Our Surprisingly Comfortable Suzuki

This morning we were about to take off in our awesome Suzuki Baleno for work when I opened the door and saw that the driver's seat was fully reclined. The Suzuki looks something like this picture, just imagine it with more scrapes, a cracked windshield, missing lights, no hubcaps, etc.

Anyways, we finally figured out that because we don't lock our beautiful Baleno's doors every night, a homeless person had slept in the driver's seat the night before. "Why don't you lock your doors?" you may ask. Well my friends that is a good question, and a relevant one considering the circumstances.

We don't lock our doors because we could never get back into the car if we did so. The driver's side lock has part of a key broken off inside of it, the result of an attempt to open the lock with an incorrect key. The passenger side has a lock, but the key we have to the car doesn't unlock that door. Neither of the back doors has a lock, in fact one of them has the tip of a hanger instead of a lock.

I'm thinking of leaving the homeless guy a note for next time he sleeps in our car (like tonight). It might say "Que te descansas, mi amigo" (rough translation of "here's to you having a good rest, my friend). Then I thought that he might like some food or something like cookies to welcome him into our Baleno. Maybe some milk and cookies. Like Santa Claus, but homeless. A homeless, Puerto Rican, Santa Claus who sleeps in my Baleno. Maybe resembling something like this guy...

Supplementing the Volunteer Stipend

Last night we went to Hotel Conrad in Condado to watch the Bears-Falcons Sunday Night Football game. Yes, the same place we went when that Skater dude bought us a $216 bottle of champagne for no reason. Well I guess it was for a reason, albeit purely an emotional, non rational one.

This time, we sat down next to an American looking dude wearing a Red Sox backwards hat. You can spot fellow gringos down here from a mile away. This young man, Jeff, was no exception. Things that clued me in that he was an American and not a light skinned Puerto Rican: lack of a rat tail, public support of any other MLB team than the NY Yankees, he was wearing shorts, flirting with the bartender openly (with little success but I'll hand it to him for giving it a shot), and the hotel bar's TV remote was directly in front of him (true American, taking over the TV controller to make sure he didn't miss any possible sporting events).

Turns out this guy (Jeff) and Dan (Danimal) had worked together at AT&T a few years ago, greeting people and showing customers the iPhone when it came out. Apparently Dan's title at the store was "Product Pro," which is hilarious enough in itself. Also, apparently Dan used to be super-skinny back in his AT&T days. Jeff called 2 people from their old store and his conversations with them were strikingly similar.

"Jeff: Dude, I'm on vacation in San Juan right? Guess who's sitting next to me right now at this bar? This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of, I've never even heard of such nonsense. Yeah, it's Dan from Lehigh! ....pause....Yeah dude, the skinny kid, yeah!"

Jeff had come down on a "buy 2 nights, get 3 free" deal from this hotel for $450 including airfare, which btw is an unbelievable deal if anyone is looking for a little time in the sun. Anyways, we got to talking about how he's made up that money (plus another $600) at the craps table over the past 3 nights.

Less than 10 minutes after that, Dan and I were on Jeff's hip pocket at the craps table in the hotel. Best casino game ever. I've been trying to learn for awhile now, and I finally have enough know-how to stand there and play, a huge accomplishment in my mind haha.

I cashed in with $20 and came out with $32. The way I look at it, $12 buys me two meals. Bingo, bango, bongo!

Weather Tips?

Why do these kinds of pages pop up when you type in "San Juan, Puerto Rico" on weather.com

http://www.weather.com/activities/driving/drivingsafety/drivingsafetytips/aggressive.html?from=36hr_fcst_driving_trigger

Things that make you go hmmmmm.

And I thought I was done with school...

Check Out Dan's Blog Post

Maybe that link is representative of a sort of cop-out effort at a blog post, but Dan's pictures are pretty much the same as mine and he does a good job of summing up our day at the school on Tuesday.

Below is a video I took that includes Dan acting like a pirate in order to illustrate a story to the kids...complete with an eye patch, parrot on his shoulder, peg leg, etc.

As you can probably tell the sugar from the kids' early morning snack is hard at work and they can barely contain their excitement.

You Learn Something New Every Day

After working on Centro Buen Pastor's forest trails for the future guided tours, a man by the name of Julio Cesar showed us the correct way to cut open a coconut with a machete and drink the juice inside. Yes, Julio Cesar is his real name...and yes, he is pretty handy with a machete.

After introducing himself to me for the first time he followed with, "I know, it's a big name for a little guy." Similar line to my friend Faustin, from Notre Dame: "It's like Austin, with an F at the beginning." Or to my buddy JP from Charleston: "JP, as in just playin." Whatever does the job for meeting new people I guess.

Anyways, we filled up on the coconut juice after working for awhile. I'm not usually a fan of the jugo de coco, but for some reason it tasted especially scrumtrulescent this afternoon.

Swedish fish are my anti-drug. Thank you Renee/Ashley for including those in the care package. I wonder why they're Swedish fish though, and not Finnish fish or German fish or even American fish....anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Weird caption but whatevs.

Dengue Fever: Ever Heard of It?

This is what it looks like when you get dengue fever (a tropical viral disease transmitted through mosquito bites). At the time, Jon was in an internal medicine waiting room filled with other people who seemed to think Jon was the main act in a Ringling Brothers production. To avoid the stares and awkward, under-the-breath comments, Jon employed the use of a hoodie while Marechy (a huge help in the dengue fever fiasco) tried to avoid the camera. Soon thereafter, Jon's condition became the main topic of conversation in the waiting room, as other dengue fever victims shared their personal struggles and stories of triumph over dengue.

Now I can safely say that myself and the other volunteers have become all too familiar with its background, symptoms, and treatment methods (or lack thereof). Maybe a mosquito net isn't too bad of an investment after all.

Life in the San Juan Metropolitan Area

"Why use the traditional amplifier and sub woofer approach to blasting loud music in public when a multiple megaphone set mounted on top of my car/SUV will do the job?" -Puerto Rican people who play loud music (mostly reggaeton) outside of my apartment 24/7

Get one for your car in the states!

These can also be used for selling plantains out of the back of your pickup.

"She's My Little Whiskey Girl"

Today when Dan and I were chopping down overgrown trees and bushes at Buen Pastor, we were offered a whiskey drink of our choice by an elderly Salesian Missionary Sister. It was 10 AM.

Inappropriate post title?

Sideways Elevators

See how amazing Puerto Rico is-their elevators even have the option to go sideways!

Powerful ND Video about Haiti Program

My Trusty, Old Dell Laptop

This morning I spilt a delicious concoction of OJ-Cran Juice on my five year old Dell Latitude D810. Unfortunately it still works.