4H Equipo GIS

Well, it finally seems like the storm may have REALLY broken. We actually saw some stars tonight as we were walking back to our favorite outdoor marketplace. We had a difficult time getting everyone out the door of the hotel for this evening’s excursion, but we finally made it. We still missed a lot of the open stores because of our late departure AND because we had to make a little stop by la farmacia. Si, estoy enfermo. My stomach has been a little upset for the last couple of days. May be the milk products – delicious going in – but not settling so well. I took a nap this afternoon and definitely headed for the pharmacy this afternoon. Was thinking maybe TUMS or GAVISCON, but they were around USD20 for a bottle. Ended up with a single serving of Phillips Milk of Magnesia. About USD2. Not completely sure yet if it has helped or not, but I’m hoping for the best. I was going to take my nap today by the pool because it seemed like the sun was going to break through, but due to all the rain, the pool was still closed. The lady in the spa area said that they were going to clean it before re-opening. Anyway, after the pharmacy tonight, we went to the market area and walked by mostly closed stores but we did manage to find the little souvenier shop we had stopped by a few nights earlier. We were better negotiators tonight than before. I think all in all we got some pretty favorable deals. So it’s been decided that I’m a look alike for a Latin singer named Juanez. People look and say, “Coca-cola.” He has apparently done a coke commercial. Well, the kids decided that I needed to learn a Juanez song, so I’m working on La Camisa Negra. Hopefully, I will have it down for the trip to the beach tomorrow. Boca Chica is about 30 miles away. We’re hoping for good weather. But anyway, we found ourselves tonight back outside a location that Sarah swore a couple nights ago was a brothel. But instead, we found it to be one of the kids’ favorite restaurants so far. Kind of a cafe/italian/french/techno place. We had a really good time. I had one of my favorite Italian dishes – Gnocchi. We had a great walk back – the DR finally has their street lights working in Santo Domingo. We got some good pictures. I’m sure they’ll be posted on here or FLICKR. Well, I’ll hopefully get back on here tomorrow, but I need to go to sleep. Hasta manana.

Our presentation was on Wednesday, October 31^st, at 3:30 EST. The kids did absolutely incredible. There was a bit of nervousness but they did great.  We have the video tape, but not the cable to attach it to the computer! So we will have to upload it when we get back.

They DID not get to practice on stage, nor even hook up the equipment before hand! We went down to the Melia (a very short block and a half from where we are) the day before and met with staff. The ballroom was being used for something else (a different conference or meeting) and would not be set up until after 10 o’clock at night! So we peeked in the room, and left.

We arrived for the plenary sessions at just nine am the next morning! BUT there were issues with power (we have an intermittent power outages), some of the computer equipment (for the conference) had not arrived, the registration system was not set up, and it appeared that the equipment for the translations (each person could have an individual ear piece) had not arrived. The flooding has really disrupted travel! (Don’t worry I am checking on the airport today, as well as time it is going to take to get there.)

I have to interject here that Juan Gomez who is coordinating the conference, was absolutely, utterly, fantastic!

So we waited, and the kids found an empty room and practiced! I was so nervous I couldn’t sit still.

It finally started about 10 am! We heard Juan Gomez speak, and then Dr David Macquire from ESRI talked to us about the ESRI’s products. He spoke for two and a half hours, and we had a break and then he spoke for perhaps another hour.

We then ate lunch which was a buffet style catered lunch….FABULOUS …(in fact we didn’t even know we were going to get the lunch until just before…because we hadn’t registered…we didn’t have a ticket…etc)

They were expecting 400 people and in the audience yesterday there were maybe 150. Travel within the DR is limited because there is a lot of flood damage, and many people couldn’t make it!

During the opening presentation Ishmael Chivette (ESRI) worked through some brief overviews with the software….he spoke in Spanish….and he did a great job! Joked as he worked, and presented in a lively manner. We all decided we would take his classes this am….if we could get up!

In the middle of David Macquire’s presentation part of the ceiling fell in on several attendees! (It was not the vent itself, just the very soggggggy roof tiles….probably felt like getting hit with a bowl of oatmeal thrown at you from 40 feet!) Provided quite the entertainment!

The kids got to stand on the stage for the first time at 3:00! (Remember they were to present at 3:30!) We hadn’t had a chance to check to make sure the equipment would connect, or even project….(can u say I was having cardiac arrest…..) although we had asked about the specs of their system the day before….so we knew it should work!

So after eating lunch, we took our equipment, and prepared to present! I was so proud of the kids! Half an hour before the presentation….not knowing whether the equipment would even work or not….just walked it…walked up on stage..(no one else was in the room, except for the people fixing the large hole in the roof) and set up. Plugged everything in, pulled everything up….no issues. (I was so nervous I thought I was going to puke, but they were great! I don’t remember EVER being that nervous…it may have been better had I actually had to get up on stage! Thomas and I had decided that we were not going to present anything….as we wanted it to be entirely the kids presentation….and boy has that worked…but more about that later…!)

The only thing that I had to help with was how to get the laptops to project on the screen…I just had to show them where the fn f7 (on my computer) but I think it was fn f4 on theirs….was to toggle the projection to the screen and then to turn it off again!!!! Oh, and Luis was checking the battery power and noticed it was not charging despite being plugged in…..(more brownie points) so I had to bend the plug a bit to make it a stronger connection with the 1960s power strip…..THAT is it…they did every thing else!!!

They were ready by 3:20…seated on stage…people milling about…and Juan came in to let us know that they were going to wait for a while to start, because the workers hadn’t finished setting up a stand under where the roof had fallen.(During lunch they had shortened the room….by moving the chairs forward, and were placing a display (ESRI) under the spot where the roof had fallen in so that no one would be under it…..the stand was not set up yet)So we waited…the kids on stage, sitting in chairs…some people in the audience….some people milling about! Me fiddling with the camera, and the video cam….

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.

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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….

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.

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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

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! Read the rest of this entry »

We woke early this morning to a bleak day! Guess what? We have rain!

We will be going to the Melia Hotel to attend the plenary sessions of ESRI and to present at 3:30.

We will try to post our presentations, as well as videos of the presentations later today!

  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

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.

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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.

The storm has passed. (More or less….)

My grandma Doris used to look up at the clouds, and see the smallest hint of sunshine, and declare it a sunny day. Well, we are not quite there yet, but there are visible sky breaks through the clouds!

The surf is still pretty choppy and violent, and the wind is blowing, but not strong enough to sweep small children away. (And we have no small children or dogs with us…so we are fine!) It is probably blowing about twenty miles an hour.

We were couped up in the hotel most of yesterday with the shutters pulled across the front doors. They youth did a great job practicing and gernearlly keeping themselves entertained all day long! But by late afternoon, we all were getting twitchy! According to the weather service, the storm had passed, and we were no longer in danger. (The danger in the Dominican Republic now appears to be mudslides in the mountains from the huge amount of rain. We are not close to the mountains!)

Despite warnings, (if we had to go out, it was STRONGLY suggested that we take a taxi) we decided to look for the grocery store on foot! We were looking for general munchies, and a chance to stretch our legs.

After quite the excursion, looking for the back door to the hotel, (it doesn’t exist) we finally just walked out of the parking garage. The grocery store was perhaps three blocks from the hotel, and filled with people.

The air was warm and muggy, and needed latin music and people dancing to make it a perfect tropical evening! We bought supplies for lunches, snack items for working late (like Oreos, Fig Newtons, and Soda) and returned to the hotel with our bounty. We returned to our hotel room, stowed the groceries, and decided we should go out again for dinner.

In the same general area, on of the youth had seen a delicatessen. It was filled with people, and we decided it must be a local hang out! The food was marvelous, and reasonably priced. (Something we do not get at the hotel!!!) Several of our group tried a drink called a batida con leche de lechoza It was delicious! It strongly resembles a smoothy made out of papaya. I think I will have one tonight!

After a long lingering dinner we walked back to the hotel, and Liz made an observation! This was the first night we had returned dry! Despite the hotel being boarded up, and having to enter the hotel throug

We assembled in one of the rooms, and the youth worked on their presentation for nearly four hours.

We practice for the first time in the Melia today!

~Sarah

Monday

Although the weather station channel and NOAA are claiming that the storm has passed us by and is on the way to Haiti, we are still experience torrential rains.

 On the satellite pictures on our weather channel, we appear to be in the eye of the storm….1 pm EST….

 We have been working on our presentations and blogs in the lobby (where we have free wireless) next to huge glass windows. This is the same area that we practiced in yesterday, but today however, there are no clear views of the ocean. The motel has closed shutters on the outside of these plate glass windows.

 These windows are at least fifteen feet tall, and thirty feet wide EACH! The shutters are obviously the modern version of nailing up plywood. We went out (not outside, but to a door that was open with the shutter drawn across the front..) to investigate them. They are made out of heavy metal, hinged like a louvered blind, and double paned….the accordion pleat across the front of the windows on the outside. Although we were standing right behind the shutters with the door open we couldn’t feel much of the 45 mile an hour wind on the other side! We could definitely hear it however!!

 
The Washington County youth were practicing their presentation and I was videotaping when a hotel manager asked us to please move to another area of the hotel.

It appears that the windows are not safe…as we collected our five laptops, three digital cameras, and misc other accoutrements, we noted that they had a manager, and a police officer holding the front doors closed. They were discussing how the board planks that were holding the doors shut (wedged between the door handles) looked as if they were going to break. The glass doors were bowing even with the door handles connected with a piece of wood, and a person holding them shut!

 We are currently practicing in the back of the lobby, quiet jazz playing in the background, and can observe absolutely no signs of the weather outside. No wind noise, no rain….it is however….extremely humid!

 According to NOAA we have seen the worst of the storm, and it has passed us by! Walking to the front of the building, it appears that that is wishful thinking!!!!

 So for now, we sit in the lobby feast on appetizers for lunch, and work on our presentation and blogs! We would love to hear from you with any questions or comments!