4H Equipo GIS » Lizbeth

Day 8 (and 9)- Stuck at the Airport

4hequipogis — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 04:22:24 +0000

So I feel I should conclude our one week stay in the Dominican Republic. What should have been only Day 8 became Day 9 as well. It started with our ongoing mission of searching for the lost pair of Thomas’ sunglasses. His “Hollywood” glasses bought early in the week got lost during our banana boat ride and ever since then we had all been searching every store’s sunglasses collection for the “Hollywood” pair. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful…until a couple of hours before our flight was supposed to leave to Miami. Two hours before arriving at the airport, we wanted to make time by going shopping to MegaCentro, Thomas rationalized that this would reduce our waiting time at the airport and would increase the “excitement” were we to arrive while the plane was boarding. So we arrive at the airport ready to be boarded in less than an hour…and then the news comes: our flight had been delayed from 4:35pm to 6:00pm! So much for not waiting at the airport. Well, when we finally have our bags checked, we proceed to find our gate and looking at the departures screen, I notice that the flight had been delayed to 6:30. Resigning ourselves to waiting, we decide to have lunch. Then Thomas goes to check our departure time again, and returns with the news that our flight was now…7:10pm! So much for not waiting.

Well, we finally arrive in Miami at 9:20pm. By then, we had all missed our connections. After waiting for our baggage for a good 15 minutes, there is an announcement saying there were some technical difficulties and our baggage would not be coming our right away. I stood waiting for the bags for the first hour, and then Christian convinced me I should go sit down and wait. At 11pm our bags finally came out. 11pm! Now, we had to wait in line to reschedule our flight and to book hotel rooms, as we were staying the night in Miami. We waited in line for what felt like an hour and then got our new flights and hotel rooms. I would be staying at a nearby hotel while the guys would be staying at another, farther hotel. Before saying goodbye, we had some dinner with our $10 voucher from American Airlines. After waiting another 30 minutes for my shuttle, I finally got to the hotel, watched 10 minutes of Spiderman, then fell asleep. Day 9 involved flying from Miami to Houston, where I finally arrived at my dorm at 12pm and immediately fell asleep.

****

As my last blog for this wonderful trip, I would like to make some final comments:

1) Thanks to all who sponsored this trip, it would not have been possible without you.

2) Thanks to Sarah and Thomas, who make an amazing team as chaperones.

3) Great job to the rest of the group for hard work, wonderful teamwork, and a great presentation.

4) Viva la Republica Dominicana!

Day 7-Anticipating Boca Chica

4hequipogis — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:06:43 +0000

All week we have been anticipating Boca Chica.

With a view of muggy water through our hotel window all week long, we have grown fond of anticipating the clear waters of a place described in paper. A place where the sky is no longer gray and everything is bright from a shining sun. A place where no floods exist. A place unaffected by tropical storm Noel.

****

Arriving at the beach, we were greeted by an unexpected surprise. Dozens of people came up to us asking us if we wanted to buy anything from CD’s, watches, blankets, food, manicures, etc. These were people who made a living off of tourism and because of the storm they had been unemployed for about four days. They were very happy to see tourists.

The water was crystal clear, the sun was shining, and there was a very light breeze. We went on a boat ride while riding on a “banana.” It was super fun, especially getting flipped over.

Day 6- Day of Rest

4hequipogis — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:49:59 +0000

As the name implies, today we took a day of rest. Since members of the group were feeling tired and were getting sick, we thought we needed some rest. Thankfully, I haven’t been getting sick. The rest was well called for and we were all refreshed by the time we were ready to go out.

First we went to a printer presentation, learning about different types of HP printers.

Afterwards, at a social, I had an interesting conversation with a GIS user from the Dominican Republic. He was in charge on inventorying Cacao trees around volcanic areas for the government. He also explained how the Dominican has one of the largest export of chocolate beans to England and other countries who process them and make chocolate. While they export the chocolate beans, less than 10% of Dominicans consume products made from coffee beans, according to this man.

Interestingly, he also said that the last time they had a tropical storm/hurricane was about 10 years ago. Lucky us to have been here when the storm came around. It was pure nature and fascinating to witness. Although I didn’t wish for a storm and the loss of lives is very unfortunate, I have gained awareness for those who have ever been in a storm (worse than this) and for those who live in areas that are not meant to sustain such weather.

Day 5- Presentation Time

4hequipogis — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:30:28 +0000

Well today was presentation day. All of our hours of practicing and rehearsing for this one day. Was I nervous? Only a minute before we actually presented. It was more the anticipation of having to sit through the previous presentations and knowing that we hadn’t actually rehearsed on stage. Once it was our turn to present, I was as ready as I was going to get. When it was over, I was filled with relief. We were partially done with what we came down here to do. I felt better with our presentation when I went to sit down in the audience and a man sitting next to me said, “You guys are doing a great job,” which at the moment, was all I needed to hear.

Day 4- Confusion in the Mall

4hequipogis — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 23:52:34 +0000

For the most part of the morning and evening, we practiced our presentations and helped the North Carolina team translate their presentation. Since our presentations were the next day, we had to go over our presentations a couple of times.

In the middle of the day, we went to MegaCenter, a very large shopping mall. It was so large we lost our way around. It was probably the equivalent of two regular shopping malls. There were so many stores, stairs, and 3 floors that we went in circles various times. The stores were more expensive than stores back home, however, so I didn’t end up buying anything. I did end up doing a lot of math trying to go from pesos to dollars in my head. Also, I couldn’t figure out if Halloween is celebrated here. One person said they DID celebrate it; another person said they only sold Halloween costumes, but they didn’t actually go trick-or-treating. It was pretty much a day filled with mysteries.

****

Por la mayoría de la mañana y la tarde, practicamos nuestra presentación. Como nuestra presentación era el siguiente día, teníamos que practicar varias veces.

Al medio del día, fuimos al MegaCenter, un centro grande de compras. Estaba tan grande que nos perdimos. Era lo equivalente de dos centros de compras regulares. Había muchas tiendas, escalones, y 3 pisos que caminamos en círculos varias veces. Pero las tiendas eran más caras. También tratamos de averiguar si se celebra Halloween o no, pero unos decían que si, y otros decían que no. Era un día lleno de misterios.

-Liz

—->Clara, Liz, and Christian

Day 3- The Search for the Lost Exit

4hequipogis — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:27:50 +0000

After being in the hotel for the most part of the morning and afternoon, we decided it was time to get some fresh air. With the tropical storm STILL 50 feet away from us, the hotel staff strongly discouraged us from going outside, especially from walking outside. We couldn’t use the front doors since those were closed. Being the adventurous rebels that we are, we decided to find our own exit from the hotel and go walking to find the grocery store anyways. This proved to be more difficult than we had imagined. We searched in the lobby, the first floor, the second floor, the parking lot, and through the pool area, but were unsuccessful in finding an alternative exit. Finally, we decided to brave up to the situation and walk out through the parking garage. While only receiving curious glances from the staff members, no one tried to stop us from walking in the tropical storm (the fierce determination on our faces was probably evident). In the end, we managed to find the grocery store without trouble and also managed to arrive at the hotel…DRY, for the first time since arriving. The rest of the evening was spent working on our presentations.

****

Despues de estar en el hotel por la mayor parte de la manana, decidimos salir por un poco de aire fresco. Aunque nos queriamos salir por la puerta de enfrente, esa estaba cerrada. Como la mayoria de los trabajadores nos avisaron que nos quedaramos en el hotel, no quisimos preguntarles por una salida. Siendo rebeldes, decidimos buscar nuestra propia salida. Buscamos en el lobby, el primer y segundo piso, por la picina, y por el garage, pero no encontramos salida. Al final, nomas decidimos usar la salida del garage, aunque no queriamos usarla por miedo de que nos dijieran algo. Resulto que no nos dijieron nada y nomas nos vieron con miradas curiosas. Pudimos encontrar una marketa y regresamos secos al hotel por la primer ves. La resta de la noche trabajamos en nuestra presentacion.

-Liz

—>Picture of Clara and Luis working.

Day 2- Return of the tour guides…

4hequipogis — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 04:20:41 +0000

…that’s right. The day was filled with tour guides in many shapes, colors, and forms. In our attempt to escape the confines of the hotel in the midst of Tropical Rainstorm Noel, we decided to walk through the shops. While walking to our destination, we soon found ourselves accompanied by a local man. What started as a simple conversation soon turned into him leading us to different “popular tourist destinations.” Upon realizing that he was in fact a tour guide, it was too late to tell him “no thanks.” When we decided to eat dinner, we also decided to part ways with our tour guide. Soon after dinner, however, we were quickly accompanied by another man, who also turned out to be a tour guide. While we were more than happy to be led around, we also wanted to explore the city on our own, which put us in a tough position. “To part or not to part with our tour guide” we asked ourselves. The decision was taken out of hands when the rain started pouring down on us once again and we walked back to the hotel in the rain. Once again, we arrived soaking wet to the hotel.

****

For the afternoon, we worked on our presentation. This included editing our PowerPoint and rehearsing it aloud a few times. With the practice we were able to see our weaknesses and establish a plan on what we still needed to work on before the presentation.

—–

Para el dia de hoy, decidimos caminar alrededor de la ciudad. Despues de solo un rato de caminar, nos dimos cuenta que teniamos compania. Era un senor que decidio ser nuestro guia turistico. Aunque estabamos feliz de tener a alguien que nos ayudara, tambien queriamos caminar y explorar la ciudad solos. Cuando empezo a llover, nos separamos de nuestro guia y pudimos caminar al hotel bajo la lluvia. Esto significo que otra vez llegamos mojados al hotel.

****

En la tarde, trabajamos en nuestra presentacion y hicimos unos cambio necesarios. Asi pudimos ver las partes que tenemos que practicar mas y asi mejorar la presentacion para el miercoles.

-Liz

—>Group photo

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….

Day 1- Arriving

4hequipogis — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 06:15:44 +0000

The trip to the Dominican Republic was thankfully very uneventful. Everything went according to plan. At 8:00 pm, Christian, Gabriel, and myself had arrived to the location of the ESRI Latin American & Caribbean User’s Conference. Once we met up with the rest of the group (Sarah, Luis, and Clara), we decided to grab some dinner. Afterwards, since the weather was warm, we chose to walk back to the hotel. Walking back, we were able to admire the beautiful Spanish-style architecture surrounding the pebble-stone driveways(Building). Pretty soon the rain started to pour down on us and we trotted back into the hotel soaking wet, to the dismay of the hotel attendants, who were only able to say, “You are soaking wet.” With this, we concluded the first night of what is to be a very interesting week.

-Liz