Sunday, September 10, 2006
Good Cop - Bad Cop and Another Church
This weekend, we learned that all the cops here in the DR are rotten. If you get stopped by them, you have to bribe them. If you don't bribe them, they can get very angry, which is a very bad thing. When I hear a siren on the streets, I no longer think, "Oh, justice is being served." Now, I think, "I'm glad I'm not out there." It's a good thing we don't own a car.
Apparently, the salary of a cop here is so low that no one could actually live on it, so to make up for that, the cops take bribes from everyone - the random person or the crime ring-leader. The cops are also known for being super criminals themsleves - car thieves, drug-traffic stuff, etc. So, now I know that I should stay far away from the cops at all costs.
Yesterday (Saturday), we went to the Acropolis, a large fancy mall nearby, and shopped around. It was nice to just do something fairly normal. We also cleaned our entire apartment. The weekends here are great. Perahps it's worth it to work at a disfunctional school in order to live in the Caribbean for the weekends. We've alwyas said that we don't want to be people who live for the weekends, but here, there seems to be no other option.
Next weekend is John's birthday weekend, and we are going to Puerto Plata up north to an all-inclusive resort called Viva Windham Playa Dorada.
Here's a link if you want to read about it:
http://travel.travelocity.com/hotel/HotelDetail.do?propertyId=63312&startIndex=0&showMap=0&sortOrder=ascPOSPicks&sortAlpha=-1&tab=features&SEQ=11579087893818102006&hotelQKey=-6414798595812227199
Anyway, yesterday at the Acropolis, I got John a pair of goggles as an I-love-you present so that he can look for "treasures" in the ocean on our various excursions. Here he is in the goggles. Isn't he handsome?
So - this morning, we went to another church, and it was quite an adventure in more ways than one.
I found this church on the Internet. My parents had recommended that we try to find a Union Church because they have English speaking services throughout the world.
Well, we had to call a cab in order to go this morning. We found information that said the service started at 9, so we called the cab around 8:30. When we got into the cab, we realized that we only had part of the address for the church. We needed the zone of the city where the church is because on any given street, there may be five different number 235's along the way. Miraculously, we drove down the correct street and eventually found the church. Our cab driver was the very first nice cab driver we have met here.
As we walked into the church, we realized that the service was already in full swing. There was a minister in a robe preaching up front, and about twelve or so people in the congregation, sitting in the large and echoey church. Come to find out, the service really started at 8:30 even though all their information says 9. The church building was about 100 years old with wooden pews and an organ (according to the bulletin) that was made in Philidelphia a hundred years ago this month.
We learned fromt he bulletin that two churches share the building: the Union Church and Ephiphany Episcopal Church. Every other Sunday, the service switches to the alternate style - same minister, same congregaion, but two different styles.
The whole service was read out of a little red book with prayers and directions in it. We didn't know what we were doing most of the time, but we just watched everyone else. We certainly felt like outsiders, and at one point, we whispered to each other, "What are we doing here?"
We got to take Communion, but much to our surprise, the "wine" really was wine! We had to go up to the front and recieve the bread and the wine from the minister, but when we got to the little cups, they all seemed to be mostly empty. John thinks he drank a cup that had already been drunk. Oops. Also, whenever we were supposed to be singing a hym, there was only really one lady who sang the hymns. Everyone else, it seems, stared at their hymnals - maybe they were humming. We sang.
I don't think they often have visitors at this church, and now I know why. They broke the number one rule about what NOT to do to visitors: "Please stand up and introduce yourself if you are visiting here today." So, we did. It was somewhat embarrassing. We were the youngest people there except for one family with three kids.
From what we could tell, it was a dying church with only the most faithful (and old) members left. Everyone kind of muttered along with the directions and prayers in the red book, but no one seemed to really believe or care about what they were saying. After the service was over, most of the congregation came over to greet us. We even got invited to the beach next Sunday if we want to come back. Apparently, one older couple goes to the beach directly after church every Sunday. The lady had her suit on under her dress. :)
Of course, everyone said how pleased they were that we came and that they hoped we would come back. When we had greeted and were ready to go, we were planning on calling the nice cab driver who had given us his card, but as we walked out to the curb, he drove right up and took us straight home! We gave him a nice tip and said we would call him when we need a cab. All of the other cab drivers we've used here have been either nondescript or downright unpleasant.
So, miraculously, we went to church and got home today. I don't think Union/Epiphany is the church for us, but we may go back on an alternate week to see what the "other" service is like.
Apparently, the salary of a cop here is so low that no one could actually live on it, so to make up for that, the cops take bribes from everyone - the random person or the crime ring-leader. The cops are also known for being super criminals themsleves - car thieves, drug-traffic stuff, etc. So, now I know that I should stay far away from the cops at all costs.
Yesterday (Saturday), we went to the Acropolis, a large fancy mall nearby, and shopped around. It was nice to just do something fairly normal. We also cleaned our entire apartment. The weekends here are great. Perahps it's worth it to work at a disfunctional school in order to live in the Caribbean for the weekends. We've alwyas said that we don't want to be people who live for the weekends, but here, there seems to be no other option.
Next weekend is John's birthday weekend, and we are going to Puerto Plata up north to an all-inclusive resort called Viva Windham Playa Dorada.
Here's a link if you want to read about it:
http://travel.travelocity.com/hotel/HotelDetail.do?propertyId=63312&startIndex=0&showMap=0&sortOrder=ascPOSPicks&sortAlpha=-1&tab=features&SEQ=11579087893818102006&hotelQKey=-6414798595812227199
Anyway, yesterday at the Acropolis, I got John a pair of goggles as an I-love-you present so that he can look for "treasures" in the ocean on our various excursions. Here he is in the goggles. Isn't he handsome?
So - this morning, we went to another church, and it was quite an adventure in more ways than one.
I found this church on the Internet. My parents had recommended that we try to find a Union Church because they have English speaking services throughout the world.
Well, we had to call a cab in order to go this morning. We found information that said the service started at 9, so we called the cab around 8:30. When we got into the cab, we realized that we only had part of the address for the church. We needed the zone of the city where the church is because on any given street, there may be five different number 235's along the way. Miraculously, we drove down the correct street and eventually found the church. Our cab driver was the very first nice cab driver we have met here.
As we walked into the church, we realized that the service was already in full swing. There was a minister in a robe preaching up front, and about twelve or so people in the congregation, sitting in the large and echoey church. Come to find out, the service really started at 8:30 even though all their information says 9. The church building was about 100 years old with wooden pews and an organ (according to the bulletin) that was made in Philidelphia a hundred years ago this month.
We learned fromt he bulletin that two churches share the building: the Union Church and Ephiphany Episcopal Church. Every other Sunday, the service switches to the alternate style - same minister, same congregaion, but two different styles.
The whole service was read out of a little red book with prayers and directions in it. We didn't know what we were doing most of the time, but we just watched everyone else. We certainly felt like outsiders, and at one point, we whispered to each other, "What are we doing here?"
We got to take Communion, but much to our surprise, the "wine" really was wine! We had to go up to the front and recieve the bread and the wine from the minister, but when we got to the little cups, they all seemed to be mostly empty. John thinks he drank a cup that had already been drunk. Oops. Also, whenever we were supposed to be singing a hym, there was only really one lady who sang the hymns. Everyone else, it seems, stared at their hymnals - maybe they were humming. We sang.
I don't think they often have visitors at this church, and now I know why. They broke the number one rule about what NOT to do to visitors: "Please stand up and introduce yourself if you are visiting here today." So, we did. It was somewhat embarrassing. We were the youngest people there except for one family with three kids.
From what we could tell, it was a dying church with only the most faithful (and old) members left. Everyone kind of muttered along with the directions and prayers in the red book, but no one seemed to really believe or care about what they were saying. After the service was over, most of the congregation came over to greet us. We even got invited to the beach next Sunday if we want to come back. Apparently, one older couple goes to the beach directly after church every Sunday. The lady had her suit on under her dress. :)
Of course, everyone said how pleased they were that we came and that they hoped we would come back. When we had greeted and were ready to go, we were planning on calling the nice cab driver who had given us his card, but as we walked out to the curb, he drove right up and took us straight home! We gave him a nice tip and said we would call him when we need a cab. All of the other cab drivers we've used here have been either nondescript or downright unpleasant.
So, miraculously, we went to church and got home today. I don't think Union/Epiphany is the church for us, but we may go back on an alternate week to see what the "other" service is like.
// posted by The Roths @ 12:52 PM 
