4H Equipo GIS » Clara

My future has been decided…

4hequipogis — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:43:07 +0000

So today we went to the Melia and attended a couple of Workshops. First we attended an HP workshop on their printers. Who knew that printers could be so interesting? There are such varieties and colors that can be used…Later we went to a workshop on whats new in ArcGIS 9.2 by Ismael Chivite. This was interesting but a little repetitive since I know a little bit about this software. What I was more interested was in his career at ESRI. So afterwards when he was finished presenting I decided to go up and ask him a little more about his job. Liz and I went up and it was very interesting to find out that he only has his bachelors in geography. He has been working with ESRI for only five years. He seems to be scattered in his job…because he doesnt do anything in particular. But he did say that they have internships and that in college I can major in anything from geography to computer science. So it seems that I know what to do know.

==============================

Tan hoy fuimos al Melia y asistimos a un par de Talleres. Primero asistimos a un taller de HP en sus impresoras. ¿Quién sabía que las impresoras podrían ser tan interesantes? Hay tales variedades y colores que pueden ser usados…Más tarde fuimos a un taller en whats nuevo en ArcGIS 9.2 por Ismael Chivite. Este era interesante, pero un poco reiterativo ya que sé un poquito sobre este software. Lo que estuve más interesada, estaba en su carrera en ESRI. Tan después cuando él termino Decidí subir y preguntarle un poco más sobre su trabajo. Liz y yo subimos y era muy interesante averiguar que él sólo tiene su maestrea en la geografía. Él ha estado trabajando con ESRI durante sólo cinco años. Él parece ser dispersado en su trabajo..porque él no hace algo en particular. Pero él dijo que realmente tienen puestos de interno y que en el colegio puedo estudiar en algo de la geografía asta algo ciencias informáticas. Entonces parece que sé que hacer….

Our Presentation / Nuestra Presentation

4hequipogis — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 23:06:40 +0000

Is finally OVER! It went great. Everyone seemed to be very interested in what we were saying and was very focused. I am relieved it is over and happy. It was a great experience and I will always remember it. This has been the largest amount of people I have ever presented. Hopefully this will jumpstart something….Now its time to network and hope someone is impressed. I am really excited! Cant wait until tomorrow!

¡Esta finalmente TERMINADA! Esto fue grande. Cada persona pareció estar muy interesado en lo que decíamos y estaban muy enfocados. Soy aliviada que se a terminado y feliz. Esto era una gran experiencia y siempre la recordaré. Esto ha sido la cantidada más grande de la gente a la que he presentado alguna vez. Espero que esta voluntad empieze algo…. Ahora es tiempo para conectar y esperar que alguien se impresione. ¡Realmente estoy contenta ! ¡Espera hasta mañana!

Mission Impossible: The 13th Floor.

4hequipogis — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:38:56 +0000

As Noel moved overhead of us…pounding rain, and blowing gusts of wind we were stuck inside all day. So as a group we dedcided to go on a mission. We grabbed a camera and left on our mission. Not knowing what to do we decided to go up to the balcony and film the storm, we became journalist. As the elevator took us up onto our destination, we noticed that there was no thirteenth floor. We didnt think much of it and figured that the hotel staff just didnt want anyone to be in there. Since we are teenagers we decided to walk back down this time taking the stairs and hopefully running into the missing floor. Little did we know what we were going to get ourselves into. Slowly climbing down the stairwel we noticed that it was getting particularly dark. We proceeded with caution…As I was climbing down the stairs I heard Liz yell up at me with horror, “Theres NO thirteenth floor!” It took us by suprise. What was happening,did the floor just randomly dissapear? Of course not that was impossible. So we dedcided to find out.

Down in the lobby we were trying to put this thing together. Why was there no thirteenth floor? We watched as mysterious men walked around in the lobby watching everything and everyone as to be hiding somekind of secret from us. We finally built up the courage to ask one of these mysterious men. When we finally did ask him he came up with the weirdest anwere: BAD LUCK. They are supertisious, thirteen is an unlucky number.

And that is how we ended our day….

~clara

The “storm”

4hequipogis — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 01:09:21 +0000

We just lost all POWER! The lights have gone off and the whole hotel is without light. This is probably because of the wind…we can hear the rain pounding our window outside. Its supposed to be to the west of us but what if it had gone over us? That wouldnt have been good..

[um..the laptop is running on battery, just in case you were wondering where i was writing from]

Oh! The lights just came back on…yay! Well this is going to be an interesting night….

Rain, rain, rain…rain

4hequipogis — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:30:22 +0000

Today we woke up to more rain and heavy swells. It is still warm and humid…that I am told will never end. Also, we thought that we were in the midst of a tropical storm – Noel [pronounced Knoll] but according to the news and the internet the storm is well to the west of us and will only leave tons of rain behind it. Today we worked on our presentation all afternoon. We practiced our speech and it seemed to go pretty well. During that time [ when we were working] in the lobby we watched as a huge protest against abortion went by. It was very interesting because U.S protests/rallies there were men, women, children, officers, nuns, teens and all sorts of different people who really felt strongly about this issue. It lasted very long. Another reason on why it was interesting is because it didnt seem to be planned.

After we did alot of practicing and working on our presentation and blogs we decided to go explore some more and have some dinner. Alot of the shops were closed as we walked in a plaza that was supposed to have a market. We were told that they were closed because it was sunday. Something else I found out is that these people like pizza. When we walked through the plaza there were about 6 or 7 pizza places.

We got soaked a little more since it never seemed to stop raining but it is always fun to walk in the rain =) dont you think?

SPANISH VERSION

Hora despertamos a más lluvia e inflamaciones pesadas. Sigue siendo caliente y… esta húmedo me dicen nunca terminaré. También, pensamos que estábamos en el medio de una tormenta tropical – Noel [Knoll pronunciado] pero según las noticias y el Internet la tormenta está bien a al oeste de nosotros y dejará solamente toneladas de lluvia detrás de él. Trabajamos hoy en nuestra presentación toda la tarde. Practicamos nuestro discurso y se parecía ir muy bonito. Durante ese tiempo [cuando trabajábamos] en el pasillo miramos mientras que fue una protesta enorme contra el aborto.Era muy interesante porque las protestas/las reuniones de los E.E.U.U. allí eran hombres, mujeres, niños, oficiales, monjas, adolescencias y todas las clases de diversa gente que realmente que se sentían muy fuertemente sobre esta causa. Duró muy de largo. Otra razón en porqué era interesante es porque no se parecía ser planeada.

Después de practicar y de trabajar en nuestra presentación y blogs decidímos ir explorar mayor y cenar. Muchas de las tiendas fueron cerrados mientras que caminamos en una plaza que fue supuesta para tener un mercado. Nos dijeron que estaban cerradas porque era domingo. Algo más que e descubierto es que esta gente tiene gusto de la pizza. Cuando caminamos a través de la plaza había cerca de 6 o 7 lugares de la pizza.

¿Conseguimos empapamos poco más puesto que nunca se parecía parar la lluvia pero es siempre divertido a caminar en la lluvia =) usted no piensas?

Llegada a Santo Domingo

4hequipogis — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 17:58:48 +0000

Portland, Oregon … una comparación verdadera a Santo Domingo. OKEY, deja empezar del principio. Abandonamos el aeropuerto a las 11h20. Esto fue un vuelo fácil de Portland a Nueva York. Nueva York fue una experiencia interesante. La primera cosa que sentí tan pronto como nos quitamos del avión fue la humedad. ¡Puf! Esto fue … horrible por supuesto la lluvía … sólo hizo las cosas peores. JFK estuvo bien … allí avia un par de aves que casi chocaron directamente en mí [porque ellos volaban dentro]. La cosa mas chistosa pasó después de que estábamos en el avion y listo a marcharnos. ¡Fuimos retrasados aproximadamente una hora o dos par la LLUVIA! Siendo un oregonian verdadero este es realmente divertido sólo a mí =] Un par de horas más tarde [4 para ser exacto] la isla de la República dominicana apareció de las nubes. Esto fueuna vista hermosa.Más… Llegando al aeropuerto pasamos por immigracion. Esto fue interesante fui “un extranjero” actual en un país diferente. Nunca he tenido que pasar por ningun tipo de la inmigración antes. También sólo el hecho que todo estaba en el español me pareció un poco extraño a mí. Yo no se por qué, pero esto me tomó un poquito de tiempo para para golpearme que el español era todo que ellos hablan aquí. Cuando nos fuimos del aeropuerto, fuimos tratados como la gente más importante en el mundo. De la puerta de aeropuerto a la acera donde quisimos agarrar un taxi, había toneladas de personas que rayan los lados como papparazis en un estreno de película. Siendo la persona egoísta soy [guiñe, guiñe] lo amé…

Más… El paseo de taxi. WOW. La vida es diferente. Parece ser que no hay ningunas reglas de tráfico en este país. Sarah seguramente lo describe muy bien en su blog encima. Nuestro taxista condujo en medio de dos veredas para quién sabe cuanto. Mientras todos en casi vacío el tanque de gas.

Más… Nuestro hotel es muy agradable. Aquí esto es un hotel de clase medio, no muy extravegant, pero no una cosa fea. Comparado a hoteles estadounidenses este es un hotel de cuatro estrellas. Tan pronto como me puse nos quitamos del taxi. Se nos acercaron dos muchachos de campana que tomaron nuestro equipaje. Ellos abrieron puertas, elevadores sostenidos no noa dejaron hacer nada por nosotros. El personal entero es muy amistoso. Yo realmente podría acostumbrarme a esto…

Más… Nuestra primera tarde aquí era una experiencia verdadera. Una vez colocado en el cuarto decidimos tomar un paseo a lo largo de la playa. Anduvimos alrededor por la acera [porque tristemente la zona frente a la playa en el lado de Santo Domingo esta muy contaminada] e hizo una pequeña visita turistica. Comenzó a llover un poco entonses nosotros decidimos volver. Liz, Tomas, Gabriel, y Christian no habían llegado aún entonces nosotros decidimos a blog y tomar photos, esperando.

Más… Una vez que ellos llegaron decidimos salir y tener alguna comida. El conductor del taxi nos tomó a un restaurante encantador todo era imponente. El alimento, grande. Después de la comida que los turistas somos [y los americanos locos] decidimos andar atrás al hotel. Estaba lloviendo un poco, pero nosotros no pensamos la mayor parte de ello… nada como Oregon … probablemente sólo nos hizo sentir más en casa que algo. Bien, minutos más tarde comienza a llover, como gotas actuales de la lluvia. Decidimos seguir andando ya que vimos que éstabamos mojados ya y era caliente afuera de todos modos. Poco hizo sabemos que en el tiempo tropical dominicano es muy extraño. La lluvia siguió y esto comenzó a manar. Vertiendo cubos de la lluvia … éstabamos empapados entonces corrimos para tomar la cubierto. Ahora esta vez decidimos dejar a la lluvia reducir la velocidad un poco. En nuestro camino atrás teníamos las mas miradas interesantes de la gente. Era imposible decir que nosotros no eramos turistas.

Más… Finalmente terminamos nuestro día feliz, mojado y cansados. Con muchas grandes memorias en un día.

~clara

Arrival to the Dominican Republic.

4hequipogis — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 17:56:33 +0000

Portland, Oregon…quite a comparison to Santo Domingo. OK, lets start from the beginning. We left the airport at 11:20 pm. It was an easy flight from Portland to New York. New York was an interesting experience. The first thing I felt as soon as we got off the plane was the humidity. Ugh! It was awful…of course it was raining…which just made things worse. JFK was ok…there were a couple of birds that almost smacked right into me [because they were flying inside]. The funniest thing happened after we were on the plane and ready to leave. We got delayed about an hour or two for RAIN! Being a true oregonian this is just really amusing to me = ] A couple of hours later [ 4 to be exact] the island of the Dominican Republic appeared from behind the clouds. It was a beautiful sight. Arriving at the airport we went through all the normal customs stuff. It was interesting being an actual “foreigner” in a different country. I have never had to go through any type of immigration before. Also just the fact that everything was in spanish seemed a little weird to me. I dont know why, but it took a little bit for it to hit me that spanish was all they spoke here. As we walked out of the airport, we were treated like the most important people in the world. From the airport door to the sidewalk where we wanted to grab a taxi, there were tons of people lining the sides like papparazis in a movie premiere. Being the selfish person I am [wink, wink] I loved it…The taxi drive. WOW. Life is different. It seems to be that there are no traffic rules in this country. Sarah certainly describes it very well in her blog above. Our taxi driver drove in the middle of two lanes for who knows how long. While all on a nearly empty tank of gas.Our hotel is very nice. Here it is a middle class hotel, not to extravegant but not a dump. Compared to U.S hotels this is a four star hotel. As soon as I got we got off the taxi we were approached by two bell boys who took our luggage. They opened doors, held elevators an did not let us do anything by ourselves. The whole staff is very friendly. I could really get used to this…Our first evening here was quite an experience. Once settled into the room we decided to take a stroll along the beach. We walked around on the sidewalk [because sadly the beachfront on the santo domingo side is very polluted] and did a little sightseeing. It started to rain a little so we decided to go back. Liz, Tomas, Gabriel, and Christian had not arrived yet so we decided to blog and take pictures while waiting.

Once they arrived we decided to go out and have some dinner. The cab driver took us to a lovely restaurant everything was awesome. The food, great. After dinner being the tourists we are [and the crazy americans] we decided to walk back to the hotel. It was sprinkling a little but we didnt think much of it…cmon nothing like oregon…it probably just made us feel more at home than anything. Well, minutes later it starts raining, like actual drops of rain. We decided to keep walking since we figured we were already wet and it was warm outside anyway. Little did we know that in the Dominican tropical weather is very weird. The rain continued and it started pouring. Pouring buckets of rain…we were soacked so we ran to take cover. Now this time we decided to let the rain slow down a little. On our way back we had the most interesting looks from people. It was impossible to tell that we werent tourists. Finally we ended our day happy, wet and exhaused. With lots of great memories packed into one day.

~clara

Clara, Luis and Sarah arrive in Santo Domingo!!! October 27th

4hequipogis — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:50:54 +0000

Clara, Luis, and Sarah arrived in the Dominican Republic after nearly 18 hours on planes and in airports!

JFK was a wonderful experience with weather delays (rain) and air traffic issues. We left New York exactly two hours late! Luis like the NY to Santo Domingo leg of the journey!

Descending through the clouds into the Santo Domingo area we flew through a thunder storm complete with cloud bursts over the ocean and lightening! Our first view of Santo Domingo was extraordinary! Heavy, dark clouds to the south, and green city to descend into to!

We cleared customs with minor confusion, and giggling. The sleeplessness was starting to hit us all! We found a taxi to the airport without any trouble, however, the driving skills of our driver appear to be questionable. He took his half out of the middle, cutting of another driver at one point, to which the other driver proceeded to pull up along side of the taxi, and welcome us into the country!

We arrived at the V Centenario in Santo Domingo without actually crashing, only running one vehicle off the road, only ignoring one red light, and without running out of gas…..note: the gas light was on the entire trip!

It is warm and raining hard. Buckets and buckets of rain! We walked (because Luis wouldn’t let us nap!) and found the conference hotel, and walked along the sea front.

We are currently waiting for Liz, Thomas, Gabriel, and Christian to arrive. We have dined on Salmon, capers, and onions….and chicken fingers that had a distinct fish flavor…..

After the rest of our group arrives, we plan to go explore the Zona Colonial.