Christmas 2007 Version 1.0
edicion: la republica dominicana

disfurta

December is upon us, i know this because it seems we are busy every night! Concerts, plays, parties, the works - it is great to be so busy, but at times exhausting. Lots has happened since i was here last, most notably a visit from Kristi, Kristen and Geoff that will be documented when i can get to the pics from our time in Cabarete (they're in Cali). We are excited to only have one more week of work before seeing family and hope to see you as well over our break.

This is the best time of year here; weather is gorgeous and not too hot, it is comfortable to go outside to run, walk or even a little ultimate (of course never forget your Cheerios or Wynnee):

"left? right? they work better this way"

Granny and Boppy were here for their annual fall visit and it was truly wonderful to see them, as usual they spoiled us entirely and gave Karli and i twenty-four hours just the two of us.
The jury is still out as to whether or not Ollie realized we were gone.



The slick baby blue shirt in this video was worn by me thirty years ago! Looks good on him doesn't it.

Geoff and Kristen arrived to Cabarete yesterday and the word is that the relaxing has begun. Kristy's plane should be hitting the ground any second now and we will be eating together tonight.

We are truly spoiled.

i am falling behind so some of these may be coming rather quickly, try not to miss any as they are some of my better jobs.

in other news: if you know of a way for me to make money making movies of my son, please let me know - i like it more than working.

I have great photos and clips of pumpkins becoming jack-o-lanterns, Karli's extremely successful Author's Cafe at school and the OPP being...well himself - it would be ignorant however to post these. The Dominican Republic is hurting right now; after a week of natural power the likes of which i have never seen, we hope that all of the island who have suffered such tremendous loss will find a way to persevere and carry on.


this is a better video then i could make with my limited pictures.

Thankfully our house, family and friends are fine but we will be reaching out to try and help those who were not so fortunate.

You had to know i would give you a little sumtin':

you won't believe it but its true, these were all just single takes.



If you didn't watch the video i am not telling you...

-despite the confusion that the video may portray we won't know the sex of number two for another eight weeks.

forgot about this one (taken on a friend's camera last week some time).

happy holidays...

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving, i find myself missing Canada, more this year then i ever remember in any of my previous years abroad. Lots of reasons i am sure. Starting with the family and the friends that we have there and the turning of summer to autumn.

This weekend i went shopping with Oliver, the worst part of living in a country that doesn't have a harvest celebration such as Thanksgiving (October or November) is that ... and i swear this is true - we were listening to Silent Night and other carols while we shopped! Now i am no Grinch, but October 6th?? No lie, the odd house has their lights up and i even heard a firecracker in the distance ensuring that Christmas must be right around the corner.

well this post has been mulling around in my head for a week now but here it goes.

So last weekend we were invited to a child's third birthday party, it is exciting to meet people who live outside of our tight little international teachers world and we gratefully accepted. Then i found out it was at McDonald's. Now i remember with excitement Thursday nights of my childhood, when dad had late office and mom took us to MickeyD's after our piano lessons, those were the good ol'days. However, as i aged and read the likes of Naomi Klein and her like-minded friends i grew to think differently towards everyone's favorite redheaded clown; and the machine that Ronald represents. I don't eat there, and whenever i do i regret it. Then came along the likes of Super Size Me and Fast Food Nation - books and films i love. When i traveled i loved that i could find a McD's anywhere in the world and be guaranteed a free, clean bathroom without having to spend a dime.
All this considered, i wasn't thrilled at the idea of taking Oliver to McDonald's. However my beliefs are my beliefs, he will develop his own in his life. We won't make a habit of going; yet, we already live overseas, without a TV...what can i say, i don't want him to be the weird kid - not for my beliefs anyway.



Seeing the child marketing machine that is McDonald's from another lens was a heck of a trip; but at the end of the day - and i do mean this...you really can't beat their soft ice cream cones:

last weekend was a long one here in the DR so we went to Cabarete. The weather was wonderful, the ocean was super flat and Saturday was windy. We stayed with friends right on the water and enjoyed hanging out, kayaking and relaxing. I really do love it there, even when there isn't wind.
Our days started with a trip to the bakery to get pastries and coffee before coming back for breakfast and then the relaxing began...pausing only to cook and prepare food before the relaxing resumed, la vida buena.
Work is still killing me but it really is amazing how a little time in the sand and on the water can give you the necessary perspective on life.
pics: (left) Aidan introduces the OPP to the wonderful worlds of cars, (above) Ollie discovers that the only thing better then one sun bed is ten sun beds! (below) a long weekend can really wear a guy out.

My Camera is on the fritz...but the real excuse is simply work - it has been killing me! - apologies

Here is a picture of the OPP on his first day of school, yup lots to get you caught up on ...but today i don't have the the time; apologies. Let me just say these few statements:
mom cried more then niño on day one (to be expected), his teachers say he is doing wonderfully, he is learning Spanish, meeting new friends and is so happy to see me when I get him on my lunch it washes away the hesitation that i had.


I am so incredibly behind here i could never get you caught up. Here is July in Cali:


From there we went to Cabarete for three incredible weeks of family, surf, sand and of course wind, we treated our nanny and her son to a couple of days there. Incredible to believe that as someone who has lived their entire life on this island it was her first time to the beach. She doesn't like sun, the ocean or pools and has simply never had the opportunity - it felt good to give her and her son the experience (even though they still think we are weird). It was stark reminder of how lucky we are...

here are some shots:



Our school is doing a celebrity read campaign and our favorite monkey was invited to participate:

well, its official summer is underway, gracias a dios.
I am in the airport returning from a conference in Washington D.C., and thought i would take a minute and write about our summer thus far:
We have all read or heard stories told about incredible feats done under the highest stress; our summer started in such a way. No Karli didn’t lift a car above her head to free a trapped husband underneath (again); but through a whirlwind of indescribable activities and incredible fortune we packed luggage for the three of us for our six weeks off of the island in…seven minutes.
As much time as i am given i will never be able to thank Sr. Sanchez for his help – thank-you.
As an opening omen, i was scared for what this dubious beginning meant for our summer. Thankfully, it has been far different from where it began. Ian and Liz are officially wed; the entire day was incredible, fun and gorgeous – like them. It was outside at a summer camp, really relaxed and as the natural light filtered through the deciduous forest onto them they were married at the head of the campfire. Truly breathtaking – i was lucky they are so relaxed – because the first thing we discovered neglected in the packing mayhem: the shirt I was going to wear to the wedding. The party started right away, the speeches were great and then just as the party was about to kick into high gear…the power went out. Done. Not with this crew; each of Liz’s two younger brothers (both percussion students) picked up drums, the guy behind the small kit on stage followed suit. The forty-five minute drum circle dance that ensued honestly left me speechless and is one of my all-time wedding highlights.
Ian and Liz went honeymooning on Sunday but we stayed on the Huron’s shores to celebrate Fathers’ Day with Boppy, Granny, Jeff, Deb, April and Eric. We were having so much fun we actually stayed until Wednesday. A, E, D & J had the idea and the time off so we got the cousins together and watched them play, laugh and slide for three days – it was really magical. i sailed three times which were my first Canadian kitesurfing experiences – really fun too with a lot of good people. Someone told me last night that kiting is the fastest growing sport in the world right now…I am scared what that will do to the crowds. From there we went back to Brantford and saw some people and were spoiled by Evelyn and her never ending arsenal of sweets and foods. We tried to buy Manu Chao tickets, but the sold out show was demanding a 300% increase on tickets even after the show started. We took what would have been one ticket at those rates and got an incredible dinner before heading back to B-ford. Ian and Liz returned Friday in time for a family celebration, in honor of Grandma’s NINTIETH birthday! She is as young, beautiful and frisky as ever, sometimes Ollie has trouble keeping up to her but he has 88+ years to practice! We played lots of Frisbee golf, swam, went to the sand dunes on Lake Erie, laughed, talked and hung out with Ian and Liz unsure of when our paths would cross next; but looking forward to the day it happens.
Flying to DC for the conference i am currently returning from really cut it to our time in Canada and has made short visits with family and with friends; it has made seeing some of them simply impossible. 2 new children of friends, 1 more arriving in the fall, 2 stags and a wedding all missed
I guess this is the life i have chosen but, sometimes it really sucks.


Returning to Canada i got to see the new Dufferin – now located at Howland and was duly impressed with the neighborhood that Jeff and Greg are calling home. Friday with hopes of beating long weekend cottage bound traffic we left early, finding out quickly that it was a national day of protest for Canada’s indigenous and that traffic would be slow, it was, but the conversation wasn’t and before too long we arrived at Bobby’s Cottage for some hilarious extremity through bocce, croquet, cranium, poker and taco eating. Bobby has the Moosehead belt for this year, but Karli is already practicing. We returned on the 1st in time to see some fireworks and spent Monday golfing and then poolside with family, before beginning to contemplate how we were going to transport our ever expanding bags to San Francisco, thankfully we had more then seven minutes to pack!

no music as i don't have mp3s on this machine, but this video has some great images from our first few weeks of summer:

its June, summer is so close i can taste it. Right now we are experiencing the storm before the calm - we are swamped - this video is horrible and i keep debating whether no post would be better then a bad one...



we are travelling until the 23rd of July and things kick off with Ian's wedding, we hope to see you while we are in North America.

i'm sick, i have a cold. One thing that really isn't great about living in the Caribbean is that whenever you get a cold...it's like having a "summer cold" - i for one HATE summer colds. Karli went away with the girls last weekend leaving Ollie and i to play like kids, we had a blast.


i just saw the type-o, the handle was under his chin, but i didn't save the file to make changes...oh well.

I even managed to win some money hosting a poker night on Saturday before the cold hit Sunday afternoon. One more weekend and then we are homeward bound!

Check out these babes!!hubba hubba

Happy Mothers' Day!
so it may be two weeks later but living away from home does have its advantages...like two mothers' days. To be honest this year Karli actually celebrated Mexican, North American and Dominican - not bad really. As i watch the video from last year it is tough to imagine how far we've come in twelve months - it sure is a great ride though.
This weekend we had a visitor from the past; our school hosted an international school sports tournament and we got to host a great friend from our Ecuador days - Daniel. It meant little sleep and it was so great to see him - especially happy and doing so well. We hadn't seen him since the last time CMS hosted which was two years ago - Karli and i have had quite a few changes since then. So there was lots to catch up on; the stories, laughs and memories never seemed to cease. We were so busy chatting and catching up - including me chastasing him for not bringing any fotos of Venezuela and friends there - that i don't have one foto to prove he was here. It was a great visit Dan! Let's not wait two more years to do it again.
So you thought you escaped with out picture or movie...no such luck. We did head to the beach on Saturday while poor Daniel coached in the sun, it was a new beach for us: Palenque - tranquillo and very Dominican. Great spot with fresh fish and an incredible drive to get to. The OPP loved the dogs, young Dominicans who played so amazingly and gently with him, the sand and the water but the highlight was the float suit i bought for him Saturday morning. RoboCop - look out!



The video and the big picture seem like overkill; eventually i will have to axe one of them, I'd appreaciate any suggestions you have.

Happy Mothers' Day! We are so fortunate to have incredible mother's and grandmother's and are thankful for them everyday. We really missed you this weekend, and hope to see you in a month's time.

T-minus thirty days...
yup its one of my favorite times of year, time for all you non-teachers to begin hating us...again - summer is around the corner. Twice a month you get to laugh at us (PayDay), but this is our time.

Actually the end of the year is always bittersweet for international teachers because it carries with it a set of "see you laters" that are not easy to go through.

This weekend we went to Las Terrenas to celebrate a truly great friendship that has spanned five years, continents and countless adventures more amazing then many ever know. As always lessons were learned, laughs were shared and hugs and smiles were abound; RD we're gonna miss you when your gone.

so with each week that passes, it gets harder and harder to get caught up, yet with time i feel an increased desire to give each wonderful weekend its due.

three weekends ago
sometimes life is about riding things out, i felt horrible that things around me felt a little off-kilter this week - why did it have to be when Boppy and Granny are visiting? It just felt like i had a million things going on in every aspect of my life. A weekend with them at Boca Chica seemed to sort things out and although the mountain at work still lies in front of me, i think i will be able to manage. I really do love the Hamaca at Boca Chica; mom and dad have been there i think five times and whenever they are there, i am - for some stretch of their vacation as well. I am always trying to ensure that Granny and Boppy get some relaxing time to go with their Oliver time to go with their Karli and mark time, and i really think they scored on all levels this trip. After putting down O, i return to the beach to swim with mom and dad on Saturday to see Boppy in a rare state...vegging; book closed, on sun bed staring up at the inPictures can be seen here.



two weekends ago
a long weekend here in the Dominican and we returned to Cabarete: to Nanny's Estates. We were lucky to find a place there when some previous plans fell through, but the vacation was the stuff dreams are made of - well kiter's dreams anyway. I averaged more then five hours of kiting a day in two or three sessions. Did some of the best riding of my life, really charging. The downside was my wife's first use of the term kite widow. Which is undoubtedly not a great thing. Of course she did follow this by signing herself up for a lesson - she's the best.
This was also the first trip in our new car, a 1999 Blazer. She's a dream, comfortable, smooth and powerful. Of course by overheating on the way home it had me missing our 4runner more then ever. I got it back from the shop today, and am confident good times are ahead.

last weekend
Finally after a stretch of six weekends out of the city we stayed in town and it was really nice. Thursday we tried to get to Spiderman3 but the lines were like nothing i have ever seen before. Friday i played nine holes at the niner - the greatest golf course in the world. Saturday was Cinco de Mayo, an ultimate tournament that i organized, by all accounts it was a success. The highlight was Karli playing incredibly and winning the "Dark Horse" award. She came prancing in to the house announcing her award and swearing that she would return to the field, a place i have been trying to get her for three years. Success.

So its lame, its rushed, but it has me somewhat up to date...which is better then where i was yesterday.

back to back?

yup but it is worth it! Look what Karli captured, Ollie with Raymond and Winney



click to see the video

granny and boppy arrived on Friday and the spoiling began immediately...well that is lie actually - it began right after he woke up from his nap. They were on a plane at six in the morning and arrived at our apartment at quarter to two, not bad really, of course i rewarded them by throwing them in the car for a little more then three hours so we could go to Cabarete.

A return to Cabarete and to Nanny Estates, which has to be one of my favorite places in the world. Mom and dad hadn't been there since i lived in Cabarete working at ISS, so they were flabbergasted by the changes that continue to go on (the last affordable nice hotel for families was closed a week ago for ... yup you guessed it, luxury condos). If you can't beat 'em join 'em.

The kiting was beyond epic (video coming soon). Saturday i kited from noon until five thirty, and Sunday i got on the water at eleven and left exhausted at two forty-five. Simply stated this weekend was as good as Cabarete (one of the best places in the world to kite) gets, and with four extra hands and eyes wanting to watch and care for Oliver, i had to take full advantage.





The OPP got his first pair of havianas escalating him to full beach bum status. Daddy is oh so proud. OK so i may have jumped the gun but he'll grow into them.

We ate in, we went to sleep early and the weekend was fantastic.



how you doin?
in a surprise unannounced realease Ollie broke out blue steel at Sunday's breakfast, no one expected to see it until this years baby fashion awards...

last year i had more then three hundred photos from my spring break; this year...thirty one.

wha' happened? Is Las Terrenas somehow less beautiful? Certainly not. Is Oliver getting uncute? not at all, if anything he is more cute then he was a year ago, this teetering around on two feet is really something to behold. Maybe i am just lazy, but anyone who has known me for longer then a year will assuredly tell you that this is not a new trait. I guess, to steal a phrase from my younger and much wiser brother, i was too busy living my life to consider documenting it.

CopOut? perhaps, but that is my story and i am sticking to it.

So i apologize to all of you non-teachers for going on about my week holiday, but you definitely have your time to laugh at me - every payday. We headed back to Las Terrenas arguably the most beautiful place on earth for the better part of the week sharing a house with our friends the Dungans. They have a 3 year old Aidan, and Mia who will turn one tomorrow. Within minutes of our arrival we had created an outdoor play pen which was a huge hit and the relaxation began, our biggest responsibilities were to figure out what we would prepare for dinner each night. Ahhh the good life. Would it be grilled pork tenderloin, or fish bought off of the boat? Life is full of tough decisions like these.
Jeff and i prayed for wind every day but really were only heard once. We had a couple of light days and one shutout but there was one day that was as good as LT gets, with huge fun rollers on the outside for our kiting pleasure. At times (while being shutout) i questioned being a kitesurfer; there i stood on a gorgeous secluded beach, perfect weather ... cursing the fact that there wasn't any wind. One millisecond of sailing erased those thoughts...until the next shutout. There isn't a whole lot to write here; reading, playing, napping, relaxing. It really was wonderful; so wonderful that both couples passed on the opportunity to head into town for a night knowing that the food, ambiance and company we had couldn't be topped. With each day more people arrived at the sleepy little beach town and by Thursday it was booming; luckily we were driving against traffic on our way out of there.
We went to Cabarete where i scored another monster session before retreating to the hills of the Blue Moon for incredible food and ... yup more relaxing. I sat on Cabarete beach enduring another incredibly painful shutout (and yes questioning the whole sport) on Good Friday before spending Saturday and Sunday getting ready for the final push of the '06-'07 school year. Santo Domingo is a wonderful city when so many of the people are out of town, quiet and no traffic!

As for Ollie he spent the week mastering "the walking", it is amazing how few times the kid has actually fallen (touch wood), the unlevel beach is always a challenge.



His mom continues to get more beautiful, which simply doesn't seem possible, but somehow is true.

Granny and Boppy arrive on Friday and the excitement can only be described as electric.

Ben now has a blog of his own!

Giant Steps...

'nuff said

a HUGE welcome to Ollie's two new friends Jack Russell Dilworth (26th) and Benjamin Campbell Bradley (29th). We are really hoping to meet these guys during our time in Canada this summer.

We are off to Las Terrenas for the week early tomorrow morning, so take care and pray for wind.

Well it really can’t be argued that the new focus of the internet and blogs seems to be video. It’s everywhere and why not really? I have been talking a lot about it on my professional blog, but here it explodes into my personal one as well. Why? because i don’t have many stills from this weekend.
Pretty relaxing weekend all in all, starting out with a special Friday afternoon ultimate session that led to some pool time and then an impromptu fiesta at our house; great fun with great people. Saturday was to be my first ever time playing spades, what it ended up being was a confirmation of something that i knew; something that had been looming right in front of me for weeks. Oliver is a little boy. It is great and with each step he is more amazing but the days of bringing him to a party and then setting up his pack-and-play in a spare room are gone. He’s too smart for that, he knows where he is and what he wants which is amazing but at the same time it is another change. Needless to say our spades night was a little shorter then expected, we’ll win next time though (for the record: he was jovial and the life of the party and never complained, he just wasn’t going to sleep). (see the baby in the cupboard video) Sunday was spent lounging before going to help out at the SpringFest activities at the school. It really is quite an event with loud music and more kids on a sugar rush then you will see anywhere outside of Halloween. It is a good event and it earns a bunch of money that is largely spent on tech stuff for the school, so i am in full support! This marks three weeks in a row without wind: yes, i am counting. That said this is the last week before we get to go to Las Terrenas for a week, i think i can i think i can. If it stays windy all week up there this little drought will be well worth it!
The OPP was laughing so hard while waiting for Karli to come down on our way out for the evening. He continued until she arrived and then kept it up long enough for me to go back to the apartment and get the camera to capture it. Good Times.
The OPP hits the big time (err at least YouTube).

We had a really busy week between work and social stuff last week. The highlight was hosting twenty people for a sushi roll. We are admitted sushi addicts, but rolling your own really can’t be beat. In the end there was fifty or more rolls prepared and cut leaving all of us in a complete food coma and despite our best efforts there was still more then we could finish for lunch the next day! I am not kidding; the picture shows one of three tables. This has been an event that we had been trying to get together for months and we hope the next one will be sooner!

Then there was the seventeenth of March. What a great day this is. As Oliver and i went to the orchid festival at the botanical gardens i couldn’t help but reflect at some of the days i have scene: walking in a Galway parade while on rugby tour in highschool, breakfast and lunch at the Toucan before heading to the Wellington for a little Gerry O while at Queen’s, even in Bahrain - St. Paddy’s has always treated me well. A comedic friend of mine here in Santo Domingo was going on the other day about how funny it would be if the world treated all national holidays like we do St. Paddy’s Day; that is pretend we are Irish. It was a great little bit - one that i am sure he will eventually take to a stage somewhere.

This year the wonder of St. Paddy’s continued with the second annual Colmado Crawl. As the colmado (a convenience store, they sell everything including beer and often have a group sitting around chatting and playing dominoes) culture here is incredibly strong friends invented the event last year. It combines a photo scavenger hunt with a crawl – jenius. Oliver somehow made it behind the counter in most of the stops and continues to amaze at how calm he is being passed from stranger to stranger. This year’s shirts simply said, “tiene suerte (got luck)?” below the shamrock emblazoned with the Dominican flag. The pictures were amazing but somehow the ones ending up on this blog all seemed to have one thing (lil'man) in common…it seems to me that the only question that remains is: is it live to ride or ride to live?

update...
I may have jumped the gun on that previous post, we have not purchased the Blazer, i am cherishing every moment in Coach though as i know my time with her is limited.
My Heritage - celebrity look alike - very cool little applet.
See Karli, Oliver, or me.
of coures i am using this in my class, and my students are loving it!

Goodbye hockey hair…
It’s is true, despite Boppy’s insistence that Oliver would be a baby until h e was eighteen months old; his first haircut transformed him instantaneously from a baby into a little boy. Yes, it was necessary and maybe even overdue but it is still a reminder of how incredible (and how fast) each second flying by is.
A windless weekend kept us around the capital; it did bring in some money through a poker game which went out three-hundred fold in the shape of a new car. That’s right we spent another day test driving and think we will purchase our new truck this week. It is a two thousand Blazer and although i have been up late going over all of my hypocrisy surrounding it, that fact is: we simply need the clearance of an SUV here. We still drive less then ten kilometers Monday thru Friday, and our new car (despite its V6) will be an improvement on gas usage and the environment then the our 4 Runner with its four cylinders is now. Have i convinced you? i don’t think i would be typing this if i was a hundred percent convinced…must be the driver that lives within my head. I am going to be so sad to sell our car, i really do love her, but it is time to go. Becoming a father has vaulted the importance of airbags and reliability over the rugged toughness and adventure that “coach” has provided these last two years. Beyond this, we have both accepted new positions at CMS that will keep us here a little longer so a newer vehicle just makes sense. Karli will be the writing specialist for the elementary school and i will be the Academic Technology Director. They are both incredible opportunities for us and we are very thankful.
We will sell her soon and she will continue to enrich someone’s life; hopefully she’ll come to visit. You think i am acting but these tears are real.
A weekend around the house was really nice and relaxing: lots of reading, lots of swimming, lots of playing and just generally kicking back; enjoying being with each other, hope yours was wonderful.