could get more money in the Capitol.
We arrived at the new highway but the guard said no, so we turned back around. This added 30 minutes to the trip (but it would have saved 45). We headed back to the old mountain road.
This road is very roller-coaster-like. It has dips, turns, gravity-defying loops and diesel fumes from the rickety cart in front of you (ok, roller-coasters don’t have the diesel fumes). So imagine being on a roller coaster and getting a good whiff of acrid smoke regularly … that is when Chase turned white and said his stomach wasn’t feeling good.
We got off the mountain and on the flat road. That is when Chase threw up. Luckily it was mostly on his clothing and blanket. We stripped him down to his underwear, put the soiled clothes in the back and continued on.
We still had no money and our gas tank wasn’t magically refilling so I took a risk that the airport would have a bank machine. Sure I would pay a couple dollars extra, but that would be one less thing to worry about. We took the 10-minute detour off the highway into the airport. There was a bank machine. WIN! The security guard told me it was recently (days, weeks, months?) installed but never put into operation. FAIL! Back on the road. By this time Chase was feeling much better and was laughing. WIN!
I knew there was a bigger gas station coming up near the top of the capitol highway turn-off and I gambled that they would accept credit cards. They did. I had to prepay for gasoline and when my tank was full they gave me cash back for the overpayment. YAY! Gas and money.
We arrived in Santo Domingo and went to the Embassy offices. On the lower level is a mall, which meant we could get Chase some clothes – because he couldn’t walk around with his big head, toothpick body, milky white skin and red underwear. He was mortified that he had to get out of the car. We put his pukey shorts on him (they weren’t that bad) but he cried because they were damp (and pukey) and he was half-dressed.
We kept telling him that we were going to buy him clean clothes, but he preferred to wail. All the way through the mall he was crying while I am feeling the pressure of wanting to get up stairs before the embassy staff go off to lunch. Eventually we found him a shirt and he felt much better. By this time it was 11:00 am and I had hoped to be at this point of our journey by 9:30 or 10.
We arrived in the Embassy and stated the purpose of our visit. While I was doing that, Carmen and the kids went into the special waiting room. On the left was the waiting room that had Dominicans sitting in chairs, waiting. On the right was the empty place where citizens wait. A very nice, Canadian man stopped to chat with Carmen. He is our Ambassador.
He asked if we had lost our passports – because I guess that is the key reason to visit the Embassy. He said they actually don’t see many Canadians.
I was called back to the main desk to be informed that the consul couldn’t witness Carmen’s signature. They would if it was on some other document, but not on a POA. The said instead I would need to get a Dominican lawyer to notarize the document, then take the document to the Dominican government who would authenticate that the lawyer’s seal was valid, to which the consul would attach her signature.
I explained that I didn’t think this would work because what the bank seemed to really want was a Commissioner of Oaths to actually witness the signature – not authenticate that two other non-Canadians signed the document.
I insisted that their website says they could do this and that it didn’t matter that it was a POA – they weren’t giving legal advice on the POA, just watching my wife sign it. They asked me to wait.
BTW, our bank has a handy POA form on its website for their investment services group. That form allows me to let my representative buy and sell my securities, bonds and other investments. It can be witnessed by anybody. ANYBODY! Yet to borrow money from the bank, the POA needs to be ‘officially’ witnessed. I guess when it’s your money they don’t care if someone fakes the POA, but when its their money …
We waited. Children grew restless, noisy and hungry.
Eventually we got called into a room that reminded me very much like those rooms in prison where visitors meet with inmates. There was a heavy, bullet-proof door that locked behind us; two chairs; a telephone; and a glass window with a secure sliding tray. The consul came in and said that she wouldn’t witness the signature on the document, however she would witness the signature on another document written on Embassy letterhead. This document would be affixed to the POA and a series of official stamps applied to show that the documents were attached and related. We would have to find someone else to witness the POA signature.
Will this work? I will find out later this week at the bank. If it doesn’t work I will be singing a new POA in my name for the bank to witness so Carmen has my POA. If she needs to come back she can take care of this whole thing.
The lesson learned – if you are planning to be out of the country with your spouse for any period of time, do the Power of Attorney documents and leave them in Canada (because they are useless in the other country because Canada didn’t sign that Berne Convention …)
More lessons learned
We got out of the embassy and went across the street to Burger King. Good food; bad food – it didn’t matter because they had a play place. This was exactly what three children stuck in a waiting room (and their parents) needed. The plan was formulated – stop by the “Home Depot” equivalent; then IKEA (the real one) for mosquito nets; then the “COSTCO” equivalent “PRICESmart” for some shredded cheese and other groceries; and then home.
IKEA went really well because our children went into their supervised play place which left Carmen and I alone to talk and browse in peace. It was lovely. PRICESmart was going well too until the rain. It was raining hard. I went to get the car and I was soaked. We had to wait probably 30-minutes to park under the canopy to load the car because trying to do it in the parking lot everything would have been full of water.
The streets were rivers. There are no lane markings when the roads are dry – however a sidewalk on either side defines the road. Where do you drive when you can’t see the sidewalks? Anywhere you want. UGH. So, that was stressful.
We finally get to the main highway that leads out of town and to the airport. It took us an hour-and-a-half to move 5 km. It continued to rain but now it was getting dark. When we finally got onto the highway we realized a couple things:
1. Our headlights suck
2. Our windshield wipers suck
3. There is no lighting on Dominican highways
4. Oncoming traffic is all high-beams
About 10 minutes of this and we both agreed that it wasn’t safe to continue. We were on a divided highway and couldn’t tell where the lanes were. The two-lane highway back to our town would be treacherous. The previous week we were on that highway in the daytime and saw how many cars were in the ditches because of the wet roads. Not worth it.
We had stayed in a hotel near the airport a week prior so we knew that it was clean, relatively inexpensive and would allow 5 people in one room (many won’t). When we arrived, the rate they gave us was double what we paid the week before – but Carmen had booked that room on Expedia.
I pulled out my laptop and since I remembered their wifi username and password from the week before, I used their Internet connection to book a room at half their rate. Crazy. We all went to the little restaurant for something to eat, then up to the room to pass out.
Remember how my schedule is still all over the place – well I had a 6:00 am meeting the next day, which actually worked out great because the hotel had a little business area. Again, I pulled out my trusty laptop to connect with the team in India. All was good.
Later that morning, we got home safely, albeit 14 hours later than we had planned.
The moral of this particular incident is that we were really lucky – our reliance on infrastructure (supermarket hours, convenient bank machine locations, gas stations with credit cards, windshield wipers that work, roads with lines …) in Canada doesn’t transfer elsewhere. Even getting Chase clothes – we have had a similar incident while travelling to Medicine Hat one long weekend where we knew there was a Walmart and a complete wardrobe change for $20 just 30-minutes away.
The night before when I realized we didn’t have a full tank of gas or extra money, I should have gone out and taken care of that. When we travel from now on we need to pack for overnight and figure out where we might stay if we need to. I have heard that the unofficial motto of the Dominican people is “It will all work out” it probably will but the irony is that without all those things we are so used to relying on it will work out much better with some planning.
Comments are welcome. Please subscribe and check back soon because I will be posting some images and videos now that I have better Internet.
