Caribe Tours: The ice age

Caribe Tours is kind of like the GreyHound bus of the Dominican Republic. I take these buses at least once a month, usually to the capital, but they go to and from most major cities.

One thing I want to remind everyone to do though is to bring a winter coat.

No lie, all of the air conditioners in this country must be located on those busses.

On our recent trip to the capital I told Michelle the night before to be sure to pack a coat. In the morning I reminded her to bring a coat. When we walked outside and she was wearing a long sleeve shirt I asked her “Is that your coat?” She said it was. I said she may want a better on. She thought she was fine.

I don’t think I was clear on just how cold these busses get. I forgot my coat once… only once.

On the way back from the capital I had my giant comforter blanket. Right before we boarded I decided to grab that blanket. It was the most comfortable 5 hour trip I’ve ever taken on those buses, and Michelle was sure thankful her feet weren’t freezing for the entire trip.

Fried Chicken!

“Take your time, and don’t crowd the chicken.”

That was the sum total off all the advice the internet gives on making fried chicken.

“Slow and steady is best. Oh, season the flour.”

That was some of the advice my Mom gave me on the subject.

When I was standing in La Sirena (Dominican Wal-Mart) in front of the chicken with Michelle, I had to decide the kind of chicken I was going to use. According to my mom, “Boneless cooks faster, but bone in is more "authentic" and usually it costs less.” It was decided, if I was going to tackle making fried chicken for the first time, I was going to go cheap and authentic. I decided to purchase one whole chicken. Bones in.

Michelle and I brought home our new bird “friend” and set him on the counter. “Okay Amanda.” I repeated to myself. “Take your time, and DON”T crowd the chicken” He was looking pretty crowded in that package, so I jumped right into Googleing how to cut a whole chicken chopping up that bird.

It didn’t take long for me to decide I knew what I was doing. I’ve seen southern women fry chicken before, and I had been reading up on the process all morning. I was stacked full of advice from my mother, and I had a roommate who believed in me.

As I was cutting up this joker I repeated lines from websites I had read all day so as to appear to know what I was talking about. “The breast should pull away from the rib cage pretty easily.” Also, “The joints are easier to cut than the bone, so you should feel for the sweet spot.” I’m sure I sounded like I’d done this a time or two. Maybe that was the point. I had to psyche myself into knowing how to do this.

When the little guy was cut up I set Michelle to making a liquid sauce while I made the batter mixture. It was a simple flour, salt, pepper, and a little bit o’ chicken seasoning, but I was pretty proud to have done it. Michelle whipped up an egg, milk, and hot sauce mix for the liquid part.

Michelle didn’t know how to make fried chicken, and I was only 86% sure I knew how, so the cooking process was a little scary.

Steps to chicken: 

     

    1.     Coat in dry batter

    2.     Let the chicken sit   

    3.     Heat oil. Don’t heat it too hot. Try the bread crumb thing.

    4.     Place a few pieces of chicken in the liquid

    5.     Remember not to crowd the chicken

    6.     Coat the liquid guy in the dry batter again

    7.     Remember to take your time

         8.     Drop the chicken slowly into the pan 

    9.     Remember not to crowd the chicken  

  

    10.  Let the guy cook

    11.  Remember to take your time 

    12.  Consider turning on the show FRIENDS

    13.  Turn on FRIENDS

    14.  Wait a few more minutes 

    15.  Flip the chicken 

    16.  Wait again 

    17.  Find a paper towel

   18.  When the chicken in golden, not burned, and cooked through put in on the towel

 

Now is about the time we realized the chicken might take a while. I think I knew. I was “taking my time” and I didn’t ever “crowd the chicken”.

We finished the meal off with rice and broccoli, neither of which I cooked. Michelle was a great partner in the cooking experience. We both took on foods we hadn’t ever cooked and it turns out we are pretty skilled. The meal was worth the wait, and for me it was nice to spend way less money on this meal than we typically do going down to the local pica pollo joint.

Now, I was thinking about watching FoodInc tonight, but maybe I hold off on that one until a day when I am not cutting up the breast of a bird. 

Me Toca A Mi

I've started doing something very Peace Corps this week; teaching about HIV and AIDS. My track to this topic is through a Dominican and Peace Corps collaborative telenovela that deals with this and other relevant topics. A group of volunteers made this telenovela during their service. They are well made, and the students laugh through the episodes, so that is exciting. I don't want to leave this country having forced children to suffer through something boring I did out of obligation.

I finally feel like I have something to give to this country and it's not even me doing anything, which is actually better. The teacher in the classes I am teaching is a beautiful Haitian man named Wambert. He is a wonderful teacher and he takes initiative with the information. He always adds content to the episodes and gives intelligent opinions about the content... at least I think so, you see, he speaks Haitian Creole and I don't. Most of the students speak spanish, but it's always better for students to speak about hard topics with the adults that are already in their lives and can offer culturally appropriate advice. 

My friend Courtney was visiting and went with me when I did the first class with the second group of students. She probably thinks I don't actually do anything, because really all I did was set up a computer and provide a file, but if all my Peace Corps service turns into is providing content and opportunity because I am a warm body with a Peace Corps I.D. then I am fine with that. 

I am going to take two boys to the capital with me for a sports camp and they only get to go because I am a Peace Corps Volunteer. I haven't spent that much time with them, but whatever... they get to go spend the weekend in the capital playing sports with new people from around the country and I couldn't be happier to be a reason they get to do something like that. 

This is the end of the update. I'm too tired, and Courtney and I need to start the iguana-dragonfly talk again. It's not true, but it is fun to laugh about. 

Sanky Panky

Michelle and I experienced Sanky Panky recently. It was nice to experience the local culture in a new way.

It all started when I was sitting on the beach with a white girl. The electricity was out at our site and the battery in my computer was dead, so we decided to take a walk down to the beach. I had just found myself staring into the sun when a Dominican Police officer came over to remind me of my beauty.

Actually, he came to inform Michelle of her beauty, but these Dominican guys like to impress the friend as well, so I too was given plenty of compliments.

It always starts the same. They have no idea that we are foreigners. They are impressed with our Spanish. They want to know if we have boyfriends.

We girls gave each other some quick eye communication, passing on the information that because it was the middle of the day we were okay with playing along for a little while. We could “flirt”. And by flirt I mean have a normal conversation and practice Spanish while simultaneously giving this guy some hope.

Also, by flirt I mean he flirted with us and I proceeded to tell him that I think all men in this country like to lie and that he probably has a girlfriend in his hometown of “the capital.” I said if not a girlfriend, then a wife, because that happened to me. Hashtag: WorstFakeDateEver

I misunderstood though. Turns out he wants to be Michelle’s boyfriend. Right there, right then. It was love at first “I noticed you have white skin and speak English.”

The police man had a friend who made an appearance a little later. I guess he was for me.  You know, a wing man has to play along right? We decided we could use the Spanish practice and made some small talk. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want to play with these guys emotions… they understood that I didn’t believe a word they were spitting. I told them so in multiple different dialects of Spanglish.

We later decided to meet back up with them at the beach. I had some pressing business to attend to and Michelle had told me she would come. We made for home and met the guys later.

I was with “my guy” while Michelle was over taken by the original instigator. I later found out he was in love. This doesn’t surprise me because the guy I had met a mere 5 hours before told me he was also interested in me being his girlfriend. He said he could tell I was beautiful, smart, and nice. Mind you, he didn’t know my name.

We did have a pleasant conversation. It mostly consisted of me telling him how in America, if a guy wants you to be him “girl” on the first night it usually means something very different from a typical girlfriend-boyfriend relationship. We talked about how he still hadn’t even asked me my name and how I didn’t think it was time for me to meet his family. I told him that this all felt very “Sanky Panky” and that I wasn’t interested in being his “American girlfriend” or even tourist girlfriend. That it would be traditional for us to be friends first, or at least know the other’s name for more than 3 minutes.

You know what the worst part is? I have no idea what normal guys are like now. I am slowly, or maybe rapidly, losing faith in the male gender.

I think I will be fine as long as I remind myself that a lot of things that take place here are cultural. Not all guys in the world want to tell me how “bootiful” I am from across a room having just met me. Not all guys are going to hit on me for 3 hours before they realize they don’t even know my name. Not all guys think they can make the sacrifice of dating any random foreigner if it will get them something later.

It was a fun experience, and I see why a lot of girls date while they are here (hello Spanish practice. Hello doting fella. Hello free moto rides. Hello, some really do fall in love.), but I just would not be able to take anyone seriously.

Don’t worry, I know I’m the sad one. I would probably be a lot happier if I could just give in to the game and go ahead with my future as a Dominican sister-wife. 

Wanderlust

This was a great weekend for me. I was able to show my new roommate some of the more historical parts of this country and visit one of my very good Peace Corps friends who spends his days near the capital.

Playa Grande was really nice. Michelle said she thought it was the most beautiful beach she’s been to. I think we all remember that I don’t appreciate a beach like it should be appreciated. I will admit though that I really liked the beach. It was the first time in a long time that my bathing suit was actually able to feel the water. Really, I’d rather swim in a pool.

It was actually a really nice weekend to show off some of the Peace Corps world. There was a mini-VAC meeting at Playa Grande. Mini-VAC is simply a meeting where volunteers get together to provide feedback to administration about different Peace Corps policies. We also use it as a great excuse to check out different locations in our respective regions. 

Saturday we made an early start to the capital. In the capital I had a few things to pick up with the Peace Corps doctors and I wanted to make it to my friend’s house kind of early. Nothing like maximizing your time on a trip. After a quick trip to the capital, because the bus took 3 hours instead of 5, we made it to my friend’s site and the motoconchos proceeded to double charge me for my moto. I think we have concluded it’s because I brought my white skin with me this time in the form of a friend. It sucks, but it is true. When you look whiter here people charge you more. It’s unfair and it makes me really mad and raises my blood pressure, but I guess they do say life is not fair.

On Sunday we took our time getting to the capital. I made banana pancakes, boiled some water for showers, and we all headed out after my friend came home from work. 

The best part was when my friend and I told Michelle that after she left the country we would still have another year left here. This was her reaction. 

We spent some time walking around the colonial zone. It turns out I actually know a thing or two about this historic area of the country. We went to a few places I had never been before. It was a nice  (read: cool) day, so I was able to leave my hair down all day and not bake under the heat.

 It was also raining a lot, so between sites we usually spent some time huddled under an awning or in an old fort or something. It was nice, because those kind of moments always lead to stories. It was really nice to see my new friend from my site bond with one of my best friends in Peace Corps.

These awesome pictures were worth my 800th trip to this cathedral. It's the oldest one in the Americas "they" say. 

After that it was the super bowl. It was nice to go to an American bar and eat a cheeseburger while we watched the game. We didn’t get the commercials like you all in America, but we did get to see the train wreck up close.

Note the towel we were given as we entered the bar during a downpour. 

The next morning Michelle and I decided not to spend much time in the city. We were ready to get home. It was a long day, and we both wanted our own beds. The trip back took the regular 6 or so hours total and we both spent some time sleeping on the bus. It was nice to see our front door and our own beds when we climbed out of the car Monday night.