Stepping Out of the Boat

We never thought we would see Ricky Martin in concert. In fact, while we were standing amidst many screaming Dominicans during the song "Living La Vida Loca", John leaned over to me and said something to the effect of, "I used to listen to this song all the time when I was trimming Christmas trees as a summer job the summer after my sophomore year in high school, and I never ever thought I would see this guy in concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic."

I have never been much of a concert goer, unless it's a symphony or jazz or something like that. I don't understand why people pay money to hear some music and then scream at the top of their lungs through the whole thing or sing along so loudly that no one can hear the guy we all paid to hear. Really, that's how the entire concert went. Girls were screaming bloody murder through the whole thing, and when they weren't, the whole crowd was singing along at the top of their lungs. In a country where it is perfectly acceptable to sing loudly along with the music in the grocery store while you shop, it is all the more acceptable to shout along with a famous singer at a concert. In fact, everyone in the stadium knew almost every word to every song, and even with the massive speakers (I'm sure you can imagine), the crowd drowned out Ricky's voice. They sure loved him.

We did have a good time. The lights on the stage were entertaining, and there was some cool dancing. Interestingly enough, the show had an Indian/Hindu theme even though all the songs were in Spanish with a Latin beat. The concert was held in a baseball park, so we had hot dogs, pizza, etc. while we waited for the concert to start. The best part, I thought, came at the end after the concert: a 4th of July quality fireworks display. Spectacular!

Our neighbors, Danielle and Braulio, were kind enough to give us a ride home after the concert since they have a car. The traffic was insane - people driving up on sidewalks and disobeying every traffic light. It took us a while to get home. It was a good time, and now, we can say we've seen Ricky Martin in concert... whatever that amounts to.

ETC.: A few tidbits from life in the DR
We went to see a movie at the Acropolis yesterday. The movie was supposed to start at 2:50, and we arrived a 2:45 because we know from experience that the theater isn't even ready to sell tickets until 5 minutes before the first show starts. Well, this time, they weren't even ready after the show was supposed to start. We were standing in line at an empty ticket booth when 2:50 came and went. The girl whose job it was to sell tickets eventually came to the booth, messed with the computer for a few minutes, and then sold us our tickets. John remarked that there is no way on earth a theater would start the movie when the ticket booth hadn't been opened yet, which made perfect sense to me. We had been looking forward to having popcorn during the movie since movie snacks are much more affordable here, but when we hurried up to the snack counter, the employees were walking around aimlessly behind the counter or counting money in cash registers. There was no popcorn, and no one was even close to making any. The soda machine didn't even have fizz in it yet. We debated for a few minutes on if we should wait or not when we decided to check on our movie. Contrary to common sense, they had started it at 2:50. We had to forgo the much anticipated popcorn and go into the theater. We were just in time to see the commercial right before the movie started about "fresh popcorn" and "cold soda" waiting for you in the lobby... make sure you get some before the movie starts! The irony of the situation was almost overwhelming.

Our neighbor Baulio decided to get his girlfriend, Danielle, and orchid for Valentine's Day. He did all this research on how to care for orchids, etc. and then presented her with one on Valentine's Day. All week, he has been moving it in and out of the sunlight accordingly, watering it, and caring for it particularly well. Danielle thinks this is all great but for one thing: the orchid is fake. It's plastic, and Braulio doesn't seem to know - in fact, he takes great pride in it. She is trying to figure out how to tell him without hurting his feelings... we'll see how this unfolds. It sounds to us like something from a TV sitcom that no one would find believable, but alas, it is happening right here. It's too bad all that care is being wasted on plastic.

On our way home yesterday, we turned on to our street and saw that it was completely blocked off by a gigantic crane. Apparently, when people move in and out of apartments high off the ground, they hire a crane to lift their stuff up to their windows. Some one was moving into the penthouse apartment in the really tall building across the street. They were loading the huge box full - and I mean full- of stuff, hauling it up to the top of the building with the crane, and unloading it all through a window. Once they hit the building with the box. It didn't look like a very safe endeavor. We watched for about 45 minutes from our roof. It's amazing what entertains us.

Phone number change: 1-829-868-2613
To all those who never call us anyway, this is our new phone number. We've had our land line disconnected because we never use it and it was costing too much money. That's our cell phone number if any of you get a hankering to call us.